i 
 
SUPPLEMENT 
 
 TO THE 
 
 ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA. 
 
SUPPLEMENT 
 
 TO THE 
 
 FOURTH, FIFTH, AND SIXTH EDITIONS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA. 
 
 WITH PRELIMINARY DISSERTATIONS 
 
 ON THE 
 
 HISTORY OF THE SCIENCES. 
 
 VOLUME SIXTH. 
 
 EDINBURGH: 
 
 PRINTED FOR ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE AND COMPANY, EDINBURGH; 
 AND HURST, ROBINSON, AND COMPANF, 
 LONDON. 
 
 1824. 
 
upplement 
 
 TO THE 
 
 ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA. 
 
 N AI 
 
 T^AIRNSHIRE, a small county in Scotland, 
 v— v-^ -i-^ It is situated between 57" 22', and 570 40' 
 Sittuation north latitude, and 3^ 35', and 4° 7' west longitude 
 and Extent, having the Moray Frith on the north, Morayshire 
 an the east and south, and the county of Inverness 
 on the west. Its extent, from north to south, is 
 from 12 to 20 miles, and from east to west from 10 
 to 13; and its contents are I98 square miles, or 
 126,720 English acres, of which only about a fourth 
 part is in cultivation ; the rest consisting chiefly of 
 wastes, with about 10,000 acres of wood, natural and 
 planted, about three square miles of lakes, and a 
 small proportion of moss. It has only four entire 
 parishes, Ardclauch, Aultdearn, Calder, and Nairn, 
 and portions of other five, which belong to the coun- 
 ties of Moray, Ross, and Inverness. Two detached 
 districts, Ferintosh and Dunraaglass, belong to 
 Nairnshire, the former lying near Dingwall, in Ross- 
 shire, and the latter at the head of Strathnairn, in 
 Inverness-shire. 
 
 Sutrfaoe, &c. Along the Moray Frith, and for a few miles in- 
 ward, the surface is generally low, and much of the 
 soil productive, being partly loam, and partly clay, 
 both of them fertile. Farther south the country 
 rises into hills, containing but a small proportion of 
 arable land, and this chiefly a sandy loam or gravel 
 The only streams of any note are the Nairn and the 
 Findhorn, both of which it receives from Inverness- 
 shire. They have a nearly parallel course from 
 south-west to north-east. The former flows into the 
 Moray Frith, at the town of the same name, but the 
 
 VOL. \I. PART I. 
 
 latter, before entering the Frith, passes into the Naimsliire. 
 county of Moray. The Nairn is, therefore, the only 
 river which can be said to belong to this county, and 
 it is inconsiderable ; but its banks are in many places 
 well wooded, and it has a small salmon-fishery. 
 Marl is found in several places, particularly on the 
 estate of Lord Cawdor, in the vale of Litie, where 
 it is of an excpllent quality ; and in the same quar- 
 ter, and at Kilravock, there are some quarries of 
 sandstone. 
 
 The territory of Nairnshire, exclusive of the lands Estate*, 
 belonging to the burgh of Nairn, is divided into 
 fifteen estates, of which nine are under the valua- 
 tion of L.500 Scots, other three under L.^iOGO, and 
 the remaining three above L.2000 ; and a few years 
 ago the number of freeholders entitled to vote in the 
 election of a member for the county was 22. The 
 valued rent is L.15,l62, 10s. lid. Scots, of which 
 about one-sixth is entailed ; and the real rent, in 
 1811, was, for the lands, L. 11,726, 14s. Sterling, 
 and for the houses L,2l6. The principal seats 
 are Cawdor Castle, — Lord Cawdor ; Kilravock Cas- 
 tle, — Rose ; Boath, — Dunbar ; and Kinsterie, — Gor- 
 don. 
 
 This county is further subdivided into farms, for Farms, 
 the most part small, and, with few exceptions, open, 
 and ill cultivated, producing oats, bear or bigg, and 
 potatoes, but very little wheat. Turnips and clovers 
 do not yet enter into the usual course of crops. Its 
 live stock presents nothing worthy of particular no- 
 tice. Though the natural circumstances of the dis- 
 
2 
 
 N A I 
 
 Naples. 
 
 Towns. 
 
 Nairnshire trict do not seem to be very different from those of 
 the contiguous county of Moray, except that it has 
 no harbours, yet its rural economy is greatly behind 
 that of the latter county. 
 
 Nairn, the county town, and a royal burgh, is a 
 place of considerable antiquity, and pleasantly situ- 
 ated; but having no harbour, it is without trade or 
 manufactures, and contains only about 2000 inha- 
 bitants. According to a survey made by Mr Tel- 
 ford, a commodious harbour may be formed for 
 about L. 3000. The villages are Aultdearn and 
 Calder. 
 
 This county sends a member to Parliament alter- 
 nately with the shire of Cromarty ; and the town of 
 Nairn joins with Inverness, Forres, and Fortrose, in 
 the election of a member for the burghs. The 
 counties of Moray and Nairn are under the ju- 
 risdiction of the same sheriff, who has a substitute 
 for the latter county in the town of Nairn. 
 
 Representa' 
 tion, &c. 
 
 NAP 
 
 Nairnshire formed a part of the ancient province Nair-nshire 
 of Moray. On the estate of Lord Cawdor, at a ffj\^ 
 place called the Hoar Moor, Macbeth, according to 
 Shakespeare, met the witches when upon his way Antiqtuities. 
 from the Western Isles to Forres ; and a bedstead, said 
 to be that on which Duncan was assassinated by the 
 usurper, is still preserved in the Castle of Cawdor. 
 Near the village of Aultdearn, Montrose obtained 
 a great victory over the Covenanters in 1645. The 
 county contains the ruins of several castles, and 
 other remains of an early age. The Castles of Cal- 
 der or Cawdor, and Kilravock, both of great anti- 
 quity, are still the seats of their proprietors. 
 
 The population of this small county is shown in 
 the following abstract. — See The Beauties of Scot- 
 land, Vol. IV. ; Leslie's General View of the Agri- 
 culture of Nairn and Moray ; The General Report 
 of Scotland ; and Playfair's Description of Scotland, 
 Vol. IL (a.) 
 
 1800. 
 
 HOUSES. 
 
 PERSONS. 
 
 OCCUPATIONS. 
 
 
 Inhabited. 
 
 By how 
 many 
 
 Families 
 occu- 
 pied. 
 
 Uninhabited. 
 
 Males. 
 
 Females. 
 
 Persons' 
 chiefly em- 
 ployed in 
 Agricul- 
 ture. 
 
 Persons 
 chiefly em- 
 ployed in 
 Trade, Ma- 
 nufactures, 
 or Handi- 
 craft. 
 
 All other 
 Persons not 
 comprised 
 in the two 
 preceding 
 classes. 
 
 Total of 
 Persons. 
 
 1,940 
 
 1,945 
 
 32 
 
 3,639 
 
 4,618 
 
 2,901 
 
 898 
 
 4,456 
 
 8,257 
 
 1811. 
 
 HOUSES. 
 
 PERSONS. 
 
 OCCUPATIONS. 
 
 
 1 
 -§ 
 
 By how 
 many 
 
 Families 
 
 occu- 
 pied. 
 
 Uninlabited. 
 
 Males. 
 
 Females. 
 
 Families 
 chiefly em- 
 ployed in 
 Agricul- 
 ture. 
 
 Families 
 chiefly em- 
 ployed in 
 Trade, Ma- 
 nufactures, 
 or Handi- 
 craft. 
 
 All other 
 
 Families not 
 comprised 
 in the two 
 preceding 
 classes. 
 
 Total of 
 Persons. 
 
 1,946 
 
 2,021 
 
 68 
 
 3,530 
 
 4,721 
 
 870 
 
 341 
 
 810 
 
 8,251 
 
 ^ NAPLES The history of Naples, down to the 
 
 period when Bonaparte bestowed its sceptre on Mu- 
 rat, is given in the Encyclopcedia ; where also will 
 be found a general description of the country. The 
 succeeding historical events of any importance will 
 be found under the articles Austria and France, 
 in this Supplement; and there is some notice of its sta- 
 tistics, under the general article on Italy. The pre- 
 sent article is limited to the late Revolution; of which, 
 and of its issue, the Editor has received the follow- 
 ing account from the pen of an intelligent Neapolitan. 
 
 The last revolution of Naples, although it end- 
 ed unexpectedly, without advantage or honour to 
 the nation, is very remarkable, if we consider the 
 political death (if we may so speak) to which Italy 
 had been doomed during three centuries, not only as 
 
 a power, but as a people ; and when we recollect 
 that this was the first political movement which, for 
 seventy years, merited the name of a national one in 
 Italy. It was attempted and brought about, not fool- 
 ishly to benefit foreigners, and with foreign troops, 
 according to the old custom of the Italians, but for 
 Italian interests, and with Italian forces. 
 
 On the fall of the French empire, Murat was ex-Causes^and 
 pelled by the Austrian arms from the throne ofP^g'^sisof 
 Naples, and Ferdinand restored (May 1815). TheJ^^jj^^®'**" 
 condition of the new government, though at first 
 sight promising, was beset with great difficulties. 
 The Bourbon ministers found, on their return from 
 Sicily, that an immense power had been usurped 
 by the Crown, during the French government, the 
 period of which was now called the Decenio. All 
 aristocratical hierarchy, all municipal franchises. 
 
 4 
 
NAPLES. 
 
 Naples, were destroyed. From the highest affairs of state, 
 down to the meanest municipal concern, the prince 
 ruled every thing by a host of public function- 
 aries. But all this authority was supported sole- 
 ly by a standing army organized by the French, 
 which the king did not trust ; and by a revenue of 
 ] 6,000,000 of ducats, which, having been only de- 
 rived from the rapacity of the French financier, had, 
 at the end of ten years, become intolerable. They 
 found, besides, the dispositions of the people very 
 much changed. The Neapolitans, who seldom lik- 
 ed their governments, had grown more than ever 
 indifferent to the person of their prince, reluc- 
 tant to submit to absolute power, and well aware 
 of the only effectual remedy to restrain its abuse. 
 But a cause, more powerful than all these, assist- 
 ed in imbuing their minds with the principles of 
 liberty. A political association, known by the name 
 of Carbonaristn, had sprung up, and experienced va- 
 rious fortunes under the French. At first it was de- 
 spised, because its real object was yet misunderstood ; 
 it was afterwards fiercely persecuted by Murat, and 
 finally caressed in vain by his ministers, who sought in 
 it a support to his tottering throne. But such a forced 
 retractation of his former steps availed Murat nothing 
 in adversity. The nation was alienated from him, and 
 hoped to gain by a change of princes. King Ferdi- 
 nand had, in a proclamation from Palermo, promised 
 a constitution, by which the people should be the so- 
 vereign, and the prince a mere depository of the laws. 
 Murat, vanquished and despairing, attempted to 
 throw out a lure to the Neapolitans, by causing a con- 
 stitution to be proclaimed a few days before the Aus- 
 trians occupied that capital. Chevalier Medici had 
 now succeeded to Count Zurlo, and alone governed 
 the state. This minister felt no blind party pre- 
 judices against reforms that had arisen out of the 
 revolution. His objection was solely that of mini- 
 sterial interest. Esteeming the Neapolitans to be un- 
 steady in their wishes, he would not shock their po- 
 litical opinions, but rather strove to delude and rule, 
 without satisfying them. Every thought of the new 
 minister was bent upon finance ; for the new go- 
 vernment had assumed the discharge of enormous 
 responsibilities. The negotiators for King Ferdi- 
 nand, at the Congress of Vienna, were forced al- 
 most to redeem his crown from Austria, at a 
 time when so much noise was made by the al- 
 lies about the doctrine of legitimacy and restora- 
 tion. They bargained to pay 6,000,000 of du- 
 cats to the imperial treasury ; 1,150,000 ducats 
 a year for the support of the Austrian troops in 
 the kingdom ; and 1,200,000 ducats to Beauharnois, 
 ex-viceroy of Italy, for indemnities due to him by 
 Austria. The disgraces and burdens imposed upon 
 the nation did not stop here. Naples became tribu- 
 tary even to Rome and to the piratical states of Africa. 
 Rome would not consent to satisfy the conscience of 
 the king without a Concordat, by which an annual re- 
 venue of 12,000 ducats in land was assigned to the 
 Roman treasury : thirty-six convents were re-esta- 
 blished and richly provided for by the state. The 
 ordinary administration was no less tainted with pro- 
 digality. Medici, following the example of France, 
 
 endeavoured to prop the immense authority of the 
 crown with the order of public functionaries left by 
 the French, who were so numerous, and so close- 
 ly bound together, by their« opinions and interests, 
 that they resembled a new aristocracy. Hence the 
 public offices, which already pressed so heavily upon 
 the nation, far from being reduced, were daily aug- 
 mented. From all such causes resulted a govern- 
 ment that was passive, but rapacious. The prime 
 minister seemed to govern only to raise taxes. The 
 French imposts, chiefly the land-tax, which had been 
 always burdensome to the nation, now caused gene- 
 ral complaints, on account of the extreme deprecia- 
 tion of corn and oil, attendant upon the peace of 
 Europe. These chief products of a country entirely 
 agricultural, now scarcely brought a third of the 
 price which they had held a few years before. Yet for 
 a small profit of the treasury, foreign merchants were 
 allowed to import their corn into the kingdom, where 
 it sold at a very low price, and almost entirely in- 
 terrupted the sale of home wheat. The distress aug- 
 mented in a short time to such a pitch, that in Apu- 
 lia, the old harvest was often thrown into the sea to 
 make room for the new one in the granaries. The 
 land proprietors, rich and poor, remonstrated with 
 the government, and offered to discharge the imposts 
 with the very products of the soil ; and these soon 
 becoming unequal to taxes and culture, the lands be- 
 gan to be abandoned — a lamentable, but certain 
 mark of the rapacity of the government and of an 
 approaching revolution. The country was overspread 
 with internal custom-houses from one borough to 
 another, for external trade yielded little ; contra- 
 band commerce increased, and the amount of the 
 loss was surreptitiously overcharged upon the lands. 
 The most trifling transactions were committed to 
 stamped paper, and registered. In short, every 
 expedient, however ruinous, was esteemed good, 
 provided it could afford immediate money. By 
 such means the public revenues were in three years 
 stretched to more than 20,000,000 of ducats ; but, 
 for this augmentation, the subject was wrung, moder- 
 ately speaking, of half his real income, at a time when 
 the national industry was sinking into a state of un- 
 precedented wretchedness. This fiscal delirium 
 could not have lasted long. The farmers were im- 
 poverished, the middle classes were reduced to de- 
 spair ; discontent rapidly spread into the provinces, 
 and the general wish for a reform was little dissem- 
 bled. Carbonarism, checked only for a time by the 
 denunciations against all secret societies, which fol- 
 lowed the restoration, now rose in double strength. 
 But an event, which had once threatened its ex- 
 termination, contributed even more to its revival. 
 The minister of police, the Prince of Canosa, detest- 
 ing the very name of French innovation, designed to 
 force back the nation to the state in which it had 
 been ten years before. He considered the Carbona- 
 ri as Murattites, or partisans of the French, whilst 
 they are only votaries of liberty and enemies to des- 
 potism, by whomsoever exercised. The seeds of ano- 
 ther sect adverse to Carbonarism had been sown since 
 the time of the French by a bishop, who was an ene- 
 my to their government. This was composed of a 
 
 Naples. 
 
NAPLES. 
 
 NajJas. species of loyalists, the dregs of the people, chiefly 
 rioters, who had participated in the counter-revo- 
 Intionary massacres of 1799. They assumed the name 
 of Calderaj. The minister of police exerted all his in- 
 fluence to rally them with mysterious rites and signs, 
 and to arm as many of them as he could. In a little 
 time their numbers exceeded 60,000, and they were 
 generally believed to be ready to fall upon the Carbo- 
 nari or Murattites on the night of Holy Thursday 1816, 
 and, renewing the example of the Sicilian vespers, to 
 massacre them all over the country. The minister, 
 thus become master of the state, could have reformed 
 it according to his own will. But the horrible plot 
 was soon discovered ; and Medici, who professed quite 
 different politics, and was then all powerful, caused 
 the minister of police to be banished to Lucca. 
 Thus Medici saved his country from a dreadful civil 
 war ; the new sectaries were easily disarmed, and 
 goon sunk into oblivion. But the Carbonari, who 
 were aware of their danger, and had United more 
 closely than ever, would no more separate, after 
 having once rallied for their common defence. Nay, 
 three years were suflScient to draw into their asso- 
 dation all the active part of the people, and to con- 
 vert the rest to their political religion. Whether by the 
 lapse of time, or by the recent example of the free 
 constitution of Sicily having been overturned at one 
 blow, it had become evident that the promise from Pa- 
 lermo was mere state-craft to hasten the fall of Murat. 
 The patriots, judging themselves strong enough in the 
 provinces of Lecce and Bari, reminded the king of his 
 pledge, with bold and reiterated remonstrances ; and 
 demanded a constitution, together with the repeal of 
 the land-tax, within a certain term. These petitions 
 being disdained, the town of Lecce rose in a commo- 
 tion (1817), and nothing was wanting to a revolu- 
 tion but support frofn the other provinces. But the 
 cause of Carbonarism was yet neither so strong nor so 
 unanimous as it became soon afterwards. A new 
 sect had sprung from it, which seemed to incline 
 more to democracy, and was much spread among 
 the lower classes of people in the provinces of Lecce 
 and Bari. This sect, by introducing licentiousness 
 and violence in popular opinions, divided and en- 
 feebled the party, and soon became odious to the best 
 intentioned of the patriots. On the first news of 
 General Church having marched with some troops 
 against Lecce, a few hundreds of the new sectaries 
 took to arms, and overran the country in bands. 
 The Government commander easily diverted or quel- 
 led this insurrection. By dexterously availing him- 
 self of the discord of the patriots, and showing the 
 moderate they had nothing to fear from him, he suc- 
 ceeded in amusing a great many, and subduing the 
 rest. All the armed were proscribed, many fell in the 
 field, and several were put to death, or confined in the 
 Sicilian islands. But discontent had crept even into 
 the army. Most of the military having been trained 
 by the French, when there were no bounds to fortune 
 and honour in their profession, were impatient of the 
 restored government, which used soldiers only to 
 keep down the people. Besides, the mal-administra- 
 tion of the war minister (a German oflBcer), the pe- 
 nury of the finances, the jealousy of the Austrians, and 
 
 the partiality of the king towards the military who re- 
 turned with him from Sicily, had greatly injured the 
 army, and divided it into two adverse parties. This 
 hostile disposition was soon turned to the national ad» 
 vantage by some patriotic chiefs, the principal among 
 whom was William Pepe. This general had been dis- 
 posing affairs for a revolution, during two years that 
 he held the military command in the provinces of 
 Foggia and Avellino. He had formed there no less 
 than 10,000 militia, chiefly composed of small land^ 
 proprietors, armed and clothed at their own ex- 
 pence, and commanded by the country gentlemen, 
 who were exasperated against the rapacity of the ad- 
 ministration. Such a militia was well qualified for 
 accomplishing a revolution ; yet they were tolerated 
 by the prime minister, on account of the great ser- 
 vices, without any expence, he drew from them^ for 
 they had, in a short time, scoured the country of 
 the banditti, who are ever swarming in that king- 
 dom. Thus to save money, arms were entrusted to 
 that very class which was most interested in national 
 reform. So capital an error of despotic policy may 
 well characterize the administration of Medici as en- 
 tirely financial. Every thing, therefore, hastened to 
 a revolution, when the news arrived of the move- 
 ment at Cadiz. This example banished from the 
 multitude all remaining doubts as to success. It 
 taught the chiefs how to act ; and in a natural spi- 
 rit of imitation, they chose the constitution of the 
 Cortes for their model. This constitution, more- 
 over, seemed to be the only monarchical one fixed at 
 one effort by the representatives of a great nation, 
 and still unimpaired by the abuses of power and time. 
 The patriots now began earnestly to think upon a ge- 
 neral movement. William Pepe, considered as the 
 chief of the enterprise, communicated his plan to 
 some superior officers of his division, and a few 
 citizens. They agreed that the general should, 
 under pretence of a muster, assemble, on the 25th of 
 June (1820), his 10,000 militia at Avellino, where 
 he was to be immediately reinforced by five regi- 
 ments of horse quartered at Foggia, Nola, Nocera, 
 Aversa, and Naples, and by all the armed patriots 
 of the two Principati and Capitanata : a camp was 
 then to be formed, and a petition sent to the king, 
 demanding the constitution. The signal being thus 
 given, no doubts were entertained of a general and 
 ready support from all the provinces. But owing 
 to the want of resolution of one colonel, this plan 
 failed. The general, judging it convenient to de- 
 lay his design for a short time, went to Naples, 
 where he had bein repeatedly called by the govern- 
 ment. But, in these perplexities, Morelli, a young 
 lieutenant, unexpectedly departed from Nola, on 
 the night of the 1st of July, with 130 horse, and, 
 marching to Avellino, threw down the gauntlet. 
 The revolution had been, long since ripe in the minds 
 of the Neapolitans, and ^^the departure of Morelli was 
 only the signal for its accomplishment. At the first 
 intelligence of his march, Foggia, Avellino, and Sa- 
 lerno, took up arms, and proclaimed the Spanish con- 
 stitution. An intrenched camp was formed by the 
 constitutionalists in the strong passes of Monteforte, 
 and thither the militia, the patriots, and most of the 
 1 
 
NAPLES. 
 
 NJRples. standing army, flocked from all directions. General 
 Pepfe having defeated the precautions of the cabinet, 
 by which he was still obstructed in the capital, led 
 some more troops to the camp, and took the com- 
 mand of the whole. The government, awakened 
 from its slumber, had already attempted force. Ge- 
 nerals Carrascosa and Ambrosio were sent with 
 some troops against the constitutional camp, whilst 
 Generals Campano and Nunziante were to attack it 
 rearwards from Solofra. But all proved vain. Cam- 
 
 f>ano was bravely repelled by the constitutionalists, 
 ed by Colonel Deconcilj. Carrascosa, perceiving 
 the majority of his troops more inclined to join their 
 comrades than to fight against them, would not ha- 
 zard a battle. The government, now despairing of 
 succeeding by force, recalled him, and prepared it- 
 self to satisfy the nation. The court, indeed, made 
 a last effort to divert the storm by a royal promise 
 of a constitution to be settled m eight days. But 
 this state-expedient could not deceive men to whom 
 no choice was left but between the scaffold and suc- 
 cess: — The proposal was refused. The capital was 
 in commotion. The King, yielding to the entreaties 
 of his oldest friends, consented at last to the consti- 
 tution of the Cortes. Secret protestations, however, 
 are said to have been addressed from that very mo- 
 ment to the five great powers of Europe, ascribing 
 that concession to mere force, and invalidating it in 
 all its consequences. 
 Occuurrences The whole of this revolution was brought about 
 betwffeen the in six days, with a facility and mildness that proved 
 
 menS of the P"^^^^ "^'"'^ *° ""'P^ ^^^^ institutions. But 
 Nevw Consti-the_ royal personages were not so easily consoled for 
 tutioon and their loss of power. The king showed this, by re- 
 thei Austrian signing the government to his son Prince Francis, 
 Invaasion. ^^io assumed the title of Vicar of the Kingdom. The 
 constitutional camp, 15,000 strong, was raised at 
 Monteforte, and marched to the capital. Many er- 
 rors were committed in that camp. An egregious 
 one had been to intrust power to persons whose 
 lives and fortunes were not staked on the revolution. 
 Fortune no sooner seemed leaning to the side of the 
 constitutionalists, than the disappointed ambitious 
 spirits of the decennio awoke, and laid hold of the 
 first places of the state. Count Zurlo, who had per- 
 secuted the patriots, and who had seconded various 
 changes of power and principles, reappeared at the 
 helm of the state. His colleagues had been, like 
 him, the courtiers of Murat, and little cared for the 
 new liberty of their country, if it was to be preserv- 
 ed at the cost of their personal danger and sacri- 
 fices. Almost all the offices, civil and military, were 
 left in the possession of a set of men accustomed to 
 change sides from the vanquished to the vanquisher. 
 A revolution which had been thus defective in deci- 
 sion at home, was farther menaced from abroad. 
 Austria soon evinced a profound resentment at the 
 revolution of Naples, both by diplomatic protesta- 
 tions, and by rejecting the new Neapolitan envoys 
 as the representatives of rebels. From the begin- 
 ning these true patriots had no other chance of suc- 
 cess than to have invited all Italians to arms, while 
 the Austrians were still weak in Lombardy. But the 
 new government had not courage for this, and the 
 
 opportunity for raising Upper Italy by surprise had Naples, 
 nearly vanished, when the unfortunate revolution of * 
 Sicily broke out. 
 
 Sicily is the only country in Italy where the feudal 
 aristocracy is still strong. This island had escaped 
 French subjection to fall under that of the English, 
 who here combated Bonaparte with the principles of 
 liberty. Nevertheless the Sicilian constitution, given 
 in 1812, left the power of the House of Commons 
 in the hands of the nobility. But even the few be- 
 nefits which could have accrued from English ascen- 
 dancy were lost by the constitution being abolished 
 as soon as it could be dispensed with. Medici at- 
 tempted, in 1819, to introduce the French admini- 
 stration into Sicily, but the nobles generally resisted 
 such innovations, and the people, through invete- 
 racy against the rule of the Neapolitans, supported 
 their resistance. After the revolution on this side 
 the Pharum, the Spanish constitution had scarcely 
 been proclaimed at Palermo, when the chief Sicilian 
 nobility instigated the people to proclaim Sicily in- 
 dependent of Naples. The Neapolitan garrison of 
 Palermo being furiously attacked by the mob, and 
 overwhelmed with stones, boiling oil, and other mis- 
 siles thrown from the houses, surrendered at discre- 
 tion after a dreadful contest. But the Sicilian nobi- 
 lity, after they had allured the people by the promise 
 of independence from Naplei, wherewith they cover- 
 ed their design of re-establishing the aristocratic 
 constitution, found that it was easier to raise than to 
 guide a sedition. For the people proclaimed inde- 
 pendence, and the constitution of the Cortes cut off 
 the heads of Princes Aci and Catolica; and even whilst 
 following their aristocratic leaders, menaced them 
 with the axe. At last General Florestan Pepe was 
 sent into Sicily with a squadron and 6000 troops. He 
 landed at Messina, defeated the revolted Palermitans 
 at Termini, and obliged Palermo to capitulate, de- 
 livering the city from a state of the most frightful 
 anarchy. But that capitulation, which yielded to 
 the independents the separation from Naples, which 
 they had been unable to get by force, was soon an- 
 nulled by the Neapolitan Parliament. The general 
 was recalled, new troops were sent out, and Palermo 
 was held neither in friendship nor enmity. The ma- 
 jority of the Sicilians, however, seemed to decide the 
 question against independence by sending deputies 
 to represent them at Naples. 
 
 The Parliament had now assembled at Naples, and 
 received, on the 1st of October, the constitutional 
 oath of the king. The liberty of Naples was to 
 depend upon this assembly. The Spanish constitu- 
 tion had been granted, excepting the necessary al- 
 terations to be settled by the representatives in its 
 adaptation to the Two Sicilies. Yet, at the bottom 
 of this proviso from the court lay a design to in- 
 crease, as much as possible, the constitutional power 
 of the Crown by a servile Parliament. The ministry 
 had endeavoured to influence the elections ; but the 
 name of Zurlo was so unpopular, that the slightest 
 suspicion of interference had been sufficient to ex- 
 clude a candidate, whatever might be his experience 
 in public affairs. The people, sr^specting the nobi- 
 lity of a wish to introduce an hereditary chamber in 
 
 5 
 
6 
 
 NAPLES. 
 
 Naples, the constitution, had hooted them off the hustings. 
 
 ■^v^^^ Owing to this national disposition, the Parliament 
 had been mostly composed of men who had never 
 exercised any public office. The majority of them 
 were of an upright rather than firm mind ; some 
 were versed in literature, none in state-craft ; many 
 ignorant of every thing, trusting more to the jus- 
 tice of the public cause, and to the effects of 
 mildness towards the Crown, than to their own in- 
 trepidity and credit with the people. The Par- 
 liament applied itself to the diminution of the pub- 
 lic burdens, though the military expences had near- 
 ly exhausted the treasury ; chose a new council 
 of state ; made good municipal laws ; and reorgan- 
 ized the army. At first it was well seconded by the 
 nation. The dismissed veterans flocked spontaneous- 
 ly back to their banners on the first call of the go- 
 vernment, and soon exceeded the number demand- 
 ed. The Calabrese militia gallantly supported the 
 army in Sicily. Several provinces paid in advance 
 the very land-tax which they felt so heavy. But 
 the ministry made all this useless to the state. 
 Every step of the executive power betrayed slack- 
 ness, reluctance, and perfidy ; in a word, it destroy- 
 ed the liberty and independence of Naples. The 
 court looked for support to that mysterious alliance 
 which styles itself Holy. A congress had met at 
 Troppau, where an independent people were to be 
 sentenced for having offended against despotism. 
 The Parliament, guessing the design of the court, 
 applied itself to a speedy reform of the constitu- 
 tion, that it might be finally sanctioned by the king. 
 The Drospect of eluding the effects of the revolu- 
 tion in a pacific way being over, a coup-d'etat was 
 resorted to ; and some members of the diplomatic 
 body then at Naples agreed with Zurlo upon the 
 manner and time of the new experiment. It was 
 known by the public that the congress at Troppau 
 had ended, and much uneasiness prevailed for some 
 days in the capital. On the 7th of December, a 
 royal message was brought into the Parliament by 
 the ministry, in which a vague and conditional pro- 
 mise of a new constitution was substituted for the 
 existing one. It was announced that the king was 
 going to a new congress, and all farther delibera- 
 tion was forbidden to the representatives. The mes- 
 sage was at the same time placarded in the capital, 
 and forwarded into the provinces, and every practice 
 was employed to carry the point by surprise. But 
 all this only tended, for the present, to the triumph 
 of the nation. About 15,000 patriots assembled in 
 arms, and remained together for three days, ready 
 to repel force by force, if necessary. Speedy in- 
 telligence was dispatched into the country, and 
 many places rose in arms at the same time. The 
 Parliament, bemg thus supported, rejected the mes- 
 sage, but permitted the king to go to Laybach, pro- 
 vided he should do so to plead the national cause. 
 Then an impeachment was moved against the ministry, 
 and two were called to the bar (Count Zurlo and the 
 Duke of Campochiaro) ; but the cabal of the cour- 
 tiers prevailing, it was adjourned sine die. The king, 
 after declaring he never meant to injure the existing 
 constitution, asked again for the opinion of the Par- 
 
 liament as to his departure. A new consent was gi- 
 ven, and the king embarked aboard an English man- 
 of-war, landed at Leghorn, and proceeded to Lay- 
 bach. 
 
 The departure of the king, to join the enemies 
 of the nation, proved, no doubt, the immediate 
 cause of the fall of Naples, and all Europe has re- 
 proached the Neapolitan Parliament for permitting 
 it, as a signal act of blindness. But an English and 
 a French squadron were anchored in the bay ; 6000 
 royal guards were ready to fall upon the people ; 
 and the facility of embarking from the palace, and, 
 above all, the firm resolution of the king himself, 
 leave it even now doubtful whether that fatal de- 
 parture could have been prevented. Certainly a new- 
 revolution would have been necessary for this attempt, 
 and the Parliament decided according to what it con- 
 ceived to be an unavoidable necessity. Yet the virtual 
 failure to the enemies of freedom of their last co^ip- 
 d'etat was worth a victory to the patriots, had they 
 fully known the value of it. The court was hum- 
 bled, the credit of the Parliament re-established ; and 
 the representatives could have still saved the state, 
 had they, during the flow of popular feeling, created 
 a regency of a few tried and bold patriots. By 
 transferring the seat of government to Calabria 
 or to Messina, they ought to have prepared them- 
 selves, from that very moment, to have sustained 
 a national war. But the Parliament was incapable 
 of such counsels, which appeared to them rash 
 and unconstitutional. Moderation was their motto. 
 This assembly continued the regency to the Prince- 
 Royal ; suffered a weak ministry to succeed to 
 a perfidious one ; and slumbered in the capital, at- 
 tending only to the reform of secondary abuses, while 
 they trusted the cause of the country to the mediation 
 of the king with the allies. Not having availed itself 
 of the favourable moment, its credit and power decay- 
 ed daily, and the national zeal abated simultaneous- 
 ly. These public perplexities lasted but a short 
 time. The Parliament had already presented, and 
 the Regent had finally sanctioned, the reformed code, 
 when intelligence arrived that the Congress of Lay- 
 bach had declared, that whatever had been done by 
 the revolution was to be instantly undone at Naples, 
 and that 50,000 Austrian troops were marching to oc- 
 cupy the country, and re-establish its despotic govern- 
 ment. These orders were enforced by a letter from 
 the king, in which his majesty, alleging the utter im- 
 possibility of obtaining any thing from the allies, eager- 
 ly advised a ready obedience to them. The Parliament 
 declared that it had no power to consent to the pub- 
 lic ruin, and that the king was to be considered as a pri- 
 soner in ihe hands of the enemy. This was its last ef- 
 fort. Laws, indeed, were heaped upon laws for the safe- 
 ty of the state ; but the circumstances requiring prac- 
 tical courage far more than debates and statutes, all 
 that was done proved useless. Even whilst the danger 
 grew imminent, the representatives did not dare to 
 assume the whole public power. They were still 
 frightened by the shadow of a compact, which had 
 been already broken by the most responsible of the 
 parties. 
 
 The effect of the news from Laybach was, to ppo- 
 
 Napleis. 
 
NAPLES. 
 
 Naples. 
 
 duce mixed feelings of apprehension and indignation. 
 The inhabitants of the provinces seemed disposed to 
 defend themselves to the last ; but they wanted expe- 
 rience and guides. A numerous militia had but just 
 been formed in all the provinces, and 12,000 young 
 men composed a national guard of an imposing ap- 
 pearance in the capital. But these militia, yet destitute 
 of all military skill and habits, could only serve in a de- 
 sultory warfare. Of the standing army 12,000 men 
 remained in Sicily, in order to keep it in subjec- 
 tion ; the rest were already cooled in the public 
 cause, discordant in their opinions, rather relaxed 
 in discipline, through the introduction of Carbo- 
 narism, and certainly not commanded by patriots. 
 The Carbonari, too, fancying they had secured the 
 revolution by the meeting of the Parliament, be- 
 gan to divide among themselves. Garbonarism ne- 
 ver could settle itself into a federation before the 
 revolution, and much less after it. Hence the up- 
 per council of Naples, which ought to have repre- 
 sented the whole order, and directed it to the same 
 object, was not acknowledged in several provinces, 
 and openly opposed in Salerno, where the opinions 
 rather inclined to democracy. The consent of this 
 council, which at first was required to establish 
 inferior assemblies, was soon neglected. New 
 societies sprang up everywhere. Indeed, all these 
 dissentions were diligently promoted by money, 
 promises, and every wicked practice of the agents 
 of despotism at home and abroad. Confusion and 
 anarchy were made pretexts both to colour and 
 facilitate foreign invasion. After the revolution, 
 Garbonarism ought no doubt to have been abolish- 
 ed by law, as dangerous to liberty itself, had the 
 free government had nothing to fear. But this go- 
 vernment, being undermined on one side, and attack- 
 ed on the other, could not have found, in its early 
 period, a better support than that association. The 
 patriots of the frontier provinces attempted to rally 
 themselves into a federation, which they called the 
 Samnitic League, from the classic name of that 
 country. But the society of the Carbonari was no 
 longer susceptible of being recombined ; and it must 
 be confessed, that its untimely dispersion was an- 
 other cause of the shameful fall of Naples. 
 
 Meanwhile an Austrian army, 50,000 strong, ad- 
 vanced by forced marches towards the country. The 
 government, compelled at last by the public clamour, 
 Oveirthrow hastily called, by telegraph, the militia from the most 
 ^^'riiment ^'^^ant points, when the enemy was already reaching 
 ^' 'the frontiers* The militia hastened from every quar- 
 ter, but only 15,000 had arrived on the borders of 
 Abbruzzo, when it was found necessary to fight. 
 General Pepe was appointed to command that fron- 
 tier. Near San Germano, on the left, was an en- 
 trenched camp of 30,000 men, most of them veterans 
 who had served in the French wars. The plan of 
 defence was, that, if the enemy attacked the right, 
 the commandant of the left was to relieve it with 
 troops and evolutions ; if the left, Pepe should do 
 the same. But the distance between the two camps 
 was immense. General Pepe, with some militia and a 
 few troops, which together did not amount to a third 
 part of the enemy's forces, was obliged to guard a line 
 
 Invaision of 
 the Aus- 
 ttianis, and 
 
 of 150 miles in length, and accessible at five points. 
 And the Austrian general, as it appeared afterwards, ' 
 had directed the main body of his army upon him, 
 well aware that that corps once routed, no more re- 
 sistance would be offered on the left. Pep6 posted 
 himself at Civita-Ducale, a frontier town in Ab- 
 bruzzo, three miles from Rieti, where the enemy 
 established his van-guard. The Neapolitan militia, 
 then on the frontier, was composed chiefly of sub- 
 stitutes, badly armed and worse trained, and in- 
 cessantly harassed by traitorous agents, who re- 
 presented to them that they should be treated as 
 rebels, if they vainly persisted in opposing the 
 great powers of Europe allied against Naples. The 
 king himself followed the Austrians close, declaring 
 he was at full liberty, and ordering the national 
 forces to welcome the invaders as friends. On a 
 sudden, some battalions of militia, posted at Argua- 
 ta and Tagliacozzo, disbanded. General P^pl, 
 dreading the example, resolved to fight instantly. 
 Having distributed his 10,000 men in three' columns, 
 he advanced towards Rieti on the 7th of March 
 1821. His left, led by Marshal Montemajor, was 
 to begin the attack at day-break ; but it was ten in 
 the morning Jbefore the order was executed, and the 
 Austrianshadalreadyconcentratedmostof theirforces 
 near the Cappuccini in the plain, when they were at- 
 tacked. Pepe ordered Marshal Russo to advance at 
 the ^ame time on the right with 200 horse and some 
 infantry, to sustain the charges of the Hungarian ca- 
 valry, 4000 strong. The fight continued for six hours 
 with musketry, and the Neapolitans had made seve- 
 ral unsuccessful attempts to carry the Cappuccini, 
 when Montemajor suddenly began to withdraw with 
 his division, an hour before sun-set. The enemy, 
 who till then had been perplexed by the unexpected 
 boldness of the militia, having now his right disen- 
 gaged by the retreat of Montemajor, pushed forward 
 great masses of infantry on his left, which being 
 extended farther than the right of the Neapolitans, 
 threatened to surround them. Pepe was then oblig- 
 ed to order a general retreat, which began in 
 good order along his whole line, under the fire of 
 the enemy. But the militia not being trained to 
 retreat while fighting, began to get into disorder ; 
 and, breaking their ranks, they hurried to the hills, 
 without any longer obeying their oflScers. Some 
 companies of the line, which were intermixed with 
 them, imitated the example, and all the troops 
 speedily disbanded. But a few hundred soldiers, 
 headed by a body of gallant officers, covered the 
 retreat in such a way that the enemy was scarcely 
 aware of the disbanding, and did not advance for 
 that night. 
 
 This engagement was sufficient to decide the fate 
 of Naples. The Parliament, astonished and discou- 
 raged at this first blow of adversity, laid aside all 
 thoughts of farther defence, and secretly sued for 
 pardon from the king, whom they had bat just de- 
 clared to be a prisoner of the enemy. The executive 
 power, which only waited for a siagle disaster to throw 
 off every constitutional disguise, immediately strain- 
 ed all its nerves to accomplish, in a few days, the 
 subjugation of the country. More shame than loss, 
 
 Naples. 
 
8 ' NAP 
 
 Nwltii however, had been incurred ; and had a patriotic mi- 
 J aw of ^^^^^y B^^^^^ helm, the nation might have been 
 Nations, s^ved, or would have sunk with honour. To trans- 
 >^ J- ^ ...^ fer the seat of government into Calabria without de- 
 lay ; to remove the yet unbroken first corps from San 
 Germano into the middle provinces, and to collect 
 behind them all the remnants of the corps of P^p6, 
 there to be rallied into a second line, — were measures 
 that seemed as practicable as they were advisable. 
 Under such arrangements, the arrival of the enemy 
 in the capital might have proved the commence- 
 ment of his ruin. An immense town, and four ci- 
 tadels held by national forces ; the almost impreg- 
 nable fortress of Gaeta behind; an army 30,000 
 strong on the front; with Calabria in insurrection, 
 and the Parliament calling to arms a people gene- 
 rally sanguinary and revengeful ; — these were obsta- 
 cles almost insuperable against the success of the 
 invaders. Moreover, the Piedmontese revolution 
 breaking out soon after, would have placed the Aus- 
 trians between two fires, and spread the national war 
 from one extremity of Italy to the other. Thus the 
 Italians would have been perhaps at this hour an inde- 
 pendent and free nation, or at least fighting to become 
 80. But scarcely six days had elapsed from the action 
 at Rieti, when the commandants of the divfsions and 
 regiments in the camp at San Germano were requir- 
 ed« by an order of the day, to frame addresses in the 
 name of the army, to the general- in-chief, request- 
 ing him to support we know not what authority of 
 the regent, different from the constitutional one. 
 The army was given to understand, that the capital 
 and several provinces had fallen a prey to anarchy, 
 while they remained as if plunged in stupor and con- 
 sternation. The first plan of the court seems to have 
 been to march the first corps to Naples, and to put 
 down the constitution with the same national forces 
 which had sworn to defend it. But as a strong feel- 
 ing of reluctance was evinced by some regiments. 
 
 NAT 
 
 the royal guards were directed to protest openly N»pic$ 
 against all resistance to the Mng, and this had the et- I! 
 feet of dispersing the rest of the troops. The first j^adon* 
 corps had scarcely decamped from Mignano, and ..^^^ 
 begun to retreat towards the Volturno, when suddenly 
 it disbanded. The royal guards only, 6000 strong, 
 were kept to their banners. Marching speedily to 
 Naples, they shut themselves up in the fortress of Caa- 
 telnuovo, and began to fire upon the citizens. All was 
 confusion in the capital. The Parliament lost moro 
 than half of its members, and al.' its authority. The 
 mob only waited the arrival of the disbanded soldiers 
 to run to plunder and outrage ; whilst murderers were 
 let loose upon the most determined patriots, to pre- 
 vent them from making any effort to retrieve the pub- 
 lic fortune. One member, who had the courage to set 
 out for Calabria, in order to rally the broken ranks 
 of the patriots, was put to death upon approaching 
 Eboli, by assassins, who there waited his arrivaJU 
 Twenty-four other members remained in the Parlia- 
 ment to the last, appealing against perjury and fo- 
 reign injustice, and offering an honourable but use- 
 less example to their country. In a few days, the 
 fortresses, the arsenal, the ammunition, the navy, the 
 capital, Sicily, and whatever yet remained to the na- 
 tion for its defence, was delivered up to the Aus- 
 trians by the executive power. Of the patriots, 
 hunted down in all directions, some took shelter in 
 Spain, Greece, and the Ionian Islands, but the greats- 
 er number fell into the hands of their enemies. The 
 nation, forsaken by its guides, was struck with asto- 
 nishment, and made no defence. 
 
 With regard to the actual state of the Two Sicilies, 
 it is enough to say, that all the injustice and miseries 
 which can fall upon a conquered people, punish their 
 inhabitants for not having better defended their most 
 valuable rights. Oppression, however, cannot conso- 
 lidate that absolute power, which has no longer a 
 foundation in the national sentiments. 
 
 NATIONS, LAW OF. 
 
 Weas in. In the meaning of the word Law, three principal 
 volved in the ideas are involved ; that of a Command, that of a 
 term Lam, Sanction, and that of the Authority from which the 
 command proceeds. 
 
 Every law imports, that something is to be done ; 
 or to be left undone. 
 
 But a Command is impotent, unless there is the 
 power of enforcing it. The power of enforcing a 
 command is the power of inflicting penalties, if the 
 command is not obeyed. And the applicability of 
 the penalties constitutes the Sanction. 
 
 There is more diflBculty in conveying an exact con- 
 ception of the Authority which is necessary to give 
 existence to a law. It is evident, that it is not every 
 command, enforced by penalties, to which we should 
 extend susch a title. A law is not confined to a sin- 
 gle act ; it embraces a class of acts : it is not confin- 
 ed to the acts of one man ; it embraces those of a 
 
 community of men. And the authority from which 
 it emanates must be an authority which that commu- 
 nity are in the habit of obeying. An authority to 
 which only a temporary obedience is paid, does not 
 come up to the notion of that authority which is re- 
 quisite to give existence to laws ; for thus, the com- 
 mands of a hostile army, committing plunder, would 
 be laws» 
 
 The conditions, which we have thus described, 
 may all be visibly traced, in the laws which go- 
 vernments lay down for the communities to which 
 they belong. There we observe the command ; there 
 the punishment prescribed for its violation ; and there 
 the commanding authority to which obedience is ha- 
 bitually paid. ^ _ These idloas 
 
 Of these conditions how many can be said to be- how motdi- 
 long to any thing included under the term Law of "1 ^''"^ 
 Nations? term I.«iw of 
 
 Nations.. 
 
NATIONS, LAW OF. 
 
 9 
 
 Law of 
 
 Nations. 
 
 them. Sanction, 
 ment. Suppose 
 with punishment, 
 derstood to be a 
 
 By that term is understood, something which ei- 
 ther does, or which, it is supposed, ought to bind the 
 conduct of one nation towards another. 
 
 But it is not understood, that one nation has a 
 right to command another. When one nation can 
 be commanded by another, it is dependent upon that 
 other; and the laws of dependence are different from 
 those which we are at present considering. An in- 
 dependent nation would resent, instead of obeying, a 
 command delivered to it by another. Neither can 
 it properly be said, that nations, taken aggregately, 
 prescribe those laws to one another severally ; for 
 when did they ever combine in any such prescrip- 
 tion ? When did they ever combine to vindicate 
 the violations of them ? It is therefore clear, that 
 the term Command cannot be applied, at least in the 
 ordinary sense, to the laws of nations. 
 
 In the next place, it would not seem, that any 
 thing, deserving the na^ae of Sanction, belongs to 
 we have already seen, is punish- 
 nations to threaten one another 
 for the violation of any thin^ un- 
 law of nations. To punish im- 
 plies superiority of strength. For the strong, there- 
 fore, the law of nations, may perhaps have a sanc- 
 tion, as against the weak. But what can it have as 
 against the strong ? Is it the strong, however, or is 
 it the weak, by whom it is most liable to be violated ? 
 
 The answer is obvious and undeniable As against 
 
 these from whom almost solely any violation of the 
 laws of nations need be apprehended, there appears, 
 therefore, to be no sanction at all. 
 
 If it be said, that several nations may combine to 
 give it a sanction in favour of the weak, we might, 
 for a practical answer, appeal to experience. Has 
 it been done ? Have nations, in reality, combined, 
 so constantly and steadily, in favour of the law of na- 
 tions, as to create, by the certainty of punishment, 
 an overpowering motive, to unjust powers, to abstain 
 from its violation ? For, as the laws against murder 
 would have no efficacy, if the punishment prescribed 
 were not applied once in fifty or a hundred times, so 
 the penalty against the violations of the law of na- 
 Uon» can have no efficacy, if it is applied unsteadily 
 and rarely. 
 
 On the mode in which it has been applied, we may 
 appeal to a great authority. Montesquieu says — 
 " Le droit public est plus connu en Europe qu'en 
 Asie : cependant on pent dire que les passions des 
 princes — la patience des peuples — la flatterie des 
 ecrivains, en ont corrompu tous les principes. Ce 
 droit, tel qu'il est aujourd'hui, est une science qui 
 apprend aux princes jusqu'a quel point ils peuvent 
 violer la justice, sans chequer leurs int^rets."— {Lett. 
 Persanes, XCIV.) 
 
 To go a little deeper, we may consider, whether 
 the interest of nations, that wbich^ in the long run, 
 governs them all, can ever produce combinations, 
 frojn which an effectual sanction, of the nature in 
 question, can be expected to proceed. That they 
 would derive some advantage from the general ob- 
 servation of those maxims vv'hich have been called 
 laws of nations, frivolous as are the points upon 
 which the greater part of them turn, cannot be de-^ 
 nied. These advantages, however, are seen at a dis- 
 
 VOL. VI. PART I. 
 
 tance, and with the mind's eye ; they are speculative, Law of 
 rather than sensible. The inconveniences, on the Nations, 
 other hand, which must be felt, from any movement' 
 to lend effect to the law of nations^ are immediate 
 and formidable ; the whole train of the evils of war 
 are almost sure to arise from them. The latter class 
 of impressions must, in general, be far more power- 
 ful than the former ; and thus the interposition, in fa- 
 vour of the law of nations, will generally be shunned. 
 A nation is often but too easily stimulated to make 
 war in resentment of injuries done to itself. But it 
 looks with too much coolness upon the injuries done 
 to other nations, to incur any great chance of incon» 
 venience for the redress of them. 
 
 Besides, the object is to be gained by the means 
 of combination. But the combinations of nations are 
 very difficult things. Nations hardly ever combine 
 without quarrelling. 
 
 Again, all nations ought to combine for an object 
 common to all. But for all nations to combine in 
 any one enterprise is impossible. Suppose a prince 
 to have violated the law of nations, it would be ab- 
 surd to suppose that all the countries on earth should 
 conspire to punish him. But if not all, what is to 
 be the selection ? Who shall come forward ; who 
 stand excused i By those who are condemned to 
 the sacrifice, in what proportion are the contribu- 
 tions to be made i Who is to afford the greatest, 
 and who may come with the least ? 
 
 It is unnecessary to pursue any farther the analysis 
 of this extraordinary hypothesis. It is evident from 
 what has been said, that it is full of impracticabi- 
 lities. 
 
 Are we, then, obliged to consider the maxims or 
 rules, which pass under the name of Laws of Nations, 
 as utterly without force and influence ; and the dis- 
 course which is made about them, as mere aflPectation 
 and impertinence i 
 
 Not wholly so. It is of use that the ordinary in- The only 
 tercourse of nations should be conducted according sanction ap- 
 to certain forms, generally known and approved ; be- Ulg'^jlaw of 
 cause they will be observed on all occasions, when Nations is 
 there is no particular motive to violate them, and tlie popular 
 will often prevent disputes which might arise on fri- sanction, 
 volous occasions. They resemble, iq this respect, 
 the ceremonial of a court, or the established forms of 
 polished society. 
 
 The objects, however, which are understood to be 
 embraced by the law of nations, are of two sorts. 
 The first are those minor objects, which partake more 
 of form than of substance. The other are objects 
 which deeply affect humanity. That there are cer- ^ 
 tain interests of nations, which it were good to have 
 considered as their rights, and of which it is infinitely 
 to be desired that the violation could be prevented, 
 is most true. But if national law has no penalty an- 
 nexed to it ; if the weaker party, who is wronged, 
 has no means of redress, where, it may be said, is 
 the advantage of such a law i Or where the pro- 
 priety of calling that a law, which is only a declara- 
 tion respecting rights ; violated by the more power- 
 ful party with impunity, as often, and to as great an 
 extent, as he pleases ? 
 
 There is still, however, a power, which, though it 
 be not the physical force, either of one state, or of a 
 
 B 
 
10 
 
 NATIONS, LAW OF. 
 
 Law of 
 Nations. 
 
 combination of states, applied to vindicate a violation 
 of the las/ of nations, is not without a great sway in 
 human affairs ; and which, as it is very nearly the 
 whole of the power which can be appHed to secure 
 the observation of that law, deserves to be carefully 
 considered, that, by duly appreciating its efficacy in 
 this important affair, we may neither trust to it where 
 it will disappoint our expectation, nor neglect the 
 use of it where it may be turned to advantage. 
 
 That the human mind is powerfully acted upon 
 by the approbation or disapprobation, by the praise 
 or blame, the contempt and hatred, or the love and 
 admiration, of the rest of mankind, is a matter of fact, 
 which, however it may be accounted for, is beyond 
 the limits of disputation. Over the whole field of 
 morality, with the exception of that narrow part 
 which is protected by penal laws, it is the only power, 
 which binds to good conduct, and renders man agree- 
 able and useful to man. It is evident, also, that where 
 there is not great inequality, it is a power, the binding 
 force of which must be necessarily great. Because 
 every individual, considered in himself, is weak and 
 helpless as compared with the rest of the community. 
 Unless, therefore, he can prevail upon them to ab- 
 stain from injuring him, he must be exposed to un- 
 limited suffering. And if, on , the other hand, he can 
 prevail upon them to combine in doing, or in desir- 
 ing to do him good, he is put in the way of receiv- 
 ing perpetually the greatest advantages. His motive, 
 therefore, to obtain the favourable, and to avoid the 
 unfavourable regards of the members of the society, 
 in which he lives, is of the highest order. But he 
 can obtain their favourable, and avoid their unfa- 
 vourable sentiments, only by abstaining with scrupu- 
 lous anxiety from doing any injury to them, and ob- 
 serving all such modes of conduct as are calculated 
 to be useful and agreeable to them. 
 
 The value which men set upon these favourable 
 regards of the persons among whom they live, is 
 strikingly manifested by some of the most ordinary 
 forms of their discourse and behaviour. What is 
 more esteemed than character ? What injury reckon- 
 ed more deep and unpardonable than that of the 
 man who exerts himself to take away unworthily any 
 part of the reputation of his neighbours ? But what 
 is character, if not the title to the favourable senti- 
 ment of other men ? And what is the loss of charac- 
 ter, but the opinion of other men, that we do not de- 
 serve those favourable sentiments, with which they 
 have been accustomed to regard us ? 
 
 Honour and shame, those emotions, the intensity 
 of which is proved by so many phenomena of human 
 life, are but^ the feelings which attend upon those 
 different situations. When a man finds himself in 
 possession of the love, the esteem, and admiration of 
 those by whom he is surrounded, he is filled with 
 that delight which the belief of the secure possession 
 of a great source of benefit, cannot fail to inspire : 
 he is fearless, elated, and confident ; the principal 
 characteristics of that state of mind which we deno- 
 minate pride. When he is conscious, on the other 
 hand, of having forfeited in any degree the favour- 
 able sentiments of those among wihom he lives, he 
 suffers that depression which the loss of a highly 
 valued possession is calculated to create ; he ceases. 
 
 Law of 
 Nations. 
 
 in some degree, to look forward to his fellow men 
 for good, and feels more or less the apprehension of 
 evil at their hands ; he fears to prove how far their '"■^'"v''^ 
 disapprobation of him reaches, or to excite them to 
 define it too accurately for themselves ; he hangs 
 down his head, and dares not so much as look them 
 in the face. 
 
 When men are favourably situated for having 
 those impressions deeply struck ; or more correctly 
 speaking, when those combinations of ideas have 
 consistently and habitually been presented to their 
 minds, the association becomes at last so indissoluble 
 and strong, as to operate, even where the connec- 
 tion among the things themselves may not exist. 
 
 When persons, who have been educated in a vir- 
 tuous society, have, from their infancy, associat- 
 ed the idea of certain actions with the favourable 
 sentiments, and all the advantages which flow from 
 the favourable sentiments of mankind ; and, on the 
 other hand, have associated the idea of certain other 
 actions with the unfavourable sentiments, and all the 
 disadvantages which flow from the unfavourable sen- 
 timents of mankind ; so painful a feeling comes in 
 time to be raised in them at the very thought of any 
 such action, that they recoil from the perpetration 
 of it, even in cases in which they may be perfectly 
 secure against any unfavourable sentiments of man- 
 kind, which it might be calculated to inspire. 
 
 It will, we apprehend, upon the most accurate in- 
 vestigation, be found, that this is the only power to 
 which we can look for any considerable sanction to 
 the laws of nations ; — for almost the only species of 
 punishment to which the violation of them can ever 
 become amenable ; and the only security, therefore, 
 which mankind can ever enjoy for the benefit which 
 laws, well contrived for this purpose, might be cal- 
 culated to yield. 
 
 It is in the next place incumbent upon us to in- What d<e. 
 quire, what dependence can be placed upon this se-P^"^^"'<c 
 curity, in the set of cases now under consideration ; ^aced^ui on 
 and in what circumstances it is calculated to act the popxular 
 with the greatest, in what with the least efficacy, to- sanction.*, 
 ward this important end. 
 
 A power, which is wholly derived, from the good 
 which may follow the favourable, the evil which may 
 follow the unfavourable sentiments of mankind, will 
 act most efficaciously upon him who is the most, 
 least efficaciously upon him who is the least exposed 
 to receive good and evil from the immediate inclina- 
 tion of his fellow men. 
 
 It seems to be evident, that he who is most weak, 
 as compared with the rest of the community, is the 
 most exposed to receive good or evil in consequence 
 of their favourable or unfavourable sentiments ; and 
 that he, on the other hand, who is the most power- 
 ful, as compared with them, is the least exposed to 
 receive good or evil in consequence of those senti- 
 ments. 
 
 When men are nearly upon equality, no one has 
 any chance of inducing other people to abstain from 
 hurting him, but by his abstaining from doing hurt 
 in any way to them. He has no means of inducing 
 them to do him any acts of service, but by their ex- 
 pectation of receiving similar acts of service from 
 him. He is, therefore, intensely interested in its 
 10 
 
NATIONS, LA W OF. 11 
 
 Lawoif being generally believed of him, that he is a man 
 Natioms. careful to abstain from injuring, and ever 
 
 ready to exert himself to do services to others. 
 
 The case is exceedingly different, where one man 
 is lifted high above others. In that case he has 
 powerful means of protection against their hurtful 
 acts, powerful means of obtaining their services, al- 
 together independent of his conduct, altogether in- 
 dependent of his disposition either to abstain from 
 injuring them, or to render them service. 
 
 So far, therefore, as good conduct arises from a 
 man's dependence upon the sentiments of others ; 
 and from this is derived the moral power, to which 
 alone the term moral sanction or obligation can pro- 
 perly belong ; the security for good conduct is apt 
 to be lessened, in exact proportion as any one is 
 raised above the level of those composing the mass 
 of the community. If any man possesses absolute 
 power over the rest of the community, he is set free 
 from all dependence upon their sentiments. In this, 
 or nearly in this situation is every despot, having a 
 well established authority. So far as a man is edu- 
 cated as a despot, he can therefore have but few of 
 those associations, on which a conduct, beneficent to 
 others, depends. He is not accustomed to look — 
 for the services which he needs, or the evils which 
 he apprehends, from others — to the opinion which 
 they may entertain of the goodness or badness of his 
 conduct ; he cannot, therefore, have that salutary 
 train of associations from an evil act to the condem- 
 natory sentiments of mankind, and from the con- 
 demnatory sentiments of mankind to the forfeiture 
 of all those delights and advantages which spring to 
 him from the operation of their favourable regards ; 
 — associations which in men favourably situated be- 
 come at last habitual, and govern the conduct, as 
 it were, mechanically, without any distinct recur- 
 rence to the consequences, upon the thought of 
 which, nevertheless, this salutary and ennobling sen- 
 timent ultimately depends, and from which it has 
 been originally derived. 
 
 If such is the situation of the despot with regard 
 to these important associations, it is in a proportion- 
 al degree the situation of all those who partake of 
 that species of elevation. In an Aristocratical coun- 
 try, for example, a country in which there is great 
 inequality of wealth, those who possess the large for- 
 tunes, are raised to a great degree above any chance 
 of receiving evil, or of standing deprived of any 
 good, because the great mass, the lower orders, of 
 their countrymen, think unfavourably of them. They 
 are, no doubt, to a considerable degree dependent 
 upon what the people of their own class may think 
 of them ; and it is accordingly found, that those qua- 
 lities and acts, which are useful to that class, are 
 formed into a particular, an Aristocratical code of 
 morality, which is very effectually sanctioned by the 
 favourable and unfavourable sentiments of the Aris- 
 tocratical body, at the same time that it is exceeding- 
 ly different from that more enlarged and all compre- 
 hensive code, on which the happiness of the greatest 
 number depends, and to which alone the epithet 
 moral in propriety belongs. 
 
 Such being the state of the facts connected with 
 
 this important case, it remains to see what are the Law of 
 inferences, bearing upon it, which we are entitled to ^ Nat i ons. 
 draw from them. We have already ascertained, that 
 the only power which can operate to sanction the 
 laws of nations ; in other words, to reward or punish 
 any nation, according as it obeys, or disobeys them, 
 is the approbation, and disapprobation of mankind. 
 It follows, that the restraining force is, in this case, 
 determined by the associations which they who govern 
 it may have formed with the approbation and disap- 
 probation of mankind. If they have formed strong as- 
 sociations, of a pleasurable kind, with the approbation, 
 strong associations, of the painful kind, with the dis- 
 approbation of mankind, the restraining force will be 
 great ; if they have not formed such associations, it 
 will be feeble and insignificant. It has, however, 
 appeared, immediately above, that the rulers of a 
 country, of which the government is either monarchi- 
 cal, or aristocratical, can have these associations in 
 but a very low degree ; as those alone, who are 
 placed on a level with the great body of other men, 
 are placed in circumstances calculated to produce 
 them. It is only then in countries, the rulers of 
 which are drawn from the mass of the people; in 
 other words, in democratical countries, that the sanc- 
 tion of the laws of nations can be expected to ope- 
 rate with any considerable effect. 
 
 Having thus ascertained, what is the power which ^^}^'^ is fe- 
 restrains from violating the laws of nations, and what ^^"^ 
 the description of rulers upon whom its restraining l^^,, j^^. 
 force is the greatest, we are next to inquire, by what tions its 
 expedients the force of it may be raised to the great- greatest per- 
 est pitch, and the greatest amount of benefit may 
 be derived from it. 
 
 It is sufficiently recognized, that whatever is in- 
 tended to produce any effect as a punishment, pro- 
 duces it in a greater degree, in proportion as it ope- 
 rates with greater precision and certainty. The in- 
 quiry, then, regards the means of giving precision 
 and certainty to those sentiments of the world, on 
 which the binding power of the laws of nations so 
 greatly depends. 
 
 Two things are necessary to give precision and 
 certainty to the operation of laws within a commu- 
 nity. The one is, a strict determination of what the 
 law is, the second, a tribunal so constituted as to 
 yield prompt and accurate execution to the law. It 
 is evident, that these two are indispensible requisites. 
 Without them no penalties can operate with either 
 precision or certainty. And the case is evidently 
 the same, whether we speak of the laws which regu- 
 late the actions of individual and individual within 
 the state, or those which regulate the actions of one 
 state towards another. 
 
 It is obvious to remark, in the first place, that with 
 regard to the laws of nations, not one of these two 
 indispensible requisites has ever yet had any exist- 
 ence. It has neither been determined what the laws 
 in question are, nor has any common tribunal for 
 cognizance of the violations of them ever been con- 
 stituted. With respect to the last, not so much as 
 the idea of it seems to have been entertained. And 
 with respect to the first, though much has been writ- 
 ten, it has been almost wholly in the way of vague 
 
NATIONS, LAW OF. 
 
 Law of 
 Nations. 
 
 Necessity 
 for a Code 
 of Interna, 
 tional Law. 
 
 and general discourse. Hardly a single accurate defi- 
 nition has yet been applied to any part of the subject. 
 
 Here, then, we come to what is obviously the 
 grand inquiry ; namely, first, What can be done to- 
 wards defining the laws of nations ? and, secondly^ 
 What can be done towards providing a tribunal for 
 yielding prompt and accurate decisions in conformi- 
 ty with them ? in other words, for applying with the 
 greatest possible eflScacy the opinion of the world for 
 restraining the violation of them ? 
 
 In the Article Jurisprudence, to which it is ne- 
 cessary for us here to revert, we have sufficiently 
 made it appear, that the foundation of all law is the 
 constitution of rights. Of two parties, unless it is 
 previously determined what each shall enjoy, it can 
 never be determined whether one has improperly 
 disturbed the enjoyment of the other. To determine, 
 however, what a party is to enjoy, is to determine 
 his rights. 
 
 Now, then, with regard to nations, the question is, 
 what ought to be constituted rights ? or in other 
 words, what would it be desirable, for the good of 
 mankind upon the whole, that the several nations 
 should respect as the rights of each other ? 
 
 This, it is pretty obvious, is one of the most ex- 
 tensive of all inquiries, far exceeding the limits of an 
 article in the present work. We can attempt little 
 more than to show the way in which the inquiry 
 may be carried on. 
 
 In the Article Jurisprudence, we have endea* 
 voured to clear up the meaning which in legislation 
 can, without leading to confusion, be alone attached 
 to the term Rights ; and we have there likewise seen, 
 that there are but two classes of objects, in which in- 
 dividuals can have rights ; namely. Things, and Per- 
 sons. 
 
 The case, we believe, will be found the same with 
 respect to nations. They also can have rights, in 
 nothing but Persons, and Things. Of course, it fol- 
 lows, that they can receive injury in nothing but in 
 Persons, or Things. 
 
 The inquiry, however, with respect to the rights 
 of nations, is not so simple, as that with respect to 
 the rights of individuals ; because between indivi- 
 duals, subject to the same system of laws, the legisla- 
 ture recognizes no state of hostility ; but between 
 nations there is the State of War, and the State of 
 Peace, and the rights which are understood to belong 
 to nations are different in these two difiPerent states. 
 In the state of war, nations recognize in one another 
 very few rights respecting either persons or things ; 
 they kill the one, and take and destroy the other, 
 with little other limit than the want of ability. In 
 the state of peace, they respect as rights belonging 
 to one another^ nearly the same things which are 
 constituted rights of individuals, by the ordinary sys- 
 tems of national law. 
 
 Whatshould begin with the consideration of those 
 
 be recogniz- things which it would be desirable that nations should 
 ed as Rights respect as the rights of one another, in the time of 
 
 Pe^r"^ peace. 
 
 Kxidi, first, of rights with respect to things. As 
 the subject of the rights of nations, things may be 
 divided into two sorts ; things belonging to some in- 
 
 Rights of 
 Nations. 
 
 dividual member of the nation, and things belonging 
 to the nation in its collective, or corporate, capacity. 
 
 Those rights in things which the nation guarantees 
 to its individual members, within the nation, it would Z,^^£ {^l' 
 be desirable, with hardly any exception, that nations yijuais. 
 should respect in regard to one another ; that those 
 things, for example, which the government of the 
 CQuntry to which a man belongs, would regard, and 
 would compel all its subjects to regard, as his pro- 
 perty, the governments of all other countries should 
 respect, and compel all their subjects to respect, as 
 his property. 
 
 There are two states of circumstances in which 
 questions may arise between nations, respecting the 
 property of their respective subjects. The first, 
 where the property in question, when the cause of 
 dispute arises, is within the country of the individual 
 to whom it belongs : The second, where the proper- 
 ty has, by its owner, been previously removed into 
 the country, with which, or some of the inhabitants 
 of which, the dispute has arisen. 
 
 1. The first set of circumstances exists between 
 two conterminous countries ; the bordering inhabit- 
 ants of which are neighbours to one another, and may, 
 as any other neighbours, infringe the properties of 
 one another. The proper mode of settling these dis- 
 putes seems to be sufficiently obvious. The rights ol 
 the party complaining should be adjudged, accord- 
 ing to the laws of the country to which he belongs. 
 But the party sued or prosecuted, should be amen- 
 able only to the tribunals of the country to which he 
 belongs ; that is to say, the question should be tried 
 before the tribunals of the country of the defendant; 
 but the definition of the right in question should be 
 taken from the law of the country to which the 
 plaintiff" belongs. It might in some cases be conve- 
 nient for countries in this situation, to agree in con- 
 stituting a common judicature, appropriated to these 
 disputes, to consist, for example, of two judgeSj one 
 of each country, with power to choose a third, when 
 they could not agree. 
 
 The injury complained of may be capable of re- 
 dress by a remedy of the nature of a civil suit mere- 
 ly ; or it may be of that more atrocious sort, theft or 
 robbery, for which the remedy of punishment is re- 
 quired. 
 
 It would appear that punishment ought to be ap- 
 portioned according to the laws of the country to 
 which the party who has incurred it belongs. What- 
 ever would be the punishment decreed for the of- 
 fence, if committed against a man of his own coun- 
 try, such a punishment he ought to sustain, for the 
 offence against the man of the other country. The 
 question of punishment is here understood, as extra- 
 neous to that of compensation. This ought always 
 to be made to the party injured, where it is capable 
 of being made, and in a case of property it is always 
 capable ; if not by the author of the injury, from 
 want of property, or other cause, at least by the go- 
 vernment of the country to which he belongs. 
 
 2. Where a man has removed his property from 
 his own into another country, there seems no peculiar 
 reason why it should be regulated by any other laws 
 than those of the country into which he has remov- 
 ed it; why the rights which it confers should be 
 
NATIONS, LAW OF. 
 
 13 
 
 Tbe Persons 
 of Indivi- 
 duals. 
 
 Otherwise determined ; or the violation of them other- 
 wise punished. 
 
 We have now considered, though in a very general 
 manner (and our limits preclude us from attempting 
 any thing more), the mode in which nations should 
 agree about the rights of one another (in other 
 words, the laws they should establish), in as far as 
 the property of individuals, belonging to them, is 
 concerned. After the property of individuals, their 
 persons are to be considered as requiring the protec- 
 tion of laws. 
 
 There is more difficulty in determining what is de- 
 sirable, as international law, upon this part of the 
 subject, than in that which regards the property of 
 individuals. It is desirable that the persons of the 
 inhabitants of every country should receive protec- 
 tion, according to the laws of their own country. 
 But it is also desirable that each man should sustain 
 punishment according to the laws of his country ; and 
 these two objects are to a certain extent inconsistent 
 with one another. 
 
 The inconvenience, however, seems to be greater, 
 in permitting the inhabitants of one country to be 
 punished, according to the laws of another; than in 
 leaving the inhabitants of one country to the same 
 measure of protection against injury to their persons 
 from the inhabitants of other countries, as is afforded 
 to the inhabitants of those countries by their own 
 laws. Many cases, indeed, may be conceived, in 
 which this is a measure of protection which all rea« 
 sonable men would allow to be inadequate. In such 
 cases, however, the only remedy seems to be the for- 
 mation of a compact, by which a mode of proceed- 
 ing, agreeable to the sentiments of both parties, may 
 be positively prescribed. This latter expedient is 
 of course extraneous to that equitable construction 
 which ought to be uniformly applied by the tribu- 
 nals of one country to the injuries perpetrated by 
 those whom they may have to judge, upon the in- 
 habitants of another country. If an inhabitant of 
 Persia, for example, should force cow-broth down 
 the throat of an inhabitant and native of Hindostan, 
 the tribunals of Persia should not punish this out- 
 rage, as they would punish one Persian for making 
 another swallow the same liquid. To the Persian it 
 would be a trifling injury, and more than a trifling 
 punishment would not be required. To the Hindu, 
 it would be one of the greatest of all conceivable in- 
 juries. It ought to be, therefore, put upon the same 
 footing, with an injury of an equal degree, done to 
 a Persian ; the nature of the injury, not the external 
 act, should be the object of consideration : and what-- 
 ever the punishment which would be awarded against 
 a Persian for one of the greatest injuries of which he 
 could be guilty to a Persian, the same ought to be 
 inflicted upon him, for this, one of the greatest which 
 he could occasion to a Hindu. 
 
 Besides the cases in which a government, as repre- 
 sentative of the country, may be injured through the 
 individuals who live under its protection, there are 
 cases in which it may be injured more directly. Cer- 
 tain things belong as property to the government, 
 without belonging to any individual ; and there are 
 persons who are members of the government, or 
 agents of the government, and who may receive in* 
 
 Law of 
 Nations. 
 
 juries in that capacity, distinct from those which af- 
 fect them, as private individuals. These are the 
 cases to which it now remains that we direct our at- 
 tention. 
 
 Those things which belong to government as goods The Proper, 
 and chattels; its moveables, for example; or 
 lands which it holds, as any individual holds them, state, 
 in the way of an estate ; there seems to be no reason 
 for considering as subject to any other rules, than 
 those applicable to the goods and chattels which be- 
 long to individuals. 
 
 Of other things, those to which any government 
 can claim a right, as representative of a nation, must 
 be, either, first, Portions of Land, or, secondly, Por- 
 tions of Water. 
 
 1. The questions which relate to the rights which Dominion 
 any nation may claim in any portion of land, are ''^ 
 questions regarding boundaries ; and these involve 
 the whole of the questions respecting the acquisition 
 of dominion. 
 
 To have any standard for determining questions 
 with regard to dominion, the different modes of ac- 
 quiring dominion, must be recognized ; those which 
 are proper to be allowed and respected by other na- 
 tions must be distinguished from those which are im- 
 proper, must be accurately defined, and the defini- 
 tions made known. 
 
 For this purpose it is easy to perceive, that the 
 same process is necessary, as that for the definition 
 of rights, described, at some length, in the Article in 
 this work, entitled Jurisprudence, to which we must 
 again refer. 
 
 It is necessary, according to that example, that 
 the events which are to be considered as giving com- 
 mencement to a right of dominion, and those which 
 are to be considered as putting an end to it, should 
 be fully enumerated, and accurately defined. 
 
 This is the first part of the process. The other 
 part is, to distinguish the different degrees of domi- 
 nion. There is a dominion which is perfect, which 
 includes every power over the subject in question, 
 and leaves nothing farther to be acquired, a domini- 
 um plenum : there is also a dominion, which is but 
 the commencement, as it were, of dominion, and in- 
 cludes the smallest possible fragment of a full domi- 
 nion. These are the two extremes ; and between them 
 are various distinguishable degrees. All these should 
 be fully depicted, and accurately defined. 
 
 When any of those events occurs which are to be 
 considered as giving commencement to rights, it oft- 
 en happens that they are accompanied by circum- 
 stances which limit the right they would otherwise 
 convey, and render the dominion less than full. 
 These circumstances ought, also, to be completely 
 enumerated ; and the power of each to be accurately- 
 defined. 
 
 If this were done, an international code would be 
 composed, in which the rights of dominion would be 
 accurately defined ; and to determine any question 
 about boundaries, or about the degree of dominion, 
 nothing farther would then be necessary than an 
 adequate inquiry respecting the state of the facts. 
 
 The questions would exactly resemble those, which 
 we have already described, in the Article Jurispru- 
 BENCE, in analyzing what is called pleading in ju-. 
 
14 NATIONS, 
 
 Law of dicature. In a question about boundaries there is, 
 ^ Nations. ^ j^j. suppose, a district, over which one country 
 ~^ affirms that it has a right of dominion, a dominion 
 
 more or less complete ; and another country denies 
 that it has that right. The first question is. Whether 
 any of those events has occurred, which would give 
 the affirming country a right of dominion ? The se- 
 cond question is, Whether, if such an event had oc- 
 curred, it was accompanied with any of those circum- 
 stances which limit dominion, and render it less than 
 lull, and if so, under what degree of limiting power 
 they are classed i The third question is. Whether, 
 if an event, thus giving commencement to a right of 
 dominion had occurred, any other event, putting an 
 end to that right, had subsequently occurred ? 
 
 We need not here enlarge upon these several to- 
 pics ; because they will be sufficiently understood by 
 those readers who bear in mind the expositions al- 
 ready given in the article referred to ; and to those, 
 who do not, we suggest the propriety of recurring 
 to that article, as a prepare- lion for the perusal of 
 this.' 
 
 It is evidently disproportionate to the h'mits which 
 we must here prescribe to ourselves, to enumerate 
 the events which it would be agreeable to the inte- 
 rests of mankind in general, that nations should re- 
 gard as giving, and alone giving, commencement and 
 termination to rights of dominion ; because, in order 
 to affi3rd an enumeration which would be in any de- 
 gree instructive, the reasons must be given why one 
 set of events, and not another, should have the privi- 
 lege in question conferred upon them. 
 
 It may be proper, however, in the mean time, to 
 observe, that the events in question will not be found 
 to be numerous, nor very difficult to discover. In 
 fact, they are, and among civilized nations, almost 
 always have been, pretty nearly agreed upon ; and 
 they are the questions of modification, and questions 
 of fact, upon which, chiefly, differences have arisen. 
 For example, there is no dispute, that Occupancy, 
 where there is no prior right, is an event which should 
 be considered as giving commencement to a right of 
 dominion. Neither is there any doubt, that the Con- 
 sent of those who have a right, may transfer that 
 right to others: or in other words, that such consent 
 is an event which gives commencement to a right in 
 those others. Conquest, also, made in a lawful war, 
 is recognized as an event of the same description ; 
 and, it will be found upon inquiry that these do, in 
 fact, contain the whole. For on every occasion on 
 which dominion is acquired, the territory so acquired 
 must, before hand, either have belonged to some 
 body, or have belonged to no body. If it belonged 
 to no body, occupancy is the only event which can 
 be supposed to give commencement to the right. If 
 it belonged to some body, it must be taken from 
 him, either willingly, or by force. If it is taken from 
 him willingly, we have his consent. If it is taken by 
 force, it is by conquest in war, that the new right is 
 created. 
 
 It is evidently, however, farther necessary that the 
 different species of consent should be distinguished ; 
 and those to which it would be proper to attach this 
 investitive power, separated accurately from those 
 frora which it should be withheld. It is here accord- 
 
 LAW OF. 
 
 ingly, that the doctrine of contracts, would need to of 
 be introduced; that the different species of them ap- ^^^'^ 
 plicable to this subject, in which all treaties would be 
 included, should be enumerated ; that the effects pro- 
 per to be given to each of them should be defined; 
 and the mode of interpreting them, or fixing the sense 
 which they ought to bear, accurately laid down. 
 
 It would also be expedient, after the principal con- 
 tracts, applicable to international concerns, are ascer- 
 tained, to exhibit in the international code,Jbrmulce, 
 with blanks to be filled up, which should be employ- 
 ed by nations on all occasions of such contracts, and 
 being framed with the greatest possible accuracy, 
 would go as far as it would be possible by words 
 to go, in excluding ambiguity, and the grounds of 
 dispute. 
 
 With respect to conquest, the last event, calculat- 
 ed to give commencement to rights of dominion, 
 mentioned in the above general enumeration, it is al- 
 lowed, that as there are some conquests which ought 
 not to be considered as conferring rights of dominion, 
 there are others which ought to be considered as do- 
 ing so. It is evidently necessary, therefore, that the 
 line of separation should be drawn. 
 
 Whether a conquest, however, should or should 
 not be considered as conferring a right of dominion, 
 depends very much upon the nature of the war, 
 through which it is made. If the war be what is re- 
 garded as just, and the mode of warfare conformable 
 to the recognized rules, the conquest is apt to be re- 
 garded as conferring a legitimate title ; if the war, 
 and mode of war, be of a contrary description, the 
 validity of the title conferred by the conquest may be 
 liable to dispute. 
 
 It is evident, therefore, that, in order to define the 
 species of conquest on which the investitive power 
 in question should be conferred, the circumstances 
 which render a war justifiable, and the mode in 
 which it is justifiable to carry it on, must first be as- 
 certained. This forms the second part of our inqui- 
 ry : and the question regarding the investitive power 
 of conquest must be deferred, till that inquiry is per- 
 formed. 
 
 Having thus far considered the mode in which 
 should be determined the rights which nations ac- 
 quire over portions of territory, or Land, it remains 
 that we consider the mode in which their rights 
 should be determined with regard to Waters. 
 
 Waters, as concerns the present purpose, are, ei- Dominion 
 ther rivers or the sea. Water. 
 
 As the sea involves the questions of greatest ex- 
 tent and importance, we shall attend to that part of 
 the subject first. 
 
 Even in the language of ordinary discourse, the 
 sea is denominated the common domain of nations. 
 
 The first principle with regard to the sea is this, 
 that all nations have an equal right to the use of it. 
 The utility of recognizing this principle, is so appa- 
 rent, that it has never been the subject of any dis- 
 pute. And all the rights assigned to nations severally 
 in the enjoyment of this common domain, ought 
 rise out of this principle ; and to be limited by it 
 Whatever use any nation makes of it, should be such 
 as not to prevent a similar and equal use from being 
 made by other nations. And every use which can- 
 
NATIONS, LAW OF. 
 
 15 
 
 Law of 
 Nations. 
 
 not be shown to have that effect, should be recog- 
 nized as a right by the law of nations. 
 
 The principal use which nations make of the sea, 
 is that of a passage for their ships. Agreeably to 
 the principle which we have recognized, the ships of 
 one nation should pass in such a manner as not to ob- 
 struct the passage of those of another. The rules ac- 
 cording to which the possible cases of interference 
 should be regulated, are very simple ; and are, in 
 fact, laid down and acted upon, with considerable ac- 
 curacy. They resemble, in all respects, those accord- 
 ing to which the vessels of the same country are 
 made to avoid and to regulate their interferences in 
 the rivers of the country, or upon its coasts. There 
 would be no difBculty, therefore, in making accurate 
 definitions of the requisite rights, for insertion in the 
 international code. 
 
 The rights being established, the violations of 
 them should be punished, on the same principles, 
 as those which we have laid down in regard to the 
 preceding cases. Either property has been injured, 
 or persons. In either case, compensation is an in- 
 disputable part of the remedial process, wherever it 
 is practicable. In loss of property, it is fully prac- 
 ticable. It is also practicable in many of the inju- 
 ries done to the person. As in the case of offences 
 committed on land, the rights of the individual 
 who has suffered should be estimated according to 
 the laws of the country to which he belongs ; but the 
 punishment of the offender should be measured ac- 
 cording to the laws of the country to which he be- 
 longs. In the case of piracy, which is robbery, or 
 murder, committed by persons whom no country re- 
 cognizes, and upon whom, therefore, justice can be 
 demanded from no foreign government, it has hither- 
 to been the practice that the nation suffering has 
 taken the punishment into its own hands. Accord- 
 ingly, the punishment of piracy has always been ex- 
 tremely severe. It would be, no doubt, better, if a 
 mode were adopted, by which it would not be ne- 
 cessary for a nation to be judge in its own cause. A 
 rule does not seem impossible to be framed, accord- 
 ing to which the punishment of piracy might be pro- 
 vided for, by referring those accused of it, either to 
 some general tribunal, constituted for that purpose, 
 or to the tribunals of some nation other than that 
 against which the offence has been perpetrated. A 
 general law, on this subject, to be observed by all na- 
 tions, would be highly desirable. 
 
 Rules, therefore, seem not difficult to be laid 
 down, for regulating the proceedings of nations on 
 the high seas. A distinction, however, is drawn be- 
 tween what is called the high, and what is called the 
 narroto seas. By the narrow seas is commonly meant 
 some portion of sea, to a greater or less extent, im- 
 mediately surrounding a particular country ; and in 
 which that country claims peculiar privileges. The 
 question is, whether any such privileges should be 
 allowed, and if allowed, to what extent ? 
 
 The regulating principle in this, as in other cases, 
 is the general advantage, the principle of utility. 
 There are cases, in which certain privileges, in the 
 waters surrounding a particular country, are of so 
 much importance to that country ; and the exercise 
 of those advantages occasions so very little inconve- 
 
 nience to other nations, that what is lost, by all of 
 them taken together, bears no comparison with what 
 is gained by that particular nation. In these cases, 
 the exercise of such privileges should be allowed ; 
 they should, however, be defined, in as many instances 
 as possible, and promulgated by insertion in an inter- 
 national code. 
 
 Of the privileges in question, are all those which 
 are essential, or to a considerable degree subservient, 
 to the national security. In some cases, the exclusive 
 right of fishing might perhaps come under the same 
 rule. But this is in general provided for, by the ne- 
 cessity of drawing the nets, or curing the fish upon 
 the land, a privilege which, of course, it is in the 
 power of any nation to give or to withhold. 
 
 In obedience to this equitable principle, it ap- 
 pears, that such foppish privileges, as have some- 
 times been insisted upon, and afford no advantage to 
 one nation, which is not wholly at the cost of others — 
 lowering the flag, for example, and such like impositions 
 — should not be recognized by the code of nations. 
 
 It appears, also, that those tolls which have been, 
 sometimes, and are levied at the narrow inlets of some 
 seas, deserve to fall under the same condemnation. 
 The passage through these inlets is a common good 
 to all the nations of the earth which may have a mo- 
 tive to use them ; a good of the highest importance 
 to the nations which are situated within, and to 
 which it is the only means of maritime communica- 
 tion ; and, while it imparts no evil to the contermi- 
 nous nation, the toll which that nation levies is an 
 advantage obtained wholly at the cost of others ; 
 and imposing upon them a burden, in the way of 
 obstruction and trouble, which is compensated for by 
 advantage to nobody. 
 
 The waters, we have said, in respect to which rights 
 should be assigned to nations, are rivers and the sea. 
 Having stated what appears necessary on the present 
 occasion with respect to the sea, it remains that we 
 offer the few observations required, on the subject of 
 rivers. 
 
 Rivers are either the boundary between two coun- 
 tries, or they are wholly within a particular country. 
 
 Those which are wholly within a particular coun- 
 try, it seems most agreeable to the principle of uti- 
 lity to regard as wholly belonging to that country. 
 In the case of navigable rivers which pass through 
 several countries, it would indeed be desirable for 
 those countries which are situated higher up than 
 that at the mouth of each, as well as for all those 
 who might thus have intercourse with them, that the 
 navigation of such rivers should be free ; but it 
 would be difficult so to regulate this right, as not to 
 affect the security of the country through which a 
 free navigation should thus be allowed; and a slight 
 diminution in its security would be so great a loss to 
 that country as would require, to compensate for it, 
 a very great advantage to those by whom the navi- 
 gation was enjoyed. Unless where this advantage 
 were very great, it would not, therefore, be agree- 
 able to the principle which should dictate the laws 
 of nations, that the freedom of the navigation should 
 be regulated on any other principles than those of 
 mutual agreement. 
 
 In rejjard to those rivers which flow between two 
 
 Law of 
 Nations. 
 
16 
 
 NATIONS, LAW OF. 
 
 Law of countries, the principle of regulation is sufficiently 
 Nations, plain. The benefits derivable from the river should 
 ■•^^•^ be shared equally between them. Its principal be- 
 nefits arise from the fishing and from the navigation. 
 The right of fishing in most cases may be fitly dis- 
 tributed, by each party fishing from its own bank to 
 the middle of the stream. The right of navigating 
 of each must be so exercised as not to obstruct the 
 right of the other. In this case the same sort of 
 rules are required, to prevent the ships of the two 
 nations from obstructing one another, in a common 
 river, as are found available to prevent the ships of 
 different individuals from obstructing one another, in 
 a river belonging to one country. There is no dif- 
 ficulty, therefore, here, which it is worth stopping to 
 show how to remove. 
 
 Whatshould We have now adduced what our limits admit to be 
 be recogniz. §^{(1^ upon the first great branch of the inquiry rela- 
 ed as Rights ^ nations ; namely, the rights which 
 
 m time ot , . , , • • • » r 
 
 War. they should recognize in one another m the state ot 
 
 peace. We proceed to the second branch, relating 
 wholly to the state of war. 
 
 The questions which present themselves for solu- 
 tion relating to the state of war, are either those 
 which respect its commencement, or those which re- 
 spect the mode of carrying it on. 
 Whatshould With respect to the commencement of a war, the 
 be regarded principal question is. What are the conditions which 
 as necessary should be regarded as necessary to render it just ? 
 the"S- ^" ^ situation where laws, and the pro- 
 
 mencement tection derived from them, do not exist, are left to 
 of a War their own protection, and have no means of deter- 
 just. j.jjjg other men from injuring them, but making them 
 dread injury in return, so nations, which, with re- 
 spect to one another, have, as we have seen before, 
 but little protection from the legal sanction, are left 
 to supply its place by this dread of injury in return, 
 which, in the case both of individuals and of nations, 
 may be called the retributive sanction, and of which, 
 in the case of nations, war is the principal organ. 
 
 From this view of the essence and end of war, we lay 
 down immediately one pretty extensive proposition 
 with regard to the'conditions necessary to render it just. 
 
 As the legal sanction, or punishment for the of- 
 fences of individuals ought to operate only where 
 some right has been violated, and the violation has 
 been such as to require it, so the retributive sanction 
 of nations, which is war, ought to operate only 
 where some right of the nation, or something which 
 ought to be treated as a right, has been violated, and 
 where the violation has been such as to require that 
 desperate remedy. 
 
 But as not all violations which may possibly be 
 committed of the rights of a nation will justify it in 
 inflicting war, the next object is, to draw the line of 
 separation, and distinguish between those violations 
 of the rights of nations which justify, and those which 
 do not justify, the extremity of war. 
 
 As the evils which war produces are exceedingly 
 great, it is, first of all, evident, that no violation of 
 rights which is not very great, will, upon the princi- 
 ple which we have so often recognized, suffice to 
 justify it. Of two evils, the least, is the choice of all 
 sound legislation. 
 
 Of the violation of the rights of individuals, in the 
 same country, the cases meet for punishment are^ 
 capable of being pointed out, with a degree of accu- 
 racy, not wanting much of perfection. Of the viola- 
 tion of the rights of nations, committed by one na- 
 tion against another, the cases which would justify 
 the remedial operation of war are much more diffi- 
 cult to define. The difficulty, indeed, is not univer- 
 sal ; for there are cases which may be very satisfac- 
 torily defined ; and as far as definition can go, it is 
 of the utmost importance that it should be carried. 
 Uncertainty, then, pervades only one part of the 
 field; which the more we are able to lessen, the 
 greater the advantage in favour of humanity which 
 we gain. If a proper code of international law were 
 formed, there would be certain defined violations of 
 the rights of nations which would be pointed out, 
 not only as deserving the indignation and hatred of 
 all the world, but as justifying the injured nation be- 
 fore all the world, in inflicting upon its injurer the 
 calamities of war. There would also be certain 
 other injuries pointed out, of a more doubtful cha- 
 racter ; which might, or might not, according to cir- 
 cumstances not easy to define, be such as to justify 
 recourse to war. The injuries of this secondary cha- 
 racter, also, which might, or might not, according to 
 circumstances, justify a war, are capable of being 
 pointed out with a certain degree of accuracy. To 
 a certain degree, likewise, the circumstances which 
 would convert them into justifying causes, are capa- 
 ble of being foreseen. So far definition is capable of 
 extending, and so far, of course, it ought to be car- 
 ried. 
 
 In illustration of this latter class of injuries, we 
 may select the most remarkable, perhaps, and im- 
 portant of all the instances ; preparations for a threat- 
 ened attack. A sense of security is one of the most 
 valuable treasures of a nation ; and to be deprived of 
 that sense of security, is one of the greatest of inju- 
 ries. But what state of preparation shall, or shall 
 not be considered as justifying the threatened nation 
 in striking the first blow, in order not to give its 
 enemy the advantage of completing bis preparations, 
 and making his attack just at the moment when it 
 would be most destructive, it is perhaps impossible to 
 determine, for all cases, beforehand ; though, no 
 doubt, a certain progress may be made towards that 
 determination, and the bounds of uncertainty may be 
 greatly reduced. 
 
 We are aware how general, and therefore how un- 
 satisfactory, these observations are, on the important 
 subject of defining those violations of the rights of 
 nations which ought to be regarded as justificatory 
 causes of war ; but at the same time it is to be ob- 
 served, that not much more could have been done 
 without framing the code, by actually enumerating 
 and defining the violations for which that remedy 
 should be reserved. 
 
 Another consideration is now to be weighed. It 
 is evident that whatever injuries are done by one na- 
 tion to another, compensation may almost always be 
 made for them. It is equally evident, that whatever 
 injury may have been sustained, if compensation is 
 
 Law ot 
 Nations. 
 
 made for 
 moved. 
 
 it, the justificatory cause of war is re- 
 
 12 
 
NATIONS, LAW OF. 
 
 Vationl '^^^ doctrine of compensation, therefore/ is an im- 
 portant part of international jurisprudence- Before 
 recourse is had to war, for any violation of rights, 
 compensation ought first to be demanded; and no 
 war, except in cases fit for exception, should be re- 
 garded as just, which this demand had not preceded ; 
 a demand which should be made through a consti- 
 tuted organ, and in, a predetermined mode, as we 
 shall more fully describe in a subsequent page, when 
 we come to treat of an international tribunal. 
 
 As there can be no reason why the demand of 
 compensation should not always precede the use of 
 arms, except in cases of such a necessity as will not 
 allow time for demanding compensation — a necessity 
 for the immediate use of arms, in order to prevent 
 an evil immediately impending — those cases of ur- 
 gent necessity should, as far as possible, be sought 
 out, and defined. 
 
 Other circumstances may be enumerated, as be- 
 longing to this first stage of the remedy, against a na- 
 tion, which places itself in an attitude, affecting the 
 sense of security of any of its neighbours. If a na- 
 tion is making preparations, or executing any other 
 measures, calculated to excite alarm, it may be call- 
 ed upon to desist from them ; or it may be called 
 upon to give security, that it will not make a hostile 
 use of them. Of these securities, hostages are one 
 of the most familiar instances. Various other in- 
 stances will easily present themselves to the consi- 
 deration of our readers. Upon this part of the sub- 
 ject, therefore, it is unnecessary for us to enlarge. 
 Wh»t should It thus appears, that we may lay down, with a 
 as^ S^an? considerable degree of precision, the conditions upon 
 unjmst in°the ^h^ch the commencement of a war ought to be re- 
 modtes of garded as just. It remains, under this head of in- 
 carrjying on quiry, that we show how it may, as far as possible, 
 a W ar. ^e determined, what ought to be regarded as just 
 and unjust in the modes of carrying it on. 
 
 This is an inquiry of more complexity, a good 
 deal, than the first. In looking out for a guiding 
 principle, it is evidently necessary to keep in view 
 the end to which every just war is of necessity re- 
 stricted. That is, compensation for an injury receiv- 
 ed, and security that a fresh injury shall not be com- 
 mitted. Combining this with the grand principle of 
 humanity and utility, in other words, of morality ; 
 namely, that all evil, wilfully occasioned, and not 
 calculated to produce a more than equivalent good, 
 is wicked, and to be opposed, we obtain one com- 
 prehensive and highly important rule ; which is 
 this : That in the modes of carrying on war, every 
 thing should be condemned by the law of nations, 
 which, without being more conducive, or more in 
 any considerable degree, to the attainment of the 
 just end of the war, is much more mischievous to the 
 nation against whom it is done. 
 
 As the end is to be gained, in most cases, only by 
 inflicting a loss of men and property, upon the op- 
 posing nation, it would be desirable that the distinc- 
 tion should be drawn between the modes of inflicting 
 this loss, which are the most, and those which are the 
 least calculated, to inflict pain and suffering, without 
 being more conducive to the end. 
 
 One distinction is suflSciently remarkable ; namely, 
 the distinction between the men who are in arms or 
 
 VOL. VI. PART I. 
 
 17 
 
 actually opposed to the designs of the belligerent, 
 and the men who are not so ; also between the pro- 
 perty which belongs to the government of the op- 
 posing nation, and that which belongs to private in- 
 dividuals composing the nation. 
 
 With respect to the first class of objects, the men 
 in arms, and the property of the government, there 
 is not much difficulty. To produce the loss of them, 
 as rapidly as possible, till the end or purpose of the 
 war is obtained, appears to be a privilege which can- 
 not be separated from the right of warring at all. 
 
 With respect to the loss of the men, indeed, there 
 is an important restriction. It means the loss of 
 them for the purposes of the war, and no more. If 
 it be practicable to put them in a situation in which 
 they can no longer be of any service to the war, all 
 farther injury to them should be held unjustifiable. 
 Under this rule falls the obligation, so generally re- 
 cognized, of making our enemies, as often as possi- 
 ble, prisoners, instead of killing them, and of treat- 
 ing them with huma:nity, while retained in that con- 
 dition. 
 
 That part of the subject, therefore, which relates 
 to men in arms, and to such property as belongs im- 
 mediately to the government, it is not impossible to 
 include in rules of tolerable precision. The difficul- 
 ty is, with respect to those individuals who, compos- 
 ing the body of the nation, form no part of the men 
 in arras, and with respect to the property of such in- 
 dividuals. 
 
 Though it would not be correct to say, that these 
 do not contribute, or rather that they may not be 
 made to contribute, to the means with which the go- 
 vernment carries on the war; yet it would be ab- 
 surd not to recognize a very broad distinction be- 
 tween them, and the men and things which are im- 
 mediately applied, or applicable to the war. A dif- 
 ference, therefore, equally broad, ought, in reason, 
 to be made in the mode of treating them. The mode 
 of treating the one ought to be very different from 
 that of treating the other. As the rule of destruc- 
 tion must be the rule with regard to the first, only li- 
 mited by certain restrictions ; so the rule of forbear- 
 ance and preservation ought to be the rule with re- 
 gard to the latter, only to be infringed upon special 
 and justifying circumstances. 
 
 Thus far we seem to have travelled with the advan- 
 tage of light to our path. We may go a little farther, 
 with equal certainty, and say, that as far as regards 
 the persons of those who are not engaged in the im- 
 mediate business of hostility, very few occasions can 
 occur, in which it would be allowable, upon any just 
 principle of international law, to do them any injury. 
 Leaving them out of the question, we narrow it to the 
 case of the property belonging to individuals ; and 
 shall now proceed to see how far the protection of it 
 can be embraced within general rules. 
 
 We must suppose the case, which is the strongest, 
 that of an invading army. The advantage which is 
 capable of being derived to such an enemy, by seiz- 
 ing and destroying the property of individuals, bears, 
 unless in certain very extraordinary instances, no sort 
 of proportion, to the evil inflicted upon the indivi- 
 duals. This, we presume, cannot admit of a dispute. 
 Upon the principle, therefore, so often recognizedj, 
 c 
 
 Law of 
 Nation?. 
 
18 
 
 NATIONS, LAW OF. 
 
 Law of 
 Ifations. 
 
 as that, the dictates of which ought in this affair 
 to be solely obeyed, no such destruction, unless m 
 ' such instances, ought to be sanctioned by the law 
 of nations. Such property, it is well known, can 
 rarely be counted upon, as any considerable resource; 
 because it is to a very great extent in the power of 
 the people invaded to drive their property away, or 
 to destroy it. The property of individuals, in an in- 
 vaded country, would in general be a much more cer- 
 tain resource to an invading army, if that army were 
 to purchase from them the articles which it desired. 
 And, perhaps, this would be the most advantageous 
 compromise of which the circumstances admit; name- 
 ly, that the invading army should abstain from the 
 violation of private property ; but that it should m 
 return have the benefit of an unrestricted market; 
 that nothing should be done on the part of the go- 
 vernment of the invaded country to prevent its sub- 
 jects from buying and selling with the invaders, as 
 they would with any other parties. 
 
 It may no doubt be true, that the plunder and de- 
 vastation of a province, or other portion of a country, 
 must have an effect in diminishing the resources ot 
 the government for carrying on the war. In this 
 point of view it must be allowed that the destruction 
 of private property is of some importance to the in- 
 vading nation with regard to the result of the war. 
 But the question, in settling the difficulties of inter- 
 national jurisprudence, is not whether an advantage 
 is gained, but whether the advantage, such as it is, 
 be not gained, at too great a cost of evil. 
 
 If it be certain that the losing party, in consequence 
 of the destruction in question, loses more than the 
 gaining party gains, it is certain that the two parties, 
 taken together, are losers by the proceeding ; and of 
 course that nations, in the aggregate, are losers upon 
 the whole. Nay, it is certain that each nation, taken 
 by itself, is a loser, upon the balance of the cases in 
 which it is liable to lose, and those in which it is H- 
 able to gain. If it loses more in the cases in which 
 it bears, than it gains in the cases in which it inflicts 
 invasion ; and if it is as liable to bear, as to inflict, 
 which is the usual condition of nations, it follows 
 clearly that it is its interest to concur in a rule which 
 shall protect the property of individuals, in cases of 
 
 invasion. , . , , u 
 
 Even in that more civilized mode, which has been 
 adopted by invading armies, of availing themselves of 
 the property of individuals; by exacting contributions 
 through the instrumentality of the local authorities ; 
 contributions which these authorities are left to par- 
 tition among the people, as they may deem equitable; 
 though it is admitted that this is a much less hurtful 
 proceeding than military rapine, still we think, it will 
 easily appear, that the evil inflicted upon the contri- 
 butors is greater than the benefits derived to the re- 
 ceivers. . , , . j« 
 
 Unless the amount thus received by an invading 
 army is very considerable, the benefit which is de- 
 rived, the aid which is gained towards accomplishing 
 the end of the war, must be considered as trifling. 
 But if a contribution, the amount of which can be 
 of any considerable avail towards attaining the ob- 
 ject of the war, is levied suddenly upon a particular 
 district, a comparatively small portion of the invaded 
 
 country, it must operate upon the contributors with 
 a dreadful weight of oppression. Upon an equitable 
 estimate of the circumstances, it can, therefore, hard- 
 ly fail to appear, that, whether the contribution ex- 
 acted is heavy or light (it must always be heavy 
 to those who sustain it), the loss to those who suffer 
 must greatly outweigh the advantage to those who i*e- 
 ceive. If it be so, this mode of exaction should, it 
 is evident, be forbidden by the law of nations. 
 
 If these are the principles, upon which an interna- 
 tional code, regarding thiifbraneh of the subject, ought 
 to be constructed, they will enable us to determine the 
 question with regard to the property of individuals in 
 another set of circumstances, to which the rules of 
 civilized society have hardly yet begun to be applied. 
 Whatever rules apply to the property of individuals 
 found upon the land, the same rules ought, by parity 
 of reason, it should seem, to apply to it when found 
 upon the sea. 
 
 The conduct of nations, however, has hitherto not 
 been conformable to the parity, which appears to be- 
 long to the two sets of cases. Some tenderness, more 
 or less, according to the progress in civilization, ap- 
 pears to have been shown, by all but savages, to the 
 property of individuals upon the land. To this hour 
 the property of individuals upon the sea is made prize 
 of without mercy by the most civilized nations in the 
 world. 
 
 The notions of piracy, in fact, have, on this sub- 
 ject, unhappily prevailed, and governed the minds of 
 men. Pirates make prey of every thing. Sailors, 
 originally, were all pirates. The seafaring state was 
 a belligerent state, of almost every vessel against 
 every other vessel. Even when nations had gradu- 
 ally advanced into a more civilized state, and when 
 their vessels abstained from injury to one another in 
 a period of peace, they appear, when the ties of 
 peace were dissolved, and they were placed with re- 
 spect to one another in a state of war upon the seas, 
 to have felt the force of none but their old associa- 
 tions, and to have looked upon the state of war as a 
 state of piracy. Two nations at war with one an- 
 other continue to act towards the property of indivi- 
 duals belonging to one another, exactly as two na- 
 tions of pirates would do. 
 
 Assuredly this is a state of things to which the pre- 
 sent intelligence and morality of the world ought 
 speedily to put an end. The very same reasoning 
 * which we have applied to the case of the property of 
 individuals upon the land, is not less conclusive when 
 applied to the property of individuals upon the sea. 
 The loss to the party losing is more than an equiva- 
 lent for the gain to the party that gains. 
 
 There is another consideration of great import- 
 ance. All nations gain by the free operations of 
 commerce. If then we were to suppose that the 
 losses and gains of the two belligerent parties balan- 
 ced one another, which yet they never do, there is 
 an advantage derived from their commerce to every 
 nation on the earth to which, in any degree, either 
 directly or indirectly, that commerce extends ; winch 
 advantage is either lost or diminished, by their prey- 
 ing upon the property of the individuals belonging to 
 one another. This, therefore, is an unquestionable 
 balance of loss, to the general community of na- 
 
 I 
 
NATIONS, LAW OF. 
 
 Law of tlons, which the law of that coiomunity ought to en« 
 
 Natbna. (Jeavour to prevent. 
 
 If, then, we should suppose that it were enacted as 
 the law of nations, that the property of individuals 
 passing on the seas should be equally respected, in 
 peace and in war, we may proceed to consider whe- 
 ther any disadvantage, nearly countervailing the ge- 
 neral good, would thence accrue to the bellige- 
 rents. 
 
 It may be alleged, that a nation at war with an- 
 other is retarded in reducing its antagonist, by the 
 riches which the commerce of that antagonist, if un- 
 disturbed, will place at its disposal. But it is evi- 
 dent that an advantage to one of two antagonists, 
 when compensated to the other, by a power to 
 overcome that advantage, exactly equivalent, is in 
 reality no advantage at ail. Such is the case with 
 the advantage accruing to the nation with which an- 
 other is at war, when the property of individuals up- 
 on the sea is allowed to pass unmolested. If its 
 riches are increased by freedom of commerce, so are 
 those of its antagonist. The advantages are equal, 
 where the circumstances are equal, which, in the 
 majority of cases, they undoubtedly are. 
 
 If it be still objected, that there may be cases in 
 which they are not equal, the answer is obvious, and 
 incontrovertible. There is no general rule without 
 its exceptions, but partial evil must be admitted for 
 general good. Besides, if the case were very re- 
 markable, it might be excepted from the general rule. 
 
 If this were adopted as part of the law of nations, 
 all those questions respecting the maritime traffic of 
 Neutrals^ questions which have been the source of so 
 much troublesome inquiry, so much animosity, and 
 so much mischief, would be immediately at an end. 
 If the traffic of the belligerents, so far as concerned 
 the property of individuals, were free, so would be 
 that of all neutral nations. 
 
 Places actually blockaded, that is surrounded with 
 an hostile force for the immediate purpose of being 
 reduced, either by arms, or by famine, would still 
 form exceptions ; because the admission of ships in- 
 to them, with supplies either of food, or munition of 
 , war, would be directly at variance with the very ob- 
 ject of the blockade. 
 
 In all other eases, the admission either of pro- 
 visions or of instruments of war into a bellige- 
 rent country, ought, undoubtedly, upon the prin- 
 ciple of utility, not to be disturbed. The benefit, 
 except in rare and remarkable cases, could not be 
 material to the country into which they might enter, 
 nor hence the injury to its antagonist ; on the other 
 hand, that antagonist would enjoy the same privilege 
 of the free admission of those commodities, and thus 
 they would be equal in all respects. The inconve- 
 nience, however, which would thus be saved to the 
 neutrals — the annoyance of search, the loss by de- 
 tention, the occasions of quarrel—- «re known to be 
 evils of no ordinary magnitude. 
 
 The desertion of sailors from the ships of a belli- 
 gerent to those of a neutral has given rise to disputes 
 in one instance only, that of Great Britain and the 
 United States of America. The question to be de- 
 termined, in laying down the principles of interna- 
 tional jurisprudence, is, whether this desertion ought 
 to be considered as constituting a ground for Uie 
 
 i9 
 
 general right of search ; in other words, whether the La* of 
 evil to which a belligerent is exposed by desertion, Nat i ons. ^ 
 or rather by that portion of desertion which can be "'•^^V^ 
 prevented by the right of search, is an equivalent 
 for all the evil which is unavoidably produced by it. 
 
 Desertion must take place either from the ships of 
 war of the belligerent, or from its merchant ships. 
 
 In respect to ships of war, it is so easy for a belli- 
 gerent to prevent desertion to neutrals, at least in 
 any such degree as to constitute a great evil, that it 
 would be altogether absurd to speak of it as an evil 
 to be compared with those arising from the right of 
 search. The only occasions on which ships of war 
 can be exposed to desertion to neutrals, must be, on 
 those occasions on which they go into a neutral port. 
 But on those, comparatively rare, occasions, they 
 can so easily take precaution against desertion, that 
 the danger to which they are exposed is hardly 
 worth regarding. 
 
 When the sailors belonging to merchant ships 
 transfer their services to the ships of a neutral, it is 
 not to be called desertion. It can only take place, 
 in very considerable numbers, when seamen's wages 
 in the neutral country are much higher than in that 
 of the belligerent. The sailor, in this case, leaves 
 his own for another country, only because he im- 
 proves his situation by so doing. This is a liberty, 
 which, as it ought to belong to every body, so it 
 ought not to be withheld from the sailor. If, in- 
 deed, any nation thinks proper to forbid any class of 
 its people to leave their country, as England with 
 regard to its artificers, other countries cannot help 
 that, but they ought not to be called upon to lend 
 their aid to such an antisocial regulation, by allowing 
 their vessels to be searched, as security against its 
 infringement. Besides, it is evident, that there is a 
 much greater security, arising from the very nature 
 of the case, against the chance of a nation's being, 
 to any considerable degree, deprived of its sailors by 
 any such means. If the sailors go into the neutral 
 country because wages are higher there, a small 
 number only will have gone, when wages, from di- 
 minution of the numbers, will begin to rise in the 
 country which they have left, and from increase of 
 the numbers, will begin to fall in the country to 
 which they have been tempted to repair. When the 
 wages of seamen have thus sufficiently i*isen, in the 
 belligerent country, which they are sure to do if the 
 demand for them rises, the sailors will not only come 
 back from every country in the world, but the sail- 
 ors of other countries will hurry along with them j 
 and the evil of desertion cures itself. 
 
 Only two questions, of any great importance, ap- 
 pear to remain ; that relating to the march of troops, 
 for a hostile purpose, through a neutral country, and 
 that relating to the extent to which the operations 
 of a successful war ought to be pursued. 
 
 According to the principles which we have already 
 laid down for regulating the proceedings of a hostile 
 army even in the invaded country, namely, that of 
 committing no plunder, and enjoying the right of 
 market, it appears that the right of passing through 
 a neutral country on similar terms should be refused 
 to no party. This rule, while it holds out equal ad- 
 vantages to all belligerents, admits, less than any 
 other rule, grounds of dispute. 
 
20 
 
 NATIONS, LAW OF. 
 
 Law of 
 Nations. 
 
 Of the con- 
 struction of 
 an Interna- 
 tional Code, 
 and an In> 
 ternational 
 Tribvinal. 
 
 How the na- 
 tions might 
 concur in 
 framing an 
 Interna- 
 tional Code. 
 
 The end, which we have already described as that 
 alone the pursuit of which can render any war justi- 
 fiable, sufficiently defines the extent to which the 
 operations of a successful war ought to proceed. 
 The end of every justifiable war is to obtain com- 
 pensation for an injury sustained, and security against 
 the repetition of it. The last point, that of security, 
 alone contains any uncertainty. Nations are apt to 
 exaggerate the demand for security, to require too 
 much ; very often unconsciously, from the mere crav- 
 ings of self-love ; sometimes fraudulently, as a cover 
 for ambitious views. As the question, however, re- 
 specting what may or may not, in each instance, be 
 sufficient security, is a question of fact, not of law, 
 it must be determined, if determined at all, by a tri- 
 bunal empowered to take cognizance of the facts. 
 
 We have now then laid down the principles by 
 which, in our opinion, the rights of nations, in re- 
 spect to one another, ought to be determined j and 
 we have shown in what manner those principles 
 should be applied, in order to come to a decision, in 
 the most remarkable cases. The minor points it is, 
 of course, not in our power to illustrate in detail ; 
 but that will not, we should hope, be difficult, after 
 the exemplification exhibited, and the satisfactory 
 solutions at which we seem to have arrived, of all the 
 more considerable questions which the subject presents. 
 
 From what has been shown, it is not difficult to 
 see, what would be the course pursued by nations, 
 if they were really actuated by the desire of regu- 
 lating their general intercourse, both in peace and in 
 war, on the principles most advantageous to them all. 
 
 Two grand practical measures are obviously not 
 only of primary importance toward the attainment 
 of this end, but are of indispensable necessity toward 
 the attainment of it in any tolerable degree. These 
 are, first, the construction of a Code ; and, secondly, 
 the establishment of a Tribunal. 
 
 It is perfectly evident, that nations will be much 
 more likely to conform to the principles of inter- 
 course which are best for all, if they have an accurate 
 set of rules to go by, than if they have not. In the 
 first place, there is less room for mistake ; in the 
 next, there is less room for plausible pretexts ; and 
 last of all, the approbation and disapprobation of 
 the world is sure to act with tenfold concentration, 
 where a precise rule is broken, familiar to all the ci- 
 vilized world, and venerated by it all. 
 
 How the nations of the civilized world might con- 
 cur in the framing of such a code, it is not difficult 
 to devise. They might appoint delegates to meet 
 for that purpose, in any central and convenient place ; 
 where, after discussion, and coming to as full an un- 
 derstanding as possible upon all the material points, 
 they might elect some ope person, the most capable 
 that could be found, to put these their determina- 
 tions into the proper words and form, in short, to 
 make a draught of a code of international law, as ef- 
 fectually as possible providing for all the questions, 
 which could arise, upon their interfering interests, 
 between two nations. After this draught was pro- 
 posed, it should be revised by the delegates, and ap- 
 proved by them, or altered till they deemed it worthy 
 of their approbation. It should then be referred to 
 the several governments, to receive its final sanction 
 
 from their approbation; but, in the mean time, it 
 should be published in all the principal languages, 
 and circulated as extensively as possible, for the sake 
 of two important advantages. The first would be, 
 that, the intelligence of the whole world being brought 
 to operate upon it, and suggestions obtained from 
 every quarter, it might be made as perfect as possi- 
 ble. The second would be, that the eyes of all the 
 world being fixed upon the decision of every nation 
 with respect to the code, every nation might be de- 
 terred by shame from objecting to any important ar- 
 ticle in it. 
 
 As the sanction of general opinion is that upon 
 which chiefly, as we have already seen, such a code 
 must rely for its efficiency, not a little will depend 
 upon the mode in which it is recognized and taught. 
 The recognition should in each country have all pos- 
 sible publicity and solemnity. Every circumstance 
 which can tend to diffuse the opinion throughout the 
 earth, that the people of each country attach the 
 highest importance to such a code, is to themselves 
 a first-rate advantage ; because it must be of the ut- 
 most importance to them, that all the nations of the 
 earth should behave towards them upon the princi- 
 ples of mutual beneficence ; and nothing which they 
 can do can have so great a tendency to produce this 
 desirable effect, as its being generally known that 
 they venerate the rules which are established for its 
 attainment. 
 
 If nations, then, were really actuated by the de- 
 sire of regulating their mutual intercourse upon 
 principles mutually beneficent, they would adopt 
 measures for having a code of international law con- 
 structed, solemnly recognized, and universally dif- 
 fused and made known. 
 
 But it is not enough that a code should exist ; 
 every thing should be done to secure a conduct con- 
 formable to it. Nothing is of so much importance 
 for this purpose as a tribunal ; before which every 
 case of infringement should be tried, the facts of it 
 fully and completely explored, the nature and de- 
 gree of the infringement ascertained ; and from 
 which a knowledge of every thing material to the 
 case should be as rapidly as possible diffused through 
 the world ; before which also all cases of doubt should 
 regularly come for determination : and thus wars, be- 
 tween nations which meant justly, would always be 
 avoided, and a stigma would be set upon those which 
 justice could not content. 
 
 The analogy of the code, which is, or ought to be, 
 framed by each state for regulating the intercourse 
 of its own people within its own territory, throws all 
 the illustration which is necessary upon the case of a 
 tribunal for the international code. It is well know^n, 
 that laws, however carefully and accurately construct- 
 ed, would be of little avail in any country, if there was 
 not some organ, by means of which it might be de- 
 termined when individuals had acted in conformity 
 with them, and when they had not ; by which also, 
 when any doubt existed respecting the conduct which 
 in any particular case the law required, such doubt 
 might be authoritatively removed, and one determi- 
 nate line of action prescribed. Without this, it is 
 sufficiently evident, that a small portion of the bene- 
 fit capable of being derived from laws would actual- 
 ly be attained. It will presently be seen how much 
 
 Law of 
 Nations 
 
NATIONS, LAW OF. 
 
 21 
 
 Law of 
 Nations. 
 
 How an In 
 ternational 
 Tribunal 
 should be 
 
 of the benefit capable of being derived from an in- 
 ternational code must be lost, if it is left destitute of 
 a similar organ. We shall first consider in what man- 
 ner an international tribunal might be constructed ; 
 and, next, in what manner it might be appointed to 
 act. 
 
 As it is understood that questions relating to all 
 nations should come before it, what is desirable is, 
 
 that all nations should have equal security for good 
 
 constructed, judicature from it, and should look with equal confi- 
 dence to its decisions.' 
 
 An obvious expedient for this purpose is, that all 
 nations should contribute equally to its formation ; 
 that each, for example, should send to it a delegate, 
 or judge. Its situation should be chosen for its ac- 
 cessibility, and for the means of publicity which it 
 might afford ; the last being, beyond comparison, the 
 advantage of greatest importance. As all nations 
 could not easily, or would not, send, it would suffice 
 if the more civilized and leading nations of the world 
 concurred in the design, with such a number of the 
 less considerable as would be sure to follow their ex- 
 ample, and to be desirous of deriving advantage from 
 an instrument of protection, which to them would be 
 of peculiar importance. 
 
 As it is found by specific experience, and is, in- 
 deed, a consequence of the ascertained laws of hu- 
 man nature, that a numerous assembly of men can- 
 not form a good judicatory ; and that the best chance 
 for good judicial service is always obtained when on- 
 ly one man judges, under the vigilant eyes of inte- 
 rested and intelligent observers, having full freedom 
 to deliver to the world their sentiments respecting his 
 conduct ; the whole of these advantages may be ob- 
 tained, in this case, by a very effectual expedient. 
 If precedent, also, be wanted, a thing which in cer- 
 tain minds holds the place of reason, it is amply fur- 
 nished by the Roman law ; according to which a 
 great number of judges having been chosen for the 
 judicial business generally of the year, a selection 
 was made out of that number, according to certain 
 rules, for each particular case. 
 
 Every possible advantage, it appears, would be 
 combined in the international tribunal, if the whole 
 body of delegates, or judges, assembled from every 
 country, should, as often as any case for decision 
 came before them, hold a conference, and, after ma- 
 ture deliberation, choose some one individual of their 
 body, upon whom the whole duty of judge should, 
 in that case, devolve ; it being the strict duty of the 
 rest to be present during the whole of his proceed- 
 ings, and each of them to record separately his opi- 
 nion upon the case, after the decision of the acting 
 judge had been pronounced. 
 
 It would be, no doubt, a good general rule, though 
 one can easily foresee cases in which it would be ex- 
 pedient to admit exceptions, that the judge, who is 
 in this manner chosen for each instance of the judi- 
 cial service, should not be the delegate from any of 
 the countries immediately involved in the dispute. 
 The motive to this is sufficiently apparent. 
 
 We apprehend, that few words will be deemed ne- 
 cessary to show how many securities are thus pro- 
 vided for the excellence of the judicial service. 
 In the first place, it seems impossible to question. 
 
 Law of 
 Nations. 
 
 that the utmost fairness and impartiality are provided 
 for, in the choice of the judge ; because, of the two 
 parties involved in the dispute, the one is represent- 
 ed by a delegate as much as the other, and the rest 
 of the delegates are indifferent between them. In 
 general, therefore, it is evident, that the sinister in- 
 terest on the two sides being balanced, and there 
 being a great preponderance of interest in favour of 
 nothing but a just decision, that interest will pre- 
 vail. 
 
 The best choice being made of a judge, it is evi- 
 dent that he would be so situated, as to act under 
 the strongest securities for good conduct. Acting 
 singly, he would bear the whole responsibility of the 
 service required at his hands. He would act under 
 the eyes of the rest of the assembled delegates, men 
 versed in the same species of business, chosen on ac- 
 count of their capacity for the service, who could be 
 deceived neither with respect to the diligence which 
 he might exert, nor the fairness and honesty with 
 which he might decide ; while he would be watched 
 by the delegates of the respective parties, having the 
 power of interest stimulating them to attention ; and 
 would be sure that the merits or demerits of his con- 
 duct would be made fully known to the whole, or 
 the greater part of the world. 
 
 The judicatory being thus constituted, the mode Form of 
 of proceeding before it may be easily sketched. procedure 
 
 The cases may be divided into those brought be- interaation- 
 fore it by the parties concerned in the dispute ; and al Tribunal 
 those which it would be its duty to take up, when 
 they were not brought before it by any of the par- 
 ties. 
 
 A variety of cases would occur, in which two na- 
 tions, having a ground of dispute, and being unable 
 to agree, would unite in an application to the inter- 
 national tribunal for an adjustment of their differ- 
 ences. On such occasions, the course of the tribu - 
 nal would be sufficiently clear. The parties would 
 plead the grounds of their several claims ; the judge 
 would determine how far, according to the law, they 
 were competent to support those claims ; the parties 
 would adduce their evidence for and against the facts, 
 on which the determination of the claims was found 
 to depend ; the judge would receive that evidence, 
 and finally decide. All this is so perfectly conform- 
 able to the course of pleading, and receiving proof, 
 in the case of suits between individuals, as analyzed 
 and explained in the Article Jurisprudence, that 
 it is unnecessary to be more particular here. If far- 
 ther exposition is required, it will be found upon a 
 reference to the article to which we allude. De- 
 cision, in this case, it is observable, fully accom- 
 plishes its end ; because the parties come with an in- 
 tention of obeying it. 
 
 Another, and a numerous class of cases, would 
 probably be constituted, by those who would come 
 before it, complaining of a violation of their rights 
 by another nation, and calling for redress. 
 
 This set of cases is analogous to that, in private 
 judicature, when one man prosecutes another for 
 some punishable offence. 
 
 It should be incumbent upon the party thus ap- 
 plying to give notice of its intention to the party 
 against which it is to complain, and of the day on 
 
2 NATIONS, 
 
 Law of which it meaos that its cooaplaint should be present. 
 Nations, g^j^ 
 
 ■•■■^v'"*^ If both parties are present, when the case comes 
 forward for trial, they both plead, according to the 
 mode described in the Article Jurisprudence ; 
 evidence is taken upon the decisive facts ; and if in- 
 jury has been committed, the amount of compensa- 
 tion is decreed. When it happens that the defen- 
 dant is not present, and refuses to plead, or to sub- 
 mit, in this instance, to the jurisdiction of the court, 
 the inquiry should notwithstanding go on ; the alle- 
 gations of the party present should be heard, and the 
 evidence which it adduces should be received. The 
 non-appearance of the party defendant should be 
 treated as an article of evidence to prove the truth 
 of its opponent's allegations. And the fact of not 
 appearing should, itself, be treated as an offence 
 against the law of nations- 
 It happens, not unfrequently, when nations quar- 
 rel, that both parties are in the wrong ; and on some 
 pf these occasions neither party might think proper 
 to apply to an equitable tribunal. This fact, name- 
 ly, that of their not applying to the international 
 tribunal, should, itself, as stated before, be marked 
 in the code as an international offence, and should 
 be denounced as such by the international tribunal. 
 But even when two offending parties do not ask for 
 a decision from the international tribunal, it is not 
 proper that other nations should be deprived of the 
 benefit of such a decision. If these decisions consti- 
 tute a security against injustice from one another to 
 the general community of nations, that security must 
 not be allowed to be impaired by the refractory con- 
 duct of those whp dread an investigation of their 
 conduct. 
 
 Certain forms, not difficult to devise, should be 
 laid down, according to which, on the occurrence of 
 such cases, the tribunal should proceed. First of all, 
 it is evident, that the parties in question should re- 
 ceive intimation of the intention of the court to take 
 cognisance of their disputes, on a certain day. If 
 the parties, one or both, appeared, the case would 
 fall under one of those which have been previously 
 as above considered. If neither party appeared, the 
 court would proceed to estimate the facts which 
 were within its cognisance. 
 
 It would have before it one important article of 
 evidence, furnished by the parties themselves, name- 
 ly, the fact of their non-appearance. This ought to 
 be considered as going far to prove injurious conduct 
 on both sides. The evidence which the court would 
 have before it, to many specific facts, would be liable 
 , to be scanty, from the neglect of the parties to ad- 
 duce their pleas and evidence. The business of the 
 court, in these circumstances, would be, to state cor- 
 rectly such evidence, direct or circumstantial, as it 
 had before it ; giving its full weight to the evidence 
 contained in the fact of non-appearance ; and to pro- 
 nounce the decision, which the balance of the evi- 
 dence, such as it was, might be found to support. 
 
 Even in this case, in which the practical effect of 
 a decision of the international court may be suppos- 
 ed to be the least, where neither party is disposed to 
 respect the jurisdiction, the benefit which would be 
 derived would by no means be inconsiderable. A 
 
 LAW OF. 
 
 decision solemnly pronounced by such a tribunal. Law of 
 would always have a strong effect upon the imagina- Nations, 
 tions of men. It would fix, and concentrate the dis- ^"^v^^ 
 
 approbation of mankind. 
 
 Such a tribunal would operate as a great school of 
 political morality. By sifting the circumstances, in 
 all the disputes of nations, by distinguishing accurate- 
 ly between the false colours and the true, by strip- 
 ping off" all disguises, by getting at the real facts, and 
 exhibiting them in the true point of view, by present- 
 ing all this to the world, and fixing the attention of 
 mankind upon it by all the celebrity of its elevated 
 situation, it would teach men at large to distinguish. 
 By habit of contemplating the approbation of such a 
 court attached to just proceeding, its disapprobation 
 to unjust ; men would learn to apply correctly their 
 own approbation, and disapprobation ; whence would 
 flow the various important effects, which these senti- 
 ments, justly excited, would naturally and unavoid- 
 ably produce. 
 
 As, for the reasons adduced at the beginning of 
 this article, the intention should never be entertained 
 of supporting the decisions of the international court 
 by force of arms, it remains to be considered what 
 means of another kind could be had recourse to, in 
 order to raise to as high a pitch as possible the mo- 
 tive of nations respectively to yield obedience to its 
 decisions. 
 
 We have already spoken of the effect which would 
 be produced, in pointing the sentiments of mankind, 
 giving strength to the moral sanction, and by the 
 existence of an accurate code, and by the decisions 
 themselves of a well constituted tribunal. 
 
 To increase this effect to the utmost, publicity 
 should be carried to the highest practicable perfec- 
 tion. The code, of course, ought to be universally 
 promulgated and known. Not only that, but the best 
 means should be in full operation for diff'using a 
 knowledge of the proceedings of the tribunal ; of the 
 cases investigated, the allegations made, the evidence 
 adduced, the sentence pronounced, and the reasons 
 upon which it is grounded. 
 
 The book of the law of nations, and selections from 
 the book of the trials before the international tri- 
 bunal, should form a subject of study in every school, 
 and a knowledge of them a necessary part of every 
 man's education. In this manner a moral sentiment 
 would grow up, which would, in time, act as a power- 
 ful restraining force upon the injustice of nations, 
 and give a wonderful efficacy to the international 
 jurisdiction. No nation would like to be the object 
 of the contempt and hatred of all other nations ; to 
 be spoken of by them on all occasions with disgust 
 and indignation. On the other hand, there is no na- 
 tion, which does not value highly the favourable sen- 
 timents of other nations ; which is not elevated and 
 delighted with the knowledge that its justice, gene- 
 rosity, and magnanimity, are the theme of general 
 applause. When means are taken to make it cer- 
 tain that what affords a nation this high satisfaction 
 will follow a just and beneficial course of conduct ; 
 that what it regards with so much aversion, will in- 
 fallibly happen to it, if it fails in the propriety of itSK^ 
 own behaviour, we may be sure that a strong securi* 
 ty is gained for a good intercourse among nations.. 
 
NATIONS, LAW OF. 
 
 23 
 
 Law of 
 
 Nations 
 
 II 
 
 Navy. 
 
 Besides this, it does not seem impossible to find va- 
 rious inconveniencies, to which, by way of penalties, 
 those nations might be subjected, which refused to 
 conform to the prescriptions of the international 
 code. 
 
 Various privileges granted to other nations, in 
 their intercourse with one another, might be with- 
 held from that nation which thus demeaned itself in 
 a way so contrary to the general interests. In so far 
 as the withholding of these privileges might operate 
 unfavourably upon individuals belonging to the re- 
 fractory nations,— -individuals who might be little, or 
 not at all, accessary to the guilt, the effect would be 
 the subject of proportional regret. Many, however, 
 in the concerns of mankind, are the good things 
 which can only be attained with a certain accom- 
 paniment of evil. The rule of wisdom, in such cases, 
 is, to be sure that the good outweighs the evil, and 
 to reduce the evil to its narrowest dimensions. 
 
 We may take an instance first from trivial matters. 
 The ceremonial of other nations might be turned 
 against the nation, which, in this common concern, 
 set itself in opposition to the interests of others. 
 The lowest place in company, the least respectful 
 situation on all occasions of ceremony, might be 
 assigned to the members of that nation, when travel- 
 ling or residing in other countries. Many of those 
 marks of disrespect, implying neither injury to per- 
 son nor property, which are checked by penalties in 
 
 respect to others, might be free from penalties in re- 
 spect to them. From these instances, adduced mere- 
 ly to illustrate our meaning, it will be easy to see in 
 what manner a number of considerable inconvenien- 
 cies might, from this source, be made to bear upon 
 nations refusing to conform to the beneficial provi- 
 sions of the international code. 
 
 Besides the ceremonial of other nations, means to 
 the same end might be derived from the law. A 
 number of cases might be found in which certain 
 benefits of the law, granted to other foreigners, 
 might be refused to them. They might be denied 
 the privilege of suing in the courts, for example, on 
 account of any thing except some of the higher 
 crimes, the more serious violations of person or pro- 
 perty. 
 
 Among other things it is sufficiently evident, that 
 this tribunal would be the proper organ for the trial 
 of piracy. When preponderant inconvenience might 
 attend the removing of the trial to the usual seat of 
 the tribunal, it might delegate for that purpose the 
 proper functionaries to the proper spot. 
 
 By the application of the principles, which we 
 have thus expounded, an application which implies 
 no peculiar difiiculty, and requires nothing more 
 than care in the detail, we are satisfied that all might 
 be done, which is capable of being done, toward se- 
 curing the benefits of international law. 
 
 (f.f.) 
 
 Law of 
 Nations 
 
 II 
 
 Navy. 
 
 N A 
 
 An insular empire, like that of the United King- 
 dom of Great Britain and Ireland, which is so much 
 indebted, and always must be, for that power, pro- 
 sperity, and renown which she enjoys, to the glori- 
 ous deeds of her Navy, cannot but take a peculiar 
 degree of interest in every thing that concerns it. 
 This vast machine, indeed, has at all times been the 
 pride and boast of Great Britain, the terror of its 
 enemies, and the admiration of the world. It is un- 
 der the impression of its vast importance that we 
 have been induced to give, under their proper heads, 
 «uch details of the civil and military branches of the 
 naval departments, as may afford, without entering in- 
 to too minute details, a comprehensive sketch of this 
 great national bulwark, of which it is now proposed 
 to take a general view. 
 
 The term Navy is generally intended to express 
 all ships of commerce as well as of war — the mer- 
 cantile as well as the military marine ; but the ob- 
 servations contained in the present article are meant 
 to relate only to the latter, excepting that, in speak- 
 ing of the progressive enlargement of ships, and im- 
 provements in naval architecture, the remarks may 
 sometimes equally apply to ships of commerce and 
 of war. 
 
 Ncwy composed of Materiel and Pebsonel. 
 The composition of a navy may be considered un- 
 der the two distinct heads into which it naturally 
 divides Us^lf* and under which the French generally 
 
 V Y. 
 
 distinguish an army, the materiel, and the personel; 
 the former embracing every thing that appertains to 
 the ships, their capacity, construction, armament, 
 and equipment ; the latter all that concerns the rank, 
 the appointment, the various duties, &c. of the offi- 
 cers, seamen, and marines. 
 
 I — Materiel of the Navy. 
 
 It would occupy too large a space to give even a History, 
 short sketch of the origin and progress of naval ar- 
 chitecture, from a bundle of branches, or the hol- 
 low trunk of a tree — the rude raft and the frail ca- 
 noe — to the more perfect coracle, or the wicker 
 boats of the ancient Britons covered with hides. 
 For many centuries after the expulsion of the Ro- 
 mans from, or their abandonment of, the British 
 Islands, very little progress appears to have been 
 made by us in the art of navigation or ship building : 
 the natives would appear, for many centuries after- 
 wards, to have acted merely on the defensive against 
 naval invasions. 
 
 " The whole of our naval history," say the Com- 
 missioners for Revising the Civil Affairs of the Navy, 
 " may be divided into three periods. The First, 
 comprehending all that preceded the reign of Henry 
 VIII. The Second, ending with the Restoration of 
 Charles II. ; and the Thirdt coming down from the 
 Restoration to the present day." 
 
 To what size, and to what extent, the amount of First Period, 
 the English ships or vessels were earried, which sup- 
 
24 
 
 NAVY. 
 
 Navy, ported SO many contests with the invading Danes^ in 
 •■"V^^ the ninth century, our naval history has not preserv- 
 ed any record. We are told, however, that Alfred 
 increased the size of his gallies, and that some of 
 them were capable of rowing thirty pair of oars. 
 These gallies were chiefly employed in clearing the 
 Channel of the nests of pirates by which it was in- 
 fested. It is also said, as a proof of his attention to 
 naval matters, that under his auspices, one Ochter 
 undertook a voyage into the Arctic Regions, made 
 a survey of the coasts of Lapland and Norway, and 
 brought to Alfred an account of the mode pursued 
 by the inhabitants of those countries to catch whales. 
 It is, moreover, on record, that his two sons, Edward 
 and Athelston, fought many bloody actions with the 
 Danes, in which several kings and chiefs were slain ; 
 and that Edgar had from 3000 to 5000 ships, divid- 
 ed into three fleets, stationed on three several parts 
 of the coast, with which, passing from one fleet or 
 squadron to the other, he circumnavigated the 
 island ; that after this he called himself " Monarch 
 of all Albion, and Sovereign over all the adjacent 
 Isles.'' Some notion, however, may be formed of the 
 size of the vessels which composed his fleets, from 
 the imposition of a land-tax, which required certain 
 proprietors to furnish a stout galley of three rows 
 of oars to protect the coast from the Danish pirates. 
 The more effectually to check these marauders, and 
 protect the coasts of the kingdom, William the Con- 
 queror, in 1066, established the Cinque Ports, and 
 gave them certain privileges, on condition of their 
 furnishing 52 ships with 24 men in each for 15 days, 
 in cases of emergency. We should not, perhaps, be 
 far amiss in dating the period of our naval architec- 
 ture from the Conquest. " The Normans," says Sir 
 Walter Ralegh, " grew better shipwrights than either 
 the Danes or Saxons, and made the last conquest of 
 this land ; a land which can never be conquered whilst 
 the kings thereof keep the dominion of the seas." 
 But Ralegh does not describe what the ships were 
 which the Normans taught us to build ; nor can it 
 now be known in what kind of vessels William trans- 
 ported his army across the Channel, or what was the 
 description of the hundred large ships and fifty gal- 
 lies of which the naval armament of Richard I. con- 
 sisted on his expedition to the Holy Land. We are 
 told, however, that having increased his fleet at Cy- 
 prus to 250 ships, and 60 gallies, he fell in with a 
 ship belonging to the Saracens, of such an extraor- 
 dinary size, that she was defended by 1500 men, all 
 of whom, with the exception of 200, Richard, after 
 taking possession of her, ordered to be thrown over- 
 board and drowned. 
 
 There can be no doubt that the nations of the 
 Mediterranean, particularly the Genoese and Vene- 
 tians, introduced many improvements as to the capa- 
 city and stability of their ships, in consequence of 
 the crusades and the demands for warlike stores and 
 provisions, which such vast and ill-provided armies 
 necessarily created ; but these improvements would 
 seem not to have reached, or, at least, to have made 
 but a tardy progress in Great Britain. King John, 
 it is true, stoutly claimed for England the sovereign- 
 ty of the sea, and decreed that all ships belonging to 
 ioreign nations, the masters of which should refuse 
 
 to strike to the British flag, should be seized and Nary, 
 deemed good and lawful prize. And this monarch ""^^y^ 
 is said to have fitted out no less than 500 sail of 
 ships, under the Earl of Salisbury, in the year 1213, 
 against a fleet of three times that number, prepared 
 by Philip of France, for the invasion of England ; of 
 which the English took 300 sail, and drove 100 on 
 shore, Philip being under the necessity of destroy- 
 ing the remainder, to prevent their falling also into 
 the hands of the English. Of the kinds of ships of 
 which his fleet consisted, some notion may be form- 
 ed by the account that is related of an action fought 
 in the following reign with the French, who, with 
 " 80 stout ships," threatened the coast of Kent. 
 This fleet being discovered by Hubert de Burgh, go- 
 vernor of Dover Castle, he put to sea with 40 Eng- 
 lish ships, and having got to the windward of the 
 enemy, and run down many of the smaller ships, 
 he closed with the rest, and threw on board them 
 a quantity of quicklime, which blinded them so 
 effectually, that all their ships were either taken or 
 sunk. 
 
 Whatever the size and the armaments of our ships 
 were, the empire of the sea was bravely maintained 
 by the Edwards and the Henrys in many a gallant 
 and glorious sea-fight with the fleets of France, 
 against which they were generally opposed with in- 
 ferior numbers. The temper of the times, and the 
 public feeling, were strongly exemplified in the reign 
 of Edward I. by the following circumstance : An 
 English sailor was killed in a Norman port, in con- 
 sequence of which a war commenced, and the two 
 nations agreed to decide the dispute on a certain 
 day, with the whole of their respective naval forces. 
 The spot of battle was to be the middle of the Chan- 
 nel, marked out by anchoring there an empty ship. 
 The two fleets met on the 14th April 1293 ; the 
 English obtained the victory, and carried off above 
 250 sail. 
 
 In an action with the French fleet off the harbour 
 of Sluys, Edward III. is said to have slain 30,000 of 
 the enemy, to have taken 200 great ships, in one 
 of which, only, there were 400 dead bodies." This 
 is no doubt an exaggeration. The same monarch, 
 at the siege of Calais, is stated to have blockaded 
 that port with 730 sail, having on board 14,956 ma- 
 riners ; 25 only of which were of the Royal navy, 
 bearing 419 mariners, or about 17 men each. In 
 various other sea actions did this great sovereign no- 
 bly support the honour of the British flag. But 
 though we then, and ever after, claimed the " domi- 
 nion of the seas," that dominion, says Ralegh, " was 
 never absolute until the time of Henry the Eighth." 
 It was a maxim of this great statesman, that *' who- 
 soever commands the sea, commands the trade of the 
 world ; whosoever commands the trade, commands 
 the riches of the world, and consequently the world 
 itself." 
 
 The reign of Henry V., however, was most glori- 
 ous, in maintaining the naval superiority over the 
 fleets of France. From a letter of this Sovereign to 
 his Lord Chancellor, dated 12th August 141 7> disco- 
 vered by the late Mr Lysons among the records in tlie 
 Tower, and of which the following is a copy, it would 
 appear that there was something like an established 
 
NAVY. 
 
 25 
 
 ^avy. Royal navy in his reign, independently of the ship- 
 ping furnished by the Cinque Ports and the mer- 
 chants, for the King's own use, on occasion of any 
 particular expedition. The letter appears to have 
 been written nine days after the surrender of the 
 castle of Touque in Normandy, from whence it is 
 dated. 
 
 Au revSnd pere en Dieu Vevesque dc Duresme nre 
 Chanceller D' Engleterre. 
 
 c( Worshipful fader yn God We sende you closed 
 within this letter a cedule conteyning the names of 
 certein Maistres for owr owne grete Shippes Car- 
 rakes Barges and Balyngers to the whiche Maistres 
 We have granted annuitees such as is appointed up- 
 on eehe of hem in the same Cedule to take yerely of 
 owre grante while that us lust at owr Exchequer of 
 Westrar. at the termes of Michelmasse and Ester by 
 even porcions. Wherefore We wol and charge yow 
 that unto eche of the said Maistres ye do make un- 
 der owr grete seel beyng in yowre warde owr letters 
 patentes severales in due forme after th'efFect and 
 pourport of owr said grante. Yeven under our sig- 
 net atte owr Castle of Touque the xij day of Au- 
 gust." 
 
 Extract from the Schedule contained in the preceding 
 Letter. 
 
 vj.li.xiijs. iiijd. La Grande NiefT vj. Mariners por 
 
 appelle the dont John Wil- }• la sauf garde 
 
 liam est Maistre } deink Hamult 
 
 vj. li. xiijs. iiijd. La Trinate Royale T 
 
 dont Steph' Thomas est Mais- C vj. Mariners 
 
 tre J 
 vj. li. xiijs. iiijd. La Holy gost dont 
 
 Jordan Brownyng est Maistre / ^J' farmers 
 vj. H. xiijs. iiijd. La Carrake appel- 1 
 
 lee le Petre dont John Gerard I vj. Mariners 
 
 est Maistre y 
 vj. li. xiijs. iiijd. La Carrake appel- T 
 
 lee lePaul dont William Payne V vj. Mariners 
 
 est Maistre J 
 vj. li. xiijs. iiijd. La Carrak appelle 
 
 le Andrewe dont John Thor- 
 
 nyng est Maistr* 
 vj. li. xiijs. iiijd. La Carrak appellee" 
 
 le Xpofre dont Tendrell est 
 
 Maistr' 
 
 vj. li. xiijs. iiijd. La Carrak appelle" 
 
 le Marie dont William Kiche- 
 
 man est Maistr' 
 vj. li. xiijs. iiijd. La Carrak appellee 1 
 
 le Marie dont William Hethe y vj. Mariners 
 
 est Maistre y 
 vj. li. xiijs. iiijd. La Carrak appelle ) 
 
 le George dont John Mersh Vvj. Mariners 
 
 est Maistr' J 
 
 The remainder, to whose masters pensions were 
 thus granted, consist of seventeen " niefs, barges, 
 and- bally ngers," some with three, and others two 
 mariners only. But history informs us, that about 
 this time Henry embarked an army of 25,000 men at 
 Dover on board of 1500 sail of ships, two of whicli 
 
 VOL. VI. PART I. 
 
 1 . 
 
 Mariners 
 
 Mariners 
 
 Mariners 
 
 carried purple sails, embroidered with the arms of 
 England and France ; one styled the King's Cham- ' 
 ber, the other his Saloon, as typical of his keeping 
 his court at sea, which he considered as a part of his 
 dominions. Still we are left in the dark as to the 
 real dimensions of his ships, and the nature of their 
 armament ; they were probably used only as trans* 
 ports for his array. It would appear, however, from 
 a very curious poem, written in the early part of the 
 reign of King Henry the Sixth, that the navy of his 
 predecessor was considerable, but that, by neglect, 
 it was then reduced to the same state in which it had 
 been during the preceding reigns. The poem here 
 alluded to is entitled, " The English policie, exhort- 
 ing all England to keep the sea, and namely the 
 Narrow Sea ; showing what profit cometh thereof, 
 and also what worship and salvation to England and 
 to all Englishmen," and is printed in the first volume 
 of Hackluyt's Collection of Voyages. It was evi- 
 dently written before the year l-iSS, when the Em- 
 peror Sigismond died, as appears by the following 
 passage in the prologue : 
 
 " For Sigismond, the great Emperour, 
 Which yel reigneth, when he was in this land. 
 With King Henry the Fifth, Prince of Honour, 
 Here much glory, as him thought, he found 
 A mightie land, which had take in hand 
 To werre with France, and make mortalitie, 
 And ever well kepi round about the sea" 
 
 The part of the poem which alludes to the navy of 
 King Henry the Fifth is entitled, " Another inci- 
 dent of keeping the Sea, in the time of marvellous 
 werriour and victorious Prince, King Henrie the 
 Fifth, and of his great Shippes." 
 
 The following are the most remarkable passages : 
 
 " And if I should conclude all by the King 
 Henrie the Fift, what was his purposing, 
 Whan at Hampton he made the great dromons. 
 Which passed other great ships of the Commons ; 
 The Trinitie, the Grace de Dieu, the Holy Ghost, 
 And other moe, which as nowe be lost. 
 What hope ye was the Kings great intent 
 Of thoo shippes, and what in mind he meant : 
 It was not ellis, but that he cast to bee 
 hoTde round about environ of the see. 
 And if he had to this time lived here, 
 He had been Prince named withouten pere : 
 His great ships should have been put in preefe, 
 Unto the ende that he ment of in chiefe. 
 For doubt it not' but that he would have bee 
 Lord and master about the round see : 
 And kept it sure, to stoppe our ennemies hence, 
 And wonne ns good, and wisely brought it then«e, 
 That no passage should be without danger, 
 And his licence on see to move and sterre." 
 
 Shortly after the time when this poem must have 
 been written, it appears from the Parliament Roll 
 (20th Hen. VI. 1442), that an armed naval force, 
 consisting only of 'eight large ships, with smaller ves- 
 sels to attend them, was to be collected from the 
 ports of London, Bristol, Dartmouth, Hull and New- 
 castle, Winchelsea, Plymouth, Falmouth, &c. ; and, 
 of course, the Royal ships of 1417, the names of' 
 which are contained in the foregoing schedule, were- 
 then either gone to decay or dispersed. We are not 
 to judge of' the size of ' these ships from the few ma*, 
 riners appointed to each. These were ' merely -the 
 
 Navy. 
 
26 
 
 NAVY. 
 
 Period. 
 
 Navy, ship-keepers, or harbour-duty men, placed on per- 
 ^/"^•^ manent pay, to keep the ships in a condition fit for 
 
 the sea when wanted. 
 Second Jt ig very probable that, until our merchants en- 
 gaged in the Mediterranean trade, and that the at- 
 tention of the government was turned in the reign of 
 Henry VII, (about 1496), to imitate Portugal in 
 making fox-eign discovery, under the skilful seaman 
 Sebastian Cabot, very little was added to the capa- 
 city or the power of British ships of war. It is said, 
 however, that on the accession of Henry VII. to the 
 throne in 14'85, he caused his marine, which had been 
 neglected in the preceding reign, to be put into a 
 condition to protect the coasts against all foreign in- 
 vasions ; and that, in the midst of profound peace, he 
 always kept up a fleet ready to act. In his reign 
 was built a ship called the Great Harry, the first on 
 record that deserved the name of a ship of war, if it 
 was not the first exclusively appropriated to the ser- 
 vice of the state. This is the same ship that Cam. 
 den has miscalled the Henry Grace de Dieu, and 
 which was not built till twenty years afterwards, un- 
 der the reign of Henry VHI. The Great Harry is 
 stated to have cost L. 14,000, and was burnt by ac- 
 cident at Woolwich in 1553. 
 
 We now come to that period of our naval history 
 in which England might be truly said to possess a 
 military marine, and of which some curious details 
 have been left us by that extraordinary man of busi- 
 ness Mr Pepys, a commissioner of the navy, and af- 
 terwards secretary to Charles II., at a time when the 
 King executed in person the office of Lord High Ad- 
 miral, and also to James II. until his abdication. 
 His minutes and miscellanies relative to the navy are 
 contained in a great number of manuscript volumes, 
 which are deposited in the Pepysian Library in Mag- 
 dalene College, Cambridge. From these papers it 
 appears, that in the thirteenth year of Henry VIII., 
 the following were the names and the tonnage of the 
 Boyal Navy : 
 
 Tons. 
 
 Henry Grace de Dieu, - - 1500 
 
 Gabriel Royal, - - - 650 
 
 Mary Rose, - - - 600 
 
 Barbara, - - - 400 
 
 Mary George, - - - 250 
 
 Henry Hampton, - - - 120 
 
 The Great Galley, - - - 800 
 
 Sovereign, - - • ^00 
 
 Catherine Forteleza, - - 550 
 
 John Baptist, - - - 400 
 
 Great Nicholas, - - - 400 
 
 Mary James, - - - 240 
 
 Great Bark, . - - 250 
 
 Less Bark, - - ' . 
 
 Two row-barges of 60 tons each,— makmg, m the 
 whole, 16 ships and vessels measuring 7260 tons. 
 
 The Henry Grace de Dieu is stated in all other 
 accounts, and with more probability, to have been 
 only 1000 tons; the rule for ascertaining the mea- 
 surement of ships being still vague and liable to great 
 error, was probably much more so at this early pe- 
 riod. This ship was built in 1515 at Erith, in the river 
 Thames, to replace the Regent of the same tonnage, 
 12 
 
 which was burnt in August 1512, in action with the 
 French fleet, when carrying the flag of the Lord 
 High Admiral. There is a drawing in the Pepysian 
 papers of the Henry Grace de Dieu, from which 
 a print in the Archaeologia has been engraved, and 
 of which a copy has been taken as a frontispiece to 
 Mr Derrick's Memoirs of the Rise and Progress of 
 the Boyal Navi/. From these papers it appears, 
 that she carried 14 guns on the lower deck, 12 on 
 the main deck, 18 on the quarter-deck and poop, 18 
 on the lofty forecastle, and 10 in her stern ports, 
 making ahogether 72 guns. Her regular establish- 
 ment of men is said to have consisted of 349 sol- 
 diers, 301 mariners, and 50 gunners, making alto- 
 gether 700 men. Some idea may be formed of the 
 awkwardness in manceuvring ships built on her con- 
 struction or similar to her, when it is stated that, 
 on the appearance of the French fleet at St Helens, 
 the Great Harry, built in the former reign, and the 
 first ship built with two decks, had nearly been sunk, 
 and that the Mary Rose of 600 tons, with 500 
 or 600 men on board, was actually sunk at Spit- 
 head, occasioned, as Ralegh says, " by a little sway 
 in casting the ship about, her ports being within six- 
 teen inches of the water." On this occasion the 
 fleets cannonaded each other for two hours ; and it 
 is remarked as something extraordinary, that not less 
 than 300 cannon-shot were fired on both sides in the 
 course of this action. From the prints above rnen- 
 tioned, which agree very closely with the curious 
 painting of Henry crossing the Channel in his fleet, 
 to meet Francis on the Champ de drap d'Or," near 
 Calais (and now in the great room where the So- 
 ciety of Antiquaries hold their meetings in Somerset 
 House), it is quite surprising how they could be trust- 
 ed on the sea at all; their enormous poops and fore- 
 castles making them appear loftier and more awkward 
 than the large Chinese junks, to which, indeed, they 
 bear a strong resemblance. 
 
 Henry VIII. may justly be said to have laid the 
 foundation of the British navy. He established the 
 dock-yards at Deptford, Woolwich, and Portsmouth; 
 he appointed certain commissioners to superintend 
 the civil affairs of the navy, and settled the rank and 
 pay of admirals, vice-admirals, and inferior officers ; 
 thus creating a national navy, and raising the officers 
 to a separate and distinct profession. The great 
 officers of the navy then were, the Vice- Admiral of 
 England ; the Master of the Ordnance ; the Survey- 
 or of the Marine Causes ; the Treasurer, Comptrol- 
 ler, General Surveyor of the Victualling, Clerk of 
 the Ships, and Clerk of the Stores. Each of these 
 officers had their particular duties, but they met to- 
 gether at their office on Tower-Hill once a week, to 
 consult, and make their reports to the Lord High Ad- 
 miral. He also established the fraternity of the Trini- 
 ty-House, for the improvement of navigation and the- 
 encouragement of commerce, and built the castles of 
 Deal, Walmer, Sandgate, Hurst-Castle, &c, for the 
 protection of his fleet and of the coast.. 
 
 At the death of Henry VIII. in 1547, the Royal 
 navy consisted of about 50 ships and vessels of differ- 
 ent sizes, the former from 1000 to 150 tons, and the 
 latter down to 20 tons, making in the whole about 
 12,000 tons, and manned by about 8000 mariners, 
 
 Navy. 
 
NAVY. 
 
 27 
 
 2»^avy. soldiers, gunners, &c. In the short reign of his son 
 Edward, little alteration seems to have taken place 
 in the state and condition of the Royal navy. But 
 the regulations which had been made in the reign of 
 his father, for the civil government of naval affairs, 
 were revised, arranged, and turned into ordinances, 
 Vfhich form the basis of all the subsequent instruc- 
 tions given to the commissioners for the management 
 of the civil affairs of the navy. In the reign of Mary 
 the tonnage of the navy was reduced to about 7OOO 
 tons; but her Lord High Admiral nobly maintained 
 the title assumed by England of " Sovereign of the 
 Seas," by compelling Philip of Spain to strike his 
 flag that was flying at the main- top -mast head, 
 though on his way to England to marry Queen 
 Mary, by firing a shot at the Spanish admiral. He 
 also demanded that his whole fleet, consisting of 16O 
 sail, should strike their colours and lower their top- 
 sails, as an homage to the English flag, before he 
 would permit his squadron to salute the Spanish mo- 
 narch. 
 
 The reign of Elizabeth was the proudest period of 
 our naval history, perhaps surpassed by none, pre- 
 vious to the Revolution. She not only increased 
 the numerical force of the regular navy, but esta- 
 blished many wise regulations for its preservation, 
 and for securing adequate supplies of timber and 
 other naval stores. She placed her naval officers on 
 a more respectable footing, and encouraged foreign 
 trade and geographical discoveries, so that she ac- 
 quired justly the title of the " Restorer of Naval 
 Power, and Sovereign of the Northern Seas." The 
 greatest naval force that had at any previous period 
 been called together was that which was assembled 
 to oppose the " Invincible Armada," and which con- 
 sisted, according to the notes of Mr Secretarj' Pepys, 
 of 176 ships, with 14,992 men ; but these were not 
 nil " Shippes Royali," but were partly composed of 
 the contributions of the Cinque Ports and others. 
 The number actually belonging to the navy is vari- 
 ously stated, but they would appear to have been 
 somewhere about 4<0 sail of ships, manned with about 
 6000 men. At the end of her reign, however, the 
 navy had greatly increased, the list in l603 consist- 
 ing of 42 ships of various descriptions, amounting to 
 17,000 tons, and manned with 8346 men. Of these 
 two were of the burden of 1000 tons each, three of 
 900 tons, and ten from 600 to 800 tons. 
 
 James I. was not inattentive to his navy. He 
 warmly patronized Mr Phineas Pett, the most able 
 and scientific shipwright that this country ever boast- 
 ed, and to whom we undoubtedly owe the first essen- 
 tial improvements in the form and construction of 
 ships. The cumbrous top-works were first got rid 
 of under his superintendence. " In my owne time," 
 says Ralegh, " the shape of our English ships hath 
 been greatly bettered — in extremity we carry our 
 ordnance better than we were wont — we have added 
 crosse pillars in our royall shippes, to strengthen 
 them ; we have given longer floors to our shippes 
 than in older times," &c. The young Prince Henry 
 was so fond of naval affairs, that Phineas Pett was 
 ordered, by the Lord High Admiral, to build a ves- 
 sel at Chatham in l604 with all possible speed, for 
 the young Prince Henry to disport himself in, above 
 
 London Bridge ; the length of her keel was 28 feet, Navy, 
 and her breadth 12 feet. In 1610 Pett laid down "^^-^ 
 the largest ship that had hitherto been built. She 
 was named the Prince Royal ; her burden 1400 
 tons; her keel 114 feet; and armed with 64 pieces 
 of great ordnance ; " being in all respects," says 
 Stowe, " the greatest and goodliest ship that was 
 ever built in England." He adds, " the great work- 
 master in building this ship was Mr Phineas Pett, 
 gentleman, sometime Master of Arts, of Enaanuel 
 College, in Cambridge." 
 
 This excellent man, as appears from a manuscript 
 account of his life in the British Museum, written 
 by himself, was regarded by the shipwrights of the 
 dock-yards, who had no science themselves, with an 
 eye of jealousy, and a complaint was laid against 
 him before the King, of ignorance in laying off a 
 ship, and of a wasteful expenditure of timber and 
 other matters. The King attended at Woolwich 
 with his court, to inquire in person into the charges 
 brought forward, and, after a painful investigation, 
 pronounced in favour of Mr Pett. One of the 
 charges was, that he had caused the wood to be cut 
 across the grain ; but the King observed, that, as it 
 appeared to him, " it was not the wood, but those 
 who ^had preferred the charges, that were cross- 
 grained." 
 
 The state of the navy at the King's death is vari- 
 ously given, by different writers, but on this subject 
 the memoranda left by Mr Secretary Pepys are 
 most likely to be correct. From them it appears, 
 that, in 1618, certain commissioners were appointed 
 to examine into the state of the navy ; and, by their 
 report, it appears there were then only 39 ships and 
 vessels, whose tonnage amounted to 14^700 tons; 
 but in 1624, on the same authority, the numbers 
 had decreased to 32 or 33 ships and vessels, but the 
 tonnage increased to about 19,400 tons. The com- 
 missioners had, in fact, recommended many of the 
 small craft to be broken up or sold, and more ships 
 of the higher rates to be kept up. 
 
 The navy was not neglected in the troublesome 
 reign of Charles I. This unfortunate monarch add- 
 ed upwards of 20 sail to the list, generally of the 
 smaller kind , but one of them, built by Pett, of a 
 description, both as to form and dimensions, far su- 
 perior to any that had yet been launched. This 
 ship was the celebrated " Sovereign of the Seas," 
 which was launched at Woolwich in 1637. The 
 length of her keel was 128 feet, and main breadth 
 48 feet, and from stem to stern 232 feet. In the de- 
 scription of this ship by Thomas Heywood, she is 
 said to have *' bore five lanthorns, the biggest of 
 which would hold ten persons upright ; had three 
 flush-decks, a forecastle, half-deck, quarter-deck, 
 and round-house. Her lower tier bad 30 ports for 
 cannon and demi-cannon ; middle tier, 30 for cul- 
 verines and demi-culverines ; third tier, 26 for other 
 ordnance; forecastle, 12; and two half-decks, 13 or 
 14 ports more within board, for murthering pieces; 
 besides 10 pieces of chace ordnance, forward, and 
 10 right aft, and many loop-holes in the cabins for 
 musquet-shot. She had 11 anchors, one of 4400 
 pounds weight. She was of the burthen of 1637 
 tons." It appears, however, that she was founds or 
 
28 N A 
 
 Navy, trial, to be too high for a good serviceable ship in 
 -^t^^/"^^ all weathers, and was, therefore, cut down to a deck 
 • less. After this she became an excellent ship, was 
 
 in almost all the great actions with the Dutch ; was 
 rebuilt in 1684?, and the name changed to that of 
 " Royal Sovereign ;" was about to be rebuilt a se- 
 cond time at Chatham in 1 696, when she accidental- 
 ly took fire, and was totally consumed. In this reign 
 the ships of the navy were first classed, or divided 
 into six rates ; the first being from 100 to 60 guns ; 
 the second from 54* to 36, &c. 
 
 In 1642 the management of the navy was taken 
 out of the King's hands, and in 1648 Prince Rupert 
 carried away 25 ships, none of which ever returned ; 
 and such, indeed, was the reduced state of the navy, 
 that at the beginning of Cromwell's usurped govern- 
 ment, he had only 14< ships of war of two decks, and 
 some of these carried only 40 guns ; but under the 
 careful management of very able men, in different 
 commissions which he appointed, such vigorous 
 measures were pursued, that, in five years, though 
 engaged within that time in war with the greatest 
 naval power in Europe, the fleet was increased to 
 .150 sail, of which more than a third part had two 
 decks ; and many of which were captured from the 
 Dutch ; and upwards of 20,000 seamen were em- 
 ployed in the navy. Our military marine was, in- 
 deed, raised by Cromwell to a height which it had 
 never before reached; but from which it soon de- 
 clined under the short and feeble administration of 
 his son. 
 
 Though Cromwell found the navy divided into 
 six rates or classes, it was under his government that 
 these ratings were defined and established in the 
 manner nearly in which they now are ; and it may 
 also be remarked, that, under his government, the 
 first frigate, called the Constant Warwick, was 
 built in England. ** She was built," says Mr Pepys, 
 " in 1649, by Mr Peter Pett (son of Phineas), for a 
 privateer for the Earl of Warwick, and was sold 
 by him to the state. Mr Pett took his model of this 
 ship from a French frigate, which he had seen in the 
 Thames." 
 
 During the first period of our naval history, we 
 know nothing of the nature of the armament of the 
 ships. From the time of Edward III. they might 
 have been armed with cannon, but no mention is 
 made of this being the case. According to Lord 
 Herbert, brass ordnance was first cast in England in 
 the year 1535. They had various names, such as can- 
 non, demi-cannon, culverins, demi-culverins, sakers, 
 mynions, falcons, falconets, &c. What the calibre of 
 each of these were is not accurately known, but the 
 cannon is supposed to have been about 60 pounders, 
 the demi-cannon 32, the culverin 18, falcon 2, my- 
 nion 4, saker 5, &c. Many of these pieces, of dif- 
 ferent calibres, were mounted on the same deck, 
 which must have occasioned great confusion in action 
 in finding for each its proper shot. 
 Third Restoration of Charles II. the Duke of 
 
 Period. York was immediately appointed Lord High Admi- 
 ral ; and by his advice, a committee was named to 
 consider a plan, proposed by himself, for the future 
 regulation of the affairs of the navy, at which the 
 Duke himself presided. By the advice and able as- 
 
 VY. 
 
 sistance of Mr Pepys, great progress was speedily Navy, 
 made in the reparation and increase of flie fleet. '^•^^N'^ 
 The Duke remained Lord High Admiral till 1673, 
 when, in consequence of the test required by Par- 
 liament, to which he could not submit, he resigned, 
 and that office was in part put in commission, and 
 the rest retained by the King. Prince Rupert was 
 put at the head of this commission, and Mr Pepys 
 appointed secretary to the King in all naval affairs, 
 and of the admiralty ; and by his able and judicious 
 management, there were in sea-pay, in the year 1679, 
 and in excellent condition, 76 ships of the line, all 
 furnished with stores for six months, eight fire-ships, 
 besides a numerous train of ketches, smacks, yachts, 
 &c. with more than 12,000 seamen ; and also 30 
 new ships building, and a good supply of stores in 
 the dock-yards. But this flourishing condition of the 
 navy did not last long. In consequence of the dissi- 
 pation of the King, and his pecuniary difficulties, he 
 neglected the navy on account of the expences ; the 
 Duke was sent abroad, and Mr Pepys to the Tower. 
 A new set of commissioners were appointed, without 
 experience, ability, or industry ; and the consequence 
 was, as stated by the commissioners of revision, that 
 
 all the wise regulations, formed during the admi- 
 nistration of the Duke of York, were neglected ; and 
 such supineness and waste appear to have prevailed, 
 that, at the end of not more than five years, when he 
 was recalled to the office of Lord High Admiral, 
 only 22 ships, none larger than a fourth rate, with 
 two fire-ships, were at sea ; those in harbour were 
 quite unfit for service ; even the 30 new ships which 
 he had left building had been suffered to fall into a 
 state of great decay, and hardly any stores were found 
 to remain in the dock-yards." 
 
 The first act on the Duke's return was the re-ap- 
 pointment of Mr Pepys as secretary of the admiral- 
 ty. Finding the present commissioners unequal to 
 the duties required of them, he recommended others. 
 Sir Anthony Dean, the most experienced of the ship- 
 builders then in England, was joined with the new 
 commissioners. To him, it has been said, we owe 
 the first essential improvement in the form and qua- 
 lities of ships of the line, having taken the model of 
 the Superbe, a French ship of 74 guns, which an- 
 chored at Spithead, and from which he built the 
 Harwich in 1664. Others, however, are of opinion, 
 that no improvement had at this time been made on 
 the model of the Sovereign of the Seas after she was 
 cut down. The new commissioners undertook, in 
 three years, to complete the repair of the fleet, and 
 furnish the dock-yards with a proper supply of stores, 
 on an estimate of L. 400,000 a year, to be issued in 
 weekly payments ; and in two years and a half they 
 finished their task, to the satisfaction of the King 
 and the whole nation ; the number of ships repaired 
 and under repair being 108 sail of the line, besides a 
 considerable number of vessels of smaller size. The 
 same year the King abdicated the throne, at which 
 time the list of the navy amounted to 173 sail, 
 containing 101,Ji92 tons, carrying 6930 guns, and 
 42,000 seamen. 
 
 The naval regulations were wisely left unaltered 
 at the Revolution, and the business of the Admiral- 
 ty continued to be carried on chiefly, for some time. 
 
NAVY. 
 
 29 
 
 Navy, under the immediate direction of King William, by 
 Mr Pepys, till the arrival of Admiral Herbert and 
 Captain Russell from the fleet, into whose hands, he 
 says, " he silently let it fall.'* Upon the general 
 principles of that system, thus established with his 
 aid by the Duke of York, the civil government of 
 our navy has ever since been carried on. 
 
 In the second year of King William (1690), no 
 less than 30 ships were ordered to be built, of 60, 
 70, and 80 guns each ; and in I697, the King, in his 
 speech to Parliament, stated that the naval force of 
 the kingdom was increased to nearly double what 
 he found it at his accession. It was now partly com- 
 posed of various classes of French ships which had 
 been captured in the course of the war, amounting 
 in number to more than 60, and in guns to 2300 ; 
 the losses by storms and captures on our side being 
 about half the tonnage and half the guns we had 
 acquired. At the commencement of this reign, the 
 navy, as we have stated, consisted of 173 ships, mea- 
 suring 101,892 tons ; at his death, it had been ex- 
 tended to 272 ships, measuring 159,020 tons, being 
 an increase of 99 ships and 57,128 tons, or more 
 than one-half both in number and in tonnage. 
 
 The accession of Queen Anne was immediately fol- 
 lowed by a war with France and Spain, and in the 
 second year of her reign, she had the misfortune of 
 losing a vast number of her ships by one of the most 
 tremendous storms that was ever known ; but every 
 energy was used to repair this national calamity. In 
 an address to the House of Lords in March I707, it 
 is declared as " a most undoubted maxim, that the 
 honour, security, and wealth of this kingdom does 
 depend upon the protection and encouragement of 
 trade, and the improving and right encouraging its 
 naval strength .... therefore, we do in the most 
 earnest manner beseech your Majesty, that the sea- 
 affairs may always be your first and most peculiar 
 care." In the course of this war were taken or de- 
 stroyed about 50 ships of war, mounting 3000 can- 
 non ; and we lost about half the number. At the 
 death of the Queen in 1714, the list of the navy 
 was reduced in number to 247 ships, measuring 
 167j219 tons, being an increase in tonnage of 8I99 
 tons. 
 
 George I. left the navy pretty nearly in the same 
 state he found it. At his death, in 1727, the list 
 consisted of 233 ships, measuring 170,862 tons, be- 
 ing a decrease in number of 14, but an increase in 
 tonnage of 3643 tons. 
 
 George II. was engaged in a war with Spain in 
 l739> in consequence of which the size of our ships 
 of the line ordered to be built was considerably in- 
 creased. In 1744, France declared against us ; but 
 on the restoration of peace in 1748, it was found 
 that our naval strength had prodigiously increased. 
 Our loss had been little or nothing, whilst we had 
 taken and destroyed, of the French 20, and of the 
 Spanish 15 sail of the line, besides smaller vessels. 
 The war with France of 1755 added considerably to 
 the list, so that, at the King's decease, in I76O, it 
 consisted of 412 ships, measuring 321,104 tons. 
 
 In the short war of 1 762, George III. added no 
 less than 20 sail of the line to our navy. At the 
 conclusion of the American war in 1782, the list of 
 
 the navy was increased to 600 sail ; and at the sign- 
 ing of the preliminaries in 1783, it amounted to 617" 
 sail, measuring upwards of 500,000 tons, being an 
 increase of 185 ships and 157,000 tons and upwards 
 since the year I762. At the peace of Amiens, the 
 list of the fleet amounted to upwards of 700 sail, of 
 which 144 were of the line. The number taken from 
 the enemy, or destroyed, amounted nearly to 6OO, of 
 which 90 were of the line, including 50 gun ships, 
 and upwards of 200 were frigates; and our loss 
 amounted to about 60, of which 6 were of the line 
 and 12 frigates. 
 
 The recommencement and long continuance of the 
 Revolutionary war, and the glorious successes of our 
 naval actions, the protection required for our ex- 
 tended commerce, of which, in fact, we might be said 
 to enjoy a monopoly, and for the security of our nu- 
 merous colonies, contributed to raise the British navy 
 to a magnitude to which the accumulated navies of 
 the whole world bore but a small proportion. From 
 1808 to 1813, there were seldom less than from 100 
 to 106 sail of the line in commission, and from 130 
 to 160 frigates, and upwards of 200 sloops, besides 
 bombs, gun-brigs, cutters, schooners, &c., amounting 
 in the whole to about 500 sail of effective ships and 
 vessels; to which may be added 500 more in the 
 ordinary, and as prison, hospital, and receiving ships ; 
 making at least 1000 pendents, and measuring from 
 800,000 to 900,000 tons. The commissioners appoint- 
 ed to inquire into the state and condition of the woods, 
 forests, and land revenues of the Crown, state, in 
 their report to Parliament, in the year 1792, that, 
 " at the accession of his Majesty (Geo. III.) to the 
 throne, the tonnage of the Royal navy was 321,104 
 tons, and at the end of the year 1788, it had risen to 
 no less than 413,467 tons." In 1808 it had amount- 
 ed to the enormous extent of 800,000 tons, having 
 nearly doubled itself in twenty years. 
 
 It must not, however, be supposed that the effec- 
 tive navy consisted of more than half this amount of 
 tonnage. Since the conclusion of the war, it would 
 appear that at least one-half of the number of ships 
 then in existence have been sold or broken up as un- 
 fit for the service ; and as, by the list of the navy at 
 the beginning of the year 1821, the number of ships 
 and vessels of every description in commission, in or- 
 dinary, building, repairing, and ordered to be built, 
 has been reduced to 6O9 sail, we may take the great- 
 est extent of the present tonnage at 500,000 tons ; 
 but the greatest part, if not the whole, of this ton- 
 nage may be considered as eflScient, or in a state of 
 pt-ogressive eflQciency. 
 
 According to the printed list of the 1st Janu- 
 ary 1821, the 609 sail of ships and vessels appear to 
 be as under : 
 
 Navy. 
 
 1st Rates from 120 to 100 guns. 
 
 2d Rates 
 3d Rates 
 4th Rates 
 5th Rates 
 6th Rates 
 Sloops 
 
 86 
 78 
 60 
 48 
 34 
 22 
 
 80 do. 
 
 — 74 do. 
 
 — 50 do. 
 
 — 22 do. 
 
 — 24 do. 
 
 — 10 do. 
 
 Making a total of 
 
 No. 
 
 23 
 
 16 
 
 90 
 
 20 
 
 107 
 40 
 
 136 
 
 432 
 
■NAVY. 
 
 Brought forward, - 432 
 To which being added gun-brigs, 
 cutters, schooners, tenders, 
 bombs, troop - ships, store- 
 ships, yachts, &c. 
 
 Grand total. 
 
 The increase in the size of our ships of war was 
 unavoidable ; France and Spain increased theirs, 
 and we were compelled, in order to meet them on 
 fair terms, to increase the dimensions of ours ; many 
 of theirs were, besides, added to the list of our navy. 
 The following sketch will show the progressive rate 
 at which ships of the first rate, or of 100 guns and 
 upwards, were enlarged in their dimensions In 1677 
 the first rates were from 1500 to 1600 tons. In 1720 
 they were increased to 1800 tons. In 1745 we find 
 
 them advanced to 2000 tons. During the American 
 war they were raised to 2000 tons. In 1795 the 
 Ville de Paris, of 110 guns, measured 2350 tons. In 
 1804 the Hibernia, of 110 guns, was extended to 
 2500 tons; and in 1808 the Caledonia, carrying 120 
 guns, measured 2616 tons, and here we stopped; 
 but since then, the Nelson, the Howe, the St Vin- 
 cent, the Britannia, the Prince Uegent, the Royal 
 George, and the Neptune, have been built, or build- 
 ing, all nearly of the same dimensions, and from the 
 same draught — nine such ships as the whole world be- 
 side cannot produce. The French had one ship larger 
 than any of these, called the Commerce de Mar- 
 seilles. She was taken by us in Toulon, but broke 
 her back in a gale of wind. 
 
 The following are the comparative dimensions of 
 the Caledonia and the ComtL-erce de Marseilles : 
 
 
 Length of 
 Gun-deck. 
 
 Length of 
 Keel. 
 
 Extreme 
 Breadth. 
 
 Depth of 
 Hold. 
 
 Tons. 
 
 Commerce de Marseilles, 
 Caledonia, 
 
 feet. in. 
 205 0 
 208 4 
 
 feet. in. 
 
 170 9 
 172 0 
 
 feet. in. 
 
 53 8 
 
 54 9| 
 
 feet. in. 
 23 2 
 25 0| 
 
 2616 
 2747 
 
 The following is the armament of the Caledonia : 
 On the gun-deck she carries 32 guns, 32 pounders ; 
 middle-deck 34 24-pounders ; upper deck 34 24- 
 pounders, carronades ; quarter-deck 10 32-pounders, 
 and 6 12-pounders, carronades; forecastle 2 32- 
 pounders, and 2 12-pounders, carronades. Her 
 complement of men 875. 
 
 At the commencement of the third period, we 
 have a somewhat more precise account of the arma- 
 ment of our ships of war. On the l6th May 1677, 
 a Committee of the Navy Board, Ordnance, and cer- 
 tain naval officers, recommended to his Majesty the 
 following scheme for arming and manning the 30 
 new ships of the line ordered to be built by act 
 of Parliament. 
 
 our navy, and so many new ones built after the mo- 
 dels of ships taken from these maritime powers, that 
 the various descriptions of ships of which our navy 
 was composed became a very serious evil. 
 
 In the year 1745, a committee, composed of all 
 flag officers unemployed, of the commissioners of the 
 navy, who were sea-officers, under the presidency 
 of Sir John Norris, and assisted by the master ship- 
 wrights, were ordered to meet, to consider, and pro- 
 pose proper establishments of guns, men, masts, 
 yards, &c. for each class of his Majesty's ships ; and, 
 according to their recommendation, the rates, arma- 
 ments, and complements of his Majesty's ships were 
 to be as follows : 
 
 Guns. 
 
 1st Rates. 
 
 2d Rates. 
 
 3d Rates. 
 
 Cannon (supposed 42 prs.), 
 
 No. 26 
 
 26 
 
 26 
 
 Demi- cannon (32 prs.). 
 
 
 Culverins (18 prs.), 
 
 28 
 
 26 
 
 26 
 
 Twelve pounders. 
 
 
 
 Sakers, upper- deck. 
 
 28 
 
 26 
 
 
 Forecastle, 
 
 4 
 
 
 4 
 
 Quarter-deck, 
 
 12 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 Three pounders. 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 
 100 
 
 90 
 
 70 
 
 Rate. 
 1 
 2 
 
 Guns. 
 100 
 90 
 (80 
 170 
 J 60 
 150 
 44 
 24 
 
 Men. 
 850 or 750 
 750 or 660 
 650 or 600 
 520 or 460 
 420 or 380 
 350 or 280 
 280 or 220 
 160 or 140 
 
 For the 1st rate, 780 men. 
 For the 2d do. 660 do. 
 For the 3d do. 470 do. 
 
 The rates of ships immediately after the Revolu- 
 tion were reduced, the 1st being turned to 2d rates, 
 2d rates to 3d, &c., and the size of each class more 
 equalized. But from this time forward it was found 
 impossible to preserve any thing like uniformity in 
 the several classes. So many ships captured from 
 the French, Dutch, and Spaniards, were added to 
 
 But this establishment was very soon departed 
 from; for, on the 3d of February 1747, the Board 
 of Admiralty acquainted his Majesty, that the French 
 ship Invincible, lately captured, was found to be lar- 
 ger than his Majesty's ships of 90 guns, and 750 
 men ; and suggested that this ship, and all other pri- 
 zes of the like class, and also his Majesty's ships of 
 90 guns, when reduced to two decks and a half, and 
 74 guns, should be allowed a complement of 700 
 men. And it further appears, that, at the latter end 
 of the reign of George the Second, the rates of ships 
 had undergone a very material alteration, for they 
 consisted as under : 
 
 Nary. 
 
 1st Rate, 
 2d Rate, 
 
 100 guns. 
 90 guns. 
 
N A V Y. 
 
 .31 
 
 Navy. 3d Rate, 80 guns, 74 — 70 — 54 guns. 
 
 4th Rate, 60 guns, 50 
 
 5th Rate, 44 guns, 38 — 36 — 32 guns. 
 
 6th Rate, 30 guns, ^8— 24— 20 guns. 
 
 The scales for measuring the ships were as various 
 as their rates ; and the evil was further increased by 
 the varieties, which it was found necessary to intro- 
 duce in the rigging and arming the ship* of war. 
 The masts, yards, rigging, and stores, were of so 
 many and various dimensions, as to be not only high- 
 ly inconvenient, but extremely expensive. When 
 Lord Nelson was off Cadiz with 17 or 18 sail of the 
 line, he had no less than seven different classes of 74 
 gun ships, each requiring different sized masts, sails, 
 yards, &c. so that, in the event of one of these being 
 disabled, the others could not supply her with such 
 stores as could be appropriated to her wants. 
 
 Present Rating of the Navy. 
 To remedy the many inconveniences resulting 
 from the irregularities above mentioned, the Lords 
 of the Admiralty suggested, by their Memorial to the 
 Prince Regent, which, by his Order in Council, of 
 the 25th November 1816, was ordered to be carried 
 into effect, that the ships of the navy should for the 
 future be rated as under : 
 
 The 1st rate to include all three-deckers, in as 
 much as all sea going ships of that description car- 
 ry 100 guns and upwards. 
 
 The 2d rate to include all ships of 80 guns and 
 upwards, on two decks. 
 
 The 3d rate to include all ships of 70 guns and 
 upwards, and less than 80 guns. 
 
 The 4th rate to include all ships of 50 and up- 
 wards, but less than 70 guns. 
 
 The 5th rate to include all ships from 36 to 50 
 guns. 
 
 The 6th rate to include all ships from 24 to 36 
 guns. 
 
 And that the complements of men be established 
 as under : 
 
 1st Rate, 900 — 850 or 800 men 
 
 2d do. 700 or 650 
 
 3d do. 650 or 600 
 
 4th do. 450 or 350 
 
 6th do. 300 or 280 
 
 6th do. 175 — 145 or 125. 
 
 Gf sloops the complements established according to 
 their size, to consist of 135, 125, Q5, or 75 men. 
 Brigs (not sloops), cutters, schooners, and bombs, 
 with 6o or 50 men. 
 
 Thus stands the rating and manning of the navy 
 at present ; but another war, or a new administration 
 of the affairs of the navy, will, in all human proba- 
 bility, make new regulations in these respects. It 
 is, however, of the utmost importance, with a view 
 to convenience and economy, that the size and di- 
 mensions of the several rates should be kept as near- 
 ly as possible equal, in order that one description 
 of stores may be applicable to every ship of the same 
 rate. To this end, the commissioners of naval revi- 
 sion have recommended, " that th^ ships of each 
 class or rate should be constructed in every particu- 
 
 lar, according to the form of the best ship in the 
 same class in our navy ; of the same length, breadth, 
 and depth ; the masts of the same dimensions, and 
 placed in the same parts of the ship, with the same 
 form and size of the sails." 
 
 Improvements in Construction. 
 If we look back to the days of Elizabeth, when 
 the chain-pump, the capstan, the striking of the 
 top-masts, the studding-sails, top-gallant-sails, sprit- 
 sails, &c. were first introduced into the navy, one can 
 scarcely conceive how they contrived to keep the 
 sea for any length of time ; but these improvements, 
 important as they were, are trifling, when compared 
 with those aids and conveniences which have gra- 
 dually been introduced since her reign, and which 
 a ship of war now enjoys. When Sir Anthony 
 Deane, in 1664, raised the lower ports of a two- 
 decker four and a half feet out of the water, which 
 had before been scarcely three feet, and made a 
 ship of this class to stow six months' provisions in- 
 stead of three, it was justly considered as a most im- 
 portant improvement ; not less so, when the breadth 
 of a ship of this class was carried to 45 feet. " The 
 builders of England," says Pepys, " before 1673, 
 had not well considered that breadth only will make 
 a stiff ship." It must be confessed, however, that as 
 far as the form of a ship's bottom depends on scien- 
 tific principles, we have copied our best models from 
 the French, sometimes with capricious variations, . 
 which more frequently turned out to be an injurious 
 alteration than an improvement. 
 
 The first essential alteration in the form of our 
 ships of the line was taken from the Superbe, a 
 French ship of 74 guns, which anchored at Spithead, 
 on the model of which, as already stated, the Har- 
 wich was built by Sir Anthony Deane in 1674; since 
 which time we have constantly been copying from 
 French models ; improving or spoiling, as chance 
 might determine. " Where we have built exactly 
 after the form of the best of the French ships that 
 we have taken," say the commissioners of naval revi- 
 sion, " thus adding our dexterity in building to their 
 knowledge in theory, the ships, it is generally al- 
 lowed, have proved the best in our navy ; but when- 
 ever our builders have been so far misled by their 
 little attainments in the science of naval architec- 
 ture, as to depart from the model before them in , 
 any material degree, and attempt improvements, the 
 true principles on which ships ought to be construct- 
 ed (being imperfectly known to them) have been 
 mistaken or counteracted, and the alterations, ac- 
 cording to the information given to us, have> in 
 many cases, done harm:" while, therefore, they add, 
 
 our rivals in naval power were employing men of 
 the greatest talents and most extensive acquirements, 
 to call in the aid of science for improving the con- 
 struction of ships, we have contented ourselves with 
 groping on in the dark, in quest of such discoveries 
 as chance might bring in our way." 
 
 On these grounds, and by the recommendation of 
 the commissioners, a school for a superior class of ship- 
 wright apprentices has been established in Portsmouth 
 Dockyard. It consists of twenty-five young men of 
 liberal education ; whose mornings are passed in the 
 study of mathematics and mechanics, and in their 
 
 Navy. 
 
S2 
 
 NAVY. 
 
 Navy, application to naval architecture ; and the remainder 
 '^-^v'^^of the day under the master shipwright in the 
 mould loft, and in all the various kinds of manual 
 labour connected with ship-building, as well as in 
 the management and conversion of timber, so as to 
 make them, at the same time, fully acquainted with 
 all the duties in detail of a practical shipwright. 
 
 If, however, we have hitherto been inferior to the 
 French in the scientific principles of ship-building, 
 in the constructive part we have left them behind 
 beyond all comparison ; and notwithstanding the 
 narrow prejudices which have been more remarkably 
 adhered to among shipwrights, than among almost 
 any other class of artisans, various alterations and 
 improvements have from time to time been introduced 
 into the mechanical part of naval architecture, which 
 have added to the strength, the stability, the com- 
 fort, and convenience of our ships of war, and ren- 
 dered them, in every point of view, superior to those 
 of any other nation. The application of iron where 
 wood was formerly used, and of copper for iron, have 
 added considerably to the durability of ships; and 
 the sheathing their bottoms with copper, to their 
 celerity ; giving them, at the same time, a protection 
 against the worm and those marine insects which 
 were wont to adhere to them ; yet, it is remarkable, 
 how strong the prejudice was against this practice- 
 before it obtained a due degree of credit. In the 
 fleet of Sir Edward Hughes in India there was but 
 one coppered ship, and Rodney's squadron in the 
 West Indies had but four that were coppered in the 
 year 1779 ; but these were enough so completely to 
 establish their superiority over the others with 
 wooden sheathing, that, in the year 1782, the whole 
 British navy was coppered. 
 System of But the greatest of all improvements in the con- 
 Diagonal struction of ships of war, as tending to their strength 
 Bracing. durability, is the system of diagonal bracing, in- 
 
 troduced a few years ago by Mr (now Sir Robert) 
 Seppings, surveyor of the navy, and now universally 
 adopted in all ships of the line and frigates ; a sys- 
 tem that may be said to have established a new era 
 in naval architecture. Of all large machines destin- 
 ed to undergo severe shocks, a ship is perhaps the 
 least skilfully and artificially contrived. Her seve- 
 ral parts are put together on a principle so much 
 opposed to that which constitutes strength, that if a 
 ship, on the old construction, should be put upon 
 wheels, and drawn over a rough pavement, the ac- 
 tion of a day would shake her in pieces ; but being 
 destined to move in an element that closes upon her, 
 and presses her equally on all sides, she is prevent- 
 ed from falling in pieces outwards, and her beams 
 and decks preserve her from tumbling inwards. 
 Whoever has observed a ship in frame, as it is call- 
 ed, on the stocks, that is, with only her timbers 
 erected, must forcibly be reminded of the skeleton 
 of some large quadruped, as of a horse or ox, laid 
 on its back ; the keel resembling the back-bone, and 
 the curved timbers the ribs, which is, in fact, the 
 name by which they sometimes go. These ribs, is- 
 suing at right angles from the keel, consist, in a 74 
 gun-ship, of about 800 different pieces, the space be- 
 tween each rib seldom exceeding five inches. These 
 ribs are covered with a skin or planks of different 
 
 thickness within and without, also at right angles to Nivy. 
 the ribs, and fixed to them by means of wooden pins v^v-^ 
 or tree-nails. In the inside three or four tier of 
 beams cross the skeleton from side to side, at right 
 angles to both planks and ribs. These beams sup- 
 port the decks. At right angles to the beams are 
 pieces of wood called carlings, and at right angles 
 to these other pieces called ledges, and upon these 
 the planks of the deck are laid in a direction of 
 right angles to the beams, and parallel to the plank- 
 ing of the sides. From this sketch it will be perceiv- 
 ed, that all the parts of a ship are either parallel or 
 at right angles to each other. The ribs form a right 
 angle with the keel, the planks inside and out are 
 at right angles to the ribs, the beams at right angles 
 to these, the carlings to the beams, the ledges to the 
 carlings, and the planks of the decks to the ledgesi 
 the beams, and the ribs. 
 
 Now, it is well known to every common carpent- 
 er that this disposition of materials is the weakest 
 that can be adopted. Thus, if five pieces of wood 
 be pinned together in the shape of a parallelogram, it 
 will require but little force to move them from the 
 rectangular to the oblique or rhomboidal shape, as 
 
 But place a cross-bar, as in the figure Z, as carpent- 
 ers are accustomed to do on a common gate, and it 
 is no longer moveable on the points of fastening. 
 
 The strongest proof of a ship's partaking, of this- 
 weakness in the old construction, is afforded on her 
 being first launched into the water, when it is inva- 
 riably found that the two extremities, being less wa- 
 ter-borne than the middle, drop, and give to the ship 
 a convex curvature upwards, an effect which, from its. 
 resemblance to the shape of a hog's back, is usually^ 
 called hogging. In very weak or old ships this effect 
 may be discovered in all the port-holes of the upper- 
 deck, by their having taken the shape of lozengesv 
 declining different v^ays from the centre of the ship* 
 to each extreraity. 
 
Navy. To obviate this great defect, Seppings tried the 
 ■-V— "''experiment of applying to the ribs or timbers of the 
 ship, from one extremity to the other, and from the 
 orlop-deck downwards to the kelson, that well- 
 known principle in carpentry, called trussing / be- 
 ing, in fact, a series of diagonal braces disposing 
 themselves into triangles, the sides of which give to 
 each other a mutual support and counteraction. 
 These triangles were firmly bolted to the frame ; and 
 in order to give a continuity of strength to the whole 
 machine, and leave no possible room for play, he fill- 
 ed the spaces between the frames with old seasoned 
 timber cut into the shape of wedges ; but recently 
 with a prepared cement, thus rendering the lower 
 part of the ship or floor one solid complete mass, 
 possessing the strength and firmness of a rock. 
 
 The same principle of trussing is carried from the 
 gun-deck upwards, from whence, between every port, 
 is introduced a diagonal brace, which completely 
 prevents the tendency of ships to stretch, or draw 
 asunder their upper works. The decks, too, are 
 made subservient to the securing more firmly the 
 beams to the sides of the ship, by the planks being 
 laid diagonally in contrary directions, from the mid- 
 ships to the sides, and at an angle of 45° with the 
 beams, and at right angles with the ledges. 
 
 In frigates and smaller vessels, iron plates, lying 
 at an angle of 45° with the direction of the trusses, 
 are substituted for the diagonal frame of wood in 
 ships of the line. 
 
 By this mode of construction, the ceiling, or inter- 
 nal planking, is wholly dispensed with, and a very 
 considerable saving of the finest oak timber thereby 
 effected ; and what is more important, those recep- 
 tacles of filth and vermin between the timbers, which 
 were before closed up by the planking, entirely got 
 rid of. This is not the least important part of the 
 improvement, either as it concerns the soundness of 
 the ship, or the health of the crew. It is stated, that 
 a ship, which had been three years in India, on be- 
 ing laid open, exhibited a mass of filth, mixed up 
 with dead rats, mice, cockroaches, and other vermin, 
 which was taken out in cakes, not unlike in appear- 
 ance the oil- cake with which certain animals are fed; 
 that the stench was abominable, and the timbers with 
 which it was in contact rotten. No such filth can 
 find a lodgment in ships of war as they are now built. 
 
 The first ships on which the new principle was 
 tried were those rebuilt or repaired in docks, from 
 which they were quietly floated out without any 
 shock from launching ; but several of them sastain- 
 ed severe gales of wind, without showing the least 
 symptoms of weakness, but quite the contrary, not 
 even a crack appearing in the white-wash with which 
 their sides within were covered. If these experi- 
 ments were not satisfactory, the launching of two of 
 the largest ships in the navy, established the fact of 
 superior strength beyond the possibility of a doubt — 
 the Nelson and the Howe. The Nelson, construct- 
 ed on the old principle, was probably, in every re- 
 spect, the best built ship in "modern times; the tim- 
 ber sound and well seasoned ; the workmanship ad- 
 mirable ; and no pains were left unemployed by Mr 
 Sison, the builder, to have her as perfect as she 
 could be made ; and her motion, when launched from 
 
 VOL. VI. PABT I. 
 
 . V Y. 33 
 
 the stocks, was slow, easy, and majestic, without a Navy, 
 shake or a plunge ; yet the Nelson was found to have Vi«»v"^»/ 
 arched, after launching, no less than 9| inches. The 
 Howe is a sister ship to the Nelson, but built on the 
 new principle ; and after launching, she was found 
 to have arched only three inches and five-eighths. 
 The St Vincent, built on the old principle, and the 
 same in every respect as the Howe, likewise hogged 
 on launching nine inches and a quarter; and the 
 whole fabric, in both cases, was found, on examina- 
 tion, to be greatly disturbed ; whereas the Howe ex- 
 hibited no such symptoms. The Plate No. CI. will 
 show the mode of trussing ships of the line accord- 
 ing to the plans of Sir Robert Seppings, now uni- 
 versally adopted in the British navy. 
 
 It has been a subject of discussion among ship- Fastenings, 
 builders, whether tree-nails or metallic fastenings 
 are to be preferred. The objection to iron bolts is, 
 their rapid corrosion from the gallic acid of the 
 wood, the sea-water, and perhaps by a combination 
 of both ; in consequence of which, the fibres of the 
 wood around them become injured, the bolts wear 
 away, the water oozes through, and the whole fabric 
 is shaken and deranged. This corrosion of iron 
 fastenings was most remarkable when the practice 
 of sheathing ships with copper became general, and 
 when iron nails were made use of to fix it : by the 
 contact of the two metals and the sea-water, both 
 were immediately corroded. Mixed metal nails are 
 now used for this purpose ; and copper bolts are 
 universally employed below the line of flotation, 
 though it is found that in these also oxidation takes 
 place to a certain degree, and causes partial leaks. 
 Various mixtures of metals have been tried, but all 
 of them are considered to be liable to greater ob- 
 jections than pure copper. It would appear, then, 
 that tree-nails, if properly made, well seasoned, and 
 driven tight, are the least objectionable, being sel- 
 dom found to occasion leaks, or to injure the plank 
 or timbers through which they pass. This species 
 of fastening has at all times been used by all the 
 maritime nations of Europe. The Dutch were in 
 the habit of importing them from Ireland, it being 
 supposed that the oak grown in that country was 
 more tough and strong than any which could be 
 procured on the Continent, and in all respects best 
 adapted for the purpose. " Under all circumatances," 
 says Mr Knowles, " it appears that the present me- 
 thod of fastening ships generally with tough well 
 seasoned tree-nails, with their ends split, and caulk- 
 ed after being driven, and securing the buts of each 
 plank with copper bolts well clenched, is liable to 
 fewer objections, and more conducive to the dura- 
 bility of the timber, than amy other which has been 
 tried, or proposed to be established.'' 
 
 The rounding the form of the bow, in ships of Round Bows 
 the line, is considered, by nautical men, of great to Ships of 
 utility and importance. The plan was first propos-'^*^ 
 ed by Seppings in 1807, and has since been ge- 
 nerally adopted. The removal of the head railing, 
 and the continuing of the rounded form, give not 
 only great additional strength to the ship, but also 
 much more comfort and convenience to the crew, 
 and security in that part of the ship when in ac- 
 tion. 
 
 B 
 
34 
 
 NAVY. 
 
 Navy. 
 
 The scarcity of compass or crooked timber was, 
 ^';**^for some time, attended with serious injury to those 
 ^carphmg a ghips of war, while on the stocks, into which it was 
 for Compass ^^"^^^^''^^ necessary to be introduced. The difli- 
 Timber. culty with which it was procured, the length of time 
 which a ship sometimes remained on the stocks wait- 
 ing for a few pieces of compass timber, the green 
 wood, when found, being immediately added to the 
 seasoned timber in other parts of the frame, gave to 
 the ship different periods of durability ; though, in 
 the long-run, the seasoned parts became affected by 
 the green wood with which they were in contact, 
 and a premature decay of the whole fabric was the 
 consequence. Seppings, therefore, proposed a plan 
 in 1806, which, by uniting short timbers according 
 to a method called scarphing, enabled him to obtain 
 every species of compass-form that could be requir- 
 ed from straight timber. Since that period, the 
 whole frame of a ship can be prepared at once, with- 
 out waiting for particular pieces, and thus every part 
 of it be made to undergo an equal degree of sea- 
 soning. 
 
 By the same ingenious and indefatigable surveyor 
 of the navy, a plan was proposed and adopted in the 
 
 Plan for ren- 
 dering Fri- 
 
 r^Swe^tJy^^'* 1813, by which ships of the line were built 
 Ships of the with timber hitherto considered as applicable only 
 Line. 
 
 Use of 
 
 it will readily be conceived what mischief was done to 
 the whole fabric, if the greatest care was not taken ^ 
 by the workmen to prevent their splitting, and to 
 bring their surfaces immediately into contact. It is 
 obvious, also, that a great deal of timber must have 
 been cut to waste in making these chocks ; and, in 
 fact, they consumed timber in each ship, when it was 
 at a high price, to the value of from L. 1 500 to L.2000, 
 besides a considerable expence in workmanship ; and 
 when the ship came to be repaired, not one chock in 
 six was found to be in a fit state to be used again. It 
 is not easy to conceive how this practice of uniting 
 the timbers of a ship's frame came to be introduced 
 eo generally into the British navy, more especially as 
 it is unknown in any other nation ; it was probably 
 first done to preserve the length of some particular 
 timbers, one of whose ends might be defective, and 
 the unsound part cut away in the manner we see it, 
 and the sound chock introduced to fill up the va- 
 cuity ; but it is quite surprising how a practice should 
 have become general which creates a waste of tim- 
 ber, an increase of workmanship, and sows the seeds 
 of premature decay. To obviate these disadvan- 
 tages. Sir Robert Seppings brought the butt ends of 
 the timbers together thus, 
 
 to the building of frigates, and that which had been 
 deemed only fit for inferior uses was appropriated 
 to principal purposes. The Talavera was the first 
 ship built on this principle, and the expence of her 
 hull is stated to have been about a thousand pounds 
 less than that of the Black Prince, a ship of similar 
 dimensions built on the old principle. The method 
 by which the timbers were united was found, on trial 
 of the Talavera with the Black Prince, while in 
 frame, to give so much additional strength to the 
 former, that it furnished the ground-work of the 
 present mode of framing the British navy, by the in- 
 troduction of the same union of materials in the ap- 
 plication of the large, as wa^ practised in that of the 
 small timber ; and from which both strengtli and 
 economy have been united. 
 
 The building of the Talavera, and the great 
 Chocks abo- Strength of her frame, led to the practice of putting 
 lished. together the frames of ships of the line from timbers 
 of reduced lengths, and dispensing altogether with 
 the chocks used for uniting their extremities, or, as 
 they are technically called, their heads and heels. 
 These chocks are of the form of an obtuse wedge, 
 as A, and they are used to unite the two pieces of 
 timber, as B and C, by firmly bolting the piece A 
 to the two timbers B and C. 
 
 2. 
 
 Z 
 
 It generally happened, however, that, in the ope- 
 ration of thus fixing this chock, its two extremities 
 split, and the surfaces of the chock and timbers not 
 being in perfect contact, the moisture and air were 
 admitted, and occasioned, as they always do, the 
 dry-rot to a greater degree in those parts of the 
 ship than in most others ; and as there were from four 
 to five hundred of these chocks in a 74 gun-ship, 
 10 
 
 zl C 
 
 Navy. 
 
 and kept them together by means of a round dowal 
 or coak, as C, just as the fellies of a carriage wheel 
 are fastened together. He justly observes, that the 
 simplicity of the workmanship, the economy in the 
 conversion of timber, and the greater strength and 
 durability, although of considerable moment, are of 
 trifling importance when compared with the advan- 
 tage of rendering timber generally more applicable 
 to the frames of ships, which had heretofore been but 
 partially so. 
 
 Another great improvement in the construction of 
 ships of war, introduced by Seppings, is the round 
 stern, which, however unsightly it may at first ap- 
 pear, from being accustomed to view the square 
 stern with its grotesque carved work, is even in ap- 
 pearance more consistent with the termination of the 
 sweeping lines of a ship's bottom, than the cutting 
 them off abruptly with a square stern. But the ad- 
 ditional strength which is thus given to a ship in that 
 part which was hitherto the weakest, is alone suffi- 
 cient to recommend the adoption of the plan, in our 
 ships of war, particularly in those of the larger classes. 
 The advantages gained by circular sterns are thus 
 enumerated by Sir Robert Seppings, 
 
 1. They give additional strength to the whole fa- 
 bric of a ship. 
 
 2. They afford additional force in point of defence. 
 
 3. They admit of the guns being run out in a simi- 
 lar way to those in the sides. 
 
 4;. From the circular form and mode of carrying 
 up the timbers, an additional protection against shot 
 is obtained, if the ship should be raked. 
 
 5. The stern being equally strong as the bow, no 
 serious injury can accrue in the event of the ship 
 being pooped ; and the ship may be moored, if so 
 required, by the stern. 
 
N A V Y. 
 
 35 
 
 Navy. 6. A ship will sail better upon a wind, from the re- 
 ^^'•V^ moval of the projections of the quarter galleries. 
 
 7. Ships of the line have now a stern- walk pro- 
 tected by a veranda, and so contrived that the 
 officers can walk all round, can observe the set of the 
 sails, and the fleet in all directions. 
 
 8. The compass timber heretofore expended for 
 transoms is substituted with straight timber, and 
 worked nearly to a right angle, which affords a con- 
 siderable saving in the consumption of timber. 
 
 9. The counter being done away by the circu- 
 lar stern, the danger which arose from boats being 
 caught under it is obviated. 
 
 In fact, the circular stern possesses many other 
 advantages not necessary to be enumerated in this 
 place. 
 
 Improvements in the Preservation of the Navy. 
 Not only the new mode of construction is highly 
 favourable to the duration of ships, but the ravages 
 of the disease known by the name of the dry-rot, oc- 
 casioned principally by the hurry in which ships 
 were built in the course of the late war, and the un- 
 seasoned state of the timber made use of (see Dry- 
 rot), led to such measures as tend most effectually 
 to the preservation of the fleet. 
 By Preven- In the first place, various modes were put in prac- 
 tion of Dry. tice for assorting and seasoning the timber, and for 
 protecting it from the vicissitudes of the weather. 
 The oak and fir of Canada, which had been introdu- 
 ced to a great extent into our dock-yards, during the 
 time the Baltic was shut against this country, are now 
 excluded ; these woods having been found not only to 
 possess little durability, but so friendly to the growth 
 of fungi, that they communicated the baneful disease 
 to all other descriptions of timber with which they 
 came in contact. The practice of building ships under 
 cover, introduced into our dock-yards in the course 
 of the war, and carried to an extent so as to have 
 roofed over almost every dock and slip in all the 
 yards, has been destructive to the growth of dry-rot. 
 (See DocK-YAKDS.) By filling in between the tim- 
 bers masses of cement, and then injecting by forcing- 
 pumps a mixture of oil and tar, into all the joints 
 and crevices of the frames ; and lastly, by the care 
 and very constant attention bestowed on ships after 
 leaving the dock -yard, and being placed in a state of 
 ordinary, it may be said that the dry-rot has no 
 longer any existence in the British navy. 
 By Precau- A ship now placed in ordinary, whether new or 
 tions m Or. newly repaired, is carefully housed over, so that no 
 ^^'^^y- rain can reach her lower decks ; several streaks of 
 planks are removed from her sides and decks to ad- 
 mit a thorough draft of air, which is sent down by 
 wind-sails, and which pervades every part of the ship, 
 and these, with the addition of two small airing- 
 stoves in which a few cinders are burned, render her 
 perfectly dry and comfortable on all the decks and 
 store-rooms. All the shingle ballast is removed out 
 of the hold, which is thoroughly cleaned and re- 
 stowed with iron ballast. The lower tier of iron 
 tanks filled with pure fresh water serves to complete 
 the ballast, and prevent her from hogging or arch- 
 ing. The former practice of mooring two ships to- 
 gether, by which the two sides next to each other, 
 
 deprived of the sun and a free circulation of air, were Navy, 
 generally found to be decayed, is discontinued. The^"-— v— - 
 lower masts are left standing, and their tops housed 
 over; the gun-carriages and several of the stores are 
 left on board; and such, in short, is the state of a 
 ship in ordinary, that she may be fitted in all respects 
 for proceeding to sea in half the usual time. " The 
 ships," says Mr Knowles, " are frequently pumped 
 to clear them of bilge-water ; and cleanliness in every 
 respect is attended to; the lower decks are rubbed 
 with dry stones, commonly called holly-stones, and 
 with sand, the use of water upon them being strictly 
 forbidden." But that which most of all is likely to 
 ensure the preservation of the fleet, while in a state 
 of ordinary, is the recent regulation, which places 
 the ordinary under the superintendence of a post- 
 captain at each port, with several commissioned- offi- 
 cers under his orders, who take care that the war- 
 rant- officers and ship-keepers attend to the proper 
 airing, ventilating, and keeping clean and dry their 
 respective ships. 
 
 A practice has recently been introduced into the By Immer. 
 dock-yards, of steeping oak timber in salt-water forfion.^^ Thn* 
 several months, and then stacking it till it becomes water " 
 perfectly dry, which is said to have entirely put a 
 stop to the progress of dry-rot, where it had already 
 commenced, and to act as a preventive to that dis- 
 ease. We have heard some doubts entertained on 
 this point. The Americans seem to place little con- 
 fidence in the good effects which are said to have 
 be'en experienced from the immersion of timber. 
 Rodgers, the commissioner of their navy, states, in an 
 official report addressed to the Secretary, that " ex- 
 periments have been made to arrest the dry-rot in 
 ships, by sinking them for months in salt-water, but 
 without success. The texture of the wood was found 
 to be essentially injured by being thus water soaked, 
 and it became more subject to this disease than be- 
 fore it was sunk. The ships were also injured in 
 their fastenings, and the atmosphere within them was 
 kept in a constant state of humidity, whence, among 
 other ill effects, proceeded injury to provisions and 
 stores, and sickness to the crews." Now, we know 
 that not one of these injurious effects happened to 
 the Eden, which was sunk in Hamoaze, remained 
 under water three or four months, was sent to India, 
 and has been at sea ever since; but, from being co- 
 vered with fungus before the operation, she has not 
 showed a single symptom to dry-rot since the time 
 of her being weighed, and continues a good sound 
 ship. The truth is, the American timber, with the 
 single exception, perhaps, of the live-oak, is remark- 
 ably subject to dry-rot, of which, during the late 
 war, we had fatal experience. Mr Rodgers, how- 
 ever, accounts for the condition in which the oak 
 and pine was received in England from Canada, by its 
 immersion in water : " The Canada timber," he ob- 
 serves, " is brought down the St Lawrence in large 
 rafts, continues months in water, and in that satu- 
 rated state is landed and exposed to frost ; every at- 
 tempt to season it under cover is unavailing ; its pores 
 never close again, and when used as ship-timber, dry- 
 rot ensues, which, when once commenced, can ne- 
 ver be arrested, but by taking out all the pieces in 
 any degree affected." The Russians, he says, are 
 
36 
 
 NAVY. 
 
 Navy. 
 
 By Roofing 
 the Ships. 
 
 By other 
 Means. 
 
 SO fully aware of the injurious effects of soaking 
 ship-timber in water, that it is brought from great 
 distances down the rivers in crafts, instead of rafts. 
 The Russian ships, however, with all this precaution, 
 are not remarkable for durability. The ships built 
 at Antwerp by the French were in a state of rotten- 
 ness before they were launched ; but whether this 
 was owing to the bad quality of the timber of the 
 German forests, or to its being water-soaked in raft- 
 ing down the Rhine, remains doubtful. But we can 
 have no doubt that porous timber is injured by mois- 
 ture, though the solid British oak may be improved 
 by the dissolution of its sap juices, to the fermenta- 
 tion of which the disease, known by the name of dry- 
 rot, may chiefly be owing. Water," says Lesca- 
 lier, a French writer of considerable merit on the 
 subject, " seems to be favourable to the decomposi- 
 tion of the sap of timber when immersed ; but it sub- 
 stitutes in its place another kind of moisture not less 
 destructive, of which the timber, though afterwards 
 exposed to the air, will not easily get rid of ; besides, 
 it weakens and destroys the grain of the wood.'' — 
 »' The best means," he adds, « of preserving timber, 
 appears to be that of keeping it in well constructed 
 and airy sheds, in a vertical position, so that the 
 moisture which remains in the interior of the logs, 
 by running along the fibres of the wood, may be en- 
 abled to issue from the lower extremity. Timber 
 thus kept dry, under shelter, will preserve itself for 
 ages." Mr Knowles, secretary to the Committee of 
 Surveyors of his Majesty's Navy, in his Treatise on 
 the Means of Preserving the British Navy, is led to 
 conclude, from a variety of experiments, " that tim- 
 ber is better seasoned when kept for two years and 
 a half under cover, than when placed for six months 
 in water, and then for two years in the air, protected 
 from the rain and sun ; that it loses more in season- 
 ing, by having been, during the six months of im- 
 mersion, alternately wet and dry, than the whole 
 time under water ; and that the loss in moisture is 
 greater in all cases in a given time, when the butt- 
 ends are placed downwards." And he adds as a ge- 
 neral principle, " that no timber should be brought 
 into use in this country, until it has been felled at 
 least three years." 
 
 Next to the system of diagonal braces, and mak- 
 ing the bottoms of ships one compact and solid mass, 
 the roofing, thrown over them while building, and in 
 ordinary, may be considered as the greatest of all 
 improvements for the preservation of the navy ; the 
 utility of which is so obvious, that it is quite extra- 
 ordinary such a practice should not have been earlier 
 adopted; more especially, as at Venice, at Carlscrona, 
 and at Cronstadt, ships of war had long been built, 
 repaired, and protected under covered roofs. It was 
 strongly recommended to the English ship-builders 
 fifty years ago, but without effect ; and had it not 
 been for the extraordinary ravages of the dry-rot in 
 the unseasoned timber-built ships of the navy, we 
 should still have been without roofs to our docks and 
 slips. 
 
 If the dock-yards were of suflBcient capacity, there 
 can be no doubt that the efficient plan to accom- 
 plish their durability, would be that of keeping them 
 on the slip, when built, under cover. It was stated 
 
 by Mr Strange, when examined by the Commission- Nary 
 ers for Land Revenue, that in the year 1790 there ""^"s^"^ 
 were 22 ships of the line under roofs, in the port of 
 Venice, some of which had remained in that situation 
 59 years. Since, however, it is utterly impractica- 
 ble to keep our navy on slips, or in dry docks, the 
 next important consideration is, how best to preserve 
 them afloat in a state of ordinary. Various expe- 
 dients have been at different times resorted to in or- 
 der to prevent the premature decay of ships laid up 
 in this state during peace. The two great requisites 
 for their preservation are ventilation and cleanliness. 
 To promote the former, wind-sails were in general 
 use, though, if not attended to so as to oppose the 
 open part to the quarter from whence the wind blows, 
 or if the weather be calm, they are of little benefit. 
 Pneumatic machines of various kinds, as pumps and 
 bellows, hav^e been applied to force out the foul air, 
 and introduce atmospherical air into the lower parts 
 of a ship's hold. Heated air from stoves, placed in 
 various parts of the ship, and conducted through 
 tubes, was thought at one time to be efficacious in 
 the preservation of the navy ; but experience soon 
 showed that the heat thus circulated was so far ob- 
 jectionable, as it tended to encourage the growth of 
 fungus, where there was any moisture lodged, and 
 in the timber which had not been thoroughly sea- 
 soned. Perhaps no better means can be suggested 
 than those we have described to be in practice, 
 namely, to keep them clean, to admit as much dry 
 air as possible, and to exclude all moisture. 
 
 Finally, if we take into consideration the numerous 
 improvements which a war, unparalleled in its dura- 
 tion, has been the means of introducing into the ma- 
 teriel of the navy, whether it regards the economy 
 of its application, the construction of the ships, and 
 their mode of preservation, we may safely say, that 
 at no former period was this country in possession 
 of such a navy as at present, in respect of the num- 
 bers, size, and good condition of the ships which 
 compose a fleet, superior to those of the whole world 
 besides ; and it is gratifying to find, that, with all 
 the enormous consumption of the military and mer- 
 cantile navy, it does not appear that the naval re- 
 sources of Great Britain are at all impaired. 
 
 Naval Resources. 
 It is of essential importance that the supply of 
 stores for the use of the fleet should not only be ade- 
 quate to the demand, but that a sufficient stock 
 should be kept on hand to answer any sudden emer- 
 gency. This is the more necessary with regard to 
 those species of stores which are derived from fo- 
 reign nations. 
 
 The principal articles of consumption required for Principal 
 building and equipping a fleet are hemp, canvas, ^^^^^ 
 pitch, tar, iron, copper, and timber. All these arti- 
 cles might unquestionably be produced in sufficient 
 quantities in the United Kingdom and her colonies, 
 if necessity absolutely required it. Hemp, for in- Hemp, 
 stance, might be grown to any extent in Great Bri- 
 tain and Ireland, were not the land more advanta- 
 geously employed in raising other articles of con- 
 sumption ; and if it could not be cheaper imported 
 from Russia. In the East Indies^ the Sunn hemp 
 
NAVY. 
 
 37 
 
 Navy. 
 
 Pitch and 
 Tar. 
 
 tlopper and 
 Iron. 
 
 Timbier. 
 
 (inferior it is true to Russia hemp) might be pro- 
 cured to any extent, and other plants, both there 
 and at home, might be substituted for the making of 
 cordage and canvas. For pitch and tar, recourse 
 might be had to the pitch lake on the island of Tri- 
 nidad, and the coal tar, of which an inexhaustible 
 supply may be had at home. The lake is about four 
 miles in circumference, and many feet in depth of 
 solid pitch ; and it is stated that, when mixed with 
 oil or tallow, it is rendered fit for all the purposes 
 to which pitch and tar are usually applied. It has 
 the advantage of securing ships' bottoms against the 
 attack of the worm, which is very active in the neigh- 
 bouring Gulf of Para ; and it does not corrode iron. 
 The coal tar of home manufacture, from some preju- 
 dice or other, was refused a fair trial till very lately ; 
 and it is now deemed not inferior for many purposes 
 to the common tar. For painting or tarring over 
 wood work of every kind, it is said to stand exposure 
 to the weather even better than the common tar ; 
 and it is used for injecting in large quantities be- 
 tween the timbers of ships, as a preservative from the 
 dry-rot ; its powerful smell having also the good effect 
 of driving rats and other vermin out of the ships on 
 which it is employed. 
 
 In the two important articles of copper and iron, 
 our own resources may be considered inexhaustible. 
 Formerly it was deemed indispensable that certain 
 articles should be made of Swedish iron, but of late 
 years our own has been manufactured in every re- 
 spect equally good ; and the extensive application of 
 this metal in bridges, barges, dock-gates, roofs, raf- 
 ters, floors, &c. has been equally progressive in most 
 naval purposes. Iron knees and other modes of 
 binding the beams to the side timbers of ships, are 
 now substituted for those large and crooked pieces 
 of timber which were once deemed absolutely ne- 
 cessary. Our cables, rigging, buoys, and tanks for 
 holding water, are now of iron ; and we understand 
 that hollow masts of iron are actually constructing 
 as an experiment, which, if successful, will do away 
 the necessity of depending for a foreign supply of 
 that most expensive and not very plentiful article, 
 mast-timber. 
 
 But the most important article of demand for the 
 use of the navy is timber, principally oak ; concerning 
 the supply of which from our own territories, differ- 
 ent opinions have been entertained. A deficiency in 
 other articles may readily be supplied. A failure in 
 the importation of hemp, for instance, in any one 
 year, might be remedied the next, by an extended 
 cultivation of that article ; but it requires a whole 
 century to repair any defalcation of oak timber, and 
 to render us independent of other nations. Nor has 
 the subject been sufficiently elucidated, so as to form 
 ajust opinion, by the several Committees of theHouse 
 of Commons ; the evidence produced being almost al- 
 ways loose, and generally contradictory. The com- 
 mittee of 1771, which was directed to inquire into 
 the state of oak timber throughout the kingdom, ei- 
 ther from a disagreement of opinion, or defect of evi- 
 dence, or a wish to avoid giving alarm, prayed the 
 House to discharge that part of its order which re* 
 quired them to report their opinion. The Com- 
 missioners of Woods and Forests, however, in their re- 
 
 port laid before Parliament in 1792, appeared to es- Navy, 
 tablish the fact of an alarming scarcity of oak timber 
 in general, but more particularly of large naval tim- 
 ber, both in the royal forests, and on private estates. 
 And if such was really the fact in I792, it will readi- 
 ly be conceived what the state of timber fit for na- 
 val purposes must have been at the conclusion of the 
 Revolutionary war, when the amount of private ship- 
 ping had increased from 1,300,000 tons to 2,500,000 
 tons, or nearly doubled ; that of the East India 
 Company, in the same period, from 79,900 tons to 
 115,000 tons ; and that of the navy, from 400,000 to 
 800,000 tons, to say nothing of the vast consumption 
 of oak timber in all kinds of mill-work and other ma- 
 chinery, in the barrack and ordnance departments — 
 in mines, collieries, and agriculture — in docks, and 
 dock-gates — in piers, locks, and sluices — in boats, 
 barges, lighters, bridges, and a great many other pur- 
 poses to which this timber is applied. From these, 
 and many other causes, the diminution of oak timber 
 was infinitely greater than the commissioners had 
 calculated upon, and yet they recommended that 
 100,000 acres, belonging to the crown, should be set 
 apart and planted, as necessary for- the future supply 
 of the navy. A bill to this effect, relating to the New 
 Forest, passed the Commons, but was thrown out 
 by the Lords. 
 
 On the departments of the Surveyor- general of the Report of 
 Land Revenue, and the Survey or-general of the Woods 9°"" 
 and Forests being united, the Board of Commissioners ^'La^^. 
 made their first report, which was printed, by order Revenue 
 of the House of Commons, in June 1812. In this respecting 
 report, it is stated, that, taking the tonnage of the'^™^^'^* 
 navy in 1806 at 776,087 tons, it would require, at 
 1^ load to a ton, 1,164,085 loads to build such a 
 navy; and supposing the average duration of a ship 
 to be fourteen years, the annual quantity of timber 
 required would be 83,149 loads, exclusive of repairs, 
 which they calculate would be about 27,000 loads, 
 making in the whole about 110,000 loads; of which, 
 however, the commissioners reckon may be furnish- 
 ed 21,341 loads as the annual average of prizes : 
 and of the remaining 88,659 loads, they think it 
 ' not unreasonable to calculate on 28,659 from other 
 sources than British oak. ''This," they observe, 
 leaves 60,000 loads of such oak as the quantity 
 which would be sufficient annually to support, at its 
 present unexampled magnitude, the whole British 
 navy, including ships of war of all sorts, but which 
 may be taken as equivalent together to twenty 74? 
 gun ships, each of which, one with another, contains 
 about 2000 tons, or would require, at the rate of a 
 load and a half to the ton, 3000 loads, making just 
 60,000 loads for twenty such ships." 
 
 Now, it has been supposed, that not more than 40 Quantity of 
 oak trees can stand on an acre of ground, so as to Timl^r re- 
 grow to a full size, fit for ships of the line, or to ^jJ^J^j^jj^"^ 
 contain each a load and a half of timber ; 50 acres, 
 therefore, would be required to produce a sufiicient 
 quantity of timber to build a 74* gun ship, and 1000 
 acres for 20 such ships ; and, as the oak requires at 
 least 100 years to arrive at maturity, 100,000 acres 
 would be required to keep up a successive supply, 
 for maintaining a navy of seven or eight hundred 
 thousand tons. The commissioners further observe. 
 
38 
 
 NAVY. 
 
 Navy. 
 
 that as there are twenty millions of acres of waste 
 lands in the kingdom, a two-hundredth part set aside 
 for planting would at once furnish the whole quan- 
 tity wanted for the use of the navy. 
 
 This calculation, we suspect, is overrated by about 
 one-half. In the first place, it supposes a state of 
 perpetual war, during which the tonnage of the whole 
 navy is considered as more than double of what it 
 now actually is ; and, in the second place, it reckons 
 the average duration of the navy at fourteen years 
 only, which, from the improvements that have taken 
 place in the construction and preservation of ships 
 of war, with the resources of teak ships, built in In- 
 dia, we should not hesitate in assuming at an ave- 
 rage of twice that number of years ; and, if so, the 
 quantity of oak required for the navy will be nothing 
 like that which the commissioners have stated. This, 
 we think, will appear from a statement made (appa- 
 rently on good authority) in the midst of the war, 
 when the ships of the line, built in merchants' yards, 
 were falling to decay, after a service of five or six years. 
 
 " Assuming 400,000 tons as the amount of ton- 
 nage to be kept in commission, and the average du- 
 ration of a ship of war at the moderate period of 12^ 
 years, there would be required an annual supply of 
 tonnage, to preserve the navy in its present effective 
 state, of 32,000 tons: and, as a load and a half of 
 timber is employed for every ton, the annual de- 
 mand will be 48,000 loads. The building of a 74 
 gun ship consumes about 2000 oak trees, or 3000 
 loads of timber, so that 48,000 loads will build 8 sail 
 of the line and 16 frigates. Allowing cne-fourth part 
 more for casualties, the annual consumption will be 
 about 60,000 loads, or 40,000 full-grown trees ; of 
 which 35 win stand upon an acre of ground. The 
 quantity of timber, therefore, necessary for the con- 
 struction of a 74 gun ship will occupy 57 acres of 
 land, and the annual demand will be the produce of 
 1140 acres. Allowing only 90 years for the oak to 
 arrive at perfection, there ought to be now standing 
 102,600 acres of oak plantations, and an annual fell- 
 ing and planting, in perpetual rotation, of 1140 acres 
 to meet the consumption of the navy alone : large as 
 this may seem, it is little more than 21 acres for each 
 county in England and Wales ; which is not equal to 
 the belt which surrounds the park and pleasure 
 grounds of many estates." 
 
 The above calculation proceeds on the principle 
 that every acre is covered with trees fit for naval 
 purposes, or that it contains 35 trees, with a load 
 and a half of timber in each. It may be doubted, 
 however, if, on the average of plantations, we shall 
 find more than one-tenth of that number on an acre ; 
 and as the same writer endeavours to show, that the' 
 quantity of oak timber consumed in the navy is only 
 about one-tenth part of the whole consumption of 
 the country, instead of 120,600 acres being suffi- 
 cient for a perpetual supply, there would be requir- 
 ed some ten or twelve millions of acres, in planta- 
 tions similar to those at present existing, to supply 
 the demand for oak timber. Whether such a quan- 
 tity exists or not, the fact is certain, that, long be- 
 fore the conclusion of the war, a scarcity began to 
 be felt, especially of the larger kind of timber fit for 
 
 ships of the line ; and so great was this scarcity, that Jv'avy. 
 if Sir Robert Seppings had not contrived the means 
 of substituting straight timber for those of a certain 
 form and dimensions, before considered to be indis- 
 pensable, the building of new ships must entirely 
 have ceased. 
 
 If, however, the growth of oak for ship timber was 
 greatly diminished during the war, so as to threaten 
 an alarming scarcity, there is little doubt, that, from 
 the increased attention paid by individuals to their 
 young plantations, and the great extension of those 
 plantations, as well as from the measure of allotting 
 off portions of the royal forests to those who had 
 claims on them, and enclosing the remainder for the 
 use of the public, this country will, in future times, 
 be fully adequate to the production of oak timber 
 equal to the demand for the naval and mercantile 
 marine. It will require, however, large and succes- 
 sive plantations, on account of the slow growth of 
 the oak. But there is another tree, of late years very 
 generally planted on rising grounds, which bids fair 
 to become an object of great national importance, 
 as furnishing the best, and perhaps only substitute 
 for oak timber. We mean the larch, which thrives 
 well and grows rapidly in bad soils and exposed 
 situations, the timber of which has been found to be 
 durable, and from several experiments, not inferior 
 in strength, toughness, and elasticity to oak. So ra- 
 pid is its growth, that the Duke of Atholl received 
 twelve guineas for a single larch fifty years old ; the 
 timber was valued at two shillings a foot. A larch 
 of 70 years' growth produces timber fit for all naval 
 purposes, and may be considered equal in size to an 
 oak of double that age. The dimensions of a larch 
 tree cut down at Blair Atholl in 1817, and then 79 
 years of age, were as follows : stem 82 feet ; top 20 
 feet; total height 102 feet; girth at the ground 12 
 feet; at 19 feet, 8 feet S| inches, and at 57 feet, 4 
 feet 10 inches; solid contents, 252,8 cubic feet. 
 Another larch, now growing at Dunkeld, measured, 
 in 1819, then 80 years old, and in full vigour, as 
 follows: height of stem 75 feet, top 14 feet; total 
 height 90 feet. At one foot from the ground, 17 
 feet 8 inches in girth ; at 10 feet, 10 feet 4 inches, 
 and at 70 feet, 3 feet 2 inches i its contents 300 cu- 
 bic feet, or six loads. For all kinds of mill-work, 
 as wheels, axle-trees, &c. the utility of the large 
 larch wood is unquestionable; and the thinnings are 
 excellent for palling, rails, and hurdles. The value 
 of its application for naval purposes is now under 
 trial ; two frigates of 28 guns, one built entirely of 
 larch, from the Duke of Atholl's plantations, the other 
 of Riga fir (which is inferior only to oak), being in- 
 tended to go through the same service, precisely in 
 the same parts of the world, in order to ascertain 
 their comparative durability. 
 
 In addition to our resources of naval timber at iiidianTedk. 
 home, we have wisely availed ourselves of those 
 which India affords for building ships of war at Bom- 
 bay of teak, a wood far superior in every respect to 
 oak, and many times more durable; not liable to 
 corrode iron or other metallic fastenings, not suscep- 
 tible of the dry-rot, nor subject to the attack of the 
 worm. 
 
NAVY. 
 
 Navy. 
 
 Comraiis- 
 sloned Offi- 
 cers. 
 
 VVarrrant 
 OfEce;rs. 
 
 Petty Offi. 
 cers. 
 
 Order- of 
 Promcotion. 
 
 II — Personel of the Navy. 
 
 The personel of the navy is composed of two dif- 
 ferent bodies of men— the Seamen and the Marines ; 
 each of whom have their appropriate officers. 
 
 The commissioned officers of the former consist 
 of flag-officers, post-captains, commanders, and lieu- 
 tenants. FJag-officers are divided into three ranks, 
 and each rank into three squadrons, distinguished by 
 the colours, red, white, and blue; as admiral of the 
 red, white, or blue; vice-admiral of the red, white, or 
 blue; rear-admiral of the red, white, or blue ; the ad- 
 miral wearing his colour at the main, the vice-admi- 
 ral at the fore, and the rear-admiral at the mizen- 
 mast-head. There is also an admiral of the fleet, 
 who, if in command, would carry the union flag at the 
 main. There are besides superannuated rear-admi- 
 rals, enjoying the rank and pay of a rear-admiral, 
 but incapable of rising to a higher rank on the list. 
 There is also in the navy the temporary rank of com- 
 modore, who is generally an old post-captain, and is 
 distinguished by wearing a broad pendant. He ranks 
 next to the junior rear-admiral, and above all post- 
 captains, except where the captain of the fleet shall 
 be a post-captain, who, in that situation, takes rank 
 next to the junior rear-admiral. 
 
 The commissioned officers of the navy take rank 
 with those of the army, as follows : 
 
 Nayy. 
 
 Admiral of the fleet. 
 
 Admiral, 
 
 Vice-admiral, 
 
 Rear-admiral, 
 
 Commodore, 
 
 Post-captain of 3 years, 
 
 Post-captain under ditto, 
 
 Commander, 
 
 Lieutenant, 
 
 Army. 
 
 Field -marshal. 
 General. 
 
 Lieutenant-general. 
 Major-general. 
 Brigadier-general. 
 Colonel. 
 
 Lieutenant-colonel. 
 
 Major. 
 
 Captain. 
 
 And all officers of the same rank command accord- 
 ing to the priority of their commissions, or, having 
 commissions of the same date, according to the order 
 in which they stand on the list of the officers of the 
 navy, except in the case of lieutenants of flag-ships, 
 who take precedence according as the flag-officer 
 shall think fit to appoint them. 
 
 The warrant officers of the navy may be compared 
 with the non-commissioned officers of the army. 
 They take rank as follows : master, second master, 
 gunner, boatswain, carpenter. There are other 
 warrant officers of the navy, who, though non-combat- 
 ants, constitute a part of the establishment of the 
 larger classes of ships of war. These are, the chap- 
 lain, surgeon, surgeon's assistant, purser. To which 
 may be added, as part of the staff of a fleet or squa- 
 dron, secretary to the admiral or commander-in- 
 chief, and physician of the fleet. 
 
 The petty officers are very numerous, the princi- 
 pal of whom are master's mates and midshipmen. 
 Their names or ratings will be seen in the table of 
 the establishment of the ratings and pay in the seve- 
 ral classes of ships of war. 
 
 By the King's Order in Council, the following regu- 
 lations are established for the promotion of commis- 
 
 sioned officers of the navy. Midshipmen are requir- Navy, 
 ed to serve six years on board some -of his Ma- 
 jesty's ships, two of which years they must have been 
 rated as midshipmen, to render them eligible to 
 the rank and situation of lieutenant ; or, if educated 
 at the Royal Naval College, four years service at sea 
 qualify for a commission as lieutenant. 
 
 No lieutenant can be promoted to the rank of com- 
 mander, until he has been on the list of lieutenants for 
 two years ; and no commander to the rank of post- 
 captain until he has been on the list for one year. 
 Post-captains become admirals in succetssion, accord- 
 ing to their seniority on the list ; but if a post- captain 
 should not have served in the course of the preceding 
 war, when his turn arrives he is passed over, and 
 placed on the list of superannuated and retired' cap- 
 tains ; as are those captains likewise who have accept- 
 ed of commissionerships or other civil employments, 
 provided they retain those employments, when they 
 come within the limits of a promotion to the rank of 
 rear-admiral. 
 
 There is also a list of superannuated rear-admirals 
 composed of those who, not having actually served 
 at sea in the preceding war, have been employed in 
 regulating new raised men, or in the sea fencibles, 
 or who have made offers of service, although not ac- 
 cepted. _ They enjoy the rank and half pay of a 
 rear-admiral, but can never be employed as such, or 
 be promoted to a higher rank. ' 
 
 No person can be appointed to serve as master 
 of one of his Majesty's ships, who shall not have ser- 
 ved as second master; and no person can be ap- 
 pointed as second master, until he has passed such 
 examination as may from time to time be directed. 
 
 No person can be appointed gunner or boatswain, 
 unless he shall have served one year as a petty offi- 
 cer on board one or more of his Majesty's ships, and 
 produce certificates of his good conduct, and un- 
 dergo the necessary examination. 
 
 No person can be appointed carpenter, unless he 
 shall have served an apprenticeship to a shipwright, 
 and been six months a carpenter's mate on board one 
 or more of his Majesty's ships. 
 
 No person can be appointed purser, unless he shall 
 have been rated and discharged the duties of a cap- 
 tain's clerk for two complete years, one year as cap- 
 tain's clerk, and been employed in the office of the 
 secretary to a flag-officer for one other year, produce 
 good certificates, and find such security for the ho- 
 nest and faithful discharge of his duty as shall be re- 
 quired. 
 
 No person can be appointed chaplain to one of his 
 Majesty's ships, until he has received Priesfs orders ; 
 but may be appointed to act while in Deacon's or- 
 ders. 
 
 No person can be appointed surgeon to one of his 
 Majesty's ships, until, by long and meritorious servi- 
 ces, he has discharged the duties of assistant sur- 
 geon ; and all persons applying for the situation of 
 assistant surgeon must undergoan examination touch- 
 ing their qualifications before the medical members 
 of the victualling board. 
 
 The Royal Marines consist of four great divisions. Royal Ma 
 1st, Stationed at Chatham. 2d, At Portsmouth. 3d,rines. " 
 At Plymouth. 4th, At Woolwich. They are com- 
 
 39 
 
40 
 
 NAVY. 
 
 Navy, posed of 72 companies, besides 8 companies of Roy- 
 -^m^ al Marine Artillery, whose head-quarters are at Fort 
 Monckton, Gosport. The tst division has 21 com- 
 panies ; the 2d, 18 companies ; the Sd, 20 compa- 
 nies; and the -ith, 13 companies. The officers of 
 Royal Marines take rank with officers of the line in 
 the army. 
 
 A colonel commandant, who is a general officer in 
 the corps, is resident in London ; and to each of the 
 divisions is a colonel commandant, two lieutenant- 
 colonels, and two majors, with a proper number of 
 captains and subaltern officers. While on shore the 
 marines are subject to the same regulations as the ar- 
 my, but, when embarked, are liable to the naval ar- 
 ticles of war. 
 
 The staflP of the marine corps, consists of a general, 
 a lieutenant-general, a major-general, who are all flag- 
 officers of his Majesty's fleet ; and four colonels, who 
 are post-captains, near the head of the list, and are 
 selected from those who may have distinguished 
 themselves by their-cervices. 
 
 The paymaster of marines is resident in London, 
 but each division has its paymaster, a captain in the 
 corps ; a barrackmaster, also a captain ; two adju- 
 tants, and a quartermaster, who are first lieutenants; 
 and to each division is a surgeon, and an assistant- 
 surgeon. 
 
 There is also a retired list of officers who, in con- 
 sideration of wounds, infirmities, and long and meri- 
 torious services, are permitted to receive their full 
 
 pay- . . 
 
 The commissions of officers, of every rank, in the 
 marine corps, are signed by the King, but all com- 
 missions of officers of the navy are signed by two or 
 more of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. 
 But the marines, whether ashore or afloat, are, as 
 well as the officers of the navy, under the immediate 
 direction and control of the Lords Commissioners 
 of the Admiralty. All the appointments of commis- 
 sioned and warrant officers to ships are made exclu- 
 sively by the Lords of the Admiralty, or made sub- 
 ject to their confirmation, unless in cases of the 
 death or dismissal of officers by sentence of Court- 
 Martial on foreign stations, when the admiral com- 
 manding has the power to fill up the vacancies. 
 And the duties of each rank are pointed out in a 
 code of instructions emanating from that Board, and 
 sanctioned by his Majesty's Order in Council. 
 Military The civil powers and duties of the Lord High 
 LorriT'^h^ Admiral, or Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, 
 Admiralf ^""^ treated of under the Article Admiral in this 
 Supplement. Their militai'y powers are more exten- 
 sive and important. By their orders, all ships are 
 built, repaired, fitted for sea, or laid up in ordinary, 
 broken up or sold ; put in commission or out of 
 commission, armed, stored, and provisioned; em- 
 ployed on the home or foreign stations. All ap- 
 pointments or removals of commission and warrant of- 
 ficers, with the exception of masters and surgeons, 
 are made by them, and all instructions issued for the 
 guidance of their commanders ; all promotion in the 
 several ranks emanate from them ; all honours be- 
 stowed for brilliant services, and all pensions, gratui- 
 ties, and superannuations for wounds, infirmities, and 
 long services, are granted on their recommendation. 
 
 All returns from the fleet are sent to the Board of Kary. 
 Admiralty, and every thing that relates to the disci-. ^-^^'"^ 
 pline and good order of every ship. All orders for 
 the payment of naval monies are issued by the Lords 
 Commissioners of the Admiralty, and the annual es- 
 timate of the expences of the navy prepared by 
 them, and laid before Parliament for its sanction. 
 All new inventions and experiments are tried by 
 their orders before introduced into the service ; all 
 draughts of ships must be approved by them ; all re- 
 pairs, alterations, and improvements in the dock- 
 yards, all new buildings of every description must 
 be submitted for their decision before they are un- 
 dertaken. But the Commissioners of the Navy are 
 held responsible for keeping up a proper supply of 
 naval stores of every kind, and the Victualling Board 
 of provisions. 
 
 All flag-officers, commanders-in-chief, are consi- commander- 
 dered as responsible for the conduct of the fleet orin-Chief. 
 squadron under their command; to keep them in 
 perfect condition for service ; to exercise them fre- 
 quently in forming orders of sailing and lines of bat- 
 tle, and in performing all such evolutions as may 
 occur in the presence of an enemy ; to direct the 
 commanders of squadrons and divisions ; to inspect 
 into the state of each ship under their command, to 
 see that the established rules for good order, disci- 
 pline, and cleanliness, be observed, and occasionally 
 to inquire into these and other matters themselves. 
 They are to correspond with the Secretary of the 
 Admiralty, and report to him all their proceedings 
 for the information of the Board. 
 
 If a commander-in-chief should be killed in battle, 
 his flag is to be continued flying ; intelligence to be 
 conveyed by signal, or otherwise, to the next in com- 
 mand, who is immediately to repair on board, leav- 
 ing his own flag (if a flag-officer) flying, and direct 
 the operations of the fleet until the battle be ended, 
 or the enemy out of sight. 
 
 Every flag-officer serving in a fleet, but not com- other Plag- 
 manding it, is to superintend all the ships of the Officers, 
 squadron or division placed under his orders; to 
 see that their crews are properly disciplined ; that 
 all orders are punctually attended to ; that the stores, 
 provisions, and water, are kept as complete as cir- 
 cumstances will admit ; that the seamen and marines 
 are frequently exercised; and that every precaution 
 is taken for preserving the health of their crews ; 
 for all which he is responsible to the commander-in- 
 chief. When at sea, he is to take care that every 
 ship in his division preserve her station, in whatever 
 line or order of sailing the fleet may be formed ; 
 and in battle, he is to observe attentively the con- 
 duct of every ship near him, whether of the squa- 
 dron or division under his immediate command or 
 not ; and at the end of the battle, he is to report it 
 to the commander-in-chief, in order that commenda- 
 tion or censure may be passed as the case may ap- 
 pear to merit; and he is empowered to send an of- 
 ficer to supersede any captain who may misbehave 
 in battle, or whose ship is evidently avoiding the en- 
 gagement. If any flag-officer be killed in battle, his 
 flag is to be kept flying, and signals to be repeated, 
 in the same manner as if he were still alive, until 
 the battle shall be ended ; but the death of a flag- 
 
NAVY. 
 
 41 
 
 Navy. 
 
 Captain of 
 the Fleet. 
 
 Commodore 
 
 Captain- 
 
 officer, or his being rendered incapable of attend- 
 ing to his duty, is to be conveyed as expeditiously as 
 possible to the commander-in-chief. 
 
 The captain of the fleet is a temporary rank, 
 where a commander-in-chief has ten or more ships 
 of the line under his command ; it may be compared 
 with that of adjutant-general in the army. He may 
 either be a flag-officer, or one of the senior captains ; 
 in the former case, he takes his rank with the flag- 
 officers of the fleet ; in the latter, he ranks next to the 
 junior rear-admiral, and is entitled to the pay and 
 compensation of a rear-admiral. All orders of the 
 commander-in-chief are issued through him, and all 
 returns of the fleet through him to the commander- 
 in-chief. He is appointed, and can be removed 
 from his situation only by the Lords Commissioners 
 of the Admiralty. 
 
 A commodore is a temporary rank, and of two 
 kinds ; the one having a captain under him in the 
 same ship, the other without a captain. The former 
 has the rank, pay, and allowances of a rear-admiral, 
 the latter such additional pay as the Lords of the 
 Admiralty may direct. They both carry distinguish- 
 ing pendants. 
 
 When a captain is appointed to command a ship 
 of war, he commissions the ship by hoisting his 
 pendant ; and if fresh out of the dock, and from the 
 hands of the dock-yard officers, he proceeds imme- 
 diately to prepare her for sea, by demanding her 
 stores, provisions, guns, and ammunition, from the 
 respective departments, according to her establish- 
 ment. He enters such men as may volunteer, and 
 be fit for the service (in time of peace), or which 
 may be sent to him from some rendezvous for rais- 
 ing men, in time of war ; and he gives them the se- 
 veral ratings of petty officers, able-seamen, ordinary, 
 or landsmen, as their apparent qualifications may en- 
 title them to. If he should be appointed to suc- 
 ceed the captain of a ship already in commission, he 
 passes a receipt to the said captain for the ship's 
 books, papers, and stores, and becomes responsible 
 and accountable for the whole of the remaining 
 stores and provisions ; and to enable him to keep 
 the ship's accounts, he is allowed a clerk of his own 
 appointing. 
 
 The duty of the captain, with regard to the seve- 
 ral ship's books and accounts, pay-books, entry, 
 musters, discharges, &c. is regulated by various acts 
 of Parliament ; but the state of the internal disci- 
 pline, the order, regularity, cleanliness, and the 
 health of the crews, will depend mainly on himself 
 and his officer?. In all these respects, the general 
 printed instructions for his guidance are particular- 
 ly precise and minute. And for the information of 
 the ship's company, he is directed to cause the ar- 
 ticles of war, and abstracts of all acts of Parliament 
 for the encouragement of seamen, and all such or- 
 ders and regulations for discipline as may be esta- 
 blished, to be hung up in some public part of the 
 ship, to which the men may at all times have access ; 
 he is also to direct that they be read to the ship's 
 company, all the officers being present, once at least 
 in every month. He is not authorized to inflict any 
 corporal punishment on any commissioned or war- 
 rant officer, but he may place them under arrest, 
 
 VOL. Vr. PART I. 
 
 and suspend any officer who shall misbehave, until Navy, 
 an opportunity shall offer of trying such officer by a ^^^.^^ 
 court-martial. He is enjoined to be very careful 
 not to suffer the inferior officers, or men, to be treat- 
 ed with cruelty or oppression by their superiors. 
 He alone is to order punishment to be inflicted, 
 which he is never to do without sufficient cause, nor 
 ever with greater severity than the offence may real- 
 ly deserve; and all the officers and the whole ship's 
 company are to be present at every punishment; 
 which must be inserted in the log-book, and an ab- 
 stract at the end of every quarter made out and sent 
 to the Admiralty, — a regulation which is said to have 
 been attended with infinite benefit to the strict and 
 just discipline of the naval service. 
 
 The lieutenants take the watch by turns, and are Lkutcnant. 
 at such times entrusted, in the absence of the cap- 
 tain, with the command of the ship ; but he is to in- 
 form the captain of all occurrences that take place 
 during his watch, as strange sails that may be in 
 sight, signals from other ships in company, change 
 of wind, &c. He is to see that the ship be properly 
 steered, the log hove, and the course and distance 
 entered on the log-board ; and, in short, he is to see 
 that the whole of the duties of the ship are carried 
 on with the same punctuality as if the captain him- 
 self were present ; in whose absence, the senior lieu- 
 tenant is responsible for every thing done on board. 
 
 The master receives his orders from the captain. Masters, 
 or any of the lieutenants. His more immediate du- 
 ties are those of stowing the ship's hold, and of at- 
 tending to her sailing qualities ; of receiving and 
 placing the provisions in the ship, so as most conve- 
 niently to come at those which may be wanted. He 
 is to take care that the cables are properly coiled in 
 the tiers. The keys of the spirit-room are in his 
 custody, and he is directed to entrust them only to 
 the master's mates. He has the charge of the store- 
 rooms of the warrant officers, which he is ordered 
 frequently to visit; in short, the whole of the ship's 
 provisions, water, fuel, and stores of every descrip- 
 tion, are under the superintendence of the master; 
 and he is also entrusted, under the command of the 
 captain, with the charge of navigating the ship, bring- 
 ing her to anchor, ascertaining the latitude and lon- 
 gitude of her place at sea, surveying harbours, and 
 making such nautical remarks and observations as 
 may be useful and interesting to navigation in ge- 
 neral. 
 
 The warrant officers are charged with the duty of 
 receiving on board from the dock-yards, and exa- 
 mining, the various stores of their respective depart- 
 ments, and of keeping an account of the expenditure 
 of them. 
 
 The gunner has the charge of the ship's artillery, Gunner, 
 and of the powder magazine ; he is to see that the 
 locks and carriages are kept in good order, and that 
 the powder is preserved from damp ; he is frequently 
 to examine the musquetry and small arms, and to see 
 that they are kept clean, and fit for service ; and, in 
 preparing for battle, it is his duty to take care that 
 all the quarters are supplied with every thing neces- 
 sary for the service of the guns, and, during the ac- 
 tion, that there be no want of ammunition served out. 
 He is frequently to exercise the men at the guns 
 
 F 
 
42 
 
 NAVY. 
 
 Navy. 
 
 Boatswain. 
 
 Carpenter. 
 
 and to see that they perform this part of their duty 
 with correctness, explaining and enforcing the ne- 
 cessity of their pointing the guns before they fire 
 them, of spunging them well, and of close-stopping 
 the touch-hole immediately after firing. The ar- 
 mourer and his mates are under the immediate or- 
 ders of the gunner, in every thing that relates to the 
 great guns and small arms. 
 
 The boatswain is charged with the duty of receiv- 
 ing and examining all the stores belonging to his de- 
 partment, consisting chiefly of the ropes and rigging, 
 the latter of which he is ordered to inspect daily, in 
 order that any part of it, chafed or likely to give 
 way, may be repaired without loss of time. He is 
 always required to be on deck at such times as all 
 hands are emplo3^ed ; he is to see that the men, when 
 called, move quickly upon deck, and when there, 
 that they perform their duty with alacrity, and with- 
 out noise or confusion. The sail-maker and the rope- 
 maker are under his immediate orders ; and he is di- 
 rected to see that both these officers perform their 
 respective duties with diligence and propriety. 
 
 The carpenter, when appointed to a ship, is care- 
 fully to inspect into the state of the masts and yards, 
 whether in the dock-yard, or on board the ship, to 
 see that they are perfectly sound and in good order. 
 He is to examine every part of the ship's hull, maga- 
 zine, store-rooms, and cabins. He is every day when 
 at sea carefully to examine into the state of the masts 
 and yards, and to report to the officer of the watch 
 if any appear to be sprung, or in any way defective. 
 He is to see that the ports are secui-e and properly 
 lined, and that the pumps be kept in good order, as 
 are also the boats, ladders, and gratings. The caulk- 
 er is placed under his immediate orders, and he is to 
 see that he performs his duty in a workmanlike man- 
 ner, in stopping immediately any leaks that may be 
 discovered in the sides or decks. 
 
 The purser has the charge of all the ship's provi- 
 sions, and the serving them out for the use of the 
 crew. His charge is, therefore, of a most important 
 nature ; and, accordingly, he must not only produce 
 good certificates of his conduct while serving in the 
 capacity of clerk, but must also find two sureties for 
 the due discharge of his trust, who are required to 
 give bond in a penal sum, according to the rate or 
 class of ship to which he may be appointed. The 
 regulations and instructions for his guidance are mi- 
 nutely detailed in the general printed instructions, 
 with all the various forms established for the keeping 
 of his accounts with the Victualling Board, to which 
 he is immediately responsible. To assist him in the 
 performance of his arduous duties, he is allowed to 
 employ the clerk, who, though engaged by the cap- 
 tain, who is responsible for the strict performance of 
 the duties of all the officers under his orders, is, as 
 it were, a check on the purser in many parts of his 
 duty, as regards the slop-books, muster-books, &c. 
 He has also a steward under his immediate orders. 
 
 The duties of the physician to the fleet, the sur- 
 geon of a ship and his assistants, the secretary to the 
 commander-in chief, and the chaplain, are too obvi- 
 ous to require any specification. 
 Mklbhipmen. The midshipmen are considered as the principal 
 petty officers, but have no specific duties assigned to 
 
 Purser. 
 
 Physician, 
 &c. 
 
 them. In the smaller vessels, some of the senior Navy, 
 ones are entrusted with the watch ; they attend par-^** y ' 
 ties of men sent on shore ; pass the word of com- 
 mand on board, and see that the orders of their su- 
 periors are carried into effect ; and, in short, are ex- 
 ercised in all the duties of their profession, so as, af- 
 ter six years service, to qualify them to become lieu- 
 tenants. 
 
 Every ship, according to her class, has a certain Marines, 
 number of marines serving on board as part of her 
 complement, which are commanded by a captain, or 
 brevet-major, from first to fourth rates inclusive, with 
 three or two subalterns under them, and an establish- 
 ed number of non-commissioned officers; but the 
 party on board fifth rates, and under, is commanded 
 by a subaltern, and in small vessels by a serjeant or 
 corporal. 
 
 AH marine-officers, of whatever rank when em- 
 barked, are to obey the orders of the captain, or the 
 commanding officer of the watch. The marines are 
 exercised by their officers in the use of their arms ; 
 they are employed as sentinels, and in all other du- 
 ties on board of which they are capable, with the ex- 
 ception of going aloft. The officer commanding has 
 the charge of the arms, accoutrements, and drums; 
 and he is to inspect weekly, at least, into the state of 
 the clothing of his party. The marines are treated 
 in every respect in the same manner as the rest of 
 the ship's company. 
 
 The long continuance of the revolutionary war ne-Numberr of 
 cessarily created a prodigious increase of the com- Commis.j- 
 missioned officers of the navy. Their numbers, in ^™ 
 the four following years of peace, were. 
 
 
 1793. 
 
 1803. 
 
 1815. 
 
 1821. 
 
 Admirals, 
 
 11 
 
 45 
 
 70 
 
 63 
 
 Vice- Admirals, 
 
 19 
 
 36 
 
 73 
 
 59 
 
 Rear- Admirals, 
 
 19 
 
 51 
 
 77 
 
 68 
 
 Post-Captains, 
 
 444. 
 
 666 
 
 824 
 
 828 
 
 Commanders, 
 
 160 
 
 410 
 
 762 
 
 776 
 
 Lieutenants, 
 
 1408 
 
 2461 
 
 3211 
 
 3797 
 
 The warrant officers have increased, in each class, 
 from the average of about 400 in 1793, to 700 in 
 1821. 
 
 The number of seamen and marines voted in 1 792 
 was 16,000 (but never reduced to that number), 
 and in 1822, 21,000. 
 
 The greatest number of seamen and marines voted 
 in any one year during the war was 150,000. 
 
 The crew of a ship of war consists of able seamen, ship's CCom- 
 ordinary seamen, landsmen, boys, and marines. Thepany. 
 landsmen, boys, and marines, are always entered 
 voluntarily, the latter in the same manner as sol- 
 diers, by enlisting into the corps, the two former at 
 some rendezvous, or on board particular ships. A 
 supply of boys for the navy is also regularly sent 
 from the Asylum at Greenwich and the Marine So- 
 ciety. Able and ordinary seamen also very com- 
 monly volunteer to serve during the war, and al- 
 ways in time of peace ; but the high wages given by 
 the merchant ships to seamen in time of war, hold 
 out such encouragement as to induce them to give 
 
NAVY. 
 
 43 
 
 Navy. 
 
 Health of 
 the Crew, 
 
 the preference to that service, though, in all other 
 ■^respects, their treatment is far superior on board a 
 King's ship ; having better provisions, and being sub- 
 ject to much less tiatigue and exposure to the w^ea- 
 ther. Indeed, the excellent regulations now rigidly 
 adhered to on board his Majesty's ships, the atten- 
 tion that is paid to the health and comfort of the 
 crew, have overcome much of that reluctance which 
 formerly was felt to the service of a ship of war. 
 
 The state of health on board a King's ship, gene- 
 rally speaking, is not exceeded in the most favoured 
 spot on shore ; and that horrible disease, the sea- 
 scurvy, may now be considered as unknown in the 
 British navy, since the universal introduction of le- 
 mon juice, or the citric acid, without an ample 
 supply of which no ship is permitted to sail on 
 a foreign voyage. Sir Gilbert Blane, in a sensible 
 little tract on the Health of the Navy, says, that he 
 has never seen the scurvy resist the citric acid, and 
 that, in the perusal of several hundreds of surgeons' 
 journals, he has met only with two cases which 
 seemed to resist it. Yet, though it appears to have 
 been known as a remedy for the scurvy, far superior 
 to all others, two hundred years ago, it seems to 
 have lain dormant and utterly neglected till Dr Lind, 
 more than a hundred years afterwards, revived and 
 stated clearly the singular powers of this remedy. 
 In 1600 Commodore Lancaster sailed from Eng- 
 land, with three other ships, on the 2d April, and 
 arrived in Saldanha bay on the 1st August. The 
 commodore's crew having each had three table 
 spoonfuls of lemon juice every morning, arrived 
 there in perfect health ; whereas the other ships 
 were so sickly, that they were unmanageable for 
 want of hands. We have all felt the commiseration 
 and horror which the perusal of the narrative of 
 Anson's Voyage produces. His ship, the Centurion, 
 left England with 400 men, of which 200 were sur- 
 viving on his arrival at Juan Fernandez, and of these 
 eight only were capable of duty, from scurvy. Yet 
 even this horrible catastrophe seems to have failed 
 in rousing the nation to have recourse to a remedy 
 &o certain and efficacious. Cook was well supplied 
 with vinegar and other acids, and found the good 
 effects of them ; but the first general supply of le- 
 mon juice to the navy was established only in the 
 year 1795, in consequence of a trial that had been 
 made of it the preceding year in the Suffolk of 74 
 guns. This ship left England, and arrived at Mad- 
 ras in Septemhtr, without touching at any land. 
 With every man's grog were daily mixed two-thirds 
 of a liquid ounce of lemon juice, and two ounces of 
 sugar. She lost not a man ; and though the disease 
 made its appearance in a few, an increased dose of 
 lemon juice immediately removed it. Thus the Suf- 
 folk, after a voyage of I62 days, arrived without los- 
 ing a man, or having a man sick of the scurvy, 
 whereas the Centurion, in 143 days from the last 
 place of her refreshment, lost half of her crew, and 
 the other half so feeble and emaciated, as to be ut- 
 terly helpless. 
 
 Nothing could more strongly point out the effica- 
 cy of lemon juice than the following fact. When 
 Lord St Vincent commanded the fleet which block- 
 aded Brest from the 27th May to the 26th Septem- 
 
 ber 1800, he maintained so close a blockade, that Navy, 
 not a single day passed without reconnoitring the *«*^'"^ 
 entrance of the harbour ; yet, although the seamen 
 of his fleet, consisting of at least 1 6,000 men, had 
 no other than the ordinary ship's provisions, sixteen 
 only, in the course of four months, were sent to the 
 hospital. In 1780 the Channel fleet, as appears 
 from Dr Lind, were so overrun with scurvy and fe- 
 ver, as to be unable to keep the sea, after a cruize 
 of ten weeks only. 
 
 From the official returns collected by Sir Gilbert Progressive 
 Blane, M. Dupin, a French author, well versed in 2'^j.J^g°" 
 naval subjects, has drawn out the following table, 
 which exhibits at one view the progressive diminu- 
 tion of sickness, death, and desertion, in the British 
 navy, calculated on 100,000 men. 
 
 Years. 
 
 Sent sick to 
 Hospital. 
 
 Deaths. 
 
 Deser- 
 tions. 
 
 1779 
 
 40,815 
 
 265 i 
 
 1424 
 
 1782 
 
 31,617 
 
 2222 
 
 993 
 
 1794 
 
 25,027 
 
 1164 
 
 662 
 
 1804 
 
 11,978 
 
 1606 
 
 214 
 
 ISIS 
 
 9,336 
 
 698 
 
 10 
 
 From hence it would appear, that the diminution 
 of sick and of deaths has been in the proportion of 
 4 to 1 nearly, between the years 1779 and 1813. 
 The diminution of desertions from the hospital in 
 the same period is not the less remarkable ; and it 
 affords, at the same time, the strongest proof of the 
 progressive amelioration of the condition of seamen 
 on board British ships of war. Indeed, whether on 
 board ship, or in any of these noble institutions, the 
 Naval Hospitals, which are established at all the 
 principal ports at home, and in the colonies abroad, 
 the attention that is paid to the sick sailor is above 
 all praise. The seamen are sensible of this, and no- 
 thing keeps them back from volunteering their ser- 
 vices, and from giving a preference to a King's 
 ship over a merchantman, but the temptation of high 
 wages offered by the latter in time of war, and that 
 love of liberty and free scope for roving which are 
 characteristic of seamen. 
 
 The speedy manning of the fleet, on the first break- Manning 
 ing out of the war, is one of the most important ob- 
 jects that devolves on the Naval Administration, as 
 by it alone depends the safety of our commerce and 
 our colonies. This has been felt at all times ; and, 
 accordingly, a variety of schemes have been brought 
 forward for this purpose, but all of them failed of suc- 
 cess, except the compulsory mode of raising men under 
 the authority of press- warrants, issued by the Lords 
 Commissioners of the Admiralty, by virtue of the 
 King's Order in Council, renewed from year to year. 
 There likewise issues, on the breaking out of a war, 
 a proclamation from the King, recalling all British sea- 
 men out of the service of foreign princes or states ; 
 and the instructions to the commanders of all ships 
 of war direct them to search foreign vessels, and to 
 take British seamen out of them. 
 
 The impressment of seafaring men, however ano- Impr«ss- 
 malous under a free constitution like that of Great 
 Britain, is defensible on state necessity, until it can be 
 
44 
 
 Navy. 
 
 N A. 
 
 shown that the fleet, on an emergency, is capable of 
 being manned without resorting to that measure. 
 In consequence of some doubts being raised on the 
 legality of the subject in the year 1676, when the 
 affairs of the Admiralty were managed immediately 
 under the direction of the King and the Great Offi- 
 cers of State, a discussion was held on this point, 
 when it was decided by the Judges and Crown Law- 
 yers, that the King had an indefeasible right to the 
 services of his subjects when the state required 
 them, and that the power of impressing seamen was 
 indispensably inherent in the Crown, without which 
 the trade and safety of the nation could not be se- 
 cured. The first instance of impressing men in Ire- 
 land seems to have been in the year 1678, when the 
 Lord Lieutenant received directions from the Privy 
 Council to raise 1000 seamen for the fleet. In 1690, 
 the Lords Justices of Ireland were directed to assist 
 the officers of the navy in impressing men in that 
 kingdom. In 1697, a register was taken of all the 
 seafaring men in Ireland, which amounted to 4424 
 men, of whom it is noted 2654 were Catholics. On 
 several occasions, during Queen Anne's reign, the 
 Lords Justices of Ireland received directions to 
 raise men to serve in the fleet. 
 
 In Scotland, the mode of raising men by the im- 
 press was unknown before the Union ; but in various 
 instances the Council of Scotland was directed to 
 raise volunteers for the fleet, each man to have forty 
 shillings as bounty. 
 
 In 1706, an experiment was tried for the speedy 
 manning of the fleet, by virtue of an act of Parlia- 
 ment, which required the civil magistrates of all the 
 counties to make diligent search fur all seafaring 
 men, and twenty shillings was allowed to the con- 
 stables for each man taken up ; the seamen to have 
 pay from the day of delivery to the naval officers 
 stationed to receive them ; and if they deserted 
 after that, were considered as guilty of felony. By 
 the same act, insolvent debtors, fit for the service, 
 and willing to enter it, were released, provided the 
 debt did not exceed L. 30 ; and no seaman in the 
 fleet was to be arrested for any debt not exceeding 
 L. !^0. The whole proceeding under this act incur- 
 red a very heavy expence, and totally failed. 
 
 Ill the same year, the Queen referred to the Prince 
 of Denmark, then Lord High Admiral, an address 
 from the House of Lords relating to the three fol- 
 lowing points : — 1st, The most effectual means for 
 manning the fleet. 2d, The encouragement, and in- 
 crease of the number of seamen. 3d, The restoring 
 and preserving the discipline of the navy. His Royal 
 Highness submitted these points to such of the flag- 
 officers and other commanders as could be assembled, 
 who made a report, of which the substance was to 
 the following effect:— Isf, To cause a general regi- 
 ster to be kept of all seafaring men in England and 
 Ireland, for which they presented the draft of a bill. 
 2d, That all marines, qualified to act as seamen, 
 should be discharged from the army, the officers to 
 have levy money and the men's clothing returned. 
 Sd, That not fewer than 20,000 seamen should be 
 kept in employ in ti.ne of peace; but, they observe, 
 that as to the restoring and preserving the discipline 
 of the navy, no particular instance being laid before 
 
 12 
 
 V Y. 
 
 them wherein it was defective, they could give no Navy, 
 opinion on that head. "^"^N 
 
 This registry of seafaring men has been tried Registry 
 more than once, but as the men themselves had no 
 interest whatever in the measure, it always failed in 
 producing the desired effect. The only chance of 
 its succeeding in any prospective emergency is 
 the measure recently adopted by the Lords of 
 the Admiralty, under the sanction of the King in 
 Council, — a measure which was called for on every 
 principle of justice and humanity, — of granting pro- 
 visions, on the paying off the fleet, to every man who 
 had served fourteen years and upwards. The num- 
 ber thus pensioned amounted at one time to 33,000, 
 and are still not far short of 30,000 : and as there are 
 voted for the peace establishment 16,000 men, most- 
 ly prime seamen, there is every reason for supposing 
 that less difficulty will be found in manning the fleet, 
 on any future emergency, than heretofore ; and that 
 on this account the evils of the impress will be great- 
 ly mitigated ; for though numbers on the pension 
 list will naturally be unfit for service at sea, most 
 of them will be able to assist in fitting out the fleet. 
 
 In fact, there are now so many exemptions from 
 the impress, that its severity is greatly abated. The 
 following description of persons are protected by va- 
 rious acts of Parliament : 
 
 Masters of merchant ships or vessels. 
 
 First mates of such as are 50 tons or upwards. 
 
 Boatswains and carpenters of such as are of 100 
 tons or upwards. 
 
 Men belonging to vessels and craft of all kinds in 
 the employ of Navy, Victualling, Ordnance, Cus- 
 toms, Excise, and Post Offices. 
 
 Watermen belonging to the Insurance Offices 
 within the cities of London and Westminster. 
 
 All men of the age of 55 years and upwards. 
 
 All youths, not having attained the age of 18. 
 
 All foreigners. 
 
 Apprentices, not having used the sea before the 
 date of their indentures, and not more than tliree 
 years from the said date. 
 
 Landsmen not having served at sea full two years. 
 
 Masters, apprentices, one seaman, and one lands- 
 man, of all fishing vessels on the sea coast or on na- 
 vigable rivers. 
 
 Harpooners, line-managers, and boat-steerers of 
 the Greenland fishery and the Southern Whale fish- 
 ery, and all seamen and common mariners who have 
 entered for the said fisheries. 
 
 And no person whatsoever can be impressed ex- 
 cept by an officer who has been entrusted with a 
 press-warrant. 
 
 The discipline of the navy, or the government of DisciplLine. 
 his Majesty's ships, vessels, and forces by sea, is re- 
 gulated by the act of 22d Geo. IL, usually known 
 by the name of the Articles of War. By this act, 
 the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty are em- 
 powered to order courts-martial for all offences men- 
 tioned therein, and committed by any person in and 
 belonging to the fleet and in full pay ; and also to 
 delegate the same power to admirals commanding in 
 chief on foreign stations, which power also may de- 
 volve on his successor in case of death or recall, 
 provided that no commander-in-chief of any fleet or 
 
NAVY. 
 
 45 
 
 Navy. 
 
 Courts-Mar 
 tial. 
 
 Artides of 
 War. 
 
 Petty Pu- 
 nishment 
 
 F.fFecta of 
 DiscipJine. 
 
 squadron, or detachment thereof, consisting of more 
 than five ships, shall preside at any court-marlial in 
 foreign parts, the officer next in command being or- 
 dered to preside thereat. 
 
 By this act, no coiwi-martial can consist of more 
 than thirteen or of less than five persons, to be com- 
 posed of such flag-officers, captains, or commanders 
 then and there present, as are next in seniority to the 
 officer who presides at the court-martial. And when 
 there are but three officers of the rank of post-cap- 
 tains, the president is to call in as many commanders 
 under that rank as will make up five in the whole. 
 
 This code of laws for the government of the fleet 
 consists of thirty-six articles, of which nine award the 
 punishment of death, and eleven death or such other 
 punishment as the court-martial shall deem the ofr 
 fence to deserve. Those which incur the former are, 
 the holding illegal correspondence with an enemy — 
 cowardice or neglect of duty in time of action — not 
 pursuing the enemy — desertion to the enemy — mak- 
 ing mutinous assemblies — striking a superior officer — 
 burning magazines, vessels, &c. not belonging to an 
 enemy — murder — sodomy. The penalty of death for 
 cowardice, or other neglect of duty in time of action 
 (Art. 12), and of not pursuing the enemy (Art. 13), 
 was by the 19th Geo. III. so far mitigated, as to 
 authorize the court-martial " to pronounce sentence 
 of death, or to inflict such other punishment as the 
 nature and degree of the offi^nce shall be found to 
 deserve." Under these articles thus mitigated, Ad- 
 miral Byng would probably not have been condemn- 
 ed to death. The other eleven articles which leave 
 the punishment to the discretion of the court, are, 
 not preparing for fight, and encouraging the men in 
 time of action — suppression of any letter or message 
 sent from an enemy — spies delivering letters, &c. 
 from an enemy — relieving an enemy — disobedience 
 of orders in time of action — discouraging the men on 
 various pretences — not taking care of and defending 
 ships under convoy — quarrelling with and disobey- 
 ing a superior officer in the execution of his office — 
 wilfully neglecting the steering of ships — sleeping on 
 watch, and forsaking his station — robbery. The re- 
 maining sixteen articles incur the penalty of dismissal 
 from the service, or from the ship, degradation of 
 rank, or such other punishment as the court may judge 
 the nature and degree of the offence to deserve. 
 
 Much, however, of the internal discipline of a 
 ship of war depends upon the captain, who being 
 empowered to punish the men for minor offences, 
 according to the usage of the service, courts-mar- 
 tial on seamen are rarely found necessary to be re- 
 sorted to in well regulated ships. The principal 
 circumstance that usually militates against the per- 
 fect good order of the crew, is the great allowance 
 of grog served out daily to the men, as established 
 by the King's Order in Council, and which frequent- 
 ly leads to drunkenness, and this to insubordination. 
 Perhaps half the punishments in the navy are for 
 this offence, which requires the utmost vigilance and 
 precautions on the part of the officers to prevent. 
 
 In other respects the discipline of a well organized 
 ship of w^ar is perfect; and to this discipline M. 
 Dupin, a French writer of great sagacity, mainly 
 ascribes the brilliant successes of the British navy, 
 
 and to the want of it, the ruin of that of France. Navy. 
 " We have already cited,'' says he, " as a model, "^^^^ 
 the management of the materiel of the English 
 ships. In the preservation of this materiel — in the 
 stowing it away — in the arrangement of whatever 
 may be necessary either for manoeuvres or for action, 
 the most perfect regularity is observed. At the same 
 time, what becoming austerity is maintained by the 
 commanding officer ; what obedience among the sub- 
 alterns ; and, in a space so limited, considering the 
 number of men on board, and the multiplicity of move- 
 ments they have to make in obeying so many differ- 
 ent orders, what imposing silence ! It is the calm- 
 ness of strength — the presiding influence of wisdom. 
 In the midst of the most complicated operations, and 
 even in the heat and transport of battle, one hears 
 only the words of command, pronounced and repeat- 
 ed from rank to rank, with a measured tone and per- 
 fect sangfroid. No unseasonable advices — no mur- 
 murs — no tumult. The commanders meditate in 
 silence ; the word is given, and the men act without -. 
 either speaking or thinking." 
 
 This is remarkably so in the day of battle. Every 
 officer and man knows precisely his place, and the 
 duty he has to perform on that day. By the general 
 printed instructions, the captains of his Majesty's 
 ships are required to accustom the men to assemble 
 at their proper quarters, to exercise them at the 
 great guns, to teach them to point, fire, &c. under all 
 circumstances of sea and weather. Indeed, it is 
 well known, that the preservation of the high charac- 
 ter of the British navy essentially depends on the 
 proper training of the seamen to the expert manage- 
 ment of the guns, so as to be duly prepared in the 
 day of battle ; the issue of which so mainly depends 
 on the cool, steady, and regular manner in which 
 the ship's ordnance is loaded, pointed, and fired. 
 Practice in these respects is much more necessary 
 on board ships than onshore, as it can never happen 
 that the ship is entirely steady, and has most fre- 
 quently a rolling or pitching motion, for which allow- 
 ances must be made, and which can only be made 
 with effect by long practice. 
 
 If the management of the great guns of a ship of Naval Tae- 
 war is more difficult than the artillery of a fort, so tics, 
 likewise are naval tactics more difficult than those of 
 an army; inasmuch as there is more difficulty and 
 less dependence in placing and directing the move- 
 ments of an inanimate than an animate machine. 
 The general principles are the same ; the object of 
 both being that of bringing the greatest possible 
 force to bear on that point which is likely to pro- 
 duce the greatest possible injury to the enemy. With 
 this view, as well as to keep a fleet together in com- 
 pact order, so that straggling ships may not be cut 
 off by the enemy, it has been found necessary to 
 preserve a certain order of sailing, whether out of 
 sight of an enemy or in his presence ; and such an 
 order as, according to the state of the wind and 
 v/eather, and the point of bearing of the enemy's 
 fleet, may most conveniently and expeditiously be 
 changed into such a line of battle as the commander- 
 in-chief may deem it most expedient to adopt in the 
 attack to be made on his opponent. 
 
 In order to do this, it is obvious, that every indi- 
 
46 
 
 NAVY. 
 
 Navy. 
 
 Code of Na 
 val Signals. 
 
 vidual captain must be able to know, under all cir- 
 cumstances, what the ship he commands will be able 
 to do, in order to preserve her station in the fleet ; 
 for, it is with ships as with horses, no two perhaps per- 
 forming the same evolution with the same tightness 
 of rein, or the same quantity of sail. This shows 
 the absolute necessity of a commander-in-chief fre- 
 quently exercising his fleet in naval tactics, and to 
 observe how such and such a ship will behave under 
 a certain quantity of canvass, and to assign her sta- 
 tion in the line where she may appear calculated to 
 act with the greatest efficiency. 
 
 To facilitate these movements, the admirals com- 
 manding squadrons are considered as responsible for 
 the movement of the ships in their respective divi- 
 sions. They are to see that each captain strictly 
 obeys the general order, and if any one is perceived 
 to neglect his duty, whether belonging to his proper 
 division or not, if in action, he has the power to send 
 immediately another officer to suspend him. And 
 in order that no confusion may arise, if, in time of 
 battle, the admiral commanding in chief, or any of 
 the admirals commanding squadrons, should be kill- 
 ed, his or their flags remain flying till the battle is 
 decided. If the commander-in-chief be kdled or 
 severely wounded, a private signal is made to the 
 second in command, or if a junior admiral be killed 
 or wounded, the commander- in chief is also acquaint- 
 ed by signal. , . . 
 
 This silent method of communicating what is go- 
 ing on is the perfection of naval tactics ; indeed, it 
 is difficult to conceive how our ancestors contrived 
 to manage a fleet without a Code of Signals. For great 
 and important occasions, the exhibition of a flag or 
 flags, in some particular part of the ship, might be 
 generally understood to imply, that the fleet should 
 anchor, or tack, or form the order of sailing in two 
 lines, or the line of battle, or some other great move- 
 ment. The hoisting of a cask at the yard-arm might 
 be understood to imply a want of waiter ; or a hatchet, 
 of wood ; or an empty bag, of bread ; and the table- 
 cloth was a very significant invitation to dinner ; but 
 they had no means of interchanging freely their wants 
 or intentions, or of conveying detailed intelligence. 
 Even so late as the American war, there was no 
 established code of signals in the navy. An anec- 
 dote is told of Admiral Geary, who, in the year 1780, 
 commanded the Channel fleet, which clearly proves 
 how little was then known or practised in the way of 
 signals. His captain, Kempenfelt, had laboured long 
 to improve the defective system ; and having one day 
 seen the enemy's fleet, he endeavoured to communi- 
 cate the intelligence by the new code ; but in the 
 hurry of making sail and giving chase, the signals 
 somehow or other were not understood by the rest of 
 the fleet. Geary at last became impatient, and run- 
 ning up to Kempenfelt, seized him by the hand, and 
 exclaimed with great emphasis, " Now, my dear 
 Kempy, do, for God's sake, throw your signals over- 
 
 avyy. 
 
 board, and make the old one which we all under- 
 stand, < to bring the enemy to close action.' " >—i»s^-^ 
 
 " If an admiral," says Dr Beatson in his able Me* 
 moirs, " cannot command all the necessary move- 
 ments of his ships by signal in the day of battle, he 
 is not upon a footing with an enemy who possesses 
 that advantage, and even with better ships and bet- 
 ter men, and more experienced commanders, he may 
 be foiled in his expectations of victory, if not defeat- 
 ed, from his want of the means to direct, and to per- 
 form the necessary evolutions of his fleet" " In 
 no fight," he adds, " was the insufficiency of the 
 present system of naval signals more conspicuous 
 than in this (Keppel's unfortunate action) ; and it is 
 to be hoped that if ever a new code be adopted 
 for the use of the royal navy, it may be so clear and 
 comprehensive, that such fatal errors as those which 
 have been pointed out will in future be prevented." 
 This we may now say has been accomplished. _ 
 
 The idea of numbering the flags, and of assigning 
 a certain number of corresponding sentences to cer- 
 tain combinations of these numbers, was reduced to 
 something approaching a regular system in the fleet 
 under the command of Lord Howe; and in the year 
 1798 a new signal book was issued from the Admi- 
 ralty, containing about 400 sentences, expressive of 
 certain operations of a fleet, communicated by means 
 of flags to which the numerical characters were ap- 
 plied, and these, as far as they went, answered very 
 well, but did not supersede the necessity of convey- 
 ing orders by boats on many occasions. The follow- 
 ing year Sir Home Popham suggested the idea of 
 making the flags to represent the letters of the al- 
 phabet in combination with numbers, which not only 
 added immensely to the means of communication, 
 but also of making use of words by signal. From 
 this time improvements in the modes of communicat- 
 ing by signals and telegraphs were rapidly intro- 
 duced ; particularly in the shape and the colours of 
 the flags, according to a plan of Sir Home Popham, 
 which has rendered signals by flags as nearly perfect 
 as they probably ever will be. 
 
 There is, however, an imperfection in the flags 
 themselves; as in calm weather when they do not 
 fly out, neither their shape nor colour is visible with- 
 out the use of stretchers, which are not always easily 
 managed, and never without loss of time. Again, if 
 the wind be parallel to the line of vision, the flag 
 shows only its edge, and neither shape nor colour 
 can be discerned. To remedy these inconveniencies, 
 Sir Home Popham proposed a portable wooden se- 
 maphore in imitation of the French telegraph, to be 
 mounted on the quarter-deck or poop of a ship. 
 
 It consists of two posts, each having a moveable sea TJele- 
 arm, which may be placed in four positions that can graph. i. 
 never be mistaken, being at right angles to each 
 other, as in the following figures, where the number 
 annexed to each position is that which it conveys to 
 the person receiving the message. 
 
NAVY. 
 
 47 
 
 Navy. 
 
 SEA TELEGRAPH. 
 
 Foremost Post. * 
 
 Aftermost Post, t 
 
 Z 5 
 
 4i 7 
 
 Combinations. 
 
 The left hand of each column represents the num- 
 bers which are exhibited by the arms either singly 
 or in combination. 
 
 The right hand of each column represents the 
 characters of the telegraphic signals, which are ex- 
 hibited by the positions of the arms placed opposite 
 to them. 
 
 The cornettes, triangles, and pendants, are those 
 used in the common signals, which in the book re- 
 present the letters opposite to each. 
 
 Position 1 represents Flag 1 
 
 2 2 
 
 3 3 
 
 4 4 
 
 5 5 
 
 6 6 
 
 7 7 
 
 8 8 
 
 1- .5 9 
 
 6 Cornet I e A 
 
 1.7 B 
 
 1.8 C 
 
 2.5 D 
 
 2.6 E 
 
 2- 7 Triangle F 
 
 2.8 G 
 
 3.5 H 
 
 3. 6 I 
 
 3- 7 K 
 
 3> 8 , Pendant L 
 
 4. 5 M 
 
 4. 6 N 
 
 4. 7 O 
 
 8 Finish. 
 
 Auxiliary Signs, 
 
 These signs always represent the subjects placed 
 opposite to them — for instance, when the alphabe- 
 tical sign is made, the subsequent positions of the 
 arms will represent the letters of the alphabet until 
 the stop is made. The same with numbers, ships* 
 names, &c. as particularly explained in the instruc- 
 tions of the Telegraphic Signal Book. The Stop and 
 the other Auxiliary Signs must be placed exactly 
 horizontal. 
 
 Spelling 
 
 Alphabet. 
 
 Representative - 
 
 -j Sign. 
 
 Positions of the 
 Arms. 
 
 Letters. 
 
 1 represents. 
 
 A 
 
 2 
 
 
 ...B 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 ,, D 
 
 5 
 
 
 ..E 
 
 6 
 
 
 ...F 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 8 ..TT 
 
 1.5 
 
 
 ., I& J 
 
 1.6 
 
 
 
 1.7 
 
 
 
 1.8 
 
 
 
 2.5 
 
 
 N 
 
 2.6 
 
 0 
 
 2.7 
 
 p 
 
 2.8 
 
 
 Q 
 
 3.5 
 
 
 
 3.6 
 
 
 ...s & z 
 
 3.7 
 
 
 
 3.8 
 
 
 .,...U& V 
 
 4.5 
 
 
 ,, w 
 
 4.6 
 
 
 
 4,7 
 
 
 Y 
 
 Kavy. 
 
 Numeral 
 
 Representative ^ Sign. 
 
 Positions of the 
 Arms. 
 
 Numbers. 
 
 1 represents 1 
 
 2 0 
 
 3 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 8 
 
 1.5 
 
 
 1.6 
 
 
 Horizontal 
 Signs. 
 
 Significations of the Horizontal 
 Signs. 
 
 
 General Preparative. 
 
 r 
 
 Ships' Names. 
 
 
 Alphabet. 
 
 
 Numeral. 
 
 ^ 
 
 Annul, and Negative. 
 
 
 Local Table. 
 
 -r 
 
 Message not understood. 
 
 F 
 
 Affirmative. 
 
 
48 
 
 NAVY. 
 
 Navy. 
 
 The mode of applying a Secret Key for receiving 
 and COMMUNICATING Messages is extremely sim- 
 ple, as for instance. 
 
 Position of the Arms. 
 
 
 
 Receiving. 
 
 Uommunicaung. 
 
 Characters j 
 ofTelegraph 
 Book. 
 
 Positions of I 
 Arms. 
 
 'ositions of 
 the Arms. 
 
 Characters 
 fTelegraph 
 Book. 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 
 3 
 
 7 
 
 3 
 
 L 
 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 0 
 
 
 5 
 
 1.6 
 
 5 
 
 8 
 
 
 6 
 
 3.6 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 7 
 
 3 
 
 
 8 
 
 5 
 
 8 
 
 7 
 
 
 9 
 
 2.5 
 
 1. 5 
 
 A 
 
 
 A 
 
 1. 5 
 
 1. 6 
 
 5 
 
 
 B 
 
 2. 8 
 
 1.7 
 
 C 
 
 
 C 
 
 1.7 
 
 1. 8 
 
 F 
 
 
 D 
 
 3.5 
 
 2. 5 
 
 9 
 
 
 E 
 
 3. 8 
 
 2.6 
 
 K 
 
 
 F 
 
 1. 8 
 
 2. 7 
 
 N 
 
 G 
 
 4.. 5 
 
 2.8 
 
 B 
 
 
 H 
 
 4.7 
 
 3. 5 
 
 D 
 
 I 
 
 4.6 
 
 3.6 
 
 6 
 
 
 K 
 
 2.6 
 
 3.7 
 
 M 
 
 L 
 
 3 
 
 3. 8 
 
 E 
 
 M 
 
 3.7 
 
 4.5 
 
 G 
 
 
 N 
 
 2.7 
 
 4. 6 
 
 I 
 
 
 0 
 
 4 
 
 4. 7 
 
 
 [ 
 
 
 
 4. 8 
 
 Finish. 
 
 A Polyglot 
 I'elegraph. 
 
 It is obvious, that, by a combination of letters and 
 numerals, messages to any extent may be made ei- 
 ther by a collection of certain sentences, or a voca- 
 bulary of words, or by spelling; the last mode being 
 the least objectionable, though not the most expedi- 
 tious, unless in very short sentences. For instance, 
 if, on meeting a ship at sea, her name was asked by 
 telegraph, and the answer was No. 8, which, on re- 
 ference to the list of the navy, was the Hero, but by 
 some mistake, owing to haze or other accident 
 (which will sometimes happen to the best observers), 
 the parallel position No. 4 was read off, opposite to 
 which was the Bellerophon, there would be no pos- 
 sible means of correcting the mistake ; but if the 
 first name was spelled by the alphabetic signs, the 
 very first signal, 8, being H, would be sufficient, but 
 the remaining 5—3.5—2.6 would not require many 
 seconds to remove any doubt, if no list of the navy 
 happened to be on board. When signal flags are 
 used, spelling is the more advisable, as the shape and 
 colours of a flag are more liable to be mistaken. 
 
 This simple machine might be made the means of 
 intelligible communication in all the languages of 
 Europe, and its utility thus become universal. For 
 instance, if a French or Spaniard should see an Eng- 
 lish ship, their wants and wishes may easily be inter- 
 changed, although the master of the one should be 
 totally ignorant of the language of the other ; that is 
 to say, provided the established telegraph book was 
 translated into their respective languages : for ex- 
 ample, 
 
 3. 6 represents, in English— man of war. 
 
 French — vaisseau de guerre, 
 German — kreig's schiff. 
 Italian — nave de guerra. 
 
 Position of the Arms. 
 
 4. 5 represents, in English — leak. ^ 
 
 French — voie d'eau. 
 German — leek. 
 Italian. — crepatura. 
 
 The encouragement afforded by Government to imiprovove- 
 every branch of science connected with the navy, and ^'^^^^^^^^^ 
 navigation in general, has been carried much farther 
 by England than any other Enropean nation ; and has 
 produced the happiest results for commercial enter- 
 prise—by determining with accuracy the precise po- 
 sition of ships— by shortening long voyages— and by 
 the discovery of new lands and unexplored regions. 
 From the commencement of the eighteenth century, 
 when a national reward was first offered to the man 
 of science, or the artist who should discover a me- 
 thod sufficiently exact to determine the longitude of 
 a ship's place at sea, to the present time, the im- 
 provements in the construction and division of all 
 kinds of instruments for measuring angles, in the 
 calculations of lunar and other tables, and above all, 
 in the manufacture artd adjustments of chronometers, 
 have continued in gradual progression; and may now^ 
 be considered to have arrived at such a degree ot 
 perfection, more especially the chronometers, that 
 the discovery of the longitude can scarcely be said 
 to remain a desideratum. We may form an idea 
 what the progress in the improvement of chronome- 
 ters has been, when a public reward was offered by 
 Parliament in the year 1814 to the first who should 
 determine the longitude at sea luithin a degree, and 
 in 1820, three chronometer.", after remaining in the 
 Arctic regions for eighteen months, returned to 
 England without altering their rates more than a few 
 seconds of time. 
 
 The officers of the Royal Navy are much more T ncresrease of 
 
 generally versed in the sciences of late years than 
 heretofore. In fact, it is now necessary for a young 
 man to be well acquainted with a certain portion of 
 mathematical and astronomical knowledge, to enable 
 him to pass an examination, without which he can- 
 not be qualified for the commission of a lieutenant. 
 The Royal Naval College of Portsmouth, for the 
 education of a certain number of youths, has been 
 the means of introducting a better system of naval 
 education into his Majesty's ships of war. The exa- 
 minations also of the several warrant officers and 
 their qualifications for their respective stations, are 
 more strictly attended to than heretofore ; and the 
 consequence is, thatamuch better system of discipline 
 without rigour, is established throughout the fleet, 
 and more comfort in every respect to every class of 
 officers and men employed. 
 
 The encouragement given to the navy from its Pay ay and 
 first regular establishment, has marked it as a fa-^™l- 
 vourite service in the minds of the pubhc. Ihe sea- 
 pay, the half- pay, and other emoluments, have gene- 
 
NAVY. 
 
 rally been superior to those enjoyed by the army, but 
 subject to great fluctuations in every rei^n, and to 
 frequent changes in the same reign. Thus King 
 William, in 1693, gave to an admiral, L. 4 a day — 
 a vice-admiral, L. 3 — and a rear-admiral, L, 2 — 
 which, with the compensation for servants, amounted 
 to more than their present pay ; yet their allowances 
 were still further increased in 1700, till a reduction 
 took place, in consequence of an address from the 
 Commons. Fvom this time to the year 1806, very 
 
 little alteration took place, when a small addition was 
 made to the pay of each class. 
 
 The following table will exhibit, at one view, the 
 complete war-establishment of commission, warrant, 
 petty, and non-commissioned officers, seamen, and 
 marines, on board every class of his Majesty's ships, 
 with the rate of pay granted to each, and the classes 
 into which they are divided for the distribution of 
 prize-money or seizures ; as established by his Ma- 
 jesty's Order in Council of the 25th November 1816: 
 
 FLAG PAY. 
 
 Adtniral of the Fleet L. 6 0 0\ Sea Pay per diem, besides which every 
 
 Admiral 5 0 0 / Commander-in-Chief receives a fur- 
 Vice- Admiral 4- 0 oV thersumof L.3 per diem, while his 
 
 Rear-Admiral or Commodore with Captain under him 1 a r> n\ F^ag may be flying within the limits 
 
 Captain of the Fleet / O Ujf of his Station. 
 
 In Flag Ships all the Lieutenants (including one extra as Flag Lieutenant) are allowed 6d. per diem in 
 addition to their pay. 
 
 Classes for 
 Distribution of 
 Seizures. 
 
 IL 
 
 IIL 
 
 IV. 
 
 VIL 
 
 Secretary to the Admiral of the Fleet 
 
 Secretary to an Admiral Commander-in-Chief 
 
 Secretary to a Vice or Rear Admiral Commander-in-Chief 
 
 One Clerk to Secretaries of Junior Flag Officers or Commodores . . 
 
 Steward .., 
 
 Cook 
 
 Domestics 
 
 } 
 
 L. 1 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 per Diem. 
 
 ce 1 
 
 11 
 
 6 
 
 Do. 
 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 Do. 
 
 
 7 
 
 0 
 
 per Mensem 
 
 
 7 
 
 0 
 
 Do. 
 
 
 13 
 
 8 
 
 Do. 
 
 23 
 
 0 
 
 4 
 
 Do. 
 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 Do. 
 
 
 12 
 
 0 
 
 Do. 
 
 . 3 
 
 16 
 
 8 
 
 Do. 
 
 
 9 
 
 0 
 
 Do. 
 
 
 12 
 
 0 
 
 Do. 
 
 {Admiral of the Fleet 12 
 
 ^.^"^^i 10 
 
 Vice- Admiral 7 
 
 Rear-Admiral, or Commodore with Captain under him 5 
 
 Captain of the Fleet 3 
 
 VOL. VI. PART 1. 
 
 G 
 
NAVY. 
 
 Classes 
 for Dis- 
 tribu- 
 tion of 
 Seizures 
 in Ships 
 
 and 
 Sloops. 
 
 RANKS AND RATINGS. 
 
 I. 
 
 ■■■{ 
 
 III.. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Captain 
 
 1st Lieut, if of 7 years standing 
 
 All others 
 
 Master 
 
 2d Master 
 
 Ctiaplain 
 
 Purser 
 
 Surgeon (for Pay see Note at the end of 
 
 this Table) 
 
 Gunner 
 
 Boatswain , 
 
 Carpenter (with 7s. per Mensem addition 
 
 al for Tools in every rate) 
 
 Master's Mate, if passed 
 
 Master's Mate, not passed 
 
 Midshipman, if passed 
 
 Midshipman, not passed 
 
 Assistant Surgeon (for Pay see Note) .. 
 
 Clerk 
 
 Schoolmaster 
 
 Master at Arms , 
 
 Armourer 
 
 Caulker 
 
 Rope Maker... 
 
 Sail Maker 
 
 Carpenter's Mate (with 7s. per Mensem 
 additional for Tools in every rate) 
 
 Gunner's Mate 
 
 Boatswain's Mate 
 
 Ship's Corporal 
 
 Quarter Master 
 
 Captain's Coxswain 
 
 Coxswain of the Launch 
 
 Coxswain of the Pinnace 
 
 Yeoman of the Signals 
 
 Captain of the Hold 
 
 Captain of the Forecastle 
 
 Cooper 
 
 Armourer's Mate 
 
 Caulker's Mate 
 
 Sailmaker's Mate 
 
 Captain of the Foretop 
 
 Captain of the Maintop 
 
 Captain of the Afterguard 
 
 Captain of the Mast 
 
 Ship's Cook 
 
NAVY. 
 
 51 
 
 5th Rate. 
 
 No 
 
 Pay per 
 Mensem. 
 
 L. s. d. 
 SO 13 8 
 
 S 9 
 2 13 
 
 5 
 
 9 4 0 
 
 9 4 0 
 
 4 12 0 
 
 12 5 4 
 
 4 4 4 
 
 4 19 8 
 
 1} 
 
 : 3 1 47 
 
 ; 1 18 4j 
 
 3 9 0 
 
 2 2 0 
 
 > 1 17 0 
 
 1 17 0 
 
 ^ 1 15 0 
 2 11 6 
 
 6th Rate. 
 
 No 
 
 Piiy per 
 Mensem. 
 
 } 
 
 L. s. d. 
 
 26 17 0 
 
 9 4 0 
 
 8 8 8 
 
 4 12 0 
 
 12 5 4 
 
 4 12 0 
 
 3 9 
 
 2 13 
 
 3 1 
 1 18 
 
 3 9 
 
 5 
 
 Sloops. 
 
 100 Men & upwards. Under 100 Men. 
 
 No 
 
 2 0 0 
 
 1 15 0 
 
 1 15 0 
 
 1 14 0 
 
 2 10 6 
 
 8 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 8/ 
 
 1 
 
 41 
 4} 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 1 
 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 2 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 Pay per 
 Mensem. 
 
 L. s. d. 
 
 23 0 4 
 
 9 4 0 
 
 7 13 4 
 
 3 16 8 
 
 > 4 12 0 
 j 
 
 Y 3 9 01 
 
 \ 2 13 8/ 
 
 3 1 
 
 1 18 
 
 ] 
 
 Bombs. 
 
 Gun Brigs. 
 
 No 
 
 Pay per 
 Mensem. 
 
 / 3 1 4\ 
 t 1 18 4/ 
 
 3 9 0 
 
 1> 1 19 0 
 
 1 15 0 
 
 1 15 0 
 
 S 1 14 0 
 
 2 10 6 
 
 L. s. d. 
 
 23 0 4 
 
 9 4 0 
 
 7 13 4 
 
 3 16 8 
 
 4 12 0 
 
 (39 
 1 2 13 
 
 / 3 1 
 1 18 
 
 3 9 0 
 
 J- 1 19 0 
 
 - 1 15 0 
 
 1 15 0 
 
 1 14 0 
 
 2 10 6 
 
 No 
 
 Pay per 
 Mensem. 
 
 L. s. d. 
 
 23 0 4 
 
 9 4 0 
 
 7 13 4 
 
 3 16 8 
 
 4 12 0 
 
 } 
 
 / 3 9 
 \ 2 13 
 f 3 1 
 \ 1 18 
 
 1} 
 I) 
 
 No 
 
 3 9 0 
 
 >• 1 19 0 
 
 ^ 1 15 0 
 
 1 15 0 
 
 - 1 14 0 
 
 2 10 6 
 
 Pay per 
 Mensem. 
 
 L. s. d. 
 
 U 10 0 
 7 13 4 
 
 539 
 I 2 13 
 j 3 1 
 \ 1 18 
 
 3 9 0 
 
 1 19 0 
 
 1 15 0 
 
 I 1 15 0 
 
 2 10 6 
 
 Schooners & Cutters, 
 
 No 
 
 Pay per 
 Mensem. 
 
 L. s d. 
 
 11 10 0 
 
 7 13 4 
 
 V 3 9 0 
 
 ^ 2 13 8 
 
 f 3 1 4 
 
 t 1 18 4 
 
 3 9 0 
 
 1 19 0 
 
 . 1 15 0 
 
 1 15 0 
 
 2 10 6 
 
52 
 
 NAVY. 
 
 Classes 
 for Dis- 
 tribu- 
 tion of 
 Seizures 
 in Ships 
 
 and 
 Sloops. 
 
 VI. ^ 
 
 VII.- 
 
 VIII 
 
 { 
 
 RANKS AND RATINGS. 
 
 Volunteer 1st Class 
 
 Gunner's Crew 
 
 Carpenter's Crew (with 7s. per mensem 
 
 additional for tools in every rate).... 
 
 Sailmaker's Crew. 
 
 Cooper's Crew .. 
 
 Able Seaman 
 
 Gunner's Yeoman 
 
 Boatswain's Yeoman...., 
 
 Carpenter's Yeoman 
 
 Ordinary Seaman 
 
 Cook's Mate 
 
 Barber 
 
 Purser's Steward (in vessels in which a 
 
 purser is allowed) 
 
 Captain's Steward 
 
 Captain's Cook 
 
 Ward or Gun-room Steward 
 
 Ward or Gun-room Cook 
 
 Steward's Mate.. 
 
 Landman 
 
 Boy 2d Class 
 
 Ditto 3d Class 
 
 Widow's Men 
 
 Total 
 
 No 
 
 1st Rate. 
 
 Pay per 
 Mensem. 
 
 r 
 
 s. a. 
 0 0 
 
 14 0 
 
 No 
 
 2d Rate. 
 
 Pay per 
 Mensem. 
 
 L. s. d. 
 1 0 0 
 
 I, 
 
 14 0 
 
 No 
 
 3d Rate. 
 
 Pay per 
 Mensem. 
 
 L. s. d. 
 1 0 0 
 
 1 14 0 
 
 No 
 
 4th Rate. 
 
 Pay per 
 Mensem. 
 
 L. s. d. 
 10 0 
 
 14 O 
 
 -L.l, 12s. in all Rates. 
 
 L.l, 4s. in all Rates. 
 
 L.l, 12s. in all Rates. 
 
 L.1, Is. in all Rates. 
 
 \ The numbers included in these ratings are iin 
 
 0 12 
 
 0 10 
 
 1 12 
 
 12 
 17 
 
 7 
 
 188 
 
 0 12 
 
 0 10 
 
 1 12 
 
 10 
 
 16 
 6 
 
 166 
 
 0 12 
 
 0 10 
 
 1 12 0 
 
 7 
 11 
 
 5 
 
 126 
 
 0 12 83 
 
 0 10 99 
 
 1 12 00 
 
NAVY. 
 
 53 
 
 6th Rate. 
 
 6th Rate. 
 
 No 
 
 Pay per 
 Mensem. 
 
 L. s. d. 
 1 0 0 
 
 1 14 0 
 
 No 
 
 Pay per 
 Mensem. 
 
 1 0 
 
 1 14 0 
 
 Sloops. 
 
 100 Men & upwards 
 
 No 
 
 Pay per 
 Mensem. 
 
 L. 
 
 1 
 
 1 14 0 
 
 Under 100 men. 
 
 No 
 
 Pay per 
 Mensem. 
 
 L. 
 1 
 
 1 14 0 
 
 1st Rates 
 
 2d Rates , 
 3d Rates . 
 4th Rates. 
 I 5th Rates. 
 
 6th Rates. 
 
 Sloops, Brigs, &c. 
 
 Ost Class 5331 
 
 . ^2d Class 483 
 
 (.3d Class 433 
 
 i 1st Class 362 
 
 ■\2d Class 312 
 
 fist Class 359 
 
 l2d Class 309 
 
 /1st Class 264 
 
 l2d Class 164 
 
 S 1st Class 144 
 
 ^2d Class 124 
 
 J 1st Class 63 
 2d Class 33 
 3d Class 13 
 
 fist Class 50 
 
 2d Class 40 
 
 \ 3d Class 36 
 
 I 4th Class 16 
 
 '-5th Class 
 
 s 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 [^1 
 
 900 
 850 
 800 
 700 
 650 
 650 
 600 
 450 
 350 
 300 
 280 
 175 
 145 
 125 
 135 
 125 
 95 
 75 
 60 
 50 
 
 6 
 
 0 
 
 12 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 9 
 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 12 
 
 0 
 
 2 
 
 106 
 
 
 
 
 87 
 
 0 12 3 
 
 0 10 9 
 
 1 12 0 
 
 65 
 
 0 12 
 
 0 10 
 
 1 12 
 
 47 
 
 Bombs. 
 
 Gun Brigs. 
 
 No 
 
 Pay per 
 Mensem. 
 
 1 14 0 
 
 No 
 
 Pay per 
 Mensem. 
 
 L, s. d. 
 1 14 0 
 
 Schooners & Cutters, 
 
 No 
 
 Pay per 
 Mensem. 
 
 z. 
 
 1 14 0 
 
 12 
 10 
 12 
 
 34 
 
 0 12 
 
 0 10 
 
 1 12 
 
 18 
 
 0 12 
 0 10 
 
 18 
 
 0 12 
 0 10 
 
 Classes 
 for Dis- 
 tribu- 
 tion of 
 Seizures 
 in Brigs, 
 Schoon- 
 ers, and 
 Cutters. 
 
 J- VI. 
 
 > VII. 
 
 fVlII. 
 
54 
 
 Navy. 
 
 Establish- 
 ment of 
 Half- Fay. 
 
 NAVY. 
 
 classes 
 for Dis- 
 
 tribu- 
 
 tion of 
 Seizures 
 in Ships 
 and 
 
 Sloops, 
 
 IT. 
 
 IIL 
 
 IV. 
 
 RANKS AND RATINGS. 
 
 MARINES, 
 
 Captain 
 
 Do. if Brevet Major. 
 
 Number in each Rate, 
 
 OS K 
 
 1st Lieutenant 
 
 Do. after 7 years 
 Do. under 7 years 
 2d Lieutenant 
 
 VI. 
 
 Serjeant 
 
 Do. if Colour Serjeant. 
 
 } 
 
 Corporal 
 
 Do. after 1 4 years 
 
 Do. from 7 to 14 years 
 Do. under 7 years 
 
 Drummer. 
 
 Bombardier 
 
 Do. after 14 years 
 
 Do. from 7 to 14 years 
 Do. under 7 years 
 
 Private or Gunner 
 Do. Do. after 14 years... "J 
 
 Do. Do. from 7 to 1 4 do. >■ 
 
 Do. Do. under 7 years.. 
 
 Total Marines.. 
 
 138 
 
 11 
 
 150125 
 
 53 
 
 2 o 
 
 44 
 
 21 
 
 60 50 25 
 
 17 
 
 20 
 
 10 
 
 M q5 
 
 Pay of 
 Marines, in all 
 Rates. 
 
 14 14 10 
 17 10 10 
 
 10 10 
 
 9 2 
 7 7 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 12ll412 12 
 
 10 
 
 \ 2 1 
 
 2 1 
 
 10 
 
 7 
 
 Pay of 
 Marine 
 Artillery. 
 
 15 8 0 
 18 4 0 
 
 { 
 
 10 19 4 
 9 11 
 7 16 
 
 2 16 
 
 3 10 
 
 9 
 
 15 5 
 
 1 1 4 
 
 } 
 
 1 1 6 
 0 19 2 
 0 17 5 
 
 !2 14 0 
 2 11 8 
 2 9 4 
 
 1 4 5 
 
 2 9 
 2 7 
 2 4 10 
 
 1 9 1 
 1 6 9 
 1 4 5 
 
 Note.— To this Table it may be added that Captains, who, on the death or absence of a Commander-in- 
 Chief are authorized to hoist a distinguishing pendant, are entitled to receive the pay of L. 1 per diem m 
 addition to their pay as Captains, while the pendant is flying within the limits of the station. 
 
 Surgeons of Ships in Active Service. 
 Under 6 years service . • 10s. a- day. 
 After 6 ditto . . lis. do. 
 
 10 ditto . . l^s. do. 
 
 20 ditto . . 18s. do. 
 
 Though the navy, as we have seen, was put upon 
 a regular establishment under the reign of Henry 
 VIII., neither officers nor seamen had any pay or 
 emolument in time of peace, until the reign of 
 Charles II. ; when, in 1668, certain £tllowances were 
 made to flag-officers and their captains out of the 
 L. 200,000 a-year voted for the whole naval service ; 
 and in 1674, certain other allowances were granted 
 by Order in Council, to captains who had command- 
 ed ships of the 1st and 2d rate, and to the second 
 captains to flag-officers, on the ground, as assigned in 
 the preamble, that they had undergone the brunt of 
 the war, without sharing in the incident advantages 
 of it, as prizes, convoys, and such like, which the 
 4 
 
 Surgeons in Receiving- Ships, Prison-Skips, Sfc. 
 In harbour duty • . .10s. a-day. 
 Surgeons of hospital ships . 15s. do. 
 
 Assistant-surgeons . . 6s. 6d. do. 
 
 commanders of the smaller classes of ships had en- 
 joyed. But the first regular establishment of half- 
 pay for all flag-officers, captains, first-lieutenants, and 
 masters, was, by King William, in the year I693, pro- 
 vided they had served a year in their respective qua- 
 lities, or had been in a general engagement with the 
 enemy. A regular established half-pay was further 
 sanctioned by Order in Council of Queen Anne in 
 1700 ; the conditions of which were, that no oflScer 
 should enjoy the benefit thereof who shall absent 
 himself without permission of the Lord High Admi- 
 ral or Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, or 
 who shall be dismissed for any misdemeanour, or by 
 court-martial, or who shall not behave himself to the 
 
 Navavy. 
 
NAVY. 
 
 Navy, satisfaction of the Lord High Admiral, or who shall 
 have leave to go out of his Majesty's dominions, if 
 employed in the merchant service or otherwise, or if 
 he enjoys the benefit of any public employment. 
 Since the above period the rate of half-pay to the 
 several officers of the navy has undergone various 
 modifications. At present, it stands as under : 
 
 RATES OF HALF-PAY. 
 
 Flag-Officers. 
 
 Admirals of the Fleet 
 Admirals 
 Vice-Admirals 
 Rear ditto 
 
 Per Diem. 
 L. 3 3 0 
 2 2 0 
 i 12 6 
 15 0 
 
 Captains. 
 
 To each of the first 100 as they stand \ 
 on the general list of officers in se- v 
 niority .... j 
 
 To each of the next 1 50 
 
 To the rest .... 
 
 Commanders. 
 To each of the first 150 on the list 
 To the remainder .... 
 
 Lieutenants. 
 To each of the first 300 on the list 
 To each of the next 700 
 To the remainder .... 
 
 Royal Marines. 
 Colonels . . . 
 Lieutenant-Colonels 
 Majors ..... 
 Captains . . ... 
 First Lieutenants of 7 years standing 
 
 The rest 
 
 Second Lieutenants . . . 
 
 } 
 
 Masters. 
 
 To the first 100 on the list (being qua- 
 lified for first or second rates) 
 
 To the next 200 (being qualified for \ 
 third or fourth rates) . . ( 
 
 The remainder having served 5 yearsS 
 in the navy, 2 of which as acting or f 
 second master, or as master's mate 1 
 or midshipman ... J 
 
 Medical Officers. 
 Physicians — After 10 years service 
 3 years 
 
 Under that time . . . . 
 
 Six years service 
 Under that time 
 
 Surgeons. 
 
 Assistant Surgeons. 
 Three years service 
 Two years 
 
 Dispensers .... 
 
 0 
 
 14 
 
 6 
 
 0 
 
 12 
 
 6 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 6 
 
 0 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 8 
 
 6 
 
 0 
 
 7 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 6 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 5 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 U 
 
 6 
 
 0 
 
 11 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 9 
 
 6 
 
 0 
 
 7 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 4 
 
 6 
 
 0 
 
 4 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 3 
 
 0 
 
 0 7 0 
 0 6 0 
 
 0 5 0 
 
 1 1 0 
 0 15 0 
 0 10 6 
 
 0 6 
 0 5 
 
 0 3 
 0 2 
 0 5 
 
 Per Diem. 
 L.O 5 0 
 
 Chaplains. 
 After eight years service at sea, or ten 1 
 in harbour • • • J 
 
 For less service, not under 3 years -! » Proportion 
 
 (or the above. 
 For each year's longer service than ) 
 
 ten years, 6d. per diem additional v 0 10 0 
 
 till it reach .... I 
 
 55 
 
 Navy. 
 
 I I ^ Mr? 
 
 Pursers. 
 To the first 100 on the list 
 Do. next 200 do. 
 The remainder 
 
 0 5 0 
 0 4 0 
 0 3 0 
 Payable Quarterly. 
 
 The boatswains, gunners, and carpenters of the 
 navy, have pensions or superannuations, in lieu of 
 half-pay, according to the following scale, formed on 
 a consideration of the total length of service as war- 
 rant officers, with the length of service in commis- 
 sion. 
 
 Total Service. Commissioned Service. Pension. 
 
 Years. Years. l. 
 
 30 20 85 
 
 30 15 75 
 
 30 10 65 
 
 30 5 55 
 
 20 20 75 
 
 20 15 65 
 
 20 10 55 
 
 20 5 45 
 
 15 15 60 
 
 15 10 50 
 
 15 5 40 
 
 10 10 45 
 
 10 5 35 
 
 In point of half-pay and other pecuniary emolu- NavalPrize- 
 ments, the navy has much the advantage over the Money, 
 army, more particularly in the chance of prize-money, 
 which but seldom falls to the share of the army, ex- 
 cept on some conjoint expedition. On the com- 
 mencement of a war a proclamation is issued by the 
 King, directing that the net produce of all prizes 
 taken by any of his ships of war, shall be for the en- 
 tire benefit and encouragement of the flag-officers, 
 captains, commanders, and other commissioned offi- 
 cers, and of the seamen, marines, and soldiers on 
 board at the time of the capture ; and directing also in 
 what manner the distribution shall be made. Many 
 very handsome and, in some instances, very splendid 
 fortunes have been made by captures of the enemy's 
 ships. 
 
 Another great encouragement for young men to en- Honours 
 terthe naval service arises from the honours bestowed 
 by the Sovereign for any brilliant exploit. Thus, in 
 consequence of the skill and bravery which were ex- 
 hibited in the great and glorious action of the 1st of 
 June 1794, his Majesty was graciously pleased to 
 confer on Earl Howe the Order of the Garter; Vice- 
 Admirals Graves and Sir Alexander Hood were 
 made Barons of the Kingdom of Ireland ; and Rear- 
 Admirals Bowyer, Gardner, and Pasley, together 
 with Sir Roger Curtis, Captain of the Queen Char- 
 lotte, were created Baronets. Gold medals and. 
 
56 
 
 'N A V Y. 
 
 jf^avy. chains were also distributed to such admirals, and 
 "■"■■v-^ gold medals to such captains, as were particularized 
 in Lord Howe's dispatches. The first lieutenants of 
 each ship were promoted to the rank of commanders ; 
 and pensions of L. 1000 per annum were granted to 
 Rear- Admirals Bowyer and Pasley. 
 
 For the action of 14th February 1797> I-ord St 
 Vincent was advanced to the dignity of an Earl, and 
 a pension granted to him of L. 3000 a-year; Vice- 
 Admirals Thompson and Parker were created Baro- 
 nets ; Commodore Nelson received the Order of the 
 Bath, and Captain Calder of the Victory^ the honour 
 of Knighthood ; and gold medals were distributed 
 to the admirals and captains. 
 
 For the action of the 11th October 1797, Admi- 
 ral Duncan was created a Viscount, with a pension 
 of L. 2000 a-year ; Vice- Admiral Onslow made a 
 Baronet, and Captain Fairfax had the honour of 
 Knighthood. Gold medals were also distributed to 
 the admirals and captains. 
 
 For the action of the 1st August 1798, his Ma- 
 jesty was pleased to testify his sense of the import- 
 ance of this brilliant achievement, by raising Sir 
 Horatio Nelson to the dignity of the Peerage, by 
 the title of Baron Nelson of the Nile ; and by direct- 
 ing medals to be distributed to the captains. The first 
 lieutenant of the Majestic was made a post-captain, 
 and the first lieutenants of the other ships Were pro- 
 moted to the rank of commanders. And for the at- 
 tack of the Danish fleet at Copenhagen, Lord Nel- 
 son was raised to the dignity of a Viscount, and on 
 Admiral Graves was conferred the Order of the Bath. 
 
 For the ever memorable action of Trafalgar, in which 
 Lord'Nelson fell in the arms of victory, his Majesty 
 was pleased to confer on his brother the rank of an 
 Earl, with a pension of L.5000 a-year ; and the sum 
 of L. 120,000 was voted by Parliament for the pur- 
 chase of an estate to be annexed to the title. Ad- 
 miral Collingwood was raised to the dignity of a Ba- 
 ron ; Lord Northesk was honoured with the Order 
 of the Bath, and Captain Hardy was created a Ba- 
 ronet. The captains had medals ; five lieutenants 
 were made post-captains ; 24 lieutenants, command- 
 ers ; 22 midshipmen were made lieutenants ; and 
 the senior captain of marines made brevet-major. 
 
 By this last act of Lord Nelson s life was annihi- 
 lated the last remaining hope of the combined na- 
 vies of France and Spain, and a blow given to 
 the naval power of the enemies of Great Britain, 
 which they never recovered during the remainder of 
 the \var. 
 
 In the minor victories of Sir John Warren, Sir 
 John Duckworth, Sir Robert Calder, Sir Richard 
 Strachan, Lord Gambler, and Lord Exnnouth, and 
 even for brilliant actions of single ships, appropriate 
 distinctions have never been withheld. Exclusive of 
 peerages and baronetcies, the honours bestowed for 
 gallant conduct in the naval service consist of 25 
 Grand Crosses of the Bath, 70 Knights Command- 
 ers, and 130 Companions of the Bath. 
 Peusioni for Tlie provision which is made for officers, in the 
 event of losing a limb, or being so severely wounded in 
 the service, as to be of equal prejudice to the habit of 
 body with the loss of a limb, is another encourage- 
 ment for entering the naval service. 
 
 For an admiral, from L.300 to L.'ZOO annum. Ka^avy. 
 A post-captain, wounds, L.250, loss of a limb, L.3t)0- >^n^v^^ 
 Commander, do. L.150, do. L.200. 
 Lieutenant, do. L.91, 5s. do. L.91, 5s. 
 Marine officers the same as in the army. 
 
 A provision is likewise made for the widows of the widowws' 
 commission and warrant officers of his Majesty's na- Pensioions. 
 vy, under the title of the " Widow's Charity," the 
 management of which is vested in a Court of Assist- 
 ants annually chosen, consisting chiefly of the Lords 
 Commissioners of the Admiralty (the First Lord be- 
 ing President), and the flag-officers of the navy, 
 making in the whole eighteen. 
 
 The funds arise from, 1. A deduction of three- 
 pence in the pound from the pay, half-pay, and pen- 
 sions of the commission and warrant officers of the 
 navy. 2. The amount of the wages and value of the 
 victuals of one fictitious man in every 100, borne on 
 the books of ships in sea-pay. And, 3. Interest of 
 the capital vested in the funds. During the late war, 
 the amount of the revenue from these sources was 
 from L.90,000 to L.100,000; and the amount of 
 pensions were about L.70,000 a-year. The pensions 
 are allowed according to the following scale, being 
 similar in most cases to the widows of officers in the 
 army of corresponding ranks : the latter are provid- 
 ed for by an annual vote of Parliament. 
 
 Scale of Pensidns. 
 The widow of a Flag-Officer of his Ma- 
 jesty's fleet, - - L.120 6 0 
 — of a Captain, superannuated 
 
 Wound3. 
 
 with the rank of Rear- Admiral, 
 
 — of a Post-Captain, of three 
 
 years standing, 
 
 of a Post-Captain, under 
 
 100 0 0 
 
 90 0 0 
 
 three years standing, 
 
 of a Commander, 
 
 of a Lieutenant, superannu- 
 
 ated with the rank of Commander, 
 
 i of a Lieutenant, 
 
 of a Master, 
 
 of a Surgeon, 
 
 —.. of a Purser, 
 
 of a Boatswain, 
 
 of a Gunner, 
 
 of a Carpenter, 
 
 of a Second Master of a 
 
 Yacht, or Master of a Naval Vessel 
 warranted by the Navy Board, 
 
 80 
 70 
 
 60 
 50 
 40 
 40 
 30 
 25 
 25 
 25 
 
 25 0 0 
 
 And the widows of officers of the Royal Marines 
 are entitled to the following pensions : 
 
 Per Annum. 
 
 The Widow of a General Officer, L.120 
 
 Do. 
 Do. 
 Do. 
 Do. 
 Do. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Colonel, . . 90 
 Lieutenant-Colonel, 80 
 Major, . . 70 
 
 Captain, . 50 
 
 First Lieutenant and Sur- 
 geon 
 Second 
 
 40 0 0 
 
 Lieutenant and 
 Assistant- Sui-geon, 30 
 
 0 0 
 
 In addition to these pensions, there has Veceifitiy Cotmm passion. 
 
 10 
 
 ate; I- Fund. 
 
NAVY. 
 
 Navy, been established a Compassionate Fund, for the re- 
 lief of such widows and orphan children as may ap- 
 pear to be objects of compassion. The sums an- 
 nually required are voted by Parliament, and at pre- 
 sent do not exceed from L.6000 to L.700O a-year. 
 Provision for No provision, however, had been made for the 
 
 57 
 
 Seamen. 
 
 brave seamen who fought the battles of their coun 
 try, excepting for such as had been wounded in 
 fight with the enemy. In the year 1588, after the 
 memorable defeat of the Spanish Armada, the wound- 
 ed seamen petitioned Elizabeth for relief, upon which, 
 with the advice of the Lord High Admiral and the 
 Commissioners of the Navy, and with the consent of 
 the inferior officers and seamen, the sum of sixpence 
 a month was deducted out of the wages of warrant 
 officers and seamen, for the relief and maintenance 
 of such as were hurt or maimed in the service. The 
 money so raised was deposited at Chatham in a 
 chest, under the superintendence of the Yard Offi- 
 cers and the Warrant Officers of the Navy. As the 
 funds increased, the management of them was trans- 
 ferred to certain Commissioners and Governors ; and 
 in order to do away in some measure the inconveni- 
 ence of compelling seamen from the western ports 
 to go to Chatham for their pensions, the chest was 
 removed, by the 43d Geo. III. to Greenwich Hospi- 
 tal ; and the power and authorities of the former 
 trustees were vested in the First Lord of the Ad- 
 miralty, the Comptroller of the Navy, the Governor 
 of Greenwich Hospital, and the Auditor of the same 
 hospital, all for the time being, who, by this act, are 
 created a body politic and corporate, by the name 
 of the Supervisors of the Chest of Greentvich ; the 
 said supervisors to appoint five Directors from the 
 officers of Greenwich Hospital, to have the imme- 
 diate management of the business. 
 
 In the course of the late war the funded property 
 amounted tn nearly L.1,000,000 in the 2 per cents. 
 the monthly sixpences, medals, &"c. to nearly L.70,000 
 per annum, and the | of 5 per cent, on the net pro- 
 ceeds of prizes to about L.40,000; making a net an- 
 nual income of about L.130,000. 
 
 The annual allowances made to pensioners were 
 regulated according to the following scale : 
 
 0 0 
 
 0 0 
 
 6 0 0 
 0 0 
 
 Total blindness, . ; . L,20 
 
 Loss of sight of one eye, the other im- 
 paired, according to the degree of 
 blindness, . . . L.8 to L.18 
 
 Loss of sight of one eye ; the other not 
 impaired, . • • . „ 
 
 Loss of arm, taken out of the socket, each 20 
 
 Loss of arm above the elbow, each 
 
 Loss of arm below the elbow, each 
 
 Loss of leg above the knee, each 
 
 Loss of leg below the knee, each 
 
 Double rupture, 
 
 Single ditto, retainable by a truss. 
 Single rupture, not retainable, or very 
 bad, according to the nature of the in- 
 jury, from . L. 6 to L.IO 0 0 
 Loss of thumb, or fore finger, close to 
 the handj 
 
 Loss of thumb, or fore finger, first joint 
 remaining, 
 
 VOL. VI, PART I. 
 
 16 
 14. 
 14 
 12 
 
 0 0 
 
 0 0 
 
 0 0 
 
 0 0 
 
 12 0 0 
 
 4 0 0 
 
 6 0 0 
 
 4 0 0 
 
 In all cases of wounds, fractures, &c. for which Navy, 
 no positive scale could be affixed, an allowance was^"^-'^ 
 made from the examining surgeon's report of the in- 
 jury sustained, and a pension was granted for life, or 
 term of years, according to circumstances. 
 
 When the wound or hurt was not thought of suffi- 
 cient consequence to entitle the party to a pension, 
 a sum of money was given as a full compensation. 
 
 Every man, at time of entry on the list, was paid 
 the amount of half a year's pension, as present re- 
 lief, which money was not deducted from growing 
 pension. 
 
 Since the conclusion of the late war, the funds of 
 the chest of Greenwich have been amalgamated with 
 those of Greenwich Hospital, both of which are now 
 under one and the same management. 
 
 The establishment of Greenwich Hospital em- Greenwich 
 braced more extensive objects. The first idea of '^o^pi'a^- 
 this noble institution, the glory and ornament of 
 this kingdom, has been ascribed, with every appear- 
 ance of justice, to Mary, the consort of William 
 III. Being desirous that our gallant seamen, worn 
 down by age or infirmities, as well as suffering from 
 wounds, should not be left destitute, she made a 
 grant, jointly with King William, of the Palace 
 of Greenwich, and certain lands adjoining, to be ap- 
 propriated to this purpose, in order, as stated in the 
 King's contimission, to " the making some compe- 
 tent provision that seamen, who, by age, wounds, or 
 other accidents, shall become disabled for further 
 service at sea, and shall not be in a condition to 
 maintain themselves comfortably, may not fall under 
 hardships and miseries, but may be supported at the 
 public charge ; and that the children of such disabled 
 seamen, and also the widows and children of such 
 seamen as shall happen to be slain in sea service^ 
 may, in some reasonable manner, be provided for, 
 and educated." In l6g5 the committee appointed 
 to examine and report on the premises, recommend- 
 ed an additional wing to King Charles's building, 
 which being approved by the King, Sir Christopher 
 Wren undertook the conduct of the new erections 
 without any pay or reward. Since that time various 
 additions and improvements have been made to this 
 magnificent pile of building, which was completed 
 very nearly as it now appears, in the year 1778. 
 
 The King granted L.2000 a-year towards the 
 carrying on, perfecting, and endowing this hospital. 
 The great Officers of State and wealthy individuals 
 also subscribed liberally to the undertaking. It was 
 at the same time enacted by Parliament, that a de- 
 duction of sixpence per man per month should be 
 made out of the wages of all mariners for the use of 
 the hospital ; and power was given to the Lord High 
 Admiral to appoint commissioners for receiving the 
 said duty, whose office is situated on Tower Hill. 
 In 1699 his Majesty contributed the sum ofL. 19,500, 
 being fines laid by the House of Lords on certain 
 merchants convicted of smuggling. In 1705 Queen 
 Anne assigned to the use of the hospital the effects 
 of Kid the pirate, amounting to upwards of L. 600a 
 In 1707 Robert OsboMiston, Esq. devised by will half 
 of his estate, which was valued at L. 20,000. In the 
 same year Anthony Bowyer gave the reversion of a 
 considerable estate for the use of the hospital. 
 
58 
 
 NAVY. 
 
 Navy. 
 
 Permanent 
 Revenues. 
 
 Hospital 
 Establish- 
 ment. 
 
 By several statutes, the forfeited and unclaimed 
 shares of prize-money were given to the hospital, 
 and various grants, from time to time, continued to 
 be made by Parliament. But the most substantial 
 grant was that made by the Commons of the rents 
 and profits of the forfeited estates of the Earl of 
 Derwentwater, amounting at that time to about 
 L. 6000 a-year, and at present to the gross rental of 
 L. 60,000, of which, after payment of all expences 
 for improvements, repairs, collections, and incum- 
 brances, the annual receipt may be estimated from 
 L. 30,000 to L. 40,000. 
 
 At present the permanent revenues of the hospital 
 consist of the following heads : 
 
 1. Sixpence 'per man per month for all seamen 
 and marines belonging to his Majesty's naval service, 
 and sixpence which was formerly paid to the chest 
 at Chatham. 
 
 2. The same from all seamen employed in the 
 merchants' service. 
 
 3. The duties arising from the North and South 
 Foreland light-houses. 
 
 4. The rents and profits of the Derwentwater es- 
 tates, including the lead mines. 
 
 5. Rents of the market of Greenwich, and of cer- 
 tain houses there and in London. 
 
 6. Interest of money invested in the public funds. 
 
 7. Forfeited and unclaimed shares of prize-money. 
 
 8. Fines for various offences. 
 
 It is evident that the funds of the establishment 
 must vary considerably in times of war and peace ; 
 being lowest in the latter period, when the demands 
 are heaviest upon it, especially for a certain number 
 of years after the closing of a war. 
 
 The rental of the estates belonging to the hospi- 
 tal in the counties of Northumberland, Cumberland, 
 and Durham, have risen from L. 23,000 in 1805, to 
 L. 43,000 in 1816. The present gross rental of 
 these estates and the lead mines, as above stated, 
 amounts to about L. 60,000. The merchant sea- 
 men's sixpences amount to about L. 20,000 a-year ; 
 the naval seamen and marines to L. 15,000 ; the 
 North and South Foreland lights to L. 7000; the 
 interest of funded property to L. 50,000, making, 
 with other contingencies, an annual revenue of about 
 L. 150,000; the whole of which is expended on the 
 household establishment, the clothing, maintenance, 
 and allowances to pensioners and other attendants, 
 repairs, taxes, and contingencies. 
 
 During the war, and for a few years after the war, 
 the funds of the hospital were adequate to the pay- 
 ment of the out-pensioners, which, taken at 35,000, 
 the greatest number they ever reached, and allowing 
 to each, on an average, L. 1 1 a-year, must have 
 amounted to the sum of L. 385,000. Their numbers 
 may now have decreased to 30,000, and the amount 
 of their pensions to L. 330,000, to be voted by Par- 
 liament; the funds of the hospital no longer affording 
 a surplus beyond its own support, from which only, 
 by law, the out-pensioners had any claim. 
 
 The establishment of this noble institution consists 
 of a governor, who is a flag-officer in the navy, lieu- 
 tenant-governor, four captains, eight lieutenants, all 
 resident within the hospital. A treasurer, auditor, 
 paymaster of pensions, secretary, clerk of the check, 
 
 two chaplains, two physicians, three surgeons, two Navjr. 
 dispensers, steward, clerk of the works, and several '"-"■^^"^ 
 clerks. The number of in-pensioners is about 3000, 
 and the number of nurses 180, all of whom must be 
 the widows of naval seamen, and under the age of 
 45 years at the time of admission. 
 
 Under the naval administration of Earl Grey, theP«n*>n«l 
 following officers were added to the out-pensions of 
 Greenwich Hospital, to be selected by the Admiral- Hospital, 
 ty according to their respective claims on the ser- 
 vice : 
 
 10 Post-Captains, at 
 1 5 Commanders, at 
 50 Lieutenants, at 
 
 • in addition to their half-pay. 
 
 Per Year. 
 L. SO 
 
 60 
 
 50 
 
 The out-pensions to seamen were first established OutvPen. 
 in 1763, by act of 3d Geo. III. ch. 16. in conse-^^^^ 
 quence of which 1400 out-pensioners were appoint- 
 ed, at L. 7 per annum each, after undergoing an ex- 
 amination at the Admiralty as to their claims. 
 
 At the close of the long revolutionary war, the 
 applications became so numerous, and the claims of 
 the seamen who had been wounded, or worn out in 
 the service, so strongly grounded in humanity and 
 justice, that it became necessary to adopt a scale of 
 pensions, and to establish certain rules and regula- 
 tions, by which seamen of his Majesty's fleet and 
 royal marines should be remunerated for wounds or 
 hurts, debility, and length of service. The following 
 are the regulations : 
 
 For Wounds, Hurts, or Debility. 
 
 Every seaman, landman, boy, or royal marine, 
 wounded or hurt in his Majesty's service, is to re- 
 ceive a sum of money from the Chest of Chatham in 
 the nature of smart money, as heretofore ; and also 
 be entitled to a pension proportioned to his wounds 
 or hurts, of not less than sixpence a day, and not 
 more than one shilling and sixpence a day. For 
 sickness or debility, after seven years' service (and 
 under special circumstances before that period), of 
 not less than fivepence a day, nor more than ten- 
 pence, according as he may appear capable of assist- 
 ing himself. Beyond fourteen, and less than twenty- 
 one years' service, not less than eightpence, nor 
 more than one shilling and threepence. After twen- 
 ty-one years' service, one shilling and sixpence a 
 day. 
 
 For Length of Service. 
 
 Every able seaman, discharged on the reduction 
 of the fleet, who has served faithfully fourteen years, 
 and less than twenty-one, is entitled to a pension oi 
 one halfpenny a day for every year of such service. 
 Twenty-one years' service entitles him to a free dis- 
 charge, and a pension of one shilling a day ; and if 
 he may choose to continue in the service, one half- 
 penny a day in addition for every additional year of 
 service. 
 
 Ordinary seamen and landmen, entitled to four- 
 fifths and three-fifths of able seamen's pensions. The 
 privates of royal marines are considered as ordinary 
 
N A V 
 
 *f4vy seamen. The principal petty officers, in addition to 
 Nedcer. ^"^^ above rates of pension, are entitled to one half- 
 
 - --1 ^ penny a day for the number of years' service ; the 
 inferior petty officers to one farthing. 
 
 All the above mentioned pensions may be forfeit- 
 ed by misconduct, by desertion, and by sentence of 
 a Court-Martial. Also, by neglecting, or omitting, 
 to attend at such port, or place, and at such time 
 as shall, in time of war, or in prospect of a war, be 
 appointed for the assembling of the pensioners, by 
 the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. 
 
 To this noble institution is appended an asylum, 
 for the maintenance and education of the children 
 of officers and seamen of his Majesty's naval service. 
 Naval Asy. The Naval Asylum was originally instituted by 
 "™* the Patriotic Fund and private subscriptions, and af- 
 
 terwards established at Greenwich, by warrant un- 
 der the King's sign-manual, dated January 1818, 
 appointing the Lords Commissioners of the Admi- 
 ralty to be commissioners and governors, who, with 
 twenty-four directors, were to superintend and ma- 
 nage the same. The object was, the maintenance 
 and education of a certain number of orphans and 
 other children of the non-commissioned officers, sea- 
 men, and marines of the royal navy. As it was ma- 
 nifest, however, that this establishment, so conti- 
 guous to the hospital of Greenwich, could be ma- 
 naged without inconvenience by the commissioners 
 and directors of that hospital, under a more effective 
 and economical system, his Majesty was pleased, by 
 his warrant of January 1821, to annul the former 
 warrant, and to vest the superintendence and inter- 
 nal management of the said asylum in the commis- 
 sioners and governors of Greenwich Hospital. 
 
 The two schools of Greenwich Hospital, and the 
 Naval Asylum, and the funds thereof, are now there- 
 fore incorporated. The internal management is con- 
 fided to the Board of Directors, and one of the cap- 
 tains of the hospital is intrusted with the general su- 
 perintendence. A chaplain, and proper sclioolmas- 
 ters, schoolmistresses, matron, with inferior assist- 
 
 NEC 59 
 
 ants, male and female, with moderate salaries, reside Navy 
 in the building. The number of children maintained ^ H 
 and educated in the Institution are : ^^edcer^ 
 
 In the Boys' Upper School, - - goo 
 Ditto, Lower School, - - goo 
 Girlii, 200 
 
 In the whole, 1000 
 
 To the upper school no boys are admitted but the 
 sons of seamen and marines, slain, drowned, or dead ; 
 of pensioners in the hospital ; of seamen disabled,' 
 past their labour, or otherwise objects of charity ; of 
 officers in the navy and marines, on the production 
 of a required certificate of poverty. The age of ad- 
 mission from eleven to twelve ; the continuance in 
 the school three years, when they are bound appren- 
 tices to the merchant service. Presentations by the 
 directors in rotation. 
 
 The boys and girls of the lower school are the 
 children of seamen and marines of the naval service, 
 admitted by the Board of Directors, giving a prefer- 
 ence to orphans. The age of admission from nine 
 to twelve years inclusive ; but none to be retained be- 
 yond the age of fourteen. The boys to be sent into the 
 navy, or merchant service, or put apprentices to 
 some trade. The girls, at the age of fourteen, to be 
 apprenticed to trades, or sent to service. 
 
 Th us are all the classes of officers, seamen, and 
 marines, who have faithfully served in the navy, 
 provided for by the state ; and the children of 
 such as may be in indigent circumstances receive 
 an education at the public expence, suited to their 
 condition in life- 
 
 The total expence of the whole navy, including 
 every branch of the service, civil and military, for 
 one whole year, in the middle of the late war, may 
 be estimated at about - L. 18,000,000 
 
 In the year 1822, according to the esti- 
 mates laid before Parliament, at about 5,000,000 
 
 NECKER (James), a well known statesman and 
 financier of France. He was born, 30th September 
 1732, at Geneva, of a respectable family, originally 
 from the north of Germany. At the age of fifteen 
 he quitted Geneva, and proceeded to Paris with a 
 view to push his fortune in that city. He enter- 
 ed first into the banking-house of Vernet, and af- 
 terwards into that of Thelluson, of which he be- 
 came the cashier, and at length a partner. On the 
 death of Thelluson, he established a bank on his own 
 account, by which he accumulated a very large for- 
 tune. After twenty years of unremitting attention to 
 business, he married a Protestant lady of respectable 
 family, but in reduced circumstances, the patrimo- 
 nial estate having been lost in consequence of the 
 revocation of the edict of Nantz. With this lady 
 he appears to have enjoyed the highest degree of do- 
 mestic happiness. A short time after his marriage, 
 
 he was named minister of the republic of Geneva at 
 Paris ; and in accepting of this employment, he re- 
 fused the emoluments which were attached to it, 
 
 a degree of forbearance not very usual in public 
 men, but in which he resolutely persisted during 
 the whole course of his political life. Two works 
 which he published, namely, A Eulogium on Col- 
 bert, and a treatise On the Legislation and Trade 
 of Corn, had greatly spread the reputation of his poli- 
 tical talents ; and he had fortunately succeeded in ad- 
 justing some differences between the East India Com- 
 pany and the Crown, in such a manner as to receive 
 the approbation of both parties, — a circumstance 
 which added to the weight of his character. 
 
 About this time the disorder in the state of the 
 French finances had become so alarming, that it was 
 found necessary to break through the routine of 
 official promotion, and to choose able men for 
 
NEC 
 
 the public service wherever they could be found. 
 These inducements so far outweighed the objec- 
 tions to M. Necker, as a foreigner and a Protest- 
 ant, that, after some private conversations with M. 
 Maurepas, he was, in 1776, appointed Director of 
 the Royal Treasury, and in the following year, 
 Director-general of the Finances. The great ob- 
 ject of M. Necker was to introduce order and 
 economy in the public management. With this 
 view, he found himself compelled either to suppress 
 useless offices, or to diminish emoluments ; and his 
 retrenchments drew on him the enmity of all those 
 who suffered by his economical reforms. A party 
 was formed against him, chiefly composed of rapa- 
 cious courtiers; and though the repeal of several 
 oppressive imposts had conciliated the general good- 
 will of the people, he was daily the object of mali- 
 cious libels. His severe measures of economy had al- 
 so excited the dislike of the minister M. Maurepas ; 
 though others ascribe his hostility to a different cause; 
 namely, to his disappointment at not finding in 
 Necker that subserviency which he expected from a 
 person of his comparatively obscure origin, and a 
 Protestant. "Whatever was the reason, the minister 
 was among the number of his enemies, and he is 
 charged by his daughter, Madame de Stael, with se- 
 cretly instigating those libellous attacks of which M. 
 Necker was the object. To enable him, according 
 to Madame de Stael, the better to struggle with his 
 opponents, he requested some signal mark of royal 
 favour, such as a seat in the Council, which was 
 granted. This demand on the part of Necker gave 
 rise to new and acrimonious discussions ; in the 
 course of which he tendered his resignation, after 
 he had been in office five years. Others give a dif- 
 ferent account of this transaction. Under the in- 
 fluence, it is said, of that passion for popular ap- 
 plause, which was the torment of his life, he pub- 
 lished, in 1781, the well known piece on the state 
 of the Finances entitled Le Compte Rendu au Roi, 
 of which an immense number of copies were sold. 
 Elated by this success, he made his demand for 
 a seat in the Council, but was objected to on the 
 ground of his religion. Being persuaded that this 
 scruple would be abandoned, he persisted, and of- 
 fered his resignation, which was accepted, and he 
 became in this manner, as is alleged, the dupe of his 
 presumption. 
 
 The enemies of Necker reproached him with in- 
 dulging, during his short administration, his passion 
 for popularity at the expence of the public interest. 
 The great point which he laboured to establish in 
 his Compte Rendu was, that there was no deficit in 
 the pubUc revenue, and that there was no necessity 
 for additional taxes. In lieu of new impositions, he 
 is charged with supplying the public necessities by 
 the expedient of large loans, — postponing, in this 
 manner, the evil day, tout accumulating on posteri- 
 ty a progressive load of debt, which, sooner or later, 
 must be provided for by adequate taxes, — and all 
 this to procure a temporary popularity at the ex- 
 pence of his rivals. Notwithstanding these objec- 
 tions, he had numerous partizans, especially among 
 the men of letters, who regarded his elevation to 
 
 NEC 
 
 power as the triumph of philosophy and liberal pria- Necker, 
 ciples over aristocratical prejudice. v i— 
 
 After his resignation, he retired to Switzerland, 
 where he purchased the barony of Copet. In 1784-, 
 he published an able work, further illustrating his fi- 
 nancial policy, entitled De I' Administration des Fi- 
 nances. This work, of which 80,000 copies were 
 speedily sold, served to support the reputation of his 
 plans, and also to keep together his adherents, whose 
 numbers formed a counterpoise to the influence of 
 his enemies at court. 
 
 In 1787, M. de Calonne convoked the Assembly 
 of the Notables, and in his opening speech to that 
 body, he impeached the accuracy of the statements 
 contained in the Compte Rendu. It was not to be 
 supposed that M. Necker would quietly submit to 
 this charge. He sent a memorial on the subject to 
 the king, with various other papers, for the purpose 
 of proving the correctness of his calculations. His 
 majesty having read these documents, requested that 
 they might not be published ; a proposition which by 
 no means suited the views of M. Necker. ^ His state- 
 ments were accordingly printed, on which he was 
 exiled, by a lettre de cachet, forty leagues from 
 Paris. 
 
 M. de Calonne did not, however, remain long in 
 power ; and the Archbishop of Toulouse, by whom he 
 was succeeded, was also obliged to resign, and to 
 make way for M. Necker, the favourite of the people, 
 who was reinstated in his former post in August 
 1788. A new and remarkable era was now about 
 to open in the history both of France and of the 
 world. The writings of the French philosophers 
 and men of letters had gradually given currency 
 to notions of constitutional freedom. The people 
 could no longer endure, like their forefathers, the 
 bondage of feudal privileges, by which the few ac- 
 quired the power of oppressing the many. They 
 had become jealous and discontented, and were deep- 
 ly irritated at the insolence and oppression of the^aris- 
 tocratical body ; and with those indignant feelings 
 were mingled, in the minds of the popular leaders, 
 the brilliant visions of speculative reform. But so long 
 as the people wanted a legitimate organ through which 
 their voice could be heard, it was clear that what- 
 evermight be their feelings, they could make little im- 
 pression on the measures of the state. What was want- 
 ing in this respect was now about to be supplied ; and 
 the popular voice, hitherto so little considered, was, 
 through the representative body, to become the pre- 
 eminent influence in the government. At this period 
 the French Government was assailed by a complication 
 of difficulties, the chief of which was the impracticabi- 
 lity of raising the necessary supplies, and the danger of 
 an immediate bankruptcy. A great scarcity also pre- 
 vailed at Paris, which rendered the populace unusual- 
 ly discontented and tumultuous. In this emergency 
 various expedients were suggested ; and the convo- 
 cation of the States General, which had been long 
 talked of, was advised by M. Necker as likely to 
 give general satisfaction to the people. In assent- 
 ing to this proposition, it was the plan of the court, 
 that the different orders of the clergy, nobility, and 
 commons, should vote in separate chambers, in or- 
 
N E . C 
 
 NEC 
 
 der that the deputies of the commons might be con- 
 trolled by the other two bodies. But the popular 
 leaders were by far too penetrating to allow their 
 influence to be annihilated by this device. They de« 
 termined, from the beginning, that the three orders 
 should sit and vote together ; and, as is well known, 
 after various fruitless eflPorts to bring about this union, 
 the commons resolved to form themselves into an As- 
 sembly for the dispatch of business, without regard to 
 the other two chambers. This decisive step proved 
 effectual, and the three chambers at length all met 
 and voted in one house, by which the whole power 
 was thrown into the hands of the commons. 
 
 During these transactions, Louis and his advisers 
 pursued a weak and vacillating policy. They saw, 
 when it was too late, the error they committed, or sup- 
 posed themselves to have committed, in putting into 
 the hands of the people the powerful weapon of a 
 representative body. But in place of yielding to the 
 necessity of circumstances, and conciliating this new 
 power, which they could now no longer resist, by 
 conceding with a good grace every just demand of 
 constitutional right, they endeavoured to recover the 
 ground which they had for ever lost ; vainly strug- 
 gling against the power of the commons, and me- 
 ditating even the most violent measures for the 
 recovery of their authority. It was in pursuance 
 of these views that troops were drawn from the most 
 distant parts and encamped around Paris ; — a mea- 
 sure, the only construction that could be put upon 
 which was, that it was intended to overawe the 
 deliberations of the Assembly, or, perhaps, to dis- 
 solve it at once at the point of the bayonet. These 
 violent courses M. Necker opposed, and he was ac- 
 cordingly dismissed on the llth July 1789, and or- 
 dered to quit the kingdom in twenty-four hours. 
 This order he obeyed with equal secrecy and dis- 
 patch, and had arrived at Brussels before it was ge- 
 nerally known in Paris that he was out of office. 
 
 It is impossible to describe the consternation 
 which prevailed in the capital when the dismissal 
 and exile of this favourite minister was made known. 
 The person who first communicated the intelligence 
 vras considered as a madman, and with difficulty es- 
 caped some harsh treatment ; and the event was 
 no sooner confirmed, than all the shops and places 
 of amusement were shut up, and his bust, with 
 that of the Duke of Orleans, was paraded through 
 the streets, dressed in mourning. These proceed- 
 ings were interrupted by a German regiment ; the 
 busts were broken in pieces ; and in the course of 
 the tumult one man lost his life, while others were 
 wounded. Fresh troops arriving, a serious conflict 
 ensued ; and an old man being cut down in the 
 Thuilleries by an officer of distinction, the popu- 
 lace were enraged to the highest pitch, and being 
 joined by the French Guards, who deserted their of- 
 ficers, they at last succeeded in overpowering the 
 Germans. New outrages and tumults succeeded ; 
 the Bastille was stormed ; and the capital became 
 the scene of bloody massacres, while the people's 
 minds were at the same time filled with dismay at the 
 near approach of foreign troops, from whom they 
 apprehended nothing less than the sack of the city. 
 In th^ midst of these alarms, they beseeched the As- 
 
 sembly to intercede with the king for the recal of 
 their favourite minister. The necessity of complying 
 with this demand was at length seen by the king, 
 and a letter was written to M. Necker, requesting 
 him to return. 
 
 M. Necker was at Basle when he received this let- 
 ter, with the request contained in which he resolved 
 immediately to comply. His progress to Paris was 
 one continued triumph. He was cheered as he pass- 
 ed through the different towns by the acclamations 
 of multitudes, who hailed him as their deliverer. 
 This popularity, however, was not of long dura- 
 tion. Alarmed by the excesses which had already 
 taken place, M. Necker became desirous to support 
 the authority of the sovereign ; and, without conci- 
 liating the confidence of the king's friends, he lost 
 that of the popular party. By the Royalists he was 
 always hated ; he now became an object of suspi- 
 cion to the more violent patriots, and was reproached 
 as an aristocrat. Seeing his popularity on the de- 
 cline, he resolved to retire, and he accordingly wrote 
 a letter to the Assembly, pleading the necessity of 
 repose for the restoration of his health. No notice 
 was taken of this letter ; and his personal safety 
 being now in danger from the violence of the people, 
 he quitted Paris, in a private manner, in the month 
 of December 179O. 
 
 After the loss of power and popularity, M. 
 Necker seems to have sunk into the greatest dejec- 
 tion. " I could have wished," says Mr Gibbon, 
 who passed some days with him about this period, to 
 have exhibited him as a warning to any aspiring 
 youth possessed with the demon of ambition. With 
 all the means of private happiness in his power, he 
 is the most miserable of human beings ; the past, the 
 present, and the future, are equally odious to him. 
 When I suggested some domestic amusements, be 
 answered with a deep tone of despair, ' In the state 
 in which I am I can feel nothing but the blast which 
 has overthrown me.' " 
 
 His mind was soon diverted from the disappoint- 
 ments of ambition by domestic griefs of a more poig- 
 nant nature ; his wife, to whom he was deeply at- 
 tached, dying after a long illness, in which he attend- 
 ed her with great affection. He had now recourse 
 to writing to divert his melancholy, and several 
 works, which he published, were the fruits of his 
 labours. He died at Copet, on the 9th April 
 1804, after a short but painful illness. His pub- 
 lic character is, of course, differently estimated, ac- 
 cording to the political views of parties. In his pri- 
 vate and domestic relations he was amiable and affec- 
 tionate, and appears to have been greatly beloved. 
 His writings, besides those already mentioned, are 
 the following : 
 
 An Answer to the Memorial of the Abbe Marellet, 
 on the East India Company, 1769. Memorials on 
 the Provincial Administrations, 1781. Ans^r 
 to the Speech pronounced by M. de Calonne to the 
 Assembly of Notables, 1787. Netv Explanations on 
 the Compte Rendu, 1788. 0/ the Importance of 
 Religious Opinions, 1788. Observations on tJie In- 
 troduction to the Red Booh, 1790. On the Admi- 
 nistration of M. Necker, by Himself, 1791. On the 
 Executive Power in Great Stales, 1791. On the 
 
62 
 
 N E P 
 
 Nepaul French Revolution, 1796. Course of Religious Mo- 
 Netherl nds '"'^^^ 1800. Last Views of Politics and Finance. 
 
 I See Dictionnaire Universelle, Article Necker — 
 Biographie Universelle, Article Necker — Memoires 
 sur la Vie Privee de man Pere, par Madarae la Ba- 
 ronne de Stael-Holstein, suivis des Melanges de M. 
 Necker. ( o.) 
 
 NEPAUL, a long but narrow kingdom of North- 
 ern Hindostan, bounded on the north by the great 
 range of Himmalaya mountains, on the south by the 
 provinces of Bahar, Oude, and Delhi, on the east it 
 is limited by Bootan, and the territory of the rajah 
 of Si Kim ; and previous to the late war with the 
 British, their conquests extended to the banks of the 
 Suttelege, the eastern river of the Punjab. The 
 kingdom was then divided into the following pro- 
 vinces, viz. Gorcah, Kyrat, Morung, Muckwany, 
 Mockwanpore, Lamjung, 24? Rajahs, Keraaon, and 
 Almora. The valley of Nepaul proper, from whence 
 the kingdom takes its name, is nearly of an oval fi- 
 gure ; its greatest length from north to south being 
 12 miles, by 9 in the greatest breadth. On the 
 north and south it is bounded by lofty mountains, 
 but is more open to the east and west. This small 
 track is very populous, and, besides the capital Cata- 
 mandoo, is filled with villages. This valley, although 
 situated between the 27th and 28th degrees of N. 
 lat. is so elevated, that it enjoys an European climate, 
 and the mountains, covered with snow, are in sight 
 the whole year round. The soil is productive, and, 
 in some places, yields two crops in the year. The 
 mountains of Nepaul contain mines of copper and 
 iron ; and, although commerce is not encouraged, 
 it sends to Bengal ivory, wax, honey, timber, bastard 
 cinnamon, cardamums, walnuts, &c. ; and takes in 
 return, muslins and silks of Bengal, carpets, spices, 
 tobacco, and European goods. 
 
 The government is despotic, and the rajah is con- 
 sidered as the proprietor of the soil. The natives 
 are in general a hardy and courageous race ; and 
 during the late war gave the British much annoy- 
 ance. This, however, partly arose from the seat of 
 war being in a mountainous and cold country, to 
 which the British sepoys had not been accustomed. 
 The prevailing religion is the Hindoo, but many of 
 the inhabitants are supposed to be descendants of 
 Tartars, and reckoned impure. The tribe called 
 Newars admit of poliandry, or rather the women are 
 at liberty to divorce their husbands, and take others 
 as often as they choose. The Brahmins of Nepaul 
 are very numerous, and deeply skilled in Sanscrit 
 lore. One of the libraries is said to contain 15,000 
 volumes in that language. There are five vernacu- 
 lar languages, but the Hindostany is pretty generally 
 understood. — Edinburgh Gazetteer, or Geographical 
 Dictionary, Vol. IV. For an account of the late war, 
 see the Article India, in this Supplement. 
 
 NETHERLANDS, a kingdom newly erected in 
 Europe, in consequence of the fall of the French 
 empire. It is composed of the ancient republic of 
 the United Netherlands, usually denominated Hoi. 
 land, of the Austrian Netherlands, commonly called 
 the Belgian Provinces, of the Bishoprick of Liege, 
 and of the provinces of Huissen and Zevenaar, for- 
 merly belonging to Prussia. It is a compact do- 
 
 NET 
 
 minion, bounded on the west by the German Ocean, Netherlaml 
 on the north by the German Ocean and the Zuyder ^—^^"^ 
 Sea, on the east by the duchy of Oldenburg, and by 
 the Prussian provinces of Westphalia and the Lower 
 Rhine, and on the south by France. 
 
 The erection of the kingdom of Holland by Bona- 
 parte, and its subsequent union with France, were at- 
 tended with alterations in the names and the di- 
 visions of the Provinces, or, as they were previously 
 called, the States ; and similar divisions were made 
 in the Austrian provinces, which produced much 
 confusion ; but since the establishment of the new 
 kingdom, such divisions have been adopted as best 
 reconcile the ancient denominations with the novel 
 political condition of the country. 
 
 The recent divisions of the kingdom are into the 
 following provinces, which are arranged according to 
 their ranks. 
 
 
 
 
 Population 
 
 
 Provinces. 
 
 Capitals. 
 
 of the 
 
 
 
 Capitals. 
 
 1 
 
 North Brabant 
 
 Herzogenbusch 
 
 13,340 
 
 2 
 
 South Brabant 
 
 Brussels 
 
 72,280 
 
 3 
 
 Limbourg 
 
 Limbourg 
 
 8,200 
 
 4 
 
 Guelderland 
 
 Nlmmeguen 
 
 12,780 
 
 5 
 
 Liege 
 
 Liege 
 
 45,300 
 
 6 
 
 East Flanders - 
 
 Ghent 
 
 44,000 
 
 7 
 
 West Flanders - 
 
 Bruges - 
 
 32,990 
 
 8 
 
 Hainault 
 
 Mons 
 
 18,400 
 
 9 
 
 Holland (North \ 
 
 Amsterdam 
 
 193,180 
 
 
 and South) J 
 
 10 
 
 Zealand 
 
 Middleburg 
 
 20,800 
 
 11 
 
 Namur 
 
 Namur 
 
 15,100 
 
 12 
 
 Antw^erp - - 
 
 Antwerp 
 
 62,000 
 
 13 
 
 Utrecht 
 
 Utrecht 
 
 33,400 
 
 14. 
 
 Friesland 
 
 Leuwarden 
 
 16,500 
 
 15 
 
 Overyssel 
 
 Deventer 
 
 10,100 
 
 16 
 
 Groningen 
 
 Groningen - 
 
 24,600 
 
 17 
 
 Drenthe 
 
 Assen 
 
 1,100 
 
 18 
 
 Luxembourg - 
 
 Luxembourg 
 
 10,250 
 
 Divisions. 
 
 The other most considerable cities and their po- 
 pulation are the following : 
 
 Alost, 10,920. Cortryk, 13,570. Delft, 13,850. 
 Dornick, 21,300. Dort, 19,500. Gouda, 11,370. 
 Haarlem, 20,100. Hague, 42,700. Leyden, 30,680. 
 Lokeren, 11,940, Louvain, 18,580. Maestricht, 
 17,960. Mechlin, 1 6,090. Ostend, 10,500. Rot- 
 terdam, 33,800. St Nicholas, 10,980. Verviers, 
 10,070. Ypres, 15,150, and ZwoU, 13,060. 
 
 Although the duchy of Luxembourg is included 
 in the kingdom of the Netherlands, in the view we 
 are taking of it, yet it is in reality a part of Ger- 
 many, and its capital, one of the strongest fortresses 
 in Europe, is garrisoned by the confederates. The 
 King of the Netherlands has, indeed, the nomination 
 of the governor of the castle, but the consent of the 
 Allies is requisite, before he can enter upon the 
 command. Thus, the annexation of Luxembourg to 
 the kingdom of the Netherlands resembles that of 
 the duchies of Holstein and Lauenburg to the 
 kingdom of Denmark. 
 
 The surface of this kingdom, according to the 
 
NETHERLANDS. 
 
 Netherlands, most accurate calculations, amounts, in the northern 
 "•^V^^ provinces, to 1 6,588 square English miles; from 
 which must be deducted for the Zuyder Sea, the 
 lakes, rivers, and canals, 5205 square miles ; leaving 
 11,383 miles. The whole extent will then be thus : 
 
 Extent. In the nine northern provinces, 11,383 
 
 In the eight southern provinces, 11,141 
 In the duchy of Luxembourg, 2346 
 
 24,870 square 
 
 miles, or 15,916,800 English acres. 
 
 Population. According to the census of the year 1816, the po- 
 pulation was as follows : 
 
 The northern provinces, 2,016,159 
 The southern provinces, 3,249,841 
 The duchy of Luxembourg, 225,945 
 
 5,491,945, being 
 
 somewhat more than one human being to every three 
 acres of land ; a density of population far exceeding 
 Uiat of any other country of Europe, with the excep- 
 tion of the small and highly productive duchy of 
 Lucca in Italy, The difference in the density of 
 population in the different provinces is very great. 
 The most thickly peopled of them. East Flanders, 
 contains 560 inhabitants to the square mile, or near- 
 ly one to each acre ; whilst Drenthe contains only 
 59 to the square mile, or less than one to every ten 
 acres. The average population of the provinces of 
 the United Netherlands is 180 to the square mile, 
 or about one person to three acres and a half ; of 
 the provinces of the Austrian Netherlands 296 to 
 the square mile, or one person to two acres and a 
 quarter ; and of the duchy of Luxembourg, 66 to 
 the square mile, or neai'ly one to ten acres. * 
 Face of the Almost the whole of this united kingdom posses- 
 Country, ggg g^j. surface, with scarcely a hill on the greater 
 part of it. The level of most of the lands on the 
 northern part is below that of the sea that bounds 
 it, when the tide is at the highest, and is only pro- 
 tected from inundations by such powerful embank- 
 ments called dikes, as demonstrate the patient per- 
 severance and the wealth of the proprietors. In the 
 southern part, the Belgian provinces are mostly 
 level, though sufficiently above the sea not to need 
 the protection of embankments. In the parts border- 
 ing on towards France, especially in the provinces of 
 Liege, Namur, and Luxembourg, including a por- 
 tion of the ancient forest of Ardennes, the surface 
 is more irregular, in some parts undulating, in others 
 hilly, approaching almost to mountainous. There 
 are no forests, and but few trees in the northern parts, 
 except willows, which are abundantly planted on the 
 sides of the canals and embankments. In the ancient 
 Belgic provinces, trees are more frequent, both on 
 the borders of the fields and around the villages, but 
 there are few woods except in Liege and Luxem- 
 
 bourg. From this»description, it will be readily per- Netherland 
 ceived, that no picturesque scenery is displayed ; but " 
 the cleanliness and appearance of substantial coai- 
 forts in all the villages and thickly planted farms, 
 gives to the traveller pleasing sensations, and evince 
 most powerfully the wonders which industry and per- 
 severance can achieve. 
 
 No part of Europe enjoys such advantages for Rivers, Ca- 
 dispensing abroad its more bulky productions as the 
 kingdom of the Netherlands. Its navigable rivers, 
 which are connected together by numerous canals, 
 that serve the purposes both of draining and convey- 
 ance, intersect the whole of the northern and the 
 greater part of the southern division of the kingdom. 
 The principal of these rivers, the Rhine, is divided 
 into two branches ; the southernmost of these takes 
 the name of the Waal, and, after receiving the water 
 of the Merwe, assumes the name Maas, and enters 
 the German Ocean. The northernmost branch of 
 the Rhine is divided into two streams, one, called the 
 Yssel, runs to the Zuyder Sea, the other, retaining its 
 original name, after receiving the waters of the Lech 
 and the Vecht, disappears in the sands. The Meuse, 
 the most important river to the Belgic provinces, is 
 navigable through the whole territory, and is the 
 means of conveying from Liege the stone for build- 
 ing, which abounds in that vicinity, and of which the 
 provinces on the coast are wholly destitute. The 
 Sheldt, a river of a short course, but of excellent 
 navigation, divides itself into two branches, called 
 the East and West Sheldt, before it enters the Ger- 
 man Ocean. The Lys, the Dender, the Dyle, the Sam- 
 bre, the Lesse, the Nethe, and many others of smaller 
 magnitude, are tributary streams to the Meuse or to 
 the Sheldt. The Moselle, though it forms the boun- 
 dary of this kingdom on its south-eastern side, and 
 is highly beneficial to its commerce, passes through 
 no part of it. There are few lakes in this country. 
 The principal is that of Haarlem, extending over 
 about 16,000 English acres, which is connected with 
 two smaller ones, the DoUart and the Blesbosch. 
 The interior communication by water is so great, 
 that it employs 5700 barges of different burden, and 
 upwards of 15,000 boats. 
 
 The climate of this kingdom, from its vicinity to Climate, 
 the sea, and from the abundance of its rivers and 
 canals, is peculiarly foggy. In summer the heat is 
 excessive, but highly favourable to vegetation. In 
 winter the frosts are usually very severe, and in some 
 years, the rivers are so frozen as to bear the convey- 
 ance of cannon and heavy loaded waggons. Only 
 the most scrupulous attention to cleanliness can, in 
 any degree, protect the inhabitants from the dele- 
 terious effects of their moist atmosphere, and with all 
 the care that is exercised, they are much subject to 
 fevers. 
 
 The constitution of this country is a limited mo- Govern- 
 narchy, hereditary in the House of Orange-Nassau, 
 to which the females may succeed, in case no male 
 heir is left by the last monarch. The king can hold 
 
 • See Hqfahnanak voor het Schrikkeljahr 181 6 ins Gravenhage ; also Staat-on aardrykkundige Bes- 
 chrivung von het Koningryk der Neederlanden of de XVII neederlandische Provinzien, benever het 
 Grooi'Hertogdom Luxemburg, van N, G. van Kampen. Harlem, 1816. 
 
64 
 
 NETHERLANDS. 
 
 Netherlands, jk) foreign crown, nor remove the seat of government 
 '"'^'V'^' out of the kingdom. He is authorized to take from 
 • the treasury 2,4'OOjOOO guldens annually, for his own 
 expenditure. He is allowed a summer and winter 
 palace at the expence of the public, but the sum ex- 
 pended on them must not exceed 100,000 guldens 
 annually. The heir- apparent bears the title of Prince 
 of Orange, and enjoys an income of 100,000 guldens. 
 The king's minority terminates on the completion of 
 his eighteenth year, and whilst under that age, the 
 government is administered by a regency consisting of 
 the members of the royal family. The executive 
 government is vested, but with many restrictions, 
 arising from the independent and varied constitution 
 of the several states, in the king, who is commander 
 of the army and navy, has the power of dispensing 
 pardons, and whose consent is necessary both to the 
 laws passed in the Provincial and in the General 
 Assemblies of the States. 
 
 Each state has its assemblies, which are convoked 
 annuallj^ or more frequently if deemed necessary, by 
 the monarch. The members are in two classes, viz. 
 l,y^, the nobles and knights ; and, 2d, the citizens, 
 who elect members to fill the vacancies that occur in 
 their body. With the assembly of the citizens, or 
 burghers, rests the local administration, and, jointly 
 with the nobles, the power of enacting provincial 
 laws. They appoint committees from their body to 
 attend to the administration of justice, of the reve- 
 nues, and the expenditure ; which committees meet 
 as well during the prorogation as the session of the 
 states, and are the medium of intercourse between 
 their several provinces, the monarch, and states-ge- 
 neral. The levying taxes for provincial purposes 
 is executed by this body, who carefully guard against 
 the imposts they levy being made to fall heavier on 
 articles produced in the other states than on those 
 produced within their own ; as, without such precau- 
 tion, the consent of the king to the enactment would 
 be withheld. A commissary, or administrator, no- 
 minated by the monarch, is joined to each assembly 
 of the provincial states, and has considerable powers 
 for superintending the execution of the laws. The 
 police is managed jointly by this officer and the pro- 
 vincial states, and is generally conducted with judg- 
 ment, economy, and great attention to the liberty of 
 the subject. 
 
 The supreme legislature, or States-General, meets 
 either at Brussels or the Hague. It is divided into 
 two chambers. The upper house consists of not less 
 llian forty, nor more than sixty members, who are 
 nominated by the king, and hold their seats for life, 
 but do not transmit them to their heirs. The lower 
 house consists of one hundred and ten members, who 
 are nominated by the provincial assemblies of the 
 different states. The members of these two bodies 
 are chosen both from the Dutch and Belgian pro- 
 vinces ; and, as in the latter, the French language is 
 used by all but the peasantry, their debates are con- 
 ducted in either the Dutch or the French tongues, 
 according to the part of the kingdom of which the 
 speaker is a native. 
 Judicial Ad- The judicial administration is in an imperfect state 
 ministration, at present, owing to the different provinces having 
 different systems of law. The legislative body has 
 11 
 
 been sedulously employed in forming a general code Nethcriands. 
 which shall embrace the whole kingdom, but, from 
 the various usages and rights of ancient establish- 
 ment, which they wish to protect, it has been found 
 to be attended with almost insurmountable difficulties. 
 
 In the meantime, the securities for the personal 
 liberty of the subject are of more practical efficacy 
 than are to be found in any other country of Europe, 
 except in Great Britain. No one can be arrested with- 
 out a previous communication to the judge, and the 
 prisoner must be made acquainted with the charge 
 against him within three days after his commitment. 
 No one can be withdrawn from the judge of one 
 district to be tried before that of another, without 
 his own appeal, or at least his consent. Every judg- 
 ment against an offender must specify the precise ar- 
 ticle in the law under which the punishment is 
 awarded. In all civil causes, the reasons upon which 
 the decision of the court is founded must appear up- 
 on the face of the judgment. Each province has its 
 own courts, both for criminal and civil cases ; be- 
 sides which, there is a supreme court for the whole 
 kingdom, denominated the Superior Council of the 
 Netherlands. Equal protection is extended to every 
 description of religious worship, and the professors 
 of all the various sects are equally admissible to every 
 civil, military, and judicial post, and may enjoy like 
 civic and political dignities and privileges. 
 
 Although equal protection is granted to all reli- Religion, 
 gious sects, yet the establishments of the two predo- 
 minant confessions, whose opinions prevail in the 
 northern and southern parts of the kingdom, give to 
 the Catholic and the Calvinistic parties a consider- 
 able degree of preponderance. The sovereign is of 
 the reformed or Calvinistic profession, as are the 
 greater part of the inhabitants of the northern pro- 
 vinces, who adhere to the catechism of Heidelburg, 
 and the confession of Dort, and are regulated by pa- 
 rochial church councils, classes, and synods. In 
 Utrecht is a Catholic archbishop, and in Haarlem a 
 bishop. The religion of almost the whole inhabit- 
 ants of the southern provinces is the Catholic, to 
 which they are most rigidly attached. They have 
 one archbishop, four bishops, and more than three 
 thousand priests; although, since these provinces 
 were formed into one of the French departments, 
 their number and emoluments have considerably di- 
 minished. The universal toleration which has 
 long prevailed in the northern part of this kingdom 
 has familiarized it to the most bigotted members of 
 the established church ; but, in the southern parts, 
 where it has only been introduced since the dissolu- 
 tion of the French empire, it has been most strenu- 
 ously opposed, especially by the ecclesiastics, and 
 its establishment has caused in some places tumults, 
 and in others great dissatisfaction, which is by no 
 means yet removed. The practical enjoyment of re- 
 ligious toleration in the Belgian provinces is indeed 
 even now rather to be wished than expected. 
 
 The inhabitants of this kingdom are descended Origin and 
 from three different races, and even now discover Character c. 
 those differences which they have derived from their l^eoplc 
 origin. The people of Holland, Zealand, Utrecht, 
 Guelderland, Overyssel, and Drenthe, are of Bata- 
 vian origin, probably descended from the ancient 
 
NETHERLANDS. 
 
 6 
 
 Institutions 
 for InstTOc- 
 tion. 
 
 Netherlands. Katti, and speak a flat Deutsche, or Low German 
 language. They are more prudent than active, their 
 minds more exact than comprehensive. They usual- 
 ly reason slowly, but accurately. They are econo- 
 mical, prudent, and cleanly, but too eager for gain, 
 and, by the prospect of it, can alone be stimulated 
 to deeds ot daring or adventure. The people of 
 Friesland, Griiningen, and the islands of the ocean, 
 and the Zuyder Sea, are descended from the Frisi. 
 They differ from the Hollanders in their language 
 and dress, and, unlike them, are more addicted ot 
 agriculture, to the rearing of cattle, and to the fish- 
 eries, than to navigation and commerce. The south- 
 ern provinces are inhabited by the descendants of 
 the Walloons, a branch of the great German family, 
 whose habits they still in a great degree retain ; 
 though they have become somewhat Frenchified, 
 and whose language is a dialect of the German, but 
 differing materially from that spoken either by the 
 Hollanders, or the people of Westphalia and Lower 
 Saxony. 
 
 Few countries have, according to their extent and 
 population, more institutions for the promotion of 
 learning than are to be found in the Nethei'lands. 
 There are six universities, viz. Leyden, Utrecht, and 
 Groningen, in the northern, and Louvain, Ghent, 
 and Liege, in the southern provinces. Besides 
 these are the atheneums of Amsterdam, Middleburg, 
 Deventer, and Doornich, and 105 public grammar 
 schools for classical instruction, in which is kept alive 
 that taste for literature which formerly produced 
 some of the best editions of the writings of antiquity. 
 In the northern part of the kingdom, the instruction 
 of the lower classes is amply provided for by nume- 
 rous well regulated burgher schools, in which gra- 
 tuitous education is extensively, almost universally, 
 dispensed, and the new system of mutual instruction 
 generally adopted. In the southern provinces, the 
 education of the poor is much neglected, but the pre- 
 sent government has pledged itself to remedy this 
 evil, and is taking steps for that purpose. 
 
 The freedom of the press in this kingdom was, at 
 on the Press, jj-g gj.gj establishment, without restriction ; but the 
 vicinity of Brussels to France, the great number of 
 those Frenchmen who were dissatisfied with the re- 
 storation of the ancient monarchy that took up their 
 residence there, and the attempts made by them to 
 spread disaffection, on the ground that religious to- 
 leration was incompatible with the rights of the Ca- 
 tholic Church, compelled the Government to place 
 the smaller works which issued from the press under 
 several restrictions. These restrictions do not ex- 
 tend to works containing more than four sheets, and 
 larger works may be published without any previous 
 licence ; but the authors and publishers are amen- 
 able to the tribunals for their contents, if they are 
 judged to be treasonable, seditious, irreligious, or 
 immoral. 
 
 In the most remote periods, the Netherlands were 
 distinguished by their manufacturing skill and in- 
 dustry. Under tlie Romans, the inhabitants of Ar- 
 ras and several other Flemish cities were celebrated 
 for the production of woollen cloths. At a later pe- 
 riod, under the Emperor Charlemagne, a present of 
 fine linen and of woollen cloth, sent to the Caliph of 
 
 VOL. VI. PART I. 
 
 Kestrictions 
 
 Manufac- 
 tures. 
 
 Bagdad, Harun al Raschid, was deemed to display Netherland 
 the most curious specimens of the industry and skill 
 of the Western World. In the instructions of that 
 monarch {Capitular, de villis Regum Francorum), 
 it appears that at Liege and other cities of the Ne- 
 therlands, very extensive manufactories, both from 
 flax and wool, existed, in the dyeing of which mad- 
 der and kermes berries were used, and were forbid- 
 den to be adulterated. The ancient condition of the 
 manufactories of the Netherlands is peculiarly inte- 
 resting, because it is to them that we and the rest of 
 Europe are indebted for the first rudiments of those 
 arts, which have since been so widely extended in Eng- 
 land, Scotland, France, Germany, and Holland. In 
 the time of Charlemagne, it appears from the same 
 collection, and from the Historia Monasterii Salmu- 
 that iron wares, gold and silver work, embroid- 
 ery, arms, horse furniture, and various other articles, 
 were extensively manufactured. The earliest Flem- 
 ish fabrics were those of linen ; and as early as the 
 year 960, free marts were established in several of the 
 cities, to which great numbers of merchants from fo- 
 reign countries periodically resorted. The present 
 state of the linen manufactory is by no means flou- 
 rishing ; but large quantities of the finer kinds from 
 flax, of their native growth, is supplied by the inha- 
 bitants of this kingdom, and is everywhere most high- 
 ly esteemed. The finest yarn and the best bleach- 
 eries are at Haarlem ; the best linen is wove at Her- 
 zogenbasch, Eindoven, and some other places ; but 
 some fine linen, spun in Westphalia, is mixed with 
 that of those places, and when bleached in Holland, 
 is not distinguishable from it. The curious manu- 
 factory of thread lace originated in this country, and 
 still distinguishes it. The best is that of Brussels 
 and Mecklin. In the former city and its vicinity it 
 once gave employment to more than 14,000 per- 
 sons ; and at one period the exports of goods fabri- 
 cated in Flanders, from flax of their own growth, 
 amounted to more than L. 2,000,000 Sterling. The 
 woollen manufactories of Flanders were in a flourish- 
 ing state as early as the year 980, but were most ex- 
 tensive from the twelfth to the sixteenth century. 
 In the city of Louvain, in the year 1317, there were 
 4000 looms for weaving woollens. Brussels and Ant- 
 werp employed an equal number. Ghent was, how- 
 ever, the most distinguished city for its fabrics, both 
 of wool and flax, and at that period employed 40,000 
 looms. When called upon to take arms, the weavers, 
 under the banners of their trade, mustered 16,000 
 men. Ypres contained 4000 looms. Bruges was the 
 storehouse and central point for the commerce of 
 half Europe ; but the situation was changed for that 
 of Antwerp in 1478, which continued to be one of 
 the most flourishing cities of the world till the be- 
 ginning of the sixteenth century, when the tyranny 
 and fanaticism of Philip the Second of Spain inflict- 
 ed on the Flemish provinces the most distressing 
 sufferings. The great prevalence of goods made 
 from cotton, the improvements that have been made 
 in machinery for spinning thread from that sub- 
 stance, as well as from flax and wool, and the long 
 war, which suspended a great portion of the export 
 trade, have had a very injurious effect on the manu- 
 factures of this kingdom ; but they still exceed, both 
 
66 
 
 NETHERLANDS. 
 
 NetherlamU. the Tiumbers of people to whom they give em- 
 ''''^^y"^ ployment, and in the excellence of their produc- 
 tions, those of any other country of Europe, except 
 the British dominions. Woollen goods are extensively 
 produced in Verviers, Eupen, Hodimont, Leyden, 
 and Utrecht, and in smaller quantities in many other 
 places. Cotton articles are made principally in Brus- 
 sels and Amsterdam. Silk, though on the decline, 
 is worked at Haarlem. Leather of an excellent qua- 
 lity is produced at Liege and Maestricht. Tobacco 
 and snuff are manufactured at Amsterdam and Rot- 
 terdam, in which places 24',000 persons are occupied 
 in that trade. In Amsterdam are seventy sugar re- 
 fineries, in Rotterdam eighteen, in Dort twelve, and 
 several in Antwerp, Ghent, and Ostend. Iron goods 
 are produced in many places ; but the cutlery made 
 at Namur, and the arms made at Liege, are pecu- 
 liarly valued. The earthenware of Delft, formerly 
 so celebrated, has been almost saperseded by the 
 English potteries. The quantity of pipes for smok- 
 ing tobacco produced in this country is so great, 
 that in the town of Gouda alone their fabrication 
 employs more than 5000 persons. The breweries 
 are both numerous and upon a large scale, but are 
 inferior to the distilleries, which furnish a corn spirit, 
 when flavoured with juniper berries, well known 
 throughout the world by the name of Geneva or gin. 
 The greater concerns of this kind are established at 
 Scheidam, at Rotterdam, Amsterdam, and Weesp. 
 That which is made at the latter place is said to 
 ' have the peculiar property of preserving its qualities 
 
 in the hottest climates, and is largely exported to 
 the East and West Indies. 
 Agriculture. The agriculture of the kingdom of the Nether- 
 lands, which, even in the northern portion, that was 
 formerly the Seven United Provinces, was more the 
 foundation of its wealth than either manufactures or 
 navigation, deserves the most close examination, and 
 merits more detailed accounts than our limits will 
 allow. As this northern part is principally a coun- 
 try of land redeemed from the sea, it is naturally ap- 
 propriated chiefly to the growth of the various grasses 
 whose produce affords sustenance for horned cattle, 
 and the profit of which is derived from the butter 
 and cheese that these cattle yield. The corn land 
 of Holland is insufficient for its own consumption, 
 but the productions of the dairy afford ample means 
 for purchasing the requisite quantities of grain. The 
 Dairy. COWS of this district are fine cattle ; and though they 
 do not yield, on an average, so large a quantity of 
 milk as many of our English cows, yet, from the 
 butter and cheese they produce, it seems to be of a 
 better quality. The answers of Mr Van de Poes to 
 gome queries of Sir John Sinclair state, that the 
 quantity of milk from each cow averages about three 
 quarts daily ; that the annual produce of each cow is 
 calculated by the Committee of Agriculture of the 
 Province of South Holland at 78 pounds of butter, 
 and 180 pounds of cheese. During the winter 
 months the cattle are fed with hay,' turnips, carrots, 
 grains from the distilleries, linseed oil cake, and bear 
 meal, and are confined to their stalls. In the sum- 
 mer months, soiling or stall-feeding is not practised, 
 but the cattle are grazed day and night in the mea- 
 dows. The bulls are used for the purposes of pro- 
 
 pagation from the age of one year and a half to two Nethoerlands. 
 years and a half. At reaching that age, they are no ^-^^-s,^-**^ 
 longer so employed. The whole offspring, being thus 
 derived solely from young males, are considered to be 
 more valuable than could be obtained by a different 
 plan. In the management of the dairies, both from 
 the milking the cows, and through every subsequent 
 operation, the most scrupulous attention is paid to 
 cleanliness, and this attention is visible in all the 
 utensils, as well as in the temperature which is main- 
 tained in the houses, and the state of neatness ex- 
 hibited in the stalls, the litter, and on the bodies of 
 the animals. The butter of Holland is made wholly of 
 cream ; the churning is commonly performed by very 
 simple machinery, set on motion sometimes by ahorse, 
 and often by two dogs ; in the progress of making, 
 frequent washings are used, and it is preserved solely 
 by being well salted. The butter-milk is applied to 
 feed calves or to fatten pigs, and the skimmed milk 
 is converted into an inferior kind of cheese. 
 
 Although the greater part of the agricultural at- Arahble lius 
 tention of Holland is directed to dairies, and thebanddry. , 
 fattening of cattle, yet, on receding from the coast, 
 and reaching the more elevated lands towards the 
 German frontier, the husbandry assumes the charac- 
 ter of that of the midland counties of England ; but 
 with such variations as are adapted to the soil, cli- 
 mate, and habits of the people. On the banks of 
 the Rhine in Guelderland, as well as in the province 
 of Utrecht, the arable husbandry is judiciously con- 
 ducted. The manure is preserved with great care, 
 the ploughing well executed, and a good rotation of i 
 crops followed. On some of the lighter soils, the 
 land, when cleaned and manured, is sowed in May 
 with buck-wheat. This crop is harvested in August, 
 when rye is sown on it ; and after the rye is carried, 
 which is usually done in the succeeding July, tur- 
 nips are sowed. The land thus produces three crops 
 in two years. On the stronger soils, the usual ro- , 
 tation is beans, wheat, clover, and oats ; and, on 
 the most tenacious of all the soils, they precede the 
 beans by a whole year's clean fallow. In such soils 
 the produce of four harvests exceeds those of five 
 harvests when the fallow is omitted. During the 
 existence of the Continental System of Buonaparte, 
 the cultivation of tobacco, and of beets of different 
 kind for making sugar was introduced, and extend- 
 ed over large surfaces ; but the return of peace, by 
 which the ports of the Continent were opened to 
 those productions from the western world, created a 
 competition, which the Dutch husbandmen were un- 
 able to withstand, and the cultivators of these articles 
 have become involved in great distress. 
 
 The agriculture of the southern division of the 
 kingdom, formerly the Austrian Netherlands, is pe- 
 culiarly interesting, and conducted upon plans re- 
 plete with economy, and productive of the most 
 uniform and beneficial results. The land of Flan- 
 ders was not naturally fertile; on the contrary, the 
 quality of it is merely such as to admit of fertili- 
 zation, by a series of operations more or less ex- 
 pensive and laborious. Where cultivation has not 
 been extended, the soil produces nothing but 
 heath and fir. As the property of such lands may 
 be acquired for a very small sum, many individuals 
 
NETHERLANDS. 
 
 Netherlands, have attempted to bring portions of it into cultiva- 
 ^^^"^^ tion, but have almost uniformly found the expence 
 of doing so far exceed the value of the produce that 
 can be drawn from it. , Abbe Mann, to vi'hom we 
 are indebted for some valuable communications on 
 the subject of Flemish agriculture, observes, " What 
 land is cultivated in the Campine of Brabant, is 
 owing to the religious houses founded in it, especial- 
 ly to the two great abbeys of Tongerloo and Ever- 
 bode. Their uninterrupted duration for five or six 
 hundred years, and their indefatigable industry, have 
 conquered the barren harsh sands, and rendered 
 many parts of them highly productive. The me- 
 thod they follow is simple and uniform ; they never 
 undertake to cultivate more of this barren soil than 
 they have sufficient manure for ; seldom more than 
 five or six bunders (fifteen or eighteen acres) in a 
 year ; and when it is brought, by labour and manur- 
 ing, into a state capable of producing sufficient for a 
 family to live on, it is let out to farmers on easy 
 terms, after having built them comfortable habita- 
 tions. From the undoubted testimony of the histo- 
 rians of the Low Countries, it appears, that the cul- 
 tivation of the greatest part of these rich provinces 
 took its rise from the self-same means, 800 or 1000 
 years back, when they were in a manner one con- 
 tinued forest." Although, from the destruction, dis- 
 persion, or diminution of the religious communities, 
 by the French Revolution, the process of reclaiming 
 other parts of the heaths has been suspended or ren- 
 dered languid ; yet the excellent agricultural prac- 
 tices, which a long series of years had ingrafted in- 
 to the minds and habits of the sluggish peasantry, 
 have been adhered to with a tenacity that is obvious- 
 ly distinguishable in all the other customs, as well as 
 in the manners, dress, food, and religion of the peo- 
 ple. Besides that general system of economy, which 
 is indispensable to the success of all effiarts, and 
 which there enters into the minutest details of their 
 husbandry, the two great objects which seem to be 
 aimed at in all their operations, are the increase of 
 those crops which afford sustenance for cattle, and 
 the careful preservation of every substance that can 
 be converted into manure, and returned again to the 
 land, to renew its exhausted fertility. 
 ::iover. The foundation on which the agriculture rests is 
 
 the cultivation of clover, which seems indigenous, 
 since none of the most ancient records notice its 
 introduction, but speak of It as familiarly as of 
 hay or .oats. It is probably from this country 
 that the plant in question has been, though but re- 
 cently, slowly, and hitherto partially, introduced to 
 the adoption of the farmers of Germany, France, and 
 Great Britain. The clover in Flanders is sowed in 
 every sort of grain, in wheat, rye, and winter barley, 
 in the spring of the year, when the blades of those 
 plants have acquired a growth of three or four 
 inches ; and with oats and summer barley at the 
 same time with those seeds. It is also often sowed 
 with flax ; and, in general, the crops grown between 
 those plants are more luxuriant than when sowed 
 with the cerealia. It frequently happens when sow- 
 ed with flax, that clover yields a heavy crop a few 
 months after it is sown, two still more abundant 
 crops the next year, and sometimes even three ; and 
 
 67 
 
 if, as it occasionally happens, it is suffered to stand Netherlands, 
 another year, it will yield one heavy crop, and after- 
 wards good pasture for cattle, till it is ploughed -ijp 
 to receive the seed of wheat, which usually follows 
 it. The original strength of the plants which yield 
 such abundant nourishment is due, undoubtedly, to 
 the care taken in pulverizing the soil by frequent 
 ploughings and harrowings, to the careful extirpa- 
 tion of all weeds, and to the copious stores of ma- 
 nure, and its complete amalgamation with the soil ; 
 but the successive harvests which the plants yield is' 
 attributed, and with apparent probability, to the top- 
 dressings which are bestowed upon them. The top- 
 dressings administered to the young clover consists 
 either of rotten yard-dung, lime, pigeons' dung, or 
 coal, or native turf-ashes, and is laid on as soon as 
 the plants begin to extend themselves over the 
 ground. Sometimes the plants are refreshed with a 
 liquid manure, which will be hereafter noticed. 
 These manures, though administered to the clovers, 
 as far as they can be obtained, are found far inferior 
 in powers of fertility to that substance which is most 
 generally used, and whose effects form the theme of 
 the praises of all who have witnessed the Belgian 
 husbandry. The turf-ashes of Holland are sowed 
 by hand on the clovers, in quantities varying from 
 eighteen to twenty bushels to the English acre. 
 This small quantity produces a most surprising, and 
 almost magical effect. Within a few weeks after it 
 is sown, a field where none, or but slight straggling 
 plants are to be seen, becomes covered with a most 
 abundant herbage. The parts of a field sowed with 
 these ashes, at the first mowing, show their efficacy 
 in a most striking manner, the clover being fre- 
 quently a foot higher on such parts than on those 
 where its sowing has been omitted. These ashes 
 are found superior in efficacy to such as are made from 
 the turf commonly used for fuel in Flanders, in so 
 much, that one-third of the quantity is deemed to 
 afford as great productiveness. We have no ana- 
 lysis of the turf-ashes of Flanders, by which we can 
 form a comparative estimate of the proportional sub- 
 stances which create so vast a difference between 
 the vegetative faculties of them and of the turf-ashes 
 of Holland. The latter have been carefully analyz- 
 ed by Mr Brande, Secretary to the Royal Society 
 of London, who found them to contain 
 
 Silicious earth. 
 
 Sulphate of lime. 
 
 Sulphate and muriate of soda. 
 
 Carbonate of lime. 
 
 Oxide of iron, 
 
 32 parts. 
 12 
 
 6 
 40 
 
 3 
 
 Impurities and loss, 
 
 93 
 7 
 
 100 
 
 These ashes are brought from Holland by the ca- 
 nals to Brussels, from whence they are conveyed by 
 land carriage to the different farms where they are 
 applied. Long practice has so convinced the Fle- 
 mish f^armers of their benefit, that a common pro- 
 verb,- in the patois of the country, may be thus trans- 
 lated : " He that buys ashes for his clover pays no- 
 
68 NETHER 
 
 Netherlamis. thing, but he who does it not pays double." They 
 ^-^^^.-m-' are frequently fetched from the canal by persons 
 
 who have to carry them forty or even fifty miles by 
 
 land. 
 
 Manure. The abundance of clover produced from the soil 
 of Flanders enables the cultivator to maintain a 
 great number of cattle, principally cows, whose 
 dung is managed with an attention and care that 
 is highly worthy of imitation, and contributes to 
 maintain, in a state of high fertility, that soil which 
 jnelds the most exhausting crops. " The farmers," 
 says the Abb6 Mann, " supply the want of straw 
 in the following manner : The peat, or sods, which 
 are cut from the heath, are placed in the stables 
 and cow-stalls as litter for the cattle. The ground 
 under them is dug to a certain depth, so as to ad- 
 mit a considerable quantity, of these peat sods, and 
 fresh ones are added as the feet of the cattle tread 
 them down into less compass. These compose so 
 many beds of manure, thoroughly impregnated with 
 the urine and dung of the cattle. This mixture pro- 
 duces a compost of excellent quality for fertilizing 
 ground where corn is to be sown." 
 ' The most unique practice of the Flemish cultiva- 
 tors is the application of liquid manure. Under the 
 farm buildings, large reservoirs are constructed, in- 
 to which the draining of the dung, the urine of the 
 cattle, and the contents of the privies, run. This re- 
 ceptacle is divided by rails, so as to prevent any 
 more solid substances from coming into that part 
 where the pump is placed, by which it is raised from 
 the reservoir into the carts that convey it to the 
 fields. The liquid in these receptacles is commonly 
 increased in efficacy, by throwing into them, for so- 
 lution, large quantities of rape-cake. This liquid 
 manure, enriched by oil-cake in proportion to the 
 purse, or the spirit, of the proprietor, is spread over 
 the land, sometimes by hand ; and by habit the work- 
 men have acquired the tact of distributing it equally 
 and in previously prescribed proportions over a whole 
 field. More commonly it is conveyed to the fields 
 in large casks on wheels, to the bung-hole of which 
 is appended a wooden shoot, narrow at the top and 
 broad at the lower extremity, which spreads the sub- 
 stance equally. For the flax and rape crops this 
 manure is most liberally used. The quantity of this 
 liquid applied to an acre of flax is commonly about 
 2^500 gallons of English beer measure, in which about 
 1000 rape-cakes of three pounds each have been 
 dissolved. 
 
 Froduetioiis. No country in Europe provides from its soil so 
 great a quantity of sustenance for its inhabitants, so 
 large a surplus of food for exportation, and such va- 
 luable commodities to exchange for articles of fo- 
 reign growth, as Flanders. Besides wheat, rye, bar- 
 ley, oats, pease, beans, and buck-wheat; madder, 
 rape-seed, hops, tobacco, clover-seed, mustard-seed, 
 flax, hemp, poppy-oil, and some other productions, 
 are raised beneficially, both for home consumption 
 and for exportation. As the inhabitants are in every 
 thing averse to innovation or improvement, the im- 
 plements of husbandry are in a rude state, and very 
 little variation is made from the examples set by 
 their ancestors some centuries ago.^ The various 
 machines used in England for abridging animal la- 
 10 
 
 LANDS. 
 
 bour in husbandry are unknown, and the use of hu- Netherbtlands. 
 man beings in many operations is still retained there, *<^v^/'^ 
 for which horses and machhiery are adopted with 
 us. The same aversion to innovate is seen in the 
 management of the cows, the sheep, and the pigs ; 
 the races not having been improved by crossing as 
 in some other countries. The horses seem to have 
 drawn more attention, and the race commonly seen 
 is excellent for agricultural purposes, and for the road. 
 
 The mines of this kingdom form but an inconsi- Mines.-^. 
 derable portion of its wealth. They are wholly con- 
 fined to the southern provinces of Liege, Hainault, 
 and Namur, and yield only iron, calamine, and coals. 
 The quantity of iron annually produced is, on an 
 average, about 1000 tons, of calamine, about 750 
 tons, and of coals, 2500 tons. The turf commonly 
 used for fuel is valued at L.500,000 annually. The 
 clay-pits in the northern provinces, from which their 
 porcelain is made, and the stone quarries in the 
 southern provinces, especially in Liege, are consi- 
 derable sources of wealth. 
 
 The fisheries of Holland, which were in some mea* Fisherieries. 
 sure the foundation of its national prosperity and 
 naval power, have greatly declined under the politi- 
 cal calamities which the last thirty years have wit- 
 nessed, and are yet by no means restored to their 
 former flourishing state. At the beginning of the 
 last century, the fisheries gave occupation to about 
 60,000 families, and consequently supported 300,000 
 persons; at present, the families so employed do 
 not exceed 20,000. At that period, 1500 busses, 
 of 40 tons each, were annually equipped for the her- 
 ring fishery, whereas, in the year 1818, their num- 
 ber did not exceed 200. The whale and cod-fish- 
 eries now employ not more than 60 ships ; and the 
 fishery on their coasts, which once supplied the mar- 
 kets of England, is much diminished, though it still 
 employs about 6000 boats. The whole of the gross 
 product of the fisheries is estimated, by Dutch writ- 
 ers, at about L.l, 000,000 Sterling annually. 
 
 Although much declined from its former, emi- Commmerce. 
 nence, the foreign trade of the Netherlands is con- 
 siderable, and, since the foundation of the new king- 
 dom, has gone on gradually, though not rapidly, in- 
 creasing. The period of the most prosperous con- 
 dition of the foreign trade of Holland was that com- 
 mencing with the first voyage to the East Indies, un- 
 der Cornelius Houtman, in 1595, who seized a large 
 portion of the possessions of Spain, or rather of Por- 
 tugal, then subjected to Spain. The East India 
 Company was established in 1602. It conquered the 
 Molucca Islands in l6lS ; established at Batavia, on 
 the Island of Java, the central poiat of their com- 
 merce and power, and opened a lucrative trade with 
 Japan. From 1620 to 1650, Brazil and the West 
 India possessions of Holland were acquired, and 
 their establishment at the Cape of Good Hope was 
 founded. In the middle of the seventeenth century, 
 from 1640 to its close, the foreign trade of Holland 
 to that of Great Britain bore the proportion of five 
 to one. In the beginning of the nineteenth century, 
 the trade of Holland, as compared with that of Eng- 
 land, gradually declined, and the events which fol- 
 lowed the Revolution in France reduced it to a very- 
 low ebb. 
 
NETHERLANDS. 
 
 69 
 
 Netherlands. Since the union of the two countries, the Bata- 
 vians have become a more commercial people than 
 before, and, on the whole, their foreign commerce is 
 reaching a respectable station among the European 
 nations. Since the year 1815, the average number 
 of vessels, under the Netherland flag, that have pass- 
 ed the Sound, has amounted to about I6OO. At 
 present, the commerce of the Netherlands with Eng- 
 land amounts to about 44,000,000 Dutch florins; 
 with France, 38,000,000; with Spain, Italy, and 
 Germany, 30,000,000 each ; with the East Indies, 
 36,000,000 ; and with the West Indies, 29,000,000. 
 Holland requires from foreign countries more than 
 half of its bread corn, salt, wine, fuel, and metals ; 
 the former is, indeed, in some measure supplied 
 from the southern parts of the newly established 
 kingdom. The principal articles of export are cheese, 
 butter, madder, tobacco, linen, paper, laces, cloths, 
 leather, arms, cutlery, herrings and stock-fish, corn, 
 spirits, whalebone, seed and fish oils, tobacco-pipes, and 
 many articles of less note. Besides the exportation 
 of its native commodities, this country has a consi- 
 derable commerce in the valuable productions of 
 both the Indies, whieh are brought to their ports, 
 and from thence re-exported by sea to the more 
 northern countries, or transmitted, by means of the 
 navigable canals and great rivers, to the centre of 
 middle Europe. This transit trade has in some 
 years amounted to 36,000,000 pounds of coffee, 
 12,000,000 pounds of cotton wool, 14,000 hogsheads 
 of sugar, 5000 pipes of rum, 100,000 pounds of 
 cloves, 160,000 pounds of nutmegs, and 50,000 
 pounds of mate, besides other valuable spices, 
 jreign Do- The foreign settlements belonging to the kingdom 
 inions. Qf jj^g Netherlands, having been given back by Great 
 Britain at the treaty of Paris, are, in Asia, 1st, The 
 Island of Celebes, as far as the Dutch possessed it, 
 viz. Macassar on the west coast, with four fortresses 
 and several factories ; Monada, under which is Gor- 
 antolo, from which the principal exports are ivory, 
 gold, and diamonds. 2d, Banda, with nine surround- 
 ing small islands. 3d, Amboyna, whose principal pro- 
 ductions are cloves, mace, and cinnamon. 4th, Ti- 
 mor, one part of which belongs to Portugal, govern- 
 ed by a sub-prefect. 5tb, Ternate, the principal of 
 the Moluccas, where a civil and military governor 
 resides. 6th, Palembang, on the island of Sumatra. 
 And, 7th, Banjermassing, on the island of Borneo. 
 Tlie most considerable foreign establishment is, 
 however,^ on the Island of Java, where Batavia, 
 the capital, one of the largest cities of India, is 
 the seat of active and extensive commerce. The 
 number of subjects of the King of the Netherlands, 
 including all the different races on this island, are es- 
 timated at two millions and a half, and those on the 
 other islands which have been enumerated, a*" one 
 million and a half. Besides these there are some 
 factories of the Netherlands on the coasts of Coro- 
 mandel and Malabar, and some in Japan and Persia. 
 
 According to the statement of General Daendels,* Netherlands, 
 the income derived from these settlements in the ■"^^"'^ 
 year 1811 amounted to 25,890,000 florins, and the 
 expenditure to only 21,500,000; leaving a net pro- 
 duct of 4,390,000 florins, or 440,000 pounds Ster- 
 ling, at the service of the parent state. On the coast 
 of Guinea the Netherlands have thirteen factories 
 with forts, and small establishments. The principal 
 of these are Fort Nassau and Fort Elmina. The 
 number of their subjects is estimated at about 
 10,000. In South America this kingdom possesses 
 the province of Surinam in Guyana, which extends 
 over 6400 English square miles, and contains about 
 300,000 inhabitants, the greater part of whom are 
 negro slaves of the African race. In the West In- 
 dies, the Islands of Cura9oa, St Eustatia, and St 
 Martins, have been given back by Great Britain, and 
 are estimated to contain 40,000 inhabitants. These 
 islands are by no means fertile, and are principally 
 valuable as depots for commerce, especially Curagoa, 
 from whence large quantities of European goods 
 used to be exported to the settlements of Spain up- 
 on the continent. 
 
 The national income of the kingdom is derived Revenue 
 from various direct and indirect taxes, which, to- ^"^^jg^'P^"' 
 gether, amount, on an average, to about fourteen 
 Rhenish florins, or twenty-eight shillings Sterling, to 
 each individual. These taxes are varied according 
 to the exigencies of the state, as estimated in the an- 
 nual budget presented to the States- General. The 
 budget of 1818 is reduced lower than that of I8I6 
 by about one-tenth, the whole of which is covered by 
 taxes raised within the year, and includes the in- 
 terest on the public debt. The expenditure thus 
 covered is distributed in the following manner : — 
 
 Civil List, 
 The higher Boards of Government, 
 Secretaries of State, 
 Foreign Affairs, 
 Administration of Justice, 
 Office of Internal Affairs, 
 Protestant Worship, 
 Catholic Worship, 
 Public Instruction, 
 
 Department of Finances (including the 
 
 Interest on the National Debt), 
 Marine Department, 
 Army, 
 
 Water Department, for Dikes, Sluices, 
 
 Canals, &c. 
 Department of the Colonies, 
 Reserve Fund, 
 
 Rhenish Florins. 
 2,600,000 
 1,170,000 
 320,000 
 853,000 
 3,700,000 
 2,000,000 
 1,325,000 
 - 1,875,000 
 1,200,000 
 
 25,000,000 
 5,500,000 
 22,000,000 
 
 4,700,000 
 1,100,000 
 657,000 
 
 74,000,000 
 
 Or about L. 7,500,000 Sterling. Among other causes National 
 which contribute to retard, if not prevent, a cor- Debt. 
 
 * See Staat der neederl'dndischen oostindischen Bezittingen, onder hat bestuur, van der Gouverneur-General 
 HeriQan Wilhelm Daendels, in der Jahren 1808 — 1811. Gravenhage, 1814. 
 
70 
 
 N E T 
 
 Netherlands, dial union betwixt the two dissimilar portions of this 
 kingdom, the public debt is not the least consider- 
 able. This debt was almost wholly contracted by 
 the Seven United Provinces, either during their 
 existence as an independent government, or whilst 
 under the yoke of France, when it was greatly aug- 
 mented. It is also principally owing to the great 
 monied capitalists of Holland. The Belgians are 
 therefore dissatisfied with this burden, and the con- 
 sequent taxes with which the Union has loaded 
 them. The amount of the debt is as follows, viz 
 
 Deferred debt, on which no interest Florins. 
 
 is paid, - - 1,131,000,137 
 
 Active debt, bearing interest, 510,000,000 
 Belgian debt, principally contracted 
 formerly by Austria, and assumed 
 
 by the Netherland Government, 34,466,679 
 
 Nortolk. 
 
 1,675,466,816 
 
 Or nearly L. 170,000,000 Sterling. 
 Armal The peculiar situation of this kingdom, established 
 
 Force. under the auspices of Great Britain, and designed as 
 a check on the land side to act against any encroach- 
 ments of France, renders it necessary to maintain 
 many strong fortresses on the frontiers, and to keep 
 up a respectable land force. A chain of strong for- 
 tifications has been planned, and in part executed, 
 the expence of which is defrayed by the contribu- 
 tions inflicted on France when the Allies occupied it 
 after the battle of Waterloo. The army of the Ne- 
 therlands at present consists of about 62,000 men, 
 formed into six military divisions. The same con- 
 nection with Great Britain which induces the main- 
 tenance of so large a land force, has rendered it 
 unnecessary to support a proportionably extensive na- 
 val armament. At present the fleet consists only of 
 sixteen ships of the line and ten frigates, besides 
 smaller craft. There seems no disposition to in- 
 crease the number of their larger ships, but several 
 frigates and corvettes are now building and equip- 
 ping, which will somewhat augment that description 
 of force. 
 
 Money, In the Belgic Provinces the French decimal sys- 
 
 •inrMea weights and measures has been introduced, 
 
 sures. ^' i"eluctantly adopted, except in the com- 
 
 mercial cities. In the villages and small towns the 
 weights and measures are very various, differing in 
 almost each of them, but the decimal reckoning of 
 money much more extensively prevails. In the 
 Dutch Provinces accounts are kept in gilders, stivers, 
 and pfenningers. The gilder is fifty-five kreutzers, 
 or twelve Saxon groschen. The gold coins are, 
 ruyders, value fourteen florins Rhenish, and ducats, 
 five florins five stivers. Coins have recently been 
 made of one, two, and three guilders, and of half and 
 quarter guilders, which has been done to facilitate 
 the decimal arithmetic in current transactions. Mints 
 for coining these pieces are established both in Am- 
 sterdam and Brussels. The old silver coins still 
 most commonly current are, ducatoons, three florins 
 three stivers, rix-dollars, two florins ten stivers, and 
 lowenthalars, forty-two stivers. The common weight 
 of commerce is the shipspound of three hundred 
 weight. The tonnage of ships is estimated by lasts, 
 4 
 
 Population. 
 
 NOR 
 
 consisting of two tons, and the ton is a space so large Netherlands 
 as to contain as much sea-water as weighs 2000 
 pounds ; thus a ship of 200 tons is of such capacity , 
 as to hold, when filled with sea-water, 400,000 pounds 
 weight. 
 
 See Metelenkamp, de toestand van Nederlande ; 
 Van der Palm, Geschieden redekunsiig Gederkscrift, 
 van Neederlands HersteUing ; Almanac Royal des 
 Pah-has pour I'an 1819 ; Handels-Geschicte von 
 Flandern und Brabant, Von A. F. W. Crome ; An- 
 leilimg zur kentniss der Belgischen Landwirthshqft, 
 Von J. N. Schwerz; Radcliffe's Report on the Agri- 
 culture of Eastern and Western Flanders ; Abbe 
 M ann's Communications to the Board of Agriculture s 
 Jacob's View of Germany and Holland, 1820. 
 
 (ww.) 
 
 NORFOLK, an English maritime county, bound- Boundaries, 
 ed on the northern and north-eastern sides by the Extent, and 
 German Ocean; on the south and south-east by^i"«ions. 
 the county of Suffblk ; and on the west by the coun- 
 ties of Lincoln and Cambridge. The shape is near- 
 ly that of an ellipsis bounded by a convex line, a lit- 
 tle indented on the western extremity. Its greatest 
 length is fifty-nine miles, and its greatest breadth 
 thirty-eight. Its square contents, as calculated by 
 the late Arthur Young, amounts to 1830 square 
 miles, or 1,171,000 acres. It is divided into thirty- 
 three hundreds, and contains 1 city, 30 market 
 towns, and 722 parishes. 
 
 According to the enumeration of 181 1, the num- 
 ber of houses was 52,807 ; that of families 62,815. 
 The families employed in agriculture were 31,454; 
 those employed in trade and nlanufactures 23,082 ; 
 and 82'^9 were engaged in other occupations. The 
 inhabitants were 291,999, of whom 138,099 were 
 males, and 153,910 females. In the preceding year 
 the baptisms of males were 4741, of females 4671 ; 
 the burials of males were 2800, of females 2920; 
 the marriages were 2364. 
 
 The surface of this county presents less variety F^ce of the 
 than any other in England. It is generally a level Country, 
 plain, with few undulations, and no bold or abrupt 
 elevations. With the exception of some recently 
 planted districts around the seats of noblemen and 
 gentlemen, the woody parts of the county are very 
 inconsiderable, and there is generally a great scarcity 
 of the more umbrageous trees. The streams have 
 almost all a languid and sombre appearance. Though, 
 to the traveller of taste, the sameness and uniformity 
 is wearisome, yet to him who directs his attention to 
 the wealth and comforts of the districts through 
 which he journeys, few countries can be more pleas- 
 ing. The number and substantial appearance of the 
 farm-houses, and even the cottages, the condition of 
 the roads and fences, and the high cultivation of the 
 fields, are marks of rural prosperity that are no 
 where more striking. Some few portions on the 
 eastern side of the county form exceptions to this 
 general description, but they are inconsiderable when 
 compared with the whole. 
 
 From its exposure to the North Sea, the winters climate and 
 in Norfolk are usually severely cold, and the powers Soil, 
 of vegetation are retarded to a later period of the 
 year than in the western counties. In the hundred 
 of Marshland the climate is not only cold, but damp, 
 
NOR 
 
 Norfolk, and the inhabitants are subject to intermitting fevers, 
 ^.-"^ which commonly attack all strangers who come to 
 reside in that district. The soil of Norfolk is gene- 
 rally a light sand, or sandy loam, for though a part 
 of the fens are within this county, and the district of 
 Marshland consists of ooze formed by deposition 
 from the sea, as well as a narrow tract of land on the 
 banks of the river Waveney, yet these form but 
 trifling exceptions to the general character of the 
 soil of the county. Mr Arthur Young, in his 
 Agricultural Survey of Norfolk, has made the at- 
 tempt to classify the soils, and estimate their quanti- 
 ties. The difficulty of doing this with accuracy must 
 be acknowledged by every one who considers the 
 nice gradations which soils discover, and how various 
 are their modifications. We give this estimate rather 
 as an approximation to, than as absolute exactness : 
 
 Soils. Square Miles. Acres. 
 
 Light sand, - ogo 140,800 
 
 Good sand, - 420 268,000 
 
 Marshland clay, - 60 38,400 
 
 Various loams, - 900 576,000 
 
 Rich loams, - 148 94,720 
 
 Peat, - - 82 52,480 
 
 Agriculture. As the landof Norfolk, from the representation here 
 given, appears to be far from being naturally of a fer- 
 tile description, the great amount of its productions 
 must be attributed to the excellent system of agri- 
 culture which has been here introduced and extended, 
 and which, though scarcely calculated for most of 
 the other districts of our island, is admirably adapt- 
 ed for the soil and climate where it is pursued. 
 The foundation on which the whole system of its 
 agriculture is built is the cultivation of turnips. 
 These light soils are easily brought into a fine 
 tilth, by repeated ploughings and harrowings, and 
 their produce maintains so large a portion of live 
 stock, that their manure, when carefully preserved and 
 properly distributed, enriches the soil at every succes- 
 sive course more than it is impoverished by the crops 
 of corn that are grown upon it. The land is thus in a 
 constantly progressive state of improvement. The soil 
 being so light, no deep ploughing is required, but such 
 a repetition of moving it as will be sufficient to de- 
 stroy the surface weeds, and to pulverize it effectu- 
 ally. This is easily effected by well constructed 
 light ploughs, drawn by two horses, who are guided 
 by reins in the hands of the man who directs the 
 plough. In many instances a four course system of 
 rotation is followed, consisting of turnips, barley, ar- 
 tificial grasses, and wheat. In some instances the 
 artificial grasses are left two years, and then, after 
 three or four ploughings, the wheat is sown. A very 
 common rotation, provincially termed the six course 
 shift, is wheat, barley (with or without clover), tur- 
 nips, barley or oats, clover mown for hay, clover fed, 
 and then wheat again. Both these systems, with the 
 varieties of each, are founded on the principle that 
 as much land shall be cultivated with green crops, 
 which furnish sustenance for cattle, and thereby pro- 
 duce manure, as is destined to the growth of corn. 
 The system of drill-husbandry is carried to a great 
 extent, and the practice of planting or dibbling grain 
 
 NOR 71 
 
 of all kinds has been of late years very much and Norfolk, 
 beneficially increased. By perseverance in their ex- 
 cellent plans, many extensive portions of this county, 
 especially in the north-eastern part of it, which were 
 a few years ago deemed incapable of producing a 
 wheat crop, now yield abundant harvests of that 
 grain. Oats are but a small object of cultivation, 
 but barley is deemed the most appropriate grain to 
 the soil and climate, and is consequently sowed to 
 the greatest extent, occupying nearly one-fourth of 
 the arable land of the county. The increase of 
 grain varies very considerably. On the heavy soils 
 of Marshland and Flegg the produce of wheat is fre- 
 quently six quarters, and of oats ten quarters to the 
 acre ; but as these districts form but a small propor- 
 tion of the whole, the average quantity of wheat in 
 the county is about three quarters to the acre, and 
 of barley four quarters. In no part of the kingdom 
 have the various mechanical inventions for facilitat- 
 ing agricultural labour been so generally diffused as 
 in Norfolk, and the implements used there may well 
 serve as models for the other counties. Besides the 
 common grains, wheat, barley, oats, pease, and beans, 
 this county yields mustard, saffron, flax, and hemp, 
 but none of them in such quantities as to merit espe- 
 cial notice. 
 
 The live stock of this county possess few peculiar- Live Stock, 
 ly discriminative features. The horses, crossed by 
 the breed of Suffolk, are bony, active, and hardy, 
 and well adapted for husbandry or the road, and are 
 almost universally used for agricultural labour, to the 
 exclusion of oxen. The native cows were a small 
 breed, not unlike those of Alderney and Guernsey, 
 but have been improved by a mixture with the cows 
 of the richer adjoining counties. The greater part 
 of the cattle fattened in Norfolk are bought from the 
 Scotch drovers, who bring them to the fairs about 
 Michaelmas. They are fed on the banks of the rivers 
 on the natural grass, or on the arable farms on tur- 
 nips, till they become fit for slaughter. The number 
 of Scotch cattle annually bought by the Norfolk far- 
 mers is estimated to vary from 15,000 to 20,000. The 
 original sheep of Norfolk were a hardy race, with 
 horns, black feet, and black noses, the fleece yield- 
 ing about two pounds of wool of third rate fineness, 
 and the quarters weighing, when fattened, about 
 eighteen pounds. They were well calculated for the 
 land when it was less highly cultivated than at pre- 
 sent, as they were good travellers, and eat the herb- 
 age very close; but as the improved systems of hus- 
 bandry have been extended, this native breed has 
 sometimes been crossed by others, and in many in- 
 stances has given place to the South Down sheep. 
 The increase of arable farms has diminished the dai- 
 ries, and consequently the pigs which were reared 
 from them, and the practice of fattening hogs for ba- 
 con is scarcely known. 
 
 The poultry of Norfolk has been long celebrated, Poultry and 
 and vast quantities of it are conveyed to the London 
 markets. The turkeys are most highly prized from 
 their superior delicacy of flavour. The dry nature 
 of the soil is deemed peculiarly favourable to the 
 rearing of these birds, and the numbers that are sent 
 from it to other districts amount to hundreds of thou- 
 sands. No part of England is so abundantly stock- 
 
72 
 
 Norfolk. 
 
 Manufac- 
 tures. 
 
 Commerce. 
 
 NOR 
 
 • 
 
 ed with game, especially pheasants and partridges, 
 as Norfolk. They are sedulously preserved by the 
 landlords, and generally reserved in the leases, so 
 that they have obtained the character of property, 
 and are commonly respected as such by adjommg 
 proprietors of estates. Great numbers of rabbits are 
 bred on extensive warrens in many parts of the coun. 
 ty, both for the sake of the flesh and the wool. 
 
 Norfolk has been long and still continues an ex- 
 tensive manufacturing county. The Flemings first 
 settled here as early as 1336, and made woollen 
 goods at the village of Worstead, from whence the 
 name of that place was applied to the thread made 
 of the longer kinds of wool. Under the persecu- 
 tions of the Duke of Alva, in Flanders, many more 
 natives of that country found refuge in and near 
 Norwich. The fabrics have indeed successively 
 changed with the change of fashions, and the fluctu- 
 ations of markets, but manufactures have been con- 
 tinned through many vicissitudes, to the present 
 time. The chief goods now manufactured are 
 bombazeens, camblets for the markets of China, and 
 shawls of various and elegant kinds, principally for 
 home consumption. This last article, mtroduced 
 when the demand for stuffs from Spain ceased, has 
 been highly beneficial to the city of Norwich and 
 its vicinity. The introduction of machinery in the 
 northern counties had destroyed the habit of spin- 
 ning, which, a few years ago, universally prevailed 
 among all the females of the peasants' families in this 
 and the adjoining counties. Besides the manufac- 
 tories of Norwich and its vicinity, in Diss, and some 
 other parts of the county, some inferior kinds of bone 
 lace are made, but the quantity produced is slowly 
 and gradually diminishing. , • , • 
 
 Scarcely any of the goods manufactured m this 
 county are sent to foreign markets directly ; those 
 destined for distant countries being almost wholly 
 exported from London. The commerce is not- 
 withstanding very extensive from the two ports of 
 Yarmouth and Lynn. Yarmouth, in regard to the 
 number of its ships, is the eighth port in the king- 
 dom, having more than 300 registered vessels. It 
 is well situated for trade, and has one of the finest 
 quays in Europe; but the depth of water is not 
 sufficient for ships of great draft, and the bar at the 
 mouth of the harbour is a serious impediment. The 
 great support of the shipping of Yarmouth is the 
 herring-fishery. These fish are caught by the Yar- 
 mouth men, in June and July, on the shores, and in 
 the lochs of Scotland, and at a later period on their 
 own coasts. They are first cleaned, and then slight- 
 ly salted ; after which they are hung up in large ap- 
 propriate houses, where, by the application of the 
 smoke of wood fires, the preparation of curing them 
 is completed. This fishery usually yields from 
 80,000 to 100,000 barrels of red herrings, each bar- 
 rel containing 1000 fish. This branch of industry, 
 besides the employment of the seamen, gives occu- 
 pation to several thousand artificers of various kinds. 
 Besides this fishery, the exports of Yarmouth as well 
 as Lynn, and the smaller ports of Wells, Blackney, 
 Burnham, and Clay, afford great employment to 
 shipping by the surplus quantity of corn which the 
 county produces and sends to London and other 
 
 NOR 
 
 ports. The imports at these towns consist of tim- Norfbik. 
 ber, hemp, wine, spirits, and foreign fruit, which, 
 by means of the navigable rivers, are forwarded to 
 the interior adjoining counties. 
 
 The rivers are sufficiently easy of navigation to Interior 
 render canals unnecessary, and there are conse- N^^^S^^io"- 
 quently none in the county, though some have been 
 commenced, and, after languishing some time, have 
 been abandoned without being completed. The 
 Great Ouse is a navigable river, which rises in 
 Northamptonshire, enters this county at Downham, 
 and empties itself into the sea near Lynn. It has a 
 great rise of tide ; is navigable for barges twenty- 
 four miles from its mouth, and for boats as far as 
 Bedford ; thus affording water communication with 
 seven of the midland counties. The Little Ouse 
 rises in the southern part of this county ; at Thet- 
 ford it receives the small river Thet, and from 
 thence is navigable to its junction with the Great 
 Ouse, on the borders of Cambridgeshire. The 
 Waveney rises within nine or ten feet of the source 
 of the Little Ouse, and takes a directly opposite 
 course. It has many sinuosities, as its name denotes, 
 becomes navigable at Bungay, receives the Yare at 
 Burgh, and empties itself into the sea at Yarmouth. 
 The Bure rises'near Aylsham, and, after joining the 
 Thone, near North Walsham, becomes navigable for 
 boats. It falls into the Yare previous to its meeting 
 the sea. The Yare rises near Attleburgh, becomes 
 navigable at Norwich, and, after receiving the wa- 
 ters of the Tass and the Wensum, merges in the Wa- 
 veney. The Nar rises near Litcham, has a short 
 course to the sea at Lynn, from whence it is navi- 
 gable upwards to Narborough, a distance of fifteen 
 miles. 
 
 The whole of the county is within the diocese of Political 
 Norwich ; the bishop of which see has his palace and State, 
 cathedral in the city. The titles derived from the 
 county are Duke to the family of Howard ; Earl of 
 Norwich to the Scotch Duke of Gordon, and of 
 Yarmouth to the Marquis of Hertford, Marquis and 
 Viscount Townsend ; Viscount Thetford to the Duke 
 of Grafton; Barons Walsingham, Calthorpe, Woode- 
 house, Hobart, Walpole, and Nelson. Norfolk sends 
 twelve members to the House of Commons, viz. two 
 for the county, and two each for Norwich, Yar- 
 mouth, Lynn, Thetford, and Castle-Rising. 
 
 This county contains few Roman antiquities, but Antiquiues, 
 some of Saxon date are to be seen in the cathedral, 
 the episcopal palace, the gates of Yarmouth and 
 Lynn, and in several piles of ruins of ecclesiastical 
 edifices, and in some of the parish churches. Among 
 many distinguished natives of this county, the most 
 celebrated have been Queen Anne Boleyn, Dr Sa- 
 muel Clarke, Sir Edward Coke, Archbishops Her- 
 ring and Parker, Lord Nelson, Richard Porson, Sir 
 Robert Walpole, and the Right Honourable W^illiam 
 Windham. 
 
 In so large a county many seats of noblemen and 
 gentlemen are naturally expected to be found. It 
 would far exceed the limits which the nature of this 
 work admits to enumerate one half of them, but the 
 most remarkable are the following : 
 
 Bickling, Lord Suffield ; Binley Hall, Earl of Rose- 
 bery; Bracon Ash, T. F. Berney, Esq.; Bucken- 
 
NOR 
 
 Norfolk ham House, Lord Petre ; Costessey Hall. Sir Wm. 
 
 Nortllam Jerningham ; Felbrigg, Captain Lukin ; Harling, Sir 
 tonslS' '^o'^" Sebright; Hethel Hall, Sir Thomas Beevor; 
 
 \.,,0^y..m^ Hillington Park, Sir Martin Folkes ; Houghton Hall, 
 Watson Taylor, Esq. ; Intwood Hall, Earl of Buck- 
 inghamshire; Gunton, Lord SufBeld ; Kiraberley Hall, 
 Lord Woodehouse; Kirby Bedon, Sir John Berney ; 
 Melton Constable, Sir J. H. Astley; Quiddenham, 
 Earl of Albemarle; llainham Hall, Marquis of Town- 
 send ; Wareham, Sir M. B. Folkes ; Wolterton Hall, 
 Earl of Orford ; Oxburgh Hall, Sir Richard Bodding- 
 field. 
 
 The towns whose population exceeds 1500 inha- 
 bitants are the following : 
 
 Houses. Inhabitants. 
 Norwich, - - 8521 37,256 
 Lynn, - - 2318 10,259 
 Wells, - - 603 2,683 
 Thetford, - - 528 2,4-50 
 North Walsham, - 447 2,035 
 Aylsham, - - 362 1,760 
 Yarmouth, - 3576 17,977 
 
 East Dereham, - 554 2,888 
 Diss, - - 352 2,590 
 
 SwafFham, - 485 2,350 
 
 Market Downham, 383 1>771 
 Harlestone, - 278 1,516 
 
 See A. Young's and Kent's General View of the 
 Agriculture of Norfolk; Topographical History of 
 Norfolk; The Norfolk Tour, 1808; Booth's History 
 of Norwich; Gough's Topograph!/ ; Richards's His- 
 tory of Lynn ; Brayley and Britton's Beauties of Eng- 
 land, Vol. n. (w. w.) 
 
 Extent. NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, an inland county of 
 
 England, nearly in the centre of the kingdom. It 
 is of an irregular and very extended figure, being 
 about 67 miles in length. In the widest part it is 30 
 miles, and in the narrowest not more than eight in 
 breadth. Its contents are 965 square miles, or 
 617^600 acres. The land is thus appropriated; 
 about 290,000 acres are in arable cultivation, 
 235,000 acres are in pasture, and about 86,000 are 
 uncultivated, or occupied as forests and woodlands. 
 It contains one city, eleven market towns, 301 parish- 
 es, and is divided into 1901 liberties. 
 
 Population. ji^g ygj^P 1811, the county was returned as con- 
 taining 28,957 houses, with SO,86o families, and 
 i^i,S53 inhabitants. The families employed in agri- 
 culture were 15,235, those engaged in trade and 
 manufactures were 12,100, and those of other de- 
 scriptions 3525. Of the inhabitants, the males were 
 68,279, and the females 73,074. In the preceding 
 year, the baptisms of males were 1973, of females 
 1896 ; the burials were of males 1276, and of females 
 1323, the marriages were 1090. 
 
 Boundaries. From its oblong shape, lying obliquely across the 
 middle of the kingdom, Northamptonshire comes in 
 contact with, and is bounded by, a greater number 
 of other counties than any other division of Eng. 
 land. Proceeding from the north, on its western 
 side, it touches upon Lincolnshire, Rutlandshire, 
 Leicestershire, Warwickshire, and Oxfordshire ; and 
 on its eastern side, it is bounded by Buckingham- 
 shire, Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Cara- 
 
 VOL. VI. PART I. 
 
 NOR 
 
 73 
 
 bridgeshire. The whole of the county is within the Northamp. 
 diocese of Peterborough, with the exception of three tonshire. 
 parishes that are under the see of Lincoln. s-^v^-^ 
 
 It is generally a pleasant country, with such un- Face of the 
 dulations as give an agreeable variety ; but, owing to Country, 
 the numerous inclosures, the prospects are not in 
 general extensive, except upon the summits of the 
 higher hills. The centre of the county is a level 
 elevation, from which the rivers have their rise, and 
 descending in opposite directions, take a course both 
 to the German Ocean and the English Channel. 
 
 The agriculture of this county partakes so much Agriculture, 
 of the nature of the several counties that border it as 
 to be almost as various, and not to merit any parti, 
 cular description. The most important rural pursuit 
 ■ is the grazing of cattle, for which the excellent pas- 
 tures are admirably adapted. These, when fattened, 
 are sent in weekly droves to the market of Smith- 
 field for the supply of the metropolis, where they are 
 highly esteemed. The arable land produces excel- 
 lent wheat, beans, and oats ; but the soil in general 
 is not well calculated to raise good barley. The ar- 
 tificial grasses, clover, trefoil, sanfoin, and rye-grass, 
 are very extensively cultivated, and, aided by tur- 
 nips, form important articles of food for the flocks 
 and herds. 
 
 Within this county are several large forests be- Forests, 
 longing to the Crown, with two chaces, over which 
 the King has certain rights. The largest of these 
 is the Forest of Rockingham, in the northern part 
 of the county ; it extends over 11,000 acres. The 
 land, in many instances, belongs to individuals; 
 but the royal deer have, under certain restrictions,' 
 the range over the whole. Whittlewood Forest con- 
 tains about 5000 acres. It is stocked with abou-t 
 1000 deer ; a proportion of which, according to an- 
 cient prescription, are killed annually for the royal 
 household and for the great officers of the Govern- 
 ment, who receive them as a matter of right, attach- 
 ed to their appointments. This forest contains much 
 excellent naval timber, which is reserved for the use 
 of the Government ; but, from the reports of the 
 commissioners, appears to be very negligently pre- 
 served, and very injudiciously managed. Salcey Fo- 
 rest is about 1850 acres. This tract was formerly 
 covered with most valuable ship timber, but has fur- 
 nished for the navy but a very small proportion of 
 what it is capable of. The mixture of opposite in- 
 terests in this kind of property diminishes its produc- 
 tiveness to all the parties interested in it. The un- 
 derwood does not belong to the Crown. The in- 
 dividuals who own it cut it down every twenty-one 
 years. During the following nine years it is inclosed, 
 and for the remaining twelve is open for the deer to 
 feed on the land. The Crown enjoys only this right 
 of pasture and the timber trees. The pasture does 
 not belong exclusively to it, for many of the sur- 
 rounding parishes possess also a right to turn their 
 cattle into the forests, under ancient grants and pre- 
 scriptions, and with limitations, of a complex nature, 
 which are productive of perpetual dissensions and li- 
 tigations. The rangership of these forests is heredi- 
 tary in the Dukes of Grafton, who have, during the 
 last century, derived from it a very large income, 
 whilst the revenue to the Crown has been very trif- 
 
 K 
 
74 
 
 Northamp- 
 tonshire. 
 
 Rivers and 
 Canals. 
 
 Antiquities 
 
 Manufac- 
 tures. 
 
 Titles, &c 
 
 NOR 
 
 ling ; scarcely amounting to L. 200 fer annum on an 
 average of the last hundred years. _ 
 
 The only navigable river in this county is the 
 Nen or Nine. It rises in the western part, flows 
 across, and then runs north till it enters by Lm- 
 cjolnshire into the German Ocean The Welland 
 rises in the county, soon -forms the boundary be- 
 tween it and Leicestershire ana Rutlandshire, and 
 only becomes navigable after entering Lincolnshire 
 «t Stamford The other rivers, the Ouse, the 
 to" Leam, and the Charwell, though they 
 have their sources in Northamptonshire, are but in- 
 considerable rivulets till they enter the contiguous 
 counties. The benefits of internal navigation have 
 been very freely bestowed here by the canals, which 
 afford great facilities to intercourse. The Oxtord 
 Canal connects it with that city. The Grand June 
 tion Canal, communicating on one hand with Lon- 
 don, and on the other with Liverpool and Manches- 
 ter, passes through the county. The Grand Union 
 Caia^i connects it with Leicester. Thus the heavy 
 products, especially coals, are brought to every part 
 on very moderate terms. , . . 
 
 The remains of Roman and Saxon antiquities are 
 ■ very numerous. Among the former, the Watl.ng 
 Street Road, the Ermine Street Road, the camps ot 
 Arbury, of the Boroughs, and of Rainsbury, and the 
 tessela^ed pavements at Cotterstock at Stanwick, and 
 at Woodford Field, have engaged the attention ot 
 Stukely and other eminent antiquarians. As there 
 were more than sixty monasteries and other religious 
 houses at the period of the Reformation, whose traces 
 may now be seen, they, with the baronial castles 
 present a wide field for the researcnes of the lovers 
 of antiquity; but the bare enumeration of them 
 would be incompatible with the limits of this work. 
 
 The manufactures of this county are chiefly ot a 
 domestic nature, and carried on in the dwellings of 
 the workmen. Boots and shoes are made for foreign 
 markets, and, in war, for the supply of the army. 
 Both fine thread and silk lace are made, and ford 
 employment to the females, who are taught the art 
 in schools for that purpose, and attain great perfec- 
 tion. The principal places for collectmg the lace 
 are Northampton and Wellingborough A large 
 quantity of horse whips were made at Daventr^, 
 and though diminished in some degree, the trade is 
 still continued there. , p 
 
 The titles derived from this county are Duke ot 
 Grafton ; Marquis of Northampton ; Earls of Peter- 
 borough, Fitzwilliam, Spencer, and Harrington ; Vis- 
 count Sackville; Barons Braybrooke and Lilford ; 
 and as second titles, Baron Budeigh to the Marqu s 
 of Exeter, Viscount Milton to Earl Fitzwilham, Vis- 
 count Brackley to the Earl of Bridgewater, and Ba- 
 Jon Finch to the Earl of Winchelsea. The members 
 returned to the House of Commons are nine, viz. 
 two for the county, two each for Northampton, Pe- 
 terborough, and Brackley, and one for Higham Fer- 
 
 '^^The most celebrated natives of Northamptonshire 
 have been, Robert Browne, founder of the sect ot 
 Independents; Mrs Chapone; John Dryden the 
 poet Fletcher the dramatist; Fuller the historian 
 and divine; Harrington, author of the Oceana; Her- 
 
 N O R 
 
 vev, author of Meditations and other works; Knolles Nororthamp 
 the historian of, the Turks; Dr William Paley; tononshire 
 Bishop Wilkins, and Thomas Woolston 
 
 NoiJorthum- 
 beberland. 
 
 The catalogue of all the noblemen and gentle- 
 men's seats in this county would extend to a long 
 list, and we, therefore, can only notice the most re- 
 markable of them. 
 
 Castle Ashby, Marquis of Northampton ; Ald- 
 winckle. Lady Lilford; Althorpe, Earl Spencer; Ape- 
 thorpe. Earl of Westmoreland ; Brinworth, Walter 
 Strickland, Esq. ; Burleigh, Marquis of Exeter ; Ca- 
 nons Ashby, Sir J. E. Dryden; Cottesbroke, Sir James 
 Lanham ; Courteen Hall, Sir William Wake; Dean, 
 Earl of Cardigan ; Drayton, Duke of Dorset; Easton 
 Neston, Earl Pomfret ; Ecton, Samuel Isled, Esq.; 
 Fawsley Park, Sir Charles Knightley; Finedon Hall, 
 Sir William Dolben ; Horton, Sir Robert Gunning ; 
 Kirby, George Finch Hatton, Esq.; Lamport, Sir 
 Justinian Isham ; Lilford, Lord Lilford; Martin's 
 Thorpe, Earl of Denbigh; Milton Abbey, Earl 
 Fitzwilliam ; Rockingham Castle, Lord Sondes ; 
 Salcey Forest, Earl Euston ; Wakefield Lawn, Duke 
 of Grafton ; Walgrave, Sir James Langham ; Whit- 
 tlebury. Lord Southampton. 
 
 The towns whose population exceeds 1000 are 
 the following : — 
 
 Northampton, 
 Peterborough (city). 
 Wellingborough, 
 Kettering, 
 Daventry, 
 Towcester, 
 Oundle, 
 Long Buckby, 
 Brackley, 
 Rothwell, 
 
 Middleton Cheney, 
 Raunds, 
 Welford, 
 King's Sutton, 
 King's Thorpe, 
 
 See Pitt's General Viepj of the Agriculture, &c. of 
 Northamptonshire; Morton's Natural History of 
 Northamptonshire ; Whalley's History and Antiqui- 
 ties of Northamptonshire ; Brayley and Britton s 
 Beauties of England and Wales, Vol. H. 
 
 (w. w. ) 
 
 NORTHUMBERLAND, an extensive county in BBoBoundarie 
 England, situated on its northern extremity, on the ^^'^Jf 
 borders of Scotland, from which it is separated part- 
 ly by the river Tweed, which, during the latter part 
 of its course, flows between this county and Ber- 
 wickshire, and partly by a line supposed to be drawn 
 over the mountainous region on the west and north- 
 west, where it meets with Roxburghshire. The 
 other boundaries are the German Ocean on the east, 
 Durham on the south, Cumberland on the west, and 
 on the north two small districts called Norhamshire 
 and Islandshire, which, though belonging by their 
 situation to Northumberland, form a part of the 
 county of Durham, along with another tract, called 
 Bedlingtonshire, on the south-east. But in a gene- 
 ral description, it is unnecessary to attend to these 
 12 
 
 Houses. 
 
 Inhabitants. 
 
 1600 
 
 8427 
 
 829 
 
 3674 
 
 746 
 
 3999 
 
 732 
 
 3242 
 
 550 
 
 2758 
 
 479 
 
 2245 
 
 377 
 
 1833 
 
 368 
 
 1631 
 
 293 
 
 1580 
 
 330 
 
 1451 
 
 246 
 
 1172 
 
 211 
 
 1101 
 
 195 
 
 1024 
 
 229 
 
 1020 
 
 229 
 
 1009 
 
NOR 
 
 Northum- distinctions. The Tweed may, therefore, be con- 
 berland. sidered as the northern boundary of the county, 
 '"■^'^ "^-^ and, in this case, it will include the towns of Ber- 
 wick and Norham. Lindisfarne, or Holy Island, on 
 the north-east coast, which, in like manner, belongs 
 to Durham, is situated about two miles from the 
 mainland, opposite the mouth of the brook Lindis, 
 and accessible to all kinds of conveyance at low wa- 
 ter. Though about nine miles in circuit, it contains 
 little more than 1000 acres, half of which is sand- 
 banks. Tiiese several portions may extend to some- 
 thing more than 100 square miles, or about one- 
 twentieth part of the whole. In this view, North- 
 umberland is situated between 54° 51' and 55° 
 48' north latitude, and between 1° and 2° 27' 
 west longitude from London. Its greatest extent 
 from north to south is 64 miles, and from east to 
 west, it varies from about 46 miles, which is its 
 usual breadth between the river Tyne on the south 
 and the Coquet on the north, till it terminates at 
 Berwick, on the north, in a breadth of only five or 
 six miles. According to the authors of the AgricuU 
 tural Report, the extent of the whole is I98O square 
 miles, or 1,267,200 acres, of which nearly two-thirds 
 may be fit for cultivation. 
 Divisions. '^^ divided into six wards, namely, Tindale, Co- 
 
 quetdale, Glendale, Bamborough, Morpeth, and Cas- 
 tle, the first three comprising the western and 
 mountainous district, and the latter three the coast 
 lands on the east. These last, though extending 
 over only one-fourth of the county, are by far the 
 most wealthy and populous, owing chiefly to the 
 great coal-works in Castle ward, near the town of 
 Newcastle, and along the banks of the Tyne. It 
 contains five deanries and seventy. three parishes, all 
 of which are in the archdeaconry of Northumber- 
 land and diocese of Durham. 
 Surface. -^^^ ^^e western side of this county is mountainous, 
 
 from the boundary with Durham on the south, al- 
 most to the valley of the Tweed on the north ; but 
 this extensive tract, comprising more than a third of 
 the whole area, is not all of the same character ; the 
 northern, or Cheviot hills, extending to about 90,000 
 acres, being mostly all green nearly to their summits, 
 enclosing many narrow but fertile glens, and afford- 
 ing excellent pastures for the breed of sheep, to 
 which they have given their name ; while those to 
 the west and south are, in general, open, solitary 
 wastes, covered with heath, and of very little value. 
 On the coast, from the mouth of the Tyne to that 
 of the Tweed, and also on the north, for its whole 
 breadth from Belford to Mindrum, the country is, 
 with few exceptions, level and rich, with a soil, in 
 some places, a strong clay, and in others a dry loam ; 
 but almost every where very productive, under the 
 enlightened system of cultivation which prevails so 
 generally throughout Northumberland, 
 livers. '^^^ principal rivers are the Tyne, Blyth, Wans- 
 
 beck. Coquet, Aln, and Tweed, all of which fall in- 
 to the sea, carrying with them the tribute of many 
 smaller streams. The Till, which empties itself in- 
 to the Tweed, is also a considerable rivulet. The 
 Tyne and Tweed are by far the most important, the 
 tide flowing up the former sixteen miles, and up the 
 latter eight or ten miles, while the navigation of the 
 
 NOR 75 
 
 other rivers is confiiped to a small distance from their Northum- 
 mouths. Both of these have been long celebrated berland. 
 for their salmon-fisheries, which yield great rents, 
 and afford a valuable article of trade with London, 
 to which the fish are sent packed in pounded ice, 
 by which means they are presented in the market in 
 nearly as fresh a state as if they had been newly 
 taken from the water. 
 
 Northumberland has been long distinguished forcoal &c. 
 its subterraneous treasures, the main source of its 
 wealth and population. Of these, coal, which 
 abounds in most parts of it, is by far the most im- 
 portant. It is of the best quality in the south-east 
 quarter, on the banks of the Tyne, from whence 
 those vast quantities are exported which supply the 
 great consumption of the metropolis, as well as the 
 coasting and foreign trade. In some years, the ex- 
 port from the port of Newcastle has amounted to 
 upwards of 600,000 chaldrons of 53 cwt. each ; and 
 probably as much more has been sent from Sunder- 
 land and consumed in Northumberland and Dur- 
 ham, — the same coal field extending across the Tyne 
 to the latter county. This coal is all of the kind 
 called " caking coal," which melts and runs together 
 in the fire, and, when of the best quahty, leaves very 
 few ashes. Calculations have been made as to the 
 extent of this tract, the quantity which it may con- 
 tain, and the period when it must be exhausted ; 
 but on this last point there is a great difference of 
 opinion, some estimating that the supplies must cease 
 in 300 years, some not in less than 800, while by 
 others it is held to be almost inexhaustible. Of the 
 coal found in Bamborough, Islandshire, and Glen- 
 dale ward, the seams are, in general, thin, and the 
 quality inferior, not caking or burning to a cinder, 
 but yielding a great quantity of ashes. This is used 
 only for home consumption and for burning lime- 
 stone ; for the latter purpose it is well adapted ; and 
 through all this disti'ict, coal and lime are generally 
 found together. The south-east quarter, which is 
 so rich in coal, is destitute of limestone. Lead-ore 
 abounds in the mountains on the south-west, parti- 
 cularly towards the head of that branch of South 
 Tyne called Allendale, where it has long been 
 wrought to a considerable extent. Iron-ore is found 
 in many parts; stone marl near Tweedside, shell 
 marl in Glendale ward, and various sorts of sand- 
 stone, or freestone, are got in almost every quarter, 
 some of it affording tolerable slates for roofing, and 
 flags for floors. Excellent grindstones are raised in 
 those sandstone quarries, of which a great many are 
 exported from Camus and Warkworth. 
 
 The agriculture of Northumberland is an object Agriculture, 
 only second in interest and importance to its coal- 
 works. Almost all those branches of rural economy, 
 for one or more of which other districts are celebrat- 
 ed, may here be found combined into one system, 
 and conducted upon the same farms. One finds here 
 the Leicester sheep and the short-horned cattle of 
 Durham and Yorkshire, both in great perfection; 
 the turnips of Norfolk cultivated upon the drill sys- 
 tem of Scotland ; the well dressed fallows of East 
 Lothian and Berwickshire ; and that regular alterna- 
 tion of tillage and grazing which is, of all other 
 courses of cropping, the one best adapted to sustain 
 
76 
 
 NOR 
 
 Manufac- 
 tures. 
 
 Northum- and improve the productiveness of tlie soil. These 
 berland remarks apply in an especial manner to the northern 
 . " , part of the county, where the farms are in general 
 ^°"hi?e large, and the occupiers men of education and liberal 
 s^N,>-^ acquirements. This quarter has been long distin- 
 guished as a school of agriculture to which pupils 
 are sent, some of them gentlemen of fortune, from 
 various parts ;— a character for which it is eminently 
 indebted, as well as for other distinctions, to the late 
 Messrs CuUey, who were among the. most extensive 
 and successful farmers in the kingdom. The com- 
 mon period of leases, at least in the northern district, 
 is 21 years, though many are shorter, and on a few 
 estates no leases are granted. In 1795 the rental 
 was stated, conjecturally, at L. 605,000, m 1809 it 
 WildCattle was L. 916,857, 18s. ll^d. It k worthy of remark, 
 'that at Chillingham near Belford, the seat ot the 
 Earl of Tankerville, there is a herd of wild cattle, 
 perhaps the only remains of the ancient race to be 
 now found in a pure state. An accurate descriptioii 
 of them has been given in the Agricultural Report of 
 Messrs Bailey and CuUey. 
 
 Northumberland is not the seat of extensive ma- 
 nufactures ; its principal establishments of this kind 
 are derived from the coal trade, or connected with 
 it, such as ship-building, roperies, forges, &c. On 
 the Tyne there are a great many glass-houses, which 
 a few years ago paid a duty of L. 180,000 yearly ; 
 and Hexham has been long noted for its manufac- 
 ture of gloves. 
 
 . . The principal towns are Newcastle, North Shields, 
 
 Towns Po- Morpeth, Alnwick, Berwick, Norham, and Wooler. 
 pulation,&c. The county sends two members to Parliament, and 
 Newcastle, Morpeth, and Berwick, two each,— eight 
 in all. Northumberland contains a great many ele- 
 gant seats ; but for these, and for its history and an- 
 tiquities, we must refer to the Beauties of England, 
 Vol. XII., and the works there enumerated. 
 
 The census of 1811 gives the following returns for 
 this county : 
 
 Houses inhabited, - - - 28,258 
 
 uninhabited, - ' - 1,126 
 
 Families employed in agriculture, - \0,9'i'5 
 
 -L trade and manufactures, 16,54-7 
 
 All other families, - ' 10,^51 
 
 Total inhabitants, - - 172,l6l 
 See Bailey and Culley's General Vieiu of the Agri- 
 culture of Northumberland, (a.) 
 NORWAY, see Sweden. 
 Boundaries NOTTINGHAMSHIRE, an inland county of 
 and Extent. England ; bounded on the north by Yorkshire and 
 a part of Lincolnshire ; on the east by Lincolnshire ; 
 on the south by Leicestershire ; and on the west by 
 Derbyshire. It is of an oval figure, with its narrow- 
 est end towards the north. Its greatest length is 
 about 50 miles, and its greatest breadth 27- Its cir- 
 cumference is estimated to be 140 miles, and its con- 
 tents 776 square miles, or 496,64'0 acres. 
 Divisions The county is divided into six hundreds, or, as 
 and Popu- they are usually denominated, wapentakes ; three of 
 lation. which are to the north, and three to the south of the 
 Trent. It contains 9 market towns, and 207 pa- 
 rishes, la the year 1811 the number of inhabitants 
 
 NOT 
 
 was 162,900, in 32,298 houses. The males were Notittingham 
 79;057, the females 83,843. The families were ''^s^"^- 
 33,514, of whom 12,293 were employed in agricul- 
 ture, 18,928 in trade and manufactures, and 2293 
 followed neither of those pursuits. In the year pre- 
 ceding the census the baptisms of males were 2407, 
 of females 2386; the burials of males were 1791) of 
 females 1787; and the marriages were 1372. The 
 towns, whose population exceeds 1500 inhabitants, 
 are the following : 
 
 House?. Inhabitants. 
 
 Nottingham, - 6801 34,253 
 
 Newark, - 1492 7,236 
 
 Mansfield, - 1453 6,8l6 
 
 Worksop, - 756 3,702 
 
 Greysley, - 597 3,673 
 
 Radford, - 725 3,447 
 
 Sutton in Ashfield, 679 3,386 
 
 Arnold, - 710 3,042 
 
 Basford, - 573 2,940 
 
 Southwell, - 557 2,674 
 
 East Retford, - 469 2,030 
 
 Bulwell, - 560 1,94*4 
 
 Hucknall-Torkard, 317 1,793 
 
 Clareborough, - 356 1,531 
 
 The face of the county is generally level, with Facace of the 
 moderate undulations ; and its beauties are of a mild 
 description, somewhat picturesque in the vicinity of i"""^'^'- 
 Sherwood Forest, but displaying neither the striking 
 features of the adjoining county of Derby on its 
 western side, nor the flat insipidity of the plains of 
 Lincolnshire on its eastern side. From its position 
 between these two descriptions of country, and from 
 its moderate elevation, it enjoys a milder climate 
 than either ; partaking neither of the raw air of the 
 one, nor the moist atmosphere of the other. The 
 dryness of the climate is favourable to early vegeta- 
 tion, and is supposed to be the cause of the seed-time 
 and harvest in Nottinghamshire commencing at the 
 same period as in the more southern counties. 
 
 The soil of this county is very various. On the Soiioil and R 
 borders of Derbyshire is a stripe of land with coal ^ 
 and limestone, partly in wood, but mostly under "^^* 
 arable culture. Parallel to it is a broader track in- 
 cluding Sherwood Forest, whose soil is chiefly sandy 
 and gravelly, which, though naturally sterile, has in 
 some degree been brought into a productive state by 
 the extensive cultivation of turnips, and the main- 
 tenance of considerable flocks of sheep. The track 
 which adjoins is a clayey soil, extending to the banks 
 of the river Trent. It is chiefly arable land, but 
 varied with woods and meadows, and highly pro- 
 ductive of wheat, oats, beans, and, in some parts, of 
 hops. The lands on the banks of the Trent are very 
 fertile, mostly devoted to pasture, on which many 
 oxen are fattened, and some of the dairies are exten- 
 sive. The arable land of this district is celebrat- 
 ed for both the quantity and the quality of the oats 
 that it produces. The beautiful Vale of Belvoir in 
 the south-easternmost part of the county enjoys some 
 of the best soils both for pasture and arable hus- 
 bandry of any part of this island. The farms are in 
 general small, and commonly held by tenants at will ;; ; 
 the rents from whom were generally moderate, and a i 
 
NOT 
 
 Nottingham- very great proportion of the land is free from the 
 shire. burden of tithes. The spirit of agricultural improve- 
 
 '^-^^/"^ ment has not proceeded so far as in many other coun- 
 ties, though it has made considerable progress of late 
 years. Neither the breeds of cows and sheep, nor the 
 modes of cultivation, differ so much from those of the 
 adjoining counties as to deserve any especial notice. 
 
 Mines. There are no mines except those of coal, which 
 
 are exclusively confined to a narrow district border- 
 ing on Derbyshire ; these are of good quality, very 
 abundant, and, by means of internal navigation, dif- 
 fused through the whole county. Excellent stone for 
 building is raised in many parts, some of which has 
 the peculiarly valuable quality of improving by expo- 
 sure to the weather. Many parts of the county 
 abound in veins of gypsum. In the parish of Go- 
 tham, it is found in strata of the thickness of three 
 feet. At Beaconhill, near Newark, are large quarries 
 of this substance. Although it has been much prais- 
 ed as a manure, the trials of it that have been made 
 in its vicinity have not been attended with such be- 
 neficial results as to induce the continued use of it 
 for that purpose. 
 
 Sherwood The Forest of Sherwood, formerly celebrated as 
 
 Forest, the scene of the exploits of Robin Hood, whose 
 deeds amused our nursery days, is mostly an open 
 heathy plain, bordered with recent plantations, and 
 upon which the plough has made very extensive en- 
 croachments. The boundaries of the forest are ex- 
 tensive, it being twenty-five miles in length, and 
 from seven to nine in breadth ; but a great portion of 
 it is become the property of private individuals, and 
 is enclosed in farms and parks ; in the latter of which 
 alone are to be found the deer with which this forest 
 was once most abundantly stocked. The trees of 
 most ancient date are those now remaining on the 
 estates of the Duke of Newcastle and Lord Manvers, 
 
 Manufiuc Nottinghamshire is, for its population, one of the 
 
 tures. greatest manufacturing counties. The frames for 
 making hosiery were the discovery of a clergyman of 
 this county named Lee, in the reign of Queen Eliza- 
 beth, who, finding but little encouragement in Eng- 
 land, repaired to Paris, and commenced his work un- 
 der the auspices of Henry the Fourth. The murder 
 of that monarch having deprived him of a patron, he 
 died in France of chagrin, and the workmen returned 
 home, when, after many fluctuations, the machinery 
 was introduced in this county. The making stock- 
 ings, caps, pantaloon-pieces, and other similar ar- 
 ticles, has long given employment to the great mass 
 of the labouring population ; and of late years, the 
 making of lace, upon a similar principle, has been 
 introduced, and created additional employment. 
 Although the riotous conduct of the workmen, un- 
 der the denomination of Luddites, has driven some 
 of the large capitalists to other parts of the kingdom, 
 yet the hosiery business is by far the most important 
 means of employment throughout the whole county. 
 The spinning of cotton-yarn, from its natural con- 
 nection with hosiery, has been introduced, and very 
 widely extended ; and the establishments at Notting- 
 ham, at Mansfield, at Newark, at Southwell, and se- 
 veral other places, are upon an extensive scale. 
 There are also several large manufactories for spin- 
 ning worsted yarn. Malting and brewing are carried 
 
 NOT 77 
 
 on to a considerable extent; and the beer of Nottlng- Nottingham- 
 ham and of Newark rivals that of Burton upon Trent. ^^^""^ 
 There are potteries at Sutton Ashfield ; starch is ^'^'~*~' 
 made near Southwell ; and sailcloth and candlewick 
 at Retford. 
 
 The foreign trade of this county is mostly con- Commerce, 
 ducted by the mercantile houses of London and 
 Liverpool ; but some of the larger manufacturers 
 export their own goods, both to the Continent of 
 Europe, and the more distant parts of the world. 
 
 The river Trent, the fourth in magnitude of the Rivers and 
 English streams, passes across the county, and is Canals, 
 navigable for barges through the whole of it ; but its 
 deficiencies of water and its shoals are such great 
 impediments, that a canal by the side of it, ten miles 
 in length, is found of great use to the intercourse. 
 The other rivers are not navigable, but are benefi- 
 cial for the purposes of irrigation. They are the 
 Erwash, the Soar, the Maun, the Meden, the Wol- 
 len, the Worksop, the Idle, the Lene, and the Do- 
 ver or Dare. These all discharge their waters into 
 the Trent. The canals are the Nottingham, the 
 Grantham, the Idle, and the Chesterfield. The last 
 of these is about forty miles in length ; the others 
 about ten. By means of these and the Trent, the 
 intercourse by internal navigation is extended to al- 
 most every district of the county. 
 
 The titles derived from this county are, Marquis Titles, &c. 
 of Granby ; Earl of Mansfield ; Viscount Newark ; 
 and Barons Pierrepoint and Carrington. Eight mem- 
 bers are returned from it to the House of Commons, 
 viz. two for the county, and two each for the boroughs 
 of Nottingham, Newark, and East Retford. The 
 whole county is in the diocese of York. 
 
 7'he remains of Roman and Saxon antiquities are Antiquities, 
 numerous. Amongst the former are the camps at Bar- 
 ton hill, at Combes farm, at Gringley, at Hexgrave, 
 and Wenny hill, and a Roman villa near Mansfield : 
 among the latter are the Castle of Newark ; the 
 Abbeys of Newstead, RufFord, and Welbeck ; the 
 Priories of Matterseyand Worksop; and the Churches 
 of Bingham, Blythe, Southwell, and Balderton. 
 
 The most distinguished natives of this county have Celebrated 
 been, Archbishop Cranmer, Dr Erasmus Darwin, Sir^^*'^^^^* 
 Martin Forbisher, Denzil Lord Holies, Ireton, the 
 son-in-law of Cromwell, Lady Mary Wortley Mon- 
 tague, Paul Sandby, Archbishop Seeker, Gilbert . 
 Wakefield, and Bishop Warburton. 
 
 The seats of noblemen and gentlemen of the first 
 class are as numerous as in any county of England; 
 of which the most remarkable are the following, viz. 
 Annesleyllall, J. W.Chaworth, Esq.; BabworthHall, 
 Honourable J. B. Simpson ; Bunney Park, Lord Ran- 
 clifFe ; Clifton Grove, Sir Gervas Clifton ; Clipstone 
 Park, Duke of Portland ; Clumber Park, Duke of 
 Newcastle ; Colwich Hall, John Musters, Esq. ; 
 Grave, A. H. Eyre, Esq. ; Holme Pierrepoint, Earl 
 Manvers ; Hurgarton Hall, G. D. L. Gregory, Esq. ; 
 Kelham House, J. M. Sutton, Esq. ; Langold, H. 
 Gaily Knight, Esq. ; Lenton Priory, William Stret- 
 ton, Esq. ; Muskham, J. Pocklington, Esq. ; New- 
 stead Abbey, late Lord Byron (lately sold to Major 
 Wildman); Norwood Park, Sir Richard Sutton, Bart.; 
 Osberton, F. F. Foljambe, Esq. ; Ossington Hall, J. 
 Denison, Esq.; RufFord Abbey, Honourable J. L. . 
 
78 
 
 NOT 
 
 Nottingham- SaviUe ; Stanford Hall, C. V. Dashwood, Esq.; 
 shire Stappleford, Sir John Borlase Warren; Thoresby 
 II „ Park, Earl Manvers ; Wclbeck Abbey, Duke of 
 ^'^ZL Portland ; Wollaton Hall, Lord Middleton ; Work- 
 sop Manor, Duke of Norfolk. 
 
 ORG 
 
 See Dickinson's Antiquities in Nottinghamshire ; Nottjttingham* 
 Thoroton's Histori/ of Nottinghamshire ; Lowe's Swr- si shire 
 vey of the Agriculture of Nottinghamshire ; Rooke's q^. g^^jUg 
 Sherwood Forest ; and Brayley and Britton's Beau- ^ mmains. ^ 
 ties of England and Wales. (w. w.) 
 
 ORGANIC REMAINS, FOSSIL. 
 
 The occurrence, in rocks of various kinds, of 
 remains of animals and vegetables, more or less 
 altered, is so remarkable and striking a fact, that 
 it could not fail to attract the notice of man- 
 kind, even at an early period. Xenophanes of Colo- 
 phon is said to have described the remains of fossil 
 fishes found in the stone quarries of Syracuse, and in 
 the deep marble rocks of Paros. Not long after, in 
 the fifth century before Christ, Herodotus men- 
 tions fossil shells as occurring in the rocks of Egypt, 
 and states this as a proof of that country's having 
 been formerly an arm of the sea, like the Red Sea. 
 We find some allusions to fossil organic remains 
 even in the poets of antiquity. The following passage 
 from Ovid is an example of this kind : 
 
 Vide ego, quod fuerat quondam solidissima tellus 
 
 Esse fretum, vidi factas ex aequore terras, 
 
 Et procul a pelago conchjB jacuere marinse. 
 
 Et vetus inventa est in montibus anchora summis. 
 
 Metamorph. Lib. XV. v. 62. 
 
 But our author confounds true organic remains with 
 the accidental occurrence of an anchor in soil. Not 
 long after the commencement of the Christian era, 
 attempts were made to connect these phenomena 
 with the Deluge of Noah ; and in the writings of 
 Tertullian, there are passages that refer to this sup- 
 posed connection. This opinion afterwards became 
 general, particularly towards the beginning of the 
 eighteenth century, when it was attempted to prove, 
 or at least to illustrate, the truths of revelation by 
 appeals to natural history. Thus Biittner, in his 
 Zeichen und Zeugen der Sundjlut, published at Ulm, 
 in 1710, and Scheuchzer, in several of his works, 
 as in his Homo Diluvii Testis, Piscium Querelae 
 et Vindicice, Herbarium Diluvianum, Sec. enumerate 
 many facts, and state numerous reasons in illustra- 
 tion of the accumulation and deposition of fossil 
 shells, plants, and animals, during a great flood, 
 which they maintain to have been that described 
 in the Old Testament. But the non-occurrence of the 
 remains of man along with those of other animals came 
 to be considered as inimical to this opinion, and 
 by the time of Knorr it was nearly abandoned. 
 Another speculation was soon started in its place, 
 by which it was attempted to show that these re- 
 mains were not truly organic, but merely efibrts 
 of nature to produce organic beings ; and, therefore, 
 that these bodies, although exhibiting the organic 
 form, had never been animated. This fancy was 
 
 combated by the supporters of the diluvian hypo- 
 thesis, and the result was, the addition of many new 
 facts, and the total abandonment of both hypo- 
 theses. The discovery of remains of elephants, 
 rhinoceroses, &c. in Europe and Northern Asia in 
 a fossil state, gave rise to a new opinion, that these, 
 and many other fossil animals found along with them, 
 had been floated hither from the tropical regions. 
 Forster, Pallas, and others, who advocated this opi- 
 nion, brought together a host of facts in support of 
 it ; and, in this way, contributed, in an eminent de- 
 gree, to our knowledge of fossil organic remains, 
 and to a more accurate investigation of their various 
 characters and relations. But their speculation, with 
 all its plausibilities, was soon supplanted by that which 
 is at present considered as the most consistent with 
 facts — namely, that the various fossil organic re- 
 mains, contained in rocks of different kinds, belong to 
 animals and vegetables that formerly lived in the 
 countries where these remains are at present met 
 with. The facts which have been brought to light 
 by the collision of opposite opinions, and by the 
 careful and successful investigations of many na- 
 turalists who were contented to view these fossil re- 
 mains, not as connected with any general geological 
 hypothesis, but as interesting additions to zoology 
 and botany, and important contributions to our 
 knowledge of the physical and geographical distribu- 
 tions of animals and vegetables, ai-e so interesting, 
 even to the general reader, that we shall attempt to 
 give a short account of them, in the following or- 
 der : — 
 
 1 . Different kinds of fossil organic remains. 
 
 1. Animal remains. 
 
 2. Vegetable remains. 
 
 2. State or condition of these remains. 
 
 3. Geognostical situations. 
 
 4. Formation of the strata in which these remains 
 are contained. 
 
 L— DIFFERENT KINDS OF FOSSIL ORGA- 
 NIC REMAINS. 
 
 I.-— Fossil Remains of Animals. 
 1. Fossil Remains of the Human Species. — When 
 the diluvian controversy was keenly agitated, many 
 descriptions were published of fossil remains of man, 
 said to have been found in secondary rocks of differ- 
 ent kinds ; but all these, without exception, proved to 
 be remains of the lower animals. Thus the famous 
 
ORGANIC REMAINS. 
 
 Organic Re- homo diluvii testis" of Scheuchzer was found to be a 
 mams, gigantic fossil salamander. The fossil bones of Ceri- 
 go, so confidently described by Spalianzani as hu- 
 man, were determined to belong to quadrupeds. 
 The remams of the human species, therefore, do 
 not occur in the secondary strata ; but the follow- 
 ing facts prove their occurrence in fissures of rocks 
 and in post-diluvial strata. Human bones, and even 
 whole skeletons, have been found in clay in fis- 
 sures of rocks, being the remains of bodies that 
 had fallen into them ; in other cases, human bones 
 and skeletons have been met with, and occasionally 
 more or less mineralized, in old deserted galleries in 
 mines. Some years ago, human skeletons were dis- 
 covered in a compact calcareous rock in the Island 
 of Guadaloupe. A mass of this rock, inclosing a 
 pretty well preserved human skeleton, but without 
 the head, and wanting the right arm (represent- 
 ed at fig. 1, F, Plate CII,), was sent by Admiral 
 Cochrane to Lord Melville, and afterwards by him 
 deposited in the British Museum. The rock, on ex- 
 amination, proved to be a mere alluvial mass, formed 
 of pieces of coral, that appear to have been thrown 
 up on the shore by the sea, and afterwards united to- 
 gether by water impregnated with calcareous matter. 
 M. Moreau de Jornes thinks these skeletons are re- 
 mains of persons who had perished by shipwreck. 
 Human bones have lately been found in alluvial soil 
 at Koestritz in Germany, and in such a situation as 
 to render it probable that they are of great anti- 
 quity. The absence of human fossil remains from di- 
 luvial formations has excited surprise ; but this will 
 cease when it is recollected that, probably, at the pe- 
 riod of the deluge, the human race had not extend- 
 ed into the countries where fossil organic remains 
 have been examined, and, therefore, are only to be 
 looked for in those regions where man is known to 
 have lived when that event took place. 
 
 CLASS L— Mammalia. 
 
 Order I — Quadrumana. 
 
 Hitherto no fossil remains of apes, baboons, mon- 
 keys, or other tribes of the order Quadrumana, have 
 been met with ; although it is probable that they will 
 be found among the alluvial strata of those regions 
 where these animals now live. 
 
 Order IL — Chiroptera. — Bat. 
 
 It is probable that fossil species of the larger bats 
 will be found in the alluvial strata of the warmer re- 
 gions of the earth, and that remains of the smaller 
 European species will be discovered in some of the 
 European formations. The only fossil remains of 
 the animals of this order with which we are ac- 
 quainted are those represented, fig. 5, Plate CII. 
 These are contained in a slab of limestone from 
 Eichstadt, and belong to a species which must have 
 measured six or seven feet from the tip of one 
 wing to the tip of the other. The remarkable fossil 
 tribe named Ornithocephalus, to be described after- 
 
 79 
 
 wards, in general aspect bears a striking resemblance Organic Re- 
 to bats. mains. 
 
 Order III — Marsupialia. '^--^V^ 
 
 Two species of this order, both belonging to the 
 genus Didelphis, or Opossum, have been met with in a 
 fossil state ; the one was found in the gypsum of 
 Paris, the other in the calcareous oolite slate of 
 Stonesfield in England. 
 
 Order IV. — Glires, or Gnawers. 
 
 Fossil remains of an animal resembling the Cavia 
 porcellus, or Guinea-pig, have been detected in the 
 limestone of Oningen ; remains of an animal resem- 
 bling the Lagomys alpinus, a species at present con- 
 fined to the higher parts of Siberia, were found in 
 the fissures of the rock of Gibraltar; two species 
 of Lepus, one nearly resem.bling the common rabbit, 
 and the other one-third less, were found in the lime- 
 stone rocks of Cette ; three species of Mus have 
 been met with in a fossil state, one nearly resemb- 
 ling the iliws terrestris, occurs in limestone in Bo- 
 hemia, and also in the limestone-conglomerate of 
 Corsica, and two others, one referred to the Mus 
 arvalis, and the other to the common tvater-rat, in 
 the rock of Gibraltar : fossil remains of the com- 
 mon beaver have been met with in alluvial strata in 
 Perthshire and Berwickshire in Scotland, and in si- 
 milar situations on the Continent; and another spe- 
 cies, named Castor trogontherium, was found on the 
 shores of the sea of Azof. 
 
 Order V — Bradypoda — Sloth. 
 
 The fossil species of this order, although not nu- 
 merous, are remarkable for their magnitude and sin- 
 gular organization. Hitherto only two species have 
 been discovered, and apparently both belong to the 
 same genus : the one is the Megatherium, and the 
 other the Megalonyx, of authors. We might assume 
 Megatherium as the generic denomination, and name 
 the South American species Megatherium Australe, 
 and the Megalonyx, or North American species. Me- 
 gatherium Boreale ; but our present view will be an- 
 swered by describing them under their common 
 names. 
 
 Megatherium — A complete skeleton of this co- 
 lossal species was found in diluvial soil near Buenos 
 Ayres, and sent to Madrid ; afterwards another was 
 discovered near Lima, and a third in Paraguay.* The 
 splendid specimen in Madrid is fourteen feet long, 
 and seven Spanish feet in height. The skeleton of 
 this megatherium is so rude and unshapely, that the 
 clumsy skeleton of the elephant and rhinoceros, and 
 even the massive and rugged bones of the hippopo- 
 tamus, appear, when placed beside it, slender and 
 light. It is one of the largest and most massive of 
 all the fossil quadrupeds hitherto discovered. Judg- 
 ing from its structure, its motions seem to have been 
 slow and dragging, and, with exception of its long 
 claws, appears to have been more defenceless than 
 any of the other large quadrupeds. The form of the 
 
 * Remains of the Megatherium have been lately found in limestone caves in Brazil. 
 
ORGANIC REMAINS. 
 
 80 
 
 Organic Re- teeth shows that it lived on vegetables, and its long 
 mains, ^laws are supposed to have been used for digging up 
 
 ^-^^-^ the roots on which it is conjectured to have fed. Plate 
 CHI. exhibits a correct representation of this animal 
 from the specimen in the museum at Madrid. 
 
 Megalonyx.— This species is smaller than the me- 
 gatherium, being only the size of the ox. The ge- 
 neral form and arrangements of the skeleton are the 
 same as in the megatherium, and the agreement is 
 so considerable, that some naturalists conjecture, 
 although without sufficient ground, that it is a 
 young variety of the megatherium. It appears also 
 to have been herbivorous, and hitherto its reraams 
 have been met with only in limestone caves in Vir- 
 ginia. 
 
 Order VL—Ferje.— Rapacious Animals. 
 Ursus. 
 
 Several fossil species of this tribe have been met 
 with in different parts of Europe. The following are 
 enumerated by naturalists : 
 
 1. Ursus Spelaeus.— It is the largest species, and 
 is distinguished from the Polar bear, to which it 
 bears a close resemblance, by its more inclined brow, 
 and the want of the anterior small grindmg tooth. 
 2. U. Ardoideus.-^The skull smaller than the pre- 
 ceding, and the small anterior grinding tooth also 
 wanting. 3. U. prisons — Not larger than the brown 
 bear ; the cranium the same shape, and provided with 
 the same teeth. 
 
 These fossil species occur in limestone caves in 
 Germany and Hungary. 
 
 Canis. 
 
 Fossil remains of a species of canis resembling the 
 dog, and of another nearly allied to the common fox, 
 and bones of the common tuolf, have been found in 
 post-diluvial and diluvial soils, and in caves in Eng- 
 land, Germany, and France. 
 
 Hycena. 
 
 Fossil remains of a species nearly allied to the 
 common hycena have been found in caves in lime- 
 stone in Yorkshire. In these also dung was found, 
 proving that these caverns had been the residence 
 of the hyaena. Remains of the same species occur 
 in caves in Germany. Another species, resembling 
 the H. crocuta, was found in Hanover, in marl, along 
 with bones of the lion and elephant. 
 
 Felis. 
 
 One species of this tribe, and nearly resembling 
 the jaguar of South America, has been found in a 
 fossil state in limestone caves in Germany ; another 
 species, nearly allied to the tiger, is found in diluvial 
 soil, along with fossil remains of the elephant, rhino- 
 ceros, hyaena, and mastodon. 
 
 Mustella — Weasel. 
 
 Two species of this genus occur in the German 
 limestone caves. The one is allied to the common 
 pole-cat (Mustella putorius), and the other to the zo- 
 rille, a pole-cat, native of the Cape of Good Hope. 
 Another species, allied to the ichneumon of Egypt, 
 but nearly double its size, occurs in the gypsum 
 quarries around Paris. 
 
 4* 
 
 Order VH. — SoUdungula. 
 
 Equus Adamiticus — Equus CabaUiis —-¥08811 teeth 
 of a species of horse are found in diluvial soil, asso- 
 ciated with those of the elephant, rhinoceros, hyaena, 
 mastodon, and tiger. These teeth are larger than 
 those of the present horse, and, to all appearance, 
 belong to a different species, which inhabited the 
 countries where they are now found, as Great Bri- 
 tain, along with elephants, rhinoceroses, hyaenas, 
 bears, wolves, 
 
 Order VHI — Bisulca. 
 Many fossil animals of this order occur in a fos- 
 sil state. We shall enumerate the principal of 
 these. 
 
 Bos. — Ox. 
 
 Four species of this genus occur in a fossil state. 
 1. Bos aurochs or urus — This species is considered 
 as distinct from the common ox, being much larger. 
 Horns and bones are found in this country, and 
 also on the Continent of Europe, It occurs like- 
 wise in alluvial soil in the district of Ohio in North 
 America. 2. Common Ox — The fossil skulls of 
 this species differ from those of the present exist- 
 ing races in being larger, and the horns having 
 a different direction. They are considered as be- 
 longing to the original race of the present do- 
 mestic ox. The remains are of frequent occur- 
 rence in our peat-bogs, also in a similar situation 
 in Ireland. 3. Large Buffalo of Siberia.— ^k\x\\s, and 
 bones of a large species of ox are found in Siberia, 
 which Cuvier maintains to be different from any of 
 the present species ; and as it occurs in the same si- 
 tuation as the elephant and rhinoceros of Siberia, he 
 considers it to have lived at the same early period. 
 4. Fossil Ox, resembling the Musk Ox of North Ame- 
 rica. The bones of this species resemble in many 
 
 points those of the musk ox, but the marks of dif- 
 ference are so considerable as to show that it is a 
 distinct species. This species has hitherto been 
 found only in Siberia. 
 
 Cerms. — Deer. 
 The following are the fossil species. 1. C. ele- 
 
 phas, or Red-Deer Horns and skulls of a deer, 
 
 agreeing in almost every particular with the common 
 red deer, are occasionally met with in strata of dif- 
 ferent descriptions. Some of these have been found 
 in the newer secondary formations, in supposed an- 
 cient volcanic tufas, and in diluvial strata, with re- 
 mains of the elephant, rhinoceros, &c. and lastly in 
 our common peat-mosses. The horns and crania 
 found in our peat-bogs are of the same species with 
 our present red deer, but it is not equally certain 
 that those found in the older formations are of the 
 same description. 2. Roe-Deer — Bones of this spe- 
 cies are met with in our peat-mosses, and in beds of 
 shell marl, but never in any of the diluvial strata. 
 3. Fossil Roe of Orleans.— This species, nearly allied 
 to the roe, but different as a species, is remarkable 
 on account of its geognostical position, its remains 
 occurring in a new secondary limestone, along with 
 bones of the palaeotherium. It occurs near Orleans in 
 France. 4-. Fossil Fallow-Deer.— This species is found 
 in peat-bogs and in marl pits in Scotland, England, 
 
ORGANIC REMAINS, 
 
 Organic Re- and in different parts on the Continent of Europe, 
 mains. ^ jhe antlers are in general larger than those of the 
 
 present varieties. 5. Fossil Deer o/Etampes This 
 
 species appears nearly allied to the rein deer, but 
 much smaller, not exceeding the roe in size. The 
 bones were found near Etampes in France, in a sand, 
 the geognostical relations of which have not been de- 
 termined. 6. Cervus gis^anteus, Irish Elk, or Elk 
 of the Hand of Man — 1 his gigantic and magnifi- 
 cent species, now apparently extinct, occurs in a fos- 
 sil state in Ireland, Isle of Man, England, Germany, 
 and France. The most perfect specimen of the skele- 
 ton of this species hitherto met with is that which 
 was found in the Isle of Man, and now preserved in 
 the Museum of the University of Edinburgh. In 
 Plate CIV. we have given an accurate representation 
 of this remarkable specimen. It is six feet high, 
 nine feet long, and in height to the tip of the right 
 horn, nine feet seven and a half inches. It was 
 dug up in the parish of Kirk Balaff, and fortunately 
 secured for the Museum by his Grace the Duke of 
 Atholl. It was imbedded in a loose shell marl in 
 which were numerous imbedded branches and root« 
 Over the marl was a bed of sand, above the sand a 
 bed ot peat, principally composed of small branches 
 and rotten leaves, and over the peat the common 
 soil of the country. 
 
 Order IX — Multungula. 
 Several of the largest and most remarkable of the 
 fossd species of quadrupeds belong to this order, 
 and of those the following are the most interesting : 
 
 Rhinoceros. 
 
 Of this genus four fossil species have been de- 
 termined. 1. Rh. tichorinus.-^Jn this species the 
 nostrils are separated by a thick osseous plate It 
 IS the largest of the fossil rhinoceri, and is that 
 which IS found in England, France, Italy, Germany, 
 Mbena, &c. One specimen was found in the year 
 ^I^u w'?J*''^'" imbedded in ice, on the banks 
 of the Wilhoui. It appeared to have had very long hair 
 on its feet, an arrangement, according to Cuvier pro- 
 bably connected with the climate which it inhabited 
 2. RL ptorhinus (from Xs^7o?, thin).^ln this species 
 the nostrils are not provided with an osseous septum, 
 the bones of the nose are thinner, and the skeleton less 
 massive than in the preceding species. It is found in 
 
 Italy. 3. Rk. mimitus, of a diminutive size Found 
 
 m diluvium in the village of St Laurent, near to the 
 town of Moissac, in the department of the Tarn, and 
 the Garrone. 4. Rh. incisorus, provided with incisor 
 teeth. It is the size of the common rhinoceros, and 
 IS found in Germany. 
 
 Hippopotamus. 
 Only one living species of this tribe is known 
 to naturalists, but four fossil species have been de- 
 
 81 
 
 n?.?/"'^,,-''^ ^"''r- ^' "^""Snus. It is very Organic Re. 
 nearly allied to the present living species, and is ^^^ns. 
 of the same size. It is found in England, France ' 
 Germany &c. 2. Middle-sized Hippopotamus, is 
 smaller than the former, being the size of a hog 
 and IS found m^France. 2. Small Hippopotamus.^ 
 Found in France; is less than the second species. 
 ^. lueast Hippopotamus.— VonnA in France, and ap- 
 pears to have been the size of the hog of Siam, 
 
 Elephant. 
 
 Of this interesting tribe of animals two living spe- 
 cies, the Asiatic and African, and one fossil species, 
 named Mammoth by the Russians, are known to natu- 
 ralists. Ihe fossil elephant or mammoth differs from 
 the living species in the following particulars : The 
 alveoli of the tusks are much larger, and the zygo- 
 matic arch of a different form. The vacuity between 
 he branches of the jaws at the fore part is wider 
 than in the Asiatic and African species; and the 
 lower jaw, in place of terminating in a kind of point- 
 ed apopysis, as in the living species, is rounded off. 
 The gnnders of the fossil species differ from those of 
 the living, and the tusks, although of the same mag- 
 nitude, appear to be more curved than in either 
 the Asiatic or African species. Single bones and 
 teeth, or even perfect skeletons, are found, and one 
 instance is on record of the whole animal being 
 found preserved in ice. This specimen was disco- 
 vered in the year 1799 in Asiatic Russia. The flesh 
 skin, and hair, were completely preserved,_even the 
 eyes were entire. It was provided with a long 
 mane, and the body was covered with hair. This 
 hair vvas of different qualities. There were stiff 
 black bristles, from twelve to fifteen inches long, and 
 these belonged to the mane, tail, and ears. Other 
 bristles were from nine to ten inches long, and of a 
 brown colour ; and, besides these, there was a coarse 
 wool, from four to five inches long, of a pale yellow 
 colour. This latter is the wool which lies next 
 the skin in all the inhabitants of cold countries ; and 
 hence, Cuvier thinks it probable that the north- 
 ern fossil elephants, or those of Siberia, Russia. &c 
 were inhabitants of cold countries. * Its remains" 
 have been found in Iceland. Norway, Scotland (m 
 Ayrshire and West Lothian), England, and in many 
 places throughout the Continent onwards to the Arc- 
 tic Ocean. But they are more abundant in Siberia 
 than in other countries ; for Pallas informs us, that 
 there is scarcely a spot from the Don to Kamtschatka 
 where they have not been met with. They also occur 
 in JNorth America, even as far north as Churchill Hud- 
 son s Bay ; this latter being the locality of a specimen 
 sent to us from that country ; and teeth and bones of a 
 tossil elephant have been found in South America.! 
 Mastodon. 
 
 This remarkable genus of fossil multungular ani- 
 
 " The wide distribution of this fossil specie^ anrl • , 
 
 fe me animals, &c. would seem to show,?n opp^sit^l t ^ with remains of numerous large 
 
 tries it inhabited had a tropical characTer *° ^^o^e inference, that the climate of the coun- 
 
 t There are in the Ashmolean Museum at Ovfo-^ 
 
 size, probably sixteen feet high, found rg^avelneS-AbiZ ^^^'^^r^^^^d 'eg bones of an elephant of vast 
 
 ceros, hippopotamus, horse, dog, ox, and f species of ipr^ ' ^''^ '^"'^ ""^'^ ^^'^^^ ^^^^^ ^hi^o- 
 
 VOL. VI. PART I. f ^-^'co ui ueer. 
 
82 
 
 ORGANIC REMAINS. 
 
 Organic Re- mals, first systematically arranged by Cuvier, was 
 mains. named by him Mastodon (from Magrog, muviiUa, and 
 'obn^ dens), in reference to the mamillary or tubercu- 
 lar'processes on the grinding teeth. The followmg 
 are the species at present known to naturalists : 1. 
 Great or Gigantic Mastodon of the OA/o— This spe- 
 cies appears to have been as tall as the elephant, 
 but with longer and thicker limbs ; probably provid- 
 ed with a proboscis or trunk, and had tusks like 
 those of the elephant. It appears to have hved on 
 roots and fleshy parts of plants, and hence this kind 
 of food attracted it to soft and marshy places, where 
 its fossil remains are principally found. It is more 
 common in North America than in any other part 
 of the world, although its remains have also been 
 found in Siberia. 2. Mastodon with Narrow Grind- 
 ers.— It is smaller than the great mastodon, and the 
 grinders are narrower in proportion to their length 
 than in the great mastodon. It is found in Europe, 
 and also in North America. The teeth and bones of 
 this species when of blue colour, from mineral im- 
 pregnation, are named Animal Turquois. Besides the 
 great mastodon and the species with narrow grin- 
 ders, remains of four others have been met with, 
 but their characters are not well known. Two of 
 them are from America ; the one is named Mastodon 
 of the Cordilleras, and the other Mastodon of Hum- 
 boldt ; the other two are European, and of these one 
 is named Small Mastodon, the other the Tapir-like 
 Mastodon. 
 
 Tapir. 
 
 The tapir was long held as peculiar to Ameri- 
 ca but the late discovery of a species in Malacca 
 shows that it also extends to the Old World. The 
 living species are different from those in a fossi 
 state. These latter are found in the same dUuvial 
 strata as afford the fossil elephant and mastodon. 
 Two species have been determined. The one, 
 named Gigantic Tapir, about eighteen feet long and 
 twelve feet high, thus equalling in magnitude the 
 great mastodon of America and the great elephant, 
 has been found in France, Italy, and Germany : 
 The other is smaller, but still a formidable animal, 
 and occurs in the same countries. 
 
 Lophiodon. 
 
 This is a newly discovered fossil genus, nearly al- 
 lied to the tapir, and named from the eminences on 
 its teeth. Twelve species have been ascertained by 
 Cuvier, and one of them, the largest, is of gigantic 
 dimensions. All of them are found in what is called 
 a fresh water formation, of the same nature with that 
 which contains the remains of the palaeotherium and 
 anoplotherium, and hitherto they have been met with 
 only in France and Germany. 
 
 Elasmotherium. 
 Of this newly discovered fossil genus but one spe- 
 cies has been found, and that in Siberia. It appears 
 from the few fragments in the Museum at Moscow, 
 and described by Fisher, to be nearly allied to the 
 rhinoceros and horse, and that probably it forms an 
 intermediate tribe between these two. It is the size 
 of the rhinoceros. 
 
 Palceotherium. 
 This genus, like the two preceding, is entirely fossil. 
 
 Its generic character, as given by Cuvier, is as follows : Organioic Re- 
 Dentes quadraginta quatuor ; scilicet, Primores utrin- mainms- 
 que sex ; laniarii quatuor, acuminata paulo longiores, 
 tecti; molaresviginti octo ; utrinque septem ; quorum 
 superiores quadrati, inferiores bilunati. Nasus produc- 
 tior flexilis. Palmse et plantse tridactylae. In gene- 
 ral osteological arrangement it resembles the tapir. 
 Like that tribe, it appears to have had a lengthened 
 snout, or short proboscis, and there can be little 
 doubt that the form of the body was nearly the same 
 as that of the tapir. Ten species are described by 
 Cuvier, and these vary in magnitude from that of the 
 rhinoceros to the hog and sheep, and all of them ap- 
 pear to have been herbivorous. None of the species 
 have been hitherto found in this country, and those 
 described by Cuvier occur in new secondary and di- 
 luvial strata in different parts of France, particularly 
 in the vicinity of Paris. 
 
 Anoplotherium. 
 This also is a fossil genus of extinct herbivorous ani- 
 mals. It bears some resemblance to the camel, and 
 the tail is of equal length to the body, if not longer, 
 being at the same time very thick and strong. 
 There are but five species known, and all of these, 
 as far as we know, are found only in the new se- 
 condary rocks around Paris. The following is the 
 character of this genus, as given by Cuvier. Den- 
 tes quadraginta quatuor, serie continua. Primo- 
 res utrinque sex; laniarii primoribus similes, cee- 
 teris non longiores; raolares viginti octo, utrinque 
 septem ; anteriores compressi ; posteriores superiores 
 quadrate ; inferiores bilunati. Palmae et plantge tri- 
 dactylae, ossibus metacarpi et metatarsi discretis; di- 
 gitis accessoriis in quibusdam. 
 
 Sus — Hog. 
 
 Bones and teeth of the common hog occur in peat- 
 mosses, and similar remains of a dubious species of 
 hog in loam, along with remains of the elephant and 
 rhinoceros. 
 
 Order X.—Pahnata, Palmated Quadrupeds. 
 
 Under this head we include those tribes provid- 
 ed with four paws somewhat resembling fins, and 
 sometimes provided with clawed toes. 
 
 1. Phoca, or Seal.— Two fossil species of this ge- 
 nus have been found in France, in the coarse marine 
 limestone of the formation above chalk. One of 
 them appears to have been three times as large as 
 the common seal, and the other of rather smaller di- 
 mensions. 
 
 2. Trichecus, or Sea Horse, or Walrus — No well 
 marked fossil remains of this genus have hitherto 
 been met with. 
 
 Order XI. — Sirenia. 
 Lamanlin, or Afanaiws.— Several bones of an un- 
 known species of this genus have been discovered 
 in the coarse marine limestone formation in the de- 
 partment of the Maine and Loire. 
 
 Order Xll.— Cetacea.— Whale. 
 Mr Parkinson says that two teeth of the narwal, or 
 Monodon monoceros, were found on the coast of Es- 
 
ORGANIC 
 
 Organic Re- sex, in the London clay, and that one specimen was 
 mains, found in the limestone of Bath. Fossil remains of dol- 
 
 *^"*'"V^^ phins and whales are mentioned as occurring in the 
 new secondary formations of Italy ; and we know 
 that a skeleton of the common whale was found near 
 Airthry in Stirlingshire, imbedded in alluvial soil 
 formed by depositions from a river in a marine es- 
 tuary. 
 
 CLASS II — Ornitholites, or Fossil Birds. 
 
 Fossil remains of birds are of rare occurrence, and 
 the few specimens hitherto found afford results much 
 less satisfactory than those obtained by the study of 
 the fossil bones of quadrupeds. The best informa« 
 tion on this subject is furnished by Cuvier, who has 
 also communicated some obvious characters for as- 
 sisting in the determination of this class of organic 
 remains. Among others, the following are enume- 
 rated : — The foot in birds has a single bone in place 
 of the tarsal and metatarsal bones of quadrupeds ; 
 birds, too, form the only class in which the toes all 
 differ as to the number of joints, and in which this 
 number, and the order of the toes which have them, 
 is nevertheless fixed. The great toe has two ; the 
 first two, reckoning on the outside, three ; the mid- 
 dle five, and the outermost five. The crocodile has 
 the same number of phalanges; but, as these have a 
 tarsal and metatarsal bone, they cannot be confound- 
 ed. By attention to these and other characters, fos- 
 sil remains of species of the following genera have 
 been determined, viz. owZ, buzzard, starling, ibis, 
 quail, curlew, tern, and 'pelican. These occur in 
 the limestone and gypsum of the Paris formations, 
 and, it is said, also in an older formation, viz. that 
 into which the Stonesfield slate enters as a mem- 
 ber. * 
 
 Ornithocephalus. 
 
 This genus, which is entirely fossil, is so remark- 
 able in its structure, that naturalists are not agreed 
 as to its place in the system. Some, as Cuvier, re- 
 fer it to the Amphibia; others, as Blumenbach, to the 
 birds ; Collini described it as a fish ; while Scimmer- 
 ing arranges it with the Mammalia, and near to the 
 bats. In this state of uncertainty, it is of little con- 
 sequence where we place it. The skull is very 
 large in proportion to the size of the skeleton, the 
 jaws themselves being longer than the body, and 
 furnished with sharp slightly incurvated teeth. In 
 general form, the head of the O. longirostris re- 
 sembles that of the curlew tribe, while the brevi- 
 rostris more nearly resembles the bat, particular- 
 ly the Vespertilio murinus. The orbits of the eyes 
 are disproportionably large, and hence it is pro- 
 bable that, like the bat, it was a nocturnal animal, 
 while, from the size of its jaws, it is likely that it fed 
 on small flying insects. There are four legs, the 
 hinder ones being of considerable length. There 
 are no tarsal bones, only metatarsal bones and claws. 
 There is a distinct tail. Two species are described 
 by Sdmmering, the largest, which is about a foot 
 long, is named 0. longirostris ; while the other, 
 which is less, is named O. brevirostris- They are re- 
 
 REMAINS. 83 
 
 presented in Plate CII. Both species occur imbed- Organic Re, 
 ded in the limestone of Eichstadt. , mams. 
 
 CLASS III Amphibia. 
 
 Testudo. 
 
 Several species of this tribe have been detected 
 in formations of different descriptions. In England 
 they have been met with in the lias limestone near 
 Bristol, in the oolite of Stonesfield, but most per- 
 fect in the London clay, as it is termed, in the vale 
 of Sheppey. Cuvier and other naturalists enumerate 
 different species of land, marine, and fresh water fos- 
 sil testudines found in France, Germany, and Italy, 
 but all of them apparently extinct species. 
 
 Crocodile, 
 
 Two species were found in a blue clay (resembling 
 that below chalk) in the neighbourhood of Hon- 
 fleur and Havre. They cannot be referred to any 
 of the present species. In England, one speci- 
 men was obtained from the Purbeck stone, and ano- 
 ther was found in the cornbrash rock at Gibraltar, 
 in Oxfordshire. These are distinct from the first 
 French species, but perhaps may agree with the 
 second. Vertebrae, apparently of that species, are 
 found in clay near Weymouth, and in chalk in Sus- 
 sex. 
 
 Mosasaurus of Conybeare — Lacerta Gigantea of 
 Sdmmering:' 
 
 This tribe contains those fossil amphibia which dif- 
 fer from crocodiles in some important characters, 
 and is considered as an intermediate genus between 
 those animals of the lizard tribe with a short tongue, 
 and whose palate is furnished with teeth, and those 
 where the tongue is long and forked. The gigan- 
 tic species found in the soft limestone of Maestricht 
 has long excited the attention of naturalists. The 
 length of the skeleton appears to have been nearly 
 24 feet. The head is a sixth of the whole length of 
 the animal, a proportion approaching very near to 
 that of the crocodile. The tail must have been very 
 strong, and its width at its extremity must have ren- 
 dered it a most powerful oar, and have enabled the 
 animal to have opposed the most agitated waters. 
 
 Fossil remains of an animal of the same kind, 
 found in Bavaria, are described by Sommering, un- 
 der the name Lacerta gigantea ; all the known parts 
 of which are represented in Plate CV. " When it is 
 considered," says he, " that this gigantic lizard was 
 24? feet long, we are forcibly reminded of the dra- 
 gons so much spoken of in fable. At least, the 
 fact that, at one period of the world, there existed 
 animals of the lacerta, or dragon tribe, more than 20 
 feet in length, is more astonishing than all that is re- 
 corded in ancient tradition respecting monsters, which 
 even the wildest fancy did not amplify to such enor- 
 mous dimensions." 
 
 Ichthyosaurus. 
 This is a marine oviparous animal, closely agree- 
 ing in the whole osteology of the head, and sternum, 
 
 * Cuvier has lately found in Montmartre an ornitholite, in which the head, neck, wings, tail, thighs, and 
 even the trachea arteria, are well preserved. 
 
84 ORGANIC 
 
 Organic Re- with the saurian tribe, except that the bones are 
 ma i tis^ usually, as in fish, united by squamous sutures, and 
 ^ approximating to fish in some parts of the structure 
 of its vertebral column, and, in others, being sui 
 generis. From these double analogies the name 
 (fish-like lacerta) is derived. The extremities ter- 
 minate in four swimming paws, or paddles, compos- 
 ed of a series of flat polygonal bones, greatly exceed-, 
 ing in number, not only the phalanges of quadru- 
 peds, but also the phalangic cartilages of the fins of 
 fish. Three distinct species, distinguished from each 
 other by their teeth, are found in the lias limestone 
 in England. 
 
 Plesiosaurus. 
 From 7rXjje/05, approximate to, and 2au^o$, a lizard. 
 — This newly discovered fossil animal appears to be 
 intermediate between the crocodile and ichthyosau- 
 rus, but whilst the ichthyosaurus recedes from the 
 forms of the lizard family, and approaches those of 
 fishes, the new animal approximates, in these re- 
 spects, more nearly to the crocodile ; the plesiosau- 
 rus is, therefore, a marine animal, intermediate in 
 structure between the ichthyosaurus and crocodile. 
 It also occurs imbedded in lias limestone in England. 
 
 Megalosaurus. 
 From [liyaKog, great, and laugog, a lizard — This 
 is a species nearly allied to the monitor in the mode 
 of its dentition. It is found in the calcareous slate 
 of Stonesfield, in England. The animal must, in 
 some instances, have attained the length of forty feet, 
 and stood eight feet high. The gigantic lizard of 
 Sommering appears diminutive when contrasted with 
 this stupendous being. 
 
 Monitor. 
 
 Fossil remains of animals that appear to belong to 
 some of the numerous species comprised by Linnaeus 
 under the name Lacerta monitor, and of Tupinambis 
 by Daudin ; animals which frequent marshes and the 
 shallow beds of rivers, occur in bituminous marl slate 
 in Thuringia. 
 
 Salamandra. — Salamander. 
 
 Scheuchzer's famous Homme fossil, which is con- 
 sidered to be an extinct species of salamander, was 
 found in the limestone of CEningen. 
 
 Btifo. — Toad. 
 Fossil remains of this animal occur in the slate 
 limestone of CEningen. It is not the common toad, 
 but one nearly allied to the Rana calamita. 
 
 Coluber. 
 
 Several accounts have been published of the oc- 
 currence of fossil serpents in rocks of different for- 
 mation, but all of them, with exception of the notice 
 of Cuvier, are so loose and unsatisfactory, as to be 
 undeserving of notice. In the notice alluded to, we 
 are informed the bones of a snake, resembling the 
 Coluber natrix, were found in the calcareous conglo- 
 merate of Montpellier. 
 
 CLASS IV.^FossiL Fishes. 
 Fossil remains of fishes occur in considerable abun- 
 dance in formations of particular descriptions, but hi- 
 
 REMAINS. 
 
 therto, owing to the difficulties attending the investi- Organic Re- 
 gation, the determination of the genera and species mains, 
 has been far from satisfactory. Even the attempts that ^^-^v^^^ 
 have been made to divide these fossil fishes into fresh 
 and salt water species have generally failed, and the 
 whole geognostical history is in such a state, as to 
 require a complete revisal. The fish, in some spe- 
 cimens, are found nearly entire, with the soft parts, 
 and even the scales, preserved by mineralization. 
 In others, all the parts are removed, except the ske- 
 leton, and this is more or less perfect, and frequent- 
 ly only the hardest parts remain, such as the palates 
 and teeth. Fossil fishes are found in a variety of 
 geognostic situations in Great Britain, and the fol- 
 lowing genera are mentioned by authors as occurring 
 in this island : Balistes, Xiphias, Diodon, Anarc/ii- 
 chas, Salmo, Esox, Zeus, Murcena, Squalus, but of 
 this latter only the teeth, and of the Raia only the 
 bony tongue and palates. 
 
 Fossil Vertebrce. — Many figures, and some de- 
 scriptions, have been published of the fossil vertebrae 
 of fishes. Most of the specimens appear to have be- 
 longed to large species of fishes, and some authors 
 have confounded, under this name, the caudal ver- 
 tebrae of cetacea, which, however, are always easy 
 to determine, as they do not present any traces of 
 the deep and regularly disposed foramina, which 
 present themselves at the surface of the vertebrae of 
 fishes. 
 
 Fossil Teeth, or Ichthyodonta — These are the 
 parts of fishes that occur most frequently in tlie 
 bowels of the earth, on account of their being less 
 subject to decay. They are divided into two groups, 
 the glossopetra, or more or less flattened teeth, which 
 have belonged to fishes of the shark tribe, &c, and 
 the bufonites, batrachites, SfC. or more or less round- 
 ed teeth, which have been generally considered as 
 belonging to certain species of sparus or of anar- 
 chichas. 1. Glossopetrce, or Petrified Tongues. — This 
 denomination has its origin from the idea that was 
 formerly entertained of the form of the tongue of 
 serpents, and especially from the notion that the 
 Apostle Paul, on going to Malta, had destroyed all 
 the serpents of that island, and that the fossil teeth 
 of sharks, which occur in great abundance, originat- 
 ed from them, and were nothing else than their 
 tongues converted into stone. 2. Bufonites, or Ba- 
 trachites. — We find figures, or rather descriptions, 
 by authors under this name, derived from bufo, be- 
 cause it was imagined, we cannot say how, that 
 there were engendered in the head of toads a great 
 number of fossil bodies, of a more or less rounded 
 shape and shining surface, which are evidently no- 
 thing else than portions of the teeth of fishes. Many 
 of them are true teeth implanted in the maxillary 
 bones, while others are maxillary plates. 
 
 CLASS V Crustacea. 
 
 1. Fossil Crustacea, or Crabs. 
 The description of fossil Crustacea presents more 
 difficulties than might at first be imagined. The 
 greater number of them are in such a state of mu- 
 tilation, or so inclosed in the rock, that very often 
 there is nothing to be seen but a part of the upper 
 
ORGANIC REMAINS. 
 
 Organic Re- surface of the body, or of the thorax ; while the 
 under surface, composed of the numerous pieces of 
 the plastron, or sternum, giving attachment to feet 
 composed of many articulations, and presenting also 
 the external parts of the mouth, is found completely 
 fixed in the substances which inclose it. The an- 
 tennae and feet, besides, are most commonly broken 
 and separated from the body ; which may be readily 
 conceived, when we recollect with what facility these 
 latter parts are detached from living Crustacea, which 
 lose them when fighting with one another, or even 
 when executing some violent motions. The general 
 want of the antennae and feet in the fossil specimens, 
 induced Desmarestto restrict the distinctions to cha- 
 racters obtained from the shell or the thorax. On 
 examining the thorax, it results that the various pro- 
 minences which it exhibits are not irregular and ac- 
 cidental ; on the contrary, in all the genera of Crus- 
 tacea, the disposition of these inequalities is con- 
 stant, and subjected to certain laws. Reflecting, be- 
 sides, that the Crustacea have their principal internal 
 organs situated immediately under the shell or tho- 
 rax, Desmarest was led to inquire if there existed 
 marked relations between the place occupied by 
 these viscera and the distribution of the internal in- 
 equalities of the shell. We have been the more in- 
 clined, he remarks, to admit these relations, that it is 
 known that at a certain period of the year all the 
 Crustacea, after having lost their old solid envelope, 
 are covered with a delicate skin, which hardens in its 
 turn, and at the end of a few days changes into a 
 crust equally resisting with that which it substitutes ; 
 and we might presume, that in the first moments the 
 new skin moulded itself to a certain point upon the 
 internal organs, and that its ossification was subse- 
 quently influenced by the motions peculiar to these 
 organs, or by the greater or less developement of 
 each of them. It is easy to prove that the relations 
 which we have just mentioned exist ; for, if the shell 
 of a crab of the most common species on our coast, 
 the Cancer m^enas, Lin. be removed with care, we ob- 
 serve, fig. 1, Plate CVl. behind the inter-orbitary 
 edges, a membranous vesicular stomach, having two 
 large lobes, a a, before, and two small ones, a a, be- 
 hind, supported in the middle by a slender transverse 
 bone in the form of an arch, h h, and having above, 
 between the two great lobes, and on the middle line, 
 two longitudinal muscles, i i, which are attached on 
 one side to the anterior edge of the shell, and on the 
 other to the transverse bone. If we make a compa- 
 rative examination of the thorax, which is detached, 
 fig. 2, we perceive on it, 1 1, the indication of the 
 two anterior lobes of the stomach with a depressed 
 central line, which corresponds with the interval that 
 separates the two muscles mentioned. 
 
 Behind the stomach whitish sinuous bodies present 
 themselves, fig. I, gg, in the form of intestines, and 
 making many circumvolutions. These are prepara- 
 tory organs subservient to generation, the spermatic 
 vessels in the males, and the ovaria in the females. 
 They project beneath in different places, but above 
 they occupy the same place in both sexes. With 
 reference to the shell, fig. 2, these organs appear to 
 us to occupy the space, 2, which is circumscribed 
 by sunk lines, and which is seen behind the one cor- 
 responding to the stomach. 
 
 Still farther back, fig. 1, in a pretty deep hollow, Organic 
 we find the heart, d, which is depressed above, and ni^ins 
 which occupies its whole extent ; this organ is easily ' 
 distinguished by its pulsations. Each lateral edge 
 of the cavity, ff, in which it is placed, is solid and 
 much elevated, and formed by a vertical septum 
 which proceeds from the sternum to the shell, and 
 which contributes to its solidity, by being fixed be- 
 tween these two surfaces, much in the way of the 
 supporter between the two tables of a violin. This 
 septum also gives support to other transverse parti- 
 tions, which are equal in number to the separations 
 of the sternal pieces, and in the interval of which 
 are situated the muscles which move the feet. The 
 shell, fig. 2, 3, shows the place of the heart well de- 
 fined, in the same situation in which this organ is 
 found in the crab when laid bare, and on each of its 
 sides we observe two small sunk lines, which belong 
 to the point of attachment of the two bony partitions 
 between which the heart is situated. 
 
 On the right and left of the preparatory organs 
 of generation and of the heart, there are two large 
 spaces, fig. 1, ee, where the branchiae are arranged 
 and extended on two oblique osseous tables, which 
 shut up above all the compartments in which the 
 muscles of the feet are fixed. These branchiae are 
 five in number on each side, and each of them pre- 
 sents a double row of small transverse branchial la- 
 minae; this point of att-achment is externally, and all 
 their extremities are directed toward the line which 
 separates the preparatory organs of generation from 
 the heart. The shell, fig. 2, 5, 5, presents, above 
 these parts, on each side of the body, a bulging 
 space, which, in its extent, agrees perfectly with the 
 place occupied by them beneath it. 
 
 Lastly, on both sides of the stomach, and before 
 the branchiae, we find the liver, fig. 1, h b, which is 
 very large ; it is of a soft consistence and yellowish 
 colour, and its surface presents a multitude of small 
 vermiform parts. This liver passes beneath the vis- 
 cera which we have described, and is prolonged pos- 
 teriorly, as far as the base of the tail to e, so that it 
 is seen still behind the heart. At this point it has 
 the same aspect and structure as in the anterior part 
 of the body, and is divided into two lobes, which, 
 besides, are in close contact. In the shell, the parts 
 which cover the places where the liver is visible, 
 when it has been removed, fig. 2, 6, 6, and 4, are 
 less bulging than the others, and are distinct on ac- 
 count of this want of protuberance, especially the 
 anterior ones. 
 
 The same relations have been found in the Cancer 
 pagurus, and many other species. In some, how- 
 ever, many of the indications were wanting, as in 
 certain Leucosice for example; but in this case, the 
 shell is altogether smooth, and no other furrow in- 
 dicated divisions which did not correspond with those 
 which we have mentioned. 
 
 In some others, the surface of the shell is, on the 
 contrary, marked with an infinity of furrows, and 
 with numerous asperities {Cancer variolosus, and C. 
 incisiis) ; but the principal divisions have always the 
 same arrangement. 
 
 W^e have found it convenient to give the name of 
 Regions to the diflferent parts of the shell which 
 cover the internal organs, and to distinguish these. 
 
ORGANIC REMAINS. 
 
 86 
 
 Organic Re- regions by particular designations, which bear refe- 
 '■ence to the relations existing between them and 
 '^^^'^^ the organs, thus : 
 
 The gastric region (region stomacale), or that 
 which covers the stomach, is median, or anterior, 
 fig. 2, 1.1. 
 
 The genilal region is median, and situated imme- 
 diately behind the gastric, 2.2. 
 
 The cardiac region (region cardiale) is median, 
 and placed behind the genital, 3. 
 
 The hepatic regions are three in number ; two aw- 
 terior, situated one on each side of the gastric, and 
 before the branchial, 6.6 ; a posterior median, placed 
 between the cardiac and the posterior edge of the 
 shell, 4. 
 
 The branchial regions, two in number, one on each 
 side, are placed between the cardiac and genital re- 
 gions on one hand, and the lateral edges of the shell 
 on the other, 5.5. 
 
 Desmarest describes, according to the plan just de- 
 tailed, twenty genera, and a considerable number of 
 species from different parts of Europe, Asia, and 
 Africa. Many species occur in Great Britain, but 
 principally in England, where they appear in the chalk 
 formation, and also in the plastic clay of Sheppey. 
 
 In Plate CVI. we have given, from Brongniart, 
 representations of a Limulus and of a Cancer, both 
 of them genera of the Crustacea.; 
 
 2. Trilobites. 
 
 Upwards of an hundred years ago, there was fo'und 
 in England, near to Dudley, in beds of limestone, or- 
 ganic bodies of a very singular form, and different 
 from all the petrifactions which had been previously 
 seen, as well as from every organized body known to 
 exist at the surface of the earth. There was no he- 
 sitation, however, in referring them to the animal 
 kingdom ; but for a long time it could not be deter- 
 mined to what class they belonged ; and Linnaeus 
 himself, on placing them with the insects, found 
 their form to be so very different from that of the 
 animals of this class, that he gave to the particular 
 species which he has described the name of Entomo- 
 Uthus paradoxus. 
 
 Notwithstanding the considerable differences which 
 exist between many of the bodies to which the name 
 of Entomolites was at first given, and afterwards that 
 of Trilobites, we nevertheless discover between them 
 points of resemblance sufficient to characterize a 
 very natural family. 
 
 Their body, as in the greater number of insects 
 and in some Crustacea, may be divided transversely 
 into three principal, parts. But the principal gene- 
 ral characteristic, and what essentially distinguishes 
 them from all known animals, is their longittidinal 
 division into three parts, or lobes, by two deep fur- 
 rows parallel to the axis of the body ; this remarka- 
 ble structure has excited the attention of all obser- 
 vers. At first the tails were only observed, and 
 from their being considered as shells, the name of 
 Concha triloba was given them. Afterwards this de- 
 signation was transferred to the entire animals, by 
 naming them Trilobites, a denomination first given by 
 Knorr, and afterwards employed in a systematic 
 > manner by Briinnich and Blumenbach. 
 
 The Trilobites appear to form a distinct family in Organic lie. 
 the great division of animals named articulated, which \ 
 may be included in the class Crustacea. It exhibits ^^'•'^'^^ 
 the following characters: 
 
 Their body, as Brongniart remarks, is divided in- 
 to three parts, which are more or less distinct ; the 
 anterior part, which is named the scutum (bouclier), 
 (the head, Walch, &c.), appears to present the union 
 of what, in insects, is generally called the head and 
 thorax ; the middle part of the body, which is divid- 
 ed by very distinct transverse articulations, may be 
 considered as the abdomen, or trunk of Walch, Briin- 
 nich, Wahlenberg, or the union of the belly and 
 back ; the posterior part, often distinctly separated 
 from the middle division, though sometimes nearly 
 blended with it, and which is divided by less distinct 
 articulations, or transverse folds, may be called the 
 post-abdomen. The name of tail has been univer- 
 sally applied to it by naturalists, from its analogy 
 with the part in Crustacea, to which the same name 
 is given with equal impropriety ; it is traversed by 
 the intestinal canal, but as there is, besides this part, 
 a true tail, it would be improper to allow the name 
 to remain. At the extremity of this prolongation 
 of the abdomen, we find, in many species, an elon- 
 gated appendage of a coriaceous, or crustaceous 
 nature, either without articulations, as in the limulae, 
 or composed of several plates arranged in the form 
 of a fan, as in the lobsters ; this appendicular part, 
 which does not contain any viscus, should bear the 
 name of tail. 
 
 These two abdomens are divided longitudinally in 
 all the trilobites by two deep grooves, into three 
 longitudinal parts, or lobes, of unequal breadth ; 
 the middle one is generally the narrowest and the 
 most distinctly articulated ; the lateral ones, which 
 are broader, even sometimes extend under the form 
 of nearly membranous expansions, which appear to 
 be supported by hard and costiform sides, or ap- 
 pendages, proceeding from the abdomen and the 
 post-abdomen. We shall follow M. Audouin in giv- 
 ing the name of sides (or ilia, or latera) (fiancsj 
 to these lobes, or lateral parts : we have said that 
 this forms the essential character of the trilobites ; 
 it is never wanting in any species, and does not oc- 
 cur so distinctly marked in any known living animal. 
 
 The scutum (bouclier) is always divided into three 
 more or less distinct parts ; a middle one, which, by 
 Walch, is named the frons (front), and two lateral 
 ones which may retain the name of cheeks (joues), 
 employed by the same author. 
 
 We observe upon this frons, or middle part of the 
 scutum, two or more tubercles ; and, often upon the 
 two lateral parts, two other projecting tubercles very 
 different from the first, which have been compared 
 to eyes. 
 
 The similarity of these parts, in regard to posi- 
 tion, general form, and reticular structure, to the 
 reticulated eyes of insects, and especially of the 
 Crustacea, scarcely leaves any doubt regarding the 
 analogy which may be established between these tu- 
 bercles and eyes. The articulations of the abdomen 
 and post-abdomen are sometimes prolonged laterally 
 into projecting appendages. 
 
 Sometimes the tail does not exist at all, sometimes 
 10 
 
ORGANIC 
 
 Organic Re- it is formed of a membrane which terminates in a 
 
 '"^ "^ , point, or with a crustaceous subulate appendage, 
 '-^v"^' Lastly, no naturalists have ever seen any thing 
 which could be compared to antennae or feet. 
 
 The trilobites are all marine animals ; their con- 
 stant association in the same rocks with shells and 
 other marine productions can leave no doubt on this 
 point. It would appear that they have been capable 
 of multiplying prodigiously, judging from the man- 
 ner in which certain formations are crowded with 
 them, insomuch that these rocks appear to be en- 
 tirely composed of them. 
 
 The following are the generic names and charac- 
 ters given to these fossil animals by Desmarest :— 
 
 Genus I — Calymene. (That is, obscure or hid.) 
 
 Body, contractile, nearly semicylindrical. 
 
 Scutum, having several tubercles or folds, tvoo re- 
 ticulated oculiform tubercles. 
 
 Abdomen and post-abdomen, entire at the margin, 
 the abdomen divided into twelve or fourteen joints. 
 
 Point of the tail prolonged. 
 
 C Blumenbachii. Dudley Fossil. Auct. 
 
 Clypeo rotundato, tuberculis sex distinctis in fronte ; 
 oculis in genis eminentissimis ; corpora tuberculata. 
 
 Abundant at Dudley in Worcestershire. Plate 
 CVI. Three other species are described by Brong- 
 niart, and two of these are figured in Plate CVI. 
 
 Genus II — Asaphus. (That is, difficult to deter- 
 mine.) 
 
 Body broad and pretty flat ; middle lobe project- 
 ing, and very distinct. 
 
 Sides, or lateral lobes, each twice the breadth of 
 the middle lobe. 
 
 Submembranous expansions extending the afches 
 of the lateral lobes. 
 
 Scutum semicircular, with two reticulated oculiform 
 tubercles. 
 
 . Abdomen divided into eight or twelve joints. 
 A. Debuchii. 
 
 Corpore ovato, antice obtuso : pars caudae mem- 
 branacea ad marginem longitudinaliter striata. Plate 
 CVI. 
 
 Is one of the species found in Wales. Four other 
 species described by Brongniart, and one of these the 
 A. Cornigerus, is figured in Plate CVI. 
 
 Genus III — Ogygia. (That is, of the greatest 
 antiquity.) 
 
 Body much depressed, in the form of an elongated 
 ellipse, not contractile. 
 
 Scutum marginate ; a shallow longitudinal groove 
 proceeding from its anterior extremity. 
 
 No other tubercles than the oculiform ones. 
 
 Oculiform protuberances little protruded, not reti- 
 culated ; posterior angles of the scutum prolonged 
 into a point. 
 
 Longitudinal lobes little protruded. 
 
 Abdomen with eight articulations. 
 
 REMAIN S. 87 
 
 Two species of this genus, but none of them Bri- Organic Re- 
 tish, described by Brongniart. v^rv^^^w' 
 
 Genus IV — Paradoxides. 
 
 Body depressed, not contractile. 
 
 Sides much broader than the middle lobe. 
 
 Scutum nearly semicircular ; three oblique wrinkles 
 on the middle lobe. 
 
 No oculiform tubercles. 
 
 Abdomen with twelve articulations. 
 
 Arches of the abdominal and post-abdominal sides 
 more or less prolonged beyond the membrane which 
 sustains them. 
 
 Five species, no British, described ; and one of these, 
 the P. spinulosus, is figured in Plate CVI. The fos- 
 sils described by Linnaeus under the name Ento- 
 molithus paradoxus belong to this genus. 
 
 Genus V. — Agnostus. (That is to say, unknown.) 
 
 Body ellipsoidal, semicylindrical. 
 
 Scutum and sides with the edges a little elevated. 
 
 Middle lobe presenting only two transverse divi- 
 sions, each of a single piece. 
 
 Two glandular tubercles at the anterior part of 
 the body. 
 
 Of this genus but one species, and that found in 
 Sweden. 
 
 CLASS VI—Insecta. 
 
 From their perishable nature, the animals of this 
 class rarely occur in a fossil state ; and when they 
 do appear, they are generally very imperfect. Sup- 
 posed larvae of the genera Libellula and Epheme- 
 ra occur in the marl slate of CEningen and Pappen- 
 heim ; and the elytra of coleopterous insects in the 
 Stonesfield slate. Insects well preserved, and of ex- 
 tinct species, occur in amber. Schvveigger describes 
 a piece of amber containing a perfect scorpion, but 
 different from the common species of that genus. 
 The ants inclosed in amber appear to be the same 
 with the present species ; so that we have the same 
 arrangement in this substance as in rock formations, 
 viz. known and unknown species together. 
 
 CLASS VII.— MoLLuscA. 
 
 Fossil Shells. 
 Fossil shells are amongst the most abundant of the 
 organic remains met with in the strata of which our 
 globe is composed. They exhibit not only great va- 
 riety in form, but also in magnitude, having a range 
 from the colossal ammonite, several feet in diameter, 
 to the microscopic nautili, and other shells of the 
 same description. They are divided into univalve, 
 or those composed of one valve or piece, bivalve, 
 with two valves, and muUivalve, with more than 
 two valves. 
 
 1. Univalve Fossil Shells. 
 These univalve shells are again divided into those 
 with one chamber, termed unilocular, as the com- 
 mon patella or limpet ; and those with several cham- 
 bers, named multilocular, as the nautilus. Upwards 
 
88 ORGANIC 
 
 Organic Re- of seventy genera of unilocular shells occur in a 
 fossil state, and many of these include numerous 
 "^^^ species. The multilocular genera are not so nume- 
 rous, their number amounting to about twenty-two, 
 but their internal structure is so interesting as to de- 
 serve from us some notice. The nautilus, which is 
 one of the best known of these, like all the other ge- 
 nera of this division, has its shell formed into a num- 
 ber of chambers, divided by a perforated septum. 
 The animal which inhabits it, and which is of the 
 sepia or cuttle-fish tribe, resides in the largest and 
 last formed chamber ; an elastic tube (siphuhculus) 
 proceeds from the animal, and passes through the 
 perforation in the septa and the different chambers, 
 and terminates in the first or smallest. It is con- 
 jectured that part of the shell is enveloped by the 
 animal, independent of the connection it has with 
 it by means of the siphunculus. The tube is mem- 
 branous, and it is probable that it is dilatable and 
 compressible, so as to be capable of rendering the 
 animal buoyant or otherwise at pleasure, as the air- 
 bladder does iti fishes. The cells or chambers 
 seem to answer no other purpose than that of con- 
 taining air, as the animal leaves the last formed one 
 in succession as it forms a new one, keeping up with 
 them no other communication than what is preserved 
 by the siphunculus. Thus, as the animal increases 
 in size and occupies a new chamber, the last in or- 
 der, and, in the same way, all the preceding ones, 
 are left empty, so that the gravity of the shell is not 
 much more than that of the water of the sea, and hence 
 the addition of a small portion of air, by means of the 
 siphunculus, may render it buoyant, and the expan- 
 sion of the air, and probably the addition of water, 
 may cause it to sink. Of these nautili some are 
 known to live in the present waters of the globe, but 
 are of rare occurrence, while the fossil species are nu- 
 merous and abundant. Hence has arisen a question 
 as to the cause of the great disproportion between 
 the number of fossil and of recent shells of this tribe. 
 Some are of opinion that the fossil genera have be- 
 come extinct, while others maintain that they still 
 live at the bottom of the sea, out of the reach of our 
 observation. But the structure of the shell, as al- 
 ready explained, proves that so far from their inha- 
 bitants having been destined to live always at the 
 bottom of the sea, they possess the power of rising 
 up to and remaining at the surface of the sea. Sup- 
 posing them still to live, they would occasionally, as 
 the present nautilus, be seen at the surface ; but not 
 a single instance being known of a shell of these ge- 
 nera having been thus seen, their existence may be 
 reasonably doubted — (Parkinson's Introduction.) 
 
 Ammonites. — This is another tribe of multilocu- 
 lar fossil shells, remarkable not only for its beauty 
 and variety, but also on account of its vast abun- 
 dance and wide distribution in the mineral kingdom. 
 They are the petrified serpents of the vulgar ; by 
 some considered as the original type of the volutes 
 of architecture, and have also an interesting mytho- 
 logical meaning. Three hundred different species 
 have been described. 
 
 Nummulites — Another of the concamerated fossil 
 genera, of a discoidal form, and which has been con- 
 founded with seeds. It is so very abundant, that some- 
 
 REMAINS. 
 
 times whole tracks of country are principally compos- Organic Re- 
 ed of it. The pyramids of Egypt are partly built of a mains, 
 limestone almost entirely made up of nummulites- "-^^-'^ 
 Our limits will not allow of any details in regard to 
 the Orthoceratite, Belemnite, Bacculite, and other 
 genera of this remarkable division, which, in general 
 character and economy, agree with the nautilus, al- 
 ready particularly noticed. 
 
 2. Bivalve and Multivalve Fossil Shells. 
 
 The bivalve fossil shells are so numerous and va- 
 ried in their forms, that we must refer for descrip- 
 tions of them to the numerous treatises and works 
 on fossil conchology. The multivalves are of com- 
 paratively rare occurrence. 
 
 CLASS VIII.— Radiaria. 
 
 Echinius, or Sea Urchin Family. 
 
 This extensive division of the echinodermata ex- 
 hibits great variety in form, and although not met 
 with in the older secondary rocks, is abundant in se- 
 veral of the newer. Some of the species resemble 
 those at present met with in our seas, but none of 
 them, as far as we know, are identical with the re- 
 cent ones. 
 
 2. Asterias, or Sea Star Family. 
 
 The animals of this series, from the delicacy and 
 frailness of their structure, speedily decay, and 
 hence are rarely met with in a fossil state. 
 
 3. Crinoidea, or Encrinite Family. 
 The animals of this order appear, from their inter- 
 nal structure and external form, to belong to a series 
 allied to the Radiaria, and therefore cannot be ar- 
 ranged with the simple classof polypi, They abound 
 in many strata, and in vast abundance, but very 
 rarely in a living state, — a fact which shows the great 
 difference between the animal world of the former 
 and present period. Blumenbach first conjectured 
 their affinity to the Radiaria; Schweigger describes 
 them as pediculated and fixed asterise ; and Miller, 
 in his late excellent work on the Crinoidea, has re- 
 moved every doubt as to their true place in the sys- 
 tem. All the Entrochites and Encrinites of authors 
 belong to this family. 
 
 CLASS IX.— Polypi. 
 
 Under this head we include all the different kinds 
 of simple animals named polypi, with their cover- 
 ings, termed polyparia. All the corals popularly 
 so called are polyparia of this class, and many of 
 these occur in a fossil state, as will appear from 
 the following enumeration : — Astrea, some species 
 fossil. Porites, none fossil. Madrepora, few fossil. 
 Explanaria, none fossil. HydnophorcBi some fos- 
 sil. Meandrina, some fossil. Agaricia, some fossil. 
 Pavowz'a, none fossil. jPzfw^m, some fossil. Cyclolites, 
 entirely fossil. Turbinolia, entii'ely fossil. Cary- 
 ophyllia, several fossil. Favosites, a fossil genus. 
 Orbulitei, some fossil. Alveolites, nearly all fossil. 
 Flustra and Echara, sometimes fossil. Gorgonia and 
 Antipathes, not fossil. Corallina, not fossil. Coral- 
 limn, rarely fossil. 
 
 The most simple of all the animal productions 
 
 12 
 
ORGANIC 
 
 Organic Re- hitherto found in a fossil state are the aJcyoniums 
 mams. ^^^j gponges. 
 
 ' "' v^^-^ The alcyonia in the fresh state are nearly as soft 
 as sponge, but have stellular openings on the sur- 
 face, through which polypi project. They occur 
 sometimes fossil, and frequently in flint. 
 
 Sponges are composed of horny fibres connected 
 together by means of an animal jelly, but hitherto 
 no distinct polypi have been detected in them. They 
 occur in a fossil state, and are abundant in the flint 
 of the chalk formation, and in the chalk itself. 
 
 II. Fossil Remains of Plants. 
 Casts and Impressions of Trees and Ferns. 
 Vegetable remains occur iu great abundance, and 
 in considerable variety, in different formations, par- 
 ticularly in the coal formation. In some coal mines 
 they appear well preserved, and thus afford many fa- 
 cilities for the determination of their characters; 
 whilst in others they are so much changed, as to ren- 
 der it nearly impossible to make out the classes and 
 orders to which they belong. In Plates CVII. CVIII. 
 we have given representations of several casts and 
 impressions of the fossil vegetables met with in our 
 coal fields, partly from original drawings, partly from 
 the plates of Sternberg. 
 
 1. Lepidodendron. — Stem squamous, the scales in 
 perfect specimens, with attached leaves, whi'ch are 
 arranged in a spiral manner around the stem. Spe- 
 cimens of four species are represented by fig. 1, 2, 
 3, Plate CVII., and fig. 7, Plate C VIII., and all of them 
 from the coal formation of the river district of the 
 Forth. Mr Allan, in the Transactions of the Royal 
 Society of Edinburgh, has given a figure of a Lepido- 
 dendron, with several circular flowers. 
 
 2. Variolaria, — Stem scutelar, or verrucose, and 
 the centre of the scutae affording a point of attach- 
 ment to leaves. This tribe bears some resemblance 
 to arborescent Euphorbia, and to some Cacti. In 
 Plate C VIIL, fig. 8, is a drawing of the Variolaria 
 ficoides, with attached leaves. Fig. 4, Plate CVII., 
 is another specimen without leaves, and both from 
 our neighbouring coal fields. 
 
 3. Calamitce, so named from their general resem- 
 blance to the calamitae of the ancients. One species 
 is represented by fig. 5, Plate CVII. Fig. 9, Plate 
 CVIIL, is another figure of the same genus, but pro- 
 bably a different species. 
 
 4. Syringodendron. — Of this tribe, one species is 
 figured, fig. 6, Plate CVII. 
 
 5. Rhytidolepis — Is so named on account of the 
 thick wrinkles with which the back is marked. In 
 coal formation, England. Fig. 7, Plate CVII. 
 
 6. Flabellaria — A tribe which resembles the 
 palms, fig. 8, Plate CVII., F. borassifolia, from the 
 coal formation near Burntisland. 
 
 ■ 7. Noeggerathia — Fig. 3, Plate CVIII. A repre- 
 sentation of one of the species of this fossil genus. 
 
 REMAINS. 89 
 
 8. Rotularia — So named from its resemblance in Organic Re- 
 form to a wheel. Appears to be a cryptogamous mains, 
 plant, probably peculiar to marshy places or water 
 
 and forms a particular genus. Fig. 6, Plate CVIIL, 
 is one of the species from the coal formation. 
 
 9. Schlotheimia, — Stem jointed, contracted at the 
 joints, leaves verticillated. Fig. 1, Plate CVIIL, S. 
 tenuifolia ; leaves sessile, awl-shaped, and rigid. Is 
 the hippuris of some authors. From the coal for- 
 mation near Burntisland. 
 
 10. Annularia. — Leaves disposed in a vertcillate 
 manner, and inserted in a ring which surrounds the 
 stem. Fig. 2, Plate CVIIL, is A. spinulosa from the 
 coal formation. 
 
 11. Osmunda giganlea. — Fig. 5, Plate CVIII. Oc- 
 curs in the bituminous shale of the coal formation near 
 Burntisland. The species figured differs from any of 
 the recent species. It is indeed very difficult, in gene- 
 ral, to form an opinion as to the ferns found in rocks ; 
 for the leaves of ferns of the present creation, even of 
 different genera, are so aUke, that they are easily 
 confounded, when we have not an opportunity of 
 examining their seeds, and particularly when we do 
 not attend to the nicer distinctions known to the ex- 
 perienced botanist. How, then, can we determine 
 in a satisfactory manner the impressions in rocks 
 where the seeds are so rarely visible, and the parts so 
 often altered ? Smith, Brown, Link, and other emi- 
 nent botanists, on examining these impressions in 
 slate clay and bituminous shale, thought some re- 
 sembled a Pteris, another a Dicksonia, others Poly- 
 podium, Adiantura, Osmunda ; and in all these cases, 
 the individuals they most resembled were natives of 
 tropical climates, — but not a single instance occur- 
 red of an impression of any known and recent spe- 
 cies. * 
 
 2. Leaves of Plants. 
 Impressions of leaves occur in rocks of different 
 descriptions. Fig. 4, Plate CVIIL, is the representa- 
 tion of a leaf of a tree, intermediate between a Pla- 
 tanus and Lyriodendrum. Sorfie impressions resemble 
 Spiraea, others the TilialEuropea, Betula alnus,Betu- 
 la fruticosa, Salix caprea, Acer pseudo-platanus, 
 Populus nigra, Acer campestre,Rhamnus frangula, Sa- 
 lix myrsinites. These impressions are found in some 
 of the rocks of the Paris formation. Leaves are also 
 sometimes found in amber, and some are of opinion 
 that these belong to the Aloexylon agallachura, and 
 the amber itself is conjectured to be an exudation 
 from that tree. 
 
 3. Impressions of Flo'wers. 
 
 Beautiful specimens of aster-like flowers are some- 
 times met with in a lepidodrendous tree in the coal 
 formation near to Edinburgh ; and one of these, as al- 
 ready, mentioned, has been figured in the Transac- 
 tions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 
 
 Schlotheira describes the impressions of a flower 
 
 * Schlotheim has lately published descriptions and figures of impressions of sea plants, fuci, found in a 
 coal formation connected with a limestone which rests upon the new red sandstone formation. Similar im- 
 pressions occur in the coal field near Burntisland. 
 
 VOL, VI. PART I. M ■ 
 
90 
 
 ORGANIC E E M A I N S. 
 
 Organic Re- of a ranunculus from a metalliferous bed near Frank- 
 mains, enberg in Hessia; also impressions of an aquatic 
 
 "^-•''■"Y""*^ Ranunculus or Trollius in the limestone of Oeningen. 
 
 In Blumenbach's Spec. Arch. Tellur. and m Karg's 
 Essays, there are observations on this subject, 
 
 4. Fossil Seeds and Fruits. 
 
 Fossil seeds and fruits of plants occur in different 
 formations, but usually in such a state as renders it 
 nearly impossible to determine the tribes to which 
 they belong. Faujas St Fond found fossil fruits in 
 the brown coal of Liblar, which, he said, bore a 
 strong resemblance to areca nuts ; an opinion in 
 which he was not supported by the after examina- 
 tions of Jussieu, Desfontaines, Lamarck, and Thouin. 
 They probably belong to some palm. The fossil seeds 
 that occur in bituminous wood, in which amber also 
 is found, cannot be referred to any known plants. 
 In the Island of Sheppey there are accumulations 
 of seeds, some of which are like those of the palm, 
 others the chesnut, cocoa, but none identical with 
 any of these. 
 
 5. Plants in Calcedony, Siliceous Sinter, and Calc 
 Tuff. 
 
 The early observations of Daubenton, and the 
 later ingenious investigations of Dr Macculloch, 
 seem to prove the exis.tence of various cryptogamic 
 plants in calcedony, particularly in that variety 
 named mocha stone. The included vegetables are 
 referred to the tribes Jungermannia and Hypnum of 
 botanists. The siliceous sinter of Iceland, some- 
 times confounded with calcedony, we find also to 
 contain occasionally plants of different descriptions, 
 Calc-tuff, in some districts, as at Burgtonna, con- 
 tains well preserved specimens of the Chara vulgaris, 
 and Ch. hispida. Confervse have also been found in a 
 preserved state in compact calc-tuff. Some of the 
 gyrogonites of Lamarck, found in calc-tuff, are cer- 
 tainly seeds of the chara tribe. 
 
 6. Petrified Woods. 
 
 Trunks, branches, and roots of trees occur in 
 rocks of different kinds, or even loose, more or less 
 impregnated or petrified with mineral matter. The 
 structure and external form are sometimes well pre- 
 served, and in other cases both are nearly obliterated. 
 Some of these, belonging to the palm tribe, are there- 
 fore monocotyldonous ; others, and the greater num- 
 ber, present concentric rings and other internal ar- 
 rangements which characterise dicotolydonous trees. 
 Hitherto no accurate descriptions have been pub- 
 lished of the internal structure of these petrifac- 
 tions, and consequently the names given to them are 
 not to be depended on. Thus it is said that oak, 
 birch, pine, box, elm, willow, hazel, ash, occur pe- 
 trified in the form of wood-stone and wood-opal ; 
 but our own experience does not go to confirm these 
 determinations. 
 
 II.— STATE OR CONDITION OF FOSSIL 
 ORGANIC REMAINS. 
 
 Fossil organic remains occur either unchanged, 
 
 or more or less altered from their original state or Organic Re- 
 condition, by the removal of some of their consti- mains, 
 tuent parts, their bituminisation, or owing to impreg- 
 nation with various mineral substances. Shells, 
 bones, teeth, vegetables, of various descriptions, in 
 some alluvial soils, are scarcely at all altered, and 
 remains of quadrupeds have been found well pre- 
 served in ice in polar countries ; and in peat-mosses, 
 human bodies remain uncorrupted for a long series 
 of years. Shells are sometimes found in a nearly un- 
 altered state in solid rocks, as limestone. The beau- 
 tiful fire marble of Carinthia contains unaltered shells 
 of ammonite, with their pearly lustre, and rich tints 
 of the most beautiful colours. Shells and bones oc- 
 cur in other alluvial strata, more or less bleached, 
 being dry and fragile, ovring to the removal of a por- 
 tion of their animal matter. In fossil fishes, some- 
 times not only the bones, but also the soft parts, and 
 even the scales, occur more or less perfectly pre- 
 served. Fossil vegetables occur, either nearly unalter- 
 ed, or more or less bituminised or carbonised, in allu- 
 vial strata, also in the brown-coalformation,andin some 
 sandstones. In other cases, the animals or vegetables * 
 have disappeared, and only their casts, or impressions, 
 remain to attest their former presence. This change is 
 more frequent with vegetables than animals. In parti- 
 cular situations, the organic body, whether plant or 
 animal, is simply coated, or incrusted, with the mi- . 
 neral matter, and but slightly impregnated with it. 
 The incrusting matter is most frequently calc-tuff" 
 and calc-sinter, less frequently volcanic tuff. But 
 the most durable state of fossil organic remains is 
 the petrified, when they are more or less completely 
 impregnated with mineral matter. 
 
 I. Petkified Vegetables. 
 
 Wood Petrified uoith Hornstone. — Trunks, branches, 
 and roots of trees and shrubs are sometimes im- 
 pregnated with hornstone, forming what is called 
 wood-stone, or ligneous hornstone, and this is one 
 of the most frequent of the petrified woods. The 
 wood appears, in some cases, to have been in a 
 rotten state when petrified, and such varieties ap- 
 pear light coloured and shivery ; in other cases, it 
 appears first to have been bituminised, so that it 
 is both bituminous and siliceous together, in which 
 case it is of a dark brown or black colour, and 
 of a more compact texture. In our Cabinet, we 
 have several specimens to show the combination of 
 siliceous matter and bituminous wood in its differ- 
 ent stages of bituminisation. Lastly, in other cases, 
 the wood appears to have undergone no change, 
 and then, the wood, or at least part of the lig- 
 neous matter, remains in the petrifaction, while, in 
 others, the whole has disappeared, leaving nothing 
 but its form behind. It is probable, however, that 
 many wood-stones, in collections, are not real petri- 
 factions, but portions of trees in which a great se- 
 cretion of silica has taken place. In the Museum 
 of the University of Edinburgh, there is a large 
 mass of wood-stone, said to have been obtained 
 from the centre of the trunk of a teak tree, which 
 may be viewed as a portion of the wood highly im- 
 
ORGANIC REMAINS. 
 
 Organic Re- pregnated with silica by the living powers of the 
 mains. tree. * 
 
 2. Calcedonic Wood and Jasper Wood. — In some 
 cases the wood is petrified with calcedony, and in 
 others with jasper ; the first has usually a yellowish 
 white colour, and resembles decayed wood, while 
 die latter exhibits great variety of colours. In some 
 rare varieties of Heliotrope a fibrous and probably ve- 
 getable structure occurs. 
 
 3. Opaline Wood. — Wood, when impregnated with 
 opal, forms the most beautiful variety of petrified 
 wood. It is distinguished from the others by resin- 
 ous lustre, conchoidal fracture, inferior hardness, 
 and lower specific gravity. Hungary is the chief 
 country of this beautiful fossil remain. 
 
 4. Calcareous Wood. — Wood is sometimes more 
 or less completely petrified with carbonate of lime, in 
 the form of calcareous spar or of limestone. In some 
 cases the wood appears to have been bituminous be- 
 fore petrifaction, in others rotten, and in some not 
 altered. It occurs in alluvial soil and in various 
 limestones in diflPerent parts of England. 
 
 5. Aluminous Wood. — Some woods are petrified 
 with aluminous matter, but generally along with it 
 there is a considerable intermixture of iron pyrites. 
 
 6. Wood petrijied tvith Iron Pyrites Fossil wood 
 
 of this description soon decays on exposure to the 
 influence of the weather. Seeds are sometimes in 
 this state, as is the case in the Island of Sheppey. 
 
 7. W ood and other Parts of Trees and Plants petri- 
 jied luith Carbonate and Hydrocarbonate qf Iron 
 
 Wood and fossil vegetables in this state are not of 
 rare occurrence, and are the most indestructible of 
 the woods impregnated with ores. 
 
 8. Wood impregnated with Copper Pyrites This 
 
 variety of mineralized wood generally contains, be- 
 sides pyrites, blue and green malachite, which stains 
 it with their beautiful colours. 
 
 9- Wood impregnated with Galena or Lead- 
 Glance.— -^ovae, specimens of this description occur 
 in old mines, thus proving the comparative newness 
 of their formation, while others of a more ancient 
 date occur in brown coal. 
 
 2. Petrified Animal Remains. 
 
 The remains of quadrupeds, birds, and amphibi- 
 ous animals are seldom impregnated with mineral 
 matter, and when this takes place, it is generally 
 their harder parts which are petrified. The horns 
 of deer are sometimes impregnated with clay iron 
 ore, and bones of quadrupeds occur penetrated 
 with lead-glance and iron pyrites, and have su- 
 perimposed crystals of the same minerals. The 
 fossil fishes in the bituminous marl slate i.f Thu- 
 ringia are often entirely bituminised, and, accord- 
 ing to Werner, the bituminous impregnation of the 
 
 91 
 
 slate is derived from these fishes. Sometimes the Organic Re- 
 fishes m the marl slate are also impregnated with "'"^^"s- 
 copper pyrites, and also with lead-glance and iron^~v^^ 
 pyrites. Crustaceous animals are petrified with cal- 
 careous spar, or with iron pyrites. The Echini 
 or Sea Urchins, are petrified with calcareous spar, 
 vvith flmt, and seldom with iron pyrites. The va- 
 rious tribes of shells and corals are often petrified 
 with calcareous spar, less frequently with clay iron 
 ore, and rarely vvith flint or calcedony, and with sul- 
 phur. And lastly, the Alcyonia and Sponges, the 
 lowest of the animal world met with in a fossil state, 
 are usually penetrated or impregnated with flint. 
 
 III.-GEOGNOSTICAL SITUATIONS OF 
 FOSSIL ORGANIC REMAINS. 
 
 ^ When fossil organic remains first engaged the par- 
 ticular attention of naturalists, it was believed that 
 they were irregularly distributed throughout the 
 different formations of which the crust of the earth 
 IS composed, and that the whole had been deposited 
 from the waters of the Deluge. It was soon, how- 
 ever, ascertained, that some rock formations never 
 contain petrifactions ; a fact which gave rise to the 
 opinion, that fossil organic remains were confined to 
 one set of rocks, the secondary, in which they were 
 jumbled together in an irregular manner, while they 
 were entirely wanting in the formations of the pri- 
 mitive class. The more accurate investigations of 
 geologists, particularly those of the geognostical 
 school of Werner, not only proved the insufficiency 
 of former views, but gave a new and interesting cha- 
 racter to the whole subject. It was shown by these 
 inquiries, 1. That petrifactions, or fossil organic re- 
 mains, do not occur in primitive rocks, but first ap- 
 pear in rocks of the second, or Transition class. 2- 
 That these organic remains are, in general, more al- 
 tered, or mineralised, in the older than in the newer 
 formations ; so that they appear much changed in 
 transition rocks, and scarcely at all altered in the 
 rocks of the newest, or alluvial class. 3. That these 
 remains are so arranged in the bowels of the earth, 
 that those of the more simple animals and plants ap- 
 pear first, or in the oldest rocks ; that in rocks of a 
 middle age, the remains are of animals higher in the 
 zoological and botanical scales ; and that in the new- 
 est rocks, the fossil organic remains are of the more 
 perfect animals, even reaching to man. f 4. That 
 the fossil organic remains in transition, secondary, 
 and diluvial formations, are in general different from 
 those of the present creation ; but that, in the post- 
 diluvial formations, the remains are of recent species 
 of animals and vegetables. 5. And lastly, that al- 
 though these fossil animals and plants, in general, 
 differ from those of the present world, we observe 
 
 '^""^'^ mahogany, plane tree, and other woods, are sometimes harder than usual; and 
 ^mWh^t ^^ occasionally contain grains of sand. The hardness may be partly owing to secreted silica, 
 
 tnLn 'Wf formations, or those which have been formed on the land, are still so imperfectly 
 under ihe watroTtL'ocean! ""'^ " '''''' ""''''^ ^^^^ 
 
ORGANIC REMAINS. 
 
 92 
 
 Organic Re- that they approach nearer and nearer, in appearance, 
 mains, those of the recent tribes the newer the forma- 
 tion in which they are contained ; so that, as ah-eady 
 mentioned, in the newest formations there is an abso- 
 lute identity of character, proving that the fossil spe- 
 cies are the same as those of the present creation. 
 A full statement of all the facts on this very .interest- 
 ing subject would extend this article much beyond 
 the limits prescribed ; and, therefore, we must rest 
 satisfied with the following account of the distribu- 
 tion of petrifactions as they occur in different rock 
 formations, particularly as observed in Great Britain. 
 
 Primitive rocks, as already mentioned^ contain no 
 organic remains, and, therefore, are supposed to 
 have been formed before animals and vegetables were 
 called into existence. They first appear in the 
 rocks of the second great class or the Transition. 
 
 J, Fossil. Organic Remains in Transition 
 Rocks. 
 
 The rocks of this class which afford organic re- 
 mains are limestone, greywacke, and clay slate; but 
 of these limestone is that which affords the greatest 
 number and variety. All the remains, nearly, are of 
 animals, and of tribes occupying a comparatively low 
 rank in the zoological scale ; none of them ranging 
 higher than the class Mollusca; and most of the 
 species, and some of the genera, occur only in the 
 transition series, disappearing entirely in the rocks of 
 the succeeding formations. 
 
 The following tribes of corals are met with, and 
 generally in the limestone, Caryophyllia, Tubipora, 
 Favosites, Astrea, Madrepora, and Stylina. The 
 last mentioned genus is, with the exception of 
 one recent species found in the South Sea, en- 
 tirely fossil, and confined to the transition class. 
 This is one of many instances, of the occurrence of 
 fossil animals along with those of the earliest crea- 
 tion, no traces of which have been seen in any of the 
 subsequent formations, but which are now found in 
 a living state in the seas of the opposite hemisphere. 
 No fossil Echini, or Asterise, occur in the rocks 
 of this class, but several tribes of the nearly allied 
 family Crinoidaea are met with, such as the Cyath- 
 crinites from Shropshire ; Platicrinites in lime- 
 stone, Dudley ; and Rhodocrinites, also at Dudley. 
 The Trilohite tribe, so nearly allied to the Crus- 
 tacea, occurs abundantly in the rocks of this class, 
 but principally in the limestone. When the Crus- 
 tacea begin to appear in the newer formations, the 
 tribolites have disappeared, if not altogether, at 
 least almost so. Fossil shells occur in greater num- 
 bers and variety than is generally imagined. Of 
 these the multilocular univalves are the most charac- 
 teristic in a geognostical sense, and the following 
 are the genera met with, viz. Ammonites, Orthoce- 
 ratites, Nauiilites, and Conularia. Unilocular uni- 
 valves are Euomphalus, HelecUes, Patellites, Buc- 
 cinites, and Bucardites. Bivalves are Anomites, Te- 
 rebraiulites, and Pentamerus. The vegetable re- 
 mains are of rare occurrence, and their peculiar cha- 
 
 racters have not been determined. The corals, or- Organic Re« 
 thoceratites, and trilobites are the most charac* mains, 
 teristic petrifactions of this class. 
 
 II. Fossil Organic Remains in Secondary 
 RoCKs. 
 
 1. First Sandstone, or Old Red Sandstone. 
 Occasionally, remains of plants, shells, and corals, 
 occur in this formation, but hitherto they have not 
 been determined with the requisite accuracy. * 
 
 2. First Secondary Limestone, or Mountain Lime" 
 stone. 
 
 . This formation, which, in a general view, rests up- 
 on old red sandstone, and sometimes alternates with 
 the rocks of the coal formation, is more abundant 
 in petrifactions than the transition rocks. Of the tribe 
 of corals, it contains species of the genera Caryophly- 
 lia, Turhinolia, and Flustra : of the unilocular uni- 
 valve shells, Euomphalus, Planorhis, and Cirrus : 
 multilocular univalve, Orthoceratites, Nautilites, Am-' 
 monites, Ellipsolites, NauteUipsites, Conularia, and 
 Amplexus. Of the bivalve genera, the following are 
 met with, viz. Productus, Pentamerus, Spirifer, Tere- 
 bratulites, Gryphites, and Cardites. It is worthy of 
 remark, that many of the univalves and some of 
 the bivalves that occur in this and the transition 
 limestone, possess that particular kind of struc- 
 ture, rarely met with in the shells of the present 
 creation, which enabled their inhabitants to rise 
 and sink in the water. The curious structure of 
 Spirifer, and the multilocular arrangement of Pro- 
 ductus, Pentamerus, Amplexus, and Conularia, as 
 Mr Parkinson remarks, imparted, in all probability, 
 to their inhabitants, a power of a similar kind. 
 Sowerby mentions a shell resembling the Helix found 
 in mountain limestone ; but Parkinson is of opinion, 
 that it belonged to a distinct genus, and probably pos- 
 sessing the same power as janthina (formerly consi- 
 dered as a helix), that of sinking and rising in the 
 water. Hitherto, no remains of Asterise or Echini 
 have been met with in this formation, but the platy- 
 crinites of the Crinoid family, is not unfrequent. No 
 true Crustacea occur, but several members of the fa- 
 mily Trilobites are found in the mountain limestone 
 of England and Ireland. Some obscure traces of 
 fossil fishes are rarely met with. As examples of these 
 may be mentioned the supposed spinous radii of a 
 Balistes, and imperfect remains of what resembled 
 the snout of the Xipkias, or sword-fish. 
 
 3. Coal Formation^ 
 This formation is principally remarkable on ac- 
 count 0'" the numerous fossil remains of plants which 
 it affords. Several of the principal tribes are re- 
 presented in the plates attached to this article. All 
 the species, and most of the genera belong to plants 
 different from those of the present creation ; many of 
 them, and those the predominating ones, resemble 
 cacti, palms, reeds, and ferns ; thus intimating the ge- 
 neral state of the earth's surface when they flourished. 
 
 * The petrified woods in old red sandstone are often in the state of woodstone. 
 
ORGANIC 
 
 Organic Re- The bituminous shale and slate clay sometimes con- 
 tain Orthoceratites, Terehralulites, Ammonites, and 
 ^ some species of the genera Lingula and Unio. 
 
 4. Second Secondary Limestone, or Magnesian Lime- 
 stone. 
 
 The fossil organic remains of the magnesian lime- 
 stone, which, in the general succession, rests imme- 
 diately upon the coal formation, have not hitherto 
 been much studied. Some Flustra; and Crinoidsea 
 are mentioned as occurring in it ; and also species of 
 the genera Donax, Area, Anomia, and Unio ; and 
 lastly, remains of a fish, of the genus Chcelodon, were 
 found imbedded in this formation near to Sunder- 
 land. 
 
 The limestones named Bituminous Marl Slate 
 and Zechstein, are associated with this magnesian 
 limestone, and, therefore, are considered as belong- 
 ing to the same general formation. The bituminous 
 marl slate often forms the lower part of the seHes of 
 magnesian limestone, and contains numerous petri- 
 fied Jishes ; which some naturalists are inclined to 
 consider as principally fresh water species ; a few on- 
 ly appearing to them to have been inhabitants of the 
 ocean. In this limestone also there occur remains 
 of an animal of the genus Monitor, of the class Am- 
 phibia ; but petrifactions of vegetables are rarely met 
 with. We sometimes meet with branches of plants 
 analogous to the Lycopodium, and more rarely of 
 ferns, and of plants allied to the genus Phalaris. 
 Amongst these fresh water productions, various re- 
 mains of marine animals, such as Gryphites, Trilo- 
 bites, and Crinoidcea, make their appearance. 
 
 The Zechstein is particularly distinguished by the 
 great abundance of the Gryphites aculeatus it con- 
 tains; Ferns and Lycopodiums resembling those of 
 the coal formation ; and it is said, also remains of 
 Lepidodendrous plants are found in it. 
 
 B. Second Sandstone, or Nexu Red Sandstone Forma- 
 tion. 
 
 Very few organic remains have hitherto been 
 found in this formation, and those met with are 
 fossil trees and shells. 
 
 Q. Third Secondary Limestone, including the Lias, 
 and Oolite. 
 
 a. Lias Limestone. 
 
 This limestone rests on the new red sandstone. 
 It abounds in fossil organic remains, of which the 
 following list contains several of the more interesting : 
 Corals are of rare occurrence ; species of one 
 tribe only, the Turbinolia, having been met with. 
 Several species of the genus Pentacrinite are met 
 with ; and also remains, more or less perfect, of 
 Echini. The fossil shells in this rock differ consi- 
 derably from those of the mountain limestone and 
 other preceding formations; only a few species of 
 some of the multilocular univalves, as Ammonites, 
 Nautilites, and Belemnites, and of the Terebratulas, 
 being here discoverable. The fossil shells found in 
 this formation chiefly consist of bivalves of the ge- 
 nera Ostrea, Gryphcea, Plagiostoma, Plicatula, Avi- 
 cula, Mya, and Cardita, with the single univalve 
 
 REMAINS. 93 " 
 
 shell Trochus Anglicanus of Lister, not, perhaps, Organic Be- 
 met with in any of the succeeding strata ; a shell of ™ains. 
 the genmHelicina, andthe first simple unilocular shell ^"^^"^ 
 having a turriculated form, met with in a fossil state, 
 being a species of the genus Melania. Several species 
 of Crustacea occur. Spines, teeth, and other parts of 
 fishes also occur, but in general in an imperfect state. 
 Bones and palates of turtle have been found in this for- 
 mation ; but it is particularly distinguished by its con- 
 taining remains of two very remarkable extinct ge- 
 nera of oviparous quadrupeds, belonging to the same 
 class with the natural order Lacerta, but yet differ- 
 ing in structure from all the genera at present 
 known to exist, and in such particulars as must have 
 fitted them to live entirely in the sea. These are 
 the animals already mentioned under the names 
 Ichthyosaurus and Plesoisaurus. 
 
 b. Oolite, 8^c. 
 In the strata above the lias belonging to the 
 oolite, including also the rocks named Cornbrash, Co- 
 ral Rag, &c. many genera of organic remains are 
 met with, which we shall now enumerate in the 
 usual manner, beginning with those of the lowest or 
 least perfect animals. 
 
 1 . Lower Oolite. — Traces of Alcyonia, and the fol- 
 lowing genera of corals, are met with, viz, Explana- 
 ria, Astrea, Caryophyllia, Fungia, and Cyclolites. 
 The interesting Crinoide family affords the Penta- 
 crinites Caput Medusae, and Subangularis ; species, 
 sometimes well preserved, of the genera Conulus, Ci- 
 daris. Echinus, and Clypeus of the Echinus fami- 
 ly, are met with, and rarely fragments of Crustacea. 
 Shells of the following genera are abundant, viz. 
 Pecten, Ostrea, Terehratula, Modiola, Tellina, Unio, 
 Lutraria, Trigonia, Trochus, Belemnites, Nautilites, 
 and Ammonites. Remains of vertebral animals are 
 of rare occurrence, the only instance known being 
 of vertebrae, supposed to belong to the marine lacer- 
 tce. 
 
 2. Cornbrash, Sfonesfield Slate, Forest' Marble^ 
 and Great Oolite. — The following is a general enu- 
 meration of the organic remaifis met with in this part 
 of the oolite series, which, in the regular succession, 
 rests on the lower oolite. 
 
 Species of Millepore, Tubipore, Cyclolite, and 
 Caryophyllia, occur in this part of the oolite se- 
 ries, and the Encrinital family appears in consider- 
 able variety ; species of Echini, and two or three 
 varieties of Crustacea also occur. The fossil 
 shells are of the following genera: Terebratula, 
 Lima, Avicula, Pecten, Ostrea, Cardium, Trigonia, 
 Modiola, Serpula, Valuta, Turbo, Turritella, Ampul' 
 laria. Ammonites, and Nautilus. Teeth, vertebrae, 
 and palates of Jish are met with ; and also several 
 species of Tortoise. Several oviparous quadrupeds 
 have been found ; one is a well characterized Croco- 
 dile, and remains of a Megalosaurus, forty feet long, 
 were found at Stonesfield. But the most singular 
 fact is, the occurrence of bones of a species of Di- 
 delphis, or Opossum, in the Stonesfield slate. Frag- 
 ments of fossil wood are met with ; and the Stones- 
 field slate exhibits beautiful impressions, chiefly of 
 ferns and reeds, many of which resemble those of the 
 coal formation. 
 
94 ORGANIC 
 
 Organic Re- 3. Coral Rag. — This limestone lies above the pre- 
 mains. ceding, and is also a member of the Oolite series. 
 
 '"^^'^^^ It abounds in corals, — contains many diflFerent spe- 
 cies of the tribe Echinus, and considerable variety of 
 bivalve and univalve shells, and among the latter are 
 species of Ammonites, Naulilites, and Belemnites. 
 The remains of vertebral animals are rare, and of 
 these the most remarkable are the vertebrae of the 
 Ichthyosaurus. 
 
 4. Kimmeridge Clay Under this head we include 
 
 a series of clay beds, higher in the series than the 
 preceding, but still belonging to the oolite forma- 
 tion. It contains both bivalve and univalve fossil 
 shells, and of these the most characteristic is the 
 Ostrea deltoidea. It also contains remains of the 
 Ichthyosaurus and bones resembling those of the 
 whale. 
 
 5. Portland Oolite. — The most characteristic shells 
 in this Oolite are the Ammojiites triplicatus, and Pec- 
 ten lamellosus. 
 
 6. Purheck Beds. — This limestone contains beau- 
 tiful impressions of fish ; also bones of turtle, and 
 heads of crocodiles. Its shells have not been well 
 examined. 
 
 7. Third Sandstone Formation, or Green Sand For- 
 
 mation. 
 
 in this formation the organic remains, whether of 
 animals or vegetables, are often in a siliceous state. 
 All the wood found in this formation is silicified, but 
 none of it has hitherto been referred to any even of 
 the most general divisions of the botanical system. 
 Numerous silicified Alcyonia are met with, and also 
 a good many fossil species of the family Echinus. 
 Corals, and also species of the Crinoid family, rare- 
 ly occur. Shells occur in vast abundance, and in 
 great variety ; but, with the exception of a few teeth 
 of Jish, no remains of vertebral animals have hitherto 
 been met with. 
 
 8. Foiirth Limestone Formation, or Chalk Formation. 
 
 a. Chalk Marl. 
 The lower part o^ this formation, named chalk 
 marl, affords considerable variety of fossil organic 
 remains ; — fossil Corals, Sponges, Echini, Crustacea, 
 Encrinites, and bivalve and univalve shells ; and of 
 these the most abundant and interesting are those of 
 the multilocular division. The species of the mul- 
 tilocular genus Hamites are numerous and abvindant, 
 and are highly characteristic of this part of the chalk 
 formation. Fossil wood is sometimes met with. 
 
 b. Chalk. 
 
 This formation contains many organic remains of 
 animals, from the sponge to the alligator. The fa- 
 milies of Alcyoniim and Spongia occur in great va- 
 riety of form, but their characters are still much in- 
 volved in obscurity. Madrepores occur, and but 
 little changed from their original state ; also several 
 genera of the Crinoidea, and the species often in 
 a - high state of preservation. Several species of 
 the Asterias, or star fish, are described as occurring 
 in chalk ; but of all the organic remains, those of 
 the tribe Echinus are the most numerous, abundant 
 and characteristic of the formation. Of the fossil 
 shells probably the only genera peculiar to the chalk 
 
 10 
 
 REMAINS. 
 
 are the Crania and Magas. Of the multilocular ge- Organic Re 
 nera the following are met with ; viz. Ammonites, "lai^s. 
 Scaphites, and Belemnites. The first occurs rarely " " 
 in the upper chalk ; the second only in the lower. 
 The remains of several tribes of fishes are met with, 
 which are alleged to belong to the following genera; 
 viz. Squalus, Diodon, Balistes, Murcena, AnarhichaSt 
 Salmo, Esox, and Zeus. The remains are chiefly dif- 
 ferent sulcated palates, teeth, detached vertebrae, and 
 irregular masses, with the scales of fishes. The teeth 
 are generally referable to different species of shark 
 or Squalus ; the bony tongues and palates to differ- 
 ent species of Raia. 
 
 9. Brown Coal Formation. 
 
 This formation, which rests upon chalk, is almost 
 entirely composed of extinct species of plants ; and 
 in some countries, as Switzerland, it is associated 
 with vast accumulations of a conglomerate named 
 JSlagelfiuhe. 
 
 10. Paris Formation. 
 
 Under this head we comprehend all the diflPerent 
 secondary rocks newer than the brown coal or chalk 
 formations. In this group of rocks the number and 
 variety of organic remains is great, and in general 
 they are in a higher state of preservation than in 
 the preceding formations, and also approach much 
 nearer to the organic beings of the present crea- 
 tion. The members of this series, as it occurs 
 in England, are as follows, reckoning from belov/ 
 upwards. I. Plastic clay. 2. London clay. 3. 
 Fresh water formations. 4, Upper marine forma- 
 tions. 
 
 1. Plastic Clay In this clay, which reposes im- 
 mediately either on brown coal or chalk, there are 
 Ostrece, CerithicB, Turritellce, Cyclades, &c. together 
 with the teeth oafish and portions of coal. 
 
 2. London Clay, the Calcaire Grassier of the 
 French, — Few corals occur; the echinites, so com- 
 mon in chalk, are very rare in this formation, and 
 very few of the encrinite family have yet been 
 discovered. Crabs and lobsters are frequent ; for in 
 the British Museum there are preserved thirty dif- 
 ferent species of crabs from the London clay in the 
 Island of Sheppey. Fossil shells are numerous and 
 well preserved, often retaining nearly the appear- 
 ance of recent shells. There are but few genera 
 of recent shells that do not occur in this forma- 
 tion, but the species are generally different ; on 
 the other hand, few of the extinct genera, so com- 
 mon in the older formations, occur in this. No 
 multilocular or bivalves of complicated structure oc- 
 cur in this clay. About thirty-two genera of bi- 
 valves have been found in the more ancient strata ; 
 and only five or six new genera have been found in 
 the London clay ; but, on the other hand, the more 
 ancient strata have been found to contain only 
 twelve or fourteen genera of simple turbinated uni- 
 valves, whilst the London clay and its accompanying 
 sands and crag have afforded thirty-two genera of 
 turbinated shells ; twenty-five of which, with about 
 sixteen other genera not known to have existed 
 in a mineralised slate, inhabit the present waters of 
 our globe. Petrified fishes of great beauty are 
 
PiMh/u;/ 7>v A.ro?isi,i/,f,- .(■ <•■: Kiiinrin. 
 
FOSSIL ORGAXIC KKMAFiVs PLATE CVJI 
 
 Fliil'i-lliiriii 
 /'(•riisxili'hii 
 
FOSvSlL OIUtANK' remains 
 
 PLATE CVm 
 
 Fi\f.l. 
 
 ^K;. J. 
 
 thfTiotovmm 
 
 / 
 
 / 
 
 I^hhshed iy ^. ronstuA/e rf- 4 ? Utt/nV J822 
 
a 
 
ORG 
 
 :anic Re» sometimes met with ; also crocodiles and iurtles in a 
 more or less perfectly mineralised state. It fre- 
 1 quently contains portions of fossil tvood, and vast 
 ledand. variety of fruit or ligneous seed-vessels. Seven hun- 
 dred different seed-vessels have been collected, and 
 few of them agree with any known kinds. 
 
 3. Fresh-uoater Formations — These are so named 
 from their containing principally shells resembling 
 those of fresh-waters. The following genera occur 
 here, viz. Lymneus, Planorbis, Cyclostorna, and He- 
 lix. And these are associated with seeds, and with 
 parts of coleopterous insects. 
 
 4. Upper Marine Formation. — It is remarked of 
 this formation by Parkinson, " A few shells only, which 
 may be placed among those which are supposed to be 
 lost, or among those which are the inhabitants of the 
 distant seas, are here discoverable ; the greater 
 number not appearing to differ specifically from 
 the recent shells of neighbouring seas." Besides 
 these shells, there rarely occur palates of Jish^ and 
 fossil sponges, and alcyonia ; and, it is said, fossil 
 bones of some unknown animal, and teeth of the 
 t7iammoth. 
 
 III. Fossil Organic Remains Alluvial 
 Rocks. 
 
 In the diluvial members of this class are found the 
 fossil remains of elephants, hippopotami, rhinoceri, 
 &c. already enumerated ; while the post'diluvial 
 soils contain, principally, the remains of animals and 
 vegetables of the present creation. 
 
 IV — FORMATION OF THE STRATA IN 
 WHICH FOSSIL ORGANIC REMAINS ARE 
 CONTAINED. 
 
 Our limits do not permit us to enter into any 
 particular discussion on this branch of our sub- 
 ject, which is, indeed, the less to be regretted 
 
 0 R K 
 
 95 
 
 from its vague and dubious nature. We shall, there- Organic Re- 
 fore, conclude with a very few observations. The 
 primitive rocks, as already mentioned, appear to Orkney and 
 have been formed before the organic kingdom was Shetland, 
 called into existence ; because they contain neither^ 
 animal nor vegetable remains. It is in the transition 
 rocks that organic remains first make their appear- 
 ance ; showing, that at their formation, and not ear- 
 lier, animals and vegetables began to exist ; and thus 
 nearly establishing one of the most remarkable and 
 striking facts in the whole range of geological science. 
 For a long period, the organic productions of the earth 
 appear to have been principally marine ; as in all the 
 formations extending from the transition class, to 
 the chalk, inclusive, corals, shells, encrinites, echini- 
 tes, fishes, and marine oviparous quadrupeds, are the 
 predominating fossil animals ; and hence the different 
 rocks of those formations must have been formed 
 under the waters of the ocean. But the strata of 
 the coal formation contain, besides marine organic 
 remains, land plants and land shells, and the bitumi- 
 nous marl slate, already mentioned as lying over the 
 coal formation, principally fresh water fishes ; facts 
 which lead to the conclusion, that fresh or land water 
 was concerned in their formation. The formations ex- 
 tending from chalk to the alluvial series, from their 
 containing abundant remains of both marine and fresh 
 water animals, show that the waters of the land and 
 the ocean assisted in the formation of these rocks. 
 And lastl)', in the diluvial formations containing 
 the remains of so many extinct quadrupeds, &c., we 
 have sufiicient evidence of their formation by a 
 great rising of the waters of the ocean, or of a 
 flood ; which appears to have been that described in 
 the Bible ; while the post-diluvial clays, and sands, 
 and gravels, with their fossil remains of known plants 
 and animals, are formations daily taking place upon 
 the land, and under the sea. 
 
 (mmm.) 
 
 ORKNEY and SHETLAND, or ZETLAND, 
 two groups of islands in the North Sea, belonging 
 to, and forming together one of the counties of 
 tuatlon. Scotland. The Orkney Isles, which are separated 
 from Caithness by the Pentland Frith, a strait from 
 six to twelve miles broad, are situated between 
 58'=' 47' and 59° 20' north latitude, and between 20*^ 
 24' and 3° 23' west longitude from Greenwich. Be- 
 tween these, and what properly form the Shetland 
 group, are the two isles of Fair Isle and Foula; the 
 former lying about 24 miles to the south of the 
 mainland of Shetland, and the latter, supposed to be 
 the Thule of Tacitus, about 20 miles to the west : 
 both of them fall under the general denomination of 
 Shetland. With these exceptions, the Shetland Isles 
 may be placed between 59^^ 48' 30" and 60^ 52' 
 north latitude, and between 52' and 1*^ 57' west 
 longitude. In clear weather they can be distinctly 
 seen from Orkney, from which Fair Isle is only 
 
 about 36 miles distant. The Orkney Isles have Extent, 
 been computed to contain 384,000 acres, which is 
 probably above the truth ; and of this, 300,000 are 
 said to be waste, or covered by water. Those of 
 Shetland may be about twice as large as Orkney ; of 
 which only about 20,000 acres are supposed to be 
 cultivated. But the very irregular form of the 
 islands, penetrated by arms of the sea in all direc- 
 tions, render those estimates, in the absence of any 
 accurate survey, nothing more than approximations. 
 Orkney is divided into seventeen parishes, com- Divisions, 
 posing three presbyteries and one synod ; and Shet- 
 land into twelve, here called ministries, making one 
 presbytery, which is invested with synodical powers. 
 Together they constitute one sheriffdom or stewart- 
 ry, under the jurisdiction of a sheriff-depute and two 
 substitutes, whose courts are held at Kirkwall in 
 Orkney, and at Lerwick in Shetland. Orkney alone Kepresenta- 
 sends one member to Parliament ; the landholders of 
 
96 
 
 0 R K 
 
 Rental. 
 
 Orkney and Shetland, owing to their peculiar tenures, or the 
 Shetland, ^^r^^^^ q( ^ separate valuation of their estates, having 
 no vote in the election. Kirkwall, the only royal burgh, 
 joins with Dingwall, Tain, Dornoch, and Wick, in 
 electing a member for the Scottish burghs. Of the 
 land-tax payable for the county, two-thirds are levied 
 from Orkney, and one- third from Shetland. The 
 valued rent is L. 57,786 Scots; and the real rent, 
 as returned to the property-tax in 1811, was, for 
 the lands of Orkney, L. 94.95, 3s. 6d. Sterling, and 
 for the houses L. 2138, l-is"! 6d. ; for the lands of 
 Shetland L. 6741, 6s., and for the houses L. 1408; 
 ' the land rent of both being thus L. 16,236, 9s. 6d. 
 Supposing the extent to be a million of acres, this 
 gives a rent of not quite 4)d. the acre ; but the land- 
 owner derives a profit from the labour of the tenant- 
 ry, which, though considerable, being indefinite in 
 its amount, and difficult to be ascertained, was not 
 probably included in this rental. 
 Orkney Isles. The number of the Orkney Isles, besides insulat- 
 ed rocks which bear little or no herbage, here called 
 skerries, is 67 ; of which only 28 or 29 are inhabited ; 
 the others, known by the name of holms, being em- 
 ployed only as grazing grounds for sheep and cattle. 
 Of the inhabited isles the most southerly is South Ro- 
 naldshay, supposed to contain 24 square miles, with 
 a population of upwards of 1600, partly employed in 
 agriculture; much of this island being good arable or 
 grass land ; and partly in the manufacture of kelp. 
 To the north-west of this is Hoy, an island of twice 
 the extent, but containing only about a third of the 
 inhabitants, the greater part of it being high land 
 covered with heath. Burray, situated north from 
 South Ronaldshay, from which it is separated by a 
 channel about a mile broad, has an area of only three 
 square miles, but produces grain, green crops, and 
 good pasture, and has a valuable rabbit warren. 
 Farther north is the largest island of the group, call- 
 ed Pomona, or Mainland, extending at least 30 
 miles from east to west, and containing upwards of 
 200 square miles. The towns of Kirkwall and 
 Stromness are in this Island ; the former having 
 about 2000 inhabitants, and the latter 1400. The 
 harbour of Stromness, to which the entrance is from 
 the south, by a passage only a quarter of a mile in 
 breadth, is particularly safe and commodious, though 
 somewhat difficult of access. Shapinsha and Rousa, 
 each containing from 10 to 12 -square miles, partly 
 arable and partly pasture, lie to the north of the 
 Mainland. Beyond these are Stronsa, to the north- 
 east, about 16 square miles; and Eda, north-west 
 from Stronsa, not quite so large ; both of them con- 
 taining a considerable proportion of productive land; 
 the former having two good harbours, and the latter 
 carrying on the manufacture of kelp on such a scale 
 as to afford employment to a great part of its inhabit- 
 ants. Still farther north lie Sanda on the east, and 
 Westra on the west. Sanda, though only about 19 
 square miles, has about 1800 inhabitants, being na- 
 turally a productive territory, and yielding about a 
 fifth of all the kelp made in Orkney. Both from 
 this and Westra, fishing is carried on to some extent. 
 North Ronaldshay, the most northerly of all the Ork- 
 neys, lies about two miles north from Sanda, and 
 upon an area of from four to six square miles, has a 
 
 Mainland. 
 
 Towns. 
 
 0 R K 
 
 population of about 500. If the exlent of the Ork- Orkney and 
 neys be only 440 square miles, the estimate given in i^hetland. 
 the General Report of Scotland, the population in ""^-^-^ 
 1811 would be nearly 53 per square mile. Population 
 
 Of the Shetland Isles, the number altogether is Shetland 
 about 100; of which upwards of thirty are inhabited, isles, 
 and some of these last are very small. The first to 
 the south is Fair Isle, only about two or three square 
 miles in extent, the inhabitants of which are chiefly 
 employed in the cod fishery. To the north, and a Mainland, 
 little to the east of this, is the Mainland, or largest 
 of the group, about sixty miles long, and from two 
 to seven miles and upwards broad ; having the pro- 
 montories of Sumburgh-head and Fitful-head on the 
 south, and stretching from thence northward in a 
 form very irregular on all sides. Arms of the sea, 
 here called voes, penetrate the land in all directions, 
 so much so, that no part of the island is said to be 
 more than two miles from the sea; and at one place, 
 the isthmus of Mavis Grind, the breadth is less than 
 one hundred yards ; and it is surrounded at no great 
 distance by a great many holms and skerries, which 
 give to the landscape, if it may be so called, a sin- 
 gularly wild and romantic appearance, when viewed 
 from the high grounds, which here occupy a much 
 greater proportion of the surface than in the Ork- 
 neys. Mainland contains Lerwick, the capital of Towns, 
 the Shetlands, having about 1300 inhabitants ; and a 
 little to the south-west, Scalloway, the only other 
 town, which now consists of but a few scattered 
 houses, though a place of some antiquity, and for- 
 merly distinguished for its castle, and for being the 
 seat of justice. Between this island and Bressay, on • 
 the east of Lerwick, is Bressay Sound; so celebrated 
 for being the resort of vessels employed in the 
 fisheries. It is upwards of three miles in length, and 
 from one to two in breadth, and affords safe anchor., 
 age to ships of any burden. St Magnus Bay, on the 
 north-west of the Mainland, with an inlet from it cal- 
 led Hammersvoe, also presents a secure retreat foi 
 shipping in the most tempestuous weather. On the i 
 east of this island, which in extent is greater than all 
 the others put together, the principal islands from 
 south to north are Bressay and Whalsey, and on the 
 west Burra, Papa Stour, and Muckle Roe, and at a 
 distance from these Foula. Bressay and Whalsey 
 contain each about sixteen or eighteen square miles, 
 but the others are much smaller. North from the 
 Mainland is Yell, the next largest of the Shetland i 
 isles, about twenty miles long, and eight broad. 
 East from Yell lies Fetlar, consisting of good arable 
 and pasture land. Unst, the most northerly, about 
 two miles from Yell, in extent about forty square 
 miles, also contains much good land, fit for either 
 tillage or grazing. It was here that the French phi- 
 losopher Biot, in 1817, and in the following year 
 Captain Kater, prosecuted their experiments for the 
 purpose of determining, in this high latitude, the va- 
 riation in the length of the seconds pendulum. The 
 former has given an animated picture of the coun- 
 try and its inhabitants, in his Notices sur les Opera- 
 tions, &c. read to the French Institute in 1818. 
 As suming the extent of these islands to be 880 Population 
 square miles, or twice that of the Orkneys, the popu- 
 lation in 1811 was at the rate of only twenty-six 
 
O R K 
 
 rkney and per square mile. But, if the productive land be lit- 
 Shetland. ^qj.q than 20^,000 acres, much of the subsistence 
 ■^^^■^ of the inhabitants, small as the number is, must be 
 drawn from other sources than their own soil. 
 Climate. "^^^^ climate of these islands is exceedingly moist, 
 and the winters long ; yet the cold is not intense> and 
 snow seldom lies more than a few days. The ther- 
 mometer in the Orkneys commonly ranges between 
 23'' and 68", and in 1811, a rainy year, the quantity 
 of rain was 29.05 inches. In Shetland, during the 
 summer of 1808, the thermometer was for a few 
 days at 75°, the medium temperature of July and 
 August being about 70° ; and it seldom falls 10° be- 
 low the freezing point. According to Dr Edmond- 
 ston, the medium temperature of the winter months 
 may be taken at 38°, and of the summer at 65°. On 
 the shortest day of the year the sun is above the ho- 
 rizon five hours and twenty-five minutes. From the 
 middle of May to the end of July it is never dark, 
 the short absence of the sun being supplied by a 
 bright twilight. Yet all these islands are much ex- 
 posed to high winds, which often destroy the crops, 
 as well as occasion great losses at sea ; while, sur- 
 charged as the atmosphere commonly is with mois- 
 ture, the sensation of cold is often greater than what 
 is indicated by the thermometer, 
 soil. Of the arable or productive land, the soil is in ge- 
 
 neral sandy, or a light loam, of no great depth, some- 
 times upon limestone, but frequently sandstone, and 
 in the latter case it is often much injured by wetness. 
 But by far the greater part of the surface is covered 
 with moss and moor, and exceedingly sterile. Among 
 the minerals are iron, lead, and copper, none of 
 which are wrought at present. In I817 Dr Hibbert 
 found the chromate of iron in the island of Unst. 
 Marl is very common in Orkney, but much neglect- 
 ed, and also limestone. Beds of limestone occur in 
 almost every parish of Shetland. There is no coal, 
 but peat is every where so abundant, that the inha- 
 bitants do not suffer from want of fuel. 
 Rural Eco- The rural economy of these islands presents seve- 
 Homy. ral peculiarities, to which we can only advert very 
 shortly. The proprietors of Orkney derive a greater 
 income from the kelp manufactured on the shores, and 
 those of Shetland from the fisheries on the coast, 
 than from the soil itself ; and to obtain a sufficient 
 number of hands for these employments, the land is, 
 in general, divided into very small farms, of which 
 most of the rent is paid in produce and in services ; 
 —in Shetland chiefly in butter, and in fish sold to the 
 landlord at a price below that of the market. In 
 Orkney land is let by the mark, or merk, an indefi- 
 nite measure, and not by the acre ; and in Shetland, 
 where the same practice prevails, the marks are di- 
 vided into different classes, such as sixpenny, nine- 
 penny, and twelvepenny marks ; terms which, what- 
 ever they may have denoted originally, do not now 
 define either their relative extent or value ; a sixpen- 
 ny mark being often as large and productive as a 
 twelvepenny one. Both in Orkney and Shetland 
 nearly all the estates are freehold, though the udal 
 tenure was formerly general in the latter country ; 
 but they are burdened with feu-duties and rents, for- 
 merly paid to the Crown and Bishop of Orkney, and 
 now to Lord Dundas, the grantee, or lessee of the 
 
 VOL. VI. PART I. 
 
 O R K 97 
 
 Crown. Tithes are drawn in kind, and in Shetland Orkney and 
 are said to be very oppressive. Most of the small Shetland, 
 tenants hold their possessions only from year to year, 
 having no leases. 
 
 Oats, bear, or big, and potatoes, are the princi- Crops, 
 pal crops ; yet the soil and climate are in general 
 well adapted to turnips and clovers, which are now 
 to be found cultivated upon a small scale in many of 
 the islands. All their implements are rude, and, as 
 we should think, ineffective ; in many parts the spade 
 is almost the only one in general use. Their native 
 horses, cattle, and sheep, are all diminutive animals. Live Stock, 
 stunted by hunger and cold, particularly those of 
 Shetland ; but better breeds are now f«und in Ork- 
 ney. The late Mr Malcolm Laing (the well known 
 historian of Scotland), who introduced a flock of 
 Merinos into Orkney in 1808, found them to thrive 
 wellj and their wool not to deteriorates but rather 
 improve. The Shetland horse seldom reaches the 
 height of eleven hands, or the cow the weight of 
 3 cwt., and the milk which the latter yields, on the 
 common pastures, does not exceed three English 
 quarts per day. In Orkney, the number of sheep 
 has been computed at 50,000, and in Shetland at 
 from 70>000 to 80,000. The wool of many of the 
 latter is very fine, and might probably be much im- 
 proved, as well as the animal itself, by proper treat- 
 ment. But at present, the sheep depasture promis- 
 cuously without being herded ; neither shelter nor 
 food is provided against the rigour of a long winter, 
 and disease, when once introduced into the flocks, 
 makes the most cruel ravages. A great many swine 
 are bred in these islands, particularly in the Orkneys. 
 The hair, or rather wool, with which they are cover- 
 ed is made into ropes, " and it is not uncommon for 
 a man who sells his pig to bargain to have his wool 
 returned."— (Shirreff's Agricultural Vieiv.) Rabbits 
 are found in most of the Orkneys ; and geese are 
 reared in great numbers as an article of export. 
 
 Of the manufactures of this county, by far the Manufac 
 most important is kelp, of which the quantity pro'*"'"es- . 
 duced in the Orkneys yearly is about 3000 tons, but 
 in Shetland only from -iOO to 60O tons ; the preci- 
 pitous shores of the latter islands being less favoura- 
 ble to the growth of the sea- weeds from which it is 
 made than those of Orkney. During the late war, 
 it has been computed that about L.40,000 a year 
 was received by the landholders for the kelp made 
 in Orkney alone ; and the people whom it employs, 
 for eight or ten weeks in summer, include a great 
 proportion of the inhabitants. But since peace, the 
 price has fallen so much, that this important branch 
 of industry -will perhaps cease to be profitable; and 
 the repeal of the duties on Scotch salt, in the last 
 session of Parliament, which may lead to the produc- 
 tion of soda from that article, has filled the proprie- 
 tors with apprehension that it may soon be annihi- 
 lated. Before the late war, the linen manufacture 
 was carried on to a considerable extent in Orkney, 
 but has decreased since. Straw-plaiting has been 
 introduced both into Orkney and Shetland, and em- 
 ploys from 1200 to 1400 people, chiefly females. 
 Shetland has been long celebrated for its hosiery. 
 Stockings are knit upon wires in almost every fami- 
 ly, and of such different qualities, that while some 
 
 N 
 
98 
 
 0 R K 
 
 Orkney and are valued at L.2 a pair, others are so low as 5d 
 
 Shetland, ^j. g^j^ 
 
 The fisheries are to Shetland what kelp is to Ork- 
 Fisheries of ney, the great source of employment and revenue to 
 Shetland, jjs inhabitants ; yet cod and lobsters are caught in 
 great quantities among the Orkney isles, and carried 
 alive to the London market, and the dog and coal-fish, 
 for the use of the inhabitants ; the former afford- 
 ing oil, and the latter an agreeable article of food. 
 But the fisheries of Shetland are far more considera- 
 ble. About 600 boats and 3500 men are employed 
 from the 20th May to the 12th August in fishing for 
 ling, cod, and tusk, called the vohite fishing, at from 
 twenty to forty miles from the coast. The principal 
 stations, or haafs, are in the parish of Northmaven, 
 in the north-west quarter of the Mainland. The 
 spacious bay of St Magnus, which is on the south 
 side of this parish, leads to the harbour of Hillswick, 
 where there is good anchorage in from seven to 
 tjventy fathoms ; and on the beach, which is large 
 and commodious, there are warehouses and salt and 
 fish cellars, with every other necessary accommoda- 
 tion. Another great station is at the Out Skerries, 
 east from the Mainland. As the fishermen are also 
 small farmers, it is commonly stipulated that these 
 three kinds of fish shall be delivered to their land- 
 lord at so much per cwt. of wet fish, the landlord 
 curing them, and taking all further risk upon him- 
 self. Two tons and a half of wet fish make only one 
 of dry ; of which the quantity annually cured by the 
 landholders 'was, a few years ago, upwards of 1000 
 tons; and the price in Shetland was 18s. 6d. the cwt. 
 This was before the discovery of the Cod-bank, which 
 we shall notice immediately. But there is a number 
 of what are called free fishers, especially in the two 
 islands of Burra, who being at liberty to sell to whom 
 they please, receive a higher price than the small 
 tenants, and the quantity caught by them is not in- 
 cluded in the above. Besides these kinds of fish, 
 halibut, skate, and several others, are got at the 
 same time, all of which belong to the fishermen, 
 without any claim on the part of the landholders ; 
 and this is the case also with what is caught on 
 hand-lines during winter and spring. Of these tx>m- 
 terfish, the annual export is about 65 tons. The 
 herring- fishery was formerly prosecuted by the Dutch 
 to a great extent among these islands. " Some old 
 men," says Gifford, who wrote his Description of 
 Shetland in 1733, " say that they have seen in 
 Bressay Sound, at one time, 2200 busses." Since 
 peace, these industrious people have begun to re- 
 sume their labours, though upon a much smaller 
 scale. But the quantity of herrings caught by the 
 Shetland fishermen on the coast is comparatively 
 trifling ; and notwithstanding the encouragement af- 
 forded by Parliament, it does not appear that they 
 have embarked to any extent in the deep sea fisheries. 
 One of the most ancient and beneficial branches of 
 the Shetland fisheries is that of the coal-fish, known, 
 according to its age, by the names of sillock, piltocJc, 
 and sethe. These form a principal article in the 
 subsistence of the lower classes. 
 
 O R K 
 
 In the summer of 1818, an extensive cod-bank Orkney and 
 was discovered to the west of the Shetland Isles. Shetland. 
 According to the fishermen, it lies from 25 to 30 ^^^^^^^ 
 miles west from Foula. They refer to the west of 
 the island of Westra, one of the Orkneys, as its ori- 
 gin, and from thence it is continued in a direction 
 nearly north by west, having been variously enter- 
 ed upon in steering from the east, as far as about 
 20 miles north-west of Shetland, a distance of about 
 140 miles. The breadth is reported to be from 18 
 to 45 miles, and the depth of water from 28 to 50 
 fathoms. The great productiveness of this bank has 
 been fully established. About double the weight of 
 fish was caught on it in 1819 that had been former- 
 ly taken by vessels of the same burden in other 
 parts. 
 
 The nature of the trade of these islands may be an- Trade, 
 ticipated from what we have said of their products. 
 Orkney exports kelp, linen cloth and linen yarn, skins, 
 goose feathers and quills, and a few other articles ; 
 and the imports are wine, spirits, groceries, &c. Oat- 
 meal and bear or big appear both among the ini- 
 ports and exports ; but it is understood that this 
 range of islands, in ordinary seasons, grows corn 
 enough for the consumption of its inhabitants. The 
 chief exports of Shetland are fish, kelp, oil, butter, 
 and hosiery ; and the imports the same with those 
 of Orkney, with the addition of corn, of which it 
 does not raise nearly a sufficiency. The money 
 brought into Shetland by such of the natives as en- 
 gage themselves as seamen in the whale vessels is 
 computed to amount to tfo less a sum than L. 15,000 
 yearly. 
 
 There is no poor rate in this county. It is the Poor, 
 practice of the island to board the poor upon the 
 tenantry, in proportion to the extent of their posses- 
 sions ; each pauper having a certain number of fami- 
 lies assigned to him, with whom he lives in succes- 
 sion, and who are said to treat him with kindness. 
 The wages of labour cannot be accurately express- Wages, 
 ed in money, as they are paid partly in produce, and 
 vary much at diflFerent seasons, owing to the de- 
 mand for kelp-making and the fisheries. In Shet- 
 land a man-servant will seldom engage for more 
 than nine months in the year. The provisions ob- 
 tained from their own soil and from the fisheries are 
 sufficiently moderate, but such as must be imported 
 are proportionally high priced. The condition of 
 the labouring classes is understood to have been 
 much improved since the introduction of kelp-mak- 
 ing ; but it is alleged, that the practice of connect- 
 ing this kind of industry, and that of the fisherman, 
 with the occupation of land, is incompatible with agri- 
 cultural improvement. The population of the coun- 
 ty, in 1801 and 1811, will be seen in the annexed 
 abstract. 
 
 See The Statistical Account of Scotlajid. Barry's 
 History of Orkney. Edmondston's View of Zetland. 
 Shirreff 's Agricultural View of Orkney and Zetland. 
 The General Report of Scotland. Dr Hibbert's De- 
 scription of the Shetland Islands. 
 
O R K 
 
 O R WI 
 
 Orkney and 
 
 1800. 
 
 HOUSES. 
 
 PERSONS. 
 
 OCCUPATIONS. 
 
 
 Inhabited. 
 
 By how 
 many 
 
 Families 
 occu- 
 pied. 
 
 Uninhabited. 
 
 Males. 
 
 Females. 
 
 Persons 
 chiefly em- 
 ployed in 
 Agricul- 
 ture. 
 
 Persons 
 chiefly em- 
 ployed in 
 Trade, Ma- 
 nufactures, 
 or Handi- 
 craft. 
 
 All other 
 Persons not 
 comprised 
 in the two 
 preceding 
 classes. 
 
 Total of 
 Persons. 
 
 8,016 
 
 8,825 
 
 105 
 
 20,793 
 
 26,031 
 
 14,653 
 
 2,476 
 
 8,478 
 
 46,824 
 
 99 
 
 Orkney and 
 Shetland 
 
 Orme. 
 
 1811. 
 
 HOUSES. 
 
 PERSONS. 
 
 OCCUPATIONS. 
 
 
 Inhabited. 
 
 By how 
 many 
 Families 
 occu- 
 pied. 
 
 Uninhabited. 
 
 Males. 
 
 Females. 
 
 Families 
 chiefly em- 
 ployed in 
 Agricul- 
 ture. 
 
 Families 
 chiefly em- 
 ployed in 
 Trade, Ma- 
 nufactures, 
 or Handi- 
 craft. 
 
 All other 
 Families not 
 comprised 
 in the two 
 preceding 
 classes. 
 
 Total of 
 Persons. 
 
 8,230 
 
 9,038 
 
 101 
 
 20,151 
 
 26,002 
 
 6,583 
 
 1,218 
 
 1,237 
 
 46,153 
 
 ORLEANS, NEW. See United States. 
 
 ORME (Robert), the Historian of British India, 
 born at Anjengo in Travancore, was the son of Dr 
 Alexander Orme : his mother was a Miss Hill, a 
 sister of Mrs Robert Adams. 
 
 He was sent to England at the age of two years, 
 and placed under the care of Mrs Adams, who lived 
 in Cavendish Square. His literary education com- 
 menced very early, for he went to Harrow at six, 
 having been previously, for a twelvemonth, under 
 the private tuition of a clergyman in the neighbour- 
 hood. For seven or eight years he applied to his 
 classical studies as a schoolboy with great diligence ; 
 and when he was thirteen, he was placed in the office 
 of the Accountant of the African Company, in order 
 to gain some practical knowledge of the principles 
 of commerce. 
 
 In 1742 he went out to Calcutta, and was there 
 engaged in a mercantile house of respectability : he 
 made a voyage to Surat in their concerns, and on 
 his return, in 1743, he received from England the 
 appointment of a writer. Five years afterwards he 
 was promoted to the rank of factor in the Company's 
 service. In 1752, having been desired to give his 
 opinion on the regulation of the Police of Calcutta, 
 he drew up a memorial on the subject, which did 
 great credit to the accuracj^and profoundness of his 
 views of the manners, the habits, and the interests of 
 the country. 
 
 He returned to England in 1753, upon a visit to 
 his aunt, and he was much consulted, during his stay 
 in London, by Lord Holderness, then Secretary of 
 State, with regard to the policy to be observed to- 
 wards the French Government respecting the affairs 
 of India. He went out again in 1754, and took his 
 seat as a member of the council at Fort St George. 
 He had here an opportunity of elFectually serving 
 
 the Company by the vigour of his political conduct, 
 and of greatly contributing to the establishment of 
 the decided preponderance of the English interest 
 in India. After the well known aflFair of the Black 
 Hole of Calcutta, he was particularly active in pro- 
 moting the appointment of Colonel Clive to the dom- 
 mand of the expedition destined to punish the cruel- 
 ty of the tyrant who was the author of that outrage : 
 although his friendship with Colonel Clive did not 
 continue uninterrupted through life. Mr Orme's 
 exertions on this and other occasions were so highly 
 appreciated by the Directors, that he was nominated 
 as eventual successor to the government of Madras : 
 but he did not stay long enough to profit by the ap- 
 pointment. In the capacity of Accountant-General, 
 he became intimate with Mr Alexander, afterwards 
 Lord Caledon, who was his deputy, and with Mr 
 Dalrymple, the hydrographer, to whom he showed 
 many civilities from a conviction of his merits. Mr 
 Benjamin Robins, the historiographer of Anson's 
 Voyage, had also been one of his early friends, that 
 is, during his first residence in India ; for this sin- 
 gularly active person died in 1751. 
 
 Mr Orme's situation in India was extremely fa- 
 vourable for the acquisition of historical information, 
 which it was the delight of his life to collect ; but 
 his health requiring a change of climate, he sailed 
 for Europe on board of the Grantham in 1758. 
 The ship was, however, captured in January 1759, 
 off the Cape of Good Hope, and carried to the 
 Mauritius : after having been detained here for 
 some time, Mr Orrae was allowed to proceed to the 
 Cape, and thence to France. He landed at Nantes 
 in the spring of 1760 : he paid a visit to Paris, 
 where he amused himself for some raonths with the 
 literature and the theatres of the day : and his bio- 
 grapher has preserved some interesting remarks that 
 
100 CRM 
 
 Orme. they suggested to him. In October he arrived in 
 London, and engaged a house which had lately been 
 built in Harley Street. 
 
 He employed himself for the two succeeding years 
 upon his Military History ; sparing no pains nor ex- 
 pence to complete the collection of materials, which 
 he had begun to form in India, and to prepare the 
 work, with all possible care, for the press. The first 
 volume appeared in 1763, and was received with 
 great approbation. The Company not only granted 
 him free access to their Records, but gave hini also 
 the appointment of their historiographer, with a 
 salary of L. 400 a year. After this time, he re- 
 sumed some of his classical studies which he had 
 discontinued so long, as to have forgotten almost all 
 that he had learned: but he soon recovered his 
 knowledge of the ancient languages, and added to 
 them afterwards such of the modern ones as he found 
 likely to be subservient to his pursuits. His hours of 
 leisure were chiefly passed in the enjoyment of lite- 
 rary society: he became a Fellow of the Society 
 of Antiquaries in March 1770 ; he was intimate 
 about the same time with Lord Sandys, and with 
 Sir James Harris. Sir William Jones, Dr Robertson 
 the historian, Dr Peraberton, Dr Wilson, Athenian 
 Stuart, and Nourse the bookseller, were also among 
 his particular friends ; as well as Mr Rouse Boughton, 
 afterwards Sir Charles Rouse Boughton, Bart., to 
 whose urbanity and thorough acquaintance with the 
 Persian language he was indebted for several of his 
 historical documents. He obtained additional in- 
 formation for the completion of his History from the 
 French General de Bussy, who had been much con- 
 cerned in some of the transactions narrated in his 
 first volume, and who was so much satisfied with his 
 candour and impartiality, that he invited him to his 
 house in the country, and entertained him there, in 
 1773, with great kindness and hospitality. 
 
 After the publication of the second volume of his 
 History, he had ample leisure to amuse himself with 
 literary pursuits of a more general nature : but in 
 1784., he suffered a severe affliction from the loss of 
 his nephew, Mr Hosea, who was shipwrecked, with 
 his wife and family, upon their return from India, 
 on board of the Grosvenor. In 1792, he retired to 
 Ealing, where he continued to reside till the time of 
 his death, which happened on the 13th January 
 1801. 
 
 Good sense and sound judgment were the prin- 
 cipal features of his character : his works are more 
 distinguished by simphcity, clearness, and pre- 
 cision, than by any very powerful eloquence, or 
 a very nice discrimination of character. He was 
 not, however, deficient either in command of lan- 
 guage or in poetical feeling. Sir William Jones and 
 Dr Robertson paid him some very high compliments, 
 in their private correspondence, for the elegance 
 and purity of his style : the former of the^e writers 
 has also characterized him, in his third Discourse, as 
 possessing " an exquisite taste for every fine art." 
 We find also, among a few miscellaneous poems col- 
 lected by his biographer, a remarkable little Address 
 to the Moon, written at Madras in 1757, which is 
 manifestly the original of a well known Greek epi- 
 gram and a Latin ode of Sir William Jones : and 
 
 O X F 
 
 certainly the compliment of having been " set to Orme 
 music, and much admired," must be considered as II 
 far inferior to that of having been repeatedly imi- Oxfordshire, 
 tated and translated by a poet of a judgment so cor- 
 rect and a taste so refined, and having been called 
 the production of " a man of great talents, and a 
 particular friend of the translator." 
 
 1. Of his works, the earliest, in its origin, was his 
 General Idea of ihe Government and People of In- 
 dostan. It was principally written in 1752, and fi- 
 nished during his return to England in the next year. 
 A part of it was prefixed to his Military History, 
 and it is printed in its entire state among his posthu- 
 mous works. 
 
 2. History of the Military Transactions of the 
 British Nation in Indostan, from the year 1745. 
 Vol. I., extending to 1756. 4to. Lond. 1763. Ed. 3, 
 with an excellent index, 1781. A Dissertation on 
 the Mahommedan Conquests and Establishments in 
 Indostan is prefixed to this volume. " No histo- 
 rian," says the author of the Annual Register fo^' 
 1764, seems to have been more perfectly informed 
 of the subject on which he has undertaken to write i 
 and very few have possessed more fully the talent of 
 impressing it, in the clearest and most vivid manner, 
 on the imagination and understanding of his reader." 
 
 The Second Volume, published in 1778, carries the 
 history down to the peace of 1765. 
 
 3. Historical Fragments of ihe Mogul Empire, from 
 the year 1659. Svo.Lond. 1782. First published ano- 
 nymously, but acknowledged and reprinted in 4to in 
 1805 ; together with the Origin of ihe English Esia- 
 bliihment at Broach and Surat, the General Idea 
 of the Government and People of Indostan, and a 
 Life of the Author. The Historical Fragments is 
 a work of considerable research, making a sort of 
 episode to the Military History, to which it affords 
 some additions and corrections : it relates princi- 
 pally to the sanguinary Arungzebe and his imme- 
 diate successors, and to his contemporary, Sevagi the 
 
 Morattoe," the professed descendant of Porus. The 
 Essay on the Trade of Surat is a fragment which 
 was left unfinished by the author. 
 
 4. Several hundred volumes of Mr Orme's manu- 
 script collections, together with some scarce printed 
 tracts, relating to Oriental history, are carefully pre- 
 served in the library of the East India Company. 
 
 [^Life prefixed to the Historical Fragments. Jones, 
 Poeseos Asiaticce Comment arii.'\ (l. i.) 
 
 OXFORDSHIRE, an inland county of England, Boundaries, 
 chiefly celebrated on account of its capital, which is Extent, and 
 the principal seat of learning in the British do- Divisions, 
 minions, and from which city it has derived its name. 
 It is bounded on the east by Buckinghamshire ; on 
 the south, south-west, and south-east, by Berkshire ; 
 on the north-east by Northamptonshire ; and on the 
 north-west by the county of Warwick. The ri- 
 ver Thames (called sometimes the Isis till it reaches 
 Oxford) is the line of demarkation on the whole of 
 its southern boundary ; running between this county 
 and Berkshire with various, and in the latter part of 
 its course most beautiful, sinuosities. The county is 
 of a most irregular figure. Near the centre, in 
 which the city of Oxford stands, it is not more than 
 seven milefTln breadth, and at no great distance to 
 
O X F 
 
 Oxfordshire, the north it is thirty-eight miles. Towards the north 
 -v— ' it resembles a cone, and to the south it is similarly 
 contracted. Its extreme length is fifty miles. The 
 extent is estimated at 14<2 square miles, or 474,880 
 English acres. It contains one city, twelve market 
 towns, and two hundred and seven parishes, and is 
 divided into fourteen hundreds. 
 
 Face of th<; This county is by no means uniformly beautiful. 
 
 Country. Qn the north, the absence of hedges, which are sup- 
 plied by stone walls, gives a dreary appearance to 
 the face of the country. In the centre, it is gene- 
 rally flat and woody, affording few pleasing prospects, 
 though its trees and verdure give it the semblance of 
 wealth. The southern part, from the beauty of its 
 rivers, the gentle swelling of its hills, the verdant 
 meadows between them, and the number of highly 
 embellished residences of rich proprietors, is a dis- 
 trict abounding with rural charms. The Chiltern 
 Hills, the highest range in England south of the ri- 
 ver Trent, form a part of this portion. They are in 
 many parts adorned with beech woods, and in 
 every interval of these woods cultivated quite to their 
 summits. 
 
 Climate and The climate of the county varies according to the 
 Soil. elevation and exposure. In the north, where no 
 hedges impede the winter winds, the cold is some- 
 what severe, and tlie Chiltern Hills are frequently 
 enveloped in damp fogs, especially in the more 
 woody parts of them. Mr Arthur Young, in his 
 Agricultural Survey of Oxfordshire, has formed a 
 classification of the soils in the different districts of 
 the county, which, like all similar estimates, must be 
 received with hesitation, or at least with many ex- 
 ceptions. The red soil, found chiefly in the north, 
 and by far the most fertile, he estimates at 79,635 
 acres. The land, provincially called stone hrash, 
 found in the centre, and whose surface is often co- 
 vered with stones, amounts to 164,023 acres. The 
 Chiltern lands, whose soil is a loam resting every- 
 where on a bed of chalk, and covered with flint 
 stones, are 64,778 acres. To these are added 166,400 
 acres under the description of miscellaneous, which 
 comprehends all sorts of soil, from loose sand to the 
 heaviest clay, and includes tJie rich meadows on the 
 banks of the rivers. 
 A'mculture. Though this is wholly an agricultural county, and 
 ° though much progress in improvement has been 
 
 made of late years, yet the general practices are by 
 no means equal to the average of those of the rest of 
 England. The most beneficial husbandry is found- 
 ed upon the valuable water meadows on the banks 
 of the different streams. These are naturally so fer- 
 tile, that they appear to have prevented that care 
 which would render them still more productive. 
 Little attention is paid to draining, and still less to 
 irrigation, though the good effects of both these 
 practices are obvious, and their accomplishment easy 
 in many circumstances. Some few oxen are fatten- 
 ed, and butter and cheese made in the dairies, but 
 the facility of navigation induces the farmers to 
 make more hay than is consumed by their stock, and 
 to send it to distant and higher markets than their 
 own — nearer to the metropolis. On the arable fields, 
 especially on the stony lands near Burford, the use 
 of oxen for the plough is very common, and the 
 
 O X F 101 
 
 Herefordshire breed is generally preferred for that Oxfordshire. 
 
 purpose. The practice of paring and burning the 
 
 surface prevails in many parts of the county, and 
 
 in the newly inclosed lands the application of lime as 
 
 a manure is highly beneficial, whilst on the Chiltern 
 
 lands it is not found to produce a good effect equal 
 
 to the expence which attends it. 
 
 Where the soils are so various, the rotation ofRotation of 
 crops must necessarily vary with them. On the red t^rops. 
 soils, the most usual course is, 1st, turnips ; 2d, bar- 
 ley, or spring-wheat ; 3d, clover ; 4th, wheat ; 5th, 
 peas, or beans ; and, 6th, oats. On the stone-brash 
 lands, the usual rotation is, 1st, turnips ; 2d, bar- 
 ley ; 3d, clover, to stand two years ; 4th, wheat ; 
 and, 5th, oats, peas, or sometimes, but rarely, beans. 
 On the Chiltern lands, the rotations are the same, 
 with only slight variations. On both these last 
 tracts of country, the cultivation of sanfoin is very 
 extensive ; on most farms occupying from one- 
 seventh to one-eighth of the whole. This valuable 
 artificial grass produces heavy crops. When it was 
 first introduced, it would remain productive for fifteen 
 or sixteen years ; but since it has become more fami- 
 liarised to the soil, it seldom lasts more than seven 
 years so as to be fit to make hay, but yields food for 
 sheep for one or two years afterwards. The sheep, 
 which were formerly almost all of the Berkshire 
 breed, have of late years been superseded by the race 
 of the South Downs. 
 
 Oxfordshire is not a manufacturing district. Wit- Manufac- 
 ney was celebrated for its blankets, and they still re-*"'^^' 
 tain their superiority ; but the cheapness with which 
 similar goods are made by machinery in the north- 
 ern counties has reduced the demand ; and though 
 machinery has been introduced, the trade is still on 
 the decline. On the eastern side of the county, 
 some females find occupation in making bone lace, 
 but that, too, is on the decline. At Banbury there 
 is a manufactory of plushes, hair-shaggs, and some 
 bindings, and other haberdashery wares ; and at 
 Woodstock, the making of gloves gives employment 
 to many of the inhabitants. There are no minerals 
 and no coals found in this county. 
 
 The rivers all empty themselves into the Thames. Rivers and 
 They are formed by the numerous small springs Canals, 
 which are everywhere to be seen ; and before 
 they join the Thames are called the Windrush, 
 coming from Burford and Witney, the Evenlode, 
 from Wichwood and Charlbury, and the Cher- 
 well, from the vicinity of Banbury. The Thames, 
 composed of the stream of that name and the Isis 
 (on which a strange confusion has arisen), is navi- 
 gable from near one of its sources, not far from 
 Letchlode, to the sea. The barges navigating it are 
 from seventy-five to one hundred tons burden, but * 
 the larger ones ascend no higher than Oxford. 
 From the frequent recurrence of shoals, from the 
 floods in winter, and the scarcity of water in sum- 
 mer, it is a dilatory navigation ; so that frequently 
 the passage from America to London occupies less 
 time than from Letchlode to that city. The scarcity 
 of fuel was severely experienced till within these last 
 few years ; but the completion of a canal, which con- 
 nects the city of Oxford with the collieries of Staf- 
 fordshire, has removed the evil, and proved high- 
 
102 
 
 O X F 
 
 PAL 
 
 Oxfordshire ly profitable to the proprietors of that important 
 
 Palev 
 
 ^ ^_ \ ^ We forbear to say any thing of that which is the 
 Ojcford CU ^^^y county and of this kingdom — the city of 
 
 Oxford. It is described in the Encyclopcedia in a 
 moderate compass, and a farther expansion of that 
 description, by enumerating the works of art and 
 the repositories of everything valuable in literature, 
 would be incompatible with the limits prescribed to 
 this work. 
 
 Antiquities. The antiquities of this county have been accurate- 
 ly described, and are deserving of the closest inspec- 
 tion. Among them are the traces of the various 
 roads formed by the Romans, whose principal sta- 
 tion was at Dorchester, many funereal mounds, and 
 the Vallum called the Devil's Ditch. The Priory 
 of Godstow, and the ruins of many other religious 
 houses, exhibit the architecture of different and re- 
 mote ages. 
 
 Population. The population of this county had increased, be- 
 tween the years 1601 and 1811, by 9586 individuals. 
 In the last mentioned year, the numbers were, 
 119,204;; of whom the males were 59,140, and the 
 females 60,064. The number of houses were 
 21,598, inhabited by 24,749 families. Of these 
 ^ persons, 36,409 were employed in agriculture, 
 17,946 in trade and manufactures, and 64,849 de- 
 rived their subsistence from neither of these employ- 
 ments. The towns and their population are as fol- 
 lows, viz. — 
 
 Oxford city, . . 12,931 
 
 Henley-upon-Thames, . 3,111 
 
 Banbury, . • 2,840 
 
 Witney, . . . 2,722 
 
 Thames, . • 2,328 
 
 Bicester, 
 
 2,114 
 
 Woodstock, 
 
 1,419 
 
 Chipping Norton, 
 
 . 1,975 
 
 Burford, 
 
 1,332 
 
 Deddington, 
 
 1,296 
 
 Watlington, 
 
 1,150 
 
 Bampton, 
 
 . 1,093 
 
 Oxfordshire 
 
 11 
 
 Paley. 
 
 The county is in the diocese of the capital city, 
 which gives the title of Earl to the family of Harley. 
 The members returned to the House of Commons 
 are nine, viz. two from the county, two each from 
 the city and university of Oxford, two from Wood- 
 stock, and one from Banbury. 
 
 The most distinguished residences are, Blenheim 
 Castle, Duke of Marlborough ; Blandford House, 
 Duke of Beaufort ; Brightwell, W. Lowndes Stowe, 
 Esq. ; Cuddesdon Palace, Bishop of Oxford ; Crows- 
 ley Park, John Atkins Wright, Esq. ; Ditchley Park, 
 Lord Dillon ; Grey's Court, Lady Stapleton ; Hey- 
 thorp. Earl of Shrewsbury ; Kirtlington Park, Sir H. 
 W. Dashwood ; Middleton Stoney, Earl of Jersey ; 
 Mongewell, Bishop of Durham ; Mapledurham, Mi- 
 chael Blount, Esq. ; Nuneham Park, Earl of Har- 
 court ; Rycot Park, Earl of Abingdon ; Shiplake, 
 Lord Mark Kerr ; Shelswell, — Harrison, Esq. ; 
 Shirburn Castle, Earl of Macclesfield; Thane Park, 
 Miss Wykham ; Wroxton, Earl of Guildford; Wood 
 Eaton, John Weyland, Esq. ; Waterstock, W. H. Ash- 
 hurst, Esq. J Wormsley, John Fane, Esq. ; Wheat- 
 field, Lord Churchill. 
 
 See The Agricultural State of Oxfordshire, by 
 Arthur Young ; Pott's Oxfordshire ; and Brewer's 
 Account of Oxfordshire, in the Beauties of Eng- 
 land and Wales, (w. w.) 
 
 PAL 
 
 PALEY (William), D. D., was born at Peter- 
 borough in July 1743, where his father was then 
 minor canon of the cathedral church. His father 
 afterwards removed to Giggleswick, being appointed 
 head master of the school at that place. Here his 
 son was trained under his immediate inspection, and 
 discovered a solidity of understanding, and a stu- 
 diousness of disposition, which gave a fair earnest of 
 his future eminence. 
 
 In November 1758, at the age of fifteen, he was 
 admitted a sizar of Christ's College, Cambridge ; and 
 in October 1759, he became a resident member. 
 When he left home, his father could not refrain from 
 expressing to his friends the anticipations he enter- 
 tained of the figure which his son was destined to 
 make. " He'll turn out a great man — very great. 
 He has by far the clearest head I ever met with." 
 
 Shortly after his removal to Cambridge, he ob- 
 tained three scholarships. He was not at this time a 
 close or laborious student; he spent much time in com- 
 4 
 
 pany, and improved himself rather by observation 
 and reflection than by reading. When he appeared 
 in the public school to make his first act, the spruce- 
 ness of his dress presenting a striking contrast to the 
 habitual carelessness of his appearance, attracted 
 very particular notice, and, aided by a singularity 
 in his gestures and manner, occasioned much mirth 
 among the spectators; but the uncommon success 
 with which he acquitted himself had the effect of 
 drawing crowds on all future occasions when he was 
 expected to dispute. His eminent abilities created 
 on one occasion some degree of apprehension, when 
 he proposed to argue against the eternity of future 
 punishments. One of the heads of the college insist- 
 ed on his relinquishing that question. Dr Watson, 
 then Moderator, and afterwards the celebrated Bishop 
 of Llandaff, protected, on this occasion, Paley's inde- 
 pendence. The latter, however, was averse to give 
 offence ; and at the suggestion of Dr Watson he 
 retained the subject, but took the opposite side. He 
 
PAL 
 
 I'aley. came ofF with much eclat, his talents having received 
 — v^^-^—^ the best scope for display from the high ability of his 
 opponent, Mr Frere. 
 
 After obtaining^ with great honour, his bachelor's 
 degree in January 1763, he accepted of the situation 
 of second assistant and Latin teacher in an Aca- 
 demy at Greenwich, chiefly resorted to by young 
 men intended for the army and navy. 
 
 In 1765, Mr Paley gained the first senior bache- 
 lor's prize by a Latin dissertation on " a comparison 
 between the Stoic and Epicurean Philosophy in their 
 influence on morals ;" taking the side of the Epicu- 
 reans, as a sect friendly to rational pleasures, and not 
 (as their enemies supposed) indulgent to vicious ex- 
 cesses ; while he condemned the affected austerity of 
 the followers of Zeno, and showed, from facts, that it 
 was compatible with the most flagitious crimes. It is a 
 remarkable circumstance, as illustrative of the forma- 
 lity which often presides in university matters, that 
 this dissertation narrowly escaped rejection, because 
 the Latin text was accompanied by English Notes, 
 for the purpose of aiding philosophical accuracy 
 where the Latin appeared liable to ambiguity. 
 
 Being ordained deacon at the proper age, he offi- 
 ciated as curate to Dr HinchclifFe, Vicar of Green- 
 wich, where he continued to reside, though he gave 
 up his situation in the Academy. 
 
 Mr Paley was elected a fellow on the foundation 
 of Christ's College in June I766 ; returned to reside 
 in the University; took the degree of Master of Arts ; 
 and engaged in the business of private tuition. He 
 took priest's orders in December 1767, and in I768 
 he was appointed tutor of Christ's College, along 
 with his friend Mr Law, already a distinguished 
 scholar. The talents and assiduity of these two 
 quickly raised the celebrity of their college to an 
 unprecedented height. Paley's intimacy with Law 
 was productive of much mutual improvement, and 
 introduced the former to the acquaintance of his 
 friend's father, the eminent Dr Edmund Law, who 
 was soon after Bishop of Carlisle, but continued 
 to reside in the university as master of Peter- 
 house. Mr Paley was at this time held in the 
 highest esteem, and among his particular friends 
 were numbered Dr Plumptre, Professor of Casuistry, 
 Dr Waring, Lucanian Professor of Mathematics, 
 who was in his department eminent beyond his con- 
 temporaries, and the accomplished Mr Jebb. He 
 figured as a lecturer on mathematics, morals, and 
 the Greek Testament, and afterwards on divinity. 
 His method ~of lecturing was singularly happy ; 
 the result of a diligent study of the art of teaching. 
 He soon discovered that, in moral disquisitions, more 
 pains are required to make young minds perceive 
 the difficulty than to make them understand the so- 
 lution; and that some curiosity must be raised before 
 an attempt is made to satisfy it. The discourses 
 which he delivered at this time contained the germ 
 of the principal works which he afterwards publish- 
 ed on morals and theology. 
 
 The controversy on the propriety of requiring a 
 subscription to articles of faith, as practised by the 
 Church of England, was at this time much agi- 
 tated at the two universities. At Oxford the High 
 Church party was triumphant, and scarcely any iu- 
 
 P A L 103 
 
 dividual ventured a whisper of opposition; but at Paley. 
 Cambridge talents and ingenuity were exercised on ^— -v-i— ' 
 both sides of the question. Paley favoured the 
 claims of the reforming party ; but, from motives of 
 prudence, declined signing a petition for relief at 
 that time drawn up ; not entertaining such expec- 
 tations of ultimate success as to be induced to take a 
 public step so obnoxious to those on whom his fu- 
 ture prospects depended. He told one of his friends 
 in jest, that "he could not afford to keep a con- 
 science ;" a confession which will, no doubt, lay him 
 open to the animadversions of those who reserve 
 their censures for the subdued struggles of a mind 
 of limited moral strength, while they excuse or 
 applaud the oppressive system by which its efforts 
 are overawed. Paley, however, soon after wield- 
 ed his pen in a decided tone in the cause of free- 
 dom. Dr Law, the Bishop of Carlisle, publish- 
 ed an able and moderate pamphlet against the impo- 
 sition of the Church Test. An answer appeared at 
 Oxford from the pen of Dr Randolph. To this Pa- 
 ley published, anonymously, a reply, entitled, A 
 Defence of the Considerations on the Propriety/ of the 
 Church Test. 
 
 His well merited reputation induced that great , 
 constitutional lawyer, the late Earl of Camden, to 
 offer him the situation of tutor to his son, but his 
 other engagements led him to decline the offer. 
 
 In 1775, he was inducted to the rectory of Mus- 
 grove in Westmoreland, worth about L. 80 a-year, 
 presented to him by the Bishop of Carlisle. He now 
 married Miss Hewit of Carlisle, and took a small 
 farm to improve his income ; a speculation which he 
 soon after gave up as unproductive. Next year, he 
 was inducted to the vicarage of Dalston in Cumber- 
 land. 
 
 In 1777, he was inducted to the vicarage of Ap- 
 pleby, worth about L. 200 a-year ; and while in this 
 situation he published a small volume, entitled. The 
 Clergyman's Companion in Visiting the Sick; in 
 which he both evinced his personal attention to the 
 spiritual wants of his own flock, and conferred an 
 obligation on his brethren, which has been acknow- 
 ledged by the numerous and large editions which it 
 has undergone. In June 1780, he was installed a 
 prebendary of the fourth stall, in the Cathedral of 
 Carlisle, worth about L. 400 a-year ; and in August 
 1782, on the promotion of his friend Mr Law to the 
 see of Clonfert, he was raised to the dignity of arch- 
 deacon of the diocese. 
 
 A report was long in circulation, that Mr Paley, 
 being appointed to preach before the University of 
 Cambridge when Mr Pitt made his first appearance 
 at St Mary's after his elevation to the premiership, 
 chose the following passage for his text : " There is 
 a lad here who hath five barley loaves and two 
 fishes, but what are they among so many ?" That 
 was not the fact; but the joke originated with Pa- 
 ley, who said to a friend that, had he been asked to 
 preach on the occasion, he would have chosen this 
 text. 
 
 Now in possession of a competent income, and 
 sufficient leisure, he prepared for the press his great 
 work On the Principles of Moral and Political Phi' 
 losophy, which first appeared in 1785. In conse- 
 
104 PAL 
 
 Paley. quence of the well known merit of bis lectures on 
 ^-^^v^ the subject of that work, high expectations were 
 formed of it; and his admirers were not disappoint- 
 ed. Its most obvious feature was that of being all 
 directed to the practice of life in cases which hourly 
 claim the attention of. well meaning minds. Most 
 other scientific works on morals were mere specu- 
 lative treatises, which pleased the reader by unfold- 
 ing the principles of right and wrong, in cases in 
 which he has been previously satisfied about the prac- 
 tical rule and its application ; while they embarrass- 
 ed conscientious inquirers with hair-breadth dis- 
 tinctions, instead of conveying satisfactory principles. 
 Dr Paley 's work happily unites a due regard for prac- 
 tical duty with rational information on those points on 
 which the mind is most anxious to obtain satisfaction. 
 It soon established the reputation of its author. 
 Some of his doctrines met with opposition ; but he 
 never was provoked to write any reply ; and it is 
 further remarked by his biographer, Mr Meadley, 
 that, in the subsequent editions, he made no altera- 
 tions materially aft'ecting the sense. Had there been 
 a few such alterations, however, he would have more 
 fully merited the character of a liberal inquirer.-- 
 Among his elucidations of the foundations of vir- 
 tue, he certainly fails in his definition of " the na- 
 ture of obligation." He acknowledges that the sub- 
 ject had embarrassed his own mind ; yet he ulti- 
 mately reposes in a solution founded on a confusion of 
 terms, which laid him fully open to the animadver- 
 sions of the Reverend Mr Pearson, who publish- 
 ed An Examination of his Theory. Dr Paley 's 
 doctrine is, that a man is under moral obligation 
 when he is urged by a violent motive resulting from 
 the command of another." He thus resolves obliga- 
 tion into an effectual inducement. According to 
 thi« statement, a man is under no moral obligation 
 unless he feels, acknowledges, and acts upon it. 
 Had such a hypothesis occurred in the writings of 
 an author who made the purity of practice to de- 
 pend on the reception of peculiar theories, it might 
 have created great laxity of principle in the minds 
 of some persons and distress in those of others. But 
 his masterly elucidation of the rule of morals, and 
 the paternal benignity with which his efforts are uni- 
 formly accompanied, se t his reader at rest from all 
 hurtful anxiety on practical topics. 
 
 His exposition of the rule of morals, as founded in 
 utility, is ably managed. He demonstrates the su- 
 periority of this rule to every other, and the sub- 
 ordinate rank of all those mental suggestions and 
 impressions, which some moralists have represented 
 as essential parts of the foundation of morality. 
 Many such feelings are valuable provisions of the 
 Author of our nature ; but they do not deserve 
 the authority of guides. Their whole claim to our 
 obedience is derived either from their coincidence 
 with some express command of the Deity, or their 
 cooduciveness to utility. The difficulties attend- 
 ing inquiries into this cooduciveness in particular 
 instances do not generate uncertainties so great as 
 those attached to the other supposed natural tests 
 of moral truth. A man may be mistaken respect- 
 ing the useful or hurtful tendency of a particular 
 line of conduct ; but he is equally liable to be led 
 
 PAL 
 
 astray by feelings venerated as moral suggestions ; Paley. 
 and under that influence, he is deprived of an equal 
 possibility of correcting himself by subsequent re- 
 flection. When authors declaim on the danger 
 attached to the doctrine of utility, they borrow their 
 arguments from that doctrine itself. They merely 
 set up utility in its extensive application against such 
 utilities as are partial and delusive* Dr Paley, there- 
 fore, dwells strongly on the necessity and import- 
 ance of general rules; and by taking them for his 
 guides, obviates all the serious objections brought 
 against his leading theorem, " that the method of 
 coming at the will of God concerning any action, by 
 the light of nature, is to inquire into the tendency 
 of that action to promote or diminish the general 
 happiness." 
 
 On our duties to ourselves his observations are 
 short, at which we cannot be surprised when we 
 find that in his definition of virtue these duties are 
 excluded. In the excellent casuistical Observa- 
 tions on Self- Defence, Drunkenness, and Suicide, of 
 which this portion of his work entirely consists, he 
 regards the tendency of personal conduct and habits 
 only as they affect society around us. Had he paid 
 more respect to the maxims of the stoical authors, 
 and studied them in their most favourable meaning, 
 he would have been more disposed to point out the 
 importance of maintaining mental composure as an 
 ultimate object of individual efforts. On our duties 
 towards God he also treats briefly. The simplicity 
 attached to our knowledge of their great Object di- 
 vests them of variety as a separate subject, without 
 detracting from their sublimity. 
 , In the political part of this work, we find the ex- 
 ertions of a manly understanding employed with 
 some success in exposing the dark bigotry and the 
 gratuitous king-worship by which political knowledge 
 had in past ages been disgraced. His efforts, how- 
 ever, are exempt from those headstrong tendencies 
 which minds liberated from unfair control sometimes 
 betray, to run into schemes incapable of being ap- 
 plied without compromising the happiness of society. 
 That happiness he keeps steadily in view, as the only 
 legitimate object of all government, as well as the 
 only legitimate object of opposition to existing prac- 
 tices and institutions. Some of his admirers consider 
 him as owning too great lengths in vindicating the ex- 
 action of a subscription to the Thirty-nine Articles. 
 His chapter on subscription has been assailed with 
 equal asperity by the strenuous adherents of the es- 
 tablished church, and by the scrupulous advocates 
 for Protestant freedom. His biographer, Mr Mead- 
 ley, calls it " the last effort of an ingenious mind to 
 soften, by interpretation, the rigour of a practice of 
 which he could not seriously approve, and so to en- 
 large the pale of conformity to liberal and conscien- 
 tious men.'' 
 
 The answer which he gives to the arguments for 
 passive obedience as founded in Scripture is par- 
 ticularly worthy of attention. Through the whole 
 he displays a candour of the most conciliating kind. 
 None of his strictures on existing systems had the 
 slightest tendency to give offence to any, except to 
 persons actuated by downright prejudice/or the most 
 corrupt motives. 
 
PAL 
 
 Paley. Oa the death of Dr Law, Bishop of Carlisle, which 
 -^-^ happened in 1787, Mr Paley published a short Me- 
 moir of the life of that venerable prelate. Soon af- 
 ter he wrote two tracts in favour of " the abolition 
 of the slave trade a subject on which he had ex- 
 pressed his sentiments with decision in his Principles 
 of Moral and Political Philosophy, before it began to 
 excite general interest. 
 
 In 1790 he published his HorcB Paulints, or the 
 Truth of the Scripture History of St Paul evinced, 
 by a comparison of the Epistles 'which bear his name, 
 mth the Jets of the Apostles, and ivith one another. 
 The object was to show, by a copious selection of re- 
 ferences and reciprocal allusions, the strong evidence 
 of their genuineness derived from their undesigned co- 
 incidence. This able treatise possesses more novelty 
 of interest, and greater originality of idea, than any 
 of his other works. 
 
 During the political ferment which led to the 
 French Revolution, Dr Paley published a short 
 tract, entitled. Reasons for Contentment, addressed 
 to the Lahouring^ Classes ; and he republished, in a 
 separate form, his chapter On the British Constitu- 
 tion, from his Principles of Moral and Political Phi- 
 losophy. He was censured by the violent partisans 
 on both sides, as he went the full lengths of neither; 
 but his style of reasoning had the best tendency to 
 guide and satisfy those minds which were not obsti- 
 nately and unreasonably prepossessed. 
 
 In May I791, Mrs Paley died, leaving a family of 
 four sons and four daughters. 
 
 Early in 179-1^ lie published his Vieu of the Evi- 
 dences of Christianity. This work, with regard to 
 manner and effect, follows a happy medium be- 
 tween that learned prolixity which deters the reader, 
 or tires out his patience, and that abrupt brevity 
 which is apt, with some minds, to beget an unfortu- 
 nate impression of some imperfection in the argu- 
 ment. He contends for the substantial truth of the 
 history connected with the Christian revelation ; 
 and, not undervaluing, as some have injudiciously 
 done, the internal evidences, he exhibits, in primi- 
 tive simplicity, and without the least oratorical ex- 
 aggeration, the superlative value of those doctrines 
 in which all Christians are agreed, and gives an ani- 
 mated view of the morality of the gospel. The work, 
 considered as addressed to doubting minds, was well 
 fitted to interest the attention of all who are duly im- 
 pressed with the importance of the question at issue. 
 
 Hitherto his preferment in the church had been 
 dender, considering his singular merit and the opu- 
 lence of the ecclesiastical establishment. The bold- 
 ness of his reasonings on political subjects had given 
 deep dissatisfaction. To the favourers of power, it 
 was not weicorae doctrine, that " governments may be 
 too secure that the obligations of subjects and so- 
 >«3reigns are reciprocal and "that the divine right of 
 Kings rests on the same foundation with the divine 
 right of Constables." But when he stood forth as the 
 successful defender of the Christian revelation, at a 
 time when the interests of the church were supposed 
 to be in danger, his services met with more marked 
 attention. Dr Porteus, Bishop of London, conferred 
 m him the desirable situation of prebend of St Pan- 
 cras in the cathedral of St Paul's, to which he was in- 
 
 VOL. VI, PART I. 
 
 PAL 
 
 stiluted in August 1794- He was in a few months 
 after promoted to the sub-deanery of Lincoln by Dr 
 Prettyman, Bishop of that diocese, and took his de- 
 gree of D, D. at Cambridge. 
 
 Before leaving this place, he had the agreeable 
 surprise of a letter from Dr Barrington, Bishop of 
 Durham, offering him the valuable rectory of Bi- 
 shop- Wearmouth, worth about L. 1200 a-year, into 
 which he was soon inducted. A few months after 
 he married Miss Dobinson of Carlisle, and, from this 
 period to his death, divided his time between Bi- 
 shop- Wearmouth and Lincoln ; being obliged to re- 
 side three months in the year at the latter place. 
 Now that he enjoyed a handsome independence, we 
 find his company courted by many distinguished cha- 
 racters, and his life spent in a series of the most use- 
 ful labours, while all his secular transactions were so 
 well conducted, as to shed a lustre on his character, 
 and to exhibit a most instructive example to all 
 around him. Both his parents hved to witness his 
 high reputation and success in life. His mother died 
 in 1796, and his father in 1799. 
 
 In 1800, Dr Paley was attacked by a disease in 
 the kidneys, accompanied with a species of melaena, 
 which obliged him to suspend the discharge of his 
 professional duties. He had a second attack in the 
 following spring, and a third about the end of 1802. 
 
 During the progress of this fatal disease, he was 
 engaged in preparing for the press his last important 
 work On Natural Theology. His literary labours 
 were frequently interrupted by severe paroxysms of 
 pain, but on the first respite, he always resumed 
 them with cheerfulness. Under these circumstancef?, 
 he wrote his excellent remarks on the alleviations 
 of pain, in his chapter On the Goodness of tfte 
 Deity. — This work had been undertaken at the sug- 
 gestion of the Bishop of Durham, that he might, by 
 theological exertions in his closet, make up for the 
 unavoidable suspension of his public ecclesiastical la- 
 bours. In none of his writings does his candour apr 
 pear to such incontestible advantage as in this. We 
 never find him brow-beating the adversary, or at- 
 tempting to push his conclusions a single step far- 
 ther than his premises evidently warrant. We do 
 not find him with many others advancing the meta- 
 physical position, " that every thing which exists 
 must have a cause," so glaringly open to the query, 
 " why should the world have a cause more than its 
 Creator ?" Mere existence cannot authorize the in- 
 I'erence of owing that existence to a higher source. 
 He rests his argument on far better ground, — the 
 character of the fabric of nature, or rather of various 
 objects in it which offer themselves to our observa- 
 tion. Nor does he, with some, assume the doctrine, 
 that matter is essentially inert, and that, therefore, its. 
 motions must be induced by an extraneous and spi- 
 ritual cause. He more wisely turns his attention to 
 the proofs of design which so many objects in the 
 world exhibit. These are so selected and arranged, 
 as to appear in the most interesting and satisfactory 
 point of view. Where the phenomena are apparent- 
 ly inconsistent, we find no straining to reconcile 
 them ; no reluctance to take a full view of unfavour- 
 able appearances ; no inclination to draw the same 
 inferences from opposite facts. His argument is not 
 
 105 
 
 Paley. 
 
106 P A L 
 
 Paley suspended on a chain of metaphysical reasoning, 
 II which would have subjected it to the risk of destruc- 
 P^^^^^ tion as soon as one of the links gives way. He di- 
 rects the attention of his reader to numerous colum- 
 nar supports of the existence of a God, each of which 
 is adequate to the whole office. Each instance ad- 
 duced is decisive of the point at issue ; and though 
 his instances are numerous as well as beautiful, they 
 are evidently only partial exemplifications of a spe- 
 cies of evidence which is boundless in extent. 
 
 In the present state of the learned world, this 
 is the most important of Dr Puley's works ; as pos* 
 sessing the best tendency to reclaim persons wan- 
 dering in the mazes of scepticism to that state of 
 thought which is most favourable to the t rue improve- 
 ment of the human character ; and to the establish- 
 ment of that state of mental peace after v-hich a 
 sense of our weakness naturally leads us to aspire. 
 
 After its publication, Dr Paley continued to take 
 a lively interest in the literary and scientific discus- 
 sions of the day; especially such as bore directly on 
 the great interests of society ; but in May 1805, he 
 was subjected to a violent attack of his complaint, in 
 which all remedies proved ineftectual ; and, with great 
 tranquillity, he breathed Jiis last at Bishop-Wear- 
 mouth, leaving a family of four sons and four daugh- 
 ters in possession of a competent fortune, saved by a 
 systematic, though by no means a niggardly economy. 
 
 He wrote several sermons and other minor pro- 
 ductions, less known than those above enumerated. 
 They are all collected in a uniform edition of his 
 works, and will be found, on examination, worthy of 
 his fame, and successfully directed to the same va- 
 luable ends with his more celebrated productions. 
 
 (R.R.) 
 
 PALLAS (Simon PiiTER), a distinguished natu- 
 ralist and geographer, born 9,'2d September 1741, 
 was the son of Simon Pallas, a surgeon in the Prus- 
 sian army, and Professor of Surgery at Berlin. 
 
 He received the early part of his education in his 
 father's house, and his instructors bore ample testi- 
 mony to the rapidity of his progress. At the age of 
 fifteen he began to attend medical lectures, and he 
 applied so closely to practical anatomy, that in 1758 
 he was found qualified to deliver a course of public 
 lectures on that science. In the same year he went 
 to Halle, and became the pupil of Segner, continuing 
 also his studies of zoology, and in particular of ento- 
 mology, with great assiduity In 1759 he removed 
 to Gottingen,, where he made a variety of experi- 
 ments on poisons, and on other active medical sub- 
 stances, and commenced his observations on parasi- 
 tical animals. In July 1760 he went on to Leyden, 
 in order to attend the lectures of Albinus, Gaubius, 
 and Musschenbroek, and at the end of the same year 
 he took his degree of Doctor of Physic. The fol- 
 lowing summer he proceeded to England, principal- 
 ly with the view of completing his medical education, 
 although he devoted the greater part of his time to 
 the active pursuit of natural history, being assisted 
 and encouraged by the friendship of Peter Collinson, 
 and of some other British naturalists, which procur- 
 ed for him a few years afterwards the distinction of 
 having his name inserted in the list of the Foreign 
 Members of the Royal Society, at the early age of 
 
 PAL 
 
 twenty three. He visited several parts of the coast of IPallas. 
 England, in order to examine its marine productions, >*-*v^ 
 and his love of natural history enabled him to profit 
 in a similar manner by an accident which detained 
 him some time at Harwich, on his return to the Conti- 
 nent, in the spring of 1762. 
 
 Having paid a visit to his native city, he went 
 again to the Hague, and established himself as a re- 
 sident there under the patronage of Gaubius. On 
 occasion of the publication of a miscellaneous work 
 on zoology, which he dedicated to the Prince of 
 Orange, he proposed a plan for an expedition to the 
 Cape of Good Hope, and to the Dutch East Indies, 
 which he offered to conduct in person ; but although 
 the project was encouraged by Gaubius, and approv- 
 ed by the Prince, his father's interference prevented 
 its execution, and obliged him to return to Berlin. 
 His filial affection, however, was not strong enough 
 to induce him to refuse the invitation of the Empress 
 Catharine to Petersburg, where he accepted, in the 
 year I767, the appointment of Professor of Natural 
 History in the Imperial Academy of Sciences. 
 
 The first few months of his residence at St Peters- 
 burg were employed in preparing his Zoological 
 Gleanings for publication, and in making catalogues 
 of some collections of natural history. It was now 
 that the more active career of his public life was 
 about to commence, and in I768 he undertook, in 
 common with Falk, Lepechin, and Guldenstiidt, the 
 conduct of an expedition sent out by the Empress 
 for the joint purposes of observing the transit of Ve- 
 nus, and of investigating the natural history and geo- 
 graphy of Siberia, and "the neighbouring countries. 
 The object of their researches for the first summer 
 was the province of Kasan, and the winter was pas- 
 sed at Simbirsk ; the next year they examined the 
 shores of the Caspian, and the borders of Calmuc 
 Tartary ; they returned through Orenburg, and pas- 
 sed the winter at Ufa. In 1770 Pallas crossed the 
 Uralian mountains to Catharinenburg, and, after ex- 
 amining the mines in that neighbourhood, proceeded 
 to Tobolsk. The next year he went to the Altaic 
 mountains, traced the course of the Irtish to Koly- 
 van, went on to Tomsk, and observed the natural 
 freezing of quicksilver at Krasnoyarsk, on the Yeni- 
 sei, in latitude 56^° north. He proceeded in March 
 1772 by Irkutsk across the Lake Baikal, as far as 
 Kiatka, and returned to Krasnoyarsk. In 1773 he 
 visited Tara, Astracan, and Tzaritzin, on the Volga, 
 and returned to St Petersburg in 1774> after an ab- 
 sence of six years. About ten years later he was 
 made a member of the Board of Mines, with an ad- 
 ditional salary of L. 200 a year, and he was compli- 
 mented with the title of a Knight of St Vlodimir.. 
 The Empress purchased his collection of natural his- 
 tory for a price one third greater thaa his demand,, 
 and allowed him, at the same time, to keep it in his; 
 possession for the remainder of his life. 
 
 In 1794 he took a journey into the Crimea, andi 
 was captivated with the beauty of the country andi 
 its productions; the climate also appearing to be 
 such as his health was supposed to require, he ob- 
 tained from his munificent patroness not only per- 
 mission to establish himself there, but a grant of a 
 large and fertile estate, and a sura of 10,000 rubles 
 
PAL 
 
 PAL 
 
 Pallas, to assist him in his outfit. He was thus enabled to 
 ^ build a little palace, rather than a country house, in 
 which a traveller from the North of Europe was sure 
 to receive the most obliging hospitality, as Dr Clarke 
 has made well known to the English reader. It ap- 
 pears, however, that the air was not altogether ex- 
 empt from the miasmata, which are the causes of 
 paludal fevers ; and some other circumstances, be- 
 sides the distance from all civilized society, seem to 
 have made the old age of Pallas more cheerless than 
 he had anticipated to find it, in the independence 
 and tranquillity of his patriarchal establishment at 
 Akmetshet. About ten years after the period of Dr 
 Clarke's travels, he undertook a journey to Berlin to 
 pay a visit to his brother, and died there in Septem- 
 ber 1811. 
 
 Linng the younger has given him a genus, Palla- 
 sia, in his Supplementum Planlarum ; a compliment 
 to which his unremitting labours, in every depart- 
 ment of natural history, had amply entitled him. 
 His collection of dried plants was purchased by Dr 
 Clarke's fellow traveller, Mr Cripps, and is now in 
 the possession of Mr Aylraer Bourke Lambert. 
 
 The general character of Professor Pallas's ac- 
 quirements appears to have been that df extent and 
 variety, together with fidelity. He was not the au- 
 thor of any new theories, or improved systems ; and 
 it has sometimes been observed, as by Murray in his 
 System of Vegetables, that his descriptions were some- 
 what defective from the omission of correct specific 
 distinctions ; but this omission is of such a nature as 
 to aiiect a compiler, or a book-maker, more than an 
 actual student of natural history, who is studying for 
 his own improvement only, and who is capable of 
 entering into a detailed examination of the objects 
 concerned. To such a detail the principal part of 
 Professor Pallas's works have related ; and it is im- 
 possible to enumerate the whole of his memoirs 
 without making a pretty extensive catalogue of the 
 productions of the various kingdoms of nature. 
 
 1. His Dissertatio Inauguratis de Infestis Viventibus 
 intra Viventia, 4. Leyd. 1760; containing a systema- 
 tic account of intestinal worms, is said to have been 
 previously published in another form at Gottingen, 
 a short time before he went to Leyden. 2. We find 
 in the Philosophical Transactions for 1763, p. 62, a 
 short note On the Cold observed at Berlin the pre- 
 ceding winter. 3. In the volume for 1766, p. 186, 
 a description of the jaculator fish, or Sciaena jamla- 
 trix of the Indian Ocean, which catches insects by 
 darting drops of water at them; this description is 
 repeated in the Spicilegia Zoologica, Ease. 8. 4. Elen- 
 chus Zoophyi'orum, 8. Hague, 1766 ; containing near 
 three hundred species ; Dutch hy Boddaerl, with 
 figures, 8. Utrecht, 1768. 5. Miscellanea Zoologica, 
 4. Hague, 1766; consisting of descriptions and dis- 
 sections. 6. Spicilegia Zoologica, 4. Berl. 1767- 
 1780. Of this valuable collection of memoirs, in- 
 tended for the description and illustration of new or 
 little known species of animals, there appeared in the 
 whole 14 fasciculi; some of them were published by 
 Professor Martin, during the author's absence in Si- 
 beria. We find, among other articles, an interesting 
 account of the musk deer, of various species of the 
 antelope, and on the different varieties of sheep, both 
 wild and tame ; the latter has been published in Eng- 
 
 lish ; On Russian and Tartar Sheep, 8. Edinb. l7f)4. 
 7. In the N, Act. Acad. Nat. Cur. III. p. 430, Pha- 
 laenarum biga ; an account of two species of moth, 
 of which the females are without wings, and spon- 
 taneously fertile. 8. A variety of miscellaneous pa- 
 pers, by Pallas, appeared in the Stralsund Magazine 
 which began to be published at Berlin in 1767; they 
 chiefly relate to the Winter Residence of Swallotvs, 
 Vol. I. p. 20 ; to Hydatids found in the abdomen of 
 ruminant animals, and supposed to be a species of 
 ta?nia, p. 64 ; to the Birds of Passage of Siberia, p. 
 145 ; from Heller's Notes ; to Firmin's supposed dis- 
 covery of the Origin of the Belemnite, p. 192 ; to 
 some Peculiarities of Insects, p. 225; to a Poison 
 supposed to be prepared in Siberia from the Sitta or 
 nuthatch, p. 311 ; to the Elk or Moose Deer, p. 382, 
 from Heller's papers ; and to the use of the Sphondy- 
 lium in Kamtshatka, p. 411. 9. Collections relating 
 to the Mongol Tribes, published in 1776, and show- 
 ing that they are distinct from the Tartars. 
 
 10. Professor Pallas's contributions to the Me- 
 moirs of the Imperial Academy of St Petersburg are 
 also very numerous, and on miscellaneous subjects. 
 In the Novi Commentarii we find an account of the 
 Tubidaria Fungosa, Vol. XII., observed near Wolo- 
 dimer ; Le^ms pusillus, and Fossil Bones of Siberia, 
 Vol. XIII. ; Quadrupeds and Birds observed in 1769, 
 Vol. XIV. i. ; Remains of Exotic Animals in Norths 
 em Asia, Vol. XVIII., especially the skulls of the 
 rhinoceros and the buffalo ; Tetrao arenaria, Equus 
 hemioniis, and Lacerta apoda, Vol. XIX.; the last 
 also in Gencesk. Jaerboek, II. In the Acta for 
 1777, ii.. An Account of the Teeth of an Vnhiotvn 
 Animal, like those which have been found in Cana- 
 da ; Observations, from Camper's Letters, on a Myr- 
 mecophaga, and a Didelphis ; and Equus asinus, in 
 the wild state. In the volume for 1779, ii.> a De- 
 scription of Plants peculiar to Siberia ; Capra Can- 
 casica, also in Lichtenberg's Magazin, II. For 1780, 
 Part i., Galeopithecus vitans ; Part ii. On the Va- 
 riations of Animals ; and Didelphis brachyura. For 
 1781, Part i., Felis manul, a new Asiatic species of 
 Felis; ii.. On some Species of Sorex. In the volume 
 for 1783, A^eto Sjjecies of Fishes ; and 1784, On some 
 new Marine Productions. 
 
 11. The Observations sur la Formation des Man- 
 tagnes, et les Changemens arrives au Globe, particu- 
 lierement a I'egard de I' Empire Russe, published sepa- 
 rately, 4. Petersb. 1777, were also inserted in the 
 Acta of the Academy for 1777, having been read at a 
 public sitting before the King of Sweden. A trans- 
 lation of this discourse is inserted in Tooke's Russian 
 Empire, and some remarks on it are found in the 
 Journal de Physique, Vol. XIII. 
 
 12. The most considerable of the separate publi- 
 cations of Pallas was the account of his travels, en- 
 titled Reise durch verschiedene provinzen des Rus- 
 sischen Reichs, 3 vols. 4. Petersburg, 1771-3-6; 
 French, 8vo, 8. Par. 1 803 ; English, 2 v. 4. London, 
 1812 ; a work of the highest authority in geography 
 and natural history. 13. It was in the course of 
 these travels that Pallas observed in Siberia an insu- 
 lated mass of native iron, which he described in a 
 paper, addressed to the Royal Society of London, 
 and printed in the Philosophical Transactions for 
 1776, p. 523; a substance which has become the 
 
108 
 
 PAL 
 
 Pallas subject of many discussions, from its resemblance to 
 II some of the specimens of well ascertained aerolites : 
 Panwama. author mentions also the remains of an unmine- 
 ralised rhinoceros, which had been found in the same 
 country. 
 
 14. In the Besch'dftigungen Naturforschenden 
 Freunden, published at Berlin about 1777? we find a 
 letter on the Acipenser ruthenus, or Sliirgeon, Vol. 
 II. p. 532, and An Account of a Monstrous Horse, 
 Vol. III. p. 226. 15. Some Mineralogical Obser- 
 vations, addressed to Born, are published in the 
 Bbhmische Ahkandlungen, Vol. III. p. 191. 16. In 
 the Swedish Handlingar for 1778, we have the Alauda 
 Mongolica, and the Sturnus Daauricus ; the Anas 
 glocitans, in 1779; 
 
 17. NovcB species Glirium, 4. Erlang. 1778. 18. 
 Icones Insectoruni, prcBsertim Rossics Sibiriceque, 4. 
 Erlang. 1781. 19. Enumeratio Plantarum Procopii 
 a Demidoff, 8. Petersb. I78I. 
 
 20. Another channel, in which a number of Pal- 
 las's most valuable essays appeared, is the work en- 
 titled Neue Nordische Beytr'dge, which he published 
 at St Petersburg and Leipzig, in 1781 and the fol- 
 lowing years. The most remarkable of the subjects 
 of these are, A great Exotic Animal found in Kasan 
 in the year 1776 ; On the Migration of the Water 
 Rat on the Volga, and Observations on TcenicB, Vol. 
 I. ; Further Remarks on Tcenice ; On American 
 Monkeys, bred at St Petersburg; On the Ardea he^ 
 lias ; On the Culex lanio, sometimes fatal to Cattle ; 
 On the Phalangium, or Scorpion Spider; and On 
 Copper Island, in the Sea of Kamtshatka, Vol. II.; 
 On Two Birds ; and, On the Labrador Stone, Vol. 
 III.; On a Cross of the Black Wolf with the Dog; 
 On a Mine ; On the Oriental Turqiiois ; and, Mine- 
 rahgical Novelties from Siberia, Vol. V. 
 
 21. In the Physische Arbeiten of Vienna, we have a 
 geological Essay on the Orography of Siberia, Vol. I, i. 
 
 22. Flora Rossica, tWol L Petersb. 1784; II. 
 1788, published at the expense of the Empress. 
 
 23. Tableau Physique et Topographigue de la 
 Tauride, 4. Petersb. 1795 ; German in iV. N. Bey- 
 tr'dge, VII. A work derived chiefly from the obser- 
 vations made by the author in his travels of 1792. 
 
 24. A Monography of the Astragali is mentioned 
 by some of his biographers. 
 
 25. He edited also Guldenstiidt's Reisen durch 
 Russland und in den Caucasischen gebirgen, 2. v. 4. 
 Petersb. 1787-1791. 26. He also compiled and ar- 
 ranged the two first and most valuable of the four 
 volumes of the Vocabalaria Ccmparativa, 4. Petersb. 
 1787; in which he attempted to make some improve- 
 ments in the Prussian orthography. See Lan- 
 guages. 
 
 [Coxe's Travels; Clarke's Travels ; Tooke's Rus- 
 sian Eivpire; Halleri Bibliotheca Anatomica ; Aikin's 
 General Biography, Vol. X. 4. Lond. 1815. Cha\- 
 vaet&'s Biographical Dictionary, Vol. XXIII. 8. Lond. 
 1815. Dryander, Bibliotheca Banksiana.'} 
 
 (I. s.) 
 
 PANORAMA. — A Panorama is a picture drawn 
 on the interior surface of a large cylinder, repre- 
 senting the objects that can be seen from one sta- 
 tion, when the observer directs his eye succes- 
 sively to every point of the horizon. A picture 
 drawn on a vertical plane in the usual way includes 
 
 PAN 
 
 only that portion of the sphere of vision that can Pairanorama. 
 be seen from one point opposite to the picture, ^--*'''«^,'-'~ 
 without turning the eye; this portion may com- 
 prehend about 60 degrees of the horizon. There Pananorama 
 are compositions, comprehending the visible ^^^""^•,^^^^0^°^^' 
 sphere, and sometimes nearly the ^ whole sphere of 
 vision ; in these compositions, one connected scene 
 is represented on the interior surfaces of a polyhe- 
 dron, or of a curved solid, the point of sight being 
 in the centre of the polyhedron, and the eye being 
 turned round on its centre, to each of the surfaces,, 
 in order to view the whole scene. Of this kind are 
 the gnomonic projection of the sphere on the interi- 
 or surfaces of a cube, and several pictures, in whicli 
 one connected subject is represented on the ceiling 
 and the sides of a room ; such as the picture of Jupiter 
 fulminating the Giants, by Julio Romano, on the 
 walls and hemispherical ceiling of a round room in 
 the Palazzo del T, at Mantua ; or the architectural 
 representations and ornaments in Raphael's loggia 
 in the Vatican. Objects are also sometimes project- 
 ed on the interior surface of a sphere, the eye being 
 placed in the centre ; as in a large hollow sphere 
 with the constellations, which was constructed at 
 Pembroke College, Cambridge. These projections, 
 where the eye, remaining in the point of sight, is 
 turned round on its centre to view the different parts 
 of the picture, are formed on the same principle as 
 the panorama. ^ . 
 
 The cylindrical surface is the most convenient for Cy:::ylindttea 
 panoramas of landscapes , and the specific employ- PaPanoiama 
 ment of a large cylindrical surface for representing 
 the landscape of the whole circle of the horizon, is 
 the invention of Mr Barker, who brought the pano- 
 rama into use, and still continues to exercise his art. 
 The cylinder on which the panorama is painted is 
 commonly about 60 feet in diameter. The projec- 
 tion or perspective of a panorama is formed by ima- 
 ginary lines drawn from different points of the sur- 
 rounding objects, to the point of sight in the axis ot 
 the cylinder. The intersections of these lines with 
 the cylindrical surface form the corresponding points 
 in the panoramic picture. Where the picture is pro- 
 jected on a plane, as in common perspective, and in 
 the gnomonic projection of the sphere, the cones 
 formed by imaginary lines or rays passing from the 
 point of sight to the dilferent objects, are cut by the 
 plane of the picture ; consequently, the sections being 
 formed by a plane, are curves, of which the curva- 
 ture is always simple. In the perspective of the pa- 
 norama, where the picture consists of the intersec- 
 tion of the cones of rays by a cylinder, these inter- 
 sections are, in many of the cases, doubly curved 
 curves. When the picture of a straight line, which 
 is neither parallel to the horizon nor to the axis of 
 the cylinder, is drawn on the cylinder of the panora- 
 ma, the picture of the line is part of an ellipse, be- 
 cause the oblique section of a right cylinder, by a. 
 plane passing through the axis, is an ellipse ; wheni i 
 the cylinder is developed and unrolled on a planfe i 
 surface, this ellipse becomes the curve called the; ; 
 sinical curve. The projection of lines on the inte- - 
 rior surface of a cylinder is also employed in draw- - 
 ing Mercator's charts. But in the projection of the 3 
 panorama, the field extends only a few degrees above a 
 and below the horizon, whereas, in the projection® s 
 
PAN 
 
 'anorama of the spliere, the field extends many degrees on 
 
 btograpL ^\^^ P^*"^' ^^^'^'^ at right angles to 
 
 1^^-.^ the axis of the cylinder. In drawing a panorama, 
 as well as in drawing a picture on ^ plane, the hori- 
 f zontal angles between different objects may be ob- 
 
 • served by a plane table or theodolite ; and the eleva- 
 
 tion of the objects above the horizon, or their de- 
 ; pression, may also be observed by the theodolite : 
 
 the horizontal angles are to be laid down by setting 
 off on the graduated horizon of the cylindrical pic- 
 ture the number of degrees observed ; the vertical 
 angles on the cylinder are the tangents of the angles 
 ; observed, the radius being the semidiameter of the 
 
 I cylinder. (y.) 
 
 PANTOGRAPH, an instrument contrived for the 
 purpose of copying drawings, so that the copy may 
 either be of the same size, of a greater, or of a 
 less size than the original. It consists of four move- 
 able rulers fixed together by four pivots, and form- 
 ing a parallelogram. At the extremity of one of 
 these rulers prolonged is a point, which is drawn 
 oyer the lines of the original drawing, whilst a pen- 
 cil, fixed at the end of another branch of the instru- 
 ment, traces on paper the lines of the copy. The 
 pencil is placed in a hollow cylinder, and a weight is 
 added on the top of the pencil ; by this means, the 
 point of the pencil is made to press on the paper 
 with the force requisite for drawing the lines. The 
 improvements in the construction of diflPerent parts 
 of the pantograph described in the Memoires de I' Ac 
 des Sciences, 1743, have been generally adopted. 
 tSJa. ^'^^^ pantograph, however, is not found convenient 
 in practice ; and, for the purpose of copying maps, 
 plans, and other designs, artists most commonly em- 
 ploy the method of dividing the original design into 
 a nunaber of squares, and the paper on which the 
 copy is to be made into the same number of squares. 
 When this is done, they copy the lines contained 
 withiri each square of the original, so as ta form 
 a similar figure within the corresponding square of 
 SS^^'''^ reticula which covers the copy. When the 
 " drawmg consists of straight lines, a reduced copy is 
 accurately made by means of an isosceles triangle, 
 in which the base is to the side as any line of the 
 copy is to the corresponding line in the original. 
 By setting off with the compasses any line of the 
 original drawing on the sides of the triangle, the 
 base which completes the triangle is the length of 
 the corresponding line to be laid down on the copy. 
 The same operation is performed by the sector, 
 jcicg. If a drawing is to be copied, of the same size as 
 the original, without diminution or enlargement, en- 
 gravers usually trace the copy on oiled paper laid 
 over the original, or on the transparent papier de 
 guimauve (marsh-mallow paper), made in France. 
 icalPan- A pantograph has been made, consisting of a rod, 
 ftp'i' placed vertically, and turning round a fixed point in 
 Its length, situated between its upper and lower ex- 
 tremity : the upper end of the rod being a point 
 which is conducted by the hand over the lines of the 
 original drawing ; the lower end of the^f od being the 
 pencil which traces the copy on paper. An instru- 
 ment upon this principle is sometimes used for draw- 
 ing the profile of the face, in order to form small 
 portraits or silhouettes. 
 
 The instrument called Micrograph and Prosopa- 
 
 P A N 
 
 109 
 
 graph in Pulssant's Geodesie, does not differ in prin- Pantograph 
 ciple from the common pantograph. (y.) 
 
 A very ingenious instrument for copying draw- 
 ings, either upon a reduced or enlarged scale, has 
 been lately invented by Mr Wallace, Professor of 
 Mathematics in the University of Edinburgh. Of 
 this instrument, which may be fitly introduced under 
 the present head, though differing in name, we have 
 been favoured with the following description. 
 
 It is a fact well known, that artists of various de- 
 scriptions, who have frequent occasion to imitate 
 original designs, have long felt the want of a con- 
 venient mathematical instrument, by which a copy 
 may be made with neatness and expedition, that 
 shall have any given proportion to the original. The 
 Pantograph is the only instrument that has been 
 hitherto employed ; but although correct and plau- 
 sible in theory, in practice it is found to be so very 
 imperfect, that the artist hardly ever thinks of mak- 
 ing use of it. 
 
 A consideration of the essential service that would 
 be rendered to the graphic art, by a copying instru- 
 ment, which should be at once simple in its theory 
 and easy in its application, induced Mr Wallace to 
 turn his attention to the subject ; and, in the sum- 
 mer of 1821, he produced the model of a copying 
 instrument, which he has denominated an Eido- 
 GRAPH (from iiboi and y^d^u). The instrument, 
 and its application to the copying of a great variety 
 of subjects, has been shown to engineers, engravers, 
 and other competent judges in London and in Edin- 
 burgh, and their opinion of its utility has been such 
 as to leave no doubt of its completely fulfilling the 
 views of the inventor. 
 
 The instrument is represented in this figure : 
 
110 PAN 
 
 Pantograph The beam, A B, which is made of mahogany, slides 
 II backward and forward in a socket, C: the socket 
 turns on a vertical axis, supported by the fulcrum D, 
 ""^-"^^^ which stands on a table. There is a slit in the 
 beam, through which the axis of the socket passes, 
 so that, when the beam slides in the socket, a por- 
 tion of it passes on each side of the axis. There are 
 two equal wheels, E, E, below the beam, which turn 
 on axes that pass through pipes fixed at A, B, near 
 its extremities ; and a steel chain passes over the 
 wheels as a band, by which a motion of rotation may 
 be communicated from the one to the other. There 
 are two arms, F, F, which slide in sockets along the 
 lower face of the wheels, just under their cen- 
 tres : at the extremity, G, of one arm, there is a 
 metal tracer, with a handle attached to it, by which 
 its point may be carried over the lines in any design ; 
 and at H, the extremity of the other arm, there is a 
 black-lead pencil fixed in*" a metal tube, which is 
 ground to fit so exactly into a pipe, as just to slide 
 up or down. In using the instrument, the pencil, 
 in its tube, is raised by a thread which passes over 
 a pulley, and it descends again by a weight with 
 which it is loaded. 
 
 From the perfect equality of the wheels, it is easy 
 to see that, if the arms attached to them be placed 
 parallel in any one position, they will retain their pa- 
 rallelism, although one of the wheels, and conse- 
 quently both, be turned on their centres. Suppos- 
 ing, now, that BC and AC, the parts into which the 
 axis is divided at the centre, have any proportion 
 * whatever to each other, if the distances of the trar 
 
 cing point G, and pencil point H, from the centres 
 of their wheels have the very same proportion, then 
 it follows, from the elements of geometry, that the 
 tracing point G, the centre C, and the pencil point 
 H, will be in a straight line ; and further, that C G 
 and C H, the distance of these points from the cen- 
 tre, will have to each other the constant proportion 
 of C B to C A, or of E G to A H, Such being the 
 geometrical property of the Eidograph, if any sub- 
 ject to be copied be fixed to the table on which the 
 instrument stands, and the tracing point be carried 
 over every line of the design, the pencil point will 
 trace a copy in all respects similar to the original. 
 To facilitate the adjustment of the instrument, so 
 that the copy may have any given ratio to the origi- 
 nal, there are scales of equal parts on the beam and 
 the two arms : By these and verniers, both halves of 
 the beam, and equal lengths on the arms, are each 
 divided into 1000 equal parts, and at certain in- 
 tervals corresponding numbers are marked on 
 them. By means of the scales, when any ratio is as- 
 signed, the adjustment is made without the least diffi- 
 culty. 
 
 To avoid any derangement by the chain slipping 
 on the wheels, there are clamps at K and K, which 
 hold it fast to the wheels at points where it never 
 quits them. They are slackened when the instru- 
 ment is adjusted. 
 
 The inventor has committed its construction to Mr 
 R. B. Bate, philosophical instrument-maker, Poultry, 
 London, from whom it may be obtained. 
 
 PARK (MuNGo), the most illustrious traveller of 
 the present age, was born at Fowlshiels, near Sel- 
 
 PAR 
 
 kirk, upon the 10th of September 1771. His father Park, 
 occupied the farm of Fowlshiels, under the Duke of 
 Buccleugh. He appears to have bestowed uncom- 
 mon attention on the education of his children. 
 He even employed a tutor to reside in his house, 
 an expence which then especially was supposed 
 to exceed the resources of an ordinary farmer. 
 Young Park made a good figure at school. His 
 general demeanour was reserved and thoughtful ; yet 
 occasional sparks of ambition broke forth, indica- 
 tive of that adventurous spirit which lay concealed 
 under a somewhat cold exterior. This thoughtful 
 disposition led his friends to consider the church as 
 the profession best suited to his character; but as 
 he himself preferred the medical line, his wishes 
 were acquiesced in ; and he spent three years at the 
 University of Edinburgh, in the studies necessary to 
 that profession. 
 
 At Edinburgh, Park studied with ardour and suc- 
 cess ; and he in particular imbibed a fondness for 
 botany, which served strongly to give the colour to 
 his future life. It strengthened his natural connec- 
 tion with his brother-in-law, Mr James Dickson, 
 who, notwithstanding many disadvantages, attained 
 such skill in that science, that, on going as a gar- 
 dener to Hammersmith, he obtained a large share ; 
 of the patronage and favour of Sir Joseph Banks. . 
 This connection induced Mr Park to repair to > 
 London. He was introduced to Sir Joseph, who » 
 was so much pleased with him, that he obtained for ' 
 him the appointment of assistant-surgeon to the i 
 Worcester East Indiaman. In this capacity Mr r 
 Park made a voyage to Bencoolen, where he made i 
 some collections and observations in botany and na- - 
 tural history, which were submitted to the Linnean i 
 Society, and an account of them printed in the third 1 
 volume of their Transactions. 
 
 The African Association were now anxiously look- - 
 ing for a successor to Major Houghton, their un- - 
 fortunate missionary, who had perished in the at- - 
 tempt to penetrate to the Niger and Tombuctoo. ». 
 This opening, though foreign to any of Mr Park's s 
 former pursuits, except that of natural history, was s 
 immediately embraced by him with an ardour which !i 
 showed how congenial it was to the character of his s 
 mind. Without hesitation, he offered himself for r 
 this arduous and perilous service, and being sup- - 
 ported by the recommendation of Sir Joseph Banks, 
 was at once accepted. 
 
 Park spent about two years in and near London, i, 
 acquiring the qualifications necessary for his mis- 
 sion. In May 1795 he set sail, and on the 21st of if 
 June following arrived at Jillifree, near the mouth h 
 of the Gambia. After spending some months with h 
 Dr Laidley at Pisania, in acquiring the Mandingo o 
 language, he, on the 2d December 1795, departed d 
 on his grand expedition. It would be very super- •- 
 fluous to enter here into a detail of events so ge- 
 nerally known, and which excited so deep an in-i- 
 terest, as his captivity among the Moors — his al-1- 
 most miraculc^ escape — his discovery of the course ;e 
 of the Niger — of the African capital of Sego — his is 
 journey through Bambarra, and the train of peril and d 
 difficulty through which he effected his return. He e 
 arrived, after the length of his absence, and theie 
 
PAR 
 
 PAR 
 
 111 
 
 Park. want of intelligence respecting him, had nearly ex- 
 , tinguished all hopes of his safety. Reaching Lon- 
 don early in the morning of Christmas 1797, he 
 went to pass the time before breakfast in the gar- 
 dens of the British Museum, where, by a singular 
 chance, he met Mr Dickson, who embraced hig 
 friend as one returned from the grave. An extraor- 
 dinary interest in his adventures was immediately 
 excited among the African Institution, its friends, 
 and the public in general. Major Rennell drew up 
 an important Memoir, showing the new light thrown 
 by his journey upon African geography, which, with 
 an abstract of his Narrative, by Mr Bryan Edwards, 
 was speedily offered to satisfy the curiosity of the pub- 
 lic In the spring of 1 799 Mr Park presented the pub- 
 lic with a full Narrativefrom his own pen. Major Ren- 
 nell's Memoir was appended, and a considerable part 
 of Mr Edwards's abstract was incorporated verbatim ; 
 upon which circumstance alone seems to have been 
 built the rumour of that gentleman having been the 
 actual writer of the volume. The work was read 
 with an avidity proportioned to the novelty and im- 
 portance of the information contained in it, and to 
 the interesting and agreeable manner in which the 
 events were narrated. 
 
 Having finished this task, Mr Park seems to have 
 resolved to retire into domestic and professional life. 
 In 1799, he married Miss Anderson of Selkirk, 
 daughter of the gentleman with whom he had served 
 his apprenticeship as a surgeon. In October 1801, he 
 embraced an opportunity which offered of commenc- 
 ing a professional career at Peebles, and soon found 
 himself in respectable practice. His situation seem- 
 ed no*v sufficiently comfortable, being happy in do- 
 mestic life, possessed of competence, and surrounded 
 by a respectable society ; but his active mind was 
 not to be so satisfied, and was secretly panting after 
 a higher sphere of exertion. 
 
 Important as were his discoveries, their effect had 
 been, not to satisfy, but to excite still farther, the 
 public curiosity. The course of the Niger through 
 the unknown and central parts of the continent 
 could not fail to excite peculiar interest. This was 
 strongly felt, not only by the scientific world, but by 
 some intelligent members of administration, who, on 
 the conclusion of the peace in 1801, determined to 
 fit out an expedition on a great scale to effect the dis- 
 covery of the termination of this great river. In au- 
 tumn 1803, Lord Hobart, now Earl of Buckingham- 
 shire, who was then Colonial Secretary, offered the 
 command of it to Mr Park, who, though he asked a 
 short interval to consult his friends, seems never in 
 his own mind to have hesitated as to its acceptance. 
 To those who represented to him the dangers to be in- 
 curred, he urged, that the hardships attendant on the 
 
 obscure exercise of his profession, his journeys to dis- Park, 
 tant patients, his long and solitary rides over " cold 
 and lonely heaths," and over " gloomy hills, assail- 
 ed by the wintry tempest," would tend as effec- 
 tually to shorten life as the journey now in contem- 
 plation. 
 
 Mr Park, in this new undertaking, was amply sup- 
 plied with every thing which could ensure success. 
 Thirty soldiers, and nearly the same number o'f car- 
 penters and artificers, were placed under his com- 
 mand ; arms, beasts of burden, commodities to trade 
 with, were amply supplied ; and he was empowered 
 to draw upon the Treasury to the extent of L. 5000. 
 Every thing, therefore, seemed to augur a still more 
 brilliant issue to his present than to his former jour- 
 ney. But a dark destiny impended over it, and ren- 
 dered abortive all human means and efforts. 
 
 It would be superfluous to enter into a detail of 
 that afiiicting train of events, with which the public 
 are already but too well acquainted. * That Park pe- 
 rished in his voyage down the Niger, may be now 
 considered as fully established ; and we need not 
 swell our pages with the rumours that have been cir- 
 culated respecting an event no longer doubtful. 
 
 Park has been pronounced by some the first of 
 modern travellers, and he does not seem unworthy of 
 that high appellation. The problem of the course of 
 the Niger, which he had the fortune to solve, was 
 one which had involved in error almost all former 
 geographical systems on Africa. D'Anville, indeed, 
 had stated it correctly ; but as he had not commu- 
 nicated the grounds upon which his conclusion rest- 
 ed, the opposite opinion, which represented the Ni» 
 g"er as flowing westward, and joining the ocean by 
 the channel of the Senegal, continued still preva- 
 lent. This point, finally decided, fixed the geogra- 
 phical character of the continent. In Bambarra, 
 also, a name as yet scarcely heard of by Europeans, 
 Park found a kingdom much farther advanced in po- 
 pulousness and civilization than was yet supposed to 
 exist in the heart of Africa. 
 
 Mr Park's literary, though not equal to his active 
 qualifications, were yet respectable. Notwithstanding 
 his knowledge of botany, he cannot be considered as 
 a scientific traveller. We see not in him that varied 
 and splendid science which, in Humboldt, illustrates 
 and adorns, though it sometimes overlays the main 
 subject. But with regard to the general aspect 
 of nature, and the forms of human society, his ob- 
 servations are careful, accurate, and judicious. No- 
 thing can be more lively than the idea which we re- 
 ceive from him of the African forests and deserts, the 
 cities of Bambarra, the stream of the Niger, and the 
 rpgions watered by it. The spirit, joined to the un- 
 pretending simplicity of his narrative, has rendered 
 
 * The Narrative of this journey was published in 1815, in ^to, with a very interesting biographical Memoir 
 and Preface, by Mr Wishaw. It may not be amiss to notice here a singular oversight in Park's Journal, 
 lately observed by M. Walckenaer. A 31st day is counted in April (p. 7) ; and as all the days before and 
 after are accounted for, there can be no doubt that all the following dates are one day behind. This, as 
 Mr Bowdich has shown, is not so trifling an error as it at first sight appears ; for a false declination being 
 thus taken, an error, greater or less, and sometimes not inconsiderable, is committed in the calculation of 
 all the subsequent latitudes. 
 
112 P A R 
 
 l*ark his work one of the most popular of its kind in the 
 pJlw. Enghsh language. 
 V ^ i Mr Park's bodily frame was well fitted for the ar- 
 duous enterprises which he undertook. He was 
 six feet high, his limbs well proportioned, and his 
 whole frame active and robust. His countenance 
 was prepossessing, and his manners retained always 
 their native plainness and simplicity. This was com- 
 bined with a natural coldness and reserve, which 
 rendered his conversation less interesting than was 
 expected by those who considered his general talents 
 and extensive opportunities of observation. His con- 
 duct in all the relations of private life was highly 
 exemplary. He left a widow, three sons, and a 
 daughter. (b.) 
 
 PAUW (Cornelius de, sometimes called Ni- 
 coirAs), a moral philosopher and historian, born at 
 Amsterdam in 1739, is better known as the uncle of 
 the, revolutionist Anacharsis Clootz, than by the an- 
 cestors from whom he was descended : they are, 
 however, reported by his nephew to have distin- 
 guished themselves in the revolutions of Holland in 
 the sixteenth century. 
 
 It appears, upon the same authority, that his name 
 was Cornelius, and not Nicolas, but that he was not 
 related to Cornehus de Pauw, the critic, and the ri- 
 val of Dorville ; and that it was upon the marriage 
 of his sister to Clootz's father, that he obtained, 
 through the interest of his brother in law, a Catholic 
 canonicate at Xanten, in the territory of Cleves. 
 He was afterwards appointed reader to Frederic 
 King of Prussia, perhaps as an advocate of the new 
 doctrines and principles which that sovereign was 
 disposed to patronise ; but he is said to have de- 
 clined the offer of the place of an academician of 
 Berlin, and a bishopric at Breslau. His attacks on 
 the Jesuits, whom he accused of gross misrepresen- 
 tation and exaggeration in their historical and geo- 
 graphical memoirs, made him unpopular with the 
 Catholic clergy, though his learning and talents 
 commanded a certain portion of their respect. He 
 was simple in his manners, and somewhat negligent 
 of his appearance ; the close of his life was imbitter- 
 ed by a tedious and pauiful disease, and he died the 
 7th of July 1799. 
 
 1. His principal publications are his Recherches 
 sur les Americains, 2 v. 8. Berl. 1770; ed. 2, 1772; 
 a work intended to show the " degraded state of the 
 savage Americans," and forming a contrast to the 
 speculations of some contemporary writers of cele- 
 brity. 2. Defense des Recherches, 8. Berl. 177I. 
 
 S. Recherches sur les Egijptiens et les Chmois, 2 v. 
 8. Berl. 1773. Philosophical Dissertations on the 
 ^Egyptians and Chinese, translated by Captain J. 
 Thomson, 2 v. 8. London, 1795. The investi- 
 gation was undertaken, he observes, to show that 
 '* no two nations ever resembled each other less 
 than the Egyptians and the Chinese ;" and it must 
 be admitted that he has sufficiently established his 
 proposition. There is, indeed, one argument that 
 he has employed, which appears to be founded on a 
 mistake of the Greek historians of Egypt, who have 
 asserted that the Egyptians had long been in the 
 use of alphabetical cliaracters ; and the want of any 
 alphabet among the Chinese, is stated by M. de 
 
 P A U 
 
 Pauw as affording a marked distinction from the Pauw. 
 Egyptians. There is, however, scarcely a shadow 
 of resemblance in the particular hieroglyphical cha- 
 racters employed by the two nations, though the 
 general system of beginning with a representation of 
 a visible object, and departing, more and more, by 
 degrees, from the fidelity of the delineation, must 
 necessarily have been common to both. But it so 
 happens, that out of about 70 Egyptian characters, 
 which are compared by the Jesuits and Dr Morton 
 with the Chinese in the Philosophical Transactions 
 for 1769, there are about 20 of which the sense has 
 been ascertained with tolerable accuracy in the Arti- 
 cle Egypt of this Supplement ; and of these there is 
 only one that happens to have been rightly determin- 
 ed by the comparison with the Chinese, excepting 
 two or three which are obviously mere pictures, as 
 the Moon and a Bov/. There is also a figure of a 
 chain, among the old Chinese characters, which 
 agrees remarkably in its form with the Egyptian 
 hieroglyphic employed as a copulative conjunction { 
 and there is a still more striking coincidence, which 
 M. Jomard has noticed, between the Egyptian and 
 Chinese characters for a thousand, both of which h« 
 derives from the seed vessel of the lotus, as contain- 
 ing a multitude of seeds ; and if the older Chines* 
 characters be found to preserve this resemblance as 
 perfectly as they ought to do, it must be confessed 
 that the suspicion of a common origin will be much 
 strengthened by the argument. Both the Egyptians 
 and the Chinese were condemned, M. de Pauw ob- 
 serves, to an eternal mediocrity ;" and the weight 
 of this observation is certainly not diminished by any 
 thing that has lately been inferred from the study of 
 the hieroglyphics of the stone of Rosetta. 
 
 4. There are several papers of M. de Pauw on aa- 
 tiquarian subjects in the Memoirs of the Society of 
 Cassel, and one in particular On the Temple of Juno 
 Lacinia, Vol. L 1780. 
 
 5. Recherches sur les Grecs, 2 v. 8. Bei'l. 1787- 
 Philosophical Dissertations on the Greeks, translated 
 by Thomson, 2 v. 8. Lond. 1793. The work is prin- 
 cipally devoted to the Athenians, among whom theiT 
 boasted liberty is shown to have been confined to a 
 very small number of citizens, who tyrannized over 
 the rest of the inhabitants of their country. The 
 Lacedaemonians, the Aetolians, the Thessalians, and 
 the Arcadians, are separately discussed, but consi- 
 dered as comparatively contemptible ; the Lacedae- 
 monians in particular, and their successors, the Mai- 
 notes, are treated with great severity, as a worthless 
 race of dishonourable vagabonds. The athletic edo 
 cation of the Athenians is, however, highly applauxi- 
 ed, from a visionary theory of the importance of the 
 physical perfection of the body to the operations of 
 the mind. An edition of the author's three princi- 
 pal works appeared at Paris, in seven volumes oc- 
 tavo, 1795. 
 
 QDorsch, Chardon-la-Rochette, and Clootz, Maga^. 
 Encycl. 1799. An. V. Vol. H. Widdigen, Westph. 
 Nalionalk. 1 801 , p. 2 1 5. N. Allg. T. Bihl. LXXIV. 
 p. 77. Denina, Prusse Litteraire, III. N. Di£L 
 Hist. IX. 8. Par. 1804. Chalmers's Biograj^hical 
 Dictionary, XXIII. 8. Lond. 1815.] 
 
 (F.O.) 
 
I 
 
 PEE 
 
 Peebles. PEEBLES-SHIRE, or TWEEDDALE, a county 
 shire. in Scotland, situate between 55° 24' and 55° 50' 
 ^^-■'V'"^ north latitude, and between 2° 45' and 3° 23' west 
 SituaUon. longitude from Greenwich. It is bounded on the 
 north by Mid-Lothian or Edinburghshire; on the 
 east by the county of Selkirk ; on the south by 
 Dumfries-shire ; and on the west by Lanarkshire. 
 Extent and Its greatest extent from north to south is about 30 
 Divisions, miles, and its greatest breadth from east to west 
 about 22; the contents being 229,778 EngHsh acres; 
 of which only about a tenth part is fit for cultivation. 
 It is divided into sixteen parishes, twelve of which 
 form the presbytery of Peebles, and four belong to 
 that of Biggar, all under the synod of Lothian and 
 Tweeddale. 
 
 Surface, &c. The surface of this county is hilly, and towards 
 the south mountainous, several of the high grounds 
 in that quarter, such as Kartfield, Harstane, Broad- 
 law, and DoUarlaw, being from 2800 to nearly 3000 
 feet above the level of the sea. The general elevation 
 of the pasture lands is about 1200 feet ; yet, with 
 few exceptions, the hills are covered with green 
 herbage, heath being almost confined to a few of 
 the highest ridges on the south-east. On the banks 
 of its streams are many pleasant and fertile spots ; 
 but from the want of wood, the general appear- 
 ance is naked and uninteresting, except about 
 the seats of the proprietors, where considerable 
 plantations have been made, extending in all to more 
 than 2000 acres. The soil of the cultivated land, 
 lying chiefly on the sides of the lower hills and the 
 banks of the streams, is, for the most part, a light 
 loam, with clay, moss, and moor, on the high grounds. 
 Coal and limestone abound in the parishes of Linton 
 and Newlands, on the north side of the county, and 
 in the latter, ironstone ; in the same quarter red and 
 white sandstone is wrought for sale, and the parish 
 of Stobo, on the Tweed, has long furnished a good 
 kind of slate, much of which is carried to the adja- 
 
 Tweed. cent counties. The river Tweed, from which this 
 district is often called Tweeddale, rises from a well 
 of the same name, in the parish of Tweedsmuir in 
 the south-western extremity of the county, about 
 1500 feet above the level of the sea, and flowing first 
 north-east and then east, dividing the county into 
 two nearly equal parts, passes into Selkirkshire at 
 Gatehaup-burn, after a winding course of about 36 
 miles. The Annan and the Clyde have their source 
 in the same quarter. Of the other streams, here call- 
 ed waters, the most considerable are Biggar, Lyne, 
 Peebles or Eddlestone, Leithan, Manner, and Quair, 
 which fall into the Tweed ; and the North and South 
 Esks, which pursue their course into Mid-Lothian. 
 The lakes or lochs are St Mary's, Waterloch, and 
 Slipperfield. These, as well as the rivulets, abound 
 in the common fresh-water fish, and most of the 
 streams are occasionally frequented by salmon ; but 
 salmon are not found in such numbers, even in the 
 Tweed within the bounds of this county, as to afford 
 a fishery that will pay rent. 
 Climate. The climate of Peebles-shire, owing to its eleva- 
 tion and want of shelter, is perhaps more rigorous 
 than that of the other southern counties of Scotland. 
 Cold easterly winds prevail in spring, which greatly 
 retard vegetation ; and frosts often occur in summer, 
 
 VOL. VI. PART I. 
 
 PEE lis 
 
 which injure the potatpe and other crops ; while the Peebles- 
 winters are frequently so severe as to destroy tur- shire, 
 nips, and the snow lies so deep and so long as to oc- 
 casion great loss among the flocks. 
 
 Peebles-shire, in 1811, was divided into about 80 Estates, 
 estates, many of them large, but not valuable in pro- 
 portion. The valuation of the whole is L. 51,937, 
 13s. lOd. Scots ; and the real rent, as assessed to the 
 property-tax that year, was, for the lands, L. 57,382 
 Sterling, and for the houses L. 2568. Two- thirds of 
 the estates are valued under L. 500 Scots; a sum 
 which may indicate pretty nearly their present year- 
 ly value in Sterling money, and little less than two- 
 thirds of the whole is entailed. In the same year 
 the number of freeholders entitled to vote in the 
 election of a member for the county was 39, Many Seats, 
 of the proprietors, among whom, there were lately 
 five noblemen, have seats distinguished either for 
 their antiquity or their beauty ; but the Earl of Tra- 
 quair is the only nobleman who now resides in the 
 county. Of the other seats the most considerable 
 are Darnhall, Lord Elibank ; Drummelzier, Hay ; 
 Magbiehill, Montgomery; Neidpath Castle, the heirs 
 of the late Duke of Queensberry ; and Whim, Mont- 
 gomery. 
 
 As this is almost exclusively a pastoral country, Farms, 
 the farms are in general large, most of them from 
 1 000 to 4000 acres. On the arable land they are small, 
 the greater number below J 00 acres. These are in ge- 
 neral held on leases for 19 years, as in other parts of 
 Scotland. Taking the extent and rental as before stat- 
 ed, the average would be nearly 5s. the English 
 acre. This is chiefly derived fromlive stock, especially 
 sheep, of which there may be about 120,000. Most 
 of these are still of the black-faced heath variety, 
 sometimes called Tweeddale sheep, from the name 
 of the county, or Linton sheep, from the name of a 
 village on the north side of the district, where great 
 fairs are held for the sale of them. The Cheviot 
 breed, however, which bears a much more valuable 
 fleece, has established itself on many of the lower 
 hills. The crops are the same as in other parts of 
 Scotland, except that wheat is cultivated only upon 
 a very small scale. A variety of oat, called the red 
 oat, and sometimes the Magbiehill oat, from its being 
 first cultivated here on that estate, is well adapted to 
 high and exposed situations ; both because it ripens 
 earlier than the common kind, and is less liable to be 
 beat out by wind, while on good land it is found to 
 be highly productive. 
 
 Peebles, a royal burgh, containing, in 1811, about Towns and 
 2200 inhabitants, is the only town in the county, ^^^^^^^s- 
 The villages are Linton, Skirling, Eddlestone, 
 Broughton, — at all of which fairs are held, chiefly for 
 the sale of live stock, and for the hiring of servants, 
 — and Innerleithen, where a woollen manufactory has 
 been established. There is no other manufacture 
 within the county, if we except that of stockings, 
 carpets, and flannels, all upon a small scale, car- 
 ried on in the town of Peebles, where there is al- 
 so an extensive brewery. Peebles-shire, therefore, 
 has little to offer in exchange for the commodities 
 which it requires but its raw produce ; chiefly sheep 
 and wool. 
 
 The county sends one member to Parliament, and 
 
 p 
 
114 PEE 
 
 Peebles- the town of Peebles joins with Selkirk, Lanark, and 
 
 shire Linliihgow, in -electing another for the Scottish 
 
 Pembroke- burghs. The following abstract shows the popu- 
 
 shire. 
 
 P E M 
 
 lation in 1801 and 1811 See the general works Peebles- 
 
 quoted under the former Scottish counties, and 
 Findlater's View of the Agriculture (yf Peebles. Pembroke- 
 
 (a.) shire. 
 
 1800. 
 
 
 I PERSONS. 
 
 OCCUPATIONS. 
 
 
 Inhabited. 
 
 By how 
 many 
 Families 
 occu- 
 pied. 
 
 Uninhabited. 
 
 Males. 
 
 Females. 
 
 Persons 
 chiefly em- 
 ployed in 
 Agricul- 
 ture. 
 
 Pa'sons 
 chiefly em- 
 ployed in 
 I'rade, Ma- 
 nufactures, 
 or Handi- 
 craft. 
 
 AH other 
 Persons not 
 comprised 
 in tlie two 
 preceding 
 classes. 
 
 Total of 
 Persons. 
 
 1,682 
 
 1.843 i 64 
 
 1 4,160 
 
 4,575 
 
 2,010 
 
 886 
 
 5,839 
 
 8,735 
 
 1811. 
 
 HOUSES. 
 
 PERSONS. 
 
 OCCUPATIONS. 
 
 
 "s 
 
 By how 
 many 
 Families 
 occu- 
 pied. 
 
 Uninhabited, 
 
 Males. 
 
 Females. 
 
 Families 
 chiefly em- 
 ployed in 
 Agricul- 
 ture. 
 
 Families 
 chiefly em- 
 ployed in 
 I'rade, Ma- 
 nufactures, 
 or Handi- 
 craft. 
 
 All other 
 
 Familiesnoi 
 comprised 
 in the two 
 preceding 
 classes. 
 
 ■ Total of 
 Persons. 
 
 1,740 
 
 1,961 
 
 72 
 
 4,846 
 
 5,089 
 
 875 
 
 610 
 
 476 
 
 9,935^ , 
 
 Extent and PEMBROKESHIRE, a maritime county of South 
 Boundaries. Wales. It forms a peninsula at the south-west cor- 
 ner of the principality, and is surrounded by the sea 
 every where but on the eastern side, where it is 
 bounded by Carmarthenshire, and by Cardiganshire. 
 Its shape is very irregular, which makes it difficult 
 to ascertain its exact extent. Its extreme length 
 is thirty, and its extreme breadth twenty-seven miles. 
 Its area is estimated, but with no decided accuracy, 
 at 575 square miles. 
 
 It is generally an undulating country, composed 
 Countiv! ^ 0^ plains, with hills of no great elevation, except in 
 the northern part, where a range of mountains is 
 stretched out to the extent of nine or ten miles ; the 
 loftiest points of this group are Precelly Top, 1754 
 feei, and Brennin-Vaur, 1285 feet above the level 
 of the sea. Few of the hills in tbe other parts of 
 the county attain a greater height than 290 feet. 
 As the greater part of the country is destitute of 
 woods, it has a bare and bleak appearance, except in 
 the valleys, where the numerous brooks that flow 
 through them impart a pleasing verdure to the bor- 
 dering mqadows. 
 Bays^ The most considerable rivers are the Eastern Cled- 
 
 Rivers, and daus, which forms at first the dividing line between 
 Estuary. this county and Carmarthenshire ; and the Western 
 Cleddaus, which traverses a considerable portion of 
 Pembrokeshire. These two rivers unite, and form 
 the admirable estuary of Milford Haven, which is 
 considered to be the best harbour in the British 
 islands. It is sufficiently capacious to contain the 
 whole navy of England; is so completely sheltered 
 as to be secure from all winds ; has good holding 
 ground, and competent depth of water. These na- 
 tural advantages have induced the Lords of the Ad- 
 
 10 
 
 miralty to establish a dock -yard on its banks, where 
 ships of the line and frigates are built, and where 
 the town of Haberstone has in a few years sprung 
 up, and grown to considerable importance. It is the 
 place whence the packets for the south part of Ire- 
 land sail, and to which, on that account, numerous 
 passengers resort. The other rivers are of incon- 
 siderable note ; namely, the Newgall, the Solva, the 
 Alan, the Gwayn, the Nevern, the Cuch, and the 
 Teivi. Besides Milford Haven, St Bride's Bay and 
 Fishguard Bay deserve notice, as affording secure 
 anchorage for large ships, and possessing good land- 
 ing-places. This circumstance induced the govern- 
 ment of France, in the year 1797, to land some 
 troops from two frigates under General Tote, which 
 in a few days surrendered to the inhabitants, who 
 hastily collected with such arms as presented them- 
 selves. It was generally supposed that the men were 
 criminals of the worst description, whoni the French 
 took this extraordinary method of discharging from 
 their prisons. 
 
 The soil of the county is generally a red loam, 
 in many parts resting on a calcareous subsoil, and 
 admirably adapted for the growth of corn. In some 
 places the surface is covered with porous stones, 
 which are supposed to imbibe and retain the salt 
 from the saline air, and to render the land highly 
 prolific. The principal grain consists of wheat, bar- 
 ley, and oats, but in some parts of the county rye is 
 extensively cultivated. The modes of cultivation are 
 commonly the same as prevailed in remote ages in this 
 island ; that is, growing wheat, barley, and oats in 
 succession, till the land was so exhausted as to yield 
 no increase, when it was sufiTered to return to its na- 
 tural state, under the idea of recovering itself by rest. 
 
Pembroke* 
 shire. 
 
 Csttle. 
 
 Minerals. 
 
 Manufac 
 tures and 
 Commerce. 
 
 Language. 
 
 P E M 
 
 Very little attention is given to the preservation of 
 manure ; the barns and farming erections are very 
 badly constructed, and the agricultural implements, 
 especially the ploughs, are of a rude and antique 
 form. Such is the description of the greatfer part of 
 the agricultural state of the country, but there are 
 splendid exceptions, affording specimens of im- 
 provement that would have been more extensively 
 followed, but for the general depression of agricul- 
 ture, which has been experienced within the last few 
 years. The size of the farms varies from fifty to five 
 hundred acres ; the average extent of them is esti- 
 mated to be about two hundred : some of the occu- 
 piers are annual tenants, but many hold from the 
 lords of manors by leases for three lives at an agreed 
 rent, but without any fine on the renewal of a life, as 
 is customary in England, and on the lands in Pem- 
 brokeshire belonging to the church. 
 
 The black cattle of this county are of an excellent 
 race, and are annually distributed over the south of 
 England in droves, which travel from fair to fair, till 
 the whole are sold. They are commonly sent to 
 market when they are in calf the first time. Some 
 valuable horses are bred here. The sheep are small, 
 and yield little wool, but the mutton is very highly 
 esteemed^ 
 
 At no very remote period, silver was found in the 
 parish of St Elwys, or St Bride's Bay. The mine, 
 which was discontinued in the reign of Queen Eli- 
 zabeth, was resumed a few years ago, but not with 
 such success as to induce perseverance. Some 
 excellent lead ore is found on the banks of the Tave, 
 but the mines are not worked with any degree of 
 spirit. The most important production of the mines 
 is coal. It is confined to a district of narrow extent 
 on the southern side of the county. The veins lie 
 near the surface, and the quality is not very good. 
 The inhabitants use the small coal mixed with clay, 
 and formed into balls; it is sulphureous, and highly 
 offensive to strangers. 
 
 The manufactures of this county are very incon- 
 siderable. Some speculators, indeed, were induced, 
 by the excellent streams of water, to erect mills for 
 spinning cotton, and for making tin plates; but these 
 schemes, though conducted with much spirit, were 
 found to be unprofitable, and finally abandoned. The 
 principal commerce of the county is a coasting trade, 
 and the conveyance of coals from Tenby to the op- 
 pt)site shores of Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall, 
 where they are principally used for burning lime, 
 and dryinf:^ malt. Under the auspices of the late 
 Honourable Charles Greville, and with the sanction 
 of a special act of Parliament, some American fish- 
 ermen formed an establishment at Milford for the 
 purpose of carrying on the southern whale fishery, 
 upon the plan of the crew being sharers with the 
 owners in the result of the fishing, as is practised 
 in the United States. The concern was conduct- 
 ed with success for several years, but has been recent- 
 ly abandoned from various circumstances, none of 
 them connected with the local position, which was as- 
 certained to be favourable. 
 
 I^^he inhabitants are of two distinct race's. If a 
 line be drawn through the whole county, cutting 
 
 P E M 
 
 115^ 
 
 through the centre of the town of Haverfordwest, Pembroke- 
 it will be found that on one side of the line nothing 
 but English is spoken, and on the other side only 
 Welsh. This is so definite, that in the town of Ha- 
 verfordwest, the one language is spoken in the upper 
 and the other in the lower part of it ; and there are 
 two markets, one frequented by the English, the 
 other by the Welsh peasantry. The part where the 
 English live, called commonly " Little England, be- 
 yond Wales," was originally peopled by a colony of 
 Flemings, who have kept themselves distinct since 
 the first colonization. They are allowed to speak 
 the English language with more purity than is to be 
 found among the lower classes in any other part of 
 the island. 
 
 Two members are returned to Parliament from Divisions 
 Pembrokeshire ; one for the county, and one for the^"*^ Repre- 
 boroughs of Pembroke, Tenby, and Wiston. The ^entatives. 
 divisions are into seven hundreds, which contain one 
 cathedral, one hundred and forty- five parishes, and 
 several chapelries. 
 
 St David's, the see of a bishop, is a miserable St David's, 
 collection of cottages, in the midst of traces of an- 
 cient, extensive, and numerous buildings. The ob- 
 ject deserving of most notice is the cathedral, 
 whose antiquity is very great, having been originally 
 built about the year 1180, and enlarged in 1280 and 
 1328. This venerable pile has been much repaired 
 and improved by the prelate who at present fills the 
 see. The bishop's palace is a magnificent pile, not 
 far from the cathedral, on the opposite side of the 
 river Alan. It was originally a quadrangular build- 
 ing of great extent, of which at present only one side 
 remains entire. 
 
 Among the ancient buildings in this county, the Antiquities, 
 most remarkable are, Carew Castle on a creek of 
 Milford Haven; Manorbeer, the mansion of the 
 Barri family, of which Giraldus Cambrensis was a 
 member ; and Killgarran, oti the river Tyvy, whose 
 massy towers and fragments of bastions present a 
 most imposing spectacle. 
 
 The pieturesque beauties of this county, and the Seats, 
 mildness of the air, have induced many gentlemen 
 to select it as the place of their residence, and the 
 number of their seats is considerable ; among them 
 are Picton Castle, Lord Milford ; Hen Gastell, 
 Thomas Stokes, Esq. ; Slebeck Hall, N. Phillips, 
 Esq. ; Orielton, Sir John Owen, Bart. ; Johnston, 
 Lord Kensington ; Trecoon, J. F. Barham, Esq. ; 
 Fynonean, John Colby, Esq. ; Stockpool Court, 
 Lord Cawdor ; Begelty Hall, James Child, Esq, ; 
 Lawrenny, Hugh Barlow, Esq. ; Tal y Bort, John 
 Meares, Esq. ; Payston, (the late) General Picton ; 
 Plas Newydd, Sir Watkin Lewis ; and Pentree, Dr 
 Davies. 
 
 The population of the county, by the census ofPopulation. 
 1811, was 60,615 persons, viz. 27,453 males, and 
 33,162 females 5 the militia are not included. The 
 principal towns are Haverfordwest, with 3093 in- 
 habitants ; Pembroke, 2415; St David's, 18l6; 
 Tenby, II76; Fishguard, I6O8; Newport, 1487, 
 and Hubberston, 754. 
 
 See Malkin's South Wales, and Fenton's Pembroke^ 
 shire, (w. w.) 
 
116 
 
 PENDULUM. 
 
 Pendulum. W HEN a solid and heavy body of any form and de- 
 ■- J- ^ i_ ^ scription is suspended from an axis fixed horizontal- 
 ly, and round which it can turn with freedom, or 
 at least with a very slight degree of friction ; if we 
 withdraw it, however little, from the position of 
 equilibrivun at which it naturally places itself when 
 at rest, and then abandon it to itself, the force of 
 gravity, which is now no more destroyed by the re- 
 sistance of the axis of suspension, brings back the body 
 towards its primitive position of equilibrium with a ve- 
 locity continually accelerated. When it reaches this 
 position, the accelerating force ceases for a moment 
 to act on it, but the body continuing to move in con- 
 sequence of the velocity already acquired, rises on the 
 other side of the vertical line, and continues rising un- 
 til the constantly increasing force of gravity destroys 
 its velocity — then it stops for an instant, and again 
 yielding to the continued action of gravity, to which 
 there is now no more any opposition, it again falls with 
 a motion exactly similar to that which it had when 
 it began to descend from the opposite side of the ver- 
 tical. It returns then, in the same manner, to its 
 primitive position of equilibrium, passes it, and re- 
 ascends on the opposite side of the vertical to the 
 point where its velocity is destroyed anew ; after 
 which it again begins to descend, and again to re- 
 mount; and the oscillatory motion which results 
 from these alternations only ceases in consequence of 
 the resistance of the air and the friction of the axis, 
 which gradually reduce it to nothing. 
 
 An apparatus of this kind is termed a pendulum. 
 The oscillations of pendulums can be calculated 
 completely, and with perfect rigour, by the princi- 
 ples of mechanics, when they are supposed to take 
 place in a vacuum, and round an axis, which presents 
 no friction. The results in regard to this imaginary 
 case are so much the more important to be known, 
 as in the real experiments we always endea- 
 vour to approach it as near as possible, by com- 
 bining to the utmost every circumstance which can 
 tend to prolong the duration of the pendulum's mo- 
 tion. These are the results, then, which it is proper 
 to present first in order, as they exhibit a first ap- 
 proximation to every motion of this kind, which can 
 be realized. 
 
 In this simple case, whatever be the form of 
 the body v/hich constitutes the pendulum, provid- 
 ed that it remains invariably constant, all the suc- 
 cessive oscillations have equal amplitudes, and are 
 also of equal duration among themselves, so that the 
 motion, once begun, never ceases to go on. In the 
 case of oscillations with different amplitudes, the 
 duration is in general unequal, but this inequality 
 diminishes in proportion as the amplitudes become 
 less, and it ceases altogether at the limit where 
 they become infinitely small ; so that all the oscilla- 
 tions made with amplitudes, which, in a physical 
 sense, may be reckoned infinitely small, are sensibly 
 of equal duration. 
 
 In regard to the nature of the motion in each os- Pendulum, 
 dilation, it is absolutely the same for every body, V— — y . J 
 whatever be its form, and we may always con- 
 sider it as identical with that of a pendulum formed 
 by a material gravitating point suspended at the ex- 
 tremity of a thread, supposed to be inflexible and with- 
 out weight. Let I (Plate CIX. fig-l) denote the ideal 
 length of such a pendulum, which is called a simple 
 pendulum. Let m be the mass of an oscillating body 
 with which we wish to compare it, and which we 
 shall call, in opposition to the other, a compound 
 pendulum. From the centre of gravity of this body, 
 denoted by G, conceive a perpendicular SG drawn 
 to the axis of suspension, and call h the length 
 of this line. If we multiply each element of the 
 mass m by the square of its distance from the 
 same axis, and denote the sum of the whole by C, 
 the product C thus formed will be what is call- 
 ed in mechanics the momentum of inertia of the 
 body m relatively to the axis in question. In 
 order that the motion of the simple pendulum SP 
 be exactly isochronous with that of the body m, it is 
 
 sufficient that we have the equation — and be- 
 
 mli 
 
 sides this, that the lines SP and SG have at any one 
 instant an angular velocity equal at the same dis- 
 tance from the vertical. This last condition will be 
 fulfilled if, for example, at the beginning of the mo- 
 tion the lines, SP, SG, are equally distant from the ver- 
 tical, and that the simple and compound pendulum be 
 then abandoned together to the action of gravity, or 
 be driven with equal velocities in the plane of their 
 oscillations. The simple pendulum will then ac- 
 company the compound one in all its successive ex- 
 cursions, and its direction will always coincide with 
 the line SG drawn from the centre of gravity of the 
 body m, perpendicular to the axis of suspension. 
 The length I being ascertained by this formula, we 
 can lay it off on the line SG, setting out from the 
 axis of suspension S, and the point P, where it ter- 
 minates, is called the centre of oscillation of the bo- 
 dy m. 
 
 The initial conditions above stated can be always 
 established, and the analytical value of I is also al- 
 ways real. For every given compound pendulum, 
 then, we can always assign a simple pendulum, 
 which is isochronous with it, and of which the mo- 
 tion is absolutely similar to that of the line SG. By 
 means of this substitution, we have nothing more to 
 consider or to compare, but the different lengths of 
 the simple pendulums, and it then only remains to 
 ascertain the mode in which such pendulums perform 
 their oscillations. 
 
 To do this in the simplest manner possible, let us con- 
 ceive that the arc ZP (Plate CIX. fig .2) is half the ex- 
 tent of the oscillations round the vertical SZ, and sup- 
 pose that the pendulum arrived or placed in this po- 
 sition is there abandoned to the sole action of gravi- 
 ty without any initial velocity of impulsion. Call a 
 
PENDULUM. 
 
 117 
 
 Pendulum, the angle PSZ, and denote by g the intensity of gra- 
 vity measured by the double of the space which heavy 
 bodies describe at the place where the experiment 
 is made, when they fall freely in a right line during 
 the unity of time. Then denoting always by I the 
 length of a simple pendulum SP or SZ : the time T 
 of its whole oscillation in the arc PZP' or PP' will 
 be expressed by the following series : 
 
 (1.) T=^yi|i+(^) 
 
 \2A.6j 
 
 sin^ |ct-j- 
 
 &c. 
 
 sin'^ ia-f 
 
 T being the ratio of the circumference of the circle 
 to its diameter, or 3.14159. 
 
 If, besides, we denote the velocity of the pendu- 
 lum in any point of its oscillation by V, d being its 
 angular distance from the vertical, we have 
 
 (2.) y^=2gl (cos ^— cos a) 
 or, what comes to the same thing, 
 
 V^=4^gl sin l(a+d) sin ^(a— 
 
 These formulae will still serve if the pendulum, 
 instead of falling freely from the extremity of the 
 arc, receives there an initial velocity expressed by V', 
 provided always this velocity is within the limits 
 which permit the oscillatory motion to take place. 
 If this be the case, indeed, it will be sufficient to 
 consider the pendulum as setting out with an initial 
 impulse from another angular distance, a'. Then it 
 wiU be necessary that this unknown distance a' sa- 
 tisfy instead of a, the general equation of the velo- 
 cities, and that a becomes in it 6, which gives 
 
 (3.) V'^ =2gi "I cos a — cos a' |- 
 
 The half amplitude a' of the oscillations being the 
 only unknown quantity in this equation, will be 
 thus determined, and their duration will be then ob- 
 tained by the equation (1), but putting in it a in- 
 stead of a. This same substitution made in the 
 equation (2) will give 
 
 y^=2gl (cos ^— cos a') 
 for the velocity in any point whatever of the os- 
 cillation. But these transformations are only pos- 
 sible when the equation (3) gives for a' a real arc, 
 and consequently for cos a' a value comprehend- 
 ed between and — 1. We may easily conceive, 
 that, when the cos a' exceeds these limits, it is 
 because the velocity of impulse V' exceeds the 
 greatest velocity of the fall which the pendulum 
 can acquire in a circle of a radius I, even supposing 
 it to fall from the very summit. It is evident, in- 
 deed, that the oscillatory motion can then no more 
 produce such a velocity, and we know also that, in 
 that case, it will change into a continued motion of 
 rotation. If we exclude this circumstance, the for- 
 mulae (1) and (2) will determine generally every 
 particular regarding oscillatory motions. When the 
 amplitudes of the oscillations become so small that 
 we can, in the series ( 1 ), neglect all the powers of 
 sin 21 a, compared with the unity which precedes 
 
 them, we will have simply T-=.v 
 
 Now, the angle a entering no more into the value Pendulum, 
 of T, it appears that its value will have no influ- ' 
 ence on it ; that is to say, that for the same pendu- 
 lum moved in a vacuum, all the oscillations which are 
 performed xvith amplitudes infinitely small, are of 
 equal duration. 
 
 In actual experiment, the oscillations can never be 
 altogether infinitely small, but we may take care, at 
 least, to confine them within amplitudes so limited, 
 that the angle a has a very small value. We have 
 then an approximation perfectly sufficient in limit- 
 ing the series to the term which contains the square 
 of the sin \a. We may then, in the same order of 
 approximation, substitute ^sin^a for sin^^a; and 
 the series (1) being thus limited to its two first 
 terms, gives 
 
 ^^'"'^'gi^^YQ'''''"' } 
 a being always the half amplitude of the oscillation. 
 
 We have seen above, that, by supposing the simple 
 pendulum I isochronous with the compound pendu- 
 lum of the mass m, we have 
 
 1=—, 
 mil 
 
 c being the momentum of inertia of the mass m, re- 
 latively to the axis of suspension. But if we call c' 
 the momentum of the same mass, relatively to an 
 axis parallel to the preceding, and passing through 
 the centre of gravity G, we find, by mechanics, 
 that the quantities c, c' have between them the fol- 
 lowing relation : 
 
 c=:mh^-{-c. 
 
 This value of c being substituted in the expres- 
 sion of I, gives evidently 
 
 c^ 
 mk' 
 
 Now, when h is given, this expression only fur- 
 nishes one value of I ; that is to say, a single length 
 for a simple pendulum isochronous with the mass 
 m. But if I be given, then there are two values 
 of h, which give the same value to I ; and these 
 are deducible from the preceding equation, by tak- 
 ing h in it as the unknown quantity. If we de- 
 note these two values of h by h' and h", it is easy to 
 see that their sum is I, and that thus the first being 
 SG (fig. 1), the second will be PG. If, then, af- 
 ter having placed the axis of suspension in S, we 
 place it in P, that is, in the centre of oscillation it- 
 self, preserving it always parallel to its first direc- 
 tion, the oscillations performed round the axis P will 
 be of the same duration as those performed round 
 the axis S, provided always that in both cases the 
 amplitudes of the oscillation, as well as the initial 
 velocities, are equal. This remarkable theorem we 
 owe to Huygens. 
 
 It is easy to extend it to one much more ge- 
 neral. In all solid bodies, whatever be their figure, 
 we may draw through the centre of gravity three 
 rectangular axes, termed in mechanics principal 
 axes, and which possess several properties extreme- 
 ly remarkable. Let the momentum of inertia of 
 the mass m relatively to these axes be denoted by 
 A, B, C. Then, if we consider any axis of suspen- 
 
PENDULUM. 
 
 118 
 
 Pendulum, sion of which the distance from the centre of gravi- 
 ^ ty is expressed as above by h, and which forms 
 
 with the preceding certain angles, X, Y, Z, — it is 
 shown, in mechanics, that the momentum of inertia 
 c", relatively to this axis, can be expressed in the 
 following manner : 
 
 c"= mh^ +A cos2 X + B cos2 Y + C cos^ Z ; 
 «tnd this value being substituted in I, instead of the 
 letter c, gives 
 
 l-j^ A cos ^ X + B cos ^ Y+ C cos^Z 
 mh 
 
 If, now, the axis of suspension be given along 
 with the distance h, this expression gives but a single 
 value for I ; but if we regard I as given, and con- 
 stant, then there arises between the angles X, Y, Z, 
 and the distance h, si simple relation, which we can 
 satisfy in an infinity of different ways, so that there 
 result as many different axes of suspension, which 
 are all isochronous with each other. To be sensible 
 of the extensive application of such solutions, let us 
 transform the preceding relation into one with rec- 
 tilineal co-ordinates. Let x, «/, and z, be such co- 
 ordinates directed rectangularly, according to the 
 three principal axes of the mass m, and having their 
 common origin at the centre of gravity of this mass, 
 the axis of suspension relatively to these co-ordinates 
 will have its equations of the form 
 
 (4.,) x=az+a y—bz-\-fi, 
 a, b, a, /S, being four constant indeterminate quan- 
 tities, depending on their position in space. We 
 have, besides, by the well-known theorems of ana- 
 lytical geometry, 
 
 cosX=: - . — — cosY— 
 
 1 
 
 cofiZ=— ==^=====^, and, lastly, h— 
 
 By substituting these values in the general ex- 
 pression of /, it becomes 
 
 __J^Wi An^ + Bb'+C 
 
 By supposing I constant, this relation, combined 
 with the equation (4), will characterise the isochron- 
 ous axes : but as this combination only furnishes 
 three equations, while there are four constant mde- 
 terminate quantities a, b, a, 8, in the position of the 
 axis, it hence appears that we may still assume at 
 Treasure an additional condition among the quantities 
 tliemselves, after which, by eliminating them, we shall 
 have in x y z, the equation of a surface on which will 
 be found 'the isochronous axes fitted to satisfy the 
 condition prescribed. 
 
 Having thus made known the laws of oscillatory 
 jnotion, in a vacuum and round an axis altogether 
 free from friction, let us now consider them m a 
 "feebly resisting medium like air, and supposing a 
 slight degree of friction round the axis, such as is 
 invariably the case in the experiments. 
 
 In the first place, whatever be the nature ol the 
 physical process by which the two causes operate, 
 Sieir definite effect will always be to retard the pen- 
 dulum, according to a certain function of the velo- 
 city. But whatever be the form of this function, 
 
 provided it be such as to become nothing when Pendulum, 
 the velocity is nothing, which is an essential condi- ~ ^ 
 tion of the kind of obstacles it is designed to ex- 
 press, we may always assign a simple pendulum 
 which, moving with the same laws of friction and re- 
 sistance, will be exactly isochronous with the coni- 
 pound pendulum we are considering; and wliat is 
 very remarkable, the length of this simple pendu- 
 lum is exactly the same as it would be if the oscilla- 
 tions were performed in a vacuum, and consequent- 
 ly the same as that of which we have given the ex- 
 pression above. Thus the centre of oscillation of 
 solid bodies such as we have defined it, has in each 
 of them a situation independent of the medium in 
 which they move, and of the resistances of every 
 kind which their motions may suffer. This ini|)ort- 
 ant proposition was first demonstrated by Clair- 
 ault. 
 
 Now, for the simple pendulum, as well as for 
 the compound one which accompanies it, the re- 
 sistance of the air and the friction of the axis dimi- 
 nish continually the extent of the arcs in which the 
 successive oscillations are performed ; but it happens, 
 from a circumstance well worthy of remark, that 
 when this retarding force is very slight, and acts 
 with continued and equal effect on both sides of the 
 vertical, the duration of the oscillations are not al- 
 tered on this account. For, although the resistance 
 which the pendulum suffers must retard, no doubt, 
 its full, and consequently prolong its duration in 
 each half-oscillation in descending ; yet in each 
 half-oscillation, in ascending, this same cause acce- 
 lerates the extinction of the velocity, and rather 
 brings on the instant when this half-oscillation is 
 terminated. And whatever be the mathematical law 
 of the motion thus performed, if the amplitudes of 
 the successive oscillations diminish very slowly, 
 which always takes place when the body put into 
 oscillation has a very considerable density relative 
 to that of the air, and if we make it perform vi- 
 ^)rations only of very small extent, and round an 
 axis of suspension so worked as to present but a 
 slight degree of friction, then the motion of the pen- 
 dulum presents a succession of velocities alniost 
 exactly similar in each descending half-oscillationj 
 and in the ascending half which follows it. The 
 alterations produced in these velocities by the fric- 
 tion and the resistance of the air, are then almost 
 equal, so that their effects are almost exactly com- 
 pensated in the actual observations. Hence it fol- 
 lows that the isochronism of small oscillations, 
 though altered in each particular half-oscillation, 
 is still found to subsist in the total oscillations, 
 notwithstanding of the friction of the axis, and the 
 resistance of the air, provided always that these two 
 forces are rendered so feeble as to have but a very 
 gradual influence on the motion. This is at least 
 proved by experiment ; for, when a compound pen- 
 dulum of any form whatever oscillates in the air 
 round a suspension, so free that the decrease of its 
 vibrations goes on with great slowness, if we ob- 
 serve the amplitudes of these vibrations at intervals 
 so near each other, that their absolute diminution is 
 inconsiderable, and apply to the number of oscilla- 
 tions performed during this interval, the reduction 
 
PENDULUM. 
 
 119 
 
 of amplitude calculated according to the mean value 
 of the arcs thus observed ; the number of oscillations 
 corr-ected and reduced in this manner to the case of 
 amplitudes infinitely small, is also found invariably 
 the same for the same pendulum, at least with all 
 the degree of exactness admitted by physical ex- 
 periments ; which shows that the correction of 
 tlie amplitude is the only one which the oscilla- 
 tions require in order to reduce the motion of the 
 pendulum to a uniformity quite mathematical. 
 This spontaneous compensation, which is produced 
 in the effects of the resistance of the air on the 
 two d-escending and ascending half-oscillations, had 
 first been remarked and pointed out by Newton 
 in his Principia, Lib. II. Prop. XXVII. Theor. 
 XXII. Coroll. 2. He even gives a rigorous de- 
 monstration of it in Prop. XXVI. and XXVII. 
 for the case of a resistance proportional to the two 
 first powers of the velocity — the motion being then 
 in the cycloid. M. Poisson has given the analo- 
 gous demonstration for a circular motion in the se- 
 venth volume of the Journal de VEcole Polytech- 
 nique. These demonstrations, however, only apply 
 to that part of the resistance which arises from the 
 direct impulse with which the moving body strikes 
 the aerial particles, supposing these particles quite 
 removed after the stroke, and consequently with- 
 out regard to the peculiar agitation which their dis- 
 placement produces in the medium itself. But, as 
 Newton remarks in the corollary above cited, the 
 descending half-oscillation, which is performed with 
 a motion continually accelerated, must, on this ac- 
 count, excite a resistance in a slight degree strong- 
 er than the half-oscillation ascending, which goes 
 on with a motion continually retarded ; because, in 
 tliis second case, the aerial particles struck by the 
 pendulum may fly from it, and withdraw themselves 
 from its action more easily than in the former. This 
 diminution of the resistance in the second half of 
 the oscillation must cause it to last a little longer 
 than it would have done without this circumstance, 
 and thus the time of the whole oscillation must be a 
 little augmented. Fortunately this cause, it ap- 
 pears, becomes insensible in the most important ex- 
 periments to which the pendulum is applied ; for, in 
 these the observations are never made but with very 
 small amplitudes, which produce very small veloci- 
 ties, and these cannot excite any sensible resistance 
 except by the direct impulse communicated to the 
 ambient medium. 
 
 But, independent of its resistance, the air, by its 
 mere presence, floating round the oscillating body, 
 produces on the motion another effect, which may 
 be called statical, and which must be attended to, in 
 order to compare the observations made in different 
 states of this fluid. Asa gravitating medium, in fact, 
 it deprives the oscillating body of a part of its 
 weight equal to that of the volume of air which the 
 body displaces, so that the latter, in reality, only 
 gravitates in consequence of the difference between 
 these two quantities. To calculate the resulting 
 effect on the oscillations, call P the absolute weight 
 of the body in vacuo, A its density, compared with 
 that of the air in the circumstances under which 
 we are operating. The weights of bodies of equal 
 
 volume being proportional to their densities, the Pendulum, 
 weight of the air displaced by the body will be ^'-^"V^^ 
 
 P. thus the apparent weight of this same body, 
 
 P 
 
 during its oscillations, will be P — — , so that it 
 
 will be to its absolute weight as 1 — ^' "^^^ 
 
 effect, then, will be the same as if the absolute weight 
 P were acted on, not by the actual gravity itself, but 
 by a force diminished in this ratio. We have only, 
 therefore, to reduce the elements of this correction to 
 terms that we can compare together. For this pur- 
 pose, suppose that at the temperature of freezing, 
 and under an atmospheric pressure measured by a 
 column of mercury of O.76 metres in height, D repre- 
 sents the density of the substance of the pendulum, 
 that of the air being taken as unity. If we denote 
 the cubic dilatation of thi-s substance for a change of 
 temperature equal to a centesimal degree, by c, its den- 
 sity at t degrees will become very nearly D (l-fc^), 
 and if p is the atmospheric pressure at this tempera- 
 ture, the corresponding density of the air, according 
 to the known law of the dilatation of this fluid, will be 
 
 P 
 
 o'".76^1-i-f.O.O0375j 
 
 Then denoting the absolute intensity of gravity, 
 as it is exerted on the body in vacuo by g, and the 
 apparent force with which it really moves the body 
 in the air by g', we shall have 
 
 (_ 0 .76(1-|-^.0.00375)(1— cOD) 
 
 To illustrate the use of this correction, let V re- 
 present the length of a simple pendulum, which per- 
 forms its oscillations in the time T', under the influ- 
 ence of the apparent gravity g', and, with the ampli- 
 tude 2 a', we shall have, 
 
 T'=^yiJ- {l + ilY sin2 &c.^ 
 
 In the same manner, if we call / the length of a 
 simple pendulum, which makes its oscillations in the 
 time T, under the influence of gravity g, and, with 
 the amplitude 2ct, we shall have, 
 
 T=^yi^lH-(i)2sin2«+ &c.} 
 
 If now we wish the two pendulums to oscillate 
 with equal amplitudes, we have only to make a—a'; 
 if we wish, also, to have their times of oscillation, 
 equal, we have only further to suppose T'— T, then 
 the two preceding expressions being equal to each 
 
 II' g 
 other, we obtain and l—l'.-, from which we 
 
 g g g 
 
 can calculate when we know from observation I* 
 and 
 
 g 
 
120 
 
 PENDULUM. 
 
 Pendulum. As the density of the solid mass of the pendulum 
 is usually very great, compared with that of the air, 
 D is a very considerable number, so that this correc- 
 tion is always very small. Bouguer appears to have 
 been the first philosopher who made use of it, as ap- 
 pears by his work on the figvire of the earth. But 
 before him Newton was well aware of the necessity 
 of paying attention to it, as we may conclude even 
 from the enunciation which he gives to the proposi- 
 tions regarding the resistance of the air above allud- 
 ed to. For he there compares the motion of the 
 pendulum, affected by this resistance, to that which 
 would take place in a medium of the same specific 
 gravity, and tvhich would present no resistance. 
 
 Having thus explained in general the mathemati- 
 cal laws of the motion of the pendulum, whether in 
 the air or in vacuo, we shall now describe the prin- 
 cipal applications which have been made of them in 
 physical science. These are, 1st, The measurement 
 of time. 2d, The estimating of the resistance of 
 fluid media. 3d, The comparison of the intensities 
 of gravity on different parts of the surface of the ter- 
 restrial spheroid, from which certain positive conclu- 
 sions have been drawn regarding the figure of a 
 spheroid, as well as the arrangement, and the densi- 
 ty of the strata of which it is formed. 
 
 The first idea of employing the pendulum as a 
 measure of time is due to Galileo ; and it occurred 
 to him when he was observing the apparent isochro- 
 nism of the small oscillations of suspended bodies. 
 But the variation in the length of these oscillations, 
 in proportion as the resistance of the air diminishes 
 their amplitude ; the necessity of frequently renew- 
 ing, by a new impulse, the motion which this resist- 
 ance was destroying ; and, lastly, the tedious necessi- 
 ty of following, and counting directly the oscillations 
 one by one, during the whole interval that is to be 
 measured, these proved serious obstacles to a practi- 
 cal and certain use of the instrument. Huygens 
 had the merit of surmounting all these difficul- 
 ties, by employing the pendulum in clocks to re- 
 gulate the motions of a system of wheels, acted 
 on by a constant power which tends continual- 
 ly to make them revolve; the pendulum deter- 
 mining the rate of their gradual rotation, by act- 
 ing on them at equidistant intervals. The pen- 
 dulum carries at its upper extremity a piece in 
 the form of an anchor, which is termed the escape- 
 ment, and of which the two ends, carried successive- 
 ly from right to left, and from left to right, by the 
 oscillatory motion, are alternately engaged and dis- 
 engaged with the teeth of a principal wheel, whose 
 rotation they thus serve to check, and which, in its 
 turn, serves as a similar alternate check to the other 
 wheels. These now turn more or less slowly, ac- 
 cording to the relation of the number of their teeth 
 to that of the principal wheel. By applying, then, 
 to their axes one or more indices, which turn on a 
 dial-plate divided on the outside, we obtain by their 
 indications so many unities of different kinds, the 
 amount of which shows the number of oscillations 
 that have been made. These unities of time are 
 7iours, minutes^ and seconds. Great care is taken in 
 the construction, as well as in the application of the 
 wheels, so that their motion may be as easy as possi- 
 11 
 
 ble, and that they may always obey, with equal faci- Pendulum, 
 lity , to the intermitting impressions of the pendulum. ^ 
 The body of the pendulum itself is constructed with 
 particular precautions. It is formed of a rod, or 
 system of rods of metal, terminated below by a mass 
 also of metal, and very heavy ; generally of a lenti- 
 cular form, which, as the edge lies in the direction 
 of the plane of oscillation, possesses the advantage 
 of diminishing the effect of the air's resistance. Be- 
 sides this, as the dilations and contractions of the 
 metal, by the changes of temperature, would length- 
 en or contract the pendulum, and thus cause it to 
 alter the duration of its oscillations, the stalk of the 
 pendulum is composed of a number of slips of differ- 
 ent metals, which are so combined, that the centre 
 of oscillation of these slips, and of the lenticular 
 weight, remains constantly at the same height. 
 
 Such is, in general, the mode of applying the pen- 
 dulum to clocks, which we owe to Huygens, and 
 which, by the exactness it has introduced in the mea- 
 surement of time, is one of the finest and most valu- 
 able presents which the sciences have ever received 
 from the hands of genius. 
 
 The second application of the pendulum, namely, 
 its use in determining the resistance of fluid media, 
 we owe to Newton, who has explained it with much 
 detail in the sixth section of the first book of the 
 Principia. The intensity, and the law of the resist- 
 ance, is estimated from the progressive diminution 
 of the amplitudes, determined by observation. We 
 may see in that part of the work above referred to, 
 the profound nature of the theory on which this de- 
 duction is founded, as well as the experiments them- 
 selves to which Newton applies it. The pendulums 
 which Newton made use of were, in general, spheres 
 of wood, or of metal suspended by threads. Besides 
 the law, also, of resistances, several important points 
 in physics depend on this sort of observation. New- 
 ton, for example, made use of it to establish the fact, 
 that the action of terrestrial gravity upon all bodies 
 is proportional to their mass ; and also to inquire if 
 these bodies, when in motion, suffer any sensible re- 
 sistance by the presence within them of subtle me- 
 dia, which have been supposed to spread throughout 
 the whole universe. 
 
 Lastly, it now remains to consider the use of the 
 pendulum in measuring the intensity of gravity oh 
 different parts of the terrestrial spheroid ; and we have 
 kept this application for the last, on account of the de- 
 licate nature of the experiments which it requires, 
 and which are now really performed. It would be of 
 no use to enumerate here all the methods which have 
 been successively employed, and successively aban- 
 doned, as experiments of greater exactness came to 
 be required. Even the results of these first at- 
 tempts, though they may have been at the time very 
 useful, cannot now be any more employed ; so much 
 do the limits of the errors which they admitted of 
 exceed those which are allowed by our actual pro- 
 cesses. These can be reduced to three principal 
 methods ; two of them give the absolute measure of 
 the pendulum ; the one is due to Borda, the other 
 to Captain H. Kater ; the third gives merely the 
 relations of the lengths of pendulums in different 
 places, and deduces these, by comparing the number 
 
P E N D 
 
 •cndHluTin. of oscillations performed in the same interval of 
 --■^.^-W time by tlie same compound pendulum, supposed to 
 be of an invai-iabie form, and which is carried suc- 
 cessively to the different places of observation. 
 
 I — Borda's Method. 
 
 The method ireed by Borda Was originally describ- 
 ed in a memoir, inserted in the third volume of the 
 work which Delambre has published, under the name 
 of Base du Systeme Metrique Decimal. The same 
 memoir includes a detailed account of a very great 
 number of experiments performed in this manner by 
 Messrs Borda and Cassini, to determine the length 
 of the seconds' pendulum at the Observatory at Pa- 
 ris. The method of Borda has been since simpli- 
 fied by the French astronomers, so that, wfithout 
 losing any of its original exactness, it has been ren- 
 dered more easy of execution in travelling, and 
 in places where the observer can only reckon upon 
 the resources he carries with him. Under this new 
 form, this method has been employed on a great 
 number of points of the terrestrial arc, comprehend- 
 ed between the Pithiuse Islands and the Shetland 
 Islands. The description of these modifications, and 
 of the results thus obtained, will be found in a 
 volume which forms a sequel to that of Delambre, 
 and which has been published by Biot and Arago. 
 It is from thence that we shall take our general ac- 
 count of this method, the description of which will 
 serve also for the explanation of the others ; these 
 having many points in common with it. 
 
 The fundamental principle of this method consists 
 in employing for a pendulum, a system bf bodies 
 which approaches the nearest possible in its proper- 
 ties to the simple pendulum, and which we can re- 
 duce to this ideal case by corrections equally simple 
 to calculate, and exact in their application. The pen- 
 dulum is formed by a ball of platina, suspended to a 
 metalwire. (Plate ClX.fig.3.) The under extremity of 
 the wire is screwed into the bottom of a spherical cap 
 of copper, of the same radius as the ball, and which 
 being applied on its surface with a little tallow, ad- 
 heres to it in consequence of the pressure of the at- 
 mosphere, and of the perfect contact resulting from 
 its sphericity. The other end of the wire is attach- 
 ed to a suspended knife (fig. 4<), which oscillates on 
 a plane of agate (fig. 5), furnished with adjusting 
 screws, by which it can be brought perfectly hori- 
 zontal ; a circumstance which is ascertained by placing 
 on this plane a glass spirit level without its frame. 
 The mass of the knife is previously adjusted, so that 
 its oscillations may be very nearly isochronous with 
 those of the clock, by which the whole pendulum 
 must be regulated. This is done by the motion 
 of a small ring of metal A, which screws round a 
 metal rod T T fixed to the knife, and which, by 
 screwing and unscrewing, approaches to, or recedes 
 from, the plane of suspension, giving to the mo- 
 mentum of inertia of its mass a greater or less 
 influence on the motion of the system of the knife 
 and its rod. When the isochronism of the oscilla- 
 tions of the knife and of the clock is as perfect as 
 can be obtained by this method, we suspend from 
 the knife the wire and ball; giving to the wire such 
 a length, that the oscillations of the whole system 
 
 VOL. VI. PART I. 
 
 U L U M. 1 
 
 may differ but little from those of the clock, conse- Penduli 
 quently from those of the knife itself. It can then "^^^ 
 be shown, as well by calculation as by experiment, 
 that the mass of the knife exerts no sensible influ- 
 ence on the length of the pendulum; which arises 
 from its centre of gravity being then excessively near 
 the plane of suspension. The whole system of the 
 knife, the ball, and the wire, has only now to exert 
 an effort infinitely small, to complete the exact regu- 
 lation of the oscillations of the knife, and to make 
 them agree with those of the whole system. 
 
 The pendulum is inclosed with the clock in a 
 glass case, where it is exempt from the agita- 
 tion of the air. Behind the wire, at a very small 
 distance, is fixed horizontally a scale of equal parts, 
 which serves to measure the amplitudes of the os- 
 cillations. Two sensible thermometers, carefully ad- 
 justed, are fixed near the wire, the one at the height 
 of the plane of suspension, the other at the height of 
 the ball, in order to indicate, at every instant, the 
 temperature of the air around the wire. But as the 
 wire, on account of the smallness of its mass, re- 
 ceives the impressions of temperature much more 
 rapidly than the most sensible thermometer, the ex- 
 periment is made in a room so large and sheltered, 
 that the temperature of the air in it may change very 
 slowly. The state of the thermometers is observed 
 through the glasses of the case without ever open- 
 ing it during the period of the oscillations. 
 
 Every thing being thus disposed, we place, at the 
 distance of seven or eight metres, a telescope fixed 
 horizontally, and the eye-glass of which has a wire 
 fixed vertically before it. We direct this wire up- 
 on that of the pendulum, when in a state of rest, 
 and we then place in the same direction, on the ball 
 of the clock, also at rest, a small circle of paper to 
 serve for an index. These preparations being made, 
 the clock is set to oscillate, and is no more stopped. 
 When its rate of going has become very steady, we 
 cause the pendulum also to oscillate, and shutting 
 the door of the glass case, we proceed to observe it 
 from without with the telescope. If it should move 
 exactly at the same rate with the clock, it would al- 
 ways be found in the same position in relation to the 
 index in all its consecutive oscillations. But this 
 never happens, and the pendulum goes always 
 quicker or slower than the clock. If it goes quicker, 
 it only coincides for an instant with the index, after 
 which it passes it, recedes from it, returns to it in 
 the opposite direction, passes it anew, and, after hav- 
 ing receded from it again, returns to coincide with 
 it a second time, and follows its motion of oscillation 
 for an instant. The telescope which serves to ob- 
 serve these separations and these coincidences, mag- 
 nifies the arc described by the pendulum, and by the 
 clock — augments their apparent velocity, and thus 
 enables us to judge of the instants of coincidence 
 with singular precision. Between two consecutive 
 coincidences, the pendulum gains or loses two oscil- 
 lations upon the clock, and a simple proportion de- 
 termines how much it must gain or lose in 24 hours 
 of the clock, if it be sexagesimal, or in ten hours if 
 it be decimal. If we suppose N to denote the in- 
 terval between two coincidences, in clock time, it 
 follows, that while the clock makes N oscillations, 
 Q 
 
122 
 
 PENDULUM. 
 
 Pendulum, the pendulum makes Ndz2. The sign + being 
 'employed, if the pendulum goes quicker than the 
 clock, and the sign — if it goes slower. Thus, dur- 
 ino- any number of oscillations of the clock, denoted 
 by J, the number of oscillations of the pendulum 
 
 „ , f N=ir2 ) 2J 
 will be proportionally J -j — >• or J j^;. a 
 
 result which we may represent in an abridged form 
 by Jzi=:7i. . 
 
 If the clock be sexagesimal, the number J of its 
 beats in 24. hours is 86,400. If it be decimal, thi« 
 number is equal to 1 00,000. Both these systems have 
 been employed by the French observers. Whatever 
 may be the one which we adopt, we regulate the 
 length of the wire of suspension in such a manner 
 that the coincidences of the pendulum with the 
 clock may not be very near to each other, which 
 would multiply unnecessarily the trouble of the 
 observer. But neither must they be made too dis- 
 tant, because, in that case, the pendulum and the 
 clock detaching themselves too slowly from each 
 other, the precise instants of each coincidence be- 
 come more difficult to observe. A few trials will 
 soon point out a convenient medium between these 
 extremes. Then the difference in the diurnal rate 
 
 -f-^, or n between the pendulum and the clock 
 
 always forms a very small number of oscillations. 
 But the extent of the arcs described by the pen- 
 dulum, diminishing always by the effect of the 
 resistance of the air, while the clock, having its 
 motion restored by the action of its weight, pre- 
 serves always the same amplitude, it hence always 
 happens that the intervals between the successive 
 coincidences of the same pendulum vary with the 
 time, which alters the value of the number n. Dur- 
 ing this inevitable change, the period when the 
 coincidences are observed with the greatest preci- 
 sion is that where the amplitudes of the oscillations 
 of the pendulum and of the clock are equal to each 
 other; so that, if we are obliged, by any considera- 
 tion, only to observe a small number of coincidences, 
 we must regulate the primitive range of the pendu- 
 lum, so as to approach as near as possible this con- 
 dition of equality. 
 
 The difference in the rate ^ or n corresponds 
 
 with those oscillations of the pendulum, which are 
 performed between the coincidences which we com- 
 pare together, that is to say, with an amplitude of 
 arc varying from 2a at the beginning of the interval to 
 2a' at the end of it. The duration of these oscilla- 
 tions is larger than if the oscillations had been per- 
 formed with the same pendulum, but with ampli- 
 tudes infinitely small ; and, therefore, to render the 
 results comparable with each other, they must be 
 reduced to this latter case. For this purpose, at the 
 moment of each coincidence, we observe, through 
 the fixed telescope, the point of the horizontal scale 
 at which the wire stops in its excursions on each 
 side of the vertical. This furnishes sufficient data to 
 calculate the angular deviation of the pendulum from 
 
 the vertical, at the instant of the coincidence, since we Pendulum, 
 know the distance of the scale from the plane of sus- '^-^V*^ 
 pension at which the centre of rotation lies. We mark 
 also the state of the interior thermometers, and that 
 of the barometer at the same instant. If the arcs cc 
 and a' are both very small, as it is usual to make 
 them, we may, without sensible error, suppose all 
 the oscillations made with the mean amplitude a-j-a'. 
 Then, after what has been shown above, each of them 
 expressed in oscillations infinitely small, will be 
 
 equal to 1-1-— sin^ (a+a'), which we may express in 
 
 an abridged form by and consequently the 
 
 J-l-H oscillations of the pendulum supposed to be 
 made in this arc, will be equal to a number of oscil- 
 lations infinitely small, expressed by 
 
 (J + n)(l-i-/«.) or J-f.w + /AfJ-f w) 
 a result which we may represent in an abridged 
 form by J+7i'. The number n', according to what 
 has b>een above established, never being any way 
 considerable. 
 
 If the arcs 2a, 2a' differ more than in a slight de- 
 gree from each other, as, for example, when the in- 
 terval between the coincidences which we compare 
 is large enough for permitting the resistance of the 
 air to have a considerable effect in modifying the first 
 of these arcs, it will then be no more sufficiently exact 
 to suppose all the oscillations made with the mean 
 amplitude a + a'. But this inconvenience may be re- 
 medied, by observing experimentally the law of the 
 gradual decrease of the amplitudes. This law is in 
 geometrical progression when the number of oscilla- 
 tions increases in arithmetical progression, that is, if 
 we begin with the instant when the half-amplitude 
 was a, and represent by the amplitude, which 
 
 takes place after n oscillations, we find a^ = — „ 
 
 K. 
 
 or because a and a are supposed very small sin. 
 
 K being a coefficient, which, in the same 
 
 state of the air, is constant for the same pendulum, 
 and depends on its length, its shape, and its other 
 physical qualities. This law, first remarked by Bor- 
 da, and since confirmed by the other French obser- 
 vers, is a necessary consequence of the smallness of 
 the amplitudes, and of the feebleness of the resist- 
 ance, which alters each amplitude in succession, pro- 
 portionally to its extent. But however this may be, 
 it is enough that it really subsists, to enable us to cal- 
 culate by it the exact sum of the squares of the 
 half-amplitudes in the successive oscillations, a pro- 
 blem which is reduced to the summing of a geome- 
 trical progression of n terms, of which the ratio is 
 1 
 
 K 
 
 This sum is simplified when we consider the 
 
 extreme minuteness of the arcs which we com- 
 pare, and by then pushing the approximation to 
 their second power inclusively, which is the limit of 
 the correction necessary for each individual ampli^- 
 tude. We thus find 
 
 11 
 
PEND 
 
 Pendulum. sin (a + tt') s in (a — a') 
 
 32 M <| log sin a — log sin a' 1 
 
 M being the modulus of the tables of common loga- 
 rithms, or 2.30258509. If we suppose the arcs a 
 and a so small, that in the developement of their 
 series and of their logarithms, we may limit our- 
 selves to their first power, this expression of be- 
 comes what we have already obtained by our first 
 approximation. 
 
 By these calculations we ascertain the rate of the 
 relative going of the pendulum on the clock, which 
 serves to measure the intervals between the coinci- 
 dences. We know that it performs J-\-n' infinitely 
 small oscillations, while the clock makes J of them. 
 Suppose now that the latter advances during the 
 mean solar day, a number of oscillations equal to h, 
 that is, that it performs J-\-h oscillations during the 
 same time that a clock, exactly regulated by mean 
 time, performs the exact number J, we shall evidently 
 obtain this proportion ; J oscillations of the clock are 
 to J+n' infinitely small oscillations of the pendulum, 
 as J+h oscillations of the clock, or a mean solar day 
 are to the number of oscillations of the pendulum 
 during a mean solar day. The latter number is 
 
 thus found equal to j ^or J +n'+A4.— , 
 
 the quantity which, for simplicity, we shall represent 
 by J+n". With the apparatus so disposed as we 
 have described, if the clock is not very far from 
 mean time, so that h denotes a small number of os- 
 cillations, the correction expressed by the last term, 
 the only one which demands a calculation, will be 
 of an extreme minuteness, and easily obtained with 
 great precision. 
 
 It now remains to measure the length of the pen- 
 dulum from the plane of suspension to the bottom 
 of the ball of platina. For this purpose we place 
 beforehand, under this ball, a small plate of metal, 
 well polished, perfectly horizontal, and which can be 
 made to sink or rise, vertically by means of a screw, of 
 which the threads being very fine, permit the small- 
 est motion. (See Plate CIX. fig. 6.) When the coinci- 
 dences are finished, we open the glass case, and we 
 raise gently this plane until it comes in contact with 
 the ball of platinum. We must be equally careful 
 to avoid raising it too much, which would raise the 
 ball, and make the pendulum too short, or not rais- 
 ing it so high as the contact, which would give a pen- 
 dulum too long ; but if we take for an index the 
 disappearance of a thread of light between the plane 
 and the ball, at their common point of contact, we 
 may then succeed, by a little skill, in fixing this 
 contact with the utmost degree of rigour. This, 
 
 U L U M. 123 
 
 however, is never done at the first attempt, for the Pendulum, 
 entry of the observer into the glass case, however ^^"^V^ 
 short, always elevates in a slight degree the temper- 
 ature of the air contained in it, and consequently 
 that of the wire, which acquires this temperature in 
 the same instant, from whence arises a small increase 
 of its length, which we ought to be aware of. On 
 this account, instead of establishing a perfect contact 
 between the plane and the ball, in that accidental 
 state of the wire which the interior thermometers, 
 less sensible than it, do not perhaps indicate with suffi- 
 cient exactness, it is better to confine our^ielves at 
 first to the mere preparing for the operation, by 
 making the little plane approach extremely near the 
 ball, without, at this time, actually touching it. We 
 observe now the point where the index of the screw 
 that moves the ball stops, and then coming out of 
 the glass case, we shut it until the temperature with- 
 in, and the thermometers which measure it, have 
 had time to return to a state of rest. We then open 
 the case anew, and finish in an instant the operation 
 of contact, which is easily done, as we have only to 
 give to the plane of contact a very slight degree of 
 motion,~and such as we are previously quite prepar- 
 ed for. At this moment, or rather before entering 
 the glass case, we mark the temperature of the ther- 
 mometers within, and consider this as the tempera- 
 ture of the wire at the instant of contact. 
 
 The distance of the plane of suspension from the 
 bottom of the ball is now fixed, and in such a man- 
 ner, that it is henceforth invariable, or at least we 
 may suppose it such during a long interval of time. 
 For, the supports of the plane of suspension being 
 fixed in the wall itself, and those of the plane of 
 contact being cemented to a large stone resting on 
 this wall, or sunk into the ground, the accidental 
 variations of temperature cannot alter the distance 
 which separates them, excepting in a very slow de- 
 gree. * It remains then to measure this interval by 
 means of a divided rod of metal ; but to determine 
 the length of such a rule, its extremities must be 
 quite free ; and how can we, in that case, apply its 
 summit exactly on a level with the plane of suspen- 
 sion } Borda has very happily resolved this difficul- 
 ty, by adapting to one of the extremities of the rule 
 a knife of suspension, which is fixed to it, so as to 
 touch it on its edge. (See fig. 7.) Suppose we wish 
 first to measure the length of the rule, we take off" 
 the knife, and apply the rule itself to the apparatus 
 intended for that object. If we wish then to mea- 
 sure the length of the pendulum, we replace the 
 knife, and suspend the rule, thus armed, on the 
 plane of suspension, in place of the pendulum itself 
 In our experiments, the knife is adapted to the rule 
 by means of a metal case ; the rule is inserted into 
 this case until it touches the knife, when it is fixed 
 
 * Considering the indispensable necessity which there is of preserving rigorously this quantity invariable, 
 it appears to be of extreme importance, that the ground may not yield when the observer approaches to 
 complete the measurement. The only means of avoiding, beyond suspicion, this possibility, is to construct 
 round the pendulum a platform, supported on certain points of the ground, at a distance from the stone 
 which carries the little plane with which we effect the contacts of the ball, so that this apparatus may be- 
 come quite independent of the motions of the observer. 
 
124 
 
 PENDULUM. 
 
 Pendulum, in this position by means of a strong pinching screw, 
 ""^"^^^^ denoted by V, and which is screwed by an iron key. 
 
 It only remains to alter the length of this rule in 
 such a manner as to render it exactly equal to the 
 actual distance which is found between the bottom 
 of the ball and the plane of suspension. For this 
 purpose, in the experiments of Borda, the rule car- 
 ried, on its under part, a divided tongue, having a 
 free motion. When the observations of the coinci- 
 dencfiswere finished, the pendulum was removed, and 
 for it was substituted this rule, of which the tongue 
 was let down until it fell upon the little plane which 
 had touched the ball of the pendulum. Then by read- 
 ing, with a magnifying glass, the divisions of the 
 tongue, it is easy to know the distance between the 
 bottom of the ball and the axis of suspension. 
 
 In Borda's experiments, the pendulum was twelve 
 feet long. A rule of such a length could not have been 
 cari'ied in travelling, or even in stations of difficult ac- 
 cess, without the risk of serious errors, resulting from 
 the bending which it must have received. On this 
 account the French observers, who were entrusted 
 with such experiments, thought it necessary to mo- 
 dify in this point the apparatus of Borda, and they 
 confined themselves to pendulums much shorter ; as 
 are those which swing mean sexagesimal or mean 
 decimal seconds. This enabled them to make use 
 of rules much shorter, more portable, and which 
 they could also make larger and more solid without 
 increasing too much their weight ; but then it be- 
 came indispensable to introduce a still greater degree 
 of precision than before into the determination of the 
 length of the rules ; into that of the divisions traced 
 upon the tongues which were fixed to them ; and, 
 lastly, into the measurement of the variable parts 
 of these tongues, which were used in each experi- 
 ment, in order to adapt theim to the different lengths 
 of the pendulum which they were intended to mea- 
 sure. All these elements were obtained with unex- 
 pected exactness, by employing for their determina- 
 tion the apparatus already used with such success for 
 the comparison of metrical scales, under the name of 
 comparateur. All the details of this application may 
 be seen in the work of Biot and Arago, above re- 
 ferred to. 
 
 By means of the operations above described, we 
 find the total length of the pendulum from the plane 
 of suspension to the bottom of the ball of platina ; 
 such at least as it is at the instant of contact of the 
 latter with the little plane. But this length may 
 not be, and is not in general, the same which the 
 pendulum has when it began to oscillate ; because 
 the temperature which modifies almost instantane- 
 ously the length of the wire cannot have been the 
 same at the time of the contact of the plane, and 
 during the observation of the coincidences. But it 
 is to this state that we must evidently reduce the 
 length that we have attained. For this purpose, 
 let it be denoted by A, and suppose t' the tempera- 
 ture of the wire in degrees of the thermometer at 
 the instant of contact, t being its mean value, dur- 
 ing the coincidences ; then if R' represent the ra- 
 dius of the ball of platina at the temperature of V 
 when the contact was produced, the length of the 
 wire at that instant was A— 2R' ; so that, calling K 
 
 the lineal dilatation of the matter of the wire, for a Ptndulum. 
 difference of one degree in the temperature, the''— — v— — ' 
 length of the wire at the time of the oscillations 
 
 must have been (A-^SR') 1 1-f K(;— i'). j. In the 
 
 same manner, if K' be the lineal dilatation of the 
 substance of the ball, its diameter, at the time of the 
 
 oscillations, will be 2R' 1 1-|-K'(^— <'), j. and adding 
 
 this quantity to the length of the wire, we obtain 
 A + aK(^— i')-f2R'(K'— K)(/— for the distance 
 of the plane of suspension from the bottom of the 
 platina ball during the actual time of the oscilla- 
 tions. By deducting from this length the radius of 
 the ball, such as it was at the same instant, that is, 
 
 R' 1 1 -f K'(f— r ), we shall have the distance of the 
 
 centre of the ball from the plane of suspension, a 
 distance which we shall call h. This being deter- 
 mined, if the wire which sustains the ball, and the 
 cap which fits upon its surface, were both without 
 weight, or if their weight could be altogether ne- 
 glected in comparison with that of the ball, the 
 length / of the simple pendulum isochronous with 
 the compound one thus formed would be obtained 
 
 by the above formula, and would be l=:h-\—^, m 
 
 mh 
 
 being the mass of the ball, and c' its momentum of 
 inertia relative to an axis drawn through its centre. 
 But calling g the density of the mass of the ball, and 
 R its radius, at the temperature at which the pen- 
 
 4 
 
 dulum oscillates, its mass m is equal to - tt^R^, and 
 g 
 
 the value of c' is — t^R^. Substituting these va- 
 
 2R2 
 
 lues, we have l=h+-^; hence it appears, that it 
 
 would be easy to calculate I, since R and h are 
 known. But, in truth, the weight of the wire and 
 that of the cap can never be absolutely nothing. 
 They are only very small, relatively to the weight 
 of the ball ; so that the preceding value of I is but 
 an approximation, which, to become quite exact, re- 
 quires a small correction, depending on the relation 
 of these masses. This correction being rather com- 
 phcated in its expression, we shall not repeat it here, 
 but refer to the memoir of Borda, or the work of 
 Biot and Arago, already mentioned, and represent 
 it by Q ; as it is always negative, the length I of 
 the simple pendulum isochronous with the pendu- 
 
 2R' 
 
 lum observed, will become l'z=ih -| ~ — Q. Now we 
 
 5h 
 
 have seen, that, in these experiments, the apparent 
 gravity which impels the pendulum is less than the 
 real gravity which operates in vacuo, on account of 
 the statical effect of the ambient medium ; but for a 
 simple pendulum of the length / moved by the force 
 of gravity g, the time T of its infinitely small oscil- 
 lations is expressed by t /-; and if we wish to ob- 
 
 tain oscillations of equal duration with different forces 
 of gravity, we must vary the lengths in proportion 
 
PENDULUM. 
 
 125 
 
 Pendulum. 
 
 to these forces, so that the relation - may remain 
 
 g 
 
 constant. Now, after what we have before seen, 
 if we denote by D the density of the substance of 
 the pendulum at the temperature of freezing, and 
 
 under the atmospheric pressure of 0^.76, that of the 
 air being 1 , if, besides, we denote by c the cubic di- 
 latation of this same substance, the relation of the 
 apparent gravity in air to the gravity in vacuo, un- 
 der the pressure p, and at the temperature t, will be 
 
 expressed by 1- 
 
 P 
 
 0 .76 (1 +^.0.00375) {1—t)D, 
 
 which, for simplicity, may be represented by 1 — y. 
 Then, to obtain the length /" of the simple pendulum, 
 which, making its oscillations in vacuo under the 
 influence of the gravity g, would be isochronous 
 with the actual pendulum I', going in the open air, 
 
 we must take , which, on account of the 
 
 1—7 
 
 smallness of y, may be reduced to l"=l'-\-yl'. We 
 have denoted above by J + w" the number of in- 
 finitely small oscillations performed by the actual 
 pendulum in a mean solar day. Such, then, is 
 also the rate of the pendulum I". If we wish, 
 in fine, to obtain the length I'" of a pendulum 
 which would move exactly to mean time in va- 
 cuo, under the influence of the same power of gra- 
 vity as I", we have only to consider that, accord- 
 ing to the preceding expression of T, the lengths 
 V" must be directly proportional to the squares of 
 the times of their oscillations, and therefore recipro- 
 cally, as the squares of the number of oscillations 
 made in equal times. We must take, then, 
 
 -jzz — , whence we obtam r=zl" -| — ~ -j- -jg— 
 
 The length thus obtained is now free from all 
 the variable elements, which depend on particular 
 circumstances of their observations. This consti- 
 tutes what we should properly call the absolute 
 length of the simple pendulum in the place of ob- 
 servation. 
 
 The experimental method v/hich we have de- 
 scribed, when it is employed with all due care, gives 
 results which, in the same place, are perfectly com- 
 parable with each other. For, with various lengths, 
 such as the sexagesimal pendulum, for example, or 
 the decimal pendulum, the deductions from particu- 
 lar experiments do not differ generally from each 
 other more than in the thousandth parts of a milli- 
 metre. To establish, however, completely the theo- 
 retical certainty of this method, it is necessary to 
 examine more particularly some of the circumstan- 
 ces which form a part of it. 
 
 Our first remark relates to the extensibility of the 
 wire to which the platina ball is suspended. It is 
 clear, that, ' during the period of each oscillation, 
 the wive is impelled in the direction of its length by 
 two forces of different kinds, and of different inten- 
 sities ; of which the one is the varying traction, act- 
 ing on it every instant by the weight of the ball de- 
 
 composed into its direction j and the other is the cen- Pendulum, 
 trifugal force, which the motion of oscUlation gene- 
 rates. It may evidently be a question, whether this 
 double action has not on the oscillations a sensible in- 
 fluence, which, disappearing in the measurement of 
 the length taken when the pendulum is at rest, 
 would alter the result which we have obtained. M. 
 Poisson has submitted this question to calculation 
 in the eighth volume of the Journal de PEcole Poly- 
 technique, and he has found, first, that the symmetry 
 of the oscillations on each side of the vertical is not 
 altered by the extensibility of the wire j at least if 
 we suppose them to be performed in vacuo, a cir- 
 cumstance which it was easy to anticipate from the 
 symmetry itself of the mode of action of this force. 
 But he has found that their duration is affected with 
 a periodical inequality, in consequence of which the 
 successive oscillations are not isochronous among 
 themselves. When the total extension, however, 
 suffered by the wire is very small, which is general- 
 ly the case in experiments where the wires are form- 
 ed of metallic substances, the effect of this inequality 
 neutralises itself in the mean duration of a great num- 
 ber of oscillations ; only this mean period is a little 
 longer than if the wire had been altogether inextensi- 
 ble. Let /, for example, be the lineal length which 
 the wire would naturally have if left to the sole at- 
 tractive action of its particles on each other j and sup- 
 pose that, by suspending the platina ball at its lower 
 extremity, it lengthens by a small quantity X. This 
 being the case, if the half-amplitude of the oscillation 
 is denoted by a, M. Poisson finds that limiting the 
 results to the square of a, the mean duration T of the 
 whole oscillations will be. 
 
 If we wish to suppose the wire inextensible, we 
 have only to make X equal to nothing, and it 
 hence appears that the extensibility only modifies 
 the correction of amplitude, already in itself so 
 small, and alters it by a quantity which, from the 
 small extensibility of the metals, cannot in general 
 produce any effect that could be detected by obser- 
 vation. 
 
 A second circumstance, which deserves equally to 
 be examined, is the probable influence of the motion 
 of rotation of the platina ball round the direction of 
 the wire, and any twisting which the wire may suf- 
 fer during the oscillations, M. Poisson has examin- 
 ed, by a calculation in the Connoissance des Terns for 
 1815, the effect of puch a motion ; and he has found 
 that, in the ordinary disposition of the pendulum of 
 Borda, '* is rendcied in a manner insensible by this 
 circumstance, that the momentum of inertia of the 
 ball, and of the whole pendulum, relatively to an 
 axis drawn through tlie direction of the wire, is a 
 very small quantity. Let R be the radius of the 
 platina ball, h the distance of its centre fi'om the axis 
 of suspension, a the angle which the rotation of the 
 ball makes each of the pmnts of its surface describe 
 during the period of an oscillation, this angle being 
 measured in a circle of a radius equal to I, T the 
 time of an infinitely small oscillation of the sam« 
 pendulum, in the ca^e when the rotation is nothing ; 
 
126 
 
 PENDULUM. 
 
 Pendulum. M. Poisson finds that the real duration of the oscil- 
 
 s as 
 
 lations will be T -J^l — ^qAV^J ' ^ being alwayi 
 
 before the relation of the circumference to the dia- 
 meter, or, what is the same thing, the semi-circum- 
 ference, of which the radius is 1 . In regard to the 
 effect of the torsion communicated to the wire by the 
 rotation of the ball, M. Poisson proves that it can 
 have no influence on the duration of the oscillations. 
 In the shortest lengths of pendulum which have 
 been observed by the above process, R was less than 
 
 0^. 02, and I nearly equal to O"*. 74. Adopting these 
 numbers, and supposing, besides, that the ball de- 
 scribes two whole circumferences for each oscilla- 
 tion, which would be a very rapid motion of rota- 
 
 tion, we shall then have ^=^; -=4, 
 h 37 T 
 
 and conse- 
 
 1 
 
 5856569' 
 
 whence it appears that 
 
 the time of the oscillation would be diminished on- 
 ly by a quantity altogether insensible, even on the 
 above suppositions. But it is far from being the 
 case that a rotation so rapid as we have supposed 
 really takes place in the experiments ; on the con- 
 trary, when we set the pendulum in motion, we take 
 great care to avoid every movement of this kind ; we 
 also pay particular attention to let fall the ball with- 
 out any lateral impulse, so that its oscillation may be 
 performed as exactly as possible in a vertical plane, 
 which we also take care to verify by observation, 
 when the pendulum is in motion. It would be use- 
 less to attempt to obtain this condition in a manner 
 more exact ; for it is known by the calculation of co- 
 nical oscillations, that when these take place in an 
 orbit much flattened, their duration is almost exactly 
 the same as if they were quite plain. 
 
 The last object to be considered, and of which the 
 discussion is as important as it is delicate, is the in- 
 fluence which the form of the suspending knife may 
 have upon the oscillations of the same pendulum. 
 Comparing, indeed, the motion of the pendulum 
 to that which would take place round an axis of 
 suspension perfectly rectilineal and mathematical- 
 ly straight, we suppose, or, at least, seem tacitly 
 to suppose, that the edge of the knife forms such 
 an axis, which is physically impossible, since the 
 most perfect art cannot give it any other form than 
 that of a round surface, the breadth of which is 
 sensible to the microscope, and which even there 
 appears always like a saw indented with teeth more 
 or less deep. Now, if this surface were a circular 
 cylinder, a simple calculation, which was first made 
 by Euler, shows that the durations of the oscillations 
 will be the same as if they were performed round a 
 rectilineal axis placed under the surface of the cylin- 
 der, and at a distance equal to the radius of its 
 curvature ; and in the case of very small oscillations, 
 this result may be extended to a knife of any form, 
 if we take for its curvature that of its osculating 
 circle. Hence it foUows, that in order to have the 
 true length of the simple pendulum in this circum- 
 stance, we must subtract the radius of this circle 
 from the length calculated on the hypothesis of a 
 
 rectilineal axis, according to the oscillations observ- Pendulum 
 ed. But such a correction would throw great un- ^. m — y « J 
 certainty upon the results ; for the osculatory curva- 
 ture of the knife cannot be measured, or even ap- 
 preciated by any process, and it must vary consider- 
 ably, either by the difference of workmanship in 
 different knives, or by the inevitable wearing which 
 the edge of the knife undergoes, when the weight 
 suspended from the wire presses it against the plane 
 of suspension. Fortunately, the extent and the va- 
 riableness itself of the effects which this cause should 
 produce, serve to prove that it has no action what- 
 ever in experiments ; for, in the first place, by load- 
 ing successively the head of the same knife with se- 
 veral weights very different among themselves, in 
 order to observe if these different systems, previous- 
 ly according with the same clock, would have an in- 
 fluence on the length of the pendulum ; now Borda 
 has found that this influence was absolutely insensible, 
 although the curvature of the edge, to which he did 
 not pay attention, was then undergoing very differ- 
 ent modifications under the unequal compressions 
 to which they were subject. Secondly, The length 
 of the simple pendulum, beating seconds at the Ob- 
 servatory of Paris, which Borda had deduced from a 
 pendulum of 12 feet long, has since been found as ex- 
 actly the same as the difficulties of the operation 
 would permit, by employing, with the same knife 
 and the same ball, wires four times shorter, which 
 gave a much greater influence to the alterations of 
 length which the curvature of the knife coiddproduce. 
 Lastly, By observing successively, at the same place, 
 with the same ball, and the same length of wire, but 
 with knives whose edges presented an extreme di- 
 versity, from the highest possible finish, to the great- 
 est coarseness in the execution, M. Biot has obtained, 
 at Leith Fort in Scotland, such lengths for the sim- 
 ple pendulum, between which no sensible difference 
 could be observed, although no correction whatever 
 was made for the curvature of the knife. These 
 proofs of different kinds, but all agreeing in their 
 consequences, seem to show evidently that in the pro- 
 cess of Borda the shape of the edge of the knife has 
 no sensible influence on the results, and that it is 
 unnecessary, therefore, to pay any attention to it ; 
 and yet, as the theory of oscillations round cylindrical 
 axes cannot be questioned, we must either conclude 
 that in this circumstance the oscillation is really not 
 performed on a cylinder of sensible dimensions, but 
 upon the ideal axis of insensible dimensions, formed 
 by the asperities which still exist in the grain of me- 
 tal of which the knife is composed ; or that the 
 agreement previously established between the pro- 
 per motion of the knife and the total motion of the 
 pendulum, compensates physically the effect which 
 the curvature of the knife would have upon the os- 
 cillations, if it consisted really of a simple cylinder 
 without mass attached to the wire. 
 
 II — Method of Kater. 
 
 The method employed by Captain Kater to mea- 
 sure the length of the pendulum is founded upon 
 this theorem of Huygens, that whatever be the 
 form of the oscillating body, the centre of oscillation 
 
PEND 
 
 Pendulum, and the Centre of suspension are reciprocals to each 
 other, a theorem of which we have already given the 
 demonstration. To realise this disposition, Mr Ka- 
 ter chose a body of such a form, that it was easy to 
 determine by calculation the approximate position of 
 its centre of oscillation for a given position of the 
 axis of suspension. These two points being thus 
 known, he fixes there immoveably two knives paral- 
 lel to each other. In the space which separates 
 them he then adapts to the body a moveable weight, 
 and having first placed it at random, he makes the 
 system oscillate successively upon the one knife and 
 upon the other. If, as it almost always happens in 
 the first trial, the oscillations performed in the two 
 cases are of unequal duration, he moves the interme- 
 diate weight, so as to bring them nearer to an equali- 
 ty j then, comparing these anew by observation, he 
 finds necessarily a less disparity between them, which 
 he again reduces, until at last, after a few trials, the 
 duration of the oscillations performed round the two 
 axes become exactly equal. The justness, as well as 
 the rapidity of these reductions, are favoured by the 
 form which Mr Kater has chosen for his oscillating 
 body. This form is a simple rectilineal bar of cop- 
 per, towards the two extremities of which are placed 
 two known weights ; the one of which is immove- 
 ably fixed, and the other being moveable, but, at the 
 same time, capable of being fixed in a similar man- 
 ner, serves first, by its motion, to establish between 
 the two knives, not exactly, but approximately, that 
 reciprocity between the oscillations to which it is 
 desired to bring up the system. This reciprocity is 
 then rendered rigorovisly exact, by the much more 
 delicate motion of a third smaller weight placed be- 
 tween the knives, in that part of the rod, where we 
 know, by calculation, the effect of its displacement 
 will have the least sensible influence upon the oscil- 
 lations, which is found to be towards the middle of 
 the rod, in the division of the weights adopted by 
 Mr Kater. A divided scale, engraved upon the bar 
 of the pendulum itself, serves to measure the dis- 
 placement of this latter moveable Aveight. In the 
 experiments of Mr Kater, this scale was divided into 
 12ths of an inch, and a displacement of 12 parts pro- 
 duced a difference of about four seconds in the diur- 
 nal rate of the system, reckoning sexagesimally ; 
 whence we may be able to appreciate the extreme 
 delicateness of this mode of regulation. The bar, 
 with its weights, is represented fig. 8, Plate CIX. 
 Fig. 9 shows its disposition during the observations. 
 
 It is then, as appears, placed before a clock, with 
 which it is compared, by means of a fixed telescope, 
 after the method of coincidences of Borda. But the 
 mode of experiment employed by Kater, requiring 
 the oscillations round the two axes to be observed in 
 a state of rigorous equality, it becomes necessary to 
 avoid, in their comparison, every change of tempe- 
 rature, and thus it is necessary to make the results 
 independent of the variations of this kind, which in- 
 evitably arise in the atmosphere. That could only be 
 obtained by rendering the series of coincidences very 
 short, and multiplying the successive inversions of the 
 apparatus. But then, to obtain the same exactness, it 
 is necessary to fix the coincidences with much great- 
 er precision than in the method of Borda, where the 
 
 U L U M. 127 
 
 little influence which they have is one of the princi- Pendulum, 
 pal advantages. Mr Kater has attained this object, ^«-»"v-^^ 
 by fixing upon, the lentil of his clock a white disc, 
 traced upon a black ground, and of such a size, that 
 it is exactly covered, and no more, by the interposi- 
 tion of the bar of the pendulum, when this is at rest 
 in the situation of the vertical. This same occulta- 
 tion, being then observed during the motion of the 
 clock and of the pendulum, serves to fix the instant 
 of the coincidence ; and Mr Kater finds, that in this 
 manner there cannot be any error greater than a se- 
 cond on the instant to which each coincidence be- 
 longs. 
 
 The rest of the details of the observation are the 
 same as in Borda's process. The amplitude of the 
 arc of oscillation is observed at each coincidence, as 
 well as the state of the barometer and thermometer ; 
 and these are employed in the same manner, to re- 
 duce the oscillations to what they would have been, 
 if they had taken place in vacuo, and with ampli- 
 tudes infinitely small, at the observed mean tempe- 
 rature of the oscillating body. 
 
 It still remains to obtain the length of the simple 
 pendulum corresponding to this rate of going. Af- 
 ter an equality has been obtained in the oscillations 
 round the two knives, this length is equal to the dis- 
 tance between the edges of the knives, at the mo- 
 ment of the oscillation of the pendulum, at least if 
 we consider these edges as lineal axes. It would be 
 evidently impossible to observe the distance in ques- 
 tion during the actual motion of the pendulum ; but 
 this defect may be supplied by determining it first 
 for some known temperature, and reducing it by 
 calculation to the value which it ought to have dur- 
 ing the coincidences, according to the temperature 
 at the time these took place, and the dilatation of the 
 substance of the pendulum, which is also known. It 
 is thus that Mr Kater operated, and he has obtained 
 the true distance between the knives, in comparing 
 it by a microscopic process, with the metal rule 
 which he employed as a standard of measure. In 
 order that this operation may be put in practice, the 
 two edges of the knives must be very exactly paral- 
 lel. Mr Kater accordingly disposed them in this 
 manner before the experiments, employing the mea- 
 sure itself of their distance to determine and to prove 
 the accuracy of their position, to which they were gra- 
 dually brought by means of adjusting screws, which 
 allowed each knife to move by very small displace- 
 ments. He also took advantage of this method, to ren- 
 der their direction quite perpendicular to the length of 
 the bar. Lastly, as the distance between the knives, 
 which we are seeking to determine, is that which took 
 place when the pendulum was in a vertical situation, 
 Mr Kater, during the measurement, applied to the 
 bar, now horizontal, a force of longitudinal traction 
 equal to what it exerted on itself by its own weight, 
 and in a state of oscillation. In calculating the in- 
 fluence which the curvature of the knives, supposing 
 it to be circular, can have upon the length of the 
 simple pendulum, deduced from the oscillations of a 
 similar apparatus, M. La Place has found it to be 
 equal to nothing, and that this length was always ri- 
 gorously equal to the distance between the edges of 
 the knives. This theorem is only true, on the sup^ 
 
128 
 
 PENDULUM. 
 
 Pendulum, position that the two edges are of the same curva- 
 ture ; but whatever precaution may be taken to ren- 
 der them identical, even making them togethei*, and 
 with a single piece of steel, it will be impossible to be 
 assured, that there may not be found differences, not 
 merely very small, but very considerable in the radii 
 of curvature of their osculatory circles ; since these cii*- 
 cles are the result, not of any measured and geometri- 
 cal operation, bat of a work of reducing and polishing 
 necessarily vague and irregular. It would appear then 
 by this, that the results of this method would still be 
 subject to the same uncertainty in theory as the results 
 of the others are ; but these uncertainties are dispel- 
 led in both cases, by the experimental proofs already 
 described, that, in the process of Borda, the figure of 
 the edge of the knives has no influence upon the 
 length of the simple pendulum, deduced from their 
 oscillations. In short, what completes the proof, that 
 these two methods do not include in themselves 
 any source of inaccuracy, is the surprising a,nd al- 
 most ideal coincidence of the results which they 
 afford, notwithstanding the diversity of the two 
 processes. We shall have occasion to give a strik- 
 ing proof of it at the conclusion of the ensuing pa- 
 ragraph. 
 
 Ill — Pendulums of Comparison. 
 
 The two methods which we have been explaining 
 make known the absolute lengths of the simple pen- 
 dulum in every place where it is observed. Both 
 of them, therefore, require to be absolutely deter- 
 mined, on the spot, in lineal measures, and this can- 
 not be done with sufficient exactness but by a process 
 of extreme delicacy, the practice of which implies 
 numerous preparations. But when we wish merely 
 to determine the ratios of the lengths of the simple 
 pendulum to each other, for different places on 
 the earth, we may obtain this without any absolute 
 measurement ; and by the mere comparison of the 
 oscillations made in these places in equal times by 
 a compound pendulum of any form. To demon- 
 strate this, suppose, first, that the figure of the mass 
 of this pendulum is quite invariable, and that it suf- 
 fers neither dilatation nor contraction, by the chan- 
 ges of temperature ; or, what comes to the same thing, 
 suppose the observations are alwaj's made during 
 temperatures exactly equal ; in this case, according 
 to the formulae laid down in the beginning of this ar- 
 ticle, the length I of the simple pendulum isochro- 
 nous with that compound pendulum, may be ex- 
 
 Q 
 
 pressed by — ^, m being the mass of the oscillating 
 
 body, h the distance of its centre of gravity from the 
 axis of suspension, and, lastly, C its momentum of in- 
 ertia, that is to say, the sum of all the elements of 
 its mass, multiplied by the squares of their respec- 
 tive distances from the axis of suspension. This 
 length /, then, will be the same in whatever place 
 we observe it, since its analytical expression de- 
 pends only on the figure of the oscillating body, 
 and the density of its parts ; but in no respect 
 on the intensity of the gravitating force which im- 
 pels it ; so that, if we take any compound pendu- 
 4 
 
 lum of any form whatever, but having its mass and Pendu 
 figure constantly the same, and make it oscillate s-iic- ""-^ 
 cessively in different parts of the earth, it is the same 
 thing as to cause a simple pendulum oscillate suc- 
 cessively in the same places. But, supposing the 
 oscillations performed in vacuo, and with infinitely 
 small amplitudes, or, what is the same thing, sup- 
 posing them reduced to these conditions by calcula- 
 tion, the durations, T' T", of the oscillations of the 
 same simple pendulum, whose length is I, are con- 
 nected with the intensities, g' g", of the gravitating 
 force, which impels them by the following relations, 
 
 I I p" T'2 
 
 T'2=^2_ . X"2=.t2_. whence we obtain, 
 
 that is to say, that the intensities of the gravi- 
 tating forces are reciprocally as the squares of 
 the times of the oscillations ; or, what is the same 
 thing, they are directly proportional to the squares 
 of the numbers of oscillations made in equal 
 times. For let N', N", be these numbers, and T 
 the total time which correspords with them, then 
 
 T T 
 T' will be equal to ^ and T" equal to ; so that, 
 
 by substituting their values, the preceding relation 
 
 will become ^ = ^tjt. 
 
 g' N'^ 
 
 made with the same compound pendulum, we may 
 be able to determine the relative forces of gravity in 
 the different places of observation. But we may, 
 with equal facility, deduce from them the ratios of 
 the absolute lengths which it would be necessary to 
 give to two simple pendulums in the same places, 
 for making them bear an equal number of oscilla- 
 tions in a given time; for example, to beat the 
 mean second. For let X', K", be these unknown 
 lengths, since the corresponding times of oscillation 
 are each one second, we shall have by our general 
 
 formulae 1 "2 =r — -: V'"^ ■=. — whence we obtain 
 g' g" 
 
 ^= that is, that the lengths required are pro- 
 portional to the intensities of gravity in the two 
 places. But we have seen, that the ratio of the gra- 
 vitating forces may be deduced from the observa- 
 tions made with the same compound pendulum; 
 and introducing this determination into the preced- 
 
 By such experiments, then, 
 
 mg expression, we 
 
 , . X" N"2 
 obtam-^ = ^. 
 
 Hence, when 
 
 we have observed the numbers of infinitely small 
 oscillations made in two different parts of the earth, 
 by the same compound pendulum, of a constant 
 form, the ratio of the squares of these numbers will 
 be equal to the ratio of the lengths of the simple pen- 
 dulums, which swing seconds in the same places. 
 All these results suppose, as we have seen, that the 
 mass and form of the compound pendulum are ri- 
 gorously the same at the two stations. To obtain a 
 degree of permanency in tlie mass, we form the pen- 
 dulum of metal, cast in one piece, to which we adapt 
 for suspension a knife edge made by a process which 
 ensures the firmness of the connection, and we take 
 
PENDULUM. 
 
 Pendulum, every precaution possible to prevent any physical or 
 ^ chemical alteration from modifying it during the car- 
 riage. But the permanency in its dimensions and 
 figure is much more difficult to be obtained, be- 
 cause the inequalities of temperature^ in the different 
 places of observation, and the accidental variations of 
 natural heat, even in the same place, tend perpetual- 
 ly to disturb it. It is physically impossible to pre- 
 vent the effects of these alterations in any other way, 
 than by preserving constantly round the pendulum 
 the same artificial temperature ; a method which has 
 been really employed, but which requires very great 
 precautions to render the temperature round the 
 pendulum uniform, and a constant attention to ma- 
 nage the sources of cold and of heat in order to 
 maintain it at the same fixed degree. It is on this 
 account more simple, and perhaps more accurate, 
 when the thing is possible, to dispose the expe- 
 riment so as to have only very slow changes of 
 temperature ; then to allow the pendulum to partake 
 of these changes, and to correct this effect on its 
 form by calculation, from the observation of the 
 temperature, and the knowledge of the proper dila- 
 tation of the substance of which it is composed. 
 This correction is extremely easy ; for if we resume 
 
 Q 
 
 the expression I wnich expresses the corre- 
 
 sponding length of the simple pendulum, the momen- 
 tum of inertia C is of the same order as the mass, 
 multiplied by the square of the dimensions of the 
 oscillating body, and the denominator mk is the pro- 
 duct of this same mass by a single dimension; 
 whence it is easy to conclude, that if the dimensions 
 should vary in the same proportion in every direc- 
 tion, which really happens in changes of tempera- 
 
 ture, the quantity will vary according to this sim- 
 ple proportion. Hence, if we name I the length of 
 • the simple pendulum, isochronous with the com- 
 pound pendulum, when the latter is at the standard 
 temperature t, and denote by /' the analogous length 
 when the temperature is f, representing also by K the 
 lineal dilatation of the mass of the pendulum, for a 
 change of one degree of the temperature, and for 
 ' a length equal to unity, we shall evidently have 
 
 Suppose now the pendulum 
 
 I' has made a number N' of oscillations, in a given 
 interval of time, for example, a mean solar daj', it 
 will be easy to calculate how many the standard 
 pendulum / would have made in the same time, if it 
 had been acted on by the same force of gravity ; 
 for the squares of the numbers of oscillations made 
 .in equal times being reciprocally as the length of the 
 pendulums which perform them, the square of the 
 number sought will then be 
 
 N'2 J' c 1 
 
 —j^, or N'2 J 1 +K(i'— O/- 
 
 Hence we obtain for this number itself N'^ 1 + K(i ' — t ); 
 or reducing the radical into a series, and limiting it 
 to the first power of K ; N'-|- JN'K(^'— i). This 
 approximation is always sufficient, because the co- 
 
 VOL. VI. PART I. 
 
 efficient K of the lineal dilatation is always very Pendulum, 
 small in solid bodies, and the difference t' — t o? ^"^^"^"^^ 
 the natural temperatures in the places of obser- 
 vation can never exceed a small number of de- 
 grees. Captain Kater, for example, has operated 
 with a similar pendulum, made of brass, the ob- 
 served lineal dilatation of which was 0.00000982 
 for one degree of Fahrenheit. In an experiment 
 made in London, this pendulum was found to per- 
 form a number of oscillations equal to 86051.32, the 
 temperature being 71^.6. If we wish to reduce this 
 experiment to the standard temperature of 62 de- 
 grees, which was adopted by Mr Kater, we shall 
 have N'=86051.32; K= 0.00000982 ; i'—i=-}-9«'.6, 
 whence we obtain, for the correction of the tem- 
 perature, lWK{t' — ^) = 4-4".04, that is to say, 
 four oscillations, and four hundred parts, added to 
 the number of oscillations observed. By operating 
 in the same manner in every other case, we can re- 
 duce all the observations to the constant tempera- 
 ture once fixed as a standard. 
 
 But one of the indispensable elements in this re- 
 duction is the actual temperature of the pendulum 
 during the experiments, and some precautions are 
 necessary to obtain it with exactness. For the pen- 
 dulum being always very large compared with the 
 thermometers, which we can place by the side of it, 
 it partakes much more slowly than them of the va- 
 riations of temperature, so that it ought always to 
 be a little colder than the thermometers when the 
 temperature of the air is rising, and a little warmer 
 when it descends. It would be impossible to esti- 
 mate these differences of state; but we can render 
 their effect insensible, by operating in a room, so 
 large and sheltered from the sun, that the tempera- 
 ture remains in it nearly constant, or at least suffers 
 such slow variations, that the mass of the pendulum 
 has time to partake of them. For in that case the 
 thermometers will point out the state of this mass 
 in indicating that of the ambient air ; or if there re- 
 mains some difference between both, the effect .of 
 this will disappear by compensation in a series of 
 experiments sufficiently repeated. 
 
 We have mentioned above, that the corrections 
 relative to the amplitude of the arcs and the density 
 of the air, are naade in every place for the compound 
 pendulums, the same as in the experiments with the 
 absolute pendulum. The duration of the oscillations 
 may also be determined in the same manner by 
 the method of coincidences, comparing the experi- 
 mental pendulum with a clock that is actually regu- 
 lated by astronomical observations. Thus in apply- 
 ing this process, and these corrections, we shall ob- 
 tain the numbers of oscillations which a compound 
 pendulum would have made at the different stations, 
 if it had oscillated in vacuo, and at a temperature 
 always constant. Whence we may then deduce the 
 relation of the intensity of gravity at these stations, 
 or the ratio of the lengths of the simple pendulum, 
 swinging the same fixed number of seconds in a 
 given time. 
 
 To give an example of this deduction, we shall relate 
 the following result, obtained in 1818, by Captain 
 Kater, with the same compound pendulum the dila- 
 tation of which is stated above. The^ numbers of 
 
 R 
 
130 
 
 PENDULUM. 
 
 Pen<1uluin. oscillations expressed in the last column are redu- 
 ced by calpulation to the case of amplitudes infinite- 
 ly small, the pendulum in vacuo, and the tempera- 
 ture being the standard of 62^ Fahrenheit. 
 
 Names of the 
 Places. 
 
 Latitudes of the 
 Stations. 
 
 Number of Oscil- 
 lations of the 
 
 Compound Pen- 
 dulum in 24 mean 
 Solar Hours. 
 
 London, . 
 Leith Fort, 
 Unst, . . 
 
 51<? 31' 8" 
 55 58 37 
 60 45 25 
 
 86061" .30 
 86079 .22 
 86096 .84 
 
 From other experiments previously made by means 
 of the method of inversion. Captain Kater had de- 
 termined the length of the absolute second pendulum 
 at London, precisely at the same place, and in the 
 same room, where he since made his compound pen- 
 dulum oscillate. This length expressed in English 
 inches, on Sir George Shuckburgh's scale, was found 
 to be 39. 1 3908 inches. If then we call this length X, 
 and X', X" the analogous lengths for the two other sta- 
 tions of Leith and of Unst ; also N, N',N" the num- 
 ber of oscillations of the portable pendulum in these 
 three stations, we shall have, according to the formulae 
 
 above laid down, X'=X.j^ ; X"=X.-^, which will 
 
 give for the length of the simple pendulum, at the 
 station of Leith, 39.15538 inches, at the station of 
 Unst 39.17141 inches. Now, by comparing, by xme- 
 thods of extreme precision, the scale of Sir George 
 Shuckburgh, witli a metre of platina, executed un- 
 der the directions of the Board of Longitude of France, 
 and verified by a commission of several members of 
 this body, Mr Kater has found that the metre, taken 
 at its own standard temperature, which is that of melt- 
 ing ice, is equal to 39.37079 inches of the scale of Sir 
 George Shuckburgh, taken also at its own standard 
 temperature, which is 62 degrees Fahrenheit. Hence, 
 it follows, that any length I expressed in inches of 
 this scale, taken at its standard temperature, is equal 
 
 •IT 1000.; 
 m miUimstres to The preceding 
 
 lengths of the simple pendulum, both at Leith and 
 Unst, being already reduced to this standard state, 
 we may apply to them directly this formula, and de- 
 duce in millimetres the folio whig \alues, which are 
 set down, compared with those of Biot, obtained by 
 the method of Borda, from observations made with 
 great care, the preceding year, in the same stations 
 of Leith and Unst, where Captain Kater has since 
 gone. 
 
 Names of the 
 Stations. 
 
 Lengths of the 
 Shnple Pendu- 
 lum according 
 to Kater. 
 
 Lengths of the 
 Simple Pendu- 
 lum according 
 to Biot. 
 
 Differences of 
 Kater's Mea- 
 surement. 
 
 Leith Fort, 
 Unst, 
 
 m m 
 994.528685 
 994.935840 
 
 mm 
 994.524453 
 994.943O83 
 
 mm 
 -f 0.004232 
 —0.007243 
 
 The differences of the results, it will be seen, are 
 excessively minute, for they consist only in some thoii- 
 12 
 
 sand parts of a millimetre, which is equal to ~ Pendnlum. 
 
 ^ 1,000,000 ^*^>^ 
 of an English inch ; and they are besides affected with 
 contrary signs at Unst and at Leith. We may rea- 
 sonably conclude then, that they fall within the li- 
 mits of that uncertainty to which all physical results 
 are subject ; and it may therefore be inferred, that 
 the method of Borda and that of Captain Kater are 
 equally precise, and give both, with exactness, the 
 absolute measure of the pendulum. 
 
 In attempting to carry compound pendulums on 
 distant journeys, or when we are obliged to ob- 
 serve them in places where the apparatus cannot 
 be fixed to. solid buildings, this must necessarily 
 be modified, so as to be complete in itself. To 
 do this, we may prepare for the pendulum a 
 support of metal, made from a single casting, the 
 feet of which spreading out, can be firmly fixed 
 in the ground, while they allow the pendulum, at 
 the same time, to oscillate at freedom between 
 them. The upper part of this support must con- 
 sist of a plate having a longitudinal opening in it, to 
 allow the stem and knife of the pendulum to pass 
 through. On this is fixed, with long screws, a po- 
 lished plate pierced with a similar opening, and 
 which can be set horizontal with a spirit-level before 
 fixing it ; and it is on this plane that we place the 
 knife of the pendulum. A divided scale, unconnect- 
 ed with the pendulum, is placed horizontally, imme- 
 diately under the lower extremity of its stem, which 
 being furnished with a point, indicates, by its excur- 
 sions upon this scale, the amplitudes of the oscilla- 
 tions. In order, now, to determine the rate of the 
 pendulum's going, it is not always possible to pro- 
 cure the necessary facilities for employing the me- 
 thod of coincidences. In that case, we may substi- 
 tute for it the comparison of the pendulum with an 
 adjoining clock, or else with a chronometer, count- 
 ing as Bouguer did, the whole oscillations which the 
 pendulum performs during a given time, and de- 
 termining the fractions of oscillations, by observing 
 the part of the amplitude with which the point of 
 the stalk corresponds at the commencement and ter- 
 mination of the interval of the time observed. But 
 in making use of this last process, which is indispen- 
 sable for fixing the extreme terms of each compared 
 interval, we can dispense with the counting of the 
 oscillations one by one ; for, it will be sufficient to 
 follow them with a counter, the rate of which is ad- 
 justed very nearly to that of the experimental pen- 
 dulum, and which we take care from time to time 
 to regulate according to it ; accelerating or retard- 
 ing its motion by an impulse given to its lens before it 
 has lost or gained a whole oscillation. This last part 
 of the proceeding has been suggested by M. Arago, 
 and employed by Captain Freycinet in his voyage 
 round the world. Then it only remains to fix, by 
 observation, the position of the stem upon the arc of 
 amplitudes at the periods of comparison with the 
 chronometer or the clock, and from thence to deduce 
 the fractions of oscillations which the counter could 
 not indicate. These fractions may be obtained from 
 the mathematical law which regulates the motion of 
 the pendulum in each oscillation. If we call 2a the 
 whole amplitude with which the pendulum oscillates. 
 
PENDULUM. 
 
 131 
 
 Pendulum, grtd T the total time which it takes to describe it, also 
 ^/"^ g the arc which it describes, during the time t, in 
 falling from the extremity of this amplitude, the law 
 of the descent, limited to small amplitudes, gives 
 
 si=:2asin° 
 
 so that, by representing the 
 
 half. amplitude » by lOOO parts, and supposing t 
 successively equal to j% of T, or of the du- 
 
 ration of a whole oscillation, we obtain for s the fol- 
 lowing values ; 
 
 Values of t in 
 lOths of the 
 whole Oscil- 
 lation. 
 
 Portions of the 
 Half-Amplitude 
 described. 
 
 1 
 
 48.9 
 
 2 
 
 191.0 
 
 S 
 
 412.2 
 
 4> 
 
 691.0 
 
 5 
 
 1000.0 
 
 It would evidently be of no use to push the cal- 
 culation of these numbers beyond a half-amplitude, 
 since they must be symmetrical on each side of the 
 vertical, when the values of the time t are reckoned, 
 as they always can be, from the extremity of the 
 half-oscillation in which the pendulum actually is. 
 This being understood, the use of the table is easily 
 explained ; for the immediate observation gives the 
 demi-amplitude a at the period of the comparison 
 with the chronometer ; it gives also, at this instant, 
 the value of the arc s, according to the division on 
 the scale of amplitudes to which the stem of the pen- 
 dulum corresponds. Dividing s by a, the decimal 
 fraction which will hence result being multiplied by 
 the number 1000, may be compared with the num- 
 bers contained in the second column of the above 
 table ; and the first column will immediately give, 
 either directly or by interpolation, the fraction of 
 time corresponding to this position of the stem, a 
 fraction which must be added to the whole number 
 N of the preceding oscillations, if the pendulum is 
 on its descent towards the vertical, and subtracted 
 from N-f 1 if the pendulum is on its ascent towards 
 the end of the oscillation. 
 
 The experiments on the variation of gravity at dif- 
 ferent places on the earth were not at first made with 
 a free pendulum such as we have now described, 
 but with a pendulum adapted to a clock. It was in 
 this manner that Richer discovered the existence of 
 this phenomenon in l672, in a voyage which he 
 made to Cayenne by order of the Academy of Sci- 
 ences, for the prosecution of various researches in 
 physics and astronomy, among the number of which 
 was the measurement of the pendulum. On his ar- 
 rival at Cayenne, Richer remarked that his clock, the 
 weights of which had not been altered since his de- 
 parture, had a diurnal rate of going of 2' 28" slower 
 than at Paris ; and not only did this observation 
 prove the fact of the diminution of gravity, in going 
 from the pole towards the equator, but if we had 
 known the details, particularly in regard to the rela- 
 tive differences of temperature, we might then proba- 
 bly deduce a more certain and exact measure of this di- 
 
 minution than what can be drawn from the absolute **endulum. 
 length of the equatorial pendulum, determined by the v~*-' 
 same Richer at Cayenne, with the imperfect methods 
 which were then in use. We shall not dissemble that 
 this assertion requires some proof ; for the mode of 
 observing by clocks appears necessarily subject to 
 great uncertainty ; the pendulum's own motion be- 
 ing constrained or modified by the motion of the 
 wheels. But this influence is not, perhaps, in reali- 
 ty so great as one would be led to suppose ; in fact, 
 it is not the pendulum, but the weight applied to 
 the clock, which makes the wheels-move; the pendu- 
 lum merely regulates the intermittances in the fall 
 of this weight by its oscillations, which stop it and 
 set it free by turns ; and this alternation is per- 
 formed by means of the escapement which now 
 disengages itself from the teeth, and then lays hold 
 of them again. When it is disengaged, the action 
 of the weight which turns the wheel excites it, 
 and accelerates its fall in its descent. But, in the 
 ascending half-oscillation, which follows, the same 
 action confines the pendulum and retards it ; so 
 that these two contrary efforts, which both operate 
 with very slight degrees of friction, appear like the 
 resistance of the air, and every other constant fric- 
 tion to balance their mutual influences on the mo- 
 tion, in each whole oscillation, and merely to limit 
 the amplitude of the arcs in which this oscillation 
 takes place; a limitation which we can easily take into 
 account, by observing the amplitudes, and reducing 
 all the oscillations, by calculation, to the case of their 
 being infinitely small. It would be curious to make 
 experiments on this subject, and it would be easily 
 done ; for it would be sufficient to vary the weight 
 applied to a clock, and to see if the variations of 
 amplitude which would result are such that, in pay- 
 ing attention to them, the clock may be brought 
 back to its original rate. Some observations already 
 made indicate the exactness of this restitution, or at 
 least the very near approach to it. 
 
 In the travels in Lapland, for example, under- 
 taken by the French academicians in 1736, an ex- 
 cellent clock by Graham was carried out to be 
 employed for determining the variation of gravity. 
 This celebrated artist had constructed it for this pur- 
 pose, and had done so with very particular care. 
 In order to render it more steadily comparable with 
 itself, he had adapted to it a pendulum, formed of a 
 simple verge of copper, to the bottom of which was 
 affixed a lenticular mass of a constant weight ; and 
 he had provided pieces which raised the rod up 
 during the voyage, and kept its summit free from 
 all contact, so that the knife edge could not be al- 
 tered by any friction against the plane of suspen- 
 sion, although the rod was always at liberty to 
 follow the dilatations and contractions produced 
 by the changes of temperature. Now, in the ac- 
 count of the labours connected with this opera- 
 tion, which Maupertuis has published under the 
 title of Figure de la Terre Determinee, we fi™d, 
 that with tiie action of the weight, usually applied 
 to this clock, it made, at Paris, 86394".4, dur- 
 ing a revolution of the fixed stars, in describing arcs 
 of 2" 10' on each side of the vertical, while, with a 
 weight twice as small, it made 4" more, that is. 
 
PENDULUM. 
 
 1S2 
 
 Pendulum. 86398". 4 in the same interval^ describing arcs of 
 ^— -^y'-^ 1 o 15'. Now, if we apply here the correction relative 
 
 to the amplitude of the arcs, which is N sin^ a, 
 
 calling N the number of oscillations, and a the demi- 
 amplitude, we shall then find, that in the first case 
 it is necessary to add 7" 711 oscillations, and in the 
 second, 2"563, to reduce each of them to the case of 
 amplitudes infinitely small, which gives 86402.1 
 and 86401.0 for the total number of oscillations in- 
 finitely small in the two cases. These quantities 
 only differ by 1.1, and as the observations at this 
 period were not carried to a greater exactness than 
 this difference, it would be of no use to look for a 
 more perfect agreement between them. We have 
 still the example of a similar proof made by Graham 
 himself, upon another clock, which he had construct- 
 ed to determine the variation of gravity between Lon- 
 don and Jamaica ; an object for which it was really 
 employed ; its rate having been observed for this pur- 
 pose by Graham in London, and at Jamaica by C. 
 Campbell, a skilful observer, and the friend of Brad- 
 ley. In the account of this operation, which has 
 been given by Bradley himself, in No. 431 of the 
 Philosophical Transactions, it appears that Graham 
 having taken away the weight from this clock, 
 which was 12lb. lOioz. and having replaced it by 
 another of 6lb. 30°, the amplitudes of the oscilla- 
 tions, which v*^ere at first 3° 30', were reduced to 3°, 
 and the diurnal rate of the clock slackened by 1|". 
 Now, if we reduce each of these rates to the case of 
 amplitudes infinitely small, in taking successively 
 for a, 1° 45' and 1*^ 15', we find for the reduction in 
 the first case 5".03, in the second 2".6j of which the 
 difference is 2".4, instead of 1", which Graham had 
 observed ; and as this able artist had not had any 
 other end in view than to prove the small alteration 
 in the diurnal motion by a change of weight so con- 
 siderable, it is possible that he may not have taken 
 the same pains in determining the temperature and 
 other details of the observation, which he would 
 have done if he had been seeking to determine an 
 element of correction with a perfect accuracy. It ap- 
 pears very probable then, by these examples, that in 
 clocks constructed in this manner, the action of the 
 weight, transmitted by the wheels, accelerates the pro- 
 per motion of the pendulum, during each descend- 
 ing half-oscillation, as much nearly as it retards it in 
 the ascending half-oscillation which follows. So that 
 these opposite modifications seem to compensate each 
 other, at least with a sensible equality, in each com- 
 plete oscillation. Whence we may conclude with 
 equal probability, that the greater or less facility in the 
 motions, and iJie various energies of friction pro- 
 duced by the unequal tenacity of thp oil, at different 
 periods, and at different temperatures, can have but 
 a very small influence on the proper motion of 
 a pendulum, and which must become quite in- 
 sensible by employing an oil of tried perman- 
 ence of constitution ; and above all, by produ- 
 cing artificially, at all the stations, the same fixed 
 temperature as was done by the French academi- 
 cians in 1736, in their journies in Lapland, and also 
 by the intrepid English mariners in 1820, in their 
 memorable voyage to th^ North Pole. But admits 
 
 ting the constancy of the results obtained at the Pendulum 
 same place by this mode of observation, which, we ^"^^-"^ 
 repeat, still wants to be completely proved by new- 
 experiments, it is clear that no other method could 
 be more convenient. For it would be sufficient in 
 every place to prepare the clock ; to set it up, with 
 every precaution in levelling, which can place it in 
 a state and situation similar to itself; then to com- 
 pare its rate of going with the diurnal motion of the 
 heavens, either with a small transit instrument, or 
 even by means of a simple telescope, firmly fixed ta 
 some immoveable mass, and directed towards a star, 
 the diurnal return of which could be observed with 
 fixed wires, stretched in the focus. Messrs Breguet 
 have begun on this subject a series of experiments, 
 but as the processes for determining results of this 
 nature cannot be too severely scrutinized, we sincere- 
 ly wish that other observers would make similar at- 
 tempts, and publish the results deducible from them. 
 
 Use of the Pendulum in determining the Ob- 
 lateness OF THE Earth, and the Intensity 
 OF Gravity at different Latitudes. 
 
 According to the theory of universal attraction, if 
 we consider the earth and the planets as having been 
 originally masses in a fluid state, endowed with a 
 motion of rotation round themselves, they must have 
 taken the form of a spheroid, flattened at its poles ; 
 and the force of gravity, which is observed at their 
 surfaces, would then be the result of two distinct 
 forces, of which the one is the general attraction, ex- 
 erted upon each point of the surface by all the par- 
 ticles of matter in the spheroid, according to tiieir 
 masses and distances ; and the other is the centrifu- 
 gal force, excited at the same point by the motion of 
 rotation. But the intensity of the attraction, exerted 
 upon different points of the surface by the whole 
 mass, must be in general variable, as well as the cen- 
 trifugal force. The union of these two causes, then, 
 must produce in the force of gravity inequalities, 
 which observation may discover. But we may easi- 
 ly rid these inequalities of the effect of the centrifu- 
 gal force ; for this can be calculated for each point, ^ 
 when we know the dimensions of the spheroid, its 
 rotation, and the axis round which it turns. The 
 observations thus reduced present results which are 
 only dependant on the attraction of the spheroid up- 
 on which they are made ; and they may consequent- 
 ly serve to determine its exterior configuration, as 
 well as the laws of density, by which the attractive 
 matter is distributed through its interior. The re- 
 markable discovery of these relations, between tlie 
 force of gravity at the surface of the heavenly bo- 
 dies, and their form, as well as their internal con- 
 stitution, we owe to Newton ; and this great man, in 
 following them out, determined even the value of 
 the oblateness which the terrestrial spheroid ought 
 to have, supposing it elliptical and homogeneous, in 
 order to be in equilibrio with its actual velocity of- 
 its rotation. He thus found, that denoting by 9 the 
 observed ratio of the centrifugal force, to the force 
 of gravity at tlie equator, the oblateness of tlie sphe- 
 5 
 
 roid must be ; and as ^, from observation, may be 
 
PENDULUM. 
 
 133 
 
 Pendulum. -. j 
 
 ^-•i^' estimated for the earth at , or at 0.0034)6031, 
 
 289 
 
 5 1 
 
 there results the oblateness -®= . or 0.004325,* 
 
 4' 231 
 
 a quantity much superior to the observed value^ 
 0.00326 ; which shows that the terrestrial spheroid 
 is not homogeneous. But^-as this element of mea- 
 sure had not as yet been determined in the time 
 of Newton, he could not draw this consequence. 
 He confined himself, therefore, to the determi- 
 nation of the variations of gravity in the case of 
 the supposed homogeneity, and he found it, as it is 
 in fact, proportional to the square of the sine of 
 the latitude. But he erred in endeavouring to ex- 
 tend these determinations to the case of any ellip- 
 soid, composed of concentric strata of unequal den- 
 sity. For, finding that the observations of the pen- 
 dulum gave the actual variation of gravity in pro- 
 ceeding from the equator to the pole, greater than 
 the calculation established for the case of homo- 
 geneity, he thought that the oblateness ought to 
 increase at the same time with this variation, although 
 the real measures of degrees have since pointed out 
 the inverse of this result ; for they agreed in giv- 
 ing a slighter oblateness than 0.004325, with a more 
 considerable variation of gravity. Clairault, in 
 his admirable work on the figure of the earth, 
 was the first to point out this error which had 
 escaped Newton ; and he demonstrated at the same 
 time this remarkable theorem, that, in all the hy- 
 potheses, the most probable that can be form- 
 ed regarding the density of the interior parts of 
 the earth, which must always be supposed most 
 dense towards the centre, there is always such a 
 connection between the fraction which expresses 
 the difference of the axes, and that which ex- 
 presses the diminution of gravity from the pole to 
 the equator, that, if the one of these two fractions 
 exceeds 0.004325, the second will fall short of it by 
 the same quantity ; so that their sum must be always 
 equal to the double of 0.004325, or to 0.00865. In 
 this case, also, the length of the seconds pendulum 
 varies from the equator to the pole, in proportion to 
 the square of the sine of the latitude. Thus, calling 
 X this length at any latitude L, and A the length at 
 the equator itself, wehave in general X=A-|-B sin^L, 
 B being a constant coefficient, to be determined by 
 observation. It must be remarked, however, that 
 this result supposes the lengths of the pendulum, 
 to be observed, at the very surface of the terres- 
 trial spheroid ; for, in receding from this surface, al- 
 though at the same latitude, the intensity of gravity 
 diminishes nearly in proportion to the square of the 
 distance from the centre, and consequently the length 
 of the pendulum must diminish according to the same 
 law. Reciprocally, then, if we have observed this 
 length at any height k above the terrestrial surface, 
 and that we have found for it a value expressed by 
 / ; a being the radius of the earth at this latitude; the 
 
 length reduced to the level of the sea will be 
 OJ* l-\ — ^+^* this reduction may be simpli. 
 
 fied, by considering that, on account of the small height Pendulum. 
 
 to which we can rise above the earth's surface, - is al- 
 
 a 
 
 ways a fraction so excessively small, that the first power 
 of it is sufficient to be used. So that, limiting ourselves 
 to this order of approximation, the reduced length 
 
 will become Z+— . The terra — forms then the 
 a a 
 
 correction which the experiments require that they 
 may be reduced to the level of the sea, and thus ren- 
 dered comparable with each other. Such is, in fact, 
 the mode of reduction generally employed ; but we 
 must remark that it is itself subject to uncertainty. 
 For the mountains on which we ascend attract the 
 pendulum by virtue of their own mass; in con- 
 sequence of which, it becomes necessary to pay at- 
 tention to this attraction, that the reductions may 
 be made rigorously exact, instead of ap^ying the 
 bare formula, which supposes the observations to 
 have been made in the open atmosphere. But this 
 is an inconvenience which is unavoidable ; for it is 
 impossible to calculate exactly the peculiar attraction 
 of the masses on which we operate, since this would 
 require the knowledge of their relative density, and 
 even of the arrangement of the materials which en- 
 ter into their composition. But, as we cannot avoid 
 this uncertainty, we must endeavour to render it 
 as small as possible, by making our observations as 
 near the level of the sea as we are able. We must 
 then recollect, that, by ascribing at the highest sta- 
 tion the whole of the force of gravity to the sole 
 and distant action of the earth, we suppose it to be 
 more powerful than it really is. So that, by reduc 
 ing it on this hypothesis, to what it would really be 
 if it had been observed at the level of the sea itself, 
 we commit a double error ; the mountain's own at- 
 traction tending, in this second case, by its contrary 
 direction, to weaken the effect of gravity, which it had 
 before augmented. Fortunately, the excessive small- 
 ness of the highest mountains, compared with the 
 mass of the globe, must diminish extremely their 
 relative influence, and render equally minute the 
 errors which may arise from neglecting it. 
 
 To determine, now, the coefficients A and B of 
 the general formula, we shall employ the oblateness 
 
 0.00326, or 
 
 1 
 
 306.75 
 
 , which M. La Place has obtained 
 
 by submitting to a general and profound discussion, 
 the measures of the terrestrial degrees, and the 
 lunar equahties depending on the oblateness of the 
 earth. We shall join to it the length of the simple 
 pendulum of sexagesimal seconds, found by Biot 
 at the station of Unst, a length which, we think, may 
 be considered as one of the most certain that has been 
 observed. First, because having been the last of 
 the observations made by Borda's method, it must 
 have been taken with all the precautions suggested 
 by preceding experiments. Secondly, on account of 
 the great number of series from which it results, 
 these being 56 in number, and made with different 
 rules, and pendulums of unequal lengths, which all 
 agreed in assigning for the definitive result values 
 differing excessively little from each other. And, 
 
134 
 
 PENDULUM. 
 
 Penflulivm. Lastly, from the perfect agreement which is found 
 '^it^/^i^ between it and the results of the observations of Cap- 
 tain Kater. This single absolute length, together 
 with the oblateness 0.00326, will suffice for determin- 
 ing the two constant quantities A and B of the gene- 
 rA. formula, which expresses the length of the pendu- 
 lum at any latitude. Now, according to this formula, 
 the length of the pendulum at the equator, where L 
 is nothing, is equal to A, and at the pole, where 
 
 L=90°, it is A+B, So 
 
 that — is the relation of the 
 A 
 
 total variation of the pendulum to its absolute length 
 at the equator ; a ratio which is the same as that of 
 the increments of gravity to the absolute force of 
 
 gravity itself. Adding, then, to the oblateness 
 0.00326, we shall have, by the theorem of Clairault, 
 the following condition, — + 0.00326 = 0.00865, 
 
 whence we obtain B= A.0.00539, and, consequently, 
 X=A (1 +0.00539.sin^L). Now, we have seen above, 
 that at the station of Unst, in latitude 60° 45' 25", the 
 length of the sexagesimal seconds pendulum deter- 
 
 mm 
 
 mined by the observations of Biot, was 994.943105. 
 The height of this station was only 9^" above the 
 
 level of the sea, which gives for the reduction Pendulura. 
 -f-0.'"'"002818. Whence there results, at the level of "^"^^ 
 
 mm 
 
 the sea, the height 994.945923. Putting this value, 
 then, and that of L in the formula, the coefficient A, 
 
 mm 
 
 is determined, and we find A=990.879660. conse- 
 quently B=5. 340843 j which gives for any latitude L, 
 
 mm mm 
 
 X=990.879660-j-5.34084l sin^L. 
 If we wish to reduce this formula in English inches, 
 
 39.37079 
 
 all the terms must be multiplied by — * 
 
 tn. in. 
 
 X=39.0117150+0.21O2732 sin^ L. 
 Finally, if we wish to reduce it to the decimal pendu- 
 lum employed by the French observers in their calcu- 
 
 / 864\?, 
 
 Viooo/ 
 
 the ratio of the decimal to the sexagesimal pendulum. 
 We then have 
 
 mm mm 
 
 X=:739-687686+ 3.986917 sin^L. 
 If we calculate from this last formula, the lengths! 
 of the decimal pendulum, for the stations where the 
 French observers have operated, from Formentera 
 to Unst, and' compare them with their resultSj we 
 obtain the following table. 
 
 lations, we niust multiply the terms by 
 
 Names of the Places. 
 
 Unst, . . 
 Leith Fort, 
 Dunkirk, . 
 
 Paris, . . 
 
 Clermont, . 
 Bourdeaux, 
 Figeac, 
 Formentera, 
 
 Names of the 
 Observers. 
 
 Biot 
 
 Biot, Mudge 
 Biot, Mathieu 
 Biot, Mathieu,! 
 
 Bouvard J 
 Biot, Mathieu 
 Biot, Mathieu 
 Biot, Mathieu 
 Biot, AragOjChaix 
 
 North Latitudes. 
 
 60° 45' 25" 
 
 55 58 37 
 
 51 2 10 
 
 48 50 14 
 
 45 46 48 
 
 44 50 26 
 
 44 36 45 
 
 38 39 56 
 
 Length of the Decimal Pendulum at the 
 Level of the Sea, 
 
 Bv Calculation. 
 
 mm 
 
 742.728136 
 742.426416 
 742.O98O66 
 
 741.947360 
 
 741.735412 
 741.670048 
 741.654181 
 741.243950 
 
 By Observation. 
 
 Excess of Calcula- 
 tion. 
 
 mm 
 742.723136 
 742.413435 
 742.077030 
 
 741.917490 
 
 741.705180 
 741.608720 
 741.612280 
 741.252000 
 
 0.000000 
 -j-0.012981 
 +0.021036 
 
 -f- 0.029870 
 
 +0.030232 
 +0.061328 
 + 0.041.901 
 —0.008050 
 
 The progression of the deviations contained in the 
 last column of this table shows, in proceeding from 
 the north to the south, a progressive decrease of 
 gravity, greater in a slight degree than the elliptical 
 figure requires ; a result which had already been re- 
 marked in regard to Scotland and England by Captain 
 Kater. It may be observed here, that the absolute va- 
 lue of this variation for Unst, Leith, and Dunkirk, 
 agrees exactly with that which Captain Kater has 
 found, or what could be deduced from his experiments. 
 But the same effect is observed to continue through- 
 out France, being most sensible at the station of 
 Bourdeaux. It becomes less even at Figeac, situat- 
 ed more inland, and on a more solid base. It again 
 becomes nothing at Formentera> where the deviation 
 
 8 
 
 of the formula compared with observation is ^^^^ . 
 
 in a contrary direction, which would seem rather to 
 indicate a slight local excess in the intensity of gra- 
 
 vity. This singular anomaly, which is so stated, 
 in regard to the force of gravity, throughout the 
 terrestrial arc which extends over all this part of 
 Europe, is, without doubt, owing to peculiarities in 
 the geological constitution of the countries which 
 are situate on it ; and it appears by this example, 
 how well the observations of the pendulum are a- 
 dapted for pointing out the irregularities of this 
 constitution. But, for this purpose, the observa- 
 tions must possess so great a degree of exactness 
 that the peculiar uncertainties to which they are 
 liable may be, as we may suppose they were in 
 those which we have employed, much smaller than 
 the variations of constitvition which they are intend- 
 ed to indicate. Here it may be remarked, that the 
 part of France, where these variations are the most 
 sensible, are precisely the same where there were 
 found, by Delambre's observations, the greatest ano- 
 malies in the lengths of the degrees. 
 
Fendulum. 
 
 From the preceding formulse may be deduced 
 ' the variation in the diurnal rate which a compound 
 pendulum, of an invariable form, must present when 
 carried to different latitudes. If we denote by 
 N, N', the number of oscillations of this pendulum 
 at two different stations, where the lengths of the 
 simple seconds pendulum are X, X', we have shown 
 
 aJx)ve that -=-:^, whence N'^—- .^2, Now,calling 
 
 L> L' the latitudes of the two stations, the above for- 
 mulas give the values of X and of X', as well as their 
 relations ; substituting, then, these values in the pre- 
 
 PENDULUM. 
 
 Whence we deduce 
 
 Bsin(L'+L)sift(L'— L) 
 
 135 
 
 I^ndxilum. 
 
 ceding equation, we obtain 
 
 "A+B sin^L 
 
 An expression by means of which we can calculate 
 N' when we know N. 
 
 The total variation of gravity from the equator to the 
 pole is so inconsiderable, that the difference between 
 tlie numbers N, N' is always very small compared with 
 these numbers tliemselves. This difference, then, is the 
 element which we must try to put in evidencfe in the 
 formulae. Butnothingis easier; for, if wedenoteit by n, 
 so tliat N'is represented by N-|-n,the preceding equa- 
 
 tioD will become N^-f-SwN+n^ — 
 
 A + Bsin^ L / 
 A+B sin-L 
 
 N2. 
 
 A+B sin ^ L 
 and resolving the value of N into a series, 
 r B sin (L'+L) sin (L'— L) ^ 
 .7 2 (A+B sin^ L) 
 • ^_B2 sin2(L'+L)sin2(L'— L) 
 
 n— < 
 
 :.N...&c 
 
 8(A + Bsin2 Lf 
 
 But from the value of the oblateness which we have 
 adopted, we have seen that B is equal to A. 0.00539. 
 Substituting this value in our series, it becomes 
 
 i 0.00539- N. sin(L^+L) sin (L^— -L ) 
 _ ) 2(1 +0.00539 sin2 L 
 
 "~ i — 0.000029N. sin2(L^+L) sin^ (L^— L) 
 8(1 +0.00539 sin2 L)" ' ' 
 
 The second term will be almost always insensible, 
 and it will be quite needless to take in any of the 
 following ones. 
 
 To show the use of this formula, we shall apply it 
 to the following observations, which belong to the, 
 most distant countries on the earth. 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Number of Oscilla- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 tions performed by 
 
 Variation of 
 
 Variation of 
 
 
 Names of the Ob- 
 servers. 
 
 Names of the Sta- 
 tions. 
 
 Longitudes, reckon- 
 ed from Greenwich. 
 
 
 Latitudes. 
 
 
 the Compound Pen- 
 dulum in a Sidereal 
 Day, or in a Mean 
 Solar Day, at the 
 
 the Diurnal 
 Rate, by Ob- 
 
 the Diurnal 
 Rate, by 
 
 Excess of 
 Observation. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 servation. 
 
 Calculation. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 same Temperature. 
 
 
 
 
 G. Graham & C. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Campbell, in 
 1731 & 1732, 
 
 ^ Jamaica, 
 
 76° 
 
 45' 
 
 15" 
 
 w. 
 
 18" 
 
 0' 
 
 0" 
 
 N. 
 
 86283.0 ^ 
 
 118"2 
 
 119"96 
 
 — 1"76 
 
 
 London, 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 
 51 
 
 31 
 
 0 
 
 N. 
 
 86401.2 j 
 
 
 
 
 Maupertuis, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 86394.4 i 
 
 
 
 
 Clairault, Le- 
 
 |- Paris, 
 
 2 
 
 20 
 
 15 
 
 E. 
 
 48 
 
 50 
 
 14 
 
 N. 
 
 
 
 
 monnier, 1738, 
 
 Pello, 
 
 
 
 
 
 66 
 
 48 
 
 0 
 
 N. 
 
 864.S3.5 i 
 
 59 1 
 
 64 70 
 
 —5 60 
 
 Graliam, 1738, 
 
 London, 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 
 51 
 
 31 
 
 0 
 
 N. 
 
 86402.1 ) 
 
 51 4 
 
 53 85 
 
 —2 45 
 
 Freycinet, . 
 
 Paris, 
 
 2 
 
 20 
 
 15 
 
 E. 
 
 48 
 
 50 
 
 14 
 
 N. 
 
 89143.8 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 Rio Janeiro, 
 
 43 
 
 18 
 
 37 
 
 W. 
 
 22 
 
 55 
 
 2 
 
 S. 
 
 89048.8 ( 
 
 
 
 
 
 Cape of Good | 
 Hope, j 
 
 ' 18 
 
 24 
 
 0 
 
 E. 
 
 33 
 
 55 
 
 15 
 
 S. 
 
 89086.4 / 
 
 95 0 
 57 4 
 
 99 43 
 61 10 
 
 —4 43 
 —3 70 
 
 Sabine, 1818, 
 
 London, 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 
 51 
 
 31 
 
 8 
 
 N. 
 
 86497.40 ) 
 
 33 11 
 
 65 24 
 
 31 82 
 62 46 
 
 + 1 29 
 4-2 78 
 
 
 Brassay, 
 Hare Island, 
 
 
 
 
 
 60 
 70 
 
 9 
 26 
 
 42 
 17 
 
 N. 
 N. 
 
 86530.51 r 
 86562.64 ) 
 
 Sabine, 1820, 
 
 London, 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 
 51 
 
 31 
 
 8 
 
 N. 
 
 86455.65 1 
 
 74 73 
 
 73 93 
 
 +0 80 
 
 Melville Island, 
 
 110 
 
 49 
 
 0 
 
 W. 
 
 74 
 
 47 
 
 14 
 
 N. 
 
 86530.38 J 
 
 The experiments of Captain Sabine were made 
 with two pendulums applied to two different clocks, 
 the results of which have agreed very well in their 
 relations. We have only stated here the mean of 
 these results. The observations of Maupertuis, Clair- 
 ault, and Lemonnier, were made by a process of the 
 same kind, but with a single clock by Graham. In 
 tliese two expeditions the observers produced artifi- 
 cially at the second station the same temperature as 
 at the first. In the operation by Campbell, the same 
 
 pains were not taken ; but in Bradley's computations, 
 an allowance was naade according to the indications 
 of the thermometers. The experiments of Captain 
 Freycinet were made on detached pendulums, the 
 rate of which, first determined by Arago, Ma- 
 thieu, and himself, at the Royal Observatory of Pa- 
 ris, was compared in the voyage with well regulated 
 chronometers, making allowance, by calculation, for 
 the changes of temperature. The smallness and the 
 irregularity of tlie differences which are found be- 
 
136 
 
 PENDULUM. 
 
 Pendulum, tween the results of these different experiments, and 
 the numbers given bji, the formula^ show that the lat- 
 ter is the general expression of them, modified only by 
 the accidental variations which may be occasioned in 
 each place by small differences of density in the 
 neighbouring strata of the surface of the earth. The 
 formula being grounded upon the oblateness 0.00326, 
 
 its agreement with the facts proves that 
 
 326.75' 
 
 this value of the oblateness, if not rigorously exact, is 
 least a very near approximation, and is, besides, 
 common to the two hemispheres of the globe, since 
 the observations of Captain Freycinet in the south- 
 em hemisphere, at the Cape of Good Hope, are as 
 correctly represented by it as the observations made 
 in the northern hemisphere. This puts an end, 
 then, to the notion entertained after the measure- 
 ment of the degree by Lacaille in this part of the 
 globe, that the southern hemisphere was more oblate 
 than the northern ; a notion, however, already much 
 weakened by the agreement of the oblateness ob- 
 served in this latter hemisphere with that which 
 was deduced from the inequalities of the moon ; 
 since the motion of this satellite must be influenced 
 by the mean of the two ellipticities if they were 
 different ; but it was nevertheless of consequence 
 to see this suspicion wholly extinguished, as it is now 
 by Freycinet's observations. 
 
 The general experiments on the length of the 
 pendulum which we have above described, being 
 verified by the different observations by which we 
 have compared them, will serve to determine the 
 intensity of gravity, whether absolute or relative, on 
 any of the places of the terrestrial globe. For, call- 
 ing X the length of the simple pendulum, which 
 makes its oscillations in a second of time in a given 
 place, and denoting by g the double of the space 
 which gravity makes bodies describe in their fall in 
 the same place, and during the same interval of a se- 
 cond, the fundamental formula of oscillations, infinite- 
 ly small, gives l"=:^r^-, consequently g='T^/^,'y be- 
 
 ing the ratio of the circxmiference to the diameter, 
 or 3.14159. But we have already given for any la- 
 titude the value of X expressed in millemetres and 
 in English inches, taking for the unity of time either 
 the decimal or the sexagesimal second. Multiplying 
 these expressions by the square of t, we shall have 
 the value of ^ for the same latitude, and the same 
 kind of unity of time which may be chosen. 
 
 It may be objected, that we have not made use of 
 the lengths of the simple pendulum observed under 
 the equator by Bouguer, and detailed in his work on 
 the figure of the earth. The reason is, that, notwith- 
 standing of the ability of Bouguer, as a philosopher 
 and an observer, and the infinite pains which he took 
 in his measurements of the pendulum, it appears to 
 
 us, on account of the nature of the processes he made Pendulum, 
 use of, that they are too inexact to be employed with 
 advantage. The method of Bouguer consisted in 
 forming a sort of simple pendulum, with a very 
 small weight suspended to a stem, the other extre- 
 mity of which was attached to a pincer fixed into a 
 solid wall. He made this little pendulum always of 
 the same length, by comparing it with an iron rule, 
 which served him for a standard; after which he 
 determined the value of its oscillations by comparing 
 its rate with that of a clock regulated by the hea- 
 vens. But M. La Place has justly remarked, that 
 the bending of the stem at the point of suspension, 
 where it is inserted into the pincer, must produce 
 the same effect on the oscillations as a contraction in 
 the wire ; so that the length, measured in a state of 
 repose, must be too great, and would appear to give 
 the pendulum too long. This effect, indeed, must 
 have been produced on all the lengths given by 
 Bouguer, since they were all observed in the same 
 manner. From that it would seem that these obser- 
 vations might at least be employed in comparison 
 with each other, and in that case, give exact ratios. 
 But the process by which Bouguer judged of the 
 length of his little pendulum, and compared it with 
 his standard rule, appears to us not accurate enough 
 for giving a sufficient certainty in his results. For it 
 consisted in laying this rule close to the pendulum, 
 placing its upper end in contact with the point, and 
 judging of its equality by the eye, in comparing it with 
 the pendulum at its lower extremity. But no one, 
 by such an operation, can answer for an exactness 
 greater than ^^jj of a line. Now ^^^^ of a line being 
 equal to -^-q of a millimetre, such an error, with the 
 methods now actually employed, would be account- 
 ed gross, and such indeed as, with the least attention, 
 it is quite impossible to commit. These results can- 
 not then be compared with the observations which 
 are made now ; and, unfortunately, the same remark 
 applies with equal justice to the measurements of the 
 absolute lengths of the pendulum which were made 
 about the same period, as well in France as in various 
 other parts of the globe. We think it extremely 
 probable, that to the want of exactness in the me- 
 thods employed at that time may be ascribed, at least 
 in a great measure, the strange anomalies observed by 
 Grischow in the lengths of the pendulum, in the 
 neighbourhood of Petersburgh, between stations 
 very little distant from each other; anomalies so 
 much more justly suspected, since the different in- 
 struments employed by Grischow to establish them 
 are far from agreeing with each other. Nevertheless, 
 for removing entirely all suspicion with regard to a 
 point so important, it would be a useful undertaking 
 to repeat these experiments in the same places where 
 Grischow's observations were made ; employing for 
 this purpose our present much more accurate me- 
 thods, (z. z.) . 
 
 1 
 
PER 
 
 Pertlishite. PENITENTIARIES. See Prison Discip- 
 
 Situation, PERTHSHIRE, a county in Scotland, having the 
 '^'vf^oniT^ shire of Inverness and Aberdeen on the north ; An- 
 gus or Forfar, Fife, and Kinross, on the east ; Clack- 
 mannan and Stirling on the south ; and Dunbarton 
 and Argyle on the west ; contains, according to the 
 latest authorities, 2638 square miles, of which 50 
 are occupied by lakes ; or, in all, 1,688,320 English 
 acres ; being, next to Inverness-shire, the largest 
 county on the mainland of Scotland. It is situated 
 between 56^ T and 56" 35' north latitude, and be- 
 tween 3" 6' and 4" 47' west longitude, from Green- 
 wich. Its greatest extent, from east to west, is 
 about 77 miles, and from north to south 68. It was 
 axiciently, and is still, popularly divided into eight 
 districts : Atholl on the north, Storniont on the 
 north-east, Perth Proper and Gowrie on the east, 
 Strathearn on the south, Monteith on the south- 
 west, Breadalbane on the west, and Rannoch on the 
 north-west. It is under the jurisdiction of one she- 
 riflF, who has substitutes in the towns of Perth and 
 Dunblane, and is divided into seventy-nine parishes, 
 rfecc. Iri ^ general view, this extensive county may be 
 
 divided into Highlands and Lowlands ; the former 
 occupying a space so much greater than the latter, 
 that not quite so much as a third part of the whole 
 is fit for cultivation. This last portion is chiefly, 
 though not without considerable e^xceptions, situated 
 on the eastern and southern extremities, which con- 
 tain some of the richest tracts in Britain ; and in the 
 great plain of Strathmore which has the Grampians 
 on the north-west, and the Ochiis and Sidlaw Hills 
 on the east ; varying in breadth from ten to fifteen 
 miles, and extending through this and the conti- 
 guous counties, from sea to sea, a distance of 100 
 miles. To the west, where the Grampians, at first 
 rising gently, rear their rocky or heath-covered sum- 
 mits to the height of 4000 feet, and for almost the 
 whole breadth of the county, the high grounds are 
 penetrated by straths and glens, some of them of 
 considerable extent, each traversed by its own moun- 
 tain streams,' and diversified by numerous lakes, many 
 of which, having their wild and lofty banks covered 
 with natural wood, present scenes singularly roman- 
 tic and beautiful. At least seven of these mountains 
 are upwards of 3000 feet high : the three highest 
 being Benlawers, on the west side of Loch Tay ; 
 • Benmore, south-west ; and Schehallion, north-east: 
 the latter noted as the station chosen by Dr Mas- 
 kelyne, Astronomer Royal, to make observations 
 on the attraction of mountains. The most consi- 
 derable lakes are — Loch Tay, almost in the centre 
 of the Highland district, about fifteen miles long, 
 and one broad, with a depth varying from fifteen to 
 one hundred fathoms ; Loch Ericht, on the north- 
 west, extending into Inverness-shire, still longer, but 
 not so broad ; Loch Rannoch, south-east of the for- 
 mer, twelve miles long; Loch Earn, south from Loch 
 Tay ; and Lochs Vennachar, Achray, and Katrine, 
 on the south-west ; the last of which, with the wild 
 mountain scenery around it, called the Trosachs, 
 has acquired deserved celebrity, from Sir Walter 
 Scott's Ladi/ of the Lake. Most of the streams 
 either have their source in these lochs, or receive, 
 
 VOL. VI. PART I. 
 
 PER 
 
 137 
 
 as they flow through them, a great accession to their Eerthshfre. 
 waters. The rivers are the Tay, the Forth, the 
 Earn, the Teath, and the Isla ; of which the two l^ivers. 
 first are by far the most considerable, though tlie 
 Forth does not attain its full size till it has left this 
 county. The Tay, the largest river in Scotland, and 
 the Earn, belong exclusively to Perthshire. The 
 Tay, under the name of the Dochart, has its sourcE 
 on the western confines, and soon after entering 
 Loch Dochart, flows from thence north-east till it 
 falls into Loch Tay. After leaving Loch Tay, from 
 which it now takes its name, it pursues first a north- 
 easterly and then a southerly course towards Dun- 
 keld, from which it proceeds eastward, and then 
 south, through a very rich country, till it falls into 
 the Frith of that name, a little below the town of 
 Perth ; having been joined by the Almond and many 
 other streams in its course, which, with all its wind- 
 ings, is not less than ninety miles. The salmon 
 fishery on this river yields a rent of about L. 7000 
 a-year. South of Loch Tay is Loch Earn, where 
 the river of that name has its source, and which, 
 flowing east and south, through Strathearn and by 
 the town of Crieff, after a course of twenty-four 
 miles, falls into the Frith of Tay at Rhind. On the 
 banks of this river, near its confluence with the Tay, 
 is the village of Pitcaithly, long celebrated for its 
 mineral springs, which have lately found a rival at 
 Dunblane, on the southern side of the county. 
 
 The climate of this extensive district, so different Climate, 
 in elevation and exposure, varies considerably. In 
 the central parts, the winters are stormy and very se- 
 vere, the snow lying long, attended with keen frost ; 
 and on the banks of the rivers in this quarter, hoar- 
 frosts are frequent in summer, and very injurious to 
 the crops. On the east, the climate is mild and sa- 
 lubrious. At Longforgan, in the Carse of Gowrie, 
 on the banks of the Frith of Tay, the thermometer, 
 on an average of twelve years, stood at 50°, and the. 
 mean annual quantity of rain was 24.496 inches ; 
 and at Belmont, in Strathmore, for a period of ten 
 years, the average height of the thermometer was 
 46.35, and the yearly quantity of rain during thirty 
 years' observation 30.40 inches. 
 
 Perthshire, as far as yet known, does not abound Minerals, 
 in useful minerals. There is no coal but at Cul- 
 ross, on a small detached tract lying on the Forth, 
 south-east from the rest of the county ; and, for want 
 of coal, limestone, which is found in many parts, is 
 of little value, though it is sometimes imperfectly 
 calcined by means of peat. Some years ago, a ma- 
 chine was erected for pounding limestone, with the 
 view of employing it in that state as a manure ; but 
 the experiment was not persisted in. In the higher 
 grounds, the prevailing rock is granite, and in the 
 lower sandstone. Slates are found in many parts of 
 the Highlands, but none in the low country. Cop- 
 per, lead, and ironstone^ occur in some parts ; and 
 mines of the two former were once worked, but are 
 now abandoned. Shell marl, which has been long 
 used as a manure, abounds in Storraont and Strath- 
 earn, on the east side of the county. 
 
 On so gr.?at a variety of surface, every description Soil, 
 of soil occurs that is found in Scotland. That which 
 distinguishes this district, though it is not peculiar to 
 s 
 
138 
 
 PER 
 
 Perthshire, it, is the alluvial soil on the banks of the rivers, which 
 ■^—■■^^"^ is of considerable extent, and in many parts of the 
 richest quality. The Carse of Gowrie, in particular, a 
 tract of about 18,000 acres, lying along the north and 
 north-west banks of the Frith of Tay, has been long 
 celebrated for its fertility. Here there are upwards 
 of twenty orchards, of all sizes, from one to twenty- 
 four acres each. Perthshire has all the kinds of 
 game common in other parts of the Highlands of 
 Scotland, with red and fallow deer, and roes, rabbits, 
 pigeons, and poultry. 
 Estates and The territory of Perthshire was divided, in 1811, 
 Seats. into 755 estates, of which 621 were under L. 500 
 Scots of valuation, and 95 above L. 2000 ; the va- 
 luation of the whole being L. 339,892, 6s. 9d. Scots, 
 the highest of any of the Scottish counties except- 
 ing Fifeshire. The real rent, as returned under the 
 Property-Tax Act in 1811, was, for the lands, 
 L. 4^60,738, 13s. lid. Sterling, and for the houses, 
 L. 36,697, 19s. 7d. This land-rent, which is more 
 than that of any of the other counties by almost one- 
 thirdj is equal to about a tenth part of the rent of all 
 Scotland ; yet it is only at the rate of about 5s. 6d. 
 the English acre. In the same year, the number of 
 freeholders entitled to vote in the election of a 
 member for the county was 178. Tbere are more 
 oak-woods, and these of a greater value, here than in 
 all the rest of Scotland, and very extensive planta- 
 tions of all sorts of trees, particularly larch, have 
 been made within the last 50 years ; of which, those 
 of the Duke of AthoU are of great extent, and now 
 of immense value. The county is much ornamented 
 by the numerous seats of the proprietors, of whom 
 12 or 13 are noblemen. Among these are Blair 
 Castle and Dunkeld House — Duke of Atholl ; Tay- 
 mouth — Earl of Breadalbane ; Scone — Earl of Mans- 
 field ; Dupplin Castle — Earl of Kinnoul ; and Du- 
 nira — Lord Melville. 
 Farms. The general size of the farms in the Lowlands is 
 
 from loo to 300 acres. In the Highlands, the same 
 system prevails that we have adverted to in describ- 
 ing the other Highland counties of Scotland ; though 
 here, as elsewhere, it is slowly giving way to one 
 better adapted to the present times. In the crops, 
 live stock, and general management of farms, we 
 find nothing peculiar, except, perhaps, that flax 
 is cultivated to a greater extent than in the southern 
 counties of Scotland. On the Carse of Gowrie, the 
 
 PER 
 
 highest rented land of the same extent in Britain, Perthshire, 
 if we except the immediate neighbourhood of a few "^-—v-^-^ 
 great towns, the order of cropping, after a plain fal- 
 low is — wheat, beans, and pease, barley with seeds, 
 hay, and oats ; and under this course, some of the 
 best land yielded, so far back as 1795, a money-rent 
 of 3 Is. with three bushels of wheat, and about four 
 and a half bushels of barley — altogether, at the prices 
 during the late war, equal to four guineas the Scots 
 acre. 
 
 This county has only two royal burghs, Perth the Towns, 
 county town, and Culross. Perth is a place of great 
 antiquity, formerly the usual residence of the Scot- 
 tish sovereigns, who were crowned at Scone in its 
 vicinity, and the seat of parliaments and courts 
 of justice. Some of the most important events in 
 Scottish history, both of a religious and military de- 
 scription, occurred here. (See the article Perth 
 in the EncyclopcBcLia.) It is now a well built thriv- 
 ing town, containing (in 1811) about 17,000 inhabit- 
 ants. About 70 other towns and villages are scat- 
 tered over the county, the most considerable of which 
 have been already described in the Encyclopcedia. 
 
 The manufactures of Perthshire are linen, cotton, Manufac- 
 leather, paper, and a variety of minor articles. It tures and 
 has extensive bleachfields, printfields, and cotton- Commerce, 
 mills, with mills for extracting oil from the seeds of 
 flax and rape, and for the spinning of flax and wool. 
 Its exports are corn, linen and linen-yarn, cottons, 
 boots and shoes, salmon, with coals from the ports 
 of Kincardine and Culross on the Frith of Forth ; 
 and it imports some of the materials of its manufac- 
 tures, lime in gre^t quantities, and articles requir- 
 ed for domestic consumption. In I8O6, there be- 
 longed to the port of Perth 35 vessels, of 2635 tons 
 in all, with 153 seamen. 
 
 The county of Perth sends one member to Par- Representa- 
 liament ; and the towns of Perth and Culross have a tion. 
 share in the election of other two for the burghs ; 
 Perth being classed with St Andrews, Cupar Fife, 
 Dundee, and Forfar; and Culross with Stirling, 
 Dunfermline, Inverkeithing, and Queensferry. 
 
 The population, according to the census of 1801 
 and 1811, is exhibited in the following abstract. 
 
 See the general works quoted under the former 
 Scottish counties, and Robertson's General Vietu of 
 the Agriculture of Perthshire. 
 
 (a.) 
 
 1800. 
 
 HOUSES. 
 
 PERSONS. 
 
 OCCUPATIONS. 
 
 
 Inhabited. 
 
 By how 
 many 
 
 Families 
 occu- 
 pied. 
 
 Uninhabited. 
 
 Males. 
 
 Females. 
 
 Persons 
 chiefly em- 
 ployed in 
 Agricvd- 
 ture. 
 
 Persons 
 chiefly em- 
 ployed in 
 Trade, Ma- 
 nirfactures, 
 or Handi- 
 craft. 
 
 AU other 
 Persons not 
 comprised 
 in the two 
 preceding 
 classes. 
 
 Total of 
 Persons. 
 
 23,382 
 
 28,971 
 
 952 
 
 58,808 
 
 67,558 
 
 24,4)04 
 
 22,773 
 
 76,885 
 
 126,366 
 
 11 
 
PER 
 
 PER 
 
 1811. 
 
 HOUSES. 
 
 PERSONS. 
 
 OCCUPATIONS. 
 
 
 Inhabited. 
 
 By how 
 many 
 Families 
 occu- 
 pied. 
 
 Uninhabited. 
 
 Males. 
 
 Females. 
 
 Families 
 chiefly em- 
 ployed in 
 Agricul- 
 ture. 
 
 Families 
 chiefly em- 
 ployed in 
 Trade, Ma- 
 nufactures, 
 or Handi- 
 craft. 
 
 All other 
 
 Families not 
 comprised 
 in the two 
 preceding 
 classes. 
 
 Total of 
 Persons. 
 
 26,404 
 
 29,9.98 
 
 886 
 
 64,034 
 
 71,059 
 
 8,528 
 
 11,721 
 
 9,749 
 
 135,093 
 
 PERU. 
 
 1 HE name of this country has been so long associat- 
 ed, in the minds of Europeans, with the idea of prodi- 
 gious wealth, that it has created an interest very far be- 
 yond its real importance, either as a colony of Spain, 
 or as the future theatre of a great independent 
 state. 
 
 The early history of the conquest of Peru by 
 Pizzaro and his associates, the vast plunder which 
 was shared amongst them, the dissensions which pre- 
 vailed after the extirpation of the family of the former 
 sovereigns, and the ultimate tranquillity into which 
 the country settled under the colonial administration of 
 Spain, have been fully narrated in the Encyclopcedia ; 
 and there only remains in this Supplement the duty of 
 communicating such statements of the more recent 
 and actual state of Peru, as shall bring down to the 
 present period the account given of it in that work ; 
 and to correct those errors which a paucity of mate- 
 rials, in general circulation, were likely to produce. 
 Boundaries When Peru was first reduced to the obedience of the 
 and Extent. Crown of Spain, it was the largest of any of the govern- 
 ments founded in America. It has since been reduced, 
 at two periods, in order to give such extension to other 
 provinces, as should entitle them to the rank of vice- 
 royalties. In the year 1718, the province, or, as it 
 is sometimes called, the kingdom of Quito, was sepa- 
 rated from Peru, and added to the government of 
 New Granada. In the year 1778, when the Court 
 of Madrid had resolved on erecting the province of 
 Buenos Ayres into a viceroyalty, the province of 
 Potosi, the district surrounding it, the cities of La 
 Paz, La Plata, and the fertile district of Cochabamba, 
 were separated from Peru, to form a part of the 
 newly extended government. As, during the civil 
 wars, which have raged from 1810 to the present 
 time, those provinces have been wrested from the 
 dominion of Spain, they are likely, in future, to ap- 
 pertain to that division of South America which 
 will be included in the territories of Buenos Ayres 
 or La Plata, rather than to that which will include 
 either Peru or Chili. 
 
 The present boundary of Peru to the north is the 
 small river Tumbez, in latitude 3° 26' south, and lon- 
 gitude 80° 6' west from Greenwich ; which river di- 
 vides it from New Granada. To the south the bound- 
 ary is the chain of mountains of Vilca-Nota, which 
 terminates at the river Loa in latitude IS'*. The 
 extent of the coast of Peru is thus about 700 geogra- 
 phical miles, but as the sinuosities of the shore are 
 
 considerable, the whole frontage to the ocean is up- 
 wards of 1000 miles. The eastern boundaries of 
 Peru are not clearly defined. They extend to the 
 vast plains claimed by Portugal, as a part of Brazil, 
 denominated the Pampas del Sacramento, and far- 
 ther north to Colonna, or the Land of the Missions, 
 inhabited by unreclaimed Indian tribes. The me- 
 dium breadth is about 80 leagues, according to 
 Humboldt, who estimates the whole area of Peru to 
 be 30,000 square leagues. 
 
 The lands of Peru may be divided into three First Di«- 
 classes, according to their height above the sea. A trict. 
 narrow strip of sandy plain bounds the whole western 
 coast, with intervals of many leagues between the 
 different towns and cities, in which neither inhabit- 
 ant nor any traces of vegetation are visible. It is 
 only where the torrents from the high lands form 
 rivers, which are few in number, and of short course, 
 that any agricultural productions are raised. Under 
 this sandy soil, however, springs are in general to be 
 found, whilst the surface is most strongly impreg- 
 nated with nitre. As far as the cultivation of this 
 district extends, it is powerfully aided by a species 
 of manure which is peculiar to the coast of Peru, 
 whose fertile qualities seem to be derived from the 
 singular circumstance of no rain falling there. On 
 the islands, which are the resting-places of millions 
 of aquatic birds, their dung has accumulated in the 
 course of ages, so as to form hills of more than 100 
 feet in height, close to the shore ; from whence it is 
 conveyed by small vessels to the parts of the main- 
 land where cultivation is practised. The dung thus 
 collected, not having its salts washed by rain, and 
 being but slightly affected by the rays of the sun, 
 has retained, as appeared by the analysis of Sir 
 Humphrey Davy, a greater portion of ammonia than 
 any substance that has been applied to the purposes 
 of manuring land. The quantity that is administer- 
 ed by the Peruvians is minutely small, and unless di- 
 luted, never suffered to come in contact with the 
 roots of the plants which are designed to be raised. 
 Its fructifying powers, as described by those who 
 have witnessed its effects, especially when applied to 
 the different species of capsicums, which form the 
 chief food of the more numerous classes, exceed 
 every thing that has been re'^ated of any other stimu- 
 lant. 
 
 On the track of land we are describing, varying 
 in breadth from six to about twenty leagues, little or 
 
140 
 
 PERU. 
 
 met. 
 
 Peru, no r-ain ever falls, and thunder and lightning are un- 
 known. The lofty mountains to the eastward inter- 
 cept the clouds from the Atlantic Ocean, and the 
 constant winds from the south drive the clouds that 
 oollect in the Antarctic Circle beyond the limits of 
 Peru before they discharge their waters. Although 
 BO rain falls in this district, commonly distinguished 
 as " Lower Peru," the dew that descends during the 
 night is very heavy, and uniform. The constant 
 evaporation that is thus going on produces a haziness 
 fn the atmosphere, and the sun seldom appears with 
 that brilliancy which it displays in the higher le- 
 vels. The heat is seldom so intense as to prevent 
 the labourers from working in the open air, and the 
 thermometer rarely rises to above 75 degrees. The 
 medium height through the year, in which there is 
 little variation, is about 64^. 
 
 In this district are produced most of the tropical 
 plants. The plantain, banana, pine-apple, sugar- 
 cane, vine, cocoa, olive, coffee, and cotton, as well as 
 the most delicious fruits, some, such as the chiremoya 
 and the frutilla, peculiar to the country, arrive at 
 great perfection. 
 SajoDd Us- The next division of Peru consists of that range 
 ^^''^ of the Andes nearest to the Pacific Ocean, commen- 
 cw<y generally with hills of moderate elevation, but 
 in some parts with bold projecting and abrupt pre - 
 cipices. The sides of these hills are covered with 
 forests, rendered almost impenetrable by the nume- 
 rous parasitical plants which twine round the lofty 
 trees ; and whilst, by their verdure, they give beauty 
 to the scenery, prevent the access of visitants until a 
 path is cut by severe labour. These forests afford 
 acacias, mangle trees, arborescent brooms, and ferns ; 
 aloes and other succulent plants; cedars, cotton, 
 Or Cuba trees of gigantic magnitude, many kinds 
 af ebony, and other useful woods, many species of 
 palms, and the maria, a tree of enormous size, used 
 in ship-building. The valleys between these hills 
 afford most of the trees which are natives of the tro- 
 pics ; few of them are well calculated for the pur. 
 poses of building. 
 
 The district called Higher Peru, commencing at 
 the termination of the sands on the shore, continues 
 increasing gradually in height towards the eastward, 
 till the ridge of the Andes or the Cordilleras is at- 
 tained. 
 
 The line of perpetual snow is about 14,000 feet 
 above the level of the sea, and from that line up- 
 wards vegetation necessarily ceases ; below it the 
 plants, by regular gradations, display the nature of 
 the climate, and its adaptation to the various families 
 of vegetables ; and, in different parts, exhibit every 
 species of production which can be found from the 
 dwarf plants of Lapland, to the odoriferous spices 
 of Sumatra. 
 
 This portion of Peru contains the sources of those 
 vast rivers which traverse the whole continent of 
 South America. Their streams, for the most part, 
 ran to the Atlantic Ocean. The few that run to 
 the Pacific are of short course, and do not yield co- 
 pious supplies. It has been said, with what degree 
 of accuracy it would be difficult to determine, that 
 the river Thames conveys to the sea a greater sup- 
 ply of water than is emptied into the Pacific by all 
 the rivers of Peru. The rivers, on the other hand, 
 
 p€ru. 
 
 which empty themselves into the Atlantic, are the 
 greatest on the face of the globe. The Magdalena, 
 the Meta, the Orinoco, and the Amazons, commence 
 in this portion of the Andes, take varying and most 
 tortuous courses in descending from the heights, and, 
 having collected in their progress augmented sup- 
 plies, at length reach the vast plains through which 
 they flow to the Carribean Sea and the Atlantic 
 Ocean. 
 
 Though many of the plains in this mountainous 
 district possess most fertile soils, and climates admir- 
 ably adapted to raise food for man ; yet, from the 
 difficulty of access to them, and the consequent ex- 
 pence of conveyance, they are merely cultivated to 
 a sufficient extent to provide food for the inhabitants 
 of their immediate vicinity. Although Lower Peru 
 is nearly destitute of wheat, and deficient in other 
 grain, instead of drawing the supply it needs from 
 the more temperate regions of the vice-royalty, it is 
 chiefly fed with corn sent by sea from Chili. 
 
 This mountainous district is the chief seat of the 
 mineral wealth of Peru. The mines are, for the 
 most part, situated at great elevations, and conse- 
 quently in a climate so severely cold, as to be unfa- 
 vourable both to the health of the labourers, and to 
 the raising food for their subsistence. The most 
 abundant silver mines, those of Pasco and Huanca- 
 velica, are between 13,000 and 14,000 feet above 
 the level of the sea. 
 
 The third district of Peru commences on the east- Third Di^ 
 em summit of the Andes, and proceeds eastward till*™^ 
 it reaches the territories of Portugal, towards their 
 northern part ; and the provinces of La Plata, or 
 Buenos Ayres, towards the south. The descent 
 from the Andes, on the eastern, is much more abrupt 
 than on their western side. They terminate in vast 
 plains called sometimes Pampas del Sacramento, or 
 more usually, collectively, Colonna, or the Land of 
 the Missions. The Jesuits succeeded in collecting in 
 villages many of the rude inhabitants of this country ; 
 and, according to the relation of one of that body. 
 Father Girval, the tribes are numerous, small, and 
 scattered; with as many various languages as tribes, 
 and differing much from each other in the degree of 
 civilization to which they had attained. These Pam- 
 pas are represented as being covered with trees and 
 verdure, and yielding balsams, oils, gums, resins, 
 cinnamon, cocoa, cascarilla, and many valuable drugs, 
 spices, and other rare productbns. The trees are 
 lofty, and form impenetrable forests, in which wan- 
 der all the animals peculiar to the torrid climate of 
 America. The heat is excessive, and accompanied 
 with such humid fogs, as to be a most miserable re- 
 sidence for these missionaries, whose zeal for the 
 conversion of the natives led them to penetrate into 
 such wilds. 
 
 Amidst the various circumstances which distin- 
 guish Peru, there are some, of the most calamitous 
 and terrific nature, of which all parts partake, and 
 in a long series of years in almost equal degrees. 
 The whole country is subject to the most violent con- 
 vulsions of nature. Earthquakes are frequently felt 
 in every part ; and are sometimes accompanied with 
 most extensive and fatal effects. The lofty chain of 
 the Andes is a collection of volcanos, some in con- 
 stant activity, others occasionally ejecting inflamma- 
 
PERU. 
 
 Peru, ble substances ; while there are many whose fires, in 
 the lapse of ages, seem to have been burnt out. 
 Population. xhe annexed Table, taken from an ecclesiastical 
 
 census, contsins a view of the population of Peru, 
 and of the classes into which it is divided ; exhibit- 
 ing also the proportions of the sexes. 
 
 Peru. 
 
 Ijitendencies. 
 
 ber of 
 rtments. 
 
 o5 
 
 .2 
 
 las or 
 hes. 
 
 
 (U 
 
 ile Reli. 
 
 
 .S 
 
 a 
 
 u 
 <u 
 
 Negroes. 
 
 J Slaves. 
 
 Total. 
 
 
 Num 
 
 
 Pueb 
 Parjii 
 
 Clerg 
 
 Male 
 gious. 
 
 C3 CO 
 
 S 3 
 o 
 
 Nuns 
 
 'S 
 
 a 
 
 &4 
 
 CO 
 
 India 
 
 Musti 
 
 (U 
 
 cu 
 
 
 
 Lima, - - 
 
 8 
 
 74 
 
 181 
 
 431 
 
 1100 
 
 572 
 
 84 
 
 22,370 
 
 63,181 
 
 13,747 
 
 17,864 
 
 29, 76^ 
 
 149,112 
 
 Cuzco, 
 
 11 
 
 102 
 
 134 
 
 315 
 
 474 
 
 166 
 
 113 
 
 31,828 
 
 159,105 
 
 23,104 
 
 993 
 
 284 
 
 216,382 
 
 Arequipa, - 
 
 7 
 
 60 
 
 84 
 
 326 
 
 284 
 
 162 
 
 5 
 
 39,357 
 
 66,609 
 
 17,797 
 
 7,003 
 
 5,258 
 
 T ^6 SOI 
 
 Truxillo, - 
 
 7 
 
 87 
 
 149 
 
 460 
 
 169 
 
 162 
 
 0 
 
 19,008 
 
 115,647 
 
 76,949 
 
 1 3,757 
 
 4,725 
 
 230,967 
 
 Humanga, - 
 
 7 
 
 59 
 
 135 
 
 176 
 
 45 
 
 82 
 
 0 
 
 5,378 
 
 75,284 
 
 29,621 
 
 943 
 
 SO 
 
 111,559 
 
 Huancavelica, 
 
 4 
 
 22 
 
 88 
 
 81 
 
 18 
 
 
 
 2,431 
 
 23,899 
 
 4,537 
 
 
 41 
 
 30,917 
 
 Tarma, - - 
 
 7 
 
 79 
 
 206 
 
 229 
 
 127 
 
 
 15 
 
 15,939 
 
 105,187 
 
 78,682 
 
 844 
 
 236 
 
 201,259 
 
 Totals, 
 
 51 
 
 483 
 
 977 
 
 2018 
 
 2217 
 
 1144 
 
 217 
 
 136,311 
 
 508,912 
 
 244,437 
 
 41,404 
 
 40,337 
 
 1.076,997 
 
 Division of ) i 
 
 Vlales 
 
 > 
 
 
 2018 
 
 2217 
 
 
 
 67,325 
 
 293,061 
 
 115,581 
 
 19,906 ' 
 
 21,592 
 
 521,700 
 
 Sexes, f Females, 
 
 
 
 
 1144 
 
 217 
 
 68,986 
 
 315,851 
 
 128,856' 
 
 21,498 
 
 18,745 
 
 555,297 
 
 This table is confirmed by one returned to the 
 Viceroy in 1803 ; as the difference does not amount 
 to more than 850 souls. Although the number of 
 Spaniards is stated at 136,311, nearly one- eighth 
 of the whole population ; it must be consider- 
 ed, that in this number is included those who, after 
 five mixtures with the white race, acquire the pri- 
 vileges of whites, though their complexions are as 
 dark as those of the Indians or Negroes. Of those 
 denominated Spaniards, it is not estimated, that one- 
 tenth are natives of Europe. The great mass of the 
 population consists of the original Peruvians, usually 
 called Indians by the Spaniards ; and of the descen- 
 dants of their females by white fathers, called Mus- 
 tees. The former of these, for the most part, live 
 in towns or villages by themselves, or when they are 
 established in the larger places, have separate quar- 
 ters assigned to them. They have magistrates, and 
 usually clergy of their own race. They are not sub- 
 ject to the Inquisition, pay none of the taxes to 
 which the other inhabitants are liable, nor have any 
 duties imposed on them, except that of furnishing a 
 certain number of labourers for the mines ; for which 
 they are so well paid, that the employment is rather 
 an object of desire than aversion ; and those who are 
 once destined to it, most commonly become constant 
 miners. They pay, indeed, a small capitation tax, 
 which exempts them from all other imposts, and is 
 considered rather as a mark of distinction betwixt 
 those settled among the Spaniards, and those unre- 
 claimed tribes who are denominated Indios infideles. 
 The average net amount of the Indian tribute is 
 about 520,000 dollars, a little more than L.100,000 
 annually. 
 
 The Peruvians seem to have degenerated since 
 their subjection. They appear timid, dispirited, and 
 melancholy in their temperament, but severe and ri- 
 gid in the exercise of their authority ; wonderfully 
 indifferent to the general concerns of life, and nei- 
 ther anxious nor careful to avoid death. They stand 
 
 in awe of their white masters, but secretly dislike and 
 shun their society. They are reputed to be of a 
 distrustful disposition, and though robust, and ca- 
 pable of enduring great fatigue, excessively indo- 
 lent Their habitations are miserable hovels, des- 
 titute of every convenience and accommodation, and 
 disgustingly filthy. Their dress is poor and mean ; 
 their food coarse and scanty ; and their greatest gra- 
 tification seems to be an excessive indulgence in the 
 use of spirituous liquors. They observe with doci- 
 lity the external rites and ceremonies of the Catholic 
 worship, though it is said they indulge in secret an 
 attachment to the ancient superstitions of their na- 
 tion. 
 
 The language of Peru is still retained by this the 
 greater portion of the inhabitants, who discover so 
 strong an aversion to that of their conquerors, that 
 the clergy and the other Spaniards settled among 
 them learn and commonly use their dialect, with the 
 addition of such Castillian words as signify things not 
 known in Peru at the period of the conquest. The lan- 
 guage, called the Quichan, or language of the Incas, 
 is said to be harmonious, and its grammar as varie- 
 gated and artificial as that of the Greek, though the 
 sounds b, d, f, g, and r, are not to be found in it. 
 A grammar of the tongue has been composed for 
 the instruction of the clergy who are destined to 
 labour in their conversion. 
 
 The numbers of the Peruvians had been gradually 
 declining from the period of the conquest till within 
 a few years. The introduction of the small-pox, and 
 the free use of spirits, had a desolating effect ; but it 
 is said that their numbers have somewhat increased, 
 especially since the practice of vaccination has been 
 extended to the whole of them. 
 
 The agricultural productions of Peru are barely Production^ 
 sufficient for the subsistence of its inhabitants. In the 
 interior, corn is grown to feed the population ; but 
 on the coast, the supply has been in a great measure 
 drawn from Chili. Sugar, cocoa, coffee, rice, maize. 
 
142 PE 
 
 Peru, and the various fruits, suffice for the consumption ; 
 '^'^"N^'^ but there is no surplus, nor any stimulus to produce 
 it, since in all the countries to which the Peruvians 
 can have access the markets can be as well, if not 
 better, supplied from their own soils. Nearly as 
 much wine is produced as is needed, though some is 
 imported from Chili. Oil, brandy, and rum, are 
 made. The former is, however, generally rancid, 
 from the olives being suffered to become too ripe 
 before they are expressed. The spirituous liquors 
 are strong, fiery, and impure, being distilled in the 
 rudest manner.' The various kinds of capsicums are 
 cultivated with more attention and skill than any 
 other plants; and, dressed in various ways with garlic, 
 form the most important article of food to the great- 
 er portion of the inhabitants. The common beverage 
 is from the leaf of a plant called matte, the tea of 
 Paraguay, an infusion of which, as hot as it can be 
 borne, is drank, or rather sucked through a pipe, by all 
 classes of the inhabitants. As a substitute for drink, 
 the Indians make use of the leaf of a very pungent 
 plant, called coca. A small portion of quicklime is 
 wrapped up in it, and carried in the mouth. The 
 pungent qualities of these two substances excite a 
 most abundant flow of saliva, and serve to allay the 
 thirst of those who travel over the mountains, or the 
 vast plains of sand, where, for days in succession, no 
 water can be obtained. The natives are so much at- 
 tached to this mode of allaying thirst, and have such 
 confidence in the general salubrious effect of the 
 plant, that they will not commence the labours of 
 mining till they are satisfied that their employers 
 have in store a quantity sufficient for their use. 
 
 The demand for animal food is but small, and 
 hence but little attention has been paid to the breeds 
 ing, and none to the fattening, of cattle. Neither 
 cows nor sheep are numerous ; what are found in the 
 country are the progeny of those brought originally 
 from Europe. In the mountainous districts, between 
 Guamanga and Cuzo, both butter and cheese are 
 made ; but in the lower country, oil is the universal 
 substitute for the former. Pigs are bred in great 
 numbers in the more hilly districts. The whole coast 
 is well stored with fish of every kind. The natives 
 of the Indian villages on the shore are very dexte- 
 rous in catching them; and with the addition of 
 capsicum and garlic, they form the chief part of their 
 subsistence. 
 
 Mines and The chief riches of Peru have been derived from its 
 Minerals, mines, especially those of silver. Since the separation 
 of Potosi and La Paz from this viceroyalty, the quan- 
 tity they have yielded has been gradually diminishing; 
 and, especially since the year 1810, when the civil war 
 with Buenos Ayres and Chili, on one side, and with 
 New Grenada on the other, commenced, the annual 
 produce, both of gold and silver, has most rapidly 
 declined. The mining in Peru has been much in- 
 jured by the competition of Mexico, where capital is 
 more abundant, where more skill in the operations of 
 extracting and amalgamating is exercised, where 
 provisions, aad consequently labour, are cheaper, and 
 where the mines are situated in a much more salu- 
 brious climate than those of Peru. Another cause 
 to which the declension of the silver mines.;may be 
 attributed is the difficulty of procuring mercury ; 
 for, having within the viceroyalty, at Guancavelica, 
 
 :iu. 
 
 mines of that indispensable mineral, too much de- Peru, 
 pendence has been placed on their produce, which is v-^^^-^-^ 
 found insufficient for the consumption. Whilst care 
 has been taken to supply Mexico with quicksilver 
 from the mines of Spain and of Istria, the mother 
 country has overlooked their more remote mining 
 possessions on the shores of the Pacific Ocean. 
 
 The quantity of gold produced in Peru arises 
 partly from some mines in the province of Tarma, 
 where it is found in veins of quartz traversing primi- 
 tive rock, and partly from washings established on 
 the banks of the rapid mountain torrents. These 
 last, like the washings in Brazil, have been found to 
 yield less return for the labour employed on them 
 than the common operations of husbandry, and 
 have, in consequence, in many instances, been aban- 
 doned. On an average of several years to the year 
 1800, the produce of silver was 321,165 marks of 
 Castile, each being nearly eight ounces, and of gold 
 6793 marks. On the average from 1800 to 1810, 
 the silver yielded was 4<4<4,229 marks, and the gold 
 4255 marks. Since that period, the decline is gene- 
 rally asserted to be very great; and from 1810 to 
 1820, the supply is estimated to fall short by more 
 than one-half of the quantity yielded in the ten pre- 
 ceding years. 
 
 Cobalt, antimony, and especially rock salt, abound 
 in Peru ; but as they are, except the latter, chiefly 
 found in the mountainous districts, the distance, and 
 the want of roads, render their conveyance too ex- 
 pensive for them to be advantageously carried to 
 any market of consumption. There are a few mines 
 of copper and of lead, which, from the same causes, 
 are worked on a very contracted scale. 
 
 The manufactures of Peru are inconsiderable, and Manufac- 
 consist chiefly of those homely articles which are re- turee. 
 quired by the poorer classes of the community. On 
 the high land, yhere warm clothing is necessary, 
 the want is chiefly supplied by a species of long- 
 woolled baize, made from the fleeces of the aborigi- 
 nal sheep, and in some instances from the wool of 
 sheep of the European breed. In the valleys, and 
 on the coast, where the heat forbids the use of wool* 
 lens, cotton cloths are made ; but of a very inferior 
 texture, from there having yet been no gins introduc- 
 ed, which effectually clear the cotton wool from the 
 seeds of the plant. In dyeing the cloths, whether of 
 woollen or cotton, the natives make use of plants 
 that are scarcely known in Europe, or at least have 
 not been applied to the same purpose. They have a 
 root called reilbon, resembling madder, but with a 
 smaller leaf, an infusion of which dyes a good red. 
 A plant called poquel, a kind of female southern- 
 wood, with green checquered leaves, is used for dye- 
 ing yellow, as is also the stem for dyeing green, both 
 of which are fast colours. A wild indigo yields 
 them a blue dye, and the panque a good black. The 
 dress of the natives is very simple ; consisting of a 
 square cloth, with a hole in the centre, through 
 which the head is thrust, and which falls before and 
 behind so as to defend the whole body. The head 
 is generally covered with a hat made of the straw of 
 the maize, which is as large as, and serves the pur- 
 pose of, an umbrella. 
 
 The commerce of Peru, as may be seen by the 
 small surplus of its productions, is very inconsider- 
 
PERU. 
 
 Peru. able. With the province of Buenos Ayres a trade 
 -""^-^^^ was carried on by exchanging for the matte or tea 
 of Paraguay, coined dollars, some brandy, and a few 
 of the coarse woollens made in Cuzo. By the same 
 channel some few European goods arrived, as well as 
 the small number of negro slaves that were needed for 
 domestic servants, in which capacity they are chiefly 
 employed. By sea, a trade was carried on with 
 Chili, which consisted in exchanging the wheat, 
 wine, and copper of that country, for sugar, coffee, 
 cotton, and silver. A vessel or two arrived from 
 Manilla with the productions of the East Indies, for 
 which silver only was paid. The luxuries for the 
 few of the richer class were drawn chiefly direct from 
 Spain, or by a contraband intercourse with English 
 or North American traders. The annual imports 
 from Spain, on an average of years, amounted to 
 4,180,000 dollars; of which about 1,950,000 consist- 
 ed of Spanish, and 2,230,000 of foreign produc- 
 tions. The annual exports from Peru, in the same 
 period, consisted of money, silver, and gold, 
 amounting to 4,962,700 dollars, and other commo- 
 dities amounting only to 726,800. The chief ex- 
 ports of goods were Peruvian bark and cocoa, the 
 latter of which had been previously imported from 
 Guyaquil. The ships from Europe that have sailed 
 to the ports of Peru have found no productions 
 there which would pay any return freight ; and they 
 have almost uniformly, after discharging their out- 
 ward cargoes, proceeded to the port of Guyaquil, 
 where a return cargo of cocoa could be generally 
 obtained on such moderate terms as to pay a profit 
 m Spain, where the demand for that commodity is 
 very extensive. 
 
 Navigation. The Pacific Ocean is by no means favourable to 
 commerce. On the whole extent of coast in Peru 
 there is no harbour except that of Callao, the port 
 of Lima, which can be entered by a vessel of such a 
 size as is fit for the navigation from Europe round 
 Cape Horn. As the wind constantly blows from the 
 southward, varying only as the coast trends, where- 
 ever there is a high projecting headland there is 
 shelter, and sometimes good anchorage to the north- 
 ward of it ; as at Ylo, Iqueque, and some other parts. 
 On every part of the shore, the uninterrupted swell 
 from the sea causes such a tremendous surf on the 
 beach, that no communication can be had with the 
 shore, by any such boats as are carried by European 
 ships. The natives have long ago contrived a means 
 of passing this surf, on what is called a Balsa, whose 
 buoyancy is such as to carry them over the most 
 terrific breakers in perfect security. It is construct- 
 ed of two skins of the largest sized seals, which are 
 inflated and lashed side by side. On a small plat- 
 form fixed on them, the native sits, with a pipe 
 made of the entrails of the seal, communicating to 
 each of the inflated skins, with which be fills them 
 by his breath, as frequently as the evaporation of the 
 wind makes it necessary. On these contrivances, 
 which resemble two enormous bladders, the natives 
 fear no waves or breakers, and frequently proceed 
 to such a distance as to lose sight of land. By the 
 assistance of a paddle, and occasionally of a small 
 sail, these vessels become perfectly manageable at 
 sea, and they have the advantage of being easily car- 
 
 14S 
 
 ried to their own habitations when not employed on Pern, 
 the ocean. skj^-n^^-^ 
 
 A species of vessels, called by the same name, is 
 used for longer voyages. These consist of an un- 
 equal number of trees of light wood, merely squared, 
 and securely lashed together, but so loosely as to 
 admit the action of the waves between them, like 
 the catamarans at Madras. The centre tree is 
 longer than the others, and serves the purpose of a 
 prow. These vessels, some of which are more than 
 100 feet in length, have huts constructed upon them 
 for the crew, and pass with security from the shores 
 of Peru to the ports of Guyaquil and Panama. The 
 deficiency of stores for naval equipment on the 
 shores of the Pacific is such, that substitutes are 
 used, which alarm a European sailor till he be- 
 comes familiar with the smooth surface and uniform 
 winds that prevail on that sea. Instead of water 
 casks, jars are fastened in the hold to contain that 
 necessary element. The rigging is made of white 
 rope, as the only tar they have burns the hemp, and 
 IS only fit to be applied to the bottoms of ships. 
 The sails are made of narrow strips of cotton cloth, 
 very clumsily fastened together. With such equip- 
 ment, however, they make secure voyages ; but not 
 with much celerity when proceeding to the north, and 
 with a most protracted delay when, on returning to 
 the south, they are under the necessity of tacking. 
 
 Although, in the present unsettled state of Peru, Revenues 
 the amount of its revenues, and the armed force ^na Forces, 
 which it maintained, become matters of but little 
 importance, yet it may be noticed, that, under the 
 colonial government of Spain, the revenues of the 
 crown amounted communibus annis to about 6,000,000 
 dollars, and the expenditure to about 3,!200,000 ; 
 the balance was annually remitted to the parent 
 state. The armed force consisted of the regulars, 
 who were 2200, including 280 cavalry and 40 artil- 
 lery. The disciplined militia were 8000 infantry, 
 2280 cavalry, and 490 artillery. Besides these there 
 were 85 regiments, known as provincial militia, 
 amounting to 21,700 men; but these had no arms, 
 were rarely mustered, and then exercfsed only with 
 sticks instead of muskets, and were of little use ex- 
 cepe as the means of gratifying the vanity of the na- 
 tives by conferring on them the military titles of 
 colonels, majors, captains, &c., as is said, to the 
 great emolument of the Viceroy and the officers of 
 his establishment. 
 
 The intendancy of Lima is chiefly remarkable for intendancy 
 containing within its limits the capital of the vice- of Lima, 
 royalty, from which it derives its name, and the ex- 
 cellent port of Callao, the chief mart for the com- 
 merce of Peru. The capital is situated in latitude 
 12° 2' 25" south, and in longitude 77° 7' 15" west 
 from Greenwich. The inhabitants amounted to 
 about 54,000, of whom J 9,000 are proprietors of 
 estates or mines, clergy, lawyers, physicians, civil 
 and military officers, and various traders ; the remain- 
 der are slaves, domestics, or labourers. The city is 
 surrounded with walls, but they scarcely merit the 
 name of fortifications. The buildings are spacious 
 but low, having but one story; they are built of 
 wooden frame work, interlaced with canes, plastered 
 over with clay, and painted to imitate stone. This 
 
144 
 
 PERU. 
 
 Peru, mode of building prevails, from the frequency of 
 ^ earthquakes, whose force, such erections are more 
 capable of bearing than solid buildings of stone or 
 brick. It is supplied with fresh water by a rapid 
 etream that passes through it, which is received into 
 reservoirs and fountains in various parts of the city. 
 The Viceroy's palace, the cathedral, the town-house, 
 and archiepiscopal palace, form a square, and are said 
 to be magnificent piles. In former times, the en- 
 trance of a new Viceroy was celebrated by a display 
 of ingots of silver, with which one of the streets was 
 completely paved; and the quantities of the pre- 
 cious metals displayed in the churches, and in their 
 religious processions, are said to have exceeded what 
 was to be seen in any of the Catholic countries of 
 Europe. The country immediately around the city, 
 being well irrigated, is fruitful in tropical produc- 
 tions ; the sea supplies abundance of fish, and, as the 
 elevated mountains approach near to it, the varieties 
 of climate which their different elevations create, al- 
 low of cultivating most of the plants of the temperate 
 zone, and of producing good meat and poultry. 
 
 Lima is the seat of the Royal Audiencia, or Chief 
 Court of Justice. It is the see of an archbishop, 
 whose income was 30,000 dollars, and who has tour 
 bishops under his superintendence within the vice- 
 royalty, viz. Traxillo, Gumanga, Cuzco, and Are- 
 quipa, and four others, within the limits of New Gra- 
 nada, viz. Panama, Quito, Maynas, and Quenca. 
 
 Callao, formerly called Bellavista, is the port of 
 Lima, and, as has been before mentioned, the only 
 good harbour in Peru. It is defended from the 
 winds, which blow always from the south, by the 
 Island of St Lawrence ; to the north of which, in 
 smooth water, is good anchorage, under the protec- 
 tion of the guns of the strong forts. The depth of 
 water is sufficient for the largest ships ; the means of 
 loading and discharging them are easy ; and as the 
 river Rimac empties itself into the sea at this place, 
 the shipping easily obtain a supply of fresh water. 
 As there is but little rise of tide, there are no docks ; 
 and vessels that need repair can only be careened. 
 It is in south latitude 12' S' 42", and west longitude 
 from Greenwich 77° 
 
 The other towns are Guara, Chancay, Canete, 
 Ica, Pisco, and Nasca, none of which, except Ica, 
 contain more than 1500 inhabitants, of all descrip- 
 tions. There are few mines in the intendancy of 
 Lima that are worked ; the chief is that of Concha- 
 patu, in the mountains of Guarachiri, which yields 
 some silver, and which would also, if the roads would 
 allow of it, supply the capital with coals. Antimony 
 and cobalt are likewise to be found in the same dis- 
 trict. 
 
 The intendancy of Cuzco lies on both sides oi the 
 Andes, and partakes of that great variety of climates 
 which is produced by the different elevations and 
 aspects of that prodigious range of mountains. 
 Though the cold is so intense as to forbid human 
 residences on the summits, or cordilleras, yet the 
 chief places which are inhabited enjoy a mild and 
 temperate climate. It is bounded on the north by 
 the great river Apurimac, on the east by unreclaim- 
 ed countries, on the west by the provinces of Tarma, 
 Guancavelica, and Gumanga, and on the south by 
 Arequipa and the viceroyalty of La Plata. This 
 
 the chief seat of what manufactures of woollens and Peru, 
 of leather exist in Peru ; as both sheep and cows are "--^-y-^ 
 here more abundant than in any other part of it. 
 The district of Cannas is celebrated for breeding 
 mules ; of which animals more than 30,000 are an- 
 nually sent to the towns on the coast. The agri- 
 cultural productions generally partake rather of tl>p 
 character of those of the temperate than the torrid 
 zone ; wheat, barley, and other European grains, 
 forming the chief articles of cultivation. There are 
 many silver mines, and some few washing places for 
 gold. The principal of the former are at Carahuasi, 
 near the capital, in the district of Cotabamba, in 
 Condonoma, Aymaraez, and especially in the pro- 
 vince of Lampa. 
 
 The chief city of the intendancy, Cuzco, was the intentlancj 
 seat of the Peruvian monarchy when visited first by of Cuzco. 
 Europeans, and the situation of it, as well as its cli- 
 mate, were well chosen. It is in south latitude 13° 
 25', and west longitude 71° 15'. It is surrounded 
 by the mountains of Sanca on its north and west 
 sides, and has a beautiful plain to the south, through 
 which the river Guatanay, which passes the city, 
 runs. On the mountain to the north of the city are 
 the remains of the fortress of the Incas, intended to 
 be rendered impregnable by the height of the vyall, 
 and the steepness of the passes which it was design- 
 ed to defend. The internal works are in ruins, but 
 a great part of the wall is still standing. Some of 
 the stones prepared for this work are of such a size, 
 as to create wonder in what manner they could have 
 been moved by people so unacquainted with powerful 
 machinery, as the Peruvians certainly were. Though 
 the palace of the Incas has been destroyed, yet a 
 subterraneous passage, communicating between it 
 and the fortress, may still be traced. Cuzco is at this 
 time a large city, containing S2,000 inhabitants, 
 three-fourths of whom are Indians, who are industri- 
 ously employed in the manufactures of woollen baize, 
 of cotton, and of leather. The number of Spanish 
 families is small, and they have of late declined as 
 compared with the Indians and Mustees. It is the 
 see of a bishop, whose revenues amounted to 20,000 
 dollars, of a Royal Audiencia, a mint, a university, 
 and of a college, specially appropriated for the edu- 
 cation of the children of the Caziques. The cathe- 
 dral is a noble pile of building, of stone, and there 
 are also six parish churches, nine convents, and four 
 nunneries. The church belonging to the Dominican 
 Convent stands on the identical spot which was for- 
 merly covered by the Temple of the Sun, and is 
 built of the stones which composed that edifice. 
 The high altar fills the place in which once was fix- 
 ed the image of that luminary which was the object 
 of worship to the idolatrous aborigines. The dwell- 
 ings of private individuals are substantially built of 
 stone, and if not furnished with much attention to 
 comfort, are decorated in a costly manner. The 
 other towns are very small, as most of the inhabit- 
 ants lead a rural life, occupied in cultivation and in 
 breeding cattle. The chief of those towns are Aban- 
 cay, Urcos, Calca, Cotabambas, Tinta, and Lampa, 
 none of which contain so many as 1 500 inhabitants. 
 The difiiculty of communication between these places 
 is such as to forbid much intercourse. The rapid 
 Streams descending from the Andes have worn such 
 I 
 
PERU. 
 
 145 
 
 Peru, numerous and such deep ravines, as are only to be 
 s-*^,r->««»^ crossed, with great risk, by bridges of ropes ; and 
 frequently are passed by suspending the travellers in 
 large baskets from cables stretched across fissures, 
 along which they descend from the higher to the 
 lower banks of the tremendous precipices. 
 Intendancy Arequipa is an intendancy stretching along the 
 of Arequipa.jj^i,^gj.g Pacific, but extending sufficiently in- 
 
 wards to contain a large mountainous district within 
 ' " • its limits. Its southern boundary is the inhospitable 
 
 desert of Atacama, the passage over which to Chili 
 has proved fatal to many travellers. Few of the pro- 
 vinces of South America contain within them a great- 
 ■ er portion of vegetable and mineral wealth than Are- 
 
 quipa. Its plantations yield maize, sugar, and coffee. 
 The vineyards are extensive, especially those of Mo- 
 quehua, which produce a delicious red wine, and the 
 brandy distilled in this district supplies an extensive 
 circle of the mountainous countries. The most ce- 
 lebrated of the silver mines are situated on the south- 
 r em part of this intendancy ; those of Huantajaya, 
 
 near the small port of Yquique, are surrounded with 
 vast beds of rock salt, in a district totally destitute 
 of water, and where provisions are scarce, but as the 
 silver is found in native masses, it has produced 
 usually about 100,000 marks annually. The district 
 of Caylloma contains several mines of silver, but they 
 are very imperfectly worked. They are in a very 
 high elevation, and consequently in a climate most 
 intensely cold. The surrounding country produces 
 but few means of subsisting the labourers ; and 
 though there is an office for distributing quicksilver 
 to the miners, the situation has proved an impedi- 
 ment to successful operations, and the expence has 
 equalled, and, in some instances, exceeded the 
 amount of the metal that has been produced. 
 
 In Condesuyos are mines both of gold and silver, 
 though slightly worked ; as many of the inhabitants 
 have found more profitable labour than mining, by 
 raising silk-worms, and by breeding the cochineal 
 insect. 
 
 The city of Arequipa, the capital of this inten- 
 dancy, is situated in the beautiful valley of Quilca, 
 about 60 miles due east from the port of Atranta. 
 It is in 16"^ 16' of south latitude, and 71° 58' west 
 longitude. The buildings are substantially construct- 
 ed of stone. The public edifices are a cathedral, 
 six convents, a college, a hospital, and revenue of- 
 fice. It is well watered by the river Chile, which 
 serves extensively the purpose of irrigating the sur- 
 rounding lands. The climate is healthy, and though 
 frosts are sometimes experienced in the night, they 
 disappear as soon as the sun rises. The inhabitants 
 amount to about 24,000, one-third of which are said 
 to be Spaniards. Tiiis city has been repeatedly 
 laid waste by earthquakes, and once by an eruption 
 of the volcano Guayna-Patina, which is in its imme- 
 diate vicinity. The other towns of most considera- 
 tion are Camana, Ocana, a small bad port, Cayllo- 
 ma, Moquehua, Arica, and Tacna, none of which 
 are either populous or rich, and are chiefly inhabit- 
 ed by Indians. 
 
 tendancy The intendancy of Truxillo is the most northern, 
 Truxillo. as well as the most extensive, division of Peru. It is 
 chiefly remarkable for being the first port in which 
 Pizarro and his followers landed. The face of the 
 
 VOL. VI. PART I, 
 
 greater part of the district has all the predominant I^em. 
 features of the Arabian desert. From Tumbez, the 
 boundary, to the capital of its department, Piura, a dis- 
 tance of more than 200 miles, there is Ij^it one small 
 Indian village. No water is to be found in any 
 other place, and that indispensable article must be 
 conveyed in skins, on mules, for the use of travellers. 
 In this sandy desert, the most experienced guides 
 sometimes lose their way, and the bodies of passen- 
 gers are occasionally buried under the waves of shift- 
 ing sand. There are, however, some spots within 
 the intendancy that enjoy a high degree of fertility; 
 of this description is the district of Caxamarca, si- 
 tuated between two ridges of the Andes. Corn of 
 all kinds, various fruits, and esculent vegetables, are 
 abundantly produced, as well as cows, sheep, and 
 hogs, in the latter of which, salted, a considerable 
 trade is carried on with the warmer districts. At 
 this place are the remains of the ancient Palace of 
 Atahualpa, from whence Pizarro directed his opera- 
 tions, and where that monarch was killed. It is si- 
 tuated on the western declivity of the Andes, about 
 9000 feet above the level of the sea, 70 miles from the 
 Pacific Ocean, in latitude 8° south, and longitude 
 76° 10' west from Greenwich. A family descended 
 from the Incas, reduced to a state of comparative 
 indigence, occupies this ancient residence of their 
 royal ancestors. In the vicinity of Piura, and around 
 the city of Truxillo, the tropical productions, sugar, 
 coffee, and cotton, are cultivated ; there are also 
 some vineyards which afford wine and brandy. 
 
 The chief mines within the intendancy are those 
 of Chota, near the limit of perpetual snow, being 
 13,800 feet above the level of the sea; of Micui- 
 parapa, 12,000 feet ; and some at Pataz which yield 
 both gold and silver. 
 
 There are two cities in the intendancy. Truxillo, 
 the capital, is the see of a bishop, and the seat of 
 the courts of justice. The inhabitants are about 
 6000, principally rich Spaniards, who indulge in 
 considerable show and luxury.'; Piura contains about 
 7000 inhabitants, chiefly Indians. The other towns, 
 Tumbez, Lechura, Payta, Lambayeque, scarcely con- 
 tain 1000 inhabitants each, who are in a low state of 
 indigence. 
 
 Guamanga, or Huamanga, is an intendancy whol- Intendancy 
 ly internal, surrounded by other parts of Peru. °^ 
 From its elevation on the sides of the Andes, it en-^^' 
 joys a mild and temperate climate. It is much in- 
 tersected with streams, or rather torrents, which 
 have worn deep chasms in the friable soil, and pre- 
 vent easy communication between its several dis- 
 tricts. It yields excellent corn and fruits, and the 
 wool of the sheep is here made into baize for cloth- 
 ing the inhabitants of the colder districts. In the 
 mountains are found herds of huanucos, or Peru- 
 vian camels, employed as beasts of burden in the 
 colder regions, and whose wool is used in the 
 manufactories. There are also many cows and 
 sheep of the European breeds, reared within the 
 district. It is the chief country for the growth of 
 the coca, which serves to the natives of Peru the 
 same purpose as the betel does to those of the East 
 Indies. There are mines of lead, gold, and silver ; 
 but their working has declined of late years, so that 
 the supplies from them are dwindled to vei*y insig- 
 
 T 
 
146 
 
 PERU. 
 
 Peru, nificant quantities. The capital, Guaraanga, situat- 
 '-*^^^ed in south latitude 12*^ 50', and west longitude 77^ 
 56', is a well built city, of considerable extent. Its 
 . population amounts to about 26,000, of whom the 
 greater part are Indians. It is the see of a bishop, 
 contains a cathedral, a university, well endowed, and 
 several churches and convents. There is no other 
 place in the intendancy meriting the name of a town, 
 as three-fourths of the inhabitants are either occu- 
 pied in cultivation or in pasturage. 
 Intendancy vehole of the intendancy of Guancavelica, or, 
 
 velk^°'^*" ^ '^^ sometimes spelt, Huancavelica, is situated in 
 the mountains in a climate severely cold, which may 
 account for the paucity of its population. The chief 
 value of this intendancy is derived from the import- 
 ant mines of quicksilver which it contains, and which, 
 if properly conducted, would make the mines of sil- 
 ver in Peru equal in their product to those of Mexico. 
 The celebrated mine of Santa Barbara is 13,800 feet 
 above the level of the sea. In the process of exca- 
 vating it, three stories of galleries, one over the other, 
 have been constructed, which penetrate the moun- 
 tain in difFei'ent directions, according as the veins of 
 the mineral are found to run. The lowest of these 
 was found to contain red and yellow sulphureted 
 arsenic, which, proving fatal to many of the labour- 
 ers, was forbidden to be worked. The chief pro- 
 duce of the mine has been obtained in the form of 
 cinnabar, from which, by distillation, the mercury is 
 extracted at the rate of one pound of mercury from 
 every fifty pounds of cinnabar. The upper of the 
 three stories, called the brocal, furnished by far the 
 largest part. This branch, however, has been near- 
 ly destroyed, either from the negligence or the 
 avidity of the managers. The roof of the mine was 
 supported by pillars, left at intervals, which consist- 
 ed of the ore. As the ore became rather scarce in 
 the interior of the mine, these pillars were gradually 
 thinned away till they became incapable of sustain- 
 ing the weight that rested on them ; they gave way 
 at length to such an extent as to fill the mine with 
 masses of the superincumbent rubbish, which has in- 
 tercepted all communication with the interior. Some 
 ineffectual attempts have been made to remove the 
 impediments, but the silver mines are chiefly sup- 
 plied with their mercury from small veins in the same 
 chain of mountains, which yield an insufficient quan- 
 tity, and at a dear rate. The capital, which gives 
 name to the intendancy, is in south latitude 12° 
 45', and west longitude 74^ 46'. It was, when the 
 mine was actively worked, a populous place, but at 
 present contains only 5000 inhabitants. It is built 
 almost wholly of tufa, which is found in abundance 
 in its vicinity. The surrounding country is highly 
 picturesque, abounding in torrents and cascades ; 
 but the climate is prejudicial to the human constitu- 
 tion, from the great and sudden changes of the tem- 
 perature. There are scarcely any places that de- 
 serve to be called towns ; as the few inhabitants 
 are scattered at great distances from each other in 
 thinly peopled villages or hamlets. 
 Intendancy The intendancy of Tarma is chiefly situated on 
 of Tarma. the Andes, and generally partakes of the severity of 
 climates which lofty elevation creates. The small 
 portion of it which is on the plain yields wine, but 
 the great portion of the inhabitants are supplied with 
 
 animal and vegetable food from the mountainous re- Peru, 
 gions, which, at a moderate height, produce corn ^^i^'v'^i^ 
 and potatoes, and at a greater elevation breed con- 
 siderable flocks and herds. The mines most pro- 
 ductive of silver are within this intendancy. The 
 most eminent are those of Lauricocha, or, more pro- 
 perly called, collectively, the Mines of Pasco. Near- 
 ly one-half of the silver which Peru yields is extract- 
 ed from these mines. They are at an elevation of 
 13,000 feet above the sea. The veins of the 
 mineral are near the surface, the shafts being only 
 from 90 to 400 feet in depth ; below that water 
 is found, the expence of clearing which is the chief 
 drawback from the profit of the proprietors. The 
 metalliferous bed is stated to be more than 15,000 
 feet in length, and upwards of 7000 in breadth, and 
 is capable of yielding more silver than any even of 
 the mines of Mexico. 
 
 The favourable circumstances attending these 
 mines, and the belief, that, if the water could be 
 cleared by a steam-engine, the profits would be im. 
 mense, induced a party of Englishmen to convey a 
 powerful engine to the spot. Alter many interruptions 
 and much delay, it at last reached these mines ; but 
 the country was in too turbulent a state to admit of 
 the operations being carried on ; which, with the un- 
 popularity attached to the undertaking, from suppos- 
 ing it would lessen the employment of labourers, has 
 caused it to miscarry,and the waterhasso gained, that 
 the produce has declined very much since the com- 
 mencement of the civil wars. There are many other 
 mines in different parts of this intendancy, of which 
 the greater part are neglected, or very feebly worked. 
 The greatest portion of the gold found in Peru is taken 
 from the mines of Pataz andof Huiliesin this province. 
 Tarma, the city which gives its name to the inten- 
 dancy, is in 11° 35' south latitude, and 75° 17' west 
 longitude. It contains about 5500 inhabitants, some 
 of whom find employment in making baize. No 
 other place contains as many as 1000 people. 
 
 No country, perhaps, ever enjoyed so long a pe- Recent His. 
 riod of freedom from hostilities as Peru has expe-^^'y P^"^"- 
 rienced. Though occasionally, when at war with 
 England, a few places on the coast have suffered 
 from predatory attempts, and the navigation may 
 have been interrupted by our cruizers, yet, in the 
 interior, tranquillity has been undisturbed during the 
 whole period that elapsed between the suppression 
 of the revolt of Gonzales, by Pedro de la Gasca, in 
 1548, till the year 1781, when an Indian insurrec- 
 tion of a most alarming kind suddenly burst forth. 
 
 Jose Gabriel Condercanqui was a descendant of 
 the last sovereign of the Peruvian race. He had 
 been carefully educated by his father, and exhibited 
 considerable talent. The title of Marquis of Oro- 
 pesa had been conferred on one of his ancestors. On 
 the death of his father, he petitioned to have that 
 title renewed in him, but being refused, he retired to 
 the mountains, and announced himself by the name 
 of Tupac Amaru, which the last of the Incas had 
 borne, as the true sovereign of Peru, The Indians 
 flocked to him in crowds, the sacred fillet was bound 
 on his brow, and he was proclaimed emperor, by the 
 title of Tupac Amaru the Second. An overwhelm- 
 ing army was speedily collected by him, which sub- 
 dued the country and invested Cuzco. At the com- 
 
PERU. 
 
 147 
 
 Peru, mencement of his reign, though he declared ven- 
 ^■^^ geance against ever}' native of Old Spain, he profess- 
 ed to favour equally the epclesiastics, and all of the 
 white race who were born in America. Adhering to 
 this system, he continued to prosper, but his follow- 
 ers, elated with the success that everywhere attend- 
 ed them, and being in an undisciplined state, com- 
 menced a war of extermination against all who were 
 not of the Peruvian race ; which was attended with 
 scenes of the most horrid barbarity. Diego his 
 brother, and Andres his nephew, favoured the cruel 
 disposition of the Indians, and perpetrated deeds 
 which Jose Gabriel vainly strove to prevent. The 
 insurrection continued two years, and extended over 
 most of the districts around Cuzco ; but the pro- 
 ceedings against the Whites, Mustees, Mulattoes, and 
 Negros, at length united these casts against the In- 
 dians. Jose was surprised, and, with his family, ta- 
 ken prisoner ; and shortly after, the whole were exe- 
 cuted in the city of Cuzco. So great was the ve- 
 neration in which this Tupac Amaru was held by the 
 Peruvians, that, when he was led to execution, they 
 prostrated themselves in the streets, and uttered the 
 most piercing shrieks and execrations, whilst the last 
 of the Children of the Sun was torn to pieces by his 
 executioners. With this event terminated the strug- 
 gles of the Peruvians for independence ; and on late 
 occasions they are reported to have shown more dis- 
 position to adhere to the government of Spain than 
 to the newly created independent states that have 
 sprung up around them. 
 Wars with During the period in which the surrounding do- 
 New Gra- minions of Spain in South America were torn by in- 
 nada. testine wars, Peru, though engaged in hostilities, has 
 not been the theatre in which the contest was con- 
 ducted. Allegiance to 5pain was maintained through 
 all her changes of government, and the Viceroy of 
 Peru continued to exert himself to subdue the other 
 countries that had revolted from it. When the re- 
 volution in New Granada began, the first steps were 
 such as threatened no disturbance to the neighbour- 
 ing provinces ; but its spirit at length approaching 
 the confines of Peru, the Viceroy dispatched an array 
 towards Quito, under the command of General Mo- 
 lina, who had been nominated President by the Jun- 
 ta of Cadiz. As the revolutionists were divided 
 among themselves, he easily gained that city • but 
 practising some most cruel measures, according to 
 the accounts of the insurgents, and we have no other, 
 the army was compelled to retreat before the differ- 
 ent partisans, who were previously at variance, but 
 who had united in their operations against the Pe- 
 ruvians. After a bloody contest, they were driven 
 from the viceroyalty of New Granada by the repub- 
 lican general Marino ; but as his attention was strong- 
 ly engaged in watching the events in the north, he 
 could not follow up his victory by pursuing the royal- 
 ists ; who, on their part, had such calls for their ex- 
 ertions towards the frontiers of Buenos Ayres, and in 
 Chili, that, without any formal treaty, hostilities ceas- 
 ed between Peru and New Granada in 1814, and 
 have not been since renewed. 
 Wars with As soon as the inhabitants of Buenos Ayres had 
 Buenos formed an independent government, an army of 
 Ayres. 5000 men was marched to invade Peru, under the 
 command of General Balcarce. He was opposed be- 
 
 fore he had reached the frontiers by Goyneche, a Peru, 
 royalist commander. Before hostilities were begun, v-~^ 
 a treaty for an armistice was made, but soon broken, 
 when the Peruvians repulsed their invaders, became 
 invaders in their turn, and overrun the country as 
 far as Salta; having in their possession, in 1812, the 
 rich mining countries of Potosi and La Paz ; while 
 the republicans, being embroiled among themselves, 
 and invaded by the Portuguese, had no means of re- 
 cruiting, till early in the year 1813, when their ge- 
 neral Belgrano attacked the royalists near Salta, and 
 gained a complete victory, which compelled them to 
 abandon their conquests, and retire within their own 
 territory. In November of the same year, the Pe- 
 ruvians, being reinforced, fought another battle on 
 the frontiers, near Potosi, with such decided success, 
 that they again occupied those rich districts, which, 
 in the early part of the year, they had been compel- 
 led to abandon. The unfortunate republican gene- 
 ral Belgrano was, in 1814", superseded by the cele- 
 brated San Martin, who collected the fugitives, orga- 
 nized a new army, formed various corps of Guerillas, 
 and compelled the royalist general Pezuela once 
 more to retreat from the contested country, and con- 
 centrate his forces in High Peru. In the year 1815, 
 the contests among the different parties of republi- 
 cans having weakened their array on the frontiers, 
 Pezuela again attacked them, on the 14th Novem- 
 ber ; gained a hard-fought battle at Sipe-sipe ; and, in 
 consequence of it, the mining districts of Buenos 
 Ayres, for the third time, came into the hands of the 
 royalists. The calls on the Viceroy of Peru for 
 troops to maintain the royal cause in Chili weakened 
 his frontier forces at the time that San Martin was 
 collecting his army to invade that country on the 
 part of the republicans. By the course of events, the 
 theatre of the war thus became changed. The re- 
 publicans kept up a small force to watch the motions 
 of the royalists, whose troops and stores were so 
 much diminished, that they ultimately withdrew from 
 the conquered countries ; which, by the operations of 
 the remorseless contest, had become reduced to the 
 extreme of misery, and the mines, once so highly 
 productive, had nearly ceased to be worked. 
 
 Chili had thrown off the government of Spain, and Wars with 
 declared its independence. It was torn by factions, Chili, 
 violently irritated against each other, and a civil war 
 had commenced. The Viceroy of Peru thought the 
 occasion favourable for bringing it again under the 
 royal authority. A force of 4000 men, under Gene- 
 ral Paneja, was dispatched to that country. He land- 
 ed at Talcahuano early in the year 1813, and took 
 possession of Conception and Chilian. The Spanish 
 troops appear to have remained in the positions they 
 occupied, in a state of great inactivity; whilst the Chi- 
 lians, divided into rancorous factions, were exhausting 
 their means, and impoverishing their country. The 
 Spanish commander availed himself of the circum- 
 stances t^ make an attempt on the capital, in the be- 
 ginning of March 1814 ; but, not succeeding, enter- 
 ed into a treaty for evacuating the country. Before 
 the treaty was concluded. General Osorio arrived, as 
 commander from Lima, with considerable reinforce- 
 ipents. This changed the face of affairs. The Chi- 
 lians were wearied with the evils they had experi- 
 enced ; the forces of the King gave thena confidence ; 
 
148 
 
 PERU. 
 
 Peru. 
 
 P'xp edition 
 of Lord 
 Cochrane 
 and San 
 Martin. 
 
 and after a few skirmishes, rather than battles, with 
 the different parties, who never ceased hostilities to- 
 wards each other, the whole country submitted to 
 Osorio, who entered the capital in October IS 14. 
 The royalists were in quiet possession of Chili till 
 the beginning of the year I8I7. The fugitive re- 
 publicans had retreated over the Andes, and found 
 an asylum in Mendoza. There others joined them, 
 in the following years. The government of Buenos 
 Ayres supplied them with stores, and at length Ge- 
 neral San Martin, with the addition of some tole- 
 rably disciplined troops, was appointed to the com- 
 mand. This/orce passed the Cordilleras in January 
 18 17, and descended towards the level country ; and, 
 after a most complete victory over the Peruvian army 
 at Chacabuco, in which their commander was made 
 a prisoner, and his troops dispersed, occupied, with 
 little difficulty, the whole of Chili. The govern- 
 ment there having assumed a more consistent and 
 regular form than before, became a collecting point 
 to which adventurous spirits, from Europe and 
 from America, resorted. Armaments were equipped 
 there, both naval and military. The former were 
 successful in making prizes, and, in combination 
 with the latter, Valdivia, the only remaining fortress 
 in Chili, under the command of the Viceroy of Peru, 
 and ultimately Lima itself was captured. 
 
 The conquest of Peru seemed to be indispensably 
 necessary to the preservation of that independence, 
 and those republican institutions which the inhabit- 
 ants of Chili had established. It had early attracted 
 their regards, and the project for achieving it, which 
 was widely circulated, drew to them many of those 
 military adventurers who, by the peace in Europe, 
 were deprived of occupation. Among others. Lord 
 Cochrane and several English officers who had dis- 
 tinguished themselves in the naval service, found 
 employment in the fleet which was speedily equip- 
 ped, and which, in discipline, though not in force, 
 soon attained such a superiority over the navy of 
 Spain as to give it the command of the navigation of 
 the South Sea. Being to windward of the Spanish 
 ports, it was easy at any time to choose the point of 
 attack. An army of 5600 men was formed, under 
 San Martin, which, with the fleet, consisting of one 
 ship of 64 guns, one of 50, one of 36, and one of 32, 
 besides some corvettes and transports, sailed from 
 Valparyso, in the latter end of 1820, and reached 
 Lima in February of the following year. The troops 
 were landed to the north of Callao, and continued, 
 without any great exertion, till May, when the gar- 
 rison of Lima being much straitened, an armistice 
 was concluded. 
 
 Pezuela, then the Viceroy of Lima, was opposed 
 by the Audiencia and the Municipality, who cen- 
 sured him for not adopting measures sufficiently 
 energetic to repel the invaders. The same disposi- 
 tion to censure prevailed among the officers of the 
 army ; and at length they resolved to depose Pe- 
 zuela. He made no resistance, but quitting the go- 
 vernment and country, the command was placed in 
 the hands of Don Jose de La Serna on the 29th Ja- 
 nuary 1821. 
 
 The troops of La Serna were not much superior to 
 the invaders numerically, but some of them having 
 gone over to San Martin, gave the latter a supe- 
 
 riority. Lima continued to be straitened by the ge- Peru, 
 neral, and Callao to be blockaded by Lord Cochrane, 
 who performed one of those acts of desperate valour 
 which struck astonishment into the Spaniards. With ' 
 the boats of his little squadron he entered the port 
 of Callao, and, under the guns of its tremendous 
 batteries, boarded, captured, and carried off one of 
 their largest ships of war, with more men on board 
 than were in all the boats that attacked her. 
 
 After some months had elapsed, a convention was Surrender 
 agreed on, when La Serna with his army marched out, Lima, 
 and San Martin with his forces entered Lima. A gar- 
 rison was, however, left by the royalists in Callao. The 
 protracted operations had given time to remove the 
 most valuable property, which, with the females of the 
 best families, and the non-combatants, reached the 
 mountainous districts. San Martin, in the possession 
 of Lima, was in the same condition as La Serna had 
 been for some months before ; with many mouths 
 besides those of his army to fill, and his intercourse 
 with the country that furnished provisions inter- 
 cepted ; but he had the advantage of naval supe- 
 riority, and could draw supplies from the coast, 
 though, till Callao vi'as taken, the difficulty of land- 
 ing made the arrival of such supplies precarious. 
 At length the garrison of Callao agreed to evacuate, 
 on being allowed to join La Serna, which was effect- 
 ed. San Martin was thus in full possession of the 
 capital and its port, when a dispute between him 
 and Lord Cochrane, about the division of the insig- 
 nificant plunder, caused the latter to sail to some un- 
 ascertained destination, and leave the commander of 
 the land forces to secure his conquest. He there 
 assumed the sovereignty, and acted the part of an 
 absolute monarch, uniting in himself the legislative, 
 judicial, and military power. 
 
 La Serna, after uniting with the garrison of Cal- 
 lao, retired towards the mountains, where he inter- 
 cepted all communication between Lima and the 
 mining districts, and drew supplies of men and stores 
 from the countries in his rear. The whole of the 
 treasure captured in Lima did not exceed 300,000 
 dollars, not a tenth part of what was usually to be 
 found in that city. Cochrane having carried away 
 the money, his coadjutor was soon compelled to 
 have recourse to violent measures to subsist his 
 army. He stamped paper dollars to pay his troops, 
 and issued decrees commanding the inhabitants to 
 take them in payment. A civil war is thus existing, 
 which, as far as the latest intelligence reaches, leaves 
 it doubtful if the conquerors or the conquered are 
 in the worst condition. Whatever may be the ulti- 
 mate issue, it must probably be a long time before 
 tranquillity can be restored, to such a degree as to 
 give that security to property which is more essen- 
 tial to mining than to any other of tjie operations of 
 human industry. In whatever manner the present 
 contest may terminate, it is not possible to conceive, 
 that in future Peru, or any part of South America, 
 will be subjected to the condition of a Spanish colony. 
 
 See Helm's Journey ihroucrli Peru, from Buems 
 Ayres to Lima ; El Viagero Universal, por Estalla ; 
 Feyjoo Relacion de la Cuidad de Trrixillo ; Mercu- 
 ric Perttia?ia, and Guia de Peru, por Hipolito Unan- 
 nia; Humboldt'^ Works; and Bonnycastle's Spanish 
 America. (ww.) 
 
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 [•hysical The object of Physical Geography is to describe 
 eography. the external structure, form, and appearance of the 
 I^N^"^^ globe, and the relations subsisting between it and 
 the various classes of animated and organic beings 
 which inhabit its surface. It ought to comprehend 
 a description of the solid parts of the globe, with 
 their magnitude, position, and the progressive changes 
 they have undergone, — of the fluid parts, consisting 
 of seas, lakes, and rivers, with their extent, motions, 
 
 ► and general physical qualities, — of the atmosphere, 
 with the phenomena it presents, including the variety 
 of climates and seasons in different regions. Lastly, 
 it should embrace a general view of the various 
 tribes of animals and vegetables, with the order of 
 tlieir geographical distribution, in the ocean, the 
 atmosphere, or on the land. Physical geography 
 has but recently begun to assume the form of a 
 science, and, like other branches of knowledge de- 
 pending on extensive and multiplied observations, it 
 can only be improved by slow degrees. To render 
 it perfect, it would be necessary that we should 
 know the true geographical position of every point 
 of the earth's surface, its height above the sea, its 
 mean temperature for every month, the prevailing 
 winds, the annual and monthly depth of rain, the 
 rate of evaporation, the nature of the rocks, the 
 heat of springs, the peculiarities of the soil, with 
 the animals and vegetables which can find nourish- 
 ment upon, it, and are adapted to the climate. 
 We should know also for each part of the ocean, 
 its depth, temperature, general and particular mo- 
 tions, and other physical properties, with its pe- 
 culiar vegetable productions, and classes of living 
 inhabitants. And to raise this knowledge to the rank 
 of philosophy, effects should be traced to their 
 causes, and the infinite variety of phenomena con- 
 nected by a small number of general principles, by 
 the help of which we might be able, from the know- 
 ledge of a few facts, to form certain conclusions re- 
 specting a multitude of others. Though physical 
 geography is still far from this degree of perfec- 
 tion, writers upon the science have already collect- 
 ed, and to some extent generalised, a great num- 
 ber of interesting facts. To exhibit a systematic 
 view of these is our object in the following pages ; 
 but we think it necessary to state, that we must 
 necessarily confine ourselves within limits which 
 will preclude extensive details upon any part of the 
 subject. 
 
 tude. The earth is one of eleven spherical bodies, deno- 
 minated planets, which revolve round the sun. Its 
 distance from that luminary is 93,595,000 English 
 miles, and its mean diameter is 7912- It completes its 
 diurnal revolution in twenty-four hours, and its an- 
 nual revolution in 365'^. 5^. 48' 51". One satellite, 
 or attendant body, the moon, 2180 miles in diameter, 
 revolves round the earth in 2^^. 12^. 44', at a mean 
 distance of 475,000 English miles. The relations of 
 these bodies to the sun and the other planets, and 
 
 the laws which regulate their motions, belong pro- Physical 
 perly to astronomy. (Playfair's Outlines of Nat. Geography. 
 Phil. II. 86, 125, 126, 225.) The earth is not a>^"^''"^ 
 perfect sphere in its form, but an oblate spheroid, or 
 sphere flattened at the poles. The amount of this 
 compression is such, that the equatorial diameter 
 exceeds the polar diameter, or axis, by twenty-five 
 miles; or the one is to the other as 312 to 311. 
 The centrifugal force arising from the revolution of 
 the earth round its axis, which evidently tends to 
 dilate the equatorial parts, led Newton to infer the 
 oblate or compressed figure of the globe before it 
 was known by experiment. He calculated the ellip- 
 ticity, from theory^ at g^^, which is about one-third 
 greater than the truth. A homogeneous fluid body 
 of the mean density of the earth, and making its di- 
 urnal revolution in the same time, would, in fact, 
 have the proportions which Newton supposed ; and 
 the ellipticity in this case would be a maximum. 
 But if the revolving body, instead of being homo- 
 geneous, increase in density towards the centre, the 
 compression is not so great. Now, the experiments 
 made at Schehallien show that the mean density of 
 the earth is nearly double of that of the rocks at its 
 surface, and, of course, the density of the central parts 
 must be still higher than the mean. Mathematicians 
 have demonstrated, that, were the density to increase 
 so as to be infinitely great at the centre, the ellip- 
 ticity, in that case a minimum, would be no more 
 than 3-1^. The structure of the globe as to den- 
 sity, so far as our knowledge extends, is interme- 
 diate between these extreme conditions ; and since 
 its ellipticity of yig is also intermediate between the 
 maximum and minimum, the circumstance affords a 
 strong presumption that its form approaches very 
 nearly to that of a spheroid of equilibrium, and in 
 all probability coincides with it entirely. (Playfair's 
 Outlines, II. 60, 302, 304.) 
 
 This conclusion is strikingly confirmed by the 
 phenomena presented by those planets, in which the 
 supposed cause of the ellipticity exists in the great- 
 est degree, Jupiter and Saturn. As each of these 
 bodies has a diameter ten times greater than that of 
 the earth, and revolves round its axis in less than 
 half the time, the centrifugal force ought to be far 
 more powerful, and produce a much greater dilata- 
 tion of the equatorial parts. Accordingly, in Jupi- 
 ter, the ellipticity is one-fourteenth of the longer 
 diameter, and, in Saturn, where the effect of the 
 centrifugal force is aided by the attraction of the 
 ring, the ellipticity amounts to one-eleventh. (Play- 
 fair's Out. II. 179.) 
 
 We have good reason to conclude, that whatever 
 causes gave this oblate figure to the globe, they h~ave 
 acted upon the solid as well as the fluid parts. Though 
 the land and water are unequally distributed uver the 
 two hemispheres, the soil, in a general point of view, 
 is as much elevated at the equator as towards the 
 poles. But since the equatorial regions are about 
 
150 
 
 physical 
 Geography. 
 
 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY, 
 
 Density. 
 
 Geological 
 Structure. 
 
 twelve miles farther from the centre than the parts at 
 the pole, it is evident, that, had the sea only been 
 subject to the action of the centrifugal force, the 
 torrid zone must have been completely submerged, 
 and the polar regions left entirely dry, and rising 
 many miles above the level of the waters. The 
 ocean must, in fact, have formed a broad and deep 
 zone round the equator, separating the two conti- 
 nents encircling the poles ; of which continents a 
 very small part only would have been habitable in 
 consequence of the elevation of the soil. The figure 
 of the globe affords, therefore^ evidence of consider- 
 able weight in favour of its original fluidity, and it 
 negatives the idea, that the earth, at the period of 
 its consolidation, had a different axis from what it 
 has at present. 
 
 The precession of the equinoxes, and the nutation 
 of the earth's axis, indicate, in the opinion of La- 
 place, that the density of the globe increases towards 
 the centre. Mr Cavendish, from some experiments 
 with leaden balls, estimated the mean density of the 
 earth at 5,48. {Phil. Trans. Vol. LXXXVIII. 469-) 
 But the calculation most to be depended on is that 
 founded on the experiments at Schehallien, which 
 gives the mean density equal to 4,71 (Play fair's Out. 
 II. 320), that is, about 4f times the weight of an 
 equal bulk of water. As the density of the rocks at 
 the surface, which does not exceed 2,5 or 2,7, is 
 much lower than the mean, it follows, that the den- 
 sity of the central parts must be much higher. If, 
 for instance, the exterior rocks with which we are 
 acquainted should form a shell of 500 miles in thick- 
 ness, the parts within this shell would require to have 
 an average specific gravity of 5,8 to produce the 
 mean density of 4,7 for the whole mass. Laplace 
 thinks, however, that the change in density is not 
 sudden but progressive, and that it is probably the 
 effect of concentric and elliptical beds, of increasing 
 density, disposed symmetrically round the centre of 
 gravity. (Daubuisson, Traite de Geognosie, Chap. 
 I.) This disposition would naturally take place in a 
 mass simultaneously fluid. And, in fact, the lowest 
 rocks with which we are acquainted have generally a 
 greater specific gravity than those which lie above 
 them. The only considerable class of mineral sub- 
 stances known to us, which have the high density in- 
 ferred to exist in the central parts of the globe, are 
 the metals and their ores. This circumstance may, 
 perhaps, authorize a conjecture, that these substances 
 occupy the interior of the earth, and that the metal- 
 lic repositories found in the outer crust consist of 
 minute portions, separated and cast up from the cen- 
 tral mass. 
 
 It would be foreign to our purpose to enter into 
 the disputes which divide geologists. Conceiving 
 that the principles of geology, at the present day, 
 are to be considered as little better than provisional, 
 we shall recur to them as sparingly as possible. Of 
 the central nucleus, as already stated, we can know 
 nothing but by inference. The outer crust, how- 
 ever, lies exposed, in part, to our view, and the ma- 
 terials of which it is formed, so far as we are ac- 
 quainted with them, consist of four great classes. 
 1. Those rocks which neither contain any animal 
 nor vegetable remains themselves, nor are intermix- 
 12 
 
 ed with rocks which do contain them, and are there- Pliysical 
 fore termed primitive, or primary/, as having been Geography, 
 formed before the existence of organized beings. 
 These are granite, gneiss, mica slate, and clay slate, 
 which occur abundantly in all regions of the globe, 
 with quartz rock, serpentine, granular limestone, 
 &c. which occur more sparingly. These rocks ne- 
 ver contain organic remains, and, till lately, were 
 supposed never to cover rocks containing them ; but 
 a larger experience has shown, that this circumstance 
 does not hold true entirely, even of granite itself. 
 (Daubuisson, II. 226.) 2. Rocks containing organic 
 remains, or generally associated with other rocks in 
 which such substances are found, and which, as hav- 
 ing been formed posterior to the existence of orga- 
 nized beings, are termed secondary. These are grey- 
 wacke, sandstone, limestone, and gypsum of various 
 kinds, slate clay, with certain species of trap, and 
 they are found lying above the primary, or older 
 rocks. 3. Above these secondary rocks, beds of 
 gravel, sand, earth, and moss are found, which have 
 been termed alluvial rocks or formations. 4. The 
 name of volcanic formations has been given to beds 
 of lava, scoriae, and other matter thrown out at cer- 
 tain points of the earth's surface by subterranean 
 fire. 
 
 A very distinct arrangement can be traced among Arrange- 
 these rocks, though they present a confused appear-™^"* °^ 
 ance to the eye on a first view. Where those of the "'^ ^" 
 primary and secondary classes are exposed together, 
 the granite, which generally exists in unstratified 
 masses, is found almost invariably under all the 
 others ; and yet it also occupies the highest points of 
 the earth's surface. The gneiss, which is merely a 
 stratified granite, lies next it, then the mica slate, then 
 the clay state. The primary limestone, trap, serpen- 
 tine, &c. lie in occasional beds intermixed with these. 
 And above all, the primary formations are grey wacke, 
 sandstone, and other secondary rocks. Farther, the 
 primary rocks are in general highly crystalline in 
 their structure, and at the points where they are ex- 
 posed to view, are found standing on their edges, or 
 inclining to the horizon, seldom at a less angle than 
 45^. The secondary rocks again have rather the 
 appearance of mechanical deposites ; they occupy a 
 more horizontal position ; and their upper edges, 
 or outgoings, are generally found at a lower level 
 than those of the primary class. On these facts, 
 geologists have founded certain general conclusions. 
 From the oblate spheroidal figure of the globe, and 
 the arrangement of its superior mineral masses in 
 beds, or strata, they assume that the whole, or at 
 least the outer crust, was at one time in a fluid state. 
 That the central nucleus, of which we know nothing, 
 is encompassed round and round by a coat or shell 
 of granite, which, crystallising from a fluid state by 
 the force of a strong affinity, has assumed a very ir- 
 regular figure, shooting up into elevated cones or 
 ridges at some points, which form the naked sum- 
 mits of mountains, and sinking into vast cavities many 
 miles, or dozens of miles, below the present surface 
 at others. That the gneiss crystallizing next in or- 
 der was deposited above the granite, covering all 
 the lower parts, but leaving the most elevated points 
 of the granite bare. That the mica and clay slate 
 
PHYSICAL G 
 
 Physical were deposited in a less perfect state of crystalliza- 
 Geography. jiQ^ above the gneiss, and in beds rather less inclin- 
 ^■"■"^"^^ed ; that the older class of secondary rocks of a com- 
 position more mechanical than chemical^ were then 
 deposited above the mica and clay slate ; the newer 
 secondary rocks again above the older, in a position 
 approaching more and more to the horizontal, as 
 their structure became less crystalline, and occupy- 
 ing a lower and lower level ; so that the edges, or 
 outgoings, of the older rocks are always found rising 
 above one another, as you advance I'rom low plains 
 to the summits of mountains. It is thus supposed, 
 that the gneiss and other stratified primary rocks are 
 found in beds nearly vertical, because we see them 
 
 1 only at those points where, resting on the elevated 
 
 crests of the fundamental granite, they break through 
 the secondary formations; but that, if we could pe- 
 netrate through the masses of sandstone, limestone, 
 &c. which cover them in level situations, we should 
 find them there also, and lying in horizontal posi- 
 tions above the granite. Farther, we see how the 
 deposition of the different formations brought the 
 earth nearer and nearer to the state in which we find 
 it. The deposition of the granite, we may suppose, 
 left the surface divided into profound cavities bound- 
 ed or broken by ridges or pinnacles with steep sides, 
 on which few orders of animated beings would have 
 existed. The stratified primary rocks, deposited on 
 the bottom and sides of these cavities, filled them 
 in part, the older secondary rocks, falling down in 
 less inclined strata, reduced the inequality still far- 
 ther ; and the newer secondary rocks, subsiding me- 
 chanically in strata nearly horizontal, made the sur- 
 face assume a tolerably even and regular appearance. 
 Last of all, the masses of gravel, sand, earth, marl, 
 and other alluvial matter, filling up the smaller cre- 
 vices and hollows left by the newest rocks, smooth- 
 ed the surface, and prepared the earth for the nou- 
 rishment of vegetable substances, and the habitation 
 of animated beings. 
 
 We give this outline of the structure of the globe 
 according to the principles of Werner; because, 
 though it cannot be easily reconciled with all the 
 facts now known, it explains the general disposition 
 of the parts d( the earth's surface, better than any 
 other that can be given in a small compass. Of the 
 modifications lately suggested, the following is wor- 
 thy of notice. The great space which the stratified 
 primary rocks occupy, compared with granite, and 
 the fact, that the former sometimes preserve the 
 same direction and dip unaltered on both sides of a 
 granite mountain, have led some to consider the lat- 
 ter not as the fundamental rock, but rather as exist- 
 ing in large kernels or isolated masses, which are 
 stuck in among the strata of the primary schistus, 
 without affecting their dip and direction. The schis- 
 tus again, instead of being in coats wrapped round 
 the granite, is supposed rather to affect a squamose 
 structure, or to be disposed in a continued order 
 like the scales of a fish. Gneiss, mica slate, and clay 
 slate, may be conceived, on this hypothesis, to be 
 disposed in strata standing out edgeways, and alter- 
 nating with one another, all round the globe. The 
 large hollows left in the surface by the irregularity 
 of the crystallization, or produced by the wearing 
 
 EOGRAPHY. 151 
 
 away of the softer rocks (the mica and clay slate, I'hysical 
 the more destructible rocks, being generally found in Geography, 
 the lowest situations, and the more enduring gneiss, -v-*»->' 
 with its kernels of granite, in the highest), are filled 
 up by newer formations, sometimes in conformable 
 positions, but more frequently lying over the ends 
 of the older strata. In this place, it is enough to 
 have mentioned these opinions, without attempting 
 to discuss their merits. 
 
 The phenomena of geology show, that the original Changes on 
 formation of the rocks has been accompanied, in nearly Surface, 
 all its stages, by a process of waste, decay, and recom- 
 position. The rocks, as they were successively depo- 
 sited, were acted upon by air and water, heat, &c. bro- 
 ken into fragments, or worn down into grains, out of 
 which new strata were formed. Thus the disinte- 
 grated materials of the older rocks, reunited by a 
 cement, constitute those strata of greywacke, con- 
 glomerate, and old red sandstone, which skirt the 
 primary mountains; the debris of the secondary 
 rocks are found aggregated in the same way into 
 beds of breccia, tufa, and newer conglomerate ; a 
 large portion of the spoils of the slate and trap rocks, 
 both old and new, in a state of great comminution, 
 are spread over the surface in beds of clay ; and a 
 still larger portion of the spoils of the quartz rocks, 
 form those immense beds of sandstone and loose 
 sand which Cover so great a portion of the dry land 
 and the bottom of the sea. Even the newer second- 
 ary rocks, since their consolidation, have been sub- 
 ject to great changes, of which very distinct monu- 
 ments remain. Thus, we have single mountains, 
 which, from their structure, can only be considered 
 as remnants of great formations, or of great conti- 
 nents no^ longer in existence. Mount Meisner in 
 Hesse, six miles long and three broad, rises about 
 600 yards above its base, and 700 above the sea, 
 overtopping all the neighbouring hills for 40 or 50 
 iniles round. The lowest part of the mountain con- 
 sists of the same shell limestone and sandstone which 
 exist in the adjacent country. Above these are, 
 first, a bed of sand, then a bed of fossil wood 100 
 feet thick at some points, and the whole is cover- 
 ed by a mass of basalt 500 feet in height. On con- 
 sidering these facts, it h impossible to avoid con- 
 cluding, that this mountain, which now overtops the 
 neighbouring country, occupied, at one time, the 
 bottom of a cavity in the midst of higher lands. 
 The vast mass of fossil wood could not all have 
 grown there, but must have been transported by 
 water from a more elevated surface, and lodged in 
 what was then a hollow. The basalt which covers 
 the wood must also have flowed in a current from a 
 higher site, but the soil over which both the wood 
 and the basalt passed has been swept away, leaving 
 this mountain as a solitary memorial to attest its 
 existence. Thus, also, on the side of Mount Jura, 
 next the Alps, where no other mountain interposes, 
 there are found vast blocks of granite (some of 1000 
 cubic yards) at the height of more than 2000 feet 
 above the Lake of Geneva. These blocks are 
 foreign to the rocks among which they lie, and have 
 evidently come from the opposite chain of the Alps ; 
 but the land which constituted the inclined plane 
 over which they were rolled or transported, has 
 
L52 P H Y S I C A L G 
 
 Physical been worn away, and the valley of lower Switzer- 
 Geography. land with its lakes now occupies its place. Transport- 
 ^v^^'ed masses of primitive rocks, of the same description, 
 are found scattered over the north of Germany, 
 ■which Von Buch ascertained, by their characters, to 
 belong to the mountains of Scandinavia ; and which, 
 therefore, carry us back to a period when an elevated 
 continent, occupying the basin of the Baltic, con- 
 nected Saxony with Norway. (Daubuisson, Geog. I. 
 230.) 
 
 At the present day, we see rocks worn away by 
 the action of rivers and the sea, or crumbling down 
 by the agency of air, heat, moisture, and frost ; we 
 see sands thrown up by the ocean at other points, 
 and carried by winds over the face of the continent ; 
 we find new lands forming at the bottom of lakes 
 and the mouth of rivers ; we find beds of solid mat- 
 ter thrown out by volcanoes, loose sand agglutinated 
 into hard rock on the shores of the sea; and new 
 stony deposits forming by calcareous solutions. 
 Can we attribute the great changes of which we see 
 traces, to the same causes which operate these effects 
 under our eyes, or have mightier agents been em- 
 ployed ? These are questions which geologists have 
 not yet been able completely to resolve, and into 
 which it is not necessary here to enter. 
 Organic Re- But the most interesting memorials of the past 
 aiains. history of the globe are supplied by those myriads 
 of remains of organised bodies which exist in its 
 outer crusts. In these, we find traces of innumer- 
 able orders of beings, existing under different cir- 
 cumstances, and succeeding one another at distant 
 epochs, varying through multiplied changes of form, 
 yet, even in their most dissimilar appearances, ex- 
 hibiting a constant analogy to one another, and to 
 the organised bodies which still exist. What is not 
 less interesting, the varieties in the character of these 
 extinct beings are not capriciously distributed, but 
 correspond pretty distinctly with the order of their 
 position. Thus, as we pass from the oldest second- 
 ary formations to the newest, we find the forms of 
 the animal and vegetable remains approaching more 
 and more to those of the living bodies which now 
 exist on the surface ; so that, while the most ancient 
 are but faintly allied by a few general characters 
 to the present animal and vegetable tribes, the most 
 recent can scarcely be distinguished from them. 
 
 If we examine the secondary rocks, beginning 
 with the most ancient, the first organic remains 
 which present themselves are those of aquatic plants 
 and large reeds, but of species different from ours. 
 To these succeed madrepores, encrinites, and other 
 aquatic zoophytes, living beings of the simplest forms, 
 which remain attached to one spot, and partake, in 
 some degree, of the nature of vegetables. Posterior 
 to these are orthoceratites, ammonites, and other 
 moUusci, still very simple in their forms, and entirely 
 different from any animals now known. After these 
 some fishes appear, and plants, consisting of bam- 
 boos and ferns, increase, but still different from those 
 which exist. In the next period, along with an in- 
 creasing number of extinct species of shells and 
 fishes, we first meet with amphibious and oviparous 
 quadrupeds, such as crocodiles and tortoises, and 
 some reptiles, as serpents, which show that dry land 
 10 
 
 E 0 G R A P H Y. 
 
 now existed. As we approach the newest of the Physical 
 solid rock formations, we find lamantins, phocae, Geography, 
 and other cetaceous and maramiferous sea animals, '-^y~*~' 
 with some birds. And in the newest of these 
 formations, we find the remains of herbivorous 
 land animals of extinct species, the paleotherium, 
 anaplotherium, &c. and of birds, with some fresh 
 water shells. In the lowest beds of loose soil, and 
 in peat bogs, are found the remains of the elephant, 
 rhinoceros, hippopotamus, elk, &c. of different spe- 
 cies from those which now exist, but belonging to 
 the same genera. Lastly, the bones of species which 
 are apparently the same with those now existing 
 alive, are never found except in the very latest al- 
 luvial depositions, or those which are either formed 
 in the sides of rivers, the bottoms of ancient lakes 
 and marshes now dried up, in peat beds, in the fis- 
 sures and caverns of certain rocks, or at small depths 
 below the present surface, in places where they niay 
 have been overwhelmed by debris, or even buried 
 by man. (Cuvier's Essai/, S. 29. Daubuisson, I. 362.) 
 Human bones are never found, except among those 
 of animal species now living, and in situations which 
 show that they have been, comparatively speaking, 
 recently deposited. 
 
 From these phenomena we are led to infer, that Geological 
 rocks now buried at a great depth, constituted, at History, 
 one time, the surface of continents, and the seat of 
 organic life ; and that many orders of beings have 
 been called into existence, and afterwards destroyed 
 by great revolutions, which introduced new classes 
 of mineral deposits, accompanied with new tribes 
 of organic beings ; we see farther, that among the 
 variety of vegetable and animal forms which peopled 
 these successive continents, aquatic plants and ani- 
 mals, which appear the earliest, show that the sur- 
 face was long covered with water. The appearance 
 of amphibious animals and reptiles at a later period 
 indicates the first existence of dry land ; but long 
 posterior to these, and among the newest of the solid 
 rocks, we find herbivorous quadrupeds, which shows, 
 so far as our present knowledge extends, that it was , 
 only at a late period, speaking geologically, that the 
 earth's surface was clothed with herbage, and ren- 
 dered in other respects a!nalogous to what it is at pre- 
 sent. We find also, that, since the surface assumed 
 this form, it has been subjected to at least two great 
 catastrophes, apparently by irruptions of the waters. 
 Thus the fossil remains of the herbivorous animals 
 found in the Paris gypsum (the paleotherium, &c.) 
 are covered by deposits containing sea-shells, and 
 are not found again in any beds nearer the surface. 
 Hence the waters, after the irruption which destroy- 
 ed these animals, had again retired ; and upon the 
 new continent thus left dry, we find the remains of a 
 different race of herbivorous quadrupeds (the ele- 
 phant, rhinoceros, &c.), of species which are also ex- 
 tinct, but allied to the existing races in their generic 
 characters. These animals are again covered by 
 loose soil, intermixed with marine substances, which 
 shows that a new irruption of the sea had occasion- 
 ed their total or partial destruction ; and when the 
 waters retired once more, the land had been left dry, 
 as it now exists ; for the only class of animal remains 
 above those in question belong to the species now 
 
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 153 
 
 Physical living on the surface, and are found in situations 
 Jeography. ^^ere their appearance is easily accounted for. It is 
 among these last that the remains of the human spe- 
 cies are found ; and no vestiges of any being analo- 
 gous to man in structure have ever been discovered 
 among older deposits. * 
 
 From an attentive consideration of the phenomena 
 now referred to, we are led to conclude^ that the ap- 
 pearance of rnan upon the face of the globe is, geo- 
 logically speaking, a very recent event ; before which 
 the earth had been inhabited for thousands of 
 years, by various families of plants, and tribes of 
 animals, which had been destroyed and renewed 
 in a long series of successions. Farther, the re- 
 searches hitherto made favour the supposition that 
 the tribes of living beings existing at each epoch 
 were not a remnant of those destroyed by the pre- 
 ceding revolution, retaining the same forms, or 
 changed and modified by external causes, but rather 
 a new creation, adapted, we may presume, to the al- 
 tered situation of the surface. It is possible, but 
 rather improbable, that the present races of animals 
 may have existed along with the mastodon of Ame- 
 rica and the mammoth of Russia ; but we are almost 
 certain that they did not exist, at least in this part of 
 the globe, with the preceding order of beings, the 
 paleotherium, anaplotherium, &c. The continual ap- 
 proaches which the newer orders of fossil animals 
 make in their forms to those now living can, there- 
 fore, only be regarded as a proof that the climate, 
 soil, and circumstances to which the nature of the 
 extinct species was adapted, approached more and 
 more to those under which animal life exists at the 
 present day. 
 
 As new orders of beings have been introduced at 
 each change, and the most perfect have appeared 
 the last, have we any reason to believe, from the con- 
 sideration of these phenomena, that some future con- 
 vulsion of nature may bury the present races of men 
 and animals, and usher in a new creation, of a still 
 more perfect kind, over which some intelligent be- 
 ing, of a higher class than man, may preside ? We 
 think not. The great revolutions, which have so 
 often overwhelmed and new-peopled the face of the 
 globe, seem to have been continually decreasing in 
 the magnitude of their effects, from those which de- 
 posited the vast masses of the primitive rocks, to 
 those which left behind them the Paris gypsum and 
 other superficial beds, like a slight sediment in the 
 cavities of preceding formations. They may be com- 
 pared, in fact, to the motions of a pendulum, which 
 describes a smaller arc at each vibration, till it ulti- 
 mately settles in a state of rest. The progressively 
 diminishing extent of these successive changes give 
 us reason to believe, that the system of our globe has 
 nearly reached this state of repose. Perhaps, with- 
 out an improper licence of conjecture, we may ex- 
 plain the phenomena which the past history of the 
 globe presents, by supposing that the Deity, having 
 deemed that state of the earth's surface which we 
 
 now witness the best adapted for man, and having I'hysical 
 considered a long series of changes, such as geology <^eography. 
 reveals to us, the fittest means of bringing it to this ^-"*v*"*^ 
 state, did, from the impulse of that benevolence 
 which has peopled every leaf with sentient beings, 
 create tribes of living creatures at each successive 
 epoch, adapted to the existing order of things, and 
 terminating with it. Nor is there any thing in this 
 conjecture inconsistent with revelation. It has been 
 allowed, that the word " day," in the Mosaic account 
 of the creation, may mean a period of indefinite 
 length ; and nothing more is necessary to remove 
 every essential difiiculty. Cuvier deduces, from cer- 
 tain progressive changes on the earth's surface, as 
 well as from the concurrent traditions of many na- 
 tions, that the first appearance of man on the face of 
 the globe, or at least the renewal of the human race 
 after some great catastrophe, cannot be referred 
 to a period farther back than about 5000 or 6000 
 years from the present time. {Essay, Sect. 34.) The 
 researches of science in this respect afford a striking 
 confirmation to the testimony of the sacred histo- 
 rian. 
 
 The earth's surface may be divided into dry land Varieties of 
 and submarine land. The dry land consists of high t^e Surface, 
 country, that is, of mountains and hills, with the ele- 
 vated valleys between them ; and of low country, or 
 the extensive plains which lie at the foot of the 
 mountains. The sea has also its plains, mountains, 
 and valleys. High or Alpine country sometimes de- 
 scends to the sea by a succession of valleys below 
 one another, sometimes by one large plain. Elevated 
 and extensive plains, however, with opposite declivi- 
 ties, do not terminate in one another, but are almost 
 always divided by land of a mountainous character. 
 
 Single detached mountains are rare, except in vol- Mountains^ 
 canic districts, and in those where trap rocks abound. 
 Mountains are generally found in elevated bands, con- 
 sisting either of one central chain, with branches run- 
 ning off at right angles, or of several chains or ridges 
 running parallel to each other ; and in both cases often 
 accompanied by subordinate or dependent chains, of 
 a smaller elevation. Thus the Cevennes, Jura, 
 Vosges, with the mountains beyond the Danube, are 
 considered as dependencies of the Alps. Mountain 
 chains have generally a great length, compared vvith 
 their breadth. The ends or extremities of a chain 
 and the outer ends of its branches seldom decline 
 gradually into the level country, but rather termi- 
 nate abruptly. In principal chains, the highest point 
 is generally near the middle ; but in dependent chains, 
 the highest part is that which is nearest the princi- 
 pal. Peaks or elevated summits, rising far above the 
 other parts of the mountain, such as Mount Blanc, 
 in the Alps, are generally placed on the principal 
 ridge, or that which parts the waters, and at the 
 point where two opposite branches join. To this, 
 however, there are exceptions. Coh or necks, 
 which are the lowest parts of ridges, and serve 
 as passages from one country to another, are al- 
 
 * Some human bones are said to have been found in loam in gypsum caves, associated with the remains 
 of the rhinoceros and fossil horse. Jameson's -Manwo/ of Mineralogy, p. 445. 
 
 VOL. VI. PART I. U, 
 
154 
 
 Physical 
 GeograjAy. 
 
 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 Valleys. 
 
 most always placed at the joining of two opposite 
 , valleys. The Col de Brenner, the lowest of those in 
 tlie great Alpine chain, is 4680 feet above the sea. 
 The other four principal passages through the great 
 chain are from 6500 to 8000 feet high. The lowest 
 passage in the chain of the Pyrenees is about 3400, 
 and in that of the Andes of Quito 12,200, feet above 
 the sea. The summits of great chains sometimes 
 present a sharp ridge, like the Swiss Alps ; some- 
 times a level track, like Mount Langfield in Norway, 
 which is ten or twelve leagues broad ; sometimes a 
 vast plain, like the table land of Mexico in North 
 Americaj ISO leagues broad, and bounded by valleys 
 with steep sides. Where many chains run parallel to 
 each other, the steepest sides of the outer chains 
 are generally turned towards the central chain ; and 
 in the dependent chains, the steepest sides are turn- 
 ed towards the principal. In general, also, moun- 
 tains that surround lakes or basins present their 
 steepest sides to the water. Thus the scarps of the 
 hills which surround the Basin of Bohemia are turn- 
 ed inward ; those of the hills which surround the 
 Lakes of Geneva and Constance face these lakes ; 
 those of the mountains round the Mediterranean also 
 generally face that sea ; and the high lands which ex- 
 tend along the coasts of Africa, Asia, and America, 
 from the Cape of Good Hope to Cape Horn, have 
 their steepest sides to the great basin which forms 
 the Indian and Pacific Ocean. (Daubuisson, I. 60 — 
 99.) 
 
 The form and arrangement of valleys correspond 
 to those of mountains. A great mountain chain 
 sends out branches at right angles to itself, which are 
 called lateral chains ; these lateral chains send out 
 other smaller branches at right angles to themselves, 
 and parallel to the great chain, and which are called 
 subordinate chains ; and sometimes these last send out 
 others still smaller. The valleys which separate one 
 principal chain from another, such as the valley of 
 the Rhone above Geneva, are called " principal val- 
 leys ;" those which separate one lateral chain from 
 another are called *' lateral valleys ;" and those which 
 divide the subordinate chains from one another are 
 called "subordinate valleys." The subordinate valleys 
 open into the lateral, the lateral into the principal ; 
 the whole forming a connected system, in the order 
 of trunk and branches. Valleys often contract and 
 enlarge their breadth, as if they formed a series of 
 basins rising above each other towards their sources. 
 Lakes are most abundant at the upper extremities of 
 valleys. A vast number of small lakes exist along 
 the ridge of the Pyrenees, some of them at an eleva- 
 tion of 8000 feet ; and along that of the Andes, 
 where they are also numerous, there are some as 
 high as 13,000. In the Alps there are also many ; 
 but the largest, such as those of Constance, Geneva, 
 Como, lie at the foot of these mountains, and at ele- 
 vations from 650 to 1600 feet above the sea. Some 
 of the basins, formed by the contraction of the val- 
 leys, have obviously been lakes at one period, though 
 now dry. But more frequently the sides of valleys, 
 instead of alternately contracting and receding, pre- 
 serve a very striking parallelism, salient angles on 
 one side being opposed to re-entering angles on the 
 other. Nor is this the consequence of inflections in 
 4> 
 
 the dip and direction of the strata ; for these rarely Phybicai 
 correspond with the declivities of the surface. On Geography, 
 the contrary, we find the lateral and subordinate 
 valleys in the sides of mountains cutting distinctly 
 through the strata ; so that, when the width is not 
 very great, we can generally trace the same beds in 
 the same order at the opposite sides. In short, the 
 aspect of a mountainous region, on the great scale, 
 is very similar to that of a hillock of soft clay or 
 earth which has been cut and worn away by heavy 
 rains. The furrows made by the water, ramifying 
 into others smaller and smaller, with the little ridges 
 of earth between them, present a very accurate 
 image of an Alpine track, with its system of valleys, 
 its crests and pinnacles, its long chains, and its late- 
 ral and subordinate ridges. Had the mountainous 
 district, with some slight original inequalities of sur- 
 face, been subjected, for a long series of ages, to the 
 agents which act upon it at present, or what is more 
 probable, to agents of the same kind, but of greater 
 power, we have reason to believe that the configura- 
 tion of the surface would have ultimately been very 
 similar to what we see. It does not follow, however, 
 that mountains have really received their form from 
 such causes. (Daubuisson, I. 85 — 94, 245.) On 
 the other hand, a debacle, or great current, such as 
 some geologists have supposed, sweeping over the 
 globe, or a particular district, could not scoop out 
 valleys which are almost universally shut at one ex- 
 tremity. 
 
 Hills are less regular in their direction and form 
 than mountains. They exist more frequently in 
 groups than chains, and often appear as the last un- 
 dulations of the mountainous surface. (Daubuisson, 
 L 108.) 
 
 Volcanoes occupy but a small portion of the Volcanoes, 
 earth's surface ; but, in consequence of the gran- 
 deur of the phenomena they present, they have 
 always arrested the attention of mankind. About 
 205 are known, including only those that have been 
 active within a period to which history or tradition 
 reaches. Europe contains thirteen or fourteen, and 
 of the whole number, it is computed that 107 are in 
 islands, and 98 on the great continents. Very few 
 of these are in constant activity ; the greater num- 
 ber sleep for long periods, and some of them for 
 ages. In general their activity is in the inverse ra- 
 tio of their size, and of those that are active, very 
 few throw out lava, the greater number only emit 
 smoke, or smoke and ashes. 
 
 In a volcano that has been in a state of repose, 
 smoke appears before an eruption ; subterranean 
 noises are heard ; the earth shakes ; then ashes, 
 sand, stones, are thrown out ; at last, the melted 
 lava runs over the crater, or bursts through the 
 sides, after which the earthquake ceases. The co- 
 lumns of smoke consist chiefly of aqueous vapour, 
 with carbonic sulphuric or muriatic gas. The ashes, 
 which seem to be lava in a state of very minute divi- 
 sion, have been known to be carried by the wind 
 fifty or an hundred leagues. Wheh deposited in 
 great quantities, and impregnated with moisture, 
 they form a volcanic tufa, which is sometimes solid 
 enough to serve as building stone. The sands which 
 form the major part of the ejected matter, and the 
 
PHYSICAL G 
 
 Physical principal mass of some volcanic mountains, consist 
 Geography, of minute portions of lava which congeal in the air, 
 '^-^"^y^'^ or of the finer scoriae. They are mixed with crystals 
 of augite and felspar. The scoriae consists of larger 
 portions of the same matter, and has the appearance 
 of the slag of forges. Along with these and the 
 lava are often thrown out unfused fragments of the 
 rock, which forms the walls of the volcano. The ve- 
 locity of projection is thought to equal that of a 
 cannon-ball, and the force is prodigiously great. 
 Vesuvius throws up large stones 1200 yards above 
 the crater, and Cotopaxi has launched a fragment of 
 an hundred cubic yards (weighing not less than 200 
 tons) to a distance of three leagues. 
 
 The lava which flows out of volcanoes is a dark 
 stony substance, resembling basalt, compact or po- 
 rous, or with imbedded crystals. It is seen lying in 
 the bottom of the crater in a state of incandescence, 
 like melted metal in a furnace. It has a motion like 
 boiling ; and is seen to swell up from time to time 
 twenty or thirty feet ; as it rises, bubbles, some feet 
 in diameter, form on its surface, and explode with a 
 noise like a clap of thunder, bursting into a thousand 
 fragments, which are accompanied with smoke and 
 sparks. It then sinks in silence, to rise again in a 
 little time. These alternate swellings and subsidings 
 are evidently produced by the disengagement of 
 elastic fluids. The force of the fluids, however, is 
 rarely sufficient in the lar^e volcanoes to raise the 
 lava to the surface ; and hence, in such caees, it ge- 
 nerally happens that the flank of the mountain is 
 burst through by the pressure of so vast a column, 
 and the lava escapes laterally. Of ten eruptions of 
 Mount Etna, nine have been by the flank, but Ve- 
 suvius, and other small volcanoes, habitually throw 
 out their lava by the crater. On the other hand, 
 the gigantic volcanoes in the Andes, having their 
 sides compressed by the immense mass of the Cor- 
 dilleras, are never known to throw out lava now in 
 either way, though lava is found in the country. 
 Scoriae and ashes, however, are still ejected. The 
 current of lava descends in general slowly, but some- 
 times with a velocity of five or six miles an hour. 
 The surface cooling first, forms a sort of tube or 
 tunnel, under which the liquid mass is sometimes 
 seen to flow upwards, in consequence of the pressure 
 of the column behind. These tubes, and inclosed 
 portions of gaseous fluids, often form caverns. When 
 the lava first issues out, it is very fluid, but becomes 
 more viscous as it cools. By means of its solid 
 crust, however, it preserves its heat an astonishing 
 length of time. Spallanzani saw a piece of wood 
 take fire in lava three years and a half after it was 
 thrown out, and at a distance of two leagues from 
 the crater. It has been seen flowing ten years, and 
 smoking twenty-six years, after its ejection. The 
 currents are of various magnitudes. At Vesuvius one 
 was observed eight or ten yards thick, from 100 to 
 400 broad, and four-fifths of a mile long ; but there 
 have been others much larger. In Iceland, in 1783, 
 there was a current twenty leagues in length, by four 
 leagues in breadth. So vast is the quantity of eject- 
 ed matter in some instances, that the mountain of 
 Jorullo, in Mexico, 1600 or 1700 feet high, standing 
 
 E O G R A P H Y. 155 
 
 on ground which was formerly a plain, was thrown Physical 
 up by an eruption in 1759. Geography. 
 
 Currents of water, accompanied with mud, some- 
 times descend from volcanoes. The water is be- 
 lieved to proceed generally from heavy rains falling 
 on the exterior of the mountain, and occasioned by 
 the sudden change of temperature round the crater ; 
 sometimes, however, from reservoirs in the interior ; 
 sometimes also, as indicated by the fish thrown out, 
 from the water of brooks finding its way into the 
 bowels of the mountain. Spallanzani thinks that 
 part of the tufas of Italy owe their origin to erup- 
 tions of mud. In Cotopaxi, which rises above the 
 line of perpetual frost, the melting of the vast masses 
 of snow, when ignition takes place, produces most 
 destructive torrents, one of which swept away a vil- 
 lage thirty leagues from the crater. 
 
 The name of Air or Mtid Volcanoes has been given Air and 
 to certain spots where gaseous fluids, or mud, or Vol- 
 water (generally salt), issue out of the earth, but*'^""^* 
 these have no connection with subterraneous fire. 
 At Macalouba, in Sicily, large bubbles of gas, con- 
 sisting chiefly of hydrogen, formed at some depth, 
 rise to the surface, where they explode, and scatter 
 the soft mud in which they are generated round the 
 opening. Near Modena, there are a number of 
 cones from which, at times, hydrogen gas issues, 
 with explosions which resemble small earthquakes, 
 while stones of several hundred weight are launched 
 to the distance of some yards, and currents of mud 
 are vomited forth 1000 yards in length. In some 
 cases, the gas issues pure from chinks or caverns, 
 and, taking fire, exhibits columns of flame 1 00 yards 
 in height. The fire-worshippers in Persia built their 
 temples over these fountains of flame ; and the 
 Chimera, with many other fables of the Greeks, had 
 their origin in the same natural phenomena. Erup- 
 tions of mud and gaseous exhalations have been ob- 
 served in the Crimea, in Java, in the American pro- 
 vince of Carthagena, and many other places. 
 
 In the district of the Cevennes, in the south of 
 France, there exist above 100 conical hills, which 
 are known to be volcanic by their form and compo- 
 sition, consisting of mixed masses of lava, scoriae, 
 and volcanic stones, and exhibiting in many places 
 very distinctly the appearance of a crater. But 
 they have never been in a state of ignition within 
 the periods to which history reaches, and are there- 
 fore considered as extinct volcanoes. Many moun- 
 tains in other countries present the same volcanic 
 character, though they have never been known to 
 produce eruptions. 
 
 Recent observations strongly favour the opinion 
 that many of the trap rocks are the productions of 
 subterraneous fire. But if we confine our view to 
 those mineral masses which are recognized as vol- 
 canic at present, they form but a very trifling part of 
 the outer crust of the globe. Their formation is ob- 
 viously posterior to that of the other solid rocks, 
 for they are always found at the surface, and never 
 enter into the frame-work of the earth. Vesuvius 
 has, perhaps, covered with its ejected matter twenty 
 square leagues, and Etna one hundred. The 200 
 existing volcanoes, estimated according to this scale. 
 
156 
 
 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 Theory of 
 Volcanoes 
 
 Physical besides elevating their respective cones, may have 
 Geography, spread a coat of lava and scoriae, probably an hun- 
 - - ^ dred yards thick, over 20,000 square leagues, that 
 is, over the twelve hundredth part of the surface of 
 the globe. It may, therefore, be safely held, that vol- 
 canoes, as they now exist, have exercised no gene- 
 ral influence on the state of the globe. 
 
 A satisfactory theory of volcanoes is yet wanting ; 
 but some progress has been made in generalizing 
 the phenomena and circumstances connected with 
 them which, when fully known, will certainly conduct 
 us to the knowledge of their causes. First, water 
 seems to be a necessary agent in the production of 
 volcanic fire. Columns of aqueous vapour ascend 
 from volcanoes ; currents of salt water sometimes 
 flow out of them, and heavy rains increase their ac- 
 tion. It is only extinct volcanoes, like those of 
 Auvergne, that are found far inland ; the others are 
 always at no great distance from the sea ; the most 
 active are in its immediate vicinity, and some are ac- 
 tually submarine. The matter which feeds them 
 does not seem to be universally diffused, but rather 
 collected in particular spots. Hence, they almost 
 always exist in groups. Thus, Sicily and the south 
 of Italy present us with one group, Iceland with 
 another, the Archipelago with a third, the Canary 
 Islands a fourth, and the great cones of Cotopaxi, 
 Tungurahua, and Pinchincha, in Quito, a fifth. This 
 proximity of situation in the members of the same 
 group seems to arise, not from any subterraneous 
 communication, but from the matter which feeds 
 them being distributed over the space they occupy, 
 and accompanied with the presence of the agents 
 that excite combustion. Thus, the action of one of 
 the volcanoes belonging to the same group, such as 
 Etna, Vesuvius, Stromboli, is found to be entirely 
 independent of that of the others, one being asleep 
 while another is active, and eruptions of one pro- 
 ducing no change in the others. The arrangement of 
 some of these groups is perhaps most consistent with 
 the supposition of the matter being disposed in beds ; 
 but that of others, such as the volcanoes of Mexico, 
 and the extinct volcanoes of Auvergne, which are 
 ranged in strait lines, rather suggest the idea of 
 the matter being lodged in veins. The distance of 
 some volcanoes from the sea or from large lakes, 
 with which analogy leads us to conclude that they 
 have a necessary connection, the length of time they 
 have burned, and their being the focus of earth- 
 quakes, which are felt over a great extent of surface, 
 show that the fire is seated at some distance under 
 the surface ; on the other hand, we have every rea- 
 son to believe, that wherever the source of the heat 
 may be, the erupted matter does not come from a 
 very great depth in the bowels of the earth. The 
 quantity of lava is too trifling to be thrown up by a 
 central fire, or to restore the equilibrium of nature, 
 after it has been disturbed by convulsions so dread- 
 ful as those which precede an eruption must be, if 
 their seat is really at a very great depth in the solid 
 mass of the globe. Neither the supposition of beds 
 of coal, nor of pyrites, in the interior of the volca- 
 no, explain the origin of the carbonic generated so 
 abundantly and maintained so long. Perhaps the 
 violent heat produced in some chemical processes, 
 12 
 
 as when the pure metallic bases of potass and soda, Physical 
 
 are brought into contact with oxygen, chlorine, Geography. 
 
 or water, may give us an idea, though only in the 
 
 way of analogy, of the source whence subterraneous 
 
 fire is derived. (Daubuisson, I. l60, 192, 208, 
 
 218.) 
 
 In an article like this, we cannot attempt a detail- 
 ed description of the physical features of each country, 
 and must therefore restrict ourselves to a very gene- 
 ral survey of the two great continents, the old and 
 the new. 
 
 If we consider the old continent attentively, we General 
 shall find that its general form, the declivity of its View of Old 
 surface, and the course of its rivers, are chiefly de- ^"'^"ent. 
 termined by one great zone of mountains which tra- 
 verses it from one extremity to the other, at the 
 mean latitude of 40*^ north. This Alpine girdle has 
 its origin on the shores of the Atlantic between the 
 parallels of 30° and 42°, from which, in several 
 chains, under the names of Atlas, on the south, and 
 the Pyrenees, Alps, Mount Hemus, on the north, it 
 passes into Asia; and there, under the names of 
 Taurus, Caucasus, and Elbourz, it is continued east- 
 ward to the 70th degree of longitude. At this me- 
 ridian it divides into two branches, one of which, 
 the Himalayah range, takes a direction south-east- 
 ward, and terminates within 400 or 500 miles of the 
 Gulf of Bengal; the other, Mount Altai and Yab- 
 lounoy, passes north-eastward till it strikes the Paci- 
 fic Ocean at the latitude of 55°. Its entire length to 
 east longitude 140 is 8000 miles. Its breadth va- 
 ries from 500 miles to 2000. The Pyrenees, Alps, 
 and Mount Hemus, ought evidently to be consi- 
 dered as members of one great group with Mount 
 Atlas. They rise under the same meridian, and 
 have a corresponding direction ; they are not sepa- 
 rated by open plains, but by a long and narrow in- 
 land sea, which, from its steep shores, and great but 
 irregular depth, has exactly the character of one of 
 those profound lakes that occupy the bottom of val- 
 leys between the parallel ridges of the same moun- 
 tain chain. The Sierras of Spain, the high ridge of 
 Corsica and Sardinia, the Italian Appenines con- 
 tinued through Sicily, and the mountains of Southern 
 Greece, form so many transverse branches connect- 
 ing the great southern and northern chains of the 
 band. Perhaps most of these transverse branches, 
 where they meet the waters, are continued by sub- 
 marine ridges. At least this is the case with the 
 connecting branch of the Appenines and mountains 
 of Sicily ; for, though the Mediterranean generally 
 is too deep for soundings, there is no more that 100 
 fathoms anywhere between Sicily and Cape Bon. 
 Through the mountains of the Morea, and Crete, 
 and Mount Rhodope, the African and European 
 chains are connected with Mount Olympus and 
 Taurus. The Carpathians and Erzegebirge are de- 
 pendant chains of the Alps. Mount Taurus, rein- 
 forced by the chain of Lebanon, turns north-east- 
 ward round the sources of the Euphrates, where it 
 unites with the lofty group of Caucasus. From this 
 the principal chain passes round the bottom of S'he 
 Caspian Sea, under the name of Elbourz, including 
 the high peak of Demawend. A collateral branch 
 passes south-eastward, along the basin of the Tigris, 
 
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 1^7 
 
 Physical the north side of the Persian Gulf and Indian Sea, 
 eographjr. fju ginks into the sandy plains at the mouth of the 
 Indus. Between these two run various ridges in dif- 
 ferent directions, but generally with a certain degree 
 of parallelism to the outer chains, the whole of 
 which give the character of table land to the surface 
 of Persia. About 70° of east longitude the great 
 band parts into two branches, one of which, in seve- 
 ral chains, runs south-eastward, forming a lofty bar- 
 rier to Hindostan on the north, and giving birth to 
 the Indus, the Ganges, and the Burrampooter, The 
 other, the Altai branch, proceeds north-eastward to 
 the sea of Otchosk, •sending off several small branches 
 on both sides. From Uda, in latitude 55°, it skirts the 
 sea to Behring's Straits. These two great branches 
 support the high plateau of Thibet, within or near 
 which all the largest rivers of Asia have their source, 
 eight. The height of this great Alpine zone is various. 
 
 Mount Atlas, according to Chenier, is covered with 
 eternal snow, and must therefore exceed 10,000 feet 
 in elevation. The Sierra Nevada, in the south of 
 Spain, is 1 1,660 feet high ; the loftiest summit of the 
 Pyrenees is 11,283 feet, of the Alps, 15,646 feet, of 
 the Carpathians, 8640 feet. Mount Etna, 10,963 feet. 
 Mounts Orbelus, Olympus, and Parnassus in Greece, 
 from 6000 to 9000 feet.* With regard to the Asia- 
 tic mountains, very few of their heights have been 
 measured. We know generally that Mount Taurus, 
 in the south of Asia Minor, Mounts Caucasus, Ara- 
 rat, and Demawend, reach the limits of perpetual 
 snow, and must therefore have an altitude exceeding 
 9000 feet. But the most elevated part of this moun- 
 tain band is the Himalayah, the loftiest summits of 
 which, according to the estimate of Captain Blake, 
 rise to the height of 25,000 and 28,000 feet above the 
 level of the sea, and are therefore the most elevated 
 land on the globe. {Edinburgh PhilosophicalJournal, 
 No. X. 408.) The Altai chain is but little known. 
 Various circumstances show that it does not general- 
 ly rise to a great height above the surrounding coun- 
 try, but it stands upon a very elevated base, and the 
 extreme rigour of the climate proves that its abso- 
 lute height is very great. Taking the whole Alpine 
 band together, we shall probably not err far, if we 
 reckon its mean height in Europe from 4000 to 90OO 
 feet, and in Asia from 5000 to 14,000. 
 
 Apart from this principal system of mountains, we 
 have two small and separate chains in the northern 
 part of the old continent. These are the Dofrines, 
 1000 miles long, with a mean height from 4000 to 
 6000 feet, and of which the mountains of Scotland 
 and England may be considered a detached portion ; 
 and the Urals, 1400 miles long, and of a moderate 
 but unknown height. Both of these chains run south 
 and north, or nearly at right angles to the grand 
 central band. The Dofrines have a system of decli- 
 vities and rivers dependent on them, embracing the 
 whole peninsula of Scandinavia. The Urals seem to 
 produce almost no effect on the general direction of the 
 surface and of the rivers in the great northern plains. 
 
 This great Mediterranean band of mountains may Pliysicai 
 be considered as the spine ofthe ancient continent. It Geography, 
 determines the direction and elevation of the surface, ^•^^'^"^^ 
 over nine-tenths of Europe and Asia, and one-fifth 
 of Africa, the course of all the great rivers in the old 
 world, except the Nile and the Niger, and in some 
 measure the climate of the different regions. It in- 
 closes within its extreme branches Spain, Barbary, 
 Italy, Swisserland, Southern Germany, Hungary, the 
 Mediterranean Isles, Turkey in Europe and Asia, , 
 Persia, Bucharia, Thibet, and Chinese Tartary, all of 
 which countries consist either of table land, or of 
 valleys placed between the different chains. The sur- 
 face of this mountainous zone occupies a space of 
 5,000,000 square miles, and embraces Persia, Phe- 
 nicia, Assyria, Asia Minor, Greece, and Italy, all the 
 early seats of civilization. Spain consists of a suc- 
 cession of valleys from 500 to 2500 feet high, divid- 
 ed by ridges, and in the central parts, especially in 
 the basin of the Douro, approaching to table land. 
 Southern Swisserland and the Tyrol present us with 
 profound valleys from 1000 to 3000 feet above the level 
 of the sea. Northern Swisserland, Wirtemberg, Bava- 
 ria, and Austria, consist chiefly of irregular plateaux 
 from 1000 to 2000 feet high, broken by mountain 
 ridges. Italy embraces merely the declivities of the 
 Appenines, Barbary those of Mount Atlas. Greece 
 consists of narrow littoral declivities, and basin- 
 shaped valleys ; and the Mediterranean Isles are 
 merely the summits and sides of marine mountains. 
 Bohemia is a circular valley, the bottom of which is 
 probably .'500 or 600 feet high ; and Hungary a still 
 larger and more level plain, whose bottom, accord- 
 ing to Humboldt, is not more than 200 or 250 feet 
 above the Black Sea. Asia Minor is an irregular 
 elevated plateau, fenced on the south by Mount 
 Taurus, and declining generally to the north. Per- 
 sia, according to Olivier, is also a high plateau, sup- 
 ported on all sides by mountains, and depressed in 
 the middle, so that the waters never penetrate the 
 external barrier, but flow inwards, and stagnate, or 
 disappear by evaporation. Thibet is a plateau of 
 the same kind, but still more extensive and more 
 elevated, forming, in truth, the summit of the 
 Asiatic plains, and the most extensive and lofty 
 range of table land on the globe. From a single 
 fact respecting its climate, Humboldt has inferred 
 that the height of this great plain is from 9000 to 
 10,000 feet above the sea. Thibet, with the desert 
 of Shamo, which is merely its continuation to the 
 north-east, are supposed to comprise a surface of 
 1,500,000 square miles. From the little that is 
 known respecting these regions, they are believed 
 to consist of level sandy or stony plains, diversified 
 by mountains of moderate height, and by pastures 
 with inconsiderable streams, which generally lose 
 themselves in salt lakes or marshes. In the eastern 
 part, the country of the Kalkas, though it rises per- 
 ceptibly from China, the elevation cannot be nearly 
 so great as Mr Barrow supposes, for some of th? 
 
 * Notes to Leslie's Geometry. Articles Europe and Greece, in this Supplement. 
 
158 
 
 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 Physical hiUs in latitude 45° and 50° are covered with wood, 
 Geography, ^vhich does not grow on Caucasus (in a correspond- 
 log latitude) at more than 6400 feet of absolute 
 height.* 
 
 Great The region on the north, exterior to this great 
 
 Northern mountain zone, but subordmate to it, is remarkably 
 simple and uniform in its character. Commencing 
 from the eastern shores of the North Sea and the 
 Baltic, it extends in one vast plain, unbroken by a 
 single chain of mountains, except the Urals, to the 
 North Pacific Ocean. This plain, the largest on the 
 globe, including generally the whole space between 
 the 50th and 70th parallels, has an average breadth 
 of 1400 miles, and a length of about 6000, and 
 comprehends an area of 6,500,000 square miles, or 
 rather more than one-fourth of Europe and Asia. 
 It embraces the western part of France, all Holland, 
 Northern Germany, Prussia, and the whole of Rus- 
 sia. Of its western division, that part which com- 
 prises France has considerable inequalities of sur- 
 face, coasts generally rocky, and a good soil, which 
 declines to the west. From Holland to Jutland it is 
 chiefly a heathy or marshy steppe, very low and level, 
 and with flat shores. From Mecklenburg to the 
 Gulf of Finland, sands are more abundant than 
 heath, the shores are flat, the surface, which is low 
 and abounding in shallow lakes, declines to the Bal- 
 tic for a breadth of 250 miles. From the longitude 
 of 30° to the eastern extremity of Asia, a vast plain 
 extends, one-fifth of which declines to the Black Sea 
 and Caspian, the other four-fifths to the Frozen 
 Ocean. Between the parallels of 50° and 60° the 
 soil is generally capable of culture, and in many 
 places rich, but it is intermixed with extensive sandy 
 deserts impregnated with salt, and abounding in salt 
 lakes. There are large forests, but the surface is, 
 for the greater part, little wooded, presenting exten- 
 sive open pastures, which are denominated steppes. 
 Beyond the 60th parallel the ground is generally 
 frozen during the whole year, and incapable of cul- 
 ture, but produces some low and stunted wood as 
 far as the parallel of 65" or 67°, and grass or moss 
 to the borders of the Frozen Ocean. The rivers 
 eastward of longitude 55° have all their courses 
 northward; they have little declivity, and are na- 
 vigable almost to their sources, for the few weeks 
 they are open.f 
 
 Zone of South of the great central band of mountains, we 
 Sands. have an immense zone of sandy deserts, 900 miles 
 broad, and 4500 long, extending between the paral- 
 lels of 18® and 31^ north, and between the west coast 
 of Africa, and the mouth of the Persian Gulf. But, 
 in reality, the sandy zone includes also the eastern 
 part of the great Alpine girdle. It is, therefore, 
 more accurate to consider it as extending across the 
 African continent in a band of 13 degrees in breadth. 
 From the Red Sea it turns a little to the northward, 
 and in the form of a truncated triangle, resting upon 
 this sea as a basis, it reaches obliquely across the con- 
 tinent of Asia to the 50th degree of latitude, and the 
 
 120th of longitude ; including northern Africa, Ara- Physical 
 bia, Persia, Cabul, Bucharia, Sind, Thibet, and the Geography, 
 western part of Chinese Tartary ; and embracing an "^v-^ 
 area of 6,500,000 of square miles, or nearly one- 
 fourth of the two continents through which it passes. 
 This tract contains many mountains, and some fer- 
 tile valleys, but it is characterized by vast desert 
 plains, formed of very light moveable sands, which 
 assume the form of waves, — by burning and pestilen- 
 tial winds, — by an extraordinary aridity and want of 
 rivers, — and by an abundant formation of salt, some- 
 times deposited like a crust on the surface, some- 
 times mixed with the inferior soil. Except the In- 
 dus and the Oxus, there is not a river of any size 
 within this immense region, which is twice as large 
 as Europe. The Sahara, or western desert of Afri- 
 ca, the peninsula of Arabia, and the great Plateau of 
 Thibet, present the most continued surface of sand. 
 Oases, or fertile spots, are found wherever the 
 springs break through the upper sandy stratum. 
 These oases are comparatively numerous, and exten- 
 sive, in the eastern part of Africa ; while in Persia, 
 Cabul, and Bucharia, the surface is diversified with 
 green mountains, which give birth to fertilizing 
 streams. Of the whole sandy zone, however, it is 
 probable that three-fourths consist of irreclaimable 
 deserts. 
 
 South from the Sahara in Africa lies a compara- south Afri- 
 tively fertile tract, the basin of the Niger, the Sene- ca. 
 gal, the Gambia, and the upper basin of the Nile. 
 This is bounded on the south by the ridge of Jebel 
 Kumra, a mountain of moderate height behind the 
 coast of Guinea, but rising to the region of the per- 
 petual snow in Abyssinia, if the two are really parts 
 of one chain. Little is known of the great southern I 
 extremity of Africa, extending from these mountains 
 to the Cape of Good Hope. From the elevation of 
 the coast, and the smallness of the rivers, it may be 
 conjectured to consist chiefly of table land, and to be 
 distinguished by its aridity. 
 
 From the head waters of the Ganges, a low and South Asia, 
 level tract extends to its mouth, and from this to 
 Cambodia, a series of long valleys opening into 
 marshy plains at the shore. The triangular pen- 
 insula of India, and the rich country of China 
 on the opposite sides of this tract, are covered by 
 considerable mountains, and have the character of 
 table land. The group of islands which extend 
 from China and Malacca to New Holland are in 
 general full of elevated mountains, many of which 
 are volcanic. New Holland has some of its shores 
 low, and some elevated, but it is not known to pos- 
 sess any very high mountains, or any large rivers. 
 Of the innumerable small isles scattered in the Paci- 
 fic, the greater part are merely the summits of coral 
 reefs. 
 
 The New World forms two great continents, gouth Ame- 
 united by a neck of high land. South America con- rica. 
 sists of one vast expanse of surface of small eleva- 
 tion, everywhere protected on the west by the great 
 
 * See Barrow's Travels. Gerbillon's Journies in Histoire Generale de Voyages, Tom. IX. 
 f Walckenaer, Cosmol. 408, 412. Sauers's Narrative. Pallas's Travels. 
 
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 159 
 
 Physical 
 iography. 
 
 rampart of the Andes. These mountains, which 
 pass along the western coast, at the distance of from 
 50 to 150 miles from the sea, rise, in one of their 
 summits, to the height of 21,440 feet, and in Peru 
 have a mean elevation of about 12,000 feet. There 
 are three small transverse ridges, one in Caraccas, 
 at the latitude of 8" or 9° north ; another, which 
 divides Guiana from the basin of the Amazon ; 
 and a third, which parts from the Cordilleras in 
 south latitude 18^ proceeding eastward, and spread- 
 ing out into a range of table land as it approaches 
 the eastern coast. All these transverse chains are 
 of small elevation. The low region of this continent 
 is divided into three great plains, which form the 
 basins of the three principal rivers, the Orinoco, the 
 Amazon, and the Plata. In the basin of the Orino- 
 co, the eye is fatigued by the unvaried aspect of a 
 boundless level, uniform as the surface of the ocean, 
 without a plant, or any object a foot in height, to 
 break its monotony. Except on the borders of the 
 rivers, these plains are destitute of trees. After the 
 annual rains, they are clothed with a luxuriant her- 
 bage, which, during the heats of the dry season, is 
 reduced to dust, and disappears. The soil then 
 presents the aspect of a parched desert, in the 
 chinks and fissures of which, the alligator and the 
 great serpent remain buried amidst the dry mud, 
 till they are awakened by the first showers. The 
 Pampas of La Plata, which extend from 18° to 40° 
 of south latitude, are plains of the same description. 
 But the zone which divides these open plains, and 
 forms the basin of the Amazon, extending from 6° 
 or 7° of north, to 18° of south latitude, is one vast 
 and continued forest. On the eastern side of the 
 continent, this forest extends as far south as latitude 
 25*', and altogether embraces a surface of 20,000 
 square leagues. This middle region is also the highest, 
 but so low are all the three, that, if the sea were 
 to rise 50 fathoms at the mouth of the Orinoco and 
 Plata, and 200 at the mouth of the Amazons, it would 
 wash the eastern foot of the Andes, and submerge 
 more than one-half of South America. The Llanos 
 and Pampas afford pasturage to millions of cattle, and 
 are, in truth, steppes like those of Southern Russia. 
 There are no real deserts in South America, except 
 a narrow tract of rock and quicksands on the coast 
 of Peru between Coquimba and Lima^ on which no 
 rain ever falls. (Humboldt, Pers. Nar. IV. 292, 
 311.) 
 
 Srorth Ame- '^^^ North American continent, like the South, is 
 distinguished by one great chain of mountains, which 
 traverses it from south to north nearly through its 
 whole extent, leaving a large open level region to 
 the east, and presenting a steeper and narrower de- 
 clivity to the west. The chain of the Rocky Moun- 
 tains, which ascend considerably above the inferior 
 limit of perpetual snow, at latitude 46", has proba- 
 bly an elevation of 8000 or 9000 feet. In a general 
 point of view, these mountains determine the decli- 
 vities of the soil, and the course of the rivers over 
 nearly the whole continent. On the west side of the 
 chain the slope is rapid, and the rivers, so far as 
 they are known, flow directly to the Pacific Ocean, 
 passing through a high, broken, interrupted chain, 
 
 which skirts the coast. On the east side, they bend Physical 
 their course to the nearest sea, over a surface little Geography, 
 inclined, flowing to the north-east, and north in the "^'^^'''^ 
 northern parts, and to the south-east and south in 
 the southern parts. On looking attentively at the 
 rivers in the map, it will be perceived that the chain 
 of lakes above Lake Erie, the upper Mississippi, the 
 Missouri, the Arkansaw, and Red River, all point in 
 one direction, to the south-east, that is, at right an- 
 gles to the general line of the coast, reckoning from 
 Nova Scotia to the north-west corner of the Mexi- 
 can Gulf. But, as if the barrier of the Alleghanies 
 had been thrown up subsequently to the general 
 level of the surface being settled, we find the St 
 Lawrence and the Mississippi, after running nearly 
 parallel till they were within 500 miles of the coast, 
 suddenly deflected from their south-east course, and 
 proceeding to the sea in directions almost exactly op- 
 posite. The mean height of the Alleghanies is from 
 2000 to 3000 feet. 
 
 The woods are thickest on the eastern side of the 
 Alleghanies. In the basin of the Ohio, which occu- 
 pies the western declivity of these mountains, exten- 
 sive tracts, called prairies, destitute of trees, but co- 
 vered with herbage, occur. The declivities of the 
 rocky mountains from the Mississippi to the Pacific 
 Ocean are generally bare of wood, except along the 
 rivers, and within twenty leagues of the sea-coast. 
 In truth, the whole of this vast region consists of 
 open steppes or savannahs, of a rich soil, and afford- 
 ing excellent pastures, but mixed with stony and 
 sandy tracts, especially towards the Mexican fron- 
 tiers. Salt springs are numerous, and in some dis- 
 tricts the surface is incrustated with a saline efflores- 
 cence. The whole of the region east of the Rocky 
 Mountains, from the 50th parallet to the Arctic Sea, 
 is generally low, abounds in lakes, and is scantily 
 wooded as far as the 60th degree of latitude, beyond 
 which trees cease to grow. From the Gulf of Mexi- 
 co to the mouth of Coppermine River, in latitude 
 67°, the country may be considered as one great 
 plain, the summit of which, about the 50th parallel, 
 is probably not 1000 feet high. The mean height 
 of the great basin of the Mississippi and Missouri, 
 Humboldt thinks, does not exceed from 500 to 800 
 feet. The interior of the country between Macken- 
 zie's River and Behring's Straits, and between Hud- 
 son's Bay and the coast of Labrador, is entirely un- 
 known ; but the former is probably fertile and toler- 
 ably wooded, as the whole of the region west of the 
 Rocky Mountains has a mild and humid climate. 
 The late discoveries of Captain Parry and Captain 
 Franklin have rendered it probable that the northern 
 limits of the American Continent run generally along 
 the 67th or 68th parallel, and that the space between 
 this and the latitude of 78° or 80° is occupied by a 
 numerous group of islands, of which Greenland 
 may be considered a part. The isthmus which con- 
 nects the two American continents consists of a 
 prolongation of the chain of the Andes, of mo- 
 derate height, and which, about the latitude of 18° 
 north, spreads out into a vast plateau of table land, 
 about 7000 feet above the sea. From this elevat- 
 ed base some detached volcanic mountains ascend 
 
160 
 
 Physical 
 Geograpljy. 
 
 New and 
 Old Conti- 
 nents Com- 
 pared. 
 
 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 Rivers. 
 
 10,000, reaching an absolute elevation of 17,000 feet. 
 (Warden's America, Chap. 31, 32, S3. Walckenaer, 
 Cosmol. Chap. 14).) 
 
 A comparison of the great continents of the Old 
 and New World shows that the advantages are great- 
 ly on the side of the latter. All the interior parts of 
 both the American continents have the advantage of 
 being nearer the sea than the interior parts of Asia 
 and Africa. There are in America no great deserts 
 like those of the Old World, which not only with- 
 draw a vast portion of the soil from the use of man, 
 but, by the burning winds they generate, render the 
 neighbouring regions scarcely habitable, and, by the 
 wild beasts and robbers to which they alford shelter, 
 oppose a more formidable barrier to the intercourse 
 of nations than stormy seas or snow-clad mountains. 
 But the grand advantage of the New World is its im- 
 mense facilities for inland navigation, in consequence 
 of the little elevation of its surface and its multitude 
 of noble rivers. The St Lawrence, the Mississip- 
 pi, the Amazons, and the Plata, penetrate the heart 
 of the two American continents in a manner to which 
 there is nothmg analogous in the Old World. By 
 means of these great streams, and their branches, 
 there is scarcely a district of any extent, however 
 remote from the sea, which has not a more easy and 
 rapid communication with the rest of the world than 
 the countries within 200 or 300 miles of the coast in 
 the greater part of Asia and Africa. Mexico, the 
 only considerable region in the New World without 
 navigable rivers, has the advantage, by the narrow- 
 ness of its territory, of being everywhere near the 
 sea. We may add, as an accidental advantage of 
 the* New World, that its aboriginal inhabitants, from 
 the smallness of their numbers, present almost no 
 obstacle to the establishment and growth of a civil- 
 ized population ; while the Old World is too thickly 
 peopled in most of its parts to admit of being easily 
 colonized, and by tribes who discover no aptitude for 
 civilization themselves. 
 
 The extent of the four great divisions of the world 
 
 is as follows : ^ 
 
 Sq. Eng. Miles. 
 
 Europe with its Isles, - - 3,4.32,000 
 Africa with Madagascar, - - 11,420,000 
 Continental Asia, - 16,890,000") 
 The Isles, including New Hoi- >■ 21,090,000 
 
 land and Polynesia, 4,200,000 ) 
 
 South America, - 6,420,000 i 
 
 North Do. - - ^'!2^'!!^2> 15,300,000 
 Islands, 
 
 Greenland (supposed), 
 
 ,ed. 
 
 160,0001 
 620,000 ) 
 
 51,242,000 
 
 Rivers are natural drains which convey to the sea 
 that portion of the waters falling upon the earth, 
 which does not pass off by evaporation, or go to 
 nourish organic bodies. They invariably occupy 
 the lowest parts of the surface of the districts from 
 which their waters are derived, and these districts 
 are called their basins. The basin is bounded by 
 high lands, which are sometimes mountainous. The 
 water descending from these collects into brooks, 
 the brooks unite into rivulets, the rivulets united form 
 
 the main trunk or river, which conveys the waters Physical 
 of the whole to the sea. All these descend over in- Geography, 
 clined planes, so that the lowest point of each brook 
 is that where it joins the rivulet — the lowest point 
 of the rivulet that where it unites with the main 
 stream — and the lowest point in the whole system of 
 inclined planes, is that where the river falls into the 
 sea. These basins form natural divisions in physical 
 geography. Thus the basins of the Rhone, Ga- 
 ronne, Loire, Seine, and part of the basin of the 
 Rhine, comprehend nearly all France ; Northern 
 Italy consists chiefly of the basin of the Po, and Bo- 
 hemia entirely of the basin of the Upper Elbe. 
 
 The form and appearance of river courses lead Channels 
 to the conclusion that their channels are gene-howFon 
 rally the work of their own currents. We never' 
 find them flowing in cavities which retain their na- 
 tural shape, but always in beds cut below the ad- 
 joining surface, and corresponding to the quantity 
 of water ; the bed of the main stream being larger 
 than those of the great branches, and the beds of the 
 great branches larger than those of the small. They 
 do not accommodate themselves to the inequalities 
 of the country, but flow near the surface in low 
 plains, and cut through a high ridge when it comes 
 in the way ; preserving a pretty uniform rate of de- 
 scent, however great may be the undulations of the 
 superior soil. The deep ravines that have been cut 
 through hard rocks in this way, by an agent that 
 operates so slowly, impresses us with a conviction 
 that immense periods of time must have elapsed 
 since the operations commenced. Before this took 
 place, the courses of rivers must have consisted 
 chiefly of a series of lakes communicating by cata- 
 racts. The waters flowing down from the high 
 grounds in one district would collect and form a 
 lake, which would increase till the flood found a 
 passage over the lowest part of the bounding ridge, 
 and fell into a second cavity, in which they would 
 again accumulate, till they were discharged by an- 
 other cataract into the next natural hollow. By a 
 twofold chain of operations these lakes and cata- 
 racts disappear. The bottom of the lake is constant- 
 ly rising by the earth and gravel carried down by 
 the torrents and spread over it, and the level of the 
 waters is constantly sinking by the action of the 
 stream in deepening the outlet. At length the lake 
 becomes a dry level plain, with aigravelly bottom, 
 and the cataract a deep cleft or ravine, through 
 which and the plain above, the river flows with a uni- 
 form and gradual descent. Many of the haughs or 
 holms seen on river courses have undoubtedly been 
 lakes of this kind. 
 
 The surface of the globe everywhere presents changes in 
 traces of these changes. The celebrated passage ofRiver 
 Ecluse has exactly the dimensions and appearance ^o""^^^^- 
 of a channel cut by the Rhone itself, and exhibits 
 marks of the action of the water far above the pre- 
 sent surface. Three distinct basins are observed in 
 the course of the Rhine. The lake of Constance oc- 
 cupies the first, the second extends from Basle to 
 Bingen below Mentz, and the third from this to the 
 sea ; and each of these basins is separated from the 
 others by a narrow rocky strait. In the Danube 
 
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 Physical may be distinguished the basins of Bavaria, Austria, 
 ^^^J^^l^ and Hungary, from each of which the river escapes 
 '^'^^''^^'^ by a mountainous defile. The celebrated defile of 
 Tempe in Thessaly, the deep and rugged clefts by 
 which the Potovvmac, Susquehannah, and Delaware, 
 [ , penetrate the barrier of the Alleghanies, all bear 
 
 decisive marks of the action of the stream. In many 
 cases, the subsidence of the water can be traced 
 from one level to another by terraces of gravel left 
 on the sides of the mountains. In the valley of the 
 Rhine these are seen to the number of four or five, 
 at the distance of twenty, thirty, or forty feet below 
 \ one another, and from, them Professor Play fair as- 
 
 ' certained that this river had once flowed at the 
 
 height of 360 feet above its present bed.* 
 
 In the greater number of river courses we see 
 those changes completed, but in the chain of North 
 American lakes on the St Lawrence, we see them 
 still in progress. On the rocky sides of some of 
 ; tliese lakes Mackenzie observed marks of the action 
 
 of the water considerably above its present level. 
 The Niagara falls have been observed to recede 
 about eighteen feet in thirty years, by the water's 
 wearing away the limestone rock. This rock forms 
 a large level platform, from the outer edge of which, 
 six miles below the falls, the cataract has receded, 
 and worn out a deep channel of that length by the 
 constant attrition of its current. Had the surface of 
 this rock dipt rapidly to the southward, the lake 
 would have been emptied long ago. The fact is in- 
 teresting in another point of view. Supposing the 
 rate at which the rock is wasted away by the stream 
 (eighteen feet in thirty years) to be well ascertained, 
 and to have continued uniform, since the fall has 
 gone backwards six miles from the position it must 
 have originally occupied, it may be inferred, from 
 calculation, that 50,000 years have elapsed since 
 the waters of the St Lawrence began to flow. If we 
 ; could depend upon the smaller unit — the annual 
 
 waste of the rock, we should consider this as a to- 
 lerable criterion for estimating the antiquity of the 
 present physical arrangement of the earth's surface. 
 (Hall's Travels, p. 235.) 
 .Jluyj^De- Where rivers which pass through low and level 
 posits of Ri- tracts are subject to annual inundation, the earth, 
 sand, and gravel they bring down, deposited most 
 abundantly on their banks, raise them gradual- 
 ly above the surrounding country, while a part of 
 the matter carried to the sea enlarges the coast, 
 or forms sand or mud banks which rise, by degrees, 
 above the water. It is thus that the Ganges, Po, 
 Nile, Mississippi, and many other rivers, flow on 
 the top of ridges. During floods, the elevated sides 
 are sometimes burst through, and the waters which 
 escape either stagnate in lakes, or return into the 
 main stream lower down, forming islands, or travel 
 to the sea by a separate mouth, and form a delta. 
 Hence the Amazons, Orinoco, Mississippi, Nile, Da- 
 nube, Wolga, Ganges, abound in islands, and have 
 deltas from 50 to 200 miles in breadth, at their 
 
 161 
 
 mouths. In the tracts of new ground which are Physical 
 thus gained from the sea, the soil may be seen of ^^°S''^P^y- 
 every degree of solidity, from soft mud to firm land. "'^'^'^ 
 In the broad plain at the mouth of the Ganges, be- 
 tween the Tipperah hills and Bardwan, wherever 
 the ground is penetrated, no virgin soil is found, but 
 an alluvial deposit of sand and mud arranged in 
 strata. The finest soil transported to the sea ren- 
 ders the water muddy to the distance of twenty miles 
 from the coast. The Mississippi is supposed to add 
 about two leagues to the coast in a century, or 300 
 feet per annum, at the point where its main stream 
 falls in. (Warden's America, II. 492.) But the in- 
 crease, if equally distributed over the whole delta, 
 would not exceed two or three feet per annum. 
 Volney calculated, but on very loose data, that the 
 Nile had advanced four miles at Rosetta, and ten at 
 Damiata, since the time of Herodotus ; a quantity 
 far too great, amounting to sixteen feet per annum, 
 over the whole delta. But Girard ascertained, that 
 the annual floods of the Nile had raised the surface 
 of Upper Egypt about six feet four inches (English) 
 since the commencement of the Christian era,, or 
 four inches in a century. Now, as the sea deepens 
 on the coast, at the rate of a fathom in the mile, 
 supposing the deposit to have been as great along 
 the whole shore as in the Thebais, the addition 
 would amount to no more than one mile and a quar- 
 ter since the time of Herodotus. The great error in 
 all estimates of this kind has arisen from confound- 
 ing the changes that belong to geological with those 
 that belong to historical periods. The Po, which 
 sweeps rapidly through a rich valley, transports a 
 vast quantity of alluvion, and is found to encroach 
 upon the Adriatic, at the astonishing rate of 228 feet 
 per annum, at its two principal mouths. Adria was 
 once upon the sea, and a circular space of twenty 
 miles in diameter must have been filled up with 
 solid soil since it was built. Assuming that 2500 
 years have elapsed since the building of Adria, and 
 allowing the new ground a depth of twelve feet, it 
 follows, that the river must have deposited 45,000,000 
 of cubic feet annually at its mouth, exclusive, per- 
 haps, of as much more floated away by the sea, or 
 spread over the banks higher up. Even this quan- 
 tity of alluvion is a trifle compared with that of the 
 Yellow River of China, which is 2,000,000 of cubic 
 feet per hour, if Mr Barrow's estimate may be cre- 
 dited. Great as these effects seem to be, they sink 
 into insignificance when compared with the whole 
 extent of the ocean. Assuming that the mean depth 
 of the sea is two miles, and that each district of 
 land, of the same extent as the basin of the Po, 
 furnishes an equal quantity of alluvion, it may be 
 shown that it wo.uld require 400,000,000 of years to 
 fill up the present bed of the ocean, f 
 
 All rivers are subject to occasional or periodical Periodical 
 floods. Those of the Nile, observed in a country Inundation.?, 
 where no rain falls, have been a subject of specula- 
 tion since the time of Herodotus. Within the torrid 
 
 * Daubuisson, Geog. I. 105. Hall's Travels in America, p. 268, 346. Playfair's Works, I. Ivi. 
 t Volney 's Trav. I. 28. Ediiihurgh Phil. Jour. No. V. p. 53. Cuvier's Geol Essay, SuppL Barrow's 
 Irav. 491. •^'^ 
 
 VOL. vr. PART I. V 
 
162 
 
 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 Physical zone, these floods are produced by the annual rains. 
 Geography, and occur during the summer months ; but, beyond 
 'the tropics, they occur at various seasons, and in 
 high latitudes, chiefly in spring, when the snow and 
 ice melts. As the season of rains at each parallel 
 within the tropics commences generally when the sun 
 passes the zenith of the place towards the pole, and 
 continues till he pass it again on his return, or a little 
 later, the floods, of course, last longer as we advance 
 farther within the torrid zone, and at the equator are 
 perpetual. Hence, the Amazons, which derives its 
 waters from both sides of the equator, may be said 
 to be always in flood ; but as its largest branches be- 
 long to the southern hemisphere, its greatest inunda- 
 tions are during our winter months. Those of the 
 Plata take place during the same season, but are of 
 shorter duration. These floods cover a vast but un- 
 known range of country. The Orinoco begins to 
 rise in May, overflows its banks in June, and returns 
 into its bed in September, but, like the other tropi- 
 cal rivers, continues to fall till March or April next 
 year. The Nile, which is really a tropical river, be- 
 gins to rise in June, reaches its maximum height of 
 24 or 28 feet about the middle of August, and con- 
 tinues to fall till May next year. Its increase is ir- 
 regular, two or three inches a day at first, and some- 
 times, when near its height, as much as three or four 
 feet. The long valley of Egypt, from three to four 
 leagues broad, with the delta at its extremity, is now 
 covered by the water, except some elevated spots, 
 and the higher parts of the river's banks, which rise 
 above the adjoining surface. InNorthern India, where 
 the seasons depend chiefly on the monsoons, the 
 Ganges begins to swell in April, when the rains fall 
 on the mountains, and increase at the rate of one, 
 two, or three inches a day, till it reaches the height 
 of 15^ feet before the showers have commenced in 
 the plains. When the latter begin in July, the river 
 rises at the rate of five inches a day, till it reaches 
 its maximum of 31 or 32 feet, about the same period 
 as the Nile. In the end of July, the low country, 
 for a breadth of ] 00 miles, presents a wide expanse 
 of water, whose surface is diversified by the trees 
 that everywhere rise above it, and by the multitude 
 of villages standing like islands, between which, the 
 peasants are seen passing in boats. The rains cover 
 the low tracts before the bed of the river is filled, 
 and its banks, which rise above the rest of the coun- 
 try, appear like long mounds which separate the 
 waters of the inundation from the stream of the 
 river. The floods are computed to advance over 
 the low region at the rate of half a mile per hour, 
 and when at their height, cover a large tract of 
 country to the depth of twelve feet. The floods of 
 the Indus fertilize a district reaching thirty or forty 
 miles on each side of its course. They attain their 
 full height, like those of the Ganges, in August, but 
 they begin rather later, end sooner, and are probably 
 smaller. The celebrated Euphrates, which has its 
 
 sources in the high mountains of Armenia, begins to Physical 
 swell in March, reaches its extreme height in April, Geograpb; 
 and, from this period till June, during which heavy 
 showers fall every day at noon in Armenia, it remains 
 nearly stationary. After June it falls rapidly. Its 
 extreme rise is twelve feet in Mesopotamia, and so 
 level is the country, that, with this small elevation, 
 it covers nearly the whole plain between it and the 
 Tigris, in the latitude of Bagdad. The Mississippi 
 is lowest in October ; in some of its remote branches 
 the floods comnxence in February, with the melting 
 of the snows, but they are not much felt in the low 
 country till March, from which time they mount ra- 
 pidly till June, and then fall again till October. 
 From the junction of the Missouri to that of Red 
 River, the great volumes of water thrown by the 
 Mississippi over its western banks, spread out into 
 shallow lakes, which are dried up by the autumnal 
 heats, and become parched and solid plains. Below 
 Red River, where the delta commences, the ground 
 is a wide swamp, rising very little above the level of 
 the tide. The only soil capable of cultivation is the 
 long stripe of elevated land which forms the bank of 
 the river, and is dry during eleven months. Con- 
 sisting of fine travelled earth, it is luxuriantly fertile. 
 Its breadth is small, sloping downwards as it recedes 
 from the stream, and at a distance, varying from 
 half a mile to a mile and a half, terminating in the 
 swampy level. In the rivers that water the northern 
 parts of the new and old continents, the floods, which 
 almost invariably proceed from the melting of the 
 snow and ice, are violent but transitory ; and occur 
 in March, April, May, or June, according as the 
 sources of the river are farther from, or nearer to the 
 arctic circle. In some of these rivers there are 
 three successive floods, — the first in March or April, 
 when the thaw takes place in the low country, — the 
 second in May, when the thaw has reached the mid- 
 dle regions, and heavy rains fall, — and the third near 
 the end of summer, when the glaciers begin to dis- 
 solve. Thus in the frigid, as well as the torrid zone, j 
 the season of floods is generally the four months : 
 nearest the summer solstice. * . 
 
 As water cannot be heaped up where it is not con- i 
 fined on all sides, it follows that the floods in rivers 
 will gradually sink as they approach the sea, and 
 assume the form of an inclined plane at their upper 
 surface. Thus the rise in the Mississippi in the 
 height of the inundation, at the distance of 1000, 
 300, and 100 miles from its mouth, is 50, 25, and 12 \ 
 feet respectively. The Ganges, which rises 31 feet \ 
 at Custee, rises no more than 14 at Dacca, and 6 at | 
 Luckipoor. The extreme height of the Nile, which 
 is 24 or 28 feet at Cairo, is only 4 at Rosetta. From 
 the great additional rapidity thus communicated, 
 when the depth is only doubled, the discharge is of- 
 ten quadrupled. In the case of the Nile, where the 
 depth is trebled, the discharge is probably augment- 
 ed tenfold during the height of the flood. The 
 
 * Humboldt, Pm. A^ar. V. Shaw's Trav. II. 221. Rennell, PAz7. Traws. 1781. Kinneir's Geo^. Mm. 
 ofPers. 228. Morier's Journey in Persia, I. 342. Kerr Porter's Trav. in Babylonia, II. 404. Wardens 
 America, II. 506. Darby's Geog. Descript. of Louisiana, 126, 236. Tuckey's Marit. Geog. I. 251. 
 
 1 
 
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 Physical quantity of water delivered into the sea by the rivers 
 peograpby. between the equator and the parallel of 35'^ north, 
 ^■"■"""•'^■■^ is perhaps as great in the single month of July, as 
 during the eight months from September to April. 
 
 The following table, which we have prepared with 
 considerable labour, exhibits some interesting calcu- 
 lations with regard to the most considerable rivers of 
 the globe. The first column of figures gives their 
 proportional lengths, measured always to their re- 
 motest branches, the length of the Thames being 
 reckoned unity. The second column gives the area 
 of their basins in square English miles ; the third the 
 proportional magnitude of those basins; and the 
 fourth the quantity of water which each discharges, 
 that of the Thames being unity. The last column, 
 which is necessarily hypothetical, is constructed on 
 the following basis. The fall of rain is found to bear 
 a certain relation to the latitude, and is assumed to 
 he equal (though it is not strictly so) along all the 
 parts of the same parallel. It is farther assumed, 
 that of the rain which falls, a certain fixed proper- 
 
 163 
 
 tion is received by the rivers. It is evident, then, Physical 
 that, having the extent of the river basin, its mean ^^^ogi^aphy. 
 latitude, and the depth of rain at that latitude, we 
 have the elements for computing the proportional 
 discharge of the rivers. In the ingenious article 
 Hygrometry, in the Edinburgh Encyclopcedia, the 
 author deduces, from data partly theoretical, the 
 amount of rain for each 5*^ of latitude. But, from 
 Cotte's Tables, Captain Parry's observations, and va- 
 rious facts stated by Humboldt, we have been led to 
 conclude, that the mean depth of rain at the equator 
 is at least 10 inches more, and at the pole consider- 
 ably less than given in the article referred to. On 
 these and other grounds we have endeavoured to con- 
 nect the results of observation by an empirical rule. 
 Assuming the annual deposit of rain and dew at the 
 equator to be 83 inches, and at the pole 8, we find the 
 intermediate terms by the following formula : 
 
 75. (Rad. — Sine of Lat.) + 8 = depth of water 
 in inches. 
 
 Area of Basin in 
 English Miles. 
 
 Proportional 
 Magnitude of 
 Basin. 
 
 Proportional 
 Quantity of Water 
 Discharged j)er 
 annum. 
 
 5,500 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 70,000 
 
 I2i 
 
 13 
 
 48,000 
 
 8f 
 
 10 
 
 27,000 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 50,000 
 
 9 
 
 8 
 
 76,000 
 
 ]3| 
 
 12 
 
 310,000 
 
 56 
 
 65 
 
 200,000 
 
 36 
 
 36 
 
 205,000 
 
 37 
 
 38 
 
 520,000 
 
 94 
 
 80 
 
 230,000 
 
 42 
 
 60 
 
 400,000 
 
 72^ 
 
 133 
 
 420,000 
 
 76 
 
 148 
 
 760,000 
 
 138 
 
 258 
 
 900,000 
 
 164 
 
 166 
 
 960,000 
 
 174 
 
 125 
 
 1,300,000 
 
 236 
 
 179 
 
 f 500,000") 
 
 90 
 
 250 
 
 \ uncertain. J 
 
 600,000 
 
 109 
 
 112 
 
 1,368,000 
 
 249 
 
 338 
 
 1,240,000 
 
 225 
 
 490 
 
 2,177,000 
 
 395 
 
 1280 
 
 Rivers. 
 
 Europe. « 
 
 Asia. 
 
 Africa. 
 
 America. 
 
 Thames 
 
 Rhine 
 
 Loire 
 
 Po . . . 
 
 Elbe 
 Vistula 
 Danube . 
 Dneiper 
 Don 
 Wolga 
 Euphrates 
 
 Indus . . . ^ 
 
 Ganges 
 \ Kang-tse, or Great River \ 
 of China . 3 
 
 Amour, Chinese Tartary 
 
 Lena, Asiatic Russia 
 ,Oby, ditto 
 
 Nile 
 
 St Lawrence (including) 
 lakes) . . J 
 
 Mississippi . . • 
 
 Plata . ^ . 
 
 Amazon, not including") 
 Araguay j 
 
 Length. 
 
 1 
 
 4f 
 4 
 
 n 
 
 4| 
 
 H 
 9l 
 
 n 
 
 14 
 
 91 
 
 10 
 
 oil 
 
 16 
 
 131 
 15 
 
 181 
 
 221 
 19 
 
 22i 
 
 To deduce the approximate lengths of the rivers 
 in miles from the proportional lengths, we may mul- 
 tiply the latter by 180, this being pretty nearly the 
 distance between the remotest source of the Thames, 
 and its mouth at the Nore, following the sinuosities 
 of tlie river. To convert the proportional discharge 
 into known measures, we would multiply by 1800 to 
 obtain the number of cubic feet per second, or by .4 
 (or ^^), to find the annual discharge in cubic miles. 
 
 It is a question of some difficulty to ascertain 
 
 what proportion of the rain, snow, and dew, which Discharge of 
 falls on the ground, passes off by the rivers. Mr ^^^"s. 
 Dalton, computing the annual deposit of moisture in 
 England to be 31 inches of rain, and 5 of dew, con- 
 cludes that 13 inches, or more than one-third, is 
 drained ofi" by the rivers. {Manchester TransactionSt 
 V. 359.) But this is founded entirely on a conjectural 
 estimate, not an actual measurement, of the depth 
 and velocity of the Thames, in the basin of which 
 the fall of rain is only 22 or 23 inches at London and 
 
164 PHYSICAL 
 
 Physical Oxford. Since it is shown, however, by the obser- 
 Geography. nations of Dr Dobson, Dr Watson, and Mr Dalton 
 himself, that the evaporation from water is about 
 equal to the fall of rain, — that from a grassy plot in a 
 dry season, it is sometimes 0.7 inches in a da}^ or | 
 of what pure water yields, — and that from ordinary 
 soils, 30 inches out of 38 escape by evaporation, 
 leaving only J for the streams, there is surely more 
 than a presumption that the rivers cannot carry off 
 13 out of 36 inches for England, and still less 13 out 
 of 26 or 28 inches in the basin of the Thames. 
 {Phil Trans, Ahrd., XIV. 137. Manchr. Trans. V. 
 359.) The Mississippi, which drains one of the larg- 
 est valleys on the globe, was found by Mr Darby to 
 have a breadth of 2400 yards not far above New Or- 
 leans, with a depth of 153 at high, and 130 at low 
 water. [Geog. Descrip. of Louisiana, p. 126.) The 
 section considered as a semiellipse is 280,000 square 
 feet, and the discharge, with the mean velocity of 
 one mile an hour, which he assigns to it, is 410,000 
 cubic feet per second, equal to 88 cubic miles per 
 annum. As we have taken the high water level with 
 the mean annual velocity, the difference of 23 feet 
 may stand as equivalent to the loss of water by the 
 bayous, or outlets, of Ibberville and Atchafalaya, 
 and the temporary lakes farther up. Now this dis- 
 charge, distributed over the basin of the Mississippi, 
 amounts to no more than four inches of water in 
 depth. If we add one-half to it, on the supposition 
 that his estimate of the velocity is rather low, even 
 this will only raise the rain water to six inches upon 
 the area of the basin. But the depth of rain cor- 
 responding to the mean latitude of the basin of the 
 Mississippi (41*) is by the rule 34 inches, and at 
 Cincinnati, in latitude 39°, it has been found, by 
 observation, to be 36 inches. This is exclusive of 
 dew, and from what we know of the climate of St 
 Louis, and of Columbia river, we have no reason to 
 think that the average for the whole basin can be 
 nauch less. (Warden's America, II. 237, III. 121.) 
 We would be entitled, from these facts, to estimate 
 the depth of the watery deposit at 40 inches ; but 
 suppose we reduce it to 30, the proportion drained 
 off by the rivers amounts only to one-fifth. From 
 the nature of the basin of this great river, which 
 avoids all extremes, having a moderate elevation, 
 and consisting neither of a continued forest, nor of a 
 sterile desert, but of a mixture of the most common 
 varieties of soil, it affords probably as fair a criterion 
 as could be obtained for deciding a question of this 
 kind. We think, therefore, that both theory and 
 observation warrant the conclusion, that, in the case 
 of large rivers flowing over extensive and tolerably 
 level surfaces, the water carried to the sea does not 
 exceed one-fifth of what falls in rain, dew, and snow. 
 Where the basins are small, the surfaces steep and 
 rocky, and where heavy rains continued for months, 
 keep the soil in a state of saturation with mois- 
 ture, the discharge may be greater. In other 
 cases, where the basin is long and flat, the water- 
 course broad and shallow, the temperature high, 
 and the soil sand or gravel, the loss of the river by 
 direct evaporation, and by infiltration, through its 
 bed and sides, may be very great, and does in some 
 oases (as in that of the Platte) absorb the whole wa- 
 
 GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 ter. The rule, of course, is not meant for extreme. Physical 
 but for ordinary cases. Founding then on the rate Geography, 
 of discharge of the Mississippi, that of the Thames '^^^'"^ 
 should be about 1800 cubic feet per second, or j'L of 
 a cubic mile per annum, equal to nearly five inches 
 on the surface of its basin. This may serve when it 
 is considered as the unit of the scale, but, in point 
 of fact, the discharge is probably larger, as the ba- 
 sin is small, and the depth of rain greater than be- 
 longs to the parallel in general. 
 
 If we estimate the mean fall of rain, not for the 
 whole globe, but for the dry land, at 9,-^^ feet, or 31 
 inches, it will amount to 25,500 cubic miles per an- 
 num, of which, according to our calculation, the sea 
 receives, by the rivers, about 5100. Of this quanti- 
 ty, the Amazon discharges J^, the Plata the 
 Mississippi y'^, the Ganges -5^5, the Danube g^^, and 
 the Thames -f-j-.V^ part. The water thus delivered 
 into the ocean, if not counterbalanced by evapora- 
 tion, would raise the level of the sea two inches in a 
 year. It amounts to jt^-.-^otj part of the mass of the 
 ocean, supposing it to have a mean depth of two miles. 
 In other words, the water discharged by the rivers 
 would fill the present bed of the ocean in 56,000 
 years. We may infer farther, that the greater part 
 of the supply of water belonging to each region 
 circulates between the atmosphere and the earth, 
 suffering a loss of one-fifth every time it falls upon 
 the latter, and receiving an equivalent addition 
 from the vapours of the sea. The smallness of this 
 supplementary portion, compared with the whole 
 quantity, is a circumstance which consists well with 
 the general regularity of the annual supply of mois- 
 ture, and the stability of the order of the seasons. 
 
 As very large rivers, with numerous tributary Declivity of 
 streams, necessarily occupy the lowest situations in Rivers, 
 all countries, it follows that their courses have a very 
 small declivity. The surface of the Amazons, at 
 Jaen, 3000 miles from the sea, has only an elevation 
 of 194 toises, which gives five inches per mile for the 
 mean fall ; and over the whole of this space, the na- 
 vigiftion of that majestic river is not interrupted by 
 a single cataract. In the last 200 leagues of its 
 course, the inclination is believed not to exceed 11 
 feet, or -^^ of an inch per mile. A series of tides, 
 felt to the distance of 600 miles from its mouth, ex- 
 ists in its bed contemporaneously, following one an- 
 other up the channel, and giving its surface the form 
 of a waving line. The Ganges, reckoning its sinuo- 
 sities, has only a fall of four inches per mile, from 
 Hurdwar, where it leaves the Himalayah chain to 
 the sea. Humboldt thinks the declivity in the lower 
 course of the Mississippi is still smaller. The Wol- 
 ga, from its source to the Caspian Sea, falls 957 
 French feet, or about five English inches per mile. 
 The Nile, though it falls from a height of 10,400 
 feet at its head (barometer 22 inches), if Bruce may 
 be believed, has a very small inclination in the lower 
 part of its course. The celebrated cataracts of Syene, 
 which were said by the ancients to produce endemic 
 deafness, consist merely of ten successive steps of 
 six inches each, dispersed over two-thirds of a mile, 
 and which are capable of being passed by boats. 
 There is still one singular phenomenon connected 
 with large rivers, which has been little attended to. 
 
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 Physical Tlieir beds, at some places, like the lakes of raoun- 
 riiphy. tainous regions, have a greater absolute depth than 
 the adjoining seas. In the Amazon, above the Rio 
 Negro, about 1000 miles frpm its mouth, Conda- 
 mine found no bottom with a line of 103 fathoms. 
 Now the height of its surface heVe could not be 
 above 70 fathoms, and its bottom must, therefore, 
 have been at least 100 feet below that of the sea on 
 the coast. At a small distance above New Orleans, 
 where the height of the surface of the Mississippi 
 cdu\d not exceed 40 or 50 feet, Mr Darby found 
 the depth to be 153 feet; and hence the bottom must 
 have reached 50 or 60 feet below that of the shallow 
 sea at its mouth. * 
 .akes. Lakes are among those natural objects which con- 
 
 tribute, in the highest degree, to the picturesque 
 beauty of the earth's surface. Like the seia, they 
 exercise a beneficial influence on the climate and 
 soil, by moderating the extremes of heat and cold, 
 and by diffusing humid vapours over the land. 
 When they occur in the courses of rivers or at their 
 fountains, they serve as back reservoirs, to equalize 
 the discharge, and to prevent those sudden inunda- 
 tions which are often so destructive. Of all the 
 great natural features of the globe which are subject 
 to mutation, lakes are probably the least permanent. 
 The waste of mountains, and the raising of the bed 
 of the great ocean, are operations of which the 
 effects can scarcely become sensible in millions of 
 years, but in the filling up of lakes, striking changes 
 are often produced within the lifetime of an indivi- 
 dual ; and within the periods to which history reaches, 
 several have entirely disappeared. 
 
 Lakes are chiefly of two kinds ; those which are 
 formed in deep hollows between the ridges, or at the 
 foot of mountains, and which are fed by springs or 
 torrents ; and those which are formed in low and 
 level countries by the surplus water of rivers, or in 
 consequence of the want of a general declivity in the 
 ground. We have thus two grand systems of lakes 
 in the old continent. The one accompanies the 
 great Alpine girdle, and includes the lakes of the 
 Pyrenees, Alps, Appenines, those of Asia Minor, 
 Syria, and Persia, with the Caspian Sea, the Aral, 
 Balkash, Baikal, and all the series of lakes found at 
 the foot of the Altaic chain. The other begins at the 
 low shores of Holland, and extends along the south- 
 east coast of the Baltic and Gulf of Bothnia, and 
 thence in smaller numbers along the Frozen Ocean 
 to Behring's Straits. Except in central Africa, the 
 regions south of the great mountain band, so far as 
 they are known, contrast remarkably with those of 
 the north, by the fewness of their lakes. A chain 
 of lakes, but generally smaller than the mountain 
 lakes of the old world, accompanies the Andes from 
 their southern extremity, through the isthmus and 
 Mexico, to their northern termination. In the level 
 part of South America, as in the southern regions of 
 the old world, lakes are comparatively rare ; and the 
 coincidence is no less striking in the north, where 
 
 165 
 
 the regions round Hudson's Bay present a multi- Physical 
 tude of lakes, corresponding in numbers, character^ Geo.^raphy. 
 and geographical situation, with those which skirt the 
 shores of the Baltic and Frozen Ocean. 
 
 The Caspian, which is the largest lake in theTlieCas- 
 world, and has really the character of an inland .Ka,V^3.n. 
 merits particular notice. Its length is 750 miles, 
 breadth about 200 ; it embraces an area of 170,000 
 square miles, and receives the waters of a surface 
 about five times as large. Its general depth is 60 or 
 70 fathoms, but, near the south end, no bottom has 
 been found with a line of 380. It is salt, and, like 
 the ocean, is subject to storms; and, either from the 
 effect of winds, or the unequal discharge of tlie 
 rivers, it is subject to irregular elevations, varying 
 from four to eight feet. The Caspian is distinguish- 
 ed from all other lakes and seas in the world, by tlie 
 remarkable lowness of its surface, which was found 
 by Engelhardt and Parrot to be 334 feet beneath 
 that of the Black Sea. The inhabitants, therefore, 
 of Astracan, and other places on its shores, live at a 
 lower level by 200 or 300 feet than any other people 
 on the globe. (Tuckey, Marit. Geog. I. 457. Edin. 
 Phil. Jour. No. VI. 408.) 
 
 Lakes are salt only when they are placed in dis- Saltness. 
 tricts where the soil contains saline matter, and their 
 saltness is invariably greater when they have no ef- 
 flux. Most of the lakes of Europe are either fresh 
 or slightly saline ; but the Caspian Sea, the lakes 
 Aral, Baikal, and others that accompany the Altaic 
 chain, as well as those of Persia, being situated in 
 the midst of plains full of salt, or in regions where 
 salt springs abound, are almost universally impreg- 
 nated with this mineral. The most highly saline wa- 
 ters known are found in lakes which receive streams 
 but give out none. Thus the lake Ourmiah, in Per- 
 sia, and the Dead Sea in Judea, receiving continual 
 supplies by the streams from the neighbouring soil, 
 which is every where full of salt, while nothing but 
 fresh water is carried off by evaporation, the mine- 
 ral accumulates, and their waters are found to con- 
 tain, in the one case six, and in the other eight times 
 as much salt as those of the ocean. {Edin. Phil. 
 Jour. No. IV. 356.) When the quantity carried down 
 by the streams exceeds what the water will hold in 
 solution, the surplus is deposited in beds at the bot- 
 tom ; and hence the numerous layers of salt which 
 are found mixed with thin strata of mud at the bot- 
 tom of dried up lakes. Large shallow lakes, like that 
 near Teheran, in Persia, which is 150 miles long, 
 often lose their waters in the heat of summer, and be- 
 come salt marshes, or plains, covered with a salt 
 crust. (Kinneir's Geog. of Persia, 117.) 
 
 The depth of lakes in mountainous districts is of- Depth, 
 ten remarkably great. That of Loch Ness, on the 
 line of the Caledonian Canal, is 130 fathoms in some 
 parts, which is four times the mean depth of the 
 German Sea, and its bottom is actually 30 fathoms 
 below the deepest part of that sea between the lati- 
 tudes of Dover and Inverness. The bottom of the 
 
 *^ Humboldt's Pers. Nar. IV. 310, 455, V. 57. Edin. Phil. Jour. No. V. 409. Rennell, Phil. Ti 
 1781. Histoire Gen. des Voltages, Ahr. XII. p. 330 — 380. 
 
166 
 
 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 Tempera' 
 ture. 
 
 Physical Lake of Geneva, at the depth of l6l fathoms, reaches 
 Geography, fr^m the high plateau which surrounds it to within 
 200 feet of the level of the Mediterranean. It is dif- 
 ficult to account for the existence of such deep lakes 
 among mountains whose debris are spread abundant- 
 ly over countries much lower ; but perhaps the pro- 
 found cavities discovered in the beds of great rivers, 
 like the Amazons, may lead us to suspect that they 
 owe their existence to the agency of debacles, or vast 
 currents of water, at some recent geological period, 
 but anterior to the existence of man. 
 
 The temperature of deep lakes presents what we 
 should at first view consider as an anomaly. The 
 heat of the waters at the bottom is never that of the 
 containing solid strata, as we should expect, but in 
 temperate climates always much lower. In Loch 
 Katrine and Loch Lomond, Mr Jardine found the 
 temperature about 41° at all depths below 40 fa- 
 thoms, while that of the surface was 57° or 59°, and 
 the mean heat of the climate is 47°. The deep wa- 
 ters in the Lakes of Thun and Zug have a tempera- 
 ture of 41° and 41|°, and those of the Lake of Ge- 
 neva 42°, though the mean heat of the climate is 
 49°. In the Lake Sabatino, near Rome, where the 
 annual temperature is about 60°, the thermometer 
 indicates 44| at the depth of 80 fathoms. This ap- 
 parent anomaly in lakes is accounted for by the phy- 
 sical constitution of water. As this fluid attains its 
 maximum density at 40°, the upper strata, if cooled 
 down to this degree, descend to the bottom ; but if 
 heated up ever so high, remain at the top. The cold 
 impressions received at the surface are thus carried 
 below by the internal movement of the water, while 
 the hot impressions can travel down only by the con- 
 ducting power of the fluid, which is remarkably 
 small. The variable influence of the seasons is little 
 felt below 15 or 20 fathoms, and disappears entirely 
 at 40 fathoms. In all fresh water lakes, exceeding 
 this depth, there must, therefore, be a constant ten- 
 dency in the inferior waters to approach the tempe- 
 rature of maximum density. To a certain degree 
 this must be controlled by the heat of the strata 
 which form the basin, and this may perhaps ac- 
 count for the slight difference in the temperature 
 of the deep waters in the Italian lakes and those 
 of Swisserland and Scotland. (See the Art. Cli- 
 mate.) 
 
 The ocean, though it presents to the eye only the 
 image of a watery waste, sustains a most important 
 part in the physical economy of the globe. It is 
 the great fountain of those vapoui'S which replenish 
 our lakes and streams, which dispense fertility to 
 the soil, and clothe the surface with all the pomp 
 and pride of luxuriant vegetation. By its salutary 
 action on the atmosphere, it tempers the extremes 
 of opposite seasons and of opposite climates. It af- 
 fords an inexhaustible supply of animal food, and of 
 salt, a substance of the utmost value to human life. 
 As the great highway of commerce, it connects the 
 most distant parts of the globe, and affords the ad- 
 
 The Ocean. 
 
 vantages of free and abundant communicatlbn to na- Physical 
 tions which mountains and deserts seem to have Geography, 
 separated from each other. Its shores have been in 
 every age the great seats of civilization ; in all the 
 great continents, rudeness and barbarism grow upon 
 us as we advance into the interior ; and it requires 
 no great sagacity to discover that the central regions 
 of Asia and Africa, from their want of inland seas 
 like the Mediterranean or Baltic, or navigable rivers 
 like the Amazons, will be the last portions of the ha- 
 bitable globe over which the arts will extend their 
 empire. 
 
 The ocean, with all its inland bays and seas, co- 
 vers an area of 145,600,000 square English miles, or 
 nearly three-fourths of the surface of the globe. 
 About of the great body of waters lie in the 
 southerti hemisphere, and -^^ in the northern. In . 
 the one, the ocean is to the land nearly as 7 to 5, 
 and in the other as 13 to 2. Laplace has calculat- 
 ed that its mean depth is but a small fraction of the 
 difference between the axes of the earth,* which is 
 25 miles. If, therefore, we suppose the mean 
 depth to be two miles, the cubic contents will be 
 290,000,000 of cubic miles. 
 
 Geographers divide the entire mass of the ocean 
 into five great basins. The Pacific, the largest, se- 
 parates America from Asia ; the Atlantic separates 
 Europe from America ; the Indian Ocean separates 
 Asia and its isles from Africa ; the Arctic or North 
 Polar basin encompasses the North Pole ; and the 
 Antarctic the South. 
 
 The Pacific Ocean, 11,000 miles in length from Pacific, 
 east to west, and 8000 broad, occupies a superficial 
 space rather larger than the whole mass of the dry 
 land. From Cape Horn to the head of the Bay of 
 Bengal a rampart of mountains, containing the high- 
 est chains in the world, is arranged round this sea, 
 at a less or greater distance from its shores. But 
 an inner and broken chain extends from Alyaska 
 through the Aleutian Isles and Kamtschata, Japan, 
 the Phillipines, Borneo, Celebes, and New Guinea, 
 to New Holland ; and this chain, with the Rocky 
 Mountains and Andes, seem placed on one continued 
 vein of igneous matter, for they include in their 
 wide circle the most numerous and active volcanoes 
 in the world. From the Sea of Otchosk to Cape 
 Horn its coasts are closely girt by the great Ameri- 
 can and Asiatic chains, which leave only a stripe of 
 low shore, too narrow to admit of deep gulfs or large 
 rivers. But from the Sea of Otchosk southward, 
 the great Asiatic chain recedes from the shores, and 
 opens an extensive country, which inclines to the 
 Pacific. Yet though this basin forms more than 
 one-third of the whole ocean, it certainly does not 
 receive more than one-eighth of the whole river 
 water. On the western side and between the tro- 
 pics, its surface is studded with innumerable groups 
 of islands, all remarkably small, and consisting gene- 
 rally of coral reefs, rising up like a wall from un- 
 known depths, and emerging but a very little above the 
 
 * A determination in more precise terms would have been desirable, but we take the statement as given 
 by Daubuisson (Geognosie, I. 35), not having seen the Memoires of the Institute for 1818, to which he 
 refers. 
 
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 167 
 
 sea. These islands are the work of myriads of mi- 
 nute insects, whose incessant labours are thus gra- 
 dually creating new lands in the bosom of the 
 ocean. On the western side, it communicates with 
 the inland seas of Otchosk and Japan, the Yellow 
 Sea, and the Chinese Sea. These and the inlets of 
 California and Queen Charlotte's Sound we shall 
 not stop to describe. The Pacific Ocean, in conse- 
 quence of the wide expanse of its surface, is re- 
 markably exempt from storms, except near its 
 mountainous shores, and hence the name. Its small 
 isles, in which the fervid heat of the torrid zone is 
 mitigated by the presence of so vast a body of wa- 
 ter, enjoy perhaps the most delicious climate in the 
 world. 
 
 The Atlantic basin extends from 'J0° of north to 
 35° and 50° of south latitude. Its length is about 
 8500 miles ; its breadth, which in the latitude of 52° 
 north is 1800 miles, and near the equator 2100, at 
 the northern tropic spreads out to 5400, including 
 the Mexican Gulf. It covers about 25,000,000 
 square miles, exclusive of inland seas, which is near- 
 ly one-half of the extent of the Pacific Ocean. Its 
 southern division does not contain one single deep 
 inlet, nor one island of any magnitude ; while its 
 northern division abounds in large islands, and in 
 deep and numerous inland seas on each side, which 
 penetrate far into both continents, and have render- 
 ed it the seat of the most extensive commerce in the 
 world. Few large rivers fall into this sea on the 
 east side, but on the west it receives the three 
 largest rivers on the globe, the Plata, Amazon, and 
 Mississippi. 
 
 The Indian Ocean extends between 40° south and 
 25° of north latitude, and from the Cape of Good 
 Hope to Van Dieman's Land. Its length is about 
 4500 miles, its mean breadth is nearly the same, 
 and it covers a surface of about 17,000,000 of 
 square miles. Its shores are generally mountain- 
 ous ; it contains many islands, two large open bays, 
 those of Bengal and Oman, and two deep inlets, the 
 Persian Gulf, and Red Sea. A particular system 
 of winds, called Monsoons, prevail in the northern 
 part of this basin. 
 
 The Antarctic basin, which surrounds the south 
 pole, joins the Pacific in the latitude of 50°, and 
 the Indian Ocean in the latitude of 40°. It em- 
 braces an area of about 30,000,000 of square miles. 
 This sea is generally covered with floating ice as far 
 north as latitude 60°. The appearance of a fixed 
 barrier of ice, filling nearly all the space within the 
 Antarctic circle, has led geographers to infer the 
 existence of a mass of land near the pole, but no 
 land was seen by navigators in a higher latitude than 
 60°, till the discovery of New South Shetland in 
 I8I9. This country lies between 55° and 65° of 
 west longitude, and reaches north to the 62d paral- 
 lel, but how far it extends southward, and whether it 
 is one large region, or a cluster of islands, is un- 
 known. (See Edin. Phil. Jour. No. VI.) 
 
 The Arctic basin, or Frozen Ocean, comprises a 
 great part of the space within the 70th parallel. 
 The discoveries of Captain Parry, and the very re- 
 cent observations of Mr Scoresby in East Green- 
 land have gone far to prove that the tracts of land 
 
 within this polar zone consists rather of clusters of Physical 
 islands than of a continent. What proportion of the Geography, 
 space the sea and land respectively occupy; it is im-^"*''v*^ 
 possible to calculate. Of the many deep gulfs which 
 open into this basin on the north coasts of Europe 
 and Asia, the White Sea is the only one of any im- 
 portance to navigation. The rest are shut almost 
 constantly by the ice. 
 
 A detailed description of all the great inland seas Mediterra- 
 would be out of place in this brief sketch ; but thenean. 
 Baltic and the Mediterranean, on account of their 
 superior importance, merit a special notice. The 
 Mediterranean, the finest inland sea in the world, 
 is 2350 miles long, from 100 to 650 broad, and with 
 the Adriatic, but exclusive of the Black Sea, em- 
 braces an area very nearly of 1,000,000 of square 
 miles. Its depth, which is generally too great to 
 afford soundings, diminishes to 100 fathoms between 
 Sicily and Malta, and to SO between Malta and Cape 
 Bon in Africa. Placed in the midst of high mountains, 
 its shores are steep and narrow ; and, if we exclude 
 the waters of the Nile and the Black Sea, the dis- 
 tricts whose rivers it receives do not quite equal 
 its own surface in extent. Adding 500,000 miles 
 for the basin of the Nile, the space which may be 
 called the river domain of the Mediterranean, amounts 
 to 1,400,000 square miles. But its inland position 
 gives this sea a proximity to a vast range of country ; 
 and, since vapour diffuses itself by its own elasticity, 
 independently of the winds, were each portion of the 
 adjoining land to draw its moisture from the nearest 
 sea, so far as the natural limits of evaporation permit, 
 we may calculate that the vapours of the Mediter- 
 ranean would be diffused over a space five or six times 
 larger than the basins of its rivers ; and that it expends 
 probably three times as much water as it receives. 
 Its surface, depressed by this constant drain, is said 
 to be 34 feet lower than the Red Sea ; and hence, 
 powerfurcurrents rush in from the Black Sea by the 
 Dardanelles, and from the Atlantic by the Straits of 
 Gibraltar to restore the level. Its superior saltness 
 is also accounted for by the constant influx of salt 
 water from the ocean, while fresh water only is car- 
 ried off by evaporation. Like all inland seas, which 
 open to the west, it has no general tides ; but local 
 tides are felt, which rise three feet at Venice and at 
 Marsala in Sicily, one foot at Naples, one to two at 
 Toulon, and six inches on the Syrian coast. A cur- 
 rent circulates round the line of its coasts, entering 
 the Straits on the south side, setting along the 
 African shore to Syria, where it turns north-west- 
 ward, ^nd, joined by the current from the Darda- 
 nelles, it makes the circuit of the Adriatic, then of 
 the coasts of Tuscany, France, and Spain, and ulti- 
 mately returns into itself at the Straits. (Tuckey, 
 IL 122, 355.) 
 
 The Black Sea, and Sea of A zoph, are properly Black Sea. 
 inland lakes (like Ontario and Erie), which dis- 
 charge their surplus waters into the Mediterranean. 
 These two seas occupy a superficial space of 170,000 
 square miles, and receive the waters of a surface 
 more than five times as large as their own, or about 
 950,000 square miles. Hence they have a constant 
 efflux : their waters are turbid with floating soil, 
 and so fresh, that ice appears in the bays of the 
 
168 PHYSICAL G 
 
 physical Black Sea, and covers the Sea of Azoph for four 
 Geography, months every winter, though they are placed under 
 •■^^-"w' the same parallels with Italy and the south of France. 
 The channel of the Thracian Bosphorus, from 600 
 to 2000 yards wide, has undoubtedly been excavated 
 by the current, which flows at present with a velo- 
 city of from three to five miles an hour ; and traces 
 of a connection between the Sea of Azoph and the 
 Caspian exist in the low sandy tract along the 
 course of the Manitch, which abounds in salt lakes, 
 and marine exuviae. * 
 Baltic. The, Baltic, 1200 miles long, embraces an area of 
 
 175,000 square miles, including the Cattegat. It 
 occupies the bottom of a natural basin, which ex- 
 tends from the Dofrines to the Erzegebirge, and the 
 heights of Yaldai, and it receives the waters of a 
 surface nearly five times as large as its own. Hence, 
 like the Black Sea, it has an efflux current, and its 
 waters, which are remarkably fresh, are partially or 
 entirely frozen over, for three or four months in its 
 southern parts, and for five or six in the Gulfs of 
 Bothnia and Finland. The tides advance no farther 
 than the three passages of the Sound, and the Great 
 and Little Belt, which have a breadth of of 8 
 and of I miles respectively, with a depth varying 
 from 19 to 27 fathoms. The mean depth of the 
 Baltic is 60 fathoms. Its currents, which vary with 
 tlie state of the winds, and the freshes of the rivers, 
 begin in the Gulfs of Bothnia and Finland, and set 
 outwards on both sides, through the Sound and 
 Belts. At the mouth of the Baltic, as well as that 
 ' of the Mediterranean, an under current has been 
 
 suspected to exist in an opposite direction to the 
 upper, and probably smaller in magnitude. The 
 difference of specific gravity between the Atlantic 
 waters and those of these two seas render the ex- 
 istence of the under current credible. (Tuckey, I. 
 211.) 
 
 The other most remarkable inland seas are, in 
 Europe, the North Sea, 160,000 square miles in ex- 
 tent, reaching from Calais to Orkney. Its mean 
 depth is 31 fathoms, its greatest 190. ft is deeper 
 at the north than the south end, and at the sides 
 than in the middle, where vast sand-banks cover its 
 bottom. In America, there are, on the west side of 
 the Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico, 580,000 square 
 miles in extent, whose western shores are remarkably 
 destitute of ports, and are covered by annually in- 
 creasing sand-banks. Farther north are the Chesa- 
 peake Bay, 200 miles long; the Gulf of St Law- 
 rence, shut in by Newfoundland ; Hudson's Bay, in 
 the same latitude with the Baltic, but twice as large, 
 and loaded with ice even in summer : Baffin's Bay, 
 almost constantly shut by the ice, communicating, we 
 have reason to think, with the Polar Sea and Hud- 
 son's Bay, and surrounded chiefly by large islands. 
 
 In the Indian Ocean the only deep inland bays 
 are the Persian Gulf, 600 miles long, with parched 
 sandy shores; and the Red Sea, 1500 miles long, 
 which abounds in coral reefs, and, unlike every other 
 sea in the world, does not receive a single river. It 
 has considerable tides, and, as might be expected, a 
 
 EOGRAPHY. 
 
 current inwards from the ocean. It has a particular Physical 
 system of winds, which blow always either up or down Geography^. 
 its channel. (Tuckey, HI. 67, 88.) The inland seas in ^""^■v-^"' 
 the Pacific Ocean have already been briefly noticed. 
 
 The temperature of the ocean, like that of the Tempera- 
 land, varies with the latitude; but the variations, ture 
 whether depending on the situation or the season, ^ 
 are less great, less sudden, and less frequent. The 
 diurnal healing power of the sun is spent in the one 
 case on a sheet of water ten or twelve feet in thick- 
 ness, while, in the other, it does not penetrate 
 more than one or two inches into the land. The 
 mean temperature of the sea at the equator, ac- 
 cording to Humboldt, is from 78° 8' to 81° ; it is 
 tolerably uniform for every meridian as far as 28° 
 of latitude; and diminishes at a corresponding rate 
 in both hemispheres as far as the ^Hth parallel. 
 Beyond this the cold is greater in the southern 
 hemisphere. From the effect of currents, how- 
 ever, and the want of continued registers, it is 
 difficult to state numerically the temperature of 
 each latitude. The recorded observations of naviga- 
 tors exhibit striking anomalies. In general, the 
 temperature of the ocean at the surface does not 
 adapt itself to temporary changes, or to the diurnal 
 variation, but follows the mean monthly temperature 
 of the parallel, without, however, reaching the ex- 
 treme points to which this temperature goes in the 
 opposite seasons. This may be inferred from the 
 phenomena of insular climates. (Humboldt, Pers. 
 Nar, II. p. 50, 65, 87-) 
 
 In the ocean, as in lakes, we find the water colder 
 as we descend farther below the surface. This de- 
 crease of heat is neither uniform for the same paral- 
 lel ; nor does it bear any constant relation to the 
 depth ; nor are its variations capable of being con- 
 nected with the distance from the equator or the pole. 
 At the depth of 100 fathoms, the difference is some- 
 times no more than 1°, and sometimes so great as 
 20*^ ; and this, too, when the heat at the surface was 
 about the mean annual heat for the parallel. Some- 
 times the coldness attains its maximum at 100 fa- 
 thoms, and sometimes it increases to 400 or 500. 
 Humboldt thinks that, on a mean, the change is about 
 six times more rapid than in the atmosphere, or about 
 P Fahrenheit in 50 feet; but the facts are too ano- 
 malous to be easily brought under any general rule. 
 Perhaps they agree best with the supposition that 
 strata of different temperatures and densities, preserv- 
 ing themselves pretty distinct from each other, move 
 slowly in different directions in the inferior waters ; 
 while the lowest and coldest, gliding over the unequal 
 bottom, descend to greater depths, or mount nearer 
 the surface, according as the absolute depth of the 
 sea is greater or less. Hence the coldness of the 
 waters on sand-banks and shoals ; and hence also the 
 changes produced in the temperature of the sea by 
 storms, which mingle the water of different strata. 
 The law that connects these changes, when rightly 
 understood, may perhaps afford a measure of the. 
 depth for parts that cannot be sounded. To the 
 coldness of the inferior strata, however, there is one 
 
 * Tuckey, II. 357. Pallas's Trav. in South Russia, I. 78, 490, 506. 
 
 10 
 
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 Ice. 
 
 Physical remarkable exception. It was ascertained by Mr 
 Geography.^ Scoresby, and is confirmed by the observations made 
 in the late polar expedition, that in the Greenland 
 sea the temperature increases with the depth. The 
 increase of heat does not follow any determinate ra- 
 tio, being from 1° to 5° in 100 fathoms; but it is 
 constantly progressive, and at the depth of 730 fa- 
 thoms (lat. 79^?, long. SI*" E.), it was found to be 8^. 
 In fact, the bottom waters at Spitzbergen, as JNIr 
 Scoresby observes, are from l6« to 20" above the 
 mean temperature of the climate. The most plausi- 
 ble explanation of this anomaly is, that the westerly 
 current from Nova Zembla, rendered specifically 
 light by the fresh water of the great rivers of North- 
 ern Asia, may rise above the branch of the Gulf 
 Stream which penetrates to these latitudes ; and the 
 warm waters of the latter will thus be found at the 
 bottom. The specific gravities observed by Mr 
 Scoresby, however, do not tend much to confirm 
 this hypothesis.* 
 
 A permanent zone of ice surrounds each pole, the 
 breadth of which varies with the seasons. On the 
 west side of the Atlantic, the extreme point of open 
 sea, in winter, is found on the coast of Greenland at 
 latitude eS*? or 67*' ; but in the longitude of 5'^ or 6^ 
 east, the sea remains open to lat. 76*" or 79*'. In 
 summer navigators have penetrated along the margin 
 of Baffin's Bay as high as 77*^, on the coast of Spitz- 
 bergen to 81*, and at Behring's Straits to 71*'. In 
 the southern hemisphere the utmost point to which 
 Cook was able to penetrate was 71° in summer; but 
 navigation was very difficult beyond the parallel of 
 60"=* ; floating ice overspread the sea nearly as far as 
 50"=*, and detached icebergs are carried by currents 
 in both hemispheres as low as 40*^. (Cook's Voyages. 
 Scoresby, I, 262.) In a general point of view, the 
 ice-bound seas and lands are nearly conterminous 
 with the arctic circle in the north hemisphere, and 
 with the parallel of 60"=* in the south. In the one 
 case they occupy about one-twelfth, and in the other 
 about one-seventh of the hemisphere. 
 Saltness. The saltness of the sea is affected by currents, 
 storms, heavy rains, the discharge of rivers, and by 
 evaporation. Hence there is often little consistency 
 in detached observations, but the results upon the 
 great scale agree with theory. According to the ex- 
 periments of Dr Marcet, the mean specific gravity of 
 the main ocean is 1,02777. The Southern Ocean, 
 which receives a less proportion of river water, is 
 Salter than the northern. Inland seas, like the Bal- 
 tic, Black Sea, and White Sea, which receive more 
 rain water than they expend in vapour, and have an 
 ' efflux current, are fresher than the ocean. On the 
 
 other hand, the Mediterranean,^which is a sort of 
 natural saltern, from which the waters of the Atlan- 
 tic, poured in with their salt, are drawn off fresh by 
 evaporation, contains more saline matter than the 
 main ocean. We may infer from theory, that the 
 same thing holds true of the Red Sea. There is no 
 proof that the sea is Salter under certain meridians, 
 
 169 
 
 or at certain depths, than at others ; but in general, Physical 
 the sea is saltest where it is deepest and most remote Geography, 
 from land. Salt water parts with its salt on freezing, "■"^^"^ 
 and hence the dissolution of ice freshens the sea. 
 The following are some of Dr Marcet's results : 
 
 Arctic Ocean, - 
 North Hemisphere, 
 South do. 
 Mediterranean, - 
 
 Sp. Grav. 
 1.02664- 
 1.02829 
 1.02882 
 1.02930 
 
 Black Sea, 
 Baltic, 
 White Sea, 
 
 Sp. Grav. 
 1.01418 
 1.01523 
 1.01901 
 
 {Ed. Phil. Jour. No. IV. 356.) 
 
 The tides are periodical oscillations in the waters Tides, 
 of the ocean, which take place twice every twenty- 
 four hours, and are produced by the attraction of 
 the moon and the sun. In the open sea, they are 
 at their height three hours after the moon has passed 
 the meridian of the place, and the meridian opposite. 
 They are smallest towards the poles, and greatest at 
 the equator, where, however, they do not exceed two 
 or three feet in the great ocean. Their greatest ele- 
 vation takes place in narrow seas, where the action 
 of the moon is aided by winds, currents, the posi- 
 tion of the coast, &c. The highest tides known are 
 in the Gulf of St Malo, where the flood, driven back 
 by the coast of England, rises to the height of seven 
 or eight fathoms. Inland seas, whose entrances face 
 the west, have rarely any tides, because the moon 
 acts on all their parts at once, and there are no la- 
 teral waters to flow in and produce a local elevation. 
 (Tuckey, I. 34.) 
 
 Independently of the motion of the tides, the wa- Currents, 
 ters of the ocean are found to be scarcely anywhere 
 stationary. Local or temporary currents are pi*o- 
 duced by winds, the discharge of rivers, the fusion 
 of fields of ice, the evaporation of inland seas, and 
 other causes. But, exclusive of these, which we 
 shall not attempt to describe, there are certain per- 
 manent and general currents, which are supposed all 
 to originate in two great movements, — that of the 
 tropical waters westward round the globe, and that 
 of the polar waters towards the equator. The move- 
 ment of the tropical waters westward is ascribed to 
 the agency of the trade winds, which, blowing con- 
 stantly in one direction, must impress their own mo- 
 tion on the sea to a certain extent. But the result- 
 ing current is necessarily modified by the position of 
 the great continents. The motion of the polar wa- 
 ters towards the equator is not so well accounted for, 
 nor perhaps is its general existence so well ascer- 
 tained. It is supposed, that the copious evaporation 
 at the equator, reducing the level of the sea there, 
 the more elevated waters of the polar regions flow in 
 to supply the loss ; and, farther, that the fusion of 
 ice in these seas must produce an accumulation of 
 water, which naturally seeks a level by moving to 
 the equator. But it is reasonable to believe, that the 
 loss of the equatorial seas by evaporation is balanced 
 by the greater fall of rain ; and 'f the melting of ice 
 
 * Forster's Observations, p. 60. Scoresby, Account of Arctic Regions, I. 187-210. Edin. Phil Jour. 
 No. XI. 165. Humboldt, Pers. Nar. 11. 56. Dr J. Davy, Phil Trans. ISl?. 
 
 VOL. VI. PART I. V 
 
170 
 
 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 Physical produce a current from the pole during one season, 
 Ge(^raphy. jj^g congelation of the water should produce an op- 
 ^—•"V^Oposite current during another. 
 Gulf Stream. The great tropical current which flows round the 
 globe prevails generally between 30^ north and south 
 of the equator, and has a mean velocity, according 
 to Humboldt, of nine or ten miles a day. In the 
 Atlantic, it separates into two branches, one of which 
 constitutes the well known Gulf Stream. This branch 
 flows northward, through the middle of the Atlantic, 
 till it reaches the Cape Verd Islands ; it then turns 
 west, passes through the Caribbean Sea and the 
 strait between Cuba and Yucatan, winds round the 
 Mexican Gulf, and rushes out by the Bahama Chan- 
 nel ; then, spreading out to a greater breadth, it 
 sweeps along the shores of the United States to New- 
 foundland. At this point it is deflected south-eastward 
 by a southerly current from Baffin's Bay, and, pass- 
 ing the Azores and Canary Isles, returns into itself, 
 and repeats its circumgyration. The waters of the 
 North Atlantic between 11 « and 4<3^ thus form a 
 continued whirlpool, performing a circuit of 3800 
 leagues in about thirty-four months. Its velocity is 
 inversely as its breadth. In the Bahama Channel, 
 its breadth is fifteen leagues, and velocity from three 
 to five miles an hour. In its retrograde course, 
 from longitude 50*' to the Azores, its breadth is l60 
 leagues, and velocity seven or eight miles a day. 
 A zone of motionless water, 140 leagues broad, se- 
 parates the direct and retrograde courses. This 
 great current sends off one branch near Newfound- 
 land, which proceeds north-eastward, and sometimes 
 deposits tropical fruits on the shores of the British 
 Isles and Norway. A second branch, escaping at the 
 Azores, enters the Straits of Gibraltar. The Gulf 
 Stream preserves a temperature of 71° in the latitude 
 of Boston, while that of the neighbouring waters is 
 63.5. It is not improbable that the westerly part of 
 this current, involving by accident in its course the 
 canoes of the early inhabitants of Western Africa or 
 the Canary Isles, has hurried them to the coast ^ of 
 Caraccas, and thus been one means of transplanting 
 the human race from the Old World to the New. 
 (Humboldt, Pers. Nar. 1. 46 — 60.) 
 
 The other branch of the great tropical current is 
 supposed to set along the coast of Brazil and double 
 Cape Horn. In the Pacific Ocean, a general cur- 
 rent, westward, is said to carry the waters away 
 from the coast of Peru. It is less perceptible on the 
 west side, till it enters the Indian Ocean, when 
 strengthened by the northerly currents there, it flows 
 along the eastern coast of Africa, and round the 
 Cape in a rapid stream, 130 miles broad, and 7* or 
 8^ warmer than the contiguous waters. A current 
 from the South Pole sets along the west side of New 
 Holland into the Bay of Bengal. It is supposed that 
 other portions of the general polar current deflect 
 the great westerly current northward, after it has 
 passed the southern promontories of Africa and 
 America. * 
 
 In the North Atlantic, in the space comprised be- 
 
 tween Greenland and the coasts of Britain and Nor- Piysical 
 way, and between Labrador and Spitzbergen, a great geography, 
 body of waters, acted upon by three or four lateral ,^*"Y'7 
 currents, is supposed to perform a perpetual revolu- cunent. 
 tion. These waters receive their impulse eastward 
 from a branch of the Gulf Stream, which passes from 
 Newfoundland along the north-west coasts of Scot- 
 land and Norway. At the North Cape, a great west- 
 erly current from Nova Zembla turns the waters 
 north-westward, along both sides of Spitzbergen. 
 Beyond this island, being met by a current from the 
 Pole, they turn south-westward, and pass along the 
 coast of Greenland to Davis* Straits, where they are 
 deflected southward by a fourth current from Baffin's 
 Bay^and at the Bank of Newfoundland recommence 
 their revolution. Thus two great whirlpools, connect- 
 ed with one another, touching at the Bank of New- 
 foundland (which seems to be a bar cast up by their 
 conflicting waters), and revolving in opposite direc- 
 tions, occupy four-fifths of the North Atlantic. The 
 small current which sets from the Bay of Biscay 
 across the mouth of the English Channel, and through 
 the Channel of St George, is most probably a branch 
 of the Gulf Stream which parts from the revolving 
 current about the Azores. It is reasonable to be- 
 lieve, that great vortices of the same description will 
 be found in the other parts of the ocean, when they 
 have been as minutely examined as the North At- 
 lantic. (Scoresby, I. 206.) 
 
 The value of any part of the earth's surface to Climate, 
 man depends not rUerely on its extent, position, and 
 soil, but also on its climate, which regulates the na- 
 ture and variety of its productions, the degree of its 
 fertility, and, to a certain extent, its salubrity, and 
 its capacities of improvement. With no essential 
 superiority but that of climate, the small island of 
 Ireland supports, and probably will always support, 
 a greater number of inhabitants than the whole north- 
 ern section of the plain of Siberia beyond the 60th 
 parallel. 
 
 The climate of a country is chiefly influenced by 
 its distance from the equator, and its elevation above 
 the level of the sea. But it is affected in a smaller 
 degree by the nature of the surface, the abundance 
 or scarcity of humidity, the proximity or remoteness 
 of the sea, of lakes, of mountains, of arid or frozen 
 plains, and perhaps also by the internal heaX of the 
 earth. 
 
 The mean temperature of the earth at the equator, Mean Tem- 
 which is pretty uniform under every meridian, is esti- ^^^^ 
 mated, by Humboldt, at 81<^.5 of Fahrenheit's scale. ° 
 The decrease of heat, as we recede from the equa- 
 tor, on either side, follows different laws in the two 
 hemispheres, and in the same hemisphere under dif- 
 ferent meridians. On the west coast of Europe, 
 about the meridians of London and Paris, the cold 
 increases much more slowly upon us as we go north- 
 ward from the equator, than in any other part of the 
 world. In North America, at the meridian of 80" 
 or 90° west from London, and in Asia at the same 
 distance east, the increase of cold is much more ra- 
 
 * Vareniuss Gen. Geog. Chap. XIV. Tuckey, I. 43. Dr J. Davy, Thil. Trans. 1817- 
 
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 171 
 
 Physical pid as we approach the pole. In the northern he- 
 raphy. ixjigphgre, generally the cold is greatest on the east 
 side of both the old and new continents, and least 
 on the west. Humboldt has generalised this fact, 
 and inferred, that all continents and large islands 
 are warmer on the west side than the east. The 
 following table, extracted from Humboldt's admira- 
 ble Essay, exhibits the different gradations of the 
 mean annual temperature in Western Europe and 
 North America, continuing the scale to the equator. 
 
 Mean Annual Temperature. 
 
 Lat. 
 
 Old World. 
 
 New World. 
 
 Diff, 
 
 0 
 
 810.5 
 
 810.5 
 
 0 
 
 20 
 
 77 -9 
 
 77 .9 
 
 0 
 
 30 
 
 70 .7 
 
 67 .1 
 
 3,6 
 
 40 
 
 63 .5 
 
 54 .5 
 
 9. 
 
 50 
 
 50 .9 
 
 38 .3 
 
 12.6 
 
 60 
 
 41 .0 
 
 25 .0 
 
 16. 
 
 70 
 
 33 .0 
 
 0*.0 
 
 33 
 
 We have few observations for the east coast of 
 Asia; but the following shows that the climate of 
 this region approaches to that of Eastern America 
 rather than Western Europe. 
 
 Europe. 
 
 Asia. 
 
 America. 
 
 Naples, Temp. 
 Lat. 41 j 63.3 
 
 Pekin, ) Temp. 
 Lat. 40 j 54.8 
 
 Philadelphia, ) Temp. 
 Lat. 40 5 53.4 
 
 Thus the mean annual temperature of North 
 America is 9^ lower than that of Western Europe at 
 the latitude of 40°, le** lower at lat. 60^*, and 33^ 
 lower at lat. 70° ; a similar difference obtains between 
 the climates of Western Europe and Eastern Asia. 
 By comparing places under the same parallel, we 
 find that this change is not sudden, but progressive. 
 Petersburg, on the same parallel with Upsal, is 
 colder, and Moscow is 5° colder than Copenhagen. 
 The annual temperature of West Greenland in lat. 
 70'', which is l?" or ISP, according to Sir C. 
 Gieseke, is very nearly the mean between that of the 
 North Cape and Melville Island, as its intermediate 
 situation would lead us to expect. — {Edin. Phil. 
 Jour. No. IX. 201.) These differences are render- 
 ed more sensible when we connect the places having 
 the same annual temperature by lines, which Hum- 
 boldt has named isothermal lines. Thus the isother- 
 mal line of 59° (Fahrenheit) passes along the lati- 
 tude of 430 in Europe, but descends to lat. 36^ in 
 America. The isothermal line of 419 passes from 
 the latitude of 60"^ in Europe, to that of 48«' in 
 America, showing that the same annual temperature 
 which is found at the 60th parallel on the eastern 
 side of the Atlantic, is only found at 12'' farther 
 south on its western shores. The western coast of 
 
 North America again is warmer than the east ; and Physicni 
 hence if we were to trace the isothermal lines round G«^raphy, 
 the northern hemisphere, they would all have con- '^'^^v'"^ 
 cave summits at the east sides of Asia and America, 
 and convex summits at the west sides of America 
 and Europe. 
 
 The difference of mean temperature between sum- Summer 
 mer and winter (reckoning each to consist of three ^'^t^r. 
 months) is nothing at the equator, and constantly in- 
 creases as we approach the pole, as shown in the fol- 
 lowing table ! 
 
 
 Latitude. 
 
 Mean Temperature. 
 
 DifFerenoe. 
 
 Of Winter.. 
 
 Of Summer. 
 
 Algiers, 
 
 Buda, 
 
 Upsal, 
 
 37^ 
 47i 
 60 
 
 6\'>.5 
 34 .0 
 25 .0 
 
 80^.2 
 70 .5 
 60 .2 
 
 18<'.7 
 26 .5 
 35 .2 
 
 The extreme difference of the seasons is smaller 
 under the warm meridians of Western Europe than 
 any where else, and seems to be greatest where the 
 mean annual temperature is lowest,*— near the east 
 coasts of Asia and America, 
 
 Places on the Same Parallel 
 
 
 Latitude. 
 
 Winter. 
 
 Summer. 
 
 Diflerence. 
 
 Copenhagen, \ 
 Moscow, J 
 
 551° 
 55^ 
 
 300.7 
 10 .8 
 
 62 ''.6 
 67 .1 
 
 3i°.9 ^ 
 56 .3 
 
 Rome, *) 
 Pekin, I 
 New York, j 
 
 42 
 40 
 41 
 
 45 .8 
 26 .4 
 29 .8 
 
 75 .2 
 82 .6 
 79 .2 
 
 29 .4 
 56 .2 
 49 .4 
 
 Places having the Same Mean Annual Temperature. 
 
 
 MeanAn. 
 Temp. 
 
 Winter. 
 
 Summer. 
 
 Difference. 
 
 St Malo, 
 New York, 
 
 54*' 
 
 r>4<° 
 
 4<2°.3 
 29 .8 
 
 66«.0 
 79 .2 
 
 230.7 
 49 .4 
 
 If we draw a line on the map in a north-cast di- 
 rection from Bourdeaux to Warsaw, and continue it 
 till it strike the Wolga in latitude 55'^, all the places 
 situated under this line, at the same elevation, will 
 have nearly the same summer temperature of 69^ 
 or 70P of Fahrenheit's scale. The lines of equal 
 winter temperature decline in an opposite direction, 
 and deviate much farther from the plane of the pa- 
 rallels. Thus a straight line drawn from Edinburgh 
 to Milan, almost exactly at right angles to the line 
 of equal summer temperatures, would pass over 
 places, all of which, if equally elevated, would have 
 nearly the same winter temperature of 37^ or SB", 
 The other lines of equal summer and winter tempe- 
 ratures have a direction corresponding to these, but 
 not exactly parallel. 
 
 * Deduced by interpolation from the temperature of Natchez, Cincinnati, Churchill Fort, and Melville 
 Island, reckoning that of Melville Island— 2 Fahrenheit. 
 
172 
 
 Physical 
 Geography. 
 
 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 Effect of 
 Elevation. 
 
 On comparing the climate of the two hemispheres, 
 we find that the southern is rather colder than the 
 northern, but is more remarkably distinguished by 
 the greater equality of its seasons. This last effect 
 may obviously be referred to the influence of a 
 greater surface of sea upon a smaller extent of land. 
 In the southern hemisphere also, the temperature 
 seems more uniform under different meridians. At 
 Port Jackson, Buenos Ayres, and the Cape, all 
 nearly under one parallel, the annual mean tempera- 
 ture is almost exactly the same. 
 
 The second general cause that affects the tempe- 
 rature of places is their elevation above the level of 
 the sea. The following table, by Humboldt, shows 
 that the ratio of decreasing temperature, as we as- 
 cend in the atmosphere, is not the same at different 
 latitudes, nor is it uniform at the same place for 
 equal successive altitudes. 
 
 Height in 
 English feet. 
 
 Equatorial Zone 
 from 0° to 10° 
 
 Temperate Zone 
 from 45° to 47". 
 
 Mean 
 Temp. 
 
 Differ- 
 ence. 
 
 Mean 
 Temp. 
 
 Differ- 
 ence. 
 
 0 
 
 81.5 
 
 0 
 
 53.6 
 
 0 
 
 3195 
 
 71.2 
 
 10.3 
 
 41.0 
 
 T2.6 
 
 6392 
 
 65.1 
 
 6.1 
 
 31.6 
 
 9'^ 
 
 9587 
 
 57.7 
 
 7.4 
 
 23.4 
 
 8.2 
 
 12792 
 
 44.6 
 
 13.1 
 
 
 
 15965 
 
 34.7 
 
 9.9 
 
 
 
 This table shows, that, at the equator, the thermo- 
 meter sinks lO*' in the first thousand yards of ascent, 
 or I'' for 310 feet. In the next thousand yards it 
 sinks no more than 6°, or 1° for 524 feet. In the 
 third and fourth stages, there is a remarkable acce- 
 leration. In the whole column of air to the limit of 
 perpetual snow, at 15,965 feet of elevation, the de- 
 crease is 1« for 341 feet. Humboldt ascribes the 
 smaller rate of decrease in the second and third stages 
 to the large clouds chiefly suspended in this region, 
 which intercept the radiant heat of the earth. In the 
 temperate zone the atmospheric cold increases more 
 rapidly. The decrease of heat for the first thousand 
 yards is at the rate of l*" for 253 feet, but to th.e li- 
 mit of perpetual snow (at a temperature not of 32^, 
 but of 23''.3) it is 1° for 317 feet, or, in round num- 
 ber, 1° for 100 yards. Observations made, however, 
 in the free regions of the air, may give different re- 
 sults from those which were made on the sides or 
 summits of mountains. But generally in the teni- 
 perate zone, of two adjacent places, if the one is 
 1000 yards higher than the other, it will have a cli- 
 mate 12° colder. For smaller heights the decrease 
 
 is proportional. In the tipper regions of the atmo- Physical 
 sphere, the difference between the heat of night and ^^^^^ 
 day, summer and winter, is smaller than at the sur- ^''^ 
 face of the earth. This law of decrease explains to 
 us the extreme cold felt in the elevated plains of Si- 
 beria, and the mild temperature enjoyed in the tor- 
 rid zone, on the table land of Mexico, the plateau 
 of Pastes, and other high lands. Humboldt calcu- 
 lates, that in the temperate zone, every hundred me- 
 tres of ascent (110 yards) diminishes the heat as 
 much as a change of 1? of latitude. 
 
 The temperature of countries is affected by the Local Teii 
 proximity of the sea, and the nature of the adjacent pe^ature. 
 land. The extremes of temperature are always com- 
 paratively little felt in small islands, remote from 
 continents. In the United States intense cold is ex- 
 perienced as often as the wind blows from the frozen 
 plains round Hudson's Bay. (Warden's America, 
 I. 154.) From high mountains, gusts of cold wind, 
 called snow minds by mariners, rush down and cool 
 the circumjacent plains. (Volney's Trav. in Syria, 
 I. 340.) At Calabozzo, in Venezuela, the tempera- 
 ture, which was from 87^ to 90*' in March, rose to 
 104*^ or 105^, whenever the wind blew from the parch- 
 ed and dusty surface of the Llanos, or great plains. 
 (Humboldt, Pers. Nar. IV. 325.) The heat accu- 
 mulates to an astonishing degree, when the wind 
 passes over extensive deserts of fine and almost im- 
 palpable sand, which rises in the air, and hangs over 
 the surface like a fog, or mounts in whirling co- 
 lumns to a great height, mixing its burning par- 
 ticles with the mass of the atmosphere, and cona- 
 municating to it an intolerable heat. (Kinneir's 
 Geog. Mem. of Persia, 216, 222.) In Europe, 
 where the proximity of the sea cools every part 
 of the surface by the agency of the winds, the ac- 
 cumulation of heat never proceeds so far as in Asia 
 and Africa. Even in low plains, sheltered on 
 the north, the temperature scarcely ever exceeds 
 lOO** ; but at Bagdad and at Bushire, where the south 
 wind arrives, heated by the burning sands of Arabia, 
 the thermometer sometimes stands at 120"^ or 125*^ ; 
 and on the west coast of Africa, where similar causes 
 operate, it is said to rise to ISO^.* Though the 
 mean annual temperature is highest at the equator, 
 the extreme summer heat, so far as it proceeds direct- 
 ly from the solar action, is greatest at the tropic, and is 
 even rather greater at the latitude of 45 P than at the 
 equator. (Art. Climate, in this Supplement, p. 182, 
 Table.) We may therefore conjecture that the hot- 
 test summer climate in the world is to be found in 
 the western parts of the Sahara of Africa, under the 
 northern tropic, wnere the winds blow over a zone of 
 sandy plains 4000 miles in breadth, unbroken by any 
 considerable mountains, or by any surface of water 
 
 * Morier's Journey, U. 97. Edin. Phil Jour. No. V. 197. Tuckey, H. 442. Humboldt repeatedly 
 observbd the temperature of the soil in Equinoctial America at the hottest time of the day. It varied with 
 the nature of the mineral substance. The highest he has recorded, we think, was that of a coarse granitic 
 sand at Magpures, whose temperature at two P. M. was 1400.5. That of a fine granitic sand at the same 
 place was 126«.5 ; of a granitic rock, 11 7°. 6. We may hence conclude, that the air, though perfectly 
 stagnant, could in no possible circumstances be heated above 140°, and this only within two or three teet 
 of the ground. Humboldt's Pers. Nar. V. 165. 
 
PHYSICAL G 
 
 Physical except the narrow inlet of the Red Sea. At 
 Ga^aphy. the same time, it is possible that a much narrower 
 " -■ v'*^ surface than this may suflSce to communicate the 
 maximum eflFect of the solar heat to the atmosphere, 
 and the actual heat generated may depend more 
 upon the nature of the surface and its low elevation, 
 than upon its extent. 
 
 It appears that within the tropics seas have very 
 little effect in tempering the accumulating heat of 
 tlie land, when situated to the westward of a conti- 
 nent, but a great effect when situated to the east- 
 ward. In the steppes of Caraccas, which are open 
 to the sea on the east, the heat rarely exceeds 99", 
 but even in the wooded regions of Senegambia and 
 Guinea, much nearer the coast, it rises to 130''. * 
 In the temperate zones, on the other hand, it is clear 
 that the sea exerts its influence in a direction pre- 
 cisely contrary. When the land lies to the eastward, 
 the sea mitigates the extremes of heat and cold very 
 much ; when to the westward very little. This is abun- 
 dantly proved by the difference of temperature al- 
 ready noticed between the east and west coasts of the 
 two continents. Now, the sea can exert very little in- 
 fluence over the temperature of the land, except 
 through the agency of the atmospheric currents; and 
 the phenomena in both cases seem to be accounted 
 for by the prevailing direction of the winds. Within 
 the tropics, these are almost constantly from the 
 east ; but from the tropics to the latitude of 60* 
 north (and probably much farther), the prevailing 
 winds are from the west, f Within the torrid zone, 
 therefore, we should expect to find the extreme sum- 
 mer heat constantly accumulating from the east side 
 of continents and islands to the west ; but in the tem- 
 perate zones, the extremes both of heat and cold will 
 as regularly increase from the west to the east. This 
 is foundto be the case, and whatever other causes may 
 be conjoined with those now assigned, there can be 
 no doubt that the latter have really a great influence. 
 Internal temperature of each zone has such a corre- 
 
 Heat of the spondence with the amount of the solar impressions, 
 Globe. as to lead to the inference, that the heat of the 
 globe is entirely derived from the sun ; and Profes- 
 sor Leslie has calculated, that, upon this hypothesis, 
 tlie mean heat of the interior ought to be 66". 8. 
 Humboldt has ascertained, however, that, in lati- 
 tudes above 45", the mean heat of springs and caves 
 generally exceeds that of the atmosphere. The dif- 
 ference, which amounts to 6" or 7* at the parallel 
 of 70°, he ascribes to the covering of snow in the 
 higher latitudes, which prevents the loss of heat dur- 
 ing the winter months by radiation, or the contact of 
 cold winds. But there are facts which indicate that 
 this heat may be derived from another source. To 
 say nothing of volcanoes, we have hot springs in all 
 parts of the world, at all temperatures below boiling 
 
 EOGRAPHY. 173 
 
 water ; and evidence still less equivocal is afforded Physical 
 by the high temperature of deep mines. The follow- ^^^'aphy- 
 ing are examples : 
 
 At Giromagny, in the Vosges, annual temperature 
 at surface, 49° ; at 110 yards depth, 53?.6 ; at 336 
 yards, 65<'.8 ; at 472 yards, 74*'.6. 
 
 In Saxony, in four of the deepest mines, annual 
 temperature at surface, 46''.4 ; at I70 to 200 yards 
 depth, 54°.5 ; at 280 yards, 58? ; at 360 yards, 62o.6. 
 (Daubuisson, Geog. I. 444.) 
 
 In the coal mine of Killingworth, the deepest in 
 Britain, annual temperature at surface, 48° ; at 300 
 yards, 70° ; at 400 yards, 77°. In seven others of 
 the deepest coal mines in Britain, a corresponding 
 gradation was observed. (Mr Bald, Edinh. PhU. 
 Jour. No. I. 134.) 
 
 In these British mines, the increment of tempera- Rate of Jn- 
 ture is about 1° for 15 yards of descent. In the crease. 
 Vosges, it is about 1° for 20 yards, and in Saxony, 
 lO for 22 yards. Taking 20 yards as a mean, if the 
 increase follows the same arithmetical ratio to a 
 considerable depth, we should find the temperature 
 of the Bath waters (116°) at 1320 yards below the 
 surface, and that of boiling water at 3300 yards, or 
 nearly two miles. The frequency of hot springs from 
 80° to 120°, the rarity of those that approach the 
 boiling point, and the constancy of temperature in 
 them all, are circumstances remarkably consistent 
 with this hypothesis. The facts, if they do not esta- 
 blish, at least strongly support three conclusions ; 
 1st, That the heat of the interior of the earth is al- 
 ways greater than at the surface ; 2d, That this heat 
 augments progressively as we descend, in a ratio 
 bearing some relation to the depth ; 3d, That, even 
 at moderate depths, this heat is greater than the 
 mean heat of the globe ought to be, if entirely de- 
 rived from the sun. Such an interior heat, if it ex- 
 ists, must be constantly diffusing itself towards the 
 surface ; and at the surface it may be kept down, so 
 as to affect the temperature derived from the solar 
 action very feebly, by the greater or less rapidity of 
 its dissipation. But as it is very improbable that it 
 should be diffused with perfect equality i*ound the 
 whole exterior shell of the globe, it may be the true 
 source of some of those anomalies of climate (such 
 as the discrepancy in the annual heat under the same 
 parallel) which cannot be easily referred to other 
 known causes. % 
 
 The atmosphere is an elastic fluid which surrounds The Atmo- 
 the globe on all sides, and serves the most important sphere, 
 purposes in the economy of nature. It sustains the 
 life of an immense variety of organic beings, spreads 
 the moisture of the ocean over the land in fertilizing 
 showers, receives, dissipates, or decomposes, the in- 
 numerable mephitic vapours which are continually 
 exhaled from the surface ; and is the grand agent 
 
 • Humboldt, Pers. Nar. IV. 315. Tuckey, II. 442, 444. 
 
 t Cotte, Recherches sur les Vents Dominans, Journal de Physique, Tom. XXXIX. p. 267- 
 X As nearly the whole of the preceding view of climate has been taken from Humboldt's excellent Es- 
 say on Isothermal Lines, and the Distribution of Heat over the Globe, particular references were not thought 
 necessary. The EngU^ translation, given in the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, No. 5 — 9, has been 
 consulted. 
 
174 
 
 Physical 
 Geography. 
 
 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 Winds. 
 
 which, by its incessant motion, tempers the extremes 
 of heat and cold, and enables man to support him- 
 self in every climate from the equator to the vicinity 
 of the pole. 
 
 The fluid which forms the atmosphere consists of 
 two gaseous substances, oxygen and nitrogen, united 
 by a weak affinity, in the proportion of 21 parts of 
 the former to 79 of the latter. The vital functions 
 of animals and plants depend chiefly on the presence 
 of oxygen, though nitrogen also enters into their 
 composition. With these two are intermixed a very 
 small quantity of carbonic acid gas ; a variable por- 
 tion of aqueous vapour, and in the highest regions of 
 the atmosphere, where meteors are common, hydro- 
 gen has been supposed to exist. Air from the tropics 
 and the polar regions, from the most healthy and 
 the most insalubrious countries, exhibits no sensible 
 difference in its constituent parts. A hundred 
 cubic inches of sir at the surface of the sea, 
 when the thermometer is at 60'', weigh S0| 
 grains. The whole atmosphere is equal in weight 
 to a sheet of mercury, SO inches, or to a sheet of 
 water, 34 feet deep, and were its density every 
 where the same as at the surface, would reach no 
 higher than 27,000 feet, or five miles. But its 
 extreme elasticity causes the upper strata to expand 
 indefinitely, and the phenomenon of meteors show 
 that it exists in a state of extreme attenuation^ at a 
 height a hundred times greater than this. Consider- 
 ing the incessant currents which agitate its whole 
 mass, there is a surprising uniformity in its pressure. 
 The annual range of the barometer, which indicates 
 the variation of the pressure, does not exceed from 
 ^ to I inch in the torrid zone ; is about two inches at 
 Liverpool, the same at Petersburg, and was found by 
 Captain Parry to be inches at Melville Island in 
 one year. * The extreme variation, which no where 
 exceeds 3| inches, is not greater than one-ninth part 
 of the total pressure. It is greater in the temperate 
 zone than at the equator or the pole, and in winter 
 tlian in summer. The density of the air decreases 
 in a geometrical ratio as we ascend, and in temperate 
 climates is diminished to one-half at an elevation of 
 S| miles. We are hence enabled to measure 
 heights by the variations of the barometrical column. 
 Changes in the atmospheric pressure, when they are 
 great, have been observed to take place simultaneous- 
 ly at Edinburgh, Paris, and Geneva, and must, there- 
 fore, affect a great range of country at the same 
 time. 
 
 The unequal distribution of heat over the surface 
 of the land and water necessarily disturbs the equili- 
 brium of the atmosphere, and produces currents of 
 air, or winds. These currents, however various, have 
 been supposed to result from two general movements, 
 pervading the whole mass of the atmosphere. The 
 heavy and cold air of the polar and temperate re- 
 gions having a tendency to displace the warm and ra- 
 rified air of the torrid zone, generates a current in 
 each hemisphere towards the equator. To replace 
 the air abstracted from the higher latitudes, an up- 
 
 per and counter current flows back from the equator Physical 
 to the pole; and thus the atmosphere, while it per- Geography 
 forms a constant revolution, tempers the extremes of ^•'**"V*^ 
 climate, by transporting the cold of the frigid zone 
 to the equator, and carrying back the heat of the 
 equator to thefrigid zone. These great south and north 
 currents, which are to be considered as the primary 
 winds, receive various modifications. The under 
 current, which proceeds from the polar regions, hav- 
 ing impressed upon it the slow rotary motion of 
 these regions, does not acquire in its journey the ve- 
 locity of the parts it passes over. Instead, there- 
 fore, of proceeding directly along the meridian, it is 
 deflected to the westward. It pursues this lateral 
 course more and more as it approaches the torrid 
 zone, and the impulse south and north being de- 
 stroyed when the currents from the opposite hemi- 
 sphere meet at the equator, the motion westward 
 alone remains. This constitutes the well known 
 trade wind, which blows from the east at the equa- 
 tor, from the north-east at the northern tropic, and 
 the south-east at the southern. The upper and 
 counter current again, carrying with it the rapid ve- 
 locity of the equatorial regions, does not travel 
 right along the meridian, but deviates more and 
 more to the east as it advances ; and when its pro- 
 gress towards the pole is stopped by the accumula- 
 tion of air from the opposite meridians, the motion 
 eastward alone remains, and it settles into a west . 
 wind. Thus a constant east wind should prevail at 
 the equator, and a constant west wind near the poles ; 
 but the latter, being primarily an upper current, may 
 not be invariably felt as a west wind at the surface. 
 It does not follow, however, that the upper and un- 
 der currents preserve their relative situation over 
 all the temperate zone. From the greater accumu«. 
 lation of air in the higher latitudes, and from varia- 
 tions of temperature produced by local causes, the 
 upper current will often be bent down to the sur« 
 face, and the lower current ascend. This inter- 
 change will take place occasionally at all parts of 
 the temperate zone. Hence, in high latitudes, storms 
 of wind, which mingle the warm upper current with 
 the cold air below, always produce an increase of 
 heat, as Captain Parry found,— (Foz/age, p. 118.) 
 In the northern hemisphere, then, when the cold 
 current from the pole sweeps the surface rapid- 
 ly, we have a north wind ; it becomes a norths 
 east wind when its motion southward is retarded 
 an east wind when it is checked, and a south-e^ist 
 when it is deflected back, by mingling with a cur- 
 rent from the south ; all of which, except the last, 
 are generally found to be cold winds. When the 
 warm current from the south descends and sweeps the 
 surface, we have a south wind if its motion north- 
 ward is rapid ; a south'tvest when its motion northward 
 is retarded ; a ivest wind when it is checked ; and a 
 north-xvest when it meets and mingles with a current 
 from the north, AH these, except the last, are ge- 
 nerally warm winds, as experience proves. The 
 line of division between the upper and lower cur- 
 
 • Manch. Mem. IV. 534. Edinb. Trans. II. 213, Parry's Forage, 269« 
 4 
 
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 ii rents should be where the mercury stands at 15 
 ^ inches, which is at the height of 3^ miles. This 
 *^ should be the region of clouds ; and clouds do ge- 
 nerally approach to this elevation. 
 
 This theory, upon the whole, agrees tolerably well 
 with the facts. But the variable surface and tempe- 
 rature of the land greatly affect the course and velo- 
 city of the winds. In the torrid zone, within the 
 parallel of 25° or 30°, on each side of the equator, 
 tiie trade winds blow constantly from the east. From 
 the superior warmth of the northern hemisphere, the 
 line that separates the opposite trade winds is not the 
 equator, but the 2d or 3d parallel north. To a certain 
 extent, also, they follow the course of the sun, reach- 
 ing a little further into the south hemisphere, and con- 
 tracting their limits in the north when the sun is on 
 the south side of the equator, and making a reverse 
 change when he declines to the north. In a zone 
 of variable breadth in the middle of this tract, calms 
 and rains prevail, caused, probably, by the mingling 
 and ascending of the opposite aerial currents. High 
 lands change or interrupt the course of the trade 
 winds. Thus, under the lee of the African shore, 
 calms and variable winds prevail near the Cape 
 Verd Islands, while an eddy or counter current 
 of air from the south-west is generated under the 
 coast of Guinea. The lofty barrier of the Andes 
 shelters the sea on the Peruvian shores from the 
 trade winds, which are not felt till a ship has sailed 
 80 leagues to the westward; but the intervening 
 space is occupied by a wind from the south. In 
 the Indian Ocean the trade wind is curiously modi- 
 fied by the lands which surround it on the north, 
 east, and west. The southern trade wind blows re- 
 gularly from the east and south-east, from 10^ of 
 south latitude to the tropic, but in the space from 
 10° south latitude to the equator, north-west winds 
 blow during our winter (from October to April), 
 and south-west in the other six months ; while, in 
 the whole space north of the equator, south-west 
 winds blow during summer, and north-east during 
 winter. The cause of these remarkable winds, 
 which are called monsoons, has not been very satis- 
 factorily ascertained. (Varenius's Gen. Geog. Chap, 
 xxi.) 
 
 The region of constant winds is confined within 
 the 30th parallel on each side of the equator. On 
 the outer side of these limits, calms prevail pretty 
 generally over a narrow space, beyond which the 
 region of variable winds extends to the pole. In 
 the open sea, where the true direction of the winds 
 is best known, navigators have repeatedly observed 
 that throughout this region the prevailing wind is 
 from the west. Mr Forster observes, that beyond 
 the tropics, the west winds are the most universal. 
 That east winds have an ascendancy within the 
 Antarctic circle, as he thinks, may be questioned ; few 
 observations having been made there, and those few 
 not to be depended on, in consequence of the local 
 influence of the ice. (Observations, p. 127, et seq.) 
 According to the author of Lord Anson's voyage, 
 *' a westerly wind almost perpetually prevails in the 
 southern parts of the Pacific Ocean" (he speaks of 
 latitude 60°), and a similar wind in the northern 
 parts carried tlie Spanish galeons from Japan to Ca- 
 
 175 
 
 lifornia, along the parallel of 35^ or 400. (Book I. Physical 
 Chap. ix. II. Chap, x.) West winds prevail in^'^Pl^J'- 
 Kamchatka; they blow three-fourths of the year in 
 Hudson's Bay ; the west and north-west winds pre- 
 dominate greatly at Melville Island ; and it is a fa- 
 miliar fact among mariners, that, by means of these 
 wmds, the voyage eastward across the North Atlan- 
 tic is generally accomplished in about half the time 
 of the voyage westward. ( Scoresby, I. 41 1. Parry, 
 Voyage, 299.) On the west coast of Europe, too, 
 the west and south-west winds are the most general. 
 It is remarked also, that in our clifnate, south and 
 south-east winds are the most rare ; that winds between 
 north and east are almost invariably cold ; those be- 
 tween south and west warm ; and those between 
 north and west of a mixed character. So far the 
 facts correspond generally with the theory, though 
 many anomalous circumstances may be found. 
 
 The change of the seasons which affects the local Local 
 temperature so much, necessarily influences the at- Winds, 
 mospheric currents. Accordingly, the most violent 
 tempests are about the equinoxes, and in every country 
 there are prevailing winds peculiar to certain seasons. 
 It maybe suspected that most of thewinds observed on 
 land or in confined seas are merely local eddies, or re- 
 flex currents, produced by the irregularities of the sur- 
 face. Thus, while the south-west wind prevails almost 
 one-half of the year at Dover, London, and in the west 
 of England generally, it is scarcely felt at Liverpool, 
 which lies in the gorge of a valley, where the western 
 chain of hills is interrupted; and on the other hand, 
 the south-east, so uncommon in the rest of England, 
 is the predominating wind here. {Manch. Trans', 
 IV. 601, 615.) In the long basin of the Red Sea, 
 the wind blows in no direction but right up or down. 
 In Lancaster Sound, Captain Parry found the wind 
 to blow always either east or west. For ten months 
 of the year a wind (which is probably a smaller 
 branch of the north trade wind) blows constantly up 
 the valleys of the Mississippi and Ohio, preserving a 
 breadth in the latter of twelve or fifteen miles. (Tuck- 
 ey. III. 70. Warden's Amer. I. 155.) In the list of 
 V ents Dominans for the interior of Europe, collected 
 by Cotte, nothing like a system can be discovered-.- 
 nothing but local currents running in every possible 
 direction, according to the position of mountains and 
 valleys. Winds, indeed, even when strong, are of- 
 ten confined to a space surprisingly small. In the 
 temperate, but still more in the frigid zone, two or 
 three winds are often seen blowing from, or to, dif- 
 ferent points within a few leagues ; nay, of two ships 
 withm sight of one another, one is sometimes becalm- 
 ed, while the other is seen struggling with a storm. 
 In the northern seas even strong gales, when they 
 have carried a ship into frozen water, invariably de- 
 sert her, or give place to a wind which blows from 
 the ice. The effect can only be attributed to the 
 comparative coldness of the ice, and warmth of the 
 water, generating a local descending current over 
 the one, and an ascending current over the other. 
 (Scoresby, I. 403—409.) 
 
 The Mediterranean has a system of winds pecu- 
 liar to itself, which we have not room to explain. 
 All warm countries, where sandy deserts abound, 
 give birth to pernicious hot winds. Such is the Si- 
 
176 P H Y S I C A L G 
 
 Physical moom OF hot wind of the desert, and the Sirocco, so 
 Geography. ^g]j i^^Qy^j^ in the east, and along the shores of the 
 ^"^^"^ Mediterranean. For the description of these, as 
 well as the sea and land breezes, and other peculiar 
 winds, we refer to the Article Meteorology. 
 Rain. Rain, so essential to the fertility of the soil, is 
 
 very unequally distributed lo the different regions of 
 the globe. Nature has arranged it so, that the sup- 
 ' ply of the atmospheric moisture is most abundant 
 in those latitudes where evaporation is most rapid. 
 Or rather the processes of precipitation and evapo- 
 ration, depending partly on the same principles, 
 and exerting a reciprocal influence, tend to adjust 
 themselves to each other, though this tendency is 
 perpetually disturbed by local causes. Rain is 
 produced by the mixture of atmospheric currents of 
 different temperatures. The power of air to hold 
 water in solution does not increase in the same ratio 
 with the increase of its temperature, but in a much 
 higher ratio. Hence, when two masses of air, satu- 
 rated with moisture, and of different temperatures, 
 are mixed, the resulting compound is not capable 
 of holding the whole water in solution, and a part 
 of it is precipitated in rain. As the whole atmo- 
 sphere when saturated is calculated not to hold in 
 solution more water than would form a sheet of 5 
 inches in depth, while the mean annual deposit of 
 rain and dew is probably 35 or 40 inches, it is ob- 
 vious that the supply of atmospheric humidity must 
 be many times renewed in the course of a year. 
 The quantity of rain at any place is affected chiefly 
 by three circumstances. It is greater at the equator 
 than towards the poles, — at the sea coast than in 
 the interior, — and on mountains or high grounds 
 than on plains. The winds, too, exert a certain in- 
 fluence, which, at any particular place, depends on 
 their temperature, and on their travelling to that 
 place over a dry or a humid surface. Where so 
 many causes interfere, whose effects are scarcely 
 capable of estimation, it would be difficult to de- 
 termine the depth of rain proper to each parallel, 
 even were our observations more numerous and ac- 
 curate than they are. In a former part of this ar- 
 ticle we gave as an approximation 83 inches for the 
 equator, and 8 inches for the pole. We have since 
 found the following estimate by Humboldt, to whose 
 authority we readily defer in every question of this 
 kind. Except within the tropics, it corresponds ge- 
 nerally with that which we gave. 
 
 Lat. Eng. Inches. Lat. Eng. Inches. 
 
 0<> 96 450 29 
 
 19 80 60 17 
 
 Rain at Sea- Since the supply of humidity is greatest in the 
 Coast. vicinity of the sea, the rains must be generally more 
 abundant there than in the interior. On the other 
 hand, we know that currents of air fraught with vapour 
 move with great rapidity, and that the atmosphere is far 
 from needing an entirely new supply from the ocean 
 after each precipitation, because three-fourths pro- 
 bably of the rain that falls soon rises again into the 
 air, and continues thus to circulate between the 
 clouds and the earth. These circumstances lead 
 us to conclude, that the difference in the annual 
 
 E O G R A P H Y. 
 
 depth of rain, between inland places and those on Physical 
 the coast, is not so great as might be imagined. We ^^raphy. 
 find, accordingly, that a small increase of elevation ""^^-^^^ 
 compensates for a great distance from the sea. 
 Thus 29| inches of rain fall at Puy at the sources 
 of the Loire, while 24^ only fall at the sea-port of 
 Rochelle near its mouth, and at Geneva the depth 
 is 40 French inches, while at Paris, 300 miles nearer 
 the sea, it is no more than ip^. If we compare 
 Toulouse, Paris, and Gottingen, inland places not far 
 from the coast, with Buda and Prague, places in the 
 heart of Europe, and, like the others, not much elevat- 
 ed, the mean fall of rain at the three former is 20.4 
 French inches, at the two latter 14.1. (Cotte, Jour, 
 de Phys. T. XXXIX.) These facts are cited to support 
 the idea of a decreasing scale of rain, rather than to 
 mark the ratio of decrease. The latter is a pro- 
 blem for which we are yet unprovided with data. 
 We may infer from theory, that the decrements, so 
 far as they are affected by mere distance, will form 
 a geometrical series. If the atmosphere, for instance, 
 loses one-third of its moisture in the first 400 miles 
 from the sea, it will lose one-third of what remains 
 in the next 400 ; and so on. 
 
 The elevation of the land has a much more marked Rain in 
 effect on the quantity of rain than its distance from the Mountair 
 sea. Mountains precipitate the humidity of the atmo- 
 sphere, not so much by attracting it to their summits, 
 as in consequence of their rocky or grassy sides, when 
 acted upon by the sun, heating large masses of air in 
 the cold upper regions of the atmosphere. These warm 
 masses of air, which abstract moisture from the aerial 
 columns around them, stream upwards and mingle 
 with the cold strata above, or come into contact with 
 cold currents moving laterally, or suffer sudden and 
 partial changes of temperature from the vicissitudes 
 of night and day, and thus incessantly generate the 
 circumstances which cause precipitation. It is evident 
 that snow-clad mountains, from the constancy of their 
 temperature, will serve much less perfectly than those 
 whose sides are bare as nuclei for precipitating the at- 
 mospheric humidity ; and that, in temperate climes, 
 the rains will be more abundant on all mountains in 
 summer than in winter. Along the shores of the 
 Adriatic, and in the valley of Lombardy, the annual 
 fall of rain is from 26 to 35 French inches ; but in 
 the Carnic and Julian Alps, it amounts to 100 inches. 
 From the effect of this great barrier in intercepting 
 the aqueous vapour, and producing desiccation, Fel- 
 tre, on the east side of the first chain, has one-half 
 more rain than Trent, which is higher, but on the 
 west side ; and Coire in the Grisons, 19OO feet above 
 the sea, has less rain than the champaign cities of 
 Vicenza and Verona. (Cotte's Tables.) In England 
 it is found that Keswick and Kendal, situated among 
 the mountains, have 67 and 59 inches of rain re- 
 spectively, while places in the level interior country 
 and on the sea-coast have only about 24 inches. 
 But though more rain falls in mountainous than level 
 countries, the depth is greater at the bottom of a 
 mountain than at the top, and close to the surface 
 of the ground than at any distance above it, in all 
 cases. 
 
 In the torrid zone, a small thick rain falls every Rain in 
 day on that side of the equator bn which the sun is, Torrid Zon. 
 
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 Phygicid 
 Geography. 
 
 but generally intermits during the night. When it 
 ceases in the one hemisphere^, it commences in the 
 other, and is nearly perpetual in a zone of two or 
 thtee degrees in breadth, which separates the two 
 systems. When the rains begin, the heat increases, 
 and the trade wind subsides. Yet, even in the 
 torrid zone, there are tracts where rain seldom or 
 never falls, such as the Sahara of Africa, the low 
 coasts of Caraccas, and the desert shore of Peru, 
 between 15° and 30° of south latitude. In many 
 parts there are two wet and two dry seasons in the 
 year ; and in some regions, from the effect of moun- 
 tain i^anges and peculiar winds, places under the same 
 parallel have their wet and dry seasons at opposite pe- 
 riods.* Though the annual depth of rain is greatest 
 within the tropics, the number of rainy days follows 
 an inverse order, and diminishes as we advance from 
 high latitudes to the torrid zone. According to 
 Cotte, the mean dumber of rainy days from 12^ to 
 4-3° of latitude is 78, while it is l6l from latitude 
 51® to 60°. More rain falls in summer than winter 
 in all latitudes, but in the temperate zones the rains 
 of winter are more frequent than those of summer, 
 though less in quantity. (Cotte, ubi supra.) 
 
 Mr Dalton reckons the annual deposit of water in 
 England to be 31 inches of rain, and five of dev/. 
 His estimate is perhaps rather high. The distribu- 
 tion of the rain through the different seasons is so 
 much affected by local circumstances, that it is dif- 
 ficult to ascertain the mean result. In general, the 
 fall seems to be least in spring, and greatest in au- 
 tumn, and less in the six winter months than in the 
 summer. The following table affords an interesting 
 view of the connection between the phenomena of 
 wind and rain in this country. It gives, for one 
 year (l775), the number of days each wind prevailed 
 at London ; the quantity of rain that fell during the 
 prevalence of that wind ; and the humidity of the 
 winds, or the relative quantity of moisture which 
 each would deposit in the same space of time. 
 
 Geographi- 
 cal Distri- 
 bution of 
 Plants. 
 
 Winds. 
 
 Days. 
 
 Rain. 
 
 Humidity. 
 
 Winds. 
 
 !4 
 
 Q 
 
 Rain. 
 
 Humidity. 
 
 N. 
 S. 
 E. 
 W. 
 
 2U 
 
 0.327 
 0.251 
 0.168 
 1.907 
 
 11 
 
 9 
 12 
 82 
 
 N.W. 
 S.E. 
 N.E. 
 S.W. 
 
 39i 
 S2l 
 72 
 148 
 
 2.391 
 0.944 
 2.148 
 1 8.975 
 
 48 
 22 
 23 
 100 
 
 The whole quantity of rain for that year was 
 27,11 inches ; of which it will be observed that 
 two-thirds fell with the south-west wind. The pre- 
 vailing winds are the south-west and north-east, the 
 primary winds of our hemisphere. The least fre- 
 quent are the east and west. The south and north 
 winds are the driest, and the south-west and west 
 the most humid, as might be expected, f 
 
 The geographical distribution of plants is a subject 
 
 177 
 
 of such extent, that our narrow limits compel us to Physical 
 dismiss it with a few general remarks, extracted from Geography^ 
 Humboldt's Prolegomena de Distributione Geographi- ""^^ 
 ca Plantarum. Each plant has generally a determinate 
 climate, to which it is best adapted ; there are other 
 climates, however, in which it can be raised, though 
 less advantageously ; but beyond certain limits it 
 either ceases to grow altogether, or is supplanted by 
 other plants better adapted to the situation. Since 
 vertical elevation has the same effect on climate as 
 distance from the equator, there are properly no 
 plants which are peculiar to the frigid zone, because 
 the mountains of the torrid zone, embracing between 
 their base and their summits every variety of climate, 
 either produce, or are capable of producing, all the 
 vegetables of the temperate and polar regions. 
 Plants are absolutely most numerous, and exhibit 
 the greatest variety of species, and the most luxu- 
 riant growth, within the tropics, where nature has 
 supplied most abundantly the heat and humidity 
 which contribute, chiefly to the developement of 
 their vital functions. They diminish in number, va- 
 riety, and magnitude, as we recede from the tropics ; 
 and in Greenland, Spitzbergen, and the plains of 
 Northern Russia, the wealth of the vegetable king- 
 dom has shrunk to a very small number of mosses 
 and stunted shrubs. The lines that limit the growth 
 of certain plants depend on the average summer 
 temperature, for plants which require a long and 
 moderate heat ; on the temperature of the warmest 
 month for those which require a short but great 
 heat ; and on the temperature of the coldest month, 
 for those which are unable to resist a considerable 
 cold. Their growth is affected also by the foggy or se- 
 rene state of the atmosphere, because the direct sti- 
 mulus of the solar light is as essential to the success of 
 many plants as a certain determinate temperature. 
 Instead of losing ourselves in the labyrinths of ge- 
 neral botany, we shall illustrate these principles by 
 a few facts drawn from the history of cultivated 
 plants. 
 
 The plantain (Platano harton), which furnishes a climates of 
 primary article of food in tropical America, requires Cultivated 
 a mean annual heat from 82° to 73", and its proper Plan's, 
 climate is therefore from the equator to the 27th pa- 
 rallel. In the equinoctial zone (lat. 0^—10°) its fruit 
 does not ripen at a greater altitude than 500 toises 
 (534 fathoms). The sugar cane {Saccharum qffici- 
 narum), which has nearly the same range, thrives 
 where the mean annual temperature is from 82*" to 
 TS^", and is cultivated, but with less advantage, in 
 the old world to the latitude of 36l'=>, where the an- 
 nual temperature is about 67^*. In North America, 
 it is cultivated as far as latitude 31°, beyond which 
 it does not succeed, for, though the summer heat is 
 sufficient to ripen its. produce as far as 35^ or 40°, 
 the rigour of the winter destroys the plant. It suc- 
 ceeds on the table land of Mexico, at the altitude of 
 900 toises. The cotton plant (gossypium) has its fa- 
 vourite climate between latitude 0*^ and 34°, where 
 
 * Humboldt, Per*. Nar. IV. 398—410 ; V. 248. M'Fait's Nefv System of Gen. Geog. 153- 
 t Manch. Trans. IV. 570—593, V. 346. Horsley, FML Trans. Abridged, XIV. 44. 
 
 VOL, VI. PART I. ^ 
 
 -197- 
 
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 Physical the annual heat is from 82° to 68^. But it succeeds 
 graphy. wherever, with a mean summer heat of 73° or 75^, 
 that of winter is not below 46" or 48*^. It is cultivat- 
 ed as high as latitude 37^ in America, beyond latitude 
 40° in Europe, and grows at Astrakan in Western Asia, 
 latitude 46'^. (Storch, Tableau de la Russie, II. 250.) 
 The date palm (phoenix) thrives best between lati- 
 tude 29° and 35®, but on the shores of Italy, in 
 places sheltered from the north winds, it is cultivat- 
 ed as far as latitude 44°. The citron (citrus) has 
 nearly the same range, and is cultivated at Nice in 
 spots 150 toises high. This tree, with the sweet 
 orange, grows in Lousiana, under latitude 30°, but 
 above that it is injured by the frosts. (Darby's Loui^ 
 iiana, p. 151.) The olive (olea) ranges in Europe be- 
 tween latitude S6°and44|°. It succeeds wherever with 
 a mean annual heat from 66° to 58", that of summer 
 is not below 71'', nor that of the coldest month below 
 42^". This last condition excludes all the North Ame- 
 rican continent beyond latitude 34°, though the olive 
 thrives 10|^ farther north in Europe. The vine 
 (vitis) thrives whore the mean annual heat is from 
 62° to .50°, or even 47°. 5, pros^iding that of winter 
 is not below 33°, nor that of summer below 66° or 
 68°. These conditions are fulfilled on the sea-coast of 
 Europe as high as latitude 47°, in the interior as high 
 as latitude 50°, and in North America only as high 
 as latitude 40". But the favourite climate of the vine 
 in the Old Coniinent is between latitude 36^ and 48°, 
 where it yields a generous and excellent wine. The 
 Cerealia (wheat, rye, barley, and oats), so important 
 to civilized life, yield profitable returns in places 
 where the mean annual temperature descends to 28°, 
 providing that of summer rises to 52° or 53°. In 
 Lapland, barley comes to maturity whenever the 
 mean temperature of the summer months rises to 
 47° or 48°. Barley and oats, from the rapidity with 
 which they germinate and ripen, adapt themselves to 
 the short summers of the north, and are found along 
 with the potatoe as high as latitude 69g° in Lapland. 
 In Eastern Russia, upon the Lena (longitude 120*), 
 grain of any kind refuses to grow beyond latitude 
 60°. (Sauer, p. 24, 137.) Wheat, which is a pre- 
 carious crop, and little cultivated beyond latitude 
 58° in Western Europe, yields good returns at this 
 part of the temperate zone, when the mean heat 
 of the seven months from March to October is 
 55° ; but if it is no more than 46°, neither this 
 grain, nor barley, oats, or rye, come to maturity. 
 The Cerealia generally, which succeed only in low 
 grounds beyond latitude 60° in Europe, are culti- 
 vated to the height of 550 toises on the sides of the 
 Alps in latitude 46° ; to the height of 1020 toises 
 (barley and oats) on Caucasus in latitude 42° ; and 
 on the sides of the Andes, under the equator, the 
 proper climate of the Cerealia is found between 700 
 and 1600 toises of elevation (4480 and 10,240 feet). 
 Maize accompanies the vine in the west of Europe, 
 
 but extends farther north on the east. It is most Physical 
 extensively cultivated in its native soil, the New^^g''^P%- 
 W^orld, where it forms the chief nourishment of^^^*'""^ 
 man and domestic animals from La Plata to the 
 Canadian lakes. Coming to maturity in four or 
 five months from the time it is sown, and requir- 
 ing a short but hot summer, it is admirably adapt- 
 ed to the climate of America. There are few si- 
 tuations under the latitude of 45** where it will not 
 grow, but the parallel of is that to which it i« 
 best adapted. (Darby's Louisiana, p. 138, 144.) 
 The oak ceases to grow beyond latitude 63'' in Nor- 
 way : it terminates at 60^ or 61° in Finland ; and at 
 575'' in the government of Perm. The Pimis Syl- 
 vester (Scots pine) reaches the height of 60 feet at 
 the latitude of 70'' in Lapland, and grows in situations 
 125 toises above the sea. The Belula alba is found 
 under the same parallel at 250 toises of elevation. 
 In the eastern parts of Asiatic Russia trees are very 
 thin beyond latitude 65**; the larch, pine, birch, 
 and mountain ash, disappear about 66° or 68** ; wil- 
 low and birch bushes, eight inches high, are found as 
 far as 69". At Hudson's Bay trees of all kinds ter- 
 minate about latitude 60°. (Sauer's Account, ^x. 
 70 — 91. Mackenzie's Voyage, p. 404.) 
 
 Let us now endeavour to make a general summary Range of 
 of these details, confining our view to the great con- each Plant, 
 tinents merely, without regard to the islands. The 
 plantain or banana we find occupies a zone of 54** 
 in breadth on either side of the equator, which em- 
 braces about four-fifths of Africa, one-sixth of Asia, 
 and one-third of America, and excludes the whole 
 of Europe. The climate of the sugar-cane, allowing 
 it to extend to 30^ on each side of the equator in 
 the New World, and 35* or 36» in the Old, includes 
 the whole of Africa, nearly one-third of Asia, and 
 two*fifths of America, and only touches Europe at 
 its southern extremity. The climate of the olive 
 consists of two zones on the opposite sides of the 
 equator, extending from latitude 35" to 44^* in the 
 old continent, and embracing very little of the new; 
 this tree being equally injured by the excessive heat 
 of the tropical, and the excessive cold of the extra 
 tropical regions in America.* The vine grows as 
 far north as 50'^ or even 52", but its profitable cul- 
 ture in Europe does not extend much beyond 48°. 
 In Asia it succeeds at Astrakan latitude 46", in Buch- 
 aria, and at Hamiin Chinese Tartary, latitude 43". f 
 It, therefore, extends, we may suppose, to lat. 45*^ in 
 Asia generallj'-. Except in islands, or elevated plains, 
 it is probable there are few palatable wines made at a 
 lower latitude than 30*^. The vine may hence be 
 considered as occupying a zone of 15" in breadth 
 on each side of the equator (from 30*^ to 45°) in 
 the Old World, and two corresponding zones of 10* 
 in breadth in the New (from 30° to 40*). These 
 zones embrace about one-sixth of America, one-third 
 of Europe, two-sevenths of Asia, and one-tenth of 
 
 * If Humboldt has accurately defined the temperature for the year, and the coldest month proper for 
 this tree, there ought to be no part of North, and perhaps few parts of South America, where it will thrive. 
 It has not been introduced into the territories of the United States. — Darby's Louisiana, p, 150. 
 
 t Topographic des Vignobks, 489, Paris, 1816. Pallas's Travels, II. 430. 
 
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 Physical Africa. Of the productions which serve for the or- 
 Ge^aphy.^ dinary sustenance of man, maize and the potatoe 
 have the widest range. The culture of the j)ota~ 
 toe, as Humboldt observes, extends from the ex- 
 tremity of Africa to Labrador, Iceland, and Lap- 
 land. Maize bears any natural temperature, how- 
 ever high, and the only circumstance essential to 
 its successful culture seems to be a mean summer 
 heat, not below 68° or 70**. In consequence of this 
 advantage, its climate embraces the whole of the tor- 
 rid zone, and reaches probably to lat. 48*^ in Ame- 
 rica, to 50^, or 52®, in Europe, and -J'S" in Eastern 
 Asia. It hence includes about five-eighths of Ame- 
 rica, three-sevenths of Europe, the whole of Africa, 
 and three-fifths of Asia. The Cerealia do not suc- 
 ceed in the torrid zone in low situations. The cli- 
 mate adapted to their culture, which begins about 
 lat. 30°, extends to lat. 50° in America, to 70° in 
 Lapland, 62° in Finland, and 60° throughout the 
 north of Russia, generally including five-sixths of 
 Europe, three-fifths of Asia, one-tenth of Africa, 
 and one-fourth of America. The region of forests, 
 or the climates adapted to the growth of wood, em- 
 braces the whole of the Old and New World, except 
 a narrow zone on the north border of each, which 
 includes one-tenth of America, one-tenth of Europe, 
 aad one-tenth of Asia. As the prolific powers of 
 the soil depend chiefly on the stimulus of heat and 
 moisture, it is reasonable to believe with Humboldt, 
 that the general fertility of the earth increases as we 
 approach the equator. {Pers. Nar. IV. 106.) In warm 
 countries, the produce not only bears a much higher 
 proportion to the seed, but the husbandman has the 
 advantage generally of two harvests in one year. We 
 may probably assume, then, without any great error, 
 that, with regard to plants which grow both in 
 tlie warm and temperate zones, the productiveness 
 of the soil increases in the ratio of the annual tem- 
 perature, and the depth of rain ; and that for coun- 
 tries under the same parallels, it is generally in pro- 
 portion to the duration and intensity of the summer 
 heat. The cosine of the latitude, or the distance 
 from the axis, as it expresses pretty nearly the pi'o- 
 portions of heat and moisture for each parallel, may 
 therefore be taken as an approximate measure of 
 the relative fertility. But when we take into view 
 the superior productiveness of vegetables which are 
 peculiar to warm regions, such as maize, rice, and the 
 banana, there can be no doub'c that the power of the 
 soil to sustain animal life, augments in a much higher 
 ratio than the cosine of the latitude, and that at the 
 equator it is at least ten times as great as at the lati- 
 tude of 60® in Europe. It is scarcely necessary to 
 qualify those statements by saying, that we speak 
 solely of low and level regions, and of ordinary soils. 
 There are warm valleys in the north, where the pro- 
 ductions of southern climes will grow beyond the li- 
 mits we have assigned ; there are elevated tracts in 
 the torrid zone where every plant found in cold coun- 
 tries can be raised ; and in all the zones, there are 
 deserts and rocks which bid defiance to the vivifying 
 power of the sun, and the genial influence of the 
 seasons. 
 
 The number of human beings upon the globe has 
 been variously estimated. A thousand millions have 
 been mentioned, apparently for no other reason than 
 
 the convenience of a round number. M. Malte- Physical 
 Brun, a late and very respectable authority, re- ^^8"^^?'^^'* 
 duces the amount to 650,000,000. We think his^"*^"^"^ 
 enumeration for Asia, Africa, and America, still ra- 
 ther high, and without detailing the grounds of our 
 judgment, or pretending to accuracy, where any 
 thing better than loose approximations is unattain- 
 able, we submit the following estimate as the result 
 of our inquiries. 
 
 Europe, . . ^ . 
 Asia (with Australia and Polynesia), 
 Africa, , , 
 
 America, . . . . . 
 
 185,000,000 
 270,000,000 
 55,000,000 
 40,000,000 
 
 550,000,000 
 
 Population 
 of the 
 World. 
 
 The diversity of colour^ stature, form, physiogno- Varieties of 
 mical expression (and we may add language), among Human 
 different portions of the human race, have at all Species, 
 times arrested attention ; and have in many cases 
 created, and in all inflamed, those feehngs and preju- 
 dices which have made nations the enemies of each 
 other. Philosophers have endeavoured to analyse 
 and class the characters which produce these diver- 
 sities ; and since migrations and conquests have blend.- 
 ed the distinctive peculiarities of different races, they 
 have attempted to ascertain those primary types, from 
 the combination of which all the other varieties have 
 arisen. We have no room to discuss the many idle and 
 fantastic hypotheses which have been built upon this 
 subject, but shall merely give a brief outline of the 
 system of the learned Blumenbach, who has prose- 
 cuted the inquiry with the aid of a profound know- 
 ledge of physiology. This philosopher has resolved 
 the varieties of the human species into five primary 
 classes,-- .the Caucasian, Mongolian, Ethiopian, Ame- 
 rican, and Malay. In the Caucasian race the skin is 
 white, the cheeks red (a character scarcely found in 
 any other race), the hair brown, running into yellow 
 and black, soft, long, and undulating; the head sym- 
 metrical, and rather globular, the forehead mode- 
 rately expanded, the cheek-bones narrow, not pro- 
 minent, the face oval, the nose narrow and slightly 
 aquiline, the lips gently turned out, the chin full and 
 round, the facial angle large. This variety compre- 
 hends all the Europeans except the Finns, Samoieds, 
 and Laplanders ; the Western Asiatics, as far as the 
 Oby and the Ganges, and the people of North Af- 
 rica. In the Mongolian variety, the skin is olive, 
 the hair black, straight, and stiff, the head almost 
 square, the cheek-bones prominent outwards, the 
 face broad and flat, and its parts less distinct than in 
 the Caucasian race, the eye-brows little arched, and 
 the space between them flat, the nose small and flat, 
 the aperture of the eye-lids narrow. This includes 
 the remaining Asiatics (except the Malays), the Finns, 
 Samoieds, Laplanders, Greenlanders, and Esquimaux* 
 In the Ethiopian race, the skin is black, the hair 
 black and crisp, the head compressed laterally, the 
 forehead receding, the cheek-bones standing much 
 forward, the nose flat, and blending with the cheeks, 
 the lips thick, the chin rather receding, the jaws 
 lengthened forwards, and the under part of the face 
 prominent. This includes all the African nations, 
 except those of the Caucasian race in the north. 
 
180 
 
 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 Phyucal In the American race, the skin is of a copper co- 
 Geogrnyiiy jour, the hair black, stiff, and straight, the forehead 
 il short, the cheek-bones and face broad, the orbits and 
 y <M<^y- eyes.deep, the nose rather flat;, but still prominent. In 
 this are included all the American tribes except the 
 Esquimaux. In the A/a/ay race,* the skin is tawny, 
 the hair black, soft, curled, thick, and abundant, the 
 head rather narrow, the forehead slightly arched, the 
 parietal bones prominent, but not the cheek-bones, 
 the nose full, broad, and bottle-shaped at the point, 
 the mouth large, the face projecting forward in the 
 lower part, but the features viewed in profile, more 
 distinct than in the Ethiopian race. This variety 
 comprehends the inhabitants of Malacca, the Marian, 
 Philippine, Molucca, and Sunda Isles, and Polyne- 
 sia. It is to be observed, that it is only in some par- 
 ticular tribes, or portions of each race, that its cha- 
 racteristics are strongly marked. None of the lead- 
 ing varieties are absolutely pure, and all of them may 
 be found passing into each other by insensible gra- 
 dations, from the fiffet'ts of mixture. 
 
 The question has been long agitated, whether all 
 the existing varieties have sprung from one parent 
 stock. The arguments in favour of the affirmative 
 appear to us to preponderate. 1. All the different 
 races are capable of uniting with each other, and be- 
 getting offspring, which continue themselves by pro- 
 
 creation. This is held by naturalists to be one of Physical 
 the most decisive tests of identity of species. 2. There G^^raphy 
 is no essential difference of structure in the various oi, 
 races. JNone oi them have permanently a bone, a 
 blood-vessel, or an organ of any kind, which the 
 others want. There are no differences analogous to 
 those of the stag and the roebuck, or the one and 
 the two humped camel, which clearly mark a diver- 
 sity of race. 3. The differences which do exist 
 among mankind at large, such as those of com- 
 plexion, stature, physiognomy, and mental capacity 
 are analogous to those which manifest themselves in 
 one tribe, or nation, and even in one family. We 
 have, therefore, only to suppose that the causes 
 which produce these minor and accidental differences 
 are rendered general and permanent in their opera- 
 tion, by peculiarities of food, climate, or habits, to 
 account for the stronger and more lasting distinc- 
 tions among nations. This view of the subject is 
 farther confiirmed by the changes which climate, 
 food, and different modes of treatment, produce upon 
 domestic animals. 4. The affinities of language, 
 which promise to throw much light on this subject 
 when fully developed, have already afforded presump- 
 tive proofs of a common origin in the case of nations 
 whom physiologists class under distinct races.* 
 
 (b. b. b.) 
 
 PHYSIOLOGY. 
 
 Physiology Physiology, or the Study of the phenomena of 
 divisible into jjfg^ differs from all the other branches of philosophi- 
 two Etepart- ^j^j 'jnquiry^ by its involving the consideration of the 
 frnal as well as the physical causes of these pheno- 
 mena. A new principle of arrangement is thus in- 
 troduced, which is scarcely ever applicable in the 
 sciences relating to the properties of inert and in- 
 organic matter. Those sciences are formed by ap- 
 plying to the subjects they concern, the rules of 
 philosophical induction. By comparing together 
 phenomena, and uniting in one class such as are of 
 the same kind, we arrive at the knowledge of a cer- 
 tain number of general facts, which we regard as 
 laws of nature, and from which, when once establish- 
 * ed, we deduce the explanation of a multitude of 
 subordinate phenomena, resulting from the simple or 
 the combined operation of these laws. By a series 
 ^ of experiments we succeed in removing all extrane- 
 * ous circumstances, and in reducing each class of 
 phenomena to its simplest conditions ; and we are 
 also enabled to vary the combinations, so as to com- 
 pare the results with the appearances presented to 
 us by nature. But the application of the same me- 
 thods to the physiology of animal or vegetable life 
 is attended with peculiar difficulty. The immense 
 number of species of living beings, the variety and 
 complexity of the appearances they exhibit, and the 
 extended chains of connection that pervade every 
 part of organic nature, are strikingly contrasted vi^ith 
 
 the simplicity, the constancy, and the uniformity of 
 operation of those physical forces which regulate the 
 changes occurring in the inorganic world. The ex- 
 tensive generalizations which have been so success- 
 fully accomplished in the sciences of natural philo- 
 sophy and chemistry, can be effected only in a very 
 limited degree among the diversified phenomena 
 which constitute the science of physiology ; and we 
 have, accordingly, made but very imperfect ap- 
 proaches to the knowledge of those laws to which 
 they are ultimately reducible. The resources of ex- 
 perimental inquiry are here extremely narrowed, in 
 consequence of the close connections which subsist 
 among the powers concerned, and which preclude 
 us from any opportunity of studying them in a se- 
 parate or isolated state, and of ascertaining distinctly 
 their respective operations. 
 
 Amidst these obstacles which impede our progress study of 
 in the direct but thorny avenues to science, we na- Functions, 
 turaliy turn to the more alluring, though circuitous 
 paths, which open upon us on every side, in the con- 
 templation of the final purposes of the changes we 
 are examining. So strongly is the character of design 
 impressed upon all the phenomena of organic beings, 
 that we are irresistibly led to associate the views 
 suggested by their relative subserviency to particu- 
 lar purposes, with the more strictly philosophical re- 
 lation of cause and effect, by which they may also be 
 connected. The relation of means to an end be- 
 
 * See J. F. Blumenbach, De Generis Hummi Varietate Nativa Dissertation 1795, 8vo, and Prichard's 
 Researches into the Physical History of Man. 
 
PH YSI 
 
 Physiology, coraes thus a leading principle of association among 
 •>'mm-Y'mm>f the phenomena presented to us by living beings : it 
 gives to the science a new aspect, and creates an in- 
 terest of a different, and even superior kind to that 
 which mere physical relations are calculated to in- 
 spire. The study of the Jiinclions of life, that is, of 
 the purposes to w^hich the actions constituting life 
 are subservient, is generally regarded, indeed, as the 
 
 f)rincipal object of physiology ; and all the facts re- 
 ating to it are distributed according as they tend 
 to the accomplishment of these purposes. Dazzled 
 by the brilliancy of these objects, physiologists have 
 often lost sight of the essential distinction which sub- 
 rists between these, and the more sober purposes of 
 philosophical inquiry. In framing theories to ex- 
 plain the phenomena of life, they have most fre- 
 quently satisfied themselves with pointing out their 
 final causes, that is, the objects which are answered 
 in the economy: and as the detection of this, final 
 cause often required the exertion of considerable 
 sagacity, the inquiry has terminated here, and it has 
 not been perceived that the physical theory was left 
 in as great obscurity as before. This proneness to 
 substitute final for physical [ causes has been the 
 source of frequent delusion, by insensibly leading us 
 to believe that we are really in possession of the 
 physical law on which the phenomenon in question 
 is dependant, when -we have merely given it a name 
 with reference to the intelligent agency, by which it 
 was adjusted to its object. In our eagerness to 
 grasp at this kind of knowledge, we have too often 
 mistaken the shadow for the substance. 
 Final, mis- The writings of the older physiologists exhibit 
 Ph^sic^' continual instances of this confusion of ideas. Thus 
 Causes. notion of an archcBus, or anima, entertained by 
 
 Van Helmont and Stahl, that is, af a presiding spirit, 
 to the operation of which were referred all the vital 
 actions, although, perhaps, naturally suggesting it- 
 self to the mind, was yet evidently an unphilosophi- 
 cal assumption, incompetent to explain the pheno- 
 mena in question, and occasionally even at variance 
 with those very phenomena. The vis medicatrix na' 
 turce, to which Hoffman and Cullen so frequently 
 appeal in their pathological reasonings, and which 
 ; supplied thera with ready solutions for every obscure 
 
 morbid change that embarrassed them, was, in fact, 
 nothing more than a branch of the same doctrine. 
 Nor have the more sober theorists of modern times 
 been sufficiently on their guard against this illusion. 
 In the attributes which John Hunter ascribes to his 
 vital principle, we may continually trace the same 
 want of discrimination between that intelligence, by 
 which the conditions of animated nature were ori- 
 ginally adjusted to a variety of contingent circum- 
 stances, and those physical laws and agents, by the 
 instrumentality of which the intended objects are 
 attained. When it is said, for instance, in the lan- 
 guage of this school, that the coagulation of the 
 blood is occasioned by ** the stimulus of necessity," 
 it is clearly the final cause only, and not the physical 
 cause of this phenomenon that is assigned: and it is 
 also evident that no advance is thereby made towards 
 the discovery of the latter. In like manner, the 
 principle of life is i-epresented to us as a new power, 
 with which organized beings are endowed ; a power 
 which modifies and controls the operation of those 
 
 0 L 0 G Y. 181 
 
 simpler physical laws, to which the same matter, in Physiology, 
 its unorganized state, is subjected ; a power which >— s.-^ 
 imposes new cohesive forces on the materials of the so- 
 lid structures of the body, which imparts to the fluids 
 a new property of coagulation, which alters the or- 
 der of chemical affinities between their elements, re- 
 taining them, contrary to their natural tendencies, in 
 a certain state of equilibrium, and resisting the agency 
 of several causes tending to destroy it ; and which, 
 lastly, produces, in a degree somewhat corresponding 
 to the wants of the system, either an evolution or an 
 absorption of caloric. All these, it must be ac* 
 knowledged, are purposes of manifest utility ; being 
 directly conducive to the welfare of the individual, 
 and indeed essential to its continuance in the living 
 state. As means conducive to a specific end, the 
 reference of all these phenomena to the same class , 
 is unobjectionable. The fallacy lies in regarding it 
 as a philosophical generalization of effects, of a simi- 
 lar kind, indicative of the operation of a simple 
 power in nature. Between many of the effects in 
 question, considered as physical phenomena, there 
 exists not even the remotest analogy. But it is the 
 fundamental principle of the method of induction 
 that similar effects alone are to be ascribed to the 
 agency of the same principle. Judging from the 
 observed effects, therefore, which diffisr much from 
 each other, as well as from other phenomena in na- 
 ture, we ought to infer the agency of several distinct 
 principles, the concurrence of which is required to 
 produce all the complex phenomena of life. We 
 are unavoidably led, no doubt, to view these pheno- 
 mena as conjoined, because we readily perceive that 
 they tend to the same object, the preservation and 
 welfare of the beings to which they relate. But the 
 unity of design is an attribute of intellect alone, and 
 does not necessarily imply the unity of the agent 
 employed in their production. However natural it 
 may be to conceive the existence of a simple princi- 
 ple of life, and however possible it is, that this hypo- 
 thesis may ultimately be established as the true one 
 by future discoveries, we should recollect, that, in 
 the present state of our knowledge, it is a mere fic- 
 tion of the mind, not countenanced by the pheno- 
 mena themselves, in which we see so much diversity, 
 and, therefore, not admissible as the result of a truly 
 philosophical induction. 
 
 Bichat, who was impressed with the necessity of 
 drawing certain lines of distinction among the powers 
 of life, has yet perplexed his system, by taking final 
 causes as the basis of his divisions ; a principle which 
 is incompatible with a philosophical analysis of those 
 powers. Thus, the distinction which he labours to 
 establish, between the muscular contractihty of ani- 
 mal life, and that of organic life, is founded, not 
 upon any real difference in the nature of the power 
 concerned ; for, as we shall endeavour to show in 
 the sequel, the power which resides in the muscles 
 of the voluntary and of the involuntary motions is 
 in all cases the same ; but upon a difference in the 
 application that is made of this power in the econo- 
 my. Dumas has been guilty of a still more palpable 
 error, in thinking it necessary to add to his cata- 
 logue of principles, consisting of the acknowledged 
 powers of sensibility and contractility, a third power, 
 which he terms /orce de resistance vitale; thus as* 
 
 1 
 
182 
 
 PHYSIOLOGY. 
 
 Design of 
 this Article. 
 
 Physiology, sociating a final cause in the same rank with causes 
 that are strictly physical. To multiply examples of 
 this mistake would be endless ; for it pervades almost 
 every physiological system that has yet been framed. 
 
 As a full account has already been given, under 
 the head of Physiology, in the EncyclopcEdia, of the 
 principal facts relating to ihe functions of the animal 
 economy, which, as we have stated, are commonly 
 regarded as the leading objects of that study, we 
 shall, in this article, present an outline of what may 
 be considered the philosophical department of the 
 science, by attempting an analysis of the princi- 
 pal laws, or ultimate facts to which the vital phe- 
 nomena are reducible. Setting aside, then, all 
 consideration of functions, we shall examine the 
 changes that occur in the living system, simply as 
 physical phenomena; and we shall endeavour to class 
 them according as they agree or differ among them- 
 selves, without reference to the purposes which they 
 may happen to serve in the animal economy. Thus, 
 if we take as an example, the phenomena of the 
 circulation of the blood, which, when viewed with 
 relation to the function, form together so beautiful 
 and harmonious a system, we find that, considered ab- 
 stractedly, these phenomena are ultimately resolvable 
 into such as result from a few general powers, as 
 muscular contractility, membranous elastici'ty, the 
 hydraulic properties of the blood, &c. If a similar 
 analysis were made of the phenomena of digestion, 
 we should find them to be the effects of the combined 
 agencies of the muscular action of the stomach and 
 intestines, of the chemical properties of the gastric 
 juice, the bile, &c. of the organic powers of secre- 
 tion, and so forth ; all of which concur in the pro- 
 duction of a definite object, namely the conversion 
 of the aliment into chyle. The processes subservient 
 to this object constitute the function of digestion. 
 
 These analytical investigations have not been pro- 
 secuted by physiologists with the attention their im- 
 portance deserves. Our knowledge of the principles 
 of the science has, however, been considerably in- 
 creased by the experimental inquiries that have re- 
 cently been instituted both in this country and on 
 the continent ; and we shall therefore avail ourselves 
 of the present period, as affording peculiar advan- 
 tages for taking a comprehensive review of the facts 
 which bear upon these questions, and for deducing 
 consequences that may throw considerable light upon 
 the animal economy, and the theory of diseases. 
 
 Classifica- Of the changes which occur in the living system, 
 tion of the gome are easily referable to particular classes ; others, 
 ^^^^ again, having a less distinct character, are generalized 
 with greater difficulty. Some of the powers con- 
 cerned in the phenomena of life may be recognized 
 as being identical with those which produce changes 
 in inanimate matter, while the rest are powers pecu- 
 liar to the living state. Thus the cohesion, elasticity, 
 and tenacity of the particles of the solids of the 
 body ; the strength, resistance, &c. of the materials 
 which compose them ; and the hydrostatic and hy- 
 draulic laws of its fluids, are principles upon which 
 we may safely reason in their application to the me- 
 chanism of the living system. Many of the laws of 
 chemistry are also applicable to its phenomena. 
 From our knowledge of these principles we may- 
 
 predict the effects which will, under given circum- Physiology, 
 stances, ensue: and if experience, in any case, ^^^^''^^^ 
 teaches us that the result is different, we may thence 
 infer the operation of new causes, peculiar to the 
 living state, and constituting other classes of pheno- 
 mena. 
 
 The powers comprehended under this latter divi- Analysis of 
 sion have usually been described as reducible to twof 'ff*^^"**" 
 
 1 •!• ■ into, — 
 
 species, namely contractility and sensibility ; for it 
 
 was supposed that all the phenomena might be ar- 
 ranged under these two heads. We shall endeavour 
 to show that their analysis is incomplete, and to point 
 out at least four distinct principles of which the ope- 
 ration may be recognized in the living body : these 
 are Muscular Contractility, Nervous Agency, Sen- 
 sorial Power, and Organic Affinity. Let us first, 
 however, fix the meaning of these terms. 
 
 Muscular contractility is a power too well known Muscular 
 by its effects to require any elaborate definition or 
 illustration in this place. It consists in that property 
 by which, in consequence of the impression of cer- 
 tain agents, the extremities of muscular fibres are 
 made to approach each other, with a force greatly 
 superior to the ordinary mechanical sources of mo- 
 tion. 
 
 By the term nervous agency we would be under- 2. NeivoHs 
 stood to mean that power which resides in the ner- Agency, 
 vous system, and by which certain effects, hereafter 
 to be described, and which for the present we shall 
 call impressions, made on one part of that system of 
 organs, are immediately succeeded by certain other 
 effects at a remote part of the same system. The 
 application of an irritating substance, for example, 
 to one extremity of a nerve, will excite, in one case, 
 muscular contraction ; in another case, sensation ; in 
 a third, secretion ; in a fourth, it will raise the tem- 
 perature ; while, in other instances, it will produce 
 changes of vascular action, and lead to an alteration 
 of the organic structure of parts. Since this propa- 
 gation of impressions is a fact not exactly analogous 
 to any other phenomenon in nature, we must regard 
 it as the effect of a distinct power, concurring with 
 the rest in producing the general result which we 
 term life. 
 
 Another power, perfectly distinct from the former, 3. Sensorial 
 although it also resides in a portion of the nervous Po'^^''- 
 system, is that from which the corporeal operations 
 connected with sensation and volition result. Dr 
 Wilson Philip, to whom we are indebted for having 
 clearly pointed out this distinction, has given to 
 this property the name of sensorial poiver. As 
 the term seems to be sufficiently appropriate, we 
 shall adopt it as the designation of this specific 
 property of the nervous system. Dr Darwin had 
 employed the same term in a more extended sense, 
 as including the power of muscular contraction. 
 It should be remembered that it is here limited to 
 those physiological changes in which the mind is im- 
 mediately concerned. 
 
 The admission of the powers already enumerated 4. Organic 
 do not yet supply us with the means of explaining a^^"^^^^"- 
 variety of phenomena exhibited by the living system, 
 and which are sufficiently analogous in their nature 
 to warrant our classing them together as depending 
 upon the operation of a common principle. The 
 phenomena in question are those of secretion and 
 
PHYSIOLOGY. 
 
 Physiology, nutrition, including those of the growth, extension, 
 "^'^'''^^ and modelling of the various organic structures which 
 compose the animal fabric. The powers by which 
 these effects are produced exist in the vegetable as 
 well as the animal kingdon), and appear to result 
 from that particular arrangement of parts which is 
 termed organization. These powers, when consider- 
 ed abstractedly from the purposes they serve in the 
 economy, we shall denominate the orgaiiic affiyiities^ 
 by way of contradistinction from the ordinary che- 
 mical affinities to which they are so frequently op- 
 {X)sed. 
 
 I. We shall first examine the Mechanical Pro- 
 perties of animal structures. 
 Organiza- The basis of the organic texture of the different 
 ''"I M P^*^*^ '■'^^ ^^^^ '^^ ^ peculiar substance, which, 
 brun^^'"" amidst its various modifications of cellular tissue, 
 membrane, vessels, neyirilema, visceral parenchyma, 
 &c. may be recognized as essentially the same. The 
 term membrane, which is applied more especially to 
 a condensed lamina of this substance, may be conve- 
 niently extended to the rest, and employed as the 
 , generic term for the whole. It has been disputed 
 whether this substance was ultimately resolvable into 
 plates or fibres^ and the microscope has been appeal- 
 ed to in support of both opinions ; but after all that 
 has been said about the primordial animal fibre, 
 which was stated by Haller to bear the same relation 
 to anatomy which a line does to geometry, the whole 
 may possibly be more the fruit of imagination than 
 the sober account of the real fact. Fontana had 
 viewed it as an assemblage of cylindric fibres, which 
 were twisted and interlaced with each other; but 
 Monro has shown that he was deceived by an optical 
 illusion, to which the incautious use of the micro- 
 scope frequently gives rise. Bichat describes its in- 
 timate structure as composed both of filaments and 
 of laminae, variously intermixed ; and hazards a con- 
 jecture that the former are exhalent and absorbent 
 vessels. Bordeu appears to have been the first who 
 advanced the opinion of the homogeneous nature of 
 the cellular tissue, which he compares to froth or 
 glue. Quesnay considered it more as a fluid than as 
 an organized solid. Wolff rejects entirely the idea 
 of its being cellular, and regards it as a homogeneous 
 and glutinous substance, without organization. Blu- 
 menbach, Platner, and Meckel, have adopted these 
 views; a statement of the arguments in favour of 
 which is given by Beclard in his Additions a I'Ana- 
 tomie Generate de Bichat. The subject has already 
 been noticed under the head of Anatomy in this Sup- 
 plement. Whatever weight may be allowed to the 
 arguments in favour of the cellular tissue being a 
 homogeneous substance, it seems, from other consi- 
 derations, more reasonable to suppose that the me- 
 chanical structure of all animal substances is framed, 
 even in the simplest cases, with a greater degree of 
 complication than we shall ever have the means of 
 fully ascertaining, 
 ts Mecha- Although ignorant of the arrangement of particles 
 lical Pro- which Constitutes the organization of animal mem- 
 lerties- brane, we observe certain mechanical properties to 
 result from it, analogous, it is true, to those that are 
 met with in several inorganic substances, but in ge.. 
 
 10 
 
 183 
 
 neral much superior to them in degree. These are Physiology, 
 flexibility, extensibility, and elasticity. These pro- ^•^'V**^ 
 perties, in their different degrees, are variously com- 
 bined and modified in the different forms of animal 
 substance, but exist more or less in every organ. As 
 it is not our object to enter into any consideration of 
 the functions to which these properties are subser- 
 vient, we shall abstain from any remarks on the uti- 
 lity of these properties, but confine ourselves to their 
 physical relations. In this respect, one very striking 
 circumstance requires to be pointed out, namely, 
 that the force of elasticity among the particles com- 
 posing these animal structures is rarely found in a 
 state of neutrality, but is kept in equilibrium by the 
 mechanical circumstances of situation. When these 
 circumstances are deranged, elasticity comes into 
 play, and produces a shrinking of the substance. In 
 other words, every part is kept upon the stretch, and 
 retracts when set at liberty by the removal of the ex- 
 tending cause. This will happen when its extremi- 
 ties are brought nearer to one another, when the 
 contents of the hollow parts are withdrawn, and 
 whenever they are divided transversely. This pro- 
 perty has long been known, though described under 
 different names ; that of tone, or tonicity, has fre- 
 quently been applied to it. Bichat, who has very 
 well described its effects, has denominated it co«- 
 tractiliti de tissu, and contractilite par defaut d'ex- 
 tension, and has distinguished it from tonicity, which 
 he regards as a vital property. 
 
 The mechanical properties we have enumerated Fibrous 
 are greatly modified by diversities of structure. The Tissue*, 
 same substance, when in the state of greatest con- 
 densation, composes what Bichat has denominated 
 the fibrous tissue. Chaussier has considered it as of 
 a peculiar nature, differing from ordinary membrane, 
 and has given it the name of Jibre albuginee, as- 
 cribing to it the character of having a white colour, 
 and a resplendent satin-like surface, an appearance 
 which it owes to its great density. Of these fibres 
 are the tendons, aponeuroses, and ligaments princi- 
 pally composed. Among these we may again trace 
 a diversity of properties. Thus tendons exhibit the 
 smallest degree of extensibility compatible with 
 membranous texture, although they possess great 
 flexibility. The ligauents belonging to joints are 
 stiil more flexible, and somewhat more extensible 
 and elastic. Those ligamentous structures, on the 
 other hand, which are employed as an antagonist 
 power to gravitation, or to muscular action, such 
 as the ligamentum nuchjE, which counteracts the 
 weight of the head in grazing quadrupeds, are very 
 extensible, and possess a high degree of elasticity. 
 A layer of the same elastic substance extends over 
 the parietes of the abdomen in these animals, for the 
 support of the abdominal viscera. The elastic liga- 
 ments which retract the claws of the cat, and other 
 animals of the same tribe, exhibit the same property. 
 Beclard considers this highly elastic substance as a 
 separate modification of membranous structure, dis- 
 tinguished from the tissu albugine of Chaussier by 
 its yellow colour and peculiar elasticity. Liga- 
 ments, having the same properties, but which are 
 white, instead of yellow, are extensively met with in 
 the anatomy of insects. 
 
184 
 
 PHYSIOLOGY. 
 
 Pmperty of 
 Corrugation 
 
 Hygrome- 
 tric Proper- 
 ty- 
 
 Phyadlogy. Among the physical properties of animal mem- 
 brane must also be enumerated a peculiar kind of 
 contractility, which is accompanied with a sudden 
 corrugation and curhng of its substance. This 
 effect, which was noticed by Haller, and which 
 Bichat designates by the term racornissement, is 
 produced by the application of a certain degree of 
 heat, and also of several chemical agents, more 
 especially the concentrated mineral acids. Alcohol 
 and the neutral salts effect a similar change, but 
 much more slowly, and in a very inferior degree ; 
 and the effect continues to increase if the agent con- 
 tinues applied, which is not the case when acids or 
 boiling water are used. The continued applications 
 of these latter agents gradually effect the disorgani- 
 zation and solution of the animal matter. Bichat 
 has taken considerable pains to investigate these 
 phenomena, and we must refer our readers to bis 
 Anatomie Generate for the details of his experi- 
 ments. He has pointed out several circumstances 
 by which this property is distinguished from mere 
 membranous elasticity. Although it has _ been 
 thought to resemble muscular contractility, it will 
 really be found, when strictly compared, to differ 
 from this last property in all essential particulars ; 
 and it probably, therefore, depends on causes that 
 are wholly different. 
 
 An effect somewhat analogous to the former, al- 
 though much less in degree, takes place in animal 
 membranes by the evaporation of the water which 
 is united to it, but which appears to be retained by 
 a weak affinity. This constitutes what may be call- 
 ed the hygrometric 'property, and is very character- 
 istic of dry membranous structures, all of which are 
 found more or less to contract by the loss of mois- 
 ture, and again to expand by its reabsorption, accord- 
 ing to the varying states of dryness and humidity in 
 tlie surrounding atmosphere. The organic tissues of 
 vegetables exhibit this property ; but in a very in- 
 ferior degree compared with animal membrane. 
 
 The mechanical properties of membrane which we 
 have been examining are totally independent of the 
 vital properties that are next to come under our re- 
 view. They remain some time after the complete 
 extinction of life in all its functions, and seem to be 
 connected with the peculiar arrangement of par- 
 ticles, and the chemical composition of the sub- 
 stance in which they reside. They appear, indeed, 
 not to be affected until the progress of decompo- 
 sition has become sensible. Hence this assemblage 
 of powers was denominated by Haller the vis moriua. 
 
 Contractility H. MuscuLAR CONTRACTILITY is One of the 
 of the Mus- tnost remarkable of those properties which are pecu- 
 cular Fibre, jj^^ .^^ animal life. It is often distinguished by the 
 name of irritability, which was originally given to it 
 by Glisson. But the merit of having clearly appre- 
 ciated its importance, as a separate and peculiar 
 power, is due to Haller, who speaks of it sometimes 
 under the title of irritability, and sometimes under 
 that of the vis insita. The phenomena of muscular 
 contraction have already been sufficiently detailed in 
 the Article Physiology in the Encyclopedia. 
 
 This, property has been established in the system 
 as the great source of mechanical power required for 
 
 Vis MOTtua 
 of Haller. 
 
 the operations of the animal machine. As in a ma- Physiology, 
 nufactory where the force of steam is employed as "^^^-^y^^^m^ 
 the prime mover of the whole of its complicated 
 machinery, so, in the animal system, is the muscular 
 power resorted to on every occasion where mecha- 
 nical force is required. From its vast intensity, this 
 power appears adequate to every purpose ; and 
 though, in some instances, it may seem to have been 
 lavished with profuseness for the sake of slight addi- 
 tional convenience, in others it is carefully econo- 
 mized ; and perhaps more accurate examination 
 would show that it is in all cases exactly adjusted to 
 the intended effect. Before the time of Haller it 
 was generally regarded as an extension of the ner- 
 vous power ; and so great was the confusion of ideas 
 on this subject, that even Boerhaave speaks of ten- 
 don as merely a modification of muscular structure. 
 
 The occasion, or exciting cause, which gives rise 
 to the exertion of this power, is termed a stimulus. 
 Thus all muscular, contraction implies two things, 
 the irritability, which constitutes the power, and the 
 stimulus, which determines the action of that power. 
 The irritability, according to Haller, is the same in 
 kind, wherever muscular fibres are met with ; it only 
 varies in intensity in the different muscles : but it 
 does not in all of them obey the same stimuli. The 
 nervous power is the natural stimulus of all those 
 muscles which are under the influence of the will : 
 on the other hand, the muscles of involuntary mo- 
 tion are affected by stimuli of different kinds, which 
 are appropriated to their different functions, and al- 
 together difi'erent from the nervous power. Thus 
 the blood is the natural stimulus which excites the 
 contraction of the heart ; and the alimentary canal, 
 the bladder, uterus, &c. are, in like manner, excited 
 to action by their respective contents. 
 
 It is only by examining attentively the circumstan- its Organi- 
 ces in which the muscular power is exerted, that we nation, 
 can hope to attain a knowledge of its nature. That a 
 particular mechanical structure is required for hs pro- 
 duction is apparent from the regular arrangement of 
 parallel fibres, connected into fasciculi of larger and 
 larger dimensions by separate investments of mem- 
 brane ; and also from their great vascularity. Muscles 
 are more abundantly supplied with blood-vessels than 
 any other parts, excepting the lungs and the organs 
 appropriated for secretion. The minute or capillary 
 veins are more particularly numerous, forming a vas- 
 cular net-work, and are provided with riumerous 
 valves. Much contrariety of evidence exists as to 
 the intimate structure of muscular fibres. Leeuwen- 
 hoek represents them as being exceedingly minute, 
 many thousand uniting to form one visible fibre, but 
 that they differ considerably in diameter in different 
 animals, without any relation to the size of the ani- 
 mal. He states, for example, the fibre of the frog to 
 be larger than that of the ox. He thinks their size 
 also varies according to the age of the animal, being 
 smallest in the earlier periods of life. Muys, who 
 was engaged for many years in the most laborious 
 researches on this subject, concludes, on the other 
 hand, that the real ultimate filaments of muscles are 
 in all cases of the same size, even when compared 
 among the mammalia, birds, and insects. Prochaska, 
 again, says expressly that they are not all of the 
 12 
 
PHYSIOLOGY. 
 
 185 
 
 Phyriology. same diameter, but differ in different animals, and 
 even in different parts of the same animal. Their 
 diameter has in general been stated as less than that 
 of the globules of the blood ; but Sprengel speaks of 
 them as being equal to the 500th of an inch in the 
 mammalia, and the 250th in birds and fishes. Some 
 microscopical observers have represented them as 
 hollow tubes ; but this is probably an optical decep- 
 tion, like that which has led to the belief that hairs 
 are tubular. Several, such as King and Tauvry, 
 have imagined them to be continuations of arteries ; 
 an opinion which was connected with the theory of 
 the indefinite extension of vascularity, formerly pre- 
 valent, but since sufficiently refuted by observation 
 as well as reasoning. Prochaska asserts, with confi- 
 dence, that they are solid, and of a polyhedral, pris- 
 matic shape, generally flattened, or thicker on one 
 side than on another, so that a transverse section 
 presented an appearance similar to that of basaltic 
 pillars. Hook and Swammerdam reported the fibres 
 to be composed of a series of globules. Cooper and 
 Stuart supposed them to be cellular, and Borelli that 
 they were formed of a string of rhomboidal vesicles. 
 Fontana's account of them in general agi*ees with 
 that of Prochaska ; but he remarks that they are fur- 
 nished, at regular intervals, with transverse bands ; 
 and that they may always be distinguished by their 
 parallel disposition from the fibres of membrane, 
 which are more or less contorted. Sir Anthony 
 Carlisle states, that a muscular fibre, duly prepared, 
 by washing away the adhering extraneous substances, 
 and exposed to view in a powerful microscope, ap- 
 pears to be a solid cylinder, the covering of which is 
 reticular membrane, and the contained part a dry 
 pulpy substance, irregularly granulated, and of little 
 cohesive power, when dead. Mr Bauer represents 
 them as composed of a row of globules, exactly cor- 
 responding in size to those of the blood, when de- 
 prived of their colouring matter. By long macera- 
 tion in water, the cohesion of these globules is 
 loosened, and the fibre is broken down into a mass 
 of globules. The statement of these various opi- 
 nions is suflBcient to show how little satisfactory in- 
 formation has been gained on the subject. When- 
 ever an observer has a favourite theory to support, 
 the microscope is ever ready to assist him in seeing 
 what he expects, or wishes to discover. 
 Mechanical In the infancy of rational physiology, much labour 
 TheorieB of ^^s bestowed upon devising some mechanical ar- 
 rangement of particles that might account for the 
 phenomena of muscular contraction. With this 
 view Borelli contrived his rhomboidal vesicles, which 
 he supposed to be empty in the relaxed state 
 of the fibre, but suddenly distended by the intro- 
 duction of a fluid derived from the nerves, which 
 shortened as well as swelled each vesicle, and, conse- 
 quently, the whole muscle. In this hypothesis, 
 though ingeniously adapted to the phenomena, no 
 power is assigned for the sudden propulsion of so 
 large a quantity of fluid into the vesicles ; the resist- 
 ance that would be opposed to the entry of such a 
 fluid would be immense, and the force required to 
 overcome it would be much greater than even that 
 exerted by the muscle itself, which it was the object 
 of the hypothesis to explain. The supposition, there- 
 VOL. \I. PAEX h 
 
 fore, involves a greater difficulty than the simple Physiology, 
 fact. Some have, in like manner, imagined they ^**v^«^ 
 could explain the phenomena by the turgescence of 
 the numerous arteries which are seen to cross tlie 
 fibres at right angles ; not recollecting that the very 
 force which distends the arteries is itself derived 
 from the muscular power of the heart and arterial 
 trunks, which could not create a power greater than 
 itself. The hypothesis of the spiral course of the ul- 
 timate fibres, a form which admitted of elongation 
 or contraction, according to the degree of convolu- 
 tion, is as gratuitous as the preceding ; and equally 
 open to the objection that the original source of mo- 
 tion is left unexplained. Dr Fordyce states a fact 
 which places it in a striking point of view, the cir- 
 cumstance of a new force being generated during 
 muscular contraction. If the interior surface of the 
 ventricle of the heart, detached from the body, be 
 pricked gently by a needle introduced into its ca- 
 vity, the ventricle will thereby be made to contract 
 with such power as to force the needle deep into it. 
 The force of the contraction of the ventricle must 
 have been incomparably greater than the power with 
 which it was pricked by the needle. Muscular 
 power, indeed, bears not the least analogy to any of 
 the other great principles in nature, which are ori- 
 ginal sources of mechanical force ; and, until such 
 an analogy can be traced, all our endeavours to ex- 
 plain the phenomena by mechanical hypothesis must 
 be as fruitless as the attempts to contrive a machine 
 for perpetual motion. Some physiologists, wishing 
 to avoid all hypothesis, propose to explain the phe- 
 nomena of "muscular contraction, by saying that it 
 arises from an increase of attraction among the par- 
 ticles of the muscular fibre. Dr Fordyce calls this 
 force " the attraction of life," a term, which, if it 
 has any meaning, is merely a statement of the sim- 
 ple fact under a new form of expression. 
 
 Muscular fibres differ from those of membrane Chemical 
 in chemical composition, as well as mechanical struc- ^"'^^^"es. 
 ture ; and it becomes a question how far their pro- 
 perties depend on a peculiar combination of chemi- 
 cal elements. Physiologists have, accordingly, en- 
 deavoured to ascertain whether, while the mechani- 
 cal texture was unaltered, any changes occurring in 
 the chemical condition of a muscle would be accom- 
 panied by a corresponding change in its contractile 
 power ; and, whether there was any one element in 
 particular, the presence of which was more essential 
 than the rest to the exertion of that power. It was 
 long the fashion to regard oxygen as the source of 
 this power. This theory was advanced by Girtan- 
 ner, and found strenuous advocates in Humboldt, 
 Beddoes, and Richerand. Some account of the rea- 
 sonings on which they founded this opinion has been 
 given in the Encyclopcedia. Experiments were made 
 to ascertain the influence which the alternate abstrac- 
 tion and restoration of oxygen had on irritability, of the 
 presence of which the galvanic excitation was used as 
 a test. The general result of the inquiry was, that a 
 certain proportion of uncombined oxygen is essential 
 to the maintenance of irritability. The presence of fi- 
 brin has been regarded essential to the constitution of 
 the muscular fibre; but Fourcroy has shown that dif- . 
 ferent modifications of fibrin are compatible with irri- 
 A a 
 
186 
 
 Physiology, 
 
 PHYSIOLOGY. 
 
 Cellular 
 confounded 
 with Mus- 
 cular Con- 
 tractility. 
 
 Power of 
 
 Spontaneous 
 
 Elongation. 
 
 lability. The necessity of a due supply of caloric has, 
 in like manner, been the subject of inquiry ; and, as 
 might have been expected, the preservation of a cer- 
 tain temperature has been found requisite to muscular 
 action. All that can be safely concluded, however, 
 from these investigations, is, that a certain state of 
 chemical composition and of temperature, is as es- 
 sential as a certain mechanical structure to muscular 
 contractility, but that these conditions admit of some 
 degree of variation within certain limits. 
 
 In the more perfect animals, muscular contracti- 
 lity remains but for a short time after the circula- 
 tion of the blood has ceased. A ligature on the ar- 
 teries which distribute this fluid to a muscle, occa- 
 sions the speedy loss of its irritability ; arterial blood, 
 therefore, supplies some material requisite for the 
 preservation of the proper chemical state of the mus- 
 cular fibre. Yet different classes of animals are very 
 differently constituted with respect to this circum- 
 stance. The muscles of the amphibia will remain 
 irritable long after an entire stop has been put to the 
 circulation ; and this takes place even in limbs that 
 are detached from the body. 
 
 The operation of the muscular power is of so dis- 
 tinct and specific a character, that it appears sur- 
 prising how phenomena of any other class could be 
 confounded with it ; and yet several distinguished 
 physiologists have ascribed to different portions of 
 the cellular substance a contractile power analogous 
 to that of muscles. The tunica vaginalis testis, and 
 its surrounding cellular tissue, are said to exhibit in- 
 dications of this peculiar species of contractility, 
 from the irritation of stimuli, or by the application of 
 cold. *' The contractions that ensue," says Bichat, 
 " are doubtless not to be compared to that of 
 muscles, but they certainly constitute the first de- 
 gree of that power ; they are the same in kind, or ra- 
 ther they hold a middle rank between muscular con- 
 tractions and those minute and invisible oscillations 
 which others call tonicity, &c." There does not ap- 
 pear to us to be any foundation in fact for this sup- 
 posed gradation of the muscular power. The mo- 
 tions in question may partly be accounted for by the 
 known power of elasticity, which undoubtedly varies 
 in degree in different textures, and partly by the 
 real but undetected presence of muscular fibres. 
 The vis cellulosa of Blumenbach appears, in like 
 manner, to life no new power, but simply the modi- 
 fied elasticity of the texture in which it resides, A 
 few cases have been pointed out, which are perhaps 
 of a dubious character, such as the motions of the 
 iris, the muscularity of which has been often called 
 in question, though it now appears to be sufficiently 
 established by the microscopical observations of M. 
 Bauer. So much importance has been attached to 
 these apparent anomalies, that it has been thought 
 necessary, in order to account for them, to suppose 
 the existence of a new power, the vita propria; or 
 rather, as it should be said, to invent a new term 
 void of any definite signification. 
 
 It has frequently been supposed, that, besides the 
 power of contraction, muscular fibres had also the 
 opposite power of spontaneous elongation, when the 
 former ceased to be exerted. Bichat countenances 
 this doctrine when he says, that it appears very 
 
 probable that the dilatation of muscles is a pheno- Physiology, 
 menon equally vital with their contraction." But —y'^^ 
 all the facts that have been adduced in favour of this 
 notion may, as John Hunter has shown, be complete- 
 ly explained by the operation of other causes ; such 
 as that of antagonist muscles, or of the natural elas- 
 ticity of neighbouring parts, or of the cellular sub- 
 stance contained in the muscle itself ; for it should 
 not be forgotten that a muscle, in addition to its con- 
 tractility, possesses all the properties belonging to 
 animal membrane, which composes so large a por- 
 tion of its structure. Many phenomena in the 
 movements of animals, which may, at first sight, 
 have the appearance of arising from a spontaneous 
 power of dilatation, such as the elongation of the 
 trunk of the elephant, of the tentacula of polypi, and 
 the bodies of the leech and other vermes, and the 
 extension of the feet, and other soft parts of mollus- 
 ca, are, like the varied motions of the tongue, only 
 secondary effects of the contraction of certain mus- 
 cular fibres so disposed as to produce these effects. 
 It has been said that the heart has been found to 
 exert, during its dilatation, a positive force, but pro- 
 bably if the course of all the fibres composing the 
 muscular parietes of that organ were better known, 
 this apparent anomaly would be as easily explained 
 as the rest. 
 
 Still less could it have been supposed possible to 
 confound the nervous with the muscular power ; and 
 yet, prior to the time of Haller, no clear ideas were 
 entertained of the distinction between them ; and, 
 even in later times, the subject has been involved in 
 much perplexity. Muscular fibres used to be spoken 
 of as only nervous fibres on a large scale ; exhibiting 
 distinctly, on account of their greater magnitude, 
 the contractions which w^e presumed to take place 
 in the ultimate fibres of the nerves during their ac- 
 tion, but which were insensible on account of their 
 minuteness. The retraction of divided nerves is 
 clearly an effect of membranous elasticity. 
 
 III.— Nervous agency, or that property of the Phenomena 
 nervous system by which it receives impressions o^" Nervous 
 made on one part, and transmits them to others, is^S^"*^^* 
 manifested in several ways. First, by exciting mus- 
 cular contractions. The usual mode in which this 
 occurs is seen in the muscles of voluntary motion, 
 the actions of which are determined by an effort of 
 the will, which produces an impression on the nerves 
 sent to these muscles at their origin in the sensorium ; 
 this impression is propagated along these nerves to 
 the muscles themselves, where it appears to act upon 
 their irritability like any other stimulus, and to pro- 
 duce their contraction. But the very same effect 
 takes place quite independently of the mindj by an 
 irritation of a mechanical or chemical nature applied 
 at the origin of the nerves, or in any part of their 
 course. This conducting power in the nerves may, 
 by these means, be called into action long after the 
 extinction of sensibility, and may be observed even 
 in a limb removed from the body ; for muscular con- 
 tractions are produced in it by mechanical irritation 
 of the ends of the nerves leading to those muscles, and 
 still more readily by galvanic excitation. The contrac- 
 tion of muscles which are not under the dominion of the 
 11 
 
PHYSIOLOGY. 
 
 187 
 
 Physiology, will, such as the heart, are not so evidently the con- 
 sequence of irritations applied to the nerves which 
 terminate in them, in consequence of the pecuHar 
 mode of arrangement of these nerves; but as we 
 shall hereafter show, the conducting power of these 
 nerves is no less real than in the former. Various 
 stimuli, operating through the medium of the nervous 
 system, and different affections of the mind, affect 
 the motions of the heart and arterial system, and the 
 muscular fibres of the alimentary canal ; and produce 
 local determinations cf blood, and increased vascular 
 actions of particular parts. Secondly, there are va- 
 rious operations, such as secretion, conducted in the 
 minuter textures of the body by means that entirely 
 escape our cognizance, which are materially influ- 
 enced by certain irritations propagated along the 
 nerves. But the mode in which this influence is ex- 
 erted is reserved for future discussion. Thirdly, an- 
 other, and no less important effect of nervous action 
 is the production of sensation. An impression made 
 upon the sentient extremity of a nerve is propagated 
 to the sensorium, when it produces other changes, 
 immediately followed by that affection of the sentient 
 principle, accompanied by consciousness, which we 
 term sensation. This latter class of effects we shall 
 refer, as already stated, to a power distinct from the 
 nervous, and which we have called the sensorial 
 power. Fourthly, among the effects resulting from 
 the nervous power, those which arise from the com- 
 munication of irritations to very remote parts, which 
 are but indirectly connected by nerves, must not be 
 omitted. They are usually comprehended under the 
 title of the effects of sympathj^ In some cases the 
 nervous communications may be traced ; in others, 
 it appears to take place through the medium of the 
 central parts of the nervous system, that is, the brain 
 and spinal marrow. In proportion as the anatomy 
 of the nervous system has been more accurately ex- 
 plored, the former appear to be more numerous ; 
 though there are still a great number of cases which 
 can only be explained on the latter supposition. 
 
 In what way this propagation of impressions by 
 the nerves is effected, we are wholly ignorant. The 
 celerity with which they are transmitted along the 
 whole line of communication, bears a greater resem- 
 blance to the transmission of the electric agency 
 along conducting wires, than to any other fact we are 
 acquainted with in nature : and on the strength of 
 this analogy the nervous influence itself has often 
 been conceived to be of an electrical nature. In those 
 fishes which exhibit powerful electrical phenomena, 
 as the torpedo, gymnotus, and silurus, the organs 
 appropriated to the production of these effects, are 
 supplied with an enormous mass of nerves, shawing 
 clearly the important part which the nervous influ- 
 ence plays in these phenomena. The processes of 
 secretion are disturbed when the nervous communi- 
 cations between the secreting organ and the brain 
 are intercepted by the division of the nerves ; but in 
 the case of the stomach, the natural process of di- 
 gestion is resumed when galvanic electricity is trans- 
 mitted through those portions of the nerves which re- 
 main connected with the stomach. As Voltaic elec- 
 tricity is known to produce chemical changes in the 
 substances on which it is made to act, it was con- 
 
 ceived that the chemical changes constituting secre- Physiology, 
 tion were in Kke manner effected by electricity, of -^^-^^^ 
 which the nerves were the conductors. Such are the 
 principal arguments brought forward in support of 
 the identity of the nervous and the electrical agen- 
 cies ; a hypothesis which was first advanced by Valli 
 at the period when the effects of Galvanism on the 
 muscles, or animal electricity, as it was then called, 
 began to engage the attention of the philosophic world. 
 We shall have occasion to revert to this theory in the 
 sequel. 
 
 The nervous, like the other animal powers, is de- Organiza- 
 pendant on a certain mechanical and chemical con- ^^r- 
 stitution of the organs which exercise it. Anatomists J'g""* 
 are not agreed as to the minute and ultimate struc- 
 ture of nervous matter, lluysch and Leeuwenhoek 
 considered it as vascular, an opinion to which Haller 
 subscribes; but Albinus denies the vascularity of the 
 medullary substance, as neither apparent by the mi- 
 croscope, nor by the evidence of injections. De la 
 Torre asserts that it consists of a mass of innumer- 
 able transparent globules swimming in a diaphanous 
 Jfluid ; and that these globules are larger in the brain 
 than in the spinal marrow. Prochaska describes the 
 same globular structure, which he represents as unit- 
 ed by a transparent elastic cellular membrane, dis- 
 posed in fibres. Monro first thought these fibres to 
 be convoluted, but afterwards suspected some opti- 
 cal deception. Fontana found the nerves to be com- 
 posed of a number of minute cylinders, seemingly 
 composed of a pellicle, and partly filled with a trans- 
 parent gelatinous humour, and with small unequal 
 globules. Sir Everard Home describes the optic 
 nerves of a horse as " composed of two parts, one 
 opaque, and the other transparent, forming fibres of 
 a peculiar kind, unlike those of any other part of the 
 body. Their course is curious, for they appear to 
 be constantly passing from one fasciculus to another, 
 so as to connect all the different fasciculi together 
 by a mixture of fibres. This is different from the 
 course of the blood-vessels, lymphatics, or muscular 
 fihres ; the only thing similar to it is in the for- 
 mation of nervous plexuses, which leads to the idea 
 of its answering an essential purpose respecting the 
 functions of the nerves." 
 
 Whatever be the pecuhar organization from which Conditions 
 such astonishing effects result, we may at least be ^^l^i^it^f'"" 
 
 assured that the following conditions are requisite P^^"®- 
 £•.]_• ° , . ^. . mena. 
 
 ror tneir appearance ; namely, a certam contmuity 
 
 of nervous substance, freedom from pressure, and the 
 continued supply of arterial blood. With respect to 
 the first of these conditions, however, the experi- 
 ments of Dr Philip and of Mr Brodie, the results of 
 which are stated in the Philosophical Transactions 
 for 1822, would seem to show that the mere divi- 
 sion of a nerve, if the cut ends are not above a 
 quarter of an inch asunder, rs not sufficient to inter- 
 rupt the transmission of that portion of nervous in- 
 fluence with which the secretions are concerned. It 
 is to be hoped that the prosecution of this curious 
 and important discovery will throw some light on 
 the mysterious nature of nervous agency. 
 
 As the nerves, in warm-blooded animals, lose their Sources of 
 power in a very short time after they are isolated ^^^^^vous 
 from the rest of the system, it has been naturally *"^^'^* 
 
188 
 
 PHYSIOLOGY. 
 
 Physiology, conceived that they derive a supply of power from 
 ^v— ^ the large central masses constituting the brain and 
 spinal marrow, where it may be supposed to be pre- 
 pared and elaborated, in a manner somewhat analo- 
 gous to the process of secretion. It has been fur- 
 ther imagined, that this power was capable of being 
 accumulated in the brain and spinal marrow, forming 
 a kind of stock or perpetual source, to supply the 
 eacpenditure that takes place by the several nerves, 
 which conduct it off. Prochaska, on the other 
 hand, thinks that the nervous power is generated 
 throughout the whole extent of the nervous system, 
 so that every part derives from its own nerves, taken 
 alone, the cause of its life and movements. There 
 are facts in favour of each side of the question, and 
 the subject is still involved in considerable obscu- 
 rity. 
 
 Phenomena IV SENSORIAL PowER is manifested in the pro- 
 of Sensorial duction of sensation and volition. These effects, 
 when they occur in ourselves, we know by conscious- 
 ness, but in other animals we can only infer their 
 presence by the voluntary actions to which they give 
 rise ; that is, by the well-marked expressions of pain 
 or pleasure, and by the contraction of certain muscles, 
 with the evident intentions of gratifying natural ap- 
 petites,, or of avoiding or removing what occasions 
 pain. The term sensibility has been used by modern 
 writers with great latitude, as expressing generally 
 the capacity of being affected by impressions. Thus 
 Bichat speaks of organic sensibility as contradistin- 
 guished from animal sensibility. But the extension 
 of this term to any property that does not involve 
 sensation attended with consciousness, is too indefi- 
 nite, and tends to introduce a confusion of ideas. 
 The nervous and sensorial powers, though in them- 
 selves perfectly distinct, had, in general, been con- 
 founded together by physiologists. Le Gallois was 
 the first who pointed out the difference between 
 tliem ; but their distinctive characters have been most 
 clearly marked by Dr Philip in his Experimental 
 Inquiry into the Lam of the Vital Functions, a work 
 which has opened new and important views in 
 this department of physiological science. He has 
 brought evidence to show that these two systems 
 do not differ less from each other than they do from 
 the muscular system. It appears from his obser- 
 vations, that after the destruction of the sensorial 
 power, the nervous power is still capable of perform- 
 ing its other functions, although it can no longer 
 excite sensation, because the power on which sensa- 
 tion depends no longer exists. This happens, as we 
 shall afterwards have occasion to notice, at the in- 
 stant of death. 
 
 Powers of The power of sensation is called into action by 
 Exciting impressions conveyed along the nerves : and the 
 Sensation, jigrygs appear to be the only medium through which 
 these impressions can reach those parts of the ner- 
 vous system, on the changes of which sensation de- 
 pends. It has, however, been asserted, that other 
 parts, besides the nerves, are endowed vfith this 
 power. It is alleged, for instance, that muscular 
 fibres are sensible, because the sensation accompany- 
 ing muscular contraction is different from that of 
 passive impressions ; and because spasms are attend- 
 
 ed with peculiar pain. But experience shows, that Pbysiology 
 the power of exciting sensation is very variable in 
 the nerves of the same part, according to the affec- 
 tions of that part. Increased determination of blood 
 to any organ generally augments its sensibility. In- 
 flammation exalts it in a still more remarkable de- 
 gree, so that parts usually insensible, as the bones, 
 tendons, and ligaments, become exquisitely sensible 
 in many states of disease. The marrow of cylindri- 
 cal bones appears, under ordinary circumstances, to 
 possess very little sensibility, as is seen in amputa- 
 tions : but in other states, it becomes highly sen- 
 sible ; and, if irritation be applied in particular 
 ways, as by pressure over a certain extent of mar- 
 row, the most acute pain is immediately felt. These 
 variations will explain the difference and even con- 
 trariety of statements that have been made by differ- 
 ent physiologists on this subject. The greater num- 
 ber of experimentalists have denied that it possessed 
 any sensibility. Duverney and Bichat, on the other 
 hand, represent it as highly sensible. Beclard re- 
 marks, that we cannot draw any correct inference 
 from what happens in amputation, because the in- 
 tense pain suffered during the section of the soft 
 parts, has rendered the animal scarcely sensible to a 
 lesser degree of pain immediately succeeding : but 
 that, if the operation be suspended until this first im- 
 pression has in a great measure subsided, any in- 
 jury done to the marrow will be acutely perceived. 
 It appears, indeed, that different nerves have very 
 different powers of exciting sensation : but the con- 
 sideration of this subject involves the discussion of 
 a previous question of great interest, and on which 
 some light has been thrown by recent discoveries. 
 
 The nervous power is manifested, as we have al- P'^'^^p^^* 
 ready stated, by the transmission of impressions. '^P^^^^^ ^"j* 
 Some of these impressions, arising from the remote fgrent 
 extremities of the nerves, are conveyed to the sen- Nerves, 
 sorium, and produce sensation : others originate in 
 the sensorium, being consequent on acts of volition, 
 and are transmitted to the muscles. With regard 
 to these processes, which take place in opposite di- 
 rections, the following questions may be asked : — 
 Are the impressions, as far as regards the nerves, in 
 both cases of the same kind, and modified only by 
 the structure of the organs of sense, of that part of 
 the sensorium with which the nerves communicate, 
 and of the particular muscles in which they termi- 
 nate : or, are the impressions modified by differences 
 in the structure of the nerves, which are the vehicles 
 of their transmission ? Or, in other words, are all 
 nervous filaments alike in function, merely convey- 
 ing, like electric conductors, the same agent exactly 
 as they receive it ? In particular, can the same 
 nerve, or nervous filament, transmit both kinds of 
 impressions, namely, those of sensation and of voli- 
 tion : and, if they can, do these impressions, which 
 pass in opposite directions, evef clash and interfere 
 with one another; or do they cross one another, 
 without collision, like the rays of light through a 
 lens ? Or, are there two sets of fibres, the one for 
 sensation, and the other for motion, as there are 
 veins and arteries for the transmission of blood in 
 opposite directions ? The observations which seem 
 first to have suggested this latter notion, were taken 
 1 
 
PHYSIOLOGY. 
 
 189 
 
 Physiology, from cases of partial paralysis of a limb, in which 
 •'^v-*^ the power of motion remains, although that of sen- 
 sation is lost. Some experiments of Arnemann's, in 
 which nerves that had been divided, and had spon- 
 taneously reunited, were found to have recovered the 
 power of the voluntary excitement of the muscles, 
 but to have permanently lost the power of producing 
 sensation, showed the possibility of a separation of 
 these two functions. 
 
 The doctrine of there being two sets of nerves 
 appropriated to these respective offices, had been 
 taught, in the infancy of the science, by Erasistratus 
 ■ and Herophilus; and Galen was inclined to adopt 
 
 th^ same opinion, from observing that both in the 
 tongue and in the eye, the nerves supplying these 
 organs are of two kinds. Galen, however, account- 
 ed for the anomaly in cases of paralysis, by saying, 
 that a greater nervous power is necessary for motion 
 than for sensation ; so that sufficient might remain 
 for the latter, when it was inadequate to the former 
 function. Haller and Sauvages have both sub- 
 scribed to this doctrine, and the consequences de- 
 duced from it. Dr Philip thinks we must admit that 
 the bundles of nerves going directly from the brain 
 or spinal marrow to any part of the body, contain 
 nerves of two descriptions, one set adapted to con- 
 vey the dictates of the will, the other to convey im- 
 pressions from the part to the sensorium. This, he 
 thinks, more probable than that impressions move 
 backwards and forwards in actually the same chan- 
 nels. One of these opinions must be correct. If 
 the former is so, there is no difficulty in accounting 
 for the feeling being lost and the power of motion 
 remaining, and vice versa. Indeed, these phenome- 
 na of disease seem to go some way towards proving 
 the former opinion. Mr Charles Bell, also, is of 
 opinion that the nerves which we trace in the body 
 are not single nerves, possessing various powers, but 
 bundles of different nerves, the filaments of which 
 are united for the convenience of distribution, but 
 which are distinct in their office, as well as in their 
 origin. " It is remarkable," he observes, " that an 
 impression made on two different nerves of sense, 
 though with the same instrument, will produce two 
 distinct sensations ; and the ideas resulting will 
 only have relation to the organ affected. There 
 are four kinds of papillae on the tongue, but with 
 two of those only we have to do at present. Of 
 these, the papillae of one kind form the seat of 
 the sense of taste ; the other papillae, more numerous 
 and smaller, resemble the extremities of the nerves 
 in the common skin, and are the organs of touch in 
 the tongue. When I take a sharp steel point, and 
 touch one of these papillae, I feel the sharpness. 
 The sense of touch informs me of the shape of the 
 instrument. When I touch a papilla of taste, I have 
 no sensation similar to the former. I do not know 
 that a point touches the tongue, but I am sensible 
 of a metallic taste, and the sensation passes back- 
 ward on the tongue." Richerand states some ex- 
 periments which he made on dogs, from which it 
 appears that the functions of the different nerves sent 
 to the tongue are widely different. {Elem, de Phy- 
 siologie, T. II. p. 66, 8th edition.) 
 
 That the functions of the different sets of filaments 
 composing the spinal nerves, and which arise respec- 
 
 tively from the anterior and from the posterior fasci- Physiologj-. 
 culi of the spinal marrow, are exceedingly different, "n^— 
 has been proved by an experiment of Mr Bell's, of 
 which he gives the following account. Former re- 
 searches had led him to suspect that the functions of 
 these two portions of the spinal marrow were differ- 
 ent. He found that injury done to the anterior 
 portion convulsed the animal more certainly than in- 
 jury done to the posterior portion : but it was diffi- 
 cult to make the experiment without injuring both 
 portions. But on considering that the spinal nerves 
 have a double root, and being of opinion that the 
 properties of the nerves are derived from their con- 
 nexions with the parts of the brain, he thought this 
 an opportunity of putting that opinion to the test of 
 experiment, and of proving at the same time that 
 nerves of different endowments were in the same 
 cord, and inclosed in the same sheath. On laying 
 bare the roots of the spinal nerves, he found that he 
 could cut across the posterior fasciculus- of nerves, 
 which took its origin from the posterior portion of 
 the spinal marrow, without convulsing the muscles 
 of the back ; but that on touching the anterior fasci- 
 culus with the point of the knife, the muscles of the 
 back were immediately convulsed. 
 
 In a paper published in the Philosophical TranS' Original 
 actions for 1821, Mr Bell considers the nerves ^^^g^'g'^g' 
 tinguished, from their functions, into two classes ; the^^j^g ^f^^' 
 one composing what he calls the original or symmetri- Nerve*, 
 cal system, and the other the superadded or irregular 
 system. The former are more expressly provided for 
 the purposes of sensation and locomotion. In ani- 
 mals where these functions are not complicated 
 with those of circulation and respiration by central 
 organs, these nerves are very simple, consisting mere- 
 ly of two cords, running the whole length of the 
 body, and giving off lateral branches to the several 
 divisions of which their annulated frame is composed. 
 This is the case with insects, and with most of the 
 vermes. As we ascend to the higher orders of ani- 
 mals, we find a greater complication of functions 
 and a greater intricacy of nervous connexions, arising 
 from the necessity of establishing extensive links of 
 association between the organs that perform these 
 additional functions. Hence the second class of 
 nerves are provided, which crossing the former in a 
 variety of directions, and occasionally uniting with 
 them, gives rise to the intricacy and apparent con- 
 fusion, in which the anatomy of the nervous system 
 has hitherto been involved. The nerves belonging 
 to the first class may be distinguished in the human 
 body as forming the original system, if abstraction 
 be made of all the superadded nerves. The nerves 
 of the spine, the tenth or sub-occipital nerve, and 
 the fifth or trigeminas of the system of Willis, con- 
 stitute this system. All these nerves agree in the 
 following essential circumstances : they have all 
 double origins ; they have all ganglia on one of 
 their roots ; they go out laterally to certain divi- 
 sions of the body ; they do not interfere to unite 
 the divisions of the frame ; they are all muscu- 
 lar nerves, ordering the voluntary motions of the 
 frame ; they are all exqusitely sensible, and the 
 source of the common sensibility of the surfaces of 
 the body. When accurately represented on pa- 
 per, they are seen to pervade every part ; no part i« 
 
190 
 
 PHYSIOLOGY. 
 
 Physiology, without them ; and yet they are symmetrical and 
 ^ ""v"" *^ simple, as the nerves of the lower animals. On the 
 other hand, the nerves which connect the internal 
 organs of respiration with the sensibilities of remote 
 parts, and with the respiratory muscles, are distin- 
 guished from the former by their not arising from 
 double roots, and having no ganglia on their origins ; 
 they come off from the medulla oblongata and upper 
 part of the spinaLraarrow; and from this origin, they 
 diverge to those several remote parts of the frame, 
 which are combined in the motions of respiration. 
 If the nerves be exposed in a living animal, those of 
 the former class exhibit the highest degree of sensi- 
 bility ; while, on the contrary, those of the second 
 are comparatively so little sensible, as to be imme- 
 diately distinguished : in so much that the quiescence 
 of the animal suggests a doubt whether they be sen- 
 sible in any degree whatever. If the fifth pair, and 
 the pprtio dura of the seventh, be both exposed on 
 the face of a living animal, there will not remain the 
 slightest doubt in the mind of the experimenter, 
 which of these nerves bestows sensibility. If the 
 nerve of the first class be divided, the skin and cel- 
 lular substance are deprived of sensibility ; but the 
 division of nerves not belonging to this class does 
 not at all deprive the parts of their sensibility to ex- 
 ternal impression. There is also a wide distinction 
 in their powers of exciting the muscles. The slight- 
 est touch on the portio dura convulses the muscles 
 of the face, but the animal gives no sign of pain : 
 while, by means of the branches of the fifth pair, 
 which, if touched, give great pain, it is difficult to 
 produce any degree of action in the muscles. 
 Immediate Xhe brain has, from the earliest times, been re- 
 ^a^tion- g^'''l6<i 3S the organ chiefly connected with the af- 
 ' fections of the sentient and intelligent principle. 
 Galen taught that the governing spirit resides in the 
 brain, and is especially contained in the ventricles, 
 where it acts upon the nerves at their origin ; for, on 
 opening them, he observes, the spirit escapes, and 
 the animal is immediately deprived of sensation and 
 motion. The immediate seat of sensation appears 
 to be confined to a particular portion of the nervous 
 system ; and observation and experiment concur in 
 showing that this portion is restricted to much nar- 
 rower limits than was formerly imagined. It cer- 
 tainly does not extend to the great mass of the he- 
 mispheres of the brain : for these may be wounded, 
 or even wholly removed, in a living animal, without 
 any indication of suffering. Both Le Gallois and Dr 
 Philip removed by successive slices the whole of the 
 upper and anterior parts of the brain, without affect- 
 ing the muscles of voluntary motion, or apparently 
 giving any pain. The knife excited these actions 
 only when it approached the origin of the nerves, and 
 the spinal marrow. The part which performs the 
 office of the sensoriura, that is, whose changes are 
 the intermediate links between the percipient soul 
 and the material body, appears to differ in different 
 animals. In man, and the tribes of mammalia most 
 allied to him in structure, it is chiefly situated in the 
 medulla oblongata and upper portion of the spinal 
 marrow, at the origin of the principal nerves of the 
 organs of sense, and of their muscles. In proportion 
 as we descend to the inferior orders, it seems to be 
 
 more diffused over the upper portions of the spinal Phytiology, 
 niarrow ; but in no case does it belong to any pre- 
 cise point, being always diffused over a certain ex- 
 tent of medullary matter. 
 
 It is also generally believed, and Le Gallois pro- and of Voli- 
 fesses to be of this opinion, that the power of deter- tion. 
 raining resides exclusively in the brain. If a sala- 
 mander, says he, be decapitated at the first vertebra, 
 it continues to live several days ; but although the 
 muscles of the trunk and limbs be moved with a 
 force sufficient for all the purposes of progressive 
 motion, the animal remains on the same spot, and 
 may be left on a plate, with a little water, without 
 risk of its escaping. On examining its movements 
 we may perceive that they are without order, and 
 without any apparent object. The feet move, each 
 in different ways, without concert ; so that, if any 
 advance happen to be made in one direction, it is 
 presently defeated by a movement in the opposite 
 quarter. The same remark applies to decapitated 
 frogs ; they are no longer capable of leaping ; or if 
 any leaps are made, it is only by a sort of accident, 
 when their hind legs act against any fixed obstacle. 
 When placed on their back, they occasionally agitate 
 their limbs, as if from a desire to change their situa- 
 tion, but they remain as they were placed, from 
 their incapacity to combine the movements necessary 
 for that purpose. But all animals under these cir- 
 cumstances move but httle, unless they are touched ; 
 and this is readily conceivable, since of all the senses 
 the touch is the only one that remains to transmit 
 impressions. Decapitation is not necessary for the 
 exhibition of these phenomena ; division of the spi- 
 nal marrow will present them, and afford the singular 
 spectacle of the two portions of the same body ani- 
 mated by different principles of action, each having 
 a sensorial existence independent of the other. 
 
 Yet many actions of the living trunk of an animal Not con- 
 appear to be governed by a sort of instinct, or ob- ^"^^ 
 scure volition. Guinea-pigs and kittens, after they 
 have recovered from the stupor produced by decapi- 
 tation, seem strongly to feel pain from the wound in 
 the neck, as appears by the alternate motions of 
 their hind-feet towards that part. Sir Gilbert Blane 
 reports that he divided the spinal marrow in a 
 kitten a few days old, by cutting it across at the neck. 
 The hind-paws being then irritated by pricking th-em, 
 and by touching them with a hot wire, the muscles 
 belonging to them were thrown into contraction, so 
 as to produce the effect of shrinking from the injury. 
 The same effects were observed in another kitten, 
 after the head was entirely separated from the body. 
 In repeating this experiment he found that when the 
 spinal marrow was cut through between the lumbar 
 vertebrae and the os sacrum, the posterior extremi- 
 ties no longer contracted, but the tail retained its 
 sensibility. It is very certain that birds continue 
 not only to live, but to walk and run, for some time 
 after decapitation. The feats of the Emperor Com- 
 modus, who amused himself with striking off the 
 heads of ostriches while they were running across the 
 circus, by shooting at them arrows having a cutting 
 edge, are well known : these animals, though head- 
 less, continued to run as before, and reached the end 
 of the area before they dropped. Many physiologists 
 
PHYSIOLOGY. 
 
 191 
 
 Physiology, have obtained similar results with turkeys, cocks, 
 ~ ~ ducks, and pigeons. A frog will often be found, 
 some hours after it has been decapitated, sitting in 
 its usual posture, and extremely sensible to any in- 
 jury inflicted on any part of it. This experiment, 
 however, is somewhat fallacious ; for, if care be not 
 taken, great part of the medulla oblongata remains 
 with the trunk, after the operation. It is well known 
 that insects will survive for some time the loss of the 
 head ; and that the trunk in such cases shows une- 
 quivocally by its actions that it retains the powers of 
 sensation and volition ; for the brain in animals of 
 that class is not situated in the head, but near the 
 oesophagus. Yet in many of the vermes these indi- 
 cations are afforded by each portion into which the 
 body is divided. It may be concluded from these 
 and other similar facts, that although in the larger 
 animals the brain appears to be the principal source 
 and seat of the sensorial powers, yet that the exer- 
 cise of these powers is not absolutely confined to 
 that organ, but extends, in a great number of ani- 
 mals, to the spinal marrow, and that this is more and 
 more the case as we descend in the scale of animals. 
 No evidence as yet exists of the degree in which 
 this extension takes place in man, and we are obvi- 
 ously precluded from ascertaining it by any direct ex- 
 periment. 
 
 'Unity of the Although the unity of the power of perception of 
 Sensorium which we are conscious, naturally suggests the idea 
 Proof ^ ° of some central organ in which the corresponding 
 corporal impressions may be united, it is yet obvious 
 that the necessity of such a union of parts does not 
 admit of proof ; and that it may be very possible to 
 conceive the different parts of the sensorium disse- 
 minated among the organs at considerable distances 
 from each other, and still to be capable of performing 
 their functions, provided they were in sufficient cor- 
 respondence with each other by nervous connexions. 
 
 The physiological conditions of the sensorium ne- 
 cessary for the exercise of the sensorial powers, be- 
 sides the proper organization, chemical composition, 
 and temperature, are freedom from compression, and 
 a due supply by circulation of blood having the ar- 
 terial qualities. Galen had proved by experiment 
 that the ligature of both carotids in animals pro- 
 duced but little inconvenience; the circulation being 
 in that case kept up by the vertebral arteries. Riche- 
 rand succeeded in placing a ligature around these 
 arteries, after the carotids had been tied, in a dog. 
 Death in a few seconds was the consequence of this 
 total interruption of circulation in the brain. In 
 fainting, the loss of sensibility proceeds, in like man- 
 ner, from the deficiency of blood in the brain, The 
 insensibility which supervenes on the interruption to 
 respiration is owing to another cause, namely, the 
 presence of venous or carbonized blood in the arteries 
 of the brain, in consequence of the circulating fluid 
 being prevented from undergoing the usual salutary 
 changes in the lungs. A similar loss of power in 
 the spinal marrow is the consequence of depriving it 
 of its circulating blood. This is proved by an ex- 
 periment of Steno's, in which the tying of the aorta 
 at the first lumbar vertebra was soon followed by pa- 
 ralysis of the posterior part of the body. Le Gallois, 
 on repeating the experiment, found that if, after this 
 
 Requisite 
 Conditions 
 in the Sen- 
 
 effect had been completely produced, the ligature Physiology, 
 be removed, the powers of sensation and motion were '^^^^-iw 
 gradually recovered, in proportion as the circulation 
 was restored. He found also that the nervous and 
 sensorial powers may be preserved even in a small 
 portion of the trunk isolated from the rest of the 
 system, by keeping up the circulation in that part, 
 for which purpose, the maintenance of artificial re- 
 spiration, and previous decollation, are indispensable. 
 He seems to think that each portion of the spinal 
 marrow might thus be made a separate centre of 
 sensation and of life. In dogs. Sir Astley Cooper 
 found that a ligature upon the aorta produced only 
 slight weakness in the hinder extremities. 
 
 The necessity of a renewal of blood differs consi- 
 derably in degree in different classes of animals. The 
 amphibia are well known to be remarkably tenacious 
 of life, in all its leading features. Both the nervous 
 and the sensorial powers remain entire, in these ani- 
 mals, for a considerable time after the heart has been 
 taken out, and the vessels drained of their blood. It 
 has been found, indeed, by Dr Philip, that an ob- 
 scure kind of circulation is kept up in the capillary 
 vessels, after their communication with the heart is 
 intercepted ; but it appears probable that even this 
 imperfect circulation, or rather oscillation of fluids 
 in the vessels, must be exhausted in a much shorter 
 period than that during which we see the nervous 
 functions still survive. Greater tenacity of life exists 
 in the nervous systems of animals in proportion as 
 they are young : and it appears to be greater in the 
 smaller than in the larger mammalia. The head of 
 a rabbit, when severed from the trunk, shows signs 
 of sensibility by the motion of the eyes and jaws, 
 which latter are repeatedly opened and closed, as if 
 vainly gasping for breath. Le Gallois observed, in 
 rabbits decapitated on the day of their birth, that 
 these movements continued for about twenty minutes. 
 If the operation be performed at the end of fifteen 
 days, they do not last above three minutes : and in 
 rabbits of a month old, they cease in one minute, or 
 in a minute and a half. The period during which sen- 
 sibility remains in the trunk is generally less than in 
 the head : but in both it is considerably longer in 
 young than in adult animals. 
 
 V. — Secretion, and other organic changes taking Secretion, 
 place in the living body, imply a complex series of*^^ Effect of 
 operations, which the present state of our knowledge p^^*^"!'^"" 
 affords us no adequate means of analyzing satisfacto- 
 rily. It is conceivable that a simple-mechanical pro- 
 cess, analogous to filtration, might effect the separa- 
 tion of some of the simpler fluids, such as serum, 
 from the blood ; a purpose which would be answered 
 by a finer set of vessels, admitting only the passage 
 of the thinner portions of the blood. Such a process 
 would, therefore, imply only the mechanical agents 
 and forces concerned in the circulation, and the or- 
 ganization of some of the secreting organs appears 
 well adapted to this simple object. The existence of 
 minuter series of capillary vessels in these organs has 
 been established by an experiment of Bleulaud's, 
 who injected, through the mesenteric arteries, a mix- 
 ture of two differently coloured fluids, and found that 
 the thinner fluid had penetrated into a net-work of 
 
192 
 
 Physiology. 
 
 PHYSIOLOGY. 
 
 vessels of a different order from those admitting the 
 thicker fluid ; and their course could be traced as 
 they arose from the minute arteries, and terminated 
 in the veins. But this explanation can apply but to 
 very few of the animal secretions ; since by far the 
 greater number exhibit changes of chemical compo- 
 sition quite independent of mechanical separation. 
 
 No anatomical examination of the minute struc- 
 ture of secreting organs can be expected to throw 
 much light on the means employed in this process, 
 because those means transcend mere mechanism. 
 The series of vessels, which, ramifying into tubes of 
 smaller and smaller diameter, must have the eflFect of 
 subdividing the blood, as by a strainer, to a certain 
 degrefe of tenuity, probably prepare it for the changes 
 it is to undergo in that part of the process in which 
 the real chemical change consists ; but farther than 
 this we cannot venture to speculate, since we, in 
 most cases, know so little what are the exact changes 
 produced, and still less what are the particular affi- 
 nities which must be called into play in effecting 
 these changes. Their operation probably takes place 
 in tne parts where the vessels terminate, and beyond 
 the influence of the power which propels the blood ; 
 for they occur in insects, in the system of which, it 
 is now well ascertained, no circulation of blood ex- 
 ists, nor can even any vessels be traced, except such 
 as convey air. 
 
 as also The appropriation of the materials thus elaborated 
 
 Nutrition, purposes of growth, and the reparation of the 
 
 Growth, &c. ggjj^ structures of the body, is another stage of the 
 same mysterious process, to the solution of which no 
 conceivable mechanical or chemical hypothesis is at 
 all adequate. The analogy of crystallization, although 
 referred to in the celebrated definitions of Linnaeus, 
 is far too vague and remote to engage our serious at- 
 tention : the growth of an animal or a plant being a 
 phenomenon of a totally different class from the ac- 
 cretion of a stone or the shooting of a crystal. The 
 phenomena of secretion and nutrition, inexplicable 
 as they are at present, are sufficiently allied to each 
 other to justify our reference of them to the same 
 general head, until the progress of discovery may 
 enable us to establish correct distinctions between 
 them. Bichat, who has classed them together, sub- 
 divides them into two orders, as effects of organic 
 sensibility and of insensible organic contractility^ im- 
 plying a distinction for which there appears to be no 
 clear foundation. The terms themselves are inappro- 
 priate: we have already objected to the extension of 
 the term sensibility to changes of which sensation 
 forms no part ; and contractility is, for the same rea- 
 son, improperly implied to any organic phenomena 
 in which contractions are neither apparent nor ne- 
 cessarily implied. We have selected the term orga- 
 nic affinities as best adapted to express the powers 
 which produce these organic changes. Whether the 
 coagulability of certain animal fluids, such as the 
 blood, ought to be ranked under this head, or be re- 
 garded as a new and specific power, might perhaps 
 admit of discussion ; but we have not room to en- 
 large upon this question. 
 
 Increase of temperature is a phenomenon com- 
 monly attendant on the exercise of the organic affi- 
 nities ; that is, it usually accompanies the chemical 
 
 changes that are continually taking place in the liv- Physiologj, 
 ing. body. It is evidently, however, only a concomi- " 
 tant, not an essential circumstance ; for in some 
 cases the contrary takes place, and a reduction of 
 temperature occurs. It has lately been the fashion 
 to speak of caloric as being a secretion, and to re- 
 gard its evolution as a phenomenon referable to the 
 class of secreting processes. The chemical theories 
 that formerly prevailed with regard to animal tempe- 
 rature have, no doubt, been in some measure shaken 
 by the experiments of Mr Brodie and of Dr Philip j 
 but they are, perhaps, not so completely overthrown 
 as some would endeavour to persuade us. 
 
 Mutual €o 
 nexions of 
 the Vital 
 Powers. 
 
 and Animal 
 Tempera- 
 ture. 
 
 VI. — Having thus endeavoured to trace the dis- 
 tinctive characters of each of the classes of vital 
 powers, we have further to inquire into their mu- 
 tual connexions and relative dependencies on each 
 other. 
 
 Physiologists have endeavoured in vain to disco* Phenomena 
 ver whether any one of these powers might be consi- 
 dered as the source of the rest. The evolution of ' 
 the embryo has been anxiously studied with a view 
 to this question. The first powers that appear to be 
 called forth in the original developement of parts are 
 the organic affinities ; but, long before the period to 
 which any accurate observation can reach, the mus- 
 cular and the nervous powers have both displayed 
 their energies. Already has the punctum saliens vi- 
 brated to the excitements of the fluid which it urges 
 forwards ; and the spinal marrow and brain, yet in a 
 semifluid state, have already exerted their influence 
 on the nascent organization. Tiedemann has bestow- 
 ed great pains in the investigation of the successive 
 stages of evolution of the nervous system in the foe- 
 tus, and has surmounted many difficulties which had 
 stopped the progress of former inquirers. The late 
 researches of Mr Serres have also brought to light 
 many new facts. An abstract of the labours of these 
 anatomists is given by Beclard. The first part of 
 the nervous system that appears to be formed, or at 
 least that can be distinguished, is the spinal marrow, 
 the upper extremity of which is slightly enlarged. 
 The formation of the brain succeeds, but this organ 
 remains long very little developed in comparison 
 with the spinal marrow ; in the more advanced pe- 
 riods of gestation it increases rapidly in size. The 
 sensorial powers are evidently not developed till the 
 others have been matured, and till the frame-work of 
 the body has made considerable advances towards its 
 perfect state. 
 
 The origin of the vital powers being thus veiled 
 in impenetrable obscurity, the inquiry has been di- 
 rected to the order of their extinction on the ap- 
 proach of death. But here, also, very little satisfac- 
 tory information can be gleaned. We learn, how- 
 ever, that the sensorial powers, as they were the 
 last to be developed, are invariably the first to dis- 
 appear ; for their continuance seems to require the 
 most perfect co-operation of the sanguiferous and 
 nervous powers. But the nervous power survives 
 their destruction, and is still capable of performing 
 all its functions, except that it can no longer give 
 evidence of conveying impressions to the sensorium, 
 since the functions of the sensorium are abolished. 
 
PHYSIOLOGY. 
 
 193 
 
 • No impression made on any part of the body is per- 
 ceived, nor followed by any visible act of volition. 
 The muscular power still remains, for if either the 
 heart, or the muscles of voluntary motion be stimu- 
 lated, they possess the power of contracting ; a 
 power which they lose only by slow degrees, a con- 
 siderable time after the sensorial power has ceased 
 to exist. It is also manifest that a certain portion 
 of nervous power still remains ; for if the nerves 
 themselves, or those parts of the brain and spinal 
 marrow from which they originate, be irritated, the 
 corresponding muscles will be thrown into action — 
 a proof that the nerves retain the power of convey- 
 ing impressions. Haller made a variety of experi- 
 ments to ascertain the comparative permanence of 
 the irritability of different muscles ; and a still more 
 numerous series with the same view has been lately 
 made by Nysten, in his Recherches de Physiologie, 
 et de Chimie Pathologigue. The order which he 
 establishes is somewhat different from that of Haller ; 
 but it varies according to the mode of death, and 
 the nature of the stimulus employed as a test. There 
 is, however, no doubt that in the more perfect ani- 
 mals, the vital powers are so connected, that no one 
 can exist long without the others. They are all, 
 more or less, dependent for their continuance on the 
 uniform supply of blood having the ai'terial quahties : 
 a condition which involves the continuance of the cir- 
 culation and of respiration ; two functions, again, for 
 the exercise of which the muscular power is essen- 
 tial. Thus an interruption to any one function 
 soon reacts in a circle upon all the others, and in- 
 volves in a common destruction all the vital energies ; 
 nothing remaining but those properties which the 
 parts of the body possess in common with inert mat- 
 ter, and which are immediately dependent on their 
 mechanical and chemical constitution. 
 
 Although, by this reciprocation of functions, the 
 vital powers are intimately connected with one ano- 
 ther, it is still very conceivable that they may all of 
 them be essentially independent of each other : and 
 this is perhaps the simplest hypothesis that the sub- 
 ject admits of. Setting out, then, with this supposi- 
 tion, it remains to be seen what modifications it must 
 undergo. The sensorial power, it is evident, can 
 never be manifested but through the medium of the 
 nervous power ; yet it may be conceived as existing 
 separately and independently, although all proof of 
 its separate existence is wanting. Muscular irrita- 
 bility, and the organic affinities are also considerably 
 influenced by the nervous power ; but it is not easy 
 to determine the nature and extent of their connec- 
 tion. Prior to the time of Haller, the nervous sys- 
 tem was considered as the general source of power 
 in the body ; and the contractile power of the mus- 
 cles was regarded as derived altogether from this 
 system, which was supposed to transmit this power 
 to the muscular fibre in proportion as it was called 
 for, and to regulate the quantity supplied. Haller, 
 as we have seen, contended for the existence of a vis 
 insita, or power essentially residing in the muscles 
 themselves, independently of any condition of the 
 nervous system, and only called into action by sti- 
 muli, of which, in the case of the voluntary muscles, 
 the nervous influence is one, contributing, like all 
 
 VOL. VI. PART I. 
 
 other stimuli, to exhaust it, instead of furnishing any Physiology, 
 fresh supply. Meckel adopted a sort of interme- 
 diate opinion, regarding the nervous influence as one 
 of the conditions necessary for muscular contraction, 
 just as the due circulation of blood is one of those 
 conditions ; and, at the same time, admitting the se- 
 parate existence of a vis insita. 
 
 Upon the Hallerian doctrine of the independence Independ- 
 of irritability, it is easy to explain the fact that aenceof 
 muscle detached from the body, such as the heart, ^^^^ 
 will still contract when stimuli are applied. If all|j^y 
 the nerves supplying the limbs of a frog be divided, 
 and cut out close to the place where they enter the 
 muscles, the latter still retain their contractility in as 
 great a degree as when the nerves are entire. To 
 this it has been replied, that the stimulus may still 
 act through the medium of the portions of nerves 
 that must always remain attached to the muscle, 
 however carefully we may endeavour to dissect 
 them away ; and which nervous fibres may perhaps 
 even constitute an essential part of the muscular 
 fibre. This objection, though often urged, was 
 never satisfactorily answered by Haller. Dr W. 
 Philip has endeavoured to remove it by the following 
 experiment, made with a view to ascertain whether 
 a similar exhaustion of irritability would arise if the 
 excitation of a muscle were produced through the 
 medium of the nerves, or by other stimuli. " All 
 the nerves supplying one of the hind legs of a frog 
 were divided, so that it became completely paraly- 
 tic. The skin was removed from the muscles of the 
 leg, and salt sprinkled vipon them, which being re- 
 newed from time to time, excited contractions in 
 them for twelve minutes ; at the end of this time 
 they were found no longer capable of being excited. 
 The corresponding muscles of the other limb, in 
 which the nerves were entire, and of which conse- 
 quently the animal had a perfect command, were 
 then laid bare, and the salt applied to them in the 
 same way. In ten minutes they ceased to contract, 
 and the animal had lost the command of them. The 
 nerves of this limb were now divided, as those of 
 the other had been, but the excitability of the mus- 
 cles, to which the salt had been applied, was gone. 
 Its application excited no contraction in them. Af- 
 ter the experiment, the muscles of the thighs in 
 both limbs were found to contract forcibly on the 
 application of salt. It excited equally strong con- 
 tractions on both sides. In this experiment the ex- 
 citability of the muscles whose nerves were entire 
 was soonest exhausted. From this experiment it 
 is evident that the nervous influence, far from be- 
 stowing excitability on the muscles, exhausts it like 
 other stimuli. The excitability, therefore, is a pro- 
 perty of the muscle itself." {Experimental Inquiry, 
 2d edit. p. 99.) 
 
 While the theory of Haller so easily explains the Difficulties 
 phenomena of the voluntary motions, many difficul- attending 
 ties lie in the way of its application to the actions of Theory 
 the involuntary muscles, such as the heart, blood- 
 vessels, stomach, intestines, gall-bladder, &c. These 
 latter organs are usually excited to contract by sti- 
 muli of a mechanical or chemical nature applied di- 
 rectly to them, and generally by the mere distension 
 resulting from the accumulation of their contents. 
 Bb 
 
194 
 
 PHYSIOLOGY. 
 
 Physiology. But if these were the only occasions which called 
 ^■^^'^y^^ them into action^ what uses must be assigned to 
 tlie cardiac nerves, which establish a connection 
 between the heart and the nervou^s system; and 
 how it is subject to the influence of the passions, 
 except through the medium of the brain or senso- 
 rium, acting through the intervention of these 
 nerves ? On the other hand, it is asked, if the 
 nervous po\ver, derived from the brain, be essential 
 to the motion of the heart, how is the circulation 
 maintained in acephalous monsters ; and how are we 
 to account for the fact that the interruption of all 
 communication between the brain and the heart 
 does not stop the motion of the latter ? The theory 
 of Haller explains perfectly these latter circum- 
 stances, but does not accord with the former : the 
 opposite view of the subject is consistent with the 
 former, but is opposed by the latter set of pheno- 
 mena. 
 
 Influence of Various opinions have prevailed at different times 
 the Nervous |.]^g influence of the nervous system on the mo- 
 the Heart! ^ions of the involuntary muscles, and especially of 
 the heart; for an account of which we shall refer our 
 readers to the report made to the class of Physical 
 and Mathematical Sciences of the Institute of France, 
 » on the work of M. le Gallois, entitled. Experiences sur 
 le Principe de la Fie, notamment sur celui des Mouve- 
 tnens du Cceur, et sur le Siege de ce Principe, and 
 of which a translation is given in Dr Philip's Expe- 
 rimental Inquiry. Le Gallois conceived that he had 
 proved that the power of the heart is derived alto- 
 gether from the spinal marrow, and not, as formerly 
 supposed, from the brain. The following are the 
 leading facts from which he draws this inference. 
 He found that, by crushing the spinal marrow, the 
 power of the heart is so enfeebled, that it can no 
 longer propel the blood ; but that, after the removal 
 of the brain, the power of the heart still continues, 
 and may even be preserved a considerable time by 
 artificial inflation of the lungs, after the whole head 
 has been separated from the body. He was thus at 
 no loss to explain the vise of the cardiac nerves ; the 
 heart being influenced by the spinal marrow through 
 their intervention, and being also subject to the in- 
 fluence of the passions, because the spinal marrow is 
 itself influenced by the brain. Dr Philip has shown 
 tliat the above facts by no means warrant these in- 
 ferences, and has established satisfactorily, by direct 
 experiment, that the brain has just as much influ- 
 ence over the motions of the heart as the spinal mar- 
 row has, when the circumstances of the experiment 
 are precisely the same. The removal of the spinal 
 marrow, like that of the brain, if the experiment be 
 performed with caution, and by slow degrees, does 
 not sensibly affect the motion of the heart, the ani- 
 mal being previously deprived of its sensibility. In 
 these experiments the circulation ceases quite as soon 
 without as with the destruction of the spinal mar^ 
 row. • Loss of blood seems to be the chief cause of its 
 cessation; and pain would also contribute to the same 
 effect, if the animal were operated on without being 
 rendered insensible. The results are the same in frogs, 
 only they are more distinct, because less immediately 
 affected by the loss of blood. In these animals, if the 
 head and spinal marrow be removed, the heart con- 
 4 
 
 tinues to perform its functions perfectly for many 1P1 
 hours, and seems not to be immediately affected by ^ 
 their removal. Mr Clift made a series of experi- 
 ments to ascertain the influence of the spinal marrow 
 on the action of the heart in fishes, and found that, 
 whether the heart be exposed or not, its action con- 
 tinues long after the spinal marrow and brain are 
 destroyed, and still longer when the brain is remov- 
 ed without injury to its substance. » 
 
 On the other hand, when the brain is suddenly 
 crushed, as by a blow, which at once destroys its 
 texture, the power of the heart is instantly so enfee- 
 bled, that it can no longer propel the blood. The 
 same effect takes place if a similar injury be inflicted 
 on the spinal marrow, as happened in Le Gallois' 
 experiments. Dr Philip reports, that when the brain 
 of a frog was crushed by the blow of a hammer, 
 " the heart immediately performed a few quick and 
 weak contractions. It then lay quite still for sbtmt 
 half a minute. After this, its beating returned, but 
 it supported the circulation very imperfectly. In 
 ten minutes its vigour was so far restored that it 
 again performed the circulation with freedom, but 
 with less force than before the destruction of the 
 brain. The spinal marrow was then crushed by one 
 blow, as the brain had been. The heart again beat 
 quickly and feebly for a few seconds, and then seem- 
 ed wholly to have lost its power. In about a minute 
 and a half it again began to beat, and in a few mi- 
 nutes acquired considerable power, and again sup- 
 ported the circulation. It beat more feebly, how- 
 ever, than before the spinal marrow was destroyed. 
 It ceased to beat in about an hour and a half after 
 the brain had been destroyed." In common cases 
 of hemiplegia, the muscles carrying on the vital 
 functions are seldom impaired : and Dr Cheyne of 
 Dublin relates a case in which, while one half of the 
 body was paralyzed, the uterus performed its func- 
 tion perfectly, by acting so as to expel a living jfce- 
 tus. 
 
 It has generally been imagined that the action of 
 the heart cannot be influenced by stimuli applied to 
 the brain or spinal marrow ; for it would seem an 
 inconsistency to hold this opinion, and at the same 
 time to admit that it is not influenced by the total 
 removal of those organs. But Dr Philip found that 
 the application of alcohol to the brain or to the spinal 
 marrow of a rabbit, produced immediately a great in- 
 crease in the action of the heart. An effect of the same 
 kind, but in a much jailer degree, took place from 
 the application of a watery solution of opium, and a 
 still sm.aller effect from an infusion of tobacco. The 
 increased action which had been excited was soon 
 succeeded by a more languid action of the heart, 
 than that which had existed before the application 
 was made. Little or none of the debilitating effect 
 was observed when alcohol was used, and the action 
 of the heart, in this case, returned to its usual state. 
 Effects in every respect similar were observed to take 
 place, when the same experiments were repeated on 
 frogs. 
 
 It appears, then, that there is no essential differ- Eiffects 
 ence between the irritability of the .muscles of volun- ^ij^^^^^^* 
 tary and of involuntary motion, in as far as their in- ^* 
 dependence on tlie nervous system is concerned; 
 
PHYSIOLOGY. 
 
 195 
 
 lysfaiogy. but yet they are influenced by different stimuli, or at 
 least by stimuli applied in different ways. Hence 
 the laws which regulate the effects of stimuli applied 
 to the brain and spinal marrow on the heart and 
 muscles of voluntary motion are different. Mecha- 
 itical stimuli, such as cutting instruments, applied to 
 the brain or spinal marrow, produce no effect on the 
 muscles of voluntary motion, xmless they are applied 
 to those parts where the nerves originate ; they then 
 excite the most violent spasmodic actions. The 
 heart, on the other hand, is but slightly accelerated 
 in its motion by mechanical injury done to the brain 
 or spinal marrow, in what part soever that injury be 
 inflicted ; but the heart is affected in proportion to 
 the extent of the parts that are injured. It is most 
 €&cited when the brain is wounded rapidly in many 
 directions. Chemical stimuli, on the contrary, such 
 a£s alcohol, applied to any part of the brain or spinal 
 marrow, produce considerable and immediate in- 
 drease of the motion of the heart ; while the volun- 
 tary muscles are, at the same time, not at all affect- 
 ed, and the animal betrays no sense of pain. The 
 general conclusion to be deduced from these facts 
 is, that the heart is excited by all agents applied to 
 amy considerable part of the brain or spinal marrow, 
 while the muscles of voluntary motion are excited 
 only by more powerful agents applied to certain de- 
 finite parts of these organs. Hence we may easily 
 derive the explanation of the apparent anomalies for- 
 merly mentioned. The Reart may continue its ac- 
 tion when removed from the body, and when no 
 brain or spinal marrow^ exists, because it has no di> 
 rect dependence on any part of the nervous system. 
 It is supplied with nerves, and subject to the influ- 
 ence of the passions ; because, although independent 
 of this system, it is capable of being influencedthrough 
 it, especially by such causes as, like the passions, 
 affect a considerable portion of the nervous system. 
 
 The same conclusions, derived from a series of 
 analogous experiments, are found applicable to the 
 powers of the vascular system employed in carrying 
 on the circulation, and even to those of the minutest 
 vessels which can be seen by a powerful microscope. 
 The doctrine, indeed, may be extended generally to 
 all the muscles of involuntary motion, or those 
 parts possessing what Bichat would call contractilite 
 Qirgaiiique sensible. The irritability of the stomach 
 and intestines, from whence arises their peristaltic 
 motion, is, like that of the heart and blood-vessels, 
 independent of the nervous system, though capable 
 of being influenced through it. It survives the de- 
 struction of the spinal marrow, and of the brain, or 
 of both these organs. In rabbits the peristaltic mo- 
 tion continues till the parts become cold ; so that, 
 when the intestines exposed to the air have lost their 
 power, that of those beneath still remains. The ef- 
 fects of the passions on the alimentary canal leave no 
 room to doubt that its muscular fibres are capable of 
 being stimulated by the direct influence of the 
 nei'ves. But, from the extreme irregularity of their 
 movements, we cannot so well ascertain whether 
 they are subject to the influence of the different parts 
 of the brain and spinal marrow, as in the case of the 
 heart and blood-vessels. 
 
 Respiration is a function which requires for its 
 
 wers COS]. 
 
 perfect performance the combined agency of three l*liys«>logy. 
 great classes of vital powers, the sensorial, the ner- 
 vous, and the muscular. It ceases immediately on^^ 
 the destruction of the sensorial power ; a fact which ^^^^ 
 is unexplained on the hypothesis of Le Gallois, that 
 the nervous power alone is concerned. How it hap- 
 pens, that, after decapitation, the movements of ir^- 
 spiration are the only set of actions relating to this 
 function that are annihilated, while the rest remain, 
 is, according to that physiologist, one of the great- 
 est mysteries of the nervous power, the revealing of 
 which would throw the strongest light upon the me- 
 chanism of the functions of this Avonderful agency." 
 The difficulty vanishes, according to Dr Philip, if 
 we admit the sensorial power as acting a part in this 
 process, and as being necessary to call into action the 
 nervous and muscular powers. He considers the mus- 
 cles of respiration as, in the strictest sense, muscles 
 of voluntary motion. By a certain sensation origi- 
 nating in the lungs, a wish is excited to expand the 
 chest. This is an act of the sensorium, and until it 
 takes place, the nervous as well as the muscular 
 power, by which its expansion is affected, remain in- 
 ert It is in A»ain that these powers survive, if the 
 power which calls them into action be lost. Thus 
 we can understand why the removal of the brain, 
 or the injury to that part of the brain where the 
 par vagum originates, or the division of the spinal 
 marrow above the origin of the phrenic nerves, 
 immediately puts a stop to respiration, and the ani- 
 mal perishes unless the lungs be artificially inflated. 
 
 The number of muscles which have a relation to System of 
 this function, and which may occasionally be called Respiratory 
 into play as auxiliaries, when, in consequence of^^^' 
 Bome impediment to the natural motions, the mus- 
 cles usually employed are inadequate to produce the 
 full expansion of the chest, is extremely great. 
 " When a post horse," says Mr Bell, " has run its 
 stage, and the circulation is hurried, and the respi- 
 ration excited, what is his condition? Does he 
 breathe with his ribs only ; with the muscles which 
 raise and depress the chest ? No. The flanks are 
 in violent action ; the neck as well as the chest is in 
 powerful excitement; the nostrils as well as the 
 throat keep time with the motion of the chest. It 
 is quite obvious that some hundred muscles thus em- 
 ployed in the act of breathing, or in the common 
 actions of coughing, sneezing, speaking, and singing, 
 cannot be associated without cords of connection or 
 affinity, which combine them in the performance of 
 those actions : the nerves which serve this purpose 
 I call the respiratory nerves." Some of the peculia- 
 rities in the structure of these nerves have already 
 been noticed. The following are enumerated by 
 Mr Bell as composing this system ; the par vagum ; 
 the portio dura of the seventh pair, or respiratory 
 nerve of the face ; the spinal accessory nerve, or su- 
 perior respiratory nerve of the trunk; the phrenic, 
 or great internal respiratory nerve ; the external 
 respiratory nerve : and also, ti'e glossopharyngeal 
 nerve, or ninth of Willis, and the branches of the 
 par vagum to the superior and inferior larynx. Mr 
 Bell has deduced his theory from a great number of 
 experiments made on animals. Thus, on dividing 
 the portio dura on one side of the head, in an ass, 
 
196 
 
 PHYSIOLOGY. 
 
 Physiology, the motion of the nostril accompanying respiration ira- 
 ^*-«*~v"*^ mediately ceased on that side, while the other nostril 
 continued to expand and contract in unison with 
 tlie motions of the chest ; and sneezing took place 
 only on that side. But the voluntary motions of the 
 lips, and other parts of the face, remained on both 
 sides, and the animal could eat without impediment. 
 The reverse took place on the division of the supe* 
 rior maxillary branch of the fifth pair ; no change 
 occurred in the motion of the nostril ; the cartilages 
 continued to expand regularly in time with the 
 other parts which combine in the act of respiration, 
 but the side of the lip was observed to hang low, 
 and it was dragged to the other side. When the 
 nerves on both sides were divided, the power of ele- 
 vating and projecting the lips, necessary for gather- 
 ing food, was lost. The effects of partial paralysis, 
 which affects sometimes one set of nerves, and some- 
 times another, strikingly illustrate the truth of Mr 
 Bell's theory, and have been accurately traced by 
 Mr Shaw, in his papers in the Journal of Science} 
 and more recently in a Memoir published in the 
 twelfth volume of the Medico- Chirurgical Trans- 
 actions. 
 
 Influence q£ It remains to be inquired, whether the organic afR- 
 Nervous nities which give rise to the phenomena of secretion. 
 Agency on nutrition, and animal temperature, are in immediate 
 Affinitf^r'^ svibordination, or are only occasionally under the in- 
 fluence of the nervous power. In as far as the ma- 
 terials on which the observed chemical changes are 
 produced by the operation of these powers, are fur- 
 nished to the secreting organs by the blood-vessels, 
 secretion must evidently be influenced by all those 
 causes which affect the circulation ; many of which 
 causes, we have seen, act through the medium of the 
 nervous system. But with regard to that part of 
 the process, which is conducted after the fluids have 
 passed out of the capillary vessels, it is conceivable 
 that they may still be carried on after the circulation 
 has ceased, and may be influenced by totally differ- 
 ent causes. The evidence of such processes being 
 continued after the circulation is at an end, is ob- 
 scure and defective. Stories have been told of cer- 
 tain secretions occurring after death ; and of the hair 
 and nails continuing to grow ; but they have seldom 
 been stated on authority to which any credit can be 
 attached. Majendie, however, reports the fact of 
 these parts growing for several days after death ; 
 and states, that he has seen a similar phenomenon 
 with respect to the secretion of mucus. If the power 
 which effects secretion, be independent of the other 
 vital powers, these facts would admit of explana- 
 tion ; for it might survive the destruction of the 
 vital powers for a certain period, in the same way 
 that muscular contractility survives for a short time, 
 the destruction of the sensorial and nervous powers. 
 Hunter suspected that a vital action, referable to this 
 class, continued in the stomach for some time after 
 death, occasioning " an action and probably a secre- 
 tion in the stomach." This he inferred from the 
 well known fact that the coats of the stomach are 
 often found digested, when examined after death. 
 But Dr Philip remarks that this phenomenon is evi- 
 dently the effect of a chemical, and not a vital pro- 
 cess. 
 
 Dr Philip, who has so ably supported the doc- 
 
 trine of the independence of the muscular and ner- Physio 
 vous powers, has advanced an opinion directly the 
 reverse of this with regard to the power of secre- 
 tion, which he maintains is completely dependent 
 on the nervous poAver. Such is the inference he 
 deduces from a series of numerous experiments on 
 the effects of dividing the par vagum on both sides 
 of the neck in Avarra -blooded animals, and particu- 
 larly in rabbits, in performing which, he was assist- 
 ed by Dr Hastings. If this be done with proper 
 precautions, the secretion of the gastric juice, and, 
 consequently, the process of digestion is entirely sus- 
 pended : great difficulty of breathing succeeds, an.d 
 the air-cells of the lungs, with the bronchiae, be- 
 come clogged with a frothy mucus. Mr Brodie had 
 already found that arsenic introduced into the sys- 
 tem, after the division of these nerves, does not pro- 
 duce the copious secretion from the stomach and in- 
 testines, which it is found to do vmder ordinary cir- 
 cumstances ; and he met with a similar result when 
 he divided the stomachic nerves immediately abov© 
 the cardiac orifice of the stomach. The destruction 
 of any considerable portion of the spinal marrow 
 also deranges the secreting power of the stomach. 
 When the nervous influence is withdrawn, the ca- 
 pillaries continue to convey fluids to the secreting 
 organs, because their action is independent of that in- 
 fluence : but the changes constituting secretion no 
 longer take place ; it is thence inferred, that the 
 power of secretion is inasnediately dependent on 
 the nervous power. Dr Alison, on the other hand, 
 has contended, in some very ingenious essays pub- 
 blished in the Journal of Science, that this is not a 
 legitimate inference because, in the experiment of the 
 division of the par vagum, other causes than the mter- 
 ruption of the influence of the brain, such as the 
 immediate injury done to the nerves by the act of 
 dividing them, might be assigned for the observed 
 effects- of this operation on secreting surfaces. Mr 
 Shaw thinks, that the only inference that can be 
 drawn from the phenomena of this experiment is, 
 that, in consequence of the bond of connection be- 
 tween the stomach and the organs of respiration 
 and circulation, being destroyed, the functions of the 
 stomach will necessarily be more or less disturbed. 
 
 Dr Philip has been further led to conclude, that 
 galvanism is identical with the nervous agency. 
 This opinion is founded on the result of the experi- 
 ments Ave have already alluded to, in which the 
 galvanic influence, transmitted through the lower 
 portions of the divided par vagum, restored the 
 secretion of the gastric juice, and the digestion of 
 the contents of the stomach, which would otherwise 
 have ceased. The accuracy of the experiments was 
 for a long time disputed, but has lately been satis- 
 factorily established by their careful repetition at 
 the Royal Institution, by Dr Philip, in conjunction 
 with Mr Brodie. But though the fact be admitted, 
 there appears reason to doubt whether it warrants 
 the conclusion, which Dr Philip has boldly drav/n 
 from it, relative to the identity of the nervous and 
 galvanic agencies. Dr Alison, in the papers aboA'-e 
 alluded to, has discussed this question with great 
 acuteness. Our limits preclude us from entering 
 into the arguments employed in the controversy. We 
 shall only, therefore, add, that Dr PhiUp ascribes the 
 
PHYSIOLOGY. 
 
 197 
 
 JJervous 
 
 3ommum- 
 cations by 
 fianglions; 
 
 hysiology. evolution of animal heat to the operation of the ner- 
 — — vous power, and endeavours to show, by experiment, 
 that the galvanic influence occasions an evolution of 
 caloric from arterial blood, if subjected to it as soon 
 as it leaves the vessels, but that it produces no such 
 effect on venous blood ; and also that the destruction 
 of any considerable portion of the spinal marrow is 
 followed by a reduction of the temperature of the 
 animal. 
 
 In order that any one set of organs may be sub- 
 jected to the influence of every part of another set, 
 it is necessary that some very extensive mode of 
 nervous communication should exist between them. 
 Such appears to be the object of that complex 
 system of ganglionic nerves, of which the branches 
 of the great sympathetic compose so large a portion. 
 All the organs which have muscles of involuntary 
 motion, and which, as we have seen, are influenced 
 by every part of the brain and spinal marrow, re- 
 ceive nerves from a chain of ganglions, to which 
 filaments of nerves from all the parts of the brain 
 and spinal marrow are sent. Thus the nerves 
 issuing from those ganglions are made up of fila- 
 ments from an infinite number of sources, and trans- 
 mit to the organs in which they terminate the unit- 
 ed influence of all the nerves which the ganglions 
 have received from the brain and spinal marrow. 
 Each ganglion may accordingly be regarded as a se- 
 condary centre of nervous influence, receiving sup- 
 plies from all the parts of the brain and spinal mar- 
 row, and conveying to certain parts the united in- 
 fluence of these organs. On the other hand, as the 
 muscles of voluntary motion are to be subjected to 
 the influence of only small portions of these central 
 parts of the nervous system, they receive their nerves 
 directly from those parts ; generally without the 
 intervention of ganglia, and with comparatively few 
 intermixtures of nervous filaments. The system of 
 ganglionic nerves appears to be quite as extensive 
 as that of nerves proceeding directly from the brain 
 and spinal marrow. These views, developed by Dr 
 Philip, are directly opposed to those of Bichat, who 
 maintains that the ganglions are centres of nervous 
 influence, independent of the brain and spinal mar- 
 row, and incapable of transmitting their influence ; 
 but they coincide with Bichat's opinion, that the 
 great sympathetic derives its origin from the spine 
 and not from the brain, with which it has only very 
 slender communications. 
 
 General We have thus attempted to delineate the charac- 
 Condusion. ters of those powers by which the living animal 
 body is distinguished from those of the inert mate- 
 rials that enter into its composition, and of which 
 tlie combined effects constitute what is called life ; 
 and we have further endeavoured to investigate the 
 laws of their mutual connections and dependencies. 
 If the views we have presented are correct, they 
 wiU enable us to detect the fallacy of those defini- 
 tions of the vital principle, which have been from 
 time to time advanced, in violation of the just rules 
 of philosophical induction. The real state of the 
 science does not yet authorize that degree of gene- 
 ralization which these definitions would imply. We 
 are not warranted by the phenomena already known, 
 in regarding life as the effect of any single power. 
 
 The attempts of Brown, of Hunter, and of Bichat, Physiology, 
 to reduce the science to this state of simplification 
 are premature, and have been the means of retard- 
 ing, instead of promoting, the progress of real know- 
 ledge. The error has sometimes been that of gene- 
 rahzing partial views; so that one class of facts has 
 been assumed as comprehending all the rest; but 
 most frequently it has consisted in including a va- 
 riety of dissiipilar phenomena under the same com- 
 mon principle. We may take as an instance of the 
 former, the definition of Le Gallois, which takes 
 cognizance only of the nervous power, as if this 
 were the sole characteristic of life. " Life," says 
 he, " is owing to an impression made by arterial 
 blood on the brain and spinal marrow, or to the 
 principle which results from this impression ;" — a 
 definition which would totally exclude the life of 
 animals that have neither brain, nor spinal marrow, 
 nor arterial blood, nor circulation, which is the case 
 with so large a proportion of beings in the inferior 
 ranks of the animal creation. As an example of the 
 latter error, we may adduce the language of Hunter, 
 who talks of life as the effect of a peculiar and sub- 
 tile matter, the viateria vitce diffusa ; a hypothesis 
 analogous to those in natural philosophy, by which 
 the phenomena of matter are attempted to be explain- 
 ed by the intervention of an etherial fluid, diffused 
 throughout all space. To pursvie these speculations, 
 M'ould be to wander in the regions of visionary 
 hypothesis, where fancy assumes the garb of science, 
 and where truth is obscured by the clouds of mys- 
 ticism. The attempt to reduce the vital phenome- 
 na to a single law, is as vain as would be a simiLar 
 endeavour with regard to the phenomena of the in- 
 organic world. The effects of gravitation, electri- 
 city, magnetism, cohesion, elasticity, and chemical 
 affinity, have been sometimes regarded as modifica- 
 tions of a single principle of attraction. But this is 
 a simplification not warranted by the facts ; although 
 future researches may possibly enable us to recog- 
 nize the identity of some of these principles with 
 others. The recent discovery of Professor CErsted, 
 indeed, entitles us to hope that such will ere long 
 be the result with regard to electricity and magnet- 
 ism. In like manner, the muscular, the nervous, 
 the sensorial, and the organic powers, may be esta- 
 blished as separate agencies in the living body ; and 
 no speculative ingenuity is able to reduce them to a 
 single power ; unless, indeed, Ave call to our aid an- 
 other and a totally different class of relations, name- 
 ly, those which they bear to the general object they 
 concur in pi'oducing. But against svich a substitu- 
 tion of final for physical causes, we have already en- 
 tered our serious protest. The latter are the only 
 legitimate objects of philosophical analysis, and no 
 other can furnish a solid basis for the physical 
 sciences. This foundation being once firmly esta- 
 blished in physiology, subsequent inquiries will con- 
 sist in the analysis of complex phenomena into the 
 several principles from which they result ; and we 
 may then pursue with safety the more fascinating 
 study of final causes, and trace the admirable sub- 
 ordination of purposes, and the skilful combination 
 of means for attaining distant ends, which marks 
 the whole series of phenomena presented to us by 
 living beings. (w.) 
 
198 P L A 
 
 Piayfair. PHYSIOLOGY OF VEGETABLES. See Ve- 
 ^'*''"V**^<jETABLE Physiology. 
 
 PINDARIES, See India. 
 
 PLAYFAIR (John), a Mathematician and Philo- 
 sopher of great eminence and celebrity ; and so pe- 
 ouliariy a benefactor to this publication, as would 
 have made it fit that some memorial of him should 
 be preserved in these pages, even if it could have 
 been surmised that it might not have been found in 
 any other place. There are few names, however, in 
 tlie recent history of British Science that are more 
 extensively or advantageously known, or of which 
 the' few particulars that remain to be recorded will 
 be more generally interesting. His life, like most 
 others that have been dedicated to the silent pursuits 
 of learning and science, does not abound in inci- 
 dents or adventures; but it is full of honour, both 
 for the individual and the studies to which he was 
 devoted, and may be read with more profit than 
 many more ambitious histories. 
 
 He was the eldest son of the Reverend James 
 Rayfair, minister of Benvie, in Forfarshire ; in which 
 place he was born on the 10th of March 174S. 
 He resided at home, under the domestic tuition 
 of his father, till the age of fourteen, when he eiv 
 tered at the University of St Andrews; and was 
 almost immediately distinguished, not merely for 
 his singular proficiency in mathematical learning, 
 hut for the extent of his general knowledge, the 
 cJearness of his judgment, and the dignity and pro- 
 priety of his conduct. A remarkable testimony to 
 this effect has been lately made public in an early 
 ItCtter of the late Principal George Hill, who was, at 
 this time, one of his fellow students, and was himself 
 so remarkable for early talent, that we find it re- 
 corded of him, that he had privately composed an 
 excellent sermon in the tenth year of his age ! A 
 youth of this description cannot be supposed to have 
 been very indulgent in his estimate of the merits of 
 his competitors ; and it could, therefore, have been 
 no ordinary measure of ability that called forth the 
 following ingenuous avowal, in a confidential Letter 
 to his mother : *' Playfair has very great merit, and 
 more knowledge and a better judgment than any of 
 his class fellows. I make no exceptions ; my parts 
 might be more showy, and the kind of reading to 
 which my inclination led me, was calculated to en. 
 able me to make a better figure at St Andrews ; 
 but in judgment and understanding I was great- 
 ly inferior to him." (Dr Cook's Life of Princi- 
 pal Hill.) It is scarcely a stronger, though un- 
 doubtedly a very different proof of his rare attain- 
 ments, that when the Professor of Natural Philoso- 
 phy, Wilkie, the once celebrated author of the Epi- 
 goniad, was prevented by indisposition from deliver- 
 ing the regular lectures, he used generally to dele- 
 gate the task of instruction to his youthful pupil. 
 Wilkie, besides being a scholar and philosopher of 
 no mean note, was a man of primitive benevolence and 
 integrity, and of great vivacity in conversation ; and 
 tJie friendship which, in spite of the disparity of 
 their years, was speedily formed between him and 
 young Playfair, speaks as much for the social and 
 moral character of the latter, as his substitu- 
 tion of him in the class-room does for his early 
 
 P L A 
 
 proficiency in science. On this last subject we P)ayiklr. 
 shall mehtion but one fact more. In 17^6, when 
 only eighteen years of age, he ofi'ered himself, with 
 the approbation of his instructors at St Andrews, as 
 candidate for the Professorship of Mathematics in 
 Mareschal College, Aberdeen, and sustained, with 
 the most distinguished credit, an examination or com- 
 parative trial, which lasted eleven days, and em- 
 braced nearly the whole range cf the exact sciences- 
 Out of the six competitors who entered the lists 
 against him, two onlj^ were judged to have excelled 
 him, — the Reverend Dr Trail, who was appointed to 
 the office, and Dr Hamilton, who afterwards succeed- 
 ed to, and has long filled it with much reputation. 
 
 In 1769, he removed to Edinburgh, where his 
 merit and modesty very soon introduced him to the 
 friendship of Dr Robertson— Adam Smith — Dr Mat- 
 thew Stewart— Dr Black, and Dr Hutton ; with all of 
 whom he continued in terms of the utmost cordia- 
 Kty during the whole period of their lives. In 1772, 
 he was a candidate for the Professorship of Natural 
 Philosophy at St Andrews, vacant by the death of 
 his friend Dr Wilkie. There was no comparative 
 trial on this occasion ; and he was again unsuccessful 
 —under circumstances, which have led one of the 
 most dutiful sons of that University (Dr Cook, in 
 his Life of Principal Hill) to remark, " how much 
 it suffered in thus losing a man, by whose talents its 
 reputation would have been so highly promoted." 
 In the course of the same 3'ear, the death of his fa- 
 ther sudd ;nly devolved upon him the burden of 
 Bupporting the family, and admonished him no long- 
 er to delay the final election of a profession. He 
 had been educated with a view to the Church, and 
 was every way qualified to accept a living on the 
 establishment; but his decided predilection for 
 science h;}d hitherto made him hesitate about en- 
 gaging in a vocation, the duties of which, he felt, 
 if conscientiously discharged, would necessarily in- 
 terfere, to a great extent, with the studies he was 
 loth to abandon. In this emergency, however, he 
 thought himself no longer entitled to indulge in 
 those predilections^ — and, accordingly, made appli- 
 cation to Lord Gray, the patron, for a presentation 
 to the livings of Liff and Benvie, which had been 
 filled by his father. His Lordship was too well 
 aware of his merits to hesitate about conferring so 
 great a benefit on the parishioners ; and immediately 
 issued a presentation in his favour, although, from 
 some challenge of his right to the patronage, induc- 
 tion was not obtained till late in the year 1773. 
 
 From this period, till 1782, Mr Playfair was con- 
 stantly resident at Lifi^, and occupied almost ex- 
 clusively with the pastoral duties of his office. In this 
 retreat, his leisure hours were dedicated to the edu- 
 cation of his younger brothers, and to a very close 
 and intimate correspondence with Mr Robertson (now 
 Lord Robertson), the son of the illustrious historian, 
 to whom he seems to have confided the remarks that 
 occurred to him upon the different authors he per- 
 used, and the subjects of speculation which they sug- 
 gested. We cannot help hoping, that some selection 
 from this correspondence may one day be given to 
 thepubhc. In the year 1779, he contributed to tlie 
 Transactions of the Royal Society of London a paper 
 
P L A 
 
 Playfalr, On the Arithmetic of Impossible Quantities, which 
 exhibits, within a very small compass, a striking ex- 
 ample of the rare and admirable talent of detaching 
 the sound spirit of science from what may be termed 
 its mysticism, and circumscribing, by the most pre- 
 cise and luminous boundaries, the vague and unli- 
 mited inquiries into which many mathematicians had 
 been seduced by the nature of the instruments they 
 employed. 
 
 In the year 1782 he was induced, by very advan- 
 tageous offers, to resign his charge, and to superin- 
 tend the education of the present Mr Ferguson of 
 Raith, and his brother. Sir Ronald ; an arrangement 
 which restored him, in a great measure, to the lite- 
 rary and scientific society of Edinburgh, and en- 
 abled him to gratify himself by a personal introduc- 
 tion to several of the most eminent cultivators of 
 science in London. He had repeatedly visited Dr 
 Maskelyne, Astronomer Royal, while that ingenious 
 mathematician was busied, in 1774, in making a se- 
 ries of observations in Perthshire on the attraction 
 of mountains ; and while sharing the shelter of his 
 tent on the side of Schehallien, contracted with him 
 a cordial friendship, which continued unbroken for 
 the remainder of their lives. Under these honour- 
 able auspices, he made his first appearance in Lon- 
 don in 1782, and was speedily introduced to all 
 tliose in whom he was likely to take most interest. 
 He seems to have kept a pretty full and correct 
 journal of all that he observed during this jour- 
 ney to the metropolis ; and a portion of it, which is 
 prefixed to the late collection of his works^ is, in 
 our judgment, one of the most interesting parts 
 of that publication. It is not only written with 
 -great elegance and accuracy, but affords, in the free, 
 candid, and pointed observations which it contains 
 on the different individuals with whom he comes in 
 cx)ntact, a very remarkable proof of his quick and 
 sagacious perception of character, and his power of 
 selecting and turning to account, even in the fever 
 and distraction of a first visit to such a scene, all that 
 was really worthy of careful observation or perma- 
 nent remembrance. 
 
 In 1785 he was received into the University of 
 Edinburgh, in consequence of an arrangement be- 
 tween his two illustrious associates, Dr Adam Fergu- 
 son and Mr Dugald Stewart. Mr Stewart exchanged 
 the chair of Mathematics, in which he had succeed- 
 ed to his father, for that of Moral Philosophy, which 
 had been long filled by Dr Ferguson ; who, finding 
 that the delicate state of his health would prevent him 
 from discharging the active duties of the mathemati- 
 cal professor, immediately devolved them upon Mr 
 Playfair, for whom he procured the appointment of 
 joint professor in that department. 
 
 In 1788 he published, in the Transactions of the 
 Royal Society of Edinburgh, " A Biographical Ac- 
 count of Dr Mattheuo Stetoart," which is remarkable, 
 not only for the ease and purity of the style, but also 
 for containing a singularly clear and interesting ac- 
 count of the labours of Dr Simson in the restoration 
 of the ancient geometry, and of the success both of 
 him and Dr Stewart in adapting the elegant simpli- 
 city of the Greek methods of investigation to pro- 
 blenaa which had previously been regarded as inso- 
 
 P L A 19P 
 
 luble except by the aid of the modern analysis. He Playfeir. 
 also published, in the same year, a paper On the ^^^■y^ 
 Causes tvhick affect the Accuracy of Barometrical 
 Measurements, which is written with all the perspi- 
 cuity, caution, and sagacity, that constitute the great 
 excellence and the great difficulty of such disquisi- 
 tions, where scientific principles are employed to give 
 precision to physical observations. 
 
 In 1790 he published in the same Transactions a 
 paper of still greater interest and delicacy, On the 
 Astronomy of the Brahmins a subject which had 
 been recently recommended to the notice of the Eu- 
 ropean scientific world by the curious and learned 
 observations of M. Bailley, in his General History of 
 Astronomy, but had never met with so minute and 
 scrupulous an investigation as it now received at the 
 hands of Mr Playfair. The whole treatise is written 
 with a beautiful perspicuity, in an admirable spirit oT 
 candour and ingenuity, and in a style more elegant 
 and spirited than had yet lent its attraction to sub- 
 jects so recondite and abstruse. The publication 
 accordingly attracted very general notice, both in 
 Europe and Asia ; and gave rise to much discussion 
 and research, the final value and result of which does 
 not seem to be yet ascertained. This was followed 
 in 1794 by a learned and very beautiful treatise On 
 the Origin and Investigation of Porisms, in which 
 the obscure nature of the very comprehensive and in- 
 definite theorems to which this name was applied by 
 the ancient geometers, is explained with the most 
 lucid simplicity ; and the extraordinary merits of Dr 
 Simson, in deducing their true theory from the very 
 vague and scanty notices of them which had come 
 down to his time, are commemorated with a noble 
 spirit of emulation. 
 
 In 1795 he published his Elements of Geometry, 
 iox the use of the pupils attending his class ; a work 
 which has since been held in such estimation by the 
 public, as to have gone through five editions of 1000 
 copies each, four of which were called for since the 
 work ceased to be used as a class-book in the University 
 of Edinburgh. In 1797 he composed a sequel to his 
 first paper on the Indian Astronomy, in the shape of 
 Observations on the Trigonometrical Tables of the 
 Brahmins ; and also a masterly collection of Theo- 
 rems on the Figure of the Earth. It is also understood 
 that he occupied himself a good deal at this time in 
 the preparation of an Essay On the Accidental Dis- 
 coveries made by Men of Science while in Pursuit of 
 some other Object; although we find no portion of this 
 curious discussion in the late collection of his works. 
 
 His excellent and ingenious friend Dr Hutton 
 died in the year last mentioned ; and Mr Playfair 
 having undertaken to draw up a biographical ac- 
 count of him for the Royal Society, was first led to 
 study his ingenious, but somewhat crude specula- 
 tions on the Theory of the Earth, and afterwards to 
 lend them the assistance of his own powerful pen in 
 his Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory. This 
 work, on which he bestowed more time and labour 
 than on any of his other productions, did not 
 appear till 1802 ; and it was not till 1803 that he pre- 
 sented to their associates his admirable Memoir of 
 their departed friend. 
 
 Whatever opinion may be formed, now or hereaf* 
 
200 P L A 
 
 Playfair. ter, of the truth or soundness of the suppositions by 
 v-*^,'^*^ which Dr Hutton endeavoured to explain the actual 
 state and condition of our globe, it is impossible to 
 doubt that Mr Playfair's illustration of that theory 
 must always be ranked among the most brilliant and 
 powerful productions of philosophic genius. The 
 beautiful clearness, and captivating eloquence, with 
 which the system itself is unfolded and explained — 
 the spirit and force of reasoning with which all the 
 objections to it are combated — the skill with which 
 the infinite variety of facts which it brought into 
 view are combined into one grand and legitimate 
 induction — and the judgment and extent of learn- 
 ing by which so many large and profound views 
 of nature are brought to bear upon the points in 
 discussion, and blended into one large and discur- 
 sive argument, uniting the utmost logical preci- 
 sion with the richest variety of topics, and the 
 highest graces of composition — are merits which 
 have been Universally acknowledged in this perform- 
 ance, even by those who have not been convinced by 
 its reasonings — and have extorted, even from the 
 fastidious critics of France, the acknowledgment that 
 " Mr Playfair writes as well as Buffon, and reasons 
 incomparably better." 
 
 The biographical account of Dr Hutton is by far 
 the best of Mr Playfair's productions in this line, 
 and contains not only an eloquent and luminous ac- 
 count of the speculations in which he was engaged, 
 but what is too often forgotten in this species of bio- 
 graphy, a charming portrait of the individual — drawn, 
 no doubt, by a favourable hand, but gaining far more 
 in grace and effect than it can possibly have lost in 
 correctness, from the softening colours of affection. 
 
 In 1805 he quitted the chair of Mathematics to 
 succeed Professor Robison in that of Natural Philo- 
 sophy. The appointment of Mr Leslie, as his suc- 
 cessor in the chair of Mathematics, was opposed at 
 the time by a majority of the Presbytery of Edin- 
 burgh, and made the subject of very angry discussion, 
 as well in various publications as in the General As- 
 sembly of the Church of Scotland. From both these 
 fields of contention the opponents of Mr Leslie retired 
 discomfited, and in the opinion, we beheve, of many of 
 the lookers on, disgraced. Among the heaviest blows 
 they had to sustain were those that parted from the 
 hand of Mr Playfair. He first addressed a Letter to 
 the Lord Provost, in which, after asserting, with in- 
 finite spirit and freedom, the dignity of the science 
 in question, he openly imputes the new sprung zeal 
 for orthodoxy, which had prompted the attack on Mr 
 Leslie, to a wish or design on the part of some of the 
 clergymen of Edinburgh to obtain for themselves a 
 number of the chairs in that University, which had 
 hitherto afforded sufficient occupation to the undis- 
 tracted industry of laymen : and when this denun- 
 ciation brought upon him a series of acrimonious and 
 unhandsome attacks, he replied to them all in a 
 pamphlet of greater bulk, written in a style of which 
 
 P L A 
 
 the high polish and elegance only serve to give a Playfak 
 keener edge to the unsparing severity of the expo- ^x^-.-"^' 
 sures which it conveys. * We do not know, indeed, 
 where to find a more perfect model of polemical or 
 controversial writing ; and much as it was to be re- 
 gretted that an occasion should have arisen for em- 
 ploying such a pen and such a mind as Mr Play- 
 fair's on any temporary or personal theme, it is impos- 
 sible not to admire the extraordinary talent and vi- 
 gour with which, when the occasion did arrive, he 
 could turn talents, exercised in far other studies, to 
 the purposes suggested by the emergency. 
 
 In 1 807 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal So- 
 ciety of London, and soon after presented to that 
 learned body his Lithological Survey of Schehallien. 
 In 1809 he contributed to the Edinburgh Transact 
 tions an excellent paper On Solids of the greatest 
 Attraction, and in 1812, another On the Progress pf 
 Heat in Spherical Bodies. 
 
 In 1814 he published, in two volumes Svo, for 
 the use of his class, an elementary work of great 
 value, under the title of Outlines of Natural Philo- 
 sophy. For some years before this, he had been 
 much occupied in digesting the plan and collecting 
 the materials for a greatly enlarged edition of his Il- 
 lustrations of the Huttonian Theory i with a view to 
 which, he had not only carefully perused and extract- 
 ed a vast body of voyages and travels, but had 
 made various journeys, and very minutely examin- 
 ed almost all the places in the British dominions, 
 the structure of which promised to throw any light 
 on the subject of his researches. No part of the 
 work, however, was actually written, when the pre- 
 paration for it was suspended by his being induced 
 to draw up for this publication an introductory Dmer- 
 tation on the Progress of Mathematical and Physical 
 Science,— -3. treatise which, though its author had 
 written nothing else, would itself suflSce to carry his 
 name down with distinction to the latest posterity. 
 The soundness of judgment— the beauty of the writ- 
 ing — the extent of knowledge— the candour and 
 precision of the estimates of character, and the noble 
 spirit of liberality and generous admiration for genius 
 which breathes through the whole performance, give 
 it an attraction which is rarely to be found in works 
 of the same erudition, and renders it not only one of 
 the most instructive, but one of the most interesting 
 publications that philosophy has ever bestowed on 
 the world. 
 
 In 1815 he drew up for the Royal Society of 
 Edinburgh a very interesting Memoir of his distin- 
 guished predecessor Dr John Robison — a philoso- 
 pher in whose early life there was more adventure, 
 and in his later days more political prejudice, than 
 we usually find to diversify the history of men of 
 science. Nothing can be more spirited and interest- 
 ing than Mr Playfair's account of the former— no- 
 thing more manly and tender than his reluctant but 
 decided protestation against the excesses of the latter. 
 
 * This piece is entitled, Letter to the Author of the Examination of Mr Stewart's Short Statement of 
 Facts relative to the Election of Professor Leslie, Svo, Edinb. 1806. It has not been reprinted in the re- 
 cent collection of his works. 
 
 10 
 
P L A 
 
 Playfair. Aftei* the general peace, in 1 81 5, had at last opened 
 the Continent to British inquirers, Mr Playfair, at the 
 age of sixty-eight, undertook a long journey through 
 France and Switzerland into Italy, and did not return 
 for a period of nearly eighteen months* His principal 
 attention was directed to the mineralogical and geo- 
 logical phenomena of the different regions which he 
 visited, and he made many notes with a view to the 
 great object, which he was not destined to accom- 
 plish, namely, the extension and new modelling of his 
 Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory. Every object of 
 liberal curiosity, however, had for him an attraction 
 as fresh as in his earliest youth, and the social sim- 
 plicity and benevolence of his character and manners 
 insured him a favourable reception in every new so- 
 ciety to which he was introduced. 
 
 On his return from this expedition, he employed 
 himself chiefly in preparing the Second Part of the 
 Dissertation to which we have alluded ; and he also 
 drew up a Memoir on the Naval Tactics of Mr Clerk 
 ofEldin, which was published after his death in the 
 Philosophical Transactions, though only a fragment 
 of a projected life of Mr Clerk which he did not 
 live to complete. His health had been occasionally 
 broken for several years by the recurrence of a pain- 
 ful affection of the bladder, which appeared with 
 increased severity in the early part of 1819? but was 
 so far got under as to enable him to complete his 
 course of lectures in the spring. It returned, how- 
 ever, in a still more distressing form in the sum- 
 mer, and at last put a period to his life on the igth 
 of July. Though suffering great pain during the last 
 part of his confinement, he retained not only his in- 
 tellectual faculties quite unimpaired, but the serenity 
 and mildness of his spirits, and occupied himself till 
 within a few days of his death in correcting the proof 
 sheets of the Dissertation ; the printing of the Se- 
 cond Part of which had commenced sometime before 
 his last illness. * 
 
 Before concluding these notices of Mr Playfair's 
 scientific and literary labours, we have still to men- 
 tion, that, from the year ISO^, he was a frequent con- 
 tributor to the Edinburgh Revievj, and that, though 
 most of his articles were of a scientific descrip- 
 tion, he occasionally diverged into the field of ge- 
 neral literature, or indulged in the refinements of 
 metaphysical speculation. Many of his scientific 
 articles attracted great attention on the Continent as 
 well as at home ; and several of them are written with 
 a force and beauty that might well entitle them to 
 a higher place than the pages of a periodical publica- 
 tion. There is no general account of the great facts 
 and principles of astronomy, so clear, and compre- 
 hensive, and exact, nor half so beautiful and majes- 
 tic in the writing, as his account of La Place's Me- 
 canique Celeste, in the eleventh volume of the publi- 
 cation just mentioned. 
 
 In this brief sketch of the events of Mr Playfair's 
 
 P L A 201 
 
 life, we have purposely omitted any general ac- Playfair. 
 count either of his personal character, or of the ""^"^V"^^ 
 distinguishing features of his intellectual powers and 
 habits ; thinking it better to give those by them- 
 selves, in the words in which they were recorded, 
 to the satisfaction, we believe, of most of those 
 who knew him intimately, in a periodical Journal 
 which appeared a sh«rt time after his death. The 
 portrait there given has been pronounced by one of the 
 earliest and most illustrious of his surviving friends, " a 
 faithful and perfect resemblance ;"f and has accord- 
 ingly been allowed a place in the prefatory Memoir 
 which his nephew has prefixed to the recent Collec- 
 tion of his Works. 
 
 " It has struck many people, we believe, as very 
 extraordinary, that so eminent a person as Mr Play- 
 fair should have been allowed to sink into his grave 
 in the midst of us, without calling forth almost so 
 much as an attempt to commemorate his merit, even 
 in a common newspaper; and that the death of a 
 man so celebrated and so beloved, and, at the same 
 time, so closely connected with many who could well 
 appreciate and suitably describe his excellences, 
 should be left to the brief and ordinary notice of the 
 daily obituary. No event of the kind certainly ever 
 excited more general sympathy ; and no individual, 
 we are persuaded, will be longer or more affection- 
 ately remembered by all the classes of his fellow-ci- 
 tizens ; and yet it is to these very circumstances that 
 we must look for an explanation of the apparent ne- 
 glect by which his memory has been followed. His 
 humbler admirers have been deterred from express- 
 ing their sentiments by a natural feeling of unwil- 
 lingness to encroach on the privilege of those whom 
 a nearer approach to his person and talents rendered 
 more worthy to speak of them, — while the learned 
 and eloquent among his friends have trusted to each 
 other for the performance of a task which they could 
 not but feel to be painful in itself, and not a little 
 diflScult to perform as it ought to be ; or perhaps 
 have reserved for some more solemn occasion that 
 tribute for which the public impatience is already at 
 its height. 
 
 " We beg leave to assure our readers that it is 
 merely from anxiety to do something to gratify this 
 natural impatience that we presume to enter at all 
 upon a subject to which we are perfectlj^ aware that 
 we are incapable of doing justice : For of Mr Play- 
 fair's scientific attainments, — of his proficiency in 
 those studies to which he was peculiarly devoted, we 
 are but slenderly qualified to judge : But, we believe 
 we hazard nothing in saying that he was one of the 
 most learned mathematicians of his age, and among 
 the first, if not the very first, who introduced the 
 beautiful discoveries of the later continental geome- 
 ters to the knowledge of his countrymen ; and gave 
 their just value and true place, in the scheme of Eu- 
 
 * Besides the Dissertation, Mr Playfair contributed to this Supplement the valuable biographical ac- 
 count of Mvisvs, and the still more valuable article on Physical Astronomy. 
 
 -f- Letter from Mr Dugald Stewart to Dr Playfair, in the Appendix to the Biographical Account of Pro- 
 fessor Playfair, prefixed to the Collection of his Works, published at Edinburgh in 1822, in 4? vols. 8vo. 
 
 VOL. VI. part I. CO 
 
202 P L A 
 
 Playfair. ropean knowledge, to those important improvements 
 by which the whole aspect of the abstract sciences 
 has been renovated since the days of our illustrious 
 Newton. If he did not signalize himself by any 
 brilliant or original invention, he must, at least, be 
 allowed to have been a most generous and intelligent 
 judge of the achievements of others ; as well as the 
 most eloquent expounder of that great and magnifi- 
 cent system of knowledge which has been gradually 
 evolved by the successive labours of so many gifted 
 individuals. He possessed, indeed, in the highest 
 degree, all the characteristics both of a fine and a 
 powerful understanding, — at once penetrating and 
 vigilant, — but more distinguished, perhaps, for the 
 caution and sureness of its march, than for the bril- 
 liancy or rapidity of its movements, — and guided and 
 adorned through all its progress by the most genuine 
 enthusiasm for all that is grand, and the justest taste 
 for all ihat is beautiful in the Truth or the Intellec- 
 tual Energy with which he was habitually conver- 
 sant. 
 
 " To what account these rare qualities might have 
 been turned, and what more brilliant or lasting fruits 
 they might have produced, if his whole life had 
 been dedicated to the solitary cultivation of science, 
 it is not for us to conjecture ; but it cannot be 
 doubted that they added incalculably to his emi- 
 nence and utility as a Teacher; both by enabling 
 him to direct his pupils to the most simple and lu- 
 minous methods of inquiry, and to imbue their minds, 
 from the very 'commencement of the study, with that 
 fine relish for the truths it disclosed, and that high 
 sense of the majesty with which they were invested, 
 that predominated in his own bosom. While he left 
 nothing unexplained or unreduced to its proper place 
 in the system, he took care that they should never 
 be perplexed by petty difficulties, or bewildered in 
 useless details, and formed them betimes to that 
 clear, masculine, and direct method of investigation, 
 bv which, with the leapt labour, the greatest advan- 
 ces might be accomplished. 
 
 " Mr Playfair, however, was not merely a teacher; 
 and has fortunately left behind him a variety of 
 works, from which other generations may be en- 
 abled to judge of some of those qualifications which 
 so powerfully recommended and endeared him to his 
 contemporaries. It is, perhaps, to be regretted that 
 so much of his time, and so large a proportion of his 
 publications, should have been devoted to the sub- 
 jects of the Indian Astronomj', and the Huttonian 
 Theory of the Earth. For though nothing can be 
 more beautiful or instructive than his speculations on 
 those curious topics, it cannot be dissembled that 
 their results are less conclusive and satisfactory than 
 might have been desired, and that his doctrines, from 
 the very nature of the subjects, are more question- 
 able than we believe they could possibly have been 
 on any other topic in the whole circle of the sciences. 
 To the first, indeed, he came under the great disad- 
 vantage of being unacquainted with the Eastern 
 tongues, and without the means of judging of the 
 authenticity of the documents which he was obliged 
 to assume as the elements of his reasonings ; and as 
 to the other, though he ended, we believe, with be- 
 ing a very able and skilful mineralogist, we think it 
 is now generally admitted that that science does not 
 
 P L A 
 
 yet afford sufficient materials for any positive con- Playfair. 
 elusion ; and that all attempts to establish a Theory ^-"^-/"^ 
 of the Earth must, for many years to come, be re- 
 garded as premature. Though it is impossible, there- 
 fore, to think too highly of the ingenuity, the vigour,, 
 and the eloquence of those publications, we are of 
 opinion that a juster estimate of Mr Playfair's talent, 
 and a truer picture of his genius and understanding, 
 is to be found in his other writings ; — in the paper;-,, 
 both biographical and scientific, with which he has 
 enriched the Transactions of our Royal Society ; — 
 his account of Laplace, and other articles which he 
 is understood to have contributed to the Edinburgh. 
 Reviexv, — the Outlines of his Lectures on Natural 
 Philosophy, — and, above all, his Introductory DiS" 
 course to the Supplement to the Encyclopcedia Britan- 
 nica, with the final correction of which he was occu- 
 pied up to the last moments that the progress of his 
 disease allowed him to dedicate to any intellectual 
 exertion. 
 
 " With reference to these works, we do not think 
 we are influenced by any national, or other partia- 
 lity, when we say that he was certainly one of the 
 best writers of his age ; and even that we do not now 
 recollect any one of his contemporaries who was so 
 great a master of composition. There is a certain 
 mellowness and richness about his style, which adorns 
 without disguising the weight and nervousness, which 
 is its other great characteristic, — a sedate graceful- 
 ness and manly simplicity in the more level passages, 
 — and a mild majesty and considerate enthusiasm 
 where he rises above them, of which we scarcely 
 know where to find any other example. There is 
 great equability, too, and sustained force in every 
 part of his writings. He never exhausts himself in 
 flashes and epigrams, nor languishes into lameness 
 or insipidity ; at first sight you would say that plain- 
 ness and good sense were the predominating quali- 
 ties ; but by and bye, this simplicity is enriched with 
 the delicate and vivid colours of a fine imagination, — 
 the free and forcible touches of a most powerful in- 
 tellect, — and the lights and shades of an unerring 
 and harmonizing taste. In comparing it with the 
 styles of his most celebrated contemporaries, we would 
 say that it was more purely and peculiarly a written 
 style, — and, therefore, rejected those ornaments that 
 more properly belong to oratory. It had no impetu- 
 osity, hurry, or vehemence, — no bursts or sudden 
 turns or abruptions, like that of Burke ; and though 
 eminently smooth and melodious, it was not modu- 
 lated to an uniform system of solemn declamation 
 like that of Johnson, nor spread out in the richer 
 and more voluminous elocution of Stewart; nor still 
 less broken into that patch-work of scholastic pedan- 
 try and conversational smartness which has found its 
 admirers in Gibbon. It is a style, in short, of great 
 freedom, force, and beauty ; but the deliberate style 
 of a man of thought and of learning, and neither 
 that of a wit throwing out his extem|;<)res with an af- 
 fectation of careless grace, — nor of a rhetorician 
 thinking more of his manner than his matter, and de- 
 termined to be admired for his expression, whatever 
 may be the fate of his sentiments. 
 
 " His habits of composition, as we have under- 
 stood, were not perhaps exactly what might have been 
 expected from their results. He wrote rather slowly, 
 12 
 
P L A 
 
 P L A 
 
 203 
 
 Plaj'fair. — and his first sketches were often very sh'ght and 
 inaperfect, — like the rude chalking for a masterly 
 picture. His chief effort and greatest pleasure was 
 in their revisal and correction ; and there were no 
 limits to the improvement which resulted from this 
 application. It was not the style merely, or indeed 
 chiefly, that gained by it : The whole reasoning, 
 and sentiment, and illustration, was enlarged and 
 new modelled in the course of it, and a naked out- 
 line became gradually informed with life, colour, and 
 expression. It was not at all like the common fi- 
 nishing and polishing to which careful authors ge- 
 nerally subject the first draughts of their composi- 
 tions — nor even like the fastidious and tentative alter- 
 ations with which some more anxious writers assay 
 their choicer passages. It was, in fact, the great 
 filling in of the picture — the working up of the fi- 
 gured weft, on the naked and meagre woof that had 
 been stretched to receive it ; &nd the singular thing 
 in his case was, not only that he left this most mate- 
 rial part of his work to be performed after the whole 
 outline had been finished, but that he could proceed 
 with it to an indefinite extent, and enrich and im- 
 prove as long as he thought fit, without any risk either 
 of destroying the proportions of that outline, or in- 
 juring the harmony and unity of the design. He was 
 perfectly aware, too, of the possession of this extraor- 
 dinary power, and it was partly, we presume, in conse- 
 quence of this consciousness that he was not only at all 
 times ready to go on with any work in which he was 
 engaged, without waiting for favourable moments or 
 hours of greater alacrity, but that he never felt any 
 of those doubts and misgivings as to his being able to 
 get creditably through with his undertaking, to which 
 we believe most authors are occasionally liable. As 
 he never wrote upon any subject of which he was 
 not perfectly master, he was secure against all blun-. 
 ders in the substance of what he had to say ; and 
 felt quite assured, that if he was only allowed time 
 enough, he should finally come to say it in the very 
 best way of which he was capable. He had no 
 anxiety, therefore, either in undertaking or proceed- 
 ing with his tasks ; and intermitted and resumed 
 them at his convenience, with the comfortable cer- 
 tainty, that all the time he bestowed on them was 
 turned to good account, and that what was left im- 
 perfect at one sitting might be finished with equal 
 ease and advantage at another. Being thus per- 
 fectly sure both of his end and his means, he expe- 
 rienced, in the course of his compositions, none of 
 that little fever of the spirits with which that opera- 
 tion is so apt to be accompanied. He had no ca- 
 pricious visitings of fancy which it was necessary to 
 fix on the spot or to lose for ever, — no casual inspi- 
 ration to invoke and to wait for, — no transitory and 
 evanescent lights to catch before they faded. All that 
 was in his mind was subject to his control, and ame- 
 nable to his call, though it might not obey at the 
 moment ; and while his taste was so sure, that he 
 was in no danger of overworking any thing that he 
 had designed, all his thoughts and sentiments had 
 that unity and congruity, that they fell almost spon- 
 taneously into harmony and order ; and the last add- 
 ed, incorporated, and assimilated with the first, as if 
 they had sprung simultaneously from the same happy 
 conception. 
 
 " But we need dwell no longer on qualities that Playiair. 
 may be gathered hereafter from the works he has v**^ 
 left behind him. They who lived with him mourn 
 the most for those which will be traced in no such 
 memorial ; and prize far above those talents which 
 gained him his high name in philosophy, that per- 
 sonal character which endeared him to his friends, 
 and shed a gi-ace and a dignity overall the society in 
 which he moved. The same admirable taste which 
 is conspicuous in his writings, or rather the higher 
 principles from which that taste was but an emana- 
 tion, spread a similar charm over his whole life and 
 conversation ; and gave to the most learned Philoso- 
 pher of his day the manners and deportment of the 
 most perfect Gentleman. Nor was this in him the 
 result merely of good sense and good temper, assist- 
 ed by an early familiarity with good com.pany, and a 
 consequent knowledge of his own place and that of 
 all around him. His good breeding was of a higher 
 descent ; and his powers of pleasing rested on some- 
 thing better than mere companionable qualities. 
 With the greatest kindness and generosity of na- 
 ture, he united the most manly finmness, and the 
 highest principles of honour, — and the most cheer- 
 ful and social dispositions, with the gentlest and 
 steadiest affections. Towards women he had always 
 the most chivalrous feelings of regard and attention, 
 and was, beyond almost all men, acceptable and 
 agreeable in their society, — though without the least 
 levity or pretension unbecoming his age or condi- 
 tion : And such, indeed, was the fascination of .the 
 perfect simplicity and mildness of his manners, that 
 the same tone and deportment seemed equally ap- 
 propriate in all societies, and enabled him to delight 
 the young and the gay with the same sort of con- 
 versation which instructed the learned and the grave. 
 There never, indeed, was a man of learning and ta- 
 lent who appeared in society so perfectly free from 
 all sorts of pretension or notion of his own import- 
 ance, or so little solicitous to distinguish himself, 
 or so sincerely willing to give place to every one 
 else. Even upon subjects which he had thorough- 
 ly studied, he was never in the least impatient to 
 speak, and spoke at all times without any tone of 
 authority; while, so far from wishing to set off what 
 he had to say by any brilliancy or emphasis of ex- 
 pression, it seemed generally as if he had studied to 
 disguise the weight and originality of his thoughts 
 under the plainest form of speech and the most quiet 
 and indifferent manner : so that the profoundest re- 
 marks and subtlest observations were often dropped, 
 not only without any solicitude that their value 
 should be observed, but without any apparent con- 
 sciousness that they possessed any. Though the 
 most social of human beings, and the most disposed 
 to encourage and sympathise with the gaiety and 
 joviality of others, his own spirits were in general 
 rather cheerful than gay, or at least never rose to 
 any turbulence or tumult of merriment ; and while 
 he would listen with the kindest indulgence to the 
 more extravagant sallies of his younger friends, and 
 prompt them by the heartiest approbation, his own 
 satisfaction might generally be traced in a slow and 
 temperate smile, gradually mantling over his bene- 
 volent and intelligent features, and lighting up the 
 countenance of the Sage with the expression of the 
 
204 
 
 P L A 
 
 Polar Seas. 
 
 Playfair mildest and most genuine philanthropy. It was 
 wonderful, indeed, considering the measure of his 
 I own intellect, and the rigid and undeviating pro- 
 priety of his own conduct, how tolerant he was of 
 the defects and errors of other men. He was too 
 indulgent, in truth, and favourable to his friends ; 
 — and made a kind and liberal allowance for the 
 faults of all mankind, — except only faults of base- 
 ness or of cruelty, — against which he never failed 
 to manifest the most open scorn and detestation. 
 Independent, in short, of his high attainments, Mr 
 Playfair was one of the most amiable and estimable 
 of men, — delightful in his manners, — inflexible in 
 his principles, and generous in his affections, he had 
 all that could charm in society or attach in private ; 
 and while his friends enjoyed the free and unstudied 
 conversation of an easy and intelligent associate, 
 they had at all times the proud and inward as- 
 surance that he was a being upon whose perfect 
 honour and generosity they might rely with the 
 most implicit confidence, in life and in death, — and 
 of whom it was equally impossible, that, under any 
 circumstances, he should ever perform a mean, a 
 selfish, or a questionable action, as that his body 
 should cease to gravitate or his soul to live ! 
 
 " If we do not greatly deceive ourselves, there is 
 nothing here of exaggeration or partial feehng, — 
 and nothing with which an indifferent and honest 
 chronicler would not concur. Nor is it altogether 
 idle to have dwelt so long on the personal character 
 of this distinguished individual : For we are our- 
 selves persuaded, that this persoaal character has 
 done almost as much for the cause of science and phi- 
 losophy among us as the great talents and attain- 
 ments with which it was combined, — and has contri- 
 buted in a very eminent degree to give to the better 
 society of this our city that tone of intelligence and 
 liberality by which it is so honourably distinguished. 
 It is not a little advantageous to philosophy that it 
 
 POL 
 
 is in fashion, — and it is still more advantageous, per- 
 haps, to the society which is led to confer on it this 
 apparently trivial distinction. It is a great thing for 
 the country at large, — for its happiness, its prospe- 
 rity, and its renown, — that the upper and influen- 
 cing part of its population should be made familiar, 
 even in its untasked and social hours, with sound and 
 liberal information, and be taught to know and re- 
 spect those who have distinguished themselves for 
 great intellectual attainments. Nor is it, after all, a 
 slight or despicable reward for a man of genius to be 
 received with honour in the highest and most ele- 
 gant society around him, and to receive in his living 
 person that homage and applause which is too often 
 reserved for his memory. Now, those desirable ends 
 can never be effectually accomplished, unless the 
 manners of our leading philosophers are agreeable, 
 and their personal habits and dispositions engaging 
 and amiable. From the time of Hume and Robert- 
 son, we have been fortunate in Edinburgh in pos- 
 sessing a succession of distinguished men, who have 
 kept up this salutary connection between the learned 
 and the fashionable world ; but there never, perhaps, 
 was any one who contributed so powerfully to con- 
 firm and extend it, and that in times when it was 
 peculiarly difficult, as the lamented individual of 
 whom we are now speaking ; and they who have 
 had the most opportunity to observe how superior 
 the society of Edinburgh is to that of most other 
 places of the same size, and how much of that su- 
 periority is owing to the cordial combination of the 
 two aristocracies, of Rank and of Letters, — of both of 
 which it happens to be the chief provincial seat, — 
 will be best able to judge of the importance of the 
 service he has thus rendered to its inhabitants, and 
 through them, and by their example, to all the rest 
 of the country." (g. g.) 
 
 POLARISATION OF LIGHT. See Refrac- 
 tion, Double. 
 
 Playfai 
 I! 
 
 Solar Se= 
 
 POLAR SEAS. 
 
 The rapid progress which has been made within 
 the last half century in physical science and geogra- 
 phy, has thrown a deeper interest on whatever con- 
 cerns the Polar Regions, than belongs to the mere 
 commercial speculation in which originated the 
 earliest attempts for discovering a passage through 
 the North Polar Ocean to India and China. It is 
 not here intended, however, to enter into any de- 
 tail concerning the new objects of natural history, 
 the atmospherical phenomena of temperature, elec- 
 tricity, and magnetism, and various other points of 
 scientific research, which the late expeditions have 
 been the means of collecting and communicating; 
 but to exhibit a sketch of the various attempts which 
 have been made to explore those regions of darkness, 
 long supposed not only to be uninhabitable, but un- 
 approachable ; and to take a very concise view of 
 the progressive discovery and geographical informa- 
 tion which have resulted from those attempts. 
 
 North Polar Sea. 
 
 We are now able to draw, with nearly geographical Boundaries 
 accuracy, the boundaries of the North Polar Sea. and Extent 
 A very large portion of the northern shores of Eu- of the Nortl 
 rope, Asia, and America, which circumscribe it, have 
 been visited ; and the position of most of their bays, 
 headlands, and rivers, geographically ascertained. 
 By casting our eye over the North Polar Chart, it 
 will be seen that the Polar Sea of that hemisphere is 
 an immense circular basin, which communicates with 
 the two great Oceans of the world, the Atlantic and 
 the Pacific, by two channels, the one separating 
 America from Europe, the other America from Asia. 
 It will be seen, that few points of the coasts of Eu- 
 rope and Asia, which occupy a full half of the cir- 
 cumscribing circle, extend much beyond the 70th 
 parallel of latitude ; and all these points have been 
 passed by water, though at different times and by 
 different persons, with the single exception of the 
 
POLAR SEAS. 
 
 205 
 
 Cape Cevero Vostocknoi, which, on the charts, is 
 made to extend to the latitude 75^°. The northern 
 coast of America, with Old Greenland, and the two 
 channels above mentioned, complete the circle; Ame- 
 rica extending about 80° of longitude, or just two- 
 ninths of the whole circle ; and of this portion three 
 several points have been ascertained : Icy Cape by 
 Captain Cook; the mouth of MacLenzie River by him 
 whose name it bears ; and of the Copper Mine River 
 incorrectly by Hearne ; and from these positions it 
 may be concluded, that the average of the latitude of 
 this coast is about the same as, or rather lower than, 
 that of Europe and Asia. The extent, therefore, of the 
 North Polar Sea may be considered about 2400 geo- 
 graphical miles in diameter, or 7200 in circumference. 
 
 The interior or central parts of this sea are very 
 little known. Several islands are scattered over its 
 southern extremities, the largest of which is Old 
 Greenland, whose northern limit has not yet been 
 passed ; the others are, Spitzbergen, Nova Zembla, 
 the islands of Liakhov, or, as some have been pleased 
 to call them. New Siberia ; the North Georgian 
 islands of Parry, and those which form the western 
 land of Baffin's Bay. Besides these, there are a num- 
 ber of small alluvial islands formed at the mouths 
 of the several rivers of the two continents; but 
 whether any, or what number of islands may exist 
 nearer to the Pole, we must of course remain igno- 
 rant till the Polar Sea has been further explored. 
 
 For that little which is known of this sea, we 
 are indebted to that spirit of discovery which show- 
 ed itself immediately after a passage to the Indies 
 had been effected round the Cape of Good Hope ; 
 not so much, it is true, for the sake of geographical 
 discovery, as that of shortening the passage by sea 
 to the eastern parts of the world. It was obvious 
 that, if a ship could proceed from the Atlantic to 
 the Pacific, on a great circle of the sphere, or nearly 
 so, the distance, compared with the circuitous pass- 
 age round Southern Africa or Southern America, 
 would be prodigiously shortened. The voyage of 
 Columbus had that object ; but it was soon dis- 
 covered, that, from the Straits of Magellan to the Gulf 
 of St Lawrence, there was one uninterrupted conti- 
 nuity of land. Of the northern regions, the informa- 
 tion has been scanty and discouraging for such an 
 . enterprise. One of the Scandinavian pirates had in- 
 deed been driven by stress of weather, so early as 
 the middle of the ninth century, upon an island to 
 the north-west, to which, from its appearance, he 
 gave the name of Snowland, which was afterwards 
 changed to that of Iceland by the leader of the Nor- 
 wegian colonists who took refuge on that inhospitable 
 spot ; but it was not till more than a century after 
 this that Eric Rauda discovered the southern part of 
 Old Greenland ; and there are grounds for believ- 
 ing that, in the year 1001, some of these colonists 
 discovered Newfoundland and the coast of Labra- 
 dor. 
 
 The colony of Iceland continued to flourish in 
 spite of the storms and tempests, the chilling tem- 
 perature, the earthquakes and volcanoes, which shook 
 to its centre this Ultima Thule 'o£ the inhabitable 
 world; but the Greenland colonies were less fortun- 
 
 ate. 
 
 Polar Seas- 
 
 For some time that on the west is said to have 
 so well succeeded as to number one hundred vil- "^^^"^ 
 lages, divided into four parishes ; but that, having 
 engaged in hostilities with the natives, whom they 
 named Skrcelings (the same people as the present 
 Eskimaux), the latter compelled them to abandon 
 their settlements. The eastern colony is supposed 
 to have shared a more deplorable fate ; a stream of 
 ice having fixed itself to the coast, about the year 
 MOe, and rendered the whole of it, from that time 
 to this, utterly inaccessible. The existence, how- 
 ever, of any such colony, has of late years been called 
 in question; and it is now supposed that all the 
 Danish and Norwegian settlements were confined to 
 the western side of Cape Farewell. 
 
 The voyages and adventures of the two brothers The Voy- 
 Nicolo and Antonio Zeno in 1 380, though they added J^j^ "^^j^*^. 
 but little to the knowledge of northern geography, ^"j^j^^^eno." 
 are extremely curious, and throw considerable light 
 on the state of Greenland, Labrador, and the Feroe 
 Islands (Friesland), at that early period. It may be 
 doubted, however, if any of the voyages hitherto 
 made were undertaken for purposes of discovery 
 and the benefit of navigation. The Portuguese have Of the Por. 
 vmquestionably the merit of being the first to send^uguese. 
 out expeditions with these views ; and it is to their 
 successful discovery of a passage round the Cape of 
 Good Hope, that we owe the bold enterprise of 
 Christopher Colon, better known as Columbus, to 
 find out a passage to the Indies by steering directly 
 to the west. 
 
 It was not till the year 1496 that England engaged Of John Ca. 
 in nautical discoveries. In that year, Henry VII. 
 encouraged John Cabota, a citizen of Venice, to 
 make discoveries, by granting him a patent to search 
 for unknown lands, and to conquer and settle them. 
 His son Sebastian, either alone or in company with 
 his father, discovered Newfoundland, to which was 
 given the name of Prima Vista, " the first seen." 
 We say discovered ; for although the testimonies are 
 in favour of the Scandinavians having settled colonies 
 on this island, no vestige then remained or has since 
 been found of any such colonies. The object of the 
 voyage was, as stated by himself, that, " understand- 
 ing, by reason of the sphere, that if I should sail by 
 way of north-west, I should by a shorter tract come 
 into India, I thereupon caused the king to be adver- 
 tised of my devise, who immediately commanded two 
 caravets to be furnished with all things appertaining to 
 the voyage." He states in his report that he reached 
 the 56th degree, but finding no opening in the coast, 
 he despaired of a passage, and returned. 
 
 A claim, however, has been set up for the dis- Of the Cor- 
 covery of Terra de Bacalhaos (the Land of Cod- tereals. 
 fish), afterwards called Newfoundland, by John Vaz 
 Costa Cortereal, a Portuguese gentleman belonging 
 to the household of the Infanta Don Fernando, who 
 is said to have touched at that island in the year 
 1463 or 1464, in an attempt to find a route to India 
 and the Spice Islands by sailing westward round the 
 northern extremity of America. This claim rests on 
 the testimony of Cordeira, and on a patent commis- 
 sion, granting to Cortereal the Captaincy of Terceira, 
 in 1464, as a reward for his important discovery. The 
 
206 
 
 POLAR SEAS. 
 
 Cartier. 
 
 Tolar Seas. Portij^uese certainly not only fished on the banks, 
 ""-"-v—^but formed establishments on the island of New- 
 foundland towards the end of the fifteenth century. 
 
 In the summer of 1 500, two ships sailed from Lis- 
 bon, under the command of Caspar Cortereal, on 
 northern discovery. According to Ramusio, they 
 arrived at a region of extreme cold ; and in the 
 latitude of 60*" north, discovered a river filled with 
 ice, to which they gave the name of Rio Nevado, 
 that is. Snow River. This land was Labrador, 
 which on an old chart is named Corterealis. In re- 
 turning, he discovered the Gulf of St Lawrence. 
 Gaspar Cortereal was so satisfied of the existence of 
 a north-west passage to India, that he again left 
 Lisbon, in May 1501, with two vessels, but his own 
 was separated on the coast of Terra Verde, and ne- 
 ver more heard of A second brother went out the 
 follov/ing year, but his ship was also supposed to be 
 lost and all hands perished. A third expedition 
 was sent out in search of the unfortunate navigators, 
 but no tidings could be obtained of their fate. 
 Of Auberton The French are the only maritime people who 
 have seen, with apparent indifference, the exertions 
 made by other nations for the discovery of a passage 
 to India, either by the north-east or the north-west. 
 Auberton Cartier's voyages to Newfoundland and 
 the Gulf of St Lawrence, between 1508 and 1534, 
 can hardly be considered as voyages of discovery ; 
 and the subsequent voyages of Roberval and of the 
 Marquis de la Roche had no other object than the 
 discovery of gold, or of a desirable spot to esta- 
 blish a colony on the coast of America. 
 
 In the year 1524, the jealousy of the Spaniards 
 would seem to have taken the alarm at the attempts 
 which were making by other nations to discover a 
 shorter way to China and the Indies by the north ; 
 for it appears, that a skilful navigator, who had been 
 with Magelhanes, of the name of Estevan Gomez, 
 sailed in that year from Coruana, with the view of 
 discovering a northern passage from the Atlantic to 
 the Moluccas. Gaspar, the only author who has 
 recorded this voyare, enters into no details, but it is 
 supposed he reached no farther than the coast of 
 Labrador, from whence he brought away some of 
 the natives. On his return, he was asked by a 
 friend what success he had met with ? The answer 
 was esclavos (slaves), which the inquirer mistook 
 for clavos (cloves), and spread the report of his hav- 
 ing made, as Purchas calls it, a " spicy discovery." 
 It is evident, however, that his voyage was a com- 
 plete failure, of which, as the voluminous compiler 
 just mentioned observes, " little is left us but a 
 jest." 
 
 The alarm of the Spaniards spread to the Pacific ; 
 and Cortez, the conqueror and Viceroy of Mexico, 
 on receiving intelligence of the voyages of the Cor- 
 tereal s, fitted out three ships, under the orders of 
 Francisco Ulloa, to look for the supposed Strait of 
 Anian, through which they were to pass. In 1542, 
 the Viceroy Mendoza sent one expedition by land 
 and anothe'r by sea from Mexico to the northward. 
 No discoveries were made by any of these voyages. 
 Two years after this, the Court of Spain ordered 
 another expedition along the western coast of Ame- 
 rica, the conduct of which was entrusted to Juan 
 
 Of Estevan 
 Gomez. 
 
 Of the Spa 
 niards on 
 the West 
 Coast of 
 America. 
 
 Rodriques de Cabrillo, a Portuguese in the service f olar Seas, 
 of Spain. He reached the latitude of 4-4° N. and''*-*^/'-^ 
 gave the name of Cape Mendocino to the land, 
 about the latitude 42° N., in compliment of the 
 viceroy. 
 
 England, in the mean time, was not inactive. At First Eng- 
 the suggestion of Mr Robert Thorne of Bristol, ^'^l^ '^'oy^S^- 
 King Henry VIII. caused to be sent forth " two 
 faire ships, with divers cunning men, to seek strange 
 regions," which left the Thames in 1527. All that 
 Hakluyt could discover of these ships and the 
 cunning men was, that the name of one of them 
 was Dominus Vobiscum, and that a canon of St 
 Paul's of London, a great mathematician and wealthy 
 man, went on the expedition. One of these ships 
 was cast aAvay in the great opening between the 
 north parts of Newfoundland and Meta Incognita, 
 supposed to be Greenland. 
 
 In the year 1536, two ships, the Trinitie and the Second Eng- 
 Minion, were set forth by Master Hore of London, lish Voyage. 
 " a man of goodly stature and of great courage, and 
 given to the studie of cosmographie." Six score 
 persons, we are told, embarked on this expedition, 
 whereof thirty were gentlemen. They reached no 
 higher than Newfoundland ; but there is a curious 
 account of their proceedings by Hakluyt, v.'hich he 
 procured from Mr Oliver Dawbeny, merchant of 
 London, who was one of the adventurers on board 
 the Minion. 
 
 On the return of Sebastian Cabot to England, he Voyage of 
 was constituted Grand Pilot, and " Governor of the Sir Hugh 
 Mysterieand Companie of the Merchants Adventur- ^'^^^°"S' - 
 ersfor the Discoverie of Regions, Dominions, Islands, 
 and Places vmknown." At his suggestion, a voy- 
 age was undertaken, in the year 1553, for the dis- 
 covery of a north-east passage to Cathaia, consisting 
 of three vessels, whose crews, including eleven mer- 
 chants, amounted to ]]3 persons. Numerous can- 
 didates stood forward for the command of this ex- 
 pedition ; but Sir Hugh Willoughby was appointed 
 Captain-General of the fleet, " both by reason of his 
 goodly personage (for he was of tall stature), as al- 
 so for his singular skill in the services of warre." 
 The fate of this expedition was most disastrous. 
 Sir Hugh Willoughby, with his brave associates, as 
 well as the crew of the second ship, to the number 
 of seventy persons, miserably perished, from cold 
 and hunger, on the coast of Lapland, at the mouth 
 of a river called Arzina, not far from the harbour of 
 Kegor. The third ship, under Master Richard 
 Chancelor, had parted company, and by putting in- 
 to Wardhuys, in Norway, escaped the fate of his 
 companions ; and in the following year, discovered 
 the port of Archangel, and opened the first inter- 
 course with Russia. 
 
 In the years 1555 and 1556, two ships were sent Of Stephen 
 out to Archangel, to carry Commissioners to the^"™'"gh- 
 Court of Moscow, and having landed them to pro- 
 secute discoveries, and " to use all wayes and meanes 
 possible to learne howe men may passe from Russia, 
 either by land or sea, to Cathaia." Stephen Bur- , 
 rough, in the Serchthrift, proceeded easterly as far 
 as the island of W^ygatz, where he was stopped by 
 the constant north-east and northerly winds, thick 
 weather, and abundance of ice. The neighbouring 
 
POLAR SEAS. 
 
 £07 
 
 Polar Seas, country was inhabited by Samoeds, who had no 
 ' houses, but tents made of deers' skins. 
 
 The rapid progress made from this time by land 
 through Russia to Persia and India, revived the ar- 
 dour for discovery by sea, and the pens of the most 
 learned and ingenious men in the nation vpere em- 
 ployed to prove the existence, the practicability, and 
 the great advantages which would result from the dis- 
 covery of a north-west passage. Among others, Mar- 
 tin Frobisher had laboured for fifteen years, but with- 
 out the means of setting forth an expedition, till at 
 last, in the year 1576, by the assistance of Dudley 
 Earl of Warwick, and a few friends, he was enabled 
 to fit out two small barks, the Gabriel of 35, and the 
 Michael of 30 tons, and a small pinnace of 1 0 tons. 
 On the 1 1th July, this little squadron came in sight 
 of Friesland, rising like pinnacles of steeples, and 
 all covered with sno\v." This Friesland, being in 
 6l° latitude, was probably the southern part of Old 
 Greenland. He entered a strait, which now bears 
 his name, in latitude 63° 8' N., and had communi- 
 cation with the Eskimaux, whom he describes as 
 " like to Tartars, with long black hair, broad faces, 
 and flatte noses." He brought home one of these 
 " strange infideles, whose like was never scene, read, 
 nor heard of before and Frobisher had the satis- 
 faction to find himself " highly commended of all 
 men for his greate and notable attempt, but spe- 
 ceally famous for the great hope he brought of the 
 passage to Cathaia." 
 
 Some of the crew having brought home a stone 
 which " giistend with a bright marquesset of gold," 
 Queen Elizabeth now gave countenance to a second 
 attempt, and added to the expedition " one tall ship 
 of hir Majesties, named the Ayde." In this voyage 
 they proceeded to Mount Warwick, on Resolution 
 Island, in latitude 63|° N., from whence they sailed 
 on their return home on the 22d August, having 
 lost only one man by sickness, and another Avho fell 
 overboard. 
 
 Though Frobisher brought home neither gold nor 
 silver, but something which had the appearance of 
 both, the Queen and her Court pleased in " finding 
 that the matter of the gold ore had appearance, and 
 made shew of great riches and profit, and the hope of 
 the passage to Cathaia by this last voyage greatly in- 
 creased," determined to establish a colony on Meta In- 
 cognita ; for which purpose fifteen ships were prepar- 
 ed, carrying 100 persons to form the settlement ; with 
 whom three of the ships were to remain, and the other 
 twelve to bring back cargoes of gold ore. The fleet 
 sailed on the 31st May 1578 ; part of it entered 
 Frobisher's Strait, and part were driven towards the 
 coast of Greenland. On the 30th August, the ships 
 having re-asserabled off Hatton's Headland, on Re- 
 solution Island, and all hands disheartened by the 
 cold and tempestuous weather, they resolved to 
 make sail for England, where they all arrived at 
 different ports abovit the beginning of October, with 
 the loss, by deaths, of about forty persons. 
 
 The progress made by land to the eastward in- 
 
 duced the Russia Company to fit out two ships, un- Polar Seas, 
 der the command of Pet and Jackman, to make an- '-•'"V''"*^ 
 other attempt at a north-east passage. They left 
 Harwich on the 30th May 1580, reached War dhuys 
 on the 23d June, and the coast of Nova Zembla the 
 16th July ; passed the Strait of Waygatz, but were 
 obliged to return on account of the ice. 
 
 Sir Humphry Gilbert and his brother obtained Of Sir Hum- 
 from Queen Elizabeth, in 1578, a patent for making pl^ry Gil- 
 western discoveries, by which they established a''^"" 
 corporation under the name of " The Colleagues of 
 the Fellov'ship for the Discoverie of the North- 
 west Passage." In 1583, Sir Humphry set out to 
 take possession of Newfoundland, but the voyage 
 was most disastrovis, and on his return, his little 
 bark foundered at sea, when he and all that were in 
 her perished. 
 
 In 1585, John Davis was sent out by the mer-Of John 
 chants of London, for the discovery of the north- Davis, 
 west passage. Two barks, the Sunshine and the 
 Moonshine, one of 50, the other of 35 tons, were fit- 
 ted out for this purpose. On the 6th of August, 
 Davis had proceeded so high up the strait which 
 now bears his name as latitude 66° 40', and anchor- 
 ed in Exeter Bay, vmder " a brave mount," to which 
 he gave the name of " Mount Raleigh, the cliffs 
 whereof were as orient as gold." On the 8th Au- 
 gust, they returned to the southward, and ai-rived in 
 Dartmouth the 30th September. 
 
 In 1586, Davis set sail a second time, and coasted His Second 
 the western shore of Greenland up to the latitude Voyage. 
 66° 33', stood from thence across to the westward, 
 made the land in 66° 19' > and turning to the south- 
 ward, along the coast and numerous islands, anchor- 
 ed in a bay on the coast of Labrador, in latitude 56", 
 and, sailing from thence, arrived in England in the 
 month of October. 
 
 A third voyage being determined on, Davis sailed His Third 
 from Dartmouth on the 19th May, made the land on Vqyage. 
 the west coast of Greenland in latitude 64" on the 
 14th June, had advanced as high as latitude 67° on_ 
 the 24th, and, on the 30th, was in latitude 72" 12'." 
 From hence he crossed to the westward in an open 
 sea, but being driven, as he supposed, by -a current, 
 found themselves, on the 19th, abreast of Mount 
 Raleigh. After this, Davis advanced 60 leagues up 
 the strait he had discovered on the former voyage, 
 now called Cumberland Strait ; passed through Lum- 
 ley's Inlet, the same, it is supposed, which Frobisher 
 had discovered, and known as Frobisher's Strait; 
 and, standing to the south-east, discovered Cape 
 Chidley, and, returi-ing homewards, arrived in Eng- 
 land by the middle of September. * 
 
 Of the voyage of Maldonado in 1588, and of Jan- 
 de Fuca, J 592, it is not necessary to say any thing, 
 the latter being at best but problematical, and the 
 former altogether spurious. 
 
 The next attempts we find in chronological order Y-^y&^es ot 
 were three voyages for the discovery of a north-east Wjliiam 
 passage, undertaken by the Dutch, in which Wil- B^r.^ntz. 
 liam Barentz was chief pilot. The first of these was 
 
 * An interesting account of the proceedings of this able and intrepid navigator, by himself, is contained 
 in a very rare and curious little book called The Worldes Hi/drographical Description, 1595. 
 
208 
 
 POLAR SEAS. 
 
 Polar Seas, set forth in 1594 ; proceeded easterly as far asWay- 
 •'•'f'^y^ gatz, then along the western coast of Nova Zembla 
 as high as latitude 11^ 9.5', and returned to the 
 Texel the Ifith September. On the second voyage, 
 the following year, they did not reach Nova Zem- 
 bla till the 17th August, when finding it impos- 
 sible, on account of the great quantity of ice, and 
 ''the weather being misty, melancholic, and snowie," 
 they returned to the westward, and arrived in the 
 Maes on the ] 8th November. 
 
 The third voyage of Barentz is intensely interest- 
 ing. The ships left the Texel in May, and on the 
 9th June, after sailing among much ice, they disco- 
 vered Bear (since called Cherry) Island. Proceed- 
 ing northerly, they discovered Spitzbergen, along 
 the western coast of which they had advanced, on 
 the 19th, as high as 80° 11', opposite the point since 
 known as Hakluyt's Headland. Returning to the 
 southward, Barentz made for the coast of Nova 
 Zembla ; doubled the northern extremity ; and then 
 found himself compelled, by the pressure of the 
 ice and bad weather, to seek for refuge in a small 
 bay, which they called Ice Haven ; and here they 
 passed " their cold, comfortlesse, darke, and dread- 
 ful winter," in about the 76th parallel of lati- 
 tude. The ship was wholly wrecked, and the sur- 
 viving part of the crew, fifteen in number, left this 
 spot the following year in two open boats ; and 
 after an exertion of forty days, in which they suf- 
 fered the greatest fatigue, famine, and cold, and in 
 which Barentz and two others died, they reach- 
 ed Kilduin in Lapland, a distance of 1000 miles 
 and more from the bay in which they had passed 
 the winter. 
 
 Of George The merchants of England seem to have lost all 
 Weymouth, j^^^pg ^ northern passage to the East Indies, till 
 they were once more roused by a supposed piece of 
 information of Captain James Lancaster, that the 
 passage was in the north-west of America, in lati- 
 tude 62° 30'. Accordingly in 1602 the Musco- 
 vy and Turkey Companies fitted out two fly-boats, 
 the Discovery and Godspeed, the command of 
 which was given to Captain George Weymouth. 
 This voyage, however, was a complete failure. It 
 is difficult to make out precisely the utmost li- 
 mit at which it arrived ; it was not much beyond 
 Resolution Island in Hudson's Strait; but, to use 
 the words of a subsequent sagacious navigator, Luke 
 Fox, " Davis and Weymouth lighted Hudson into 
 his Straits." 
 
 Of Hall and In l605, the King of Denmark sent out an expe- 
 Knight. dition of discovery, in which two Englishmen, 
 James Hall and John Knight, were employed. The 
 ships proceeded along the west coast of Greenland, 
 but reached no higher than about latitude 66^ 55' ; 
 gave the names of Christian's Foord and Queen 
 Anne's Cape ; traded and quarrelled with the natives; 
 left two malefactors among them, and returned to 
 Elsineur. 
 
 This expedition was followed up by two others in 
 the two following years, neither of which was pro- 
 ductive of any discoveries; the first having advanced 
 only to 66° 25' on the coast of Greenland, and the 
 latter not farther than Cape Farewell. 
 
 Of John In I6O6, the merchants of London sent out the 
 
 Knight. \ 
 
 Hopewell, under the directions of John Knight. In Polar Seas, 
 latitude 56° 48', on the coast of Labrador, Knightj >— v""-^ 
 with his mate and four others, went on shore, and 
 were supposed to be murdered by the natives, as 
 none of them were ever afterwards heard of. The 
 ship returned home. 
 
 Henry Hudson made no fewer than four voyages The Voy- 
 of discovery. The first, in I607, was along ^^^^ ^^^JjJ^^^^^j,"' 
 eastern coast of Greenland, when he observed, in "<^son. 
 78° 56', a higher degree of latitude on that coast 
 than has since been ascended. The second, in I6O8, 
 was an attempt to the eastward, where, as in all 
 preceding attempts, he was stopped at Waygat 
 Strait. Of the third little is known. Its northern 
 limits appear to have been the North Cape on one 
 side, and Newfoundland on the other. 
 
 The fourth voyage was fatal to Hudson ; but it 
 opened the way to the coast of America in a higher 
 degree of latitude than it had yet been approached. 
 He left the Thames in the Discovery of 55 tons, on 
 the 17th April 161O; and reached the Isle of 
 Godsmercie, in the strait which bears his name, on 
 the 6th July; on the 2d August, he discovered 
 land, which he named Cape Wolstenholm ; and near 
 it, on a cluster of islands. Cape Digges — and here 
 ends Hudson's narrative ; for his crew having mu- 
 tinied, they put Hudson, his son, and seven others, 
 into an open boat, which was never heard of more. 
 The ship returned to England, and, what is most re- 
 markable, the inhuman and atrocious act does not 
 appear to have caused any sensation, nor was any 
 inquiry instituted into the proceedings of the mu- 
 tineers. 
 
 Two of them, in fact, Abacuk Pricket and Ro- Of Tliomas 
 bert Bylot, were employed under Captain (after- Euttron. 
 wards Sir Thomas) Button, appointed to prosecute 
 the discovery of a north-west passage, in two ships, 
 the Resolution and Discovery. Button followed the 
 tract of Hudson, and succeeded in reaching the coast 
 of America, where he wintered in Nelson's River, 
 in latitude 57° 10'. The following year they stood to 
 the northward, and discovered Southampton Island, 
 as high up as latitude 65°; made some discoveries of 
 Islands, and returned to England in the autumn of 
 1613. 
 
 In 1612, we find James Hall employed on an ex- Of James 
 pedition up the western coast of Greenland, where 
 he was slain by one of the natives at Ramel's Point, 
 in latitude 67°. The account of the voyage is writ- 
 ten by William Baffin, who was pilot, in which he 
 relates the method of determining the longitude by 
 an observation of the time when the moon came up- 
 on the meridian ; the first navigator probably who 
 practised this method. 
 
 In 1614, Captain Gibbon was sent out in the Dis- Of Captain 
 covery, at the recommendation of Sir Thomas But- Gibbion. 
 ton ; he encountered much ice at the opening of 
 Hudson's Strait, returned to the southward, and was 
 shut up in a bay on the coast of Labrador, for five 
 months ; and returned without making any progress 
 in the north-western discovery. To this bay the 
 ship's company are said to have given, in derision, 
 the name of " Gibbon's his Hole." 
 
 In 1615, the Discovery was fitted out a fourth Of B ylot and 
 time, and the command of her given to Robert By-^ Baffiin^ 
 
POLAR SEAS. 
 
 polar Seas, lot, who took William Baffin as his mate. They 
 ~ visited Button's Islands, Savage Islands, and Mill 
 Islands, and proceeded along the east coast of 
 Southampton Island to Cape Comfort, in latitude 
 65°. From hence they returned to the southward, 
 and reached England in the month of September. 
 
 In 161 (), Bylot and Baffin again set out in the 
 bark Discovery, in search of a north-west passage ; 
 and, following their instructions, proceeded up Da- 
 vis Strait to Hope Saundersonj the extreme point of 
 Davis's progress, being between 72° and 73° lati- 
 tude, which they reached as early as the 30th May. 
 A little to the northward was a group of islands, to 
 ■which, finding females only, they gave the name of 
 Women's Islands. From hence they stood norther, 
 ly, between the ice and the land, passing in succes- 
 sion Horn Sound, Wolstenholm's Islands, Whale 
 Sound, Sir Thomas Smith's Sound, in latitude 78°, 
 and, at the northern extremity of what has since 
 been called Baffin's Bay ; and following the direction 
 of the land, they passed, on the western shore. Al- 
 derman Jones's Sound, and lastly, Lancaster Sound ; 
 from Avhence the ice compelled them to leave the 
 land, and they therefore shaped their course home- 
 wards. This last voyage of Baffin is the most im- 
 portant that had yet been made ; and it is quite sur- 
 prising that the discovery of so many immense open- 
 ings which he calls sounds, for want of a better word, 
 should not have been followed up, and that not one 
 of them should have been examined imtil the recent 
 expedition under that intelligent and enterprising 
 officer Captain Parry. 
 
 In 1619, the Danes sent out an expedition under 
 Jens Munck, who penetrated as high up on the 
 coast of America as Chesterfield Inlet, which he 
 named Munck's Winter Harbour, for he wintered in 
 it, and all his people, except two, perished of cold, 
 disease, and famine. Munck, and these two survi- 
 vors, with great difficulty, fitted out the smaller of 
 the two vessels, and reached Denmark, where they 
 were considered as men risen from the dead. 
 Munck is said to have received the indignity of a 
 blow from the King, on which he took to his bed, 
 and died of a broken heart ; but there is an air of 
 romance in the account of this voyage, which makes 
 its authenticity doubtful. 
 
 In 1631, Captain Luke Fox, who quaintly calls 
 himself the " North-west Fox," prevailed on some 
 merchants of London to procure from King Charles 
 I. his countenance, and the loan of one of his ships, 
 for attempting the discovery of a north-west passage. 
 Fox was undoubtedly the most shrewd and intelli- 
 gent of all former navigators ; and if, when he reach- 
 ed what he calls Fox's Farthest, he had stood across 
 to the westward, the probability is, that he would 
 have got upon the northern coast of America, and 
 succeeded in working his way into the Pacific, by 
 the very route which Parry is now pursuing. 
 
 In the same year the merchants of Bristol fitted 
 out the Maria of 7O tons, the command of which 
 was given to Captain James. In proceeding up 
 Hudson's Strait, somewhere about Resolution Island, 
 he got his ship entangled in the ice ; and from that 
 spot to Charlton Island, at the bottom of Hudson's 
 Bay, in latitude 52°, he details a series of disasters 
 
 VOL. VI. PART I. 
 
 209 
 
 which never happened to any navigator before or Polar Sea,. 
 since. Here he passed the Aviuter, and returned the ^^^^^ 
 following year, without making the least progress in 
 discovery. ° 
 
 In 1652, the King of Denmark again set forth Of Captain 
 an expedition under Captain Daniel, to explore 
 the eastern coast of Greenland. He stood to the 
 northward of Iceland, but he could not approach 
 the land on account of the ire, but the mountains 
 were visible at least 60 miles. The most north- 
 ern cape seen was in 65° 30', to which he gave 
 the name of Cape King Frederick. From this point 
 to Cape Farewell the ice lay between him and the 
 shore, which in no part he could approach within 
 20 miles; of course, no discovery " was made by 
 him. 
 
 After the lapse of more than a century, a paper Of Wood 
 admitted into the Transactions of the Royal Society and.Flawt. 
 of London in 1675, tended to revive the attempt at 
 a north-east passage in England- It contained an 
 account of a Dutch ship fitted out by a company of 
 merchants in Holland, having passed to the north- 
 eastward of Nova Zembla several hundred leagues, 
 between the parallels of 70° and 80° ; and the sea in 
 that direction was found to be perfectly open and free 
 from ice. About the same time, it was reported that 
 Spitzbergen had been circumnavigated, and that a 
 Dutch ship had proceeded within one degree of the 
 Pole. Upon the strength of these reports. Captain 
 John Wood addressed a memorial to the king, as- 
 signing seven reasons and three arguments, for the 
 existence of a north-east passage. Accordingly, two 
 ships were fitted out under Captains Wood and 
 Flaws; they left the Nore in May 1676; on the 
 22d June, had reached the latitude 75° 79', and 
 on the 26th got sight of the west coast of Nova 
 Zembla. Three days after this. Wood lost his ship 
 among the ice, and after some perils and the loss of 
 two men in reaching the shore, they were picked up 
 by the other ship, and returned homewards without 
 making the least discovery ; when Wood published 
 many peremptory and ill-founded reflections on 
 former navigators, and now found out seven reasons 
 and three arguments against the passage to the north- 
 east. 
 
 Of the voyages of Knight, Barlow, Vaughan, and of Captain 
 Scroggs, from the Hudson's Bay Company's settle- MiddJeton. 
 ments, along the eastern coast of America, little else 
 need be said, than that they extended not the know- 
 ledge of that coast beyond Whale Point ; but their 
 observations on the strong tide flowing down the 
 Welcome, induced a gentleman of the name of 
 Dobbs to press the Board of Admiralty to appro- 
 priate a ship of the navy to make discoveries in this 
 quarter. Two ships were accordingly fitted out, 
 the Furnace bomb, and the Discovery pink, com- 
 manded by Captain Middleton and Mr William 
 Moor. They left England in 1741, and wintered 
 in Churchill River in latitude 58° 56'; remained 
 there till the 1 st July ; proceeded northerly to the 
 latitude 65° 23', and entered Wager River, which 
 they examined in an imperfect manner. They then 
 stood to the northward as far as Cape Hope, in lati- 
 tude 66° U', longitude 86° 28' W.; and, most un- 
 accountably, abandoned all farther search, having 
 
 Dd 
 
210 
 
 POLAR SEAS. 
 
 Polar Seas, seen, or fancied they saw, «a frozen strait" between 
 "--'"V^ them and the point round which they had to pro- 
 ceed to the westward. Middleton had been an old 
 servant of the Hudson's Bay Company, who were 
 supposed to be jealous of any discoveries in their 
 neighbourhood, and averse from encouraging them ; 
 and he was accused of having taken a bribe from 
 them to defeat the object of the expedition. The 
 . Lords of the Admiralty refused to approve of his 
 proceedings, and to evince the feeling of the govern- 
 ment, an act was passed the very year after his re- 
 turn, offering a reward of L. 20,000 to the person 
 or persons, being subjects of his Majesty, who 
 should discover a north-west passage through Hud- 
 son's Strait to the Pacific. Dobbs, turning these 
 circumstances to the advantage of his favourite pro- 
 ject, got up a large subscription, and in 1746, two 
 other vessels were fitted out, and the command of 
 Of Moor and them given to Captain William Moor and Captain 
 Smith. Francis Smith. Their first examination was that of 
 the Wager River, which was found to terminate in 
 a broad rapid, beyond which were two unnavigable 
 rivers. They then proceeded northerly, till they came 
 to Captain Middleton's " frozen strait," or opening 
 into Repulse Bay, when a difference of opinion arose 
 among the officers, whether they were authorized by 
 their instructions to examine this bay ! The fact 
 appears to be, that the officers and men had no taste 
 for the business, and were under no kind of disci- 
 pline. Instead, therefore, of proceeding, they be- 
 gan to murmur, and although only the 7th August, 
 they urged the lateness of the season, and wished to 
 return home. After this nothing was done or even 
 attempted ; and Repulse Bay remains unexamined to 
 this moment ; and what we see laid down in the 
 charts under that name is wholly gratuitous. 
 Of Phipps No farther attempts at either passage appear to 
 and Lut. have been made by any of the maritime nations for 
 widge. nearly thirty years. But the Honourable Daines 
 Barrington having, in the year 1773, presented to 
 the Royal Society a series of papers on the practica- 
 bility of approaching the North Pole, the President 
 and Council of that Society made application to the 
 First Lord of the Admiralty (then Lord Sandwich) 
 to send out a ship or ships, to try how far navigation 
 might be practicable towards that quarter. The 
 Racehorse and Carcass bombs were accordingly pre- 
 pared, and the command given to Captain the Ho- 
 nourable Constantine Phipps and Captain Skiffing- 
 ton Lutwidge. They left the Nore on the 10th 
 June, passed along the western coast of Spitzbergen, 
 and advanced to latitude 80° 48', in sight of the 
 Seven Islands ; here they were beset in the ice on 
 the 1st August, and on the 10th, after being forced 
 through it by a north-east wind, they proceeded to 
 the southward, and arrived at the Nore on the 25th 
 September. 
 
 Of Cook and The hopes of a north-west passage were not aban- 
 Clerke. doned by this failure ; but it was resolved to make 
 the attempt by a different route to any that had yet 
 been practised ; that is to say, from the Pacific to 
 the Atlantic. Captain Cook was selected for this 
 enterprise, and two ships, the Resolution and Dis- 
 covery, were fitted out for the purpose, the latter 
 being commanded by Captain Clerke. An amended 
 
 act was passed for granting the reward of L. 20,000 ^ohr Seas, 
 for the discovery of " any northern passage" by sea, "^^v*^* 
 between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and also 
 the reward of L. 5000 to any ship which should 
 approach the North Pole within one degree. Cap- 
 tain Cook left England in July 1776 ; entered Beh- 
 ring's Strait on the 9th August 1779J and on the 
 17th August, reached latitude 70° 41' N., and saw 
 the highest point of America surrounded with ice ; 
 and, therefore, named by him Icy Cape, in lati- 
 tude 70° 29', longitude 198° 20'. The main body 
 of the ice drifting down towards the ships, and the 
 weather becoming foggy, they stood to the south- 
 ward ; and, as the season was far advanced, Captain 
 Cook determined to pass the winter at the Sandwich 
 Islands, and to renew the attempt at an earlier pe- 
 riod the following year. By his death at this place. 
 Captain Clerke became the commanding officer. 
 That he should have failed in reaching as far north 
 as Cook had done, is not at all surprising, after an 
 absence of three years from home, and all hands, as 
 is avowed, " heartily sick of a navigation full of 
 danger." A small vessel had been sent, in the year 
 1776, up Davis's Strait, under Lieutenant Pickers- 
 gill, and the same vessel again in 1777^ under Lieu- 
 tenant Young, to render any assistance that might 
 be required, in the event of Captain Cook's reaching 
 Baffin's Bay ; but neither of these officers made a 
 progress beyond the 73d degree of latitude. 
 
 In 1786 and 1787, the King of Denmark, at the Admiral 
 suggestion of Bishop Egede, sent out an expedition Lo^no™ 
 under Captain (now Admiral) Lowenorn, for the 
 purpose of rediscovering the eastern coast of Green- 
 land. This officer persevered for two years, but with 
 no better success than his predecessors. They saw 
 the coast at various points, as high up as 66 1°, but 
 could not approach it for the ice. No discovery, 
 therefore, of importance resulted from this expedi- 
 tion. 
 
 On the part of England, all farther attempts ap- 
 peared to be abandoned after the failure of Captain 
 Cook. One gentleman, however, the late Alexander 
 Dalrymple, Hydrographer to the Admiralty, con- 
 sidering that three points of the northern coast of 
 America had been clearly established, — Icy Cape by 
 Cook ; the north of the Copper Mine River, in 1772, 
 byHearne; and the mouth of Mackenzie River by the 
 traveller whose name it bears, in 1789 ; — which three 
 points were supposed to be in or about the 70°parallel 
 of latitude, and that they comprehended within them 
 full two-thirds of the whole of that coast ; and com- 
 bining these discoveries with other circumstances, 
 was decidedly of opinion that a north-west pas- 
 sage did exist, and that it was practicable. On the 
 strength of this opinion, he prevailed on the gover- 
 nor of the Hudson's Bay Company to employ Mr 
 Charles Duncan, a master in the navy, on the dis- Mr Dun- 
 covery. He left England for this purpose in I790, can's Voy- 
 to join a sloop of the name of the Churchill, then in 
 Hudson's Bay; but he soon discovered that the 
 crew were averse from the intended enterprise, and 
 set up so systematic an opposition to proceeding 
 upon it, that he deemed it prudent to leave them, 
 and to return to England. The governors of the 
 company expressed their regret ; and to prove how 
 
POLAR SEAS. 
 
 211 
 
 Polar Seas. 
 
 Of the Rus 
 sian Voy- 
 
 Of Lieute- 
 nant Kotze- 
 bue. 
 
 Of Ross and 
 Parry, 
 Buchan and 
 Franklin. 
 
 much they were in earnest, fitted out a strong ship 
 called the Beaver, and Mr Duncan set out a se- 
 cond time. He wintered in Churchill River, 
 where he remained till the 15th July, and enter- 
 ed Chesterfield Inlet; his crew mutinied, encou- 
 raged by his first officer, who was a servant of the 
 Hudson's Bay Company, and thus ended his second 
 voyage. 
 
 We have said nothing of the Russian voyages along 
 the northern coast of Asia. That no one person has 
 performed the whole, either at once or by successive 
 trials, is quite clear ; but, with the single exception 
 of one " sacred promontory," called Cape Cevero 
 Vostochnoi, between the Yenisei and the Lena, the 
 whole has been navigated by various persons at dif- 
 ferent times. In the years between 1734 and 1738, 
 Lieutenants Moroviof, Malgyn, and Skurakof, suc- 
 ceeded in proceeding from Archangel to the Bay of 
 Obe; and in the latter year, OfFzin and Koskelef 
 proceeded from that bay to the mouth of the Yenisei. 
 In 1735, Lieutenant Prontshistshef set out in the 
 contrary direction from the Lena, but was stopped 
 by the promontory above mentioned ; though some 
 affirm that he passed it, and reached as far as Tai- 
 mura. From the Lena eastward to the Kowyma, the 
 voyage has frequently been performed, and Shalau- 
 rofF, in I67I, succeeded in reaching the Shelatskoi 
 Noss, but could not double it ; and the only instance 
 of its having been passed is that of Deshnef, as far 
 back as the year 1 648, who sailed from the Kowyma, 
 through Behring's Strait, to Anadyr. 
 
 The immense distance by sea from Petersburgh to 
 Kamtschatka, and the Russian settlements on the 
 north-west coast of America, would render the dis- 
 covery of a north-west passage of infinite importance 
 to Russia. Impressed with the magnitude of this 
 importance, an individual of that nation, the Count 
 RomanzofF, fitted out, at his own expence, a small 
 vessel, named the Rurick, the command of which 
 was given to Lieutenant Kotzebue. She left the 
 Baltic in 1815, passed Cape Horn, and in 1817 en- 
 tered a deep inlet on the eastern side of Behring's 
 Strait, in which he passed the remaining part of the 
 summer. He found no ice, neither in the strait nor 
 the inlet, and saw nothing to prevent his proceeding 
 up the American coast to Icy Cape but the lateness 
 of the season ; and therefore returned to the south- 
 ward, with the intention of renewing the attempt 
 the following year. An accident, however, which 
 occurred on his second entrance of the strait, though 
 personal only, put an end to the expedition. 
 
 This voyage of Kotzebue would alone have been 
 sufficient to stimulate England to attempt once more 
 to accomplish the almost only interesting discovery 
 in geography that remains to be made ; but other cir- 
 cumstances were reported in the year 1817 which de- 
 termined the Government to fit out two expeditions 
 for northern discovery. A ship from Hamburgh, in 
 the summer of that year, made the eastern coast of 
 Greenland, which was supposed to have been shut 
 up with ice for four centuries, in the 70th parallel of 
 latitude, continued along it to the 80th degree, and 
 stood along that parallel to the coast of Spitzbergen. 
 For three years before this, the post-office packets, 
 and other vessels crossing the Atlantic, had fallen in 
 
 with very unusual quantities of ice floating to the Polar Seas, 
 southward. This breaking up of the ice was deem- 
 ed favourable for the prosecution of northern disco- 
 very. For this purpose, two separate expeditions 
 were put in preparation. One was intended to proceed 
 by the North Pole, as the nearest route, and, if no 
 interruption from land occurred, probably the most 
 practicable, to Behring's Strait ; the other, to attempt 
 a passage by some of the openings leading out of 
 Baffin's Bay. To each were assigned two ships. 
 Those destined for the Polar passage were the Do- 
 rothea, of 370 tons, commanded by Captain David 
 Buchan, and the Trent, of 250 tons, by Lieutenant 
 John Franklin. Those for the north-west were 
 the Isabella, of 382 tons, commanded by Cap- 
 tain John Ross, and the Alexander, of 252 tons, by 
 Lieutenant William Edward Parry. The Polar ex- 
 pedition was rendered abortive by the disabling of 
 the Dorothea in the ice ; the other circumnavigated 
 Baffin's Bay, and ascertained that the narrative of 
 that able navigator whose name it bears is substan- 
 tially true ; and that the chart appended to the Voyage 
 of the North- West Fox is, in fact, the chart of Baffin, 
 and wonderfully correct for the time in which it was 
 laid down. Not one, however, of the many great 
 openings which appear in that chart, and were as- 
 certained to exist, were examined ; and the only one 
 that was entered was abandoned in a most unaccount- 
 able manner, and on grounds which were at once 
 suspected, and subsequently proved, to be utterly 
 without foundation. 
 
 Another expedition was, therefore, immediately Of Parry 
 fitted out, consisting of two ships, the Hecla bomb Liddon. 
 and Griper gun-brig, and the command of it given 
 to Lieutenant Parry, Lieutenant Liddon being ap- 
 pointed to that of the Griper. They dropped down 
 the river on the 4th May 1819 j saw Cape Farewell 
 on the 15th June ; and by the 30th July had suc- 
 ceeded in crossing the ice of Baffin's Bay, and reach- 
 ing the opening of Sir James Lancaster's Sound ; just 
 one month earlier than in the preceding year. To the 
 examination of this sound Mr Parry was particularly 
 directed by his instructions. In proceeding along it 
 to the westward, he met with little obstruction from 
 the ice (though he was evidently navigating through 
 an archipelago of islands where it usually most 
 abounds), until he came to the western extremity of 
 what he calls Melville Island ; the last that was visi- 
 ble on the northern side of the strait or passage 
 through which he had proceeded. Beyond this he 
 struggled in vain, till the 20th September, to get to 
 the westward, when the severity of the weather 
 made it prudent to look out for a secure spot to pass 
 the winter ; and after cutting a canal through the 
 ice upwards of two miles in length, tracked the two 
 ships into Winter Harbour, the crews " hailing the 
 event with three loud and hearty cheers." The fol- 
 lowing year, when released from their icy prison, 
 every effiort was again made to pass the west- 
 ern extremity of Melville Island, but in vain ; and, 
 after many fruitless attempts, the ships returned to 
 the eastward, and reached England in safety, bring- 
 ing back every man who had embarked on the ex- 
 pedition, with the exception of one, who carried out 
 with him an incurable complaint, 
 11 
 
212 
 
 POLAR SEAS. 
 
 Polar Seas, 
 
 Of Pan-y 
 and Lyon. 
 
 The farthest point reached by Lieutenant, now 
 Captain, Parry in the Polar Sea, was latitude T'i" 
 26' 25" N. and longitude 113° 4<6' 43" W. ; a point 
 of western longitude which, by an amended act of 
 Parliament, dividing the sum of L. 20,000 into a 
 graduated scale, entitled the discoverers to L. 5000. 
 
 On their return to England, there was not an of- 
 ficer or man in the whole expedition that was not sa- 
 tisfied with the practicability of a western passage 
 from the Atlantic to the Pacific; though in some 
 other line of direction, either to the northward or the 
 southward of the extensive group of islands among 
 which they had been navigating. The Lords of the 
 Admiralty appear to have entertained the same feel- 
 ings, and accordingly gave directions for two bombs, 
 the Fury and the Hecla, to be prepared for the 
 prosecution of the discovery. To Captain Parry was 
 given, as was justly due, the command of ihe expe- 
 dition, and to Captain Lyon that of the Hecla. They 
 left England in May 1S21, and were last heard of 
 high up in Hudson's Strait, in open water, and with 
 a fair wind, on the 22d July, standing for the north- 
 eastern extremity of the coast of America; the in- 
 tention being to keep close along the northern coast 
 of America, where, from experience, it is concluded 
 a stream of water will be found between the land 
 and the main body of the ice. 
 
 Probability The sketch here given of the various attempts 
 of a Passage, ^yhich have been made for the discovery of a North- 
 from the in- ^gg^^ ^ North-East, and a Polar passage, is purely 
 pSned" historical. The results have been uniformly unsuc- 
 cessful ; butthough they have failed in the main object, 
 it must not be concluded that they have been useless. 
 On the contrary, they have been the means of accu- 
 mulating a stock of information of the highest import- 
 ance in almost every department of science, so as to 
 entitle those who, at the expence of every personal 
 comfort, embarked in them, to the gratitude of 
 mankind. From the present state of our know- 
 ledge, thus acquired, a very probable conjecture 
 may now be formed of the practicability, or other- 
 wise, of a navigation through some part of the Polar 
 Sea. 
 
 In the first place, it has been distinctly ascertain- 
 ed that human beings can winter with impunity to 
 their health in the highest possible degree of cold 
 which can exist in any part of the earth's surface ; 
 for there is every reason, short of actual proof, to be- 
 lieve, that the temperature of the atmosphere on the 
 Pole itself is not lower (perhaps not so low) than 
 in the parallel of 75°, where Parry wintered ; tlie spi- 
 rit in the thermometer having there descended to 55° 
 below zero. So little, indeed, is a high parallel of 
 latitude the sole cause of a decreased temperature, 
 that, in 65° N., ten degrees less than Parry's winter- 
 quarters. Lieutenant Franklin had the spirit in the 
 tube down to 57°, two degrees lower than Parry. 
 This officer, therefore, left England with the impres- 
 sion that he should experience no injury, nor much 
 inconvenience, from passing a second winter in the 
 Polar Sea, if it should be found necessary. 
 
 In tlie second place, it has now been ascertained 
 -in what situations it would be a waste of time to 
 look for a passage, and where the only remaining 
 
 4 
 
 points are deserving of examination. That a com- Po^ar Seas, 
 munication, if not a practicable passage, does exist 
 between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans, through 
 the medium of the Polar Sea, very little doubt can 
 remain. The three known points of Icy Cape, Mac- 
 kenzie's River, and Hearne River, go far to prove 
 it ; and the distance to which Parry proceeded to 
 the westward, considerably beyond Hearne River, 
 strengthens not a little this position. 
 
 Another ground for concluding that a communi- 
 cation exists between the two oceans is, the constant 
 current which the old navigators. Button, Fox, Mid- 
 dleton, and others, observed to set down the Wel- 
 come, and which also, in a less degree, prevails in 
 Baffin's Bay and Davis' Strait ; together with the cur- 
 rent Avhich as constantly sets up Behring's Strait, as 
 appears from the journals of Cook, Clerke, Glottof, 
 and Kotzebue. "The fact of this circumvolving cur- 
 rent, which we have no doubt contributes to those per. 
 manent movements everywhere existing in the great 
 oceans, has been called in question, because Captain 
 Ross found it running as much one way as the other 
 in Baffin's Bay. Captain Ross had no further know- 
 ledge of currents than of those which agitate the 
 surface of the sea, and which are known to change 
 with every wind. Superficial currents, however, are 
 not here meant, but the uniform motion of that great 
 body of water, which, in spite both of winds and su- 
 perficial currents, and in the teeth of both, carry ice- 
 bergs many hundred feet immersed below the sur- 
 face, and bear them along the coast of America, in 
 direct opposition to the strongest and most extensive 
 current that we know of, the Gulf Stream. How 
 happens it, then, it may be asked, why none of these 
 icebergs, so very commonly met with in the Atkn- 
 tic, ever come across to the coast of Norway, or Den- 
 mark, Scotland, or Ireland, with the spray of the 
 said currents, after reaching the banks of Newfound- 
 land, and which brings with it so many other mat- 
 ters floating on the surface to these coasts ? Or why 
 do all the bottles which have been launched in Da- 
 vis' Strait separate from the icebergs, and turn up 
 on some of the above-mentioned coasts? Clearly, 
 because there is a body of water acting on those 
 parts of the icebergs under the surface (and which 
 are at least thirty times the magnitude of the parts 
 above the surface) in a contrary direction to that 
 which is in motion above- This is so obvious as not 
 to require another word on the subject. It is the 
 icebergs only that are subject to this law : the field- 
 ice, which is influenced and drifted about according 
 to the winds and the currents on the surface, gives 
 no indication of the direction in which the great 
 body of water is moved. 
 
 In the same manner, we may be satisfied of the 
 constant rush of water from the Pacific through 
 Behring's Strait into the Polar Sea, to supply the 
 constant stream which flows down the Welcome in- 
 to Hudson's Bay. It is this cvirrent which, accord- 
 ing to the observations of Kotzebue and the natu- 
 ralist Chamisso, brings the great quantity of drift- 
 wood into Behring's Strait and Kotzebue's Inlet. It 
 is the same current by which, on the same authority, 
 we are told, that the icebergs and fields of ice, 
 which are formed and break up in the sea of Kami- 
 
POLAR SEAS. 
 
 213 
 
 Probable 
 Direction of 
 the Passage. 
 
 schatka, " do not drift, as in the Atlantic, to the 
 south, but into the Strait to the north and the 
 strength of this set of the sea is stated to be from 
 two and a half to three miles an hour, and that even 
 in the teeth of a strong northerly wind. The con- 
 clusion drawn by M. Kotzebue is this, " that the 
 constant north-east direction of the current of Behr- 
 ing's Strait proves that the water meets with no 
 opposition, and, consequently, that a passage must 
 exist, though perhaps not adapted to navigation. 
 Observations have long been made that the current 
 in Baffin's Bay runs to the south; and thus no doubt 
 can remain that the mass of water which flows into 
 Behring's Strait takes its course round America, and 
 returns tiirough Baffin's Bay into the ocean. But 
 we have still more direct and positive information. 
 Two Russian ships doubled the Icy Cape in 1821, 
 and proceeded some forty or fifty miles beyond the 
 point reached by Captain Cook ; and such was the 
 strength of the current to the eastward, that it was 
 with the utmost difficulty they could stem it on their 
 return, which a want of provisions, and of every re- 
 quisite to pass the winter or encounter ice, compel- 
 led them to do ; but they had no doubt whatever of 
 a practicable passage. 
 
 An idea has heedlessly been started, that the super- 
 ficial current in Baffin's Bay, and those which de- 
 scend along the coast of Labrador, may be owing to 
 the melting of the ice in summer ; but if so, why does 
 not the summer current at least descend through 
 Behring's Strait instead of perpetually ascending it ? 
 But the supposition is altogether without founda- 
 tion ; for the quantity of ice destroyed above the 
 surface will be replaced by very nearly the same 
 quantity rising from heloixi the surface ; and, there- 
 fore, the water produced by the melting of the ice 
 will merely supply the place of the latter, and not 
 raise the surface of the sea above its usual level, 
 nor produce any current. Be it observed too, that, 
 in the Arctic Regions, little or no increase of the ice 
 is occasioned by the fall of rain or snow. 
 
 Another objection, equally frivolous, was made 
 against a communication of the waters of Hudson's 
 Bay and Behring's Strait, on the ground, that the 
 continent of Asia overlapped and was united to 
 America, making Behring's Strait to terminate in a 
 great bay. That question, however, has been set at 
 rest for ever, even with those who were disposed to 
 doubt of the voyage of DeschrefF. The Russian go- 
 vernment has recently employed several men of 
 science to determine points of doubtful position ou 
 the northern coast of Siberia. In February 1821, 
 Baron Wrangel, a distinguished officer in their ser- 
 vice, left his head-quarters on the Nishey Kolyma 
 to determine, by astronomical observation, the posi- 
 tion of Shelatskoi-noss, or the North-east Cape of 
 Asia, which was found to be in latitude 70° 05' N., 
 considerably lower than it is usually placed on the 
 maps. He then proceeded over the ice directly 
 north for 80 miles, without perceiving any other 
 object than a boundless field of ice. The suppos- 
 ed continuation, therefore, of Asia to the eastward, 
 may be considered an idle speculation. 
 
 These facts being established^ it may be assumed 
 
 that a communication does exist between the two Polar Seas, 
 oceans; and, from the low latitude of the three 
 known points of the coast of America, it may be in- 
 ferred that this communication is a navigable one. 
 The question then is narrowed to the direction in 
 which it is most probable a passage will be found > 
 The north-eastern route may be given up, were 
 it only for the great distance (just one half of the 
 whole circumference of the Polar Sea) that it would 
 be necessary to navigate, more or less, among ice. 
 The north-western, by keeping close along the coast 
 of America, is noAv (l 822) under trial ; it is that which 
 Captain Parry has judged to be the most feasible 
 from the experience he had acquired along the west- 
 ern coast of Old Greenland, the shores of the western 
 islands of Baffin's Bay, and the southern shores of 
 the numerous islands between the entrance of Bar- 
 row's Strait and the western extremity of Melville 
 Island ; in all of which places a navigable channel of 
 water was found between the land and the ice. The 
 same thing invariably happens along the western 
 shore of Spitzbergen, and probably along the eastern 
 coast of Old Greenland, when once fairly in with the 
 land. It was proved, indeed, at Winter Harbour, 
 with what extraordinary rapidity the radiated heat 
 of the land melted the ice on the return of summer ; 
 and as the coast of America is five degrees of lati- 
 tude more southerly than Melville Island, the for- 
 mer has a full month more of summer than the lat- 
 ter. "The only circumstance which militates against 
 an uninterrupted open channel along that coast, is 
 that of its being a lee-shore to the northerly winds, 
 which appear to be the most prevailing in the 
 Arctic Seas ; though Parry found them drawing ge- 
 nerally either to the eastward or westward in the 
 direction of the strait. It is not quite certain, how- 
 ever, though every appearance is favourable, that 
 the north-eastern extremity of America terminates 
 at the head of the Welcome, in or about what is call- 
 ed on the charts Repulse Bay; but there is no 
 doubt, that the Regent's Inlet on the south side of 
 Barrow's Strait leads down upon that coast. 
 
 The tract pursued on the late voyage through 
 Barrow's Strait, and among the islands, must ob- 
 viously be given up as hopeless. The north-wester- 
 ly winds had wedged in such a mass of ice among 
 the islands which never melts, as to render all at- 
 tempts to penetrate it at the western opening of the 
 funnel impracticable ; but beyond this ice. Captain 
 Parry had no doubt there was an open sea ; as it was 
 observed whenever the wind came to the eastward, 
 that the whole body of the ice kept moving to the 
 westward for several days together. And this open 
 sea is probably not inaccessible from some other 
 quarter. There is an opening on the northern side 
 of Barrow's Strait in the meridian of 92*=", which 
 Captain Parry has named Wellington's Channel. 
 This " grand opening," as Parry calls it, was free 
 from every particle of ice, as far as the eye could 
 reach on a fine clear day, and apparently as open 
 and navigable as any part of the Atlantic. This 
 channel, therefore, in all probability, leads to an 
 open sea to the northward of the archipelago of 
 islands^ which, there is every reason to believCj ia 
 
214 
 
 POLAR SEAS. 
 
 Polar Seas. 
 
 Probability 
 of a great 
 portion of 
 the Polar 
 Sea being 
 free from 
 Ice. 
 
 connected with Baffin's Bay by the great inlets 
 known by the names of Smith's Sound and Alder- 
 man Jones's Sound. 
 
 The most important part of the question is, 
 whether the great body of the Polar Sea is com- 
 posed of water or land. The absence of icebergs 
 in the long tract from Baffin's Bay to Melville Island, 
 and in the seas around Spitzbei'gen, affords at least 
 a strong presumption against the existence of high 
 precipitous land rising out of a deep ocean, without 
 which, no formation of these huge masses of ice, 
 some of which are not far short of a thousand feet 
 in height, can possibly take place. If, then, the 
 Polar Sea should be free from land, it will, in all 
 probabiUty, be also sufficiently free of ice for the 
 purposes of navigation ; for, although it is not 
 doubted that the deep and wide sea will freeze over, 
 yet it is well known that, by the navigation of the 
 water in these boisterous latitudes, the ice formed on 
 the surface is soon broken up, heaped together, and 
 drifted with the wind to some shore or islands, 
 where it becomes fixed, or floated so far down to the 
 southward as to undergo a dissolution. If this was 
 not the case, and we were to suppose the whole sur- 
 face of the Polar Sea to be once frozen over into one 
 dense and compact mass of ice, that mass must con- 
 tinue to increase from year to year, till that part of 
 the ocean become one solid and immoveable body. 
 On the whole, then, we should say, that the proba-- 
 bility of an open sea towards the North Pole ra- 
 ther predominates ; it is a theory which has been 
 entertained since the days of Dr Hooke ; and all 
 the Greenland fishermen are impressed with this 
 opinion. 
 
 Probable Dr Brewster, in an ingenious and interesting pa- 
 Mean Tem- per on " the Mean Temperature of the Globe," has 
 ^r^P^r shown, in a satisfactory manner, by comparing the 
 t e Pole. j.gg^,j|.g of ^j^g late expedition with those he had 
 drawn from a preconceived theory, " that the mean 
 temperature of the North Pole of the globe will be 
 about 11°," which, he says, is " incomparably warmer 
 than the regions in which Captain Parry spent the 
 winter." The mean annual temperature of this spot, 
 according to a series of accurate observations for 
 twelve months, w^as actually 1°, 33' ; and on shore 
 could not have been more than 1° below zero. 
 
 But if the Polar Sea should be tolerably free from 
 ice and islands, and it were possible to pass the bar- 
 rier of ice which is usually jammed in between Spitz- 
 bergen and Old Greenland, and no doubt it is pos- 
 sible, in many years, as may also be the case on the 
 eastern side of Spitzbergen in most years, the route 
 by this way, and close to the Pole, being on a great 
 circle, would be by far the shortest in point of dis- 
 tance, cutting off" not less than the whole width of 
 the Atlantic from the Shetland Islands to Cape Fare- 
 well. The accident that happened to Captain Buchan's 
 ship is greatly to' be regretted, as otherwise there was 
 every prospect of much new information being ob- 
 tained in this quarter, which is not likely to be ac- 
 quired from private ships ; for although the present 
 graduated scale of rewards, which commence at the 
 latitude 83°, would appear to encourage masters of 
 fishing ships to avail themselves of favourable open- 
 ings, which frequently occur, to run for that lati- 
 
 Shortest 
 Route to 
 Behring's 
 Strait 
 
 tude, we have little hope of a whale-fishing ship att- Polar Seas, 
 tempting it, and thereby perhaps running the risik ^i^' y"^^ 
 of losing the short and precarious opportunity of 
 accomplishing the main object of the voyage. 
 
 The whole siirrounding coast of the North Polair Coast of the 
 Sea is inhabited ; the European part with Laplanders f 
 and Finns; the Asiatic shores with Ostiacks, Sa- * 
 moyedes, Yuckagires, Tchutskies, and Koriacks, who 
 derive their subsistence from the rein-deer and dried 
 fish. The Tchutskoi bordering on Behring Strait 
 are a superior kind of Eskimaux, and are no doubt 
 the same race which extend along the northern coast 
 of America, the shores and islands of Baffin's Bay, 
 Davis and Hudson's Straits, and the coast of Labra- 
 dor ; and as high up on the coast of Old Greenland as 
 latitude 78°, the highest habitable spot, in all proba- 
 bility, on the globe. All these people, distantly as 
 they are removed from each other, speak the same 
 language, wear the same dress, subsist in the same 
 manner, and in all their habits and appearance are 
 precisely the same people. Spitzbergen has no per- 
 manent inhabitants, but English, Dutch, Danes, and 
 Russians, have frequently wintered there ; and even 
 as high as 80° N. many hundreds, some say thou- 
 sands, of graves, are met with in two or three par- 
 ticular spots where it was usual to extract the oil 
 from the whale and other marine animals furnishing 
 blubber. On Nova Zembla, the body of which is 
 five or six degrees lower in latitude, no inhabitants 
 are found, nor, with the exception of Barentz and 
 his associates, have any been known to pass the 
 winter even in the more southerly parts. Such, in- 
 deed, is the difference of climate on the same paral- 
 lels, that while on the southern part of Nova Zem- 
 bla, in latitude 69°, not a shrub is to be found, at 
 Altengoord, in Norway, in latitude 70°, trees grow 
 to a considerable size. Old Greenland, and the 
 islands on the western shore of Baffin's Bay, of Da- 
 vis Strait, and of Hudson's Bay, down to the 55th 
 degree of latitude, are barren of trees and shrubs ; 
 while, on the western side of America, as high up as 
 the 60th and even 65th degree, the firs and birch 
 grow to a considerable size. Even in the short dis- 
 tance which separates America from Asia across 
 Behring's Strait, Kotzebue, in passing from the for- 
 mer to the latter, experienced a change like that of 
 summer and winter ; in the former all was verdure, 
 in the latter, a complete surface of ice and snow. On 
 the south side of Melville Island, in 75° of latitude, 
 the moment that the snow had departed, the ground 
 was enamelled with a variety of brilliant flowers. 
 
 Nor are these dreary regions entirely destitute of AnimaLs of 
 animated nature. Rein-deer are met with on the the North- 
 northernmost part of Spitzbergen. The polar bear, Regions, 
 the wolf, the arctic fox, the polar hare, the ermine, 
 the lemming or Hudson's Bay mouse, the musk- 
 bull, and the rein-deer, were all caught on Melville 
 Island, the first six being perpetual residents, the two 
 last migratory. Grouse, ptarmigan, plover, and a 
 great variety of water-fowl, frequent in vast numbers 
 the straits and islands of the arctic seas. The follow- 
 ing picture, drawn by the naturalist who accompa- 
 nied Kotzebue, is correct and interesting : " As, on 
 the one hand, in proportion as you advance farther on 
 the land towards the north, the woods become less 
 
Back of 
 Foldout 
 Not Imaged 
 
POLAR SEAS. 
 
 215 
 
 Polar Seas, lofty, the vegetation gradually decreases, animals be- 
 ^.'-^ come scarcer, and lastly (as on Nova Zembla), the 
 rein-deer and the glires vanish with the last plants, 
 and only birds of prey prowl about the icy streams for 
 their food : so, on the other hand, the sea becomes 
 more and more peopled. The alga:, gigantic species 
 of tang, form inundated woods round the rocky 
 coasts, such as are not met with in the torrid zone. 
 But the waters swarm with animal life — the meduscB 
 and zoophytes, molluscce and crustacece, innumerable 
 species of fish, in incredibly crowded shoals ; the- 
 gigantic swimming mammalia, whales, physeters, 
 dolphins, morse, and seals, fill the sea and its shores, 
 and countless flights of water-fowl rock themselves 
 on the bosom of the ocean, and in the twilight re- 
 semble floating islands." 
 
 South Polar Sea. 
 Confined Of the South Polar Sea little or nothing may be 
 5T^?°th ^^^^ known. Captain Cook, in the years 1773 
 Polar Sea" 1774, crossed the Antarctic Circle m five places 
 
 only ; — in longitude 39^° E., where he advanced to 
 latitude 67i°, and met with fields and detached pieces 
 of ice; in longitudes 101° and 110° W., between 
 which he proceeded to latitude 71" 10' S., the far- 
 thest progress made by him towards the South Pole, 
 where he was stopped, or at least deemed it prudent 
 to return, on account of the fields and mountains of 
 ice which were scattered over the surface of the sea ; 
 and in longitude IS 6° and 148° W., between which 
 he descended to latitude 68°, and saw many floating 
 ice islands. There are, therefore, still remaining 
 about 340 degrees of longitude in which the Ant- 
 arctic circle has not been crossed, and full half the 
 circumference of the globe which has not been visit- 
 ed lower to the southward than the parallel of 60° 
 south latitude. 
 
 There can be little doubt of the existence of high 
 land in the South Polar Sea, though Cook discover- 
 ed none beyond the Southern Thule or Sandwich 
 Land, on the parallel of 60°. Without high preci- 
 pitous land, those large icebergs which he met with 
 floating among the fields of ice could not have been 
 formed ; the hummocks of ice, occasioned by the agi- 
 tation of the sea and the meeting of the fields or fiavos 
 in opposite directions, seldom rise to the height of 
 twelve or fifteen feet above the surface. The Rus- 
 sians, indeed, on a recent voyage of discovery, are 
 said to have fallen in with many islands about the 
 70th parallel of latitude ; they also circumnavigated 
 the Sandwich Land, which was left undetermined 
 by Cook, and conjectured that it might be a part of 
 the great- Southern Continent, which occupied so 
 much of the attention of geographers and philoso- 
 phers of the last centuiy. This idea was renewed 
 by the recent discovery of a very considerable ex- 
 tent of land to the southward of Cape Horn, in la- 
 titude 63°, and seen extending from longitude 55° 
 to 65" W. As the eastern extremity had not been 
 seen, and the winding of the coast was to the N. E., 
 it was conjectured that it might unite with the 
 Southern Thule of Cook, and form the long sought 
 for Southern Continent. It is said, however, that 
 the Russians have also circumnavigated this land, 
 and that it is composed of a great cluster of islands. 
 
 The land in question has been called South Shet- Polar Seas, 
 land, but it is no new discovery. In the account of ^^^^^ 
 the voyage of The Five Ships of Rotterdam, under j^^*^^ ^" 
 the command of Jacob Mahu and Simon de Cordes, 
 to the South Seas, in the year 1 599, it is stated, that, 
 on approaching the Strait of Magelhaens, the yacht, 
 commanded by Dirk Gherritz, was separated from 
 all the other ships, and was carried by tempestuous 
 weather to the south of the strait to 64° S. latitude, 
 where they discovered a high country, with moun- 
 tains which were covered with snow, like the land 
 of Norway. This land of Gherritz was marked on 
 some of the old charts, but discontinued on the more 
 modern ones, from the uncertainty of its position 
 with regard to longitude. There can be no doubt 
 of its identity with the modern South Shetland. It 
 answered to the description of the mountains of Nor- 
 way, covered with snow, and is wholly barren, hav- 
 ing neither tree nor shrub of any kind. It is un- 
 necessary to say, that it is uninhabited, there being 
 no such people in the southern hemisphere as the 
 Eskimaux ; and it may be remarked, that no hu- 
 man beings are found in the Southern Ocean below 
 the 55th parallel of latitude, and none beyond the 
 50th, except on Patagonia and Terra del Fuego. 
 On the shores, the seals and sea-horses, which had 
 remained from the creation undisturbed, were so 
 numerous, that on the first notice of the rediscovery, 
 a whole fleet of vessels from England and North 
 America crowded thither on speculation ; but the 
 loss of several, from tempestuous weather and a 
 dangerous navigation, and the destruction and alarm 
 of the objects of their cupidity, will probably cause 
 it, for some time at least, to remain as much a land 
 of desolation as it had been before. 
 
 Since the preceding article was written, the re- 
 turn of Captain Franklin has completely settled 
 the geography of the mouth of the Copper Mine 
 River, and between 500 and 600 miles to the 
 eastward of it. The latitude of this river, which 
 Hearne originally stated to be upwards of 7^" 
 N., but which was afterwards reduced to 69°, 
 is now determined to be 67° 48' N., and longi- 
 tude 115° 30' W., which is five degrees more 
 westerly than is usually laid down on the charts. 
 One part of the coast, to the eastward of Hearne's 
 River, was found to come down as low as the 
 Arctic Circle, or 66° 30' N. Little or no ice 
 was floating on the sea, which was deep and unob- 
 structed, on which ships of any burden might freely 
 navigate ; and thus the theory, upon the strength 
 of which Captain Parry is at present proceeding, is 
 confirmed ; and Captain Franklin has every reason 
 to believe, that when once he gets upon the coast of 
 North America, he will find no difficulty in making 
 good his passage. Captain Franklin also found that 
 the general current set to the eastward, as all the 
 driftwood was found on the wester?! sides of the 
 jutting promontories. Nearly parallel to the coast, 
 and at the distance of five or six miles from it, a 
 range of numerous islands extended the whole 
 length of the passage made by Captain Franklin. 
 
 (K.) 
 
216 
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 Political The greater number of the subordinate parts of 
 Economy, the science of Political Economy have been treated, 
 'in various articles of this Supjjlement, with the 
 fulness which their relative importance seemed to 
 require. In the present article, therefore, we shall 
 principally confine ourselves to an attempt to define 
 the objects and limits of the science — to trace its 
 progress — to exhibit and establish the fundamental 
 principles on which it is founded — and to point out 
 the relation and dependence subsisting between its 
 different parts. In doing this, we shall have occasion 
 to examine the more prominent of the theories which 
 have been advanced in this field of inquiry ; our ob- 
 ject being, not merely to lay before our readers what 
 we conceive to be a true theory of the science, but 
 also to present them with as full an exposition as our 
 limits will allow of the particular doctrines advocated 
 by the most celebrated of its professors. 
 
 Part I. — Definition and History. 
 
 Definition of the Science— Causes of its heiyig neglect- 
 ed in Greece and Rome, and in the Middle Ages — 
 Species of Evidence on which its Conclusions are 
 founded — Rise of the Scieiice in Modern Europe — 
 Mercantile System — Progress of Commercial Philo- 
 sophy in England in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth 
 Centuries — System of M. Quesnay and the French 
 Economists — Publication oj the " Wealth of Na- 
 tions" — Distinction between Politics and Statistics 
 and Political Economy. 
 
 Definition Political Economy* is the science of the laws which 
 regulate the production, distribution, and consumption 
 
 Science. those material products which have exchangeable va- 
 
 lue, and which are either necessary, useful, or agree- 
 able to man. 
 
 This definition has been framed so as to exclude 
 all reference to such articles as exist independently 
 of man, and of which unlimited quantities can be ob- 
 tained without any degree of laborious exertion. 
 Had such been the case with all the articles required 
 to satisfy our wants, and to gratify our desires, this 
 science would either have had no existence at all, or 
 would have been cultivated only as a source of 
 amusement, without any view to utility. Political 
 Economy is exclusively conversant with objects 
 which come within the observation of every man, 
 and which are continually modified by human inter- 
 ference. It is, in fact, the science of values ; and 
 nothing which is not possessed of exchangeable va- 
 lue, or which will not be accepted as an equivalent 
 for something else, can come within the scope of its 
 
 inquiries. It is obvious, however, that an article Deficition. 
 may be possessed of the highest degree of utility, or, 
 as it is sometimes termed, of intrinsic worth, and yet 
 be wholly destitute of exchangeable value. Without 
 utility of some species or another, no article will 
 ever be an object of demand ; but how necessary so- 
 ever any particular article may be to our comfort, or 
 even existence, and however great the demand for 
 it, still, if it be a spontaneous production of nature — 
 if it exists independently of human agency, and if 
 every individual has an indefinite command over it, 
 it can never become the subject of an exchange, or 
 afford a basis for the reasonings of the economist. It 
 cannot justly be said, that the food with which we 
 appease the cravings of hunger, or the clothes by 
 which we defend ourselves from the inclemency of 
 the weather, are more useful than atmospheric air ; 
 and yet they are possessed of that exchangeable va- 
 lue of which it is totally destitute. The reason is, 
 that food and clothes are not, like air, gratuitous 
 products : they cannot be had at all times, and 
 without any exertion ; they are obtainable only by 
 labour ; and as no one will voluntarily sacrifice the 
 fruits of his industry, without receiving an equiva- 
 lent in return, they are truly said to possess ex- 
 changeable value. 
 
 The word value has, we are aware, been very ge- Distinction 
 nerally employed to express, not only the exchange- between 
 able worth of a commodity, or its capacity of exchang- g^j.^^^^^ 
 ing for other commodities, but also to express its ^nd Utifity 
 utility, or its capacity of satisfying our wants, and of 
 contributing to our comforts and enjoyments. But 
 it is obvious, that the utility of commodities — that 
 the capacity of bread, for example, to appease hun- 
 ger, or of water to quench thirst — is a totally dif- 
 ferent and distinct quality from their capacity of ex- 
 changing for other commodities. Dr Smith perceiv- 
 ed this difference, and showed the importance of care- 
 fully distinguishing between the utility, or, as he ex- 
 pressed it, the value in use," of commodities, and 
 their value in exchange. But he did not always keep 
 this distinction in view, and it has been very generally- 
 lost sight of by M. Say, Mr Malthus, and other late 
 writers. We have no doubt, indeed, that the con- 
 founding together of these opposite qualities has 
 been one of the principal causes of the confusion and 
 obscurity in which many branches of the science, 
 not in themselves difficult, are still involved. When, 
 for example, we say that water is highly valuable, we 
 unquestionably attach a very different meaning to 
 the phrase from what we attach to it when v/e say 
 that gold is valuable. Water is indispensable to ex- 
 istence, and has, therefore, a high degree of utility, 
 or of " value in use but as it can be generally ob- 
 
 * Economy, from o/'xog, a house, or family, and vo[iog, a law~f^e government of a family. Hence Political 
 Ecouomy may be said to be to the state what domestic economy is to a single family. 
 
POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 217 
 
 DcGnition, 
 
 tained in large quantities, without much labour or 
 exertion, it has, in most places, but a verj' low value 
 in exchange. Gold, on the other hand, is of compa- 
 ratively little utility ; but as it exists only in limited 
 quantities, and as a great deal of labour is necessary 
 to procure a small supply of it, it has a high ex- 
 changeable value, and may be exchanged or barter- 
 ed for a large quantity of most other commodities. 
 To confound these different sorts of value would evi- 
 dently lead to the most erroneous conclusions. And 
 hence, to avoid all chance of error from mistaking 
 the sense of so important a word as mli(e, we shall 
 never use it except to signify exchangeable worth, 
 or value ih exchange ; and shall always use the word 
 utility to express the power or capacity of an article 
 to satisfy our wants, or gratify our desires. 
 
 A few words will suffice to show the necessity and 
 importance of always distinguishing between the uti- 
 lity of a commodity and its value. If utility and va- 
 lue in exchange were identical, or if they were re- 
 gulated by the same laws, it would necessarily fol- 
 low, that the same circumstances which were calcu- 
 lated to increase the utility of any article would also 
 increase its value, and vice versa. But the fact is 
 distinctly and completely the reverse. The utility 
 of a commodity is never increased by simply raising, 
 but it is, in the great majority of instances, increased 
 by lowering, its value. A deficient harvest increases 
 the exchangeable value of corn, but most certainly it 
 does not increase its utility. If such an improve- 
 ment were to take place in the manufacture of hats 
 as would enable them to be produced for a half of 
 the expence it now takes to bring them to market, 
 their value, and consequently their price, would very 
 soon be reduced a half also. Each individual would 
 thus be able to buy two hats for the same sura it 
 had formerly required to buy one; and while the 
 utility no single hat would be impaired by this 
 fa!! of value, it is plain that the sphere of their 
 utility would be greatly extended, and that they 
 would be brought within the reach of a large pro- 
 portion of those whose poverty might previously 
 have rendered them unable to obtain them. In fact, 
 the grand object of the science of Political Econo- 
 my is to discover the means by which the value of 
 commodities may be reduced to the lowest possible 
 limits. For, the more their value is reduced, the 
 more obtainable they become, and the greater, con- 
 sequently, is the amount of the necessaries, conve- 
 niences, and luxuries at the disposal of every indi- 
 vidual. 
 
 Political Economy has been frequently defined to 
 be <* the science which treats of the production, dis- 
 tribution, and consumption of wealth ;' and if by 
 wealth be meant those material products which pos- 
 sess exchangeable value, and which are necessary, 
 useful, or agreeable to man, the definition is quite 
 unexceptionable. But the economists who have 
 adopted this definition have attached a different, 
 and a much too extensive meaning to the term 
 wealth. They have sometimes, for example, consi- 
 dered wealth as synonymous with " all that man dc 
 sires as useful and agreeable to him" But if Politi- 
 cal Economy were to embrace a discussion of the 
 production and distribution of all that is useful and 
 
 VOL. VI. PAKT I. 
 
 agreeable, it would include within itself every other Definition, 
 science ; and the best Encyclopaedia would really be 
 the best treatise on Political Economy. Good 
 health is useful and delightful, and, therefore, on 
 this hypothesis, the science of wealth ought to com- 
 prehend the science of medicine ; civil and reli- 
 gious liberty are highly useful, and, therefore, the. 
 science of wealth must comprehend the science of 
 politics ; good acting is agreeable, and, therefore, 
 to be complete, the science of wealth must em- 
 brace a discussion of the principles of the histrionic 
 art, and so on. Such definitions are obviously 
 worse than useless. They can have no effect but to 
 generate confused and perplexed notions respecting 
 the objects and limits of the science, and to prevent 
 the student ever acquiring a clear and distinct idea 
 of the nature of the inquiries in which he is en- 
 gaged. 
 
 JMr Malthus has defined wealth to consist of 
 " th ose material objects which are necessary, useful, 
 and agreeable to man." {Principles of Political Eco- 
 nomy, p. 28.) But this definition, though infinitely 
 less objectionable than the preceding, is much too 
 comprehensive to be used in Political Economy. 
 Atmospheric air, and the heat of the sun, are both 
 material products, and are highly useful and agree- 
 able. But their independent existence, and their 
 incapacity of appropriation, excludes them, as we 
 have already shown, from the investigations of this 
 science. . 
 
 Dr Smith has not explicitly stated what was the 
 precise meaning attached by him to the term wealth ; 
 but he most commonly describes it to be " the an- 
 nual, produce of land and labour." Mr Malthus, 
 however, has justly objected to this definition, that 
 it refers to the sources of wealth, before we know 
 what wealth is, and that it includes all the useless 
 products of the earth, as well as those which are ap- 
 propriated and enjoyed by man. 
 
 The definition we have given is not liable to any 
 of these objections. By confining the science to a 
 discussion of the laws regulating the production, dis- 
 tribution, and consumption of those material pro- 
 ducts which have exchangeable value, and which 
 are either necessary, useful, or agreeable," we give to 
 it a distinct and definite object. When thus pro- 
 perly restricted, the researches of the economist oc- 
 cupy a field which is exclusively his own. He runs 
 no risk of wasting his time in inquiries which belong 
 to other sciences, or in unprofitable investigations 
 respecting the production and consumption of ar- 
 ticles which cannot be appropriated, and which 
 exist independently of human industry. 
 
 Capacity of appropriation is indispensably neces- 
 sary to constitute wealth. And we shall invariably 
 employ this term to distinguish those products only 
 which are obtained by the intervention of human la- 
 bour, and which, consequently, can be appropriated 
 by one individual, and consumed exclusively by him. 
 A man is not said to be wealthy, because he has an 
 indefinite command over atnlospheric air, for this is a 
 privilege which he enjoys in common with every other 
 man, and which can form no ground of distinction ; 
 but he is said to be wealthy, according to the degree 
 in which he can afford to command those neces- 
 £ e 
 
218 
 
 Definition. 
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 saries, conveniences, and luxuries which are not the 
 <Tifts of nature, but the products of human industry. 
 It must, however, be carefully observed, that, al- 
 though the possession of value be thus necessary to 
 the existence of wealth, they cannot be confound- 
 ed together without leading to the most erroneous 
 conclusions. Wealth and value are as widely differ- 
 ent as utility and value. It is plain that every man will 
 be able to command a much greater quantity of these 
 necessaries and gratifications, of which wealth con- 
 sists when their value declines, or when they become 
 more easily obtainable, than when their value m- 
 creases. JVealth and value vary in an inverse ratio. 
 The one increases as the other diminishes, and di- 
 minishes as the other increases.— Wealth is greatest 
 where the facility of production is greatest, and va- 
 lue is greatest where the difficulty of production is 
 greatest. 
 
 Importance 
 of the 
 Science. 
 
 The science of -Political Economy is exclusive- 
 ly conversant with that class of phenomena, which 
 the exertion of human industry exhibits. Its ob- 
 ject is to ascertain the means by which this m- 
 dustry may be rendered most productive of ne- 
 cessaries, comforts, luxuries, and enjoyments, or 
 of wealth in the proper sense of the word ; by which 
 this wealth may be most advantageously distribut- 
 ed among the different classes of the society ; and 
 by which it may be most profitably consumed. 
 To enter into a lengthened argument to prove the 
 importance of a science having such objects in 
 view, would be worse than useless. The consump- 
 tion of wealth is indispensable to existence ; but the 
 eternal law of Providence has decreed that wealth 
 can only be procured by the intervention of industry 
 —that man must earn his bread by the sweat of his 
 brow. This twofold necessity renders the produc- 
 tion of wealth a constant and principal object of the 
 exertions of the vast majority of the human race. 
 It has subdued the natural aversion of man to la- 
 hour given activity to indolence, and armed the 
 patient hand of industry with zeal to undertake, and 
 perseverance to overcome, the most difficult and dis- 
 agreeable tasks. But when wealth is thus necessary, 
 when the desire to acquire it is sufficient to induce 
 us to submit to the greatest privations, it is plainly 
 impossible to doubt the utility and paramount im- 
 portance of the science which teaches the modes by 
 
 which its acquisition may be facilitated, and by which 
 we may be enabled to obtain the greatest amount of 
 wealth with the least possible difficulty. There is 
 no class of people to whom a knowledge of this sci- 
 ence can be considered as either extrinsic or super- 
 fluous. There are some, doubtless, to whom it may 
 be of more advantage than to others ; but it is of the 
 utmost consequence to all. The prosperity of indi- 
 viduals, and consequently of nations, does not depend 
 nearly so much on salubrity of climate, or on the fer- 
 tility and convenient situation of the soils they inha- 
 bit, as on the power possessed by them, of applying 
 their labour with perseverance, skill, and judgment. 
 Industry can balance almost every other deficiency. 
 It can render regions naturally inhospitable barren 
 and unproductive, the comfortable abodes of an in- 
 telligent and refined, a crowded and wealthy popu- 
 lation ; but where it is wanting, the most precious 
 gifts of nature are of no value, and countries pos- 
 sessed of the greatest capabilities of improvement, 
 with difficulty furnish a miserable subsistence to the 
 scanty population of hordes distinguished only by 
 their ignorance, barbarism, and wretchedness. 
 
 But when the possession of wealth is thus neces- 
 sary to individual existence and comfort, and to the 
 advancement of nations in the career of civilization, 
 it may justly excite our astonishment that so few ef- 
 forts should have been made to discover its sources, 
 and facilitate its acquisition, and that the study of Po- 
 litical Economy, should not have been early consider- 
 ed as forming a principal part in a comprehensive 
 system of education. Two circumstances, to which 
 we shall now briefly advert, seem to us to have beea 
 the principal causes of the neglect of this science. 
 The first is the institution of domestic slavery in the 
 ancient world; and the second the darkness of the 
 period when the plan of education in the universities 
 of modern Europe was first organized. 
 
 The citizens of Greece and Rome considered it de- 
 grading to employ themselves in those occupations 
 which form the principal business of the inhabitants 
 of modern Europe. In some of the Grecian states the 
 citizens were prohibited from engaging in any spe- 
 cies of manufacturing or commercial industry ; and 
 in Athens and Rome, where such a prohibition did 
 not exist, these employments were universally re- 
 garded as mean, mercenary, and unworthy of free- 
 men, and were in consequence carried on exclu- 
 sively by slaves, or the very dregs of the people. * 
 
 Objects and 
 Imjiortance 
 of the 
 Science. 
 
 Causes of 
 the NegJet'i 
 of this Sci- 
 ence in the 
 Ancient and 
 Middle 
 Ages. 
 
 » The force of the prejudices on this head may be learned from the following quotations : « Illiberales 
 autem et sordidi " Cicero says, " questus raercenariorum, omniumque quorum operae, non quorum artes 
 pmuntur Est enira illis ipsa merces auctoramentum servitutis. Sordidi etiam putandi, qm mercantur a 
 mprratoribus auod statim vendant, nihil enim projiciunt, nisi admodum mcntiantur ! Opificesque omnes in 
 sTrdida arte versantur, nec enim quidguam ingenuum potest habere qffieina * * * Mercatura autem, si tenuis 
 est sordida putandaest; sin autem magna et copiosa, multa undique apportans, multisque sine vanitate 
 imoertiens, non est admodum vituperanda" (Z)e Officiis, Lib. I. sect. 42.) ... ^^ a ' 
 
 K Vulgaris opificura, quae manu constant, et ad in^truendam vitam occupatae sunt ; m quibus nulla decoris. 
 nulla honesti simulatio est." {Senecce EpistolcB, Ep. 89.) ^ • «: • w« 
 
 A hundred similar quotations might be produced ; but the one we have given from Cicero is sufficient to 
 establish the accuracy of what we have advanced. The strength of the prejudice against commerce and the 
 arts is proved by its exerting so powerful an influence over so cultivated a mind. I'or a further discussion 
 
POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 219 
 
 Caugcs of Agriculture was treated with more respect. Some 
 of'Volfrical most distinguished characters in the earlier 
 
 Economy. ^S^^ Roman history had been actively engaged in 
 rural affairs; but, notwithstanding their example, in 
 the flourishing period of the Republic, and under the 
 Imperial Regime, the cultivation of the soil was al- 
 most entirely carried on by slaves, belonging to the 
 landlord, and employed on his account. The mass 
 of Roman citizens were either engaged in the mili- 
 tary service, * or derived a precarious and dependant 
 subsistence from the supplies of corn furnished by 
 the conquered provinces. In such a state of society 
 the relations subsisting in modern Europe between 
 landlords and tenants, and masters and servants, were 
 unknown ; and the ancients were in consequence en- 
 lire strangers to all those interesting and important 
 questions arising out of the rise and fall of rents and 
 wages, which form so important a branch of econo- 
 mical science. The spirit of the philosophy of the 
 ancient world was also extremely unfavourable to 
 the cultivation of Political Economy. The luxurious 
 or more refined mode of living of the rich, was re- 
 garded by the ancient moralists as an evil of the first 
 magnitude. They considered it as subversive of 
 those warlike virtues, which were the principal ob- 
 jects of their admiration, and, in consequence, they 
 denounced the passion for accumulating wealth as 
 fraught with the most injurious and destructive con- 
 sequences. It vs^as impossible that Political Economy 
 could become an object of attention, to men imbued 
 with such prejudices ; or that it could be studied by 
 those who held the objects about which it is con- 
 versant in contempt, and who spurned that labour 
 by which wealth is produced. 
 
 At the establishment of our universities, the clergy 
 were almost the exclusive possessors of the little 
 knowledge then in existence. It was natural, there- 
 fore, that their peculiar feelings and pursuits should 
 have a marked influence on the plans of education 
 they were employed to frame. Grammar, rhetoric, 
 logic, school divinity, and civil law, comprised the 
 whole course of study. To have appointed profes- 
 sors to explain the principles of commerce, and the 
 means by which labour might be rendered most ef- 
 fective, would have been considered as equally su- 
 perfluous and degrading to the dignity of science. 
 The prejudices against commerce, manufactures, and 
 luxury, generated in antiquity, had a powerful in- 
 fluence in the middle ages. None were possessed 
 of any clear ideas concerning the true sources of 
 wealth, happiness, and prosperity. The intercourse 
 between the different countries was extremely limit- 
 ed, and was rather confined to marauding excur- 
 sions, and a piratical scramble for the precious me- 
 tals, than to a commerce founded on the gratifica- 
 tion of real or reciprocal wants. 
 
 These circumstances sufficiently account for the 
 
 progress of, and the little attention paid to this Causes of 
 
 ice up to a very recent period. And since it *^^"!S|«:t 
 1 ■ ' , .. .. , ,. of Pohtical 
 
 slow 
 
 science «^ ^ '^'j |/k.iiv/u. xi-nu cmwc n/ , 
 
 became an object of more general attention and li- Economy! 
 beral inquiry, the opposition between the theories v.,*--y-ite^ 
 and opinions that have been espoused by the most 
 eminent of it professors, — a necessary and inevitable 
 result, as we shall immediately show, of its recent 
 cultivation, has proved exceedingly unfavourable to 
 its progress, and has generated a disposition to distrust 
 its best established conclusions. This prejudice is, 
 however, extremely ill-founded; and notwithstand- 
 ing the diversity of the theories that have been form- 
 ed to explain its various phenomena, Political Eco- 
 nomy admits of as much certainty in its conclusions 
 as any science not exclusively dependent on mere 
 relation. A brief exposition of the nature of the 
 principles on which it is founded, and of the mode in 
 which its investigations ought to be conducted, will 
 evince the correctness of this statement. 
 
 Political Economy is not a science of speculation, Prmciplesof 
 but of fact and experiment. The principles on 
 which the production and accumulation of wealth ^gE^ideLe 
 and the progress of civilization depend, are not the on which iu 
 offspring of legislative enactments. Man must exert Conclusiona 
 himself to produce wealth, because he cannot exist ai«Pounded. 
 without it ; and the desire implanted in the breast of 
 every individual of rising in the world and improving 
 his condition, impels him to save and accumulate. 
 The principles which form the basis of this science 
 make, therefore, a part of the original constitution of 
 man and of the physical world, and their operations, 
 like those of the mechanical principles, are to be trac- 
 ed by the aid of observation and analysis. There is, 
 however, a material distinction between the physical 
 and the moral and political sciences. The conclu- 
 sions of the former apply in every case, while those 
 of the latter only apply in the majority of cases. 
 The principles on which the production and accumu- 
 lation of wealth depend are inherent in our nature, 
 but they do not exercise precisely the same influence 
 over the conduct of every individual ; and the theo- 
 rist must satisfy himself with framing his general 
 rules so as to explain their operation in the majority 
 of instances, leaving it to the sagacity of the observ- 
 er to modify them so as to suit individual cases. 
 Thus it is an admitted principle in the science of 
 Morals, as well as of Political Economy, that by far 
 the largest proportion of the human race have a 
 much clearer view of what is conducive to their own 
 interests, than it is possible for any other man, or 
 select number of men to have, and consequently that 
 it is sound policy to allow every individual to follow 
 the bent of his inclination, and to engage in any 
 branch of industry he thinks proper. This is the 
 general theorem ; and it is one which is established 
 on the most comprehensive experience. It is not, 
 however, like the laws which regulate the motions of 
 
 of the opinions of the Romans on this subject, we refer our readers to the Dissertazione del Commercio de 
 Bomani of Mengotti, which received a prize from the Academy of Paris in 1787, and to the Memoria Apo- 
 legetica del Commercio de Romani of Torres, published at Venice in 1788. 
 
 * " Rei militaris virtus prsestat caeteris omnibus ; hsec populo Romano, haec huic urbi seternam gloriam 
 peperit.' —(Cicero pro Murena.) 
 
220 
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 Evidence on the planetary system,— it will hold good in nineteen 
 which the of twenty instances, but the twentieth may be an 
 (ktnclusions g^ception. But it is not required of the economist, 
 Ic^nomy that his theories should quadrate with the peculiar 
 areFounded.bias of the mind of a particular person. His con- 
 clusions are drawn from contemplating the principles 
 which are found to determine the condition of man- 
 kind, as presented on the large scale of nations and 
 empi'res. His business is with man in the aggregate 
 with states, and not with families — with the pas- 
 sions and propensities which actuate the great bulk 
 of the human race, and not with those which are oc- 
 casionally found to influence the conduct of a solitary 
 individual. 
 
 This distinction should be kept constantly m view. 
 Nothing is more common than to hear it objected to 
 some of the best established truths in political and 
 economical science, that they are at variance with 
 certain facts, and that, therefore, they must be re- 
 jected. But these objections very often originate in 
 an entire misapprehension of the nature of the 
 science. It would be easy to produce a thousand 
 instances of individuals who have been enriched by 
 monopolies and restrictions, and even by robbery 
 and plunder ; though it would certainly be a lit- 
 tle too much to conclude from thence that so- 
 ciety could be enriched by such means ! This, hov^- 
 ever, is the single consideration to which the politi- 
 cal economist has to attend ;— and, until it can be 
 shown that monopolies and restrictions are not de- 
 structive of national wealth, and that what is gained 
 by the monopolist is not lost by the public, he is 
 justified in considering them injurious.^ To arrive 
 at a well-founded conclusion in economical science, 
 it is not enough to observe results in particular 
 cases, or as they affect particular individuals ; we 
 must further inqaire whether these results are con- 
 stant and universally applicable— whether the same 
 circumstances which have given rise to them in one 
 instance, would in every instance, and in every state 
 of society, be productive of the same or similar re- 
 sults A theory which is inconsistent with an unijorm 
 
 and constant fact, must be erroneous ; but the ob- 
 servance of a particular result at variance with our 
 customary experience, and when we may not have 
 had the means of discriminating the circumstances 
 attending it, ought not to induce us hastily to modi- 
 fy or reject a principle which accounts satisfactorily 
 for the greater number of appearances. 
 
 The example of the few arbitrary princes who have 
 been equitable, humane, and generous, is not enough 
 td overthrow the principle which teaches that it is the 
 nature of irresponsible power to debauch and vitiate 
 its possessors— to render them haughty, cruel, and 
 suspicious ; nor is the example of those who, atten- 
 tive only to present enjoyment, and careless of the 
 future, lavish their fortunes in boisterous dissipation 
 or vain expence, sufficient to invalidate the general 
 conclusion, that the passion for accumulation is strong- 
 er and more powerful than the passion for expence. 
 Had this not been the case, mankind could never 
 have emerged from the condition of savages. The 
 multiplied and stupendous improvements which have 
 been made in diiferent ages and nations — the forests 
 
 that have been cut down — the marshes and lakes Evident or 
 that have been drained and cultivated — the harbours, ^^^^^^^^^^ 
 roads, and bridges that have been constructed — the of PoUtical 
 cities and edifices that have been raised — are all the Economy 
 fruit of a saving of income, and establish, in despite ^rel^undtd. 
 of a thousand individual instances of prodigality, the '"^''""^ 
 ascendancy and superior force of the accumulating 
 principle. 
 
 It is from the want of attention to these considera- 
 tions that much of the error and misapprehension 
 with which the science of Political Economy has 
 been, and still is infected, has arisen. Almost all 
 the absurd theories and opinions which have suc- 
 cessively appeared have been supported by an appeal 
 to facts. But a knowledge of facts, without a know- 
 ledge of their mutual relation — without being able to 
 show why the one is a cause and the other an effect — 
 is, to use the illustration of M. Say, really no better 
 than the indigested erudition of an almanack maker, 
 and can afford no means of judging of the truth or 
 falsehood of a general principle. 
 
 But, although we are not to reject a received 
 principle because of the apparent opposition of a few 
 results, with the particular circumstances of which 
 we are unacquainted, we can have no confidence in 
 its solidity if it be not deduced from a very com- 
 prehensive and careful induction. To arrive at a 
 true knowledge of the laws regulating the produc- 
 tion, distribution, and consumption of wealth, the 
 economist must draw his materials from a very wide 
 surface ; he should study man in every different si- 
 tuation — he should have recourse to the history of 
 society, of arts, of commerce, and of civilization— to 
 the works of philosophers and travellers — to every 
 thing, in short, that can throw light on the causes 
 which accelerate or retard the progress of civiliza- 
 tion. He should observe the changeswhich have taken 
 place in the fortunes and condition of the human 
 race in different regions and ages of the world. He 
 should trace the rise, progress, and decline of industry, 
 and he should carefully discriminate the effect of dif- 
 ferent political measures, and the various circum- 
 stances wherein an advancing and declining society 
 differ from each other. Such investigations, by dis- 
 closing the real causes of national opulence and re- 
 finement, and of poverty and degradation, furnish 
 the economist with the means of giving a satisfactory 
 solution of almost all the important problems in the 
 science of wealth, and of devising a scheme of pub- 
 lic administration calculated to ensure the continued 
 advancement of the society in the career of im- 
 provement. 
 
 It must always be kept in mind that it is no part 
 of the business of the economist to inquire into the 
 means by which individual fortunes may have been 
 increased or diminished, except to ascertain their ge- 
 neral operation and effect. The Tpuhlic interests 
 ought always to form the exclusive objects of his at- 
 tention. He is not to frame systems, and devise 
 schemes, for increasing the wealth and enjoyments 
 of particular classes ; but to apply himself to discover 
 the sources o^7iational U)eflM,and universal prosperity/, 
 and the means by which they may be rendered most 
 productive. 
 
POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 2n 
 
 Rise of the "When we reflect on the variety and extent of the 
 Science in previous knowledge requisite for the construction of 
 Ei^pe^ a sound theory of Political Economy, we cease to 
 1 ^ i feel any surprise at the errors into which econo- 
 mists have been betrayed, or at the discrepancy of 
 the opinions which are still entertained on some im- 
 portant points. Political Economy is of very re- 
 cent origin. Though various treatises of consider- 
 able merit had previously appeared on some of its 
 separate parts, it was not treated as a whole, or in a 
 scientific manner, until about the middle of last cen- 
 tury. This circumstance is of itself enough to ac- 
 count for the number of erroneous systems that have 
 since appeared. Instead of deducing their general 
 conclusions from a comparison of particular facts, and 
 a careful examination of the phenomena attending 
 the operation of different principles, and of the same 
 principles in different circumstances, the first cul- 
 tivators of almost every branch of science have be- 
 gun by framing their theories on a very narrow and 
 insecure basis. Nor is it really in their power to go 
 to work differently Observations are scarcely ever 
 made or particulars noted for their own sakes. It is 
 not until they begin to be in request as furnishing the 
 only test by which to ascertain the truth or falsehood 
 of some popular theory, that they are made in sufficient 
 numbers, and with sufficient accuracy. It is, in the 
 peculiar phraseology of this science, the effectual de- 
 mand of the theorist that regulates the production of 
 the facts or raw materials, v/hich he is afterwards to 
 work into a system. The history of Political Eco- 
 nomy strikingly exemplifies the truth of this remark. 
 Being, as we have already observed, entirely un- 
 known to the ancients, and but little attended to by 
 our ancestors up to a comparatively late period, 
 those circumstances which would have enabled us to 
 judge with the greatest precision of the wealth and 
 civilization of the inhabitants of the most celebrated 
 states of antiquity, and of Europe during the middle 
 ages, have either been thought unworthy of the no- 
 tice of the historian, or have been only very imper- 
 fectly and carelessly detailed. Those, therefore, who 
 first began to trace the general principles of the 
 science had but a compax'atively limited and scanty 
 experience on which to build their conclusions. Nor 
 did they even avail themselves of the few historical 
 facts with which they might have easily become ac- 
 quainted, but almost exclusively confined their at- 
 tention to those which happened to fall within the 
 sphere of their own observation. 
 Mercantile Agreeably to what we have now stated, we find 
 System. that the theories advanced by the early economical 
 writers were formed on the most contracted basis, 
 and were only fitted to explain a few of the most 
 obvious and striking phenomena. The Mercantile 
 Theory, for example, was entirely bottomed on the 
 popular and prevalent opinions respecting money. 
 The precious metals having been long used, both 
 as a standard whereby to ascertain the compara. 
 tive value of different commodities, and as the 
 equivalents for which they were most frequently 
 exchanged, acquired a fictitious importance, not 
 merely in the estimation of the vulgar, but in 
 that of persons of the greatest discernment. The 
 
 Meicanttlg 
 System . 
 
 simple consideration that all buying and selling 
 is really nothing more than the bartering of one 
 commodity for another — of a certain quantity of*""*^-''^ 
 corn or wool, for example, for a certain quantity of 
 gold or silver, and vice versa, was entirely overlook- 
 ed. The attention was gradually transferred from 
 the money s toorth to the money itself ; and the 
 wealth of individuals and of states came to be mea- 
 sured, not by the abundance of their disposable 
 products — by the quantity or value of the commo- 
 dities with which they could afford to purchase the 
 precious metals — but by the quantity of these metals 
 actually in their possession. It is on this flimsy 
 and fallacious hypothesis that the theories of almost 
 every writer on economical subjects antecedent to 
 the appearance of the works of Child, North, and 
 Locke, in England, and of Gournay and Quesnay, 
 in France, are founded ; and, what is cf infinitely 
 greater moment, it is on this same hypothesis that 
 the different civilized countries have proceeded to 
 regulate their intercourse with each other. Their 
 grand object has not been to facilitate the produc- 
 tion of the necessaries, comforts, and luxuries of 
 life, but to monopolise the largest possible supply 
 of gold and silver. And, as in countries destitute 
 of mines, these could not be obtained except in 
 exchange for exported commodities, various schemes 
 were resorted to for encouraging exportation, and 
 for preventing the importation of almost all pro- 
 ducts other than the precious metals. In conse- 
 quence of this opinion, the excess of the value of the 
 exports over the value of the imports was long 
 considered as the most infallible test of the progress 
 of a country in the career of wealth. This excess, 
 it was believed, could not be balanced otherwise 
 than by an equivalent importation of gold or silver^ 
 or of the only real wealth which it was then suppo- 
 sed a country could possess. 
 
 These principles and conclusions, though abso- 
 lutely false and erroneous, afford a tolerable expla- 
 nation of a few very obvious phenomena ; and, what 
 did more to recommend them, they are in perfect 
 unison with the popular prejudices on the subject. 
 It was natural, therefore, that they should be 
 espoused by the merchants or practical men, who 
 were the earliest writers on this science. They did 
 not consider it necessary to subject the principles 
 they assumed to any refined analysis or examination. 
 But, reckoning them as sufficiently established by 
 the common consent and agreement of mankind, 
 they directed themselves exclusively to the discus- 
 sion of the pi'actical measures calculated to give 
 them the greatest efficacy. 
 
 " Although a kingdom," says one of the earliest Balance of 
 and ablest writers in defence of the mercantile Trade, 
 system, " may be enriched by gifts received, or 
 by purchase taken, from some other nations, yet 
 these are things uncertain, and of small consider- 
 ation, when they happen. The ordinary means, 
 therefore, to increase our wealth and treasure, is 
 by foreign trade, wherein we must ever observe 
 this rule — to sell more to strangers yearly than we 
 consume of theirs in value. For, suppose, that 
 when this kingdom is plentifully served with cloth, 
 
POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 222 
 
 Mercantile lead, trn, iron, fish, and other native conoiraodi- 
 System. j_jgg^ yearly export the overplus to foreign 
 
 countries to the value of L. 2,200,000, by which 
 means we are enabled, beyond the seas, to buy and 
 bring in foreign wares for our use and consumption 
 to the value of L. 2,000,000 : By this order duly 
 kept in our trading, we may rest assured that the 
 kingdom shall be enriched yearly L. 200,000, which 
 must be brought to us as so much treasure ; because 
 tliat part of our stock which is not returned to us in 
 wares, must necessarily be brought home in treasure." 
 — (Mun's Treasure by Foreign^Trade, orig. ed. p. 11.) 
 
 The gain on our foreign commerce is here supposed 
 to consist exclusively of the gold and silver which, 
 it is taken for granted, must necessarily be brought 
 home in payment of the excess of exported commo- 
 dities. Mr Mun lays no stress whatever on the cir- 
 cumstance of foreign commerce enabling us to ob- 
 tain an infinite variety of useful and agreeable pro- 
 ducts, which it would either have been impossible 
 for us to produce at all, or to produce so cheaply, at 
 home. We are desired to consider all this acces- 
 sion of wealth — all the vast addition made by com- 
 merce to the motives which stimulate, and to the 
 comforts and enjoyments which reward, the labour of 
 the industrious, as nothing, and to fix our attention 
 exclusively on the balance of L. 200,000 of gold 
 and silver ! This is much the same as if we were de- 
 sired to estimate the comfort and advantage derived 
 from a suit of clothes, by the number and glare of 
 the metal buttons by which they are fastened ! And 
 yet the rule for estimating the advantageousness of 
 foreign commerce, which Mr Mun has here given, 
 was long regarded by the generality of merchants 
 and practical statesmen as infallible ; and such is 
 the inveteracy of ancient prejudices, that even now 
 we are annually congratulated on the excess of our 
 exports over our imports ! 
 Maiiufac- But there were other circunistances, besides the 
 turing Sys- erroneous notions respecting the precious metals, 
 tem. which led to the formation of the mercantile sys- 
 
 tem, and to the enacting of regulations restrictive of 
 the freedom of industry. The feudal government 
 established in the countries that had formed the 
 western division of the Roman Empire, degenerated 
 into a system of anarchy and lawless oppression. 
 The princes, who were of themselves totally unable 
 to restrain the usurpations of the greater barons, 
 or to control their violence, endeavoured to 
 strengthen their influence and consolidate their 
 power, by attaching the inhabitants of cities and 
 towns to their interests. For this purpose, they 
 granted them charters, enfranchising the inhabitants, 
 abolishing every existing mark of servitude, and 
 forming them into corporations, or bodies politic, to 
 be governed by a council and magistrates of their 
 own selection. The order and good government 
 that was thus established in the cities, and the secu- 
 rity of property enjoyed by their inhabitants, when 
 the rest of the country was a prey to rapine and dis- 
 order, stimulated their industry, and gave them a 
 vast ascendancy over the cultivators of the soil. It 
 was from the cities that the princes derived the 
 greater part of their supplies of money ; and it was 
 
 by their assistance and co-operation that they were ^^fertant^e 
 enabled to control and subdue the pride and inde- 
 pendence of the barons. But the citizens did not ^^^^^ 
 render this assistance to their sovereigns merely by 
 way of compensation for the original gift of their char- 
 ters. They were continually soliciting and obtain- 
 ing new privileges. And it was not to be ex- 
 pected that princes, so very deeply indebted to 
 them, and by whom they must have been regarded 
 as forming by far the most industrious and deserving 
 portion of their subjects, should be at all disin- 
 clined to gratify their wishes. To enable them to 
 obtain their provisions cheap, and to carry on 
 their industry to the best advantage, the expor- 
 tation of corn, and of the raw materials of their ma- 
 nufactures, was strictly prohibited ; at the same 
 time that heavy duties and absolute prohibitions 
 were interposed to prevent the importation of ma- 
 nufactured articles from abroad, and to secure the 
 complete monopoly of the home market to the home 
 manufacturers. These, together with the privilege 
 granted to the citizens of corporate towns of pre- 
 venting any individual from exercising any branch 
 of business until he had obtained leave from them ; 
 and the variety of subordinate regulations intend- 
 ed to force the importation of the raw materials re- 
 quired in manufactures, and the exportation of the 
 manufactured goods, form the principal features of 
 the system of public economy adopted, with the view 
 of encouraging manufacturing industry, in every 
 country in Europe, in the fourteenth, fifteenth, six- 
 teenth, and seventeenth centuries. The freedom of 
 industry recognised by their ancient laws was almost 
 totally destroyed. It would be easy to mention a 
 thousand instances of the excess to which this artifi- 
 cial system was carried in England and other coun- 
 tries ; but as many of these instances must be familiar 
 to our readers, we shall only observe, as illustra- 
 tive of its spirit, that by an act passed in 1678, for 
 the encouragement of the English woollen manu- 
 facture, it was ordered that all dead bodies should 
 be wrapped in a woollen shroud ! 
 
 But the exclusion of foreign competition, and the 
 monopoly of the home-market, did not satisfy the 
 manufacturers and merchants. Having obtained all 
 the advantage they could from the public, they at- 
 tempted to prey on each other. Such of them as 
 possessed most influence, procured the privilege of 
 carrying on particular branches of industry to the 
 exclusion of every other individual. This abuse was 
 carried to a most oppressive height in the reign of 
 Elizabeth, who granted an infinite number of new 
 patents. At length, the grievance became so in- 
 tolerable, as to induce all classes to join in petition- 
 ing for its abolition, which, after much opposition on 
 the part of the Crown, by whom the power of erect- 
 ing monopolies was considered a very valuable branch 
 of the prerogative, was effected by an act passed in 
 the 21st of James I. But this act did not touch any 
 of the fundamental principles of the mercantile or 
 manufacturing system ; and the exclusive privileges 
 of all bodies-corporate were exempted from its ope- 
 ration. 
 
 In France the interests of the manufacturers were 
 
POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 2^3 
 
 Mercantile warmly espoused by the justly celebrated M Col- 
 System, minister of finances during the most splendid 
 period of the reign of Louis XIV. ; and the year 1664, 
 when the famous tariff, compiled under Colbert's di- 
 rection, was first promulgated, has been sometimes 
 considered, though improperly, as the real era of the 
 manufacturing system. 
 
 These restrictions were zealously supported by the 
 writers in defence of the mercantile system, and the 
 balance of trade. The facilities given to the export- 
 ation of home manufactured goods, and the obstacles 
 thrown in the way of their importation from abroad, 
 seemed to them to be particularly well fitted for 
 making the exports exceed the imports, and procur- 
 ing a favourable balance. Instead, therefore, of re- 
 garding these regulations as the offspring of a selfish 
 monopolizing spirit, they looked on them as having 
 been dictated by the soundest policy. The manu- 
 facturing and mercantile systems were thus naturally 
 blended together. The acquisition of a favourable 
 balance of payments was the grand object to be ac- 
 complished ; and heavy duties and restrictions on 
 importations from abroad and bounties and pre- 
 miums on exportation from home, were the means 
 by which this object was to be attained ! It cannot 
 excite our surprise that a system having so many po- 
 pular prejudices in its favour, and which afforded a 
 plausible and convenient apology for the exclusive 
 privileges enjoyed by the manufacturing and com- 
 mercial classes, should have early attained, or that it 
 should still preserve, notwithstanding the overthrow 
 of its principles, a powerful practical influence. Me- 
 lon and Forbonnais in France, — Genovesi in Italy, 
 — Mun, Sir Josiah Child, Dr Davenant, the au- 
 thors of the British Merchant, and Sir James Stuart, 
 in England— are the ablest writers who have es- 
 poused, some with more and some with fewer excep- 
 tions, the leading principles of the mercantile sys- 
 tem. 
 
 " It is no exaggeration to affirm, that there are very 
 few political errors which have produced more mis- 
 chief than the mercantile system. Armed with power, 
 it has commanded and forbid where it should only 
 have protected. The regulating mania which it has 
 inspired has tormented industry in a thousand ways, 
 to force it from its natural channels. It has made 
 each particular nation regard the welfare of its neigh- 
 bours as incompatible with its own ; hence the reci- 
 procal desire of injuring and impoverishing each 
 other ; and hence that spirit of commercial rivalry 
 which has been the immediate or remote cause of the 
 greater number of modern wars. It is this system 
 which has stimulated nations to employ force or cun- 
 ning to extort commercial treaties, productive of no 
 
 real advantage to themselves, from the weakness or Mercantile 
 ignorance of otliers. It has formed colonies that the System, 
 mother country might enjoy the monopoly of their '""■■■'v-*-' 
 trade, and force them to resort exclusively to her 
 markets. lu short, where this system has been pro- 
 ductive of the least injury, it has retarded the pro- 
 gress of national prosperity ; every where else it has 
 deluged the earth with blood, and has depopulated 
 and ruined some of those countries whose power and 
 opulence it was supposed it would carry to the high- 
 est pitch." (Storch, Traite d'Economie Politique^ 
 Tome I. p. 122.) 
 
 The greater attention which began to be paid, in Progress of 
 the seventeenth, and in the earlier part of the last C^o^^ercial 
 century, to subjects connected with finance, com- In^^^nd"^ 
 merce,and agriculture, gradually prepared the way for ^ ^" 
 the downfall of the mercantile system. The English 
 writers preceded those of every other country, in 
 pointing out its defects, and in discovering the real 
 nature and functions of money, and the true princi- 
 ples of commerce. The establishment of a direct 
 intercourse with India did much to accelerate the 
 progress of sound opinions. The precious metals 
 have always been one of the most advantageous ar- 
 ticles of export to the East. * And when the East 
 India Company was established in 1600, power was 
 given them annually to eyi^ovt foreign gold coins or 
 bullion, of the value of L. 30,000. The Company 
 were, however, bound to import, within six months 
 after the return of every voyage, except the first, as 
 much gold and silver as should together be equal to 
 the value of the silver exported by them. But the 
 enemies of the Company contended, that these regu- 
 lations were not complied with, and that it was con- 
 trary to all principle, and highly injurious to the 
 public interests, to permit the exportation of any qiian'^ 
 tity of bullion. The merchants and others interested 
 in the India trade, among whom we have to reckon 
 Sir Dudley Digges, whose defence of the Company 
 was published in l6l5, Mr Mun, who published a 
 very able pamphlet in defence of the Company in 
 1621,t Mr Misselden, and more recently. Sir Josiah 
 Child, could not controvert the reasoning of their 
 opponents, without openly impugning some of the 
 commonly received opinions regarding money. In 
 such circumstances, it is easy to see, that prejudice 
 would be forced to give way to interest. At first, 
 however, the advocates of the Company did not con- 
 tend, nor is there, indeed, any good reason for 
 thinking that they were of opinion that the exporta- 
 tion of gold or silver to the East Indies was benefi- 
 cial on the single ground that the commodities 
 brought back were of greater value. They con- 
 tended, that the Company did not export a greater 
 
 ^ * Pliny, when enumerating the spices, silks, and other eastern products imported into Italy, says, " Mi- 
 nimaque computatione millies centena millia sestertium annis omnibus, India et Seres, peninsulaque ilia (Ara- 
 bia) imperia nostro demunt." {Hist. Nat. Lib. XII. cap. 18.) 
 
 The Emperor Charles "V. used to say that the Portuguese, who then engrossed almost the whole com- 
 merce of the East, were the common enemies of Christendom, inasmuch as they drained it of its treasure 
 to export it to infidels !— -(Misselden On Free Trade, p. 24'.) 
 
 + This pamphlet, which is now become extremely rare, is printed in Purchas's Pilgrims, Vol. I. 
 p. 732. 
 
224 
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY, 
 
 iicience m 
 England. 
 
 Progress of quantity of bullion than their charter authorized 
 Commercial ^^^^ . j^gy further contended, that this 
 
 exportation was advantageous, because the commo- 
 dities imported from India were chiefly re-exported 
 to other countries, from whence a greater quantity 
 of bullion was obtained in exchange for them.* But 
 even this was an immense advance in the progress to 
 a sounder theory. C'est toujours le premier pas qui 
 coute. The advocates of the Company began gra- 
 dually to assume a higher tone ; and at length bold- 
 ly contended that bullion was nothing but a commo- 
 dity, and that its exportation ought to be rendered 
 as free as the exportation of any other commodi- 
 ty. Nor were these opinions confined to the part- 
 ners of the East India Company. They were gra- 
 dually communicated to others ; and many eminent 
 merchants were taught to look with suspicion on se- 
 veral of the received maxims, and were in conse- 
 quence led to acquire more correct and comprehen- 
 sive views regarding commercial intercourse. The 
 new ideas ultimately made their way into the House 
 of Commons; and in l665, the statutes prohibiting 
 the exportation of foreign coin and bullion were re- 
 pealed, and full liberty given to the East India Com- 
 pany, and to private traders, to export the same in 
 unlimited quantities. 
 
 In addition to the controversies respecting the 
 East India trade, the discussions to which the foun- 
 dation of the colonies in America and the West In- 
 dies, the establishment of a compulsory provision 
 for the support of the poor, and the acts prohibiting 
 the exportation of wool, and the non-importation of 
 Irish cattle, &c. gave rise, attracted an extraordinary 
 portion of the public attention to questions connected 
 with the domestic policy of the country. In the 
 course of the seventeenth century, a more than 
 usual number of tracts were published on commercial 
 and economical subjects. And although the doctrines 
 of the greater number of the writers are strongly 
 tinctured with the prevailing spirit of the age, it can- 
 cot be denied, that several of them have risen above 
 the prejudices of their contemporaries, and have an 
 unquestionable right to be regarded as the founders of 
 the modern theory of commerce; as the earliest 
 teachers of those sound and liberal doctrines, by 
 which it has been shown, that the prosperity of states 
 can never be promoted by restrictive regulations, 
 or by the depression of their neighbours — that the 
 genuine spirit of commerce is inconsistent with the 
 dark and shallow policy of monopoly — and that the 
 self-interest of mankind, not less than their duty, re- 
 quires them to live in peace, and to cultivate friend- 
 ship with each other. 
 
 We have already referred to Mr Mun's treatise, 
 entitled England's Treasure by Foreign Trade. 
 
 Science in 
 EiigJand. 
 
 Mr Mun. 
 
 This treatise was first published in 1664 ; but there is Progress of 
 good reason to suppose that it had been written ('ornmerciai 
 many years previously. Mr Mun's son, in the de- 
 dication to Lord Southampton, prefixed by him to 
 the work, says, that his father " was, in his time, fa- 
 mous among merchants," a mode of expression which 
 he would hardly have used, had not a considerable 
 period elapsed since his father's death : and Mr 
 Edward Misselden, in his Circle of Commerce^ 
 published in 1623, (p. 36), refers to Mr Mun's tract 
 on the East India trade, and speaks of its author 
 as being an accomplished and experienced merchant. 
 Perhaps, therefore, we shall not be far wrong if we 
 assume, that this treatise was written so early as 
 1635 or 1640. At all events, it is certain, that the 
 doctrines which it contains do not differ much from 
 those which he had previously maintained in his 
 pamphlet in defence of the East India Company, and 
 some of the expressions are literally the same with 
 those in the petition presented by that body to Par- 
 liament in 1628, which is known to have been writ- 
 ten by Mr Mun. f The extract we have previous- 
 ly given, shows that Mr Mun's opinions, in so for 
 as regards the question respecting the balance of trade, 
 were exactly the same with those of hh contempo- 
 raries. But, we believe, he was the first who en- 
 deavoured to show, and who has, in point of fact, 
 successfully shown, that a favourable balance could 
 never be produced by restrictive regulations: — that 
 the exportation and importation of bullion, coin, and 
 every other commodity, should be freely permitted ; 
 — and that violent measures will never bring gold or 
 silver into a kingdom, or retain them in it. (pp. 27, 
 92, SiC. original ed.) Mr Mun also distinctly lap 
 it down, " that those who have wares cannot want 
 money," and that " it is not the keeping of our mo- 
 ney in the kingdom, but the necessity and use of our 
 •wares in foreign countries, and our voant of other com- 
 modities, that causeth the vent and consumption on all 
 sides tvhich causeth a quick and ample trade." (p. 43.) + 
 Nor are these detached and incidental passages 
 thrown out at random. They breathe the same 
 spirit which pervades the rest of Mr Mun's book, 
 and constitute and form a part of his system. His 
 observations in answer to Malyne's, on some rather 
 difficult questions connected with exchange, are both 
 accurate and ingenious. 
 
 The first edition of Sir Josiah Child's celebrated gj^ jog^i, 
 work on trade (A New Discourse of Trade, Sfc.) wascbild. 
 published in 1668 ; but it was very greatly enlarged in 
 the next edition, published in I69O. There are 
 many sound and liberal doctrines advanced in this 
 book. The argument to show that colonies do not 
 and cannot depopulate the mother country is as con- 
 clusive as if it had proceeded from the pen of Mr 
 
 * Those who have not the original pamphlets may consult Macpherson's History of Commerce, Vol. If. 
 pp. 297, 315, 511, — Macpherson's Account of the European Commerce with India, pp. 94, 104, — and Mr 
 Robert Grant's Sketch of the History of the Company, p. 44, where they will find an ample confirmation of 
 what we have stated. 
 
 f This petition, and the reasons on which it is founded, were so well esteemed, as to occasion its being 
 reprinted in l641. 
 
 J These expressions are in the petition of the Company, presented to Parliament in l628. 
 
POLITICAL ECONOMY; 
 
 225 
 
 Progress of MaJthus ; and the just and forcible reasoning in de- 
 Commercial fence of the naturalization of the Jews is highly cre- 
 Enghnd? ^^itable to the liberality and good sense of the writer, 
 ^jr- and discovers a mind greatly superior to the preju- 
 dices of the age. Sir Josiah has also many good and 
 judicious observations on the bad effects of the laws 
 against forestalling and regrating ; on those limiting 
 the number of apprentices ; and on corporation pri- 
 vileges. 
 
 When treating of the laws relating to the expor- 
 tation of wool, Sir Josiah lays it down as an axiom, 
 " That they that can give the best price for a com- 
 modity shall never fail to have it by one means or 
 other, notwithstanding the opposition of any laws, or in- 
 terposition of any power by sea or land ; of such force, 
 mbtilty, and violence, is the general course of trade." 
 
 The radical defect of Sir Josiah Child's Treatise 
 consists in the circumstance of its being chiefly writ- 
 ten to illustrate the advantages, which he labours to 
 show, would result from forcibly reducing the rate of 
 interest io four per cent. ; an error into which he 
 had been led by mistaking the low interest of Hol- 
 land for the principal cause of her wealth, when this 
 low interest was in truth the effect of her compara- 
 tively heavy taxation. 
 
 It is, however, worthy of remark, that this error 
 was very soon detected. In the same year (1668) 
 that Sir Josiah's Treatise first appeared, a tract 
 was published, entitled. Interest of Money mistaken, 
 or a Treatise, prouing that the Abatement o/" Interest is 
 the Effect and not the Cause of the Riches of a Nation. 
 The author of this tract maintains the same opinions 
 that were afterwards held by Locke and Montesquieu, 
 that the interest of money does not depend on sta- 
 tutory regulations, but that it varies according to 
 the comparative opulence of a country ; or rather 
 according to the comparative scarcity and abun- 
 dance of money — increasing when the supplj* of mo- 
 ney diminishes, and diminishing when it increases,* 
 Having endeavoured to establish this principle, the 
 author of the tract successfully contends that Sir 
 Josiah Child had totally mistaken the cause of the 
 wealth of the Dutch, of which he shows the lowness 
 of their interest was merely a consequence, 
 lir William In 1672, Sir William Petty published his cele- 
 *etty's Po. brated tract, entitled, the Political Anatomy of Ire- 
 [tical Ana- land. In this work, the absurdity of the act passed 
 in 1664?, prohibiting the importation of cattle, beef, 
 &c. from Ireland into Britain, is ably exposed, and 
 the advantage of an unconstrained internal commerce 
 clearly set forth. " If it be good for England," says 
 Sir William, *' to keep Ireland a distinct kingdom, 
 why do not the predominant party in Parliament, 
 
 suppose the western members, make England be- Progress of 
 yond Trent another kingdom, and take tolls and cus- ^^ommercial 
 toms upon the borders ? Or why was there ever any ^^^""^^ 
 union between England and Wales ? And why may ^ j"^.^-!L'y 
 not the entire kingdom of England be further can- ^ 
 tonised for the advantage of all parties ?" (P. 34, ed. 
 1719.) 
 
 The great defect in the writings of Mun, Mis- 
 selden, Child, and others, did not really consist so 
 much in their notions about the superior import- 
 ance of the precious metals, or even the balance 
 of trade, as in their notions respecting the supe- 
 rior advantages derived from the importation of 
 durable, rather than of rapidly perishable commodi- 
 ties, and luxuries. This, however, was an extreme- 
 ly natural opinion ; and we cannot be surprised that 
 the earlier writers on commerce should not have 
 avoided falling into an error, from which neither the 
 profound sagacity of Locke, nor the strong sense of 
 Mr Harris, have been able to preserve them. But 
 even so early as 1677, the fallacy of this opinion 
 had been perceived. In that year, there appeared 
 a small tract, entitled, England's Great Happiness; 
 or, a Dialogue bettveen Content and Complaint ; in 
 which the author contends, that the importation of 
 wine, and other consumable commodities, for which 
 there is a demand, in exchange for money, is ad- 
 vantageous; and, on this ground, defends the French 
 trade, which was as loudly declaimed against by the 
 practical men of that day as it is by those of the pre- 
 sent. We shall make a short extract from this re- 
 markable tract : 
 
 " Complaint. — You speak plain ; but what think 
 you of the French trade ? which draws away our mo- 
 ney by wholesale. Mr Fortrey, f whom I have heard 
 you speak well of, gives an account that they get 
 L. 1,600,000 a-year from us. 
 
 Content. — 'Tis a great sum ; but, perhaps, were 
 it put to a vote in a ivise Council, whether for that 
 reason the trade should be left off, 'twould go in the 
 negative. For paper, wine, linen, Castile soap, bran- 
 dy, olives, capers, prunes, kidskins, taffaties, and such 
 like, we cannot be without ; and for the rest, which 
 you are pleased to style Apes and Peacocks (although 
 wise Solomon ranked them with gold and ivory), 
 they set us all agog, and have increased among us 
 many considerable trades. * * I must confess, I 
 had rather they'd use our goods than money ; but if 
 
 not, I WOULD NOT LOSE THE GETTING OF TEN POUND 
 BECAUSE I can't GET AN HUNDRED; and I dou't 
 
 question but when the French get more foreign trade, 
 they'll give more liberty to the bringing in foreign 
 goods. Til suppose John-a-Nokes to be a butcher, 
 
 * It has been generally supposed that Mr Hume was the first who showed (in his Essay on Interest) the 
 fallacy of this opinion, and who proved that the rate of interest did not depend on the abundance or scarcity 
 of money, but on the abundance or scarcity of disposable capital compared with the demands of the bor- 
 rowers, and the rate of profit. This, however, is a mistake, the doctrine in question having been fully de- 
 monstrated in a pamphlet written by Mr Massie, entitled, Essay on the Governing Causes of the Natural Rate 
 of Interest, published two years before Mr Hume's Essay appeared. 
 
 f Mr Fortrey's pamphlet has been much referred to. It was published in 1663, and reprinted in l673. 
 It contains a very good argument in favour of inclosures. The reference in the text sufficiently explains the 
 opinions of the writer in regard to commerce. 
 
 VOL. VI. part I. F f 
 
226 
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 Progress of Dick-a- Styles to be an Exchange man, yourself a 
 Commercial lawyer, will you buy no meal or ribbands, or your wife 
 F^"^'land" " -^"^ Indian gown or fan, because they will not 
 \. i!!f ^ ^ 1 - tfuclc with you for indentures which they have need of? 
 '' I suppose no ; but if you get money enough of others, 
 you care not though you give it away in specie for 
 these things ; 1 think 'tis the same case." 
 
 The general spirit of this tract may perhaps be bet- 
 ter inferred from the titles of some of the dialogues. 
 Among others, we have " To export money our great 
 advantage T—'''^ The French trade a profitable trade " 
 
 " Variety of wares for all markets, a great advan- 
 
 tage ;" " High living, a great improvement to the 
 
 arts ;" — Invitation of foreign arts, a great advan- 
 fagg — f Multitudes of traders, a great advantage," 
 &c. &c. But its influence was far too feeble to ar- 
 rest the current of popular prejudice. In the year 
 after its publication (1678) the importation of French 
 commodities was prohibited for three years. This 
 prohibition was made perpetual in the reign of Wil- 
 liam III. when the French trade was declared a nui- 
 sance ! — a principle, if we may so call it, which has 
 been acted upon to this very hour. 
 
 In 1681, a pamphlet was published in defence of 
 the East India Company, under the signature of 
 " Philopatris," but evidently the production of Sir 
 Josiah Child. In the introduction to this pamphlet, 
 the following general principles are laid down : — 
 
 " That all close monopolies (Sir Josiah contends 
 that the East India Company does not come undef 
 this description), of what nature or kind soever, are 
 destructive to trade, and consequently obstructive to 
 the increase of the value of our lands." 
 
 " That silver or gold, coined or uncoined, though 
 they are used for a measure of all other things, are 
 no less a commodity than wine, oil, tobacco, cloth, or 
 stuffs ; and may, in many cases, be exported as much 
 to the national advantage as amj other commodity." 
 
 " That no nation ever was, or will be, considerable 
 in trade, that prohibits the exportation of bullion." 
 (p. 3.) 
 
 Sir William In Sir William Petty's Quantulumcungue, publish- 
 Petty's g{j in i682, the subject of money is treated with 
 Quantulum- ^jjjiity^ ^nd the idea of draining England of her 
 cunque. Qr^^\^^ fay an unfavourable balance, successfully com- 
 bated. " If some English merchants," it is said, 
 " should be so improvident as to carry out money 
 only, then the foreign merchants would buy up such 
 English commodities as they wanted with money 
 brought into England from their respective countries, 
 or with such commodities as England likes better 
 than money ; for the vending of English commodities 
 doth not depend on any thing else but the use and need 
 which foreigners have of them." Sir W. denies that 
 *' a country is the poorer for having less money and 
 concludes by strongly condemning the laws regulat- 
 ing the rate of interest ; observing, that there may 
 as well be laws to regulate the rate of exchange and 
 of insurance. (See pp. 3, 6, 8, original edition.) 
 
 But a tract, entitled. Discourses on Trade, princi- 
 pally directed to the Cases of Interest, Coinage, Clip- 
 ping, and Increase of Money, written by Sir Dudley 
 North, and published in 1691, unquestionably con- 
 tains a far more able statement of the true principles 
 of commerce than any that had then appeared. 
 
 Sir Dudley 
 North. 
 
 We regret that our limits will not permit our gir- Progress of 
 ing so full an account as we could have wished of ^"p^™^^*^?^^ 
 this extraordinary tract. The author is a most in- ^n^^nd^ 
 telligent and consistent advocate of the great princi- t^^^^-^ 
 pies of commercial freedom. He is not, like the most 
 eminent of his predecessors, well informed on one; 
 subject, and erroneous on another. He is through- 
 out sound and liberal. His system is consentaneous 
 in its parts, and complete. He shows, that in com- 
 mercial matters, nations have the same interests as 
 individuals; and exposes the absurdity of supposing, 
 that any trade which is advantageous to the mer- 
 chant can be injurious to the public. His opinions 
 respecting the imposition of a seignorage on the 
 coinage of money, and the expediency of sumptuary 
 laws, then in great favour, are equally enlightened. 
 
 We subjoin from the preface to this tract an ab- 
 stract of the general propositions maintained in it: 
 
 " That the whole worid as to trade is 
 but as one nation or people, and therein na- 
 tions are as persons. 
 
 " That the loss of a trade with one nation is not 
 that only, separately considered, but so much of the 
 trade of the world rescinded and lost, for all is com- 
 bined together. 
 
 *^ That there can ee no trade unprofitable 
 
 TO THE public ; FOR IF ANY PROVE SO, MEN LEAVE 
 IT OFF; AND WHEREVER THE TRADERS THRIVE, 
 THE PUBLLIC, OF WHICH THEY ARE A PART, THRIVE 
 ALSO. 
 
 " That to force men to deal in any prescribed 
 manner may profit such as happen to serve them ; 
 but the public gains not, because it is taking from 
 one subject to give to another. 
 
 " That no laws can set prices in trade, the rates 
 of which must and will make themselves. But when 
 such laws do happen to lay any hold, it is so much 
 impediment to trade, and therefore prejudicial. 
 
 " That money is a merchandise, rvhereof there may 
 be a glut, as well as a scarcity, and that even to an in- 
 convenience. 
 
 That a people cannot want money to 
 
 SERVE the ordinary DEALING, AND MORE THAN 
 ENOUGH THEY WILL NOT HAVE. 
 
 That no man will be the richer for the making 
 much money, nor have any part of it, but as he buys 
 it for an equivalent price. 
 
 " That the free coynage is a perpetual motion found 
 out, whereby to melt and coyn without ceasing, and so 
 to feed goldsmiths and coyners at the public charge. 
 
 " That debasing the coyn is defrauding one ano- 
 ther, and to the public there is no sort of advantage 
 from it ; for that admits no character, or value, but 
 intrinsick. 
 
 " That the sinking by alloy or weight is all one. 
 That exchange and ready money are the same, no- 
 thing but carriage and re-carriage being saved. 
 
 " That money exported in trade is an increase to 
 the wealth of the nation ; but spent in war, and pay- 
 ments abroad, is so much impoverishment. 
 
 " In short, that all favour to one trade, or 
 
 INTEREST, IS AN ABUSE, AND CUTS SO MUCH OF 
 PROFIT FROM THE PUBLIC." 
 
 Unluckily this admirable tract never obtained any 
 considerable circulation. There is good reason, in- 
 
POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 Mr Barbon 
 
 Progress of deed, to suppose that it was designedly suppressed. * 
 tommwial ^11 events, it speedily became excessively scarce; 
 England" ^""^ aware that it has ever been referred 
 
 to by any subsequent writer on commerce. 
 Mr I^ke. The disordered state of the coin, and the proceed- 
 ings relative to the great recoinage in the reign of 
 William III., led to a great deal of discussion both 
 in and out of Parliament, and contributed, in no or- 
 dinary degree, to diffuse juster notions respecting 
 money and commerce. It was then that Mr Locke 
 published his well known tracts on Money, t These 
 tracts immediately obtained a very extensive circu- 
 lation ; and though infected with some very grave 
 errors, they had a powerful influence in preventing 
 Mr Lowndes's proposal for degrading the standard of 
 the coin from being carried into effect, and in con- 
 tributing to establish the true theory of money. The 
 restoration of the currency was not, however, effect- 
 ed without great opposition. A large minority in 
 Parliament supported Mr Lowndes's views ; and they 
 were also supported by a number of writers. Of these, 
 Mr Nicholas Barbon seems to have been one of the 
 ablest. In his tract, entitled, A Discourse concerning 
 Coining the New Money Lighter, published in I696, 
 he detected several of the errors into which Mr 
 Locke had fallen; and he has the further merit of 
 having ably demonstrated the fallacy of the popular 
 opinions respecting the balance of trade; and of 
 having shown, that no bullion could ever be sent 
 abroad in payment of an unfavourable balance, unless 
 it was at the time the cheapest and most profitable 
 article of export. 
 
 The inferences deduced by Mr Barbon from his 
 investigations into ihe balance of trade and foreign 
 exchange are : 
 
 " That a trading nation is made rich by traffic 
 and the industry of the inhabitants — and that the 
 native stock of a nation can never be wasted. 
 
 " That no sort of commodities ought to be total- 
 ly prohibited — and that the freer trade is, the better 
 the nation 'will thrive. 
 
 " That the poverty and riches of a nation does 
 not depend on a lesser or greater consumption of 
 foreign trade, nor on the difference of the value of 
 those goods that are consumed. 
 
 " That the balance of trade is a notion that serves 
 rather to puzzle all debates of trade, than to discover 
 any particular advantages a nation may get by re- 
 gulating of trade. 
 
 That the balance of trade (if there be one) is not 
 the cause of sending away the money out of a nation : 
 But that proceeds from the difference of the value of 
 bullion in several countries, and from the profit that 
 
 the merchant makes by sending it away more than by Progress of 
 bills of exchange. Commercial 
 
 " That there is no occasion to send awaj money ^^"^^^S^ 
 or bullion to pay bills of exchange, or balance ac- J^^T^SiS 
 counts. 
 
 " That all sorts of goods, of the value of the bill 
 of exchange, or the balance of the account, will an- 
 swer the bill, and balance the account as well as 
 money." — (p. 59.) 
 
 It is singular, that a writer possessed of such 
 sound and enlarged opinions respecting the princi- 
 ples of commercial intercourse, and who had shown 
 that bullion differed in no respect from other com- 
 modities, should have maintained, that the value of. 
 coined money chiefly depended on the stamp affixed 
 to it by government. This gross and unaccountable 
 error destroyed the effect of Mr Barbon's tract; and 
 was, most probably, the cause of the oblivion into 
 which it very soon fell, and of its never having at- 
 tracted that attention to which it was on other ac- ^ 
 counts justly entitled. 
 
 The commercial writings of Dr Davenant, In- Dr Dave-' 
 spector-General of Imports and Exports in the reign nam. 
 of Queen Anne, were published in the interval be- 
 tween 1695 and 17II. Though a partizan of the 
 mercantile system, Dr Davenant had emancipated 
 himself from many of the prejudices of its more in- 
 discriminate and zealous supporters. He considers 
 a watchful attention to the balance of trade, and its 
 " right government," as of the highest importance ; 
 but he does not consider wealth as consisting exclu- 
 sively of gold or silver ; or that prohibitions and re- 
 strictions should be rashly imposed, even on the in- 
 tercourse with those countries with .which the ba- 
 lance is supposed to be unfavourable. But we are 
 far from thinking, that the commercial writings of Dr 
 Davenant deserve the eulogies that have been be- 
 stowed on them ; or that they had any material ef- 
 fect in accelerating the progress of sound commercial 
 science. They do not, in fact, contain a single prin- 
 ciple that is not to be found in the work of Sir Josiah 
 Child. Some of Dr Davenant's paragraphs are ex- 
 ceedingly good ; but the treatises of which they form 
 a part are remarkably inconclusive, and are for the 
 most part founded on narrow and contracted princi- 
 ples. There is no evidence to show that Dr Dave- 
 nant was at all aware of the effect of commerce in 
 fadlitating the production of wealth, by enabling the 
 inhabitants of each particular country to devote them- 
 selves, in preference, to those employments for the 
 successful prosecution of which they have some na- 
 tural advantage. J 
 
 In 1734', Jacob Vanderlint, who describes him- Jacob Van. 
 
 derlint. 
 
 * See the Honourable Roger North's Life of his brother, the Honourable Sir Dudley North, p. 179. 
 
 t Considerations on the Lowering of Interest and Raising the Value of Money, 1691. Further Consider- 
 ations concerning Raising the Value of Money, 1695. 
 
 X The progress of enlarged and liberal opinions with regard to commerce seem to have been in no small 
 degree counteracted by the publication of the British Merchant. This work was written by some of the 
 first merchants of their time, and was chiefly intended to expose the alleged defects in the commercial 
 treaty with France negotiated by Queen Anne's Tory administration in 1713. It consists of a series of 
 papers published weekly, and afterwards collected in three volumes. Public opinion being very mucli 
 against the treaty, the British Merchant enjoyed a large share of popularity. Its authors appear to have 
 
228 
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 Progress of self as a tradesman, published his tract, entitled, 
 
 Commercial 
 Science in 
 England. 
 
 Money answers all Things. Mr Stewart has referred 
 to this tract in the Appendix to his valuable Life of Br 
 Smith, and has quoted some passages, illustrative of 
 the advantages of commercial freedom, which, he truly 
 says, " will bear a comparison, botl* in point of good 
 sense and of liberality, with what was so ably urged 
 by Mr Hume twenty years afterwards, in his Essay 
 on the Jealousy of Trade," Vanderlint closes his 
 pamphlet with an argument in favour of the substi- 
 tution of a territorial tax in place of every other — 
 an idea borrowed from Locke, and subsequently 
 adopted by the French economists. 
 Sir Matthew In 1744, * Sir Matthew Decker, an extensive mer- 
 Decker. chant, published his Essay on the Causes of the De- 
 dine of Foreign Trade. This essay has been fre- 
 quently referred to by Dr Smith, and it deserved 
 his notice. Sir Matthew is a most intelligent and 
 decided enemy of all restrictions, monopolies, and 
 prohibitions whatever. To give full freedom to in- 
 dustry — he proposes that all corporation privileges 
 should be abolished; and that all the existing taxes 
 should be repealed, and replaced by a single tax laid 
 on the consumers of luxuries, proportionally to their 
 incomes. The following short extracts will give an 
 idea of the spirit and ability which pervades Sir Mat- 
 thew's work : — 
 
 " In the Memoirs of Be Witt, is is said, ' that re- 
 straint is alrvays hurtful to trade the reason whereof 
 is plain ; for nature has given various products to va- 
 rious countries, and thereby knit mankind in an inter- 
 course to supply each other^s tvants. To attempt to 
 sell our products, but to buy little or none from fo- 
 reigners, is attempting an impossibility, acting con- 
 trary to the intent of nature, cynically, and absurdly; 
 and, as ours is a populous manufacturing country, 
 might be prejudicial to our interests ; for, could we 
 raise all necessaries and vanities within ourselves, 
 this intercourse designed by nature would be de- 
 stroyed ; and then, how is our navy, our only bul- 
 wark, to be maintained ?" (p. 147.) 
 
 " Trade cannot, will not, be forced; let other na- 
 tions prohibit, by what severity they please, interest 
 will prevail ; they may embarrass their own trade, but 
 cannot hurt a nation, whose trade is free, so much as 
 themselves. Spain has prohibited our woollens ; but 
 had a reduction of our taxes brought them to their 
 natural value only, they would be the cheapest in 
 Europe of their goodness, consequently must be 
 more demanded by the Spaniards, be smuggled into 
 their country in spite of their government, and sold 
 at better prices ; their people would be dearer cloth- 
 ed, with duties and prohibitions, than without, con- 
 sequently must sell their oil, wine, and other com- 
 modities, dearer ; whereby other nations, raising the 
 like growths, would gain ground upon them, and their 
 balance of trade grow less and less. But should we, 
 for that reason, prohibit their commodities ? By no 
 means ; for the dearer they grow, no more than what 
 
 are just necessary will be used ; their prohibition does Progress of 
 their oton business ; some may be necessary for us ; ^g"^^g"n 
 tuhat are so, tve should not make dearer to our otun Eneland. 
 people s some may be proper to assort cargoes for 
 other countries, and why should we prohibit our 
 people that advantage ? Why hurt ourselves to 
 HURT THE Spaniards ? If we would retaliate ef- 
 fectually upon them for their ill-intent, handsome 
 premiums given to our plantations to raise the same 
 growths as Spain might enable them to supply us 
 cheaper than the Spaniards could do, and establish 
 a trade they could never recover. Premiums may 
 gain trade, hut prohibitions will destroy it." (p. 163.) 
 
 Sir Matthew applies the same argument to expose 
 the absurdity and injurious effect of our restraints 
 on the trade with France. " 1 allow," he says, '* that 
 Britain should be always vigilant over the designs of 
 France, but need not be afraid of her power ; her 
 wise regulations in trade should be the objects we 
 should keep our eyes upon, and out-do her if possi- 
 ble ; or else, as she rises, we must sink. But it is 
 our comfort, that our remedy is always in our own 
 hands ; nor can there be any solid reason for the na- 
 tion's paying dearer to other countries for goods we 
 could buy cheaper in France. Would any wise 
 dealer in London buy goods of a Dutch shopkeeper 
 for 15d. or 18d. when he could have the same from 
 a French shopkeeper for Is. ? Would he not consi- 
 der, that, by so doing, he would empty his own 
 pockets the sooner, and that, in the end, he would 
 greatly injure his own family by such whims ? And 
 shall this nation commit an absurdity that stares every 
 
 private man in the face ? The certain way to 
 
 be secure is to be more powerful, that is, to extend 
 our trade as far as it is capable of ; and as restraints 
 have proved its ruin, to reject them, and depend on 
 freedom for our security ; bidding defiance to the 
 French, or any nation in Europe, that took umbrage 
 at our exerting our natural advantages." (p. 184.) 
 
 We do not know that the impolicy of restrictions 
 on the importation of foreign corn has ever been 
 more ably and triumphantly exposed than in the fol- 
 lowing passage : *' Every home commodity, in a free 
 trade, will find its natural value ; for, though that 
 fluctuates, as of necessity it must, according to the 
 plentifulness or scarcity of seasons, yet, for the home 
 consumption, every home commodity must have great 
 advantage over the foreign, as being upon the spot, 
 and free from freight, insurance, commission, and 
 charges, which on the produce of lands, being all 
 bulky commodities, must in general be about \5 per 
 cent., and a greater advantage cannot be given with- 
 out prejudice; for 15 per cent, makes a great diiference 
 in the price of necessaries between the nation selling 
 and the nation buying, and is a great difficulty on 
 the latter, but, arising from the natural course of 
 things, cannot be helped ; though it is a sufficient se- 
 curity to the landholder, that foreigners can never im- 
 port more necessaries than are absolutely required; 
 
 been thoroughly imbued with all the prejudices of the mercantile sect ; and the work is now only deserving 
 of notice as containing the fullest exposition of their peculiar doctrines. 
 
 * We quote from the edition of the Essay published at Edinburgh in 1756. It appears from the work 
 itself (p. 4), that it had been written in 1740 ; the first edition was in 4to. 
 
POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 Mr Hume. 
 
 Progress of and, I presume, in such cases, they have more cha- 
 'sdence'in^ rity than to starve the people merely for an imagin- 
 England. P^^^^} which yet would prove their ruin in the 
 end ; for it is a fallacy and an absurdity to think to 
 raise the value of lands by oppressions on the people 
 that cramp their trade ; for if trade declines, the com- 
 mon people must either come upon the parish, or fly 
 for business to our neighbours : in the first case, 
 they become a heavy tax on the rich, and instead of 
 buying the produce of their lands, must have it given 
 them ; and in the second case, when the consumers 
 are gone, what price will the produce of land bear ?" 
 (p. 56.) 
 
 Of a work so well known as Mr Hume's Political 
 Essays (published in 1752) it is almost superfluous 
 to speak. The ability with which he has combated 
 the prejudice against the French trade, and expos- 
 ed the absurdity of the dread of being deprived of 
 a sufficient supply of bullion; the liberality and 
 expansion of his views respecting commerce in ge- 
 neral ; and the beauty of his illustrations, cannot be 
 too highly praised. It did not, however, enter into 
 Mr Hume's plan to give a systematic view of the ef- 
 fects of commerce, nor has he instituted any analysis 
 Mr Harris, of the sources of wealth. Mr Harris has endea- 
 voured to supply the latter deficiency ; and his Essay 
 upon Money and Coins, published in 1757, is, per- 
 haps, on the whole, the best economical treatise 
 that had appeared previously to the publication of 
 the Wealth of Nations. We have already noticed 
 Mr Harris's mistake of supposing that it was more 
 profitable to import durable rather than rapid- 
 ly consumable commodities; and, as a writer on 
 commerce, he is undoubtedly very inferior to Sir 
 Dudley North and Sir Matthew Decker. But the 
 comprehensive and able manner in which he has 
 treated the subject of money ; the skill with which 
 he has illustrated the effects of the division of labour 
 in facilitating production and increasing wealth ; and 
 the near approach he has made to some of the fun- 
 damental doctrines of Dr Smith, if they do not give 
 him a pre-eminence, certainly place him in the first 
 rank among his precursors. 
 Early ita- We have been induced to treat of the progress 
 ian Writers of commercial science in England at considerable 
 n Com- 
 
 229 
 
 length, partly on account of the interest and im- Eariyltalian 
 portance of the subject, and partly because we Writexs on 
 are not acquainted with any work in which it 
 has been investigated. M. Say and some other 
 continental writers contend, that the Italians and 
 French were the first who discovered and esta- 
 blished the just principles of commercial inter- 
 course. But the details we have now given prove 
 the indisputable priority of the English. The 
 economical works of Davanzati, Serra, Turbolo, 
 and Scaruffi, are almost wholly occupied with a 
 discussion of the effects of a forced reduction of 
 the standard of money. They deserve credit for 
 having opposed all tampering with the currency; but 
 the arguments they employ to show its injustice and 
 impolicy, are stated with much greater brevity and 
 force in Sir Robert Cotton's speech in the Privy 
 Council in 1626. The Discurso Economico of Ban- 
 dini, the earliest writer on commerce whose works 
 have been thought worthy of a place in the volumi- 
 nous collection of Italian works on Political Econo- 
 my, * was published so late as 1737. Belloni and 
 Algarotti's Essays on Commerce, both very inferior 
 to the works of Sir Josiah Child or Sir Dudley North, 
 were published, the former in 1750, and the latter in 
 1763. 
 
 The French have still less claim than the Italians Early 
 to be considered the discoverers of the true princi- French 
 pies of commerce. There is much accurate observa- ^^"'^'^ 
 tion, and many just, patriotic, and striking observa- 
 tions on the injury France sustained from the want 
 of a free internal traffic, and from the oppressiveness 
 of taxation, in the Dixme Royale of the famous Mar- 
 shal Vauban, written in l698. But Vincent de Gour- 
 nay, whom the French state to be one of the earliest 
 of their authors, who entertained comprehensive and 
 liberal notions regarding commerce in general, was 
 born so late as 1712. f M. Gournay published 
 translations of the treatise of Sir Josiah Child, and 
 of a tract of Sir Thomas Culpepper's, at Paris in 
 1752. So slow was the progress of economical 
 science in France, that even Montesquieu has a chap- 
 ter entitled, " A quelles nations il est desavantageux 
 de faire le commerce.''^ 
 
 But neither the efforts of the English nor French System of 
 
 the French 
 
 Economists. 
 
 * Scrittori Classici Italiani di Economia Poliiicn. The publication of this collection of the works of her 
 economical writers does honour to Italy. It was begun in 1803 and finished in 1805, in 50 volumes 8vo. 
 
 t See Dupont's edition Des Oeuvres de M. Turgot, Tom. III. p. 31 1. ' * 
 
 X Maupertuis, in his Eloge of Montesquieu, candidly admits that France is indebted for the science of 
 commerce, finance, and population, or of Political Economy, to England. The passage is curious: 
 
 Comme le plan de Montesquieu," he observes, " renfermoit tout ce qui pent etre utile au genre humain^ 
 i\ n'a pas oublie cette partie essentielle qui regarde le commerce, les finances, la population : Science si 
 nouvelle parmi nous, qu'elle n'y a encore point de nom — C'est chez nos voisins quelle est nee; et elle y de- 
 meurajusque a ce que M. Melon luijit passer le mer.*' 
 
 Melon's work, Essai Politique sur le Commerce^ was published in 1734. — It is entirely founded on the 
 principles of the mercantile system. Mr Bindon translated it into English, and published it, along with sonie 
 rather valuable annotations and remarks, at Dublin in 1739. 
 
 Melon had advocated the ruinous policy of raising the denomination of the coin. This gave occasion to 
 the publication of a very acute work by Dutot, entitled. Reflexions Politiques sur les Finances et le Com- 
 merce, 2 Tomes, 12mo. 1738. Dutot's work was in its turn very ably criticised by Duverney, in his Examen 
 des Reflexions Politiques sur le Finances, &c. 2 Tomes, 12mo. 1740. These works contain a great deal of 
 very curious and interesting information respecting the French finances. Duverney's account of the famous 
 Mississippi Scheme is particularly good. 
 
^^0 
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 System of writers in favour of the freedom of commerce and 
 the French industry had any considerable influence on the mer- 
 Economists. ^^j^jjig gygtem. Their opinions respecting the nature 
 ^■^'•^''^ of wealth, and of the causes of national opulence, be- 
 ing confused and contradictory, their arguments in fa- 
 vour of a liberal system of commerce had somewhat 
 of an empirical appearance, and failed of makmg 
 that impression which is always made by arguments 
 founded on well established principles, and shown 
 to be consistent with experience. Mr Locke, as we 
 shall hereafter show, unquestionably entertained very 
 correct opinions respecting the paramount influence 
 of labour in the production of wealth; but he did 
 not prosecute his investigations with the view of elu- 
 cidating the principles of this science, and made no 
 reference to them in his subsequent writings. Mr 
 Harris adopted Mr Locke's views, and deduced from 
 them some practical inferences of great importance; 
 but his general reasonings are merely introductory 
 to his Treatise on Money, and are not illustrated 
 with that fulness of detail, or in that comprehensive 
 and systematic manner that is necessary in scientific 
 M Quesnay. works. The celebrated M. Quesnay, a physician, 
 attached to the court of Louis XV., has the unques- 
 tionable merit of being the first who attempted to 
 investigate and analyze the sources of wealth, tvith 
 the intention of ascertaining the fundamental principles 
 of Political Economy, and who gave it a systematic 
 form, and raised it to the rank of a science. Ques- 
 nay 's father was a small proprietor, and having been 
 educated in the country, he was naturally inclined 
 to regard agriculture with more than ordinary par- 
 tiality. At an early period of his life he had 
 been struck with its depressed state in France, and 
 had set himself to discover the causes which had 
 prevented its making that progress which the in- 
 dustry of the inhabitants, the fertility of the soil, 
 and the excellence of the climate, seemed to insure. 
 In the course of this inquiry, he speedily discovered 
 that the prohibition of exporting corn to foreign 
 countries, and the preference given by the regulations 
 ofColberttothemanufacturingandcommercial classes 
 over the agriculturists, had been one of the most power- 
 ful obstacles to the progress and improvement of agri- 
 culture. But Quesnay did not satisfy himself with 
 exposing the injustice of this preference, and its per- 
 nicious consequences. His zeal for the interests of 
 agriculture led him, not merely to place it on the 
 same level with manufactures and commerce, but to 
 raise it above them, by endeavouring to show that it 
 was the only species of industry which contributed 
 to increase the riches of a nation. Founding on the 
 indisputable fact, that every thing which either mi- 
 nisters to our wants, or gratifies our desires, must be 
 originally derived from the earth, Quesnay assumed 
 as a self-evident truth, that the earth was the only source 
 of wealth ; and held that industry was altogether in- 
 
 capauic of producing any new value, except when System oj 
 employed in agriculture, including therein fisheries J^^jJl^^^-J^^^ 
 and mines.* His observation of the striking effects of ^ 
 the vegetative powers of nature, and his inability to ex- 
 plain the real origin and causes of rent, confirmed him 
 in this opinion. The circumstance, that of all who are 
 engaged in laborious undertakings, none but the cul- 
 tivators of the soil paid rent for the use of natural 
 agents, appeared to him an incontrovertible proof, 
 that agriculture was the only species of industry 
 which yielded a net surplus {produit net) over and 
 above the expences of production. Quesnay allow- 
 ed that manufacturers and merchants were high- 
 ly useful; but, as they realised no net surplus in 
 the shape of rent, he contended they did not add 
 any greater value to the raw material of the com- 
 modities they manufactured or carried from place 
 to place, than what was just equivalent to the value of 
 the capital or stock consumed by them. These prin- 
 ciples once established, it followed that landlords, 
 farmers, and labourers employed in agriculture, were 
 the only productive classes in a state; and that the la- 
 bour of manufacturers and traders being unproductive, 
 their means' of subsistence, and their wealth, could 
 only be derived from the agriculturists. It further fol- 
 lowed, that the expences of government, and the 
 various pubUc burdens, however imposed, must be 
 defrayed out of the produit net, or rent of the land- 
 lords ; and, consistently with this principle, Quesnay 
 proposed that all the existing taxes should be repeal- 
 ed, and that a single tax (I'Impot unique), levied di- 
 rectly from the produce of the land, should be im- 
 posed in their stead. 
 
 The economical table of M. Quesnay—" Cette for- 
 mula ettonnante," says Dupont, " qui point la nais- 
 sance, la distribution, et la reproduction des ri- 
 cliesses, et qui sert a calculer avec tant de surete, 
 de promptitude, et de precision, I'effet de toutes les 
 operations relatives aux richesses" — was first pub- 
 lished at Versailles in 1758. 
 
 But, however much impressed with the importance 
 of agriculture over every other species of industry, 
 Quesnay did not solicit for it any exclusive favour or 
 protection. He successfully contended that the inte- 
 rests of the agriculturists, and of all the other classes, 
 would be best promoted by establishing a system of 
 perfect freedom. He showed that it could never be 
 the interest of the proprietors and cultivators of 
 the soil to fetter or discourage the industry of mer- 
 chants, artificers, and manufacturers : for the greater 
 the liberty which they enjoyed, the greater would 
 be their competition, and their products would, 
 in consequence, be sold so much the cheaper. 
 Neither, on the other hand, could it ever be the in- 
 terest of the unproductive classes to harass and op- 
 press the industry of the agriculturists, either by pre- 
 venting the free exportation of their products, or by 
 
 * Cherchant d'ou vient les richesses des nations, Quesnay trouva qu'elles ne naissent que des travaux 
 dans lequels la Nature et la Puissance Divine, concourent avec les eff-orts pour produire on ian-e recuei ir 
 des productions nouvelles : de sorte qu'on ne pent attendre I'augmentation des ces richesses que de Ja cul- 
 tivadon, de la peche, et de I'exploitation des mines et des carrieres^ (See the Nottcesur les fononnstes, 
 by one of the most zealous of the sect, Dupont de Nemours, in the CEuvres de Turgot, Lome 111. p. ^i^.; 
 
POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 231 
 
 System of any restrictive regulations whatsoever. When the 
 teeonomists enjoy the greatest degree of freedom, 
 
 ■ their industry, and, consequently, their surplus pro- 
 duce — the only fund from which any accession' of 
 national vi'ealth can be derived, will be carried to 
 the greatest possible extent. According to this 
 " liberal and generous system" {Wealth of Nations, 
 Vol. III. p. 17), the establishment of perfect liberty, 
 perfect security, and perfect justice, is the only, as 
 it is the infallible, means of securing the highest de- 
 gree of prosperity to all classes of the society. 
 
 " Ou a vu," says the Commentator of this system, 
 M. Mercier de la Riviere, " qu'il est de I'essence de 
 i'ordre que I'interet particulier d'un seul ne puisse 
 jamais etre separee de I'interet commun de tons ; nous 
 en trouvons une preuve bien convaincante dans les 
 effets que produit naturellement et necessairement la 
 plenitude de la liberie qui doit regner dans le com- 
 merce, pour ne point blesser la propriety. L'interet 
 personnel encouragee par cette grande liberte, presse 
 vivement et perpetuellement chaque homme en par- 
 ticulier, de perfectionner, de multiplier les choses 
 dont il est vendeur ; de grossir ainsi la masse des 
 jouissances qu'il pent procurer aux autres hommes, 
 afin de grossir, par ce moyen, la masse des jouis- 
 sances que les autres hommes peuvent lui procurer 
 en echange. Le monde alors va de lui meme ; le 
 desir de jouir, et la liberte de jouir ne cessant de pro- 
 voquer la multiplication des productions et I'accroisse- 
 ment de I'industrie, ils impriment a toute la societe, 
 un mouvement qui devient une tendance perpe- 
 tuelle vers son meilleur etat possible." — (Tome II. p. 
 444.)* 
 
 • We shall have other opportunities of fully examin- System of 
 ing the principles of this theory. At present, it is French 
 sufficient to remark, that, in assuming agriculture to ^"'"<'™"«ts. 
 be the only source of wealth, because the matter of 
 which all commodities are composed must be origi- 
 nally derived from the earth, M. Quesnay and his 
 followers mistake altogether the nature of produc- 
 tion, and really suppose wealth to consist of matter. 
 But, in its natural state, matter is very rarely pos- 
 sessed of utility, and is always destitute of value. It 
 is only by means of the labour bestowed in the ap- 
 propriation of matter, and in fitting and preparing it 
 for our use, that it acquires exchangeable value, 
 and becomes wealth. Human industry does not 
 produce wealth by making any additions to the mat- 
 ter of our globe ; for this is a quantity susceptible 
 neither of augmentation nor diminution. Its real 
 effect is simply to produce wealth by giving utility to 
 matter already in existence ; and we shall hereafter 
 show that the labour employed in manufactures and 
 commerce is just as productive of utility, and conse- 
 quently of wealth, as the labour employed in agricul- 
 ture. Neither is the cultivation of the soil, as M, 
 Quesnay supposed, the only species of industry 
 which yields a surplus produce over the expences 
 of production. When none but the best soils are 
 cultivated, and when, consequently, agriculture is 
 most productive, no rent, or produit net, is obtained 
 from the land ; and it is only after recourse has 
 been had to poorer soils, and when the produc- 
 tive powers of the labour and capital employed 
 in cultivation begin to diminish, that rent begins 
 to appear. So that, instead of being a consequence 
 
 That M. Quesnay is entitled to the merit of originality cannot, we think, be disputed. It is certain, 
 however, that he had been anticipated in several of his peculiar doctrines by some English writers of the 
 previous century. The fundamental principles of the economical system are distinctly and clearly stated 
 m a tract entitled Reasons for a limited Exportation of Wool, published in 1677. " That it is of the greatest 
 concern and interest of the nation," says the author of the tract, " to preserve the nobility, gentry, and 
 those to whom the land of the country belongs, at least, much greater than a few artificers employed 
 in workmg the superfluity of our wool, or the merchants who gain by the exportation of our manufactures, 
 IS manifest— I. Because they are the masters and proprietaries of the foundation of all the 'wealth in this 
 nation, all profit arising out of the ground which is theirs. 2. Because they bear all taxes and public bur- 
 dens; which, in truth, are only born by those who buy, and sell not; all sellers, raising the price of their 
 commodities, or abating of their goodness, according to their taxes."— (Not being able to procure the pam- 
 phlet Itself, we quote from the extract given in Mr Smith's Memoirs of Wool, Vol. I. p. 254.) 
 
 In 1696, Mr Asgill published a treatise entitled Several Assertions Proved, in order to Create Another 
 Species of Money than Gold, in support of Dr Chamberlayne's proposition for a Land Bank. We extract 
 from this treatise the following passage, breathing, as Mr Stewart has justly observed, the very spirit of Ques- 
 nay's philosophy : — 
 
 What we call commodities is nothing but land severed from the soil_M«« deals in nothing but earth. 
 The merchants are the factors of the world, to exchange one part of the earth for another. The king 
 himself IS fed by the labour of the ox : and the clothing of the army and victualling of the navy must all 
 be paid for to the owner of the soil as the ultimate receiver. All things in the world are originally the 
 produce of the ground, and there must all things be raised."_(This passage has been quoted in Lord 
 Lauderdale's Inquiry into the Nature and Origin of Public Wealth, 2d ed. p. 109.) 
 
 These passages are interesting, as exhibiting the first germs of the theory of the Economists. But there 
 IS no reason whatever to suppose that Quesnay was aware of the existence of either of the tracts referred 
 to. The subjects treated in them were of too local a description to excite the attention of foreigners • and 
 Quesnay was too candid to conceal his obligations to them, had he really owed them any. It is probable he 
 may have seen Mr Locke's treatise on Raising the Value of Money, where the idea is thrown out that all 
 taxes fall ultimately on the land. But there is an immeasurable difference between the suggestion of Locke 
 and the well digested system of Quesnay. 
 
U2 
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 System of of the superior productiveness of agricultural in- 
 the French dustry, rent is really a consequence of its being less 
 Economists, productive ! The opinion of M. Quesnay, that the 
 labour of man derives no assistance from the produc- 
 tive powers of nature, except when employed in agri- 
 culture, is totally destitute of foundation ; and, in a 
 subsequent part of this article, we shall show that the 
 manufacturer and merchant derive fully as much as- 
 sistance from these powers as either the agriculturist, 
 the fisher, or the miner. 
 
 Though the theory of the French economists, con- 
 sidered in reference to the fundamental principles of 
 the science, was equally erroneous with that to which 
 it was opposed, its novelty and ingenuity, its systema- 
 tic and consentaneous form, the liberal system of 
 commercial intercourse which it recommended, and 
 the benevolent and excellent character of its found- 
 er, speedily obtained for it a very high degree of 
 reputation. The opinions of M. Quesnay were early 
 communicated to, and zealously espoused by, his 
 friends the Marquis de Mirabeau, M. Mercier de la 
 Riviere, M. Dupont de Nemours, and others ; and 
 were afterwards advocated by Turgot, one of the 
 most distinguished statesmen of whom France has to 
 boast ; * and by Letrosne, Condorcet, Raynal, and 
 most of the succeeding French writers on com- 
 merce and finance. Their practical influence on the 
 legislation of the country has also been considerable. 
 In 176'3 the free transportation of corn from one 
 province to another was permitted; and in 1764< 
 liberty was given to export it to foreign countries 
 whenever the home price did not exceed 30 livres 
 the septier (48s. the quarter). This last edict, after 
 
 being suspended in 1770, was again revived in 1778 System 
 under the administration of Turgot. But the faci- EconoSistt 
 lity given to the imposition of the contribution fon- < 
 ciere, ought certainly to be considered as the greatest 
 practical achievement of the labours of the econo- 
 mists ; and there is but too much reason to fear it 
 will long continue to afford a palpable demonstra- 
 tion of the fallacy of their doctrines, f 
 
 But, notwithstanding the defects of their theory, 
 there can be no question that the labours of the 
 French economists contributed powerfully to acce- 
 lerate the progress of economical science. In rea- 
 soning on subjects connected with national wealth, 
 it was now found to be necessary to subject its sour- 
 ces, and the laws which regulate its production and 
 distribution, to a more accurate and searching ana- 
 lysis. In the course of this examination, it was 
 speedily ascertained that both the mercantile and 
 economical theories were erroneous and defective ; 
 and that to establish the science of Political Econo- 
 my on a firm foundation, it was necessary to take a 
 much more extensive survey, and to seek for its 
 principles, not in a few partial and distorted facts, 
 or in metaphysical abstractions, but in the connection 
 and relation subsisting among the various phenome- 
 na manifested in the progress of civilization. The 
 Count di Verri, whose Meditations on Political Eco- 
 nomy were published in 1771, demonstrated the fal- 
 lacy of the opinions entertained by the French eco- 
 nomists respecting the superior productiveness of the 
 labour employed in agriculture ; and showed that all 
 the operations of industry really consist of modifica- 
 tions of matter already in existence. % But Verri 
 
 • Turgot's Reflexions sur la Formation, et la Distribution des Richesses published m 1771, is cer- 
 tainly the best of all the works founded on the principles of the economists; and is, m some respects, 
 the best work on Political Economy published previously to the Wealth of Nations. , ^ , ^ . 
 
 t Exclusive of the Reflexions of Turgot, the following are the principal works published by the French 
 
 Economists: — ^ ,rv ^* 
 
 Tableau Economique, et Maximes Generales du Gouvernement Economique, par Francois Quesnay, 4to, 
 
 Versailles, 1758. 
 
 Theorie de I'lmpot, par M. de Mirabeau, 4to, I76O. 
 
 L'Ami des Hommes, par M. de Mirabeau, 7 Tomes, 176O, &c. 
 
 Elements de la Philosophie Rurale, par M. de Mirabeau, S Tomes, 12mo, 1763. 
 
 L'Ordre Naturel et Essentiel des Societes Pditigues, par Mercier de la Riviere, 4to, and 2 Tomes 12mo, 
 Sur rOrigine et Progres d*une Nouvelle Science, par Dupont de Nemours, 1767. 
 
 La Physiocratie, ou Constitution Naturelle du Gouvernement le plus avantageux aux genre humam, par 
 
 Quesnay, 2 Tomes, 1767. . v auu n a irrcc 
 
 Lettres d'un Citoyen a un Magistrat,sur les vingtiemes et les autres impots, par 1 Abbe baudeau, 17b«. 
 ± Alcuni benemeriti scrittori, rattristati dai gravi disordini, che soffrono i popoli per le gabelle, sono pas- 
 sati all'estremo de considerare ingiusto e mal collocato il tributo se non ripartito sui fondi di terra, e coUa 
 creazione di un linguaggio ascetico, hanno eretta la setta degli economisti, presso la quale ogni uomo che non 
 adoperi I'aratro, e un essere sterile, e i mamifattori si chiamano una classe sterile. Rispettando il moito 
 di vero e di utile che da essi e state scritto, io non saprei associarmi alia loro opinione ne sul tributo, ne su 
 di questa pretesa classe sterile. La riproduzione e attribuibile alia manifattura ugualmente, quanto al la- 
 roro de campi. Tutti i fenomini dell' universo, sieno essi prodotti dalla mano dell'uomo o vero dalle uni- 
 versali leggi della fisica, non ci danno idea di attuale creazione, ma unicamente di una modijicazione de a 
 materia. Accostare e seperare sono gli unici elementi che I'ingegno umano ritrova anahzando 1 idea della 
 riproduzione ; e tanto e riproduzione di valore e di richezza se la terra, I'aria, e I'aqua ne'campi si trasmu- 
 tino in grano, come se coUa mano dello uomo il glutine di un insetto si trasmuti m velluto, o vero alcuni 
 pezzetti di metallo si organizzino a formare una ripetizione. Degli intieri citta, e degli stati mtieri campa- 
 no non d'altro che sul prodotto di questa fecondissima classe sterile, la di cui riproduzione comprende il va- 
 lore della materia prima, la consumazione proporzionata delle mani impiegatevi, e di pm quella porzione 
 
POLITICAL ECONOMY, 
 
 233 
 
 system of did not trace the consequences of this important 
 ^■^iQ^jjj^ principle ; and, possessing no clear and definite no- 
 ~y-<^ tions of what constituted wealth, did not attempt to 
 discover the means by which labour might be facili- 
 tated. He made several valuable additions to parti- 
 cular branches of the science, and had sufficient 
 acuteness to detect the errors in the systems of 
 others ; but the task of constructing a better system 
 in their stead required talents of a far higher order. 
 1th of At length, in 1776, our illustrious countryman 
 ^'iS' Adam Smith published the Wealth of Nations — a 
 work which has done for Political Economy what 
 the Principia of Newton did for Physics, and the 
 Esprit des Loix of Montesquieu for Politics. In this 
 work the science was, for the first time, treated in 
 its fullest extent, and many of its fundamental prin- 
 ciples placed beyond the reach of cavil and dispute. 
 In opposition to the French economists, Dr Smith 
 showed, that labour is the only source of wealth, and 
 that the desire inherent in the breast of every indi- 
 vidual to improve his fortune and rise in the vporld 
 is the cause of its accumulation. He next traced 
 the means by which the powers of labour may be 
 rendered most effective, and showed that it is pro- 
 ductive of wealth when employed in manufactures 
 and commerce, as well as when employed in the 
 cultivation of the land. Having established these 
 principles, Dr Smith showed, in opposition to the 
 commonly received opinions of the merchants, poli- 
 ticians, and statesmen of his time, that wealth did 
 not consist in the abundance of gold and silver, 
 but in the abundance of the various necessaries, 
 conveniencies, and enjoyments of human life; he 
 showed that individuals are always the best judges 
 of what is for their own interest, and that, in 
 prosecuting branches of industry advantageous to 
 themselves, they necessarily prosecute such as are 
 advantageous to the public. • From thence Dr 
 Smith drew his grand inference, that every regula- 
 tion intended to force industry into particular chan- 
 nels, or to determine the species of commercial in- 
 tercourse to be carried on between different parts of 
 the same country, or between distant and independ- 
 ent countries, is impolitic and pernicious — injurious 
 to the rights of individuals — and adverse to the pro- 
 gress of real opulence and lasting prosperity. 
 
 The fact that traces of most of these principles, 
 and even that the distinct statement of many of those 
 that are most important, may be found in the works 
 of previous writers, does not in the least detract from 
 the real merits of Dr Smith. In adopting the dis- 
 coveries of others, he has made them his own ; he 
 
 has demonstrated the truth of principles on which his Wealth of 
 predecessors had, in most cases, stumbled by chance ; Nations, 
 has disentangled and separated them from the errors ^ "^'^ 
 by which they were incumbered ; has traced their 
 remote consequences, and pointed out their limita- 
 tions ; has shown their practical importance and real 
 value — their mutual dependence and relation ; and 
 has reduced them into a consistent, harmonious, and 
 magnificent system. We do pot mean to say that 
 Dr Smith has produced a perfect work. Undoubt- 
 edly there are errors, and those, too, of no slight im- 
 portance, in the Wealth of Nations. The principles 
 to which we have just referred, and which form the 
 basis of the work, are unimpeachable ; but Dr Smith 
 has not always reasoned correctly from them, and he 
 has occasionally introduced others, which a more 
 careful observation and analysis has shown to be ill- 
 founded. But, after every allowancs has been made 
 for these defects, enough still remains to justify us 
 in considering Dr Smith as the real founder of the 
 science. If he has not left us a perfect work, he has, 
 at all events, left us one which contains a greater 
 mass of useful and universally interesting truths than 
 has ever been given to the world by any other indi- 
 vidual; and he has pointed out and smoothed the 
 route, by following which, subsequent philosophers 
 have been enabled to perfect much that he had left 
 incomplete, to rectify the mistakes into which he had 
 fallen, and to make many new and important dis- 
 coveries. Whether, indeed, we refer to the sound- 
 ness of its leading doctrines, to the liberality and 
 universal applicability of its practical conclusions, or 
 to the powerful and beneficial influence it has had on 
 the progress and perfection of economical science, 
 and still more on the policy and destiny of nations, 
 Dr Sniith's work must be placed in the foremost 
 rank of those that have done most to liberalise, en- 
 lighten, and enrich mankind. 
 
 The practical part of the science of Political Eco- Distinction 
 nomy was long confounded with that of Politics ; and'^^'^^^en 
 it is undoubtedly true that they are very intimately p°}i'^",*"^ 
 connected, and that it is frequently impossible to Eronomy. 
 treat those questions which strictly belong to the 
 one without referring more or less to the principles 
 and conclusions of the other. But, in their leading 
 features, they are sufficiently distinct. The laws 
 which regulate the production and distribution of 
 wealth are the same in every country and stage of 
 society. Those circumstances which are favourable 
 or unfavourable to the increase of riches and popu- 
 lation in a republic may equally exist, and will have 
 
 che faarrichire chi ha intrapresa lafabbrica e chi vi s'impiega con felice talento. —Meditazioni sulla Econo- 
 mia Politica, § 3. 
 
 * It is of importance to observe, that Dr Smith does not say, that, in prosecuting such branches of in- 
 dustry as are most advantageous to themseWes, individuals necessarily prosecute such as are at the same 
 time MOST advantageous to the public. His leaning to the system of the Economists a leaning per- 
 ceptible in every part of his work — made him so far swerve from the principles of his own system, as to ad- 
 rait, that individual advantage was not always a true test of the public advantageousncss of different employ- 
 ments. He considered agriculture, though not the only productive employment, the most productive of 
 any. He also considered the home trade as more productive than a direct foreign trade, and the latter 
 than the carrying trade. We shall hereafter show, that there is no foundation for these distinctions. 
 
 VOL. \I. PART I. G & 
 
234 
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 Distinction exactly the same effects, in a monarchy. That secu- 
 
 between 
 Pditics and 
 Political 
 Economy. 
 
 rity of property, without which there can be no steady 
 and continued exertion— that freedom of engaging in 
 every different branch of industry, so necessary to call 
 the various powers and resources of human talent and 
 inc^enuity into action — and that economy in the pub- 
 lic expenditure, so conducive to the accumulation of 
 national wealth — are not the exclusive attributes of 
 any particular species of government. If free states 
 generally make the most rapid advances in wealth 
 and population, it is an indirect rather than a direct 
 consequence of their political constitution. It results 
 more from the greater certainty which a popular go- 
 vernment presents that the right of property will be 
 held sacred — that the freedom of industry will be 
 less fettered and restricted,— and that the public in- 
 come will be more judiciously levied and expended, 
 than from the circumstance of a greater proportion 
 of the people being permitted to exercise political 
 rights and privileges. Give the same securities to 
 the subjects of an absolute monarch, and they will 
 make the same advances. Industry does not re- 
 quire to be stimulated by extrinsic advantages. The 
 additional comforts and enjoyments which it pro- 
 cures have always been found sufficient to ensure 
 the more persevering and successful exertions. And 
 whatever may have been the form of government, 
 those countries have always advanced in the career 
 of improvement, in which the public burdens have 
 been moderate, the freedom of industry permitted, 
 and every individual enabled peaceably to enjoy the 
 fruits of his labour. It is not, therefore, so much on 
 its political organization, as on the talents and spirit 
 of its rulers, that the wealth of a country is princi- 
 pally dependent. Economy, moderation, and intel- 
 ligence on the part of those in power, have frequent- 
 ly elevated absolute monarchies to a very high degree 
 of opulence and of prosperity ; while, on the other 
 hand, all the advantages derived from a more liberal 
 system of government have not been able to pre- 
 serve free states from being impoverished and ex- 
 hausted by the extravagance, intolerance, and short- 
 sighted policy of their rulers. 
 
 The sciences of Politics and of Political Economy 
 are, therefore, sufficiently distinct. The politician 
 examines the principles on which all government is 
 founded, he endeavours to determine in whose hands 
 the supreme authority may be most advantageously 
 placed,— and unfolds the reciprocal duties and obli- 
 gations of the governing and governed portions of 
 society. The political economist does not take so 
 high a flight. It is not of the constitution of the go- 
 vernment, but of its ACTS only, that he presumes to 
 judge. Whatever measures affect the production 
 or distribution of wealth, necessarily come within 
 the scope of his observation, and are canvassed by 
 
 him. He examines whether they are in unison with Distinetion. 
 the just principles of economical science. 1^ ^hey ^^^5^^.^^^=^^ 
 are, he pronounces them to be advantageous, and poiiticaK 
 shows the nature and extent of the benefits of which Economy.' 
 they will be productive ; if they are not, he shows 
 in what respect they are defective, and to what ex- 
 tent their operation will be injurious. But he does ; 
 this without inquiring into the constitution of the 
 government by whicli these measures have been 
 adopted. The circumstance of their having emanat- | 
 ed from the privy council of an arbitrary monarch, ' 
 or the representative assembly of a free state, though 
 in other respects of supreme importance, cannot af- 
 fect the immutable principles by which the economist 
 is to form his opinion upon them. 
 
 Besides being confounded with politics, the prac- Distinctioi^j 
 tical part of Political Economy has frequently been between Sti 
 confounded with Statistics ; but they are still more pj'^j-^^i 
 easily separated and distinguished. The object of Economy, 
 the statistician is to describe the condition of a parti- 
 cular country at a particular period ; while the object 
 of the political economist is to discover the causes 
 which have brought it into that condition, and the 
 means by which its wealth and riches may be indefi- 
 nitely increased. He is to the statistician what the 
 physical astronomer is to the mere observer. He 
 takes the facts furnished by the researches of the 
 statistician, and after comparing them with those fur- 
 nished by historians and travellers, he applies him- 
 self to discover their relation. By a patient induc- 
 tion — by carefully observing the circumstances at- 
 tending the operation of particular principles, he dis- 
 covers the eftects of which they are really produc- 
 tive, and how far they are liable to be modified by 
 the operation of other principles. It is thus that the 
 relation between rent and profit — between profit and 
 wages, and the various general laws which regulate 
 and connect the apparently clashing, but really har- 
 monious interests of every different order in society, 
 have been discovered and established with all the 
 certainty of demonstrative evidence. 
 
 Part II Pboduction of Wealth. 
 
 Sect. I. — Definition of Production — Labour the only 
 Source of Wealth. 
 All the operations of nature and of art are redu- Definition 
 cible to, and really consist of transmutations, — of^™'^"'^"°' 
 changes of form and of place. By production, in 
 the science of Political Economy, we are not to un- 
 derstand the production of matter, for that is ex- 
 clusively the attribute of Omnipotence, but the pro- 
 duction of utility, and consequently of exchangeable 
 value, by appropriating and modifying matter already 
 in existence, so as to fit it to satisfy our wants, and 
 to contribute to our enjoyments. The labour which Labour th 
 is thus employed is the only source of wealth.* Na-^J?^^^ J^'jJ' 
 
 * This point has been strongly and ably stated by M. Destult Tracy—" Non-seulement, says he, "nous 
 ne creons iamais rien, mais il nous est meme impossible de concevoir ce que c'est que creer ou anneantir, si 
 nous entendons rigoureusement par ces mots, faire quelque chose de rien, on reduire quelque chose ^ rien ; 
 car nous n'avons iamais vu un etre quelconque sortir du neant ni y rentrer. De la cet axiome admis par toute 
 I'antiQuite : rien ne vient de rien, et ne peut redevenir rien. Que faisons-nous done par notre travail, 
 par notre action sur tons les etres qui nous entourent ? Jamais rien, qu'operer dans ces etres des changements 
 
POLITICAL 
 
 our the ture spontaneously furnishes the matter of which 
 commodities are made ; but, independently of la- 
 bour, matter is rarely of any use whatever, and is 
 never of any value. Place us on the banks of a ri- 
 ver, or in an orchard, and we shall infallibly perish, 
 either of thirst or hunger, if we do not, by an effort 
 of industry, raise the water to our lips, or pluck the 
 fruit from its parent tree. It is seldom, however, 
 that tlie mere appropriation of matter is sufficient. 
 In the infinite majority of cases, labour is required 
 not only to appropriate it, but also to convey it from 
 place to place, and to give it that peculiar figure and 
 shape, without which it may be totally useless, and in- 
 capable of either ministering to our necessities or our 
 comforts. The coal used in our fires is buried deep in 
 the bowels of the earth, and is absolutely worthless 
 until the labour of the miner has extracted it from 
 the mine, and brought it into a situation where it can 
 be made use of. The stones and mortar of which 
 our houses are built, and the rugged and shapeless 
 materials from which the various articles of con- 
 venience and ornament with which they are fur- 
 nished have been prepared, were, in their origi- 
 pal state, alike destitute of value and utility. And 
 of the innumerable variety of animal, vegetable, and 
 mineral products which form the materials of our 
 food and clothes, none were originally serviceable, 
 and many were extremely noxious to man. It is his 
 labour that has given them utility, that has subdued 
 their bad qualities, and made them satisfy his wants, 
 and minister to his comforts and enjoyments. " La- 
 bour was the first price, the original purchase money 
 that was paid for all things. It was not by gold or 
 by silver, but by labour, that all the wealth of the 
 world was originally purchased." — ( Wealth of Na- 
 tions, Vol. I. p. 44. 8vo edit.) 
 
 If we observe f he progress, and trace the history 
 of the human race in different countries and states 
 of society, we shall find their comfort and happiness 
 to have been always nearly proportioned to the 
 power which they possessed of rendering their la- 
 bour effective in appropriating the raw products of 
 nature, and in fitting and adapting matter to their 
 use- The savage, whose labour is confined to the 
 gathering of wild fruits, or to the picking up of the 
 shell fish ou the sea coast, is placed at the very bot- 
 tom of the scale of civilization, and is, in point of 
 comfort, decidedly inferior to many of the lower 
 animals. 'Yhefrst step in the progress of society 
 is made when man learns to hunt wild animals, to 
 feed himself witJi their flesh, and to clothe himself 
 with their skins. But labour, when confined to the 
 chace, is extremely barren and unproductive. Tribes 
 of hunters, like beasts of prey, whom they are justly 
 said to resemble closely in their habits and modes of 
 subsistence, are but thinly scattered over the surface 
 of the country which they occupy ; and notwith- 
 standing the fewness of their numbers, any unusual 
 
 ECONOMY. 235 
 
 deficiency in the supply of game never fails to re- Labour the 
 duce them to the extremity of want. The second ^'^^y ^'^^'^'^^ 
 step in the progress of society is made when the ^^J^'^'^^^' 
 tribes of hunters and fishers apply their labour, like ^^'""^ 
 the ancient Scythians and modern Tartars, to the 
 domestication of wild animals and the rearing of 
 flocks. Their subsistence is much less precarious 
 than that of hunters, but they are almost entirely 
 destitute of all those comforts and elegancies which 
 give to civilized life its chief value. The third and 
 
 most decisive step in the progress of civilization in 
 
 the great art of producing the necessaries and con- 
 veniences of life — is made when the wandering tribes 
 of hunters and shepherds renounce their migra- 
 tory habits, and become agriculturists and manufactu- 
 rers. It is then, properly speaking, that man, shaking 
 off that indolence which is natural to him, begins ful- 
 ly to avail himself of the productive powers of indus- 
 try. He then becomes laborious, and, by a neces- 
 sary consequence, his wants are then, for the first 
 time, fully supplied, and he acquires an extensive 
 command over the articles necessary to his comfort 
 as well as his subsistence. 
 
 However paradoxical the assertion may at first The Earth 
 sight appear, it is, notwithstanding, unquestionably ^ Sourca 
 true that the earth does not gratuitously supply us health, 
 with a single atom of wealth. It is a powerful 
 machine given by Providence to man ; but without 
 labour this machine would be altogether useless, and 
 would for ever stand idle and unemployed. It is to 
 labour that the products of the earth owe their va- 
 lue, and it is by its intervention that they become 
 useful. The surface of the earth is, in its natural 
 state, covered with fruits and game ; its bowels con* 
 tain an infinite variety of mineral products ; its seas 
 and rivers are stored with fish, and it is endowed 
 with inexhaustible vegetative and productive powers ; 
 but all these powers and products are plainly of no 
 use whatever, and have no value, until the labour of 
 man has called the former into action, and appro- 
 priated the latter, and given them that peculiar form 
 which is required to fit them to support his exist- 
 ence, or to increase his enjoyments. 
 
 The importance of labour in the production of Opinion of 
 wealth was very clearly perceived both by Hobbes ^^ol^bes. 
 and Locke. At the commencement of the 24th 
 chapter (entitled, " Of the Nutrition and Procreation 
 of a Commonwealtk") of the Leviathan, published in 
 1651, Hobbes says, " The nM^rzV/ow of a common- 
 wealth consisteth in the plenty and distribution of 
 materials conducing to life. 
 
 " As for the plenty of matter, it is a thing limited 
 by nature to those commodities which, from (the 
 two breasts of our common mother) land and sea, 
 God usually either freely giveth, or for labour selleth 
 to mankind. 
 
 *' For the matter of this nutriment, consisting in 
 animals, vegetables, minerals, God hath freely laid 
 
 de forme on de lieu qui les approprient a notre usage, qui les rendent utiles a la satisfaction de nos be- 
 soms. Voila ce que nous devons entendre par produire ; c'est donner aux choses une utilile qiCelles n'avoient 
 pas. Quel que soit notre travail, s'il n'en resulte point d'utilite, il est infructeux ; s'il en resulte, il est pro- 
 ductif:\^[Elemens d'Ideologie, Tome HI. p. l62.) 
 
236 
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 Labour the thoKi before us, in or near to the face of the earth ; 
 only Source gQ there needcth no more but the labour and in- 
 of Wealth. jyg|,j.y of receiving them. Insomuch that plenty de- 
 ''^^^'^^ pendeth (next to God's favour) on ike labour and in- 
 dustry of man" 
 
 Opinioa of But Mr Locke had a much clearer apprehension 
 Locke. of this doctrine. In his Essay on Civil Government, 
 published in l689, he has entered into a lengthened, 
 discriminating, and able analysis to show that it is 
 from labour that the products of the earth derive al- 
 most all their value. *' Let any one consider," says he, 
 " what the difference is between an acre of land plant- 
 ed with tobacco or sugar, sown with wheat or barley, 
 , and an acre of the same land lying in common, with- 
 out any husbandry upon it, and he will find that the 
 improvement of labour makes the far greater part of 
 the value. I think it will be but a very modest com- 
 pulation to say, that of the products of the earth use- 
 ful to the life of man, nine-tenths are the effects of la- 
 bour ; nay, if we will rightly consider things as they 
 come to our use, and cast up the several expences 
 about them, what in them is purely owing to nature, 
 and what to labour, we shall find, that in most of 
 them ninety-nine hundredths are wholly to be put on 
 the account of labour. 
 
 " There cannot be a clearer demonstration of any 
 thing, than several nations of the Americans are of 
 this, who are rich in land, and poor in all the comforts 
 of life ; whom nature having furnished as liberally as 
 any other people with the materials of plenty ; i. e. 
 a fruitful soil apt to produce in abundance what 
 might serve for food, raiment, and delight; yet for 
 rvani of improving it by labour, have not one hundredth 
 part of the conveniencies we enjoy ; and the king 
 of a large and fruitful territory there feeds, lodges, 
 and is worse clad than a day-labourer in England. 
 
 " To make this ahttle clear, let us but trace some 
 of the ordinary provisions of life through their seve- 
 ral progresses, before they come to our use, and see 
 how much of their value they receive from human in- 
 dustry. Bread, wine, and cloth, are things of daily 
 use, and great plenty ; yet, notwithstanding, acorns, 
 water, and leaves, or skins, must be our bread, drink, 
 and clothing, did not labour furnish us with these 
 more useful commodities ; for whatever bread is 
 more worth than acorns, wine than water, and cloth 
 or silk than leaves, skins, or moss, that is solely ow- 
 ing to labour and industry ; the one of these being 
 the food and raiment which unassisted nature fur- 
 nishes us with ; the other provisions which our in- 
 dustry and pains prepare for us ; which how much 
 they exceed the other in value, when any one hath 
 computed, he will then see how much labour makes 
 
 the far greatest part of the value of things we enjoy Laboiir tho 
 
 in this world; and the ground which produces th e 
 
 ... , ° , ^ .of We#ltM 
 
 materials is scarce to be reckoned on as any, or, at ; 
 
 most, but a very small part of it. 
 
 " An acre of land that bears here twenty bushels 
 of wheat, and another in America, which, with the 
 same husbandry, would do the like, are, without 
 doubt, of the same natural intrinsic value. But yet, 
 the benefit mankind receives from the one in a year 
 is worth L. 5, and from the other possibly not worth 
 one penny ; if all the profit an Indian received from 
 it were to be valued and sold here, at least, I may i 
 truly saj'^, not jo'^^ — 'Tis labour, then, which puts I 
 the greatest part of value upon land, mthout uohick | 
 it rvoidd scarcely be worth any thing: 'Tis to that 
 we owe the greatest part of its useful products ; for 
 all that the straw, bran, bread of that acre of wheat, 
 is more worth than the product of an acre of good 
 land, which lies waste, is all the effect of labour. 
 For 'tis not merely the ploughman's pains, the reap- 
 er's and thrasher's toil, and the baker's sweat, is to 
 be counted into the bread we eat, the labour of 
 those who broke the oxen, who digged and wrought 
 the iron and stones, who fitted and framed the tim- 
 ber employed about the plough, mill, oven, or any 
 other utensils, which are a vast number, requisite to 
 this corn, from its being seed to be sown, to its 
 being made bread, must all be charged on the ac- 
 count of labour, and received as an effect of that. 
 Nature and the earth furnishing only the almost 
 worthless materials as in themselves. — 'Twould be a 
 strange catalogue of things that industry provided and 
 made use of about every loaf of bread, before it came to 
 our use, if we could trace them. Iron, wood, leather, 
 barks, timber, stone, brick, coals, lime, cloth, dye- 
 ing-drug.s, pitch, tar, masts, ropes, and all the ma- 
 terials made use of in the ship that brought away the 
 commodities made use of by any of the workmen, 
 to any part of the work ; all which, it would be al- 
 most impossible, at least too long to reckon up." 
 {Of Civil Government, Book II. § 40, 41, 42, and 
 43.) * 
 
 Had Mr Locke carried his analysis a little fur- 
 ther, he could not have failed to perceive that nei- 
 ther water, leaves, skins, nor any of the spontaneous 
 productions of nature, have any value, except what 
 they owe to the labour required to appropriate them. 
 The value of water to a man placed on the bank of 
 a river depends on the labour necessary to raise it 
 from the river to his lips ; and its value, when car- 
 ried ten or twenty miles oft", is equally dependent on 
 the labour necessary to convey it there. All the 
 rude products, and all the productive powers and 
 
 * This is a very remarkable passage. It contains a far more distinct and comprehensive statement of 
 the fundamental doctrine, that labour is the constituent principle of value, than is to be found in any other 
 writer previous to Dr Smith, or than is to be found even in the Wealth of Nations. But Mr Locke does 
 seem to have been sufficiently aware of the real value of the principle he had elucidated, and has not deduced 
 from it any important practical conclusion. On the contrary, in his tract on the Raising of the Value of 
 Money, published in I69I, he lays it down broadly that all taxes, howsoever imposed, must ultimately /cW 
 on the land; whereas, it is plain he ought, consistently with the above principle, to have shown that they 
 would fall, not exclusively on the produce of land, but generally on the produce of industry, or on all 
 species of commodities. 
 
POLITICAL ECONOMY, 
 
 237 
 
 of Wealth. 
 
 Labour the capacities of nature, are gratuitously offered to man. 
 ^ly^Source Nature is not niggardly or parsimonious. She nei- 
 ' ' jj^gj. demands nor receives an equivalent for her fa- 
 vours. An object which it does not require any 
 portion of labour to appropriate or to adapt to our 
 use, may be of the very highest utility ; but, as it is 
 the free gift of nature, it is utterly impossible it can 
 be possessed of the smallest value. * 
 
 " Si je retranche," to use a striking illustration 
 of this doctrine given by M. Canard, " de ma montre, 
 par la pensee, tous les travaux qui lui ont ete succes- 
 sivement appliquees, il ne resterai que quelques grains 
 de mineral placees dans I'interieur de la terre d'ou 
 on les a tires, et ou ils n'ont aucune valeur. De 
 meme si je decompose le pain que je mange, et que 
 j'en retranche successivement tous les travaux suc- 
 cessifs qu'il a re9us, il ne restera que quelques tiges 
 d'herbes, graminees, eparses dans des deserts incul- 
 tes, et sans aucune valeur." {Principes d' Economic 
 Politique i p. 6-) 
 
 It is to labour, therefore, and to labour only, that 
 man owes every thing possessed of exchangeable va- 
 lue. Labour is the talisman that has raised him 
 from the condition of the savage — that has changed 
 the desert and the forest into cultivated fields — that 
 has covered the earth with cities and the ocean with 
 ships — that has given us plenty, comfort, and ele- 
 gance, instead of want, misery, and barbarism. 
 
 Having established this fundamental principle — 
 having shown that it is labour only that gives ex- 
 changeable value to commodities— it is plain the great 
 practical problem of the science of Political Economy 
 mustresolve itself into a discussion of the means where- 
 by labour ma)' be rendered most efficient, or whereby 
 Hie greatest amount of necessary, useful, and agree- 
 able products may be obtained uoith the least quantity 
 of labour. Wealth, as we have already shown, is al- 
 ways increased with every diminution of the labour 
 required to produce the articles of which it consists. 
 Every measure and invention that has any tendency 
 to save labour, or to reduce the cost of producing 
 commodities, must add proportionably to our power 
 of obtaining wealth and riches, while every measure or 
 regulation that has any tendency to waste labour, or to 
 raise the cost of producing commodities, must equally 
 lessen this power. This is the simple and decisive 
 test by which we are to judge of the expediency of 
 
 every measure affecting the wealth of the country, Labour the 
 and of the value of every invention. If they ''^'^^'^'■^f^^;^^;^"^]^ 
 labour more productive — ^if they have a tendency to ^^^^^^ 
 reduce the exchangeable value of commodities, to 
 render them more easily obtainable, and to bring 
 them within the command of a greater portion of 
 society, they must be advantageous ; but if their 
 tendency be different, they must as certainly be dis- 
 advantageous. Considered in this point of view, that 
 great branch of the science of Political Economy 
 which treats of the production of wealth, will be 
 found to be abundantly simple, and easily under- 
 stood. 
 
 Labour, according as it is applied to the raising 
 of raw produce — to the fashioning of that raw pro- 
 duce, when raised, into articles of utility, conve- 
 nience, or ornament — and to the conveyance of raw 
 and wrought produce from one country and place to 
 another — is said to be agricultural, manufacturing, 
 or commercial. An acquaintance with the particu- 
 lar processes, and most advantageous methods, of 
 applying labour in each of these grand departments 
 of industry, forms the peculiar and appropriate study 
 of the agriculturist, manufacturer, and merchant. It 
 is not consistent with the object of the political eco- 
 nomist to enter into the details of particular busi- 
 nesses and professions. He confines himself to an 
 investigation of the means by which labour in gene- 
 ral may be rendered most productive, and how its 
 powers may be increased in all the departments of 
 industry. 
 
 Sect. II. — Means by which the Productive Potvers 
 of Labour are increased — Security of Property — 
 Division of Labour — Accumulation and Employ- 
 ment of Capital, 
 
 The most careless and inattentive observer of the Means by 
 progress of mankind from poverty to affluence must which the 
 have early perceived, that there are Mree circuni- p^^^""JJ^ 
 stances whose conjoint operation is necessary to sti- Labour may 
 mulate and improve the productive powers of indus- be increased, 
 try, and in the absence of which men could never 
 have emerged from barbarism. The first, and most 
 indispensable, is the security of property, or a well- 
 founded conviction in the mmd of every individual 
 that he will be allowed to dispose at pleasure of the 
 
 * Bishop Berkeley entertained very just opinions respecting the source of wealth. In his Querist, pub- 
 lished in 1735, he asks,— " Whether it were not wrong to suppose land itself to be wealth ? And whether 
 the industry of the people is not first to be considered, as that which constitutes wealth, which makes even 
 land and silver to be wealth, neither of which would have any value, but as means and motives to industry ? 
 
 " Whether, in the wastes of America, a man might not possess twenty miles square of land, and yet want 
 his dinner, or a coat to his back." — Querist, Numbers 38 and 39. 
 
 We shall afterwards notice Sir William Petty 's opinion on this subject. 
 
 M. Say appears to think {Discours Preliminaire, p. 37) that Galiani was the first who showed, m his 
 treatise Delia Moneta, published in 1750, that labour was the only source of wealth. But the passages we 
 have now laid before the reader prove the erroneousness of this opinion. Galiani has entered into 
 no analysis or argument to prove the correctness of his statement ; and, as it appears from other parts of his 
 work, that he was well acquainted with Mr Locke's Tracts on Money, a suspicion naturally arises that he 
 had seen the Essay on Civil Government, and that he was really indebted to it for a knowledge of this prin- 
 ciple. This suspicion derives strength from the circumstance of Galiani being still less aware than Mr 
 Locke of the value of the discovery.— See Trattato Delia Moneta, p. 39, ediz. I78O. 
 
23S POLITICAL 
 
 Security of fruits of his labour. The second is the introduction 
 Property, exchange or barter, and the consequent appro- 
 ^"^^^"^"^ priation of particular individuals to particular em- 
 ployments. And the third is the accumulation and 
 employment of the produce of previous labour, or, as 
 it is more commonly termed, of capital, or stock. 
 All the improvements that have ever been made, or 
 that ever can be made, in the great art of producing 
 the necessaries, comforts, and conveniencies of human 
 life, are all resolvable into the more judicious and suc- 
 cessful application of one or more of those means of 
 stimulating labour, and adding to its power. To 
 give a full exposition of the nature and influence of 
 each would far exceed the limits of this article; and 
 we must content ourselves with such observations as 
 may suffice to give a general idea of their opera- 
 tion. 
 
 Security of SECURITY OF PROPERTY — Security of property 
 Property, j-j^g gj.g|. ^jj^j most indispensable requisite to the 
 production of wealth. Its utility in this respect 
 is, indeed, so obvious and striking, that it has 
 been more or less respected in every country, 
 and in the earliest and rudest periods of society. 
 A\\ have been impressed with the reasonableness 
 of the maxim which teaches that those who sow 
 ought to be permitted to reap — that the labour of 
 a man's body and the tvork of his hands are to 
 be considered as exclusively his own. No savage 
 horde has ever been discovered in which the prin- 
 ciple of metim and tuum was not recognised. No- 
 thing, it is plain, could ever tempt any one to engage 
 in any laborious employment— he would neither 
 domesticate wild animals, nor clear and cultivate the 
 ground, if, after months and years of toil, when his 
 ilocks had become numerous, and his harvests were 
 ripening for the sickle, a stranger were to be allowed 
 to rob him of the produce of his industry. No won- 
 der,, therefore, that the utility of some general regu- 
 lations, which should secure to every individual the 
 peaceable. enjoyment of the produce he had raised, 
 and of the ground he had cultivated and improved, 
 suggested itself to the first legislators. The author 
 of the book of Job places those who removed their 
 neighbourls iand-marlcs at the head of his list of 
 wicked men; and some of the earliest profane legis- 
 lators subjected those who were guilty of this of- 
 fence to a capital punishment. (Goguet, De VOrigine 
 des Loix, <Sfc. Tom. I. p. 30. *to ed.) 
 
 Dr Paley has said that the lavo of the land is the 
 real foundation of the right of property. But the 
 obvious M^zYi^y- <sf securing , to «aeh individual the 
 produce which has been raised by his industry, has 
 undoubtedly formed the irresistible reason which has 
 induced every people emerging from barbarism to 
 establish this right. The institution of the right of 
 property is, in truth, the foundation on which all the 
 other institutions of society rest. Until property had 
 been publicly guaranteed, men must have looked on 
 each other as enemies, rather than as friends. The 
 idle and improvident are always desirous of seizing on 
 the earnings of the laborious and frugal ; and, if they 
 wei'e not restrained by the strong arm of the law— if 
 they were permitted to prosecute their attacks, they 
 would, by generating a feeling of insecurity, effectual- 
 ly check both industry and accumulation, and »ink 
 
 E C O NO MY. 
 
 all classes to the same level of hopeless misery as Security of 
 themselves. In truth, the security of property is Property, 
 even more necessary to accumulation than it is to ^""v*^ 
 production. No man ever did or ever will deny 
 himself an immediate gratification when it is within 
 his power, unless he thinks, that, by doing so, he 
 has a fair prospect of obtaining a greater accession 
 of comforts and enjoyments, or of avoiding a greater 
 evil at some future period. Where the right of pro- 
 perty -is vigilantly protected, an industrious man, 
 who- produces as much by one day's labour as is suf- 
 ficient to maintain him two days, does not lie idle 
 the «eeond day, but accumulates the surplus produce 
 above his wants as a capital ; the increased conse- 
 quence and enjoyments which the possession of capi- 
 tal brings along with it, being, in the. great majority 
 of cases, more than sufficient to counterbalance the 
 desire of immediate gratification. But, wherever pro- 
 perty is insecure, we look in vain for the operation 
 of the principle of accumulation. It is plainly bet- 
 ter for us," is then the invariable language of the peo- 
 ple, to enjoy while it is in our power, than to ac- 
 cumulate property which we shall not be permitted 
 to use, and which will either expose us to the extor- 
 tion of a rapacious government, or to the unre- 
 strained depredations of those who exist only by the 
 plunder of their more industrious neighbours." 
 
 But the security of property is not violated merely 
 when a man is deprived of the power of peaceably 
 enjoying the fruits of his industry ; it is also violated, 
 and perhaps in a still more glaring and unjustifiable 
 manner, when he is prevented from using the powers 
 with which nature has endowed him, in any w^y, 
 not injurious to others, that he considers most bene- 
 ficial to himself. Of all the species of property 
 which a man can possess, the faculties of his mind 
 and the poxvers of his body are most particularly his 
 own. He ought, therefore, to be permitted to enjoy, 
 that is, to use or exert these powers at his discretion. 
 And hence the right of property is as much, or 
 more infringed upon, when a man is interdicted from 
 engaging in a particular branch of business, as it is 
 when he is forcibly bereft of the property he had 
 produced and accumulated. Every monopoly which 
 gives to a few individuals the exclusive power of car- 
 rying on certain branches of industry, is thus, in fact, 
 established in direct violation of the right of property 
 of every other individual. It prevents them from 
 using their natural capacities or powers in the manner 
 which they might have considered best; and, as 
 every man who is not a slave is held, and justly held, 
 to be the best, and, indeed, the only judge of what 
 is advantageous for himself, the principles of natural 
 law and the right of property are both subverted 
 when he is excluded from any employment. In like 
 manner, the right of property is violated whenever 
 any regulation is made to force an individual to em- 
 ploy his labour or capital in a particular way. The 
 property of a landlord is violated when he is com- 
 pelled to adopt any system of cultivation, even sup- 
 posing it to be really preferable to that which he was 
 previously following. The property of the capital- 
 ist is violated when he is obliged to accept a particu- 
 lar rate of interest for his stock, and the property 
 of the labourer is violated wlienever he is obliged 
 
POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 ^S9 
 
 ecurity of 
 Property. 
 
 to betake himself, in preference, to any particular 
 occupation. 
 
 The finest soil, the finest climate, and the finest 
 intellectual powers, can prevent no people from be- 
 coming barbarous, poor, and miserable, if they have 
 the misfortune to be subjected to a government 
 which does not respect the right of property. This 
 is the greatest of all calamities. The ravages of civil 
 war, of pestilence, and of famine, may be repaired ; 
 but nothing can enable a nation to contend against 
 the deadly influence of an established system of vio- 
 lence and rapine. It is the want of security — the 
 want of any lively and well-founded expectation of 
 being permitted freely to dispose of the fruits of their 
 industry, that is the principal cause of the wretched 
 state of the Ottoman dominions at the present day, 
 as it was of the decline of industry and arts in Eu- 
 rope during the middle ages. When the Turkish 
 conquerors overran those fertile and beautiful coun- 
 tries in which they are still permitted to encamp, they; 
 parcelled them among their followers, on condi- 
 tion of their performing certain military services, 
 on a plan corresponding, in many important par- 
 ticulars, to the feudal system of our ancestors. 
 But these possessions are not hereditary. They 
 do not descend to the children or legatees of the 
 present possessor, but, on his death, revert to the 
 Sultan. Among the occupiers of land in Turkey 
 there is, therefore, no thought of futurity. No 
 one can feel any interest about the prosperity of 
 an unknown successor ; and no one ever executes 
 any improvement of which he does not expect to be 
 able to reap all the advantage during his own life. 
 This is assigned by Lady Wortley Montague as 
 the cause why the Turks are so extremely careless 
 about their houses. They never construct them of 
 solid or durable materials. And it would be a gra- 
 tification to them to be assured that they would fall 
 to pieces the moment after they had breathed their 
 last. Under this miserable government the palaces 
 have been changed into cottages, and the cities into 
 villages. The long continued want of security has 
 extinguished the very spirit of industry, and destroy- 
 ed not only the power, but even the desire to emerge 
 from barbarism. 
 
 Had it been possible for arbitrary power to profit 
 by the lessons of experience, it must long since have 
 perceived that its own wealth, as well as the wealth 
 of its subjects, would be most effectually promoted 
 by maintaining the inviolability of property. Were 
 tlie Turkish government to establish a vigilant sys- 
 tem of police — to secure to each individual the un- 
 restricted power of disposing of the fruits of his la- 
 bour — and to substitute a regular plan of taxation in 
 the place of the present odious system of extortion and 
 tyranny, industry would revive, capital and population 
 would be augmented, and moderate duties, imposed 
 on a few articles in general demand, would bring a 
 much larger sum into the coffers of the treasury than 
 all that is now obtained by force and violence. The 
 stated public burdens to which the Turks are sub- 
 
 jected are light when compared with those imposed Security of 
 on the English, the Hollanders, or the French. But ^*'^op«'"ty- 
 the latter know that when they have paid the taxes 
 due to government, they will be permitted peaceably 
 to enjoy or to accumulate the remainder of their 
 earnings ; whereas the Turk has no security but 
 that the next moment after he has paid his stated 
 contribution, the Pacha, or one of his satellites, may 
 trip him of every additional fai-thing he possesses ! 
 Security is the foundation — the principal element in 
 every well digested system of finance. , When main- 
 tained inviolate, it enables a country to support, 
 without much difficulty, a very heavy load of taxes ; 
 but where there is no security — where property is a 
 prey to rapine and spoliation — ^to the attacks of the 
 needy, the powerful, or the profligate — the smallest 
 burdens are justly regarded as oppressive, and uni- 
 formly exceed the means of the ■ impoverished and 
 spiritless inhabitant. 
 
 The Jews^ have been supposed to afford an in- Case of the 
 stance of a people, whose property has been long J^*^- 
 exposed to an almost uninterrupted series of attacks, 
 and who have, notwithstanding, continued to be 
 rich and industrious. But when rightly examined, 
 it will be found that the case of the Jews forms no 
 exception to the general rule. The absurd pre- 
 judices with which the Jews have been almost uni- 
 versally regarded, long prevented their acquiring 
 any property in land, and have excluded them from 
 participating in the benefits derived from the chari- 
 table institutions of the different countries among 
 which they are scattered. Having, therefore, no 
 adventitious support on which to- depend, in the 
 event of their becoming infirm or destitute,^ they 
 had a powerful additional motive to save and accu- 
 mulate ; and being excluded from agriculture, they 
 were of necessity compelled to. addict themselves, in 
 preference, to commerce. In an age when the pro- 
 fession of a merchant was generally looked upon as 
 something mean and sordid,, and when, of course, 
 they had comparatively little competition, they must 
 have made considerable profits ; but these have 
 been very greatly exaggerated* It was natural that 
 those who were indebted to the Jews should repre- 
 sent their gains as enormous j for this inflamed the 
 existing pi-ejudices against them, and afforded a 
 miserable pj-etext for defrauding them of their just 
 claims. There are a few rich Jews in most of the large 
 cities of Europe ; but the majority of that race have 
 ever been, and still are, as poor as their neighbours. 
 
 Let us not, therefore, deceive ourselves by sup- 
 posing that it is possible for any nation or any peo- 
 ple to emerge from barbarism, or to become wealthy, 
 populous, and civilized, without the security of pro- 
 perty. From whatever point of the political com- 
 pass we may set out, this is the principle to which 
 we must come at last. Security is indispensably ne- 
 cessary to the successful exertion of the powers of 
 industry. Where it is wanting, it is idje to expect 
 either riches, or civilization.* 
 
 Rousseau and some other sentimental writers Objections 
 
 of Rousseau 
 
 . and Beccariu 
 
 ill-founded. 
 
 Ce n'est que la ou les proprietes sont assures, ou I'emploi des capitaux est abandonne au choix de 
 
^^40 POLITICAL 
 
 Security of have made an objection to the institution of the 
 Property, right of property, which has been, in some raea- 
 '^^''^ sure, sanctioned by the authority of the Marquis 
 Beccaria.* They allow that the security of proper- 
 ty is advantageous for those who possess it; but 
 they contend, that it is disadvantageous for those 
 who are poor and destitute. It has condemned, 
 they affirm, the greater portion of mankind to a 
 state of misery, and has provided for the exaltation 
 of the few by the depression of the many ! The 
 sophistry of this reasoning is so apparent, as hardly 
 to require to be pointed out. The right of proper- 
 ty has not made poverty, but it has made wealth. 
 Previous to the institution of this right, those na- 
 tions which are now most civilized, were sunk to 
 the same level of wretchedness and misery as the 
 savages of New Holland and Kamtschatska. All 
 classes have been benefited by this change ; and it 
 is mere error and delusion to suppose that the rich 
 have been benefited at the expence of the poor. 
 The institution of the right of property gives no ad- 
 vantage to any one man over any other man. It 
 deals out justice impartially to all. It does not saj^ 
 labour, and I will reward you j but it says, " labour, 
 and I shall take care that none shall be permitted to 
 rob i/ou of the produce of your exertions." The in- 
 stitution of the right of property has not made all 
 men rich, because it could not make all men frugal 
 and industrious. But it has done more than all the 
 other institutions of society put together to produce 
 this effect. It is not, as it hes been sometimes igno- 
 rantly or knavishly represented, a bulwark thrown 
 up to protect and secure the property of a few fa- 
 vourites of fortune. It is a rampart raised by so- 
 ciety against its common enemies — against rapine 
 and violence, plunder and oppression. Without its 
 protection, the rich man would become poor, and 
 the poor man would never be able to become rich — 
 all would sink to the same bottomless abyss of bar- 
 barism and poverty. " It is the security of pro- 
 perty," to use the just and forcible expressions of 
 a profound writer, " that has overcome the na- 
 tural aversion of man to labour, that has given 
 him the empire of the earth, that has given him a 
 fixed and permanent residence, that has implanted 
 in his breast the love of his country and of posterity. 
 To enjoy immediately — to enjoy without labour, is 
 the natural inclination of every man. This inclina- 
 tion must be restrained ; for its obvious tendency is 
 to arm all those who have nothing against those who 
 have something. The law which restrains this in- 
 clination, and Avhich secures to the humblest indivi- 
 
 ECONOMY. 
 
 dual the quiet enjoyment of the fruits of his industry, Security of 
 is the most splendid achievement of legislative wis- t'^p e'^^y- 
 dora — the noblest triumph of which humanity has to 
 boast." — (Bentham, Traite de Legislation, Tome II. 
 p. 37.) 
 
 Division of Labour. — The division of labour Division of 
 naturally divides itself into two separate branches ; — labour. 
 1st, The division of labour among individuals; and 
 2rf, Its division among nations. 
 
 1. Individual Division of Labour. — The divi- 
 sion of labour can only be imperfectly introdu- 
 ced in rude societies, and thinly peopled coun- 
 tries. But in every state of society — in the rudest, 
 as well as in the most improved — we can trace the 
 operation and effects of this principle. The various 
 pliysical powers, talents, and propensities with which 
 men are endowed, naturally fit them for different oc- 
 cupations; and a regard to mutual interest and con- 
 venience necessarily leads them, at a very early pe- 
 riod, to establish a system of barter and a separation 
 of employments. Each individual finds that he can 
 obtain a greater quantity of all sorts of commodities 
 by devoting himself to some particular business, and 
 exchanging his surplus produce for such parts of the 
 produce of other people's labour as he may have oc- 
 casion for and they may be disposed to part with, 
 than if he had attempted directly to produce all the 
 articles which he consumes. As society advances, 
 this division becomes more and more extended. 
 In process of time, one man becomes a tanner, or 
 dresser of skins ; another, a shoemaker ; a third, a 
 weaver ; a fourth, a house-carpenter ; a fifth, a 
 smith, and so on. Each endeavours to cultivate and 
 bring to perfection whatever talent or genius he may 
 possess for the species of industi'y in which he is era- 
 ployed. The national wealth and the comforts of all 
 classes are, in consequence, prodigiously augmented. 
 In a country where the division of labour has been 
 carried to a considerable extent, agriculturists are not 
 obliged to spend their time in clumsy attempts to 
 manufacture their own produce ; and manufacturers 
 cease to interest themselves about the raising of 
 corn and the fattening of cattle. The facility of ex- 
 changing is the vivifying principle of industry. It 
 stimulates agriculturists to adopt the best system of 
 cultivation and to raise the largest crops, because it 
 enables them to exchange whatever portion of the 
 produce of their lands exceeds their own wants for 
 other commodities conducing to their comforts and 
 enjoyments ; and it equally stimulates manufactur- 
 ers and merchants to increase the quantity and to 
 improve the quality of their goods, that they may 
 
 ceux qui les possedent ; ce n'est que la dis- je, que les particuliers seront encourages a se soumettre aux 
 privations les plus dures pour compenser par leurs epargnes les retards que la profusion du gouvernement 
 ^eut apporter aux progres de la richesse national. Si I'Angleterre, malgre ses guerres ruineuses, est par- 
 venue a un haut degre d'opulence ; si malgre les contributions enormes dont le peuple y e£t charge, son 
 capital est pourtant accrue dans le silence par I'economie des particuliers, il ne faut attribuer ces effets qu'a 
 la liberte des personnes et a la surete des proprietes qui y regnent, plus que dans acun autre pays de I'Eu- 
 rope, la Suisse excepte." (Storch, Traite d Economie Politique, Tom. I. p. 317.) 
 
 * Speaking of theft, Beccaria calls it, " II delitto di quella infelice parte di uomini, acui il diritto di pro- 
 priela (terribile, e forse ngn necessario diritto)^ nan ha lasciato, che una nuda essistenza." — Dei Delitti e delk 
 Pene, § 22. 
 
POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 Division of tliereby be enabled to obtain a greater supply of raw 
 ^t^^^^' pi'od^ice. A spirit of industry is thus universally 
 ^ diffused ; and that apathy and languor, which is 
 characteristic of a rude state of society, entirely dis- 
 appear. 
 
 But it is not the mere facility of exchanging, or 
 the circumstance of being able to barter the surplus 
 produce of one's own labour for such parts of the sur- 
 plus produce of other people's labour, as we may 
 be desirous of obtaining and they may choose to 
 part with, that renders the separation of employ- 
 ments of such signal advantage. The introduction 
 of barter and the division of labour not only enables 
 each individual to betake himself in preference to 
 those departments which suit his taste and disposi- 
 tion, but it makes a positive and a large addition to 
 the efficacy of his powers, and enables him to pro- 
 duce a much greater quantity of commodities than 
 lie could have done liad he engaged indiscriminately 
 in different employments. Dr Smith, who has treat- 
 ed this subject in the most masterly manner, has 
 classed the circumstances which conspire to increase 
 the productive powers of industry, when labour is 
 divided, under the following heads : — First, To the 
 increase of the skill and dexterity of every particu- 
 lar workman ; second, to the saving of time, which is 
 commonly lost in passing from one particular em- 
 ployment to another ; and, third, to the circumstance 
 of the division of employments having a tendency to 
 facilitate the invention of machines and of processes 
 for abridging and saving labour. We shall make a 
 few observations on each of these heads. 
 
 UbolTif. , '^st. Respecting the improvement of the sicill and 
 
 ireases the 
 
 dexterity of the labourer, it is sufficiently plain that 
 ikill and when a person's whole attention is devoted to one 
 Dexterity ofbranch of business, when all the energies of his 
 he^Work- mind and the powers of his body are made to con- 
 verge, as it were, to a single point, he must attain 
 to a degree of proficiency in that particular branch, 
 to which no individual engaged in a variety of occu- 
 pations can be expected to reach. A peculiar play of 
 the muscles, or sleight of hand, is necessary to per- 
 form the simplest operation in the best and most ex- 
 peditious manner ; and this can only be acquired by 
 habitual and constant practice. Dr Smith has given 
 a striking example, in the case of the nail manufac- 
 turer, of the extreme difference between training a 
 workman to the precise occupation in which he is to 
 be eniployed, and training him to a similar and close- 
 ly allied occupation. " A common smith," says he, 
 who, though accustomed to handle the hammer,' 
 has never been used to make nails, if, upon some 
 particular occasion, he is obliged to attempt it, will 
 scarce, I am assured, be able to make above two 
 or three hundred nails in a day, and those very 
 bad ones. A smith who has been accustomed to 
 make nails, but whose sole or principal business has 
 not been that of a nailer, can seldom, with his utmost 
 diligence, make more than eight hundred or a thou- 
 sand nails in a day. But I have seen several boys 
 under twenty years of age, who had never exercised 
 any other trade but that of making nails, who, when 
 they exerted themselves, could make, each of them, 
 upwards of txvo thousand three hundred nails in a 
 day ;" or nearly three times the number of the smith 
 
 VOL. VI. PART I. 
 
 241 
 
 who had been accustomed to make them, but who Division of 
 "^^n J''^r,.^''^'L^^^ "^^''"^^^ ^^^t particular business ! ^^^^iour. 
 
 2d 1 fie effect of the division of labour in prevent- — ' 
 ing that waste of time in moving from one emplayment'^''''''^''^'' 
 to another which must always take place when an 
 individual is engaged in different occupations, is 
 even more obvious than the advantage derived 
 from the improvement of the skill and dexterity of " 
 the labourer. When the same individual carries 
 on aiffei-ent employments, in different and perhaps 
 distant places, and with different sets of tools, it is 
 plainly impossible he can avoid losing a considerable 
 portion of time in passing between them. If the dif- 
 ferent businesses in which a labourer is to be engag- 
 ed could be carried on in the same workshop, the 
 loss of time would be less, but even in that case it 
 would be considerable. " A man," as Dr Smith 
 has justly observed, " commonly saunters a little in 
 changing from one business to another. When he 
 hrst begins his work, he is seldom keen or hearty ■ 
 his mind IS said not to go along with it, and fbi- 
 some time he rather trifles than applies himself in 
 good earnest The habit of sauntering and of indo- 
 lent and careless apphcation, which is naturally, or 
 rather necessarily acquired by every country work- 
 man, who IS obliged to change his work and his 
 tools every half hour, and to apply liis hand in work- 
 ing different ways almost every day of his life, ren- 
 ders him almost always slothful and lazy, and inca- 
 pabfe of any rigorous apT^lication, even on the most 
 pressing occasion, independent, therefore, of his 
 deficiency in point of dexterity, this cause alone must 
 always reduce considerably the quantity of work 
 which he IS capable of performing."_( Wealth of Na- 
 tions, 1. p. 14.) o V y " 
 
 r^lnln,}!;' 'T'v • '^^""^ ^^'^ em- Facilitates 
 
 V^oyments mjaalttattng the invention of machines,^^^ 
 and processes for abridging and saving labour, it is ob^^ *r 
 vious hat those engaged in any branch of industry = 
 
 method! ^'^'^^ -'^ ^-^-dieV 
 
 methods for carrying it on, when the whole atten- 
 tion of their minds is devoted exclusively to it, than 
 I It were dissipated among a variety of objects. But 
 
 donp\hTv ' 'TP"^'^ sometimes 
 Id 'ir^^- th^"^^e"tive genius of workmen 
 
 and aitificers that is whetted and improved by the 
 division of labour. As society advances, the study 
 of particular branches of science and of philosophy 
 becomes the principal or sole occupation of the most 
 ingenious men. Chemistry becomes a distinct 
 science from natural philosophy ; the physical astro- 
 nomer separates himself from the astronomical ob- 
 server, the political economist from the politician, 
 and each meditating exclusively, or principally, on his 
 peculiar department of science, attains to a degree of 
 proficiency and expertness in it to which the general 
 scholar seldom or never reaches. And hence, in la- 
 bouring to promote our own ends, we all necessarily 
 adopt that precise course which is most advantageous 
 to all. Like the different parts of a well construct- 
 ed engme the inhabitants of a civilized country are 
 all mutually dependent on, and connected with, each 
 otfier. Without any previous concert, and obeying 
 only the powerful and steady impulse of self interest, 
 they universally conspire to the same great end, and 
 Hh 
 
POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 Division of 
 , Labour. 
 
 Division of 
 Labour Li- 
 mited by 
 the Extent 
 of the Mar- 
 ket. 
 
 Territorial 
 Division of 
 Labour. 
 
 contribute each in their respective sphere to furnish 
 the greatest possible supply of necessaries, luxuries, 
 conveniencies, and enjoyments. 
 
 But it is necessary to observe, that the advantages 
 derived from the division of labour, though they may 
 be, and in fact are, partially enjoyed in every coun- 
 try and state of society, can only be carried to their 
 full extent, where there is a great power of exchang- 
 ing, or an extensive market. There are an infinite 
 variety of employments which cannot be separately 
 carried on out of the precincts of a large city ; and, 
 in all cases, the division becomes just so much the 
 more perfect, according as the demand for the pro- 
 duce of the workmen is extended. It is stated by 
 Dr Smith that ten labourers employed m different 
 departments in a pin manufactory can produce 
 48,000 pins a day ; but it is evident that if the de- 
 mand was not sufficiently extensive to take ott this 
 quantity, it would be impossible to carry the division 
 so far. The same principle holds good m every 
 case A cotton mill could not be constructed in a 
 small country which had no intercourse with its 
 neighbours. The demand and competition ot Lu- 
 rope and America has been necessary to carry the 
 manufactures of Glasgow, Manchester, and Birmmg- 
 ham, to their present state of improvement. 
 
 The effects of the division of labour in increasing 
 the quantity and perfection of the products of in- 
 dustry have been noticed by several of the writers 
 who preceded Dr Smith, and especially by Mr Har- 
 ris and M. Turgot. But neither of these writers 
 have done what Dr Smith did. None of them have 
 fully analysed and exhibited its various effects ; and 
 none of them have shown that the power of engag- 
 ing in different employments depended on the power 
 of exchanging; and that, consequently, the advantages 
 derived from the division of labour were necessarily 
 dependent on, and regulated by, the extent of the 
 market. This is a principle of very great import- 
 ance, and by establishing it Dr Smith shed a new 
 light on the whole science, and laid the foundation 
 of many important practical conclusions. " f^^- 
 sentee decette maniere," says M. Storch, " lidee de 
 la division du travail 6toit absolumeiit neuve ; et 
 I'effet qu'elle a fait sur les contemporams de Smith, 
 prouve bien qu'elle I'etoit r6ellement pour eux. 1 elle 
 qu'elle se trouve indiquge dans les passages que je 
 "viens de citer, elle n'a fait aucune impression. De- 
 veloppee par Smith, cette idee a d'abord saisi tons 
 ses lecteurs ; tous en ont senti la verite et 1 import- 
 ance; et cela suffit pour lui en assurer tout i hon- 
 jieur, lors meme que son genie ait ete guide par les 
 indications de ses devanciers."— (Tome VI. p. 10.) 
 
 2. Territorial Division of Labour, or Lorn- 
 werce.— Besides that sort of division of labour 
 which enables each individual in a limited society to 
 confine himself to a particular employment, there is 
 another and most important branch of the division 
 of labour, which not only enables particular indivi- 
 duals, but the inhabitants of entire districts, and 
 even nations, to addict themselves in preference to 
 certain branches of industry. It is on this territo- 
 rial division of labour, if we may so term it, that the 
 commerce which is carried on between different dis- 
 tricts of the same country, and between diflerent 
 4 
 
 countries, is founded. The various soils, climates,., Territoriai 
 and capacities of production, of different districts of 
 an extensive country, fit them for being appropriat- 
 ed in preference to certain species of industry. A. 
 district where coal is abundant, which has an easyr 
 access to the ocean, and a considerable command o£ 
 internal navigation, is the natural seat of manufac- 
 tures. Wheat and other species of grain are the 
 proper products of rich arable soils ; and cattle, af- 
 ter being reared in mountainous districts, are mosit 
 advantageously fattened in meadow and low grounds.. 
 Nothing is more obvious than that the inhabitants 
 of these different districts, by separately confining 
 themselves to the particular branches of industry for 
 the successful prosecution of which they have some 
 pecuhar natural capability, must produce an infinite- 
 ly greater quantity of useful and agreeable commo- 
 dities than they could do were they to devote their 
 labour indiscriminately to every different employ- 
 ment. It is impossible to doubt that vastly more 
 manufactured goods, more corn, and more cattle, 
 are produced by the inhabitants of Glasgow, of the 
 Carse of Gowrie, and of Argyleshire, respectively 
 confining themselves to manufactures, agriculture, 
 and the rearing of cattle, than if each endeavoured 
 directly to supply themselves with all these various 
 products, without the intervention of an exchange. 
 
 But it is easy to see that foreign trade, or the ter- 
 ritorial division of labour between different and in- 
 dependent countries, will contribute to increase the 
 wealth of each in precisely the same manner that 
 the trade between different provinces of the same 
 kingdom contributes to increase their wealth. There 
 is a still greater difference between the produc- 
 tive powers wherewith nature has endowed dif- 
 ferent and distant countries than there is between 
 the productive powers of the provinces of the same 
 country. The establishment of a free intercourse 
 between them must, therefore, be proportion ably 
 advantageous. It would evidently cost an mfi- 
 nitely greater expence to raise the wines of France 
 or Spain in England than it would do to make 
 Yorkshire yield the same products as Devonshire. 
 Indeed, there are a multitude of products, and some 
 of them of the very greatest utility, which cannot 
 possibly be raised except in particular situations. 
 Were it not for commercial intercourse, we should 
 not be able to obtain the smallest supply of tea, su- 
 gar, raw cotton, raw silk, gold bullion, and a thou- 
 sand other equally useful and valuable commodities. 
 Providence, by giving different soils, climates, and 
 natural productions, to different countries, has evi- 
 dently provided for their mutual intercourse and ci- 
 vilization. By permitting the people of each to em- 
 ploy their capital and labour in those departments in 
 which their geographical situation, the physical ca- 
 pacities of their soil, their national character and 
 habits fit them to excell, foreign commerce has a 
 wonderful effect in multiplying the productions o± 
 art and industry. When the freedom of commerce 
 is not restricted, each country necessarily devotes it- 
 self to such employments as are most beneficial to 
 each. This pursuit of individual advantage is ad- 
 mirably connected with the gdod of the whole. By 
 stimulating industry, by rewarding ingenuity, and 
 
POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 243 
 
 Territorial by using most efficaciously the particular powers be- 
 Division of stowed by nature, commerce distributes labour most 
 Labour, gffgctively and most economically; while, by in- 
 creasing the general mass of necessary and useful 
 products, it diffuses general opulence, and binds to- 
 gether the universal society of nations by the com- 
 mon and powerful ties of mutual interest and reci- 
 procal obligation. Commerce has enabled each par- 
 ticular state to profit by the inventions and disco- 
 veries of every other state. It has given us new 
 tastes and new appetites, and it has also given us the 
 means and the desire of gratifying them. The pro- 
 gress of domestic industry has been accelerated by 
 the competition of foreigners. Commerce has either 
 entirely removed, or greatly weakened, a host of the 
 most unworthy prejudices. It has shown, that no- 
 thing can be more illiberal, irrational, and absurd, 
 than that dread of the progress of others in wealth 
 and civilization that was once so prevalent ; and it 
 has shown that the true glory and real interest of 
 each particular people will be more certainly ad- 
 vanced by emulating and outstripping each other in 
 the career of science and civilization, than by la- 
 bouring to attain a barren pre-eminence in the 
 bloody and destructive art of war. 
 F.ffect of the The influence of commerce in giving increased ef- 
 iTerritorial ficacy to labour, and augmenting national wealth, may 
 toivision of be easily illustrated. Thus, in the case of the inter- 
 Aif °"enT territorial division of labour, carried on 
 
 in"1vatiorial^^*'"'^^" England and Portugal, it is plain that the 
 Wealth. superiority of the wool of England, our command of 
 coals, of skilful workmen, of improved machinery, 
 and of all the instruments of manufacturing indus- 
 tiy, enables us to produce cloth at a much cheaper 
 rate than the Portuguese : But, on the other hand, 
 the soil and climate of Portugal being peculiarly fa- 
 vom-able for the cultivation and growth of the grape, 
 she is enabled to produce wine at an infinitely cheap- 
 er rate than it can be produced here. And hence it 
 is obvious, that England, by confining herself to the 
 manufacture of cloth, in which she has a natural ad- 
 vantage on her side, and exchanging it with the 
 Portuguese for wine, will obtain a vastly larger sup- 
 ply of that commodity than if she had attempted to 
 cultivate the grape at home : And Portugal, by ex- 
 changing her wine for the cloth of England, will, 
 on her part, obtain a much greater quantity of cloth 
 than if she had attempted to counteract the inten- 
 tion of nature, by converting a portion of her capi- 
 tal and industry from the raising of wine, in which 
 she has an advantage, to the manufacture of cloth, 
 in which the advantage is on the side of another, 
 lophism of What we have already stated is sufficient to ex- 
 he French pose the sophism involved in the reasoning of the 
 Sconomists French economists, who contended, that as an equi- 
 'ct'of Com must be always given for such commodities 
 
 jerce. '^^ ^^'^ obtained from foreigners, it is impossible 
 foreign commerce can ever become a means of in- 
 creasing wealth. How, they asked, can the wealth 
 ctf a country be increased If^ giving equal values for 
 equal values ? They admitted, that commerce might 
 be the means of making a better distribution of the 
 wealth of the world ; but as it did nothing more 
 than exchange one sort of wealth for another, they 
 denied that it could ever make any addition to that 
 
 wealth. At first sight, this sophistical and delusive 
 statement appears sufficiently conclusive ; but a very 
 few words will be sufficient to demonstrate its fallacy. 
 The advantage of commerce does not consist in its en- 
 abling either of the parties who carry it on to obtain 
 commodities of greater value, than those they give in 
 exchange for them. It may have cost as much, or 
 more, to produce the cloth wherewith the English 
 merchant purchases the wine of Portugal, as it did to 
 produce the latter. But then, it must be observed, that 
 in making the exch.ange,ihe value of the ivineis estimat- 
 ed by what it takes to produce it in Portugal, which has 
 peculiar natural capabilities for that species of in- 
 dustry, and not by what it would take to produce it 
 in England were the trade put an end to ; and, in 
 like manner, the value of the cloth is estimated by 
 what it takes to produce it in England, and not by 
 what it would cost to produce it in Portugal. The 
 advantage of the intercourse between the two coun- 
 tries consists in this, that it enables each of them to 
 obtain commodities, for the production of which 
 they have no natural capability, and which it would, 
 therefore, cost a comparatively large sum to produce 
 directly at home at the price which it costs to pro- 
 duce them in the most favourable circumstances, 
 and with the least possible expence. The gain of 
 the one party is not the loss of the other. Both of 
 them are benefited by this intercourse. For both of 
 them are thereby enabled to save labour and expence 
 in the production of commodities ; and the wealth of 
 the two countries is not only better distributed, but 
 it is also positively and greatly increased by the ter- 
 ritorial division of labour established between them. 
 
 To set this important principle in a clearer point 
 of view, let us suppose that in England a given 
 number of men can, in a given time, manufacture 
 10,000 yards of cloth, and raise 1000 quarters of 
 wheat, and that the same number of men can, in 
 the same time, manufacture in Poland 5000 yards 
 of cloth and raise 2000 quarters of wheat. It is 
 plain, that the establishment of a free intercourse 
 between the two countries would, in these circum- 
 stances, enable England, by manufacturing cloth 
 and exporting it to Poland, to obtain twice the quan- 
 tity of corn in exchange for a given expenditure of 
 capital and labour that she could obtain in return 
 for the same expenditure directly laid out in the 
 cultivation of land at home ; and Poland would, on 
 the other hand, be enabled to obtain iioice as muck 
 cloth in exchange for her corn as she could have 
 done had she attempted directly to manufacture it. 
 How ridiculous then to contend, that commerce is 
 not a means of adding to the efficacy of labour, and, 
 consequently, of increasing wealth ! Were the inter- 
 course between England and Portugal and the West 
 Indies put an end to, it would require, at the very 
 least, a hundred, or perhaps a thousand times the ex- 
 pence to produce Port wine, sugar, and coffee, di- 
 rectly in this country, that it does to produce the 
 equivalents sent to Portugal and the West Indies in 
 exchange for them. 
 
 " The commerce of one country with another is," 
 to use the words of Mr MiU, " merely an extension 
 of that division of labour by which so many bene- 
 fits are conferred on the human race. As the same 
 
244 
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 Territorial country is rendered richer by the trade of one pro- 
 Division of vince with another ; as its labour becomes thus in- 
 Labour, fjj^j^giy j^^^g divided and more productive than it 
 could otherwise have been ; and as the mutual in- 
 terchange of all those commodities which one pro- 
 vince has and another wants, multiplies the accom- 
 modations and comforts of the whole, and the coun- 
 try becomes thus in a wonderful degree more opu- 
 lent and happy ; so the same beautiful train of con- 
 sequences is observable in the world at large, that 
 vast empire of which the different kingdoms may be 
 regarded as the provinces. In this magnificent em- 
 pire, one province is favourable to the production of 
 one species of produce, and another province to an- 
 other. By their mutual intercourse, mankind are 
 enabled to distribute their labour as best fits the ge- 
 nius of each particular country and people. The 
 industry of the whole is thus rendered incompara- 
 bly more productive ; and every species of neces- 
 sary, useful, and agreeable accommodation is ob- 
 tained in much greater abundance, and with infi- 
 nitely less expence." — {Commerce Defended, p. 38.) 
 
 To enter into a more enlarged discussion of this 
 interesting and important subject, would be incon- 
 sistent with the object and limits of this article. In 
 our articles on Colonies and the Corn Trade and 
 Laws, we have examined the policy of the restric- 
 tions on the colonial trade, and on the corn trade ; 
 and in the article Exchange, we have pointed out 
 the circumstances which regulate the importation 
 and exportation of the precious metals ; and have 
 shown, that, instead of the excess of exports over im- 
 ports being any criterion of an advantageous com- 
 merce, it is just the reverse, and that it is by the ex- 
 cess of the value of the imports over the value of the 
 exports that the direct gains of the merchants, and 
 consequently of the community, are to be estimated. 
 In the fourth book of the Wealth of Nations, Dr 
 Smith has examined and refuted the various argu- 
 ments in favour of the restrictions imposed on the 
 freedom of commerce, in the most able and masterly 
 manner, and with an amplitude of illustration, which 
 leaves nothing to be desired. A very complete ex- 
 posure of the sophisms of the French economists, on 
 the subject of commerce, may be found in the inge- 
 nious and valuable pamphlets of Mr Mill {Commerce 
 Defended) and Colonel Torrens {Economists Refut- 
 ed), written in answer to Mr S pence's pamphlet en- 
 titled, Britain Independent of Commerce. The chap- 
 ter on Foreign Trade in Mr Ricardo's great work 
 is equally original and profound, and deserves to be 
 carefully studied by those who wish to make them- 
 selves thoroughly acquainted with the theory of 
 commerce. 
 
 Money. When the division of labour was first introduced, 
 
 barter was the only method by which commodities 
 wei-e exchanged. But according as society advan- 
 ced, as the division of employments was extended, 
 and as exchanges became more num^erous, the ad- 
 vantage of using some one commodity as a common 
 medium of exchange — as an equivalent for all other 
 commodities, and as a standard by which to ascer- 
 tain their relative values, soon became obvious. But 
 this is a subject of which we have elsewhere treat- 
 ed at considerable length ; and we beg leave to refer 
 
 Labour. 
 
 our readers for a full investigation of the nature and Territorial 
 functions of the common medium of exchange to the Division ot 
 article Money in this Supplement, and the authori- 
 ties there quoted. 
 
 Accumulation and Employment of Capital. Accumula- 
 — Capital may be defined to be " that portion of ihe*i°^ ^J^^ 
 produce of labour "which is saved from immediate con-^^^^^ ^f^ 
 mimptioji, and employed in maintaining productive in- pital. 
 dustry, or in facilitaling production." Its accumula- 
 tion and employment is indispensably necessary to 
 the successful prosecution of almost every branch of 
 industry. Without that species of capital, which 
 chiefly consists of tools and engines, and which has 
 been denominated ^xec?, labour could never be ren- 
 dered considerably productive ; and without that 
 species of capital which chiefly consists of the food 
 and clothes required for the consumption of the la- 
 bourer during the time he is employed in the pro- 
 duction of commodities, and which has been deno- 
 minated circulating, he never could engage in anj' 
 undertaking which did not yield an almost imme- 
 diate return. An agricultural labourei', for example, 
 might have an ample supply of carts and ploughs, 
 of oxen and horses, and generally of all the instru- 
 ments and animals used in his department of indus- 
 try, but if he were destitute of circulating capital, or 
 of food and clothes, he would not be able to avail 
 himself of their assistance, and instead of tilling the 
 ground, would have to betake himself immediately to 
 some species of appropriative industry : And, on 
 the other hand, supposing the husbandman to be 
 abundantly supplied with provisions, what covild he 
 do without the assistance oi fixed capital or tools } 
 What could the most skilful agriculturist perform if 
 he were deprived of his spade and his plough t a 
 weaver if he were deprived of his loom or a house- 
 carpenter if he were deprived of his saw, his hatchet, 
 and his planes } The accumulation and employ- 
 ment of both fixed and circulating capital is indis- 
 pensably necessary to elevate any nation in the scale 
 of civilization. And it is only by their conjoined 
 and powerful operation that wealth can be largely 
 produced and universally diffused. 
 
 The division of labour is a consequence of the 
 previous accumulation of capital. Before labour 
 can be divided, " A stock of goods of different kinds 
 must be stored up somewhere, sufficient to maintain 
 the labourer, and to supply him with the materials 
 and tools for carrying on his work. A weaver, for 
 example, could nut apply himself entirely to his pe- 
 culiar business, vinless there was beforehand stored 
 up somewhere, either in his own possession, or in 
 that of some other person, a stock sufficient for his 
 maintenance, and for supplying him with the ma- 
 terials and implements required to carry on his 
 work, till he has not only completed but sold his 
 web. This accumulation must evidently be pre- 
 vious to his applying himself for so long a time to a 
 peculiar business." — {Wealth of Nations, Vol. I. p. 
 408.) # 
 
 As the accumulation of stock must have preceded 
 the division of labour, so its subsequent division can 
 only be extended as capital is more and more accu- 
 mulated. Accumulation and division act and react 
 on each other. The quantity of raw materials which 
 
POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 245 
 
 Employ- 
 ment of Ca- 
 pital. 
 
 Modes in 
 which the 
 Employ- 
 ment of Ca- 
 pital Facili- 
 tates La- 
 bour. 
 
 1st, It ena- 
 bles us to 
 produce 
 Commodi- 
 ties that 
 could not 
 be produc- 
 ed without 
 it. 
 
 2d, It Saves 
 Labour in 
 the Produc- 
 tion of Com- 
 modities. 
 
 the same number of people can work up increases 
 in a great proportion, as labour comes to be more and 
 more subdivided ; and according as the operations 
 of each workman are reduced to a greater degree 
 of identity and simplicity, he has, as we have al- 
 ready explained, a greater chance of discovering 
 machines and processes for facilitating and abridging 
 his labour. The quantity of industry, therefore, 
 not only increases in every country with the in- 
 crease of the stock or capital which sets it in mo- 
 tion ; but, in consequence of this increase, the 
 division of labour becomes extended, new and more 
 powerful implements and machines are invented, 
 and the same quantity of labour is thus made to pro- 
 duce an infinitely greater quantity of commodities. 
 
 Besides its effect in enabling labour to be divided, 
 capital contributes to facilitate labour, and produce 
 wealth in the three following ways: 
 
 First. — It enables us to execute work that could 
 not be executed, or to produce commodities that 
 could not be produced without it. 
 
 Second. — It saves labour in the production of al- 
 most every species of commodities. 
 
 Third. — It enables us to execute work better, as 
 well as more expeditiousl3\ 
 
 With regard to the first of these modes in which 
 we are benefited by the employment of capital, or 
 to the circumstance of its enabling us to produce 
 commodities that could not he produced xmtkout it, it is 
 plain that the production of all such commodities as 
 require a considerable period for their completion, 
 could not have been attempted if a stock of circu- 
 lating capital, or of food and clothes sufficient for 
 the maintenance of the labourer while employed on 
 them, had not been previously provided. But the 
 employment of fixed is frequently as necessary to 
 the production of commodities as the employment 
 of circulating capital. It would be plainly impos- 
 sible to produce a pair of stockings without the 
 aid of wires ; and, although the ground might be 
 cultivated without the aid of the plough, it could 
 not be cultivated without the aid of a spade or a 
 hoe. If we run over the vast catalogue of the va- 
 rious arts practised in a highly polished and civilized 
 country, it will be found that there are very few 
 that can be carried -on by the mere employment of 
 the fingers, or tools with which man is furnished by 
 nature. It is almost always necessary to provide 
 ourselves with the results of previous industry, and 
 to strengthen oiu- feeble hands by arming them, if 
 we may so speak, " with the force of all the ele- 
 ments." 
 
 In the second place, the employment of capital not 
 only enables us to produce many species of commo- 
 dities that never could have been produced without 
 its co-operation, but it also enables us to save labour 
 in the production of many others, and, by lowering 
 their price, brings them within the reach of a far 
 greater number of consumers. We have been so 
 long accustomed to make use of the productive 
 sources of the most powerful machines, that it re- 
 quires a considerable effort of abstraction to render 
 ourselves fully aware of the real extent of the ad- 
 vantages we derive from them. But if we compare 
 
 pital. 
 
 the state of the arts practised alike by civilized man Employ, 
 and the savage, we cannot fail to be convinced that °^ 
 it is to the use and employment of fixed capital that , 
 we owe a very large proportion of our superior com- 
 forts and enjoyments. Consider the advantages 
 which man has derived from the employment of the 
 lower animals, which, in an economical point of 
 view, are regarded only as machines ! Consider the 
 advantages that have been derived from the forma- 
 tion of roads, bridges, harbours, and canals — the 
 effect they have had in facilitating the conveyance of 
 commodities, and consequently in distributing them 
 most advantageously, and in reducing their price to 
 the consumer ! Consider the advantages that have 
 been derived from the construction of ships, and the 
 improvement of navigation ! But it is in vain to at- 
 tempt even to glance at the numbei4ess benefits 
 which the employment of the fixed capital vested in 
 tools and other instruments, has conferred on so- 
 ciety, by cheapening and multiplying necessaries, 
 conveniencies, and luxuries. It is by their means 
 that our fields are cultivated, our houses construct- 
 ed, our clothes manufactured, our ships built, and 
 the treasures of knowledge and of art transferred 
 from one hemisphere to another ! If we consult 
 the history of the human race — if we trace their slow 
 and gradual advancement from barbarism to refine- 
 ment, we shall be C(jnvinced that their progress from 
 their lowest and most abject, to their highest and 
 most polished, state, has been always accompanied, 
 and chiefly promoted, by the accumulation of fresh 
 capital, and the invention and improvement of tools 
 and engines. 
 
 The third advantage derived from the employ- 3d, It en- 
 ment of capital consists in the circumstance of its bles us to 
 enabling us to execute work better, as well as more 
 expeditiously, than it could be done without it. Cot- ^ell^'a"^'^ 
 ton, for example, might be spun by the hand ; but the more Expe- 
 admirable machinery invented by Hargreaves, Ark- ditiously. 
 wright, and others, has not only enabled us to spin 
 an hundred or a thousand times as great a quantity 
 of yarn as could be spun by means of a common 
 spindle, but it has also improved its quality, and 
 given to it a degree of fineness, and of evenness, or 
 equality, in its parts, which was never previously 
 attained. It would require a painter months, or it 
 might be years, to paint with a brush the cottons, 
 or printed cloths used in the hanging of a single 
 room ; and it would be very difficult, if not impossi- 
 ble, for the best artist to give the same perfect identity 
 and sameness to his figures that is given to them by 
 the admirable machinery now in use for that pur- 
 pose. Not to mention the other and more import- 
 ant advantages of which the invention of moveable 
 types and printing has been productive, it is certain 
 that the beauty of the most perfect manuscript — one 
 on which years of patient and irksome labour have 
 been expended — is unable, in point of delicacy and 
 correctness, to match a well printed work, execut- 
 ed in the hundredth part of the time, and at a 
 hundredth part of the expence required to copy the 
 manuscript. The great foreign demand for English 
 manufactured goods results no less from the supe- 
 riority of the manufacture, than from their greater 
 
 12 
 
246 
 
 Employ- 
 ment of Ca- 
 pital. 
 
 The Power 
 to Employ 
 Labour de- 
 pends on the 
 Amount of 
 Capital. 
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 cheapness; and for both these advantages we are 
 principally indebted to the excellence of our ma- 
 chinery. 
 
 There are other considerations which equally 
 illustrate the extreme importance of the accumu- 
 lation and employment of capital. The produce of 
 the labour of a nation cannot be increased otherwise 
 than by an increase in the number of labourers, oj* 
 by an increase in the productive powers of the exist- 
 ing labourers. But without an increase of capital it is 
 in most cases impossible to employ another workman 
 with advantage. If capital be not augmented, and 
 if the food and clothes destined for the support of 
 the labourers, and the tools and machines with 
 which they are to operate, be all required for the 
 maintenance and efficient employment of the la- 
 bourers in existence at any given period, there can 
 be no additional demand for them. In such cir- 
 cumstances, the rate of wages cannot rise ; and if 
 the number of inhabitants are increased, they must 
 be worse provided for. Neither can the produc- 
 tive powers of the labourer be augmented, with- 
 out a previous increase of capital. It is only by 
 a better education and training of workmen, by a 
 greater subdivision of their employments, or by an 
 improvement of machinery, that their productive 
 powers can ever be materially increased. But in al- 
 most all these cases, an additional capital is required. 
 It is only by means of an additional capital that the 
 workman can be better trained, or that the under- 
 taker of any work can either provide his workmen 
 with better machinery, or make a more proper dis- 
 tribution of employment among them. When the 
 work to be done consists of a number of parts, to 
 keep every man constantly employed in one particu- 
 lar part, requires a much larger stock than where every 
 man is occasionally employed in every different part 
 of the work. When," says Dr Smith, " we compare 
 the state of a nation at two different periods, and 
 find that the annual produce of its land and labour 
 is greater at the latter than at the former, that its 
 lands are better cultivated, its manufactures more 
 numerous and more flourishing, and its trade more 
 extensive, we may be assured that its capital must 
 have increased during the interval between these 
 two periods, and that more must have been added 
 to it by the good conduct of some, than had been 
 taken from it, either by the private misconduct of 
 others, or by the public extravagance of the govern- 
 ment."— (/Fea/^/i ofNationSy Vol. II. p. 25.) It is, 
 thej-efore, apparent that no country can ever reach 
 the stationary state, so long as she continues to ac- 
 cumulate additional capital. While she does this, 
 she will always have a constantly increasing demand 
 for labour, and will be constantly augmenting the 
 mass of necessaries, Ivixuries, and conveniencies, and, 
 consequently, also the numbers of her people. But 
 with every diminution of the previous rate at which 
 
 capital had been accumulating, the demand for la- Empioy- 
 bour will decline. Wlien no additions are made to ^ 
 its stock, no more labour will be, or, indeed, can be 
 employed. And should the national capital be di- ^■■■"v""*^ 
 minished, the condition of the great body of the 
 people would be greatly deteriorated — for the wages 
 of labour would be reduced, and pauperism, with all 
 its attendant train of vice, misery, and crime, would 
 spread its ravages throughout the largest portion of 
 society. 
 
 Having thus endeavoured to point out the vast Accumula 
 importance of the employment of capital, and the tion of C?. 
 manner in which it co-operates in facilitating pro- P"^'" 
 duction, we shall proceed to explain the circum- 
 stances most favourable for its accumulation. Now, 
 as capital is nothing more than the accumulated pro- 
 duce of previous industry, it is evident its increase 
 will be most rapid where industry is most produc- 
 tive, or, in other words, where the profits of stock are 
 highest.* The man who can produce a bushel of Advantage 
 wheat in three days has it in his power to accumu- of High 
 late twice as much as the man who, either from a 
 deficiency of skill, or from his being obliged to cul- 
 tivate a bad soil, is forced to labour six days to pro- 
 duce the same quantity ; and the capitalist who can 
 invest stock so as to yield him a profit of ten per 
 cent, has it equally in his power to accumulate twice 
 as fast as the capitalist who can only obtain five per 
 cent, for his capital. Conformably to this statement, 
 it is found that the rate of profit, or, which is the 
 same thing, that the power to accumulate capital, is 
 always greatest in those countries which are most 
 rapidly augmenting their wealth and population. The 
 rate of profit, or the power to employ labour and 
 capital with advantage, is ordinarily twice as great 
 in the United States as in Great Britain or France ; 
 and it is to this that the more rapid advancement of 
 the former in wealth and population is entirely to be 
 ascribed. We do not mean to say that high pro- 
 fits are necessarily, and in every instance, accom- 
 panied by a great degree of prosperity. Countries 
 with every possible advantage for the profitable em- 
 ployment of industry and of stock, may be subjected 
 to a despotical government, which does not respect 
 the right of property ; and the want of adequate se- 
 curity resulting from this circumstance may be of 
 itself sufficient to paralyse all the exertions of those 
 who are otherwise placed in the most favourable si- 
 tuation for the accumulation of capital and of wealth. 
 Bufe we have no hesitation in laying it down as a 
 principle which holds good in every case, and from 
 which there is really no exception, that, if the go- 
 vernments of any two or more countries he equally li- 
 beral, and property in each equally well secured, their 
 comparative prosperity mil depend on the rate of 
 profit. Wherever profits are high, there is a great 
 demand for labour, and the society rapidly aug- 
 ments both its population and its riches. On the 
 
 * To avoid all chance of misconception, it is necessary to observe, that this refers to nett profit, or to the 
 sum which remains to the capitalist after all his outgoings are compensated, including therein a sum suffi- 
 cient to ensure his capital against risk, and to make up for whatever may be peculiarly disagreeable in his 
 business. 
 
POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 U7 
 
 umula- other hand, wherever they are low, the demand for 
 m of Ca- labour is proportionably reduced, and the progress 
 , of society rendered so much the slower. 
 . ''^"^ But however high the rate of profit, it is evident, 
 to that, if men had always lived up to their incomes, — 
 cumula- that is, if they had always consvuimed the whole pro- 
 duce of their industry in the gratification of their 
 immediate wants and desires, there could have been 
 no such thing as capital in the world. High profits 
 are advantageous, because they afford the means of 
 amassing capital ; but something more is necessary 
 to induce us to make use of these means, and this is 
 the accumulating principle. The desire implanted in 
 the breast of every individual of rising in the world, 
 and improving his condition, has prompted mankind 
 to save a portion of their income, or of the produce 
 of their industry, from immediate consumption, and 
 to set it apart as a fund, or capital, for the support 
 of additional workmen. It is to this principle, there- 
 fore, or rather to its effect, parsimony, that we owe 
 capital ; and it is to capital that we owe almost all 
 our comforts and enjoyments. Without its assistance 
 and co-operation, labour could never have been di- 
 vided j arts could never have made any progress ; 
 and mankind must have continued to shelter them- 
 selves, as in the earliest ages, in caves and forests, 
 and to clothe themselves with the skins of wild ani- 
 mals. All the accumulated riches of the world — the 
 cities which cover its surface — the ships which tra- 
 verse its seas — and all the innumerable variety of 
 improvements, owe their origin to this principle, — 
 to the desire to rise in the world, and, consequently, 
 to save and amass. 
 
 It has been wisely ordered, that this principle 
 should be as powerful as it is advantageous. " With 
 regard to profusion," says Dr Smith, " the prin- 
 ciple which prompts to expence is the desire of 
 present enjoyment ; which, though sometimes vio- 
 lent, and very difficult to be restrained, is in general 
 only momentary and occasional. But the principle 
 which prompts to save is the desire of bettering our 
 condition; a desire which, though generally calm 
 and dispassionate, comes with us from the womb, 
 and never leaves us till we go into the grave. In 
 the whole interval which separates these two mo- 
 ments, there is scarce, perhaps, a single instance in 
 which any man is so perfectly and completely satis- 
 fied with his situation as to be without any wish of 
 alteration or improvement of any kind. An aug- 
 mentation of fortune is the means by which the 
 greater part of men propose and wish to better their 
 condition. It is the means the most vulgar and the 
 most obvious ; and the most likely way of augment- 
 ing their fortune is to save and accumulate some 
 part of what they acquire, either regularly and 
 annually, or upon some extraordinary occasions. 
 Though the principle of expence, therefore, prevails 
 in almost all men upon some occasions, yet in the 
 greater part of men, taking the whole course of their 
 life at an average, the principle of frugality not 
 only predominates, but predominates very greatly." 
 {Wealth of Nations, Vol. II. p. 19.) 
 
 It is this principle which carries society forward. 
 The spirit of parsimony, and the efforts which the 
 
 frugal and industrious classes make to improve their Accumula- 
 
 condition, in most instances balance not only the tion of^Ca- 
 
 profusion of individuals, but also the more wasteful ^ ^ j 
 
 profusion and extravagance of governments. The 
 
 spirit of economy has been happily compared by 
 
 Smith to the unknown principle of animal life — the 
 
 vis medicatrix natures, — which frequently restores 
 
 health and vigour to the constitution, in spite both 
 
 of disease and of the absurd prescriptions of the 
 
 physician. 
 
 We must have a care, however, lest we fall into Expenditure 
 the error of supposing, as Mr Malthus and many 0^ Govern- 
 other s have done, that public expenditure is ^■"au^of*^ 
 cause of individual accumulation. Its effect is, in Accvimula- 
 every instance, distinctly and completely the re- tion. 
 verse. The more government spends, the less re- 
 mains for individuals to save. Necessity may com- 
 pel a man to exert himself to pay heavy taxes ; but 
 it is choice, and not necessity, which makes him 
 withdraw a portion of the produce of his industry 
 from immediate consumption, and employ it as a 
 stock. This distinction must be kept constantly in 
 view. It cannot be denied that it is necessity that 
 forces farmers and manufacturers to sell a portion of 
 their produce to pay the taxes to which they are 
 subjected ; but when these taxes are paid, the go- 
 vernment is satisfied, and it is plainly their own free 
 option — their desire to improve their condition, and 
 to rise higher in the world, and not compulsion, that 
 induces them to accumulate another portion of their 
 produce as capital. The capitals of England and of 
 France have not increased, because of the vast ex- 
 penditure of their governments, but in despite of it. 
 Those who continued to accumulate, notwithstand- 
 ing the share of their produce taken from them by 
 government was increased, would evidently have 
 had greater means of accumulation, had this share 
 not been increased, or increased in a less proportion. 
 But accumulation, like the other passions, increases 
 as the means of gratifying it increase. In point of 
 fact, the greatest accumulations are invariably made 
 where there is the greatest power to accumulate. 
 There are no internal taxes in America ; she is pos- 
 sessed of vast tracts of fertile and uncultivated soil ; 
 and industry is, in consequence, extremely produc- 
 tive. And, agreeably to what we have now stated, 
 America doubles her capital and population every 
 five-and-twenty years, and is advancing in the ca- 
 reer of wealth and civilization with a rapidity un- 
 known in any other country. 
 
 Ambition to rise is the animating principle of so- 
 ciety. Instead of remaining satisfied with the condition 
 of their fathers, the great object of mankind in every 
 age has been to rise above it — to elevate themselves 
 in the scale of wealth. To continue stationary, or to 
 retrograde, is not natural to society. Man from 
 youth grows to manhood, then decays and dies ; 
 but such is not the destixiy of nations. The arts, 
 sciences, and capital of one generation become the 
 patrimony of that which succeeds them ; and in 
 their hands are improved and augmented, and ren- 
 dered more powerful and efficient ; so that, if not 
 counteracted by the want of security, or by other 
 adventitious causes, the principle of improvement 
 
248 
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 Accum ula- would always operate, and would secure the con- 
 tion of Ca- gj-^nt advancement of nations in wealth and popula- 
 ^i''^' tion. 
 
 '"^^ It is to this same principle that we owe the dis- 
 covery and improvement of machinery. Mankind 
 have, in every stage of society, endeavoured to in- 
 crease their productive powers, and to improve their 
 condition, by availing themselves of the assistance of 
 natural agents, and making them contribute to the 
 performance of tasks which must otherwise have 
 been performed by the hand only. The savage 
 avails himself of the aid of a club ai>d a sling to fa- 
 cilitate the acquisition of game, and abridge his la- 
 bour ; and the same principle which prompted him 
 to resort to and construct these rude instruments, 
 never ceases to operate. It is always producing some 
 new improvement ; and in an advanced and refined 
 period, gives us ships for canoes, muskets for slings, 
 steam-engines for clubs, and cotton mills for distaffs. 
 " The hand of man," says Colonel Torrens, " is not 
 armed with any efficient natural instrument, such as 
 the beak of the bird, or the claw of the quadruped, 
 for operating directly upon the materials presented 
 to him; but it is admirably adapted for receiving 
 and applying artificial implements, and for employ- 
 ing the powers of one substance to produce the de- 
 sired changes in another. Hence almost all the 
 grand results in manufacturing industry are brought 
 about by means of capital. Throughout the world 
 there are no very striking inequalities in the muscu- 
 lar force by which direct labour is performed ; and 
 it is mainly owing to the differences in the quantity 
 of capital, and in the skill with which it is applied, 
 that in one country man is found naked and desti- 
 tute, and that in another all the rude productions of 
 the earth, and all the forces of nature, are made to 
 contribute to his comfort, and to augment his power." 
 — (On the Production of Wealth, p. 89.) 
 
 Sect. Ill Different Employments of Capital a?id 
 
 Industry — Manufactures and Commerce shoixin to 
 he equally advantageous as Agriculture— Rate of 
 Profit true test of Individual and Public Advan- 
 tage. 
 
 Diftcrent We have, in the previous section, endeavoured to 
 ErnpW- show, that the increase and diminution of capital is 
 ments of Ca- the grand point on which national prosperity hinges, 
 Sli'stry tliat if you increase capital, you instantly increase 
 
 the means of supporting and employing additional la- 
 bour, and that if you diminish capital, you instantly 
 take away a portion of the comforts and enjoyments, 
 and perhaps also of the necessaries of the productive 
 classes, and spread poverty and misery throughout 
 the land ; and we also endeavoured to show that the 
 increase and diminution of the rate of profit was the 
 great cause of the increase and diminution of capital. 
 If such be the case, it seems impossible to resist 
 coming to the conclusion, that those employments 
 which yield the greatest profit, or in which industry 
 is most productive, are the most advantageous. But 
 Dr Smith, Mr Malthus, and most other pohtical eco- 
 nomists, Iiave objected to this standard. They allow 
 that if two capitals yield equal profits, the employ- 
 ments in which they are engaged are equally benefi- 
 cial to their possessors ; but they contend, that, if 
 one of these capitals be employed in agriculture, it 
 
 will be productive of greater public advantagr. We Different 
 
 believe, however, that we shall be able to show that K'^ploy- 
 , . ' • 1 r T ^- I .1 . inents of Ca- 
 
 this opmion rests on no good loundation ; and ^'^'^^ pitai and Jr. 
 the average rate of profit is the single and infallible dustry. 
 test by which we are always to judge which employ- w.^^.-ao..' 
 ment is most and which is least advantageous. 
 
 A capital may be employed in four different ways, 
 either, first, in the production of the raw produce 
 required for the use and consumption of the society ; 
 or, secondly, in manufacturing and preparing that raw 
 produce for immediate use and consumption ; or, 
 thirdly, in transporting the raw and manufactured 
 products from one place to another according to the 
 demand; or, fourthly, in dividing particular portions 
 of either into such small parcels as suit the conve- 
 nience of those who want them. The capitals of all 
 those who undertake the improvement or cultivation 
 of lands, mines, or fisheries, are employed in the first 
 of these ways ; the capital of all master manufac- 
 turers is employed in the second; that of all whole- 
 sale merchants in the third ; and that of all retailers 
 in the fourth. It is difficult to conceive that a capi- 
 tal can be employed in any way which may not be 
 classed under some one or other of these heads. 
 
 On the importance of the employment of capital Employ- 
 in the acquisition of raw produce, and especially in"^^tof Ca 
 the cultivation of the soil, it is unnecessary to en- P ^^j^'^j^^^^ 
 large. It is from the soil, including under that term 
 mines and fisheries, that the inatter of all commodi- 
 ties that either minister to our necessities, our com- 
 forts, or our enjoyments, must have been originally 
 derived. The industry which appropriates the raw 
 productions of the earth, as they are offered to us by 
 nature, preceded every other. But these spontaneous 
 productions are always extremely limhed. And it 
 is by agriculture only, that is, by the united applica- 
 tion of immediate labour and of capital, to the 
 cultivation of the ground, that large supplies of 
 those species of raw produce, which form the prin- 
 cipal part of the food of man, can be obtained. It 
 is not quite certain that any of the species of grain, 
 as wheat, barley, rye, oats, &c. have ever been dis- 
 covered growing spontaneously. But, althougli this 
 must originally have been the case, still the extreme 
 scarcity of such spontaneous productions in every 
 country with which we are acquainted, and the la- 
 bour which it requires to raise them in considerable 
 quantities, prove beyond all question that it is to ag- 
 riculture that we are almost exclusively indebted fur 
 them. The transition from the pastoral to the agri- 
 cultural mode of life is decidedly the most important 
 step in the progress of society. Whenever, indeed, 
 we compare the quantity of food, and of other raw 
 products, obtained from a given surface of a well 
 cultivated country, with those obtained from an 
 equal surface of an equally fertile country, occupied 
 by hunters or shepherds, the powers of agricultural 
 industry in increasing useful productions appear so 
 striking and extraordinary, that we cease to fee! sur- 
 prise at the preference which has been so early and 
 generally given to agriculture over manufactures and 
 commerce; and are disposed to subscribe without 
 hesitation to the panegyric of Cicero when he says, 
 " Omnium autem rerum ex quibus aliquid acquiritur, 
 nihil est agricultura melius, nihil uberius, nihil dul- 
 cius, nihil fiomine, nihil libera dignius." 
 
POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 249 
 
 Different 
 Enaploy- 
 Qeuts of Ca' 
 ttaland In- 
 dustry. 
 
 Employ- 
 
 But are there really any just grounds for this pre- 
 ference? Are not manufactures and commerce equal- 
 ly advantageous as agriculture ? It is plain that with- 
 out agriculture we could never possess any consider- 
 able supply of the materials out of which food and 
 clothes are made; but is it not equally plain, that 
 nent of Ca- without a knowledge of the arts by which they are 
 ^° converted into food and clothes, the largest supply 
 ndustry. of these materials could be of little or no service ? 
 
 The labour of the miller who grinds the corn, and of 
 the baker who bakes it, is equally necessary to the 
 production of bread, as the labour of the husband- 
 man who tills the ground. It is the business of the 
 agriculturist to raise flax and wool ; but if the labour 
 of the spinner and the weaver had not given them 
 utility, and fitted them for being made a comfortable 
 dress, they would have been nearly, if not entirely 
 worthless. Without the labour of the miner who 
 digs the mineral from the bowels of the earth, we 
 could not have obtained the matter out of which many 
 of our most useful implements arui splendid articles 
 of furniture have been made ; but if we compare the 
 ore when dug from the mine with the finished arti- 
 cles, we shall certainly be convined that the labour 
 of the purifiers and refiners of the ore, and of the art- 
 ists who have afterwards converted it to useful pur- 
 poses, has been quite as advantageous as the indus- 
 try of the miner, 
 'ecessity of But not only is it certain that manufacturing in- 
 iTanufac- dustry, or that species of industry which fits and 
 usT^ to" ^^^P^^ produce of nature to our use, is re- 
 
 le Im- quisite to render its acquisition of any considerable 
 irovement value ; but it is also certain, that without manufac- 
 i Agricul- turing industry this very raw produce could never 
 have been obtained in any considerable quantity. 
 The labour of the mechanic who fabricates the plough 
 is as efficacious in the producing of corn as the la- 
 bour of the husbandman who guides it. But the 
 plougf>-wright, the mill-wright, the smith, and all 
 those artizaos who prepare tools and machines for 
 the husbandman, are really manufactuixrs, and differ 
 in no respect whatever from those who are employed 
 to give utility to wool and cotton, except that they 
 work on harder materials. The fixed capital vested 
 in tools and machines is the product of the labour of 
 the tool and engine manufacturer ; and without the 
 aid of this fixed capital, it is impossible that agricul- 
 tural labour, or that any other sort of labour, could 
 ever have become considerably productive. 
 
 " Distinguer," says the Marquis Garnier, " le tra- 
 vail des ouvriers de I'agriculture d'avec celui des 
 autres ouvriers, est une abstraction presque toujours 
 oiseuse. Toute i-ichesse, dans le sens dans lequel 
 nous la concevons, est necessairement le resultat de 
 ces deux genres de travail, et la consommation ne 
 peut pas plus se passer de I'un que de I'autre. Sans 
 leur concours simultane il ne peut y avoir de chose 
 consommable, et par consequent point de richesse. 
 Comment pourrait-on done comparer leurs produits 
 respectifs, puisque, en s6parant ces deux especes de 
 
 travail, on ne peut plus concevoir de veritable pro- Different 
 duit, de produit consommable et ayant une valeur nj^'^^pf 
 reelle I La valeur du ble sur pied resulte de I'indus- pitai and In- 
 trie du moissonneur qui recueillera, du batteur qui dustry, 
 le separera de la paille, du meunier et du boulanger V.^v"'^/ 
 qui le convertiront successivement en farine et en 
 pain, tout comme elle resulte du travail du laboureur 
 et du semeur. Sans le travail du tisserand, le lin 
 n'aurait pas plus le droit d'etre corapte au nombre 
 des richesses, que I'ortie ou tout autre vegetal inu- 
 tile. A quoi pourrait-il done servir de rechercher 
 lequel de ces deux genres de travail contribue le 
 plus a I'avancement de la richesse nationale ? N'est- 
 ce pas comme si Ton disputait pour savoir lequel, du 
 pied droit ou du pied gauche, est plus utile dans 
 Taction de marcher 
 
 In fact, there is not at bottom any real distinction NorealDif- 
 between agricultural and manufacturing industry. It ference be- 
 is, as we have already shown, a vulgar error to sup- ^^j^^^" f^^'a 
 pose that the operations of husbandry add any thing Manufac- 
 to the stock of matter already in existence. All that turing In- 
 man can do, and all that he ever does, is merely to dustry. 
 give to matter that particular form or shape which 
 fits it for his use. But it was contended by M. 
 Quesnay and the French economists, and their opi- 
 nions have in this instance been espoused by Dr 
 Smith, that the labour of the husbandman in adapt- 
 ing matter to our use is powerfully facilitated by the 
 aid derived from the vegetative powers of nature, 
 while the labour of the manufacturer has to perform 
 every thing itself without any such co-operation. — 
 " No equal quantity of productive labour, or capital 
 employed in manufactures," says Dr Smith, " can Opinion of 
 ever occasion so great a reproduction as if it were Smith 
 employed in agriculture. In manvfactures nature ^^^specurrg 
 does NOTHING, man does all ; and the reproduction OTV^Qduc- 
 must always be proportioned to the strength of the tiveness of 
 agents that occasion it. The capital employed in Agriculture, 
 agriculture, therefore, not only puts into motion a 
 greater quantity of productive labour than any equal 
 capital employed in manufactures, but in proportion, 
 too, to the quantity of productive labour which it 
 employs, it adds a much greater value to the annual 
 produce of the land and labour of the country, to the 
 real wealth and revenue of its inhabitants. Of allthe 
 ways in tvhich a capital can be employed, it is by Jar 
 the most advantageous to the society." — ( Wealth qf Na- 
 tions, II. p. 53.) 
 
 This is perhaps the most objectionable passage in Error of this 
 the Wealth of Nations ; and it is really astonishing Opinien. 
 how so acute and sagacious a reasoner as Dr Smith 
 could have maintained a doctrine so manifestly erro- 
 neous. It is unquestionably true, that nature pow- 
 erfully assists the labour of man in agriculture. The 
 husbandman prepares the ground for the seed, and 
 deposits it there ; but it is nature that unfolds the 
 germ, that feeds and ripens the growing plant, and 
 brings it to a state of maturity. But does not nature 
 do as much for us in every other department of in- oprrates*^ 
 dustry ! The powers of water and of wind, which with Man 
 
 in Manufac- 
 
 ; tures and 
 
 Commerce. 
 
 Nature co- 
 
 * See page 58 of the Discours Preliminaire to the second edition of the translation of the Wealth of 
 Nations, by the Marquis Gamier. The same passage is in the first edition, published in 1802. 
 
 VOL. VI. PART I. I i 
 
250 
 
 Different 
 Employ- 
 ments of Ca- 
 pital aud IH' 
 dustry. 
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 Employ- 
 ment of Ca- 
 pital in 
 Commercial 
 Industry. 
 
 move our machinery, support our ships, and impel 
 them over the deep, — the pressure of the atmosphere, 
 ]and the elasticity of steam, which enable us to work 
 the most stupendous engines, are they not the spon- 
 taneous gifts of nature ? In fact, the single and exclu- 
 sive advantage of machinery consists in its having 
 enabled us to press the powers of nature into our 
 service, and to make them perform the principal part 
 of what would otherwise have been wholly the work 
 of man. In navigation, for example, is it possible to 
 doubt, that the powers of nature — the buoyancy of 
 the water, the impulse of the wind, and the polarity 
 of the magnet, contribute fully as much as the direct 
 labour of the sailor to waft our ships from one hemi- 
 sphere to another ? In bleaching and in fermenta- 
 tion the whole process is carried on by natural agents. 
 And it is to the effects of heat in softening and melt- 
 ing metals, in preparing our food, and in warming 
 our houses, that we owe many of our most powerful 
 and convenient instruments, and that these northern 
 climates have been made to afford a comfortable ha- 
 bitation. So far, indeed, from its being true that na- 
 ture does much for man in agriculture, and nothing 
 in manufactures, that the fact is nearly the reverse. 
 There are no limits to the bounty of nature in manu- 
 factures, but there are limits, and not very remote 
 ones, to her bounty in agriculture. The greatest 
 possible amount of capital might be expended in the 
 construction of steam-engines, or of any other sort 
 of machinery, and after they had been multiplied to 
 infinity, the last would be as powerful and as efficient 
 in saving labour and producing commodities as the 
 first. Such, however, is not the case with the soil. 
 Lands of the first quality are speedily exhausted; and 
 it is impossible to apply capital indefinitely even 
 to the best soils, without obtaining from it a con- 
 stantly diminishing rate of profit. The rent of the 
 landlord is not, as Dr Smith conceived it to be, the 
 recompense of the work of nature remaining, after 
 all that part of the product is deducted which can be 
 regarded as the recompense of the work of man ! 
 But it is, as we shall hereafter show, the excess of 
 produce obtained from the best soils in cultivation, 
 over that which is obtained from the worst — it is a 
 consequence not of the increase, but of the diminu- 
 tion of the productive power of the labour employed 
 in agriculture. 
 
 But if the giving utiHty to matter be, as it really 
 is, the single and exclusive object of every species of 
 productive industry, it is plain that the capital and 
 labour which is employed in carrying commodities 
 from where they are produced to where they are to 
 be consumed ; and in dividing them into minute por- 
 tions, so as to fit the wants of the consumers, is real- 
 ly as productive as either agriculture or manufac- 
 tures. The labour of the miner gives utility to mat- 
 ter-:-to coal for example — by bringing it from the 
 bowels of the earth to its surface ; but the labour of 
 the merchant, or carrier, who transports this coal 
 from the mine where it has been dug to the city, or 
 place where it is to be burned, gives it a further, 
 and perhaps a more considerable value. We do not 
 owe our fires exclusively to the miner, or exclusive- 
 ly to the coal merchant. They are the result of the 
 conjoint operations of both, and also of the opera- 
 
 tions of all those who have furnished them with the DiflFerent 
 tools and implements used in their respective em-^^™P^oy-^ 
 ployments. pial and In 
 
 Not only, however, is it necessary that commo- lustry. 
 dities should be brought from where they are pro- 
 duced to where they are to be consumed, but it is Advantage 
 also necessary that they should be divided into such jJ^J^^teU 
 small and convenient portions, that each individual 
 may have it in his power to purchase the precise 
 quantity of them he is desirous of obtaining. " If," 
 says Dr Smith, " there was no such trade as a 
 butcher, every man would be obliged to purchase a 
 whole ox or a whole sheep at a time. This would 
 generally be inconvenient to the rich, and much 
 more so to the poor. If a poor workman was oblig- 
 ed to purchase a month's, or six months' provisions 
 at a time, a great part of the stock which he em- 
 ploys as a capital in the instruments of his trade, or 
 in the furniture of his shop, and which yields him a 
 revenue, he would be forced to place in that part of 
 his stock which is reserved for immediate consump- 
 tion, and which yields him no revenue. Nothing 
 can be more convenient for such a person than to 
 be able to purchase his subsistence from day to day, 
 or even from hour to hour, as he wants it. He is 
 thereby enabled to employ almost his whole stock as 
 a capital. He is thus enabled to furnish work to a 
 greater value, and the profit which he makes by it 
 in this way much more than compensates the ad- 
 ditional price which the labour of the retailer gives 
 to the goods. The prejudices of some political 
 writers against shopkeepers and tradesmen are al- 
 together without foundation. So far is it from be- 
 ing necessary, either to tax them, or to restrict their 
 numbers, that they can never be multiplied so as to 
 hurt the public interests, though they may so as to 
 hurt their own individual interests. The quantity 
 of orocery goods, for example, which can be sold in 
 a particular town, is limited by the demand of that 
 town and its neighbourhood. The capital, there- 
 fore, which can be advantageously employed in the 
 grocery trade, cannot exceed the capital required to 
 purchase and retail these goods. If this capital is 
 divided between two different grocers, their compe- 
 tition will obviously tend to make both of them still 
 cheaper than if it were in the hands of one only ; 
 and if it were divided among twenty, their competi« 
 tion would be just so much the greater, and the 
 chance of their combining together in order to raise 
 the price just so much the less. Their competition 
 might, perhaps, ruin some of themselves ; but to 
 take care of this is the business of the parties con- 
 cerned, and it may safely be trusted to their discre- 
 tion. It can never hurt either the consumer or the 
 producer; on the contrary, it must tend to make 
 the retailers both sell cheaper and buy dearer, than 
 if the whole trade was monopolized by one or two 
 persons. Some of them, perhaps, may occasionally 
 decoy a weak customer to buy what he has no oc- 
 casion for. This evil is, however, of too little import- 
 ance to deserve the public attention, nor would it 
 necessarily be prevented by restricting their num- 
 \)er:'^{fVealth of Nations, U. ip- 4<8.) 
 
 Thus it appears, that all the modes in which capi- Agricultu 
 tal can be employed in productive industry, or, in 
 
POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 251 
 
 Different other words, that the raising of raw produce, the 
 ^""^^f Ca °^ ^^^^ produce after it is raised into 
 
 1^}*^°^ jnl useful and agreeable articles, the carrying of the 
 dusfcry. raw and manufactured products from one place to 
 another, and the retailing of them in such portions 
 as may suit the public demand, are equally advan- 
 tageous : that is, the capital and labour employed 
 in any one of these departments contributes equail- 
 ly with the capital and labour employed in the 
 others, to increase the mass of necessaries, conve- 
 niencies, and luxuries. Without a previous supply 
 of raw produce, we could have no manufactures; 
 and without manufactures and commercial industry, 
 the greater part of this raw produce would be en- 
 tirely worthless, and could neither satisfy our wants 
 nor contribute to our comforts. Manufacturers and 
 merchants are to the body politic what the digestive 
 powers are to the human body. We could not ex- 
 ist without food ; but the largest supplies of food 
 cannot lengthen our days when the machinery by 
 which nature prepares and adapts this food for our 
 use, and incorporates it with our body, is vitiated 
 and deranged. Nothing, therefore, can be more silly 
 and childish than the estimates that are so fre- 
 quently put forth of the comparative advantages of 
 agricultural, manufacturing, and commercial indus- 
 try. They are all intimately and indissolubly con- 
 nected, and depend upon, and grow out of each 
 other. ** Land and trade," to borrow the just and 
 forcible expressions of Sir Josiah Child, " are twins, 
 and have always^ and ever will, xvax and tuane to- 
 gether. It cannot be ill with trade but lands will 
 fall, nor ill with lands but trade will feel it." This 
 reasoning cannot be controverted ; and on its au- 
 thority, we are entitled to condemn ev^ry attempt to 
 exalt one species of industry, by giving it factitious 
 advantages at the expence of the rest, as being 
 equally impolitic and pernicious. No preference has 
 ever been given, or can be given, to agriculturists 
 over manufacturers and merchants, or to manufac- 
 turers and merchants over agriculturists, without oc- 
 casioning the most extensively ruinous consequences. 
 Men ought, in every instance, to be allowed to fol- 
 low their own inclinations in the employment of 
 th eir stock and industry. Where industry is free, 
 the interests of individuals can never be opposed to 
 the interests of the public. When we succeed best 
 in increasing our own wealth, we must necessarily 
 also succeed best in increasing the wealth of the 
 state of which we are subjects. * 
 
 This mutual dependence of the different branches 
 of industry on each other, and the necessity of their 
 co-operation to enable mankind to make any con- 
 siderable progress in civilization, has been ably il- 
 lustrated in one of the early numbers of the Edin- 
 burgh Review. " It may safely be concluded, that 
 all those occupations which tend to supply the ne- 
 cessary wants, or to multiply the comforts and 
 pleasures of human life, are equally productive, in 
 
 the strict 
 ment the 
 
 sense of the word, and tend to aug- DiflfeMnt 
 mass of human riches, meaning, by -Employ- 
 riches, all those things which are necessary, orS*I^d?n' 
 convenient, or delightful to man. The progress dustry. " 
 of society has been productive of a complete sepa- w-v"*-^ 
 ration of employments originally united. At first, 
 every man provided, as well as he could, for his 
 necessities as well as his pleasures, and for all his 
 wants, as well as all his enjoyments. By degrees a 
 division of these cares was introduced ; the subsist- 
 ence of the community became the province of one 
 class, its comforts of another, and its gratifications of 
 a third. The different operations subservient to the at- 
 tainment of each of these objects were then entrusted 
 to different hands ; and the universal establishment 
 of barter connected the whole of these divisions and 
 subdivisions together— enabled one man to manu- 
 facture for all, without danger of starving by not 
 ploughing or hunting, and another to plough or 
 hunt for all, without the risk of wanting tools or 
 clothes by not manufacturing. It has thus become 
 as impossible to say exactly who feeds, clothes, or 
 entertains the community, as it would be to say which 
 of the many workmen employed in the manufacture 
 of pins is the actual pin-maker, or whi'ch of the farm- 
 servants produces the crop. All the branches of 
 useful industry work together to the common end, 
 as all the parts of each branch co-operate to its par- 
 ticular object. If you say that the flvrmer feeds the 
 community, and produces all the raw materials which 
 the other classes work upon, we answer, that unless 
 those other classes worked up the raw materials, and 
 supplied the farmer's necessities, he would be forced 
 to allot part of his labour to this employment, whilst 
 he forced others to assist in raising raw produce. 
 In such a complicated system, it is clear that all la- 
 bour has the same effect, and equally increases the 
 whole mass of wealth. Nor can any attempt be more 
 vain than theirs who would define the particular parts 
 of the machine that produce the motion, which is 
 necessarily the result of the whole powers combined, 
 and depends on each particular one of the mutually 
 connected members." — (Vol. IV. p. 362.) 
 
 Much has been said respecting the extraordinary Manufac- 
 mortality of large manufacturing establishments. The turee not 
 ready communication of contagion where people areP™^"ctive 
 * u„_ .t-_ ^^^^ syfljj;ig„j of increased 
 
 crowded together — the 
 
 tion — the confinement of children — and the posi- 
 sive unhealthiness of some particular processes, are 
 circumstances from which most writers have been led 
 to infer that the mortality in manufacturing cities 
 must be unusually great, without giving themselves 
 the trouble to inquire whether the fact really was so. 
 The returns under the population acts have shown 
 the fallacy of these opinions. No one can doubt 
 that Great Britain was infinitely more of a manu- 
 facturing country in 1810 and 1820 than in 1780; 
 but, notwithstanding the vast increase during the 
 intermediate period of what we have been in the 
 
 Mortality. 
 
 ♦ For a particular examination of Dr Smith's opinion with respect to the comparative advantages of dif- 
 ferent species of commerce, see Mr Ricardo's Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, 1st ed. p. 
 497, and the Edinburgh Review for July 1819, p. 71. 
 
 I 
 
dustry. 
 
 ^52 
 
 Different habit of considering unhealthy employments, the 
 Employ- average mortality in England and Wales m 181U 
 mentsofCa.^^g ^^^j in every 53, and in 1820 only one 
 
 pitalandln-.^ every 58 of the existing population, whereas 
 in 1780 it was one in every 40- It may per- 
 haps be said, that this increased healthmess is 
 owing to the improvements in agriculture— to the 
 drainage of bogs and marshes, the inclosure and 
 cultivation of commons and wastes,— and not to 
 the extension of manufactures. But suppose this 
 were admitted, still we should have to inquire what 
 had occasioned these extraordinary improvements in 
 agriculture ? And a moment's reflection would be suf- 
 ficient to convince us that they have principally re- 
 sulted from the improvement of manufactures— from 
 the increased demand of the manufacturing popula- 
 tion for the raw produce of the soil. In point of fact, 
 however, it is certain, that much of the late diminu- 
 tion of mortality is a direct, and not an indirect con- 
 sequence of the improvement and extension of ma- 
 nufactures. Every one knows of what vast importance 
 it is to the health of the people that they should have 
 the means of providing themselves with comfortable 
 clothes at a cheap rate. And this is one of the many 
 advantages which improvements in manufacturing 
 industry always bring along with them. The reduc- 
 tion in the price of cotton goods only, occasioned by 
 the greater facility with which they are now pro- 
 duced, has enabled the poorest classes of individuals 
 to clothe themselves in a warm, clean, and elegant 
 dress ; and has thus been productive of an increase 
 of comfort and enjoyment, of which it is extremely 
 difficult for us, who have so long experienced its be- 
 neficial effects, to estimate the extent. 
 Division of The effect of the extreme subdivision of abour m 
 Labour does manufacturing establishments, and the exclusive at- 
 not degrade ^gntion which it requires the workman to bestow on 
 the Labour. operation, has been supposed to exert a 
 
 most pernicious influence on his mental faculties. 
 The genius of the master is said to be cultivated, but 
 that of the workman to be condemned to perpetual 
 neglect. Most mechanical arts, we are told, succeed 
 best under a total suppression of sentiment and rea- 
 son A habit of moving the hand or the foot is said 
 to be independent of either ; and the workshop has 
 been compared to an engine, the parts of which are 
 men ' (Ferguson on Civil Sociely, p. 303.) Dr Smith, 
 who has given so admirable an exposition of the be- 
 nefits which society has derived from the division of 
 labour, has notwithstanding concurred with the po- 
 pular prejudices on this subject ; and has gone so far 
 as to affirm that constant application to one particu- 
 lar occupation in a large manufactory, " necessarily 
 renders the workman as stupid and ignorant as it is 
 possible to make a human being." Nothing can be 
 more marvellously incorrect than these representa- 
 tions. Instead of its being true that the worknien 
 employed in manufacturing establishments are less 
 intelligent and acute than those employed in agricul- 
 ture, the fact is distinctly and completely the re^ 
 verse. The weavers, and other mechanics of Glas- 
 gow Manchester, and Birmingham, possess infinite- 
 ly more general and extended information than is 
 possessed by the agricultural labourers of any coun- 
 ty in the empire. And this is really what a more un- 
 prejudiced inquiry into the subject would have led 
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 us to anticipate. The variety of the occupations in Differ-nt 
 which the husbandman is made successively to en-n,2o7c"a. 
 gage, their constant liability to be affected by so va- ptaiandln- 
 riable a power as the weather, and the perpetual dustry. 
 change in the appearance of the objects which daily ^-—-y-^ 
 meet his eyes, and with which he is conversant, oc- 
 cupy his attention, and render him a stranger to that 
 ennui and desire for extrinsic and adventitious ex- 
 citement which must ever be felt by those who are 
 constantly engaged in burnishing the point of a pin, 
 and in performing the same endless routine of precise- 
 ly similar operations. This want of excitement can- 
 not, however, be so cheaply or effectually gratified 
 in any other way as it may be by cultivating— that 
 is, by stimulating the mental powers. The generality 
 of workmen have no time for dissipation ; and if they 
 had, the wages of labour in all old settled and densely 
 peopled countries are too low, and the propensity to 
 save and accumulate too powerful, to permit any very- 
 large proportion of them seeking to divert themselves 
 bylndulging in riot and excess. They are thus dri- 
 ven to seek for recreation in mental excitement ; 
 and the circumstances in which they are placed afford 
 them every possible facility for amusing and diverting 
 themselves in this manner. By working together, 
 they have constant opportunities of entering into con- 
 versation ; and a small individual contribution en- 
 ables them to obtain a large supply of newspapers 
 and of the cheaper class of periodical publications. 
 But whatever difference of opinion may exist respect- 
 ing the cause, there can be no doubt of the fact, 
 that the intelligence of the workmen employed in 
 manufactures has increased according as their num- 
 bers have increased, and as their employments have 
 been more and more subdivided. We do not be- 
 lieve that they ever were less intelligent than the 
 agriculturists; but, whatever may have been the 
 case formerly, no one will now venture to affirm that 
 they are inferior to them in intellectual acquire- 
 ments, or that they are mere machines without sen- 
 timent or reason. Even Mr Malthus, whose lean- Eulogium 
 ings are all on the side of agriculture, ^f^ J^^^ylZ^^; 
 and eloquently observed, that " Most of the ef- nu.factures. 
 fects of manufactures and commerce on the ge- 
 neral state of society are in the highest degree 
 beneficiaL They infuse fresh life and activity 
 into all classes of the state, afford opportunity 
 for the inferior orders to rise by personal merit 
 and exertion, and stimulate the higher orders to 
 depend for distinction upon other grounds than 
 mere rank and riches. They excite invention ; en- 
 courage science and the useful arts ; spread intelli- 
 gence and spirit ; inspire a taste for conveniencies 
 and comforts among the labouring classes ; and, above 
 all, give a new and happier structure to society, by 
 increasing the proportion of the middle classes—that 
 body on which the liberty, public spirit, and good 
 government of every country must mainly depend. 
 (Observations on the Effects of the CornLa^s p, 29.) ^^^^ 
 
 Thus, then, we arrive, by a ditterent route, ^^^^^^ 
 at the same result we have already endeavour- ^j^^ 
 ed to establish. The inextinguishable passion vamtage of 
 for oain— the auri sacra /awes— will always in-dittFerent 
 duce'capitahsts to employ their stocks in those Employ- 
 branches of industry which yield, all thmgs consi- 
 dered, the highest rate of profit. And it is clear to 
 
POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 253 
 
 Different demonstration, that those employments which yield 
 Employ- the highest profits are always those in which it is 
 "|^'^°^j^'most for the public interest that capital should be 
 dustry. " invested. The profits of a particular branch of in- 
 dustry are rarely raised except by an increased de- 
 mand for its produce. Should the demand for cot- 
 tons increase, there would be an increased competi- 
 tion for them ; and as their price would, in conse- 
 quence, be augmented, the manufacturers would ob- 
 tain comparatively high profits. But the rate of 
 profit in different employments has a natural ten- 
 dency to equality ; and it can never, when mono- 
 polies do not interpose, continue either permanently 
 higher or lower in one than in the rest. As soon, 
 therefore, as the rise in the price of cottons had 
 taken place, additional capital would begin to be 
 employed in their production. The manufacturers 
 engaged in the cotton trade would endeavour to bor- 
 row additional capital, and the capitalists who were 
 engaged in less lucrative employments would gra- 
 dually contract their businesses, and transfer a por- 
 tion of their stock to where it would yield them a 
 larger return. The equilibrium of profit would thus 
 be again restored. For the additional capital em- 
 ployed in the production of cottons, by proportion- 
 ing their supply to the increased demand, would in- 
 fallibly reduce their price to its proper level. Such 
 is the mode in which the interests of individuals are, 
 in every case, rendered subservient to those of the 
 public. High profits attract capital ; but high pro- 
 fits in particular businesses are the effect of high 
 prices ; and these are always reduced, and the com- 
 modities brought within the command of a greater 
 number of purchasers, as soon as additional capital 
 has been employed in their production. It is clear, 
 therefore, that that employment of capital is the 
 best which yields the greatest profit ; and hence, 
 if two capitals yield equal profits, it is a plain 
 proof that the departments of industry in which they 
 are respectively invested, however much they may 
 differ in many respects, are equally beneficial to the 
 country. Nothing can be more nugatory than to ap- 
 prehend that the utmost freedom of industry can ever 
 be the means of attracting capital to a comparatively 
 disadvantageous employment. If capital flows to 
 manufactures or commerce rather than to agricul- 
 ture, it can only be because it has been found to 
 yield larger pi'ofits to the individual, and consequent- 
 ly to the state. 
 
 Pakt III. — Distribution of Wealth. 
 
 Having thus endeavoured to trace the various me- 
 thods by which that labour which is the only source 
 of wealth may be rendered most productive, and to 
 exhibit the mutual relation and dependence of the dif- 
 ferent kinds of industry, we now proceed to the se- 
 cond division of our subject, or to an investigation of 
 the laws regulating the proportions in which the va- 
 rious |)roducts of art and industry are distributed 
 among the various classes of the people. 
 
 Sect, I — Primary Division of the Produce of In- 
 dustry — Value of Commodities measured in the 
 Earliest Stages of Society by the Quantities of La- 
 bour expended on their Production. 
 
 It is self-evident that only three classes— the la- 
 
 bourers, the possessors of capital, and the proprie* Primary Di- 
 tors of land, are ever directly concerned in the pro- °^ 
 duction of commodities. It is to them, therefore, fndustry^^ 
 that all that is derived from the surface of the earth, 
 or from its bowels, by the united application of im- 
 mediate labour and of capital, or accumulated la- 
 bour, must primarily belong. The other classes of 
 society have no revenue except what they derive ei- 
 ther voluntarily, or by compulsion, from these three 
 classes. 
 
 But although there is no state of society in which 
 any other class besides those of labourers, landlords, 
 and capitalists, participates directly in the produce 
 of industry, there are states of society in which that 
 produce belongs exclusively to one only of these 
 classes ; and others in which it belongs to two of 
 them, to the exclusion of the third. The reason is, 
 that, in the earliest stages of society, there is little 
 or no capital accumulated, and the distinction be- 
 tween labourers and capitalists is, in consequence, un- 
 known ; and that in all newly settled and unappropri- 
 ated countries, abundance of fertile land may be 
 obtained without paying any rent. 
 
 In that remote period preceding the establishment 
 of a right of property in land, and the accumulation 
 of capital or stock — when men roamed, without any 
 settled habitations, over the surface of the earth, 
 and existed by means of that labour only that was 
 required to appropriate the spontaneous productions 
 of the soil, the whole produce of labour would be- Quantity of 
 long to the labourer, and the quatitity of labour that Labour the 
 had been expended in the procuring of different ai"- pfi^(.i*\"^of 
 tides, would plainly form the only standard by which VaUief ^ " 
 their relative worth, or exchangeable value, could 
 be estimated. " If among a nation of hunters," 
 says Dr Smith, " it usually costs twice the labour to 
 kill a beaver that it does to kill a deer, one beaver 
 would naturally exchange for or be worth two deer. 
 It is natural, that what is usually the produce of two 
 days' or two hours' labour, should be worth double 
 of what is usually the produce of one day's or one 
 hour's labour. 
 
 " If the one species of labour should be more se- 
 vere than the other, some allowance will naturally 
 be made for this superior hardship ; and the produce 
 of one hour's labcur in the one way, frequently ex- 
 changes for that of two hours' labour in the other. 
 
 " Or if the one species of labour requires an un- 
 common degree of dexterity and ingenuity, the 
 esteem which men have for such talents will na- 
 turally give a value to their produce, superior to 
 what would be due to the time employed about it. 
 Such talents can seldom be acquired but in conse- 
 quence of long application, and the superior value 
 of their produce may frequently be no more than a 
 reasonable compensation for the time and labour 
 which must be spent in acquiring them. In the ad- 
 vanced state of society, allowances of this kind, for 
 superior hardship and superior skill, are commonly 
 made in the wages of labour ; and something of the 
 same kind must probably have taken place in the 
 earliest and rudest period. 
 
 *' In this state of things, the whole produce of la- 
 bour belongs to the labourer ; and the quantity of 
 labour commonly employed in acquiring or produc- 
 ing any commodity, is the only circumstance which 
 
POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 254 
 
 Equality of can regulate the quantity of labour {of other commo' 
 Wages and ^./^^V^^ which it commonly ouojht to purchase, com- 
 ,,^J^J^ mand, or exchange for." — ( Wealth of Nations, 1. p. 
 70.) 
 
 Thus far there is no room for doubt or difference 
 of opinion. When there is no class but labourers, 
 all the produce of labour must obviously belong to 
 them ; and the quantity of labour required to produce 
 commodities must form the only standard by which 
 their exchangeable worth or value can be estimated. 
 It is at this point, therefore, that we aretob^gin the 
 investigation of the laws regulating the division of 
 the produce of industry among the three great classes 
 of labourers, capitalists, and landlords ; and we shall 
 do this by endeavouring, in the first place, to ac- 
 quire a knowledge of the laws which regulate the 
 exchangeable value of commodities in an advanced 
 period of society, when circulating and fixed capital 
 are employed in their production, and when land is 
 appropriated, and rent paid. A previous acquaint- 
 ance with the circumstances which determine the 
 value of commodities, will be found to be indispen- 
 sable to enable us to ascertain the principles which 
 regulate their distribution. 
 
 Sect. II. — Preliminary Considerations — Equality of 
 Wages and Profits — Inquiry into the Effect of Va- 
 riations of Demand and Supply on Price — Cost of 
 Production shown to be its regulating Principle. 
 
 c'^nsid'rr^ If the popular opinions on this subject were well 
 tions? founded, the inquiry on which we are now about to 
 enter might be disposed of in a very few words. The 
 exchangeable value of commodities, when compared 
 with each other, and their value or price when com- 
 pared with money, is held almost universally to de- 
 pend on their relative abundance or scarcity in the 
 market, compared with the demand. We believe, 
 however, that we shall be able to show, that this opi- 
 nion rests on no good foundation, and that it is the 
 cost of production which is the sole regulating prin- 
 ciple of price. But, before proceeding further, it is 
 necessary, in order to facilitate our investigations in 
 this and the following sections, to premise, that 
 wherever industry is free, the rate of wages earn- 
 ed by the labourers engaged in any particular depart- 
 rnent of industry, and the rate of profit derived from 
 the capital vested in it, cannot, for any considerable 
 period, either fall below, or rise above, the rate of wages 
 and profits accruing to the labourers and capitalists 
 engaged in other departments. 
 Equality of With regard to the first of these positions, or to 
 earnedlfy^ the equality of the wages earned by the labourers 
 the Labour- engaged in different employments, it is not meant 
 ers engaged to infer that all labourers receive precisely the sam-e 
 Bran^hes"of '^""^ money, or the same proportional share of 
 Industry^ ^^e produce of their labour. Such an opinion 
 would be equally at variance with the fact, — and 
 with the principle it is our object to elucidate. 
 Wages are a compensation given to the labourer in 
 return for the exertion of his physical powers, or of 
 his skill, or ingenuity. They must, therefore, vary 
 according to the greater intensity of the labour to 
 be performed, and to the degree of skill and inge- 
 nuity required. Wages would not be equal if a jew- 
 eller or engraver, for example, received no higher 
 11 
 
 rate than a common farm servant, or a scavenger. A Equality of 
 long course of training is required to instruct a man Wages and 
 in the business of jewelling and engraving ; and if ^' 
 this were not compensated, by a higher rate of wages, 
 it is evident no one would choose to learn so difficult 
 an art; but would addict himself in preference to 
 such employments as hardly require any training. 
 The cost of producing artificers, or labourers, regu- 
 lates the wages they obtain, precisely in the same way 
 that the cost of producing commodities regulates 
 their value. A man who practises a difficult or nice 
 business, loses all the time that is spent in his ap- 
 prenticeship, and generally also the clothes and pro- 
 visions consumed by him during the same period. 
 This person ought, therefore, to obtain not only the 
 same rate of wages as husbandry labourers, and those 
 who do not require to serve an apprenticeship, but 
 he ought also to obtain an additional rate proportion- 
 ed to the extra time and expence spent in learning 
 his business. If he does not obtain this additional 
 rate, it is plain he would not be so well paid as the 
 husbandry labourers ; and if he obtained more than 
 what was a fair and reasonable compensation for 
 the greater expence to which he had been put, there 
 would be an immediate influx of labourers into that 
 particular business, and competition would not fail to 
 reduce wages to their proper level. 
 
 Besides this prominent cause of apparent inequa- 
 lity, wages vary in amount proportionably to the ease 
 and hardship, the agreeableness and disagreeableness, 
 the constancy and inconstancy of employment. In the 
 greater part of manufactures, a journeyman may, ex- 
 cept in periods of general revulsion, generally be able 
 to obtain constant employment. But there are several 
 businesses, such, for example, as those of masons and 
 bricklayers, that can neither be carried on in hard 
 frost nor foul weather. Their earnings must there- 
 fore be able n-ot only to maintain them while they are 
 employed, but also while they are idle, and to make 
 them some compensation for those anxious and de- 
 sponding moments which the thought of so preca- 
 rious a situation must sometimes occasion. Hence, 
 says Dr Smith, " where the daily earnings of the 
 greater number of manufacturers are nearly upon a 
 level with the daily earnings of the superior class of 
 farm servants, the wages of masons and bricklayers 
 are generally from fifty to one hundred per cent, high- 
 er. Where common labourers earn four or five 
 shillings a week, masons and bricklayers frequently 
 earn seven and eight ; and where the former earn 
 nine or ten, the latter commonly earn fifteen and 
 eighteen." — {Wealth of Nations, I. p. 157.) 
 
 But these variations, instead of being inconsistent 
 with the principle we have been endeavouring to 
 establish, plainly result from it. The wages earned 
 by different classes of workmen are equal, not when 
 each earns the same number of shillings or of pence, 
 in a given space of time — but when each is paid in 
 proportion to the severity of the labour he has to 
 perform, to the degree of previous education and of 
 skill that it requires, and to the other causes of va- 
 riation. So long, indeed, as the principle of compe- 
 tition is allowed to operate without restraint, or so 
 long as each iiKlividual is allowed to employ himself 
 as he pleases, we may be assured that the higgling 
 
POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 255 
 
 Equality of 
 the Profits 
 
 Equality of of the market will always adjust the rate of wages 
 ^Profits"^ in different employmeq/fe on the principle we have 
 now mentioned, and that it will be very nearly equal. 
 If the rate of wages in one department were depress- 
 ed below the common level, labourers would leave 
 it to go to others ; and if it were to rise above this 
 common level, then, it is plain, labourers would be 
 attracted from those departments where wages were 
 lower, until the increased supply had sunk them to 
 their just level. A period of greater or less duration, 
 according to the circumstances of the country at the 
 time, is always required to bring about this equaliza- 
 tion. But all theoretical inquiries, and such as have 
 the establishment of principles for their object, either 
 are, or ought to be, founded on periods of average 
 duration ; and whenever such is the case, we may 
 always, without occasioning the slightest error, as- 
 sume, that the wages earned in different employ- 
 ments are, all things considered, precisely equal. 
 
 In like manner, the profit accruing to the capital- 
 ists engaged in different businesses must always vary 
 ^^j*^ ^^P^ proportionably to the greater or less risk, and other 
 in different circumstances specially affecting the capital they em- 
 Businesses, p'oy them. It is obvious, indeed, that profits have 
 , not attained their level until they have been adjusted 
 
 I so as to balance these different advantages and disad- 
 
 f vantages. None would engage in unusually hazardous 
 
 undertakings, if the capital employed in them only 
 yielded the same profit that might have been obtain- 
 ed by employing it in more secure businesses. No 
 one would choose voluntarily to place his fortune in 
 a situation of comparative danger. Wherever there 
 is extraordinary risk, that risk must be compensated. 
 And hence, the well known distinction between 
 gross aad nett profit. Gross profit always varies ac- 
 cording to the risk, the respectability, and the agree- 
 ableness of different employments, while nett profit 
 is the same, or very nearly the same, at any particu- 
 lar period, in them all. A gunpowder manufacturer, 
 for example, must obtain as much profit, over and 
 above the profit obtained from the capital engaged 
 in the securest businesses, as will suffice to guaran- 
 tee or insure his capital, from the extraordinary risk 
 to which it is exposed, in a business of such extreme 
 hazard. If the gunpowder manufacturer were to 
 obtain more than this rate, additional capital would 
 be attracted to his business, and if he were to obtain 
 less, he would withdraw capital from it. The great 
 and constantly acting principle of competition, or, 
 which is just the same thing, the self-interest of every 
 individwal will never permit the wages or the profits 
 obtained by any particular set of workmen or capi- 
 talists, taking all things into account, to continue ei- 
 ther long below or long above the common and ave- 
 rage rate of wages and profits obtained by those who 
 are employed, or who have capital invested in other 
 businesses. It is by this common standard that the 
 wages and profits of particular businesses are always 
 regulated; they can never diverge considerably from 
 it ; they have a constant tendency to equalization ; 
 and may, in all theoretical inquiries, be supposed, 
 without occasioning any error of consequence, exact- 
 ly to coincide. 
 
 The principle of the equality, or rather of the con- 
 stant tendency to equality, of the wages earned by 
 
 the labourers, and of the profits derived from the ca- Equality of 
 pital, employed, at the same time, in all the various ^^^^ ^"^ 
 branches of industry, was pointed out by Mr Harris,,^ Profits, 
 and also by Mr Cantillon, in his work entitled, The Ana- ^"^"^ 
 lysis of Trade, &c. published in 1759; but it was first 
 fully demonstrated in the eighth, ninth, and tenth 
 chapters of the first book of the Wealth of Nations. 
 The establishment of this principle was one of the 
 greatest services rendered by Dr Smith to the science 
 of Political Economy. Nothing can be clearer, more 
 convindng and satisfactory, than his reasoning on 
 this subject. The equality of wages and of profits 
 has, ever since the publication of his work, been al- 
 ways assumed as admitted and incontestible. 
 
 The principle of the equality of wages and profits Variations 
 once established, it is easy to show that variations in of Demand 
 the demand and supply of commodities can exert no an<i Supply 
 lasting influence on price. It is the cost of prodtic- ^^^^^ "J per- 
 
 denominated by Smith and the Marquis Gar- fluenTe*on" 
 nier necessary, or natural price — which is the per- Price, 
 manent and ultimate regulator of the exchangeable 
 value or price of every commodity which is not 
 subjected to a monopoly, and vohich may he in- 
 definitely increased in quantity hy the application of 
 fresh capital and labour to its production. That the 
 market price of such commodities and the cost of 
 production do not always coincide is certain ; but 
 they cannot, for any considerable period, be far se- 
 parated, and have a constant tendency to equality. 
 It is plain that no man will continue to produce com- 
 modities if they sell for less than the cost of their 
 production — that is, for less than will indemnify him 
 for his expences, and yield him the common and ave- 
 rage rate of profit on his capital. This is a limit be- 
 low which it is obviously impossible prices can be 
 permanently reduced ; and it is equally obvious, that 
 if they were, for any considerable period, to rise 
 above it, additional capital y^ould be attracted to the , 
 advantageous business, and the competition of the 
 producers would lower prices. 
 
 A demand, to be effectual, must be such as will The Will 
 cover the expence of production. If it is not suffi- and the 
 cient to do this, it can never be a means of causing J"^^/^ *° 
 commodities to be produced and brought to market, necessary to 
 A real demander must have the potver, as well as the constitute 
 loill, to purchase. A person with 20s. in his pocket Demand, 
 may be as anxious, — nay, he may be ten times more 
 anxious, to become the purchaser of a coach than of 
 a hat ; why then does he not obtain the one as readily 
 in exchange for his 20s. as the other ? The reason 
 is obvious — 20s. will pay the expence of producing 
 the one, and it will not pay the expence of producing 
 the other. But if such an improvement were to take 
 place in the art of coachmaking, as would enable 
 any one to produce a coach as cheaply as a hat, then 
 208, would buy a coach as easily as it can now buy a 
 hat. The demand for any particular commodity 
 may become ten or ten thousand times more exten- 
 sive, or it may decline in the same proportion ; but if 
 the cost of its production continues the same, no per- 
 manent variation will be occasioned in its price. 
 Suppose, for example, that the demand for hats is 
 suddenly doubled, that circumstance would undoubt- 
 edly occasion a rise of price, and the hatters' would, 
 in consequence, make large profits ; but this rise 
 
256 
 
 Cost of Pro- 
 duction the 
 regulating 
 Principle of 
 Price. 
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 Cost of Pro- 
 duction the 
 regulating 
 Principle of 
 Price. 
 
 could only be of very limited duration ; for the large 
 profits would immediately attract additional capital 
 to the hat manufacture ; an increased supply of hats 
 would be brought to market, and if no variation took 
 place in the cost of production, their price would in- 
 fallibly sink to its former level. Suppose, on the 
 other hand, that the demand for hats is increased a 
 thousand fold, and the cost of producing them dimi- 
 nished in the same proportion, we should, notwith- 
 standing the increased demand, be able, in a very 
 short time, to buy a hat for the thousandth part of 
 what it now costs. Again, suppose the demand for 
 hats to decline, and the cost of producing theni to 
 increase, the price would, notwithstanding the dimi- 
 nished demand, gradually rise, till it had reached the 
 point at which it would yield the hatters the common 
 and average rate of profit on the capital employed in 
 their business. It is admitted that variations in the 
 demand and supply occasion temporary variations of 
 price. But it is essential to remark, that these va- 
 riations are only temporary. It is the cost of produc- 
 tion that is the grand regulator of price — the centre 
 of all those transitory and evanescent oscillations on 
 the one side and the other ; and wherever industry 
 is free, the competition of the producers will always 
 elevate or sink prices to this level. 
 
 In certain branches of industry, such, for example, 
 as agriculture, which are liable to be seriously af- 
 fected by the variations of the seasons, and from 
 which capital cannot be easily withdrawn, there is a 
 somewhat longer interval than in others, before the 
 market price of produce and the cost of producing it 
 can be equalized. But that such an equalization 
 will be brought about in the end is absolutely cer- 
 tain. No farmer, and no producer whatever, will 
 continue to bring corn or other products to market, 
 if they do not sell for such a price as will pay the 
 expence of their production, including therein the 
 common and average rate of profit on the capital 
 employed by them.* An excess of supply has now 
 (January 1823) depressed the prices of corn and 
 other farm produce below this level ; and the occu- 
 piers of poor land are, in consequence, involved in 
 the greatest difficulties; but most assuredly this glut 
 will not continue. A part of the cultivators of poor 
 soils will be driven from their employment. A smaller 
 supply will be brought to market ; and prices will be 
 adjusted so as to yield the customary rate of profit, 
 and no more, to the agriculturists who continue the 
 cultivation of the poorest soils — The self-interest 
 of the cultivators will not permit prices to be 
 permanently depressed below this level; and the 
 self-interest of the public will not permit them 
 to be permanently raised above it; for, if they 
 were raised above it, then the cultivatcfrs would 
 gain more than the common and average rate 
 of profit, and capital would, of course, be imme- 
 diately attracted to agriculture, and would conti- 
 
 nue flowing in that direction, until the natural Cost of Pro- 
 and indestructible equilibria of profit had been duttion the 
 restored — that is, as we shall afterwards show, un- ^ji^^aoi 
 til the price of agricultural produce had fallen to f jice. 
 such a sum as would just yield the average rate 
 of profit to the cultivators of the worst soils, or 
 the improvers of the best. This is the point at 
 which average prices must continue stationary, or 
 about which market prices must oscillate, until the 
 cost of production be increased or diminished. If 
 any great discovery were made in agriculture — such 
 a discovery, for instance, as would reduce the cost 
 of cultivation a half, the price of agricultural pro- 
 duce would fall in the same proportion, and would 
 continue to sell at that reduced rate until the in- 
 crease of population forced recourse to soils of a 
 decreasing degree of fertility. Whenever this took 
 place, prices would again rise. Why is the price of 
 corn almost invariably higher in this country than ia 
 France ? Is it because we have a greater demand 
 for it, or because of the greater cost of production 
 in this country ? n k 
 
 A pound weight of gold is at present worth about g^J^^ 
 fifteen pounds of silver. It cannot, however, be valuable 
 said that this is a consequence of the demand for than Silver, 
 gold being greater than the demand for silver, for 
 the reverse is the fact. Neither can it be said to be 
 a consequence of an absolute scarcity of gold ; for, 
 those who choose to pay a sufficient price for it may 
 obtain it in any quantity they please. The cause of 
 this difference in the price of the two metals consists 
 entirely in the circumstance of its costing SihoMi ffteen 
 times as much to produce a pound of gold as to pro- 
 duce a pound of silver. That this is really the case, is 
 plain from the admitted fact that the producers of 
 gold do not gain any greater profit than the pro- 
 ducers of silver, iron, lead, or any other metal. They 
 have no monopoly of the business. Every indivi- 
 dual who pleases may send capital to Brazil, and 
 become a producer of gold ; and wherever this is the 
 case, the principle of competition will always force 
 the product to be sold at such a price as will just 
 pay the expences of its production and no more. 
 Were a gold mine discovered of equal productive- 
 ness with the silver mines, the production of gold 
 would immediately become the most advantageous of 
 all businesses ; an immense supply of that metal 
 would, in consequence, be thrown on the market, 
 and its price would, in a very short period, be re- 
 duced to the same level as silver. 
 
 As a further illustration of this principle take the Reason why 
 case of cottons. No one can deny that the demand ^^iS^i^ 
 for them has been prodigiously augmented within p^j^^ 
 the last fifty or sixty years ; and yet their price, in- 
 stead of increasing, as it ought to have done, had the 
 popular theory of demand and supply been well- 
 founded, has been constantly and rapidly diminish- 
 ing. If it is said that this is a consequence of the 
 
 • Some of the advocates of the agricultural interest have represented this as one of the " dangerous 
 dogmas" of the Scotch Economists ! But it can boast of a much more remote origm Nemo enim 
 sanus," says Varro, « debet velk impensam ac sumptum facere in culturam, si vtdet non posse rejicu (,ne 
 
 Re Rustica, Lib. I. § 2.) 
 
 1 
 
POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 om petition 
 : the Pro- 
 iicers in a 
 
 rices to the 
 )st of Pro- 
 le tion< 
 
 :osi of Pro- supply of cottons having augmented in a still greater 
 lenibtiii-^ ratio than the demand, we answer that this is not 
 rinciple of enough to explain the fall of price. The supply 
 ^ I'lice. would not and could not possibly have been brought 
 .-.^^-^^to market, had not the constant diminution of prices, 
 which has been going on since the invention of spin- 
 ning.jennies in I767, been balanced by an equal 
 diminution of the cost of production. It is to this 
 principle— -to the vastly increased facility of produc- 
 tion, occasioned by the stupendous inventions and 
 discoveries of Hargreaves, Watt, Arkwright, Cromp- 
 ton, and others, that the lower price and increased 
 demand for cottons is exclusively owing. The in- 
 creased facility of production has brought them 
 within the reach of all classes of the people ; and 
 enabled the poorest individuals in the kingdom to 
 clothe themselves in a dress which, at the accession 
 of George III. was fully as expensive as silk. 
 
 If you bring a set of men together from various 
 acers in a Countries who are ignorant of each other's wants, 
 ivilized So- of the labour and expence necessary to produce 
 sty will al- the commodities which each possesses, the commodi- 
 lys sink ties will be bought and sold according to the relative 
 wants and fancies of the parties. In such circum- 
 stances, a pound of gold might be given for a pound 
 of iron, and a gallon of wine for a gallon of small 
 beer. As soon, however, as a commercial inter- 
 course has been established, and as the wants of so- 
 ciety and the powers of production come to be well 
 and generally known, an end is put to this method 
 of bartering. Thousands of sellers then enter the 
 market. But when such is the case, it is no longer 
 possible to sell a pound of gold for a pound of iron ; 
 and why ? because the producers of iron will under- 
 sell each other until they have, by their competition, 
 reduced its price to such a sum as will just suffice to 
 pay the expence of its production. This is in every 
 civilized society the pivot on which exchangeable 
 value always turns. A civilized man might be able 
 to obtain commodities from a savage, in exchange 
 for toys or trinkets, which it cost infinitely less to 
 produce ; but if he tries to obtain the same advan- 
 tage over his own countrymen, a very short experi- 
 ence will be enough to satisfy him that they are 
 quite as clear-sighted and attentive to their own in- 
 terests as he is. 
 
 Thus, then, it appears, that no variation of demand, 
 if it be unaccompanied hy a variation in the cost of 
 'production, can have any lasting influence on price. 
 If the cost of production be diminished, price will be 
 equally diminished, though the demand should be in- 
 creased to any conceivable extent. If the cost of 
 production be increased, price will be equally in- 
 creased, though the demand should sink to the low- 
 est possible limit. 
 
 It must always be remembered, that this reason- 
 ing only applies to the case of those commodities on 
 which competition is allowed to operate without re- 
 straint, and whose quantity can be indefinitely in- 
 creased by the application of fresh capital and in- 
 dustry to their production. When a particular indi- 
 vidual, or class of individuals, obtain the exclusive 
 privilege of manufacturing certain species of goods, 
 the operation of the principle of competition is sus- 
 pended with respect to them, and their price must, 
 
 VOL. VI. PART I. 
 
 S5r 
 
 uence of 
 nopolies. 
 
 therefore, entirely depend on the proportion in which Cost of Pro- 
 they are brought to market compared with the de- Auction the 
 mand. If monopolists supplied the market liberally, pSSf 
 or kept it always as fully stocked with commodities prL. 
 as it would have been had there been no monopoly, » ^ ■ _■ 
 the commodities produced by them would sell at their 
 natural price, and the monopoly would have no further 
 disadvantage than the exclusion of the public from 
 an employment which every one ought to have the 
 right of carrying on. In point of fact, however, the 
 market is never fully supplied with commodities pro- 
 duced under a monopoly. Every class of producers 
 naturally endeavour to obtain the highest possible 
 price for their commodities ; and if they are protect- 
 ed by means of a monopoly, against the risk of being 
 undersold by others, they will either keep the 
 market understocked, or supply it with inferior ar- 
 ticles, or both. In such circumstances, the price of 
 the commodity, if it cannot be easily smuggled from 
 abroad, or clandestinely produced at home, will be 
 elevated to the highest point to which the competi- 
 tion of the buyers can raise it, and may, in conse- 
 quence, be sold for five, ten, or twenty times the 
 sum for which it would be offered were competition 
 permitted to operate in its production. The mil 
 and potuer of the purchasers to offer a high price 
 forms the only limit to the rapacity of monopolists. 
 
 Besides the commodities produced under an arti- 
 ficial monopoly, there is another class whose quantity 
 cannot be increased by the operation of human in- 
 dustry, and whose price is not, therefore, dependent 
 on the cost of their production. Ancient statues, 
 vases, and gems, the pictures of the great masters, 
 some species of wines which can be produced in li- 
 mited quantities only from soils of a particular qua- 
 lity and exposure, and a few other commodities, 
 come under this description. As their supply can- 
 not be increased, their price must vary inversely as 
 the demand, and is totally unaffected by any other 
 circumstance. 
 
 But with these exceptions, which, when compared Average 
 to the great mass of commodities, are extremely few I'rice alway« 
 and unimportant, wherever industry is unrestricted '^''.^"cident 
 and competition allowed to operate, the average MucSn"^ 
 price of the various products of art and industry, al- 
 ways coincides with the cost of their production. 
 When a fall takes place in the market price of any 
 commodity, we cannot say whether that fall is really 
 advantageous, or whether a part of the wealth of the 
 producers be not gratuitously transferred to the con- 
 sumers, until we learn whether the cost of produc- 
 tion has been equally diminished. If this is the case, 
 the fall of price will not have been disadvantageous 
 to the producers, and will be permanent ; but if this 
 has not been the case — if the cost of production 
 continues the same, the fall must have been injuri- 
 ous to the producers, and prices will, in conse- 
 quence, speedily attain their former level. It is the 
 same with a rise of prices. No rise can be perma- 
 nent except where the cost of production has been 
 proportionably increased. If that cost has remained 
 stationary, or has not increased in a corresponding 
 ratio, prices will decline as soon as the ephemeral 
 causes of enhancement have disappeared. 
 
 The extreme importance of having correct opi- 
 K k 
 
258 
 
 Cost of Pro- 
 duction the 
 regulating 
 
 Principle of 
 Price. 
 
 Opinion of 
 the Marquis 
 Garnicr. 
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 nions respecting the regulating principle of price, 
 and the discordant and erroneous opinions that 
 are still so exceedingly prevalent with regard to 
 it, will, we hope, be deemed a sufficient apology 
 for the length of the previous remarks, and for the 
 insertion of the following paragraph from the His- 
 ioire de la Monnnie of the Marquis Garnier, in which 
 the doctrine we have been endeavouring to establish 
 is enforced with equal ability and eloquence : 
 
 " Mais les producteurs tendent continuelleraent a 
 regler la quantite des productions sur la sorarae des 
 demandes; ils ne resteront pas au-dessous de ce 
 point, sans etre tentes d'accroitre la masse de leurs 
 produits ; et ils ne peuvent le depasser sans s'expos- 
 er a perdre. Cos deux quantites, celle des produits 
 et celle des demandes, s'efForcent done a se mettre 
 en cquilibre Tune avec I'autre. II existe done un 
 point de repos vers lequel elles gravitent chacune de 
 son cote ; un point qui est leur niveau, et c'est ce 
 point qui constitue leprix naturel de la chose venale. 
 Quelle est la limite au-dela de laquelle le producteur 
 ne peut porter la quantite de ses produits ? C'est le 
 prix naturel ; car, s'il ne peut obtenir ce prix pour 
 tout son produit, il sera en perte. Quelle est la 
 borne des demandes du consommateur ? C'est le prix 
 naturel ; car il ne veut pas donner plus que I'equiva- 
 lent de ce qu'il re^oit. Si, par une decouverte, ou 
 par un perfectionnement de I'industrie, le produc- 
 teur est mis a meme d'etablir I'article sur lequel il 
 s'exerce a moins de temps et de dgpense, alors le 
 prix naturel baissera, mais aussi la somme des de- 
 mandes accroitra dans une proportion pareille, parce 
 que plus de consomraateurs seront en etat de payer 
 ce prix naturel, moins eleve que I'ancien. Le prix 
 naturel sera totijours, pour chaque chose venale, la li- 
 tnite commune au-dela de laquelle la somtne des de- 
 mandes de cette chose et la quantite de sa production 
 ne devront plus /aire de pr ogres. Quand le prix cou- 
 rant est le prix naturel, le producteur et le consom- 
 mateur se donnent reciproquement I'equivalent de 
 ce qu'ils regoivent. Quand le prix courant s'ecarte 
 du prix naturel, ou c'est la consommation qui soufFre 
 au profit de la production, ou c'est la production 
 qui souffre au profit de la consoraniation. Cet 
 §tat de soufFrance ne peut durer, et de-la pre- 
 cedent les variations du prix courant. Ces varia- 
 tions, que Smith a expliquees et analysees avec une 
 si parfaite lucidite, ne sont autre chose que les ef- 
 forts pour revenir au prix naturel. Tenter d'expli- 
 quer ces variations, sans reconnaitre I'existence d'un 
 prix naturel, ce serait vouloir expliquer les oscilla- 
 tions du pendule sans convenir de sa tendance vers 
 un centre de gravitation ; ce serait supposer un ef- 
 fort sans but et sans mobile ; ce serait admettre le 
 mouvement et nier le repos ; enfin, en voyant les 
 phenomenes du cours des fluides et de I'equilibre des 
 solides, ce serait contester les lois du niveau et de la 
 pesanteur. Si les choses venales n'ont point de prix 
 naturel, alors les mouvemens de la circulation seront 
 diriges par une force aveugle et inconnue ; les prix 
 
 moyens ne seront plus que le resulta't de chances Nature and 
 purement fortuites ; il n'y aura plus d'equivalent "^^^g^'"^ 
 reel ; les valeurs n'auront plus de mesurs naturelle ; 
 Teconomie politique ne pourra plus aspircr a etre au 
 rang des sciences, puisqu'elle manquera du caractere 
 essentiel qui les constitue telles, et que les faits dont 
 elle traite ne seront plus fondes sur les lois immua- 
 bles de la nature." — -(Tome-1. Introduction, p. 62.) 
 
 Having thus shown that it is the cost of production 
 which is the sole regulating principle of price, we 
 shall now proceed to investigate the elements which 
 enter into and constitute the cost of producing com- 
 modities in an advanced state of society, when a 
 rent is paid for land, and circulating and fixed capi- 
 tal employed to facilitate the labour of the workman. 
 This is, of all others, the most important, as it is the 
 most radical inquiry in the science of the distribution 
 of wealth; and it is indeed impossible, without pos- 
 sessing accurate notions on this subject, to advance a 
 single step without falling into errors. We shall be- 
 gin by endeavouring to ascertain whether rent enters 
 into the cost of production, or not. 
 
 Sect. III. — Nature, Origin, and Progress of Rent — 
 Nut a Cause but a Consequence of the High Value 
 of Raw Pi'oduce — Does not enter into Price — Dis- 
 tinction between Agriculture and Manufactures. 
 
 Dr Smith was of opinion, that, after land had 
 become propertj'^, and rent began to be paid, such 
 rent made an equivalent addition to the exchange- 
 able value of tiie produce of the soil. (Wealth of 
 Nations, I. p. 75-) This opinion was first called 
 in question in two pamphlets of extraordinary 
 merit, published nearly at the same time, by iVlr 
 Malthus,* and a Fellow of University College, Ox- 
 ford. + These writers endeavoured to show that 
 rent was not, as had been generally supposed, 
 a consequence of land being appropriated and 
 of limited extent, but of the superior productive- 
 ness of one species of land over another ; and that 
 the annihilation of rents would not, provided the same 
 extent of land was cultivated, enable its produce to 
 be sold at a lower price. Mr Ricardo has illustrat- 
 ed and enforced this doctrine with his usual ability — 
 has stripped it of the errors by which it had been en- 
 cumbered, and has shown its vast importance to a 
 right understanding of the laws which regulate the 
 rise and fall of profits. But the subject is still far 
 from being exhausted ; and we hope to be able to 
 treat it in a somewhat different manner from what it 
 has been treated by either of these gentlemen, and 
 to obviate some rather specious objections which 
 have not come under their notice. 
 
 Rent is properly " that portion of the produce of'^^^"^,"^^ 
 the earth which is paid by the farmer to the land-° ^"^^ 
 lord for the use of the natural and inherent powers 
 of the soil." If buildings have been erected on a 
 farm, or if it has been inclosed, drained, or in any 
 way improved, by an expenditure of capital and la- 
 bour, the sum which a farmer will pay to the land- 
 
 * An Inquiry into the Nature and Progress of Rent, by the Rev. T. R. Malthus, 1815. 
 
 f An Essay on the Application of Capital to Land, by a Fellovr of University College, Oxford, 1815. 
 
POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 259 
 
 rst settlin^ 
 fanyCoun- 
 
 iture and lord for its use will be composed, not only of what 
 *Rem°^ is properly rent, but also of a remuneration for the 
 use of the capital which has been laid out in its im- 
 provment. In common language, these two sums 
 ai*e always confounded together, under the name of 
 rent; but in an inquiry of this nature, it is necessary 
 to consider them as perfectly distinct. The laws by 
 which rent and profits are regulated being totally 
 different, those which govern the one cannot be as- 
 ' . ■ certained if it be not considered separately from the 
 other. 
 
 iRent On the first settling of any country abounding in 
 Ed on the large tracts of unappropriated land, no rent is ever 
 paid ; and for this plain and obvious reason, that no 
 person will pay a rent for what may be procured in 
 unlimited quantities for nothing. Thus in New 
 Holland, where there is an ample supply of fertile and 
 unappropriated land, it is certain, that, until the best 
 lands are all cultivated, no such thing as rent will 
 ever be heard of Suppose, however, that tillage 
 has been carried to this point, and that the in- 
 creasing demand can, in the actual state of the 
 science of agriculture, be no longer supplied by 
 the best lands, it is plain that either the increase of 
 population must cease, or the inhabitants must con- 
 sent to pay such an additional price for raw produce 
 as will enable the second quality of land to be culti- 
 vated. No advance short of this will procure them 
 another bushel of corn ; and competition will not, as 
 we shall immediately show, allow them to pay more 
 for it. They have, therefore, but one alternative. 
 If they choose to pay a price sufficient to cover the 
 expence of cultivating land of the second quality, 
 they will obtain additional supplies ; if they do not, 
 they must want them. Suppose, now, that the con- 
 sumers offer such a price as will pay the expence of 
 producing corn on soils which, in return for the same 
 expenditure as would have produced 100 quarters on 
 lands of theirs/ quality, will only yield 90 quarters; 
 it is plain it will then be just the same thing to a far- 
 mer whether he pays a rent of ten quarters for the 
 first quality of land, or farms the second quality, 
 which is unappropriated and open to him, without 
 paying any rent. If the population went on increas- 
 ing, lands which would yield only 80, 70, 60, 50, 
 &c. quarters in return for the same expenditure that 
 had obtained 100 quarters from the best lands, might 
 be successively brought under cultivation. And 
 when recourse had been had to these inferior lands, 
 the rent of the land of the higher qualities would 
 plainly be equal to the difference, or the value of 
 the difference, betxueen their produce and the pro^ 
 duce of the toorst quality under cultivation. Sup- 
 pose, for example, that the worst quality under 
 cultivation yields 60 quarters, then the rent of the 
 frst quality will be 40 quarters, or 100—60; the 
 rent of the second quality would, in like manner, be 
 equal to the difference between gO and 60, or So 
 quarters ; the rent of the third quality would be 
 equal to 80 — 60, or 20 quarters, and so on. The 
 produce raised on the land last cultivated, or with 
 tlie capital last applied to the soil, would always be 
 sold at its necessary price, or at that price which is 
 just sufl5cient to yield the cultivators the common 
 and average rate of profit, or, which is the same thing. 
 
 rig! II ol 
 ent. 
 
 togress of 
 ent. 
 
 to cover the cost of its production. If the price were Nature and 
 above this level, then agriculture would be the best of Causes of 
 all businesses, and tillage would be immediately ex- ^ 
 tended ; if, on the other hand, the price fell below this ""^ 
 level, capital would be withdrawn from the soil, and 
 the poorer lands thrown out of cultivation. In such 
 circumstances, it is undeniably certain that no rent 
 could enter into the price of that portion of produce 
 raised with the capital last applied to the soil. Its 
 price is exclusively made up of wages and profits. 
 The proprietors of the superior lands obtain rent ; 
 but this is the necessary result of their greater ferti*- 
 lity. The demand cannot be supplied without cul- 
 tivating inferior soils ; and to enable them to be cul- 
 tivated, their produce must sell for such a price as 
 will afford the ordinary rate of profit to their cultiva- 
 tors. This price will, however, yield a surplus over 
 and above the ordinary rate of profit to the cultiva- 
 tors of the more fertile lands, and this surplus is rent. 
 
 An increase of rent is not, therefore, as is very ge- 
 nerally supposed, occasioned by improvements in ag- 
 riculture, or by an increase in the fertility of the 
 soil.^ It results entirely from the necessity of re- 
 sorting, as population increases, to soils of a de- 
 creasing degree of fertility. Rent varies in an in- 
 verse proportion to the amount of produce obtained 
 by means of the capital and labour employed in cul- 
 tivation ; — that is, it increases Xiihen the yrojits of ag- 
 ricultural labour diminish, and diminishes when they 
 increase. Profits are at their maximum in countries 
 like New Holland, Indiana, and Illinois, and gene- 
 rally in all situations in which no rent is paid, and the 
 best lands only cultivated ; but it cannot be said that 
 rents have attained their maximum so long as capi- 
 tal yields any surplus in the shape of profit. 
 
 A quarter of wheat may be raised in the Vale of 
 Gloucester, or in the Carse of Gowrie, at perhaps a 
 fourth or a ffih part of the expence necessary to 
 raise it on the worst soils in cultivation. There can- 
 not, however, be at the same time two or more prices 
 for the same article in the same market. And it is 
 plain, that if the average market price of wheat be not 
 such as will indemnify the producers of that which 
 is raised on the toorst soils, they will cease bringing 
 it to market, and the required supplies will no longer 
 be_ obtained ; and it is equally plain, that if the market 
 price of wheat exceeds this sum, fresh capital will be 
 applied to its production, and competition will soon 
 sink prices to their natural level — that is, to such a sum 
 as will just afford the common and ordinary rate of pro- 
 fit to the raisers of that portion of the required supply 
 of corn which is produced in the most unfavourable cir- 
 cumstances, and uiith the greatest expence. It is by 
 the cost of producing this portion that the ave- 
 rage price of all the rest must always be regulated. 
 And, therefore, it is plainly all one to the consumers 
 whether, in an advanced stage of society, the excess 
 of return over the cost of production on lands of the 
 first quality belongs to a non-resident landlord, or an 
 occupier. It must belong to the one or the other- 
 Corn is not high because a rent is paid, but a rent is 
 paid because corn is high — because the demand is 
 such that it cannot be supplied tvithout cultivating soils, 
 of a diminished degree of fertility, us compared mth 
 the best. Suppose there is an effectual demand foe. 
 
260 
 
 Mature and 
 Causes of 
 Rent. 
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 10 millions of quarters, and that it is necessary to - 
 raise one million of these quarters on lands which 
 yield nothing but the common and average rate of 
 profit to their cultivators; it is clear that the re- 
 linquishing of the rents payable on the superior lands 
 would be no boon whatever to the cultivators of the 
 inferior lands. It would not lessen their expences ; 
 that is, it would not lessen the quantum of capital 
 and labour necessary to produce that portion of the 
 required supply which is raised in the most unfavour- 
 able circumstances ; and, if it did not reduce this ex- 
 pence, it is utterly impossible, supposing the demand 
 not to decline, that it could lower prices. Mr 
 Malthus is, therefore, right in saying, that although 
 landlords were to give up the whole of their rents, 
 their doing so would have no influence on the price 
 of corn. Such an act would only turn farmers into 
 gentlemen, and gentlemen into beggars. The case 
 is, however, distinctly and completely different when 
 the cost of production varies. If it is diminished, the 
 competition of the producers will infallibly sink prices 
 in an equal proportion : If it is increased, no sup- 
 plies will be brought to market, unless the price be 
 raised to a corresponding level. In no case, there- 
 fore, whether the demand be great or small — whe- 
 ther for one or one million of quarters, can the price 
 of raw produce ever permanently exceed or fall be- 
 low the sum necessary to pay the cost of producing 
 that portion of the supply that is raised on the worst 
 land, or with the last capital laid out on the soil. 
 
 Two objections have been made to this theory. 
 In the ftrst place, it has been said that, though it 
 might hold good in a country like New Holland, 
 where land is not appropriated, still it is true that all 
 the lands in every civilized and appropriated coun- 
 try like England, always yield some small rent to 
 the proprietor ; and that, therefore, it cannot be 
 said that the price of produce is, in such countries, 
 determined by the cost of raising it on that quality 
 of land which pays no rent. 
 
 Mr Mill has justly observed of this objection, that 
 even if it were well-founded, it could not practically 
 affect any of the conclusions we have endeavoured to 
 establish. There are in England and Scotland thou- 
 sands of acres of land which do not let for L. 20 ; 
 but to cultivate them would require an outlay of 
 many thousands ; and the rent would consequently 
 bear so small a proportion to the expences of pro- 
 duction, as to become altogether evanescent and in- 
 appreciable. {^Elements oj Political Economy, p. 19j 
 1st edit.) 
 
 There can be no doubt, however, that there is in 
 Coun mo^t other extensive countries, a great deal 
 
 try which' of land which yields no rent whatever. In the Unit- 
 yields no ed States and Russia such is unquestionably the case ; 
 
 and yet no one presumes to say that the laws which 
 regulate rent in the United States and Russia are 
 different from those which regulate it in England 
 and France. The poorest lands are always let in im- 
 mense tracts. If it were attempted to let particular 
 portions of these tracts separately, they would bring 
 no rent whatever ; but they appear to yield rent, be- 
 cause rent is paid not for them, but for the more fer- 
 Payment of ^\\q gpots intermixed with them. But although it 
 Rent on all really true that every rood of land in Britain paid 
 
 Objections 
 to this 
 Theory, 
 
 Land in 
 
 a high rent, it would still be true that such rent did Niture and 
 not, and could not, enter into the price of raw pro- ^^"^^s of 
 duce. The rent of a country consists of the difference, v^^-^--^/ 
 or the value of the difference, bettxieen the produce oh- g^j^ ^^^^ -^^^ 
 tained from the capital frst applied to the land, and coisistent 
 that which is last applied to it. It would, as we have wih the 
 already shown, be exactly the same thing to the cul- P^ciple 
 tivator, whether he paid a rent of ten quarters to a ^^.g 
 landlord for land yielding, with a certain outlay, 100 enerinto 
 quarters of corn, or employed the same capital in Pice, 
 cultivating inferior land yielding only 90 quarters, 
 for which he paid no rent. If it were possible al- 
 ways to obtain 100 quarters for every equal addi- 
 tional capital applied to the superior soils, no person, 
 it is obvious, would ever resort to those of inferior 
 fertility. But the fact, that, in the progress of so- 
 ciety, new and less fertile land is always brought into 
 cultivation, demonstrates that additional capital and 
 labour cannot be indefinitely applied with the same 
 advantage to the old land. The state of society in 
 any particular country may be such — the demand 
 for agricultural produce may be so great, that every 
 quality of land actually yields rent ; but it is the 
 same thing if there be any capital employed on land 
 which yields only the return of stock with its ordi- 
 nary profits, whether that capital be employed on old 
 or new land. That there is a very large amount of 
 capital employed in such a manner in this and every 
 other country, is abundantly certain. A farmer who 
 rents a farm, besides employing on it such a capital 
 as will, at the existing prices of raw produce, enable 
 hitn to pay his rent, to obtain the average rate of pro- 
 fit, and to replace his stock previously to the expira- 
 tion of his lease, will also employ an additional capi- 
 tal, if it will only replace itself, and afford the ordi- 
 nary rate of profit. Whether he shall employ this 
 additional capital or not, depends entirely on the 
 circumstance of the price of raw produce being 
 such as will repay his expences and profits ; for 
 he knows he will have no additional rent to pay. 
 Even at the expiration of his lease, his rent will not 
 be raised ; for, if his landlord should require rent, 
 because an additional capital had been employed, he 
 would withdraw it ; since, by employing it in agri- 
 culture, he got only the same profits he might have 
 got by employing it in any other department of in- 
 dustry. If the capital last applied to the soil yields 
 more than the common and average rate of profit, 
 fresh capital will be invested in agriculture, and com- 
 petition will sink prices to such a level as will just 
 enable them to yield this rate, and no more ; if the 
 capital last applied to the soil yields less than this 
 common and average rate of profit, it will be with- 
 drawn, until, by the rise of price, the last remaining 
 capital yields this common rate. In every case, 
 therefore, whether the last quality of land taken into 
 cultivation yields rent or not, the last capital applied 
 to the soil yields only the common and average rate of 
 profit ; and, consequently, the price of the produce 
 which it yields, and which regulates the price of all 
 the rest, is totally unaffected by rent. 
 
 It has, in the second place, been objected to this Does not 
 account of the nature and causes of rent, that it takes suppose th 
 
 for granted, that, in all extensive countries, landlords 
 
 ° . , I n t 11 1 will allow 
 
 permit the larmers or the worst lands to occupy them iH-arme 
 
POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 £61 
 
 Rent. 
 
 Jv'aturc and without paying any rent. But, it is easy to show 
 Causes of jj^^j ^j^jg jg ^ mistake. The price of raw produce is 
 not kept down to its necessary price by the competi- 
 pccupy their ^''^'^ farmers, but by that of the landlords them- 
 Lands with- selves. Though there must necessarily be a very 
 mt paying wide difference, in any country of considerable ex- 
 tent, tent, between the best and worst soils, still the gra- 
 dation from the one extreme to the other is gradual, 
 and almost imperceptible. The best differ but little 
 from those which are immediately inferior to them, 
 and the worst from those immediately above them. 
 And hence it is just as impossible to point out the 
 precise point where the first quality ends and the se- 
 cond begins, or where the second ends and the third 
 begins, as it is to point out the precise point where 
 the contiguous colours of the rainbow differ. Now, 
 suppose that the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 
 &c. designate the different qualities of soil in an ex- 
 tensive country, and suppose that the effectual de- 
 mand for raw produce is such as will just afford the 
 common and average rate of profit to those who cul- 
 tivate land of the jff/A degree of fertility, or that re- 
 presented by No. 5 ; when such is the case, there 
 can be no doubt that No. 5 will be cultivated ; for, 
 besides the peculiar attractions which agriculture 
 possesses, it would be quite as advantageous to cul- 
 tivate it as to engage in any other business. It 
 would not, however, be more advantageous ; for its 
 produce would yield no surplus in the shape of rent. 
 But suppose that a combination took place among the 
 proprietors of Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, to withhold a 
 portion of their produce from market ; and that, in 
 consequence of this, or any other cause, the price of 
 corn is raised ever so little above the expence of its pro- 
 duction on No. 5 ; in that case, it is obvious that soils 
 of the ver^ next degree of fertility, or that that portion 
 of No. 6, which, in point of productive power, differs 
 extremely little from No. 5, would be instantly brought 
 under cultivation ; and the increased supply would 
 infallibly sink prices to the level that would just af- 
 ford the average rate of profit, and no more, to the 
 cultivators of No. 5, or of the poorest soils which the 
 supply of the effectual demand renders it necessary 
 to cultivate. It is quite the same thing, therefore, in 
 so far as price is concerned, whether a country is ap- 
 propriated or not. When it is appropriated, prices 
 are kept down to their lowest limit by the competi- 
 tion of the landlords. And it is by the self same 
 principle, — the cost of producing that portion of the 
 necessary supply raised in the most unfavourable cir- 
 cumstances, — that the price of raw produce is deter- 
 mined in England and France, as it is determined in 
 New Holland and Illinois. 
 Does notac- But then it is said, that this reasoning involves a 
 count both contradiction, — that it accounts both for a rise and a 
 
 and^Fall of ^^^^ ^/^^^ ^^"^^ ^^y' extension of 
 
 Price in the cultivation ! In point of fact, however, it does no 
 same Way. such thing. The market price of corn will always be 
 low where it is cheaply produced, as in Poland ; and 
 it will occasionally be low where it costs a great 
 deal to produce it, when a redundant supply is 
 brought to market, as is the case in England at this 
 moment. Suppose, as before, that the effectual de- 
 mand for corn in Great Britain is at present such as 
 will just enable lands of the Jifth degree of fertility to 
 
 be cultivated ; but that, owing to variable harvests, Nature and 
 to injudicious encouragement held out by the Legis- ^'^^g^^j^"^ 
 lature, to the ardour of speculation, to the miscalcu- , 
 la£ion of farmers, or to any other cause, lands of the ^ 
 sixth degree of fertility have been cultivated; the in- 
 creased quantity of produce that must thus be thrown 
 on the market will plainly depress prices to such 
 an extent, that, instead of yielding average profits 
 to the cultivators of No. 6, they will not yield them 
 to the cultivators of No. 5. But they will yield more 
 to the cultivators of No. 5 than to those of No. 6 ; 
 the latter, therefore, will be first driven from their 
 business ; and when they have retired, prices will 
 rise, not indeed to such a height as to enable No. 6 
 to be cultivated, but so high as to enable the culti- 
 vators of No. 5 to continue their business ; that is, as 
 we have already shown, to the precise sum that will 
 enable the raisers of the last portion of the produce 
 necessary to supply the effectual demand to obtain 
 the common and average rate of profit. Should the 
 demand, instead of continuing stationary, increase so 
 that it could not be supplied without cultivating 
 Nos. 6 and 7, the price will have to rise in propor- 
 tion to the increased expence of cultivating them. 
 But to whatever extent the demand might increase, 
 still, if such an improvement were made in agricul- 
 ture, or in the art of raising corn, as would enable 
 the supply to be obtained from No. 1 only, the price 
 would necessarily and infallibly fall to the precise 
 sum that paid the expences of its cultivators, and 
 rent would entirely disappear. 
 
 This anal3'sis of the nature and causes of rent Distinction 
 discovers an important and fundamental distinction ^^'^^"^^ 
 between agricultural and commercial and "^anu-^^^^^'^^^ 
 facturing industry. In manufactures, the worst ma- factures and 
 chinery is first set in motion, and every day its Commerce, 
 powers are improved by new inventions ; and it is 
 rendered capable of yielding a greater amount of 
 produce with the same expence. And as no limits 
 can be assigned to the quantity of improved machi- 
 nery that may be introduced — as a million of 
 steam-engines may be constructed for the same, or 
 rather for a less, proportional expence than would be 
 required for the construction of one — the competi- Tendency of 
 
 tion of capitalists never fails to reduce the price of 
 
 r . J j'l.- ^ .1 1 . , , tured Pro- 
 
 manufactured commodities to the sum which the ducts to fall 
 
 least expensive method of production necessarily re- in Price, 
 quires for their production. 
 
 In agriculture, on the contrary, the best machinery, Tendency of 
 that is, the best soils, are first brought under culti- Agricultural 
 vation, and recourse is afterwards had to inferior ^'''^"'^^^ 
 soils, requiring a greater expenditure of capital and' 
 labour to produce the same supplies. The improve- 
 ments in the construction of farming implements, 
 and meliorations in agricultural management, which 
 occasionally occur in the progress of society, really 
 reduce the price of raw produce, and, by making 
 less capital yield the same supplies, have a tendency 
 to reduce rent. But, the fall of price which is per- 
 manent in manufactures, is only temporary in agri- 
 culture. A fall in the price of raw produce, by en- 
 abling every class to obtain greater quantities than 
 before, in exchange for their products or their la- 
 bour, raises the rate of profit, and leads, of course, 
 to an increased accumulation of capital. But the 
 
 rise in Price. 
 
262 
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 >Jature md industry of a nation being always in proportion to 
 Causes of jjjg amount of its capital, this accumulation neces- 
 sarily leads to a greater demand for labour, to 
 
 '^'^^/^^ higher wages, to an increased population, and, con- 
 sequently, to a further demand for raw produce and 
 an extended cultivation. Agricultural improvements 
 dieck for a while the necessity of having recourse 
 to inferior soils and the rise of rents ; but the check 
 can only be temporary. The stimulus which they, 
 at the same time, give to population, and the natu- 
 ral tendency of mankind to increase beyond the 
 means of subsistence, is sure, in the end, to raise 
 prices, and by forcing recourse to poor lands, to 
 raise rents. 
 
 Earth com- Mr Malthus has, in illustrating this important 
 pared by distinction between agricultural and manufacturing 
 Mr Malthus .^^^^g^^ set the doctrine of rent in a clear and 
 to a fsenes „ . ,. ,r., .1 >> i ■ 
 
 of Machines, Striking pomt of view. " The earth, he observes, 
 
 endowed has been sometimes compared to a vast machine, 
 with difFer- presented by nature to man for the production of 
 ent Produc ^. ^ ^ materials ; but to make the resem- 
 tive Powers. , , . p j •,. 
 
 blance more just, as far as they admit ot compari- 
 son, we should consider the soil as a present to man 
 of a great number of machines, all susceptible of 
 continued improvement by the application of capital 
 to them, but yet of very different original qualities 
 and powers. 
 
 " This great inequality in the powers of the ma- 
 chinery employed in procuring raw produce, forms 
 one of the most remarkable features which distin- 
 guishes the machinery of the land from the ma- 
 chinery employed in manufactures. 
 
 " When a machine in manufactures is invented, 
 which will produce more finished work with less la- 
 bour and capital than before, if there be no patent, 
 or as soon as the patent is over, a sufficient number 
 of such machines may be made to supply the whole 
 demand, and to supersede entirely the use of all the 
 old machinery. The natural consequence is, that 
 the price is reduced to the price of production from 
 the best machinery, and if the price were to be de- 
 pressed lower, the whole of the commodity would be 
 withdrawn from the market. 
 
 The machines which produce corn and raw ma- 
 terials, on the contrary, are the gifts of nature, not 
 the works of man ; and we find by experience that 
 these gifts have very different qualities and powers. 
 The most fertile lands of a country, those which, 
 like the best machinery in manufactures, yield the 
 greatest products with the least labour and capi- 
 tal, are never found sufficient to supply the effective 
 demand of an increasing population. The price of 
 raw produce, therefore, naturally rises till it becomes 
 sufficiently high to pay the cost of raising it with in- 
 ferior machines, and by a more expensive process ; 
 and, as there cannot be two prices for corn of the 
 same quality, all the other machines, the working of 
 which requires less capital compared with the pro- 
 duce, must yield rents in proportion to their good' 
 ness. 
 
 " Every extensive country may thus be considered 
 as possessing a gradation of machines for the pro- 
 duction of corn and raw materials, including in this 
 gradation not only all the various qualities of poor 
 12 
 
 land, of which every large territory has generally atn Nature and 
 abundance, but the inferior machinery which may be 
 said to be employed when good land is further and. 
 further forced for additional produce. As the price 
 of raw produce continues to rise, these inferior ma- 
 chines are successively called into action ; and, as 
 the price of raw produce continues to fall, they are 
 successively thrown out of action. The illustration 
 here used serves to show at once the necessity of the 
 actual price of corn to the actual produce, and the 
 different effect which would attend a great reduction 
 in the price of any particular manufacture, and a 
 great reduction in the price of raw produce. 
 
 " I have no hesitation, then, in affirming that the 
 reason why the real price of corn is higher and con- 
 tinually rising in countries which are already rich, 
 and still advancing in prosperity and population, is 
 to be found in the necessity of resorting constantly 
 to poorer land — to machines which require a greater 
 expenditure to work them — and which consequently 
 occasion each fresh addition to the raw produce of 
 the country to be purchased at a greater cost ; — in 
 short, it is to be found in the important truth that 
 corn is sold at the price necessary to yield the actual 
 supply ; and that, as the production of this supply he- 
 comes more and more difficult, the price rises in pro- 
 portion. 
 
 " I hope to be excused for having dwelt so long^ 
 and presented to the reader in various forms the 
 doctrine that corn, in reference to the quantity ac- 
 tually produced, is sold at its necessary price like 
 manufactures, because I consider it as a truth of the 
 highest importance, which has been entirely over- 
 looked by the economists, by Dr Smith, and all 
 those writers who have represented raw produce as 
 selling always at a monopoly price." — {Inquiry into 
 the Nature and Progress of Rent, p. 37.) 
 
 It appears, therefore, that in the earliest stages of 
 society, and when only the best lands are cultivated, 
 no rent is ever paid. The landlords, as such, do not 
 begin to share in the produce of the soil until it be- 
 comes necessary to cultivate lands of an inferior de- 
 gree of fertility, or to apply capital to the superior 
 lands with a diminishing return. Whenever this is 
 the case, rent begins to be paid ; and it continues to 
 increase according as cultivation is extended over 
 poorer soils ; and diminishes according as these 
 poorer soils are thrown out of cultivation. Rent, 
 therefore, depends exclusively on the extension of 
 tillage. It is high where tillage is widely extended 
 over inferior lands; and low where it is confined 
 to the superior descriptions only. But in no case 
 does rent ever enter into price. For, the produce 
 raised on the poorest lands, or with the capital last 
 applied to the cultivation of the soil, regulates the 
 price of all the rest ; and this produce never yields 
 any surplus above the common and average rate of 
 profit. 
 
 It being thus established' that the circumstance of 
 land being appropriated, and rent paid to the land- 
 lords, cannot affect the price of commodities, or make 
 any difference whatever on the principle which regu- 
 lates their exchangeable value in the earliest stages 
 of society, we proceed, in the next place, to inquire 
 
POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 ''aluc of 
 
 jxpended in 
 jheir Pro. 
 luction. 
 
 Exchange- into the effects of the accumulation and employment 
 able Value, capital, and of the rise and fall of wages on the va- 
 " lue of commodities. 
 
 Sect. IV Effect of the Accumulation and Employ- 
 ment of Capital, and of Fluctuations in the Rate of 
 Wages on Exchangeable Value. 
 
 It will be remembered, that the comparative quan- 
 Jommodi- tities of labour required to produce commodities and 
 ^^the^*^' '^'"'"g tbera to market, formed, in the early ages 
 mount of °^ society, and before capital was accumulated, the 
 mmediate principle by which their comparative or exchange- 
 ,abour and able value was regulated. But capital is nothing 
 "Capital more than the accumulated produce of anterior la- 
 bour ; and when it is employed in the production of 
 commodities, their value must plainly be regulated, 
 not by the quantity of immediate labour only, but by 
 the total quantity of immediate labour and of accu- 
 mulated labour, or capital, which have been neces- 
 sarily laid out in their production. Suppose that an 
 individual can by a day's labour, without the assist- 
 ance of any capital whatever, kill a deer ; but that 
 it requires a day's labour to construct weapons ne- 
 cessary to enable him to kill a beaver, and another 
 day's labour to kill it, it is evident, supposing the 
 weapons to have been rendered useless in killing the 
 beaver, that one beaver really took as much labour 
 to kill it as was required to kill two deer, and must, 
 therefore, be worth twice as much. The durability 
 of the weapons, or capital of the beaver hunter, is 
 obviously an element of the greatest importance in 
 estimating the value of the animals killed by him. 
 Had the weapons been more durable than we have 
 supposed, — had they served, for example, to kill 
 twenty beavers instead of one, then it is plain the 
 quantity of labour required to kill a beaver would 
 only have been one twentieth more than the labour 
 required to kill a deer, and the animals would, of 
 course, have been exchanged in that proportion to 
 each other. With every extension of the duration of 
 the weapons, the value of the deer and the beaver 
 would obviously be brought still nearer to equality. 
 
 It appears, therefore, inasmuch as capital is no- 
 thing but anterior labour, that its accumulation and 
 employment cannot affect the principle which makes 
 the exchangeable value of commodities dependent on 
 the quantities of labour required for their production. 
 A commodity may be altogether produced by capi- 
 tal, without the co-operation of any immediate la- 
 bour whatever, and, if so, its value in exchange will 
 plainly be regulated by the quantity of capital, that 
 is, of labour expended in its production : or it may 
 be partly produced by capital, and partly by imme- 
 diate labour, and then its exchangeable value will be 
 proportioned to the sum of the tvoo, or, which is still 
 the same thing, to the total quantity of labour be- 
 stowed upon it. The principles we have now laid 
 down are almost self-evident, and we are not aware 
 that they have been disputed by any political eco- 
 nomist of consideration ; but a considerable differ- 
 ence of opinion is entertained respecting the effects 
 occasioned by the employment of workmen by ca- 
 pitalists, and by fluctuations in the rate of wages, on 
 valtie. 
 
 It does not, however, seem to us that there is 
 much room for these differences. Suppose that a 
 certain quantity of goods, twenty pairs of stock- 
 ings for example, manufactured by independent 
 workmen, freely exchanged for forty pairs of gloves 
 also manufactured by independent workmen, they 
 would necessarily continue to do so, provided the 
 quantity of labour formerly required for their pro- 
 duction continued invariable, after the workmen had 
 been employed by some master manufacturer. In 
 the first case it is true, as Dr Smith has observed, 
 that the whole goods produced by the workmen 
 would belong to themselves, and that, in the second 
 case, they would have to share them with others. 
 But it must be recollected, that in the first case the 
 capital, or accumulated labour, made use of in the 
 production of the commodities, belonged to the voorle- 
 men, and that in the latter case it has been furnished 
 them by others. The question then comes to be, Can 
 the circumstance of the labourers voluntarily agree- 
 ing to give a portion of the commodities produced 
 by them, as an equivalent, or compensation for the 
 advantage and assistance derived from the use of the 
 capital, or labour of others, afford any ground for 
 raising the value of the commodities ? It is evident 
 it cannot. The profits of stock are only another 
 name for the imges of accumulated labour. They 
 make a part of the price of every commodity in 
 whose production any portion of capital has been 
 wasted. But whether the capital belongs to the 
 labourer himself, or is furnished him by another, is 
 obviously of no consequence. When the capital 
 does not belong to the labourer, the commodities 
 produced by him are divided into two specific por- 
 tions^ whereof one is the return for the immediate 
 labour, and the other for the capital, or accumulated 
 labour, expended in producing them. But the ag- 
 gregate value of the commodities is precisely the 
 same into how many portions soever they may be di- 
 vided. A shoemaker who manufactures shoes on 
 his own account, must obtain the same rate of pro- 
 fit on their sale, that would accrue to a master shoe- 
 maker were he employed by him as a workman. 
 He must not only possess a capital adequate to 
 maintain himself and his family until his shoes can 
 be disposed of, but he must also be able to provide 
 himself with a workshop and tools, to advance money 
 to the tanner to pay his leather, and to provide for 
 various other outgoings. If he did not, exclusive of 
 the ordinary wages of labour, realize a rate of profit, 
 or a compensation for the employment of his capi- 
 tal, equal to the profit obtained by the master shoe- 
 maker, it would obviously be for his advantage to 
 lend it to him, and to work on his own account ; and 
 it is plain, inasmuch as his shoes could not be sold 
 for a higher price than those of the capitalist, that 
 he could not realize a greater rate of profit. 
 
 It appears, therefore, that the circumstance of the 
 accumulated labour or capital, and the immediate la- 
 bour required to produce commodities being furnish- 
 ed by different classes of people, makes no difference 
 whatever on the principle which shows that their 
 exchangeable value depends on the total quantity of 
 labour necessary for their production. It now only 
 
 263 
 
 Exchange- 
 able Value. 
 
 The tiTm- 
 ployment of 
 Workmen 
 by Capital- 
 ists does not 
 raise the 
 Price of 
 Commodi- 
 ties. 
 
264 
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 Effect of 
 Fluctuations 
 in the Rate 
 of Wages 
 on Ex- 
 changeable 
 Value :— 
 
 Production 
 are of the 
 aavie degree 
 of Durabi 
 lity. 
 
 Exchange- remains to trace the effects of fluctuations in the 
 able Value. ^^^^^ Qf wages on price. When we have done this, 
 ""^'"^ we shall have exhausted the subject. 
 
 To simplify this inquiry, we shall divide it into two 
 branches. We shall inquire, j^r*^, whether fluctua- 
 tions in the rate of wages have any, and what ef- 
 fects on the relative value of commodities produced 
 by the aid of capitals of equal degrees of durability ; 
 and, second, whether these fluctuations have any, 
 and what effects when the capitals employed are of 
 unequal degrees of durability. 
 Ist. Effect I. When every class of producers employ either 
 of these fixed or circulating capitals, of precisely the same 
 Fluctuations jegrge of durability, they must be all equally affect- 
 CapTtaSsem- ed by a rise or fall of wages. This is a principle 
 ployed in which is equally assented to by Mr Ricardo and Mr 
 Malthus, and which is indeed self-evident. But 
 when such is the case, it is plainly impossible that a 
 rise or fall of wages can occasion any variation in 
 the exchangeable, or comparative value of commo- 
 dities. To revert to our former example, let us sup- 
 pose that wages, at the rate of one shiUing a day, 
 were paid by the stocking manufacturer, one pair 
 of whose stockings exchanged for two pairs of 
 gloves, and that, from some cause or other, the 
 wages of his workmen have been doubled, or rais- 
 ed to two shillings, the question is, could he now 
 obtain a greater quantity of gloves in exchange 
 for his stockings ? It is obvious he could not. He 
 could not urge the circumstance of his being oblig- 
 ed to pay a greater amount of wages to his work- 
 men, as a reason why the glove manufacturer should 
 give him more gloves in exchange for his stock- 
 ings ; for, the latter would have it in his power 
 to reply, that the same rise of tvages affected him 
 to precisely the same extent. If, therefore, one 
 pair of stockings was previously worth two pairs 
 of gloves, they would continue to preserve this 
 relation to each other, so long as the quantities 
 of labour required for their production was not va- 
 ried, whatever might be the fluctuation of wages — 
 whether they fell to a sixpence, or rose to a guinea 
 a day. Even if the price of commodities rose, which 
 it could not, when wages rose, that would be of no 
 advantage to the producers. Commodities are always 
 bought by commodities, or by labour. Of what conse- 
 quence, then, could it be to a capitalist, when wages 
 rose, to sell his commodities at an equal advance ; 
 when he, in his turn, would be obliged to give so 
 much more for every commodity which he purchas- 
 ed i If wages rise 50 per cent, a producer, a far- 
 mer, for example, would be precisely in the same 
 condition, whether he sold his corn for 50 per cent. 
 advance, and gave an additional 50 per cent, as he 
 would be obliged to do, for his hats, shoes, clothes, 
 &c. &c. or sold his corn at its former price, and 
 bought all the commodities which he consumed at 
 the prices he had formerly given for them. 
 
 In order farther to illustrate this principle, we 
 may be allowed to make a supposition, which, al- 
 though it can never actually take place, will serve to 
 set our doctrine in a clearer point of view. Should 
 the quantities of labour required for the production 
 of every species of commodities be increased in ex- 
 actly the same proportion, it is plain their exchange- 
 
 able values would remain unaltered-L Their real Eichange- 
 price would, however, be augmented. A bushel of 
 corn would not then exchange for a greater quan. ^•^"^-^"^ 
 tity of muslins or of broad cloth, than it did before 
 the increased expence of its production ; but each 
 would be the produce of a greater quantity of labour. 
 In such circumstances, the prices of commodities 
 would remain stationary, while the wealth and com- 
 forts of the society would be materially diminished. 
 Every person would have to make greater exertions 
 to obtain a given quantity of any one commodity ; 
 but as the expence of producing all commodities is, 
 by the supposition, equally increased, it would not 
 be necessary to make any greater exertions to ob- 
 tain one than another, and their comparative values 
 would be totally unaffected. 
 
 But, if a general and equal increase of the quantity 
 of labour required for the production of commodities 
 could not alter their relative values to one another, 
 how is that to be effected by a general and equal in- 
 crease of the wages paid for that labour ? The thing 
 is obviously impossible. If a beaver exchanged for 
 a deer, when wages were at one shilling a day, 
 it must do the same when they are increased to 
 two shillings, or ten shillings, or twenty shillings. 
 However high wages might be raised, the market- 
 price of the beaver and deer would continue un- 
 changed. After wages had been raised, the value 
 of the deer would be differently divided — a greater 
 share would belong to the labourer, and a less to the 
 capitalist ; but that would be the only effect produced. 
 The real price of the commodities would not be in 
 the least influenced by this rise of wages. The 
 quantity of labour required for their production 
 would not be increased ; and it would, therefore, be 
 equally easy to obtain them. 
 
 II. We have seen by the investigation under the 2d. Effect 
 preceding head, that, where the fixed or circulating these 
 capitals employed in the production of commodities wh"en"the°" 
 are of eywaZ degrees of durability, fluctuations in the Capitals em 
 rate of wages affect all classes of producers to the ployed in 
 same extent, and have, therefore, no influence on ^^'^o<^"ction 
 the exchangeable value of commodities, or on their ^'^^ 
 price. But when the capitals employed are of differ- of Durabi- 
 ent degrees of durability, this is not the case. lity. 
 Fluctuations in the rate of wages cannot, in such 
 circumstances, equally affect every class of produ- 
 cers, and the natural and indestructible equilibrium 
 of profit could not be maintained without a variation 
 in the relative value of their products. To illus- 
 trate this, let us suppose, that a certain quantity of 
 goods, the produce of fixed capital or machinery 
 fitted to last many years, freely exchange for a cer- 
 tain quantity of other goods entirely produced by 
 manual labour. It is plain they could not continue 
 to be exchanged on this footing, after a rise or fall 
 of wages. For the proprietor of the machinery 
 would be very little affected by such fluctuations, 
 while the proprietor of the goods produced by ma- 
 nual labour would be very seriously affected by 
 them. And, therefore, when wages fluctuate, the 
 relative values of the goods produced by capitals of 
 different degrees of durability must also fluctuate — 
 that is, they must be adjusted so that they may still 
 continue to yield the same common and average rate 
 10 
 
POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 Exchange- 
 Irbk Value 
 
 a Rise 
 
 Wages 
 rers Pro- 
 ), it must 
 trer the 
 ilue of 
 xxls chief- 
 produced 
 
 Fixed 
 pital or 
 Bchincry. 
 
 of profit. Let us now endeavour to trace the mode 
 in which this adjustment is effected. 
 
 The arguments we have brought forward, to show 
 the impossibihty of fluctuations in the rate of wages, 
 affecting the exchangeable value of commodities 
 produced by trapitais of the same durability, were 
 first advanced by Mr Ricardo. He, too, was the 
 first who endeavoured to analyse and discover the 
 precise effects of fluctuations in the rate of wages 
 on comtnodities, when the capitals employed in their 
 production were not of the same degree of durability. 
 The results of his researches in this most difficult 
 branch of the science were still more important, and 
 more completely at variance with the universally re- 
 ceived opinions of political economists. Mr Ricar- 
 do not only showed that it was impossible for any 
 rise of wages to raise the price of all commodities ; 
 but he also showed, that in many cases a rise of 
 wages necessarily led to a fall of prices, and a fall of 
 wages to a rise of prices ! The novelty of these opi- 
 nions,and the talent andingenuitywith which theywere 
 Bupported, immediately recommended them to gene- 
 ral notice ; and the repeated examinations to which 
 they have been subjected have served to confirm 
 their truth, and to set them in a still clearer point of 
 view. Some of the Subordinate doctrines respecting 
 value advanced by Mr Ricardo in the first and se- 
 cond editions of his Principles of Political Economy 
 and Taxation, were opposed by MrMalthus in his 
 recent publication. But Mr Malthus does not at- 
 tempt to invalidate the leading principles established 
 by Mr Ricardo; and the alterations and corrections 
 which the latter has made in the third edition of his 
 work, have gone far to remove the objections of Mr 
 Malthus. 
 
 Suppose a manufacturer has a machine worth 
 L. 20,000, of a high degree of durability, and wliich 
 can, without the assistance of any manual labour, 
 produce commodities. If profits were at 10 per 
 cent., the commodities produced by this machine 
 would sell for L. 2000, together with a very small 
 addition to replace its wear and tear. * Now, it is 
 quite certain, that if, from any cause whatever, pro- 
 fiu either rise or fall, the price of the goods produced 
 
 by this machine would also rise or fall (Malthus's 
 
 Principles of Political Economy, p. 92.) If profits 
 were to rise to 1 5 per cent., the price of the goods pro- 
 duced by the machine must, in order that its owner 
 may obtain the same profit with other capitalists, rise 
 to L. 3000; and if, on the other hand, profits fall to five 
 percent., the priceof his goods must, for the same rea- 
 son, fall to L. 1000. If, therefore, it can be shown that 
 a rise of wages reduces the rate of profits, it is plain it 
 must also reduce the exchangeable value, or price, of 
 all such commodities as are chiefly produced by ma- 
 chinery, or fixed capital of a considerable degree of 
 durability, or by circulating capital returnable at 
 distant periods, and vice versa. But it is not difficult 
 
 265 
 
 to show that this is really the case, and that, in point Eschange- 
 of fact, profits always fall when wages rise, and rise Vahie. 
 when wages fall. v^^fc^ 
 
 It is plain, from what has been previously stated, 
 that to whatever extent wages might rise, it would 
 be impossible for the producers of any species of 
 commodities, whether the capitals employed in their 
 production were returnable in a day, or week, or any 
 other period, to obtain a larger share of the commo- 
 dities produced by others of the same class, —ihsil is, 
 whose capitals were returnable in equal periods with 
 their own. Suppose wages rise ten or twenty per 
 cent., that would not enable the holder of a capital 
 returnable every month, or every twelve months, to 
 obtain any additional value in exchange for his com- 
 modities from such of his fellow capitalists as were 
 affected to precisely the same extent with himself by 
 the rise of wages,— that is, whose capitals were re- 
 turnable in the very same period as his own. This is 
 as absolutely impossible as it is to change the relation 
 of proportional numbers by multiplying or dividing 
 them all by the same number ; and, therefore, it can- 
 not be true that a rise of wages will raise the price of 
 any one commodity, as compared with all other com- 
 modities. 
 
 But, if a rise of wages cannot do this, it is demon- 
 strably certain it must lower profits. Let us sup- 
 pose that the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 
 10, represent capitals of corresponding degrees of 
 durability. When wages fluctuate, the proprietors 
 of the least durable capitals, numbers 1, 2, 8, 4, and 
 5, are plainly more affected thereby than the pro- 
 prietors of the more durable capitals, numbers 6", 7, 
 8, 9, and 10. Let us suppose that wages rise, and 
 let us endeavour to discover what would be the ef- 
 fect of this rise on the holder of a capital o^ the tenth 
 degree of durability. We have already shown that 
 whatever might be the amount of the rise-^whether 
 it were 1, 10, or WO per cent., the holder of such a 
 capital could not possibly obtain any additional quan- 
 tity of the commodities belonging to other producers 
 whose capitals were also of the tenth degree of dnra- 
 bility I and in so far, therefore, as this class of com- 
 modities is concerned, profits will be reduced to the 
 precise extent that wages have x'mxi. But the hold- 
 ers of the other capitals are all of them more affected 
 by the rise of wages than the holders of No. 10 ; and 
 if we took either of them as a standard by which to 
 measure profits, they would appear to have fallen in 
 a still greater proportion. 
 
 It is absolutely certain, therefore, that profts var^ Profits vary 
 inversely as wages, ~i\\2it is, they fall when wogw inversely as 
 rise, and rise token wages fall. But owing to the dif- Wages, 
 ferent and ever varying proportions in which fixed 
 and circulating capital and immediate labour are era- 
 ployed in the production of commodities, it is ex- - 
 tremely difficult to discover the precise extent to 
 which any given fluctuation in the rate of wages af- 
 
 So small a sum as two shilhngs and elevenpence would be sufficient for this purpose, if the machine 
 would last for 100 years; for an annuity of two shillings and elevenpence accumulating for 100 years 
 at 10 per cent., would, at the end of that period, amount to L. 20,000. 
 
 vol,. VI. PART I. L 1 
 
266 
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 Exchange- 
 able Value. 
 
 Method of 
 estimating 
 the Effects 
 of Fluctua- 
 tions in the 
 Rate of 
 Wages on 
 Profits. 
 
 fects profits. We shall, however, state three differ- 
 ent cases which will briefly, and, we hope, satisfac- 
 torily, elucidate the manner in which fluctuations in 
 the rate of wages always operate, and the method to 
 be followed in estimating their influence on profits. 
 
 1. If all commodities were produced by immedi- 
 ate labour, or by capital employed in the payment 
 of wages, it is obvious that every rise of wages would 
 cause an equal fall of profits. A capitalist who era- 
 ployed L. 1000 in the payment of wages, must, if 
 profits were at 10 per cent., sell the commodities for 
 L. 1100, But when wages rise 5 fer cent., or to 
 L. 1050, he would not be able to sell his commodi- 
 ties for more than L. 1100 ;/or moneii is itself a com- 
 modity, and as, by the suppositioyi, all commodities 
 are produced by immediate labour, the rise of wages 
 would affect the producers of money in the very same 
 degree that it affected all other producers. In this 
 case, therefore, it is plain every rise of wages will 
 equally sink profits, and every fall of wages will 
 equally raise them. 
 
 2. If all commodities were produced, one-half by 
 immediate labour, and the other half hy capital, pro- 
 fits would only fall to half the extent that wages rose. 
 Suppose a capitalist employs L. 500 in the payment 
 of wages, and L. 500 as a fixed capital, when profits 
 are at 10 per cent., the commodities produced must, 
 as before, sell for L. 1100. If wages rose 5 per cent., 
 the capitalist would have to pay L. 525 as wages, and 
 would, consequently, only retain L. 75 as profits. In 
 this case, therefore, a rise of wages to the extent of 
 5 per cent, would, because of the employment of 
 equal quantities of capital and immediate labour in 
 the production of commodities, only sink profits 2^ 
 per cent. 
 
 3. If all commodities were produced by capital of 
 a high degree of durability, the capitalists, it is ob- 
 vious, would not be at all affected by a rise of wages, 
 and profits would, of course, continue as before. _ 
 
 Now, suppose that commodities, instead of being 
 wholly produced either by immediate labour, as in the 
 first case, or wholly by equal quantities of immediate 
 labour and of capital, as in the second, or wholly by 
 fixed capital as in the third, are partly produced in the 
 one mode and partly in the other, and let us see what 
 effect this increase of 5 per cent, in the rate of wages 
 would have on their relative values. To facilitate this 
 inquiry, we shall distinguish these three descriptions 
 of commodities by the Nos. 1, 2, and 3. Now, it is 
 quite evident that the rise of wages has affected No. 
 1 2| per cent, more than it has affected No. 2, and 
 5 per cent, more than it'has affected No. 3. No. 1 
 must, therefore, as compared with No. 2, have risen 
 2| per cent, in exchangeable value, and as compared 
 with No. 3, it must have risen 5 per cent. ; No. 2 
 must have fallen 2^ per cent, as compared with No. 
 
 1, and risen 2^ per cent, as compared with No. 3 ; 
 and No. 3 must have fallen 5 per cent, as compared 
 with No. 1, and 2^ per cent, as compared with No. 
 
 2. If wages, instead of rising, had fallen, the same 
 
 effects would obviously have been produced, but in a Exchange- 
 reversed order. The proprietors of the commodities ^abieVaUu 
 of the class No. 1 would gain 5 per cent, by the fall ; ' "''^ 
 those of No. 2 would gain 9,\ per cent., and those of 
 No. 3 nothing ; and the relative values of these com- 
 modities would be adjusted accordingly. * 
 
 Thus, then, it appears, inasmuch as any commo- General 
 dity taken for a standard by which to estimate the ^'J.^g^^^J'® 
 relative values of other commodities, must itself be 
 produced by capital returnable in a certain period, tions. 
 that uohen uoages rise, all commodities produced by 
 LESS durable capitals than those nohick produce the 
 commodity taken for a standard, will rise in exchange- 
 able value, and all those produced by more durable ca- 
 pitals mil fall ; and conversely xxihen wages are re- 
 duced. Suppose, as before, that the Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 
 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10, represent capitals of correspond- 
 ing degrees of durability. If a commodity produced 
 by the least durable capital, No. 1, and which may 
 be supposed to be wholly employed in the payment 
 of wages, be taken for a standard, all commodities 
 whatever produced by the other and more durable 
 capitals would/a/Z in value when wages rose ; and if 
 we suppose those produced by No. 2 to decline 1 
 per cent., those produced by No. 3 would decline 2 
 per cent., those produced by No. 4 3 per cent., and 
 so on until we arrive at No. 10, which will have 
 fallen 9 per cent. If, on the other hand, a commo- 
 dity produced by the most durable capital, No. 10, 
 and which may be supposed to consist wholly of 
 highly durable machinery, be made the standard, 
 when wages rise all the commodities produced by 
 the other less durable capitals would also rise ; and 
 if those produced by No. 9 rose 1 per cent., those 
 produced by No. 8 would rise 2 per cent., and those 
 produced by No. 1 Q per cent. If a commodity pro- 
 duced by capital of a medium degree of durability, 
 as No. 5, and which may be supposed to consist half 
 of circulating capital employed in the payment of 
 wages, and half of fixed capital or machinery, be 
 taken as a standard, the commodities produced by 
 the less durable capitals, Nos. 4, 3, 2, and 1, will me 
 with a rise of wages, on the former hypothesis, the 
 first, or No. 4, 1 per cent., the second, or No. 3, 2 
 per cent., &c. ; while those produced by the more 
 durable capitals, Nos. 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10, will faU, 
 the first, or No. 6, 1 per cent., the second, or No. 7, 
 2 per cent., &c. exactly the reverse of the other. 
 
 Hence it is obvious that the effect which variations 
 in the rate of wages have on price will principally 
 depend on the nature of the capital employed in the 
 production of gold and silver. Whatever may be 
 the proportions of circulating capital appropriated to 
 the payment of wages, and of fixed capital employ- 
 ed in the production of the material of which money 
 is made, all those commodities which are produced 
 by the agency of a greater quantity of labour and 
 with less fixed capital or machinery, will rise when 
 wages rise, and fall when wages fall ; but those that 
 are produced by the agency of a less quantity of la- 
 
 * The examples we have here given are substantially the same with those given by Mr Mill. See his 
 valuable work entitled Elements of Political Economy, p. 77- 
 
 11 
 
POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 267 
 
 ariations 
 
 FEx- 
 Biangeable 
 r alue cauS' 
 
 Exchange- bour, and with more fixed capital or machinery, 
 *Ie Value, ^{jj f^^i ^hen wages rise, and rise when wages fall ; 
 and those that are produced in nearly the same cir- 
 cumstances, or by the agency of the same quantities 
 of circulating and fixed capital as money, will not be 
 affected by the fluctuations of wages. 
 
 It should, however, be observed that the variations 
 in the exchangeable value of commodities caused by 
 aiue caus ^^"'^^'■'^'^^ ^^^^ wagos, are confined within 
 
 Id'by^FhK- ^^^Y "^""row limits, and can hardly, in any circum- 
 
 eations in Stances, exceed 6 or 7 per cent.* There can be no 
 e Rate of rise of wages without a fall of profits. The produce 
 taed^wUhin land, or rather of the capital which pays no 
 
 larrow li- ^^^^f ^"d which governs the price of all the rest, is 
 pits. divided between the farmer and the labourer, and 
 I the more that is given to the latter, the less will 
 
 j plainly remain for the former. The same is the case 
 
 ( in every other department of industry. Whenever, 
 
 therefore, wages rise, profits necessarily and unavoid- 
 ably fall ; and this fall not only checks the rise that 
 would otherwise take place in the price of the goods 
 produced by less durable capitals than the medium 
 in which price is estimated ; but it also checks the 
 fall that would take place in the price of the goods 
 produced by more durable capitals. To exemplify 
 this, let us suppose a manufacturer employs a capi- 
 tal of L. 10,000, one-half being employed as ma- 
 chinery, and the other half as a circulating capital 
 appropriated to the payment of wages. If profits 
 are at lO per cent., the goods produced by the manu- 
 facturer must sell for L. 11,000. Now, suppose 
 wages to rise one per cent., if the price of the goods 
 were proportionably increased, they would have to 
 sell for L. 11,050. But they would not be propor- 
 tionably increased ; for every rise of wages must 
 lower profits. Suppose, then, that profits are re- 
 duced I per cent., the goods will still sell for L. 1 1 ,000, 
 the increase of L. 50 caused by the rise of wages, 
 being just equivalent to the fall of L. 50 caused by 
 the reduction of profits. Although, therefore, a 
 rise of wages has a necessary tendency to raise 
 the exchangeable value of one class of commodi- 
 ties, and to lower that of another class, the fall 
 of profits, which must inevitably follow every rise 
 of wages, has a different effect, and tends to sink 
 the price of the commodities which the increase 
 in the rate of wages would raise, and to elevate 
 the price of those which the same increase would 
 sink. In the great majority of cases, these opposite 
 effects mutually balance each other ; and prices con- 
 tinue nearly the same, after a fall or rise of wages, 
 as before. 
 
 *' This is not the case with the other great cause 
 of variations in the value of commodities, namely, 
 the increase or diminution in the quantity of labour 
 necessary to produce them. An alteration in the per- 
 manent rate of profits, to any great amount, is the 
 effect of causes which do not operate but in the 
 course of years ; whereas alterations in the quantity 
 of labour necessary to produce commodities are of 
 daily occurrence. Every improvement in machinery. 
 
 in tools, in building, in raising the raw material, saves Exchange- 
 labour, and enables us to produce the commodity to ^^^^ Value, 
 which the improvement is applied with more facility, 
 and, consequently, its value alters. In estimating, 
 then, the causes of the variation in the value of com- 
 modities, although it would be wrong wholly to omit 
 the consideration of the effect produced by a rise or 
 fall of labour, it would be equally incorrect to attach 
 much importance to it ; and, consequently, in the 
 subsequent part of this work, though I shall occa- 
 sionally refer to this cause of variation, I shall con- 
 sider all the great variations which take place in the 
 relative value of commodities to be produced by the 
 greater or less quantity of labour which may be re- 
 quired to produce them." (Ricardo, Principles, &c. 
 
 P- 32-) . ... 
 
 The universally received opmions respecting the Variations 
 
 effect of a rise of wages on the price of commodities in the Rate 
 have obviously originated from arise in the monei/pnce of Money 
 of commodities being almost always confounded with a the^i^"^! 
 rise in their real price. But these two things are total- lar Opinion, 
 ly distinct. Real wages, as we shall afterwards show, 
 depend on the proportion of the produce of industrif tvhich 
 belongs to the labourer. They are high when this pro- 
 portion is large, and they are low when it is small. 
 It is to real wages that we always refer. And it is 
 plain, that every inference respecting the rate of real 
 wages, drawn from fluctuations in the rate of money 
 wages at different periods, must be completely erro- 
 neous, if we have not estimated such money wages 
 with reference to the relative values of money and 
 commodities at the time when the fluctuations took 
 place. The money wages of labour may be raised from 
 Is. to 2s. or 5s. a-day ; and the real wages of labour 
 may, notwithstanding, be all the while diminishing. 
 This has been actually the case in Britain during the 
 last thirty-five years. Money wages were in 1810 
 double what they had been in 1790 ; but, as the ex- 
 changeable value of our currency had, in the inter- 
 val, been more than proportionably reduced, the 
 price of commodities rose still faster than wages ; 
 and the proportion of the produce of industry be- 
 longing to the labourers, or their real wages, was 
 consequently diminished. In such a case, to ascribe 
 the rise of prices to the rise of wages would be evi- 
 dently absurd. In no case, however, will it be found 
 that a rise of real wages will raise the price of all 
 commodities. A large class will remain stationary, 
 after wages rise ; another class will rise a little ; and 
 another class will fall a little. All considerable va- 
 riations in the relative value of commodities are the 
 consequence of variations in the quantity of labour 
 required for their production, and not of variations 
 in the rate at which that labour is paid. 
 
 Colonel Torrens contends, in his late valuable E'^change- 
 work on the Production of Wealth, in opposition to ^^^^^^"^ 
 the theory we have now endeavoured to establish, dities d^s' 
 that after capital has been accumulated, the relative, not depend 
 or exchangeable value of commodities, is no longer, o° 
 as in the early stages of society, determined by the 
 total quantities of labour required to bring them to emp^red in 
 
 their Pro- 
 
 — , duction. 
 
 * Ricardo On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, 3d edit. p. 33. 
 
POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 268 
 
 EKchange- market, but by the quantities of capital expended on 
 able Value, jj^gj^ production. At bottom, however, this theory 
 *'*'"*v*~^ is precisely the same with that which we have just 
 explained. Capital is nothing but immediate labour 
 accumulated ; and to say that the exchangeable va- 
 lue of commodities depends on the quantity of it em- 
 ployed in their production, is only another way of 
 expressing the identical proposition we have illus- 
 trated. Colonel Torrens, however, and those who 
 agree with him, contend that the difference between 
 tiie two theories is not apparent but real. " If," 
 say they, " two capitalists employ equal stocks, the 
 one in paying the wages of masons employed to 
 build a house, and the other in purchasing wine af- 
 ter it has been put into casks, and keeping it until it 
 has become fit for use, then, as the products of equal 
 capitals must always be equal, the house and the 
 wine will be worth precisely the same sum, though 
 it is plain they are produced by very diffisrent quan- 
 tities of labour." This case is very ingeniously put; 
 and it deserves attention from the opportunity which 
 it affords of explaining a point respecting which 
 there has been a great deal of misconception. At 
 first sight, it certainly seems as if both accumulated 
 labour and immediate labour had been employed in 
 the construction of the house, and accumulated la- 
 * bour only in the production of the wine. But, in point 
 of fact, all that is done in either case is, to change the 
 form of equal capitals ; to transmute, if we may so 
 gpeak, a certain quantity of capital, through the me- 
 dium of human hands, iato a house; and to transmute 
 the same quantity of stock, through the medium of na- 
 tural powers, into wine fit for drinking. The capital 
 which is consumed by the mason in food and clothes 
 is plainly not expended on the house, but on himself; 
 and it is his immediate labour only, or the exertion 
 of his physical powers, that forms the only labour 
 really expended on the house. The employer of the 
 mason paid him his wages, not, as Colonel Torrens 
 supposes, in the unreasonable expectation, that he 
 would lay out these wages, in addition to the labour 
 of his hands, on his house, but that he might lay out 
 the wages on himself, and give him his labour as an 
 equivalent for them. The object which the builder 
 of the house had really in view was, to convert a 
 certain amount of capital into a house, and to ac- 
 complish this object, it was necessary that the capi- 
 tal should, in the first place, be exchanged for, or 
 converted into, the immediate labour of masons. In 
 the production of the wine, this species of transmu- 
 tation was not necessary ; the effect which had, in 
 the first case, been produced by the agency of men, 
 being, in the second case, produced by the agency 
 
 of the processes which Nature herself carried on in Estcbaoge- 
 the casks. It is clear, therefore, that no greater abk Value, 
 quantity of labour was required to produce the house "■^^^'^^^ 
 than to produce the wine. Different agents were 
 employed to convert the capital into the finished 
 commodities, but that was all. The quantity of ca- 
 pital which set these agents in motion was, in both 
 cases, exactly the same, and, consequently, both pro- 
 ducts were brought into existence by the same quan- 
 tity of labour. 
 
 The error into which Colonel Torrens has fallen, 
 shows the necessity, in estimating the cost of com- 
 modities, of always separating between the capital, 
 or accumulated labour, expended in the payment of 
 wages, and the immediate labour which that capital 
 employs. The sum of these two really amounts to 
 twice the quantity of labour actually expended on 
 the commodities. The capital given as wages to the 
 labourer is merely the price, or equivalent of his la- 
 bour; and the cost of producing the commodity 
 must, therefore, be determined by the amount of 
 wages, or of immediate labour given for these wages, 
 taken singly and not together. When fixed capital is 
 used, the cost of the commodity depends, as we have 
 already shown, on the quantity of immediate labour, 
 or circulating capital, and of fixed capital, necessa- 
 rily expended on their production. ) 
 
 No one can fail to observe how naturally and 
 beautifully these conclusions harmonise with the 
 principles we endeavoured to establish when treating 
 of the production of wealth. We there showed that 
 no commodity which it did not require some portion 
 of labour to appropriate or produce, could be pos- 
 sessed of exchangeable value, or become wealth ; 
 and that every diminution of the quantity of labour 
 required to produce commodities, lowered their ex- 
 changeable value, and made them more easily ob- 
 tainable by all classes : And the analysis we have 
 now completed shows, that labour is not only essen- 
 tial to the existence of exchangeable value, but that 
 it is in every stage of society, from the nadest to the 
 most improved, the single and only principle which 
 enters into its composition. * 
 
 Sect. V.— Profits and Wages vary inversely — Ac- 
 cumulation of Capital not the Cause of a Fall of 
 Profits — The Increasing Sterility of the Soil shown 
 to be the Chief Cause of a Rise of Wages, and con- 
 sequently of a Fall of Profits — Distinction between 
 Absolute and Proportional Wages. 
 
 Having shown in the previous sections, that no pjofit^ a^ti 
 part of the produce of the capital last applied to the Wages, 
 cultivation of the land, and which regulates the price 
 
 * Sir William Petty had stated, so early as 1667, that the value of commodities is always regulated by 
 the quantity of labour required to produce them ; but there is the same difference between his statements 
 and the analysis and investigations of Mr Ricardo, whom we have followed in this section, that there is 
 between the conjectures of Pythagoras respecting the true system of the world and the demonstrations of 
 Newton. The statement of Sir William Petty is however curious, and we subjoin it : 
 
 " If," says he, " a man can bring to London an ounce of silver out of the earth in Peru in the same 
 time that he can produce a bushel of corn, then one is the natural price of the other ; now, if, by reason of 
 new and more easie mines, a man can get two ounces of silver as easily as formerly he did one, then corn wUl 
 he as cheap at IQs , the bushel as it was before at 5s. cceteris paribus." {Treatise of Taxes and Contributions, 
 ed. 1679; 31.^ 
 
POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 269 
 
 Profiu and of all the rest, goes to the landlord as rent, but that 
 Wages, it jg exclusively divided between the capitalist and 
 
 ' ^-^^ the labourer ; and having also shown that a rise of 
 wages does not raise the value of commodities, it 
 follows necessarily and directly that profits must 
 vary inversely as xmges, that is, they must fall as 
 toages riie, and rise as toages fall. The limits to 
 which this article has already extended, prevent our 
 entering into an investigation of the various circum- 
 stances which determine the market rate of wages. 
 It is sufficient to remark, that it can never, for any 
 considerable period, fall below such a sum as is re- 
 quired to support the existing labourers, and to 
 enable them to continue their race. This is termed 
 by Dr Smith and Mr Ricardo the necessary rate of 
 wages, and forms a limit below which it is quite im- 
 possible they can be permanently reduced. But as 
 the subsistence of the labourer must always princi- 
 pally consist of raw produce ; and as, owing to the 
 necessity of resorting to superior soils as society ad- 
 vances, its price has a constant tendency to rise, the 
 necessary rate of wages must have the same ten- 
 dency. Agreeably to this theory, therefore, we 
 should expect, that in all newly settled countries, 
 and where none but the best soils are cultivated, 
 profits would be high ; and that in all old settled 
 and densely peopled countries, and where soils of a 
 very inferior quality are cultivated, profits would be 
 comparatively low — and such we find to be really 
 the case. 
 
 We might here take leave of this part of our sub- 
 ject ; but as the theory we have deduced from the 
 conclusions in our previous sections is very different 
 from the common one, we shall endeavour to set it 
 in a still clearer point of view. 
 
 Dr Smith was of opinion, that the rate of profit 
 varied inversely as the amount of capital, or, in other 
 occ. words, that it was always greatest where capital was 
 
 lea§t abundant, and lowest where capital was most 
 abundant. He supposed, that, according as capital 
 increased, the principle of competition would stimu- 
 late capitalists to endeavour to encroach on the em- 
 ployments of each other ; and that, in furtherance 
 of their object they would be tempted to offer their 
 goods at a lower price, and to give higher wages to 
 their workmen. {Wealth of Nations, Vol.11, p. 38.) 
 This theory was long universally assented to. It 
 has been espoused by MM. Say, Sismondi, and 
 Storch, by the Marquis Garnier, and, with some 
 Error of tliis slight modifications, by Mr Malthus. But, not- 
 Opimon. withstanding the deference due to these authorities, 
 it is easy to see that the principle of competition 
 could never be productive of a general fall in the 
 rate of profit. Competition will prevent any one 
 individual from obtaining a higher rate of profit 
 tlian his neighbours; but no one will say that com- 
 petition diminishes the productiveness of industry, 
 and it is on this that the rate of profit must always 
 depend. The fall of profits which invariably takes 
 place, as society advances, and population becomes 
 denser, is not owing to competition, but to a very 
 different cause — to a. diminution of the power 
 
 TO EMPLOY CAPITAL WITH ADVANTAGE, resulting 
 
 either from a decrease in the fertility of the soil, which 
 
 Opinion of 
 nr Smith, 
 
 must be taken into cultivation in the progress of 
 ciety, or from an increase of taxation. 
 
 Mr Malthus has demonstrated, that population 
 has a constant tendency not only to equal, but to 
 exceed the means of subsistence. But if the sup- 
 ply of labourers be always increased, in propor- 
 tion to every increase in the demand for their 
 labour, it is plain the mere accumulation of capital 
 could never sink profits by raising wages — that is, by 
 increasing the labourer s share of the commodities pro- 
 duced by him. It is true, a sudden increase of capi- 
 tal would, by causing an jinusually great demand for 
 labourers, raise wages, and lower profits: but such a 
 rise of wages could not be permanent ; for the addi- 
 tional stimulus it would give to the principle of po- 
 pulation would, as Mr Malthus has shown, by pro- 
 portioning the supply of labour to the increased de- 
 mand, infallibly reduce wages to their former level. 
 If, therefore, it were possible always to employ addi- 
 tional capital in the raising of raw produce, in the 
 manufacturing of that raw produce when raised, and 
 in the conveying of the raw and manufactured pro- 
 ducts from place to place, with an equal return, it is 
 evident, supposing taxation to continue invariable, 
 that no conceivable increase of the national capital 
 could occasion the slightest fall in the rate of profit. 
 So long as labour is obtainable at the same rate, and 
 so long as the productive power of that labour is not 
 diminished, so long must the profits of stock continue 
 unaffected. Assuming, then, that the mere increase 
 of capital has no lasting effect on wages, it must ob- 
 viously be the same thing, in so far as the rate of 
 profit is concerned, whether ten or ten thousand mil- 
 lions be employed in the cultivation of the soil, in the 
 manufactures and commerce of this, or any other 
 kingdom ; provided the last million so employed be as 
 productive, or yields as large a return as the first. 
 But such is always the case with the capital employ- 
 ed in manufactures and commerce. The greatest 
 possible amount of capital and labour may be em- 
 ployed in fitting and adapting raw produce to our 
 use, and in transporting it from where it is produced 
 to where it is to be consumed, without a diminished re- 
 turn. If a given quantity of labour will now build a 
 ship of a given burden, or construct a machine of a 
 given power, it is certain that an equal quantity of la- 
 bour will at any future period be able to build a similar 
 ship, or to construct a similar machine ; and it is al- 
 so certain, that although these ships and machines 
 were indefinitely increased, the last would be equally 
 well adapted for every useful purpose, and equally 
 serviceable as the first. The probability, indeed, or 
 rather, we should say, the certainty is, that the last 
 would be much more serviceable than the first. No 
 possible limit can be assigned to the powers and re-, 
 sources of genius, to the improvement of machinery, 
 and of flie skill and industry of the labourer. Future 
 Watts, Arkwrights, and Wedgewoods, will arise ; and 
 the stupendous discoveries of the last and pi*esent 
 age will doubtless be equalled, and perhaps surpass- 
 ed, in those which are to come. It is, therefore, 
 clear to demonstration, that if equal quantities of ca- 
 pital and labour could always raise equal quantities 
 of ravo produce, the utmost additions to the capital 
 
 Profits and 
 Wages. 
 
 The De- 
 creasing 
 Fertility of 
 the Soil 
 Principal 
 Cause of a 
 Fall of Pro- 
 fits. 
 
270 
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 Proats and of the nation could never diminish the capacity to 
 ^™P^oy ^^^^ capital with advantage, or sink the rate 
 ^ of profit. But here, and here only, the bounty of 
 Nature is limited, and she deals out her gifts with a 
 frugal and parsimonious hand. 
 
 Pater ipse colendi 
 
 Haud facilem esse viam voluit 
 
 Equal quantities of capital and labour do not al- 
 ways obtain equal quantities of raw produce. In 
 raising it, man has to contend with constantly in- 
 creasing difficulties. The soil is of limited extent, 
 and of still more limited fertility. In every advanc- 
 ing country, the most fertile lands are, as we have 
 already seen, speedily brought under cultivation, and 
 recourse must then be had to lands of a less degree 
 of fertility, or which yield less produce in return for 
 the same expenditure. It is this limited fertility of 
 the soil that is the real cause of a fall of profits. It is 
 utterly impossible to go on increasing the price of 
 that raw produce, which forms the principal part of 
 the subsistence of the labourer, by taking inferior 
 soils into cultivation, without also increasing his 
 wages. A rise of wages is seldom or never exactly 
 coincident with a rise in the price of necessaries, but 
 they can never be very far separated. The price of 
 the necessaries of life is, in fact, the cost of produc- 
 ing labour. The labourer cannot work if he is not 
 supplied with the means of subsistence. And al- 
 though a certain period of varying extent, ac- 
 cording to the circumstances of the country at the 
 time, must always elapse, when necessaries are rising 
 in price, before wages can be proportionably aug- 
 mented, there can be no question but that, in the 
 end, such an augmentation will be brought about. 
 Now, as rent is nothing but the excess, or the value 
 of the excess, of the produce obtained from the best 
 above that obtained from the very worst soils in cul- 
 tivation, it is plain it does not enter into the cost of 
 production, and can have no influence whatever on 
 prices. Still better to elucidate this fundamen- 
 tal principle, let us suppose that an individual has 
 two loaves on his table; one raised on very fer- 
 tile land, the other on the very worst land in cul- 
 tivation : in the latter, there will be no rent, and it 
 will be wholly divided between wages and profits. 
 We have already shown that it is the cost of produc- 
 ing this loaf which will regulate the price of all other 
 loaves ; and although it will be true that the rent 
 which the loaf raised on the best land will afford will 
 be equal to all the difference between the expence of 
 growing the corn of which it is made, and the corn 
 raised on the worst lands of which the standard loaf 
 is made, yet it is only in consequence of this differ- 
 ence that any rent whatever is paid. Twenty dif- 
 ferent loaves, all selling for the same price, may 
 yield different portions of rent ; but it is one only, 
 that which yields no rent, which regulates the value 
 of the rest, and which is to be considered as the stand- 
 ard. It is demonstrable, therefore, that rent does not 
 enter into price. Wages and profits make up the whole 
 value of every commodity. And, therefore, when 
 wages rise, profits must fall ; and when wages fall, 
 profits must rise. But we have shown that there is 
 never any falling off, but a constant increase, in the 
 
 productiveness of the labour employed in manufactur- Profits and 
 ing and preparing raw produce. And such being Wages, 
 the case, it is demonstrably certain, that the subsist- * 
 ence of the labourer could never be increased in 
 price, and consequently that no additions could ever 
 be made to his necessary wages, were it not for the 
 diminished power of agricultural labour, originating 
 in the inevitable necessity under which we are t^Islc- 
 eA, oi resorting to poorer soils to obtain rata produce 
 as society advances. The constantly decreasing ferti" 
 lity of the soil is, therefore, at bottom, the great and 
 permanent cause of a fall of profits. Profits would 
 never fall if wages were not increased ; and, suppos- 
 ing taxation to continue invariable, wages would 
 never be increased were it not for the decreasing fer- 
 tility of the soil, and the consequent increase of the 
 labour necessary to obtain corn and other raw pro- 
 ducts. 
 
 " With a permanently high price of corn," says 
 Mr Ricardo, " caused by increased labour on the 
 land, wages would be high ; and, as commodities 
 would not rise on account of the rise of wages, pro- 
 fits would necessarily fall. If goods worth L. 1000 
 require at one time labour which cost L. 800, and at 
 another time the price of the same quantity of labour 
 is raised to L. 900, profits will fall from L. 200 to 
 L. 100. Profits would not fall in one trade only, but 
 in all. High wages equally affect the profits of the 
 farmer, the manufacturer, and the merchant. There 
 is no other way of keeping profits up but by keeping 
 wages down."— {On Protection to Agriculture, p. 43.) 
 
 It is necessary, however, to observe, that although Profits de- 
 profits depend on wages, they do not depend on pen^ 
 wages estimated in money, in corn, or any other ^^"P^'*'*'"^* 
 commodity, but on proportional ivages, that is, on 
 the share of the commodities produced by the labour^ 
 er, or of their value, vohich is given to him. It is, in- 
 deed, easy to see that proportional wages may be in- 
 creased, at the same time that wages, if estimated in 
 corn, or any other necessary, would be found to be 
 diminished ; and, in point of fact, such is almost uni- 
 formly found to be the case when recourse is had to 
 poor soils. Suppose that the produce obtained from 
 a given amount of capital applied to the land last 
 taken into cultivation in America yields 100 quar- 
 ters, the labourer will perhaps receive 60 quarters, 
 or 60 per cent, of the produce as his wages. But the 
 same amount of capital, if applied to the land last 
 taken into cultivation in Britain, would not yield 
 more than 50 quarters ; and supposing the labourer 
 to get only 40 quarters, or 20 quarters less than in 
 America, still his proporiio7ial wages, or the wages 
 which determine the rate of profit, would be 80 per 
 cent, or 20 per cent, higher than in America. In the 
 early stages of society, and wherever the best lands 
 only are cultivated, proportional wages are always low, 
 and profits high ; but these low proportional wages are 
 always the mostadvantageousto the labourer, because, 
 as labour is, in such circumstances, extremelyproduc- 
 tive, a small per-centage of its total amount gives a 
 large supply of necessaries and conveniencies. In the 
 advanced stages of society, on the other hand, and 
 wherever lands of a very inferior degree of fertility 
 are cultivated, proportional wages are high and pro- 
 fits low; but owing to the increased difficulty of pro- 
 
POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 271 
 
 Profits and duction, these high proportional wages afford only a 
 , y^^^^. comparatively small supply of necessaries and conve- 
 ^'^i niencies. 
 
 It is therefore on proportional wages that profits 
 must always depend ; and owing to the increasing 
 difficulty of producing corn and other products, such 
 proportional wages always increase as society advan- 
 ces. This natural tendency of profits to fall is occa- 
 sionally checked by improvements in machinery, and 
 by discoveries in agriculture ; but the effects of these 
 improvements are only temporary; for, by stimulat- 
 ing population, they never fail, in the long run, to 
 force recourse to poor soils ; and whenever this is the 
 case, projits must unavoidably fall. 
 
 It has been contended, that both wages and profits 
 are high in America, and that, therefore, the theory 
 which we now have been endeavouring to explain, 
 and which makes profits in every case to depend on 
 wages, must be erroneous. But the remarks we have 
 justraadeshow that this objection is totally unfounded. 
 It is by proportional quantities, and not by absolute 
 quantities, that we are to estimate the effect of wages 
 on profits. The American labourer receives a less 
 proportion of the produce raised by him than the 
 British labourer, and profits are consequently high 
 in America ; but as the American labourer cultivates 
 none but the best soils, and which yield a very large 
 produce, his smaller share of this large aggregate 
 produce gives him a great absolute quantity of ne- 
 cessaries and conveniences, and his condition is, 
 therefore, comparatively prosperous. 
 An Increase We have, throughout this discussion, been suppos- 
 of Taxation ing taxation to be invariable. It is plain, however, 
 Profite^ that as soon as it is increased, it must have one or 
 other of two effects— it must either lower the la- 
 bourer's command over necessaries and luxuries, 
 and degrade his condition, or it must fall on profits. 
 There are limits, however, and those not very diffi- 
 cult to be attained, to the power of the labourers to 
 pay taxes; and whenever these limits have been 
 reached, they must entirely fall on profits. It has, 
 therefore, been most justly and truly observed by 
 Dr Smith, that a heavy taxation has exactly the 
 same effects as an increased barrenness of the soil, 
 and an increased inclemency of the heavens. 
 Errors of "^^^ great wealth and commercial prosperity of 
 Sir J. Child Holland has been confidently appealed to by Sir 
 and Dr Josiah Child, and others, as a convincing proof of 
 Smith with the superior advantages of low profits and interest ; 
 theT**" and seems also to have led Dr Smith to suppose 
 RateofPro-*^^'' ^Qve accumulation of capital could sink 
 fit in Hoi. the rate of profit. But in this instance, there can 
 land. be no doubt that Sir Josiah Child mistook the 
 effect of heavy taxation for the cause of tvealth, and 
 that Dr Smith mistook the same effect for the effect 
 of the accumulation of capital. A country, whose 
 average rate of profit is considerably less than the 
 
 average rate of profit in surrounding countries, Profits and 
 may, notwithstanding, abound in wealth, and be ^^Ses- 
 possessed of immense capital ; but it is the height 
 of error to suppose, that this lowness of profit could 
 have facilitated their accumulation. There is unques- 
 tionable evidence to show that the capital of Holland 
 had been chiefly amassed when profits were compa- 
 ratively high ; and that the subsequent fall of profits 
 was almost entirely a consequence of the oppressiveness 
 of taxation, and the continued increase of the public 
 debt. In 1580, the interest of the public debt of the 
 province of Holland amounted to 117,000 florins, but 
 so rapidly did it increase, that in 1655, during the 
 administration of the famous John de Witt, the states 
 were compelled to reduce the interest of the debt 
 from 5 to 4 per cent. ; and yet, notwithstanding this 
 reduction, it amounted, in I678, to 7,107,128 flo- 
 rins! (Metelerkarap, Statistique de la Hollande, 
 p. 203.) It was this enormous increase of the pub- 
 lic debt, and the proportionable increase of taxation 
 which it occasioned, and not the accumulation of ca- 
 pital, that was the real and sole cause of the fall of 
 profits in Holland, and ultimately of her decline and 
 ruin. Sir William Temple, in his Observations on the 
 United Provinces, mentions that the trade of Hol- 
 land was on the decline in I668, the period when Sir 
 Josiah Child's Treatise was first published ; and he 
 farther states, that the vast capitals of the Dutch 
 merchants had been chiefly accumulated previously 
 to the war in which the Republic had been engaged 
 with Cromwell and Charles II., and when, of course, 
 taxation was much lighter, and the rate of profits 
 much higher than at any subsequent period. » 
 
 High proportional wages and low profits, for they Low Profits 
 are inseparably connected, ought never to be made cause the 
 the subject of complaint, if they occur in the natural Transfer 
 progress of society, under a parsimonious govern- "[jj^j^^^^" 
 ment, and a system of perfectly free intercourse tries, 
 with other countries. But if they are the result of 
 heavy taxation caused by profuse expenditure, or by 
 restrictions which prevent the importation of cheap 
 foreign corn, and which, therefore, force the cultiva- 
 tion of inferior soils at home, they cannot be too 
 strongly condemned. A nation placed in such cir- 
 cumstances must not only advance slowly, when 
 compared with other nations which are enabled to 
 raise their supplies of raw produce from superior soils 
 —the power to accumulate capital must not only be 
 diminished, but a strong temptation must be held 
 out to transfer it to other countries. The love of 
 country — the thousand ties of society and friendship 
 — the ignorance of foreign languages, and the desire 
 to have one's stock employed under their own inspec- 
 tion, will, no doubt, in very many instances, induce 
 capitalists to rest contented with a less rate of profit 
 in their own, than they might realise by investing 
 their funds in other countries. But this love of 
 
 * For an account of the effect of heavy taxes on the industry of Holland, see the second volume of 
 the Traiie de la Richesse de la Hollande, pp. 39 and 179 ; and a memoir On the Means of Redressin<r and 
 Amending the Trade of the Republic, drawn up from information communicated by the best informed'^mer- 
 chants, and published by order of the Stadtholder, William IV. Prince of Orange, in 1751. This memoir 
 was translated into English, and published in London in the same year. 
 
272 
 
 POLITICAL E C (3 N O M Y. 
 
 Consump- country has its Hmlts. The love of gain — the auri 
 tion of sacra fames — is a no less powerful and constantly 
 ^^,^^,^1^ operating principle ; and if capitalists are once assur- 
 ed that their stock can be laid out with equal secu- 
 rity, and with considerably greater advantage, in fo- 
 reign states, an efflux of capital to a greater or less 
 extent will unquestionably take place. 
 
 A manufacturing and commercial country, which 
 has wisely adopted a liberal commercial system, has 
 no reason to be alarmed at the effects of competition 
 in any department of industry. The production of 
 one commodity opens a market for the exchange, 
 that is, for the sale of some other commodity. What 
 a manufacturing and commercial nation has really to 
 fear is, that its average rate of -profit should fall lower 
 than the average rate of profit in the neighbouring 
 countries. If this should be the case, its progress 
 will, in consequence, be retarded ; and it will ulti- 
 mately languish and decline. Neither the skill, in- 
 dustry, and perseverance of artizans, nor the most 
 improved and powerful machinery, can permanently 
 withstand the paralyzing and deadening influence of 
 a comparatively low rate of profit. And such a com- 
 parative reduction, it must never be forgotten, will 
 be constantly produced by a comparatively heavy 
 taxation, and by acting on a factitious and exclusive 
 commercial system ; for, by preventing the importa- 
 tion of cheap foreign corn, we necessarily force the 
 ctiltivation of poor soils, and thus by raising propor- 
 tional wages f sink profits. 
 
 Part IV.— 'Consumptiom of Wealth. 
 Having in the previous sections endeavoured to ex- 
 plain the means by which labour is facilitated, and 
 wealth produced, and to investigate the laws regu- 
 lating its distribution among the various classes of 
 the society, we come now to the third and last divi- 
 sion of the science of Political Economy, or to that 
 which treats of the Consumption of Wealth. 
 
 Defnition of Consumption — Consumption the end of 
 Production — Test of Advantageous and Disadvan- 
 tageous Consumption — Error of Dr Smith's Opi- 
 nions with respect to Unproductive Consumption — 
 Error of those rvho contend, that to facilitate Pro- 
 duction it is necessary to encourage Consumption — 
 Cause of Gluts — Consumption of Government — 
 Co?iclusion. 
 
 Definition We formerly showed, that, by the production of a 
 of Consump- commodity was not meant the production of matter, 
 tion. fQj. that jg exclusively the prerogative of Omnipo- 
 tence, but the giving to matter already in existence 
 such a shape as might fit it for ministering to our 
 wants and enjoyments. In like manner, by con- 
 sumption is not meant the consumption, or annihila- 
 tion of matter, for that is equally impossible as its 
 creation, but merely the consumption or annihilation 
 of those qualities which render commodities useful and 
 desirable. To consume the products of art or indus- 
 try is, therefore, really to deprive the matter of which 
 they consist of the utility, and consequently of the 
 exchangeable value communicated to it by labour. 
 And hence we are not to measure consumption by 
 the magnitude, the weight, or the number of the pro- 
 duets consumed, but exclusively their value. 
 
 Large consumption is the destruction of large value, Consump- 
 however small the bulk in which that value may of 
 happen to be compressed. ^ We alth. 
 
 Consumption, in the sense in which the word is (^^^^"^^f"*^ 
 used by Political Economists, is synonymous with tion the^end 
 use. We produce commodities only that we may beofPsoduc- 
 able to use or consume them. Consumption is the*'*^"- 
 great end and object of all human industry. Pro- 
 duction is merely a means to attain an end. No one 
 would produce were it not that he might afterwards 
 consume. All the products of art and industry are 
 destined to be consumed, or made use of ; and when 
 a commodity is brought into a state fit to be used, 
 if its consumption be deferred, a loss is incurred. 
 All products are intended either to satisfy the imme- 
 diate wants, or to add to the enjoyments of their pro- 
 ducers ; or they are intended to be employed as ca- 
 pital, and made to reproduce a greater value than 
 themselves. In the frst case, by delaying to use 
 them, it is plain we either refuse to satisfy a want, or 
 deny ourselves a gratification it is in our power to 
 obtain ; — and in the second, by delaying to use them, 
 it is equally plain we allow the instruments of pro- 
 duction to lie idle, and lose the profit that might be 
 derived from their employment. 
 
 But, although all commodities are produced only Test of ad- 
 to be consumed, we must not fall into the error of^a'^'ag^' 
 supposing, that all consumption is equally advanta- [^n^"^" 
 geous to the individual^ or the society. If an indi- 
 vidual employs a set of labourers to build him a house 
 the one summer, and to pull it down the ntxt, their 
 labour, or rather the capital he gave them in ex- 
 change for their labour, and which they have con- 
 sumed during the time they were engaged in this fu- 
 tile employment, is evidently destroyed for ever, and 
 absolutely lost both to liiniself and the public ; where- 
 as, had he employed them in the raising of corn, or 
 in the production of any species of valuable produce, 
 he would have obtained commodities of equal, or 
 more than equal, value to the capital he gave them. 
 The value of the return, or the advantage obtained 
 from the consumption, is, therefore, the true and only 
 test of advantageous and disadvantageous, or, as it is 
 more commonly termed, of productive and unproduc- 
 tive consumption. Commodities are consumed pro- 
 ductively when the advantage or benefit accruing in 
 consequence to their possessors, or when the value 
 of the products obtained in their stead exceeds their 
 value ; and they are consumed unproductively when 
 the value of the advantage or benefit, or the value of 
 the new commodities, is less than their value. It is 
 on this balance of consumption and reproduction, and 
 not, as was so long supposed, on the balance of tradev 
 that the prosperity or decay of every nation depends. 
 If, in given periods, the commodities produced in a 
 country exceed those consumed in it, the means of 
 increasing its capital will be provided, and its popu- 
 lation will either increase, or the actual numbers will 
 be better accommodated, or both. If the consump- 
 tion in such periods fully equals the reproduction, no 
 means will be afforded of increasiiag the stock or ca- 
 pital of the nation, and society will be at a stand. 
 And if the consumption exceeds the reproduction, 
 every succeeding period will see the society worse 
 supplied ; its prosperity and population will evideot- 
 12 
 
POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 Hon of 
 Wealtli. 
 
 Consump. ly decline) and pauperism will gradually and progres- 
 ' sively spread itself over the whole country. 
 
 It is impossible, however, to fix on any standard 
 by a comparison with which we may be able to ob- 
 tain even a tolerable approximation to the compara- 
 tive value or advantage of different kinds of consump- 
 tion. This is a point on which the sentiments of no 
 two individuals can ever exactly coincide. The opi- 
 nions of each will always depend more or less on the 
 situation in which he is placed. The rich man will 
 naturally be inclined to give a greater extension to 
 the limits of advantageous consumption than the 
 man of middling fortune ; and the latter than the 
 man who is poor. And it is undoubtedly true that 
 a man's expences ought always to bear some propor- 
 tion to the magnitude of his fortune^ and his condi- 
 tion in society ; and that what might be proper and 
 advantageous expenditure in one case, might be ex- 
 ceedingly improper and disadvantageous in another. 
 It is, therefore, quite impossible to frame any system 
 of rules on the subject of expenditure, which shall 
 be applicable to the case of every individual ; and 
 even if it were practicable, there is no ground to 
 think that the formation of such rules would be of 
 the smallest utility. The state has no right what- 
 eVer to control individual expenditure ; nor, even if 
 it had such a right, could it exercise it without occa- 
 sioning serious injury. The public interest requires 
 that the national capital should, if possible, be con- 
 stantly kept on the increase ; or, which is the same 
 thing, that the consumption of any given period 
 should be made the means of reproducing a greater 
 value. But we have sufficiently proved that this can- 
 not, in any case, or under any circumstances, be the 
 result of a system of surveillance and restriction. 
 Industry and frugality never have been, and never 
 can be, promoted by such means. To render a man 
 industrious, secure him the peaceable enjoyment of 
 the fruits of his industry ; — to wean him from extra- 
 vagance, and to render him frugal and parsimonious, 
 allow him to reap all the disadvantage of the one 
 line of conduct, and all the advantage of the other. 
 The poverty and loss of station which is the ne- 
 cessary and inevitable result of improvident and 
 prodigal consumption, is a sufficient security against 
 its ever becoming injuriously prevalent ; and wher- 
 ever the public burdens are moderate, property 
 protected, and the perfect and uncontrolled free- 
 dom of industry secured, the constant efforts of the 
 great body of the people to rise in the world and 
 improve their condition, will ensure the continued 
 increase of national wealth. It is idle to expect 
 that all unproductive and unprofitable expenditure 
 can ever be avoided ; but the experience of all 
 tolerably well governed states proves, that the 
 amount of the produce of industry productively ex- 
 pended, is always infinitely greater than that which 
 is expended unproductively. 
 
 It was long a prevalent opinion among moralists, 
 that the labour bestowed on the production of lux- 
 uries, and consequently their consumption, was un- 
 productive. But this opinion is bow almost univer- 
 sally abandoned. Unless, indeed, all comforts and 
 enjoyments are to be proscribed, it is impossible to 
 say where necessaries end, and luxuries begin. But 
 
 VOL. VI. PART I. 
 
 if we are to understand by necessaries such products 
 only as are absolutely required for the support of 
 human life, every thing but wild fruits, rooks, and 
 water, must be deemed superfluous ; and in this view 
 of the matter, the peasantry of Ireland, who live only 
 on potatoes and butter-milk, must be considered as 
 contributing much more to the national wealth than 
 the peasantry of Britain ! The mere statement of 
 such a doctrine is sufficient for its refutation. Every 
 thing that stimulates exertion is advantageous. The. 
 mere necessaries of life may be obtained with com- 
 paratively little labour; and those savage and un- 
 civilized hordes, who have no desire to possess its 
 comforts, are proverbially and notoriously indolent 
 and dissipated. To make men industrious — to make 
 them shake off that lethargy which is natural to 
 them, they must be inspired with a taste for the lux- 
 uries and enjoyments of civilized life. When this is 
 done, their artificial wants will become equally cla- 
 morous with those that are strictly necessary, and 
 they will increase exactly as the means of gratifying 
 them increase. Wherever a taste for comforts and 
 conveniencies has been generally diffused, the wants 
 and desires of man become altogether unlimited. 
 The gratification of one leads directly to the forma- 
 tion of another. In highly civilized societies, new 
 products and new modes of enjoyment are constant- 
 ly presenting themselves as motives to exertion, and 
 as means of rewarding it. Perseverance is, in conse- 
 quence, given to all the operations of industry ; and 
 idleness, and its attendant train of evils, almost en- 
 tirely disappear. *' What," asks Dr Paley, " can be 
 less necessary, or less connected with the sustenta- 
 tion of human life, than the whole produce of the 
 silk, lace, and plate manufactory ? Yet what multi- 
 tudes labour in the different branches of these arts \ 
 What can be imagined more capricious than the 
 fondness for tobacco and snuff? Yet how many va- 
 rious occupations, and how many thousands in each, 
 are set at work in administering to this frivolous gra- 
 tification !" It is the stimulus which the desire to 
 possess these articles of luxury gives to industry that 
 renders their introduction advantageous. The earth 
 is capable of furnishing food adequate for the sup- 
 port of a much greater portion of human beings than 
 can be employed in its cultivation. But those who are 
 in possession of the soil will not part with their pro- 
 duce for nothing; or rather, they will not raise at all 
 what they can neither use themselves nor exchange 
 for what they want. As soon, however, as a taste 
 for conveniencies and luxuries has been introduced, 
 the occupiers of the ground raise from it the utmost 
 that it can be made to produce, and exchange the 
 surplus for such conveniencies and gratifications as 
 they are desirous of obtaining; and, in consequence, 
 the producers of these articles, though they have 
 neither property in the soil, nor any concern in its 
 cultivation, are regularly and liberally supplied with 
 its produce. In this way, the quantity of necessaries, 
 as well as of useful and agreeable products, is vastly 
 increased by the introduction of a taste for luxuries ; 
 and the population are, in consequence, not only 
 better provided for, but their numbers are propor- 
 tionably and greatly augmented. 
 It is plain, therefore, that the consumption of lux- 
 M m 
 
 273 
 
 Consump- 
 tion of 
 Wealth. 
 
274 
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 ('oneump- 
 tion of 
 Wealth. 
 
 Dr Smith's 
 Criterion of 
 Productive 
 and Unpro- 
 ductive 
 Consump- 
 tion. 
 
 uries cannot, provided it be confined within proper 
 limits, be justly considered as either disadvantageous 
 or unproductive. If, indeed, a man were to consume 
 more luxuries than his labour or his fortune enabled 
 him to command, his consumption would be disad- 
 vantageous. But it is plain, the same thing would 
 equally have happened had he consumed a greater 
 quantity of necessaries than he could afford. The 
 mischief does not consist in the species of articles 
 consumed, but in the excess of their value over the 
 means of purchasing them possessed by the consum- 
 ers. This, however, is a fault which ought always to 
 be left to be corrected by the self-interest of those 
 concerned. The poverty and degradation caused by 
 indulging in unproductive consumption is a natural 
 and sufficient guarantee against its ever being car- 
 ried to an injurious extent. To attempt to lessen 
 unproductive consumption by proscribing luxury, 
 is really the same thing as to attempt to enrich a 
 country by taking away some of the most powerful 
 motives to production. 
 
 Dr Smith has given another criterion of produc- 
 tive and unproductive consumption ; but his opinions 
 on this subject, though exceedingly ingenious, and 
 supported with his usual ability, appear to rest on 
 no solid foundation. He divides society into two 
 great classes. The first consists of those who fix, or, 
 as he terms it, " realize their labour in some parti- 
 cular subject, or vendible commodity, which lasts for 
 some time at least after that labour is past ;" the se- 
 cond, of those whose labour leaves nothing in exist- 
 ence after the moment of exertion, but perishes in 
 the act of performance. The former are said by Dr 
 Smith to be productive, the latter unproductive, la- 
 bourers. Not that, in making this distinction, Dr 
 Smith means to undervalue the services performed 
 by the unproductive class, or to deny that they are 
 often of the highest utility ; for he admits that such 
 is frequently the case : but he contends, that these 
 services, however useful, do not augment the wealth 
 of the country ; and, consequently, that the commo- 
 dities consumed by this class are unproductively 
 consumed, and have a tendency to impoverish, not 
 to enrich, the society. But to avoid the chance of 
 misrepresentation, we shall give Dr Smith's opinions 
 in his own words. 
 
 " There is one sort of labour," says he, " which 
 adds to the value of the subject upon which it is be- 
 stowed ; there is another which has no such effect. 
 The former, as it produces a value, may be called 
 productive; the latter unproductive labour. Thus 
 the labour of a manufacturer adds, generally, to the 
 value of the materials which he works upon, that of 
 liis own maintenance, and of his master's profit. The 
 labour of a menial servant, on the contrary, adds to 
 the value of nothing. Though the manufacturer has 
 his wages advanced to him by his master, he, in re- 
 ality, costs him no expence, the value of those wages 
 being generally restored, together with a profit, in 
 the improved value of the subject upon which his 
 labour is bestowed. But the maintenance of a me- 
 nial servant never is restored. A man grows rich by 
 employing a multitude of manufacturers ; he grows 
 poor by maintaining a multitude of menial servants. 
 The labo ur of the latter, however, has its value and 
 
 IQ 
 
 deserves its reward as well as that of the former 
 But the labour of the manufacturers fixes and rea- 
 
 Consump- 
 tion of 
 
 . — - _ Wealth. 
 
 lizes itself in some particular subject, or vendible „^ 
 commodity, which lasts for some time at least after 
 that labour is past. It is, as it were, a certain quan- 
 tity of labour stocked and stored up to be employed, 
 if necessary, upon some other occasion. That sub- 
 ject, or, what is the same thing, the price of that 
 subject, can afterwards, if necessary, put into mo- 
 tion a quantity of labour equal to that which had 
 originally produced it. The labour of the menial 
 servant, on the contrary, does not fix or realize itself 
 in any particular subject or vendible commodity. 
 His services generally perish in the very instant of 
 their performance, and seldom leave any trace or 
 value behind them for which an equal quantity of 
 service could afterwards be procured. 
 
 " The labour of some of the most respectable 
 orders in the society is like that of menial ser- 
 vants, unproductive of any value, and does not fix 
 or realize itself in any permanent subject or ven- 
 dible commodity, which endures after that la- 
 bour is past, and for which an equal quantity of 
 labour could afterwards be procured. The sove- 
 reign, for example, with all the officers both of jus- 
 tice and war who serve under him, the whole army 
 and navy, are unproductive labourers. They are 
 the servants of the public, and are maintained by a 
 part of the annual produce of the industry of other 
 people. Their service, how honourable, how neces- 
 sary, or how useful soever, produces nothing for 
 which an equal quantity of service can afterwards 
 be procured. The protection, security, and defence 
 of the commonwealth, the effect of their labour this 
 year, will not purchase its protection, security, and 
 defence for the year to come. In the same class 
 must be ranked some both of the greatest and most 
 important, and some of the most frivolous pro- 
 fessions : churchmen, lawyers, physicians, men of 
 letters of all kinds; players, buffoons, musicians, 
 opera- singers, opera-dancers, &c. The labour 
 of the meanest of these has a certain value, re- 
 gulated by the very same principles which regu-^ 
 late that of every other sort of labour ; and that of 
 the noblest and most useful produces nothing which 
 could afterwards purchase or procure an equal quan- 
 tity of labour. Like the declamation of the actor, 
 the harangue of the orator, or the tune of the mu- 
 sician, the work of all of them perishes in the very 
 instant of its production." {Wealth of Nations, II. 
 
 ^ Such are the opinions of Dr Smith, and it will Dr Smith's 
 not, we think, be very difficult to show the fallacy ofD«^^^^^^^ 
 the distinction he has endeavoured to establish be- Dig-^ent 
 tween the labour, and consequently also the con- classes ot 
 sumption, of the different classes of society. To be- Society 
 gin with the case of the menial servant :— Dr Smith jJSiL^ 
 says, that his labour is unproductive, because it is " 
 not realized in a vendible commodity, while the la- 
 bour of the manufacturer is productive, because it is 
 so realized. But of what, may we ask, is the la- 
 hour of the manufacturer really productive ? Does 
 it not consist exclusively of comforts and conveni- 
 encies required for the use and accommodation of 
 society ? The manufacturer is not a producer of 
 
POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 27^ 
 
 Wealth. 
 
 Consump- matter, but of utiliti/ only. And is it not obvious 
 tion of jIj^j jjjg labour of the menial servant is also produc- 
 tive of utility ? If, for example, the labour expend- 
 ed in converting the wool of the sheep into a coat 
 be, as it unquestionably is, productive, then surely 
 the labour expended in cleaning and brushing the 
 coat, and rendering it fit to be worn, must be so too. 
 It is universally allowed, that the labour of the hus- 
 bandman in raising corn, beef, and other articles of 
 provision, is productive ; but if so, why is the la- 
 bour of the menial servant who performs the neces- 
 sary and indispensable task of preparing and dress- 
 ing these articles, and fitting them to be used, to be 
 stigmatized as unproductive ? It is clear to demon- 
 sfration, that there is no difference whatever be- 
 tween the two species of industry — that they are 
 either both productive, or both unproductive. To 
 produce a fire, is it not just as necessary that coals 
 should be carried from the cellar to the grate, as that 
 they should be carried from the bottom of the mine to 
 the surface of the earth ? And if it is said, that the 
 miner is a productive labourer, must we not also 
 say the same of the servant, who is employed to 
 make and mend the fire ? The whole of Dr Smith's 
 reasoning proceeds on a false hypothesis. He has 
 made a- distinction where there is none, and where 
 there can be none. The end of all human exertion 
 is the same — that is, to increase the sum of necessa- 
 ries, comforts, and enjoyments ; and it must be left 
 to the judgment of every man to determine what 
 proportion of these comforts he will have in the 
 shape of menial services, and what in the shape of 
 material products. It is an error to suppose that a 
 man is impoverished by maintaining menial servants, 
 any more than by indulging in any other species of 
 expence. It is true he will be ruined if he keeps 
 more servants than he has occasion for, or than he 
 can afford to pay ; but his ruin would be equally 
 Certain were he to purchase an excess of food or 
 clothes, or to employ more workmen in any branch 
 of manufacture than are required to carry it on, or 
 than his capital could employ. To keep two plough- 
 men when one only might suffice, is just as improvi- 
 dent and wasteful expenditure as it is to keep two 
 footmen to do the business of one. // is in the ex- 
 travagant quantity of the commodities we consume 
 or of the labour ive employ, and not in the particular 
 species of commodities or labour, that ive must seek for 
 the causes of impoverishment. 
 
 The same reasoning applies to all the other cases 
 mentioned by Dr Smith. Take, for example, the 
 case of the physician. Dr Smith tells us that he is 
 an unproductive labourer, because he does not di- 
 rectly produce something that has exchangeable 
 value. But if he does the same thing indirectly, 
 what is the difference ? If the exertions of the 
 physician are conducive to health, and if, as is un- 
 doubtedly the case, he enables others to produce 
 more than they could do without his assistance, then 
 it is plain he is indirectly, at least, if not directly, a 
 productive labourer. Dr Smith makes no scruple 
 about admitting the just title of the workman em- 
 ployed to repair a steam-engine to be enrolled in 
 the productive class ; and yet he wo.uld place a phy- 
 sician, who had been instrumental in saving the life 
 
 of an Arkwright or a Watt, among those that are Consump- 
 unproductive! It is impossible that these incon- ^y°",?^ 
 sistencies and contradictions could have occurred to J^^^ . 
 Dr Smith ; and the errors into which he has fallen in 
 treating this important branch of the science, shows 
 in the strongest manner the absolute necessity of 
 advancing with extreme caution, and of subjecting 
 every theory, how plausible and ingenious soever it 
 may appear when first stated, to a severe and pa- 
 tient examination. 
 
 The amusements furnished by players, singers, 
 and so forth, come under the description of luxuries, 
 and have precisely the same effect on the public 
 wealth as the introduction of a taste for tobacco, 
 tea, or other superfluities. They create new wants, 
 and by so doing, stimulate our industry to procure 
 the means of gratifying them. They are really, 
 therefore, a means of production ; and while they 
 furnish us with elegant and amusing recreation, they 
 certainly add to the mass of useful material products. 
 
 The productiveness of the higher class of func- Public 
 tionaries mentioned by Dr Smith is still more ob- ^^unctiona- 
 vious. So far, indeed, from being unproductive, tive La-*^" ' 
 they are, when they discharge properly the duties ofbourejs. 
 their high station, the most productive labourers in 
 a state. Dr Smith says, that the results of their 
 service, that is, to use his own words, " the pro- 
 tection, security, and defence of the commonwealth 
 any one year, will not purchase its protection, secu- 
 rity, and defence for the year to come." But this is 
 plainly an error. We do not say that the protection 
 and security afforded by good government is directly 
 a cause of wealth ; but it is plain that without this 
 security and protection, the productive powers of 
 industry could not have been called into action. 
 Dr Smith would allow that the material pro* 
 ducts produced by the society one year, were to 
 form the means of producing its supplies of neces- 
 saries, conveniencies, and enjoyments during the fol- 
 lowing year. But without the security and protec- 
 tion afforded by government, these products would 
 either have not existed at all, or their quantity 
 would have been very greatly diminished. How, 
 then, is it possible to deny that those whose labour 
 is necessary to afford this security are productively 
 employed ? Take the case of the labourers em- 
 ployed to construct fences ; no one ever presumed 
 to doubt that their labour is productive ; and yet 
 they do not contribute directly to the production of 
 corn or of any other valuable product* The object 
 of their industry is to give protection and security ; 
 to guard the fields that have been fertilized and plant- 
 ed by the husbandman from depredation; and to en- 
 able him to prosecute his employments without hav- 
 ing his attention distracted by the care of watching. 
 But it" the security and protection afforded by the 
 hedger and ditcher justly entitle them to be classed 
 among those who contribute to enrich their country, 
 on what principle can we reckon those public ser- 
 vants whose exertions protect property in the mass, 
 and render every portion of it secure against hostile 
 aggression, and the attacks of thieves and plunder- 
 ers, be said to be unproductive ? If the labourers 
 who protect a single corn field from the neighbour- 
 ing crows and cattle be productive, then surely the 
 
216 
 
 POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
 
 Consump- 
 tion of 
 Wealth. 
 
 Consump- 
 tion ought 
 not to be 
 encouraged 
 for the sake 
 of stimulat- 
 ing Produc- 
 tion. 
 
 judges and magistrates, the soldiers and sailors, who 
 protect every field in the empire, and to whom it is 
 owing that every class of inhabitants feel secure in 
 the enjoyment of their property, rights, and privi- 
 leges, have a right to be classed among those whose 
 services are supereminently productive. 
 
 That much wealth has been unproductively con- 
 sumed by the servants of the public, both in this and 
 other countries, it is impossible to doubt. But we 
 are not to argue from the abuses extrinsic to a bene- 
 ficial institution against the institution itself. If the 
 public pay their servants excessive salaries, or em- 
 ploy a greater number than is required for the pur- 
 poses of good government and security, it is their 
 own fault. Their conduct is quite the same as that 
 of a manufacturer who should pay his labourers 
 compar-atively high wages, and employ more of them 
 than he had occasion for. But, although a state or 
 an individual may act in this foolish and extrava- 
 gant manner, it would obviously be the extreme of 
 folly and absurdity to conclude from thence that all 
 public servants and all manufacturing labourers are 
 unproductive ! If the establishments which provide 
 security and protection be formed on an extravagant 
 scale, if we have more judges or magistrates, more 
 soldiers or sailors, than are necessary, or if we pay 
 them larger salaries than would suffice to procure 
 the services of others, let their numbers and their 
 salaries be reduced. The excess, if there be any, is 
 not a fault inherent in the nature of such establish- 
 ments, but results entirely from the extravagant 
 scale on which they have been arranged. 
 
 But, in showing that Dr Smith was mistaken in 
 considering the consumption of menial servants, and 
 of lawyers, physicians, and public functionaries un- 
 productive, we must beware of falling into the op- 
 posite extreme, and of countenancing the erroneous 
 and infinitely more dangerous doctrine of those who 
 contend that consumption, even when most unpro- 
 ductive, ought to be encouraged as a means of sti- 
 mulating production, and of increasing the demand 
 for labour ! The consumption of the classes men- 
 tioned by Dr Smith is advantageous, because they 
 render services in return, which those who em- 
 ploy them, and who are the only proper judges in 
 such a case, consider to be of greater value than the 
 wages they pay them. But the case would be to- 
 tally different, if the Government and those who 
 employ labourers, were to do so, not in order to pro- 
 fit by their services, but to stimulate production by 
 their consumption ! It is a fallacy and an absurdity 
 to suppose that production can ever be encouraged 
 by a wasteful consumption of the products of indus- 
 try. A man is stimulated to produce when he finds 
 a ready market for the produce of his labour, that is, 
 when he can readily exchange them for other pro- 
 ducts. And hence the true and only encouragement 
 of industry consists, not in the increase of -wasteful 
 and improvident consumption, but in the increase of 
 production. Every new product necessarily forms a 
 new equivalent, or a new means of purchasing some 
 otiier product. It must always be remembered, that 
 the mere existence of a demand, how intense soever 
 it may be, cannot of itself be a means of encouraging 
 production. To become a real demander, a man 
 
 must not only have the rvill, but he must also have the 
 power, to purchase the commodity he wishes to pos- 
 sess ; or, in other words, he must be able to offer an 
 equivalent for it. There never has been, nor is it in 
 the nature of things that there ever can be, any limits 
 to our wish to possess the products of art and indus- 
 try. It is the power to give effect to our wishes, or to 
 furnish other products in exchange for those we are 
 desirous of obtaining, that is the real and only desi- 
 deratum. The more, therefore, that this power is 
 increased, that is, the more industrious every indivi- 
 dual becomes, his means of offering equivalents for 
 the products of others will be so much the more in- 
 creased, and the market will be rendered so much 
 the more extensive. 
 
 Mr Sismondi and Mr Malthus have, indeed, con- 
 tended, in opposition to this doctrine, that the pro- 
 ductiveness of industry may really be carried to ex- 
 cess ; and that, in a country where there are great 
 facilities of production, a large unproductive con- 
 sumption is necessary to stimulate industry, and 
 prevent the overloading of the market. But if we 
 attend to the motives which cause men to engage 
 in any branch of industry, we shall be satisfied 
 that the apprehensions of these writers are un- 
 founded, and that the utmost facility of production 
 can never be productive of a permanent glut of the 
 market, or require to be counteracted by means of 
 unproductive expenditure. In exerting his pro- 
 ductive powers, every man's object is either di- 
 rectly to consume the produce of his labour himself, 
 or to exchange it for such commodities as he wishes 
 to obtain from others : If he does the first — if he 
 directly consumes the produce of his industiy, there 
 is an end of the matter, and it is evident that the 
 multiplication of such produce to infinity could 
 never occasion a glut : If he does the second — if he 
 bi'ings the produce of his industry to market, and 
 offers it in exchange for other commodities, then, and 
 then only, there may be glut ; but why ? Not cer- 
 tainly because there has been any excess of produc- 
 tion, but because the producers have not properly 
 adapted their means to their ends. They wanted^ 
 for example, to obtain silks, and they offered cottons 
 in exchange for them ; the proprietors of the silks 
 were, however, already sufficiently supplied with 
 cottons, and they wanted broad cloths. The cause 
 of the glut is, therefore, obvious. It consists not in 
 over-production, but in the production of cottons, 
 which were not wanted, instead of broad cloths, 
 which were wanted. Let this error be rectified, 
 and the glut will disappear. Even supposing the 
 proprietors of silks to be not only supplied with 
 cottons, but with cloth and every other commo- 
 dity that the demanders can produce, it would 
 not invalidate the principle for which we are con- 
 tending. If those who want silks cannot ob- 
 tain them from those who have them, by means 
 of an exchange, they have an obvious resource at 
 hand — let them cease to produce the commodities 
 which they do not want, and directly produce the 
 silks which they da want, or substitutes for them. It 
 is plain, therefore, that the utmost facility of pro- 
 duction can never be a means of overloading the 
 market. Too much of one commodity may occa- 
 4 
 
 Consump- 
 tion of 
 Wealth. 
 
 Unproduc- 
 tive Con- 
 sumption 
 not neces- 
 sary to pre- 
 vent Gluts, 
 
POLITICAL EC O N O MY. 
 
 277 
 
 ('onsuvnp 
 tion ot 
 Wealth. 
 
 • sionally be produced ; but it is quite impossible that 
 there can be too great a supply of every species of 
 commodities. For every excess there must be a 
 corresponding deficiency. The fault is not in pro- 
 ducing too much, but in producing commodities 
 which do not suit the tastes of those with whom we 
 wish to exchange them, or which we cannot ourselves 
 consume. If we attend to these two grand requi- 
 sites, we may increase the power of production a 
 thousand or a million of times, and we shall be as 
 free of all excess as if we diminished it in the same 
 proportion. Unproductive consumption is not, 
 therefore, necessary to prevent the overloading of 
 the market ; and to maintain that it contributes to 
 increase national wealth in any other way, is really 
 just the same thing as to maintain that wealth would 
 be increased by throwing a portion of it into the sea 
 or the fire. * 
 
 Montesqvxieu has said, and the same sentiment 
 has been expressed in a thousand different shapes, 
 " Si les riches ne depensent pas beaucoup les pauvres 
 tnourroni defaim." (X,iv. VII. chap. 4.) Montes- 
 quieu was betrayed into this error, from his being 
 unacquainted with the nature and functions of capi- 
 tal. The profusion of the rich, far from being of 
 any advantage to the poor, is really one of the great- 
 est calamities that can befall them. It is impossi- 
 ble that the demand for labour can be increased 
 without an increase of capital. When the parsimo- 
 nious principle predominates, capital increases, and 
 as capital increases, the demand for labour is in- 
 ci'eased, the existing inhabitants are better provided 
 for, and their numbers are increased ; on the con- 
 trary, wherever profusion and wasteful expenditure 
 predominates, capital is diminished, the inhabitants 
 are daily worse and worse provided for, and idle- 
 ness, pauperism, and disease prevail. Besides, it 
 must be remembered, that what is annually saved, 
 is a§ regularly consumed as what is annually spent. 
 The only difference is, that it is consumed in a differ- 
 ent manner — consumed by those who render a great- 
 
 er value in return, instead of being consumed by Consump 
 such as render no real value whatever, f 
 
 By what a frugal man annually saves," says Dr ^^'^^^^^ 
 Smith, " he not only affords maintenance to an ad- 
 ditional number of labourers for that or the ensuing 
 year, but, like the founder of a public workhouse, 
 he establishes, as it were, a perpetual fund for tlie 
 maintenance of an equal number in all time to 
 come. The perpetual allotment and destination of 
 this fund, indeed, is not always guarded by any po- 
 sitive law, by any trust-right, or deed of mortmain. 
 It is always guarded, however, by a very powerful 
 principle, the plain and evident interest of every in- - 
 dividual to whom any share of it shall ever belong. 
 No part of it can afterwards be employed to main- 
 tain any but productive hands, without an evident 
 loss to the person who thus perverts it from its pro- 
 per destination." {Wealth of Nations, II. p. 14.) 
 
 We have already stated the impossibility of laying 
 down any general rules on the subject of individual 
 consumption. What the public is really interested in 
 is, that it should never be carried on for the absurd 
 purpose of occasioning a demand for the products of 
 industry, and that it should be less than the repro- 
 duction ; or, in other words, that the capital of the 
 country should be kept constantly on the increase. 
 But there is no instance of any people having ever 
 missed an opportunity to save and accumulate. And 
 in all tolerably well governed countries the principle 
 of accumulation in individuals has always had a mark- 
 ed ascendancy over the principle of expence, and the 
 national capital, and, consequently, the riches of the 
 country, have been constantly augmented. 
 
 But this is seldom the case with the consumption Consump- 
 carried on by governments and their servants. In- °^ 
 dividuals are fully sensible of the value of the arti- 
 eles they expend. In the vast majority of instances, 
 they are the direct result of their industry, persever- 
 ance, and economy ; and they will not consume 
 them, unless to obtain an equivalent advantage. But 
 such is not the situation of governments. They con- 
 
 Say was the first who showed, in a satisfactory manner, that effective demand depends upon pro* 
 duction. (See his chapter De Debouches.) But the principles from which his conclusions are drawn had 
 been stated so early as 1752, in a tract of Dean Tucker's, entitled Queries on the late Naturalization Bill. 
 As this tract is now become of rare occurrence, we shall subjoin the queries referred to. 
 
 " Whether it is possible, in the nature of things, for all trades and professions to he overstocked? And 
 whether, if you were to remove any proportional number from each calling, the remainder would not 
 have the same grounds of complaint they had before ? 
 
 " Whether, in fact, any tradesman thinks there are too many of other occupations to become his custom- 
 ers ; though narrow selfish views lead him to wish there were fewer of his own trade } 
 
 " If a particular trade be at any time overstocked, will not the disease cure itself? That is, will not 
 some persons take to other trades, and fewer young people be bred up to that which is least profitable ? 
 And whether any other remedy but this is not, in fact, curing one transient disorder by bringing on many- 
 •which are dangerous, and mil grow inveterate? 
 
 " Whether it is not an infallible maxim, that one man's labour creates employment 
 FOR another.^" (p. 13.) 
 
 For a farther demonstration of the same principle, see Mr Mill's Commerce Defended, p. 80. 
 
 t For a farther and very able discussion of the opinion of Montesquieu, see the 7th chapter of the 
 Commentaire sur l' Esprit des Loix of M, Destutt- Tracy, and Tom. IV. p. 383, of the Elemens d'ldeolone 
 of the same author. ^ 
 
^78 POLITICAL 
 
 Consump. sume the produce of the labour of others, not of their 
 tion of ; and this circumstance prevents them from be- 
 
 Weatlth. much interested in its profitable expenditure, 
 
 and so much alive to the injurious consequences of ex- 
 travagant and wasteful expenditure as their subjects. 
 But economy on the part of government, though 
 more difficult to be obtained, is of infinitely greater 
 importance than economy on the part of any indivi- 
 dual. Should a private gentleman think of acting 
 on the principle that profusion is a virtue, and that 
 industry may be encouraged by increasing unpro- 
 fitable consumption, he will most certainly be ruin- 
 ed ; his ruin, however, will only be directly in- 
 jurious to the individuals in his own employ- 
 ment, and will have but a very slight indirect ef- 
 fect on others. But similar conduct on the part 
 of government would most probably be productive 
 either of revolution, or of national poverty and de- 
 gradation. If, then, it is most desirable that indi- 
 viduals should have a correct knowledge of their real 
 interest in the consumption of commodities; how 
 much more so must it be that government should 
 possess that knowledge? Economy and frugality 
 are virtues in a private station ; but in a public sta- 
 tion their influence upon national happiness is so 
 vast, that they are not only the first of virtues, but 
 the most pressing of duties. 
 Opinion of '< Si les depenses publiques," M. Say observes, 
 M. Say. « afFectent la sorame des richesses precisement de la 
 meme maniere que les depenses privees, les meraes 
 principes d'economie doivent presider aux unes et 
 aux autres. // n'y a pas plus deux sortes d'economie, 
 qu'il n'y a deux sortes de probite, deux sortes de morate. 
 Si un gouvernement comme un particulier font des 
 consommations desquelles il doive resulter une pro- 
 duction de valeur superieure a la valeur consomme, 
 lis exercent une industrie productive ; si la valeur 
 consomme n'a laisse aucun produit, c'est une valeur 
 perdue pour I'une comme pour I'autre, mais qui en 
 se dissipant, a fort bien pu rendre le service qu'on 
 en attendait. Les munitions de guerre et de bouche, 
 le tems et les travaux de fonctionnaires civils et mi- 
 litaires qui ont servi a la defense de I'etat, n'existent 
 plus, quoique ayant ete parfaitement bien employes, 
 il en est des ces choses comme de denr^es et des ser- 
 vices qu'une famille a consommes pour son usage. 
 
 ECONOMY. 
 
 Cet emploi n'a presentee aucun avantage autre que Consump 
 la satisfaction d'un besoin ; si le besoin n'existoit 
 pas, la consommation, la depense, n'ont plus ete , ^ 
 qu'un mal sans compensation, II en est de meme des 
 consommations de I'etat ; — consommer pour consom- 
 mer, depenser par systeme, reclamer une service pour 
 I'avantage de lui accorder une salaire, anneantir une 
 chose pour avoir occasion de la payer est une extrava- 
 gance de la part d'un gouvernement comme de la 
 part d'un particulier, dans un petit etat comme dans 
 un grand, dans une republique comme dans un mo- 
 narchic, Un gouvernement dissipateur est meme 
 bien plus coupable qu'un pai-ticulier : celui ci con- 
 some les produits qui lui appartienment, tandis 
 qu'un gouvernement n'est pas proprietaire : il n'est 
 qu'administrateur de la fortune publique." (Tome 
 II. p. 268.) 
 
 We have now shown how labour may be rendered Conclusion, 
 most productive of wealth — ^how that wealth is distri- 
 buted among the various classes of the society — and 
 how it may be most advantageously consumed. We 
 have shown the close and indissoluble connection sub- 
 sisting between private and public opulence, and that 
 whatever has any tendency to increase the former, 
 must, to the same extent, increase the latter ; — and 
 we have shown that security of propertv, free- 
 dom OF INDUSTRY, AKD MODERATION IN THE PUB- 
 
 i,ic EXPENDITURE, are the only, as they arethe certain, 
 means by which the various powers and resources of 
 human talent and ingenuity can be called into action, 
 and society made continually to advance in the ca- 
 reer of wealth and civilization. Every increase of 
 security or of freedom is a benefit, as every diminu- 
 tion, whether of the one or the other, is an evil. It 
 is by the spontaneous and vmconstrained efforts of in- 
 dividuals to improve their condition and to rise in the 
 world, and by these efforts only, that nations become 
 rich and powerful. The labour and the savings of 
 individuals are at once the source and the measure 
 of national opulence and public prosperity. They 
 may be compared to the drops of dew which invigo- 
 rate and mature all vegetable nature. None of them 
 has singly any perceptible influence ; but v;e owe the 
 foliage of summer and the fruits of autumn to their 
 combined action. (s, s.) 
 
279 
 
 POLYNESIA, 
 
 A NAME given by several early writers on geo- 
 graphy, but first, we believe, by De Barros, to the 
 numerous islands scattered over the Pacific Ocean, 
 or, as it was usually called, the Great South Sea. It 
 is the name which is now applied by most modern 
 geographers to the sixth great division of the earth's 
 surface ; a division which will probably appear, on 
 examination, less arbitrary than some others ; for 
 whether we consider it in a political, physical, or 
 moral point of view, the separation from America on 
 the one hand, and from Australasia and the Asiatic 
 Islands on the other, is marked by strong and dis- 
 tinct features. A considerable portion of the two 
 last, for instance, have, ages ago, been invaded and 
 taken possession of by foreigners, and many of them 
 more recently been colonized by Europeans. No 
 colonies have yet been planted in Polynesia, with the 
 exception of that on one of the Ladrone Islands by 
 Spain ; numbers of its islands have never yet been 
 visited ; and the rest only occasionally by passing na- 
 vigators, or a few of the most inviting by some mis- 
 sionaries, with the sole object of the conversion of the 
 natives to Christianity. The inhabitants have no poli- 
 tical connection with any of the other divisions of 
 the earth, and little or none exists between any two 
 of its groups or separate islands, each being govern- 
 ed by its own chiefs, and confining its friendships or 
 hostilities to some neighbouring group or island. 
 
 Physically considered, the line of separation is al- 
 most as distinct as their political seclusion. If a line 
 be drawn in a south-easterly direction, along the 
 eastern extremity of the Philippine Islands, Min- 
 danao, Papua or New Guinea, New Ireland, and So- 
 lomon's Archipelago, and from thence continued 
 southerly along the eastern shores of the New He- 
 brides and New Zealand, this line will mark with suf- 
 ficient precision the separation of the Asiatic Islands 
 (mostly to the northward of the equator) and Aus- 
 tralasia (to the southward of the equator) from Poly- 
 nesia. Besides, the geological structure of the is- 
 lands which constitute the last mentioned divisions 
 are, generally speaking, essentially different ; consist- 
 ing chiefly of lofty mountains, of primary or second- 
 ary formation, partaking of the same structure as 
 those on the continent of Asia, with which some of 
 them, indeed, may probably have once been con- 
 nected, their rugged sides presenting, as it were, a 
 broken barrier to the Great Pacific ; whereas Poly- 
 nesia exhibits a series of low, flat islands, scarcely 
 rising above the level of the sea, which, with the ex- 
 ception of a few of the larger groups of volcanic for- 
 mation, are the labours of minute sea-animals, and 
 are usually distinguished by the name of Coral Is- 
 lands or Reefs. 
 
 In a moral point of view, the distinctive character 
 of the Polynesians is as strongly marked as the phy- 
 sical structure of the islands which they inhabit. In 
 the Eastern Archipelago, or the Asiatic Islands, and 
 in Australasia^ two distinct races of men have been 
 
 traced, the black and the brown. In the Archipelago, Polynesia, 
 and more particularly in the Philippine Islands, a*—- 
 few individual families of the Negro race were disco- 
 vered by the early European visitors ; in New Gui- 
 nea and the Papuan Islands, the whole population 
 appears to consist of this race. They differ in some 
 respects from the negroes of the western coast of 
 Africa ; resembling rather those which are found on 
 the eastern coast, particularly in the hair, which is 
 strongly twisted into small tufts, and very different 
 from that of the negro of Guinea. 
 
 None of these negroes have been discovered on Natives of 
 any of the islands of Polynesia, all the inhabitants Po^y"<^s^=^ 
 being of the brotvn race, and evidently derived from 
 the same common stock to which the Tartars, the 
 Chinese, the Japanese, and the Malays, owe their 
 origin. In this opinion Sir William Jones, Dr Bu- 
 chanan, Dr Hunter, Mr Marsden, and Sir Stamford 
 Raffles, unanimously concur. This race, modified, 
 of course, by the circumstances of climate, occupa- 
 tions, and habits, may thus be described: Their per- 
 sons short, squat, and robust; their lower limbs large 
 and heavy; their arms fleshy; hands and feet small; 
 face somewhat of a lozenge shape, the forehead and 
 chin rather sharpened, but broad across the cheek- 
 bones, which are high, and the cheeks hollow; the 
 eyes black, small, narrow, and placed obliquely in 
 the head, the external angle being the highest ; nose 
 broad, but not flat, and nostrils open and circu- 
 lar ; mouth rather wide ; hair harsh, lank, and quite 
 black. 
 
 Dispersed as the Polynesians are, and rarely and Language, 
 purely accidental as any communication between dis- 
 tant islands must be, it is perfectly certain that the 
 different dialects spoken, from the shores of India 
 and Africa to those of America, are the derivatives 
 of one common language, which, according to Mars- 
 den, still forms the primitive portion of the Malay 
 language, mixed, as it now is, with Sanscrit and Ara- 
 bic. " The Malayan," says this learned and accu- 
 rate writer, '* is a branch or dialect of the w^idely ex- 
 tended language prevailing throughout the islands of 
 the archipelago to which it gives name, and those of 
 the South Sea, comprehending between Madagascar 
 on the one side, and Easter Island on the other, 
 both inclusive, the space of full two hundred degrees 
 of longitude. This consideration alone is sufficient 
 to give it claim to the highest degree of antiquity, 
 and to originality, as far as that term can be ap- 
 plied." 
 
 Not less remarkable is the general accordance ofReligion. 
 the Polynesians in manners, superstitions, and reli- 
 gious observances. The conversion of the Malays 
 of the archipelago to Mahometanism has obliterated 
 nearly their ancient faith, but enough still remains 
 on some of tlie Asiatic Islands, and still more on the 
 Asiatic Continent, to trace the source from whence . 
 the Polynesians have derived their notions and prac- 
 tices on matters of this kind. 
 
280 
 
 POLYNESIA. 
 
 Classifica. 
 tion of the 
 Islands. 
 
 Polynesia. These preliminary observations on the physical 
 "•^^•'^^ form, features, language, and religion of the Polyne- 
 General sians, are made with a view to assert their common 
 Islands^ ^ origin, and may be taken as a general description of 
 the natives of the various groups of islands which are 
 scattered over the surface of the vast Pacific Ocean. 
 These groups are exceedingly different in their ex- 
 tent, both as to number and size as well as in their 
 composition. Sometimes single islands are met with, 
 surrounded by rocky reefs. These islands and reefs 
 are dispersed, as already observed, over the whole of 
 the Pacific Ocean, but chiefly between the thirtieth 
 degree of northern and the thirtieth degree of south- 
 ern latitude. The following classification will proba- 
 bly be found to embrace the greater part of those 
 islands which are comprehended under the geogra- 
 phical division, Polynesia : 
 
 In the Northern Hemisphere. 
 
 1. The Marian or Ladrone Islands. 
 
 2. The Carolinas, including the Pellew Islands. 
 
 3. The Sandwich Islands. 
 
 4. The numerous reefs and coral islands scattered 
 over the Pacific in both hemispheres. 
 
 in the Southern Hemisphere. 
 
 1. The Friendly Islands, including the group of 
 the Tonga Islands. 
 
 2. The Navigators' Islands. 
 
 5. The Society Islands. 
 
 4. The Georgian Islands, including Otaheite, and 
 the great range extending as far as Pitcairn's Island. 
 
 5. The Marquesas. 
 
 6. Easter Island. 
 
 In the Northern Hemisphere. 
 
 The La- ^' The Ladrone Islands were first discovered by 
 drones. Magelhaens on the 6"th March 1521. This name, by 
 which they are generally known, was given to them 
 by the Spaniards on account of the thievish disposi- 
 tion of the natives. They also called them Islas de 
 los Velos Latinas, in reference to the sails of their 
 canoes. By some they were called los Jardinas (the 
 Gardens), and by others Dosprazeres (the Delightful 
 Islands) ; and, when missionaries were first sent thither 
 in 1668, under the patronage of Mary- Anne of Aus- 
 tria, queen of Philip, they took the name of las Ma- 
 rianes, in honour of that lady. They consist of four 
 larger and several smaller islands. The former are 
 called Saypan, Tinian, Zarpan or Rosa, and Agui- 
 gari, or rather Guahan. Saypan has a lofty peak, 
 evidently volcanic, but the rest are of moderate 
 height, and are surrounded by rocks of coral forma- 
 tion. They lie between latitude 13° and \o\° N. ; 
 Visited by longitude about H-i" On approaching these is- 
 Msgelhaens. lands, Magelhaens perceived that they were inhabited, 
 and the natives presently came off to the ships with 
 cocoa-nuts, yams, and rice. They were stout well- 
 made people, of a pak yellow complexion, long black 
 hair, and their teeth dyed red or black ; an apron of 
 tlie bark of a tree was their only covering ; a lance 
 pointed with a fish bone their only weapon. Their 
 boats had latteen (shoulder of mutton) sails, with 
 outriggers tb prevent their oversetting, and they 
 sailed with great swiftness. The captain-general was 
 
 so delighted with the appearance of the country, that Polynesia, 
 he intended to refresh his crew among them; but'^"^^"^ 
 such numbers of the inhabitants flocked on board his 
 ships, and were so addicted to thieving, that, being 
 under the necessity of driving them away by force, 
 hostilities ensued, and several of the natives were 
 killed. Magelhaens had one of his boats stolen, which 
 so exasperated him, that he landed with ninety of his 
 people, set fire to their houses, which were of wood, 
 and carried off all the provisions he could find. 
 
 The expedition of Loyosa, commanded, after hisBy Loyosa. 
 death, by Sebastian del Cano, and at his decease by 
 Alonzo de Salazar, touched at the Ladrone Islands 
 in \526, and being received in the most friendly 
 manner, procured water and provisions in plenty for 
 the sickly squadron. To the great surprise of the 
 Spaniards, a countryman of theirs, named Gonzalo 
 de Vigo, came to them from one of the islands, hav- 
 ing deserted from one of the ships of Magelhaens ; 
 two others, he said, had deserted at the same time, 
 but were put to death by the natives. They found 
 no quadrupeds on the island, but plenty of excellent 
 fruits, fish, and rice. The only birds were turtle- 
 doves, of which the islanders appeared to be so fond, 
 that they kept them in cages, and taught them to 
 speak. 
 
 In 1565, the Ladrone Islands were again visited By Lopez de 
 by Lopez de Legaspe. While the ships were yet Legaspe. 
 two leagues from the shore, the natives came off in 
 their canoes, but kept at a distance from the ships. 
 The general put knives and other articles on a plank, 
 and floated it off, and the natives showed fruits, pat- 
 ting their bellies, and pointing to the shore, to in- 
 duce the Spaniards to land. This they did the fol- 
 lowing day on the island of Guahan, and exchanged 
 bits of iron for provisions; but notwithstanding the 
 regulations made by Legaspe in order to prevent 
 quarrels, skirmishes took place, and one of the sea- 
 men, who had strolled into the woods, being found 
 murdered, the Spaniards landed in force, set fire to 
 their houses and canoes, wounded severnl of the na- 
 tives, and hung up on the spot three wounded pri- 
 soners. 
 
 No kind of animal was found on the island, nor 
 would the natives taste any other animal food except 
 fish. " But that which caused most admiration,'' 
 says Friar Gaspar, was, that they would drink salt 
 water, and were such expert swimmers, and passed 
 so much of their time in the water, that, as among 
 other animals, some are amphibious, in like manner 
 it seemed as if these people were in their nature am- 
 phibious." 
 
 In 1588, our countryman Candish or Cavendish visited by 
 came in sight of the Ladrones, and sailed along the Cavendish, 
 coast of Guahan, from which a number of canoes 
 came off with fruits and vegetables, which were ex- 
 changed for pieces of iron ; but the natives became 
 so troublesome, that, in order to get rid of them, 
 Cavendish ordered muskets to be fired at them. 
 
 In 1600, 01 ivier Van Noort made the Ladrone Is- By Olivier 
 lands, and stopped near Guahan for two days, from Van Naort. 
 which island above 200 canoes came off to the ships 
 with fish, fruits, and rice, to exchange for iron ; and 
 fowls are also mentioned, for the first time, in this 
 voyage. In the same year, the Santa Margarita, a 
 
POLYNESIA. 
 
 Polynesia. Spanish ship, having lost her captain and many of 
 'her crew by sickness, anchored off Saypan, and was 
 taken^possession of by the natives, who killed some 
 of the crew, and took others of them on shore, where 
 they were kindly treated, and such as survived were 
 afterwards taken off by a Spanish ship which had 
 been sent for the purpose. 
 By Spilber- In 1616, Spilbergen made the Ladrone Islands, 
 gen and the and Stopped two days to traffic with the natives for 
 Nassau provisions of fruit, fowls, and fish, in exchange for 
 bits of iron. In 1625, the fleet under Prince Mau- 
 rice of Nassau refreshed at Guahan, and were sup- 
 plied by 150 canoes, with immense quantities of co- 
 coa-nuts, yams, bananas, rice, and fowls, which were 
 of infinite service, as the scurvy had made such ha- 
 vock among the crews, that in some of the ships they 
 had scarcely strength enough to manage the sails. 
 Of the Spa- In 1668, the Spaniards established a mission on 
 nish Jesuits, the island Guahan, consisting of P. Servitores and 
 five other fathers, and several lay^ assistants, most of 
 them natives of the Philippine Islands, and well ac- 
 quainted with the Tagul language, the same as that 
 spoken by the natives of the Ladrone Islands. For 
 some time the chiefs of the islands behaved with 
 great kindness to the Jesuits, and gave them ground 
 for building a church. From this seat of the mis- 
 sion the fathers spread themselves among the other 
 islands, where they were received with equal kind- 
 ness. In short, P. Servitores says, that in the first 
 year they had baptized more than 13,000 islanders, 
 and instructed 20,000 in the eleven islands which 
 they had visited. As usual, however, the impru- 
 dent zeal of the missionaries ruined their cause, by 
 shocking the prejudices of the natives. These simple 
 people took it into their heads that, as an infant had 
 died shortly after being baptized, its death had been 
 occasioned in consequence of that ceremony ; and 
 such was the terror of mothers on seeing a mis- 
 sionary approach, that they seized their children and 
 ran olf with them into the woods. This opinion 
 gathered ground from the eagerness of the Jesuits 
 to get hold of infants for the purpose of baptizing 
 them, and more than one of these holy fathers fell 
 martyrs to their imprudent zeal. Several murders 
 ensued ; and, as the Spaniards had taken care to 
 strengthen the mission with a body of troops well 
 armed, with the obvious intention of taking posses- 
 sion of the Ladrones as an important outpost to the 
 Philippine Islands, after a great number of the na- 
 tives had been put to death, the rest submitted to the 
 yoke of the Spaniards ; though most of the mission- 
 aries suffered in the contest, and last of all Servitores, 
 who was killed by the man to whom he had been the 
 greatest benefactor, because the missionary insisted 
 on baptizing his child. Thus, at the age of forty-five, 
 this pious and good man (for such he certainly was) 
 fell by the hand of an assassin, after having, as we 
 are told, ^' established the faith in thirteen islands, 
 founded eight churches, established three seminaries 
 for the instruction of youth, and baptized nearly 
 50,000 of the islanders." From this time constant 
 revolts and massacres, and the most inhuman cruel- 
 ties, were inflicted on the unhappy islanders ; so that, 
 in 1681, the island of Guahan, which, on the first 
 coming of the Spaniards, counted 40,000 inhabit- 
 
 VOL. VI. PART I. 
 
 2B1 
 
 ants (some accounts make them more), was so com- Polynesia, 
 pletely depopulated, that it was found necessary to 
 bring inhabitants from the northern islands to culti- 
 vate the soil. 
 
 In the year 1685, the ship of John Eaton, the Visited by 
 Buccaneer, touched at Guahan, the crew of which ^"^ca- 
 quarrelled with the natives, and killed some of them. 
 Having satisfied the Spanish governor that it was done 
 in their own defence, " he gave us toleration," says 
 Cowley in his narrative, " to kill them all, if we could." 
 — "We took fourof these infidels prisoners,"continues 
 the narrator, and brought them on board, binding 
 their hands behind them; but they had not been 
 long there, when three of them leaped overboard 
 into the sea, swimming av/ay from the ship, with 
 their hands tied behind them. However, we sent 
 the boat after them, and found a strong man, at the 
 first blow, could not penetrate their skins with a 
 cutlass ; one of them had received, in my judgment, 
 forty shots in his body before he died; and the last 
 of the three that was killed had swam a good Eng- 
 lish mile first^ not only with his hands behind him, 
 as before, but also with his arms pinioned." We 
 are told by the late Captain Burney, that it is stated 
 in Cowley's MS. in the British Museum, that " the 
 boat coming up with them, our carpenter, being a 
 strong man, thought, with his sword, to cut off the 
 head of one of them, but he struck two blows before 
 he could fetch blood." 
 
 In 1686, Dampier touched at Guahan, and states By Dam., 
 the number of natives not to exceed 100. He o^ivesP^^""' 
 a particular description of their " flying proas,"'^vvith 
 their outriggers, which, he says, " sail the best of 
 any boats in the world ;" that he tried the swiftness 
 of one by his log, and that she ran twelve knots 
 
 out before the half-minute glass was half out." 
 
 " I believe," says Dampier, " she would run twenty- 
 four miles in an hour." Woodes Rogers, who visit- 
 ed the Ladrones in 1710, states his opinion that one 
 of these proas would sail at the rate of twenty miles 
 an hour. 
 
 In the month of August 1742, Commodore An- By Anson, 
 son anchored before the island of Tinian. It was 
 deserted, but cattle to the number of at least 10,000, 
 hogs, and fowls, were running about wild. Cocoa- 
 nuts in innumerable quantities, bread-fruit, oranges, 
 limes, water-melons, and other tropical fruits, were in 
 the greatest abundance. The island swarmed with rats, 
 and the flies, mosquitoes, and ticks or bugs, were very 
 troublesome ; but it was a paradise to the crew of the 
 Centurion, in the horrible state of scurvy in which 
 they arrived. Though now deserted, Tinian, on the 
 arrival of the Spaniards, is said to have contained 
 30,000 inhabitants. Ruins of buildings, consisting 
 of pyramidal pillars of considerable dimensions, were 
 met with in all parts of the island. 
 
 Commodore Byron anchored in the year 1765 By Byron, 
 before Tinian, and found the island overgrown with 
 large trees and underwood, among which were most 
 of the tropical fruits. He con)plains bitterly of the 
 bad anchorage, break water, venomous insects, from 
 which they suffered so severely, that " we were 
 afraid," he says, « to lie down in our beds ;" and 
 though his crew recovered fast from the scurvy, he 
 lost two by fevers, being the first deaths in his ship 
 N n 
 
382 
 
 POLYNESIA. 
 
 By Kotre- 
 bue. 
 
 Polynesia, since leaving England. " I am, indeed, of opinion," 
 ^•^"^ says the Commodore, " that this is one of the most 
 unhealthy spots in the world, at least during the sea- 
 son in which we were here ;" yet it was in the same 
 month when visited by the Centurion. 
 
 The latest account of these islands is that of 
 Lieutenant Kotzebue, who visited Guahan in 1817- 
 No canoes nor pi-oas, nor happy islanders, greeted his 
 approach ; the whole race of natives had long been 
 extirpated. " We looked,'' he says, " in vain for a 
 canoe or a man on the shore ; and it almost seemed 
 as if we were off an uninhabited island. The sight 
 of this lovely country deeply affected me. Formerly 
 these fertile valleys were the abode of a' nation, who 
 passed their days in tranquil happiness; now only 
 the beautiful palm groves remained to overshadow 
 their graves; a death-like silence everywhere pre- 
 vailed." Soon, however, a person appeared from 
 the Spanish governor, and piloted the ship into the 
 harbour ; and after this, Kotzebue proceeded to the 
 town of Agana, situated on a beautiful plain, some 
 hundred paces from the shore, in the midst of fine 
 palm groves ; some of the houses are built of coral 
 rock, others of bamboo. It has a church and a con- 
 vent, and two fortresses, one to protect the town 
 from the seawards, the other to keep the Indians in 
 awe. The town contains about 200 houses, and 
 1500 inhabitants, who derive their origin from Mexi- 
 co and the Philippines. The population of the is- 
 land is about 5000 souls. " There is but one man 
 and his wife," says Kotzebue, " on the whole island 
 of the original stock ; with the death of these two 
 people, the race of the old Ladrones will be totally 
 extinguished." — " The present race," says Chamisso, 
 " no longer know the sea ; are no mariners, no 
 swimmers ; they have ceased to build boats. They 
 now scarcely hollow out, without skill, the trunks of 
 trees to fish within the breakers." All the other 
 islands to the north of Guahan are entirely unin- 
 habited, and overrun with wild cattle, hogs, and 
 goats, which afford a supply to the American vessels 
 trading to the Sandwich Islands and the north-west 
 coast of America. Indeed, it is said that some of 
 these people have been allowed to settle themselves 
 in Agrigan, on condition of acknowledging their 
 allegiance to Spain, and that they are peopling the 
 island by kidnapping the natives of the Sandwich 
 Islands. 
 
 2. The Carolinas, or Caroline Islands. In 1686, 
 a Spanish ship, being near the meridian of the Lad- 
 rones, fell in with an island, which her Commander, 
 Don Francisco Lazeano, named La Carolina, in ho- 
 nour of the King of Spain, Carlos II. This island 
 has given the name to a very extensive chain spread- 
 ing over a space of not less than six degrees of lati- 
 tude, and twenty-five degrees of longitude, the west- 
 ern extremity being the group of the Palaos or Pel- 
 lew Islands, in latitude 7° N., longitude 135° E., 
 and the easternmost island (that of Hogolen) m lati- 
 tude 9° N., longitude 155° E. The whole group, as 
 far as is known (which, however, is very imper- 
 fectly), consists of at least 150 separate islands, and 
 may be nearly twice as many, besides various coral 
 reefs, with islets upon them. Yet, numerous as they 
 
 The Caro- 
 linas. 
 
 are, being somewhat out of the direct and usual Polynesii 
 route of the Spaniards in their voyages from South ' 
 America to the Philippines, they had the good for- 
 tune to escape any intimate connection with them— 
 a connection which has proved equally baneful to 
 others, whether established by the cross or the 
 sword ; by their professions of friendship or avowals 
 of hostility. Gobien, the historian of the desolating 
 progress of the Spaniards in the Ladrones, says, that 
 Quiroga, the governor, made search for the island 
 Carolina, *' wishing to extend the faith to its in- 
 fidel inhabitants, and, for that purpose, sent some 
 soldiers, and with them the chanionis (or chief), Don 
 Alonzo Soon ; but, after a fruitless search, and much 
 pains, they returned without finding the object of 
 their research." 
 
 Some of these islands, however, and especially 
 those towards the western extremity of the group, 
 had been seen by various navigators long before that 
 of Carolina was noticed and named by Lazeano. 
 The Portuguese, Da Rocha, fell in with islands in 9^ 
 or 10° N. latitude, in 1526, which he named Sequei- 
 ra, after his pilot; and, in l628, Saavedra, a Spa- 
 niard, in his passage to the Philippines, discovered 
 islands in latitude 11°, which he named Los Reyes. 
 In 1579, our countryman Drake saw some islands, 
 to which he gave the name of the Islands of Thieves, 
 which, from his description, have been supposed to 
 be the Pellew Islands. In 1595, one of the islands 
 in about 6° N. was seen by Mendana ; but two 
 proas full of people, driven by the violence of the 
 wind from a group of islands in the east, as far as 
 Samal, roused the attention of the College of Jesuits 
 at Manilla, who made several unsuccessful attempts 
 to establish missions on those islands, wliich the 
 wrecked natives described to consist of thirty-two in 
 number. In 1710, the two fathers, Duberron and 
 Cortel, embarked in the San Trinidad, with a crew 
 of 86 men, to establish themselves on the Pellew 
 Islands. They landed on Sonsorol, with the quar- 
 ter-master and ensign of the troops, in all sixteen 
 persons ; but the ship being driven off by the cur- 
 rent, made for another of the islands, called Pan- 
 loque, at the supposed distance of fifty leagues from 
 the Sonsorolles. On approaching the island, several 
 boats came off, and some of the Palaos people swam 
 from them to the ship, and coming on board, at- 
 tempted to steal whatever they could lay their hands 
 on. In consequence of this, they were ordered away ; 
 and having reached their boats, began to shoot ar- 
 rows at the ship, which were answered by a dis- 
 charge of musquetry. The ship now returned to the 
 Sonsorolles, to inquire after the two missionaries and 
 the boat ; but the strong winds and currents would 
 not suffer them to anchor, nor could they see or hear 
 any thing of their companions, though they stood in 
 towards the shore within cannon-shot. A storm com- 
 ing on, left them no alternative but " to return to 
 Manilla, with the sorrowful news of what had hap- 
 pened." What became of the missionaries was never 
 ascertained. The following year, however, P. Serano 
 departed from Manilla, in a ship fitted out for the 
 purpose, in search of the two fathers and their com- 
 panions ; but she foundered three days after she de- 
 
poly: 
 
 Polynefiia. parted from Manilla, and every person on board pe- 
 rished, except one Spaniard and two Indians, who 
 brought back the melancholy intelligence. 
 
 In the Lettres Edifianles et Curieuses is a letter 
 and chart from P. Juan Antonio Cantova, a mission- 
 ary atGuahan, addressed to the King of Spain's con- 
 fessor in 1722, in which is given a more particular 
 account of the Carolinas than any which had before, 
 or has since, been published. It states, that, in the pre- 
 ceding year, a bark, with eleven men, seven women, 
 and six children, arrived on the east side of Guahan ; 
 and that, two days after, another Canoe, with four 
 men, one woman, and child, came to the opposite 
 side of the island. The two parties, on being brought 
 together, recognised each other with great joy. It 
 appeared they had been dispersed by a gale of wind, 
 and driven about for twenty days, without knowing 
 where they were- Cantova thus describes them : 
 They wore a garment open at the sides, but covering 
 the shoulders and breast, and extending down to the 
 knees. The women had a piece of cloth round the 
 waist, falling, like a petticoat, to the middle of the 
 leg. Their hair was curly, the nose large, the eyes 
 large and penetrating, and the beards of the men 
 moderately thick. Some had the pure colour of the 
 Indians ; others apparently of a mixed breed, be- 
 tween Spaniards and Indians ; and others between a 
 Negro and an Indian. Cantova succeeded in learn- 
 ing their language, and obtained from them the fol- 
 lowing particulars respecting their islands. 
 
 The Carolinas are divided into five provinces. Be- 
 ginning at the east, the first is named Cittac ; the 
 principal island, Hogolen, much larger than Gua- 
 han ; its inhabitants negroes, mulattoes, and whites. 
 There are eighteen principal islands in this province, 
 besides a multitude of smaller ones. The second 
 province consists of twenty-six islands, of which 
 Ulee and Lamurree are the principal ones. The 
 third province consists of a group of islands, of which 
 Feis is the principal, and is very populous and fer- 
 tile ; but the chief of the group resides at Mogmog, 
 and all the proas which approach this island lower 
 their sails in token of respect to this chief. Of the 
 fourth province. Yap is the principal island, about 
 120 miles in circuit, very populous, and fruitful. The 
 fifth province is the most westerly, and is named 
 Panleu (the Palaos, or Pellew Islands), of which 
 there are seven principal islands. It is remarkable 
 that the inhabitants of these islands so far differ from 
 the Carolinians in general, and from the account gi- 
 ven of them in the romance of Mr Keates, drawn up by 
 that ingenious gentleman from the documents furnish- 
 ed by Captain Wilson, that they are represented as a 
 most barbarous race ; both men and women going 
 entirely naked, and feeding on human flesh. We are 
 told by the naturalist of Kotzebue's expedition, that 
 a Spaniard, who had lived nine months on the Pellew 
 Islands, and whom they met with at Cavit6, gave 
 him a horrible account of the natives : that they 
 were wholly without shame ; that husbands lend 
 their wives for a mere trifle ; that the women are 
 without modesty ; and that they certainly eat human 
 flesh ; a great part of which was confirmed by a na- 
 tive of the Carolinas, who had been at the Pellew 
 Islands. 
 
 ^ E S I A. ^263 
 
 Cantova farther learned from the islanders, that to Polyneek. « 
 the eastward were a great number of other islands, ^~ z***^ 
 the inhabitants of which pay adoration to the shark ; 
 that most of them are negroes, and of savage dispo- 
 sitions. It is supposed that Cantova returned with 
 these islanders in the year 1722, though no account 
 of any such voyage is on record ; but, in 1731, he 
 embarked for the islands of the third province, in 
 company with another father, of the name of Walter, 
 from which the former never returned. The latter, 
 however, returned to procure certain articles of 
 which they stood in need, was driven to the Philip- 
 pines, re-embarked in 1732, and was wrecked. Walter 
 again embarked in May 1733, with forty-four persons. 
 On the ninth day, they approached the island, and 
 fired cannon to inform Cantova of their arrival, but 
 no boat appeared. Standing within a musket-shot 
 of the shore, they observed that their former habita- 
 tion had disappeared, as well as the cross which had 
 been ei-ected near the sea shore. Four small canoes 
 at length approached the vessel, bringing cocoa-nuts. 
 On inquiring after Cantova and his companions, the 
 islanders were evidently embarrassed, and said they 
 were gone to Yap. Being fearful, by their manner, 
 that the good father had fallen by the hands of the 
 barbarians, and willing to be satisfied on this head, 
 they seized one of the islanders, upon which the 
 rest swam ashore. After the strongest assurances 
 that no harm should be done to him, provided he 
 would tell the truth, he confessed that shoBtly after 
 the departure of Walter, the natives put the Father 
 Cantova to death and all his companions, fourteen in 
 number. Cantova, it seemed, from this man's ac- 
 count, went, with his interpreter and two soldiers, to 
 the Island Mogmog, to baptize, while the rest remain- 
 ed at Falalep. He had scarcely set his foot on shore 
 when he was surrounded and pierced through and 
 through with lances, the natives crying out that he 
 was come to take away the old law, and give them \ 
 a new one- They gave his body a decent burial, 
 but the bodies of his companions were put into 
 a canoe, which was then turned adrift upon the 
 ocean. The same people then went over to the is- 
 land of Falalep, and put to death the remainder of 
 the companions of Cantova. 
 
 Since that time, little or no information has been 
 procured respecting the Carolinas, with the excep- 
 tion of that which is contained in the narrative of 
 Mr Keates, from the materials of Captain Wilson, 
 who, when commander of the Antelope packet, in 
 the service of the East India Company, was wrecked 
 on Oroolong, one of the Pellew Islands. Whatever 
 their general character may be, the crew of the An- 
 telope found them a friendly, hospitable, and humane 
 people. They were stout, well-made, rather above 
 the middle size, and their colour approaching to a 
 deep brown ; their hair long, some wearing it loose, 
 and others turned up. The men were entirely 
 naked ; the women contented themselves with two 
 little aprons or fringes, made of the fibres of the co- 
 coa-nut husk, about ten inches deep and seven wide, 
 one of which was worn before, and the other behind. 
 Both sexes were tattoed ; the men had one ear per- 
 forated, the women both, and they wore beads, tor- 
 toise-shell, or leaves, as suited their fancy ; the cap* 
 
284 
 
 POLYNESIA. 
 
 • Polynesia. 
 
 Their Pro- 
 ductions, 
 and the 
 Manners of 
 the Natives. 
 
 The Sand- 
 wich 
 Islands. 
 
 tilage of the nose was also bored, and a little sprig 
 or blossom of some plant was generally stuck in the 
 hole ; their teeth were dyed black by a paste pre- 
 pared of certain herbs, which, it is pretended, caused 
 severe sickness for five days, the time required to 
 complete the operation. 
 
 Fish and cocoa-nuts are the chief articles of food, 
 but the islands afford an abundant supply of yams, 
 plantains, oranges, lemons, bread-fruit, caramboJa, 
 and the areca nut ; the sugar-cane grew wild. No 
 quadruped, except rats, was found on the islands ; 
 of birds, the pigeon was the most abundant, and the 
 domestic fowl ran wild in the woods. The natives 
 were wholly unacquainted with the use of salt. Their 
 usual beverage was the milk of the cocoa-nut. Their 
 houses were of bamboo and plank, raised upon stones 
 from the ground. The husk of the cocoa-nut sup- 
 plied them with nets and cordage, and the tortoise- 
 shell with hooks to catch fish. Their knives were 
 made of mother-of-pearl, shells, or split bamboo ; 
 the cocoa-nut served them for cups, the plantain- 
 leaf for plates, and the fibres of this plant for mats to 
 sleep on. Their weapons were spears of wood, darts, 
 and slings. Their boats were canoes, made of the 
 trunks of large trees, and some of them sufficiently 
 capacious to hold from twenty to thirty persons. In 
 the day time they seemed to live as much in the wa- 
 ter as on shore, and both sexes were admirable 
 swimmers. The women mixed freely with the other 
 sex, and their conduct was not strictly inquired into 
 by their husbands. They seemed to have little 
 sense of any religious duties, except in the ceremo- 
 nies attending the burial of the dead, which takes 
 place in spots set aside for that purpose, and with 
 great solemnity ; but they have some faint notion 
 that the soul survives the body. Their graves very 
 much resembled those in a country church-yard of 
 England, some having earth heaped up in the same 
 manner, and others covered with flat tombstones, 
 and protected by fences of wicker work. 
 
 The larger of the Pellew Islands are of a moderate 
 height, rising into beautiful hills, well clothed with 
 forest trees. The natural history still remains un- 
 known, but being about the same parallel, and of the 
 same formation with the numerous group visited by 
 Kotzebue, the plants and animals are in all probabi- 
 lity much the same. The smaller islands are the 
 productions of the coral-making animals, with which 
 the larger are also surrounded to a great distance 
 from their shores. 
 
 3. The Sandwich Islands. -^This fine group of 
 islands in the Northern Pacific had the good fortune 
 to escape the visits of the old navigators, and the dis- 
 covery of them was reserved for Captain Cook, who 
 first touched at them in the year 1778, and lost his 
 valuable life there in 1779- Fleurieu, in his in- 
 
 troduction to Marchand's Voyage, is disposed to dis- 
 pute this claim, and to assign the first discovery of 
 these islands to Mendana, for no other reason but 
 that it appears he passed at no great distance from 
 Owyhee (but without seeing it), on his return voy- 
 age in 1568 ; and because he finds an island nam- 
 ed Mesa, laid down on the nineteenth parallel of la- 
 titude, on the obscure and unauthenticated chart of 
 Gallon de Manille. It is almost unnecessary to add. 
 
 that the name by which they are now known was Polynesia, 
 given to them by Captain Cook, in honour of the '■^^^'^ 
 Earl of Sandwich, under whose naval administration 
 geography was enriched with many important dis- 
 coveries. 
 
 Captain King makes the group to consist of eleven Extent and 
 islands, the principal of which are Owyhee, said toPopulatior 
 contain about 150,000 inhabitants, — its extent about 
 6000 square miles ; Mowhee, 65,000, — extent 600 
 square miles ; Woahoo, 60,000, — extent 1800 square 
 miles; Atooi, 54,000, — extent 1000 square miles; 
 and Morotoi, 36,000,. — extent 300 square miles. 
 The rest are smaller, and make up a population for 
 the whole group of about 400,000 souls. They are 
 situated between latitude 18° N. (the south point 
 of Owyhee), and 22« 2' K (the latitude of Ore- 
 houe), and between the longitude 199° 36' (the 
 small island of Tahoura), and 205° 6' (the eastern 
 extremity of Owyhee). 
 
 The island of Owyhee is described as rising ma- 
 jestically in grand unbroken lines from the ocean, 
 and forming three several mountain peaks, on two of 
 which snow lies the greater part of the year. They 
 are as under : 
 
 Height. 
 
 Mouna Roa (the Great Mountain), 2482 toises. 
 
 Mouna Kuah (Little Mountain), 2180 
 
 Mouna Wororai, . . 1687 
 These measurements, as given by Kotzebue, agree 
 within a few toises with those of Marchand. The 
 whole group is of volcanic origin, and on the summit 
 of Mouna Wororai is an immense crater. The last 
 eruption from the side of this mountain took place in 
 1801. The chain of mountains runs from the N, W. 
 point of Owyhee, over the islands Mowee, Morotoi, 
 and Woahoo. On Mowhee is a peak as high nearly 
 as that of Wororai, but the latter is the only volca- 
 no in a state of activity. 
 
 These islands, though volcanic, are surrounded by Description, 
 coral reefs, and the plains next the sea, raised only 
 a few feet above it, were once of the same descrip- 
 tion, and covered with water. These plains are ge- 
 nerally naked and sun-burnt, but the valleys among 
 the mountains are beautifully picturesque and fer- 
 tile, and the sides of the hills are covered with mag- 
 nificent forests. The most fertile and best cultivat- 
 ed of the group is Woahoo, on which is the safe and 
 capacious harbour of Hana-rura, protected by a co- 
 ral reef, through a break of which the entrance to it 
 lies. In one of the mountains a diamond mine was 
 supposed to exist, but the products turned out to be 
 only quartz crystals. In the Pearl River of this 
 island oysters have been found, containing pearls, but 
 none of much value. 
 
 Among the indigenous plants mentioned by Cha- Natural 
 misso, the naturalist of Kotzebue's expedition, are I'roduction 
 the accacia, metrosideros, pandanus, santalum, aleu- 
 rites, draccena, amomium, curcuma, tacca. The fa- 
 milies of rubiacese, contortae, and urticae, predomi- 
 nate. From the latter, as well as from the paper 
 mulberry {Broussonetia papyrifera )y are made their 
 cordage and cloths. The accacia tree used for their 
 boats and canvas grows only in the mountains, which 
 is the case also with the sandal-wood, the principal 
 article of export from the islands. 
 
POLYNESIA. 
 
 Polynesia. The plants mostly in use for domestic purposes 
 -^^V^ are the banana-tree, the coco-nut tree, the bread- 
 Cultivation, fruit, sugar-cane, yam, batatos, and the taro root 
 {Arum esculentum), of indigenous growth; besides 
 which have been introduced the tobacco plant, the 
 melon, and water-melon, rice, and the vine, the last 
 of which will unquestionably thrive well on the sides 
 of the volcanic mountains. The cultivation of the 
 taro-root has the greatest share of attention bestow- 
 ed on it ; and, in fact, it constitutes a considerable 
 portion of the food of the people. The fields or 
 ponds in which this root is planted are inclosed with 
 stones in the form of regular squares, from 100 to 
 200 feet each side ; these squares are connected by 
 sluices to convey the water from one to the other, 
 pretty much in the same manner that the Chinese 
 manage their rice fields. " I have seen," says Kot- 
 zebue, " whole mountains covered with such fields, 
 through which the water gradually flowed ; each 
 sluice formed a small cascade, which ran through 
 avenues of sugar-cane, or banana, into the next pond, 
 and afforded an extremely picturesque prospect." 
 Distillation A convict from New South Wales has taught the 
 «f Spirits, people of these islands the art or distilling ardent 
 spirits from sugar-cane, and a plant called the Tee- 
 root (the Draccena terminalis). And, as every chief 
 has now his still, it is probable that the use of the 
 pernicious kava will give way to that of the almost 
 equally pernicious use of spirituous liquors. This 
 Icava is the liquor or juice of a root of the pepper 
 tribe {Piper methysticum), chewed and spit out in- 
 to a large bowl, and then diluted with water, and 
 this exquisite beverage is prepared for the sole use of 
 the king and the nobles, the women being prohibited 
 from tasting it. The baneful effects of this liquor 
 have been noticed by most voyagers ; the bodies of 
 those who swallow it are, in process of time, covered 
 with a white scurf, their eyes become red and inflam- 
 ed, their limbs emaciated, and their whole frame 
 trembling and paralytic, 
 luadrupeds. When Captain Cook first discovered these islands, 
 the only quadrupeds upon them were hogs, dogs, 
 and rats. They have now horses (not many), asses, 
 horned cattle, many of them running wild in the 
 mountains, and goats. Hogs are exceedingly abun- 
 dant. " They are so large," says Kotzebue, *' that 
 the whole crew could not eat one in two days ;" and 
 the flavour, from being fed on sugar-cane, is very 
 superior to European pork. Fowls, ducks, and 
 geese, are equally abundant, 
 'regressive '^^^ Sandwich Islands, though last discovered. 
 Civilization, have been more frequently visited by Europeans and 
 t Americans, and particularly by the latter, than any 
 
 other group of islands in the whole range of Poly- 
 nesia ; and they have profited the most by such in- 
 tercourse, though not by any means to that extent 
 which might have been wished. Indeed, what little 
 progress they have made towards civilization is 
 mainly to be attributed to the personal character of 
 the present chief or king, whose name is Tamaa-mah ; 
 and that which he has effected is more for his in- 
 dividual advantage than the good of his subjects. 
 When Captain Vancouver visited these islands in 
 1792, the king being desirous of having a vessel of 
 European construction, this able navigator laid down 
 
 285 
 
 the keel of one, which was speedily finished. _ Ten Polyncsi*. 
 or twelve years after this, when Mr Turnbull visited '^■*^*^' 
 the islands, he bad a naval force of twenty vessels 
 or upwards, from 25 to SO tons, which traded among 
 the islands. He had built a house for himself, after 
 the European manner, with windows of glass, and 
 he imitated the English in his dress. By means of 
 English and American seamen and artificers, some 
 of whom deserted from ships touching there, and 
 others obtained regular permission to remain on the 
 islands, most of the trades exercised in Europe have 
 partially been introduced into the Sandwich Islands. 
 
 Most of those people having taken to themselves 
 native wives, a new race of men is springing up, 
 which, in the course of time, may probably be the 
 means of hastening the civilization of these islands. 
 It is much to be regretted, however, that hitherto 
 no steps have been taken to bring up the new gene- 
 ration in the principles of morality and religion, or 
 for instructing them in the common rudiments of 
 education. Tamaa-mah is ready enough to imitate 
 the Europeans in his dress and dwelling, in building 
 forts for the protection of his islands, and in training 
 his troops in the European mode of discipline, of 
 whom Kotzebue saAv 400 drawn out, armed with 
 musquets. In these matters, he is willing enough to 
 be instructed by the Europeans who have settled on 
 the islands, who, generally speaking, are of a de- 
 scription not likely to convince hira of the utility of 
 intellectual acquirements. In a visit to the Morai, 
 pointing to the large wooden statues, he said to 
 Kotzebue, " These are our gods, whom I worship. 
 Whether I do right or wrong, I do not know, but I 
 follow my faith, which cannot be wicked, as it com- 
 mands me never to do wrong." Such sentiments do 
 honour to the savage ; and the man who entertains 
 them is capable of being instructed in better things. 
 
 He is very tenacious in observing the customs 
 of the country, and says, that, although those of 
 Europeans are better, he cannot depart from his 
 own. Thus the women continue to be degraded 
 and despised ; and, notwithstanding the frequent 
 intercourse with strangers, and the improvements 
 which undoubtedly have been introduced, the sex 
 do not appear to have gained a single step in 
 the estimation of the men, or lost any part of the 
 grossness of behaviour since they were first visit- 
 ed by Captain Cook. That " offensively conspi- 
 cuous wantonness," which Vancouver deplores, 
 and to which he found no parallel in the whole of 
 Polynesia, appears to have suffered no abatement. 
 When Campbell, the seaman, was on the island of 
 Woahoo, the king's brother died, on which occasion, 
 as part of the general mourning, a public prostitu- 
 tion of the women took place. The captain of a 
 ship, then in the harbour, remonstrated with the 
 king, who coolly observed, it was their custom, and 
 he could not prevent it. The women, too, it seems, 
 are more addicted to drinking than the men. The 
 governor of Woahoo invited Kotzebue and his offi- 
 cers to witness a dance of the natives, at which he 
 was not present, but sent an apology to say, that his 
 lady was so drunk that he could not leave her. The 
 women are also great smokers of tobacco, and con- 
 tinue it sometimes till they fall down senseless. 
 
286 
 
 Polynesia. 
 
 POLYNESIA. 
 
 Though the women are so far degraded that they 
 cannot eat in the same house with their lords and 
 masters, and must not taste at all of certain articles, 
 yet if the latter be sick, they must howl and make 
 lamentations, tear their hair, lacerate their cheeks ; 
 and if he should die (provided he be a Jerrie, Eree, 
 or noble), the favourite wife must die with him. 
 The victims, both men and women, who are to be 
 sacrificed at the death of Tamaa-mah are well known, 
 nor is it concealed even from themselves, and they 
 glory in the distinction. " I have myself," says 
 Kotzebue, " seen one of the devoted victims in 
 Woahoo, a man who was always cheerful and happy." 
 On the death of the king, these people will be led 
 bound into the royal Morai (temple and burning 
 place), where, after the prescribed ceremonies, they 
 will suffer death at the hands of the priests. Cha- 
 misso, however, says, that this inhuman practice is 
 wearing out, and that now culprits only, whose lives 
 have been forfeited, are sacrificed to the gods on par- 
 ticular occasions. But thougli the custom of otfer- 
 ing up human sacrifices is still retained, there are no 
 grounds whatever for supposing, as the surgeon of 
 Captain Cook's ship did, that they ever taste of hu- 
 man flesh. 
 
 To viqlate the sanctity of the Morai is one of the 
 greatest crimes of which a man can be guilty. 
 Campbell was present at the execution of a man 
 who had committed this offence, in getting drunk 
 and running out of the Morai during tahboo time. 
 He was taken back to the Morai, where his eyes 
 were put out ; in this state he remained two days, 
 when he was strangled and his body exposed before 
 the image of Etooah, or Eatooah, the principal deity, 
 who, according to their belief, is the creator of the 
 universe, and who afterwards destroyed it by an in^ 
 undation that covered the whole earth except Mou- 
 na Roa ; on the top of which one single pair had the 
 good fortune to save themselves, from whom the 
 present race of men, that is, the Sandvvich Islanders, 
 sprung. Each chief has his own peculiar deity and 
 his own Morai, and dresses up his wooden god after 
 his own fashion. The common people have also 
 their own objects of worship in their houses — birds, 
 beasts, fish, &c. just like the Jetishes of the Africans 
 on the coast of Guinea. 
 
 That singular superstition by which the king, the 
 nobles, and the priests, under the name of Tabboo, 
 have contrived to render sacred and inviolable what- 
 ever they may wish to appropriate to their own use, 
 and which is in universal operation through the 
 whole of Polynesia, is practised to a great extent in 
 the Sandwich Islands. By means of it, a whole peo- 
 ple is contented to be robbed of their property, and 
 to suffer, any privations that may be imposed on 
 them without murmuring. When their houses are 
 tabhooed they dare not enter them ; when their tar~ 
 ro-roots or their hogs are tabhooed, they surrender 
 them without a struggle ; but in return, it must be 
 owned, they are not scrupulous in appropriating to 
 themselves whatever is not tabhooed. 
 
 Among the customs which they inveterately retain 
 is that of tattooing the body, this operation being also 
 universal among the islanders of the Pacific. The 
 hands and arms of the women, in particular, are mark- 
 
 ed with peculiar elegance of figure, and many of Polynesia, 
 the women have the tip of the tongue tattooed. Con- '>•^'■^/''^^ 
 trary, however, to the common practice of the is- ^''^^^ ^'?'^ 
 landers, they do not paint their bodies, nor wear or- 
 naments of any kind in the ears ; but the women de- 
 corate their hair, which is cut short, with wreaths of 
 flowers, and wear necklaces, bracelets, and anklets of 
 shells, coral, and other substances. The common 
 dress of the men is the maro, a piece of cloth about 
 a foot wide, which, passing between the legs, is tied 
 round the waist ; that of the women is a short petti- 
 coat, reaching about half-way down the thigh. The 
 chiefs, on days of ceremony, and on particular oc- 
 casions, wear cloaks made of the most beautiful fea- 
 thers, with an elegant shaped helmet to correspond. 
 They are ambitious, however, to appear in the dress 
 of Europeans, to enable them to do which, great 
 quantities of old laced coats are carried out to the 
 Sandwich Islands, as articles of commerce. 
 
 To whatever degree of civilization the Sandwich The present 
 islanders may have attained, since the first disco- King and his 
 very of Captain Cook, it is to be ascribed, as we said Successor, 
 before, to the personal character of Tamaa-mah ; 
 but whether they will continue to proceed or to re- 
 trograde, on the death of this extraordinary man, is 
 a matter of great doubt, considering the character 
 of his son and successor. The old man, however, 
 has caused him to be tabhooed, or made sacred, so 
 that nobody is allowed, on pain of death, to see him 
 by day. This being done, he receives the appella- 
 tion of Leo-leoy *' that is," says Kotzebue, " dog of 
 all dogs ; and such We really found him." — We 
 entered," he continues, a neat and small house, 
 in which Leo-leo, a tall, corpulent, and naked figure, 
 was stretched out on his stomach, and just indolent- 
 ly raised his head to look at his guests ; near him 
 sat several naked soldiers armed with muskets, who 
 guarded the monster. A handsome young native, 
 with a tuft of red feathers, drove away the flies from 
 him — The dog of all dogs at last rose very lazily, and 
 gaped upon us with a stupid vacant countenance." 
 His age is stated to be about twenty-two, but his 
 corpulency is somewhat enormous for one so young. 
 This description does not certainly portend much in 
 favour of the future happiness of the Sandwich 
 Islands, for the vacant government of which there 
 will probably start up many competitors. An Euro- 
 pean of talent, if such there should happen to be 
 on the spot, might probably succeed to the go- 
 vernment and civilization of this good humoured, 
 and by no means untractable people. 
 
 4. Coral Islands and Reefs. — The number and coral Is- 
 position of the multitude of low islands, sometimes lands and 
 found in groups, and sometimes solitary, are by^^^s. 
 no means yet ascertained ; but from the various 
 tracts of ships, it is known that the whole of that 
 part of the Pacific lying between the equator and 
 the 10" of north latitude, and from the Pellew Is- 
 lands, to ISO" longitude, being at least forty-five de- 
 grees of longitude, is completely studded with low co- 
 ral islands andreefsin countless numbers, some of them 
 inhabited, and others not ; and in different stages, 
 from the circular reef, with islets rising upon it like 
 the beads of a necklace, with a lagoon in the centre, 
 to the complete consolidation into one firm island. 
 
POLYNESIA. 
 
 287 
 
 Polynesia. About the tenth parallel, and proceeding easterly 
 -^^■'^^ from the Carolinas, we have Button, Tindall, Watt's, 
 and Gilbert's Islands ; and about the longitude 175® 
 east, a whole group, extending to the southward of 
 the equator, named on some charts " Lord Mul- 
 grave's Range," on others Scarborough's Range ;" 
 some of the individual islands of which are Smith's, 
 , Allen's, Gillespie's, Toulmin's, Hopper's, Chatham's, 
 Calvert's, Robertson's, Arrowsmith's, Daniel's, Mar- 
 shall's, Pott's, near to which are Kingmill's Group 
 and Byron's Island, all of coral formation. 
 
 Various accounts have been given by Cook, For- 
 ster. Flinders, and others, of the progressive forma- 
 tion of these low specks of land, with which the Pa- 
 cific is studded ; but tlie best and most satisfactory 
 is that by Kotzebue and the naturalist Chamisso. 
 They not only saw the " Lord Mulgrave's" chain of 
 islands, which extend from l** to 12° N., of which 
 Gilbert's Islands form the northern, and Marshall's 
 Island the southern, extremity, but they discovered 
 and examined minutely many other groups and de- 
 tached islands. Between the eighth and tenth de- 
 grees of north latitude^ and between longitude 188° 
 4?8' and 190° 46', they fell in with no less than six 
 distinct groups, to which they understood the natives 
 applied the name of Radack ; and they learned that 
 to the westward were mine other groups, and three 
 detached islands, called Ralick, besides four groups 
 to the southward. The Radack chain is probably 
 those which were seen by Captain Marshall in 1788, 
 and to which he gave the name of Chatham and Cal- 
 vert Islands, though Krunsenstern thinks that these 
 are the same as the Ralick chain. It is not of much 
 importance, in a geographical point of view, what- 
 ever it might be for the benefit of navigation. 
 
 The small size of Kotzebue's vessel gave him the 
 advantage of sailing through the openings in the cir- 
 cular reefs, and of examining the lagoons within 
 them. From his account, it would seem that the 
 coral-making animals do not commence their labours 
 at the very depth of th e ocean, as has been supposed, 
 but on rocky shoals, the summits, in all probability, 
 of submarine mountains, round which they lay the 
 foundation of their extraordinary fibres, forming an 
 united chain, irregular in shape, but generally ap- 
 proaching, raore or less, to a circle. The greatest 
 depth at which they are able to derive a sufficient de- 
 gree of light and heat for their operations has not yet 
 been ascertained ; but we know that marine animals 
 have been drawn up in a living state from the depth of 
 a thousand fathoms, and from a temperature very lit- 
 tle above that of the freezing point. The outer edge 
 of the reef exposed to the surf of the sea is the first 
 that shows itself above water ; in process of time, it 
 becomes indurated, breaks, and crumbles, by the ac- 
 tion of the sea, and at length forms a sort of barrier, 
 within the sloping sides of which the living animals 
 are seen carrying on their operations. Those ob-> 
 served by Chamisso were the Tubipora musica, the 
 Millepora ccerulea, obstichopora, actimas, and various 
 kinds of the polypus. He found the living branches 
 of the lylhophytes generally attached to the dead 
 stems ; many of the latter, however, crumbled into 
 sand, which, accumulating on the inner declivity, 
 constitutes no inconsiderable part of the surface of 
 
 the new islands, which rise out of this reef, and are Polynesia, 
 gradually united into one island, having in its cen- ^ v^^*-* 
 tre a salt water lake, that alternately grows up by 
 a silent and slow progress, till what was at first a 
 chain of islets, has become one connected mass of 
 land. The progress towards a state fit for the habi- 
 tation of man is thus described by Chamisso : — 
 
 " As soon as it has reached such a height, that it 
 remains almost dry at low water, at the time of ebb, 
 the corals leave off building higher ; sea-shells, frag- 
 ments of coral, sea-hedgehog shells, and their 
 broken off prickles, are united by the burning sun, 
 through the medium of the cementing calcareous 
 sand, which has arisen from the pulverization of the 
 above-mentioned shells into one whole or solid stone, 
 which, strengthened by the continual throwing up of 
 new materials, gradually increases in thickness, till 
 it at last becomes so high, that it is covered only 
 during some seasons of the year by the high tides. 
 The heat of the sun so penetrates the mass of stone 
 when it is dry, that it splits in many places, and 
 breaks off in flakes. These flakes, so separated, are 
 raised one upon another by the waves at the time of 
 high water. The always active surf throws blocks 
 of coral (frequently of a fathom in length, and three 
 or four feet thick) and shells of marine animals be- 
 tween and upon the foundation stones ; after this, 
 the calcareous sand lies undisturbed, and offers to 
 the seeds of trees and plants, cast upon it by the 
 waves, a soil upon which they rapidly grow, to over- 
 shadow its dazzling white surface. Entire trunks of 
 trees, which are carried by the rivers from other 
 countries and islands, find here, at length, a resting 
 place, after their long wanderings : with these come 
 some small animals, such as lizards and insects, as 
 the first inhabitants. Even before the trees form a 
 wood, the real sea-birds nestle there ; strayed land- 
 birds take refuge in the bushes ; and, at a much 
 later period, when the work has been long since 
 completed, man also appears, builds his hut on the 
 fruitful soil, formed by the corruption of the leaves 
 of the trees, and calls himself lord and proprietor of 
 this new creation." 
 
 In the Southern Hemisphere. 
 
 1. The Friendly Islands — The Friendly Islands, Friendly 
 among which may also be included the Feejee Islands, Islands, 
 were first discovered by Abel Jansen Tasman in 1643, 
 to three of which he gave the names of Amsterdam, 
 Middleburgh, and Rotterdam. The first of these is- 
 lands is that which was afterwards visited by Captain 
 Cook, and described by him under the name of Ton- 
 gataboo ; more properly, as we since learn from Mr 
 Mariner, Tonga, the annexed word Tabboo, so exten- 
 sively used throughout Polynesia, being expressive on- 
 ly of its sacred character. From the inhabitants of this 
 island Tasman received yams, cocoa-nuts, bananas, 
 hogs, and fowls, in exchange for iron, nails, beads, 
 and pieces of linen. They had also plenty of sugar- 
 canes. Women as well as men swam off to the ship, 
 and it was observed that all the elder dames had the 
 little finger of both hands cut off, but the young 
 women had not. They wore round the middle a 
 covering of mat-work, which reached down to their 
 knees ; the rest of the body naked. None of the 
 
288 
 
 POLYNESIA. 
 
 Polynesia, men would taste wine, and they were ignorant of the 
 
 "use of tobacco ; they had no arms of any kind, which 
 
 led Tasman to conclude that they lived in perpetual 
 peace and friendship. 
 Produce of Tasman next touched at Ammomooka, or, as he 
 the Islands, called it, Amsterdam Island, in the hope of meeting 
 and the Na- better water than on the first, where it was bad 
 "^^** and scanty. On landing, they perceived some sixty 
 or seventy persons sitting quietly on the shore, who 
 had no arras of any kind, and appeared to be a harm- 
 less and peaceable people. There were, besides, 
 many women and children, the former clothed like 
 those on Amsterdam Island, but they were of a larger 
 size, and as strong in their bodies and limbs as the 
 men. The party was shown to a piece of fresh water 
 not a mile from the shore, about a quarter of a mile 
 in circumference, and about a musket-shot from the 
 north side of the island, where there was a good 
 sandy bay. Here they watered their ships, and re- 
 ceived abundance of provisions, the same in kind as 
 those of the other island. The inhabitants are de- 
 scribed as being great thieves, but very friendly. 
 They have large vessels with masts, sails, and out- 
 riggers, as well as canoes, and on going into the in- 
 terior of the island it was observed that all their 
 plantations were laid out in neat and regular order. 
 «' In our walk," says Tasman, " we saw several pieces 
 of cultivated ground or gardens, where the beds were 
 regularly laid out into squares, and planted with dif- 
 ferent plants and fruits ; bananas and other trees 
 placed in straight lines, which made a pleasant show, 
 and spread round about a very agreeable and fine 
 odour ; so that among these people, who have the 
 form of the human species, but no human manners, 
 you may see traces of reason and understanding.'' 
 He says they have no religion, no idols, relics, or 
 priests ; but that they have their superstitions, as a 
 man was seen to take up a water-snake, which, after 
 placing it respectfully upon his head, he threw back 
 into the water. Indeed, they seem averse from hurt- 
 ing any thing that has life, for though the flies are 
 numerous and troublesome, they will not kill them, 
 and one of the principal people was offended on per- 
 ceiving the steersman kill a fly, though accidentally. 
 Captain Cook bears testimony to the beauty and fer- 
 tility of the Tonga Islands. " There was not," says 
 this celebrated man, " an inch of waste ground ; the 
 roads occupied no more space than was absolutely 
 necessary ; the fences did not take up above four 
 inches each, and even this was not wholly lost, for 
 in many were planted some useful trees or plants. 
 It was everywhere the same ; change of place altered 
 not the scene ; nature, assisted by a little art, no- 
 where appears in more splendour than here." The 
 missionaries, too, in 1797, found these islands in as 
 high a state of cultivation and beauty as they ap- 
 peared to Tasman and to Cook. 
 
 A woeful difference in their peaceable habits, ac- 
 cordjng to Mr Mariner, has taken place since the 
 visits of these Europeans. In I799 a revolution took 
 place, and from that time bloody wars and most sa- 
 vage slaughter have desolated these beautiful islands. 
 They first commenced, as it would appear, by a most 
 atrocious savage, in whom the kingly power was 
 vested, who not only practised the most barbarous 
 
 Revolution 
 in the Go- 
 Ternment. 
 
 cruelties on his subjects, but seized upon' the sacred Polynesia, 
 or ecclesiastical power, which had always, as in Ja- ~ 
 pan, been kept separate from the secular arm. The 
 sacred spell being thus broken, which rested solely 
 on public opinion, a complete revolution followed, 
 and from that hour these once happy islands have 
 been the scene of slaughter, famine, and every spe- 
 cies of horror and misery. We must not, however, 
 give implicit credit to all that has been stated by Dr 
 Martin, the writer of Mariner's account of these is- 
 lands, but rather consider it as a romantic exaggera- 
 tion of facts and descriptions, similar to that of the 
 Pellew Islands by Mr Keats. There are shades of 
 difference merely between the inhabitants of these 
 and of the neighbouring islands. 
 
 2. Navigator's Islands — To the north-east of the 
 Feejee, Tonga, or Friendly Islands, are situated 
 the Bauman or Navigator's Islands. The first name 
 was given to them after Captain Bauman, of the 
 Teinhoven, by Jacob Roggewein, by whom they 
 were discovered in 1722 ; the latter name was con- 
 ferred by Bougainville, who passed them in I768. 
 La Perouse likewise visited these islands, and is of 
 opinion that they are not the same as Bauman's Is- 
 lands, because their geographical position does not 
 agree with that assigned to them by Roggewein. 
 Burney, however, has no doubt that they are identi- 
 cal, the only difference being in their supposed lon- 
 gitude, which, in the time of Roggewein, was fre- 
 quently set down erroneously by several degrees. 
 
 These islands form an archipelago, consisting of Description 
 ten in number, according to La Perouse, of which of the Is- 
 Maouna, Oyolava, and Pola, are the largest and Jai^ls and 
 most beautiful. The parallel of 14° south latitude, Natives, 
 and the meridian of 190°, pass through the centre of 
 the group. They are said by La Perouse to be vol- 
 canic, but surrounded by coral reefs. Roggewein 
 describes the hills and valleys as affording a de- 
 lightful prospect. The natives came off in boats 
 neatly made and carved, bringing fish, cocoa-nuts, 
 and plantains. They are said to have white skins* 
 but tanned by the sun, gentle in their manners to- 
 wards each other, lively and good humoured ; their 
 bodies were neither painted nor marked, and they 
 were clothed from the waist downwards ; the culti- 
 vated grounds were all enclosed, and, in short, they 
 are described by the writer of Roggewein's voyage 
 as the most civilized and honest people they had 
 met with among the islands of the South Sea. We 
 may conclude, indeed, from his account, that they 
 were equally well cultivated, and the inhabitants 
 equally mild and peaceable with those of the Friend- 
 ly Islands. 
 
 Very different, however, is the account given of,, . ,^ 
 them by La Perouse. Ferocious in the highest de- isfands. ^ ^ 
 gree, he describes them as utterly destitute of gra- 
 titude and every good moral feeling ; that a look of 
 disdain is stamped on all their countenances, and 
 that they are eternally fighting with each other, so 
 that their bodies are covered with scars occasioned 
 by the blows of clubs. Tall in stature, their limbs 
 are of colossal proportions; and their bodies are 
 tattooed to such a degree as to make them appear 
 clothed, though they have only a girdle of sea-weeds 
 round their loins, which reaches to the knee. The 
 11 
 
POLYNESIA. 
 
 289 
 
 Polynesia, size of the women corresponds with that ot" the men, 
 and their whole behaviour is represented as highly 
 indecent and disgusting. They had no desire for 
 iron, preferring their own adzes and other tools 
 made of basalt. Their huts were made with great 
 nicety, and all their wood-work was highly polished 
 and carved. Their matting and cloth were exceed- 
 ingly beautiful ; the latter woven with thread made 
 from the nettle, and a species of flax. The sails of 
 their boats or canoes were made of this cloth. The 
 islands are so intersected with creeks, that they 
 travel from place to place almost universally in 
 canoes, which have outriggers to prevent them over- 
 setting. 
 
 Fertility. All the islands were clothed with trees up to the 
 very summit of the hills, many of them laden with 
 fruit. The villages are ranged along the margin of 
 the streams which fall from the mountains, and are 
 built in the midst of groves of cocoa, banana, guava, 
 and other fruit trees common to the South Sea 
 islands. The woods abound with wild pigeons and 
 turtle doves, which are tamed by the natives, and 
 kept about their houses in flocks of many hundreds. 
 Sugar-cane grows abundantly and without culture. 
 Their animals are pigs, dogs, and the domestic fowl; 
 these and the fish, which they catch with great ex- 
 pertness, afford them an abundant supply of food. 
 Society 3. Society Islands. — The first account of these 
 
 Islands. islands is given in the voyage of Jacob Roggewein, 
 who touched at Ulietea in the year 1722 ; at least it is 
 conjectured by Burney on probable grounds, that the 
 Verquickking or Recreation Island of that navigator 
 is the same. On sending a boat on shore, the inha- 
 bitants assembled on the beach, and advanced into the 
 water armed with lances to oppose their landing. The 
 Hollanders fired upon them, and having dispersed 
 them, landed on the beach, and the inhabitants re- 
 turned in a friendly manner, and brought them 
 cocoa-nuts and other articles of food. The Holland- 
 ers then advanced up a valley towards the moun- 
 tains, but some thousands of the natives coming out 
 of the glens and crevices, made signs to them to 
 return. The Hollanders, however, paid no regard 
 but proceeded, upon which showers of stones were 
 hurled at them, by which some were killed and 
 others wounded. These volleys were answered by 
 a discharge of musketry, which killed many of the 
 islanders, who, nevertheless, continued the action, 
 and finally drove the Dutchmen into their boats. 
 Many of the latter subsequently died of the wounds 
 they had received in consequence of the bad state of 
 their constitutions, being severely affected with the 
 scurvy. 
 
 Description. Captain Cook visited these islands in 1769, and 
 again in 1777. They consist of six in number (be- 
 sides small coral islets), whose names are Ulietea 
 and Otaha (both encompassed by the same coral 
 reef), Huaheine, Bolabola, Tubai, and Maurua. 
 They extend from about 16° to 17° south latitude, 
 and from 151° to 152° west longitude. The climate, 
 the productions, and the inhabitants, resemble so 
 nearly those of Otaheite, that the same description 
 will apply to both. The surfaces of all the islands 
 are uneven and hilly, but not mountainous, and the 
 hills are finely wooded. The inhabitants, like those 
 
 VOL. Vr. PART I. 
 
 of the Navigator's Islands, are generally of a larger Polynesia, 
 stature than the Otaheitans. The late Sir Joseph V— — v-^ 
 Banks measured one of the natives of Huaheine, 
 and found him to be six feet three inches and a half 
 in height, and the women are described as generally 
 more handsome and somewhat fairer than those of 
 Otaheite. Bolabola differs from the rest of the 
 islands by having a lofty double peaked mountain 
 near its centre, apparently volcanic. In Ulietea 
 there is a large moiai, in which a number of jaw- 
 bones are kept as trophies of war. The coral reefs 
 which every where surround these islands form 
 numerous safe and commodious harbours for ship- 
 ping, and refreshments of hogs, fowls, plantains, 
 cocoa-nuts, and yams, are generally to be had in 
 great abundance. 
 
 4. The Georgian Islands, incltiding Otaheite, ^-c. The Geor- 
 — Otaheite is the chief island of this vast group, 8*^" Islands, 
 which extends over fifteen degrees of longitude, in 
 the direction of south-east. The extreme point 
 is Pitcairn's Island, lately become interesting on 
 account of the discovery of the descendants of the 
 mutineer Christian and some of his associates. The 
 natives of this vast chain of islands, and particularly 
 of Otaheite, may probably be considered as the most 
 civilized, but, at the same time, the most sensual 
 people in all Polynesia. It was first discovered by 
 Quiros, in 1606, and received from him the name of 
 Sagittaria. The natives received the strangers with 
 great kindness, gave them cocoa-nuts and other 
 fruits, and a general interchange of civilities and 
 presents soon took place. This good understanding 
 remained uninterrupted, and the Spaniards, for once, 
 left the island without having quarrelled with the in- 
 habitants. In their zeal, however, they committed 
 an act which, if discovered, might have been attend- 
 ed with unpleasant circumstances. The place at 
 which they first landed was uninhabited, but in pass- 
 ing through a wood they discovered a Morai, in 
 which they concluded " the enemy of mankind re- 
 sided ;" and under this impression, cut down a tree, 
 which they formed into a cross, and planted in the 
 midst of the sacred building. 
 
 In 1765, Commodore Byron discovered two low 
 islands to the northward of Otaheite, which, in ho- 
 nour of his Majesty, he named George's Islands, one 
 of which, afterwards visited by Cook, is called 
 Tiookea ; the natives of these islands were very 
 dark coloured, robust, and apparently ferocious ; 
 their bodies were marked with the figure of a fish. 
 
 In 1767, Captain Wallis touched at Otaheite, and 
 went through the ceremony of taking possession of 
 the island in the name of his Sovereign ; but the 
 flag was removed by the natives in the night. Va- 
 rious squabbles occurred between the seamen and 
 the natives, who, however, behaved on the whole 
 with great kindness and hospitality. Most of the 
 quarrels were owing to the licentious intercourse of 
 the seamen with the native women. In 1768, M. de 
 Bougainville visited Otaheite, and was most hospitably 
 received ,• in return for which, several murders were 
 committed by the French seamen. Captain (then 
 Lieutenant) Cook anchored in Matavai Bay in April 
 1769. It is from this and his several subsequent 
 visits, together with a missionary voyage in the ship 
 
290 
 
 POLYNESIA. 
 
 Otaheite. 
 
 Produc- 
 tions. 
 
 Polynesia. Duff, commanded by Captain Wilson, 1796 — 1798, 
 that Otaheite is so well known to us. 
 
 The island consists of two peninsulas, connected 
 by a low isthmus, about three miles in width, cover- 
 ed with brushwood. The larger, Otaheite Nove, is 
 about ninety miles in circumference, and nearly cir- 
 cular ; the smaller, Tiaraboo, is about thirty miles ; 
 the whole nearly surrounded by a low belt of land, 
 from a furlong to a mile in width, which is prolonged 
 by a gradual rise to the valleys which run up to the 
 foot of the lofty central mountain. These valleys 
 and their intermediate ridges are beautiful, clothed 
 with a great variety of trees to their very summits ; 
 in the valleys are mostly met with clear streams of 
 water, which, in the rainy season, become mountain- 
 torrents. The island being surrounded with coral 
 reefs, is dangerous to approach, and the only safe 
 harbour is that of Matavai, on the northern side, in 
 latitude 17° 30' S. longitude 14.9° 13' W. This too is 
 not free from danger, from December to March. The 
 climate is delightful, the thermometer seldom rising 
 above 80°^ in summer, and ranging from 62° to 72° 
 in winter. 
 
 The island is so fertile as to produce every thing 
 in abundance, and without toil, for the sustenance 
 of man. The bread-fruit is here superior to that 
 which grows on the other islands. The fruit affords 
 them a most nutritive food, either for present use, or 
 made into a paste called mahie, which will keep till 
 the following season ; the trunk supplies them with 
 timber for their buildings and canoes ; it exudes a 
 gum, which serves for pitch, and from the inner 
 bark is manufactured a substantial cloth. They 
 reckon no less than thirty varieties of this most use- 
 ful tree, which, with the different exposures to the 
 trade winds, and the difference of elevation above 
 the sea, afford to the natives a bread-fruit harvest 
 at almost all seasons of the year. The cocoa-nut, 
 next to the bread-fruit, supplies them with meat, 
 drink, cloth, and oil. Of plantains, they reckon fif- 
 teen different sorts. Yams and sweet potatoes, tar- 
 ro-root of different kinds, and various other edible 
 roots and fruits, are most abundantly produced ; to 
 which our missionaries have added the pine-apple, 
 the grape, and various culinary vegetables of Eu- 
 rope ; but the natural and spontaneous productions 
 of the soil, and the consequent indolence of the peo- 
 ple, are unfavourable to their success. 
 
 The animals found on the island are hogs, dogs, 
 and rats. Several attempts have been made to in- 
 troduce the horse and horned cattle, sheep and 
 goats, but without success. The latter are so dis- 
 liked for their smell and the mischief they did to 
 their plantations, that they drove them into the 
 mountains, where they run wild. The breed of cats 
 has succeeded, and found to be extremely useful ; 
 and rabbits have been introduced, but we know not 
 with what success. Common poultry are abundant, 
 and the woods supply vast quantities of wild pigeons 
 and parrots. The tropic-bird builds its nest in the 
 steep cliffs, and as their long feathers are highly va- 
 lued, they are taken on the nest by lowering down 
 a man seated across a stick, by a rope, to the depth 
 of thirty or forty fathoms ; in which situation, by 
 means of a long pole, he swings himself from side to 
 
 Animals. 
 
 side, examining all the holes as he descends, in or- Polynesia, 
 der to take the bird on her nest. The shores abound 
 with sea fowl, and the sea with excellent fish, which 
 they take with great expertness by hook and line, 
 or by the net. Dolphins are caught at a distance 
 from the shore, by baiting the hook wiih a real or 
 artificial flying fish. Their fishing-tackle displays 
 the greatest ingenuity, and can only be exceeded by 
 their skill in using it. Their hooks are made of 
 pearl-shells, bone, and hard wood. The coast 
 abounds with lobsters, crabs, and various kinds of 
 shell-fish. 
 
 The colour of the natives is that of olive, or light Inhabitants, 
 copper. The men are above the middle size ; the 
 chiefs almost uniformly tall, muscular, and well- 
 limbed, measuring from five feet nine inches to six 
 feet four inches, and continue healthy and vigorous 
 to a good old age. The women of the upper ranks 
 are also tall, with limbs finely turned. Their skins 
 soft and delicate ; eyes black, sparkling, and full of 
 expression ; teeth beautifully white and even ; their 
 hair jet black, and generally ornamented with flowers; 
 in their gait they are firm, but easy and graceful. 
 From a custom of compressing the face when infants, 
 they can scarcely be called beauties ; yet, according 
 to the account of Captain Wilson, they possess fe- 
 minine graces in an eminent degree ; " their faces 
 never being darkened with a scowl, or covered with a 
 cloud of suUenness or suspicion." They are affable 
 and engaging ; mild, gentle, and unaffected ; cour- 
 teous to each other and to strangers. The whole of 
 the body to the middle of the leg is clothed; but 
 there is a singular custom which compels a woman 
 to uncover her shoulders and breasts in the presence 
 of a chief, or in passing a morai, or sacred place. 
 The lower classes have always been described as ex- 
 tremely licentious, but Captain Cook says they have 
 been much calumniated. " It is too true," say the 
 writers of the Missionary Voyage, " that, for the 
 sake of gaining our extraordinary curiosities, and to 
 please our brutes, they have appeared immodest in 
 the extreme. Yet they lay the charge wholly at our 
 door, and say the Englishmen are ashamed at no- 
 thing, and that we have led them to public acts of 
 indecency never before practised among themselves." 
 It must be admitted, however, that the most aban- 
 doned conduct is freely indulged by the women of 
 the Arreoy society, who, to the crime of unbounded 
 licentiousness, add that of murdering their children 
 the moment they are born. In recent accounts, 
 however, it is stated, that this horrible practice has 
 been abolished, and that Christianity is making a ra- 
 pid progress among these interesting islanders. 
 
 As wives, the Otaheitan women are tenderly affec- 
 tionate to their husbands and children, nursing and 
 attending the latter with the utmost care. They 
 never, on any occasion, strike a child. A melan- 
 choly instance of the fidelity and affection of one of 
 these women is given in the Missionary Voyage, 
 " The history of Peggy Stewart marks a tenderness 
 of heart that never will be heard without emotion. 
 She was daughter of a chief, and taken for his wife 
 by Mr Stewart, one of the unhappy mutineers (of the 
 Bounty). They had lived with the old chief in the 
 most tender state of endearment ; a beautiful little 
 
POLYNESIA. 
 
 Polynesia, girl had been the fruit of their union, and was at the 
 breast when the Pandora arrived, seized the crimi- 
 nals, and secured them in irons on board the ship. 
 Frantic with grief, the unhappy Peggy flew with her 
 infant in a canoe to the arms of her husband. The 
 interview was so affecting and afflicting, that the offi- 
 cers on board were overwhelmed with anguish, and 
 Stewart himself, unable to bear the heart-rending 
 scene, begged she might not be admitted again on 
 board. She was separated from him by violence, 
 and conveyed on shore in a state of despair and grief 
 too big for utterance. Withheld from him, and for- 
 bidden to come any more on board, she sunk into 
 the deepest dejection ; it preyed on her vitals, — she 
 lost all relish for food and life, — rejoiced no more, — 
 pined under a rapid decay of two months, and fell a 
 victim to her feelings, dying literally of a broken 
 heart." 
 
 The Otaheitans are generous even to a fault ; they 
 seem to be utterly unable to resist importunities, and 
 always ready to share their last morsel with their 
 neighbours. Poverty is no reproach, but affluence 
 with covetousness brings contempt on the owner. 
 Should any one, indeed, refuse to share his property 
 in cases of distress, the chances are that it will be de- 
 stroyed, and his house pulled down over his head. 
 The office of king is hereditary in one family ; the 
 chiefs resemble our ancient barons ; under them are 
 the vassals, and below them the villeins, or labourers. 
 The king and queen enjoy many privileges, one of 
 which is. to be carried about every where on men's 
 shoulders; and the reason of this is, that whatever 
 soil they tread upon becomes sacred, and belongs to 
 them ; so also, if they enter a house, it is rendered 
 sacred, and becomes their property. Their domes- 
 tics and attendants are also raa, or sacred, and for 
 thieving, plunder, and all manner of licentiousness, 
 they are said to be the worst on the island. 
 
 In the Missionary Voyage is given an account of 
 the ceremony of investing the new sovereign with 
 theroyal maro, when each chief of the island, amount- 
 ing to nearly one hundred, brings one, two, or three 
 human victims, to offer up on the occasion. They 
 are brought before the sovereign in a lifeless state, 
 having first been stoned to death, or knocked on the 
 head with clubs. From each of these victims the 
 priest scoops out an eye, and presents it to the king on 
 a plantain-leaf, and the bodies are then carried away 
 and interred in the Moral. The reason assigned for 
 this oblation is, that the head being accounted sa- 
 cred, and the eye the most precious part, it is pre- 
 sented to the king as the head and eye of the people. 
 During the presentation the king holds his mouth 
 open, as if devouring it, whereby it is imagined he 
 receives additional wisdom and discernment. The 
 royal maro, and the sacred canoes which brought 
 the human sacrifices, are then deposited in the Mo- 
 ral. A series of feasts then begin, which continue 
 for two months. These abominable rites, if not en- 
 tirely abolished, have, in a great degree, ceased by 
 the influence of the missionaries. 
 
 In their language and their deities may be traced 
 their Hindoo origin ; and, though their religion is a 
 tissue of superstitions and brutal ceremonies, they 
 never draw near to their Eatova with carelessness 
 
 291 
 
 and inattention. Captain Cook testifies to the de- Polynesia, 
 corous conduct of an Otaheitan on such occasions : ^-•^V^ 
 "He IS all devotion,~he approaches the place of 
 worship with reverential awe,—uncovers when he 
 treads on sacred ground, and prays with a fervour 
 that would do honour to a better profession." 
 
 On the whole, the Otaheitans are not only the 
 most advanced in civilization, but inhabit the fairest 
 and most fertile island of Polynesia. Taking into ac- 
 count, as Captain Wilson says, its amenity, the salu- 
 brity of the climate, the plenty of fine water, spon- 
 taneous productions of the earth, the rich and most 
 romantically picturesque appearances of the country, 
 •* he felt the justice of the title given to Otaheite by 
 one of the navigators, as the ' Queen of Islands.' " 
 The latest accounts received from the missionaries 
 are most gratifying. One of them thus concludes : 
 «' Public immorality, drunkenness, and profane swear- 
 ing, are unknown here. All their former sports and 
 amusements are completely put down. Their morais 
 are almost all demolished, and many of them com- 
 pletely obliterated ; and it is a singular fact, that 
 chapels now occupy the very ground on which many 
 of them stood." 
 
 With such a people is the north-western extremi- 
 ty of the large group of islands, and the interesting 
 offspring of the mutineers of the Bounty, who still 
 preserve their religious habits and purity of manners, 
 on the small island of Pitcairn, at the opposite extre- 
 mity, a hope may be indulged that, in the course of 
 half a century, civilization will have made a rapid 
 progress, not only throughout the Friendly, Society, 
 and King George Islands, but over a very consider- 
 able portion of Polynesia. 
 
 5. The Marquesas — This cluster of islands was dis- The Mar- 
 covered by Alvarode Mendana in 1595, and named q^sas. 
 by him Las Marquesas de Mendo^a, in honour of the 
 Viceroy of Peru. Four only are described by Quiros the 
 pilot, under the names of La Dominica, Santa Chris- 
 tina, San Pedro, and La Madalena. The Spaniards 
 anchored in a port on Santa Christina, to which they 
 gave the name of Madre de Dios, well protected from 
 the trade-wind, and which has two excellent streams of 
 fresh water flowing into it. The people are described 
 as being an elegant race, the women in particular as 
 remarkably beautiful, whose complexions and general 
 appearance are said to excel those of the women of 
 Lima. Their dress consisted of a cloth made of the 
 leaves of a palm-tree, with which they were covered 
 from the breast downwards ; and so civilly disposed 
 were they, that a beautiful native woman seated her- 
 self by the side of Donna Isabel, the wife of Men- 
 dana, and began to fan her. But the Spaniards, as 
 usual, found means to quarrel with the natives, anc^ 
 to drive them with their fire-arms into the woods. 
 
 The produce of the island was hogs, fowls, fish, 
 cocoa-nuts, sugar-canes, plantains, and the bread- 
 fruit, described for the first time by the writer of this 
 voyage. 
 
 Subsequent discoveries have made us nearly as Description, 
 well acquainted with the Marquesas as with Ota- 
 heite. Captain Cook visited them in 1774, and 
 Captain Wilson in 1797. From these we know that 
 they consist of eight islands in number, besides some 
 smaller islands to the westward, which being seen by 
 
292 
 
 POLYNESIA. 
 
 Polynesia- an American master of the name of Ingraham, 
 %^-«^he called them Washington's Islands. They had 
 previously been seen, however, by Marchand in 
 1789, and may fairly be grouped as part of the Mar- 
 quesas. The centre of the group may be reckoned 
 in about the latitude 9° 30' south, and longitude 
 139° 30' west. 
 
 Manners. The manners, the religious ceremonies, the nia- 
 rais, and the general appearance of the natives, are so 
 similar to those of Otaheite, that a description of 
 them Vifould amount to little more than a repetition 
 of what has been said. They have all the good quali- 
 ties of the natives of that island, and most of their 
 bad ones ; but owing probably to a more restricted 
 communication with strangers, a greater degree of 
 simplicity was observable in their manners, on the 
 first arrival of the missionaries among them, than in 
 the people of Otaheite. Scarcely had they anchor- 
 ed in Resolution Bay (Madre de Dios), than two 
 women, though dark, swam off to the ship, in the 
 hope of meeting a favourable reception, calling out 
 in a piteous tone, when they found they could not be 
 admitted on board, " Waheene, tuaheenef We are 
 women, we are women. The next morning the visit 
 was repeated, and is thus described in the Mission- 
 ary Voyage. 
 
 " Our first visitors from the shore came early; 
 they were seven beautiful young women, swimming 
 quite naked, except a few green leaves tied round 
 their middle ; they kept playing round the ship for 
 three hours, calling Waheene!' until several of the 
 native men had got on board ; one of them, being 
 the chief of the island, requested that his sister might 
 be taken on board, which was complied with. She 
 was of a fair complexion, inclining to a healthy yel- 
 low, with a tint of red in her cheek, was rather stout, 
 but possessing such symmetry of features, as did all 
 her companions, that as models for the statuary and 
 painter their equals can seldom be found." Captain 
 Wilson says, that an Otaheitan woman which they 
 had on board was far eclipsed by the Marquesan 
 woman ; but she was shocked to see a woman quite 
 naked walking the deck, and threw over her a dress 
 of Otaheitan cloth ; but as for the rest of these fe- 
 males, the goats, it seems, soon stripped them of their 
 green leaves, and left them in a state of complete 
 nudity. On shore the women clothe themselves in 
 decent habits. 
 
 The Marquesans are so far superior to the Ota- 
 heitans, that they sacrifice hogs only to their deities, 
 and never men. Their houses, canoes, their dress, 
 and the cultivation of their land, are at least equal to 
 those of Otaheite, and they, have none of those infa- 
 mous arreoy societies. Captain Porter of the Ame- 
 rican frigate Essex, after brutally massacring a num- 
 der of these people on the most frivolous pretext, 
 charges them with cannibalism, though, from his 
 own account, there does not appear the slightest 
 ground for so injurious an imputation. To all un- 
 prejudiced navigators they have appeared as an ami- 
 able people, entertaining a great respect for old age, 
 fond of their children instead of murdering them, as 
 on Otaheite and some other islands, and living in 
 
 peace and harmony with each other, and with their Polyneia. 
 families. 
 
 6. Easter Island. — This small island, not 30 miles Easter 
 in length, is only deserving of notice from its solitary 
 position, its great distance from any of the islands of 
 the Pacific, its comparative proximity to the coast 
 of South America, and its being inhabited by a race 
 of men who differ no more from the rest of the Poly- 
 nesians than they do from each other; having the 
 same language, the same features, the same religious 
 notions, and Morals constructed as they generally 
 are in other islands ; on the platforms of which are 
 erected shapeless and uncouth masses of stone, carv- 
 ed in imitation of the human bust, with rude faces 
 four or five feet long, set on trunks of ten or twelve 
 feet in height. Kotzebue, the last visitor to this 
 island, looked, however, in vain for any traces of these 
 statues on the spots where they are described by 
 Cook and La Peyrouse. 
 
 This island is supposed to have been discovered 
 by the Buccaneer Davis in l687; though some have 
 contended for the Dutch Admiral Roggewein being 
 the discoverer, who gave it the name of Paaschen, or 
 Easter Island, having first seen it on the day of that 
 feast. Its latitude is 27° 5' south, and longitude 109° 
 46' west. 
 
 It is not remarkably fertile ; few trees are found 
 on it, and no running stream. The natives are very 
 industrious in raising food for their support, which 
 consists chiefly of bananas, taro-root, sugar-canes, 
 sweet potatoes, and yams. By some navigators they 
 are described as a very savage people, by others as a 
 mild and amiable race : — the fact is, that their con- 
 duct has corresponded with the treatment they have 
 received from strange visitors. Thus their decided 
 hostility to Kotzebue, when he attempted to land on 
 the island, was explained on his arrival at the Sand- 
 wich Islands. An American commanding a schoon- 
 er called the Nancy from New London, had observ- 
 ed a vast multitude of seals on the shores of the 
 small uninhabited island of Massafuero, to the west- 
 ward of Juan Fernandez ; and thinking it might turn 
 out an excellent speculation, if a small establishment 
 were formed on the island, to carry 6n the fishing, 
 set about the means of carrying this project into ef- 
 fect. His own crew was but just sufficient to navi- 
 gate the vessel, and there being no anchorage off the 
 island, could not be spared to catch seals. The bru- 
 tal wretch, therefore, proceeded to Easter Island, 
 and landing at Cook's Bay, seized and carried off 
 twelve men and ten women to people his new colony. 
 For the first three days they were confined in irons, 
 and were not released till fairly out of sight of land, 
 when the first use they made of their liberty was to 
 jump overboard, choosing rather to perish in the 
 waves than to be carried away they knew not whi- 
 ther, or for what purpose; the women, who were with 
 difficulty restrained from following them, were car- 
 ried to Massafuero, but what ultimately became of 
 these poor creatures M. Kotzebue does not relate. 
 No wonder then that such base and inhuman practices 
 should drive the natives to acts of hostility against all 
 foreign intruders. (k-) 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 Not Imaged 
 
298 
 
 POOR-LAWS. 
 
 -Laws. The laws comprehended under this title, and regu- 
 lating the relief, maintenance, and employment of the 
 poor, form so important and peculiar a feature in the 
 polity of England, as to demand a careful notice. 
 Especially as the administration of the system, within 
 the last twenty-five years, has been so essentially 
 altered, as to render any previous account, in a 
 great measure, obsolete : and the effects of the sys- 
 tem have been so widely extended, and so sensibly 
 felt, as to obtain a considerable degree of public at- 
 tention. 
 
 We shall, therefore, under this article, explain, 
 as briefly as possible, the laws on which the English 
 Poor-System is founded ; their practical administra- 
 tion ; their effects political and moral ; and the princi- 
 pal plans which have been proposed for the mitiga- 
 tion and ultimate removal of the evils inseparable 
 from a system of compulsory and indiscriminate re- 
 lief, involving an interference with the general con- 
 cerns of a large portion of the community. 
 
 gin of the It is not necessary to trace^ particularly, the cir- 
 or-Laws. cumstances of difficulty and hardship, to relieve which 
 the compulsory provision for the poor was first in- 
 stituted. From the date of the earliest statutes, the 
 middle of the sixteenth century appears to have been 
 the period when the number and wants of the poor 
 began to attract legislative attention. In 1536, 1550, 
 156 1, and 1563, sundry statutes were passed direct- 
 ing that every aged, disabled, and impotent person, 
 should be relieved and kept in the place where they 
 were born or had dwelt three years ; and in the last 
 of the acts referred to, the justices of the peace were 
 empowered to make the payment of assessments for 
 these purposes compulsory. The sudden alienation 
 of the abbey-lands, the cessation of all customary 
 relief from the monasteries, together with the rapid 
 increase in the money price of commodities, occasion- 
 ed by the influx of the precious metals from America 
 (estimated at 50 per cent, between the years 1550 
 and 1580), sufficiently account for the pressure on 
 the labouring classes which these provisions were in- 
 tended to remove. 
 
 However, in spite of all palliations, this evil grew, 
 and led to the famous act of the 43d of Eliza- 
 beth, which continues to this day the fundamental 
 and operative law on this important subject. This 
 statute enacts, " That the churchwardens and over- 
 seers shall take order from time to time (with the 
 consent of two or more justices) for setting to work 
 the children, of all such whose parents shall not be 
 thought able to keep and maintain their children ; 
 and also, for setting to work all such persons, married 
 or unmarried, having no means to maintain them, 
 and using no ordinary or daily trade to get their 
 living by ; and also, to raise by taxation, &c., a con- 
 venient stock of flax, to set the poor on work ; and 
 also competent sums of money for and towards the 
 necessary relief of the lame^ impotent old, blind, and 
 
 such other among them, being poor and not able to Poor-Laws. 
 work." s-^s^w 
 
 By this enactment, the State virtually undertook Results of 
 to do two things, which were never before attempted ^^j^^^**"^ 
 by any national or legislative provision. It became 
 pledged to support, at the public expence, all the 
 poor, aged, and impotent members of the commu- 
 nity ; and, far worse, to provide employment for all 
 those who would not or could not procure it for 
 themselves. 
 
 The first of these undertakings, however humanely 
 designed, is found by experience to eradicate some 
 of the finest principles of human nature, and to create 
 more distresses than it remedies. 
 
 The second, which compels the overseers to set to 
 work all those for whose labour there is no natural de- 
 mand, is in decided opposition to the known rules of 
 political economy. The number of persons that can 
 be employed in labour must absolutely depend upon 
 the amount of the funds applicable to the main- 
 tenance of labour ; so that, an enactment, engaging 
 to find employment for as many as may demand it, 
 undertakes a condition which it is not in the power 
 of any law to fulfil. 
 
 The wonder which arises at the first view of a 
 system like this — a system which has the radical fault 
 of assuming, or establishing, the right of the poor, 
 i. e. as it may turn out, of the whole community, to 
 support, at the expense of the community, is, that 
 it should have existed moi*e than 200 years, with- 
 out occasioning the complete destruction of pro- 
 sperity. This, however, is no proof of the innocence 
 of the law ; it results from the mode of its execution 
 and administration. When persons were only re- 
 lieved in their own parishes, and when relief was only 
 to be had by application to an overseer, and often, of 
 course, distributed in a capricious and insulting man- 
 ner, few would seek it who could possibly subsist 
 otherwise, and a becoming spirit of independence 
 diminished the number of claimants. But above all, it 
 was ordered by the law that the idle should be set to 
 work, and the paupers maintained in tjcorkhouses. 
 Accordingly, workhouses existed in all large towns ; Administra- 
 in most considerable villages, and in some districts, °^ *^ 
 where the parishes were small, a common workhouse j^g^"^ ° 
 was established by the union of several neighbouring 
 parishes. Nothing could render these receptacles 
 a comfortable abode, except the wisest management 
 and most vigilant inspection. But few persons 
 capable of adequately discharging such an office 
 would undertake so unpromising an employment. 
 All ages, and all characters, — the orphan or the 
 illegitimate child ; the prostitute female, the idiots 
 of the parish, the idle vagabond, whom no master 
 would take the trouble to reclaim; the aged wi- 
 dow and the decrepit labourer ; the most pitiable 
 members of society, and those who had the least 
 claim to compassion, were crowded into one com- 
 fortless home, and joined their quarrels, their com- 
 
POOR-LAWS. 
 
 ^94 
 
 yoor. Laws. plaints, and their sorrows together. Those who had 
 ^^V^*^ any sense of comfort or decency, would submit to 
 the severest privations rather than obey the threaten- 
 ed alternative, and go to the •workhouse. 
 
 So that, twenty-five or thirty years ago, the expen- 
 ses arising from the poor-laws were, in a great mea- 
 sure, confined to the maintenance of workhouses ; and 
 the workhouses were a resource for the aged, desti- 
 tute, and impotent ; a place of restraint for the idle 
 and disorderly, and an object of terror to the able 
 and industrious. The out- door relief was not ex- 
 tended beyond occasional assistance during tempo- 
 rary illness, or the woman's confinement ; or beyond' 
 the payment of a part of the rent of the cottage in 
 cases of large families ; or a small weekly allowance 
 to a few infirm persons of good character, who made 
 up the rest of their support, by such trifling works of 
 industry as they were able to perform. Some en- 
 croachments, no doubt, took place from time to time, 
 and in peculiar situations, on these general principles 
 of public relief; but no man in health and in work 
 ever thought of applying for parochial pay: and as 
 artificial encouragement had not yet disturbed, in 
 any material degree, the general adaptation of the 
 supply to the demand for labour, want of work was 
 not a common case. Thinking people, it is true, 
 even then foresaw that the principle of the poor-laws 
 was fundamentally wrong, and had a tendency to 
 create the distress which it professed to remove ; and 
 particularly, they argued, that the idea of providing 
 employ at the public expense was contrary to every 
 sound rule of justice and policy. But, in fact, this 
 part of the act of Elizabeth had not then been called 
 into extensive operation, and went little further than 
 the wholesome purpose of keeping those employed 
 who were collected in workhouses ; while the disci- 
 pline, the disgrace, and the misery of the workhouse 
 itself, acted the useful part of stimulating industry, 
 and encouraging independence, as long as the alter- 
 native of entering it, or of providing independent 
 support, was left by the Legislature, enforced by the 
 parish, and required by the magistrate. 
 
 Notwithstanding these checks, however, to the na- 
 tural consequences of the system, the assessment to 
 the poor is found to have progressively increased at 
 every period for which returns have been preserved. 
 The average sum applied to the relief of the poor for 
 the years 1748, 1749, 17.'>0, was L. 690,000 per art' 
 num. In 1776 it amounted to L. 1,531,000, an in- 
 crease far beyond what the rise in the prices of corn 
 would justify ; * in 1783-4-5, to L.2,000,000, though 
 the average price of corn had fallen during the nine 
 intermediate years : f so that such gradual increase, in 
 spite of all obstacles, and without any sufficient ex- 
 
 ternal cause, can only be attributed to the known Poor-Laws. 
 tendency of regular and indiscriminate charity to'*^.-*-' 
 create its own objects. 
 
 But in the year 1795 a change took place in the New Mode 
 administration of the poor-laws, which has complete- of Admini- 
 ly altered the state of the country. This was a win-!*"*^°"*'"^^ 
 ter of unusual scarcity. The price of corn per quar- 
 ter, which for the three preceding years had stood at 
 L.2, 14s., averaged more than L. 4 during the whole 
 of 1795 and 1796. As the returns of labour could 
 not be expected to keep pace with such a sudden 
 rise in the necessaries of life, distress was universal ; 
 and there appeared as claimants for parochial relief 
 not only the infirm and aged, but the able-bodied 
 and industrious, who had few of them ever before re- 
 sorted to the parish, and that only during temporary 
 illness and disability. It was at this season of ac- 
 knowledged difficulty that the county magistrates, 
 first in Berkshire, and afterwards in other parts of 
 the middle and south of England, agreed to relieve 
 the poor according to a fixed and uniform scale, re- 
 gulated by the price of bread ; and issued a table, 
 which professed to show, at one view, what should be 
 the weekly income of the labouring poor, which it 
 fixed in a certain ratio, according to the price of 
 bread, and the size of the family. | Whatever the 
 man's labour produced less than the provisions of 
 this table required was made up by the parish, whose 
 compliance was subsequently enforced by the Legis- 
 lature ; and the justices were empowered, under cer- 
 tain conditions, to order relief out of the workhouse, 
 and to those who possessed property of their own. 
 36th Geo. III. c. 23. 
 
 The practical operation of this system is as follows : Practical 
 Every labourer is presumed to require a gallon loaf ^P''»*io» 
 of standard wheaten bread, weekly, for every mem- 
 
 of the Sys. 
 
 ber of his family, and one over : i. e. four loaves for*^""' 
 three persons ; seven for six. — A. B. has a wife and 
 four children ; he claims seven gallon loaves, cost- 
 ing, we will suppose, 12s. But his wages are only 
 9s. : therefore the parish supplies him with 3s. week- 
 ly. C. D. has a wife and six children ; he requires 
 nine gallon loaves, or 14s. 8d. He earns 10s.; the 
 parish makes up the rest. E. F. is so idle and dis- 
 orderly, that no one will employ him ; but he has a 
 wife and five children, and requires eight gallon 
 loaves for their support. His allowance, then, is 9s. 
 in lieu of the wages which he ought to earn, and 5s, 
 or 6s. to make up the deficiency of these wages. 
 
 Many, we doubt not, of the readers of this article 
 will imagine that this is a remarkable or insulated 
 case. So far from it, this sort of machinery has 
 been going on, not only in a single parish, or a sin- 
 gle district, but throughout half the country during 
 
 * Between 1750 and 1776, the price of wheat had risen from 35s. to 48s. The advance of price would 
 thus account for an increase of about one-third, making the charge for expenditure upon the poor L.920,00(^ 
 and the population being increased about eighteen per cent., brings an addition of L. 165,600 ; making 
 L. 1,085,000 as the natural increase, instead of the actual increase, L, 1,531,000. See Second Letter to Mr 
 Peel on the Increase of Pauperism, p. 84. 
 
 t Average price of corn for ten years preceding 1775, L.2, lis. 3|d.; average from 1775 to 1785 
 L. 2, 7s. 8jd. The increase of population during that period did not exceed six per cent, 
 
 X For the first introduction of this system, see Sir F. Eden on the Poor, Vol. I. p. 579, Sec. 
 
POOR-LAWS. 
 
 dor-Laws, the last twenty-five years. It is, in short, universal 
 in the agricultural counties, with such trifling va- 
 riations as the discretion of some magistrates, or 
 the indiscretion of others, may have locally intro. 
 duced. 
 
 The magistrates with whom this fatal scale origi- 
 nated were actuated, no doubt, by feelings of huma- 
 nity. The evil against which they had to contend 
 was pressing ; the price of provisions was rapidly 
 rising, and the wages of labour bore no proportion 
 to that increase ; so that a man's weekly pay was 
 clearly insufficient to support his family. The crisis, 
 too, was formidable ; discontent and insubordination 
 existed very widely ; and it was naturally thought, 
 that, if real were added to imaginary evils, and hun- 
 ger sharpened the exacerbation of previous ill tem- 
 per, the peace of the community might be seriously 
 endangered. The people had been often taught that 
 revolution would make their condition better ; and if 
 it became clear that nothing could make it worse, 
 no slight additional force would be given to the ar- 
 guments of the evil-disposed and discontented. In 
 these difficult circumstances, two modes of admini- 
 stering relief lay before them : one was a compulsory 
 augmentation of the wages of labour to meet the ex- 
 isting case, which they were them empowered to or- 
 der by a statute 5th Eliz. c. 4, since wisely repealed; 
 the other was the enlargement of parochial aid, in 
 the way we have described. Of two plans, both ra- 
 dically bad, it would be hazardous to decide which 
 might have been followed with less permanent evil 
 to society. Upon the consequences of interfering 
 with the wages of labour, we can only speculate ; 
 but the consequences of legalizing this mode of pub- 
 lic relief are too plainly written to be concealed. 
 From its publication and general adoption, the in- 
 dustry of the lower classes has deteriorated ; their 
 independent feeling has been annihilated ; the public 
 burdens have been enormously increased ; and the 
 proportion of supply and demamd in all the nume- 
 rous departments of labour has been deranged. 
 
 Every new experiment in legiaslation is interesting 
 to the philosophical inquirer, aind valuable to the 
 practical statesman. A system like that which we 
 have been describing, in particular, has placed the 
 inhabitants of a great country in so new and untried 
 a predicament, that it becomes a matter of singular 
 importance to trace its effects, political and moral. 
 The poor, it must be acknowledged, in all crowded 
 and highly civilized states, present a problem of great 
 embarrassment. Where so much wealth and so much 
 penury are seen in opposition ; where there is on the 
 one side so much superfluity, on the other so much 
 deficiency ; a plan which promises a nearer equaliza- 
 tion of the comforts of life brings a strong recom- 
 mendation, at first sight, to the best feelings of the 
 legislator and the moralist. On this account, our 
 English system of poor-laws has been the subject of 
 frequent eulogy ; — has been glanced at with a view 
 to its adoption both with reference to France and 
 Ireland ; though the rulers of these countries have 
 hitherto been wisely contented rather to take our 
 warning than to follow our example. Scotland is still 
 in a more hesitating state. 
 
 We shall therefore think it necessary, in this place, 
 
 295 
 
 to point out the consequences of this artificial sys- Poor-Laws. 
 tern, both as they affect the community which affords >v^^ 
 the relief, and the individuals who receive it. And 
 it will be seen that the general principle which con- 
 demns such interference has been strongly confirmed 
 by the practical evils resulting from its infraction. 
 
 1. The first, and perhaps the greatest of the political political 
 mischiefs occasioned by the poor-laws is this ; that Mischiefs 
 they disturb the due proportion between the supply 
 of labourers and the demand for labour. They en- j"* Disturb 
 courage population, without reference to the funds the Natural 
 by which that population is to be supported. They Course of 
 persuade the lower classes to marry as soon as inch- Pop«'»t»n' 
 nation prompts, as if it were needless to reflect whe- 
 ther they can maintain the probable issue of that 
 marriage. 
 
 In the natural and healthy course of things, the 
 case of a society increasing too fast can hardly 
 occur in a state of civilization. Some part of the 
 conamunity, indeed, will be pushed to distress and 
 indigence in all countries; but this is not to be 
 set to the account of over-population ; it results 
 from the misfortunes to which mankind are subject, 
 and the vicious conduct in which they indulge ; and 
 may exist to a considerable extent, where it could 
 not be argued that the country was over-peo- 
 pled. The natural arrangement is, that a man and 
 his family should depend upon himself; should be 
 supported by his own personal exertions : and know- 
 ing this, he considers before he marries whether the 
 ordinary wages of labour in his peculiar vocation 
 will support the probable expenses of the family 
 which he has a right to expect : and if otherwise, he 
 forbears to marry till he can either get better em- 
 ployment, or has laid by some provision to go in aid 
 of his weekly earnings. When labour is so plentiful 
 in the market, that he can only procure employ for 
 half or two-thirds of the year ; and when it is so 
 scantily repaid, that though he may earn sufficient to 
 support himself, he can do no more — then he has a 
 clear intimation that he cannot marry without the 
 risk of entailing severe want upon himself and his 
 family. Therefore the labourers, and the demand for 
 labour, keep pace together, by a gentle and equable 
 arrangement, which acts wherever mankind are so far 
 civilized as to know the use of reason, and so pru- 
 dently governed, as to be allowed to exercise it. 
 
 But the law which compels the public to furnish 
 employment to as many as come to claim it, and re- 
 gulates the wages given in return, not according to 
 the market price of labour, but according to the 
 wants of the labourer, removes at once the natural 
 spring which adjusts the proportion between the de- 
 mand and the supply of labourers, and exposes the 
 country to all the evils of a redundant population. 
 For as matters are now disposed in England, the 
 question is not whether the parent can support his 
 probable family, but whether the parish will ; and the 
 parish pledges itself, by allowed custom, to discharge 
 the parental duty, when it allots a regular addition 
 to the wages of labour in proportion to the number 
 of children. A large family of children is a treasure 
 in America, because such is the demand for labour, 
 that they can in very early life do more than main- 
 tain themselves : and they are a treasure in a country 
 
296 
 
 POOR-LAWS. 
 
 Foot- Laws, most unlike America^ namely, in the agricultural dis- 
 tricts of England, because, according to the lex Julia 
 which prevails, they place naore of the public money 
 at the disposal of the father. 
 
 Strange to say, an elaborate defence of the poor- 
 laws has been attempted on this very ground, that 
 they are calculated to accelerate the progress of po- 
 pulation at the cheapest rate to the community. 
 Men are not inclined, it is said, to burthen them- 
 selves with a family, unless they can promise them- 
 selves a reasonable share of comfort. That comfort 
 can only be secured by high wages. But high wages 
 cannot be limited to those who deserve them by their 
 services to the state, in rearing a numerous family : 
 «— ^ 'They must be given to single as well as to married 
 men — to those with small families as well as those 
 with large. This would be unpardonably extrava- 
 gant. Let us therefore sink the price of labour, but 
 secure a support to those meritorious members of 
 society, who furnish the manufactories and the armies 
 with their superfluous children. Let " the law say, 
 *' provide the state with children, if you are inclined 
 to marriage ; and, should the produce of your in- 
 dustry not be sufficient to rear them in health and 
 vigour, here is a fund that will supply deficiencies ; 
 or, if the expense of rearing them prevents your 
 making a provision for old age, here is a fund out of 
 which you shall be supported with decency, when- 
 ever your infirmities prevent your power of supplying 
 yourselves. Such a provision must soon counteract 
 any natural impediment to a full supply of people ; 
 and if the application of the fund be guarded by wise 
 provisions, securing a man's best exertions while ca- 
 pable, and those provisions are not perverted, the 
 population raised thereby will be of the best sort ; it 
 will be robust, healthy, and industrious."* 
 Danger of An argument so rash and so contradictory to ex- 
 such Inter- perience as this requires little confutation. A states- 
 ference withj^g^jj Qjjgljt j.Q have far more than human sagacity, 
 opu a ion. ^^j^^g ^^^^ himself to" give direct encourage- 
 ment to population, which he is allowed to do, by 
 the advocates of the poor-laws, " when it shall ap- 
 pear that an increase of people is necessary to the 
 further progress of a nation in wealth and prospe- 
 rity.''f This, surely, is an inquiry too profound and 
 complex to be safely entrusted to any statesman : 
 especially when we remember that encouragements 
 to marriage, like those held out by our laws, cannot 
 be appointed pro tempore : the engine, once set in 
 motion, cannot be checked or suspended at pleasure ; 
 it is itself artificial, but the provisions for its safe 
 operation must, after all, be those alone which na- 
 ture has established, whose primary laws wei'e vio- 
 lated in the original speculation. Nature has esta- 
 blished an index, in the rate of wages, by which the 
 wants of the society as to population may be clearly 
 ascertained. To set aside this index, and substitute 
 the temporary and short-sighted views of a states- 
 man, as to " the wants, resources, and political re- 
 
 lations of a country," is as pernicious in practice as Poor-Laus. 
 it is unphilosophical in theory. Nature, besides, has "^^"V^ 
 provided by an universal principle, that the case sup- 
 posed to justify this rash and impolitic legislation 
 shall never really exist. It is a point proved beyond 
 the possibility of gainsaying, that population will not 
 only increase up to the limit of available subsistence, 
 but beyond it ; — will always reach a certain point of 
 distress. Therefore, this instinctive principle, when 
 left to itself, is always ready to fill up every channel 
 of industry by which a family can be maintained. If, 
 then, the politician ventures to interfere, and accele- 
 rate the natural force of this principle, he ought first 
 to ensure the continuance of those circumstances 
 which seem to him to require or justify such accele- 
 ration. If this is confessedly beyond his power, he 
 has no right to interfere at all. 
 
 These obvious objections against disturbing the na- 
 tural order of things have met with a most striking 
 confirmation since the peace of 1815. The unnatu- 
 ral acceleration which had taken place during the war 
 became at its conclusion the cause of such severe 
 distress, as almost to render peace a doubtful blessing. 
 Extraordinary circumstances continuing certainly for 
 an unprecedented length of time, had given en- 
 couragement to extraordinary exertions ; the common 
 observer saw nothing unsound or unhealthy in the 
 state, as long as things remained the same ; but the 
 first change of circumstances produced a dangerous 
 revulsion, and proved the evil of empiricism in leg?s- 
 lation. 
 
 This leads us on to the second mischief arising out Political 
 of the present state of the poor-laws, which is closely Evils of tl 
 connected with the preceding. They tend to over- Poor-Law 
 burthen the land, upon which the funds for their sup- lc"^^ 
 port are charged ; and thus to introduce a system of Provision 
 universal pauperism. increase 
 
 Whatever be the nature of the funds destined to Pauperis! 
 support population, the tendency of population is to 
 increase beyond them. This is matter of experience 
 in every department of labour, from the highest to the 
 lowest. In all the branches of national industry, there 
 are always more claimants for employ than can attain 
 it ; and, though the excess, for obvious reasons, is at 
 different periods very different in degree, the redun- 
 dance is always on the side of the labourer ; — there 
 are always more workmen than can find employment 
 in manufactures ; — always more journeymen mecha- 
 nics than can be supplied with work ; — always more 
 agricultural labourers, than, taking the year through- 
 out, can be employed in useful husbandry. Not even 
 the unhealthy, or degrading, or precarious nature of 
 the employ prevents this effect of the expansive prin- 
 ciple of population. Chimney-sweeping, street-sweep- 
 ing, coal-heaving, mining, thieving, and begging, are 
 all pursued beyond the possibility of maintenance ; 
 are all followed by claimants for support beyond the 
 amount of support which they are capable of furnish- 
 ing- 
 
 * Inquiry into the Policy, Humariity, and past Effects of the Poor-Lam, ^dL^e The same argument is 
 supported by the late Mr Rose, in his Observations on the Poor-Lam, 
 f Wevland on Population and Production, p. 83. 
 
 10 
 
POOR-LAWS. 
 
 297 
 
 ;>oor-Laws. But this tendency to increase, while it stimulates 
 industry and foresight, occasions little practical dis- 
 turbance as long as the funds by which such claimants 
 are to be maintained arise from productive labour, and 
 are dependent on it. Because the pressure of popu- 
 lation, while it requires fresh funds as means of sup- 
 port, contributes to increase those funds by the re- 
 turn which it makes in productive labour. 
 
 The case is widely different with respect to eleemo- 
 synary funds. Those who claim them are continually 
 becoming more numerous ; but the funds themselves, 
 the parish funds, or whatever funds the state can em- 
 ploy, though not exactly defined, are necessarily li- 
 mited by the ability of the payers. The population, 
 therefore, which is dependent upon these funds, be- 
 ing freed from the restraints which, under usual cir- 
 cumstanceSj prevent its redundancy, must ultimately 
 surpass any funds that are not equally unlimited, and 
 do not admit of progressive increase in proportion to 
 the progressive demand. 
 
 The experiment of supporting all who may require 
 eleemosynary maintenance has been too often made 
 to render this conclusion doubtful. Catholic coun- 
 tries, in which the nature of benevolence is every way 
 misunderstood, afford, as might be expected, the most 
 striking proofs that wherever gratuitous supplies are 
 furnished, the demands soon rise above the means of 
 meeting them, or, if the means are unlimited, increase 
 in proportion. Rome, Naples, Cadiz, and indeed all 
 the principal cities of Spain, are described by all tra- 
 vellers as being equally remarkable for indiscrimi- 
 nate bounties, and universal mendicity. The town of 
 Oviedo, for instance, at the time when the late Mr 
 Townsend visited it, afforded a most instructive ex- 
 ample. There was an hospicio, or general work- 
 house, the revenues of which were L. 4000 Sterling ; 
 equal probably in Spain to thrice that sum in Eng- 
 land ; this also served as a foundling hospital ; besides 
 which refuge for the poor, and their children, the 
 bishop ordered seventy reals to be distributed at his 
 gates every morning to all comers, and weekly pen- 
 sions both to widows and orphans. In addition to all 
 this, the canons scattered alms plentifully as they 
 walked through the streets; six convents administer- 
 ed bread and broth at noon, and a commodious hos- 
 pital was ready to receive the sick and infirm. All 
 these resources were too little, eA'en among so small 
 a population as 7500 souls. " Notwithstanding all 
 that has been done," says that intelligent traveller 
 *' (and what more in the way of charity can be de- 
 vised ?) beggars, clothed in rags, and swarming with 
 vermin, abound in every street." 
 
 In reading this description, we are struck at once 
 with the folly of such undistinguishing charity. Yet 
 what do we see in the account of Oviedo, but that 
 state on a small scale, which the poor-laws are cal- 
 culated to render universal in England ? Work- 
 houses in every parish, supported at the public 
 charge, and serving as foundling hospitals, and offer- 
 
 ing a refuge to the poor and their children. Besides Poor-Laws. 
 a regular donation to those who may not like the ^"'^^y''''*^ 
 confinement of the workhouse, but can prefer the 
 claim of a burthensome family. And all this inde- 
 pendent of the private charity, which we have no 
 wish to see curtailed, but which ought to stand alone ; 
 the " bread and broth at noon," judiciously admini- 
 stered, and the public " hospital ready to receive the 
 sick and infirm." The difference in the circumstances 
 and character of the two countries has rendered the 
 consequences hitherto less calamitous in England 
 than in Spain ; but the tendency is similar, and the 
 effect equally disproportionate to the means ; legal 
 provision has been seen to be no preventive to indi- 
 vidual want, or national distress. 
 
 And why is this, but because the claimants are 
 daily multiplying in number, and press closer and 
 closer upon the funds destined to satisfy them ? The 
 increased and increasing burthen of the rates in Eng- 
 land is a sufficient proof of the truth which we desire 
 to establish. Notwithstanding the -degradation of 
 dependence, — the liability to vexatious, and often 
 painful removals, — the restraint of workhouses, — 
 and the murmurs of the reluctant dispensers of com- 
 pulsory alms, to all which an English pauper must sub- 
 mit ; experience has made it very evident that, as 
 long as any public support can be relied on, the 
 claimants for it will increase in number and importu- 
 nity; and that, if any limit is to be set to the de- 
 mand, it must be sought for somewhere else than in 
 the forbearance of the people, or the decrease of in- 
 digence. 
 
 Already has the claim, in very many instances, ex- Actual l«. 
 ceeded the available resources. In numerous and "ease of 
 extensive districts, during the years 1816, 1817, and ^^"P"'*""' 
 1818, it proved impossible for the contributor to fur- 
 nish the quota which the necessities of those with- 
 out labour, and, therefore, without support, demand- 
 ed. Admission into the work and alms-houses, once 
 dreaded as the last resort of hopeless penury, has 
 been courted as a boon, and accepted as a favour. 
 Whilst in London, and other great towns, many al- 
 most starving families were deterred from applying 
 to the parish by the crowded, unhealthy, and horri- 
 ble state of the workhouses into which they would 
 be received, if indeed they could be received at all ; 
 many parishes were absolutely unable to raise the as- 
 sessments, the increase of which, according to the 
 existing laws, has tended only to bring more and 
 more persons upon the parish, and to make what was 
 collected less and less effectual ; and yet there was 
 an almost universal cry from one end of the kingdom 
 to the other for voluntary charity to come in aid 
 of the parochial assessments. * 
 
 In the mean time, the amount of the rates them- 
 selves, which was, in 1785, L. 2,000,000, in 1803, 
 had reached L. 4,267,000, in 1813, L. 6,294,000. f 
 This increase, great in itself, becomes still more im- 
 portant as a proof of the effect of the system, when 
 
 * Malthus on Population, 5th edition, Vol. II. p. 352. 
 
 \ Report of Select Committee, 1817-1821. The " Letter to Mr Peel" estimates the increase in the price of 
 wheat at 9 per cent, m 1803, and the increased population at 17. According to which, the amount 
 ought to have been L. 2,438,670, instead of L. 4,267,965. 
 
 VOL. VI. PART I. p p 
 
298 POOR. 
 
 Poor-Laws.we remember that the intervening years had been 
 ^-^v-*^"^ years of unexampled demand for men and every kind 
 of labour : and also, that, owing to the sudden growth 
 of the burden during the scarcities of 1800 and 1801, 
 a remarkable improvement had taken place in the 
 collection and disbursement of the parochial funds, to 
 so great a degree, that any material diminution cannot 
 generally be expected from more prudent manage- 
 ment, whilst the system itself remains. Under these 
 circumstances, if the disorder had not been radical, 
 the annual expenditure ought to have become less 
 and less, instead of increasing, from 1803 to 1813, 
 by a third of the whole, or about a sixth of the 
 proportional amount, after allowing for the increase 
 in population and the price of corn. 
 
 It is especially necessary that the price of corn 
 should always be taken into the account. The pub- 
 lic is very liable to be misled by an apparent de- 
 crease a decrease in the actual sum, whilst the in- 
 crease is really proceeding, and the burthen heavier 
 than ever. It is plain, that L. 100, with wheat at 
 40s. per quarter, is equal to L. 200, with wheat at 
 80s., and is paid with far more difficulty by the agri- 
 culturist, who furnishes the great proportion of the 
 rates. If corn continues at the prices of 1822, the 
 rates will not be effectually lower, till the L.7,500,000 
 of 1819 are reduced to L.4,000,000 ; an event which 
 we no more expect to witness than the reduction 
 of three millions of the population. 
 
 The alarming distress which followed the spring of 
 1815, the consequent increase of the rates, and the 
 difficulty of meeting this demand, led to along and di- 
 ligent inquiry into the whole subject before a Com- 
 mittee of the House of Commons, in the session of 
 1817. From the returns which were then made from 
 the manufacturing towns of Birmingham, Manchester, 
 Coventry, &c.;* and also from many districts solely 
 agricultural, it clearly appeared that the excess of de- 
 mand above the funds prepared to answer it, was no 
 theoretical or even distant danger, but one which 
 some districts had already experienced, and to which 
 all districts were more or less rapidly approaching. 
 Distraint for rates became very general ; and every 
 distraint is an encroachment upon the national re- 
 sources, and a conversion of capital into income. 
 We soon become alive to the probable result where an 
 individual does this ; and if a nation is but an aggre- 
 gate of individuals, national extravagance and indi- 
 vidual extravagance must pay the same penalty, and 
 end in the same fate. 
 
 It is impossible to predict, with any certainty, how 
 long or how short a time the present system might 
 go on, before such a crisis arrived. Whenever the 
 charge upon the land for the support of those who 
 do not add enough to the annual produce of the 
 country to support themselves, is so great that the 
 land can be no longer cultivated with a profit, then, 
 of course, it will be thrown up. This charge is gra- 
 dually increasing every year, if not actually, yet re- 
 
 LAWS. 
 
 latively to the price of corn ; and the natural effect Poor.Law& 
 has already followed in some districts where the ''^t^'^Y'—m^ 
 pressure is particularly severe. It is evident that, in 
 proportion as this takes place, the rates become still 
 heavier on those who continue to pay. So that the 
 tendency is to contract the contributors annually 
 into a narrower and narrower circle, each step bring- 
 ing some upon the rates for support who had before 
 assisted to pay them, till the whole cement of society 
 gives way, and the natural gradation of ranks and 
 fortunes, on which its prosperity depends, is sunk and 
 lost in national pauperism. 
 
 Such a crisis was clearly apprehended by the Com- 
 mittee of the House of Commons ; and with a short 
 extract from their deliberate and valuable Report, 
 we shall confirm, as well as conclude, our own rea- 
 sonings : — 
 
 *' Whether the assessment be confined to land and 
 houses, as at present, or other denominations of pro- 
 perty be made practically liable to the same charge, 
 the Committee feel it their imperious duty to state 
 their opinion, that, unless some efficacious check be 
 interposed, there is every reason to think that the 
 amount of the assessment will continue, as it has 
 done, to increase, till at a period, more or less 
 remote, according to the progress the evil has already 
 made in different places, it shall have absorbed the 
 profits of the property on which the rates may have 
 been assessed: producing thereby the neglect and 
 ruin of the land, and the waste or removal of other 
 property, to the utter subversion of that happy order 
 of society so long upheld in these kingdoms. 
 
 *' The gradual increase which has taken place 
 both in the number of paupers and in the assess- 
 ment for their support, can hardly fail to have arisen 
 from causes inherent in the system itself ; as it does 
 not appear to have depended entirely upon any tem- 
 porary or local circumstances. Scarcity of provi- 
 sions, and a diminished demand for particular manu- 
 factures, have occasioned, from time to time, an in- 
 creased pressure in particular parishes. But by 
 comparing the assessments in the two counties in 
 this kingdom in which the largest portion of the po- 
 pulation is employed in agriculture, namely, Bed- 
 fordshire and Herefordshire, it will be seen that 
 there has been the same progressive augmentation 
 in the amount of the assessments, as may be observed 
 to have taken place in the manufacturing counties." 
 
 
 Money Ex- 
 pended on 
 
 Paupers, in the 
 Year ending 
 Kaster 1776, 
 
 (omitting frac- 
 tions.) 
 
 Average 
 Expenditure 
 on Paupers, 
 1783, 1784, 
 1785. 
 
 Expen- 
 diture, 
 1803. 
 
 Expen- 
 diture, 
 1815. 
 
 County of \ 
 Hereford, j 
 Bedford, 
 
 L.10,593 
 16,662 
 
 16,727 
 20,977 
 
 48,067 
 38,070 
 
 59,255 
 50,370 
 
 * In Manchester, the relief given to the out-door poor increased within ten years from 1805 to L.14,000, 
 instead of L. 8000 per annum ; and the whole expenditure, from L. 16,000 to L. 27,000, in the most mo- 
 derate years— in dear seasons, one-third more. In Birmingham, the increase in ten years was one-third, 
 being L. 20,000 in 1806, L; 30,000 in 1816.— Commons' Re2)ort. 
 
POOR-LAWS. 
 
 299 
 
 ■Lawfc The evidence afforded by this table is not to be 
 resisted. The charge on the rates, in 1815, not in 
 twQ or three counties only, but taking England 
 throughout, was double its amount in 1795 ; though, 
 in 1815, the price of corn had sunk to a moderate 
 average. What then, except a change in the exist- 
 ing laws and management, is to hinder their doubling 
 again in twenty more years — -at least virtually 
 doubling, with respect to the ability of the payers ? 
 But it certainly cannot be supposed that land which 
 now, in many cases, pays a rate equal, or more than 
 equal, to the rent, can afford to double that charge, 
 and be cultivated with a profit. In fact, many petitions 
 were laid before Parliament, complaining that the 
 annual value of the property assessed to the poors- 
 rates, was not sufficient to maintain the numerous 
 and increasing claimants, even if it were to be set 
 free of rent; so that the parishes were threatened 
 with a total abandonment of the occupiers of their 
 land. And though these are, indisputably, extreme 
 cases, there is quite enough in the general appear- 
 ance of the country to warrant the conclusion ex- 
 pressed in the Report, and to justify the worst appre- 
 hensions respecting the eventual consequence of the 
 system. 
 
 This is sufficiently proved by the experience of the 
 five years succeeding 1815, as digested in the fol- 
 lowing table : • 
 
 Years. 
 
 Expended for 
 the Relief of the 
 Poor.^ 
 
 Arerage Price of 
 Corn per Quar> 
 ter. 
 
 
 
 s. d. 
 
 1815 
 
 L.5,418,845 
 
 70 6 
 
 1816 
 
 5,724,506 
 
 61 10 
 
 1817 
 
 6,918,217 
 
 87 4 
 
 1818 
 
 7,890,148 
 
 90 7 
 
 1819 
 
 7,531,650 
 
 82 9 
 
 1820 
 
 7,329,594 
 
 69 5 
 
 Now, upon the first glance at this table, it will 
 appear, that as the price of corn in 1815 and in 
 ] 820 was the same, the amount of the rates ought 
 likewise to have been the same, with the addition of 
 ten per cent, for increase of population. It ought, 
 therefore, to have been six millions in 1820, accord- 
 ing to the scale of 1815. But it is seven millions, 
 giving a million, or one-sixth of the whole, as the 
 actual growth of five years. This surely must satis- 
 fy every doubt concerning the ruinous tendency of 
 the system, and shows that the only remaining ques- 
 tion must be, not whether the evil is in its own na- 
 ture progressive, but how the progressive evil may 
 be most wisely and efiectually restrained. 
 
 Such are the political consequences of the system 
 of poor-laws, as now administered in England. Its 
 moral efi"ects are no less pernicious. 
 
 1. The first of these which we shall mention is Poor.Laws. 
 that total improvidence which exists in so remarkable ^-"^^v"^!/ 
 a degree both among the manufacturing and agri- ^°^^p^*'^" 
 cultural labourers. In the former class, this is pe- Laws! 
 culiarly inexcusable. The demand for all labour is i. impron- 
 fiuctuating, and liable to occasional and sudden va- d«nee. 
 nations. But in manufacturing labour such differ- 
 ences are of most frequent occurrence. A change 
 of fashion at home, or a municipal regulation abroad, 
 the discovery or failure of a mine, the wealth or po- 
 verty of a customer, all bear directly upon it, inde- 
 pendently of the more important fluctuations arising 
 from the hostile or peaceful relation of neighbouring 
 countries. Therefore labour of this sort, though 
 far more productive in its flourishing seasons, is far 
 more precarious in its eventual success than any 
 other. 
 
 The remedy against the inconveniences arising 
 from these causes is to be found in that moral fore- 
 sight which belongs to intelligent beings, and dis- 
 tinguishes, or ought to distinguish, the civilized and 
 social man from the thoughtless savage. If it is the 
 nature of manufacturing labour to be barren at one 
 season, and productive at another, the superabun- 
 dance of the harvest must provide against the time of 
 scarcity. But notwithstanding all that must be clear- 
 ly known, and bitterly experienced on this account, 
 there is among the manufacturing bodies in our large 
 towns a most profligate disregard of any moment be- 
 yond the present. The system of the savage is seen 
 in the midst of a crowded population. For a time, 
 on the sudden acquisition of plenty, there is the same 
 waste, the same idleness, the same debauchery, 
 which is quickly succeeded by a similar want, a si- 
 milar necessity for extraordinary exertion. When 
 the wages of the manufacturer experience a sudden 
 rise, his weekly expenses rise in the same propor- 
 tion. Perhaps he works but half the week, and 
 spends the rest in low and profligate excess. Per- 
 haps he squanders his superfluous wages in a man- 
 ner the most absurd, and the most unsuitable to his 
 station in life. But at all events, when the year 
 ends, he is in no sense better than he was at the be- 
 ginning ; his advantages have been altogether thrown 
 away ; he is not richer, and in a moral sense he is 
 poorer, because his dissolute habits are more con- 
 firmed. It appeared in evidence before the House 
 of Commons, that the ribbon weavers at Coventry, 
 who were at that moment requiring parish relief, had 
 |ix months before been in the receipt of two or three 
 guineas a week, which they had expended in the 
 most sumptuous manner upon poultry and other lux- 
 uries ; in selecting which they were so fastidious, that 
 the usual market of the place was not good enough 
 for them, and supplies were regularly sent down from 
 London. 
 
 The agricultural labourer has fewer golden oppor- 
 tunities than the manufacturer ; still most of them, 
 ivith frugal habits, might save L. 5 per annum, whilst 
 
 * Report on the Poor- Rate Returns, ordered to be printed 10th July 1821 . 
 
 t The particular sums expended in law and removals are not specified in the returns after 1815, and 
 therefore cannot be subtracted from the total amount. They amounted in 1&13, 1814, 1815, to about 
 1«. 330,000 per annum. » / 
 
300 
 
 POOR-LAWS. 
 
 Poor-Laws. they are unmarried ; whereas not one in fifty, per- 
 haps, is master of that sum at any period of his life. 
 Whenever their wages go beyond their actual neces- 
 sities, the overplus is carried to the alehouse. If an 
 accident, or an illness, or a failure in the demand for 
 labour, keeps the man from work a fortnight, the pa- 
 rish is called upon to supply the deficiency. That 
 he should have even a week's provision beforehand 
 is entirely out of the question. It would be thought 
 a most unreasonable expectation. Though perhaps 
 he is a single man, and has no family demands ; or a 
 man in the flower of his age, who may have earned 
 large wages at task-work for years; or an elderly 
 man whose children are all oft" his hands. In shorty 
 whatever may have been his situation or opportuni- 
 ties, he has always lived, to use a common, but ex- 
 pressive phrase, from hand to mouth. 
 
 Now it is impossible to believe that the known and 
 regular provision of the poor-laws is not at the bot- 
 tom of this unprincipled extravagance, which has 
 now become inveterate throughout the country. We 
 cannot but suppose that in a land where so much in- 
 telligence, so strong a moral sense, so active a spirit 
 of industry exists, men who knew that they were 
 liable to accidents and reverses, if they also knew 
 that they had only themselves to depend upon, would 
 employ some part of their present earnings to pro- 
 vide against future contingencies. It may be said 
 that to men who work hard, and are necessarily 
 much collected together, the temptation to low dis- 
 sipation and extravagance is irresistible. But these 
 temptations are not stronger to one part of the com- 
 munity than the other ; and in servants, petty trades- 
 men, and small farmers, considered as a body, there 
 is much of that forethought and frugality which is 
 the best foundation of individual and national wel- 
 - fare. Many of these, during the unparalleled vicis- 
 situdes of the last 25 years, have had more to 
 struggle with than the labourers ; yet they have not, 
 in the same regular manner, fallen upon the parish 
 funds, because to these classes such a resource is 
 still considered a reproachful degradation. We ar- 
 gue, that similar frugality would have characterised 
 our labourers also, if their natural disposition to 
 sensuaUty had not been favoured, rather than re- 
 strained, by the assurance of a systematic provi- 
 sion, when vice and imprudence should bring on 
 their necessary results, and terminate in penury. 
 2. Discon, 2. Another injurious effect of the poor-laws is 
 tented Spirit the bad and discontented temper which is generated 
 arising from jgnorance of the real causes of poverty. Almost 
 th'/cauTes" every thing which has hitherto been done for the 
 of Poverty, poor has tended, as if with care and intention, to 
 throw a, veil of obscurity over this subject, and to 
 hide from them the real origin of their difficulties. 
 In all cases, the last man whom any one, labouring 
 under misfortune, is inclined to accuse, is himself. 
 But the poor-system tends to maintain the opinion, 
 that he is the last person who ought to be accused. 
 The workman who can find no employment ; the la- 
 bourer who feels his large and increasing family a 
 burthen which he can ill support ; the aged and de- 
 crepit, whose pittance barely furnishes them with 
 the necessaries of life; each lay the fault of their 
 particular distress upon the parish, or upon tlie over- 
 
 seer, or upon the magistrate : but never blame their Foor-Law 
 own imprudence in neglecting a provision, or their 
 extravagance in throwing one away. And when re- 
 lieved, to the full extent that legal charity can re- 
 lieve them, they never acknowledge any sense of ob- 
 ligation, unless they should be brought to a better 
 mind by feelings which the poor-laws are rather cal- 
 culated to extinguish than to awaken. 
 
 We can hardly be wrong in setting these errors 
 to the account of the system itself. " On these oc- 
 casions," as Mr Malthus justly observes, " the only 
 way I have of judging, is to put myself in imagina- 
 tion in the place of the poor man, and consider how 
 I should feel in his situation. If I were told that the 
 rich, by the laws of nature and the laws of the land, 
 were bound to support me, I could not, in the first 
 place, feel much obligation for such support ; and, 
 in the next place, if I were given any food of an in- 
 ferior kind, and could not see the absolute necessi- 
 ty of the change, which would probably be the case, 
 1 should think that I had good reason to complain. 
 I should feel that the laws had been violated to my 
 injury, and that I had been unjustly deprived of my 
 right. Under these circumstances, though I might 
 be deterred by the fear of an armed force from com- 
 mitting any overt acts of resistance, yet I should 
 consider myself as perfectly justified in so doing if 
 this fear were removed : and the injury which I be- 
 lieved that I had suffered, might produce the most un- 
 favourable effects on my general dispositions towards 
 the higher classes of society. I cannot, indeed, con- 
 ceive any thing more irritating to the human feel- 
 ings, than to experience that degree of distress 
 which, in spite of all our poor-laws and benevolence, 
 is not unfrequently felt in this country ; and yet to 
 believe that these sufferings were not brought upon 
 me, either by my own fault, or by the operation of 
 those general laws which, like the tempest, the blight, 
 or the pestilence, are continually falling hard upon 
 particular individuals, while others entirely escape ; 
 but were occasioned solely by the avarice and injus- 
 tice of the higher classes of society. 
 
 " On the contrary, if I firmly believed that, by the 
 laws of nature, which are the laws of God, I had no 
 claim of right to support, I should, in the first place, 
 feel myself more strongly bound to a life of industry 
 and frugality; but if want, notwithstanding, came 
 upon me, I should consider it in the light of a sick- 
 ness ; as an evil incidental to my present state of be- 
 ing, and which, if I could not avoid, it was my duty 
 to bear with fortitude and resignation. What I re- 
 ceived would have the best effect on my feelings to- 
 wards the higher classes. Even if it were much in- 
 ferior to what I had been accustomed to, it would 
 still, instead of an injury, be an obligation; and con- 
 scious that I had no claim of right, nothing but the 
 dread of absolute famine, which might overcome all 
 other considerations, could palliate the guilt of re- 
 sistance. 
 
 " I cannot help believing, that, if the poor in this 
 country were convinced that they had no claim of 
 right to support, and yet in scarcities, and all cases 
 of urgent distress, were liberally relieved, which I 
 think they would be, the bonds which unite the rich 
 with the poor would be drawn much closer than at 
 12 
 
POOR-LAWS. 
 
 301 
 
 Poot-Laws. present ; and the lower classes of society, as they 
 would have less real reason for irritation and discon- 
 tent, would be much less subject to such uneasy sen- 
 sations." 
 
 Extinc- 3. To this habitual discontent is to be added the 
 of the selfishness and mercenary spirit arising from the ha- 
 . bit of looking to parochial assistance in every emer- 
 
 haritv. gencv. Instead of that sympathy and active charity 
 which would be shown, we fully believe, in this coun- 
 try at least as much as any other, if the poor were 
 not brought up to expect that relief must be award- 
 ed to all in whatever shape it is required, a certain 
 price, an adequate repayment, is demanded, for every 
 trifling service. If an aged parent is lodged under 
 the roof of a child, the parish must give a remunera- 
 tion. If an orphan is to be provided for, the first ques- 
 tion of the relation is, what will the parish allow ? If 
 age or occasional illness require some domestic at- 
 tendance, a demand is regularly made for trouble 
 and loss of time. Dr Chalmers speaks the result of 
 \ experience both south and north of the Tweed, 
 when he laments it as " a heavy encumbrance on the 
 work of a clergyman, that, in addition to the primary 
 and essential evils of the human constitution, he has 
 to struggle, in his holy warfare, against a system so 
 replete, as pauperism is, with all that can minister 
 to the worst, or that can wither up the best, affec- 
 tions of our species." {Christian and Civic Economy, 
 No. 10.) 
 
 The effect upon the giver is certainly no better 
 than that upon the receiver of these legal alms ; 
 , and thus the most valuable part of real charity is 
 thrown away. The immense sums distributed to the 
 poor in this country by the parochial laws are impro- 
 perly called charity. They want its most distinguish- 
 ing attribute ; and as might be expected from an 
 attempt to force that which loses it essence the mo- 
 ment it ceases to be voluntary, their effects upon 
 those from whom they are collected are as prejudi- 
 cial as on those to whom they are distributed. On 
 the side of the receivers of this miscalled charity, in- 
 stead of real relief, we find accumulated distress and 
 more extended poverty ; on the side of the givers, 
 instead of pleasurable emotions, unceasing discontent 
 and irritation. How can it be otherwise ? The rich, 
 who are little affected by the amount of the rate, 
 pay it as a tax, and either view it in no other light, 
 or apply it as a quietus to their conscience, as if 
 having furnished their legal assessment, they had 
 fulfilled their duty in the way of charity. The mid- 
 dling classes, upon whom the burthen presses most 
 severely, — as the little annuitants, small tradesmen, 
 and inferior farmers, — not only pay it as a tax, but 
 feel it as a tax, and consider that they have the usual 
 
 privilege of murmuring at its amount. Indeed, the Poor-Laws. 
 injustice of the system, as it sometimes falls upon ^^"^■S'-*^ 
 payers of this nature, is so glaring, that nothing but 
 the uselessness of remonstrance could prevent its 
 being loudly heard. Those who are constantly sup- 
 ported on parish pay are better off than a large 
 number of those who contribute ; they are certain of 
 receiving, as long as there is any capital stock on 
 which a distress can be levied ; but the power of 
 paying in the others depends upon their customers, 
 and upon many contingent circumstances. The 
 pauper also is secure in the possession of his effects, 
 those of the contributor are daily liable to be seized.* 
 The pauper, too, can afford to live better, and to 
 spend more on his family or himself throughout the 
 year, than the petty tradesman, or annuitant, or 
 renter of a little land, or many others in that humble 
 but useful class just above the conamon labourer. 
 These are the persons on whom a scarcity falls heavy; 
 these are the persons who must diminish their con- 
 sumption ; these are the persons who feel the revul- 
 sions of trade, and the pressure of taxes; their families 
 must commute bread for potatoes, while their pauper 
 neighbours are living in comparative plenty. Under 
 such circumstances, it is scarcely possible for man 
 not to complain ; or to acknowledge the truth of the 
 Christian maxim, " It is more blessed to give than to 
 receive." 
 
 4. There are other immoral consequences of the 4. Encour- 
 poor-laws which are too obvious to need particular agement to 
 illustration. Husbands are encouraged to desert I™™<"al>*y- 
 their wives, and fly from the burthen of their fami- 
 lies, knowing that they will not be unprovided for. 
 Women are encouraged to admit illicit intercourse, 
 from a confidence that if it should prove fruitful, a 
 marriage will be probably forced from the ordinary 
 operation of the laws ; a calculation which begins in 
 vice, and can only end in premature and ill-sorted 
 marriages. Indeed, their general effect on character 
 admits of indisputable proof, independently of all 
 argument or theory. It is notorious that the most 
 steady, industrious, and moral workmen, on whom 
 the employer can place his surest reliance, are those 
 who do not legally belong to the parish in which they 
 are living. It would be impossible to desire a more 
 convincing evidence of the pernicious tendency 
 of the present laws. We shall therefore conclude 
 this branch of the subject, by noticing a collateral 
 evil of the system, also tending to demoralize the 
 people. It collects an undue proportion of the po- 
 pulation into towns. The population of cities and 
 towns, instead of comprising, as had been calculated 
 during a considerable part of the last, and the whole 
 of the preceding century, about one-third of the na- 
 
 * " You do not compel the poor man to sell his furniture before you relieve him ?— No — certainly not. 
 But if a man has to contribute to the relief of the poor, and from loss of trade, or from the pressure of 
 children, he is not able to pay his rates, you sell his furniture and effects ! — I have been compelled to 
 sign a warrant of distress. Then, is not the pauper that is relieved in a much better condition than the 
 pauper who contributes ? — He is so far in a better condition, that what he possesses is more secure to him." 
 Lords' Report, p. 25. 
 
 By a statute (54th Geo. III. c. 170, s. 11), such persons may now be, by magistrates, legally exonerated 
 from charges. 
 
S02 
 
 POOR-LAWS. 
 
 Poor-Laws. tion, now approaches to nearly one-half. From 1801 
 ^■^-''^^ to 1811, the increase of houses in the towns of Great 
 Britain average 1 2 per cent., and th e inhabitants 1 5 per 
 cent. In the country, the increase of houses somewhat 
 exceeds 11 per cent., and the inhabitants 13 per cent. 
 Mr Colquhoun observes, that to whatever cause it 
 may be attributed, there has been a considerable ten- 
 dency to diminish the rural population, and to in- 
 crease that of the towns in general.* But the cause 
 is very evident to any one who has watched the 
 operation of the poor-laws. Cottages entail upon 
 the land so heavy a burthen, that no proprietor will 
 suffer one to be erected upon his estate which is not 
 absolutely necessary. He can obtain no rent which 
 can indemnify him for the probable charges of an ad- 
 ditional family, which will possess a perpetual claim 
 for support upon his land. But in towns, where the 
 property in land is much subdivided, the immediate 
 advantage of letting small houses at a considerable 
 profit, far overbalances the distant evil arising to the 
 individual from the increase of the rates, to which 
 all the inhabitants of the town will be forced to con- 
 tribute their share. The consequence is, that there 
 only are houses built, and thither the overflow of the 
 country parishes resort, and going out into the 
 neighbourhood for daily employ, spend their leisure 
 hours in the town, and lose the simple habits as well 
 as the simple recreations of the village. 
 
 Having now explained the poor- system, as it 
 Plan pro- ^^^jg^g present in England, and shown its injurious 
 Amradment effects, both upon the moral and political health of 
 of the Sys- the community, it only remains to advert to the 
 tern. several plans which have been hitherto proposed for 
 its melioration or abolition. And of these, leaving 
 the compulsory contribution to friendly or other 
 provident societies ; the assessment of all other pro- 
 perty to the rates, as well as that upon which they 
 have been heretofore raised ; and the allotment of 
 cottages, with a small quantity of land to the la- 
 bourers who might have the most numerous faniilies ; 
 
 as either inadequate, inexpedient, or impracticable 
 
 remedies — we shall confine ourselves to the two 
 which best deserve the attention of the Legislature, 
 and have obtained the most of it. These are, first, 
 the establishment of a maximum, beyond which the 
 annual amount of the rates in each parish shall not 
 be increased ; and next, the gradual abrogation of 
 the law of Elizabeth, on which the whole system 
 has been erected. 
 
 The plan of fixing a maximum has been often 
 1. Plan of recommended, under the alarm arising from the pro- 
 estabUshing grgssive increase of the annual rates. It is pro- 
 of^?™"" posed to take the average of a certain number of 
 Amount to years past, and fix that as the sum which no future 
 be raised, assessment should exceed ; so that, if the rates of 
 any given parish had amounted, on an average of 
 the largest and smallest sums during the last ten 
 years, to L. 500, L. 500 should be considered as the 
 utmost limit of charitable relief to which the claim- 
 ants on that parish were legally entitled. A plan 
 
 of this nature was brought forward in Parliament in Poor-Lawt. 
 the year 1821; but clogged with so many objec- Ni^v— ^ 
 tionable alterations in the law of settlement, that it 
 met with less attention than the respectability of the 
 mover would otherwise have secured it. There are, 
 however, radical objections to the plan itself. " Un- 
 der such a law, if the distresses of the poor were to 
 be aggravated tenfold, either by the increase of 
 numbers or the recurrence of a scarcity, the same 
 sum would invariably be appropriated to their relief. 
 If, in the meantime, the statute which gives the 
 poor a right to support, were to remain unexpunged, 
 we shall add to the , cruelty of starving them, the in- 
 justice of still professing to relieve them. If this 
 statute were expunged or altered, we should virtual- 
 ly deny the right of the poor to support, and only 
 retain the absurdity of saying that they had a right 
 to a certain sum." (Malthus, III. p. 353.) 
 
 In order to obviatethis evident objection to the mea- 
 sure, a provision was introduced into the bill allowing 
 additions to be made to the fixed maximum, by an 
 extraordinary assembly of the inhabitants and neigh- 
 bouring magistrates, in very peculiar cases of local 
 pressure or general scarcity. It is plain, however, 
 that this is a virtual abandonment of the principle 
 of the measure ; and by necessary consequence, of 
 the measure itself. The right of the people to cer- 
 tain support being recognized, no legislative fiat can 
 limit the extent of that right. No inhabitant could 
 resist the demands of the people; no magistrate 
 could be expected to maintain the maximum, in any 
 season of difficulty, when alone it would be of much 
 practical value. If a dam, which is raised to keep 
 out the encroachments of the water, is to be opened 
 whenever the water presses forcibly against it, the 
 surrounding country has little reason to trust to its 
 effect, when threatened with an inundation. 
 
 This objection equally applies to an amend- Plan of a 
 ment which has been since proposed, to render the f^jj^^gf/g 
 maximum a gradually decreasing maximum, by Maximum, 
 subtracting from its amount 1 Os. or 20s. per cent, 
 annually, till the whole was extinct. But to any 
 one acquainted with the manner in which the affairs 
 of a parish are and must be conducted, taking the 
 country at large, such impossibilities must occur 
 in the execution of a law of this nature, as render it 
 quite undeserving attention as a national measure. 
 The business of overseer, for the first half of the 
 year, would go on smoothly enough. By that time, 
 three-fourths of the legal assessment would probably 
 be spent. Then all, whatever might be their wants, 
 must be put on short allowance, and future claim- 
 ants excluded. But each of such claimants would 
 justly consider that he had as good a right to be 
 supported in his hour of need, as those who hap- 
 pened to be visited with misfortune a few months 
 before ; and those whose mischance it was to be in 
 distress when the fixed sum was collected and expend- 
 ed, would be particularly ill used on being refused 
 assistance, while so many others around them had 
 enjoyed this advantage. If such a measure were pass- 
 
 * Colquhoun on the Population and Resources of the British Empire, p. 27- 
 
POOR-LAWS. 
 
 303 
 
 Foor-Laws. ed, it would be virtually repealed in half the parish- 
 ^-*w es of the kingdom before the expiration of five years. 
 
 Besides, there is nothing in any measure of this 
 kind, which tends to stem the progress of pauperism ; 
 nothing to prevent the numbers from annually in- 
 creasing, which require public assistance. All the 
 channels by which the main stream is supplied, as 
 described in the beginning of this article, remain the 
 same ; why, then, should we expect that the stream 
 itself should grow narrower, or cease to overflow its 
 bounds ? If, then, the sum collected were to be di- 
 vided among all who might be in want, however their 
 number might increase, great misery must ensue ; 
 and all the blame of it would be laid, not without 
 much apparent justice, to the charge of the society, 
 which undertook the support of the poor, yet sup- 
 plied them so sparingly, that they must necessarily 
 die of hunger and disease. 
 2. Plan for 2. The only measure which can be considered as 
 the gradual either politically wise, or practically efficient, is one 
 eh^pJor" °^ which shall gradually annihilate the system by at- 
 Laws. tacking directly its vital principle, and striking at the 
 root of the disease. To this end Mr Malthus pro- 
 poses that a regulation should be made, declaring 
 that no child born from any marriage taking place 
 after the expiration of a year from the date of the 
 law, and no illegitimate child boi*n two years from 
 the same date, shall ever be entitled to parish as- 
 sistance. And, to give a more general knowledge 
 of this law, and to enforce it more strongly on the 
 minds of the lower classes of people, the clergyman 
 of each parish should, after the publication of banns, 
 read a short address, stating the strong obligation on 
 every man to support his own children ; the imprO" 
 priety, and even immorality, of marrying without a 
 prospect of being able to do this ; the evils which 
 had resulted to the poor themselves from the attempt 
 which had been made to assist by public institutions 
 in a duty which ought to be exclusively appropriated 
 to parents, and the absolute necessity which had at 
 length appeared of abandoning all such institutions, 
 on account of their producing effects totally opposite 
 to those which were intended. " This would operate 
 as a fair, distinct, and precise notice, which no man 
 could well mistake ; and, without pressing hard upon 
 any particular individuals, would at once throw off 
 the rising generation from that miserable and helpless 
 dependence upon the government and the rich, the 
 moral as well as physical consequences of which are 
 almost incalculable." 
 
 Some measure of this kied is not only expedient, 
 but indispensable, if the Committee of the House of 
 Commons are justified in solemnly stating it as their 
 opinion. That unless some efficacious check be inter- 
 posed, there is every reason to think that the amount 
 of the assessment will continue as it has done to in- 
 crease, till, at a period more or less remote, it shall 
 have absorbed the profits of the property on which 
 the rate has been assessed, producing thereby the 
 neglect and ruin of the land. 
 Answer to The chief practical objection which has been urged 
 the usual against such an enactment is, that it would create 
 Objection to ^^^^ distinct classes, which would exist together in 
 *his an. country for a considerable period of time, — the 
 one class having, and the other not having, a claim 
 
 to public support; and that this would occasion Poor-Laws. 
 confusion, discontent, and ultimately turbulence, by 
 which the nation would be kept in continual disorder. 
 
 We are of a different mind : and that not only on 
 general grounds, but for reasons of experience. No 
 new measure, in truth, can reduce the lower classes 
 to a more unequal state than the existing system. 
 Every parish has its own rule, founded partly on the 
 ability of the payers, and partly on the character of 
 the overseers. Every district has its own scheme 
 of administration, dependent on the discretion or 
 indiscretion, foresight or carelessness, of the local 
 magistrates. A few parishes, a few bright spots 
 appear, which careful management has preserved 
 from the infection of the surrounding plague ; and 
 those parishes are in all respects the best satisfied, 
 because the most comfortable. An account of one 
 of these appears in the evidence before the House, 
 in which the custom of employing labourers by task- 
 work has enabled them to support their families 
 without application to the magistrate ; and yet it 
 comes out incidentally that this parish is so great a 
 favourite, that false oaths and other fraudulent means 
 are frequently taken to get into it. 
 
 Already, too, there exist in every parish those 
 who have, and those who have not, a claim to sup- 
 port, according as it may happen that they do or do 
 not legally belong to it. What keeps the residents 
 who are non-parishioners from turbulence, or even 
 from complaint i The known law. We argue, that 
 the known law would have the same effect upon those 
 who are born without claim upon any parish. In- 
 deed, the whole country abounds with inequalities of 
 condition among those whose claims are similar ; of 
 whom some are, and some are not, effectually reliev- 
 ed by the law on which their claims are founded. 
 Nothing, for instance, can be more different than 
 the degree of assistance awarded to the manufactur- 
 ing and the rural labourer. In country parishes, 
 the poor do really receive some compensation for 
 their low wages ; their children, beyond a certain 
 number, are really supported by the parish ; and 
 though it must be a most grating reflection to a la- 
 bouring man, that he can hardly marry without be- 
 coming the father of paupers; yet if he can recon- 
 cile himself to this prospect, the compensation, such 
 as it is, is no doubt made to him. But in London, 
 and all the great towns of the kingdom, the evil is 
 suffered without the compensation. The population 
 raised by bounties in the country, naturally and ne- 
 cessarily flows into the town, and as naturally and 
 necessarily tends to lower wages in them ; while, in 
 point of fact, those who marry in towns, and have 
 large families, receive no assistance from their pa- 
 rishes, unless they are actually starving : and alto- 
 gether the assistance which the manufacturing classes 
 obtain for the support of their families, in return for 
 their lowered wages, is perfectly inconsiderable. 
 Whereas the nominal rate of wages is of no more 
 consequence to the labourer who is married and has 
 a family throughout the South of England, than its 
 rate in Hindostan. (See Malthus, II. p. S69.) 
 
 It is plain, therefore, that the poor of this country 
 have been used to unequal and very different treat- 
 ment, and that with much greater appearance of in- 
 
304 
 
 POOR-LAWS. 
 
 Poor-I^ws. justice than any diflFerence which was founded upon 
 '"'V^ an established law. To say nothing of the advan- 
 tage which the impudent and daring have long pos- 
 sessed over the humble and unobtrusive character ; 
 which imposture has had over honesty, and shame- 
 less beggary over honest independence ; the circum- 
 stance that men who were born in the same class, and 
 labour in the same vocation, and are burthened with 
 the same family, are liable to suffer, and do actually 
 suffer, the widest variations according to the district 
 in which they may happen to reside ; — according as 
 the magistrates of that district agree to act ; accord- 
 ing to the scale of relief they may have adopted ; 
 according to the strictness of the inquiry which they 
 are in the habit of making, before they issue an order 
 for relief ; in short, according to the views they may 
 take of their own duty and of public expediency. 
 So that we should have no fear of discontent, in any 
 material degree, from the operation of an enactment 
 like that proposed. More especially, as the majori- 
 ty of those whom it concerned finding themselves, 
 according to the natural order of things, so much 
 the more prosperous in consequence of their depend- 
 ing on their own exertions, would be free from the 
 principal temptation to murmur and complain. 
 
 It ought to be remembered, farther, that the sys- 
 tem now in operation is by no means exempt from 
 the danger of discontented turbulence. Every one 
 is brought up with the belief that the state is bound 
 to provide him with employment and support. When, 
 therefore, the employment assigned him is such as 
 he does not approve, and the recompense awarded 
 him falls below his expectations (and when the em- 
 ployment is a loss to the public, the recompense 
 must often be below even reasonable expectations), 
 he becomes an irritated and uneasy subject ; and 
 unless he is restrained by the fear of detection, 
 or by the better influence of moral principles, he 
 vents his spleen by any mischief that is in his power; 
 and the burning of stack-yards, or the destruction of 
 machinery, results from an unsatisfactory interview 
 with the overseer, or an ineffectual appeal to the 
 bench of magistrates. Proofs of this have been al- 
 ready too visible ; and vestry meetings, in some 
 counties, have assumed a very seditious appearance : 
 quite enough to prove the evil of accustoming the 
 mass of the population to depend upon any thing ex- 
 cept the natural demand for their labour. 
 
 Should it, however, be considered that more cau- 
 tion and preparation is necessary to pave the way 
 for a total alteration in a system of laws which are 
 may be first unhappily interwoven with the habits of the people; 
 repealed. jt would be an important step, to begin by repealing 
 that part of the statute of Elizabeth, which em- 
 powers the overseers to set the poor to work ; that 
 
 The Statute 
 for furnish- 
 ing Em- 
 ployment 
 
 is, in effect, which empowers the labourer to demand Poor-Laws. 
 work, or money as its substitute. This would con- ^-^"V^ 
 fine relief to the impotent and aged, and would take 
 away that part of the law which is most confessedly 
 adverse to all sound principles of policy, and is least 
 capable of any rational defence. There is a satis- 
 faction, no doubt, attendant upon the knowledge, 
 that every individual in the country, if reduced to 
 helpless indigenes, has a " local habitation" and a 
 home ; that the aged, and the infirm, and the or- 
 phan, have a sure provision. * And though man 
 may, no doubt, become improvident, and parents 
 may sometimes be induced to abandon their child- 
 ren, from a conviction, that they will not be allowed 
 to starve, yet if relief had never been extended be- 
 yond these objects, the evil would not have become 
 practically burthensome as it is now experienced 
 to be. 
 
 If then it should be determined, for the present No Able- 
 at least, to retain this part of the system, let a wiser 
 course be commenced, by laying aside the attempt ^ 
 to " set the poor on work ;" and let it be declared 
 that from such a time, no able-bodied man shall have 
 any claim to employment or relief from the parish 
 for himself or his family. Such a measure has the 
 advantage of being strongly recommended by the 
 Report of the Committee, to which we have so often 
 alluded. Indeed, a decided opinion is there given, 
 that, even as the law now stands, " an order for relief 
 is invalid, which does not adjudge the party to be 
 * impotent,' as well as ' poor.'" And a mode is 
 suggested in which this alteration of the prevailing 
 system might be effected humanely and gradually. 
 It is submitted to the consideration of the House, 
 whether, when the demand for labour may have re- 
 vived, it may not be safely provided, that from and 
 after a certain time, no relief shall be extended to 
 any child whose father, being living, is under 
 years of age ; a principle which, by altering the age 
 from time to time, might, if it should be thought de- 
 sirable, be carried still further into operation. It 
 may also be provided, with a similar view, that from 
 and after a specific time, no relief shall be provided 
 for any child whose father, being living, has not above 
 children, under years of age. The Report 
 proceeds to suggest that it may be hereafter enacted, 
 that no person should be provided with work by the 
 parish other than those who are already so provided, 
 and who might be permitted to continue till they 
 could provide for themselves ; but if the change made 
 by this provision might fc*.- thought too rapid, limita- 
 tions might still be introduced, the effect of which 
 would render it more gradual : as, by enacting that 
 none shall be provided with employment who are be- 
 tween the ages of 18 and 30, and then, after a certain 
 
 • This feeling has induced the author of the Letter to Mr Peel, who well deserves attention, to make 
 the following reflection : — " Let me thus dismiss the present branch of the argument, with the hope that 
 indigence, arising either from infirmity, age, infancy, great number of children, and even accidental failure 
 of employment, may possibly be relieved by law — not fully and adequately to our feelings — yet permanently 
 and systematically, without necessarily extending the evil." 
 
 Such a concession, from one so well aware of the moral evils of the poor-laws, shows the embarrassments 
 with which the subject is involved. 
 
POOR-LAWS. 
 
 305 
 
 Poor-Laws. lapse of time, that none between iG and 35, 40, and 
 ^-^i-^,^— wi^so on, till the object shall be gradually effected. 
 
 We entertain no sort of doubt that a law of this 
 kind would, in a very short time, benefit the la- 
 bourers themselves. What, indeed, can be more de- 
 pressing or injurious to theiu, than the system which 
 is common in some districts, according to which la- 
 bourers, under the denomination of roundsmen, are 
 sent from farm to farm, and paid at the lowest possi- 
 ble rate, and that rate not depending upon their skill 
 or industry, but upon the largeness of their families ? 
 and not by the person for whom they labour, but, 
 in a great part, out of the parish funds ? Both the 
 Committees reprobate this practice in pointed terms, 
 but the Lords do not seem to have observed that it 
 grows naturally out of the system of our poor-laws ; 
 and if that " system is essentially maintained," every 
 labourer in the kingdom must in the end be treated as 
 a roundsman. The poor-laws encourage the increase 
 of the number of workmen beyond the demand for 
 their labour : the poor-laws then oblige the parish to 
 employ these supernumeraries at its own expense. 
 But none of the employers of labour are in want of 
 these hands, otherwise they would not be left to seek 
 for work : still they must be supported : what alter- 
 native is there, except either to maintain them in 
 idleness, or to parcel them out in the district which 
 contributes to the rate ? Certainly it is a plan which 
 reduces the free labourer to the condition of a slave ; 
 but let the blame fall where it is due, upon the law 
 itself ; or let it be shown how some such scheme can 
 be avoided, unless the men are to be unemployed al- 
 together. 
 
 With such a conjunction with some enactment denying the 
 Provision, claim of the able-bodied labourer to legal »-elief in 
 the Plan of any shape, and so tending to undermine the whole 
 a Maximum sygtgQj — ^ limitation of the assessment to be annually 
 ^ant^ageous^."'"^'^^^ might be useful, because it would be a sort of 
 ly united. " acknowledgment of the indisputable truth, that the 
 Legislature had hitherto taken more upon itself than 
 it was able to accomplish, and that the funds for the 
 relief of the distressed, as well as for the employment 
 of labour, really are limited, though the practice of 
 the country supposes them inexhaustible ; and that, 
 in point of fact, they have already reached the 
 bounds beyond which it is either not possible or not 
 safe to proceed. This would gradually open the 
 eyes of the poor to a truth which cannot be long 
 concealed, and induce them to depend upon them- 
 selves. It would also furnish an argument to those 
 who attempt to restore, or rather to create, in the 
 poor a feeling of reliance on their own industry. As 
 matters stand at present, all recommendations of 
 Saving Banks, all enforcements of the necessity of 
 foresight, are cut short by reference to the parish. 
 You may be out of work ; the parish must find it for 
 me. You may be overburdened with a young fa- 
 mily; the parish must allow accordingly. You 
 may grow infirm or old ; I can but come to the 
 parish. But if a positive limit were set to the pa- 
 rochial assessment, what is theoretically absurd, 
 might be practically useful ; because there would 
 be opportunity of rejoinder to these conclusive rea- 
 sonings, from the inadequacy of the parish allow- 
 ances ; and a whole meal from former savings might 
 
 VOL. VI. PART I. 
 
 appear better than the half loaf which public charity Poor-Laws. 
 would procure. But, in the mean time, the en- ^'•■"■^y-^ 
 
 couragement of frugal habits is proved to be a 
 visionary hope among the lower classes of the com- 
 munity ; and the declaration of the Lords' Commit- 
 tee, however undeniable, will remain a dead letter 
 as to practical effect: " Parochial relief, under the 
 best and most considerate administration of it, can 
 never be so satisfactory to the person who is the ob- 
 ject of it, or so consistent with those honourable 
 feelings of pride and independence which are im- 
 planted in the heart of man, as that resource which 
 is the result of his own industry and the produce of 
 his own exertions." This is unintelligible language, 
 to those at least who have been born in the south of 
 England within the last forty years. Parish relief, 
 instead of being dreaded as a disgrace, or looked to 
 as a last resource, is, in truth, the first consideration. 
 To become domiciliated in a good parish is the grand 
 object, and leads to numberless cheats and perju- 
 ries ; the next concern is to obtain as much as pos- 
 sible from it ; which the single men effect by threaten- 
 ing to bring a wife and family upon the parish funds, 
 if they are not relieved to their satisfaction ; and 
 the married men by actually doing so. A system 
 which encourages these feelings and habits has been 
 called a humane, a wise, an economical system ; and 
 justly, if it is humanity to support profligacy at the 
 expense of the industrious; if it is wise to diffuse ha- 
 bits of improvidence, vice, and dishonesty through- 
 out the land ; if it is economical to sink capital in 
 order to furnish income to the extravagant. 
 
 The most plausible objection to this plan of com- ^^q"i^°__ 
 mencing an improvement in the principle of the tj^jj^ f jo^^j' 
 poor-laws, by confining relief to the /wj^o/^wi poor. Variations 
 arises from the variations in the price of corn ; a re- the Price 
 currence of which it seems right to anticipate in the *^^'°* 
 present state of our agriculture and population. 
 There have been many years since 1795 in which 
 the market rate of wages would not generally sup- 
 port a family : neither is it in the nature of things 
 that the wages of labour should rise with the price 
 of corn, when that increase of price is occasioned 
 by a deficiency in the supply. To raise them arbi- 
 trarily, as some persons have ventured to recom- 
 mend, would only be to relieve one evil in the body 
 politic by the introduction of another ; and, though 
 no remedy could easily be worse than the present 
 disease, it is wiser, at all events, to *' bear the ills 
 we have, than fly to others which we know not of." 
 
 In reply, however, to this objection, it may be re- 
 marked, that the natural price of labour will be more 
 nearly approached by the market price, in propor- 
 tion as parochial payments are done away ; and the 
 employer will still be a gainer, because his assess- 
 ment will be diminished in the same proportion : 
 while population and production, keeping more even 
 pace together, when relieved from the disturbing 
 influences which prevail at present, the prices of 
 corn will be subject to less variation. In the case, 
 however, of any unusual disparity between the price 
 of labour and the price of provisions, such as occur- 
 red in the years 1795 and 1800, or of any tempo- 
 rary or local pressure, from a difficulty in procur- 
 ing employment, such as must always be expected 
 Qq 
 
306 POO R. 
 
 Poor.Laws. in some districts of a great manufacturing county, 
 and which was almost universal in the years imme- 
 diately succeeding the peace ;— -the principal inha- 
 bitants ought to agree together on the most practic- 
 able mode of assisting the largest families, and en- 
 abling their poorer neighbours to weather the exi- 
 gencies of the season. * The political objections 
 which exist against indiscriminate relief do not af- 
 fect extraordinary cases. That which would be 
 most pernicious as daily diet, when applied as me- 
 dicine, restores health to the constitution. Neither 
 are we so forgetful of the duties enjoined upon us 
 as Christians as to exclude charity from our domestic 
 economy : our object is not to annihilate charity, but 
 to render it profitable both to the giver and receiver. 
 This is truly the case when our assistance, of what- 
 ever sort, is bestowed upon a known object, and for 
 a definite purpose, instead of being thrown into a 
 common fund, for which all scramble, and from which 
 those who scramble most shamelessly get the largest 
 share. The known claim to parochial aid, and the 
 actual pressure of the funds which it demands, are an 
 impediment, in the present state of the law, to private 
 benevolence ; together with a general conviction, that 
 what is called, though falsely called, the charity of 
 the country, has increased the distress which it pro- 
 fesses to relieve. 
 
 And to say the truth, when wc consider the de- 
 gree of labour, and attention, and intelligence em- 
 ployed upon the concerns of the poor in late years, 
 we may justly afiirm, that, if it had been possible for 
 things to go on well upon a wrong system, and to 
 succeed on an erroneous principle, they must have 
 succeeded, and the condition of the poor in Eng- 
 land must have been most prosperous ; and that 
 it has not been so, with all these advantages, is in it- 
 self a sufficient evidence that the principle is radical- 
 ly unsound. 
 
 It will be observed, that our remarks in the pre- 
 ceding article apply principally to England, as the 
 native country of the poor-laws, and to those few 
 districts of Scotland where the practice has been as- 
 Scotch Poor- similated to that of England. An abstract of the 
 Laws. ]a^g which relate to the assistance and management 
 of the poor in Scotland will be found in the Encyclo- 
 pcedia. We must add, however, that, since that pub- 
 lication, a very important case has been determined 
 by the Court of Session, which turned upon this 
 question ; viz. Whether, under the Scotch poor-laws, 
 those persons are entitled to relief who, without any 
 personal infirmity, are rendered unable, by the high 
 price of provisions, to maintain themselves in time of 
 
 LAWS. 
 
 dearth ? And whether an assessment for the relief of Poor-Laws. 
 such persons was legal ? The Court decreed, on the ^^^w 
 17th of January 1804, that such relief and assess- 
 ment were legal under the statutes ; and the argu- 
 ments used to obtain a contrary decree were, not that 
 the statutes tvere not in force, but that they did not 
 strictly include this particular case. It came from 
 the parish of Dunse in Berwickshire. 
 
 The Court of Session has also repeatedly decided 
 that " a pauper has a title to the charity of any pa- 
 rish in which he has resided three years, supporting 
 himself during that period by his own industry." 
 
 In consequence, many parishes have had recourse 
 to legal assessments. " In small country parishes, or 
 in parishes where there are no considerable towns or 
 villages, the assessments are levied according to the 
 valued rent of the lands, the one-half being paid by 
 the heritors, and the other half by the tenants. But 
 in large parishes, the assessments are made according 
 to the real annual rents of lands and bouses, a fourth 
 part being deducted to the proprietors of houses for 
 reparations ; the half of the assessment is paid by the 
 proprietors or landlords, and the other half by the 
 tenants or possessors. The assessments are made an- 
 nually by a joint meeting of the heritors and kirk- 
 session of the parish, held, by act of Parliament, on 
 first Tuesday of August or first Tuesday of July, Tfho 
 appoint a collector, who makes a new rental each 
 year of lands and houses, f 
 
 The parishes in which such assessments have been 
 enforced present a striking contrast to those which 
 are managed upon the more primitive and economi- 
 cal system. The demands upon the legal funds have 
 increased at least tenfold, and thus furnish a re- 
 markable confirmation of the arguments by which 
 the English poor-laws are impugned ; against the 
 further admission of which into this comparatively 
 prudent and well regulated country, all its wisest and 
 most benevolent members are lifting up their voice 
 of warning and exhortation. :J. 
 
 Dr Chalmers, in particular, in addition to all his 
 other important obligations, has recently conferred 
 a new benefit upon the public, by practically show- 
 ing that even the unpromising population of Glasgow 
 may be satisfactorily provided for through the old 
 channel of voluntary contributions, without recourse 
 to compulsory funds. We would gladly refer any 
 readers of the foregoing article who may entertain a 
 prejudice against its tendency, to the Speech deliver- 
 ed by that gentleman before the General Assembly 
 of the Church of Scotland in May 1822, and espe- 
 cially to the practical details related in the Appen- 
 dix to it. (n. n. n.) 
 
 * In this way of occasional contribution, great local distress in Ireland has been effectually relieved 
 during the summer of 1822. But what miserable politicians would those prove, who, on account of a tem- 
 porary evil in a country so every way anomalous as Ireland, would venture to introduce, and apply to the 
 Irish character, a permanent system of parochial legislation ? 
 
 f See Notes on the Scotch Poor-Lam, by the Reverend Sir Henry MoncreifiF Wellwood, and the late Mr 
 Horner, appended to Mr Whitbread's Speech on the Poor-Latos, 1807- 
 
 X Report of the Committee of the General Assembly, 1817, appended to the Report of the House of Com- 
 mons, 
 
307 
 
 POPULATION. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Object cf 
 the Article. 
 
 trlcal Pro 
 gression 
 
 T. HE population of the principal states, of which 
 an account has been given in the course of this 
 work, will be found under their proper heads. The 
 object of this article is to explain the general laws 
 which regulate the increase or decrease of popula- 
 tion, and the manner in which they affect the state 
 and condition of human society. 
 Natural and In taking a view of animated nature, we cannot 
 Necessary fail to be struck with a prodigious power of increase 
 ^j"p^"^Ys°^ in plants and animals. Their capacity in this re- 
 and Animals spect is, indeed, almost infinitely various, according 
 to Increase with the endless variety of the works of nature, and 
 "n a Georae- the different purposes which they seem appointed to 
 fulfil. But whether they increase slowly or rapidly, 
 if they increase by seed or generation, their natural 
 tendency must be to increase in a geometrical ratio, 
 that is, by multiplication ; and at whatever rate they 
 are increasing during any one period, if no further 
 obstacles be opposed to them, they must proceed in 
 a geometrical progression. 
 
 In the growth of wheat, a vast quantity of seed is 
 unavoidably lost. When it is dibbled instead of being 
 sown in the common way, two pecks of seed wheat 
 will yield as large a crop as two bushels, and thus 
 quadruple the proportion of the return to the quan- 
 tity of seed put into the ground. In the PhilosO' 
 phical Transactions for 1 768, an account is given of 
 an experiment in which, by separating the roots ob- 
 tained from a single grain of wheat, and transplant- 
 ing them in a favourable soil, a return was obtained 
 of above 500,000 grains. But, without referring to 
 peculiar instances, or peculiar modes of cultivation, 
 it is known that calculations have often been made, 
 founded on positive experience of the produce of 
 wheat in different soils and countries, cultivated in 
 an ordinary way, and making allowance for all or- 
 dinary destruction of seed. 
 
 Humboldt has collected some estimates of this 
 kind, from which it appears that France, the north 
 of Germany, Poland, and Sweden, taken generally, 
 produce from five to six grains for one ; some fertile 
 lands in France produce fifteen for one; and the good 
 lands in Picardy and the Isle of France from eight 
 to ten grains forgone. Hungary, Croatia, and Scla. 
 vonia, yield from eight to ten grains for one. In the 
 Regno de la Plata, twelve grains for one are pro- 
 duced : near the city of Buenos Ayres, sixteen for 
 one : in the northern part of Mexico seventeen ; and 
 in the equinoctial regions of Mexico twenty-four for 
 (Hie. {Nouvelle Espagne, L. IV. C. ix. p. 98.) 
 
 Now, supposing that in any one country daring 
 a certain period, and under the ordinary cultivation, 
 the return of wheat was six grains for one, it would 
 be strictly correct to say, that wheat had the capa- 
 
 city of increasing in a geometrical ratio, of such a Population, 
 nature as to sextuple itself every year. And it 
 might safely be calculated hypothetically, that if, 
 setting out from the produce of one acre, land of 
 #the same quality co»ild be prepared with sufficient 
 rapidity, and no wheat were consumed, the rate of 
 increase would be such as completely to cover 
 the whole earthy surface of our globe in fourteen 
 years. 
 
 In the same manner, if it be found by experience 
 that on land of a certain quality, and making allow- 
 ance for the ordinary mortality and accidents, sheep 
 will increase on an average, so as to double their 
 numbers every two years, it would be strictly cor- 
 rect to say, that sheep have the natural capacity of 
 increasing in a geometrical progression, of which 
 the common multiple is two, and the term two 
 years ; and it might safely be said, that if land of 
 the same quality could be provided with sufficient 
 rapidity, and no sheep were consumed, the rate of 
 increase would be such, that if we were to begin 
 with the full number ^i^hich could be supported on 
 an acre of land, the whole earthy part of the globe 
 might be completely covered with sheep in less than 
 76 years. 
 
 If out of this prodigious increase of food, the full 
 support of mankind were deducted, supposing them 
 to increase as fast as they have ever yet increased in 
 any country, the deduction would be comparatively 
 inconsiderable ; and the rate of increase would still 
 be enormous, till it was checked, either by the na- 
 tural want of will on the part of mankind to make 
 efforts for the increase of food, beyond what they 
 coxild possibly consume, or after a certain period, 
 by their absolute want of power to prepare land of 
 the same quality, so as to allow of the same rate of 
 progress. 
 
 Owing to these two causes combined, we see that, 
 notwithstanding this prodigious power of increase 
 in vegetables and animals, their actual increase is 
 extremely slow ; and it is obvious, that, owing to the 
 latter cause alone, and long before a final stop was 
 put to all further progress, their actual rate of in- 
 crease must of necessity be very greatly retarded ; 
 as it would be impossible for the most enlightened 
 human efforts to make all the soil of the earth equal 
 in fertility to the average quality of land now in use ; 
 while the practicable approaches towards it would 
 require so much time as to occasion, at a very early 
 period, a constant and great check upon what their 
 increase would be, if they could exert their natural 
 powers. 
 
 Elevated as man is above all other animals by his 
 intellectual faculties, it is not to be supposed that 
 
308 
 
 POPULATION. 
 
 Population, the physical laws to which he is subjected should 
 ^"—^/"^ be essentially different from those which are ob- 
 served to prevail in other parts of animated na- 
 ture. He may increase slower than most other ani- 
 mals ; but food is equally necessary to his support ; 
 and if his natural capacity of increase be greater 
 than can be permanently supplied with food from 
 a limited territory, his increase must be constantly 
 retarded by the difficulty of procuring the means of 
 subsistence. 
 
 Tlie Power The main peculiarity which distinguishes man 
 which Man ^j.^^^^ ^thgr animals, in the means of his support, is 
 possesses of ^^^^ ^^^^^i he possesses of very greatly m- 
 
 his own"^ creasing these means. But this power is obviously 
 Food, is limited by the scarcity of land, by the great natural 
 stricdy li- barrenness of a very large part of the surface of the 
 raited by the and by the decreasing proportion of produce 
 
 and Nature which must necessarily be obtained from the con- 
 of the Soil tinual additions of labour and capital applied to 
 which he can j^^^jj already in cultivation. 
 
 command. .^^ however, specifically with this diminishing 
 
 and limited power of increasing the produce of the 
 soil, that we must compare the natural power of 
 mankind to increase, in order to ascertain whether, 
 in the progress to the full cultivation and peopling 
 of the globe, the natural power of mankind to in- 
 crease must not, of absolute necessity, be constantly 
 retarded by the difficulty of procuring the means of 
 subsistence, and if so, what are likely to be the 
 effects of such a state of things, 
 
 • In an endeavour to determine the natural power 
 of mankind to increase, as well as their power of 
 increasing the produce of the soil, we can have no 
 other guide than past experience. 
 
 The oreat check to the increase of plants and ani- 
 mals, we know from experience, is the want of 
 room and nourishment ; and this experience would 
 direct us to look for the greatest actual increase of 
 them in those situations where room and nourish- 
 ment were the most abundant. 
 
 On the same principle, we should expect to find 
 the greatest actual increase of population in those 
 situations where, from the abundance of good land, 
 and the manner in which its produce is distributed, 
 the largest portion of the necessaries of life is ac- 
 tually awarded to the naass of the society. 
 
 Of the countries with which we are acquainted, the 
 United States of America, formerly the North Ame- 
 rican Colonies of Great Britain, answer most nearly 
 to this description. In the United States not only 
 is there an abundance of good land, but from the 
 manner in which it has been distributed, and the 
 market which has been opened for its produce, there 
 has been a greater and more constant demand for la- 
 bour, and a larger portion of necessaries has been 
 awarded to the labourer than in any of those other 
 countries which possess an equal or greater abund- 
 ance of land and fertility of soil. 
 
 Here, then, we should expect to find that the na- 
 
 Mode of de 
 termining 
 the natural 
 Rate of 
 Increase 
 which ap- 
 plies to 
 Mankind. 
 
 tural power of mankind to increase, whatever it may Population, 
 be, would be most distinctly marked; and here, in con- ^•^*V^ 
 sequence, itappears that the actual rate of the increase 
 of population has been more rapid than in any known 
 country, although, independently of the abundance 
 of good land, and the great demand for labour, it is 
 distinguished by no other circumstances which ap- 
 pear to be peculiarly favourable to the increase of 
 numbers. 
 
 It has been stated that all animals, according to 
 the known laws by which they are produced, must 
 have a capacity of increasing in a geometrical pro- 
 gression. And the question with regard to man 
 is, what is the rate of this geometrical progres- 
 sion ? 
 
 Fortunately in the country to which we should na- 
 turally turn our eyes for an exemplification of the 
 most rapid rate of increase, there have been four 
 enumerations of the people, each at the distance of 
 ten years ; and though the estimates of the increase 
 of population in the North American Colonies at ear- 
 lier periods were of sufficient authority, in the absence 
 of more certain documents, to warrant most import- 
 ant inferences, yet as we now possess such docu-. 
 ments, and as the period they involve is of sufficient 
 length to establish the point in question, it is no 
 longer necessary to refer to earlier times. 
 
 According to a regular census made by order of Increase of 
 Congress in 1790, which there is every reason to j^^h^S 
 think is essentially correct, the white population of states of 
 the United States was found to be 3,164,148. By a America, 
 similar census in 1800, it was found to have increased 
 to 4,312,841. It had increased then during the ten 
 years from 1790 to 1800, at a rate equal to 36.3 per 
 cent., a rate which, if continued, would double the 
 population in twenty-two years and about four 
 months and a half. 
 
 According to a third census in 1810, the white 
 population was found to be 5,862,092,* which, 
 compared with the population of 1800, gives an in- 
 crease in the second ten years at the rate of nearly 
 36 per cent, which, if continued, would double the 
 population in about twenty, two years and a half. 
 
 According to the fourth census in 1820, the white 
 population was , found to be 7,861,710, t which, 
 compared with the population of 1810, gives an in- 
 crease in the third ten years at a rate per cent, of 
 34.1, which, if continued, would double the popu- 
 lation in twenty-three years and seven months. 
 
 If we compare the period of doubling according 
 to the rate of increase in the most unfavourable ten 
 years of this series, with twenty-five years, we shall 
 find the difference such as fully to cover all the in- 
 crease of population which would have taken place 
 from emigration. 
 
 It appears from a reference to the most authentic Amount of 
 documents which can be collected on both sides of ^""^g^^'»o"- 
 the Atlantic, that the emigration to the United States, 
 during the last twenty-five years, falls decidedly short 
 
 * These numbers are taken from Dr Seyberfs Statistical Annals, p. 23. , , . , . . 
 
 t S number is taken from the AmeHcan National Calendar for 1822, and has smce been compared 
 with the original census as published for the use of the members of Congress. 
 
POPULATION. 309 
 
 Population, of an average of 10,000 a-year. Dr Seybert, the 
 v-^/^^^ best authority on the other side of the water, states 
 that, from 1790 to 1810, it could not have been so 
 much as 6000 a-year. Our official accounts of the 
 number of emigrants to the United States from Eng- 
 land, Ireland, and Scotland, during the ten years 
 from 1812 to 1821, inclusive, give an average of less 
 than 7000, although the period includes the extraor- 
 dinary years 1817 and 1818, in which the emigra* 
 tions to the United States were much greater than 
 they were ever known to be before or since. The 
 official American accounts, as far as they go, which 
 is only for two years from the 30th September 1819, 
 tend to confirm this average, * and allowing fully 
 for the emigrants from other European countries, 
 the general average will still be under the ten thou- 
 sand. 
 
 A new mode has, however, lately been f suggest- 
 ed of estima,ting the amount of increase in any 
 country derived from emigration. It has been 
 justly stated, that when a census is taken every 
 ten years, and the population is distinguished into 
 those above, and those below ten years of age, all above 
 ten years of age, exclusive of emigrants, must have ex- 
 isted in the census immediately preceding, and, con- 
 sequently, after having made a proper allowance for 
 the mortality during these ten years, the excess 
 above the remaining number must be attributed to 
 emigration. If we had the means of estimating with 
 accuracy the loss which would be sustained in Ame- 
 rica in ten years by a population not increased by 
 additional births, this mode of estimating the amount 
 of emigration would be unobjectionable, and often 
 very useful. 
 
 But, unfortunately, the means are deficient. Even 
 the annual mortality in the United States is not 
 known. It was supposed by Dr Price (Vol. II. 
 p. 50, 7th edit.) to be 1 in 50 ; by Mr Barton, in 
 the Transactions of the Society at Philadelphia 
 (Vol. III. No. 7), 1 in 45 ; and it is stated by Mr 
 Bristed, in his work on America and her Resour- 
 ces (p. 20), that the annual deaths average through- 
 out the United States 1 in 40, in the healthiest dis- 
 tricts 1 in 56, and in the most unhealthy 1 in 
 35. 
 
 If, however, we could ascertain accurately the 
 average annual mortality, we should still be unable 
 to ascertain the amount of the loss in question ; as, 
 under any given law of mortality, it would depend 
 so very much upon the rate at which the population 
 was increasing. The truth of this observation will 
 be placed in a striking light by the following short 
 table, with which we have been favoured by a very 
 able calculator, Mr Milne, author of a well-known 
 Treatise on Annuities and Assurances. It is con- 
 structed on the supposition that the population, 
 in each case, is always subject to the same law 
 
 of mortality as that which prevailed in all Sweden Population 
 and Finland during the five years, ended with 1805, ^^"^^/-^^ 
 and that the number of births in the present year 
 living in each case is 10,000. 
 
 We see from this table, that, under the same law 
 of mortality, the difference of loss sustained in ten 
 years, by a people not increased by fresh births, 
 would in the three cases supposed of a stationary 
 population, a population doubling in 50 years, and 
 a population doubling in 25 years, be as 1 in 5.3692, 
 1 in 6.6786, and 1 in 7-9396 ; and that when the 
 population is doubling itself in 25 years, the loss 
 would be very little more than one-eighth. 
 
 But the censuses must be allowed to form a pri- 
 ma facie evidence, that the population of the United 
 States has, for a considerable time, been going on 
 doubling itself in 25 years ; and assuming this evi- 
 dence to be true, which we are warranted in doing 
 till better evidence is produced on the other side, it 
 will appear that the amount of immigration, deduc- 
 ed from the rule here referred to, is less than 10,000 
 a-year. 
 
 Thus the white population of the United States in 
 1800 was 4,312,841 . % This population, without fur- 
 ther accession of births, would in 1810 be diminished 
 one-eighth, or reduced to 3,773,736. In 1810 the 
 population above ten years of age was 3,845,389 ; 
 and subtracting the former number from the latter, 
 the difference, or amount of emigration, will be 
 71,653, or 7165 a-year. 
 
 Again, the white population of 1 810 was 5,862,092, 
 which, diminished by one-eighth in ten years, would 
 be 5,129,331. The population above ten years of 
 age in 1820 was 5, 235,940. § Subtracting the for- 
 mer from the latter, the difference, or amount of emi- 
 
 Total population ten 1 
 years since, - - j 
 
 Total above 10 years of") 
 age now, " ' j 
 
 Died during the term^ 
 of 10 years,, out of( 
 those living at iis C 
 commencement, ) 
 
 Being one of 
 
 The Po- 
 pulation 
 constantly 
 the ^ame. 
 
 The l^opulation in- 
 creasing and having 
 increased in geome- 
 trical progression for 
 more than 100 years 
 io as to double itself 
 svery 
 
 50 
 years. 
 
 25 
 years. 
 
 393,848 
 320,495 
 
 230,005 
 \95,566 
 
 144,358 
 126,176 
 
 73,353 
 
 34,439 
 
 18,182 
 
 
 6.6786 
 
 7.9396 
 
 * American National Calendar for 1821, p. 23 7^ and North American Revieiu for October 1822, p. 304. 
 
 + This mode was suggested by Mr Booth in Mr Godwin's Anstver to Mr Malthus. 
 
 X Seybert's Statistical Annals, p. 23. 
 
 § American National Calendar for 1822, p. 246. 
 
310 P O P U L 
 
 Population. gration,is 106,608, or 10,660 a-year; showing, as we 
 v--«-' should expect, a greater amount of emigration from 
 1810 to 1820 than from 1800 to 1810, but even in 
 the latter ten years, and including emigrations from 
 Canada, as well as all other countries, little exceed- 
 ing 10,000. 
 
 Altogether then we can hardly err in defect, if we 
 allow 10,000 a year for the average increase from 
 emigration during the 25 years from 1795 to 1820, 
 and applying this number to the slowest period of 
 increase, when the rate was such as to double the 
 population in 23 years and 7 months ; it may be 
 easily calculated, that in the additional year and five 
 months, a population of 5,862,000 would have in- 
 creased to an amovint much more than sufficient to 
 cover an annual emigration of 1 0,000 persons, with 
 the increase from them at the same rate. 
 
 Such an increase from them, however, would not 
 take place. It appears from an account in the Na- 
 tional Calendar of the United States for the year 
 1821, that of the 7001 persons who had arrived in 
 America from the 30th of September I8I9 to the 
 30th of September 1820, 1959 only were females, 
 and the rest, 5042, were males,* — a proportion, 
 which, if it approaches towards representing the 
 average, must very greatly reduce the number from 
 which any increase ought to be calculated. 
 
 If, however, we omit these considerations ; if we 
 suppose a yearly emigration from Europe to Ame- 
 rica of 10,000 persons for the 25 years, from I795 
 to 1820, the greatest part of which time Europe was 
 involved in a most extensive scene of warfare re- 
 quiring all its population ; and further, if we allow 
 for an increase of all the emigrants during the whole 
 period, at the fullest rate, the remaining numbers 
 will still be sufficient to show a doubling of the po- 
 pulation in less than 25 years. 
 
 The white population of 1790 was 3,164,148. 
 This population, according to the rate at which it was 
 increasing, would have amounted to about 3,694,100 
 in 1795 ; and supposing it to have just doubled it- 
 self in the 25 years, from 1795 to 1820, the popula- 
 tion in 1 820 would have been 7,388,200. But the 
 actual white population of 1820 appears, by the late 
 census, to be 7,861,710, showing an excess of 
 473,510, whereas an emigration of 10,000 persons 
 annually, with the increase from them at 3 per cent., 
 a rate which would double a population in less than 
 24 years, would only amount to 364,592. 
 
 But the most striking confirmation of the censuses 
 of the United States, and the most remarkable proof 
 of the rate of increase being occasioned almost ex- 
 clusively by procreation, have been furnished to 
 us by Mr Milne. In his work on Annuities and 
 Assurances, which contains much valuable and 
 interesting information on the subject of popu- 
 lation, he had noticed the effects of the frequent 
 pressure of want on the labouring classes of Swe- 
 den ; which, by increasing the proportion of deaths. 
 
 A T I O N. 
 
 rendered the law of mortality so accurately observed Population, 
 in that country by Professors Wargentin and Nican- ^^^y^^ 
 der, inapplicable to other countries more favourably 
 circumstanced. But the law of mortality was ob- 
 served to be gradually improving from the time that 
 Dr Price constructed his Swedish table ; and the 
 period from 1800 to the end of 1805 was so free 
 from scarcities and epidemics, and the healthiness of 
 the country had been further so much improved by 
 the introduction of vaccination, that he justly thought 
 the law of mortality, as observed during these five 
 years, might suit countries where the condition of 
 the people was known to be much better than it had " 
 generally been in Sweden. On these grounds he 
 applied the Swedish law of mortality, during the 
 term mentioned, to the hypothesis of a population 
 which had been increasing by procreation, in geo- 
 metrical progression, for more than a hundred years, 
 so as to double every twenty-five years. Assuming 
 this population to be one million, he distributed it, 
 by a process well known to persons conversant with 
 these subjects, into the different ages referred to in 
 the American censuses, and then compared them 
 with the same number of persons distributed accord- 
 ing to the actual returns of the ages in the American 
 censuses for the three periods of 1800, I81O, and 
 1820. 
 
 The results are as follows : 
 
 Distribution of a Population o/"l, 000,000 Persons in 
 the under mentioned iiitervals of Age. 
 
 
 According to 
 
 
 Between the 
 Ages of 
 
 The Hypo- 
 thesis. 
 
 United 
 Census of 
 1800. 
 
 States. 
 Census of 
 1810. 
 
 Census of 
 1820. 
 
 0 & 10 
 1 0 & 16" 
 16 & 26 
 ^26 & 45 
 45 & 100 
 
 337,592 
 145,583 
 186,222 
 213,013 
 117,590 
 
 334,556 
 154,898 
 185,046 
 205,289 
 120,211 
 
 344,024 
 I 56,345 
 1 89,227 
 1 90,461 
 I 19,943 
 
 333,995 
 154,9 i 3 
 198,114 
 191,139 
 121,839 
 
 0 & 100 
 
 1,000,000 
 
 1,000,000 
 
 1,000,000 
 
 1,000,000 
 
 Under 16 
 Above 16' 
 
 483,175 
 516, 825 
 
 489,454 
 510,546 
 
 500,369 
 499,63 1 
 
 488,908 
 511,092 
 
 The general resemblance in the distribution of 
 the ages in the three different censuses to each other, 
 and to the hypothesis, clearly proves, 
 
 1*/, That the distribution of the ages in the dif- 
 ferent enumerations must be made with some care, 
 and may, therefore, be relied on as in the main cor- 
 rect. 
 
 9,dly, That the law of mortality assumed in the 
 h3rpothesis, cannot deviate essentially from the law 
 of mortality which prevails in the United States ; and. 
 
 • The details for the next year have not yet been printed, but it is known that the whole number of 
 passengers arriving in the United States was 10,722, of which 2415 were from the United States, leaving 
 8307 foreigners. American Review for October 1822, p. 304. 
 
 4 
 
POPULATION. 
 
 311 
 
 Population. sdly, That the actual structure of the American 
 population differs very little from what it would be 
 if it were inci-easing regularly from procreation only, 
 in geometrical progression^ so as to double itself 
 every 25 years ; and that we may, therefore, safely 
 infer that it has been very little disturbed by immi- 
 gration. 
 
 If to these proofs of the rapid increase of popula- 
 tion which has actually taken place, we add the 
 consideration that this rate of increase is an average 
 applying to a most extensive territory, some parts of 
 which are known to be unhealthy ; tliat some of the 
 towns of the United States are now large ; that 
 many of the inhabitants must be engaged in un- 
 wholesome occupations, and exposed to many of 
 those checks to increase which prevail in other 
 countries ; and further, that in the western territo- 
 ries, where these checks do not occur, the rate of in- 
 crease is beyond comparison more rapid than the 
 general average, after making the fullest allowance 
 for immigration, it must appear certain, that the rate 
 at which the population of the whole of the United 
 States has actually increased for the last 30 years, 
 must fall very decidedly short of the actual capacity 
 of mankind to increase under the most favourable 
 circumstances. 
 
 The best proof that can be obtained of the capa- 
 city of mankind to increase at a certain rate, is their 
 having really increased at that rate. At the same 
 time, if any peculiarly rapid increase which had ap- 
 peared to take place in a particular country, were 
 quite unsupported by other evidence, we might be 
 disposed to attribute it to error or accident, and 
 might scarcely be justified in founding important 
 conclusions upon it. But this is far from being the 
 case in the present instance. The rate of increase 
 which has at times taken place in other countries, 
 under the operation of great and obvious checks to 
 the progress of population, sufficiently shows what 
 might be expected if these checks were removed. 
 
 The countries most resembling the United States 
 of America are those territories of the New World 
 which lately belonged to Spain. In abundance and 
 fertility of soil they are indeed superior ; but almost 
 all the vices in the government of the mother coun- 
 try were introduced into her colonial possessions, and 
 particularly that very unequal distribution of landed 
 property which takes place under the feudal system. 
 These evils, and the circumstance of a very large 
 part of the population being Indians in a depressed 
 state, and inferior in industry and energy to Euro- 
 peans, necessarily prevent that rapid increase of 
 numbers which the abundance and fertility of the 
 land would admit of. But it appears from the in- 
 structive and interesting account of New Spain, 
 which M. Humboldt has not long since given to the 
 public, that for the last half of the eighteenth cen- 
 
 rhe Rate of 
 [ncrease in 
 ;he United 
 States con- 
 irmed by 
 ;he Increase 
 )f other 
 Countries. 
 
 Tncrease of 
 Population 
 n New 
 ipain. 
 
 tury, the excess of the births ^bove the deaths, and PopulaUom 
 the progress of the population, have been very great. 
 The following are the proportions of burials to bap- 
 tisms in the registers of eleven villages, the details 
 of which were communicated to M. Humboldt by 
 the curates : 
 
 Burials. Baptisms. 
 
 At Dolores, 100 253 
 
 Singuilucan, 100 234 
 
 Calymaya, 100 202 
 
 Guanaxuato, 100 201 
 
 St Anne, TOO 195 
 
 Marsil, 100 19* 
 
 Queretaro, ,..100 188 
 
 Axapuzco, 100 157 
 
 Yguala, 100 140 
 
 Malacatepec, 100 130 
 
 Panuco, 100 123 
 
 The mean proportion is 100 to 183. 
 
 But the proportion which M. Humboldt considers 
 as best suited to the whole of the population is 100 
 to 170. 
 
 In some of the villages above mentioned, the pro- 
 portion of the births to the population is extraordi- 
 narily great, and the proportion of deaths very con- 
 siderable, showing, in a striking point of view, the 
 early marriages and early deaths of a tropical cli- 
 mate, and the more rapid passing away of each ge- 
 neration. * 
 
 At Queretaro, it appears that the baptisms were 
 to the population as 1 to 14, and the burials as 1 to 
 26. 
 
 At Guanaxuato, including the neighbouring mines 
 of St Anne and of Marsil, the baptisms were to the 
 population as I to 1 5, and the burials as 1 to 29. 
 
 The general result from all the information which 
 could be collected was, that the proportion of births 
 to the population, for the whole of the kingdom of 
 New Spain, was as 1 to 17, and of the deaths as 1 
 to 30. These proportions of births to deaths, if 
 they were continued, would double the population 
 in 27| years. 
 
 M. Humboldt further observes, that the informs^ 
 tion which he had collected respecting the propor- 
 tions of the births to the deaths, and of these to the 
 whole population, proves, that if the order of nature 
 were not interrupted by some extraordinary and 
 disturbing causes, the population of New Spain 
 ought to double itself every nineteen years, t 
 
 It is known, however, that these causes do occur 
 in the actual state of things : consequently we can- 
 not consider the actual rate of the increase of popu- 
 lation in New Spain as greater than according to 
 the former calculation. But a rate of increase such 
 
 * The details which M. Humboldt has given of the population of New Spain are highly mterestmg, as 
 they are the first of any consequence which the public has yet received of a tropical climate. The pecu- 
 liarities which mark them are exactly of the kind which might have been expected, though the proportion 
 of births is still greater than we could have ventured to suppose. Tr i t 
 
 t Essai Politique sur le Royauvie de la Nouvelle Espagne, Liv. II. Chap. iv. pp. 330, et seq. Vol. I. Oct. 
 
» 
 
 S12 
 
 POPULATION. 
 
 Population, as to double the population in 27^, in spite of all 
 the obstacles enumerated by M. Humboldt, is very 
 extraordinary. It is next to the increase of the 
 United States, and greatly superior to any that can 
 be found in Europe. 
 
 Yet in Europe, the tendency to increase is always 
 very strongly marked, and the actual increase for 
 periods of some length is sometimes much greater 
 than could be expected beforehand, considering the 
 obstacles to be overcome. 
 
 It appears from Sussmilch, * that the population 
 of Prussia and Lithuania, after the great plague in 
 1709 and 1710, doubled itself in about years, 
 from the excess of the births above the deaths enu- 
 merated in the registers. 
 
 In Russia, the whole population in I763 was esti- 
 mated, by enumeration and calculation, at twenty 
 millions, and in i 796 at thirty-six millions, t This 
 is a rate of increase which would occasion a doub- 
 ling in less than 42 years. 
 
 In I695, the population of Ireland was estimated 
 . at 1,034',000. According to the late returns in 
 1821, it had increased to the prodigious amount of 
 6,846,949 : J and It is thought that when the defi- 
 ciencies have been supplied by the final returns of 
 the numerators. It will be upwards of seven millions. 
 This Is an example of an actual increase for 125 
 years together, at a rate which would double the 
 population in about 45 years; and this has taken 
 place under the frequent pressure of great distress 
 among the labouring classes of society, and the prac- 
 tice of frequent and considerable emigration. 
 
 But for the proof of the power of population to 
 increase under great obstacles of the preventive, as 
 well as of the positive kind, we need not go out of 
 Great Britain. The rate of increase since our enu- 
 merations have commenced has been very 'remark- 
 able for a country which was considered as well 
 peopled before, and some of the details accompany- 
 ing the returns tend strikingly to Illustrate the prin- 
 ciple of population. 
 
 The population of Great Britain, according to the 
 late enumerations, was, in 1801, 10,942,646, and, in 
 1811, 12, 596,803. § This is a rate of increase, dur- 
 ing the ten years, of rather above 1 5 per cent., a rate 
 which, if continued, would double the population in 
 between 49 and 50 years. 
 
 By the last enumeration of 1821, it appears that 
 the population was 14,391,631, || which, compared 
 with the population of 1811, gives a rate of increase 
 during the ten years of J 4.25 per cent., a rate which 
 would double the population in about 52 years. 
 
 According to these numbers, the rate of increase 
 during the last ten years was slower than that of the 
 first ; but It appears from the excess of the number 
 of males above females in the enumeration of 1811, 
 so opposite to the state of the population in 1801 
 
 Increase of 
 the PopuLi' 
 tioii of 
 Great Bri- 
 tain from 
 1800 to 
 1821, 
 
 and 1821, when the females exceeded the males, par- PopuLidon. 
 ticularly at the latter period, that of the large num- 
 ber added to the population for the army, navy, and 
 registered merchant ships in 1811, a considerable 
 proportion must have been foreigners. On this ac- 
 count, and on account of the further difficulty of 
 knowing what part of this number might properly 
 belong to Ireland, it has been proposed to estimate 
 the rate per cent, at which the population has in- 
 creased in each of the ten years by the females only ; 
 and according to this mode of computation the po- 
 pulation increased during the first period at the rate 
 of 14.02 per cent., and during the second at the rate 
 of 15.82. — {Preliminary Observations, p. 8.) This 
 last rate of increase would double the population in 
 less than 48 years. 
 
 The only objection to this mode of computation 
 is, that it does not take Into consideration the great- 
 er destruction of the males during the war. In 
 1801, the females exceeded the half of the popula- 
 tion by 21,031, and In 1821 by 63,890, while, at the 
 intermediate period, owing to the causes above 
 mentioned, the females fell short of the half of the 
 males by 35,685. 
 
 When, however, a proper distribution has been made 
 of the army and navy among the resident population, 
 and taking England and Wales alone, it appears that 
 from 1801 to 1811 the population increased at the 
 rate of 14^ per cent., and from 1811 to 1821, at the 
 rate of l6|- per cent. — {Preliminary Observations, p. 
 32.) At the former of these rates, the period of 
 doubling would be rather above 50 years — at the 
 latter, under 46 years, and taking the whole period, 
 the time of doubling would be about 48 years. Yet 
 in Great Britain, there Is a much larger proportion 
 of the population living in towns, and engaged in 
 occupations considered as unhealthy, than in any 
 other known country of the same extent. There 
 are also the best reasons for believing that in no 
 other country of the same extent is there to be found 
 so great a proportion of late marriages, or so great 
 a proportion of persons remaining unmarried, as in 
 Great Britain. It is further known that the number 
 of emigrants from Great Britain greatly exceed those 
 who come into the country. And if, under these 
 circumstances, a demand for labour and an increase 
 of the funds for its maintenance, could for 20 years 
 together occasion such a rate of increase, as, if con- 
 tinued, would double the population in 48 years, 
 and quadruple it in 96 years, it is in the highest de- 
 gree probable, that if the encouragements to mar- 
 riage and the means of supporting a family were as 
 great as in America, the period of doubling In Great 
 Britain would not be more than 25 years, even in 
 spite of her great towns and manufactories ; and 
 would be decidedly less if these obstacles were re- 
 moved. 
 
 * Gotliche Ordnung, Vol. I. Table XXL 
 
 t Malthus On Population, Vol. 1. p. 439, 5th edit. 
 
 X Report of the Preliminary Proceedings under Population Act, 58th Geo. III. p. 28. 
 
 I Population Abstract, 1821. Preliminary Observations, p. 8. 
 
 II Ibid. 
 
 8 
 
POPULATION. 
 
 313 
 
 Population. Taking, therefore, into consideration the actual 
 ^Y'^*' rate of increase, which appears from the best docu- 
 rhe L"^^^"^ ments to have taken place over a very large extent 
 ■rease*whkh°^ country in the United States of America, very 
 san, with variously circumstanced as to healthiness and rapi- 
 iny probabi- dity of progress ; considering further, the rate of 
 d^f ^' which has taken place in New Spain, and 
 
 hrriiUural ^^^^ many countries of Europe, where the means 
 roarress of of supporting a family, and other circumstances fa- 
 opulation. vourable to increase, bear no comparison with those 
 of the United States ; and adverting particularly to 
 the great increase of population which has taken 
 place in this country during the last 20 years, un- 
 der the formidable obstacles to its progress which 
 must press themselves upon the attention of the 
 most careless observer, it must appear, that the as- 
 sumption of a rate of increase such as Avould double 
 the population in 25 years, as representing the na- 
 tural progress of population, when not checked by 
 the difficulty of procuring the means of subsistence, 
 or other peculiar causes of premature mortality, must 
 be very decidedly within the truth. 
 
 It may be safely asserted, therefore, that popula- 
 tion, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical 
 progression of such a nature as to double itself every 
 twenty-five years. 
 
 DifFerent It would be unquestionably desirable to have the 
 Character of means of comparing the natural rate of the increase 
 ;he Rate of population when unchecked, with the possible 
 [ncrease m • c c i • t v i ^ v 
 
 he Food of ^^^^ ^'^^ increase or rood, m a hmited tei'ritory, 
 
 , Limited such as that in which man is actually placed ; but 
 Territory, the latter estimate is much more difficult and uncer- 
 tain than the former. If the rate of the increase of 
 population at a particular period of some little ex- 
 tent can be ascertained with tolerable exactness, we 
 have only to suppose the continuance of the same 
 encouragements to marriage, the same facility of 
 supporting a family, the same moral habits, with the 
 same rate of mortality, and the increase of the po- 
 pulation at the same rate, after it had reached a 
 thousand millions, would be just as probable as at 
 any intermediate and earlier period ; but it is quite 
 obvious that the increase of food in a limited space 
 must proceed \ipon a principle totally different. It 
 has been already stated, that while land of good 
 quality is in great abundance, the rate at which food 
 i might be made to increase would far exceed what is 
 
 necessary to keep pace with the most rapid increase 
 of population which the laws of nature in relation to 
 human kind permit. But if society were so consti- 
 tuted as to give the fullest scope possible to the pro- 
 gress of cultivation and popidation, all such lands, 
 and all lands of moderate quality, would soon be oc- 
 cupied ; and when the future increase of the supply 
 of food came to depend upon the taking of very 
 poor land into cultivation, and the gradual and la- 
 borious improvement of the land already cultivated, 
 the rate of the increase of food would certainly have 
 a greater resemblance to a decreasing geometrical 
 ratio than an increasing one. The yearly incre- 
 ment of food would, at any rate, have a constant 
 tendency to diminish, and the amount of the increase 
 of each successive ten years would probably be less 
 than that of the preceding. 
 Practically, however, great uncertainty must take 
 
 VOL. VI. PART I. 
 
 place. An unfavourable distribution of produce, by l*opulation. 
 prematurely diminishing the demand for labour, 
 might retard the increase of food at an early period, 
 in the same manner as if cultivation and population 
 had been further advanced ; while improvements in 
 agriculture, accompanied by a great demand for la- 
 bour and produce, might for some time occasion a 
 rapid increase of food and population at a later pe- 
 riod, in the same manner as if cultivation and popu- 
 lation had been in an earlier stage of their progress. 
 These variations, however, obviously arise from 
 causes which do not impeach the general tendency 
 of a continued increase of produce in a limited ter- 
 ritory to diminish the power of its increase in fu- 
 ture. 
 
 Under this certainty with regard to the general Supposition 
 tendency, and uncertainty in reference to particular Respecting 
 periods, it must be allowable, if it throws light on increaskig °^ 
 the subject, to make a supposition respecting the in- Food, 
 crease of food in a limited territory, which, without 
 pretending to accuracy, is clearly more favourable 
 to the power of the soil to produce the means of sub- 
 sistence for an increasing population, than any ex- 
 perience which we have of its qualities will warrant. 
 
 If, setting out from a tolerably well peopled coun- 
 try such as England, France, Italy, or Germany, we 
 were to suppose that, by great attention to agricul- 
 ture, its produce could be permanently increased 
 every twenty-five years by a quantity equal to that 
 which it at present produces, it would be allowing a 
 rate of increase decidedly beyond any probability of 
 realization. The most sanguine cultivators could hard- 
 ly expect that, in the course of the next two hundred 
 years, each farm in this country on an average would 
 produce eight times as much food as it produces at 
 present, and still less that this rate of increase could 
 continue, so that each farm would produce twenty 
 times as much as at present in 500 years, and forty 
 times as much in 1000 years. Yet this would bean 
 arithmetical progression, and would fall short, be- 
 yond all comparison, of the natural increase of popu- 
 lation in a geometrical progression, according to 
 which the inhabitants of any country in 500 years, 
 instead of increasing to twenty times, would increase 
 to above a million times their present numbers. 
 
 It will be said, perhaps, that many parts of the 
 earth are as yet very thinly peopled, and, under 
 proper management, would allow of a much more 
 rapid increase of food than would be possible in the 
 more fully inhabited states of Europe. This is un- 
 questionably true. Some parts of the earth would 
 no doubt be capable of producing food at such a rate 
 as to keep pace for a few periods with an unrestrict- 
 ed increase of population. But, to put this capacity 
 fully into action, is of all things the most difficult. 
 If it is to be accomplished by the improvement of 
 the actual inhabitants of the different parts of the 
 earth in knowledge, in government, in industry, in 
 arts, and in morals, it is scarcely possible to say how 
 it ought to be commenced with the best prospect of 
 success, or to form a conjecture as to the time in 
 which it could be effected. 
 
 If it is to be accomplished by emigration from the Insufficiency 
 more improved jjarts of the world, it is obvious that Emigra- 
 it must involve much war and extermination; be-^'°"' 
 sides all the difficulties usually attendant upon new 
 
 R r 
 
314 
 
 POPULATION. 
 
 Population, settlements in uncivilized countries ; and these alone 
 "-^"^^ are so formidable, and for a long time so destructive, 
 that, combined with the unwillingness which people 
 must always naturally feel to quit their own country, 
 much distress would be suffered at home before re- 
 lief would be sought for in emigration. 
 
 But, supposing for a moment -that the object could 
 be fully accomplished, that is, supposing that the ca- 
 pacity of the earth to produce the necessaries of life 
 could be put fully into action, and that they were 
 distributed in the proportions most favourable for 
 the growth of capital, and the effective demand for 
 labour, the increase of population, whether arising 
 from the increase of the inhabitants of each country, 
 or from emigrants issuing from all those countries 
 which were more advanced in cultivation, would be 
 so rapid, that, in a period comparatively quite short, 
 all the good lands would be occupied, and the rate 
 of the possible increase of food would be reduced 
 much below the arithmetical ratio above supposed. 
 
 If, merely during the short period which has 
 elapsed since our Revolution of 1688, the population 
 of the earth had increased at its natural rate when 
 unchecked, supposing the number of people at that 
 time to have been only 800 millions, all the land of 
 the globe, without making allowance for deserts, fo- 
 rests, rocks, and lakes, would on an average be equal- 
 ly populous with England and Wales at present. 
 This would be accomplished in five doublings, or 
 125 years; and one or two doublings more, or a 
 period less than that which has elapsed since the be- 
 ginning of the reign of James the First, would pro- 
 duce the same effect from the overflowings of the in- 
 habitants of those countries, where, owing to the 
 further progress of cultivation, the soil had not the 
 capacity of producing food so as to keep pace with 
 the increase of an unrestricted population. 
 
 Whatever temporary and partial relief, therefore, 
 may be derived from emigration by particular coun- 
 tries in the actual state of things, it is quite obvious, 
 that, considering the subject generally and largely, 
 emigration may be fairly said not in any degree to 
 touch the difficulty. And, whether we exclude or 
 include emigration, — whether we refer to particular 
 countries, or to the whole earth, the supposition of a 
 future capacity in the soil to increase the necessaries 
 of life every twenty-five years by a quantity equal to 
 that which is at present produced, must be decidedly 
 beyond the truth. 
 Effect of the But, if the natural increase of population, when 
 unchecked by the difficulty of procuring the means 
 crease when subsistence, or other peculiar causes, be such as 
 to continue doubling its numbers in twenty-five 
 years ; and the greatest increase of food, which, for 
 a continuance, could possibly take place on a limited 
 territory like our earth in its present state, be at the 
 most only such as would add every twenty-five years 
 an amount equal to its present produce ; it is quite 
 clear that a powerful check on the increase of popu- 
 lation must be almost constantly in action. 
 
 By the laws of nature man cannot live without 
 food. Whatever may be the rate at which popula- 
 tion would increase if unchecked, it never can ac- 
 tually increase in any country beyond the food ne- 
 cessary to support it. But, by the laws of nature in 
 
 brought to 
 gether. 
 
 respect to the powers of a limited territory, the ad- Population, 
 ditions which can be made in equal periods to the'^^^s-'*^ 
 food which it produces must, after a short time, 
 either be constantly decreasing, which is what would 
 really take place ; or, at the very most, must remain 
 stationary, so as to increase the means of subsistence 
 only in an arithmetical progression. Consequently, it 
 follows necessarily that the average rate of the actual 
 increase of population over the greatest part of the 
 globe, obeying the same laws as the increase of food, 
 must be totally of a different character from the rate 
 at which it would increase if unchecked. 
 
 The great question, then, which remains to be General cha- 
 considered, is the manner in which this constant and racter of the 
 necessary check upon population practically operates. pop^*(|°„ 
 
 If the soil of any extensive well peopled country 
 were equally divided amongst its inhabitants, the 
 check would assume its most obvious and simple 
 form. Perliaps each farm in the well peopled 
 countries of Europe might allow of one, or even 
 two doublings, without much distress, but the abso- 
 lute innpossibility of going on at the same rate is too 
 glaring to escape the most careless thinker. When, 
 by extraordinary efforts, provision had been made 
 for four times the number of persons which the land 
 can support at present, what possible hope could 
 there be of doubling the provision in the next 
 twenty-five years ? 
 
 Yet there is no reason whatever to suppose that 
 any thing besides the difficulty of procuring in ade- 
 quate plenty the necessaries of life, should either in- 
 dispose this greater number of persons to marry 
 early, or disable them from rearing in health the 
 largest families. But this difficulty would of neces- 
 sity occur, and its effect would be either to discou- 
 rage early marriages, which would check the rate of 
 increase by preventing the same proportion of births ; 
 or to render the children unhealthy from bad and 
 insufficient nourishment, which would check the 
 rate of increase by occasioning a greater proportion 
 of deaths ; or, what is most likely to happen, the 
 rate of increase would be checked, partly by the di- 
 minution of births, and partly by the increase of 
 mortality. 
 
 The first of these checks may, with propriety, be 
 called the preventive check to population ; the se- 
 cond, the positive check ; and the absolute neces- 
 sity of their operation in the case supposed is as 
 certain and obvious as that man cannot live without 
 food. 
 
 Taking a single farm only into consideration, no 
 man would have the hardihood to assert that its 
 produce could be made permanently to keep pace 
 with a population increasing at such a rate as it is 
 observed to do for 20 or 30 years together at parti- 
 cular times and in particular countries. He would, 
 indeed, be compelled to acknowledge, that if, with 
 a view to allow for the most sanguine speculations, 
 it has been supposed that the additions made to the 
 necessaries produced by the soil in given times 
 might remain constant, yet that this rate of the in- 
 crease of produce could not possibly be realized ; 
 and that, if the capacity of the soil were at all times 
 put properly into action, the additions to the pro- 
 
 1 
 
POPULATION. 
 
 315 
 
 Population, duce would, after a short time, and independently 
 ^'^^^y^^ of new inventions, be constantly decreasing, till, in 
 no very long period, the exertions of an additional 
 labourer would not produce his own subsistence. 
 
 But what is true, in this respect, in reference to a 
 single farm, must necessarily be true of the whole 
 earth, from which the necessaries of life for the ac- 
 tual population are derived. And what would be 
 true in respect to the checks to population, if the 
 soil of the earth were equally divided among the dif- 
 ferent families which inhabit it, must be true, under 
 the present unequal division of property, and va- 
 riety of occupations. Nothing but the confusion 
 and indistinctness arising from the largeness of the 
 subject, and the vague and false notions which pre- 
 vail respecting the efficacy of emigration, could 
 make persons deny in the case of an extensive terri- 
 tory, or the whole earth, what they could not fail to 
 acknowledge in the case of a single farm which may 
 be said fairly to represent it. 
 
 It may be expected, indeed, that in civilized and 
 improved countries, the accumulation of capital, the 
 division of labour, and the invention of machinery, 
 will extend the bounds of production ; but we know 
 from experience, that the effects of these causes, 
 which are quite astonishing in reference to some of 
 the conveniences and luxuries of life, are very 
 much less efficient in producing an increase of food ; 
 and although the saving of labour and an improved 
 system of husbandry may be the means of pushing 
 cultivation upon much poorer lands than could 
 otherwise be worked ; yet the increased quantity of 
 the necessaries of life so obtained can never be such 
 as to supersede, for any length of time, the opera- 
 tion of the preventive and positive checks to popula- 
 tion. And not only are these checks as absolutely 
 necessary in civilized and improved countries, as 
 they would be, if each family had a certain portion 
 of land allotted to it, but they operate almost exact- 
 ly in the same way. The distress which would ob- 
 viously arise in the most simple state of society from 
 the natural tendency of population to increase faster 
 than the means of subsistence in a limited territory, 
 is brought home to the higher classes of an improv- 
 ed and populous country in the difficulty which 
 they find in supporting their families in the same 
 rank of life with themselves ; and to the labouring 
 classes which form the great mass of society, in the 
 insufficiency of the real wages of common labour to 
 bring up a large family. 
 
 If in any country the yearly earnings of the com- 
 monest labourers determined, as they always will 
 be, by the state of the demand and the supply of 
 necessaries compared with labour, be not sufficient 
 to bring up in health the largest famihes, one of the 
 three things before stated must happen ; either the 
 prospect of this difficulty will prevent some and de- 
 lay other marriages ; or the diseases arising from bad 
 nourishment will be introduced, and the mortahty 
 be increased ; or the progress of population will be 
 retarded, partly by one cause and partly by the other. 
 Of the Effect According to all past experience, and the best ob- 
 of private servations which can be made on the motives which 
 Proi^rty on^opgrate upon the human mind, there can be no well 
 ofVopufa'^*^^"'^"^^ hope of obtaining a large produce from the 
 tien. 
 
 soil, but under a system of private property. It Population- 
 seems perfectly visionary to suppose that any stimu- ^ — v^'w^ 
 lus short of that which is excited in man by the de- 
 sire of providing for himself and family, and of bet- 
 tering his condition in life, should operate on the 
 mass of society with sufficient force and constancy to 
 overcome the natural indolence of mankind. All 
 the attempts which have been made since the com- 
 mencement of authentic history to proceed upon a 
 principle of common property, have either been so 
 insignificant that no inference can be drawn from 
 them, or have been marked by the most signal 
 failures ; and the changes which have been effected 
 in modern times by education, do not seem to ad- 
 vance a single step towards making such a state of 
 things more probable in future. We may, therefore, 
 safely conclude that while man retains the same 
 physical and moral constitution which he is observ- 
 ed to possess at present, no other than a system of 
 private property stands the least chance of providing 
 for such a large and increasing population as that 
 which is to be found in many coimtries at present. 
 
 But though there is scarcely any conclusion which 
 seems more completely established by experience 
 than this, yet it is unquestionably true that the laws 
 of private property, which are the grand stimulants 
 to production, do themselves so limit it, as always to 
 make the actual produce of the earth fall very con"> 
 siderably short of the poxuer of production. On a 
 system of private property no adequate motive to 
 the extension of cultivation can exist, unless the re- 
 turns are sufficient not only to pay the wages neces- 
 sary to keep up the population, which, at the least, 
 must include the support of a wife and two or three 
 children, but also afford a profit on the capital which 
 has been employed. This necessarily excludes from 
 cultivation a considerable portion of land, which 
 might be made to bear corn. If it were possible to 
 suppose that man might be adequately stimulated to 
 labour under a system of common property, such 
 land might be cultivated, and the production of food 
 and the increase of population might go on, till the 
 soil absolutely refused to grow a single additional 
 quarter, and the whole of the society was exclusive- 
 ly engaged in procuring the necessaries of life. But 
 it is quite obvious that such a state of things would 
 inevitably lead to the greatest degree of distress and 
 degradation. And, if a system of private property 
 secures mankind from such evils, which it certainly 
 does, in a great degree, by securing to a portion of 
 the society the leisure necessary for the progress of 
 the arts and sciences, it must be allowed that such- a 
 check to the increase of cultivation confers on society 
 a most signal benefit. 
 
 But it must perhaps also be allowed, that, under a 
 system of private property, cultivation is sometimes 
 checked in a degree, and at a pei iod, not required 
 by the interest of society. And this is particularly 
 likely to happen when the original divisions of land 
 have been extremely unequal, and the laws have not 
 given sufficient facility to a better distribution of 
 them. Under a system of private property, the only 
 effectual demand for produce must come from the 
 owners of property ; and though it be true that the 
 effectual demand of the society, whatever it may bcj 
 
316 
 
 POPULATION. 
 
 Population, is best supplied under the most perfect system of 
 liberty, yet it is not true that the tastes and wants of 
 the effective demanders are always, and necessarily, 
 the most favourable to the progress of national 
 wealth. A taste for hunting and the preservation of 
 game among the owners of the soil will, without fail, 
 be supplied, if things be allowed to take their natu- 
 ral course ; but such a supply, from the manner in 
 which it must be effected, would inevitably be most 
 unfavourable to the increase of produce and popula- 
 tion. In the same manner, the want of an adequate 
 taste for the consumption of manufactured commo- 
 dities among the possessors of surplus produce, if not 
 fully compensated by a great desire for personal at- 
 tendance, which it never is, would infallibly occasion 
 a premature slackness in the demand for labour and 
 produce, a premature fall of profits, and check to 
 cultivation. 
 
 It makes little difference in the actual rate of the 
 increase of population, or the necessary existence of 
 checks to it, whether that state of demand and sup- 
 ply which occasions an insufficiency of wages to the 
 whole of the labouring classes be produced prema- 
 turely by a bad structure of society, and an unfavour- 
 able distribution of wealth, or necessarily by the 
 comparative exhaustion of the soil. The labourer 
 feels the difficulty nearly in the same degree, and it 
 must have nearly the same results, from whatever 
 cause it arises ; consequently, in every country with 
 which we are acquainted, where the yearly earnings 
 of the labouring classes are not sufficient to bring up 
 in health the largest families, it may be safely said, 
 that population is actually checked by the difficulty 
 of procuring the means of subsistence. And, as we 
 well know that ample wages, combined with full em- 
 ployment for all who choose to work, are extremely 
 rare, and scarcely ever occur, except for a certain 
 time, when the knowledge and industry of an old 
 country is applied, under favourable circumstances, 
 to a new one ; it follows, that the pressure arising 
 from the difficulty of procuring subsistence is not to 
 be considered as a remote one, which will be felt 
 only when the earth refuses to produce any more, 
 but as one which not only actually exists at present 
 over the greatest part of the globe, but, with few 
 exceptions, has been almost constantly acting upon 
 all the countries of which we have any account. 
 
 It is unquestionably true, that, in no country of 
 the globe have the government, the distribution of 
 property, and the habits of the people, been such as 
 to call forth, in the most effective manner, the re- 
 sources of the soil. Consequently, if the most advan- 
 tageous possible change in all these respects could be 
 supposed at once to take place, it is certain that the 
 demand for labour, and the encouragement to pro- 
 duction, might be such, as for a short time, in some 
 countries, and for rather a longer in others, to lessen 
 the operation of the checks to population which have 
 been described. It is specifically this truth constant- 
 ly obtruding itself upon our attention, which is the 
 great source of delusion on this subject, and creates 
 the belief that man could always produce from the 
 soil much more than sufficient to support himself 
 and family. In the actual state of things, this power 
 
 has perhaps always been possessed. But for it we Pcpulation. 
 are indebted wholly to the ignorance and bad go- «-v-^^ 
 vernment of our ancestors. If they had properly 
 called forth the resources of the soil, it is quite cer- 
 tain that we should now have but scanty means left 
 of further increasing our food. If merely since the 
 time of William the Conqueror, all the nations of the 
 earth had been well governed, and, if the distribu- 
 tion of property, and the habits both of the rich and 
 the poor had been the most favourable to the de- 
 mand for produce and labour, though the amount of 
 food and population would have been prodigiously 
 greater than at present, the means of diminishing 
 the checks to population would unquestionably be 
 less. That difficulty in procuring the necessaries of 
 life which is now felt in the comparatively low wages 
 of labour almost all over the world, and is occasioned 
 partly by the necessary state of the soil, and partly 
 by a premature check to the demand for produce 
 and labour, would then be felt in a greater degree, 
 and would less admit of any relaxation in the checks 
 to population, because it would be occasioned wholly 
 and necessarily by the state of the soil. 
 
 It appears, then, that what may be called the pro- I'he Laws of 
 portionate amount of the necessary checks to popu- ^-^ature re- 
 lation depends very little upon the efforts of man in JJe^neceLv 
 the cultivation of the soil. If these efforts had been of checks to 
 directed from the first in the most enlightened and Population, 
 efficient manner, the checks necessary to keep the 
 population on a level with the means of subsistence, 
 so far from being lightened, would in all probability 
 be operating with gi-eater force ; and the condition 
 of the labouring classes, so far as it depends on the 
 facility of procuring the means of subsistence, instead 
 of being improved, would in all probability he dete- 
 riorated. 
 
 It is to the laws of nature, therefore, and not to 
 the conduct and institutions of man, that we are to 
 attribute the necessity of a strong check on the na- 
 tural increase of population. 
 
 But, though the laws of nature which determine Man respon- 
 the rate at Avhich population would increase if un- sible for the 
 checked, and the very different rate at which the scanty Popi - 
 food required to support population could be made 
 to increase in a limited territory, are undoubtedly the pr'evail- 
 the causes which render necessary the existence of ing character 
 some great and constant check to population, yet °^ 
 a vast mass of responsibility remains behind on man *° 
 and the institutions of society. 
 
 In the first place, they are certainly responsible for 
 the present scanty population of the earth. There 
 are few large countries, however advanced in im- 
 provement, the population of which might not have 
 been doubled or tripled, and there are many which 
 might be ten, or even a hundred times as popu- 
 lous, and yet all the inhabitants be as well pro- 
 vided for as they are now, if the institutions of society, 
 and the moral habits of the people, had been for 
 some hundred years the most favourable to the in- 
 crease of capital, and the demand for produce and 
 labour. 
 
 Secondly, Though man has but a trifling and tem- 
 porary influence in altering the proportionate amount 
 of the checks to population, or the degree in which 
 
POPULATION. 
 
 317 
 
 tive Checks 
 resolvable 
 into M oral 
 Restraint, 
 Vice, and 
 Misery. 
 
 Population, they press upon the actual numbers, yet he has a 
 great and most extensive influence on their charac- 
 ter and mode of operation. 
 
 It is not in superseding the necessity of checks to 
 population, in the progress of mankind to the full 
 peopling of the earth (which may with truth be 
 said to be a physical impossibility), but in directing 
 these checks in such a way as to be the least pre- 
 judicial to the virtue and happiness of society, that 
 government and human institutions produce their 
 great effect. Here we know, from constant expe- 
 rience, that they have great power. Yet, even here 
 it must be allowed, that the power of Government 
 is rather indirect than direct, as the object to be 
 attained depends mainly upon such a conduct on 
 the part of individuals, as can seldom be directly 
 enforced by laws, though it may be powerfully in- 
 fluenced by them. 
 
 This will appear, if we consider more particular- 
 ly the nature of those checks which have been class- 
 ed under the generalheads of Preventive and Posi- 
 tive. 
 
 Tbc Positive It will be found that they are all resolvable into 
 anil Preven-^oj-fl/ restraint, vice, and misery. And if, from the 
 laws of nature, some check to the increase of popu- 
 lation be absolutely inevitable, and human institu- 
 tions have any influence upon the extent to which 
 each of these checks operates, a heavy responsibili- 
 ty will be incurred, if all that influence, whether 
 direct or indirect, be not exerted to diminish the 
 amount of vice and misery. 
 
 Moral restraint, in application to the present 
 subject, may be defined to be, abstinence from mar- 
 riage, either for a time or permanently, from pru- 
 dential considerations, with a strictly moral conduct 
 towards the sex in the interval. And this is the 
 only mode of keeping population on a level with 
 the means of subsistence, which is perfectly con- 
 sistent with virtue and happiness. All other 
 checks, whether of the preventive or the posi- 
 tive kind, though they may greatly vary in de- 
 gree, resolve themselves into some form of vice or 
 misery. 
 
 The remaining checks of the preventive kind, are 
 the sort of intercourse which renders some of the 
 women of large towns unprolific ; a general corrup- 
 tion of morals with regard to the sex, which has a 
 similar effect ; unnatural passions and improper arts 
 to prevent the consequences of irregular connec- 
 tions. These evidently come under the head of 
 vice. 
 
 The positive checks to population include all the 
 causes, which tend in any way prematurely to 
 shorten the duration of human life ; such as un- 
 wholesome occupations — severe labour and exposure 
 to the seasons — bad and insufficient food and cloth- 
 ing arising from poverty — bad nursing of children — 
 excesses of all kinds — great towns and manufactories 
 — the whole train of common diseases and epidemics 
 — wars, infanticide, plague, and famine. Of these 
 positive checks, those which appear to arise from 
 the laws of nature, may be called exclusively misery ; 
 and those which we bring upon ourselves, such as 
 Avars, excesses of all kinds, and many others, which 
 it would be in our power to avoid, are of a mixed 
 
 nature. They are brought upon us by vice, and Popu^^'^'°"- 
 their consequences are misery. 
 
 Some of these checks, in various combinations, and 
 operating with various force, are constantly in ac- 
 tion in all the countries with which we are acquaint- 
 ed, and form the immediate causes which keep the 
 population on a level with the means of subsist- 
 ence. 
 
 Mr Malthus, in his work on this subject, has taken 
 a view of the checks of population in most of the 
 countries of which we have the best accounts. His 
 object was evidently to trace in each country those 
 checks which appeared to be most effective in re- 
 pressing population ; and to endeavour to answer 
 the question, generally, which had been applied, 
 particularly, to New Holland by Captain Cook, 
 namely, By what means is the population of this 
 country kept down to the number which it can sub- 
 sist ? 
 
 It was hardly to be expected, hoAvever, that the Prudential 
 general accounts of countries which are to be met ^"^^^'f 
 with, should countain a sufficient number of details 
 of the kind required, to enable us to ascertain what 
 portion of the natural increase of population each 
 individual check which could be traced, had the 
 power to overcome. In particular, it was not to be 
 expected, that any accounts could inform us of the 
 degree in which moral restraint prevails, Avhen 
 taken in its strictest sense. It is necessary, there- 
 fore, to attend chiefly to the greater or smaller num- 
 ber of persons who remain unmarried or marry late ; 
 and the delay of marriage, owing to the difficulty of 
 providing for a family, when the degree of irregu- 
 larity to which it may lead cannot be ascertained, 
 may be usefully called the prudential restraint on 
 marriage and population. And this will be found 
 to be the chief mode in which the preventive check 
 practically operates. 
 
 But if the preventive check to population, that Causes which 
 check which can alone supersede great misery and P™"P^"y 
 mortality, operates chiefly by a prudential restraint Habits of 
 on marriage, it will be obvious, as was before stated, the Labour- 
 that direct legislation cannot do much. Prudence ing Classes 
 cannot be enforced by laws, without a great viola- Society, 
 tion of natural liberty, and a great risk of producing 
 more evil than good. But still, the very great in- 
 fluence of a just and enlightened government, and 
 the perfect security of property in creating habits of 
 prudence, cannot for a moment be questioned. 
 The principal causes and effects of these habits are 
 thus stated in Mr Malthus's last work. [Principles 
 of Political Economi/, c. iv. sec. 2.) 
 
 " From high wages, or the poAver of command- 
 ing a large portion of the necessaries of life, two 
 very different results may follow ; one, that of a ra- 
 pid increase of population, in Avhich case, the high 
 wages are chiefly spent in the maintenance of large 
 and frequent families ; and the other, that of a de- 
 cided improvement in the modes of subsistence, and 
 the conveniences and comforts enjoyed, without a 
 proportionate acceleration in the rate of increase. 
 
 " In looking to these different results, the causes 
 of them will evidently appear to be the different 
 habits existing among the people of different coun- 
 tries, and at different times. In an inquiry into the 
 
318 
 
 POPULATION. 
 
 Population, causes of these diflPerent habits, we shall generally be 
 ^"^v^/ able to trace those which produce the first result to 
 all the circumstances which contribute to depress 
 the lower classes of the people, which make them 
 unable or unwilling to reason from the past to the 
 future, and ready to acquiesce for the sake of pre- 
 sent gratification, in a very low standard of comfort 
 and respectability ; and those which produce the 
 second result, to all the circumstances which tend 
 to elevate the character of the lower classes of socie- 
 ty, which make them approach the nearest to beings 
 who " look before and after," and who, consequent- 
 ly, cannot acquiesce patiently in the thought of de- 
 priving themselves and their children of the means 
 of being respectable, virtuous, and happy. 
 
 " Among the circumstances which contribute to 
 the character first described, the most efficient will 
 be found to be despotism, oppression, and igno- 
 rance ; amofig those which contribute to the latter 
 character, civil and political liberty, and educa- 
 tion. 
 
 " Of all the causes which tend to encourage pru- 
 dential habits among the lower classes of society, 
 the most essential is unquestionably civil liberty. 
 No people can be much accustomed to form plans 
 for the future, who do not feel assured that their 
 industrious exertions, while fair and honourable, 
 will be allowed to have free scope ; and that the 
 property which they either possess or may acquire, 
 will be secured to them by a known code of just 
 laws impartially administered. But it has been 
 found by experience, that civil liberty cannot be 
 permanently secured without political liberty. Con- 
 sequently, political liberty becomes almost equally 
 essential : and in addition to its being necessary in 
 this point of view, its obvious tendency to teach the 
 lower classes of society to respect themselves, by 
 obliging the higher classes to respect them, must 
 contribute greatly to all the good effects of civil 
 liberty." 
 
 " With regard to education, it might certainly be 
 made general under a bad form of government, and 
 might be very deficient under one in other respects 
 good ; but it must be allowed that the chances, both 
 with regard to its quality and its prevalence, are 
 greatly in favour of the latter. Education alone 
 could do little against insecurity of property ; but it 
 would powerfully assist all the favourable conse- 
 quences to be expected from civil and political li- 
 berty, which could not indeed be considered as 
 complete without it." 
 
 The varying prevalence of these habits, owing to 
 the causes above referred to, combined with the 
 smaller or greater mortality occasioned by other cus- 
 toms, and the varying effects of soil and climate, 
 must necessarily produce great differences in differ- 
 ent countries, and at different periods, in the charac- 
 ter of the predominant checks to population and the 
 force of each. And this inference, which inevitably 
 follows from theory, is fully confirmed by expe- 
 rience. 
 
 The Positive I* appears, for instance, from the accounts we 
 
 Checks to have received of ancient nations, and of the less ci- 
 
 Population vilized parts of the world, that war and violent dis- 
 ptpdominat- 
 
 ed in Ancient ' , 
 
 Time*. 
 
 eases were the predominant checks to their popula- Population, 
 tion. The frequency of wars, and the dreadful de- 
 vastations of mankind occasioned by them, united 
 with the plagues, famines, and mortal epidemics of 
 which there are records, must have caused such a 
 consumption of the human species, that the exertion 
 of the utmost power of increase must, in many cases, 
 have been insufficient to supply it ; and we see at 
 once the source of those encouragements to marriage, 
 and efforts to increase population, which, with in- 
 considerable exceptions, distinguished the legisla- 
 tion, and general policy of ancient times. Yet there 
 were some few men of more extended views who, 
 when they were looking to the settlement of a socie- 
 ty in a more improved state, were fully aware, that 
 under the most beautiful form of government which 
 their imagination could conceive, the greatest pover- 
 ty and distress might be felt from a too rapid increase 
 of population. And the remedies which they pro- 
 posed were strong and violent in proportion to the 
 greatness of the evil which they apprehended. Even 
 the practical legislators who encouraged marriage, 
 seemed to think that the supplies of children might 
 sometimes follow too rapidly for the means of sup- 
 porting them ; and it appears to have been with a 
 view to provide against this difficulty, and of pre- 
 venting it from discouraging marriage, that they fre- 
 quently sanctioned the inhuman practice of infanti- 
 cide. 
 
 Under these circumstjances, it is not to be supposed 
 that the prudential restraint on marriage should have 
 operated to any considerable extent. Except in a 
 few cases where a general corruption of morals pre- 
 vailed which might aet as a preventive check of the 
 most vicious kind, a large portion of the procreative 
 power was called into action, the occasional redun- 
 dancy from which was checked by violent causes. 
 These causes will be found resolvable almost wholly 
 into vice and misery ; the first of which, and a large 
 portion of the second, it is always in the power of 
 man to avoid. 
 
 In a review of the checks to population in the Frudential 
 different states of modern Europe, it appears that ""^'^miillSt 
 the positive checks to population have prevailed less, cifeckTo*" 
 and the preventive checks more, than in ancient Population 
 times, and in the more uncultivated parts of thein Moderu 
 world. The destruction occasioned by war has un- Times, 
 questionably abated, both on account of its occurring, 
 on the whole, less frequently, and its ravages not be- 
 ing so fatal, either to man or the means of his sup- 
 port, as they were formerly. And although, in the 
 earlier periods of the history of modern Evu-ope, 
 plagues, famines, and mortal epidemics were not un- 
 frequent ; yet as civilization and improvement have 
 advanced, both their frequency and their mortality 
 have been greatly reduced, and in some countries 
 they are now almost unknown. This diminution of 
 the positive checks to population, as it has been cer- 
 tainly much greater in proportion than the actual in- 
 crease of food and population, must necessarily have 
 been accompanied by an increasing operation of the 
 preventive checks ; and probably it may be said with 
 truth, that in almost all the more improved countries 
 of modern Europe, the principal check which at pre- 
 
POPULATION. 
 
 Difference in 
 the Charac- 
 ter and 
 Force of the 
 Checks in 
 clifFerent 
 Countries. 
 
 Population, sent keeps the population down to the level of the 
 '^■^^ '""^ actual means of subsistence, is the prudential restraint 
 on marriage. 
 
 Yet in comparing together the accounts and regis- 
 ters of the different countries of modern times, we 
 shall still find a vast difference in the character and 
 force of the checks which are mainly in action ; and 
 it is precisely in this point of view that these ac- 
 counts afford the most important instruction. Some 
 parts of Europe are yet in an unimproved state, and 
 are still subject to frequent plagues and mortal epi- 
 demics. In these countries, as might be expected, 
 few traces are to be found of the prudential restraint 
 on marriage. But even in improved countries, the 
 circumstances may be such as to occasion a great 
 mortality. Large towns are known to be unfavour- 
 able to health, particularly to the health of young 
 children ; and the unwholesomeness of marshy si- 
 tuations may be such as in some cases to balance the 
 principle of increase, even when nearly the whole of 
 the procreative power is called into action, which is 
 seldom the case, in large towns. 
 
 Thus in the registers of twenty-two Dutch villages 
 given by Sussmilch,* and quoted by Mr Malthus, the 
 mortality (occasioned, as may be supposed, chiefly 
 by the natural unhealthiness of the country) was as 
 high as one in twenty-two or twenty-three, instead 
 of the more common proportion of one in thirty-five 
 or forty ; and the consequence was, that the mar- 
 riages, instead of being in the usual proportion of 
 one in about 108 of the population, were in the ex- 
 traordinary high proportion of one in sixty- four ; t 
 showing a most unusual frequency of marriage, while, 
 on account of the great mortality, the number of in- 
 habitants was nearly stationary, and the births and 
 deaths about equal. 
 
 On the other hand, in Norway, where the climate 
 and modes of living seem to be extremely favourable 
 to health, and the mortality was only one in forty- 
 eight, the prudential restraint on marriage was call- 
 ed more than usually into action, and the marriages 
 were only one in 130 of the population. (Malthus. 
 Vol. I. p. 365, 5th ed.) 
 
 These may be considered as extreme cases, but 
 the same result in different degrees is observable in 
 _ the registers of all countries ; and it is particularly 
 to be remarked, that in those countries where regis- 
 ters of births, deaths, and marriages have been kept 
 for a considerable time, the progressive diminution 
 of mortality occasioned by the introduction of habits 
 more favourable to health, and the consequent dimi- 
 nution of plagues and mortal epidemics, have been ac- 
 companied invariably by a smaller proportion of 
 marriages and births. Sussmilch has given some 
 striking instances of the gradual diminution in the 
 proportion of the number of marriages during a part 
 
 319 
 
 {Gottliche Ordnung, Vol. I. pp. Population. 
 
 Gradual Di 
 minution in 
 the Propor- 
 tion of ftlar 
 riages. 
 
 of the last century. 
 134, et seq.) 
 
 In the town of Leipsic, in the year 1620, the an- 
 nual marriages were to the population as 1 to 82 ; 
 from the year 1741 to 1756, they were as 1 to 120. 
 
 In Augsburgh, in 1 51 0, the proportion of marriages 
 to the population was 1 in 86 ; in 1750 as 1 to 123. 
 
 In Dantzic, in the year 1705, the proportion was 
 as 1 to 89 ; in 1745, as 1 to 118. 
 
 In the Dukedom of Magdeburgh, in 1700, the 
 proportion was as 1 to 87; from 1752 to 1755, as 1 
 to 125. 
 
 In the principality of Halberstadt, in 1690, the 
 proportion was as 1 to 88; in 1756, as 1 to 112. 
 
 In the Dukedom of Cleves, in 1705, the propor- 
 tion was 1 to 83; in 1755, 1 to 100. 
 
 In the Churmark of Brandenburgh, in I700, the 
 proportion was 1 to 76 ; in 1755, 1 to 108. 
 
 Instances of this kind are numerous, and they tend 
 to show the dependence of the marriages on the 
 deaths in all old countries. A greater mortality al- 
 most invariably produces a greater number of mar- 
 riages ; and it must be equally certain, that except 
 yphiere the means of subsistence can be adequately 
 increased, a greater proportion of marriages must 
 occasion a greater mortality. 
 
 The proportion of yearly births to the whole po- Dependence 
 pulation, must evidently depend principally on theof the Births 
 proportion of marriages ; and it appears, consequent- 
 ly, from registers, that in countries which will not^Jf^'Jeaths 
 admit of any considerable increase of population, the 
 births, as well as the marriages, are mainly influenc- 
 ed by the deaths. When an actual decrease of po- 
 pulation is not taking place, the births will always 
 supply the vacancies made by death, and exactly so 
 much more as the increasing wealth of the country 
 and the demand for labour will admit. Every where 
 in the intervals of plagues, epidemics, and destruc- 
 tive wars, the births considerably exceed the deaths ; 
 but while from these and other causes the mortality 
 in different countries is extremely various, it appears 
 from registers that, with the exception above stated, 
 the births vary in the same proportion. 
 
 Thus, in 39 villages of Holland, where the deaths, 
 at the time to which the registers refer, were about 
 1 in 23, the births were also 1 in 23. In 15 villages 
 round Paris, the births bore the same, or even a 
 greater proportion to the whole population, on ac- 
 count of a still greater mortality, the births being 1 
 in 22/0, and the deaths the same. In the small 
 towns of Brandenburgh, which were in an increasing 
 state, the mortality was 1 in 29, and the births 1 in 
 24/5. In Sweden, where the mortality was about 
 1 in 34|, the births were 1 in 28. In 1056 villages of 
 Brandenburgh, in which the mortality was about 1 in 
 39 or 40 ; the births were about 1 in 30. In Norway, 
 
 Vol Llthldit^o?""^' ^* ^' ^^^^i' Population, B. II. c. iv. p. 444 of 
 
 t This very large proportion of marriages could not all have been supplied from the births in the coun- 
 try, but must have been occasioned m part by the influx of strangers. 
 
 . X Sussmilch, Gottliche Ordnung, Vol. I. p. 225.^Essay on Population, Vol. I. p. 456, 5th ed. 
 
320 
 
 Popu lation. 
 
 POPULATION. 
 
 Dependence 
 of the Births 
 on the 
 Deaths 
 strikingly 
 illustrated 
 in Switzer- 
 land. 
 
 where the mortality was 1 in 48, the births were 1 in 
 
 In all these instances the births are evidently mea- 
 sured by the deaths, after making a proper allowance 
 for the excess of births which the state of each coun- 
 try will admit. In such a country as Russia, this 
 allowance must be great ; as although the mortality 
 might perhaps be taken as low as 1 in 48 or 50 ; the 
 births were as high as 1 in 26, owing to the increas- 
 ing resources of the country which admit of a rapid 
 increase of the population. 
 
 Of all the countries which Mr Malthus has re- 
 viewed, there is none which so strikingly illustrates 
 the most important fact of the dependence of the 
 proportions of marriages and births on the deaths, 
 and the general principles of population, as Switzer- 
 land. It appears, that between 1760 and 1770, an 
 alarm prevailed respecting the continued depopula- 
 tion of the country ; and to ascertain the point, M. 
 Muret, minister of Vevay, made a very laborious and 
 careful search into the registers of different parishes 
 from the time of their first establishment. He com- 
 pared the number ef births which had taken place 
 during three different periods of 70 years each, the 
 first ending in 1620, the second in 1690, and the 
 third in 1760. And finding by this comparison, that 
 the number of births was less in the second period 
 than in the first, and less in the third period than in 
 the second, he considered the evidence of a continu- 
 ed depopulation of the country from the year 1055 
 as incontrovertible. * But the accounts which he 
 himself produces, clearly show that, in the earlier 
 periods to which he refers, the mortality was very 
 much greater than in the latter ; and, that the greater 
 number of births found in the registers formerly, was 
 not owing to a greater population, but to the greater 
 proportion of births which always accompanies a 
 greater mortality. 
 
 It appears from accounts, which are entirely to be 
 depended on, that during the last period, the mor- 
 tality was extraordinarily small, and the proportion 
 of children reared from infancy to puberty extraor- 
 dinary great. At the time when M. Muret wrote 
 his paper, in 1766, the proportion of deaths to the 
 population in the Pays de Vaud, was 1 in 45, of 
 births 1 in 36> and of marriages 1 in 140. These 
 are all very small proportions of births, deaths, and 
 marriages, compared with other countries ; but the 
 state of things must have been totally different in 
 the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. M. Muret 
 gives a list of all the plagues which had prevailed in 
 Switzerland from 1520, from which it appears that 
 this dreadful scourge desolated the country at short 
 intervals during the whole of the first period, and 
 extended its occasional ravages to within 22 years 
 of the termination of the second. We may safely 
 conclude, that, in these times, the average mortality 
 was very much greater than at present. But what 
 puts the question beyond a doubt, is the great mor- 
 tality which prevailed in the neighbouring town of 
 
 Geneva in the sixteenth century, and its gradual di- Population 
 minution in the seventeenth and eighteenth. It ap- —^/-^ 
 pears from calculations, published in the Bibliothe- 
 que Britannique, (Tom. IV. p. 328,) that in the 
 sixteenth century, the probability of life, or the age 
 to which half of the born lived, was only 4.883, or 
 ynder four years and eleven months ; and the mean 
 life, or the average number of years due to each 
 person 18.511, or about eighteen years and a half. 
 In the seventeenth century, the probability of life in 
 Geneva was 1 1 ,607, about eleven years and seven 
 months; the mean life 23.358, or twenty-three 
 years and four months. In the eighteenth century, 
 the probability of life had increased to 27.183, 
 twenty-seven years and two months ; and the mean 
 life to thirty-two years and two montiis. 
 
 There can be no doubt, from the prevalence of 
 the plague, and its gradual extinction as noticed by 
 M. Muret, that a diminution of mortality of the same 
 kind, though not perhaps to the same extent, must 
 have taken place in Switzerland ; but if with a mor- 
 tality, which could not have been less than 1 in 30 
 or 32, the proportion of births had been what it was 
 when M. Muret wrote, it is quite evident that the 
 counti-y would have been rapidly depopulated. But 
 as it is known, from the actual amount of births found 
 in the registers, that this was not the case, it follows 
 as a necessary consequence,^ that the greater morta- 
 lity of former times was accompanied by a greater 
 proportion of births. And this at once shows the 
 error of attempting to determine the actual popula- 
 tion, either of different countries, or of different pe- 
 riods in the same country, by the amount of the 
 births ; and the strong tendency of population to fill 
 up all vacancies, and very rarely to be limited by 
 any other cause than the difficulty of supporting a 
 family. 
 
 Switzerland and the Pays de Vaud afford other 
 most striking instances of the dependence of the 
 births on the deaths ; and the accounts of them are 
 perhaps more to be depended upon, as they appear 
 to contradict the preconceived opinions of the per- 
 son who collected them. 
 
 Speaking of the want of fruitfulness in the Swiss 
 women, M. Muret says, that Prussia, Brandenburgh, 
 Sweden, France, and indeed every country, the re- 
 gisters of which he had seen, give a greater propor- 
 tions of baptisms to the number of inhabitants than 
 the Pays de Vaud, where this proportion is only as 
 1 to 36. He adds, that from calculations lately made 
 in the Lyonois, it appeared that in Lyons itself the 
 proportion of baptisms was 1 in 28, in the small 
 towns 1 in 25, and in the villages 1 in 23 or 24. 
 What a prodigious "difference, he exclaims, between 
 the Lyonois and the Pays de Vaud, where the most 
 favourable proportion, and that only in two small pa- 
 rishes of extraordinary fecundity, is not above 1 in 
 26, and in many parishes it is considerably less than 
 1 in 40. The same difference, he remarks, takes 
 place in the mean life. In the Lyonois it is little 
 
 • Memoiresy S^c par la Societe Ecoiioraique de Berne, 1766, pp. 15, et seq — Essay on Population, Vol. I. 
 pp. 464, el seq. 5th edit. 
 
P O P U L 
 
 Population, above 25 years ; while in the Pays de Vaud, the 
 ' lowest mean life, and that only in a single marshy 
 and unhealthy parish, is 29-| years, and in many 
 places it is above if5 years. 
 
 <' But whence comes it (he says,) that the coun- 
 try where children escape the best from the dangers 
 of infancy, and where the mean life, in whatever way 
 the calculation is made, is higher than in any other, 
 should be precisely that in which the fecundity is 
 the smallest ? How comes it again, that of all our 
 parishes, the one which gives the mean life the 
 highest, should also be the one where the tendency 
 to increase is the smallest ?"* 
 
 To resolve this question, M. Muret says, '* I will 
 hazard a conjecture, which, however, I give only as 
 such. Is it not that, in order to maintain in all 
 places a proper equilibrium of population, God has 
 wisely ordered things in such a manner as that the 
 force of life in each country should be in the inverse 
 ratio of its fecundity ? In fact, experience verifies 
 my conjecture. Leyzin (a village in the Alps), with 
 a population of 400 persons, produces but a little 
 above eight children a-year. The Pays de Vaud, in 
 general, in proportion to the same number of inha- 
 bitants, produces 11, and the Lyonois 16. But if 
 it happen that at the age of 20 years, the 8, the 11, 
 and the 16 are reduced to the same number, it will 
 appear that the force of life gives in one place what 
 fecundity does in another. And thus the most 
 healthy countries, having less fecundity, will not 
 over-people themselves, and the unhealthy countries, 
 by their extraordinary fecundity, will be able to sus- 
 tain their population." 
 
 These facts and observations are full of the most 
 important instruction, and strikingly illustrate the 
 principle of population. The three gradations in 
 the proportion of births which are here so distinct- 
 ly presented to our view, may be considered as re- 
 presenting that variety in the proportion of births 
 which is known to take place in different countries, 
 and at different periods ; and the practical question 
 is. Whether, when this variety prevails without a 
 proportionate difference in the rate of increase, 
 which is almost universally the case, we are to sup- 
 pose, with M. Muret, that a special providence is 
 called into action to render women less prolific in 
 healthy countries, and where improved habits of 
 cleanliness have banished plagues and mortal epide- 
 mics ; or to suppose, as experience warrants, that 
 the smaller mortality of healthy and improved coun- 
 tries is balanced by the greater prevalence of the 
 prudential restraint on marriage and population. 
 
 The subject is seen with particular clearness in 
 Switzerland, on account of the population of some of 
 the districts being stationary. The number of inha- 
 bitants on the Alps was supposed to have diminish- 
 ed. This was probably an error ; but it is not im- 
 probable that they should have remained stationary, 
 or nearly so. There is no land so little capable of 
 providing for an increasing population as mountain- 
 ous pastures. When they have been once fully 
 
 A T I O N. 321 
 
 stocked with cattle, little more can be done ; and Population, 
 if there be neither emigration to take off the super- '^-^^^^'^ 
 abundant numbers, nor manufactures wherewith to 
 purchase an additional quantity of food, the deaths 
 must equal the births. 
 
 This was the case with the Alpine parish of Leyzin 
 before referred to, where, for a period of SO years, 
 the mortality and the proportion of births almost 
 accurately kept pace with each other ; and where, 
 in consequence, if the positive checks to population 
 had been unusually small, the preventive checks 
 must have been unusually great. In the parish of 
 Leyzin, according to M. Muret, the probability of 
 life was as high as 61 years ; f but it is obvious 
 that this extraordinary degree of healthiness could 
 not possibly have taken place under the actual cir- 
 cumstances of the parish with respect to the means 
 of subsistence, if it had not been accompanied by a 
 proportionate action of the prudential restraint on 
 marriage ; and accordingly the subsisting marriages, 
 being late and unprolific, yielded only one birth to 
 every twelve ; the births were only 1 in 49, and the 
 number of persons below 16 was only ^ of the popu- 
 lation. 
 
 There can be little doubt that in the present case 
 the extreme healthiness of the people, arising from 
 their situation and employments, had more effect in 
 producing the prudential check to population, than 
 the prudential check in producing the extreme 
 healthiness; yet it is quite certain that they must 
 constantly act and re-act upon each other, and that 
 if, when the circumstances are such as to furnish 
 no adequate means for the support of an increased 
 population, and no relief in emigration, the pruden- 
 tial check does not prevail, no degree of natural 
 healthiness could prevent an excessive mortality. 
 Yet to occasion such a mortality, a much greater 
 degree of poverty and misery must have taken place, 
 than in districts less favourably circumstanced with 
 regard to health; and we see at once the reason 
 why, in countries of mountainous pasture, if there 
 b? no vent in emigration, the necessity of the pru- 
 dential check should be more strongly forced on 
 the attention of the inhabitants, and should, in con- 
 sequence prevail to a greater degree. 
 
 Taking countries in general, there will necessarily Differences 
 be differences as to natural healthiness in all the in the Re- 
 gradations, from the most marshy habitable situa- fl-^'^® 
 tions to the most pure and salubrious air. These countries, 
 differences will be further increased by the nature of 
 the employments of the people, their habits of clean- 
 liness, and their care in preventing the spread of 
 epidemics. If in no country was there any difficulty 
 in obtaining the means of subsistence, these differ- 
 ent degrees of healthiness would make a great differ- 
 ence in the progress of population ; and as there 
 are many countries naturally more healthy than the 
 United States of America, we should have instances 
 of a more rapid increase than that which has there 
 taken place. But as the actual progress of popula- 
 tion is, with very few exceptions, determined by the 
 
 * Memoires, Sfc. par la Societe Econ. de Berne, 1766, pp. 48; et seq. 
 f Ibid. Table V. p. 65 of the Tables. 
 
 VOL. VI. PART I. 
 
322 
 
 POPULATION. 
 
 Population, relative difficulty of procuring the means of subsist- 
 ence, and not by the relative natural powers of in- 
 crease, it is found by experience that, except in ex- 
 treme cases, the actual progress of population is 
 little affected by unhealthiness or healthiness ; but 
 that these circumstances show themselves most 
 powerfully in the character of the checks which 
 keep the population down to the level of the means 
 of subsistence, and occasion that sort of variety in 
 the registers of different countries which was noticed 
 in the instances mentioned by M. Muret, 
 
 Thus the population of two or three countries 
 may be increasing at nearly the same rate, but one 
 may be increasing chiefly from a great proportion of 
 births, another from a small proportion of deaths, 
 and a third from a more common proportion of both, 
 in which three different cases the structure of the 
 population and the registers of births, deaths^ and 
 marriages will be essentially different. 
 
 The rate at wliich the population of Sweden and 
 Norway was increasing, at the time referred 
 to by Mr Malthus, was not far from the same ; 
 but their registers differed in almost all points. 
 While the births in Sweden were 1 in 28 of the po- 
 pulation, the births in Norway were only 1 in 34; 
 while the marriages in Sweden were 1 in 112, in Nor- 
 way they were only 1 in 130 ; and while the mortality 
 in Sweden was 1 in 34<|, in Norway it was only 1 in 
 48.* These different proportions of births, deaths, 
 and marriages must essentially alter the whole struc- 
 ture of the population. The proportion of persons 
 living at different ages, would be essentially differ- 
 ent ; the generations in one country would pass 
 away sooner than the generations in the other ; and 
 Sweden might be said to increase principally from 
 the large proportion of its births, and Norway, from 
 the small proportion of its deaths, or its small mor- 
 tality. 
 
 A large proportion of births, when they have 
 room to expand themselves, is the most powerful 
 element of increase, and is absolutely necessary in 
 order to effect the shortest period of doubling with 
 which we are acquainted ; but two countries may have 
 nearly the same proportion of births, and yet the po- 
 pulation of one be quite stationary, while the popu- 
 lation of the other is increasing with the greatest 
 known rapidity. The proportion of births in the 
 Dutch villages first noticed, approaches towards 
 that of the United States of America; yet in the 
 V one case the population did not increase at all, and in 
 the other it has increased so fast, as to be taken as a 
 specimen of the natural progress of population when 
 interrupted by the fewest checks to which human so- 
 ciety is subject. In this case, though the propor- 
 tions of births and marriages to the whole population 
 might not be very unlike, and possibly no very great 
 difference might appear in the proportion of marriages 
 to births, the other points in the registers would be in 
 
 the opposite extremes. While the mortality in the Population- 
 Dutch villages was as high as 1 in 22, it would pro- '•^^^/"^ 
 bably be 1 in 41, or less, in the United States. — 
 While the births and deaths in the Dutch villages 
 were in the ratio of equality, in the United States 
 they would be nearly in the proportion of 41 to 19- 
 In the same manner, two countries might have 
 nearly the same mortality, and yet, in other points, 
 be very different ; and while one was increasing most 
 rapidly, the other might be increasing very slowly. 
 The proportion of deaths to the population in the 
 Pays de Vaud, is not very essentially different from 
 that of the United States, but the proportion of 
 births, and the structure of the population present 
 the most striking contrasts. The proportion of 
 births for the whole of the Pays de Vaud w^as, ac- 
 cording to M. Muret, 1 in 36, in many parishes it 
 was considerably less than 1 in 40, and in one parish 
 as low as 1 in 49 ; while, in the United States, it 
 must be somewhere between 1 in I9 and 1 in 20 — 
 The structure of the population was different ac- 
 cordingly. In the whole of the Pays de Vaud, the 
 proportion of the population under 16 was one-third, 
 in many parts and in the whole of the Canton of 
 Berne one-fourth, while in the United States, it is 
 as high as one-half. 
 
 We have seen, that, according to M. Muret, the Variations 
 probability of life, or the age to which half the born in the Age 
 live, was, in the extraordinary parish of Leyzin, ^^g*^^^^^^^ 
 high as 61 years. On the same authority, it appears°j^g jj^ ^j^JJ^ 
 that in nine other parishes of the Alps it was as high ent Coun- 
 as 47 ; in 41 parishes of the Pays de Vaud and tries. 
 Jura 42; in 12 corn parishes 40; in 18 parishes 
 among the great vineyards 37^ in one marshy parish 
 24. f From other authorities we learn, that in coun- 
 try villages and parishes, the age to which half of the 
 born live is such, that the major part will probably 
 live to marry. J In the parish of Ackworth in York- 
 shire, it appears from an exact account kept by Dr 
 Lee of the ages at which all died there for 20 years, 
 from 1747 to 1767, that half the inhabitants live to 
 the age of 46 (Price, Vol. IL p. 35, 7th edit.); ard 
 if the same account had been kept in many of the 
 other healthy parishes in England, where the yearly 
 mortality, instead of being 1 in 47 as in Ackworth, 
 was 1 in 60, 1 in 66, and even 1 in 75 (Vol. II. p. 
 224), half of the born would be found to have lived 
 to above 50 or 55. In the whole of Sweden, where 
 the annual mortality, at the time referred to by Dr 
 Price, was greater than 1 in 35, it appears from his 
 tables, that half of the born must have lived to above 
 33 (Vol. ir. p. 413, 7th edit.) ; and in Great Britain 
 generally, where the mortality at present, after making 
 due allowance for the omissions in the deaths, appears 
 to be less than 1 in 51, it cannot be doubted that there 
 is scarcely a village in the country tolerably well situat- 
 ed, where half of the born do not live till above 40. 
 In towns the case is very different. According to 
 
 * See Malthus On Population, Chapters i. and ii. of Book II. 
 
 + Memoires, S^x. par la Societe Economique de Berne, 1766, Table VIII. p. 92 of the Tables. 
 
 As these 
 
 calculations seem all to have been made from mortuary registers, they are all too low, except where the 
 population was absolutely stationary. 
 
 X Graunt's and Short's Observations, S^c. referred to by Dr Price, Vol. II. pp. 41, 42, &c. < th edit. 
 
POPULATION. 
 
 323 
 
 Variations 
 in the Ex- 
 pectation of 
 Life in differ- 
 ent Coun- 
 tries. 
 
 Populatio;i. the data collected by Dr Price, one half of the born 
 died in London under three years of age ; in Vienna 
 and Stockholm under two ; in Manchester under 
 five; in Northampton under ten (Vol. II. p. 33) ; 
 and although in most of these towns, particularly 
 those in England, a great improvement has taken 
 place in their healthiness of late years, yet still they 
 will always fall far short of the healthiness of country 
 situations. 
 
 The age to which half the born live appears, 
 therefore, to vary in different countries and places, 
 and under different circumstances, in the very ex- 
 traordinary degree of from 3 to 60. * 
 
 The mean age of death, or the expectation of 
 life, must necessarily be more steady ; yet it appears 
 to vary from about 16 or 17 to 50. 
 
 In Stockholm, according to a table calculated by 
 Dr Price, fi-om the medium of three different enu- 
 merations in I757, 1760, and 1763, the expectation 
 of life for males at birth was 14;.25, and for females 
 18.10. + Taken together, the expectation of life 
 was a little above 16. In Vienna, as appears from 
 another table, it was 16^.:j: While, according to 
 M. Muret, at Leyzin, the expectation of life at birth 
 was, about the same period, 50 years. § 
 
 The annual mortality, which is different, both 
 from the age to which half of the born live, and the 
 ""^^ ^^^^ ^ge of death, is found to vary in different 
 
 eat Coun- P'^'^^^ ^"^ countries, from about 1 in I9 to about 1 
 tries. "70. In Stockholm, the annual mortality was 
 
 but 1 in 19 (Price's Observations^ Vol. 11. p. 136) ; 
 and in some of the villages in England, even at the 
 time that Dr Price wrote,^ it was as low as 1 in 70 
 and 1 in 75. 
 
 Proportion ^^^^ proportion of births to the population appears 
 of the Births to vary in different countries and under different 
 to the Popii- circumstances, from about 1 in 17 to 1 in 49. In 
 fSeTt Coun- ^P^^"' according to Humboldt, it was 1 in I7. 
 
 ' In New Jersey, according to the rate of increase 
 determined by the census taken in 1738 and seven 
 years afterwards, the proportion of births must have 
 been about 1 in 18. (Price, VoL II. p. 50.) At 
 present, as far as can be collected from scattered 
 facts and inferences, the proportion of births in 
 the whole of the United States is about 1 to 19. 
 In the table for Prussia and Lithuania given by 
 Sussmilch, it appears, that after the great plague of 
 1709 and 1710, and omitting the extraordinary year 
 immediately subsequent, the proportion of births in 
 the five years, ending with 1716, was 1 in less than 
 17- II While, according to M. Muret, in the parish 
 of Leyzin, the proportion of births was only 1 in 49 
 of the population. 
 
 The number of subsisting marriages, which yields 
 ia the num- one annual birth, appears to vary from 12 to 4, and 
 ber, of sub- *^ 
 
 V.iriations 
 in the An- 
 
 tn 
 
 Variations 
 
 the two extreme cases occur in what may be called Population, 
 the same country, and are both noticed by M. Muret ; ^v-*-' 
 the one in the parish of Leyzin, which presents all ".^^'"8 
 the symptoms of the prudential check to population Sual" 
 in the greatest excess, and where twelve subsisting Birthl 
 marriages yield only one annual birth ; and the other 
 in the parish of St Cergue in the Jura, where mar- 
 riage is encouraged by the habit of emigration, and 
 four subsisting marriages are sufficient to yield one 
 annual birth. 
 
 The proportion of the population under 16 years Different 
 of age, to that above 16, seems to vary in dif- Proportions 
 ferent countries and places, and under different cir- thePopu- 
 cumstances, from one-half to one-fourth. In the ""'^^ 
 United States, it appears by the late census, that it 
 is one-half ; while in the canton of Berne it is not 
 much more than one. fourth, and in the parish of 
 Leyzin not more than one-fourth, f 
 
 The mortality under the age of 15 varies in dif- Variations 
 ferent places and circumstances, from above two- intheMor- 
 thirds to one-fifth. It appears from a table of Dr under 
 Price, that in Stockholm, above two-thirds died un- 
 der 15 (Vol. II. p. 418); while, according to M. 
 Muret, the proportion of the deaths under the age 
 of 15 was, in the whole of the Pays de Vaud, 
 one-third, in many parishes of the Alps one-fourth, 
 and the extraordinary parish of Leyzin only one- 
 fifth. ** 
 
 Under these very great variations in the registers 
 of different countries and places, and in the struc- 
 ture of their population, it is obvious that we might 
 fall into the grossest possible errors, by applying 
 the registers of one country to the population of 
 another. Even if we could find a country which 
 was near to a just mean between these opposite ex- 
 tremes, and the registers of which were kept with 
 the greatest accuracy, we could not apply such re- 
 gisters to any other country with a view to any im- 
 portant inferences; unless we knew that the two coun- 
 tries nearly resembled each other, not only in one or 
 two particulars, but in all the main points relating to- 
 the structure of their population and the character 
 of the prevailing checks to it. 
 
 When attention was first directed to tables of mor- pirgt Tables 
 tality, with a view to Assurances on lives and survivor- of iAtortality 
 ships, these tables were almost universally formed formed frr^n 
 from the registers of towns and of the neighbouring tl^eRegisters 
 villages influenced by them. Buffon, calculating the friJon Aut 
 probability of life from the registers of three pa- account 
 rishes in Paris, and twelve country parishes in the Krroneous. 
 neighbourhood, collected by M. Dupre de St Maur, 
 makes it appear, that half of the born died under 
 eight years of age. The parishes in Paris seemed to 
 be healtheir than the villages in the neighbourhood, 
 which was occasioned by the custom of sending the 
 
 * This last number, stated by M. Muret for the parish of Leyzin on the Alps, is so very extraordinary 
 that possibly it may not be correct. 
 
 f Observations on Reversionary Paymenis, Vol. II. p. 421, 7th edit. 
 + Id. Vol. II. p. 128. 
 
 I Memoires, Sfc. par la Societi Economique de Berne, 1766, Table V. p. 65. 
 
 II Gottliche Ordnung,, Vol. I. Table XXI. p. 83 of the Table? Makhus, Vol. II. p. 168. 5th edit; 
 
 ^ Memoires, S^c par la Societe Economique de Berne, I766, pp. 11 and 12. 
 
 ** Ibid. Table XIH. p. 1^. 
 
324 
 
 Population. 
 
 POPULATION. 
 
 The Consti- 
 tution and 
 Course of 
 Human Na- 
 ture only to 
 be deter- 
 mined by 
 Experience. 
 
 children from the city to be nursed m the country. 
 Other calculations from the registers of Breslaw by 
 Dr Halley, of London by Mr Simpson, and subse- 
 nuently of Northampton, Warrington, Chester, Nor- 
 lich, &c. by Dr Price and other writers all concurred 
 to convey the impression, that more than half of the 
 born die under the age of puberty ; and though Dr 
 Price in his two volumes of Observations on Mcver- 
 sionanj Payments, takes frequent opportunities of 
 dwelling upon the prodigious difference in the mor- 
 talitv of towns and of country situations, and produ- 
 ces abundance of evidence to show that, taken to. 
 o-ether, in the actual state of thmgs, half of the born 
 Hve much beyond the age of puberty ; yet, among 
 some persons who have not attended to the subject, 
 the former impression seems still to have remained ; 
 and what is more strange, it has been lately asserted 
 that this must happen from the constitution and 
 course of human nature (Godwin's^/istoe/- to Malthus) ; 
 which is going very much further than to say that 
 it happens under the poverty, distress, arid unhealthy 
 occupations which are known to affect the mortality 
 of a considerable body of people in all the nations 
 with which we are acquainted. 
 
 The constitution and course of human nature can 
 only be determined by experience, and the analogies 
 dedved from it ; and the kind of experience neces- 
 sary to determine the point in question, is to be ob- 
 tained only by a reference to registers which inform 
 us of the ages at which the born have died. Now, 
 from the evidence of registers of this kind which have 
 been carefully kept in country parishes, it appears 
 that the age to which half of the born hve is much 
 nearer to 40 than to the age of puberty. Even m 
 Sweden, where the general mortality is unquestion- 
 ably very great, owing to the poverty of the labour- 
 ing classes! and the diseases brought upon them by 
 bad and insufficient food during seasons of scarcity, 
 the age to which half of the born live is, as before 
 stated, above 33;* in the whole of the Pays de 
 Vaud it is 41 ; in many particular parishes 47, in a 
 parish in England not so healthy as many others 47 ; 
 and as the expectation of life appears, by the late re- 
 turns from the parish registers of Great Britam, to be 
 as high as in Switzerland, there is little reason to 
 doubt, from the evidence of registers, that the age to 
 which half of the born live in this country caii fall 
 but little short of what it is in the Pays de Vaud;-- 
 that is, it must be somewhere near 40. But it will 
 hardly be contended that there is no premature mor- 
 tality in Great Britain occasioned by the pressure ot 
 poverty, and the effect of large towns and unwhole- 
 some occupations. Consequently, unless we are pre- 
 pared to say that agricultural employments, airy and 
 moderately sized towns, cleanliness, healthy occupa- 
 tions, and prudence, are against the constitution and 
 course of nature, as appHed to reasonable beings, we 
 must acknowledge, that if the constitution and course 
 of nature were carefully observed, and the admoni- 
 
 tions which they give properly attended to, half of Po)ulation. 
 
 the born would, in healthy climates, live on an ave- ^^V^ 
 
 rage to 45. Taking things, however, as they are, 
 
 it is obvious that, according to the testimony of the 
 
 best registers, more than half of the born might live 
 
 to marry in most countries, even if the average age 
 
 of marriage was so late as 30. 
 
 The immediate cause of the increase of population Imnediate 
 is the excess of the births above the deaths ; and the ^^f 
 rate of increase, or the period of doubling, depends po,ulation, 
 upon the proportion which the excess of the births 
 above the deaths bears to the population. 
 
 The excess of births is occasioned by, and propor- 
 tioned to, three causes ; l.y^. The prolifickness of the 
 marriages. 2%, The proportion of the born which 
 lives to marry ; and, Sdly, The earliness of these mar- 
 riages compared with the expectation of life, or the 
 shortness of a generation by marriage and birth, com- 
 pared with the passing away of a generation by death. 
 
 In order that the full power of increase should be 
 called into action, all these circumstances must be 
 favourable. The marriages must be prolific, owing 
 to their being contracted early ; the proportion of the 
 born living to marry must be great, owing both to 
 the tendency to marriage, and the great proportion 
 of births rising to the age of puberty ; and the inter- 
 val between the average age of marriage and the 
 average age of death must be considerable, owing to 
 the great healthiness of the country, and the expec- 
 tation of Hfe being high. Probably these three causes, 
 each operating with the greatest known force, have 
 never yet been found combined. Even in the Unit- 
 ed States, though the two first causes operate very 
 powerfully, the expectation of life, and, consequent- 
 ly, the distance between the age of marriage and the 
 average age of death is not so favourable as it might 
 be. In general, however, the excess of births which 
 each country can admit being very far short of the 
 full power of increase, the causes above mentioned 
 contribute to the required supply in very various pro- 
 portions, according to the different circumstances 
 and habits of each state. 
 
 It would be very desirable to know something of Inferences 
 these proportions with a view to their influence on JP^^^ ^^^^^ 
 the happiness of society. Our main sources of in- sters. ° ' 
 formation on this subject are registers of births, 
 deaths, and marriages ; but in order to draw just in- 
 ferences from them, we must consider well what they 
 imply. The following observations and rules modi- 
 fied from Mr Malthus's chapter on the fruitfulness 
 of marriages may be useful for this purpose. 
 
 If we suppose a country where the population Js Proportion 
 stationary, where there are no^emigrations, immigra- of Births to 
 tions, or illegitimate children, 'and where the regis- ^ 
 ters are accurate, then the proportion of the annual 
 births to the annual marriages will accurately express 
 both the number of children born to each marriage, 
 including second and third marriages, and also the 
 
 « We allude to the registers and tables referred to by Dr Price. Since his time the health of the coun- 
 try has increased! like mSst of the countries in Europe, and the proportions of both the births and deaths 
 have decidedly diminished. ^ 
 
P O P U J 
 
 Population, proportion of the born which lives to marry once or 
 oftener : while the annual mortality will accurately 
 express the expectation of life. 
 
 But if the population be either increasing or de- 
 creasing, and the births, deaths, and marriages, 
 increasing or decreasing in the same ratio, such 
 a movement will necessarily disturb all the propor- 
 tions ; because the events which are contemporary 
 in the registers are not contemporary in the order 
 of nature. 
 
 In the first place, the births of any year cannot, in 
 the order of nature, have come from the contempo- 
 rary marriages, but must have been derived princi- 
 pally from the marriages of preceding years. 
 
 If we were to cut off a period of 30 years in the 
 registers of any country some time ago, and inquire 
 what rjBKhe number of births which had been pro- 
 duced by all the marriages included in the period 
 cut ofF, it is evident, that, with the marriages at the 
 beginning of the period will be arranged a number 
 of births proceeding from marriages anterior to it ; 
 and at the end a number of births produced by the 
 marriages included in the period, will be found ar- 
 ranged with the marriages of a succeeding period. 
 Now, if we could subtract the former number, and 
 add the latter, we should obtain exactly all the births 
 produced by the marriages of the period, and thus 
 ascertain the real prolifickness of marriages. If the 
 population had been stationary, the number of births 
 to be added would exactly equal the number to be 
 subtracted, and the proportion of births to marriages, 
 as found in the registers, would exactly represent 
 the real prolifickness of marriages. But if the popu- 
 lation be increasing, the number to be added would 
 be greater than the number to be subtracted, and of 
 course the proportion of births to marriages, as found 
 in the registers, would always be too small to repre- 
 sent the true prolifickness of marriages. A contrary 
 effect would take place in a decreasing population. 
 The question, therefore, is, what we are to add, and 
 what to subtract, when the births and deaths are not 
 equal. 
 
 The average proportion of births to marriages in 
 Europe, as taken from registers, is about 4 to 1. Let 
 us suppose, for the sake of illustration, that each mar- 
 riage yields four children, one every other year. In 
 this case, wherever the period in the registers is be- 
 gun, the marriages of the preceding eight years will 
 only have produced half their births, and the other 
 half will be arranged with the marriages within the 
 period, and ought to be subtracted from them. In 
 the same manner the marriages of the last eight years 
 of the period will only have produced half their 
 births, and the other half ought to be added. But 
 half the births of any eight years may be considered 
 as nearly equal to all the births of the succeeding 
 3| years. In instances of the most rapid increase 
 it will rather exceed the births of the next 3| yeai's, 
 and in cases of slow increase, approach towards the 
 births of the next 4 years. The mean, therefore, 
 may be taken at 3^ years. Consequently, if we sub- 
 tract the births of the first 3| years, and add the 
 births of the 3| years subsequent to the period, we 
 shall have a number of births nearly equal to the 
 number of births produced by all the marriages in- 
 
 AT I ON. 325 
 
 eluded in the period, and, of course, the prolifickness Poiiulaaon. 
 of marriages. But, if the population of a country be "^^^^"^ 
 increasing regulariy, and the births, deaths, and mar- 
 riages continue always to bear the same proportion 
 to each other, and to the whole population, it is evi- 
 dent that all the births of any period will bear the 
 same proportion to all the births of any other period 
 of the same extent, taken a certain number of years 
 later, as the births of any single year to the births of 
 a single year, taken the same number of years later. 
 And, consequently, to estimate the prolifickness of 
 marriages, we have only to compare the marriages 
 of the present, or any other year, or the mean of five * 
 years, with the births of a subsequent year, or the 
 mean of five years, taken 3| years later. 
 
 It has been supposed, in the present instance, that 
 each marriage yields four births; but the proportion 
 of births to marriages apparent in the registers of 
 most of the countries of Europe, is 4 to 1, and, as 
 the population of most of the countries of Europe is 
 known to be increasing, the prolifickness of marriages 
 must be greater than 4. If, allowing for this cir- 
 cumstance, we take the distance of 4 years instead of 
 S| years, we shall still be sure of not erring in excess. 
 And though undoubtedly the period which we take, 
 whatever it may be, will not answer exactly in difier- 
 ent countries, yet its application generally will not 
 be so incorrect as we might at first imagine ; because, 
 in countries where the marriages are more prolific, 
 the births generally follow at shorter intervals, and 
 where they are less prolific at longer intervals ; and, 
 with dilFerent degrees of prolifickness, the length of 
 the period might still remain the same. 
 
 Probably, however, the period here assumed, which 
 is the one taken by Mr Malthus, is too short. If, as 
 he says, tfcere is reason to think, that, in almost all 
 registers, the omissions in the births and deaths are 
 greater than in the marriages, there ought to be a 
 greater number of births to each marriage, in which 
 case it would take a longer time to have them in ; 
 and if, further, it is probable that a birth every other 
 year is too rapid a succession for those countries 
 where the marriages are frequently late, it may be 
 thought that the births at the distance of five years 
 will more nearly represent the prolifickness of mar- 
 riages than at the distance of 4 years. But this mat- 
 ter must be left to the judgment of the reader. 
 
 At all events, it will follow, from what has been 
 said, that the more rapid is the increase of popula* 
 tion, the more will the real prolifickness of marriages 
 exceed the proportion of births to marriages in the 
 registers. 
 
 The rule which has here been laid down attempts 
 to estimate the prolifickness of marriages, taken as 
 they occur ; but this prolifickness should be carefully 
 distinguished from the prolifickness of first marriages, 
 and of married women, and still more from the natu- 
 ral prolifickness of women in general, taken at the 
 most favourable age. It is probable that the natural 
 prolifickness of women is nearly the same in most parts 
 of the world ; but the prolifickness of marriages is li- 
 able to be affected by a variety of circumstances pe- 
 culiar to each country, and particularly by the num- 
 ber of second arid third, and late marriages. In all 
 countries the second and third marriages alone form 
 
326 
 
 POPULATION. 
 
 which 'lives 
 to Marry. 
 
 Population, a most important consideration, and materially influ- 
 ence the average proportions. According to buss- 
 milch, in all Pomerania from 1748 to 1756, both in- 
 cluded, the number of persons who married were 
 56 956 and of these 10,586 were widows and widow- 
 ers (Gottliche Ordnung, Vol. I. Tables, p. 98). Ac- 
 cording to Busching, in Prussia and Silesia for the 
 year 1781, out of 29>308 persons who married, 4841 
 were widows and widowers (Malthus, Vol. 11. 
 p. 140); and, consequently, the proportion of mar- 
 riages will be given full one-sixth too much. In es- 
 tinfatingtheproHficknuss of married women, thenum- 
 ber of illegitimate births would tend, though in a 
 slight degree, to counterbalance the overplus ot mar- 
 riages ; and as it is found that the number of widow- 
 ers who marry again is greater than the number ot 
 widows, the whole of the correction should not, on 
 this account, be applied ; but, in estimating the pro- 
 portion of the born which lives to marry, which is what 
 we are now about to proceed to, the whole of this 
 correction is always necessary. , . , . 
 
 Proportion To find the proportion of the born which lives to 
 of the Born marry from registers, we must consider that the mar- 
 riages of any year can never be contemporary witn 
 the births from which they have resulted, but must 
 always be at such a distance from them, as is equal 
 to the average age of marriage. . 
 
 If the population be increasing, the marriages ot 
 the present year have resulted from a smaller number 
 of births, than the births of the present year ; and, ot 
 course, the marriages compared with the contempo- 
 rary births, will always be too few to represent the 
 proportion of the born which lives to marry, and the 
 Contrary will take place if the population be decreas- 
 ing; and to find this proportion, after having first 
 made the proper correction for second and third mar- 
 riages, we must compare the marriages of any year 
 with the births of a previous year at the distance of 
 the average age of marriage.* ^ 
 
 The third principal object which it is desirable to 
 attain, and of which some estimate may be formedfrom 
 regist;rs, is the expectation of life. It has before 
 been stated, that, in a country where the births and 
 deaths are equal, the rate of the annual mortality 
 will express the expectation of life, or the average 
 age of death. But, if the population be increasing, 
 the actual population of any one year will be greater 
 than would belong to the contemporary deaths, sup- 
 posing the births equal to the deaths, and less than 
 would belong to the contemporary births, supposing 
 the deaths equal to the births. Consequently, if we 
 divide the actual population by the number of con- 
 temporary deaths in an increasing country, the re- 
 sult will be too high to express the average age of 
 death belonging to any given number of births, it 
 we divide the actual population by the number ot 
 births, the result will be too low to express this aye- 
 rage, or, in other words, to express the expectation 
 of life. And, in order to approximate to the true 
 proportion, we are directed by Dr Price (Vol. II. p. 
 
 Kxpectation 
 of Life. 
 
 39, 7th ed.),in the absence of better data, to divide the Population, 
 actual population by a mean between the proportions 
 of deaths and births. Consequently, when we know 
 the proportion of births to deaths in any country, and 
 the proportions which they usually bear to the whole 
 population, we may form some estimate of the ex- 
 pectation of life or the average age of death. 
 
 If we attend to these observations in drawing 
 our inferences from registers, we shall generally be 
 able to form an approximating estimate of the pro- 
 lifickness of marriages, the proportion of the born liv- 
 ino to marry, and the expectation of life, in different 
 countries and places, and under different circumstan- 
 ces ; or if we cannot do this satisfactorily, owing to 
 the varying rate of increase, and the inaccuracy of 
 the registers, we shall at least guard ourselves against 
 drawing incorrect inferences from them in^^Ki* pre- 
 sent state, and reconcile many of the difficuIuCT with 
 which they appear to be accompanied. n vfi i 
 
 Thus to estimate the prolifickness of marriages in ^ 
 England. The proportion of the marriages to the ^^^^^J 
 births, according to the parochial returns ending with 1 
 1820, was 100 to 369 ; adding i for the omissions in 
 the births, or on the present occasion only f, in or- 
 der to make full allowance for illegitimate births, the 
 proportion of marriages to births will be as 100 to 
 422. These births, at the rate at which the popu- 
 lation was increasing in England and Wales from 
 1810 to 1820, would, in about 4^ years, increase 
 .07, which, added to 4.22, makes 4-51. Consequent- 
 ly, the prolifickness of marriages, taken as they oc- 
 cur, and including second and third marriages, would 
 be 4.51. If we wish to estimate the prolifickness of 
 married women, we must subtract from the marriages 
 those which consist of widows who have married 
 again. According to some tables of Sussmilch, this 
 would be little less than one-sixth; according to 
 others one-eighth. If we take one-seventh, and de- 
 duct it from the marriages, the proportion will be 
 1 to 5.26, that is, each married woman will have 5.26 
 births. But of these married women, some have 
 married at above 45 years of age, and many more 
 above 35, so that there can be little doubt that, if 
 the births could be collected from all the marriages 
 in which the age of the woman did not exceed 35, 
 nor the age of the man 45, the births would appear 
 to be nearly six ; and this number would be still fur- 
 ther increased if the average age of marriage for 
 males was 22, and for females 20. These conclu- 
 sions are fully confirmed by some accurate observa- 
 tions of M. Muret. At Vevey, where the propor- 
 tion of marriages to births, in the registers, was as 
 10 to 39, he found that 375 mothers had had 2093. 
 children born alive, by which it appears that eachi 
 mother had produced 5.55 births. But these, M.. 
 Muret observes, were all mothers, which is not the: 
 case of all married women. Allowing, however, for- 
 the usual proportion of barren wives at Vevey, which i 
 was about 20 out of 478, it appears that the married 1 
 women, one with another, must have had above 5.3 i 
 
 * It is a shorter and more obvious process to compare the marriages at once with the births of the earlieit 
 period, than with the deaths, as Mr Malthus has done. ^ 
 
POPULATION. 
 
 327 
 
 births. Yet this was in a town, where he intimates 
 that the inhabitants do not enter into the marriage 
 state at the lime when nature calls them, nor when 
 married always have as many children as they might 
 have. It is evident, therefore, that the proportions 
 of marriages to births, to be found in registers, re- 
 quire considerable and important corrections, in or- 
 der to deduce from them just estimates of the pro- 
 lifickness of marriages, the prolifickness of married 
 women, and the prolifickness of women marrying at the 
 most favourable age. The instance here given is 
 sufficient to illustrate the mode in which the rule 
 should be applied. 
 
 If we wish to apply the rule for estimating the 
 proportion of the born living to marry in England, 
 we must first take the proportion of marriages to 
 births in the registers. This proportion, as before 
 stated, was, duriag the ten years ending with 1820, 
 as 100 to 369 ; which, increased by one-sixth, the sup- 
 posed omissions in the registers of births, will be as 
 100 to 430. But the marriiiges of the present year 
 must have resulted, not from the births of the pre- 
 sent year, but from the births at such an earlier pe- 
 riod in the registers, as is equal to the average age 
 of marriage. Suppose this age to be 28, then at the 
 rate at which the population was increasing, the pre- 
 sent marriages must have resulted from a number of 
 births, equal to about two-thirds of the present num- 
 ber, so as to be to the present marriages in the pro- 
 portion of 286 instead of 4-30 to 100. But of the 
 200 persons forming the 100 marriages, more than 
 one- sixth have been married before. Deducting, 
 therefore, one-sixth from the marriages, the propor- 
 tion of the marriages to the births from which they 
 have resulted, will be as 100 to 3i3 ; or out of 343 
 births, 200 have lived to be married once or oftener ; 
 from which it vt^ould appear, that on account of the late 
 increase in the healthiness of the country, a greater 
 proportion had lived to marry than when Mr Malthus 
 last estimated it ; which, together with a slight in- 
 crease in the prolifickness of marriages apparent in 
 the latter registers, may account for the more rapid 
 increase of the population from 1810 to 1820. It 
 should be recollected, however, that as the rate of 
 increase which prevailed from 1810 to 1820 had by 
 no means prevailed during the whole 28 years, the 
 births, from which 200 persons had lived to marry 
 in 1820, were decidedly more than 343. 
 
 It will be observed how very important the cor- 
 rection for second and third marriages is. Suppos- 
 ing each marriage to yield four births, and the births 
 and deaths to be equal, it might at first be thought 
 necessary, that in order to keep up the population, 
 half of the born should live to marry; but if, on ac- 
 count of the second and third marriages, we sub- 
 tract one-sixth from the marriages, and then com- 
 pare them with the births, the proportion will be as 
 5 to 24 ; and it will appear, that instead of one-half, 
 it will only be necessary that out of 24 births 10 
 should live to marry. Upon the same principle, if 
 the births were to the marriages as 4 to 1 , and ex- 
 actly half of the born lived to marry, it might be 
 supposed at first that the population would be sta- 
 tionary ; but if we subtract one-sixth from the mar- 
 riages, and then compare them with the births, it 
 
 will be obvious that, on the supposition of half the Population* 
 born living to marry, the births at the earlier period ■•^V^ 
 in the registers, at the distance of the age of mar- 
 riage, must be to the present births as 5 to 6, which 
 would imply a moderate rate of increase. 
 
 To estimate the proportion of male births living 
 to marry, we must subtract full one-fifth from the 
 marriages ; and according to this correction, if each 
 marriage yielded four births, it would only be neces- 
 sary that two male children out of five should live to 
 marry, in order to keep up the population. It is ne- 
 cessary also, in estimating the proportion of male 
 births living to marry, to make allowance for the 
 greater number of males born. 
 
 The foregoing illustrations and remarks show the 
 error of supposing that a country must be in a pre- 
 carious state when the proportion of births to mar- 
 riages in the registers is less than 4 to 1. If, in- 
 deed, this observation were just, the population of 
 many countries in Europe would be in a precarious 
 state, as in many countries the proportion is less 
 than this. But it has been shown in what manner 
 this proportion in the registers should be corrected, 
 in order to make it a just representation of the pro- 
 lifickness of marriages ; and if a large part of the born 
 live to marry, and the age of marriage be consider- 
 ably earlier than the expectation of life, such a pro- 
 portion in the registers is by no means inconsistent 
 with a rapid increase of population. 
 
 In Russia, the proportion of births to marriages is 
 less than 4 to 1. Yet on account of the large pro- 
 portion of the born living to marry, the early age 
 of marriage, and the high expectation of life, it is 
 one of the countries in Europe which increases the 
 fastest. In England, the population increases much 
 more rapidly than in France ; yet in England, the 
 proportion of births to marriages in the registers, 
 when allowance has been made for omissions, was, 
 from 1800 to ISIO, 4 to 1, while in France it was 
 4^ to 1. (Malthus, Vol. II. p. 161, 5ch edit.) 
 
 In England, indeed, for the ten years from 1810 
 to 1821, the proportion of births to marriages seems 
 slightly to have exceeded the former proportion, be- 
 ing about 4.22 to 1 ; but this excess has been ac- 
 companied by such a rapidity of increase as would 
 double the population in less than 46 years ; and 
 comparing this rapid rate of increase with the slow 
 increase of France, where the births were to the 
 marriages as 4f to 1, and in Sweden, when these 
 proportions were as 4| to 1 — it follows that the two 
 other causes of the excess of births above the deaths, 
 besides the prolifickness of marriages, must have very 
 great power, and that the proportion of births to 
 marriages, as found in registers, when taken alone, 
 is a most uncertain criterion of increase. 
 
 To apply the rule for estimating the average age Expectttion 
 of death, or the expectation of life in England, we of Life m 
 must first ascertain from the registers the proportions ^"S^^"'^- 
 which the births and deaths bear to the whole po- 
 pulation. The annual average of the births for the 
 ten years, from 1810 to 1821, was 325,506, of the 
 deaths 200,999. Adding one sixth to the births, 
 and one-twelfth to the deaths, for the omission in 
 the registers, the bi-rths will be 379,757, and the 
 deaths 217,749. The population of England and 
 
328 
 
 POPULATION. 
 
 Population. Wales, according to the last corrected accounts, was, 
 — '^y^^ in 1810, 10,502,500, in 1821, 12,218,500,* the 
 mean of which in 11,360,500. The average births 
 and deaths, compared with the mean population, give 
 
 ^ as the proportion of the births, and , as 
 29.9 52.17 
 
 the proportion of the deaths ; and, according to 
 Dr Price, the mean between them, which, in this 
 case, is 4.1, will give the expectation of life. This 
 rule, however, is only a rough approximation, and, 
 in the few cases, vsrhere sufficient data have been 
 obtained in progressive countries for calculating the 
 expectation of life more accurately, it has turned out 
 to be much nearer to the annual mortality than to the 
 mean here referred to. While, according to the more 
 correct estimates before adverted to, the annual mor- 
 tality might, with the same expectation of life, be in 
 diflFerent countries 1 in 39.38, 1 in 41.97, or 1 in 
 41.09, according as the population was stationary, or 
 progressive at various rates. 
 
 This appears in the table which Dr Price himself 
 calculated for Sweden (Vol. II. p. 410, 7th edit.), 
 founded on data which he considered as quite satis- 
 factory. It also appears in the table for Sweden 
 and Finland, subsequently calculated by Mr Milne 
 from similar data, in his Treatise on Annuities and 
 Assurances. (Vol. II. p. 569-) And further, in a 
 table for Sweden and Finland, published in this 
 Supplement, under the head of Mortality. We 
 have also lately seen a calculation by Mr Milne, by 
 which it appears that the difference between the 
 annual mortality and the expectation of life goes on 
 increasing with the rate of the increase of the popu- 
 lation to a certain point, but afterwards, owing to 
 the increasing proportion of young children included 
 in the population, diminishes ; and is less when the 
 population doubles in twenty-five years, than when 
 it doubles in fifty years. Thus, on the three differ- 
 ent suppositions of a stationary population, a po- 
 pvilation doubling in fifty years, and a population 
 doubling in twenty-five years (all subjected to the 
 same law of mortality as that which prevailed in 
 Sweden arid Finland during the five years ended 
 with 1805)— in the first case, both the expectation of 
 life and the annual mortality would be 39.388, and, 
 of course, the expectation of life would be the same 
 in all the cases ; but in the second case, the annual 
 mortality would be 1 in 41.971 ; and in the third, 1 
 in 41.096. It would be difficult, however, or at 
 least premature, without further data, to lay down 
 a general rule, with a view to determine correctly 
 the expectation of life at birth, in countries pro- 
 gressive at various rates. But from what has been 
 stated, it may safely be concluded, that the expecta- 
 tion of life lies very much nearer the annua.1 morta- 
 lity, particularly in cases of very rapid increase, 
 than to the mean proposed by Dr Price ; and that 
 both the expectation of life, and the age to which 
 half of the born live, are, in most countries, and 
 especially in England, at the present time, consider- 
 ably higher than they have generally been estimated. 
 
 It may be remarked here, in reference to England 
 during the ten years, from 1810 lo 1821, that the 
 omissions assumed in the births and deaths do not give 
 such proportions as to make the increase of popula- 
 tion, from the excess of births above the deaths, answer 
 to the increase determined by the two censuses, — an 
 agreement which must necessarily take place if both 
 the enumerations and the registers are accurate, and 
 no external causes disturb the result. An addition of 
 one-sixth to the births, and one-twelfth to the deaths, 
 seemed to answer correctly for the interval from 
 1800 to 1810 ; but to produce the same coincidence 
 under the more rapid increase of the subsequent ten 
 years, either a greater allowance must be made for 
 omissions in the births, or a less allowance for the 
 omissions in the deaths. If we add one-fifth instead 
 of one-sixth to the births, retaining one-twelfth for the 
 deaths, the excess of births above deaths in the ten 
 years will be 1,728,587 ; the excess according to the 
 censuses being 1,716,000. If we add only one- 
 thirtieth to the deaths, retaining one-sixth for the 
 births, the excess will be 1,720,502, within 4502 
 of the excess, as shown by the censuses. Whereas, 
 under the actual allowances which have been made 
 for omissions, the excess will be only 1,620,800, 
 leaving a difference of 95,200, and on the wrong 
 side. On account of the almost incredible healthi- 
 ness, considering our great towns and manufactories, 
 which would be implied by supposing the deaths to 
 be only deficient one-thirtieth, an increased omission 
 in the births might be thought more probable ; but 
 it is believed, that since 1812 the omissions in the 
 births have been diminished rather than increased ; 
 and under this uncertainty it has been thought bet- 
 ter to leave the question as it stands at present, ra- 
 ther than attempt to determine it on insufficient data. 
 It should always be remembered, however, that if 
 the increase of population by the enumerations, is 
 different from the increase of population by the re- 
 gisters, one or the other must be incorrect. 
 
 On the supposition that the omissions in the deaths 
 were only one-thirtieth, the average mortality, corn- 
 pared with the average population, would be 1 in 
 54.7 ; aqd the proportion of births, with the addition 
 of one-sixth, being, as before stated, 1 in 29.9, the 
 expectation of life, according to Dr Price's rule, would 
 be 42.3. On the other supposition, of an omission 
 of one-fifth of the births, and one-twelfth in the 
 deaths, the births would be 1 in 29, and the deaths 
 1 in 52.17, and the expectation of Hfc would be 
 40.58. 
 
 It appears, then, that when the population of a 
 country is progressive, it would be erroneous to es- 
 timate its healthiness by the proportion which the 
 annual mortality bears to the whole population. 
 Healthiness must be measured by the expectation 
 of life; and if, with the same expectation of life, the 
 annual mortality is affected by the rate of increase, 
 it is obvious that the healthiness of different coun- 
 tries may be different, with the same rate of annual 
 mortality. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Expectation 
 of Life at 
 Birth and 
 Annual 
 Mortality, 
 not the same 
 when the 
 Population 
 is Progres- 
 sive. 
 
 * Preliminary Observations to Population Abstracts, p. 32. 
 
 4 
 
POPULATION. 
 
 Mortuary 
 
 Registers 
 
 fallacious. 
 
 Population. But while it is evidently necessary that we should 
 ^^■^^ be cautious in inferring, that a country is healthy just 
 in proportion to the smaliness of its annual mortality, 
 we should be still more cautious in inferring that it 
 is unhealthy at all the ages under puberty^ on ac- 
 count of the number which appear to die in mortu- 
 ary registers under that age. Here, as in the pre- 
 ceding case, but in a much greater degree, the ex- 
 cess of the births above the deaths has a powerful 
 effect, but exactly in the opposite direction. When 
 we compare the annual mortality of an increasing 
 country with its actual population, we compare 
 with it a number of deaths which may be said, 
 properly speaking, to belong to an earlier and 
 smaller number of births, and must necessarily re- 
 present the country as more healthy than it real- 
 ly is. On the other hand, when in a mortuary re- 
 gister, we compare the deaths under puberty with 
 those above, if the population be increasing, we evi- 
 dently compare the deaths belonging to a much 
 greater number of births than those which have fur- 
 nished the deaths above the age of puberty ; and, 
 consequently, these proportions must represent the 
 country as much less healthy than it really is. * Ac- 
 cording to the mortuary registers of Sweden for 21 
 years, from I755 to 1776, more than half of the 
 deaths were under 15, but it was by no means true 
 that half of the born died under 15.f In the tables 
 of mortality for Sweden during the same period, 
 constructed by Dr Price, it appears that half of the 
 born lived to above 33 years. :j: 
 
 In the same manner, in drawing inferences from 
 an abstract of the mortuary registers of the principal 
 cities in America, Baltimore, Boston, New York, 
 and Philadelphia, given by Dr Seybert {Staiistical 
 Annals, p. 48), we must take care not to conclude 
 that the proportions of the deaths which take place 
 under 20 years of age, represent the proportions of 
 any given number of births in these cities which die 
 under 20. As, on account of the excess of the 
 births above the deaths, all the early ages of the po- 
 pulation are more numerous in proportion than the 
 other, there will necessarily be a greater proportion 
 of the deaths at these ages, than would naturally be- 
 long to a given number of births, if each infant born 
 were traced to the age of its death. 
 
 In the present case, the abstract is only for a year, 
 and no safe conclusions, therefore, can be drawn 
 from it ; but so far as it goes, as even notwithstand- 
 ing the increase of population, these mortuary regi- 
 sters show that considerably less than half of the 
 deaths take place under twenty (on an average only 
 about 45.| per cent,), it would appear, that in the 
 early ages of life, even the towns of America are 
 more healthy than the whole of Sweden from 1755 
 to 1776. It should, however, be considered, that 
 though the towns in America may be increasing fast 
 
 329 
 
 by procreation, they arc increasing still faster by the Population. 
 
 influx of inhabitants from the country ; and as these "^^v^ 
 
 inhabitants generally come to the towns after the age 
 
 of sixteen, this accession diminishes the proportion 
 
 of persons in the earlier ages of life so much, that 
 
 there is probably a larger proportion of mortality at 
 
 these ages in the country than in the towns. 
 
 One of the most interesting and useful points of Criterion of 
 view in which registers can be considered, is in thef'^ 
 proofs which they afford of the varying prevalence pJJJ^nt;^ 
 of the prudential check to marriage and population Restraint, 
 m different countries and places. It has been not 
 an uncommon opinion, and has even been strongly 
 expressed of late years, although the subject has 
 been nauch better understood than formerly, that the 
 labouring classes of people, under the circumstances 
 in which they are placed, cannot reasonably be ex- 
 pected to attend to prudential considerations in en- 
 tering upon the marriage state. But that this opi- 
 nion does them great injustice, is not only obvious to 
 common observation, by which we can scarcely fail 
 to see that numbers delay marriage beyond the pe- 
 riod when the passions most strongly prompt to it, 
 but is proved by the registers of different countries, 
 which clearly show, either that a considerable num- 
 ber of persons of a marriageable age never marry, 
 or that they marry comparatively late, and that their 
 marriages are consequently less prolific than if they 
 had married earlier. As the prudential restraint on 
 marriage may show itself in either of these ways, it 
 may prevail nearly in the same degree with a differ- 
 ent proportion of marriages to the whole population. 
 But on the supposition of the same natural prolifick- 
 ness in the women of most countries, the smallness 
 of the proportion of births will generally indicate 
 with tolerable correctness the degree in which the 
 prudential check to population prevails, whether aris- 
 ing principally from late, and consequently unproli- 
 fic marriages, or from a large proportion of the po- 
 pulation dying unmarried. 
 
 Referring then to the different proportions of 
 births in different countries as the best criterion of 
 the different degrees in which the prudential re- 
 straint on marriage operates, it will be recollected, 
 that these proportions vary from about 1 in 36 to 
 about 1 in 19, or even 17, in different countries, and in 
 a much greater degree in different parishes ordistricts. 
 
 A particular parish in the Alps has already been 
 mentioned, where the births were only a forty-ninth 
 part of the population ; and it appears by the late 
 returns of the parish registers of England and Wales, 
 that the births in the county of Monmouth are only 
 1 in 47, and in Brecon, 1 in 53 ; j| which, after making 
 ample allowance for omissions, would show the pre- 
 valence of the prudential restraint on marriage in a 
 high degree. 
 
 If in any country all were to marry at 20 or 21, 
 
 * In the first case, the effect is, in a considerable degree, counteracted by the large pronortion of rhil 
 drIXck" °" ^'"'"''^ ^ rapid increase occasions. In the seco/d case, tle'effia"^ 
 
 f Price's Observations, Vol. II. p. 405. 7th edit. 
 
 loL.V^t''u^- II Observation,, p. «7. 
 
 T t 
 
% 
 
 330 
 
 POPULATION. 
 
 Population, the proportion of the births would probably be more 
 "-^^V^^ than 1 in 19; and this result would be still more cer- 
 EfFect of the j^j^ jf jjjg resources of the country could not sup- 
 pJS^tial P^""*^ accelerated rate of increase, than if the 
 restraint, means of subsistence were in the greatest abundance, 
 and the demand for labour as effectual as it has ever 
 been in the United States. On the latter supposi- 
 tion, taking the births at one-nineteenth, and the ex- 
 pectation of life the same as it is in England, the 
 effect would be to occasion a most rapid increase 
 of population ; and the period of doubling, instead 
 of being about 46 or 48 years, would be less than in 
 America. On the other hand, if the resources of the 
 country could not support a more rapid increase 
 than that which has taken place in England and 
 Wales during the ten years previous to the census 
 of 1821, the effect would be a great diminution in 
 the expectation of life. If the births were 1 in 19 
 instead of 1 in nearly 30, the same rate of increase 
 would take place as at present, if the annual morta- 
 lity were increased to about 1 in 26| ; and in that 
 case, the expectation of life would be reduced in the 
 proportion of from 41, or, as is more probable, from 
 above 45 to less than 26. ♦ This is the kind of 
 effect which must inevitably follow the absence of the 
 prudential check to marriage and population ; and 
 it cannot be doubted, that a considerable part of the 
 premature mortality which is found to take place in 
 all parts of the world is occasioned by it. The laws 
 of nature, in application to man as a reasonable being, 
 show no tendency to destroy half of the human race 
 under the age of puberty. This is only done in very 
 particular situations, or when the constant admoni- 
 tions which these laws give to mankind are obsti- 
 nately neglected. 
 
 It has been said, that a tendency in mankind to in- 
 crease at such a rate as would double the population 
 in 25 years, and, if it had full scope, would fill the 
 habitable globe with people in a comparatively short 
 period, cannot be the law of nature ; as the very dif- 
 ferent rate of increase which is actually found to take 
 place, must imply such an excessive degree of mor- 
 tality and destruction of life as to be quite irrecon- 
 cileable with actual facts and appearances. But the 
 peculiar advantage of a law of increase in a geome- 
 trical progression is, that, though its power be abso- 
 lutely inimense, if it be left unchecked, yet, when 
 this becomes impossible, it may be restrained by a 
 comparatively moderate force. It can never, of 
 course, happen, that any considerable part of that 
 prodigious increase which might be produced by an 
 uninterrupted geometrical progression should exist, 
 and then be destroyed. The laws of nature which 
 make food necessary to the life of man, as well as of 
 plants and animals, prevent the continued existence 
 of an excess which cannot be supported, and thus 
 either discourage the production of such an excess. 
 
 Objection to 
 the principle 
 of Popula- 
 tion arising 
 from the 
 great Morta- 
 fity it must 
 occasion. 
 
 or destroy it in the bud, in such a way as to make it Population, 
 scarcely perceptible to a careless observer. It has """^"^^ 
 been seen, that, in some countries of Europe, where 
 the actual progress of the population is slower than 
 in many others, as in Switzerland and Norway, for 
 instance, the mortality is considerably less. Here, 
 then, the necessity of a greater check to the natural 
 progress of population produces no increase of mor- 
 tality. And it appears, farther, that even the de- 
 gree of mortality which in each year would be suffi- 
 cient to destroy that excess of births which would na- 
 turally be produced if all married young, and all could 
 be supported, might take place, and often does take 
 place in particular situations, and yet is very little 
 noticed. About the middle of last century, the mor- 
 tality in Stockholm and London was about 1 in ig, 
 and 1 in 20. This is a degree of moi'tality which 
 would probably keep the births on a level with the 
 deaths, even though all married at twenty. And 
 yet numbers resorted both to Stockholm and Lon- 
 don from choice ; the greater part probably not aware 
 that, by so doing, they would shorten their own lives 
 and those of their children ; and the rest thinking that 
 the difference was not worth attending to, or was at 
 least balanced by the advantages of society and em- 
 ployment which the town presented. There is no- 
 thing, therefore, in the actual state of the mortality 
 observed to take place in different countries and si- 
 tuations, which, in the slightest degree, contradicts 
 the supposition of a natural tendency to increase 
 quite as great as that which has been stated. 
 
 It has been further remarked, that as, in point of objection 
 fact, it very rarely happens that mankind continue to that mere 
 increase in a geometrical progression of any kind, ^endencies^^ 
 and only in a single instance in such a one as to^^^^j^^j^^ 
 double the population in 25 years, it is useless and 
 absurd to lay any stress upon tendencies which never 
 for any length of time together produce their natu- 
 ral effects. But it might really as well be said, that 
 we are not to estimate the natural rate of increase in 
 wheat or sheep ; as it is quite certain that their na- 
 tural tendency to increase has never practically con- 
 tinued to develope itself for so long a time together, 
 as that of mankind. Both as a physical, and even 
 economical question, it is curious and desirable to 
 know the natural law of increase which prevails 
 among the most important plants and animals. In 
 the same view, it must be still more interesting to 
 know the natural law of increase with respect to man. 
 It may be said indeed, with truth, that the actual 
 appearances all around us, — the varying rate of in- 
 crease in different countries, — its very slow progress, 
 or stationary state, in some, and its very rapid pro- 
 gress in others, — must be a mass of anomalies, and 
 quite contrary to the analogies of all the rest of ani- 
 mated nature; if the natural tendency of mankind to 
 increase be not, at the least, as great as that which 
 is developed under the most favourable circum- 
 
 • If, as it has appeared, the expectation of life, though by no means the same, does not differ very much 
 from the annual mortality, and the annual mortality in this country during the ten years from 1810 to 1820, 
 after every abatement, appears to be not more than 1 in 51, the expectation of life cannot be less than 45, 
 and is probably greater. 
 
POPULATION. 
 
 SSI 
 
 Poor to full 
 Support con 
 sidered. 
 
 Population, stances, while in all others it is kept down by the 
 ''^'•■v"^ varj'ing difficulties which the state of the soil, and 
 other obstacles oppose to it. But the question, as it 
 applies to man, assumes at once a tenfold importance, 
 in reference to the moral and political effects which 
 must result from those checks to increase, the exist- 
 ence and operation of which, in some form or other, 
 no human exertions can by possibility prevent. A 
 field is here opened for the most interesting inquiries 
 which can engage the friends of human happiness. 
 
 But, as a preliminary to these inquiries, it is ob- 
 vious that we must know the degree of force to be 
 overcome, and the varying character of the checks 
 which, in the different countries of the world, are 
 practically found to overcome it ; and, for this pur- 
 pose, the first step must be an endeavour to ascer- 
 tain the natural law of population, or the rate at 
 which mankind would increase under the fewest 
 known obstacles. Nor can this tendency to increase 
 ever safely be lost sight of in the subsequent inquiries, 
 which have for their object the improvement of the 
 moral condition of man in society. 
 Right of the The existence of a tendency in mankind to in- 
 crease, if unchecked, beyond the possibility of an 
 adequate supply of food in a limited territory, must 
 at once determine the question as to the natural right 
 of the poor to full support in a state of society where 
 the law of property is recognized. The question, 
 therefore, resolves itself chiefly into a question relating 
 to the necessity of those laws which establish and pro- 
 tect private property. It has been usual to consider 
 the right of the strongest as the law of nature among 
 mankind as well as among brutes ; yet, in so doing, 
 we at once give up the peculiar and distinctive su- 
 periority of man as a reasonable being, and class 
 him with the beasts of the field. In the same lan- 
 guage it may be said that the cultivation of the 
 earth is not natural to man. It certainly is not to 
 man, considered merely as an animal without rea- 
 son. But to a reasonable being, able to look for- 
 ward to consequences, the laws of nature dictate the 
 cultivation of the earth, both as the means of afford- 
 ing better support to the individual, and of increas- 
 ing the supplies required for increasing numbers ; 
 the dictates of those laws of nature being thus evi- 
 dently calculated to promote the general good, and 
 increase the mass of human happiness. It is pre- 
 cisely in the same way, and in order to attain the 
 same object, that the laws of nature dictate to man 
 the establishment of property and the absolute ne- 
 cessity of some power in the society capable of pro- 
 tecting it. So strongly have the laws of nature 
 spoken this language to mankind, and so fully has 
 the force of it been felt, that nothing seems to be 
 thought so absolutely intolerable to reasonable be- 
 ings as the prevalence in the same society of the 
 right of the strongest ; and the history of all ages 
 shows that if men see no other way of putting an end 
 to it, than by establishing arbitrary power in an in- 
 dividual, there is scarcely any degree of tyranny, 
 oppression, and cruelty which they will not submit 
 to from some single person and his satellites, rather 
 than be at the mercy of the first stronger man who 
 may wish to possess himself of the fruit of their la- 
 bour. The consequence of this universal and deep- 
 
 ly-seated feeling, inevitably produced by the laws of Population, 
 nature, as applied to reasonable beings, is that the >^v^*' 
 almost certain consequence of anarchy is despotism. 
 
 Allowing, then, distinctly, that the right of pro- 
 perty is the creature of positive law, yet this law is 
 so early and so imperiously forced on the attention 
 of mankind, that if it cannot be called a natural law, 
 it must be considered as the most natural as well 
 as the most necessary of all positive laws ; and the 
 foundation of this pre-eminence is, its obvious ten- 
 dency to promote the general good, and the obvious 
 tendency of the absence of it to degrade mankind to 
 the rank of brutes. 
 
 As property is the result of positive law, and the 
 ground on which the law which establishes it rests, 
 is the promotion of the public good and the increase 
 of human happiness, it follows, that it may be mo- 
 dified by the same authority by which it was en- 
 acted, with a view to the more complete attainment 
 of the objects which it has in view. It may be said, 
 indeed, that every tax for the use of the govern- 
 ment, and every country or parish rate is a modifi- 
 cation of this kind. But there is no modification of 
 the law of property having still for its object the in- 
 crease of human happiness, which must not be de- 
 feated by the concession of a right of full support to 
 all that might be born. It may be safely said, 
 therefore, that the concession of such a right, and a 
 right of property are absolutely incompatible, and 
 cannot exist together. 
 
 To what extent assistance may be given even by 
 law to the poorer classes of society when in distress, 
 without defeating the great object of the law of pro- 
 perty, is essentially a different question. It depends 
 mainly upon the feelings and habits of the labouring 
 classes of society, and can only be determined by ex- 
 perience. If it be generally considered as so discredit- 
 able to receive parochial relief, that great exertions 
 are made to avoid it, and few or none marry with a 
 certain prospect of being obliged to have recourse to 
 it, there is no doubt that those who were really in dis- 
 tress might be adequately assisted, with little dan- 
 ger of a constantly increasing proportion of pau- 
 pers ; and in that case a great good would be attain- 
 ed without any proportionate evil to counterbalance 
 it. But if, from the numbers of the dependent poor, 
 the discredit of receiving relief is so diminished as to 
 be practically disregarded, so that many marry with 
 the almost certain prospect of becoming paupers, and 
 the proportion of their numbers to the whole popula- 
 tion is in consequence continually increasing; it is cer- 
 tain that the partial good attained must be mucli 
 more than counterbalanced by the general deterio- 
 ration in the condition of the great mass of the so- 
 ciety, and the prospect of its daily growing worse : 
 so that, though, from the inadequate relief which is 
 in many cases granted, the manner in which it is con- 
 ceded, and other counteracting causes, the operation 
 of 
 
 poor-laws such as theyexist in England might be very 
 different from the effects of a full concession of the 
 right, and a complete fulfilment of the duties nesult- 
 ing from it ; yet such a state of things ought to give 
 the most serious alarm to every friend to the happi-^ 
 ness of society, and every effort consistent with jus- 
 tice and humanity ought to be made to remedy it. 
 
332 
 
 POPULATION. 
 
 Religious 
 Objection 
 considered. 
 
 Population. But whatever steps may be taken on this subject, it 
 ^'^^^''^i*' will be allowed, that with any prospect of legislating 
 for the poor with success, it is necessary to be fully 
 aware of the natural tendency of the labouring 
 classes of society to increase beyond the demand for 
 tlieir labour, or the means of their adequate support, 
 and the effect of this tendency to throw the greatest 
 difficulties in the way of permanently improving their 
 condition. 
 
 It would lead far beyond the limits which must be 
 prescribed to this article, to notice all the various 
 objections which have been made by dififerent writ- 
 ers to the principles which have been here explain- 
 ed. Those which contain in them the slightest de- 
 gree of plausibility have been answered by Mr 
 Malthus in various parts of the late editions of his 
 work, and par^cularly in the appendix to the fifth 
 edition, to which we refer the reader. We will only, 
 therefore, further notice the objection which has 
 been made by some persons on religious grounds ; 
 for, as it is certainly of great importance that the an- 
 swer which has been given to it should be kept in 
 mind, we cannot refuse a place to a condensed state- 
 ment of it at the end of this article. 
 
 It has been thought that a tendency in mankind 
 to increase, beyond the greatest possible increase of 
 food which could be produced in a limited space, 
 impeaches the goodness of the Deity, and is incon- 
 sistent with the letter and spirit of the Scriptures. If 
 this objection were well founded, it would certainly 
 be the most serious one which has been brought for- 
 wards ; but the answer to it appears to be quite sa- 
 tisfactory, and it may be compressed into a very 
 small compass. 
 
 First, It appears that the evils arising from the 
 principle of population are exactly of the same 
 kind as the evils arising from the excessive or irregu- 
 lar gratification of the human passions in general, 
 and may equally be avoided by moral restraint. 
 Consequently there can be no more reason to con- 
 clude, from the existence of these evils, that the 
 principle of increase is too strong, than to conclude, 
 from the existence of the vices arising from the hu- 
 man passions, that these passions are all too strong, 
 and require diminution or extinction, instead of re- 
 gulation and direction. 
 
 Secondly, It is almost universally acknowledged, 
 that both the letter and spirit of revelation represent 
 this world as a state of moral discipline and proba- 
 tion. But a state of moral discipline and probation 
 cannot be a state of unmixed happiness, as it neces- 
 sarily implies difficulties to be overcome, and tempta- 
 tions to be resisted. Now, in the whole range of 
 the laws of nature, not one can be pointed out which 
 so especially accords with this scriptural view of the 
 state of man on earth ; as it gives rise to a greater 
 variety of situations and exertions than any other, 
 and marks, in a more general and stronger manner, 
 and nationally, as well as individually, the diffisrent 
 effects of virtue and vicci of the proper government 
 of the passions, and the culpable indulgence of them. 
 It follows, then, that the principle of population, in- 
 stead of being inconsistent with Revelation, must be 
 
 considered as affording strong additional proofs of its Population, 
 truth. 
 
 Lastly, It will be acknowledged, that in a state 
 of probation, those laws seem best to accord with the 
 views of a benevolent Creator, which, while they 
 furnish the difficulties and temptations which form 
 the essence of such a state, are of such a nature as to 
 reward those who overcome them with happiness in 
 this life as well as in the next. But the law of po- 
 pulation answers particularly to this description. 
 Each individual has the power of avoiding the evil 
 consequences to himself and society resulting from it, 
 by the practice of a virtue dictated to him by the 
 light of nature, and sanctioned by revealed religion. 
 And, as there can be no question that this virtue tends 
 greatly to improve the condition, and increase the 
 comforts both of the individuals who practise it, and 
 through them of the whole society, the ways of God 
 to man with regard to this great law are completely 
 vindicated. 
 
 Subjoined are two Tables which may assist the 
 reader in calculating the rate of increase in different 
 countries, under different circumstances, and from 
 different data. The first is the table calculated by 
 Euler, and printed in Mr Malthus's work, at the end 
 of his chapter on the Fruitfulness of Marriage j and 
 the second has been calculated by Mr Bridge of 
 Cambridge, well known as an able mathematician, 
 and most useful elementary writer. 
 
 The first is to be used when it is wished to esti- 
 mate the rate of increase by the proportions of the 
 births to the deaths, and of these to the whole popu- 
 lation. The yearly increase of people, independent- 
 ly of immigration, is the yearly excess of the births 
 above the deaths, and the yearly rate of increase is 
 measured by the proportion which this excess bears 
 to the whole population. The fraction expressing 
 the deaths must therefore be subtracted from the 
 fraction expressing the births ; and the remainder 
 will be the fraction expressing the yearly rate of in- 
 crease ; opposite to which will be found the number 
 of years in which the population will double itself, 
 supposing the yearly rate of increase to continue the 
 same for a sufficient length of time. 
 
 The second table is to be used when it is wished 
 to know the period of doubling, resulting from a given 
 per centoge increase in ten years, determined by enu- 
 meration. An estimate of population from births 
 and deaths is always liable to much uncertainty on 
 account of the varying proportions which they bear 
 to the population. The only remedy for this uncer- 
 tainty is a census ; and as the useful custom of tak- 
 ing a census of the population every ten years has 
 latterly prevailed in some countries, the second table 
 is constructed to show the period of doubling, or 
 general rate of increase, which results from any given 
 per centage increase in ten years. The first column 
 represents the 'per centage increase in ten years de- 
 termined by two enumerations ; and the second co- 
 lumn the number of years in which the population 
 will double itself, supposing it to proceed at the 
 same rate. (o. o. o.) 
 
Populati(Hit 
 
 POPULATION. 
 
 TABLE L 
 
 TABLE TL 
 
 333 
 
 Population. 
 
 The Proportion 
 of the Excess 
 
 
 The Proportion 
 of the Excess 
 
 X crious 01 
 
 of Births above 
 
 Doubling in 
 
 of Births above 
 
 Doubling in 
 
 the Deaths, 
 
 Years and Ten 
 
 the Deaths, 
 
 Years and Ten 
 
 to the whole of 
 
 Thousandth 
 
 to the whole of 
 
 Thousandth • 
 
 the Living. 
 
 Parts. 
 
 the Living. 
 
 Parts. 
 
 
 10 
 
 7.2722 
 
 
 f 110 
 
 76.5923 
 
 
 11 
 
 7-9659 
 
 
 120 
 
 83.5230 
 
 
 12 
 
 86595 
 
 
 130 
 
 90.4534 
 
 
 13 
 
 9.3530 
 
 
 140 
 
 97.3868 
 
 
 14 
 
 10.0465 
 
 
 j 150 
 
 104.3183 
 
 1 
 
 15 
 
 10.7400 
 
 1 . 
 
 j 160 
 
 111.2598 
 
 16 
 
 11.4333 
 
 
 170 
 
 118.1813 
 
 
 1 7 
 
 12.1266 
 
 
 180 
 
 125.1128 
 
 
 18 
 
 12.8200 
 
 
 190 
 
 132.0443 
 
 
 19 
 
 [3.5133 
 
 
 200 
 
 IS8.9757 
 
 
 
 14.2066 
 
 
 
 
 -- 
 
 
 
 
 
 '21 
 
 14.9000 
 
 
 '210 
 
 145.9072 
 
 
 22 
 
 15.5932 
 
 
 220 
 
 152.8387 
 
 
 23 
 
 16.2864 
 
 
 230 
 
 159.7702 
 
 
 24 
 
 16.9797 
 
 
 240 
 
 166.7017 
 
 
 25 
 
 17.6729 
 
 1 .< 
 
 250 
 
 173.6332 
 
 26 
 
 18.3662 
 
 260 
 
 180.5647 
 
 
 27 
 
 19.0594 
 
 
 970 
 
 187.4961 
 
 
 28 
 
 19.7527 
 
 
 280 
 
 194.4275 
 
 
 29 
 
 20.4458 
 
 
 290 
 
 201.3590 
 
 
 ^30 
 
 21.1391 
 
 
 ^300 
 
 208.2905 
 
 
 '32 
 
 22.5255 
 
 
 '310 
 
 215.2220 
 
 
 34 
 
 2S.9II9 
 
 
 320 
 
 222.1535 
 
 
 36 
 
 25.2983 
 
 
 330 
 
 229.0850 
 
 
 .38 
 
 26.6847 
 
 
 340 
 
 236.0164 
 
 1 
 
 40 
 
 28.0711 
 
 1 . < 
 
 350 
 
 242.9479 
 
 42 
 
 29.4574 
 
 360 
 
 249.8794 
 
 
 44 
 
 30.8438 
 
 
 
 256.8109 
 
 
 46 
 
 32.2302 
 
 
 380 
 
 263.7425 
 
 
 48 
 
 43.6161 
 
 
 390 
 
 270.6740 
 
 
 .50 
 
 35.0029 
 
 
 .400 
 
 277.6055 
 
 
 r 55 
 
 38.4687 
 
 
 '410 
 
 284.5370 
 
 
 60 
 
 41.9345 
 
 
 420 
 
 291.4685 
 
 
 65 
 
 45.4003 
 
 
 430 
 
 298.4000 
 
 
 70 
 
 48.8661 
 
 
 440 
 
 305.3314 
 
 
 75 
 
 
 1:- 
 
 450 
 
 312.2029 
 
 1 :< 
 
 80 
 
 55.7977 
 
 460 
 
 319.1943 
 
 
 85 
 
 59.2634 
 
 
 470 
 
 326.1258 
 
 
 90 
 
 62.7292 
 
 
 480 
 
 333.0573 
 
 
 95 
 
 66.1950 
 
 
 490 
 
 339.9888 
 
 
 100 
 
 69.6607 
 
 
 500 
 
 346.9202 
 
 
 
 1 : 1000 
 
 693.49. 
 
 Pel- Cent. 
 
 
 Per Cent- 
 
 
 age increase 
 
 Fenod of 
 
 age Increast 
 in Ten 
 
 Period of 
 
 in Ten 
 
 13oubiing. 
 
 
 years. 
 
 
 Years. 
 
 
 Y'ears. 
 
 
 Years. 
 
 1. 
 
 696.60 
 
 23.5 
 
 32.83 
 
 1.5 
 
 465.55 
 
 24. 
 
 32.22 
 
 2. 
 
 350.02 
 
 24.5 
 
 31.63 
 
 2.5 
 
 280.70 
 
 25. 
 
 31.06 
 
 3. 
 
 234.49 
 
 25.5 
 
 30.51 
 
 3.5 
 
 201.48 
 
 26. 
 
 20. QQ 
 
 4. 
 
 176.73 
 
 96.5 
 
 29.48 
 
 4.5 
 
 157.47 
 
 27. 
 
 28.99 
 
 5. 
 
 142.06 
 
 27.5 
 
 28.53 
 
 5.5 
 
 129.46 
 
 28. 
 
 28.07 
 
 6. 
 
 11 8.95 
 
 28.5 
 
 27.65 
 
 6.5 
 
 110.06 
 
 29. 
 
 27.22 
 
 7. 
 
 102.44 
 
 29.5 
 
 26.81 
 
 7.5 
 
 95.84 
 
 30. 
 
 26.41 
 
 8. 
 
 90.06 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 8.5 
 
 84.96 
 
 30.5 
 
 26.03 
 
 9. 
 
 80.43 
 
 31. 
 
 25.67 
 
 9.5 
 
 76.37 
 
 31.5 
 
 25.31 
 
 10. 
 
 72.72 
 
 32. 
 
 24.96 
 
 
 
 32.5 
 
 24.63 
 
 
 
 10.5 
 
 69.42 
 
 33. 
 
 24.30 
 
 11. 
 
 66.41 
 
 33.5 
 
 23.99 
 
 11.5 
 
 63.67 
 
 34. 
 
 23.68 
 
 12. 
 
 61.12 
 
 34.5 
 
 23.38 
 
 12.5 
 
 58.06 
 
 35. 
 
 23.09 
 
 13. 
 
 56.71 
 
 35.5 
 
 22.81 
 
 13.5 
 
 54.73 
 
 36. 
 
 22.54 
 
 14. 
 
 52.90 
 
 36.5 
 
 22.27 
 
 14.5 
 
 51.19 
 
 37. 
 
 22.01 
 
 15. 
 
 49.59 
 
 37.5 
 
 21.76 
 
 15.5 
 
 48.10 
 
 38. 
 
 21.52 
 
 16. 
 
 46.70 
 
 38.5 
 
 21.28 
 
 16.5 
 
 45.38 
 
 39. 
 
 21.04 
 
 17. 
 
 44.14 
 
 39.5 
 
 20.82 
 
 17.5 
 
 42.98 
 
 40. 
 
 20.61 
 
 18. 
 
 41.87 
 
 
 
 18.5 
 
 40.83 
 
 41. 
 
 20.17 
 
 19. 
 
 39.84 
 
 42. 
 
 19.76 
 
 
 38.91 
 
 43. 
 
 19.37 
 
 20. 
 
 38.01 
 
 44. 
 
 19.00 
 
 
 
 45. 
 
 18.65 
 
 
 
 20.5 
 
 37.17 
 
 46. 
 
 18.31 
 
 21. 
 
 36.36 
 
 47. 
 
 17.99 
 
 21.5 
 
 35.59 
 
 48. 
 
 17.68 
 
 22. 
 
 34.85 
 
 49. 
 
 17.38 
 
 22.5 
 
 34.15 
 
 50. 
 
 17.06 
 
 23. 
 
 33.48 
 
 
 
334 PGR 
 
 Porson. PORSON (Richard), the greatest of the verbal 
 V— — ' critics and classical scholars of modern times, borji 
 25th December 1759, was the son of Mr Huggin 
 Porson, parish clerk of East Ruston, near North 
 Walsham, in Norfolk. 
 
 His father taught him, in his childhood, to prac- 
 tise all the common rules of arithmetic by memory 
 , only ; and, before he was nine years old, he had 
 learned to extract the cube root in this manner. 
 He employed, at the same time, for teaching him to 
 read and write, the method which has since been ge- 
 nerally introduced in the schools of mutual instruc- 
 tion, making him draw the letters with chalk or on 
 sand : and the neatness and accuracy of his hand- 
 writing, for which he was distinguished through life, 
 may be considered as bearing ample testimony to 
 his father's ingenuity and success. 
 
 At the age of nine he was sent to a village school, 
 kept by a Mr Summers ; but his father still made 
 him repeat by heart in the evening the whole of the 
 lessons of the day, and there seems to be sufficient 
 evidence for considering this practice of exercising 
 the memory continually, in very early life, as the 
 best, if not the only method of cultivating, if not of 
 producing great talent : for though a strong metno- 
 ry by no means constitutes talent, yet its possession 
 is almost a necessary condition for the successful 
 exertion of talent in general, and, indeed, it is very 
 possible that the other faculties of the mind may be 
 strengthened by the early cultivation of this one. 
 It is remarkable that Wallis, who was as deservedly 
 celebrated in his day as Porson, for his unerring sa- 
 gacity, had also a singular facihty of retaining num- 
 bers and calculations in his memory, but without 
 having taken any particular pains to acquire the ha- 
 bit. Mr Hewitt, the vicar of the parish of East 
 Ruston, hearing of young Person's uncommon ca- 
 pacity, undertook to instruct both him and his bro- 
 ther Thomas in classical literature ; and when he was 
 about fifteen, Mr Norris, a wealthy and respectable 
 gentleman of the neighbourhood, having ascertained 
 the truth of the reports that he heard of him, resolv- 
 ed to be at the expense of sending him to Eton. 
 Without this assistance, it would have been impossi- 
 ble for Porson to have acquired great excellence in 
 any intellectual pursuit ; for his father's situation in 
 life was not such as to exempt his son even from the 
 subordinate occupations of the country. He went 
 oiit gleaning, in the autumn, with a Horace in his 
 pocket ; and he had learned by experience to appre- 
 ciate the mechanical labours of Penelope, before he 
 was much acquainted with the wisdom and wander- 
 ings of Ulysses. 
 
 At Eton, his talents procured him the friendship 
 and admiration of the seniors among his schoolfel- 
 lows, and, upon the unfortunate death of his first 
 patron, Mr Norris, he found a number of liberal 
 contributors, who stepped forward to supply the de- 
 ficiency ; but by far the most active of them was Sir 
 George Baker, then President of the Royal College 
 of Physicians ; a man as much distinguished by his 
 own classical taste and acquirements, as by his laud- 
 able disposition to cherish learning in others. He 
 received the boy into his house for a vacation, and 
 undertook, at the request of a relation of Mr Norris, 
 
 PGR 
 
 the disagreeable task of receiving, in small sums, as Porson. 
 much as was sufficient to purchase an income of s^^^^ 
 L. 80 a year, for a few years, in the short annuities, 
 which served, with great economy, to enable him to 
 remain at Eton. This favour appears to have been 
 too great to be properly acknowledged, or perhaps 
 even duly appreciated, by its object, who only after 
 many years paid Sir George the tardy compliment 
 of a dedication, not, however, of an edition, but of a 
 handsome copy of a single play of Euripides. In 
 his own opinion, Porson learned little at Eton be- 
 sides the quantity of syllables, being able to repeat 
 by heart before he went there the principal part of 
 the authors that he had to read ; that is, almost the 
 whole of Horace and Virgil, and the Iliad, and ma- 
 ny parts of Cicero, Livy, and the Odyssey. A story 
 is accordingly told of his book having been changed 
 by one of his schoolfellows in joke, when he was 
 going up to a lesson in Horace, and of his having 
 read and translated what was required of him, with- 
 out at all betraying the change to the master. At 
 the same time, the emulation of a public school must 
 have been a great advantage to him, as affijrding him 
 a motive for exertion in his exercises, whether they 
 were to be called his own, or to be written for other 
 boys. It was a copy of Toup's Longinus, presented 
 to him as a reward for a good exercise, that first 
 gave him a decided inclination for the pursuit of 
 critical researches ; but he always considered Bent- 
 ley and Dawes as his great masters in criticism. 
 
 In 1777 he was sent to Trinity College, Cam- 
 bridge, and at first he began to apply more particu- 
 larly to the mathematics, which had been the favour- 
 ite study of his boyhood, and in which, as he himself 
 remarked, his proficiency first brought him into a cer- 
 tain degree of public notice. He was, however, soon di- 
 verted from the pursuit, although he attained a place 
 among the sefiior optimes of his year. But he was 
 in fact more calculated for classical than for mathema- 
 tical excellence ; his memory would have been in a 
 great measure thrown away, if he had been employ- 
 ed in abstract calculations ; and his inventive powers 
 do not appear to have been at all of the same class 
 with his retentive faculties ; although certainly in the 
 mechanical pursuit of the fashionable methods of 
 modern analysis, which are intended, like steam en- 
 gines, to overcome all difficulties by the inanimate 
 forces of mere patience and perseverance, he was 
 capable of filling as distinguished a place as any liv- 
 ing algebraist. The classical prize medal, and the 
 university scholarship, he obtained without difficulty, 
 as matters of course. The exercise, which he exhi- 
 bited upon the examination for the scholarship, is 
 the well known translation of an epitaph into Greek 
 iambics ; which, although not free from some inaccu- 
 racies in the use of the tenses, is still a very remark- 
 able production, when it is considered as having been 
 completed in less than an hour, with the help of 
 Morell's Thesaurus only, and never afterwards cor- 
 rected. 
 
 He obtained a fellowship of Trinity College in 
 1781, and took his degree of Master of Arts in 
 1785 ; but not thinking it right to subscribe the Ar- 
 ticles of the Chureh of England, he could not enter 
 into orders, and he was therefore unavoidably de- 
 
P O R 
 
 PorioB. prived of his fellowship in 1791, having no depend- 
 ^•■^/-■^ ence left for his subsistence through life, but his abi- 
 lities and acquirements. His friends, however, did 
 not abandon him on this urgent occasion, and in or- 
 der to keep him out of actual want, a private sub- 
 scription was set on foot, to which Mr Cracherode 
 was one of the principal contributors, and by which 
 enough was raised to purchase him an annuity of 
 about L. 100 a year for life. A small addition was 
 made to his income, about two years after, by his 
 election to the Greek Professorship at Cambridge, 
 with a salary of only L. 40 a year. The situation, 
 however, gave him the option of at least doubling his 
 whole receipts, by the delivery of an annual course 
 of lectures in the university; and it was supposed 
 that he would have made this exertion, if he had not 
 been discouraged by the difficulty of obtaining rooms 
 in his college, where it would have been his wish to 
 reside. 
 
 He married, in 1795, Mrs Lunan, a sister of the 
 late Mr Perry, well known as the editor of the 
 Morning Chronicle, but he had the misfortune to 
 lose his wife two years afterwards. Mr Perry 
 continued to be his greatest friend through life, 
 and was so far his best benefactor, as he knew how 
 to oblige him essentially, without the appearance of 
 doing him a favour. Person had sometimes cham- 
 bers in the Temple, and sometimes he lodged at the 
 Morning Chronicle office : frequently also he was a 
 visitor at Mr Perry's house at Merton, where he had 
 the misfortune to leave several of his books, at the 
 time of a fire, which destroyed them all, and among 
 them some letters of Rhunkenius, with whom he had 
 begun a correspondence in 1783, and who had com- 
 municated to him some valuable fragments of Ms- 
 chylus, besides his manuscript copy of the lexicon of 
 Photius, which had cost him ten months labour. 
 He used indeed to say that this fire had destroyed the 
 fruits of twenty years of his life ; but he had the re- 
 solution to complete a second copy of the Photius, 
 which is now in the library of Trinity College. His 
 fondness for the mechanical employment of his pen 
 has been regretted b}' some of his biographers, as 
 having tempted him to waste much of his most valu- 
 able time on a trifling amusement : but in fact, his 
 mode of writing Greek was fully as much calculated 
 for expedition as for beauty ; and those, who have 
 not been in the habit of correcting mutilated passages 
 of manuscripts, can form no estimate of the immense 
 advantage that is obtained, by the complete sifting of 
 every letter, which the mind involuntarily performs, 
 while the hand is occupied in tracing it : so that, if 
 the correction of Photius was really worth the labour 
 of two years of Person's life, it would have been 
 scarcely possible to employ the greater part of those 
 years more advantageously, than by copying him 
 twice over. Mr Weston, in speaking,of " his match- 
 less penmanship," has observed, not very intelligibly, 
 that " here, indeed, he thought himself surpassed 
 by" another person " not in the stroke, but the 
 sweep, of his letters :" what Person really said on this 
 subject was, that, with respect to ** command of 
 hand," that person had the advantage, but he prefer- 
 red the model on which his own hand was formed. 
 
 PGR 335 
 
 His writing was, in fact, more like that of a scholar. Person, 
 while the method explained in Mr Hodgkin's Colli- ^ ' v*"^ 
 graphia exhibits more the appearance of the work 
 of a writing master ; holding, however, a middle 
 place between the neatness of Person, and the won- 
 derful accuracy of the country schoolmaster who 
 made the fac simile of the Oxford Pindar in the Bri- 
 tish Museum. 
 
 Upon the establishment of the London Institution, 
 his friends obtained for him the very desirable ap- 
 pointment of principal librarian, with a salary of 
 L. 200 a year, and apartments in the house of the 
 Institution, which was then in the Old Jewry ; but 
 although the arrangement was highly honourable to 
 all parties, the librarianship was little more than a 
 sinecure. Person was, however, in the habit of at- 
 tending in his place when the reading room was open, 
 and of communicating, very readily, all the literary 
 information that was required, by those who consult- 
 ed him respecting the object of their researches. 
 Had the inhabitants of Finsbury Square and its 
 neighbourhood been more disposed to classical stu- 
 dies, and had the librarian of the Institution surviv- 
 ed, to witness its completion and prosperity, his 
 sphere of utility would, without doubt, have been 
 greatly extended. 
 
 But it must ever be lamented that Person's habits 
 of life had unfortunately been such as to lay a foun- 
 dation for a multitude of diseases ; he suffered much 
 from asthma throughout the year 1808 ; his memory 
 began to fail him a little ; and in the autumn he had 
 some symptoms of intermittent fever. On Monday 
 the 19th of September he had an apoplectic attack 
 in the street, and he was carried to a neighbouring 
 poor house in a state of insensibility : the next day 
 an advertisement appeared in one of the papers, re- 
 lating the accident, and describing some manuscripts 
 which wei'e found in his pocket, consisting of Greek 
 fragments and algebraical characters : his friends at 
 the London Institution immediately went in quest of 
 him : he was afterwards well enough to appear in the 
 Hbrary, and to receive a visit there from Dr Adam 
 Clarke ; but his speech was impaired, and his facul- 
 ties evidently imperfect ; he .survived only through 
 the week, and died in his 49th year, on Sunday the 
 25th of September 1808, at midnight. 
 
 He was buried at Cambridge, in Trinity College 
 Chapel, near the grave of Bentley, and the monu- 
 ment of Newton. He founded by will an annual 
 prize, to be given to the best Greek translation from 
 an English dramatic author : and several specimens of 
 the successful pieces have been published from time to 
 time in the Classical Journal. His books were sold by 
 auction, and many of them found purchasers at high 
 prices, especially such as were enriched with any of 
 his manuscript notes in their margins ; but rnore than 
 two hundred of these, which appeared to be the most 
 valuable, were withheld from the sale, and were af- 
 terwards purchased, together with the whole of his 
 manuscript papers, by the Society of Trinity College, 
 for the sum of a thousand guineas. He left a sister, 
 married to Siday Hawes, Esq. of Coltishall, Nor- 
 folk. His brother Thomas kept a boarding-school 
 at Fakenham, and died, without issue, in 1792 : hi&. 
 
336 FOR 
 
 Person, second brother Henry was a farmer in Essex, and died 
 '^•v-^ young, leaving three children. His father had lived 
 to 74-, his mother to 57* 
 
 The principal works of Porson are his Letters to 
 Travis, his four plays of Euripides with their pre- 
 faces, and the manuscript copy of Photius : the rest, 
 though somewhat voluminous, are chiefly miscellane- 
 ous annotations on detached passages of a multitude 
 of ancient authors. We find nothing in the nature 
 of theory, or of the discovery of general laws, except 
 some canons, which he has laid down, chiefly as hav- 
 ing been used by the Greek tragedians in the con- 
 struction of their verses. These are chiefly contain- 
 ed in the preface to the Heuba, together with its 
 supplement. 1. The first is, that when a tragic iam- 
 bic ends with a trisyllable, or a cretic, this word 
 must be preceded either by a short syllable, or by a 
 monosyllable. For example, an ancient tragedian 
 would not have written the line "E^o/ di firjiror 
 avsvTirov tswaarog ; though it might have been unex- 
 ceptionable in a comedy. It seems to have been 
 about the year 1790 that Porson first made this ob- 
 servation ; he certainly did not attend to it in his 
 own serious translation of the Epitaph on Alexis : 
 but it was mentioned, in 1791j by one of Porson's 
 intimate friends, in a moment of conviviality, while 
 he was somewhat characteristically attempting to fill 
 his glass out of an empty bottle; and the author of 
 this article observed in answer, that it would certain- 
 ly sound better, on such an occasion as then occur- 
 red, to say, Uav IxirWrnag" oi)5' sKStrTI xorra^og, than 
 ou XeXsz-TTTAI xorra^og. 2. The second canon is, 
 that an anapaest is only admissible in a tragic iam- 
 bic, as constituting the first foot, except in some 
 cases of proper names : this indeed had been curso- 
 rily hinted by Dawes. 3. The same critic had also 
 remarked, that the Attic poets never lengthen a 
 short vowel before a mute or aspirate, followed by a 
 liquid, or a middle consonant followed by g ; and 
 Porson more amply confirmed the observation as very 
 generally, though not universally correct. On the 
 other hand, Dawes had cursorily observed that Ho- 
 mer, and the other ancient epic poets, generally 
 lengthened the vowel in such cases, and Porson's 
 great rival, Hermann, has more fully established this 
 distinction, as affording a good criterion of antiqui- 
 ty. 4. There are also some original remarks of 
 Porson on the caesura, in iambics, and trochaics, and 
 anapaests : he showed that the scenic poets do not 
 elide the final iota, and that the tragedians do not 
 employ the preposition 'rre^l before a vowel ; and some 
 other general laws, of greater importance than these, 
 may probably be found in some of his publications, 
 which it will now be necessary to enumerate in the 
 order of time. 
 
 1. His first attempts, as an author, consisted of 
 some anonymous articles in Dr Maty's Review, be- 
 ginning with a part of Schutz's JEschylus, June 
 1783, Tracts ii. Brunck's Aristophanes, July 1783, 
 Tracts iii. ; Mus. Crit. 11. 113; written in a day. 
 In Latin, by Schafer, Class. Journ. V. 136. Wes- 
 ton's Hermesianax, April 1784), Tracts iv. Hunt- 
 ingford's Apology for his Menostrophics, August 1784', 
 Tracts v. Account of the Learned Pig, April 1785, 
 
 la 
 
 FOR 
 
 Tracts vi. Note, with letters of Le Clerc and Bent- Porson. 
 ley, April 1786, Tracts vii. s^-^ 
 
 2. He added some Notes to an edition of Xeno- 
 phon's Anabasis, published by Nicholson, at Cam- 
 bridge. 4<to and 8vo. 1786. They are addressed 
 Lectiori si quis erit. 
 
 3. Three Panegyrical Epistles to Sir John Haw- 
 kins, Gent. Mag. Aug. Sept. Oct. 1787. Tracts ix. 
 
 4. Notes on Toupii Emendationes in Suidam. 8vo. 
 Oxf. 1790. Written in 1787. 
 
 5. Letters on the Three Witnesses, Gent. Mag. 
 Oct. Dec. 1788. Feb. April, May, June, Aug. 
 1789. Feb. 1790. The last reprinted. Tracts xix. ; 
 most of the others in the collection of Letters to Mr 
 Archdeacon Travis, in answer to his defence of the 
 Three Heavenly Witnesses, 8vo. Lond. 1790. These 
 letters are generally considered, by critics of all 
 parties, as finally decisive of a question, which had 
 often been agitated before, but never so learnedly 
 argued, nor so satisfactorily discussed in all its 
 bearings. 
 
 6. In the Monthly Revieio, Robertson's Essay on 
 the Parian Chronicle, Jan. 1789, Tracts xiii. ; satis- 
 factorily answering the principal part of the objec- 
 tions alleged against the authenticity of that monu- 
 ment. Edwards's edition of the work attributed to 
 Plutarch, on Education, July 1793, Tracts xxi. 
 Payne Knight's Greek Alphabet, Jan. 1794', Tracts 
 xxiii. Py bus's Sovereign, Dec. 1800 ; an article af- 
 fording a good specimen of his talent for humour. 
 
 7. He is supposed to have written some Remarks 
 on an Essay upon the Transfiguration, but never 
 expressly acknowledged them. Tracts xv. 
 
 8. He added a few short Notes to the London 
 edition of Heyne's Virgil, 8vo. 1793; for which he 
 made an agreement with the bookseller to correct 
 the press : but he complained that his corrections 
 were disregarded ; and in fact several hundred errors, 
 of no great importance, were sufiered to disfigure it. 
 
 9. He corrected the Greek text of iEschylus for 
 the Glasgow editions, the folio of 1795, and the two 
 volumes octavo, printed in 1794, but only published 
 London, 1806. The folio is said to have appeared 
 surreptitiously. There are more than two hundred 
 original corrections, and a further number of passage* 
 pointed out as corrupt. 
 
 10. In the Morning Chronicle he published, at 
 different times, a variety of spirited articles of a 
 temporary nature. One of the most amusing was 
 the Nursery Song in Greek iambics, 13th April 
 1796 ; called A Fragment of Sophocles, and signed 
 « S. England," in ridicule of Ireland's pretended 
 discoveries. 
 
 1 1 . Imitations of Horace. Spirit of the Public 
 Journals, 1797. Class. Jour. IV. 97* 
 
 12. The first four plays of Euripides appeared 
 separately at different periods. The Hecuba, Bvo. 
 London, 1797, Cambridge, 1802, with a Supplement 
 and additional notes ; which were also published sepa- 
 rately, London, 1808. Orestes, London, 1798, 1811. 
 PhoenisscB, London, 1799, 1811. Medea, Cam- 
 bridge, 1801 ; London, 1812. The four together, 
 London, 1822. 
 
 13. Collation of the Harleian manuscript of the 
 
PGR 
 
 Porson. Odysiey for the Grenville Homer, 4to. Oxford, 1800; 
 -■'^'-^ with some short notes. Reprinted, Class. Jour. IX. 
 
 14. the Reviev>qf Wakefield's Lucretius, In the 
 British Critic for May 1801, the principal part ap- 
 pears to be Porson'd. 
 
 15. A Letter signed J. N. Dawes, Monthly Mag. 
 Dec. 1802 ; on some Greek constructions; admitting 
 also an inaccuracy of his own with respect to a 
 hiatus, pointed out by Mr C. Falconer. 
 
 16. A Letter to Professor Dalzel, dated Sept. 
 1803; Mus. Crit. I. p. 326; in answer to some re- 
 marks published in the Professor's Collectanea Ma- 
 jora ; with an Epigram respecting Hermann in Greek 
 and in English. 
 
 17. ^^^ro^/o^M^, Edinburgh, 1806. Porson correct- 
 ed the press for the first volume. 
 
 18. Supplement to some Indices, Tracts xxxvi. 
 
 19. It is well known that Porson bestowed consi- 
 derable pains on the restoration of the text of the 
 Rosetta Stone : his Supplements were added to the 
 plates engraved by the Society of Antiquaries : they 
 also appear among his Tracts, xxxvii. In Dr 
 Clarke's Greek Marbles, 8vo. Cambridge, 1 809, we 
 find a translation of this inscription, communicated 
 to the editor by Porson, and printed from " a cor- 
 rected copy in his own beautiful hand writing but 
 we may here venture to apply Person's favourite re- 
 mark on the facility of transposition, and to read, '< a 
 copy corrected in his own writing," that is, on the 
 margin of Mr Gough's translation, as published in 
 Duane's Coins : for the whole is very negligently per- 
 formed; and it is not a little remarkable that this 
 translation, which was at least approved by Porson, 
 is decidedly less accurate than the Latin translation 
 of Heyne, as appears from the investigation of the 
 enchorial inscription, published in the sixth number 
 of the Museum, Criticum. 
 
 20. A variety of Person's fugitive and miscella- 
 neous pieces have reappeared at different times in 
 the Classical Journal. Authors cited by the Scholiast 
 on Plato, II. 619, Tracts xxxviii. The Epitaph, 
 III. 233 ; more correctly than in the Tracts, but 
 still with a gross error in the punctuation of the last 
 line, which stands, in a manuscript copy of his own, 
 Te'^vriX i 0 dri rdxKfra -Trdtf^ouff oi ^yo^oi; this reading, 
 though not very elegant, is at least more defensible, 
 than to make nde-xiiv alone signify to die, and a 
 phrase to end with o ! A Charade in Latin, VII. 
 24;8. Some Notes on Mschylus, VIL 456, VIII. 
 15, 181, X. 114. A property of the lines employed 
 in the 47th proposition of the first book of Euclid, p. 
 401. Notes on Apollonius Rhodius, XVIII. 370. 
 
 21. Adversaria, 8vo. Cambridge, 1812. Consist- 
 ing of Notes on the Greek Poets, selected from his 
 manuscripts, and arranged by Professor Monk and 
 C. J. Bloomfield, M A. The first article is an in- 
 teresting Lecture on Euripides, delivered upon his 
 appointment to the Greek Professorship: it is fol- 
 lowed by a few miscellaneous observations, and by 
 a large collection of Notes on Athenaeus, on Euripi- 
 
 , des, on the Fragments of the Tragic and Comic Poets, 
 on Stobaeus, and on a variety of poets of miscella- 
 neous descriptions. The volume was reprinted at 
 Amsterdam, without any alteration, but the sale of 
 
 VOL. VI. PART {. 
 
 P O R 337 
 
 the foreign edition has never been permitted in Porson. 
 Great Britain. j ^ -i_ ^ 
 
 22. Tracts and Miscellaneous Criticisms, collected 
 and arranged by the Be v. T. Kidd, M. A. 8vo. 
 London, 1815. Besides the articles already no- 
 ticed as reprinted in this volume, there are a few 
 Notes on Dawes's Miscellanea Critica, not before 
 published. No. xli. Some supplementary pages of 
 Simplicius and Cebes, reprinted by Porson, for the 
 use of his friends, as restored by Schweighiiuser : 
 the want of this leaf of the manuscript of Simplicius 
 had given rise to the mistaken assertion that Xeno- 
 pUon was proclaimed a public benefactor at the 
 Olympic Games, on occasion of the return of the 
 ten thousand. There are also some, miscellaneous 
 Notes on Athenaeus, Menander, and Philemon, Aris- 
 tides, Pausanias, and the lexicographers, and some 
 Indices of authors quoted by Scholiasts. 
 
 23. Notae in Aristophanem, quibus Plutum co- 
 moediam adjecit P. P. Dobree, 8vo. Cambridge, 1820. 
 
 24. Gaisford Lectiones Platonicae. Accedunt 
 R. Porsoni Notae ad Pausaniam, 8vo. Oxford, 1820. 
 
 25. Photii Lexicon, 8vo. Cambridge, 1822. 
 To attempt to form a just estimate of the merit 
 
 of such a man as Porson, without servilely following 
 the dictates of common fame, or blindly adopting the 
 opinions of others, is a task of no small difficulty, 
 even to one who had the advantage of his personal 
 acquaintance for the last twenty years of his life. 
 But it may safely be conceded to common fame and 
 to partial friendship, that he was one of the greatest 
 men, and the very greatest critic, of his own or of 
 any other age. " Nothing came amiss," says Mr 
 Weston, '< to his memory. He would set a child ~ 
 right in his twopenny fable book, repeat the whole of 
 the moral tale of the Dean of Badajoz, a page of 
 Athenaeus on cups, or of Eustathius on Homer, 
 even though he did every thing to impair his mental 
 faculties." It cannot, however, be denied, that the 
 talents, and even the industry, that he possessed, 
 might have made him a much greater man, had they 
 been employed in some other department of human 
 intellect. He might probably have been as great a 
 statesman or as great a general as he was a scholar, 
 and in these capacities his acquirements would have 
 affected the interests of a much greater multitude of 
 his fellow creatures, than can ever be benefited by 
 the fruits of his erudition; and he might possibly 
 have gained more popularity as an orator or a poet, 
 than his refined investigations of grammar and pro- 
 sody could ever procure him, although it is not by 
 any means certain that his fancy and invention could 
 have been rendered by any cultivation at all compa- 
 rable to his memory and acuteness. But as far as 
 regards the possession of a combination of the facul- 
 ties which he did cultivate, he appears to have been 
 decidedly the most successful of any man on record 
 in the same department. On the other hand, it must 
 be admitted that the subjects of his pursuits were in 
 their nature incapable of raising a man to the first 
 rank among the permanent benefactors of the human 
 race ; and, if we calmly consider the ultimate ob- 
 jects of prosody and metre, it will appear almost un- 
 fair to allow the discoverer of the prosodiacal rules, 
 u u 
 
338 P 0 R 
 
 rorson. adopted by the ancient poets in their melodrames 
 w -..^w and choruses, to rank so very high among the lumi- 
 naries of an age, and yet to look down, with so much 
 contempt as we are accustomed to do, on the cha- 
 racter of a modern Dieu de la danse, notwithstanding 
 that he thought himself the third great man of his 
 day, with Voltaire and the King of Prussia, for hav- 
 ing given soul and sentiment to the measures and 
 movements of the choric representations of the pre- 
 sent times. Among the talents of Person, however, 
 which were so far superior to the importance of the 
 objects on which they were employed, we ought not, 
 perhaps, to consider his remarkable strength of me- 
 mory as the most to be envied, since many persons 
 v/ho have been possessed of singular and almost mi- 
 raculous, not to say morbid, memories, have been but 
 little distinguished by any other faculty ; and it ap- 
 pears to be possible that a memory may in itself be 
 even too retentive for real practical utility, as if of 
 too microscopic a nature ; and it seems to be by a 
 wise and benevolent, though by no means an obvious 
 arrangement of a Creative Providence, that a certain 
 degree of oblivion becomes a most useful instrument 
 in the advancement of human knowledge, enabling 
 us readily to look back on the prominent features 
 only of various objects and occurrences, and to class 
 them and reason upon them, by the help of this in- 
 voluntary kind of abstraction and generalisation, 
 with incomparably greater facility than we could do, 
 if we retained the whole detail of what had been once 
 but slightly impressed on our minds. It is thus, for 
 example, in physic, that the experienced practitioner 
 learns at length to despise the relation of individual 
 symptoms, and particular cases, on which alone the 
 empiric insists, and to feel the value of the Hippo- 
 cratic system of " attending more to the prognostic 
 than the diagnostic features of disease ;" which, to a 
 younger student, appears to be perfect imbecility. 
 And it is perhaps for some similar reason that many 
 persons, besides Barnes, " of happy memory," have 
 had to wait long in darkness for " the day of judg- 
 ment." But it must be repeated, that Porson's 
 judgment and acuteness were really almost para- 
 mount to his memory, and with the addition of these 
 faculties, his memory naturally rendered him capable 
 of much that would have been impossible without it. 
 
 The respect that is justly due to classical learning 
 has frequently been exaggerated in this country, 
 partly, perhaps, on account of the awe which is natu- 
 rally entertained, by an ingenuous mind, for its in- 
 structors in the earliest studies, by which it is ad- 
 vanced towards maturity : and classical learning hav- 
 ing most wisely been placed by our ancestors the 
 foremost, in the order of a liberal education, which is 
 most commonly adopted in Great Britain, a personal 
 as well as a general respect has been involuntarily 
 paid to the characters of the individuals concerned, 
 and to the dignity of all those who are engaged in si- 
 milar occupations ; besides that, the means being, by 
 a most frequent inattention of the human mind, con- 
 founded with the end for which they are sought, the 
 words and syllables, and the phrases and measures 
 of the Greek and Latin authors have been often the 
 almost frivolous occupation of a valuable life, instead 
 of that of a few of the years of boyhood, which it 
 
 FOR 
 
 was intended to devote to them, and which could Person, 
 not have been so well engaged in any other way. It 
 is, however, wholly unjust to stigmatize the study of 
 the classics, and of languages in general, as being 
 confined to words instead of things : for it is utterly- 
 impossible that words can be learned, without the ac- 
 quisition of a considerable degree of knowledge of 
 the things to which they relate, and of the historical 
 facts which they have been employed to express, 
 and without an involuntary modelling of the mind to 
 the elegance and elevation oi sentiment, which per- 
 vade the works of those authors who are habitually 
 put into the hands of boys in the course of their ele- 
 mentary studies: an acquirement which is of still 
 greater value to the orator and the statesman, than 
 the command of language, and facility of expression, 
 and beauty of imagery, and power of reasoning, 
 which he derives from a perfect familiarity with the 
 great masters of antiquity. But granting all the re- 
 spect that can possibly be claimed, for ancient litera- 
 ture, we cannot but lament that such a man as Per- 
 son should have lived and laboured for nearly half a 
 century, and yet have left little or nothing to the 
 world that was truly and originally his own. 
 
 After the full admission of the very high rank 
 which is due to the comparative merits of Porson's 
 talents and acquirements, it may be thought almost 
 idle, if not invidious, to dwell on any trifling excep- 
 tions to their magnitude. But it is, in fact, of high 
 importance to the progress of human knowledge to 
 be aware of the degree in which the first of mankind 
 are liable to error. The admission of the few errors 
 of Newton himself is at least of as much importance 
 to his followers in science, as the history of the pro- 
 gress of his real discoveries ; and it is with reason 
 that the detection of an error in such a man is con- 
 sidered as almost paramount to the establishment 
 of a new fact. The English critics have been re- 
 proached, and not without some foundation, as pay- 
 ing too servile a deference to Porson's opinions, and 
 it seems to have been very generally believed among 
 them, that it was scarcely possible for him to commit 
 an error or an oversight. 
 
 Although Porgon was in many respects irregular, 
 and often idle, or even intemperate, yet what he did 
 perform as a critic may be allowed to leave a large 
 balance, at the end of his life, in favour of his gene- 
 ral industry, when compared with that of most of his 
 countrymen. It has indeed been asserted, and per- 
 haps with truth {Classical Journal, XXI.), that 
 " with things Poison appears to have possessed but 
 a very inconsiderable acquaintance, and not a trace 
 is to be found amidst his writings of that combina- 
 tion of universal encyclopaediacal knowledge with 
 language learning, which is so abundantly found in 
 the Dissertation on Phaliiris, and the countless pages 
 of Scaliger, Salmasius, and Casaubon." Certainly, 
 however, neither Salmasius nor Casaubon, with all 
 their learning, much less Scaliger, with all his indus- 
 try and parade, nor even Bentley himself, with all 
 his talent and acuteness, was at all comparable to 
 Porson in his own department, that is, as a sound 
 and accurate and refined Greek critic. 
 
 But it must be confessed, that at Cambridge, even 
 although Porson had resolved to make the classics 
 
FOR 
 
 P 0 R 
 
 339 
 
 his principal study, and although there had not yet 
 been many instances oPsenior wranglers, who were 
 also senior medallists, it was scarcely reputable for a 
 man, with his undeniable abilities, to be only the 
 twenty first of his year in mathematics. Among the 
 literary objects, also, which afterwards engaged his 
 attention, he might easily have found time for the 
 study of some of the modern languages, and he 
 might have derived essential benefit from it on many 
 occasions of critical research. He had, indeed, read 
 a good deal of French, but very little Italian : he had 
 studied the Anglosaxon, but he knew nothing of the 
 kindred dialects of the North of Europe, in which it 
 is preserved almost entire ; and he was wholly unac- 
 quainted with Oriental literature. He might have 
 profited materially by some of these studies, in de- 
 riving from them a clearer conception of the distinc- 
 tions of the tenses than he seems to have possessed, 
 and he might have enlightened us in no small degree, 
 with respect to the history of languages and of na- 
 tions, by such etymological investigations, as his 
 comprehensive mind, thus employed, would have 
 rendered him peculiarly capable of pursuing with 
 success. 
 
 It has been candidly and very truly admitted by a 
 rival critic in Germany, that Porson committed few- 
 er errors than almost any other person ; but it is 
 right to be aware that he has now and then commit- 
 ted some errors, even where he would have been ex- 
 pected to be the most correct. There is, for exam- 
 ple, a very strange oversight in one of the criticisms 
 contained in his early review of Weston's Herme- 
 siananaxj which implies a palpable blunder with re- 
 spect to the gender of a participle, Zomv inr^oZea ^vm 
 '7Tio2<pv^hs Ava^m U CeXou, " the cup of purple glass, 
 which measured the fragrant wine ;" and even in a 
 subsequent correction of the same passage, publish- 
 ed in his Adversaria, he has changed the gender of 
 an adjective in a way that is at least very unusual, if 
 not wholly without example, fisr^ovv Suossra. A 
 mere omission, in a criticism on another author, 
 would scarcely be called an error in an ordinary per- 
 son; but in such a critic as Porson, it is very remark- 
 able that he should have neglected to notice, in his 
 catalogue of the Errors of Le Clerc, omitted by 
 Bentley {Adv. ^^. 291), the grossest of all Le Clerc's 
 blunders, which is the quotation of the word Hypo- 
 phauli, or seniib^rbarous, from Pollux, with the 
 translation Sarlogines, or frying pans : while the real 
 text of Pollux simply and plainly states that the 
 Teganismi, or fricassutions, in the Hippocomvs of 
 Menander, is a semibarbarous word. These instan- 
 ces, which have occurred in a very cursory perusal of 
 some of Person's works, would certainly not deserve 
 to be noticed, in a general sketch of his character, 
 any otherwise than as exceptions to his perfect in- 
 fallibility. 
 
 It can scarcely be considered as an imperfection 
 in the constitution of Person's mind, that he wanted 
 that amiable vanity, which is gratified by the appro- 
 bation even of the most inconsiderable, and which 
 delights to choose for its objects the most innocent 
 and the most helpless of those who are casually pre- 
 sent in society. It has been observed that he would 
 neither give nor take praise ; and when he was told 
 
 that somebody had called him a giant in literature, Pomok 
 he remarked, that a man had no right to tell the pQy^Qo.jji 
 height of that which he could not measure. In fact, J L^ 
 having learned to know how little can be known,'' 
 it is not surprising that he found himself " without a 
 second, and without a judge," and that he was unwill- 
 ing to affect a community of sentiment, and an inter- 
 change of approbation with those whose acquirements 
 and opinions he felt that he had a right to despise. 
 It might have been wiser, in some instances, to con- 
 ceal this feeling ; but, on the other hand, he had per- 
 haps occasion for something of the habit of retreat- 
 ing into his conscious dignity, from his deficiency in 
 those general powers of ephemeral conversation, 
 which are so valuable in mixed societies : for, with all 
 his learning and all his memory, he was by no means 
 prominent as a talker. He had neither the inclina- 
 tion nor the qualifications to be a fascinating story 
 teller, or to become habitually a parasite at the ta- 
 bles of the affluent; but he was the delight of a li- 
 mited circle of chosen friends, possessing talent 
 enough to appreciate his merits, and to profit by the 
 information that he afforded them. 
 
 There has not yet been a life of Porson that has 
 collected all the particulars that would deserve to be 
 recorded by a biographer, who undertook the task 
 on an extensive scale ; but of detached documents 
 there is no deficiency. Mr Kidd has pointed out al- 
 most every work in which his name has been men- 
 tioned : the most material articles relating to him 
 will be enumerated here. 
 
 Morning Chrojucle, 6th October 1808. A short 
 Account of the late Mr Richard Porson, tvith some 
 particulars relative to his extraordinary taleHts i By 
 an admirer of great genius • (the Rev. S. Weston), 
 Mrjy.iTi 'xd-TTraiH xd^mvi Look for nothing beyond him. 
 8. Lond. 1808. Republished, with some additions, 
 under the title of Porsoniana, or Scraps from Por- 
 son's rich feast, 8. Lond. 1814. Bloorafield's Sapphic 
 Ode, Class. Journ. I. 1. Some anonymous Iambics, , 
 p. 81. Sale of his Library, p. 385. Athenaeum, 
 IV. 426, 521, V. 55. Class. Journ. IX. 386. Sa- 
 vage's Librarian, I. 274. Gentleman s Magazine, 
 LXXVIII. Monthly Magazine. Dr Adam Clarke' k 
 Narrative. Class. Journ. II. 720. Correspondenee 
 of Wakefield and Fox, 8. Lond. 1813, Greek Epi- 
 taph, Class. Journ. XXIII. 179; making Porsonum 
 equal to Newt6«us. Aikin^s General Biography, X. 
 4". Lond. 1815. Kidd's Imperfect Oidline. Tracts, 
 1815. Chalmers's Biographical Dictionary, XXY. 
 Lond. 1816.. (r. t.) 
 
 PORTUGAL.— This kingdom, the origin of whose 
 name is discussed in the Encyclopcedia, had different 
 limits assigned to it by the Romans, who possessed 
 it under the name of Lusitania. Its northern boun- 
 dary was the river Douro^ whilst eastward it ex- 
 tended over a large part of Leon and Castile. Its 
 line of demarcation passed from the bridge of Arzo- 
 bispo to the eastward of Talavera, extended to Si- 
 manacas on the Douro, and included, within its 
 bounds the cities of Salamanca, Truxillo, Coria, 
 Merida, and Avila, and the several intermediate 
 towns and villages. When the northern tribes pene- 
 trated to the peninsula, and gained the mastery of 
 it, Lusitania still ' retained the same name, and a. 
 
340 
 
 Portugal. 
 
 PORTUGAL. 
 
 Limits^and 
 Extent. 
 
 branch of the Suevi, having established themselves 
 ill it, made Braga the capital of their government. 
 Though under the Moors, the names of many cities, 
 towns, rivers, and mountains, received the nomen- 
 clature of that people, yet the whole country retain- 
 ed the Roman title till the more modern name of 
 Portugal was bestowed upon it. 
 
 The present kingdom of Portugal is bounded on 
 the north by the Spanish province of Galicia, on the 
 east by the several provinces of Leon, Estremadura, 
 and Andalusia, and on the south and west by the 
 Atlantic Ocean. It has the figure of a parallelogram, 
 with its longest side from north to south ; extending 
 fiwm 37° 3' to 42° 12' north latitude, and from 6° 
 15' to 8° 55' west longitude from Greenwich. Its 
 extent is estimated, following the map of Lopez, at 
 3437 square leagues, or about 22.765.000 English 
 acres. The divisions of Portugal, like those of most 
 of the other kingdoms of Europe, have been derived 
 rather from feudal possessions than from any other 
 cause, and though they have produced great inequa- 
 lities in their extent, in their relative and absolute po- 
 pulation, and in their fertility and wealth, there is 
 no reason to expect any alteration in them^ ; they are 
 as follows, according to Antillon, viz. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Provinces. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Extent in Square 
 Leagues. 
 
 Extent in English 
 Acres. 
 
 Number of Acres 
 to Inhabitants. 
 
 Entre Duero e Minho 
 
 907-965 
 
 291 
 
 1.927.040 
 
 ^ 
 
 Tras los Montes - 
 
 318.665 
 
 455 
 
 3.007.760 
 
 
 La Beyra 
 
 1.121.595 
 
 753 
 
 4.936.88O 
 
 4 
 
 Estremadura 
 
 826.680 
 
 823 
 
 5.450.SS0 
 
 
 Alemtejo 
 
 380.480 
 
 883 
 
 5.848.320 
 
 
 Algarve 
 
 127.615 
 
 232 
 
 1.536.000 
 
 12 
 
 The population here given is the result of the last 
 actual census, which was taken in the year 1798, by 
 order of the late queen. The enumeration then 
 made was of the number of families, which, being 
 multiplied by five, gives the state of the population 
 here expressed. Notwithstanding the desolating 
 war which has since occurred) and which must, for a 
 time, and within certain districts, have lessened the 
 population, the best native authorities contend, that, 
 during the last twenty years, the increase has been 
 gradual, and that the number of inhabitants now is 
 nearly equal to that census. 
 
 Portugal may then be considered a well peopled 
 country ; as compared with Spain, the density of 
 population is as 3 to 2, and as compared with Scot- 
 land, which is of nearly the same extent, it is almost 
 double. If the whole of Portugal were as thickly 
 settled as the province of Entre Duero e Minho, the 
 number of souls would amount to 10,700,000 ; 
 whereas, if the whofe had no greater density than 
 that of Alemtejo, they would not exceed 1,480,000. 
 
 An ingenious writer, in comparing the present po- Portugal, 
 pulation of the kingdom with its state in the fifteenth 
 century, remarks that, " in the provinces where 
 commerce flourishes the inhabitants have increased ; 
 where they subsist by the fisheries they have dimi- 
 nished ; and where both commerce and the fisheries 
 exist, the increase has been only in proportion to 
 the quantum of commerce." * 
 
 _ The face of the country is generally mountainous, pace of the 
 divided into ridges by deep chasms, through which Country and 
 rapid torrents rush, in the rainy seasons ; but which, Reads, 
 in times of drought, scarcely afford sufficient sup- 
 plies of water for the wants of the inhabitants and 
 their cattle. This irregular surface of the country 
 is very unfavourable to intercourse between the dif- 
 ferent provinces. The expence of constructing roads 
 and bridges in such a country is too great to be borne 
 by its inhabitants. Hence, there is scarcely any con- 
 veyance either for goods or passengers by wheel car- 
 riages. Although, in the northern parts of the king- 
 dom, there are some bridges of very ancient erec- 
 tion, yet in the south scarcely any are to be found. 
 The roads, too, in the north are, in some few in- 
 stances, tolerably good. The merchants of Oporto 
 have constructed a road to Lamego for the convey- 
 ance of their wines, and are still extending it. A 
 good road has been formed to Mafra, and the Go- 
 vernment has been occupied in making one to Coira- 
 bra. In the southern provinces no such efforts have 
 been made ; but the road from Mertolato Beja, origi- 
 nally constructed by the Romans, has been recently 
 repaired. At present none are likely to be commenc- 
 ed, so that the inconveniences of travelling are per- 
 haps greater than in any other part of Europe. 
 
 The state of agriculture was till lately very bad ; Agriculture, 
 and though much of the soil is naturally fertile, and 
 the climate highly favourable to the production of 
 all the necessaries of life, yet Portugal did not 
 raise moi-e corn than was sufficient for one third of 
 its annual consumption ; and though animal food 
 can scarcely be deemed an article of general sus- 
 tenance, its own lands did not pasture cattle sufficient 
 for the scanty demand of the inhabitants. When 
 cultivated with care, the soil produces abundant crops 
 of wheat, barley, maize, and rice ; besides which, it 
 yields hemp and flax of excellent quality. Some im- 
 provements in husbandry have, however, begun to 
 appear. The cultivation of potatoes has been in- 
 troduced, and, on the more elevated parts of the 
 country, with great success. They have extend- 
 ed rapidly, and form already so large a part of the 
 sustenance of the inhabitants, that the exportation 
 of flour from the United States of America has 
 nearly ceased ; and the small quantity of corn now 
 required is drawn from the northern parts of Europe, 
 or from the Cape de Verd Islands. 
 
 The attention of the Portuguese husbandmen is 
 principally directed to the production of those ar- 
 ticles which find their most ready vent in foreign 
 countries, or which are raised with the least la- 
 bour. Of the first sort is their wine, chiefly in the 
 
 • Memoiras Economicas de Academia Real das Sciencias de Lisboa, Tom. I. p. 123. 
 
 4 
 
PORTUGAL. 
 
 341 
 
 Portugal, northern provinces. The quantity usually made is 
 about 80,000 pipes of red, and 60,000 pipes of 
 white. Of the former about one half is sent to 
 England, about one eighth to the other parts of 
 northern Europe, and the remainder to Brazil, Not 
 more than one sixth part of the white wine is ex- 
 ported to all the countries of Europe ; the rest is 
 either sent to Brazil or is consumed at home; but, 
 in general, the natives drink wine of a quality far in- 
 ferior to any that could find a vent in foreign mar- 
 kets. The productions that require but little la- 
 bour, such as chesnuts, almonds, oranges, lemons, 
 and citrons, are profusely raised ; and, with the 
 onions and garlic, form no small proportion of the 
 aliment of the inhabitants. Olive trees are plentiful, 
 and the oil expressed from their fruit forms an im- 
 portant article of sustenance ; and though not of a 
 quality or flavour that is relished for the table in fo- 
 reign countries, it is a considerable article of export ; 
 being used by the woollen manufacturers of Eng- 
 land, Holland, and Germany, in their respective 
 operations. 
 
 Fisheries. The sea coasts of Portugal abound with excel- 
 lent fish, especially with Tunnys and Sardinias, and 
 they, as well as the rivers, afford both occupation 
 and food to a great portion of the inhabitants ; but 
 the supply from them is inadequate to the wants of 
 the population, whose consumption of that kind of 
 diet, from their adherence to the fasts prescribed by 
 the Catholic religion, is very great ; requiring an 
 annual importation of salted fish, which is furnished 
 by the English and Americans, from the banks of 
 Newfoundland, and by the Swedes, Norwegians, and 
 Dutch. 
 
 Manufac- The manufactories of Portugal are in a very lan- 
 tures. guid state. With the exception of the lower classes 
 of people, who are clothed with their domestic ma- 
 nufactures, or with the skins of their shesp, nearly 
 the whole of the nation may be said to be furnished 
 with their apparel from England, Holland, and Ger- 
 many. The few manufactures of Portugal are those 
 of cotton, at Alcobaza and Tomar; of linens, at 
 Guimarens, on the Ave ; of glass, at Leyria ; and of 
 woollen cloths, at Guarda. The best goods that are 
 made in the kingdom, as compared with those of 
 other countries, are the cambrics, shirting and table 
 linens, and sewing threads. In Lisbon are made 
 some silks, hats, and silver and plated wares. A 
 late most superb service of plate, presented to the 
 Duke of Wellington, made wholly by natives, shows 
 that they are not deficient in taste in the goldsmith's 
 art. 
 
 Minerals. The mineral riches of Portugal have been much 
 neglected. There are mines of tin which were for- 
 merly worked to considerable extent, and much pro- 
 fit, but are now abandoned. Besides these, there are 
 veins of silver, iron, lead, and copper, none of which are 
 wrought. The country abounds with most beautiful 
 marbles, though many of the quarries are at so great 
 a distance from water conveyance, and the roads are 
 so bad, that they will not repay, in the present con- 
 dition of the kingdom, the expences attendant on 
 carrying them to a market. 
 
 Commerce. The emigration of the court to Brazil destroyed 
 
 that colonial monopoly which, till that event, was Portugal, 
 most rigidly maintained. Instead of being the'^'^^V^ 
 point in which both the wants and the produce of 
 the colonies met, and were exchanged, the im- 
 ports have been confined to what the parent state 
 has required for its consumption ; and the exports 
 have been restricted to the wines, oil, and fruits, 
 which were sold to purchase the corn and other 
 sustenance required to feed the people, and pro- 
 cure clothing from England and Holland. The 
 sugar, cotton, and other productions of Brazil, are 
 carried direct to the places of consumption ; and from 
 the same places the Brazilians obtain their supplies 
 of European commodities, without the intervention 
 of Portugal. Next to wine and fruits the chief ex- 
 port from Portugal is the bay salt, made from sea 
 water, by natural evaporation, at St Ubes. The vessels 
 which bring salted fish usually take a part of their 
 returns in this article. Near five hundred vessels 
 are annually loaded with salt, at St Ubes, and the 
 quantity exported is about 100,000 tons. Of late 
 years wool has been transported to England ; in one 
 year nearly one million pounds weight; but a tax 
 laid on that commodity here has operated nearly to 
 exclude that of a coarse quality from our markets. 
 
 The government of Portugal was a monarchy Government 
 of the most absolute kind. The several Boards or ^^'^ Laws. 
 Councils, which carried on the administration, had 
 no check or even voice in the measures that were ' 
 adopted, but obeyed the orders of the King impH- 
 citly ; and it is generally understood, that in no 
 Court did corruption and favoritism abound to an 
 equal extent. The laws were a most incoherent 
 mass, without fixed principles or regularity ; and 
 the administration of them, whether by superior 
 or inferior judges, was perverted by bribery, so as 
 to favour the purposes of oppression rather than of 
 justice. 
 
 The religion of the kingdom is the Roman Catho- Religion, 
 lie, of the most rigid, not to say of the most super- 
 stitious, description. The proportionate numbers of 
 the clergy were greater than in any other country in 
 Europe. There are three archbishops, thirteen bish- 
 ops, and a prelate presiding over them, denominated 
 the patriarch. The Inquisition was in full force, to 
 check, in their earliest stages, the growth of any 
 opinions that were thought to militate against the 
 established faith. By some late regulations the num- 
 ber of the clergy has been reduced, and the Inqui- 
 sition abolished. 
 
 Before the invasion by the armies of Buonaparte, Finances 
 the revenues of Portugal, including the sums drawn and Military 
 from Brazil, were calculated to amount to about Strength. 
 3,000,000 Sterling. At the same period, the land 
 forces consisted of 30,000 men ; and the marine 
 comprised 20 sail of the line, besides frigates, cor- 
 vettes, and sloops. During the war, resources were 
 called forth which the nation never had imagined it 
 possessed. Ti'oops, notorious for indolence, want 
 of discipline and filthiness, when placed under 
 the command of British officers, became active, 
 disciplined, and brave ; and bore no inconsidera- 
 ble share of the dangers and successful con- 
 tests which liberated their own country, Spain, 
 
342 
 
 PORTUGAL. 
 
 Portugal. 
 
 and ultimately the whole of Europe. When the 
 Court emigrated to Brazil, where the marine of its 
 ally was a better protection than any she could fur- 
 nish, Portugal suffered her navy to dwindle, and she 
 has n&w few large ships that are capable of warlike 
 operations. 
 
 People and The inhabitants of Portugal are generally a robust, 
 Language, yet not an industrious people. They are enterpris- 
 ing and persevering, patient in adverse circumstances, 
 excessively attached to their own religion and cus- 
 toms,* and, though temporary circumstances may 
 seem to indicate the contrary, they retain a high 
 sense of loyalty to their monarch, and of submission 
 to their spiritual superiors. The Portugese language 
 is derived from the Latin> of which it contains 
 a great proportion of words, though mixed with 
 many others of Arabic origin. In the construction 
 of its sentences, it very much resembles the Castil- 
 lian ; but the pronunciation of the syllables differs 
 considerably ; and there are many words introduc- 
 ed which are peculiar to itself, and whose derivation 
 it is difficult to trace ; though probably they are 
 to be found among some of the tribes on the coast 
 of Barbary. 
 
 Cities, Portugal contains twenty-two cities. The capital, 
 
 Towns, and Lisbon, on the north side of the Tagus, distinguish- 
 ed by its excellent harbour, by some superb buildings, 
 its irregular surface, and disgustingly filthy streets, 
 contains 260,000 inhabitants ; Oporto contains about 
 65,000; Coimbra, 15,000; Evora, 12,000: the other 
 cities are small, poor, and less populous. The re- 
 mainder of the inhabitants occupy 647 towns and 
 4262 villages. The proportion of agricultural la- 
 bourers to the whole population is so small, that, 
 scanty as are their harvests, and favourable as the 
 weather almost uniformly is for securing their fruits 
 and corn, the labours of the field, in autumn, re- 
 quire numerous additional hands, which are furnish- 
 ed by the adjoining Spanish province of Gallicia. 
 The principal sea ports are Lisbon, Oporto, and St 
 Ubes. Besides these, Viana, at the mouth of the 
 river Lima, Aveiro, Sines, Serdao, Villa Nova, Faro, 
 and Tavira, have harbours, but generally accessible 
 only to small vessels; and, except Viana and Faro, they 
 have scarcely any other than a mere coasting trade. 
 Recent His- The Encyclopcedia brings down the history of 
 tory. political events in Portugal to the conclusion of 
 
 the Convention of Cintra in August 1808. To- 
 wards the close of that year, the armies which 
 Spain had collected to oppose the invading forces of 
 France being dispersed, Madrid having surrendered, 
 and the British troops under Sir John Moore having 
 been compelled to a precipitate retreat from the 
 Peninsula ; the invasion of Portugal was again re- 
 solved upon by the French with the fullest confi. 
 dence of success. 
 
 Three armies were collected on the frontiers. One 
 under Marshal Soult in Gallicia, a second under Ge- 
 neral Lapisse at Salamanca, and a third on the banks 
 of the Tagus under Marshal Victor. The only op- 
 position which could be presented was to the last of 
 these corps, by an assemblage of the fugitives of the 
 Spanish army which General Cuesta was attempting 
 to reorganize. Consternation and dismay spread 
 
 over the kiogdom ; the garrison and stores were with- Portugal, 
 drawn from the frontier fortress of Almeida; the forts ' 
 and batteries on the Tagus were dismantled; and the 
 British troops in the vicinity of Lisbon were con- 
 centrated as preparatory for instant embarkation. 
 A war breaking out again, at this period^ between 
 Austria and France, induced Buonaparte to with- 
 draw from Spain, and to take with him 15,000 of 
 his best troops, which in some measure checked the 
 rapid advance of his forces, and allowed an inter- 
 val for preparation, which was sedulously improved 
 in Portugal. General Beresford, who had acquired 
 the confidence of the natives, was, at the suggestion 
 of the British Government, appointed Marshal and 
 Commander-in-Chief of the armies of Portu<ral. 
 Twenty thousand of the Portuguese were taken into 
 the pay of England, and British officers were nomi- 
 nated to the superior commissions in each battalion ; 
 by which means a general system of discipline and 
 subordination was quickly established. Reinforce- 
 ments of troops from England, augmenting the 
 army to 17,000 men, had reached Lisbon, and con- 
 fidence was in a great measure restored before a 
 blow was struck. 
 
 Marshal Soult at length having dispersed the 1809. 
 Spanish troops in Gallicia, and thus secured that 
 province, entered Portugal by the road of Chaves. 
 He was slightly opposed by General Friere, at the 
 head of a Portuguese army, who had intended to have 
 retired, on his approach, to stronger ground nearer 
 Oporto. In this design he was interrupted by the 
 mutiny of a division of his troops, who, insisting on 
 defending Chaves, were shut up in that town, and 
 in a few days compelled to surrender. As Soult 
 advanced, Friere would have retreated, but the rest 
 of his army being without due subordination, were 
 impatient to fight ; and as he persisted in his prudent 
 plans a mutiny arose, when, under the suspicion of 
 treachery, the General and his Staff were massacred 
 by the mutinous troops. They then demanded a 
 British officer who would lead them to attack the 
 enemy. Baron Eben, a German in the British ser- 
 vice, took the command, and gratified their wishes 
 by fighting the unsuccessful battle of Carvalho da 
 Este, where, after some creditable efforts of indivi- 
 dual bravery, the sabres of the enemy's cavalry took 
 ample vengeance on them for the murder of their late 
 Commander. Soult then invested Oporto, which 
 had been strongly fortified, and was defended by 200 
 pieces of cannon, and a garrison of 20,000 men ; but 
 the same insubordination and want of confidence pre- 
 vailed in the city as had produced the disasters in the 
 field; and, after an ill conducted defence of three 
 days, it was taken by assault on the 29th March. 
 The French soldiers, on entering the town, made an 
 indiscriminate slaughter of the inhabitants, and de- 
 livered themselves up to every species of plunder and 
 licentiousness ; and, though their Coinmander used 
 efforts to repress their fury, he was unable to accom- 
 plish it before the sufferings had' continued a whole 
 day and night. 
 
 The day before the fall of Oporto, Victor had de- 
 feated the Spanish army commanded by Cuesta in 
 the battle of Medellin. This event opened to the 
 
PORT 
 
 Portugal. French an easy road to Lisbon. General Craddock, 
 «-»v-»^ the British Commander, posted a corps of his army 
 of 6000 men at Abrantes, assembled the main body 
 of his troops at Leyria, and the Portuguese army at 
 Thomar. 
 
 Such was the situation of affairs in Portugal when, 
 on the 22d of April, Sir Arthur Wellesley landed at 
 Lisbon to assume the chief command of the armies 
 of England and Portugal. 
 
 The ill consequences of independent Commanders 
 were visible in the movements of the French. The 
 three armies of Soult, Victor, and Lapisse, which, if 
 directed by one Chief, would long before this period 
 have entered Lisbon in triumph, being disunited, and 
 fearing to be separately committed, lost the precious 
 moments for action in suspense, or petty movements. 
 Soult remained nearly a month at Oporto, in expecta- 
 tion of intelligence from the other Commanders, 
 without which he deemed it imprudent to move for- 
 ward. In the meantime, the Portuguese troops had 
 captured Chaves, and thus cut off his direct commu- 
 nication with Spain by that route. The movements 
 of Lapisse and Victor were equally hesitating. Sir 
 Arthur, on the other hand, being unfettered in his 
 views, could act with decision and promptitude. On 
 the tenth day from his landing, the British in Leyria, 
 to the number of 16,000, began to move by Coim- 
 bra and Aveiro, for the recovery of Oporto ; whilst 
 6000 Portuguese under Beresford marched to cross 
 the Douro at Lamego, and cut off the enemy's re- 
 treat by Amarante ; and the forces at Abrantes were 
 left in that city to keep in check the army of Victor. 
 The British from Leyria first met the enemy on the 
 10th May, on the banks of the Vouga, and, after a 
 slight affair, drove them over the Douro. The float- 
 ing bridge across that river was destroyed, and all the 
 boats near Oporto were secured by the French on the 
 right bank ; thus the British General found himself 
 separated from his antagonist by a rapid river, near- 
 ly 300 yards broad, without any means of effecting 
 the passage across it. Sir Arthur then planned and 
 successfully executed the boldest passage of a river 
 that is to be found on military records. He detach- 
 ed a body of troops under General Murray to Avin- 
 tas, five miles higher on the river, where, if boats 
 could not be found, a ford would admit of the troops 
 passing ; and sent General Sherbrook with the Guai'ds 
 to the common ferry below the city ; whilst from the 
 Serra Convent, nearly opposite the town, he directed 
 the passage in person. The stream was excessively 
 rapid, and the heights on the right bank considerable. 
 By the aid of some inhabitants, two boats were 
 brought over from the enemy's side, and in them, 
 protected by the fire of a brigade of light guns, three 
 companies of the Buffs were ferried across. Soult, 
 either despising the effort, or believing it to be mere- 
 ly a feint to draw his attention from the main object, 
 did not oppose the landing, but gave time to General 
 Paget, who commanded, to ascend the bank, and 
 place the troops in a formidable attitude in a ruined 
 building before he attacked them. He then brought 
 up a considerable force, which was firmly resisted, 
 and gained time for passing over several other bat- 
 talions. General Paget was early wounded, and the 
 ©oramand devolved on General Hill, who was warm- 
 
 UGAL. 343 
 
 ly engaged in contesting the post, when General Portugal. 
 Murray appeared in sight, marching on the enemy's ^^^S'"^ 
 left flank. The Guards were then pushed across, 
 and the French precipitately retired into the city. 
 Soult discovered that he had been out- manoeuvred, 
 and ordered the immediate retreat of his army ; but 
 the British were already in the town, and charging 
 up the streets. The confusion and precipitancy with 
 which the French fled was far greater than can be 
 readily imagined, and their panic seemed to increase 
 as they gained the open country. Never was the 
 rout of an army more complete, when night put an 
 end to the pursuit, and gave the enemy a few hours 
 respite. Soult, finding the bridge at Amarante de- 
 stroyed, abandoned all his artillery and wheel car- 
 riages, and leaving the high road, took the mountain 
 track to Guimaraens. Thus freed from every in- 
 cumbrance, the badness of the roads favoured his 
 flight, and he gained a narrow pass on the shore near 
 Salamonde, before Beresford's troops had reached 
 the spot, as was projected, to intercept him. On the 
 18th he reached the frontier, and the pursuit closed, 
 as more important affairs required attention to the 
 south. Victor had joined with Lapisse, and forced 
 the passage of the Tagus, at Alcantara; from whence 
 they were advancing towards Lisbon at the time that 
 the victorious army from Oporto reached that river 
 early in June ; when the enemy retired into Spain, 
 and abandoned Portugal for the present. 
 
 When Buonaparte had compelled Austria to con- 1810. 
 elude a peace, he stood pledged to his people and to 
 the world to conquer Portugal, and " to drive the 
 British into the sea.'* His means for effecting those 
 objects appeared unlimited ; whilst the English na- 
 tion, desponding at the general ill success of the war, 
 and dissatisfied with the waste of their military 
 strength in the Scheldt, were generally disposed to 
 withdraw from the contest. 
 
 Early in March, however, the Parliament decid- 
 ing with the administration to continue with vigour 
 the defence of Portugal ; the subsidiary force of that 
 nation was increased to 30,000 men ; and such of the 
 British battalions as could be rendered eft'ective after 
 the effects of the climate of Walcheren, were sent 
 out to reinforce the army. The French asserobled 
 an array of 72,000 men under Marshal Massena, in 
 the vicinity of Salamanca, early in April ; which 
 could only be opposed by about 50,000 ; one-half 
 composed of young Portuguese levies, yet untried in 
 general action. The operations of the campaign 
 commenced by the siege of the Spanish city of Cui- 
 dad Rodrigo, which, after a stout defence, capitulat- 
 ed on the 10th July. The road to Portugal was thus 
 opened to the French, who entered it, and besieged 
 Almeida. Owing to an explosion, by which all the 
 powder in the garrison was destroyed, the Com- 
 mander was compelled to surrender the latter end of 
 August. The road by which Massena intended to 
 force his way to Lisbon, soon became evident to the 
 rival commander, and the united British and Portu- 
 guese armies were placed in such positions as were 
 most likely to frustrate his intentions. The British 
 Commander, during the whole progress of the ene- 
 my, had employed the abundant means at his dispo- 
 sal in constructing a secure asylum in which he 
 
344 
 
 PORTUGAL. 
 
 Portugal, could effectually make a head against the superior 
 forces that were employed to drive him from the 
 Peninsula, and to possess the capital of Portugal. 
 Lisbon is situated on the extremity of an isthmus 
 formed by the ocean and the river Tagus. Across 
 this peninsula nature had drawn the outline of a 
 strong defensive position, which the military art had 
 been secretly but sedulously employed in rendering 
 perfect. A track of country, thirty miles in extent 
 from the mouth of the small river Tirandra to Alhan- 
 dra, on the Tagus, was modelled into a field of bat- 
 tle ; mountains were scarped perpendicularly, rivers 
 dammed, and inundations formed. All roads that 
 could favour the enemy were destroyed, and others 
 made to facilitate the communications of the defen- 
 ders; formidable works were erected to strengthen 
 and support the weak parts ; whilst numerous can- 
 non, planted on inaccessible posts, commanded the 
 different approaches to them, and gave an equality of 
 defence to the whole position. Behind these de- 
 fences the inhabitants of a district of nearly 2000 
 square miles were invited to retire with what of their 
 substance they could convey, and were directed to 
 destroy whatever could not be i-eraoved, that might 
 afford support to the advancing army of Massena. 
 Though these orders were but partially obeyed, yet, 
 as far as they were executed, they contributed to the 
 ultimate success of the defensive plan formed by Lord 
 Wellington. 
 
 With this secure asylum in his rear, the British 
 Commander could safely practise all the manoeuvres 
 which tended to retard the approach of his antago- 
 nist. Massena, after the capture of Almeida, push- 
 ed on with rapidity towards Coimbra, and meeting 
 no opposition there, expected the British army was 
 hastening to Lisbon to embark. He received a check 
 at the mountains of Busaco, but having turned that po- 
 sition, the British slowly marched within the formidable 
 lines so celebrated in military annals by the name of 
 Torres Vedras. The day after the 9th of October 
 Marquis Romano joined the British army with 6000 
 Spanish troops ; and on the next day Massena first 
 discovered the formidable works which covered his 
 antagonists. " To judge," says an eye-witness, " from 
 the instant halt he made, and from the retrograde 
 movement which followed, as soon as it became dark, 
 they struck him as much with dismay as astonish- 
 ment, and three days elapsed before he again ventur- 
 ed to' the same spot." After some slight efforts to 
 ascertain the nature of the defences, the French re- 
 mained a month without any movement, merely send- 
 ing out strong parties to their rear to ascertain the 
 nature and resources of the country, from which alone 
 they could hope to draw sustenance. The irregular 
 troops of Portugal pressed him on all sides, and con- 
 tracted the limits from which supplies could be ob- 
 tained ; and a division of them captured the sick and 
 wounded of the French to the number of 5000 men, 
 which, in the haste of his progress, Massena had 
 left at Coimbra. 
 
 On the 14th November the French army, to be 
 nearer their supplies, retrograded towards Santarera 
 and Thomar, where they fortified their position, and 
 were followed by the British to Cartaxo, from whence 
 they were ready to fall back on their lines, should 
 
 the enemy receive such reinforcements as to render Portugal, 
 it necessary. In this situation the two armies re- 
 mained ; the English receiving from Lisbon abundant 
 supplies, which were sent by sea, and the French ex- 
 hausting the country in their rear till scarcity pro- 
 duced disease, and rapidly thinned their ranks. 
 Though rdnforcements were sent to them, the deso- 
 late state of the country made them a burden, rather 
 than' an assistance to their coadjutors. After thus 
 remaining in sight of each other till the 7th March 
 1810, a period of five inactive months, without a 
 prospect of decisive action, the French were compel- 
 led to commence their retreat, just at the moment 
 when the British had received a reinforcement of 
 7000 fresh troops. At the commencement of their 
 retreat the loss in the French army since it had en- 
 tered Portugal amounted to more than 30,000 men. 
 Disgusting accumulations of filth, and remains of the 
 most unhealthy kind of food, with the wretched and 
 squalid appearance of most of the prisoners, and the 
 neglected and unprovided state of the hospitals, suf- 
 ficiently testified the miserable condition to which 
 the invaders were reduced, and accounts for so pro- 
 digious a mortality beyond that inflicted by the sword. 
 The sufferings and losses of the French, however, 
 were nothing in comparison with those which their 
 visitation had inflicted on Portugal and its inhabit- 
 ants. A wide extent of country remained for five 
 months with scarcely an inhabitant : every thing it 
 contained was devoured by the enemy or destroyed 
 by the season. In the space immediately bounding 
 the positions of the two armies, which was not per- 
 manently occupied by either, the harvest perished in 
 the ground, and the fruit fell rotten from the trees; 
 flocks of innumerable small birds, as if drawn to the 
 spot by instinct, fattened unmolested on the unga- 
 thered grapes ; and latterly the very wolves, con- 
 scious of Security, or rendered more daring by the 
 absence of their accustomed prey, prowled about, 
 masters of the territory, reluctantly giving way to the 
 cavalry patroles which occasionally crossed their 
 track. 
 
 Many of the wretched inhabitants who had ne- 
 glected the warning voice that invited them within 
 the lines, passed the whole season of winter, exposed 
 to its inclemencies, in the neighbouring woods or 
 mountains, subsisting merely on roots and herbs; and 
 on the advance of the allies, returned to their ruined 
 homes with bodies emaciated from abstinence, and 
 intellects impaired by long continued apprehension ; 
 among these were girls of 16, who, become ideots, 
 resembled in person women of 50. At the depar- 
 ture of the French, in many districts neither a living 
 animal nor an article of subsistence was to be found. 
 The official account of the Monileur correctly and 
 unblushingly states, that '* the towns and villages 
 were deserted, the mills destroyed, the wine running 
 in the gutters, the corn stalks burnt, the furniture 
 bi'oken ; and not a horse, a mule, an ass, a cow, or 
 even a goat, to be seen.'' 
 
 The retreat conducted by Massena exhibited great 
 military talents, and every movement was made with 
 such skill and celerity, that his active and indefatig- 
 able opponent could gain but few advantages over 
 him. The rapid pursuit in a few days carried the 
 
P O R1 
 
 Portugal, allied armies farther than their supplies could reach 
 "^"V"**^ them, and they were obliged to halt till provisions 
 could overtake them. Massena availed himself 
 of these circumstances to retire out of Portugal, 
 after throwing supplies into the fortress of Almeida. 
 The retreat of the French was conducted with so 
 much ability, that its loss, both by the svt'ord and in 
 prisoners, did not exceed 5000 men ; that of the allies 
 being under 650. Having thus freely bestowed the 
 tribute of praise justly due to the French as soldiers, 
 it is but proper to notice their conduct as men, and 
 to state, on tiie authority of an eye-witness, that the 
 unnecessary cruelties and wanton devastation which 
 marked every step of their retreat, were such as to 
 cast a shade over their character which no military 
 glory can efface, and to stamp them rather as san- 
 guinary and unprincipled banditti, than as the orga- 
 nized warriors of a civilized state. 
 
 The French army was reinforced and refitted 
 at Salamanca, returned to Portugal in the begin- 
 ning of May, and made several movements and at- 
 tacks, some of a very important nature, to prevent 
 the British from capturing Almeida ; but having been 
 foiled in every attempt, they retired and left that 
 fortress to its late ;. the garrison of which evacuated 
 it, and forced their way in a most spirited manner 
 through the British array that surrounded them. 
 With this operation the scene of war closed in Por- 
 tugal ; for though, during the sieges of Cuidad Rod- 
 rigo and Badajoz, and in the attempt made by Mar- 
 mont, some parts of that kingdom were included in 
 the theatre of hostilities, they never extended be- 
 yond the frontiers. The other events of this import- 
 ant war belong rather to the history of Spain and 
 of France than to that of Portugal, though in all 
 the operations the troops of that nation bore an ac- 
 tive and conspicuous part. 
 
 After the dissolution of the government of Buo- 
 naparte, the troops of Portugal were marched to their 
 own country ; but before the proper measures for 
 reducing their numbers were adopted, his return 
 from Elba again set them in active movement, till 
 the decisive battle of Waterloo once more permitted 
 them to rest. The state of the country was, how- 
 ever, by no means tranquil. The absence of their 
 Court in Brazil, the little influence enjoyed by the 
 Regency, the calls for pecuniary aid from the Pro- 
 vinces, and especially the large army being still 
 kept up, and its command continued in foreign hands, 
 with the spirit of insubordination prevailing among the 
 native officers, gave sufficient grounds to apprehend 
 that convulsions must ensue. A conspiracy, of a 
 very extensive nature, was timely discovered in the 
 army, and its progress checked, but without the spirit 
 which generated it being extirpated. This was strong- 
 ly exhibited afterwards, when 10,000 men, who had 
 been ordered to embark for Brazil, revolted, and 
 showed such determination, that the Regency was 
 compelled to yield to their wishes. Portugal felt that 
 the order of nature was inverted, and the parent state 
 become a dependent on her own colony. Conflict- 
 ing claims between the Regency and the Command- 
 er of the Forces induced Lord Beresford to repair 
 to Rio de Janeiro, to obtain fresh instructions, and 
 probably additional authority from the King. In his 
 
 VOL. YI. PABT I. 
 
 U G A L. S45 
 
 absence a revolution broke forth, which, giving to Hortugal. 
 Portugal a new aspect, renders all accounts of its '^"^.'''^^ 
 present condition doubtful, and leaves to conjecture 
 what may be the result of the circumstances in which 
 she is placed. 
 
 The first symptoms of this revolution were exhi- 
 bited at Oporto, and the first movements were made 
 on the 24th August 1820, in the 18th regiment, un- 
 der the command of Don Bernardo de Castro e Se- 
 pulveda, in which he was supported by the other 
 troops in that garrison, and, as is supposed, by the 
 civil authorities of the city. A provincial Junta of 
 13 members was chosen by acclamation, who issued 
 a proclamation to quiet the apprehensions of the 
 British officers. Sepulveda was opposed by Count 
 Amarante, the commander of the troops in the pro- 
 vince Tras OS Montes ; but on marching towards him, 
 in the end of August, that officer was forsaken by 
 his troops, who joined the insurgents, and rendered 
 it necessary for him to take refuge in Spain. 
 
 Sepulveda then advanced with his army towards 
 Lisbon, and reached Coimbra, where the Junta of 
 Oporto followed him and held their sittings. The 
 Regency of the kingdom in Lisbon acted with inde- 
 cision, or perhaps with treachery. On the iigth Au- 
 gust, they issued a proclamation denouncmg the 
 transactions that had taken place at Oporto, and call- 
 ing on the inhabitants and military to oppose their 
 progress; and, on the 1st September, issued another, 
 by which they directed the assembling of the Cortes 
 of the kingdom according to its ancient institution. 
 Before the period had arrived for the convocation of 
 the assembly, an event occurred which wholly frus- 
 trated the plan projected by the Junta of Regency. 
 It had been usual to celebrate, on the 15th Septem- 
 ber, the deliverance of Portugal from the French in- 
 vaders. The Junta fearing to assemble, in the agi- 
 tated state of the public mind, such a concourse of 
 people as usually met on that day, resolved to omit 
 the ceremony ; but the troops, at the instigation of, 
 the native officers, paraded without orders, and, be- 
 fore they separated, deposed the Government, and 
 installed a temporary Council to rule. The Junta 
 of Oporto, who were at Coimbra, soon received in- 
 telligence of the occurrences in Lisbon, and reached 
 the capital on the 1st October. Before any agree- 
 ment between the two Juntas had been made, the 
 arrival of Lord Beresford, from Brazil, in an English 
 ship of the line, caused great consternation. The 
 soldiers were known to be attached to him, his powers 
 were presumed to be extensive, and the acclamations 
 which the native officers had drawn forth from the 
 troops could not be depended on. The two Juntas, 
 agreeing in nothing else, united, however, to prevent 
 his landing ; and after some ineffectual efforts to open 
 an intercourse, he departed for England. When 
 left to themselves, divisions of the most embittered 
 kind arose among the insurgents. The partizans of 
 the Junta of Oporto were the most furious ; and 
 having placed at the head of the troops one of their 
 own partizans, the Junta of Lisbon was surround- 
 ed on the 11th November, the meeting dissolved, 
 and a proclamation issued declaring the adoption of 
 the Spanish constitution. The ascendancy of this 
 violent party was but short. Texeira, who had cora- 
 
 X X 
 
S46 P O R 
 
 FoTtugal manded the troops, changed his views; and through 
 II his means the more moderate party were put in pos- 
 Gunpowder. ^^^^.^^ of power. By them the Cortes was convok- 
 '^""""-'^^ ed, and the Spanish constitution voted as far only as 
 it should suit the circumstances of Portugal. The 
 mode of election of one deputy to 30,000 inhabitants, 
 as prescribed by the Spanish plan, was adopted ; and 
 when the assembly met, it was found that few men 
 of wealth or family were -chosen. The assembly as- 
 sumed all power, uniting the executive, judicial, and 
 legislative authority, in their own body. The King 
 was induced to return from Brazil, but on his arrival 
 found himself a mere cypher ; every one in whom 
 he had any confidence being carefully kept from his 
 presence, and some of the ministers, who had ac- 
 companied him, being committed to prison. The 
 Cortes have since occupied themselves in framing a 
 constitution and a code of laws ; but have made no such 
 progress in either as can enable any certain judgment 
 to be formed of what may be the result of their deli- 
 berations. In the meantime, the inhabitants of Brazil 
 have established a government, in effect independent 
 of Portugal, with the Prince Regent at its head. 
 The troops that have been sent to that country have 
 revolted to the Brazilians, and their officers being 
 dismisised, have been sent back to Europe. The 
 
 GUN 
 
 History of The invention of gunpowder is popularly ascrib- 
 Gunpowder. to Barthold Schwartz, a German monk and 
 alchemist, and the date of the discovery is further 
 supposed to have been in 1320. The prior claims 
 of' our countryman, Roger Bacon, such as they 
 are, are however unquestionable ; as this substance 
 is described in his writings about the year 1270 ; 
 or eighty years before the time of the supposed dis- 
 covery of Schwartz. But even Bacon has as little 
 title to this invention as his supposed rival ; nor, in- 
 deed, when we examine his own description of this 
 then wonderful compound, do we perceive that he 
 makes any claim to have been the discoverer. On the 
 contrary, he quotes it as a well known substance, in 
 common use all over the world for making squibs to 
 amuse children. So pertinacious are vulgar erroi-s. 
 The passage in Bacon stands as follows : " Ex hoc 
 ludicro puerili, quod fit in multis mundi partibus, 
 scilicet, ut instrumento facto ad quantitatem pollicis 
 humani, ex violentia sal is qui salpetrae vocatui, tam 
 horribiles son us nascitur." This is the description 
 of a parchment cracker. " In ruptura tam modici 
 pergameni, quod fortis tonitrum excedere rugitum 
 et corruscationem maxiraam sui luminis jubar exce- 
 dit." Thus the claim is shifted without difficulty 
 from Bacon, and, as Dutens thinks he can show, is 
 removed to Magnus Graecus, whose MS. he quotes, 
 and from which he presumes that Bacon derived the 
 invention ; although, by his own showing. Bacon 
 need not have consulted an obscure writing for an 
 invention of general notoriety. The title of the MS. 
 k question is as follows: Incipit Liber Ignium a 
 
 P o w 
 
 state of the finances has so much deteriorated, that Portugal 
 there is not money sufficient to pay even the troops, 1* 
 who are six months in arrear ; and the civil officers 
 and creditors of the state are in a still more lament- """^ " 
 able situation. There is no power to put in execu- 
 tion the decrees that issue from the Cortes ; and that 
 body has not sufficient unity of mind to enact a series 
 of laws consistent with themselves. 
 
 Whether it was wise to attempt the establishment 
 of a democracy, in a country where the priests of 
 various kinds, the military, and the officers of the 
 state, comprise one-fifth of the male population, it 
 is not for us to determine ; but so wretched was the 
 previous condition of the Portuguese government, 
 that it is scarcely possible the revolution can leave 
 the country in a worse state than that which preced- 
 ed.it. 
 
 See Elementos de -la Geogrqfia Natural y PolUica 
 de Espana y Portugal, por Don Isidoro de Antillon. 
 Memoria sohre as caiisas da differente popiilacao dc 
 Portugal, por Joze Joaquin Soares de Barros, 
 Link's Travels through Fra7ice, Spain, and Portugal. 
 Jones's War in Spain and Portugal. Campagnes de 
 I'Armee de Portugal, par M. Guingret, Chef de Ba- 
 tallion. Essai Statistique sur h Rcyaime de Poriu- 
 gal, par Adrien Balbi. (w. w.) 
 
 Marco Graeco perscriptus, cujus virtus et efficaclu 
 est ad comburendum hostes, tam in mari quam in 
 terra ;" so that even the military uses of gunpowder 
 were then known. In the same MS. are contained 
 directions for making a rocket, which we dare not 
 quote on account of its length, but it is such as to 
 prove that the nature of this firework was thorough- 
 ly understood. It is even remarkable that he re- 
 commends particularly the charcoal of willow wood, 
 which we moderns have found by experience to be 
 among the best for all the purposes of^ gunpowder. 
 
 Thus far, although we have not fixed the date of the 
 invention, we have carried it, not only beyond Bacon, 
 but even beyond this supposed predecessor; as he him- 
 self does not pretend to be the inventor, but the com- 
 piler, of a Liber Ignium ; a treatise on pyrotechny. 
 If, in attempting to ascend still higher, the evidence 
 becomes more rare and more obscure, there are still 
 insuperable facts to prove that its antiquity is far 
 greater ; however impossible it may be to approxi- 
 mate to the date of the invention, far less to assign 
 that which seentjs buried among the obscurities of 
 Oriental learning. The question of gunpowder, as 
 applied to Artillery, is a separate one ; but there is 
 abundant reason to believe that this compound was not 
 only used in some form or other as an explosive and 
 combustible substance, but was even applied to military 
 purposes ; it may be in the shape of rockets or other 
 fireworks, v/hich, for objects of amusement at least, have 
 been familiar to the Chinese beyond all record. 
 
 The earliest date to which we can refer the know- 
 ledge of gunpowder, in defect of a sufficiently r«- 
 
 -POWDER. 
 
powder; 
 
 347 
 
 Gunpowder, mote acquaintance with Oflental History, is 355 
 ^,'-^««' A. C. ; although, from the very nature of this evi- 
 dence, it follows that it was then not only known to 
 the eastern nations, but that it must have long been 
 so ; since, even at that early period, it was applied 
 to warlike purposes. In the code of Hindoo- laws, 
 indeed, where it is mentioned, it is referred to a pe- 
 riod which Orientll antiquaries have considered as 
 coincident with the time of Moses. But the evi- 
 dence to which we more particularly allude, is found 
 in a passage of the Life of Apollonius Tyanajus by 
 Philostratus, ; the purport of which is, tliat Alexander 
 was unwilling to attack the Oxydracoe, who lived be- 
 tween the Hyphasis and the Ganges, because they 
 were under the care of the gods, and overthrew their 
 enemies with thunder and lightning, which they shot 
 from their walls. The same tale is told of the re- 
 pulses experienced in this country by Hercules and 
 Bacchus. 
 
 The next of these early dates, in which also our 
 evidence is imperfect, is 212 A. C, but the establish- 
 ment of the truth of the last would render this one 
 more credible. In the defence of Syracuse by 
 Archimedes, Vitruvius relates that one of his engines 
 threw large stones with a great noise ; a description 
 which does not apply to any of the mechanical artil- 
 lery of the ancients. On a notice so superficial, we 
 must not, however, lay too much stress ; and here 
 ends all the information which we have yet procured 
 respecting the earliest knowledge of gunpowder. It 
 seems, howeverj to be so decidedly capable of being 
 traced from the East, through the intervention of the 
 Arabs, that there can be little doubt of its being an 
 Oriental invention, and of its having been thence 
 imported into Europe; and, indeed, the military use 
 of rockets in the armies of India ascends to a period 
 beyond record. 
 
 Of the earliest period at which it was known in 
 China, we have, in defect of their own evidence, on- 
 ly the testimony of Uffano, an Italian author, who 
 affirms that not only gunpowder, but ordnance, was 
 in use in that nation in the year 85 A. D. ; and that 
 cannon were., in his day, remaining from the most 
 ancient times, .in some of the maritime provinces, 
 made both of iron and brass. Hence some writers 
 presumej that the Chinese communicated the inven- 
 tion to the Indians ; while it has also been said, but 
 on no sufficient authority, that they themselves re- 
 ceived it from Tartary ; — a nation respecting which 
 we know little or nothing, and in which we should 
 not be inclined to look for an early acquaintance 
 with the arts. This, however, refers to a date 
 so late as 917 ; so that, if there is any dependence to 
 be placed on the Indian and Chinese hypothesis, the 
 Tartars must themselves have borrowed the inven- 
 tion from those to Avhom they are said to have lent 
 it. 
 
 There is after this a long blank ; and the first au- 
 thor on the subject that we have discovered is in 
 1249, twenty years before the date of Bacon's nar- 
 rative. This is an Arabic writer, in the Escurial 
 collection, who is translated by Cfisiri. His de- 
 scription is such, that it may apply both to rockets 
 and to shells. In the former case, it only proves the 
 
 knowledge of the detonating compound ; the latter. Gunpowder, 
 were it proved, would show that they were also ac- ^ r"^^ 
 quainted with the use of ordnance ; although it is 
 not impossible but that such projectiles might have 
 been thrown by mechanical artillery. 
 
 As the invention of gunpowder has been popular* 
 ly attributed to Bacon and to Schwartz, so the use 
 of ordnance has been referred to the time of the 
 field of Cressy, or 1346. To pass over the Chinese 
 hypothesis on this part of the subject, we shall find 
 that cannon was known at least as early as 1312. 
 This we derive from the source quoted by Ca- 
 siri ; from Arabian writers who describe the use of 
 ordnance in 1312 and in 1323 ; while, if Barbour is 
 to be trusted, Edward III. was also provided with 
 some pieces of artillery in 1327; and Pere Daniel 
 asserts that cannon was known to the French in 
 1338. We need not carry this discussion lower; 
 though, in favour of the Oriental origin of this in- 
 vention, we would still remark, that artillery was 
 much in use in the Mediterranean when it was still 
 little used elsewhere ; as by the Venetians against 
 Genoa, in 1380, and by Alphonso XI. in his wars, 
 against the Moors. 
 
 Composition of Gunpotoder. 
 
 The present composition of the Chinese corre- 
 sponds so nearly with our own, that the difference is 
 nearly insensible ; but whether it had arrived at that 
 degree of perfection in their ancient periods, we 
 have no means of knowing. Neither can we judge 
 of its nature and power as known to the Arabs. 
 But, in our own country, it was very late in arriving 
 at its present state of perfection ; nor do the various 
 proportions given by one of our earliest writers on 
 the subject, argue much in favour of their chemical 
 knowledge, or turn for experiments. Peter White- 
 horne, who wrote in 1573, gives numerous propor- 
 tions, without seeming well aware of their respective 
 values ; and, respecting some of them, it is easy to 
 see that they were scarcely fit for squibs, much less 
 for the purpose of projecting shot. Such is nitre, 
 sulphur, charcoal, equal parts ; while, in the very op- 
 posite extre^ne, we have nitre 12 parts, sulphur and 
 charcoal, of each 3 parts ; and, still worse, nitre 27 
 to 3 of the other two ingredients ; or nitre. 48 parts, 
 with 7 of sulphur and 3 of charcoal. Here, such 
 as these compositions are, want of experience can 
 scarcely be pleaded, as they are not better than 
 those given by Nye, in 1380. In Ft-ance also, the 
 composition, at no very remote period, was nitre 50, 
 sulphur l6, charcoal Sl-^-; from which it varied to, 
 nitre 67, sulphur 13; charcoal 20, and to nitre 84, 
 sulphur 8; charcoal 8 : these differences being sup- 
 posed- necessary for the larger cannon, and the 
 smaller progressively ; the last being their musket 
 powder. 
 
 But as we cannot afFdrd space to describe the gra- 
 dual progress of improvement in the composition of 
 gunpowder, we shall now state the proportions at 
 present in use in different nations. They do not ma- 
 terially differ from each other, although it is unques- 
 tionable that they are not all of equal power. 
 
348 
 
 Gunpowder. 
 
 POWDER. 
 
 China, 
 
 Italy, 
 
 Sweden, 
 
 Russia, 
 
 Poland, 
 
 Berne, 
 
 France, three proportions, ac- 
 cording to Guyton Morveau, 
 and the Committee of Public 
 Safety, 
 
 Do. according to Chaptal,... 
 Do. at present in use: f Ordnance, 
 
 three kinds, < Small Ai-ras, 
 
 (^Mining, 
 
 Do. recommended by Proust, .. 
 Piedmont, according to Antoni, 
 
 Holland, 
 
 England, Government, 
 
 751 
 
 76 
 
 75 
 
 70 
 
 80 
 
 76 
 
 76 
 
 77 
 
 80 
 
 77 
 
 75 
 
 78 
 
 65 
 
 78 
 
 71f 
 
 70 
 
 75 
 
 10 
 
 I2i 
 9 
 
 8 
 10 
 
 9 
 7 
 
 5 
 9 
 
 10 
 
 20 
 9 
 141 
 14 
 10 
 
 12] 
 16 
 181 
 12 
 14 
 
 15 
 
 17 
 
 15 
 
 14 
 
 12^ 
 
 12 
 
 15 
 
 13 
 
 14f 
 
 14 
 
 15 
 
 The proportions in the commercial gunpowder 
 of England vary indefinitely, according to the views 
 of the manufacturer respecting the markets, the 
 price, and other matters. Cheapness being the lead- 
 ing object where it is only made for sale, and the 
 nitre being the only expensive article, the proportion 
 of this is diminished, and those of the other two in- 
 gredients increased. The worst is made for the 
 Guinea trade, and, if we are not misinformed, that 
 for the Canada trade is nearly as bad, while the next 
 upwards in the scale is that sold to Turkey. We 
 have never met any specimen in which there was less 
 than 62 of nitre ; but have reason to believe that some 
 of the inferior kinds do not contain more than 50. 
 For the use of miners it also is made with a low pro- 
 portion of nitre ; producing' advantages in mining 
 not intended by the makers, whose only object was 
 to manufacture a cheap article. But the proportions 
 of all the commercial powders are very inconstant, 
 even when furnished bona Jide to government, as it 
 is impossible to prevent the workmen from purloin- 
 ing the nitre, and replacing it with the cheapest in- 
 gredients. 
 
 It is not for want of experiments if greater unifor- 
 mity has not been attained in these compositions, 
 and if all adhere to their own. Baptista Porta was 
 one of the first who made accurate investigations on 
 this subject ; and, as long ago as 1515, he fixed on 
 the proportions now used in France. Beaume, 
 some time ago, fixed on 80 of nitre, 5 of sulphur, and 
 15 of charcoal ; and the opinions of Morveau, Chap- 
 tal, and Proust, are displayed in the preceding table. 
 It is easy to account for these differences of opinion, 
 when we recollect the numerous accessary circum- 
 stances which modify or vitiate the results obtained 
 from practice. With the very same power it is 
 scarcely possible to procure uniform ones, as is well 
 known to Artillerists : and hence, from practice alone, 
 unless with an enormous number of trials, no certain 
 conclusions can be drawn. It will, indeed, appear, 
 
 1 
 
 that under various proportions, the effects may real- Gunpowder 
 ly be the same ; because^ as the force of powder de-*"*— 
 pends partly on the quantity of gas generated, and 
 partly on the heat to which it is raised, any deficien- 
 cy on the one hand may be compensated by an in- 
 crease on the other. Thus, as the greater, quantity 
 of gas is produced by the largest proportion of char- 
 coal, the greater heat is caused «y augmenting that 
 of the sulphur. In all the trials that have been 
 made in this country, no reason has been found for 
 varying from the proportion 75 nitre, 10 sulphur, and 
 15 charcoal; and the same is used for arms of all 
 calibres — the only difference for the respective arms 
 being made in the sizes of the grains. 
 
 It is proper, on this subject, to state, that while 
 the explosive power depends fundamentally on the 
 quantity of gas that is permanently generated, that 
 gas is almost entirely produced by the combustion of 
 the charcoal; the nitre being the cause of that com- 
 bustion, and furnishing one part of the generated gas 
 from its decomposed acid, as it does the other by 
 converting the charcoal into carbonic acid. Were 
 nothing else required, therefore, to produce the ef- 
 fect, the best powder would consist of nitre and char- 
 coal alone ; as the sulphur consumes a considerable 
 part of the oxygen of the nitric acid, without adding 
 any thing to the permanently elastic gas. But as 
 there are two other important elements in this pro- 
 blem, namely, the rapidity of the inflammation and 
 the heat, the sulphur becomes an indispensable ingre- 
 dient ; while, by expanding the gas at the moment of 
 explosion, it more than compensates for the diminu- 
 tion of permanent bulk which it causes. Perhaps, 
 on this compound view of the subject, M. Beaume's 
 composition is really the best, abstractedly consider- 
 ed ; as the nitre is sufficient to burn the whole of the 
 sulphur and the charcoal also, and as both the degree 
 of heat and the quantity of gas seem to be best ba- 
 lanced for the intended effect. But a composition of 
 this accurate nature requires equal accuracy of mix- 
 ture and manufacture ; and as that is scarcely attain- 
 able on the great scale, it is found better so to in- 
 crease the sulphur and charcoal as to insure the total 
 decomposition of the nitre, this being further an ob- 
 ject of economy. 
 
 Sportsmen, as well as Artillerists, ought to know 
 that the fouling of their barrels after firing is in a di- 
 rect ratio of the weakness and badness of their pow- 
 der ; and this effect is most completely obviated by 
 using M. Beaume's, or any similar mixture- Not only 
 does the feebleness of such powder prevent the bar- 
 rel from being swept clean at the explosion, but as 
 the foulness consists chiefly in a mixture of the car- 
 bonat and sulphat of potash with charcoal, that be- 
 comes necessarily greatest wherever the nitre is re- 
 duced in quantity for the purpose of introducing the 
 cheaper ingredients. The analysis of powder, at 
 least as far as that ingredient is concerned, is so ea- 
 sily made, that every one who feels an interest in his 
 success as a sportsman, should examine what he 
 uses ; as the very worst mixture can be rendered 
 beautiful to the eye by a minute grain and a high 
 polish. 
 
 The British Government use but one propor- 
 tion for all services. As far as artillery and mu8* 
 
P o w 
 
 Gunpowder, ketry are concerned, we do not consider this as 
 ^•^y^^ of much moment ; or that any rnaterial object 
 would be obtained by using different ones, pro- 
 portioned to the respective calibres. But we con- 
 sider that they commit a great error in adopting the 
 same for the mining service ; and that some of the 
 failures caused in our wars, in attempting to blow up 
 works or demolish bridges, have been produced by 
 the very excellence of the powder, — by its too great 
 strength, in short. To take the case of common 
 blast-mining as a simple one, and to put the extreme 
 case of all; if it be attempted to spring a rock by the 
 powder of chlorade of potash, either the plug will be 
 blown out, or a very narrow space round the mine 
 will be broken. With the best musket or cannon 
 powder the same effects, but in a less degree, follow. 
 Here the miners' powder, which seldom contains as 
 much as 60 per cent, of saltpetre, is effectual ; and, 
 what is more, it is rendered still more active by being 
 damp from careless keeping, or from remaining some 
 time in the mine before it is fired. Mathematicians 
 will immediately see the solution of this apparent in- 
 congruity, by recollecting that the element of time is 
 an ingredient in the problem. With too great a ve- 
 locity the parts of the general mass nearest to the 
 acting force are disintegrated ; sO that not only is the 
 force expended in this act, but the gas thus escapes 
 from the opening. With a power acting more slow- 
 ly, the whole mass, or a much larger one at least 
 than in the first case, is moved ; and thus the rock is 
 widely shaken, although not blown into the air. It 
 will be found practically, that the further the frag- 
 ments are dispersed, the less is the effect ; and thus 
 the mine which is most dangerous to the workmen, is 
 also the least efficacious. 
 
 It is from this variation respecting the power of 
 gunpowder, hitherto unattended to, from confound- 
 ing impulse and pressure, to which at least it bears a 
 certain relation, that so many different opinions have 
 been entertained respecting the force of powder in 
 particular cases. Hence also have arisen various 
 projects for inci easing its efficacy; among which 
 quick-lime has been repeatedly recommended. In 
 mining it does actually increase the effect, though not 
 the force. It diminishes the force, on the contrary; 
 aad it is from that very cause'that it is more effectual 
 in mining or shaking a rock. The same object can 
 be obtained by a mixture of sawdust ; but it must 
 also be remembered, that this will not happen unless 
 good powder be used. Ordinary miners' powder 
 will not often bear this kind of dilution. It is easy 
 now to apply this principle to military mining, where 
 the object is to produce as extensive a shock as pos- 
 sible. Mathematicians have calculated the globes of 
 compression for certain charges ; but it will be found 
 that these will vary so much, according to the 
 strength of the material, that the conclusions cannot 
 be depended on. This is a very important problem, 
 however ; because the destruction of a work depends 
 on the area of the base of the paraboloid, or what- 
 ever else the figure is, which the explosion produces. 
 We dare not, however, enter further on this subject, 
 as it would lead us beyond our limits. 
 
 On the Choice and Examination of the Materials. 
 Nitre, as it is imported from India, whence all 
 
 D E R. 349 
 
 that is used in this country is procured, is mixed Gunpowder, 
 with much dirt and with some salts, consisting chief- >— v.-*—^ 
 ly of the nitrats and muriats of lime, and of muriat of 
 potash. As the deliquescent salts, in particular, are 
 extremely injurious, from their property of attracting 
 moisture, it is most important that the nitre to be 
 used in gunpowder should be thoroughly refined. For 
 this purpose rain water ought to be used if possible, 
 and if not, such river or other waters as are found, 
 on trial by the appropriate tests, to contain the least 
 quantity of saline matters. The nitre is first boiled, 
 and the grosser impurities separated by filtering 
 through hempen bags, after which it is crystallized. 
 After draining, one washing is sufficient to render 
 the first crystallization sufficiently pure ; but the sub- 
 sequent ones require repeated solution and crystal- 
 lization before all the foreign salts can be separated. 
 We need not, however, dwell on this subject, and 
 shall only add, that no nitre ought to be used unless 
 it will stand the tests of nitrat of silver and of carbo- 
 nat of potash, without exhibiting a precipitate. 
 
 It is held necessary that the nitre should be tho- 
 roughly dried ; and, accordingly, much unnecessary 
 labour is bestowed on this object, since it must be 
 moistened in the mill when the composition is sub- 
 mitted to the rollers. The only real use in drying it 
 is to enable the workman more easily to allot the true 
 weight, which might equally well be done by an average 
 and an experiment. We should scarcely have no- 
 ticed this, but that the French manufacturers boast 
 much of the superiority which they derive from re- 
 ducing the nitre to minute crystals, by agitating the 
 solution. In the royal mills it is further the practice 
 to fuse the nitre into large cakes. By this method 
 it is speedily dried, easily stored away, and protect- 
 ed from depredation. These advantages are held to 
 be sufficient to compensate the expence; but it 
 ought to be remembered that there is a degree of 
 hazard in the process ; as, if the salt should be over- 
 heated, it might be so far decomposed as to have a 
 portion of potash united with it. 
 
 Sulphur, as it is received from Sicily, the great 
 emporium of this commodity, is mixed with a con- 
 siderable proportion of lime, while a portion of it is 
 also combined with that substance, forming calcare- 
 ous hepar, or sulphuret of lime. From this and the 
 grosser accidental matters it is purified by melting ; 
 the sulphuret and the earth subsiding to the bottom 
 of the mould, so as to admit of being mechanically 
 separated. This residue, yielding no more pure sul- 
 phur by that process, is afterwards submitted to dis- 
 tillation. . When the sublimed material is to be used, 
 it requires previous washing, till it is entirely freed 
 froni the sulphuric acid adhering to it, and it may be 
 tested for this purpose by means of the muriat of ba- 
 rytes. The fused sulphur, if doubted of, may be 
 submitted to combustion, and the residue noted; 
 but a httle deficiency in the purity of this ingredient 
 is of no moment. 
 
 With respect to the charcoal, there is considerably 
 more nicety required than is generally imagined. 
 The soft woods have been preferred from time im- 
 memorial ; since even in the receipt of Magnus Grae- 
 cus, formerly quoted, the willow is mentioned. The 
 poplar and many others have been used abroad, but 
 in this country those commonly adopted are the 
 
;50 
 
 POWDER. 
 
 Gunpowder, vhite willow and the alder. Even among these soft 
 woods there is a considerable difference, as our own 
 experiments have shown ; and in them it was proved 
 that the greatest explosive power, cceteris paribus, was 
 produced by the wood of the Rhamnus frangula, com- 
 monly called black dogwood, as we shall show more 
 particularly hereafter. The hard woods are invari- 
 ably rejected, and with justice; though the reasons 
 for this practice, which are derived from the presence 
 of salts in these, are not the causes of their inferiori- 
 ty, certainly not the only ones. It is nevertheless 
 true, that no wood which contains carbonat of potash, 
 or other deliquescent salts, is fit for the purpose, and 
 for the most obvious reasons ; and this is the case in 
 the oak, elm, fir, and other trees. But there is an- 
 other reason for the badness of these kinds of char- 
 coal, the cause of which is not so obvious, although 
 it is evidently connected with their hardness. To us 
 it appears to depend on the small proportion of hy- 
 drogen combined with the carbon in these charcoals, 
 compared to that which exists in the produce of the 
 softer woods. Even these can be reduced to the 
 same state by overheating. Thus the hydrogen is 
 dissipated, and the charcoal becomes so hard as to 
 scratch steel, in which case, however obtained, it is 
 always unfit for powder. 
 
 As this subject is yet obscure, from our imperfect 
 acquaintance with the true nature of charcoal, and 
 with the modifications of which it is susceptible, it 
 becomes necessary to have recourse to experiment, 
 for the purpose of determining, at any rate, the proxi- 
 mate cause of this difference in the explosive powers 
 of the several kinds. Various trials have according- 
 ly been made, as well by ourselves as by the French 
 chemists ; and, for brevity's sake, we add the most 
 important results in the subjoined table. We are 
 not infonned of the process which was adopted by 
 the French for measuring the gas ; but in our own, 
 we had recourse to the pneumatic apparatus, using it 
 in the manner which is described in another part of 
 this article for collecting the total produce of the 
 combustion of gunpowder. The mixture, in the 
 French experiments, consisted uniformly of 60 parts 
 of nitre, and 12 of the charcoal submitted to trial. In 
 our own they were varied, and the results taken from 
 those in which the combustion of the charcoal was 
 completed, and the quantity of gas greatest. As no 
 more nitrous acid could be decomposed than there 
 was coal present to burn the oxygen, it is plain that 
 in these the results are correct. 
 
 French Hemp stalks 
 Asphodel 
 Vine 
 Peartalks 
 Fir 
 
 Spindle tree 
 
 peus) 
 Chesnut 
 Hazel 
 
 Lamp black 
 
 Coak 
 
 Filbert 
 
 Prop. Parts. 
 
 Solid 
 
 Gas. 
 
 Residue. 
 
 62 
 
 12 
 
 62 
 
 20 
 
 64? 
 
 20 
 
 62 
 
 21 
 
 66 
 
 30 
 
 
 
 66 
 
 28 
 
 66 
 
 ■ 36 
 
 66 
 
 33 
 
 54 
 
 4.4< 
 
 54 
 
 45 
 
 72 
 
 30 
 
 These results are such as to prove that there are Gunpowder, 
 important differences in the produce of gas; but, ' 
 with regard to practice, they are of very little value, 
 as few of the substances submitted to trial could be 
 used. To admit of comparison between our own ex- 
 periments and these, we shall reduce our proportions 
 to the same standard, by taking our scale from the 
 filbert at 72. We neglect the residue, knowing that 
 it proves nothing, as the results are uncertain, in 
 consequence of the irregular absorption of water, 
 and partly from the impossibility of collecting the 
 solid and the gaseous matters both from one charge. 
 
 Gas. 
 
 Filbert - - 72 
 
 Oak - - 61,63 
 
 Mahogany - - 58 
 
 Elm - - - 62 
 
 Willow, Salix alba - - 76, 78 
 
 Alder - - 74,76 
 
 Black dogwood, Rhamnusfrangula 80, 82, 84 
 
 Oak bark - - 58 
 
 Animal charcoal - - 50, 46, 42, 40 
 
 Coak - - 52,48 
 
 Lamp black - - 54, 52 
 
 Oak charcoal overheated - 54, 56 
 
 Willow do. - - 59, 64, 66 
 
 The various results, and some others which we 
 have thought it unnecessary to record, may, in a 
 certain degree, depend on inaccuracies in the expe- 
 riment ; but in the greater number they arise from 
 real differences in the charcoals from the same sub- 
 stance, produced, as we before insinuated, by over- 
 heating. This is apparent in the two cases above 
 cited of oak and willow ; but in some trials, the dif- 
 ferences were even greater. Coak and animal char- 
 coal are particularly liable to vary. 
 
 It is evident from the preceding table that the best 
 charcoal for gunpowder must stand in the following 
 order : Black dogwood, willow, alder, filbert. From the 
 French tables, in which we do not, however, place 
 much confidence, we may add, consecutively, hazel, 
 and the spindle tree ; but our own trials raise these 
 to 70 at least, in the scale. Such, at present, are 
 the results of these trials as to the best charcoal ; 
 but we are by no means satisfied that we have yet 
 found out the best wood for this purpose. The ex- 
 periments are laborious ; yet we think the subject de- 
 serving of more attention than has yet been bestow- 
 ed on it. With respect to coak and animal coal, 
 they stand very low in the scale, as the over- 
 hardened wood-coals do ; and, in all cases, there is a 
 direct relation between the produce of gas and the 
 facility of combustion under ordinary circumstan- 
 ces. 
 
 To satisfy ourselves by trials of a more direct na- 
 ture, and more applicable to practice, we chose a 
 method derived from the flight of rockets, as less 
 liable to disturbance from collateral causes than any 
 practice with pieces of ordnance. The rockets were 
 of compound dimensions, and were all made with the 
 same proportions and driven by the same hand, s» 
 as to ensure all possible uniformity, the only variation 
 being in the nature of the charcoal. The vertical 
 8 
 
POWDER. 
 
 351 
 
 Gunpowder, elevations were taken by two quadrants at the same 
 time, and all the flights that deviated from the per- 
 pendicular rejected. The mean vertical ascent of a 
 great number of those, made with willow, alder, and 
 dogwood, was 480 yards; but between these three 
 coals, the dilFerences were so great as to give various 
 results, which may be represented by the following 
 numbers : 
 
 Dogwood, 515, 550, 525 
 Willow, 470, 480, 490 
 Alder, 455, 460, 470 
 
 Greater accuracy is not attainable in this way, as 
 may easily be conceived by those who know by how 
 many collateral circumstances a rocket is influenced ; 
 but these trials are quite sufficient to justify the ge- 
 neral inference made from the experiments in the 
 pneumatic apparatus. 
 
 It has been held that the charcoal for gunpowder 
 dlight to be made in cylinders or retorts by distilla- 
 tion ; and this expensive process is consequently 
 universally adopted. It is doubtful if this is not a 
 mistake of the causa pro non causa. Pit charcoal being 
 made in coppice woods, is always the produce of 
 oak, and it is probable that this wood, if charred in 
 close vessels, would be even worse than it is now. 
 There is more danger of overheating in the retort 
 than in the pit, while the wood is not better burned ; 
 and hence, by a careless management of the process, 
 even the charcoal of willow or alder may be render- 
 ed as bad as that of oak. Considering these various 
 circumstances, charcoal requires to be submitted to 
 three tests. It ought to act, as little as possible, 
 mechanically, even on copper ; it ought to exhibit no 
 salts on being treated with boiling distilled water 
 and tested ; and it ought to be thoroughly burnt. 
 The best test of this latter circumstance is its giving 
 out no smoke when heated. 
 
 A new and economical method of distilling char- 
 coal has recently been invented by Sir William 
 Congreve. Subsequently, but without any know- 
 ledge of what had been done, as we understand, the 
 same process was suggested in America by Dr 
 Bollman, to whom we are indebted for the present 
 cheap method of purifying pyrolignous acid, and ren- 
 dering it a substitute for common vinegar. In this 
 beautiful process the retorts or cylinders are ranged 
 in a row, a gas pipe from each being conducted to 
 the bottom of the next in succession. By means of 
 a fire under the first alone, the distillation of the 
 whole may be conducted together ; the gas which 
 issues from that ^e being sufficient to char the 
 next, and so on in succession to the end of the chain. 
 The acid is collected in this case, as in others, by 
 means of a separate pipe arising from a lower point 
 in the retort. 
 
 Before we dismiss this very important and some- 
 what neglected department of the gunpowder manu- 
 factory, we must point out a circumstance with re- 
 spect to charcoal, that requires an attention which it 
 has aever yet experienced. This is the property 
 which it possesses of absorbing and retaining water, 
 and which we have ascertained to be different in the 
 different kinds of wood ; although we have had no 
 opportunity of investigating fully that which is here 
 
 recommended to the attention of powder manufac- Gunpowder 
 
 It is from this hygrometric power that gunpowder 
 attracts moisture, even when the nitre has been per- 
 fectly purified : a circumstance which materially in- 
 terferes with its rapidity of inflammation, and, con- 
 sequently, with its strength. But as the various 
 hygrometric powers of different charcoals have 
 never yet been properly examined, we can communi- 
 cate no information on this subject which is worth 
 recording. 
 
 On the Manufacture of Gunpotvder. 
 Grmdinv. 
 
 The first part of the process consists in pulverizing 
 all the ingredients separately, after which, they are 
 weighed and mixed in a general and rude manner be- 
 fore being submitted to the mill. In France, and in 
 some other countries, a pestle engine is used, or a 
 stamping-mill; but it is subject to more hazard and 
 inconveniences than the grindingmill which is adopted 
 in this country. This is formed on the model of the 
 common bark mill, and with two rollers at different dis- 
 tances from the axis, so as to cover the whole bed. Th-e 
 weight of each roller is commonly about three tons, 
 and they are generally made of limestone, although 
 iron cylinders have been adopted in some works. 
 The bed, which is surrounded by a wooden margin, 
 is of the same materials, and the whole house is built 
 of slight framed wood, to diminish the evils that 
 might arise from a casual explosion. A wooden 
 rake follows the rollers for the purpose of bringing 
 the mixture under the cylinder; and the motion is 
 communicated, either by water or by the power of 
 horses. 
 
 The mixture being distributed on the stone, to 
 the amount of 40 or 50 lbs. is moistened with dis- 
 tilled or rain water, but so as not to be wetted. It 
 is barely sufficient to prevent the dast from flying. 
 According to the velocity, the grinding is perfected 
 in a space of time varying from three to seven hours, 
 and it depends on the inspector to determine by 
 trial for each velocity when the mixture is perfect. 
 After that, time is a sufficient measure. The re- 
 moval of the mill cake, as it is called, requires cau- 
 tion, as it is commonly at this time that the explo- 
 sions take place. These, indeed, will generally be 
 produced if the bed and cylinder should come into 
 contact while they are moved round slowly, to en- 
 able the materials to be taken out ; the friction, un- 
 der so'great a weight, even of the purest limestones, 
 or of iron, being sufficient to inflame gunpowder. 
 To prevent this risk, a thick piece of hide is carried 
 before the cylinder as the powdier is removed, and 
 by this plan the contact is prevented. 
 
 Pressing, Granulating, and Drying. 
 The mill cake thus completed is gunpowder, and 
 may be granulated. "But it is yet not so firm as it 
 can be rendered by further pressure ; and that 
 property is very essential to its durability in travel- 
 ling. For this reason, it is further condensed by 
 pressure, either in the common screw-press used by 
 packers, or by means of Bramah's hydraulic engine. 
 Thus it becomes indurated to a hardness equal to 
 
352 
 
 POWDER. 
 
 Gunpowder, that of many stoneSj and its specific gravity is also 
 ^-"^^r'""*^ increased. In the press, also, it is divided into 
 cakes of an inch or more in thickness, that it may 
 be the more easily broken into pieces for the Granu- 
 lating Engine. 
 
 This machine consists of a number of sieves made 
 of strong vellum, perforated by punched holes, and 
 supplied with top and bottom covers, like those used 
 by druggists. A platform, to which a horizontal 
 circular motion is communicated by machinery, re- 
 ceives a number of these which are fixed in it. The 
 lumps of the press-cake are introduced into each of 
 these, together with ablockof lignum vitaeorotherhard 
 wood, shaped somewhat like a Dutch cheese. During 
 the rotatory motion, the lumps become thus broken 
 into smaller fragments, which fall through the holes, 
 together with the dust, into the receptacle below. 
 
 It remains to separate the grains according to 
 the sizes that are required ; and for military pur- 
 poses, these are three ; one for large ordnance, an- 
 other for musketry, and a third for pistols. The 
 powder generally used by sportsmen is of a still 
 finer grain than the last. The separation is perform-, 
 ed by means of wire gauze, or strong silk gauze, 
 of different apertures ; the sieves being commonly 
 cylindrical and turned by the machinery. At the 
 same time the dust is separated, and afterwards re- 
 turned to the press. 
 
 The last operation is knownby the name of Glazing, 
 a term literally true in the case of sportsmen's 
 shooting powder. But the real object of this opera- 
 tion is to take off all those acute angles from the 
 grains, which would otherwise be ground off in tra- 
 velling, and thus produce great inconveniences, by 
 introducing dust into the casks. This process is 
 performed, by causing the separate classes of grains 
 to revolve in cylinders so constructed as only to let 
 the dust through ; and the mutual friction of the 
 grains produces the desired effect. When it is re- 
 quired to give the powder a brilliant surface, as is 
 the case with fine sportsmen's powder, the cylinder is 
 lined with a woollen cloth ; and sometimes, if a high 
 polished gloss is desired, some black lead is introduced 
 into it. But these are matters of mere ornament. 
 
 Although the powder thus completed appears dry 
 to the feel as well as to the sight, it contains a con- 
 siderable quantity of water. This must be separated 
 by drying. In hot climates, exposure to the sun is 
 sufficient, but in most cases, artificial heat is requir- 
 ed. In France, a complex process was adopted by 
 passing heated and dry air through a closed cham- 
 ber, with the intention of diminishing the risk of ex- 
 plosion; but, with any moderate degree of care, it 
 may be done in any manner. In some of the older 
 works, the stove in use was a closed room with air 
 holes above, heated by means of an iron cupola or 
 large pot, to which a fire was applied outside of the 
 building ; the temperature being regulated by a 
 thermometer fixed in the door and indicating the 
 heat externally. In this room, the powder was ex- 
 posed in flat trays round the circumference. Late- 
 ly, the method by steam pipes has become generally 
 adopted, and in this way, every possible security, 
 real as well as imaginary, is obtained. 
 
 Analysis of Gunpoivder. Gunpowder. 
 
 It is often useful, and frequently indispensable, to 
 analyse gunpowder. This process will, indeed, ge- 
 nerally supersede the necessity of proving by the 
 usual methods ; as it is always certain that a speci- 
 men of gunpowder, well made, will produce the best 
 proof. It is particularly convenient in the case of 
 gunpowder purchased from merchants, or by con- 
 tract ; as, from the several causes which may easily 
 be conjectured, such an article may be deficient in 
 the quantity or in the quality of the saltpetre, or in 
 both. It is useful, moreover, in the case of damaged 
 powder, returned from military and naval service ; as 
 we can determine by these means, whether it has 
 been wetted by rain or by sea water, or whether 
 any portion of the nitre has been washed out. Pow- 
 der thus damaged by fresh water only, and other- 
 wise uninjured, may be committed to the mill and 
 restored at a very trifling expence. If the saltpetre 
 is diminished, it can thus also be restored ; but, on 
 the contrary, if the damage has been produced by 
 sea water, it becomes necessary to destroy the pow- 
 der for the purpose of extracting the nitre. 
 
 By washing the powder previously weighed in a 
 filtre, with hot distilled water, the nitre is dissolved, 
 and admits of being crystallized and weighed. The 
 tests formerly mentioned, namely, nitrat of mercury 
 and carbonat of potash, may then be used to deter- 
 mine its purity. Thus it may be ascertained whether, 
 in a new sample, the nitre is in sufficient proportion, 
 and whether it has been well purified, and in a damaged 
 one, whether the injury has arisen from fresh or 
 from salt water. It only remains to examine the 
 proportions of the charcoal and sulphur; a task, 
 however, which is less easy, but which is, at the same 
 time, less necessary, as the manufacturers are under 
 no great temptation to assume a wrong proportion of 
 these, although the joint quantity of the whole may 
 be in excess. This mixture, being dried and weigh- 
 ed, must be exposed to a moderate heat, as long as 
 any sulphur can be sublimed. But, as the last por- 
 tions are inseparable in this manner, it is necessary 
 at length to have recourse to other means. Among 
 those that have been tried, there is none more con- 
 venient than boiling, in a solution of pure alkali, by 
 which a sulphuret is formed, and the weight of the 
 dried charcoal thus completes the analysis. 
 
 Analysis of Gunpovoder after Explosion. 
 
 To a certain extent, at least, an analysis of gun- 
 powder, after explosion, is necessary for the purpose 
 of procuring data whence its forSe may, a priori, be 
 calculated. The rest is only matter of curiosity, 
 and we have borrowed the determination from the. 
 experiments of the late Mr Cruikshank, a name 
 known to chemists as that of the discoverer of car- 
 bonic oxide. As far as this analysis may differ from 
 that of others, it must be recollected that the sepa- 
 ration of mixed gases is not a very easy problem. 
 The mere collection of the total gaseous products 
 is easy ; and had the same method been followed by 
 Robins and others, less difficulty would have been 
 found in their computations. Had Count Ruraford, 
 
P O W D R R. 
 
 353 
 
 Gunpowder, and a numerous party of speculators on this subject^ 
 ^ adopted so simple an expedient, they would not 
 
 have had recourse to the expansive force of steam, 
 or ofthe air contained within the charge, for an expla- 
 nation of the cause and nature of the force. 
 
 By ramming 100 grains of powder into a narrow 
 metallic tube, furnished with a long handle, it is 
 easily caused to burn under water ; as the combus- 
 tion is slow and safe when it is thus condensed ; and 
 this quantity is sufficient for any purpose of experi- 
 ment. The tube being plunged under the water, 
 with its mouth downwards under the bell-glass of 
 the pneumatic apparatus, the powder may be light- 
 ed without any loss. This is done by introducing, 
 into that part ofthe tube above the charge, which is 
 purposely left empty, a crooked wii-e heated to red- 
 ness. After the hot wire and the tube in this posi- 
 tion are immersed under the bell, the former is 
 brought into contact with the charge. To prevent 
 the water from absorbing any portion of the carbo- 
 nic acid, sulphuric acid may be added to it, as well 
 as many other matters too obvious to mention ; or 
 else it may be heated. Thus the gaseous product 
 may be collected and examined at leisure, by the 
 means which chemistry furnishes, and which our 
 limits will not permit us to detail. 
 
 To collect the solid product, it is most convenient 
 to use a glass vessel, on account of the certainty of 
 obtaining the produce, which is, in great part, car- 
 ried up in smoke, and adheres to the receptacle in 
 which the powder is burnt. But we need not de- 
 scribe the numerous modes in which this object can 
 be attained ; only adding, that to diminish the ha- 
 zard, the powder for this purpose may be wetted 
 without affecting the results. 
 
 The following statement, then, contains the ga- 
 seous produce of ICQ grains, made of the propor- 
 tions 75 nitre, 10 sulphur, 115 charcoal; the mea- 
 sure and weight being both included. The tempera- 
 ture is reduced to 65, and the barometric pressure 
 to 29.5. 
 
 The total gaseous produce measured 91 cubic 
 inches, and the total weight 50 grains. Thus, about 
 half the weight of the powder becomes converted 
 into gas, and the remainder forms the solid pro- 
 duce : 
 
 
 Grains. 
 
 Inches. 
 
 Azote - - 
 
 13.24- 
 
 42 
 
 Carbonic acid - - 
 
 28.77 
 
 30 
 
 Carburetted hydrogen 
 
 2.70 
 
 9 
 
 Nitrous gas - 
 
 3.25 
 
 6 
 
 Sulphuretted hydrogen 
 
 2-03 
 
 4 
 
 
 49.99 
 
 91 
 
 The solid produce, however, appears in excess; 
 possibly from being imperfectly dried : or else from 
 some other unnoticed errors in the experiment. It 
 is as follows : 
 
 * VOL. VI. PART 1. 
 
 
 Grains. 
 
 Subcarbonat of potash 
 
 40 
 
 Sulphat of potash 
 
 11 
 
 Ch.ircoal - 
 
 3 
 
 Sulphur - - 
 
 0.5 
 
 
 54.5 
 
 Gunpowder. 
 
 It is not difficult to account for these various pro- 
 ducts, and it is evident that the carbonic acid and 
 the azote are the principal causes of the explosion. 
 The decomposition of the acid, and the combustion 
 of the charcoal, form the basis of the elastic force. 
 It may be imagined that the hydrogen is the produce 
 of contained water ; but we consider that it is prin- 
 cipally derived from the charcoal and from the sul- 
 phur. The two combinations which it forms are 
 such as might be expected, and the nitrous gas re- 
 quires no remark. Respecting the solid produce, 
 the produce of the subcarbonat and sulphat of potash 
 is a matter of course ; and it is only necessary to 
 point out the excess ; of charcoal principally, of 
 sulphur slightly. It is evident that more nitre would 
 be required to consume them ; but, as we formerly 
 remarked, it is held expedient that there should be 
 an excess in this way rather than in the other. We 
 need not, however, dwell longer on this analysis ; 
 since, as far as the effects of gunpowder are con- 
 cerned, it is the quantity, not the quality, of the 
 produce that is an object of interest. 
 
 On the Sizes and Forms of the Grains in Gun- 
 povoder. 
 
 The variety in the effects of gunpowder, arising 
 from differences in the sizes and forms of the grains, 
 has been an object of much inquiry. The condi- 
 tions of the problem are somewhat complicated. 
 Within certain limits, which gunpowder made of 
 nitre cannot exceed, rapidity of inflammation is es- 
 sential to the production of a full effect. Not to in- 
 quire into other causes, without this property, a 
 part of the charge is rendered useless by being 
 blown out unburnt ; an accident not uncommon on 
 ordinary occasions. This may also happen from the 
 form of the piece and that of the charge : it will oc- 
 cur in a long charge or in a short piece ; or, most ef 
 all, when both are united. Hence variations in the 
 effect of gunpowder, that are independent of its 
 quality, and which will render computations, founded 
 on that circumstance alone, deceptive. As we have 
 not room to dwell on this subject as it deserves, we 
 must refer our readers to Robins, and others who 
 have written on it. 
 
 Now, this rapidity of inflammation may be at- 
 tained, in some measure, in two ways : by intense 
 heat, and by facility of transmission of the flame. 
 But if a charge is considerable, no intensity of heat 
 can compensate for the absence of the second con- 
 dition. To put an extreme case. If the eight 
 pound battering charge of a 24 pounder were a 
 single grain, it requires little thought to perceive 
 that the shot would have quitted the gun before the 
 charge was half burnt. Hence, granulation is as 
 necessary for ensuring the full effect as it is for con- 
 
3ol 
 
 Guupo wuer 
 
 P O W D E E. 
 
 . venlence : and thus, also, we are led to the cause of 
 the bad consequences of hard ramming : a charge 
 very thoroughly rammed, and lighted at the ante- 
 rior end, would burn like a fuse or a squib ; if light- 
 ed by a touch-hole, it will be blown out like a shot. 
 Thus the rapidity of the inflammation is secured by 
 multiplying as much as possible the intervals for the 
 passage of the flame, or by diminishing the size of 
 the grains. Yet there is a limit even to this ; and 
 as that can only be determined by experiment, it is 
 from such trials that the grain for the smallest 
 charges has been fixed. As the charge, however, 
 increases in dimension, the volume of flame and the 
 intensity of the heat produced admit of a grain of 
 greater bulk, or one containing, in a given dimen- 
 sion, a smaller number of intervals. Much refine- 
 ment on this subject being, however, unnecessary, 
 one size is used for all ordnance ; while an inferior 
 size is made for muskets, and one still less for pis- 
 tols : the powder manufactured for fowling pieces is 
 also of the smallest size. 
 
 But there is a further element concerned in this 
 question ; and that is, the different specific gravities 
 of the different sizes of powder, or, what is especially 
 to the purpose here, the different spaces occupied 
 by the difterent sizes. The same measure which 
 contains 172 grains of the smallest, contains 180 of 
 the medium, and 195 of the largest. If powder be 
 measured instead of weighed, it is evident that there 
 will be one-ninth more of the large than of the small 
 grained in a given charge: if weighed, the larger 
 will occupy about one-ninth less space. In either 
 case the greater force will be excited by the large 
 trained, presuming that the inflammation is perfect : 
 when it is weighed, as is the correct practice, it will 
 not be very difficult to calculate the difference ; as 
 the force of the expanding fluid is, in a certain in- 
 verse ratio, of the space in which it is confined. 
 
 To increase the rapidity of inflammation, the 
 French have manufactured spherical powder. The 
 details of the process are such as would exceed the 
 limits allotted to this article ; but the principle may 
 be understood by saying, that it is similar to that 
 used by confectioners in making comfits. . Angular 
 grains are rolled in machinery adapted to that pur- 
 pose, in powder dust slightly moistened; and thus 
 small globules are formed. This grain is less liable 
 to wear in travelling, from the absence of angles ; but 
 it is, at the same time, more tender and less able to 
 bear pressure than pressed powder. Nor do the 
 French experiments, either by the eprouvettes or 
 the tables of practice, prove its superiority ; on the 
 contrary, the average results of its comparison with 
 ordinary powder are unfavourable ; and this also was 
 observed in our own trial. Hence, it has not been 
 adopted in Britain. 
 
 Proving of Gimpo''xider. 
 
 To ascertain, by practical trials, the strength of 
 gunpowder, is not merely a matter of curiosity, but 
 of absolute necessity. As the force, in battering 
 ordnance, and the range, in mortar and howitzer 
 practice, is regulated by the quantity of the charge, 
 it is obvious, that no regular practice in the field, or 
 congistent results, will be obtained, unless the stand- 
 
 ard of strength in the powder is both known and Gunpowdc 
 invariable. This is particularly the case with mor- ^-^^-^ 
 tar practice against small works or redoubts, or 
 against the enemy's trenches ; and with howitzer 
 practice against moving columns in the field. An 
 invariable standard is, unfortunately, impossible ; but 
 it is always something to approximate to it. In mi- 
 litary arrangements, a proof is also requisite, for the 
 most obvious reasons, when powder is purchased 
 from merchant manufacturers ; not only that a mi- 
 nimum standard of strength maybe fixed, but that, 
 as far as is possible, the various quaUties furnished 
 may be reduced by mixture to an uniform stand- 
 ard. 
 
 It is usual, in the Jirst place, among the work- 
 men, as well as the merchants, to form a judgment 
 of the quality of gunpowder by the aspect and firm- 
 ness of the grain ; and the latter, indeed, is a quality 
 which is indispensable, if it is to be exposed to much 
 land carriage. The nicety of tact required for this 
 is, however, only to be attained by practice ; as in 
 all other species of sampling. The moisture is 
 judged of by weighing, and by subsequent drying 
 and comparison. The quantity of this is a question 
 of profit and loss in the purchase. But it is more 
 important to ascertain its hygrometrical powers, by 
 exposure to moisture after drying. That is the 
 best which gains least weight by this operation ; nor, 
 in any case, should the absorption of water amount 
 to I per cent. It is also a common practice to try 
 it by what is called flasJmig : but this only serves to 
 show whether it has been thoroughly ground : if not, 
 the charcoal will produce sparks. 
 
 The trial of force is ma'de by eprouvettes of dif- 
 ferent constructions, or else by practice. The most 
 common eprouvette is a short chamber, provided 
 with a gun-lock, the orifice of which is closed by a 
 cover, connected with a graduated and ratchet wheel 
 and spring. The quantity of the wheel's revolution 
 is the esteemed measure of the force. But often as 
 this machine has been varied and improved, the re- 
 sults are so irregular, that it may fairly be considered 
 as uselesss. Various other instruments for this pur- 
 pose have been invented and tried; but, without 
 figures, we could not render their constructions in- 
 telligible. Regnier's does not materially differ from 
 the preceding in its principles ; and the results are 
 equally unsatisfactory. His hydrostatic one appears 
 to be still worse. We may say the same of that de- 
 scribed by Saint Remy, and of another recommend- 
 ed by the Chevalier D'Arcy ; and, of the whole, we 
 would remark that the leading fault is want of sim- 
 plicity. In a case like the explosion of gunpowder, 
 where so many disturbing forces are always at hand 
 to vitiate the true results, we cannot be too careful 
 in eliciting all unnecessary causes of disturbance. If 
 there is any one class of machinery in which simpli- 
 city is indispensable, it is that which belongs to gun- 
 powdei', under any of its relations. 
 
 We, however, consider that, as an eprouvette, Dr 
 Hutton's pendulum is as free from exception as any 
 machine can be. The disturbing forces are no- 
 thing, or as little as possible; the charging and 
 firing admits of great uniformity; and, on trial, the 
 consistency of the results justifies the expectations 
 
POWDER. 
 
 355 
 
 Gunpowder- formed from its simplicity. In this pendulum, the 
 '««»^/^'*^ barrel is fixed upon the bob, and the force of the 
 gunpowder is therefore measured, not, as in Ro- 
 bins's, by the impulse of a shot, but by the recoil. 
 The indication of the extremity of the arc of vibration 
 is made by a hand continuous with the pendulum rod, 
 which moves an index furnished with a spring suflR- 
 ciently strong to retain it at that point of a graduated 
 arc, where it was left by the movement of the hand. 
 The barrel used for this purpose is an inch in dia- 
 meter, and is charged with two ounces of powder 
 put in loosely, without wadding or ball. In this, as 
 in all other cases of eprouvettes, the standard of 
 strength is arbitrary ; and, for service, is assumed 
 from the best average of gunpowder manufactured 
 by Government. The goodness of particular speci- 
 mens is estimated by their agreement, or otherwise, 
 with this standard. 
 
 Notwithstanding, however, the apparent accuracy 
 of this method, artillery officers, both in France and 
 England, are not satisfied with it as a method of 
 proving powder for service. It is, perhaps, right, 
 that practical men should, in a matter of so much 
 importance, rely only on such a method of proof as 
 agrees best with the particular objects for which the 
 material is intended. Yet it should also be recollect- 
 ed, that all Robins*s conclusions respecting the force 
 of gunpowder were drawn from experiments made 
 on his Balistic pendulum, and that the much more 
 accurate ones of Dr Hutton, on which we now rely, 
 were the results of the practice with that pendulum 
 which we have just described. 
 
 The method of proving, then, adopted both in 
 France and England, consists in real practice from a 
 mortar at short ranges. In France a mortar is used 
 of which the diameter is 0,191 (metres), or nearly 
 eight inches English, and that of the touch- hole some- 
 what less than two lines. The diameter of the ball 
 is 0,18y5 (metres), and the windage consequently is 
 0015. The weight of the ball is about 60 lbs. A 
 troublesome verification of the diameter of the bore, 
 of the vent, and of the shot, is made for each day's 
 practice. The mortar is condemned when the dia- 
 meter is enlarged to 0,192, or if that of the vent be- 
 comes 0005 more than it ought to be. A difference 
 of windage, amounting to 0002 (metres) more than 
 what is allowed, condemns the shot ; or, as it may hap- 
 pen, the whole apparatus. 
 
 All these verifications are so tedious, and the wear 
 of the mortar, the vent, and the shot, so rapid, that 
 it becomes inconvenient or impossible to follow them 
 so nicely in practice when there is much business. 
 It is, therefore, found more convenient to make a 
 standard trial for each day's proof, and to refer all 
 the others to this one ; instead of trying to preserve 
 what becomes impossible in practice, an absolute and 
 invariable range. 
 
 The English proof-mortar, therefore, nearly corre- 
 sponds with the French, it being of the eight-inch 
 calibre, and of brass. The shot is turned and po- 
 h'shed so as to be true, and to have at the commence- 
 ment the least practicable windage. During the pro- 
 gress of use, as the windage increases from the wear 
 botli of the bore and of the shot, the range becomes 
 contracted j a circumstance which also follows from 
 
 the enlargement of the vent; in consequence of whichGunpowder 
 a greater proportion of the generated air escapes at v^^^'^-' 
 that aperture. But, from the practice adopted with 
 us, these variations are of no moment, till the range 
 becomes contracted so as to render it expedient to 
 replace the shot or the mortar, or both. 
 
 The quantity of powder that is used is four ounces, 
 and the mortar being elevated to 45 degrees, the 
 range is measured in each trial. If the standard 
 range for the day is 225 yards, the powder that gives 
 a range of only 200 is rejected. The chief precau- 
 tions requisite to procure fair results in this compa- 
 rative method, is to take care that the level of the 
 platform and the elevation of the mortar are subject 
 to no accidents ; that the powder be fairly placed in 
 the chamber; that the priming tube always reaches 
 to the same depth within the charge; and that the 
 mortar be brought to the same temperature at each 
 experiment. For this purpose, it is to be cooled 
 with water. 
 
 Musket powder is submitted to a different species 
 of proof; founded on the same views of rendering 
 the proof for each kind as nearly corresponding as 
 possible with the purposes for which they are design- 
 ed. A barrel fitted with a turned steel ball, and with 
 as little windage as possible, is used for this purpose. 
 The ball is discharged at the distance of a few yard^s 
 only, against a compound butt, made of elm planks 
 an inch thick, soaked in water, and separated at a 
 short distance from each other. The extent of the 
 penetration is the proof of the strength of the pow- 
 der ; and the trials in this case also are referred to a 
 standard experiment made each day. Before con- 
 cluding this subject, we must add, that trials are also 
 made for the purpose of ascertaining the hygrome- 
 tric property of the powder to be purchased or is- 
 sued. This is done by exposing a quantity for a 
 given time in a box perforated with holes, and in a 
 damp room, and then submitting it to the same 
 proof. 
 
 Powder from Oxymuriat of Potash. 
 To increase the strength of gunpowder has been a 
 favourite project with inventors at all times ; all of 
 them forgetting that the same end can be attained, 
 as far as it is attainable, by augmenting the charge ; 
 and that neither the one nor the other is practicable 
 without an entire reformation of the whole system of 
 artillery. Could the force of powder be increased 
 one-half, for example, it would be necessary to con- 
 demn almost every gun in use ; and not only every 
 gun, but every carriage, breeching, ringbolt ; nay, 
 we might almost add, every ship in the service. And 
 supposing a new species of ordnance invented to suit 
 the new powder, it would require at least one-half as 
 much more of weight in guns and mortars, the same 
 in gun carriages ; with additional strength in every 
 object concerned about them. In the field, in the 
 same manner, an increased number of horses would 
 be required. This view presumes that the object is, 
 what in fact it always has been with the herd of in- 
 ventors on this subject, to gain additional force, or 
 range. If the purpose is only that of being enabled 
 to reduce the quantity, and thus diminish the bulk 
 and trouble of transportation, it is so trifling an ob- 
 
 8 
 
35 J 
 
 Gunpow 
 
 F O W D E R, 
 
 (ler. ject as scarcely to be worth attaining. With regard 
 to the main intention, or that of gaining greater 
 range and force, it is only necessary to say that the 
 powder is already too strong for the artillery. 
 
 As soon as the oxymuriat of potash was known, 
 it became obvious that it would not only ans-wer the 
 snme purpose as nitre, but, from its more energetic 
 action, produce a more rapid combustion. ^ It was 
 rh-st proposed and made by Mons. Berthollet in 1 786 ; 
 but an accident having happened from it at Essonc, 
 by which many people lost their lives, it was aban- 
 doned. The proportions used were 80 oxymuriat, 
 5 sulphur, and 15 charcoal. Afterwards they at- 
 tempted to make a modified compound by using only 
 a proportion of it with the nitre ; but after various 
 trials of this kind, the whole project was abandoned. 
 
 We have repeated Berthollet's method at different 
 times, and on a very large scale, without accidents ; 
 but we consider that the proportion of oxymuriat is 
 too large, — that it is at least larger than is necessary. 
 A better proportion appears to be 75- oxymuriat, 
 5 sulphur, 20 charcoal. As this compound is very 
 easily exploded by friction, it is necessary to be very 
 cautious throughout the whole process ; particularly 
 in the granulations; nor is it safe to mak« more than 
 one pound at a time. Of course, it may be mixed in 
 wooden mortars, as it requires no large apparatus.^ 
 
 The great objection to its use is the facility with 
 which it is inflamed by friction, or by a hard blow. 
 The expence, indeed, would alone be an insuperable 
 one, were there no other ; as the price of this salt is 
 more than twenty times that of nitre. It also cor- 
 rodes the barrels very quickly. In fowling-pieces it 
 is however of use ; being the detonating priming of 
 Forsyth's and of Manton's gun-locks. We may add, 
 that very good powder may be made from this salt 
 and charcoal alone, in the proportion of 80 to 20 ; 
 but the grain is not very compact, and it is subject 
 to all the same faults as the first. 
 
 The action of this powder on the shot in a charge 
 is very capricious, and far from intelligible. In the 
 French trials, it was found to give ranges sometimes 
 double, and sometimes triple those of comnaon pow- 
 der, using the same weights. In various trials made 
 in this country, the ranges were double in a majo- 
 rity of comparisons, when moderate charges were 
 used. But, by increasing the charges beyond this, 
 the ranges, instead of increasing in the same- ratio, 
 began to contract ; double the quantity producing 
 but a moderate increase in the range, and a third 
 proportion making an addition still less than the pre- 
 ceding. This, however, agrees with Robins's expe- 
 riments on common gunpowder ; and he has account- 
 ed for it by what he calls the triple resistance ; prov- 
 ing, as he thinks, that whenever the initial velocity 
 exceeds 1142 feet in the second, a vacuum is formed 
 behind the shot, which, by increasing the resistance 
 before it, speedily reduces the velocity to what it 
 would have been with a smaller charge. We need 
 say no more respecting a compound, the use of which 
 is not likely to be ever extended beyond its present 
 application to the detonating gun-locks. 
 
 Keeping and Restoration <if Powder, 
 Powder for service, whether for sea or land, is 
 
 kept in barrels, containing each one cwt. the size of Guhpovu'er. 
 which is nearly that of a ten gallon cask, and they ^ 
 are hooped with copper. As it is difficult to keep 
 dry casks water-tight, as indeed it was not thought 
 necessary that they should be so, much powder was- 
 always rendered useless on service by wet. Lately 
 copper linings hav.e heen very properly introduced, 
 and the ca&ks are now water-tight. As great quan- 
 titles of powder always have been, however, and al- 
 ways must be, returned unserviceable ; it is an im- 
 portant object to be able to restore it, or render it 
 useful in. biie most economical manner. 
 
 Sometimes the grain is merely adhering, and can 
 be shaken loose again; and this effect is not unfre- 
 quent even in magazines on shore. Such powder, 
 when dried by restoring, appears sufficiently perfect ; 
 but it will be found that it is increased in bulk, and 
 has become spongy and tender. On examination by 
 the magnifying glass, it will also be perceived that 
 the nitre is partially separated. Powder which has 
 once undergone this change is deteriorated, yet is 
 still fit for all ordinary purposes. It is not strong 
 enough, however, to bear travelling ; and, should it 
 be required for that purpose, it ought to be remilled 
 and granulated over again. 
 
 When the casks have been opened on service, be- 
 fore being returned, it is necessary to examine care- 
 fully whether they do not contain nails, or other fo- 
 reign matters ; an accident not uncommon. In such 
 a case it is unsafe to commit them to the mill, and 
 they must be reserved for extraction. When the 
 powder has been so wetted as to be near into lumps, 
 it is first necessary to examine, by the test of nitrate 
 of mercury, whether the damage has heen done by 
 fresh or salt water. If by the latter, it must also be 
 sent to the extracting house. If it has been very 
 thoroughly wetted, even by fresh water, it will often 
 be found that some of the saltpetre has been washed 
 away. In this case it must be analyzed, so far at 
 least as to determine the proportion of saltpetre 
 wanting, which must be added to it in the mill. In 
 the process of extracting, nothing more is necessary 
 than to boil the powder in pure water, and to filter 
 the solution through thick woollen bags. The 
 crystals are purified exactly as in the case of rough 
 nitre. This is a wasteful process, however, and in 
 all cases 'where it is possible, remilling is to he preferred. 
 
 On Accidental Explosions in Potuder Manufactories. 
 
 This is a subject which deserves far more attention 
 than it has yet experienced ; and we can only regret 
 that our researches do not enable us to add more to 
 the present suspicions as to the causes, than the lit- 
 tle which follows. That want of sufiicient care is 
 the general souree of these disasters is, however, cer- 
 tain as certain merchants' mills have been celebrat- 
 ed for them, while in others, as well as in those be- 
 longing to the Government, they have been extreme- 
 ly rare. Such accidents may take place in any part 
 of the works; but they are most frequent, as well as 
 less injurious, when they happen in the mills ; a« 
 the quantity of powder in these nevei- exceeds 50 
 lbs. It ought at least to be an invariable rule to re- 
 move each charge to the pressing house as Soon as it 
 is completed. 
 
 3 
 
P o w 
 
 Guivpowder. We already hinted, at the cause of the explosions 
 ^■'""'^^'^ in the mills, when they happen at. the time of remov- 
 ing the powder from beneath the stones. As stamp- 
 ing-mills are not iised in this countr}'^, it may be 
 thought superflaous to remark, that, in these cases, 
 this accident sometimes happens from attempting to 
 remove,- by a mallet and chisel, the lumpii of powder 
 which adhere to the pestles. It is one of the incon- 
 veniences attached to that mode of grinding. But 
 it is also proper to observe,, that the mills are some- 
 limes blown up while working ; and, from some exa- 
 minations which we have made, we have little doubt 
 that this has arisen frona fragments of the stones fall- 
 ing off, and being bruised together with the powder. 
 We indeed consider metallic rollers as every way 
 safer than stone ones ; as they can only produce fire 
 in case of friction ia contact during the removal of 
 tlie charge. If iron be held objectionable, it is easy 
 to face them with a sheet of copper ; bat it is proper 
 to recollect that, even thus, the chances of explosion 
 from frictiori are not removed. It is a great mis- 
 take to suppose that the absolute hardness of any 
 metal is indispensable to the production of explosion 
 in gunpowder. A blow sufficiently powerful, or 
 ft-iction caused by sufficient weight and rapidity, 
 will compensate for the absence of this, in very 
 soft metals, as well as in many other substances, 
 which do not readily give fire. Limestone we con- 
 sider to be a very objectionable substance. Except 
 that of Carrara, we know of none, either primary or 
 secondary, that does not contain much silica ; often, 
 indeed, particles of quartz sand. In the secondary 
 calcareous rocks it is universal ; nor is even the finest 
 white marble of Carrara always exempt ; as is well 
 known to statuaries. But the softness, even of the 
 purest limestones, is no defence ; as the friction be- 
 tween these is still more capable of setting fire to 
 gunpowder than that of iron. The readiest way of 
 putting these different substances to the test, is by 
 experiments in fulminating silver (that of Howard) : 
 as the irritability of this substance enables us to as- 
 certain the factswit.ha moderate and convenient force. 
 
 We know of no explosions in the stove, except in 
 one noted instance, when it was pretty well ascertain,, 
 ed to have been produced by a workman, who had 
 determined on suicide in this manner. In the steam 
 itove it can never happen from overheating ; but as 
 the floor must necessarily be dry when the workmen 
 enter to remove the powder, instead of being wet, as 
 it always is in the other houses, it requires additional 
 eare respecting the feet of the people employed. 
 The only method that is quite safe, in all houses and 
 magazines, is to oblige the workmen to labour bare- 
 footed. The heavy leather slippers in common use 
 are far from safe ; as, from not fitting well, they are 
 frequently dragged along ; in which way they may 
 easily entangle particles of sand. It ought to be 
 known to all powder makers, that the breaking of a 
 fragment of quartz, or the sufficient friction of two 
 grains between copper, or even wood, is capable of 
 igniting gunpowder. This is more particularly the 
 case when the finer charcoals are used ; as it is this 
 which is the susceptible ingredient. 
 
 Explosions in the pressing and granulating houee 
 
 D E R. 357 
 
 have happened much too often, nor have the causes Gunpowder, 
 been ascertained-. As there is a considerable quan- v"*"' 
 tity of powder always present here, these are of a 
 very serious nature. It would be proper that these 
 two buildings should always be separated, and, in the 
 usual way, by a work of earth. The old granulating 
 houses are far from safe, as the cranks and other 
 parts of the moving machinery are contained within 
 the house, which is always filled with the dust of the 
 powder. It is trusting too much to the attention of 
 persons, whom practice renders habitually careless, to 
 expect that they will always keep the parts oil- 
 ed. It is easy to remedy this evil by entirely separ- 
 ating the working machinery from the granulating 
 engine, which may be suspended and steadied by 
 ropes, so as to avoid all chance of friction. 
 
 In the pressing house there seem to be two 
 sources of danger, both of which may be obviated. 
 It is easy for powder to become entangled among the 
 threa.ds of the screw, and the consequence of this 
 must be obvious. This would be remedied by 
 adopting Bramah's press. We also think that the 
 sudden condensation of air entangled among the 
 fragments in the pressing box may be sufficient to 
 produce fire. W'hether this be the case or not, it 
 will always be prudent to make the first pressure as 
 slowly as possible, that the air may be allov/ed to es- 
 cape. 
 
 We have observed three other causes for acci- 
 dent, though neither of them belong properly to the 
 manufacturing houses. It is, nevertheless, very im- 
 portant that they should be generally known. Char- 
 coal, in certain cases, is liable to take fire spontane- 
 ously, and that even in the lump. This is a case 
 exactly analogous to the pyrophorus of Romberg; 
 and it unquestionably arises from the same cause, 
 namely, the presence of a portion of potassium. It 
 is an accident which, we imagine, can only happen 
 to charcoal made in retorts; as, in the pit method, 
 the potassium could scarcely be expected to escape 
 combustion. The precautions hence requisite, re- 
 specting the stowage of charcoal, and the place of 
 the distilling houses, must be evident. When in a 
 state of powder, and under pressure, it also has been 
 known to inflame ; and, possibly, from the same 
 cause. 
 
 We are not aware that it is usual to keep many 
 waggons and powder-cart tilts about powder maga- 
 zines, but we do know that this has happened, and 
 with the effect of producing fire. It ought to be ge- 
 nerally known, for many other reasons, that fresh 
 painted canvass, stowed close, is subject to sponta- 
 neous combustion. 
 
 Lastly, it has frequently been observed that fire 
 was struck in closing up the powder barrels, as well 
 on board ships as in magazines— an accident which 
 was supposed impossible, since both copper hoops 
 and hammers are exclusively used. We at length 
 discovered that this accident had arisen from using 
 cast rivets, in the surface of which the sand of the 
 mould had become entangled. Hence the obvious 
 necessity of using none but forged copper rivets, 
 and since the adoption of these in the Government 
 s tores, this accident has been unknown. 
 
358 P O W 
 
 Gunpowder. 
 
 ^ y -■_ ^ On the Force of Gunpoiuder when Fired. 
 
 It remains to inquire, whether there are any 
 nieans, a priori, of determining the explosive force of 
 gunpowder, and of discovering what that is or ought 
 to be. Many calculations have been made on this 
 subject, and some of them, we need scarcely say, 
 are deserving of great regard, although by no means 
 in accordance with each other. Many, on the con- 
 trary, proceed on principles, so often gratuitous or 
 false, as to be entitled to no consideration. When 
 we consider the reputation of some of the authors 
 of these speculations, and the real knowledge of the 
 true cause of explosion which were then in existence, 
 the history of these opinions, and thus of the deduc- 
 ed results, are not a little curious. 
 
 Lemery, Wolf, Papin, and some others, consider- 
 ed that the cause of the explosion was to be sought 
 in the rarefaction of air contained in the interstices 
 of the powder; forgetting, that in a rocket, which 
 can contain none, the production of air was sufficient 
 to communicate and maintain a considerable veloci- 
 ty during the whole time of the combustion. John 
 Bernouilli imagined that this air contributed an 
 eighth part of the force only, and that the remainder 
 arose from water contained in the saltpetre. Mus- 
 chenbroek, Stahl, Beaume, and Macquer, again, con- 
 sidered the whole effect as produced by the conver- 
 sion of the water of the nitre into steam ; an error 
 quite unpardonable in the two last chemists, who 
 ought to have known that nitre contained little or 
 no water of crystallization ; and still more so in Count 
 Kumford, who has fallowed them in this theory. 
 Lombard, attempting to improve on it, adds to the 
 expansion of steam that of the nitric acid. The 
 Abbe Nollet allows the water but a share in the ex- 
 plosion. But not to enumerate more of these hypo- 
 theses, we shall only mention further, that of those 
 who have attributed the expansive force to the con- 
 version of latent into free, or radiant caloric, as 
 they have thought fit to term it. 
 
 It would have been much more easy and correct 
 to have put this question to the test of experiment, 
 when the real cause would have immediately appear- 
 ed. It was sufficiently unpardonable, in the greater 
 number of these persons, not to have inquired what 
 had been done before them ; since Boyle, Hales, 
 Hawksbee, and others, were aware that the com- 
 bustion of gunpowder produced a permanently elas- 
 tic fluid ; although their mode of obtaining it in an 
 exhausted receiver was not a very accurate one. 
 Hawksbee found that one grain of powder, when fir- 
 ed in vacuo, produced a cubic inch of a permanent- 
 ly elastic fluid, and that the same result was obtained 
 in air. Hence, though not acquainted with modern 
 chemistry so as to be aware of the nature of the ge- 
 nerated gas, he knew well that it could not have 
 arisen from the expansion either of air or water 
 contained in the powder. The inaccuracy of Count 
 ^ Rumford's views, and the extraordinary results of 
 
 his numerous and laborious experiments, exceed, 
 howevex*, all that has been done on this, or perhaps 
 on any subject in modern experimental philosophy. 
 
 The history of opinions respecting the explosive 
 force of gunpowder, and all alike pretending to be 
 
 D E R. 
 
 deduced from experiments, is scarcely less amusing Gunpowler. 
 than the hypotheses respecting the cause; although'**— -v-*-' 
 rendered much more marvellous by their extraordi- 
 nary discrepancy. John Bernouilli considered the 
 initial force as equal to 100 times the pressure of the 
 atmosphere ; while Daniel Bernouilli made it 10,000. 
 Bracehus determines it at 450, D'Antone as lying 
 between 1400 and 1900, and Ingenhouz at 2276. 
 According to Dulacy it is 4000, by Amontons it is 
 5000, and by Lombard it is stated at 9215. After 
 this there is a rapidly increasing estimate among 
 other experimenters : Monsieur Le General de la 
 Martilliere representing it at 43,600, Count Rum- 
 ford at 54,750, and Monsieur Gay de Vernon, who 
 outdoes all his cerapetitors, stating it as making from 
 30,000 to 80,000. 
 
 Among the French, Gilot's experiments appear 
 the only tolerably accurate ones; as he states the 
 produce of 100 lb. of powder in gas to be 463 cubic 
 feet. This, however, is considerably under the 
 truth, at least in the present French powder, as well 
 as in our own. Of course, this is not meant to repre- 
 sent the total force ; but he has not given any state- 
 ment of the increase of volume produced by the 
 temperature on firing. The coincidence between 
 Robins's and Gilot's results is, however, consider- 
 able ; but the French philosopher is beyond the 
 truth. 
 
 According to Robins, from experiments made in 
 an exhausted receiver, the produce of gas from a 
 given quantity of powder, bulk for bulk, is 236 ; or 
 one cubic inch of powder produces 236 inches of 
 elastic fluid at the mean temperature and pressure. 
 If the powder be rammed into the smallest possible 
 space, the produce is double, or 472 inches of air ; as 
 it may be condensed, by hard ramming, into half the 
 space which it occupies when loose. But we must 
 beware of assuming this as an element in the com- 
 putation of the initial force, however true a repre- 
 sentation it is of the fact, abstractedly considered. 
 In practice, powder would produce no correspond- 
 ing effect in this state, because the ball would have 
 quitted the piece before it was half burnt. Now, 
 Robins's experirtients tally very nearly with our 
 own, as formerly stated ; the produce from ram- 
 med powder being about 520 on an average of 
 trials, which, being reduced in the proper ratio for 
 powder as it is fired, gives 260 instead of 2S6. It is 
 not impossible but that our powder may have been 
 superior to his. 
 
 Thus much for the permanent produce. But there 
 is another important element required, before the 
 expansive force of the powder at the time of firing 
 can be determined, and the initial velocity calculat- 
 ed. This is the augmentation of bulk produced by 
 the elevated temperature which results from the 
 combustion. According to Robins, that is such as 
 to render the pressure, or force of the generated fluid 
 at the moment of explosion, equal to 1000 atmo- 
 spheres. Dr Hutton, more justly, states this at 
 2000; a force far short of the imaginary ones which 
 we have quoted above. 
 
 We should have proceeded to examine the expe- 
 riments on which this determination was founded, 
 and to compare the calculations with the results of 
 
P o w 
 
 Gunpowder, practice. But our limits warn us that we must draw 
 this article to a close ; and we shall, therefore, refer 
 our readers to the writings of Robins, Euler, and 
 Hutton, on this subject, as alone deserving of atten- 
 tion. Yet we cannot conclude, without suggest- 
 ing the only method, — a method yet untried, by 
 which the true force of the explosion may be dis- 
 covered a priori ; or, at least, the real bulk of any 
 given quantity of the generated gas, at the moment 
 of inflammation, may be ascertained. It is a heat 
 which cannot be conjectured, and to which no true 
 approximation has been made by any method yet 
 used. 
 
 PRE 
 
 359 
 
 By firing the given charge of gunpowder under Gunpowder 
 a given quantity of water or mercury, it is easy to 
 measure the temperature to which it is raised. 
 Hence, recurring to the difference of capacity for 
 heat between either of these substances and the ge- 
 nerated gas, to their relative quantities, and to the 
 law for the expansion of gaseous fluids by heat, as 
 determined by Gay Lussac, the problem may be 
 solved, for that case at least ; as we are fully sensible 
 that no rule truly applicable to all cases can be es- 
 tablished, when the numerous variations to which, 
 in practice, the conditions are liable, are consi- 
 dered, p. p. p. 
 
 LIFE PRESERVERS. 
 
 -Although it too frequently happens, that an acci- 
 dent, which materially endangers the life of an indivi- 
 dual, deprives him, in the mean time, of that presence 
 of mind which alone would enable him to take proper 
 measures for his safety ; yet to have meditated, in 
 an interval of leisure, upon the best method of pro- 
 ceeding in case of emergency, must tend greatly to 
 diminish the embarrassment and confusion that com- 
 monly accompany the accident, even if it should not 
 be thought necessary to provide any particular ap- 
 paratus for the purpose of escaping the danger. 
 There are also many ways in which those who are 
 not immediately involved in the disaster may contri- 
 bute to the preservation of life, whether actuated by 
 interest, or by humanity only ; and the modes of re- 
 lief will, therefore, be naturally divided into the in. 
 tertial and the external, whether relating to Jires or 
 to shiptvreclcs. 
 
 Sect. I. — Internal Fire Escapes. 
 Whenever a family establishes itself in a residence 
 not detached from others, it becomes of importance 
 to ascertain what facilities the house affords for as- 
 cending to the roof, and for passing to those of the 
 neighbouring houses. It is scarcely possible that a 
 conflagration should extend at once to the conti- 
 guous houses on each side, before the inhabitants of 
 the house in question have had time to escape. But 
 in a detached house, if there are not two or more 
 staircases remote from each other; and even in a 
 house contiguous to others, when there is no facility 
 of communicating by the roof, it becomes highly ex- 
 pedient to provide some internal means of escaping 
 through the windows in case of fire ; and to have on 
 every floor a good strong rope, with a hook or a loop 
 at the end, by which it may be fastened to a bed- 
 post, so as to enable an active person to descend by 
 its help out of the window, finding from time to time 
 a partial footing in the inequalities of the wall. This 
 process will be greatly facilitated by having the rope 
 knotted at intervals of about a foot throughout its 
 length ; the knots being nearly as convenient as the 
 blocks, or clips, that are sometimes made for the 
 
 purpose of retarding the descent, by holding them, 
 and regulating the friction by thepressureof the hand* 
 (Plate ex. fig. 14) ; unless the clip be attached to a 
 strong cross bar, on which a person may sit, while he 
 regulates the position of the clip by its handles, and 
 allows himself to descend with more or less velocity 
 at pleasure. The arrangement for this purpose may 
 be made by a roller, or pipe, sliding on the rope, 
 and pushed down so as to open the handles of the 
 clip and tighten its teeth, when the person holds by 
 the roller and draws it down (Plate CX. fig. 13); 
 and, on the contrary, the clip may be opened by 
 pressing on the handles with the other hand, or with 
 the thighs ; or any other simple mode of regulating 
 the clip may be adopted, provided that it be not lia- 
 ble to be misunderstood, or misapplied in a moment 
 of confusion. After all, a rope ladder would per- 
 haps be preferable, as not being liable to be derang- 
 ed ; it is often kept ready made in the shops ; and 
 in the absence of any other rope, a common bed 
 ccrd will generally be found strong enough to sup- 
 port the weight even of a stout man ; for a quarter 
 inch rope may be safely trusted with two hundred 
 weight, and ought, indeed, to support three times as 
 much if new and good. 
 
 Sect. II. — External Means of Escape from Fire. 
 
 The external means to be employed in cases of 
 conflagration must be provided by the managers of 
 fire offices, or by other public officers ; and every in- 
 genious workman, whom they may employ, v.'ill be 
 able, at his leisure, to devise such apparatus as he 
 can the most conveniently execute, and to give it a 
 full trial in the absence of all danger ; it will, there- 
 fore, only be advisable that he should compare for 
 himself the particular inventions which have been 
 suggested for this purpose, and that he should choose 
 from among them such as he thinks most likely to 
 do him credit; and he may, indeed, very possibly 
 find means of improving on any of them. 
 
 1. In Leupold's Theatrum Machinarium (Plate 
 LIV. LV.) we find the representation of a chair cal- 
 culated to be drawn up or down by means of pulleys. 
 
 * Emerson's Mechanics, fig. 228, 229 ; Leupold's Thealrum Machinarium, Plate LIV. 
 
360 
 
 P R E S E R V E R S. 
 
 Pre- 2. Mr Varcourt obtained, in 176I, the approbation 
 of the Parisian Academy of Sciences for his inven- 
 tion of a hollow mast, fixed in a waggon, and support- 
 ing a stage, with the means of ascending and de- 
 scending. {Hist. p. 158.) 3. In the beginning of the 
 present century, a fire escape of Mr Audibert was 
 approved by the Parisian Institute. (M. last. IV.) 
 4. A committee was also appointed for examining 
 several similar inventions at the Lyceum of Arts, and 
 a medal was awarded by it to Mr Daujon, for his 
 apparatus, which consists of a platform carried on 
 wheels, supported by three frames, with brass wn-es, 
 on which boxes are made to slide up and down for 
 the conveyance of persons or of furniture. {Annales 
 des Arts, Repertory ii. L p. 439.) 5. Mr Collins's 
 invention of pipes raised by ropes, and affordmg a 
 centre to a long lever, is described in the fourth vo- 
 lume of the American Transactions, and in the Re- 
 pertory. (Vol. XV. p. 35.) 6. In the thirty first volume 
 of the Transactions of the Society of Arts (for 1813, 
 p. 244), we have an account of a fire escape invent- 
 ed "by Mr Adam Young, for which he received a 
 medal from the Society. It appears to constitute 
 by fiir the most portable of ladders, consisting of 
 cross bars or rounds, connected by ropes, and having 
 their ends fitted together, so as to form a pole, which 
 is readily elevated to the window ; and the rounds 
 being separated, and the hooks at the end properly 
 fixed to the window frame, the whole forms itself in- 
 to a very convenient ladder of a mixed structure. 
 7 The thirty fourth volume, for 1816 (p. 227), con- 
 tains a description of Mr Braby's fire escape, consist- 
 ing of a car made to slide on a strip of plank fixed 
 to a pole, and governed by a rope, which is cased 
 with iron, to protect it, in case of necessity, from 
 the effect of the fire. 
 
 The modes of extinguishing fires are not precise- 
 ly the objects of the present inquiry; but it deserves 
 to be remarked, that the only rational principle on 
 which the methods proposed have been founded, is 
 that of cutting off the supply of air, either by a coat 
 of water or steam, or by means of some chemical 
 substance, capable of forming an impenetrable var- 
 nish, or glazing, on the surface of the combustible 
 materials'! A mixture of clay, with sulphate of iron 
 and alum, has been proposed for this purpose, but 
 its utility must obviously be extremely limited, and 
 it must require to be applied with great address, so 
 as to be brought into fusion exactly at the place 
 where it is capable of protecting the substances not 
 yet consumed. 
 
 Sect. Ill Internal Means of Escape from Ship- 
 wreck. 
 
 The means of escaping from shipwreck may be si- 
 milarly divided into internal and external, or into the 
 precautions to be taken by the ship's company, and 
 the measures to be adopted by persons on shore. The 
 internal means depend either on enabling the indivi- 
 duals to swim or float, or establishing a connexion 
 with the shore by ropes ; and of the former, we may 
 first consider those which require no particular pre- 
 paration before the occurrence of the accident that 
 calls them into action, and which are therefore the 
 most universally applicable. 
 
 Of such expedients the most effectual appear to be l^ife Prc- 
 those which depend on the employment of empty 
 water casks for assisting the ship's company to drift 
 on shore. 1. A paper on the arrangement of water 
 casks, to serve as floats in case of shipwreck, appears 
 in the publications of the Society for the Improve- 
 ment oi' Naval Architecture, dated in 1796. (Vol. II. 
 i. p. 51.) 2. In 1818 Mr Grant of Bidetord obtained 
 a gold medal from the Society of Arts, for the inven- 
 tion of a life preserver, consisting of a 36 gallon 
 cask, with some iron ballast fixed on a wooden bed, 
 and lashed to the cask, and with ropes round it for 
 the men to hold ; and it was found that ten men were 
 supported by it with convenience in tolerably smooth 
 water, the bung of the cask being well secured by 
 cork. (Vol. XXXVI. p. 63.) The ballast could be of 
 very little use, and a cask simply tied round with a 
 rope, like a common parcel, would probably ansv/er 
 the purpose equally well. It would, indeed, be pru- 
 dent for every ship in a storm on a lee shore, to have 
 a few of her casks well emptied and stopped, and tied 
 in this manner, before the actual occurrence of im- 
 minent danger. 3. In the thirty seventh volume of the 
 Transactions of the Society (p. 110), there is an ac- 
 count of Mr Cook's life raft, consisting of a square 
 frame with canvas nailed across it, supported by a 
 cask at each coiner, for which the gold medal was 
 voted to him. 4. It is followed by a description 
 of Lieutenant Rodger's life raft (p. 112), which ob- 
 tained a similar compliment. This raft has the ad- 
 vantage of requiring only such materials as are usu- 
 ally found on board of every ship; capstan bars, boat 
 masts, yards, or any other spars of moderate dimen- 
 sions, which are tied together so as to make a sort of 
 waggon frame, with a large cask fixed on each side ; 
 it appears to afford a very convenient support to the 
 men, but it can scarcely possess any great strength 
 for resisting the force of the breakers. 
 
 Mr J. Bremner, a clergyman in the Orkneys, had 
 received a medal from the Society in 1810, for his 
 method of converting any ship's boat into a life boat, 
 by putting into it three or four casks attached to the 
 keel, which is to have a ring bolt fixed in it for re- 
 ceiving the ropes by which the casks are fastened; 
 he gives particular directions for making all the neces- 
 sary arrangements in the twenty eighth volume of the 
 Transactions (p. 134); he particularly advises that 
 no use should be made of the natural buoyancy of 
 the cavity of the boat, but that the bottom should 
 be perforated without hesitation, wherever the hole 
 would afford any additional facility for fixing a rope. 
 Captain Manhy's jolly boat fitted as a life boat, 
 " at the expense of three pounds," seems to be com- 
 prehended among those preparations which are to be 
 made previously to the voyage. 
 
 The buckling a soldier's canteen on his breast, as 
 an assistance to enable him to float, belongs to these 
 temporary expedients, which may occasionally be 
 employed with advantage. Tying a hat in a pocket 
 handkerchief, and holding it as a float, has been re- 
 commended by Mr Lciwson in the Philosophical Ma- 
 gazine (Vol. XX. p. 362) ; he advises that the crown 
 of the hat should be held downwards, and observes 
 that a stick may be employed, to enable us to use 
 two or four hats at once ; but this method can only 
 
PRESERVERS. 
 
 361 
 
 Life Pre- be adopted when the accident occurs in very still 
 servers, ^^ter. 
 
 The first and most obvious preparatmt for enabling 
 a person to float, is the learning to swim. It is well 
 known that swimming is scarcely ever sufficient to 
 enable a seaman to reach the land from a ship that 
 has been wrecked, without some assistance; and 
 many have certainly been drowned from depending 
 too much on their own strength ; but for a momen- 
 tary support, and to afford courage and presence of 
 mind to seek for other aid, there is no question but 
 that the faculty of swimming possesses an inestimable 
 advantage. A boy generally learns to swim by the 
 help of his schoolfellows, better than by any ge- 
 neral rules, and more agreeably than in a school of 
 natation ; but it may be of some use to observe, that 
 the act of diving to the bottom and reascending, in 
 tolerably shallow water, is much more easily perform- 
 ed by a beginner, than that of simply supporting 
 himself on the surface ; and when he has thus ac- 
 quired the feeling of the immediate effect of his arms 
 in propelling and sustaining him, he soon finds out 
 the means of employing his feet in their assistance. 
 The art of swimming has, however, been systemati- 
 cally treated by Bachstrom, Kunst zu Schwimmen, 
 8vo. Berl. 1742 ; by Thevenot, Art de Nager, Paris, 
 1711 ; and by Bernardi, Arte Ragionala del Nuoto, 
 2 vols. 4to. Naples, iVpi. 
 
 It is easy to convince ourselves, by trials in a warm 
 bath, without reference to Robertson's experiments 
 (P/«7. Trans. 1757), that a substance possessing a 
 very small degree of buoyancy is sufficient to enable 
 the human body to float without effort. In fact, 
 when the chest is fully expanded, the thinnest and 
 most bony person will commonl)> float in sea water ; 
 but the effort of keeping the chest expanded is as fa- 
 tiguing as any other muscular exertion ; and when 
 the chest collapses, the fattest people may be in 
 danger of sinking unless they have learned to swim. 
 Sir William Hamilton, indeed, tells us that in 1783, 
 '* a woman of Scilla, four months gone with child, 
 was swept into the sea by the wave" accompanying 
 the earthquake, " and was taken up alive, floating 
 on her back at some distance, nine hours after ; she 
 had been used to swim ; her anxiety and suffering, 
 however, had arrived at so great a pitch, that just at 
 the time that the boat which took her up appeared, 
 she was trying to force her head under water to put 
 a period to her miserable existence." 
 
 In China a frame of bamboo surrounding the per- 
 son is used for a float, and the lightness and strength 
 of this substance must make it extremely proper for 
 the purpose; sometimes also a gourd is tied to a 
 child, to secure its floating in case of accident. The 
 inflated goat skins, used from time immemorial by 
 the Arabs, or the seal skins employed by the Chi- 
 lians, have the disadvantage of being easily punctur- 
 ed by a rock or a spar ; an objection which is also 
 more or less applicable to all substances containing 
 air; for example, to the air jackets described in Leu- 
 pold's Theatrum Pontificium, published about 1724-. 
 A float of a semicircular form was recommended by 
 Ozanam, the author of the Recreations; and Bach- 
 strom, in his Art oj Smmming, proposed to float a 
 troop of cavalry by fixing cork to the saddles. The 
 
 VOL. VI. PART I. 
 
 cork jacket of Gelacy is described in the History of Life Pre- 
 the Parisian Academy of Sciences for 1757, and servers. 
 Lachapelle's Scaphander, which is considered an im- ^'^'•^"^ 
 provement on it, in the volume for 1765. In the 
 year 1764, the attention of the British public was 
 particularly called to the floating powers of cork, by 
 some experiments which were made with cork jack- 
 ets on the Thames, together with some comparative 
 experiments on air jackets ; and Dr Wilkinson, in the 
 Philosophical Transactions for 176"5, describes some 
 experiments by which he ascertained that about a 
 pound of cork was amply sufficient to enable a man 
 of ordinary size and make to float without effort. It 
 is almost superfluous to enumerate the multitude of 
 trifling variations that have been made in the ar- 
 rangements of cork jackets and air jackets, apparent- 
 ly for the purpose of exciting a momentary interest, 
 though possibly from the best motives. Mr Bosquet 
 advised a bag of cork shavings to be kept in readi- 
 ness by each person : the Seaman's Friend was com- 
 posed of two pieces of cork, united by straps ; the 
 Collinetta was a hollow vessel of copper, divided into 
 cells ; a " marine spencer" has been described by Mr 
 Spencer, in the sixteenth volume of the Philosophical 
 Magazine, consisting only of a number of old corks, 
 arranged so as to form a girdle; and in 1806, Mr 
 T. C. Daniell obtained a gold medal from the So- 
 ciety of Arts for the invention of an apparatus of 
 water proof leather, surrounding the body, which, 
 according to the testimonials he produced, had saved 
 the lives of some persons who had been sailing in a 
 pleasure boat on a river. In smooth water, it has 
 been suggested that throwing a foot ball, with a 
 small weight tied to it, to the person immersed, 
 would often afford sufficient assistance ; and with 
 respect to floating, there is no doubt that any of the 
 assistances which have been proposed would be suf- 
 ficient, if they were at hand ; but there is another ob- 
 ject, to which it is necessary to attend, in cold, and 
 even in temperate climates, that of supporting a tem- 
 perature compatible with life and health, if the im- 
 mersion is likely to be of long duration ; and an ad- 
 ditional provision of worsted stockings, jackets, and 
 trowsers, will be almost as essential, in such cases, 
 as the means of obtaining buoyancy. 
 
 For the second object which is desirable to a ship 
 in distress, that of obtaining a safe communication 
 with the shore, it has been usual of late years to 
 rely principally on the humane exertions of persons 
 who may be on the coast, and who may have made 
 preparations for this purpose ; and with this view, 
 some instructions for properly co- operating in the 
 measures to be adopted with Captain Manby's ap- 
 paratus, have been liberally distributed to all ships 
 when they received their papers from some of the 
 British custom houses. There are, however, some 
 simple expedients which may be adopted for this 
 purpose by persons on board of the ship : for ex- 
 ample, the making a kite with a pocket handker- 
 chief stretched over a hoop, and causing it to carry 
 a cord to the lee shore, by means of which a stronger 
 line, and at last a hawser, may be drawn by persons 
 standing on the beach. A line may also sometimes 
 be carried on shore by a cask, allowed to drift be- 
 fore the wind ; and a bag has been recommended to 
 
 z z 
 
362 
 
 PRESERVERS. 
 
 Life Pre- be attached to sudh a cask or to a buoy, in order to 
 servers. a sail, and to insure its crossing the surf. 
 
 Mr Cleghorn was also rewarded, in 1814, by the 
 Society of Arts, for the invention of a buoyant hne, 
 having a heart of cork, to obviate the inconvenience 
 which would arise from its sinking and being dragged 
 on the stones under the breakers ; but he observes, 
 that in heavy storms there is generally a current 
 along shore, which renders the method almost im- 
 practicable. {Transactio7is, XXXII. p. 181.) A Mr 
 Wheatley assures us, in Captain Manby's Essay, 
 that his own life, and that of eight other persons, 
 were saved in 1791 by a lead line, which was carried 
 on shore by a Newfoundland dog that he happened 
 to have on board; when two good swimmers had 
 been drowned in the attempt to swim on shore. It 
 had occurred to Lieutenant Bell in 1791, that a rope 
 might be thrown from a ship which had struck, by 
 means of a mortar carrying a heavy shot, and upon 
 the principle of the gun harpoon; and he showed 
 the practicability of the suggestion by an actual ex- 
 periment, in which a deep-sea line was carried to a 
 distance of about 400 yards. {Trans. Soc. Arts, 
 XXV. p. 136.) He recommended that every ship 
 should be provided with a mortar capable of carrying 
 such a shot, and observed, that it might be placed 
 on a coil of rope to be fired, instead of a carriage. 
 The line was to be coiled on handspikes, which 
 were to be drawn out before the mortar was fired. 
 In 1792 he received a premium of 50 guineas from 
 the Society of Arts {Transactions, X. p. 204); and 
 he obtained his promotion in the Ordnance as an ac- 
 knowledgment of his merits. The shot was to weigh 
 about 60 pounds or more, and the mortar five or six 
 hundred weight. The experiments of the French 
 artillery at Lafere were subsequent to those of Mr 
 Bell, though they have sometimes been quoted as 
 the first of the kind. 
 
 It has, however, generally been thought impracti- 
 cable to manage a mortar with effect under the cir- 
 cumstances of actual shipwreck ; and Mr Trengrouse 
 has preferred a rocket, as more easily fired, and as 
 halving a smaller initial velocity than a shot, so that 
 the rope would be less in danger of being broken by 
 the impulse. He found that a rocket of 8 ounces 
 carried a mackerel line 180 yards, and a pound 
 rocket 212; and, in some experiments made under 
 the inspection of the Society of Arts, a rocket, an 
 inch and a quarter in diameter, carried a cord across 
 the Serpentine River in Hyde Park. The musket is 
 provided with a valve, to prevent the escape of the 
 materials of the rocket, and it is to be fired with a lit- 
 tle powder, without wadding. The whole apparatus 
 is packed in a chest, containing from eight to twelve 
 rockets, the musket, a life spencer, a chair, to tra- 
 verse on a rope, a canvas bag, and a ball of wood to 
 throw to a person swimming. Mr Trengrouse was 
 complimented with a medal from the Society of 
 Arts in 1820. (Vol. XXXVIII. p. 161.) 
 
 Sect. IV. — External Means of Escape from Ship- 
 wreck. 
 
 The means to be employed by persons on shore, 
 in cases of shipwreck, depend either on projecting a 
 line over the ship, or on the use of a life boat. Mr 
 
 Bell had cursorily observed, that a line might be Life Pre- 
 carried over a ship from the shore by means of his ^^ervMs^ 
 mortar ; but for the actual execution of this pro- 
 posal, in a variety of cases, we are indebted to the 
 meritorious exertions of Captain G. W. Manby, 
 whose apparatus, according to the report of a Com- 
 mittee of the House of Commons, dated in March 
 1810, appears " to be admirably adapted to its pur- 
 pose, and to have been attended with the fullest suc- 
 cess in almost every instance." In consequence of 
 this report, Captain Manby was thought worthy of a 
 Parliamentary reward ; and he afterwards published 
 a description of his inventions under the title of An 
 Eisay on the Preservation of Shipwrecked Persons, 
 8vo. London, 1812. He had previously received a 
 gold medal from the Society of Arts in 1808. {Trans- 
 actions, XXVI. p. 209-) His success makes it expe- 
 dient to extract from his Essay a detailed description 
 of the apparatus, and it will be easy to make it some- 
 what more intelligible by a slight alteration of the or- 
 der of arrangement. 
 
 P. 21. " The method of affixing a rope to a shot, 
 for the purpose of effecting communication, when 
 projected from a piece of ordnance over a stranded 
 vessel, was at length succeeded in, by introducing a 
 jagged piece of iron, with an eye at the top, into a 
 shell, and securing it by filling the hollow sphere 
 with boiling lead ; and in another way, by drilling a 
 hole through a solid ball, and passing a piece of 
 iron, with an eye to it, as before described, to the 
 bottom, where it should be well secured by rivetting." 
 (Plate ex. fig. 24.) 
 
 " To produce the means of connecting a rope to 
 a shot, and prevent its being burnt, and rendering it 
 ' irresistible' to the powerful inflammation of gun- 
 powder, was the labour of infinite time, and the 
 number of experiments to accomplish it is beyond 
 all possible conception. Chains in every variety of 
 form and great strength breaking, proved that it re- 
 quired not only an elastic, but a closer connected 
 body. At length, some stout platted hide, woven 
 extremely close to the eye of the shot, about two 
 feet in length beyond the muzzle of the piece, and 
 with a loop at the end to receive the rope, happily 
 effected it." (Plate CX. fig. 15.) 
 
 " This method is certainly desirable, as the rope 
 may, immediately [as] it is required, be affixed to 
 the loop, and applied in service. The form of the 
 platted hide may likewise be woven by twisting it in 
 the manner that the lashes of whips or ropes are 
 spun ; there is another method, by passing the rope 
 through a case of leather, taking the greatest care 
 that it is so well secured at the eye of the shot, as to 
 leave no room for the slightest play, as is repre- 
 sented by the following barbed shot." (Plate CX. 
 fig. 19-) 
 
 " When the crews of the distressed vessel are in- 
 capable of availing themselves of the benefits arising 
 from communication, they having previously lashed 
 themselves in the rigging to prevent being swept 
 away by the sea, which is repeatedly breaking over 
 them, and when, from long fatigue and the severity 
 of the storm (on which occasions it too frequently 
 occurs), they totally lose the use of their limbs, and 
 are rendered incapable of assisting themselves in 
 12 
 
PRESERVERS. 
 
 the slightest degree — the advantages of this shot 
 are, that, on its being projected over the vessel, and 
 the people of the shore hauling it in, it firmly se- 
 cures itself on some part tff the wreck or rigging, by 
 which a boat can be hauled to the relief of the dis- 
 tressed objects ; and by the counterbarbs it is ren- 
 dered impossible Qhat it should] give up its hold, 
 or slip, while that part of the wreck remains to which 
 it has secured itself. 
 
 " Among the many that have been saved by this 
 shot, the following are testimonials of a few of the 
 cases : — We, the crew of the brig Nancy, of Sun- 
 derland, do hereby certify, that we were on board 
 the said vessel when she was stranded on the beach 
 of Yarmouth, on Friday morning, the 15th of De- 
 cember I8O9, and compelled to secure ourselves in 
 the rigging to prevent being swept away, the sea 
 running so high over the vessel. And we do further 
 declare and certify, that Captain Manb)', firing a 
 rope with a hooked shot, securely holding on the 
 wreck, enabled a boat to be hauled from the shore 
 over the surf to our relief, otherwise we must inevit- 
 ably have perished." This certificate is attested by 
 six signatures. 
 
 P. 27. — " Facilitating communication is at all 
 times of importance ; but when the stranded vessel 
 is in momentary danger of going to pieces, this point 
 becomes a consideration of extreme urgency. I feel 
 a persuasion that this particular service can only be 
 carried into effect by a small and light piece of 
 ordnance, the range of which is consequently very 
 inconsiderable, when compared with that of a large 
 and heavier piece, as it is weight alone that conveys 
 the rope. In order, therefore, to increase the 
 powers of a shot projected from a small mortar, its 
 natural form must be varied, so as to give it addi- 
 tional ' preponderance.' The following shape, in the 
 form of a pear, has been used with the greatest suc- 
 cess, for by the increased weight, the shot's mo- 
 mentum and power over the line is in consequence 
 considerably augmented in its range ; and when 
 made to fit the piece as close as possible, a great 
 increase of velocity is hkewise produced from that 
 decrease of vi^indage. (Plate CX. fig. 11.) 
 
 " Portability in the construction of a piece of 
 ordnance (as just described) is the very essence of 
 this service ; and communication with the stranded 
 vessel or wreck may be effected with a cord, by 
 which cord a rope can be conveyed, and by that 
 rope a hawser or cable sent to the distressed vessel; 
 for this purpose the following was constructed.'* 
 (Plate CX. fig. 18.) 
 
 P. 31 — " A person completely equipped with 
 every necessary apparatus to effect communication 
 with a vessel driven on a lee-shore . . . the horseman, 
 fully equipped, travelled a mile and a half, the how- 
 itzer was dismounted, and the line projected 153 
 yards in six minutes. 
 
 " The application of a small piece of ordnance 
 (Plate CX. fig. 21) likewise offers particular advan- 
 tages, capable of being employed from a boat to go 
 to the assistance of a vessel grounded on a bar when 
 running for a harbour, the necessity of which re- 
 peatedly occurs, and was twice witnessed at Blake- 
 
 ney on the 10th of November 1810, when boats en- 
 deavoured to go to their relief, and were enabled to 
 get out of the harbour on the ebb tide, within 20 
 yards of the vessel ; but it was found impossible to 
 approach them nearer. Had such boats been pro- 
 vided with a piece of this description, and the same 
 firmly secured on a stout piece of plank, by the holes 
 left at each corner of the iron bed, they might have 
 projected a small rope, coiled in a crate or basket 
 made to the form of the bow of the boat, and the 
 persons in the boat, so provided, would not have re- 
 mained the distressed spectators of the untimely end 
 of their fellow creatures, without being able to af- 
 ford them the smallest relief, although so little was 
 then wanted for that desirable purpose." 
 
 " Although advantages have been pointed out in 
 the use of these small mortars, it is necessary to be 
 kept in remembrance, that they are produced for 
 particular services, as the nature of the coast, and 
 circumstances attending the distressed vessel, will 
 direct what piece is best adapted to the undertaking. 
 To enable the mind to form a judgment what can 
 be effected by other pieces, the following are the 
 minutes of experiments made with a five and half 
 inch brass mortar, stating the quantity of powder 
 used, and distance the ropes were projected against 
 a strong wind, at the angle of 17 degrees (elevation): 
 weight of the mortar and bed about three hundred. 
 
 363 
 
 Life Pre- 
 servers. 
 
 Ounces of 
 Powder. 
 
 Yardsof inch 
 & half rope. 
 
 Yards of deep 
 sea line. 
 
 4 
 
 134. 
 
 148 
 
 6 
 
 159 
 
 182 
 
 8 
 
 184 
 
 215 
 
 10 
 
 207 
 
 249 
 
 12 
 
 235 
 
 290 
 
 14 
 
 250 
 
 310 
 
 Y With a short eight inch mortar, the weight of 
 which and bed was supposed to be about seven hun- 
 dred ; the angles of elevation uncertain. 
 
 Ounces of 
 Powder. 
 
 Yards of deep 
 sea line. 
 
 Yards of two inch patent 
 Sunderland rope, capa- 
 ble of hauling the largest 
 boat from a beach. 
 
 32 
 
 439 
 
 
 32 
 
 479 
 
 
 32 
 
 
 336 
 
 P. 15. — *' Directions for using the apparatus. — 
 When the rope (which should be pliant and well 
 stretched) is brought on the beach or cliff opposite 
 to the stranded vessel, the most even spot, and free 
 from projecting stones, should be selected to lay it 
 on, and great care be taken that no two parts of it 
 whatever overlay or even touch each other, nor 
 must it be laid in longer lengths than of two yards. 
 But to project a small line or cord, it will be neces- 
 sary, if it is required, to contract the faker to half a 
 yard at most, to avoid the jerk received at the end 
 of each right line. The best method, with such a 
 
364 
 
 PRESERVERS. 
 
 Life Pre- description of cord, is to lay it on the ground in the 
 setvers. niost short and irregular windings, to relieve it from 
 this powerful impulse. To prove the effect of the 
 impulse on a rope, if it is faked in lengths of ten or 
 fifteen yards, it will break each time, as it then be- 
 comes a most powerful pendulum. These precau- 
 tions are absolutely necessary to the success of the 
 service. 
 
 " The following has, after various trials, been found 
 a certain method of laying the rope, and placing it 
 into compartments. {French Faking, Plate CX. 
 
 fig- !•> 
 
 " A particular attention to this mode will never 
 fail with a good rope, when the impediments are re- 
 moved that might otherwise obstruct its rapid flight. 
 Its advantages are, that it will allow the eye rapidly 
 (yet correctly, just before firing, which is absolutely 
 necessary) to pass over the different compartments, 
 and at once discover if any fake has been displaced 
 by the storm, or by any other casualty or accident 
 come in contact with another part, which would de- 
 stroy its application by the rope breaking. 
 
 " It may likewise be coiled in the manner used in 
 the whale fishery, Khale lair (Plate CX. fig. 8) ; and 
 in the following method, chain faking (Plate CX. 
 fig. 5). 
 
 " It is, however, necessary to add, that great at- 
 tention is required in laying it agreeably to the two 
 latter methods, arising not only from the arm being 
 liable to get under certain parts of the rope, and 
 thereby displace it, but from the great anxiety of 
 mind natural on these occasions, where the lives of 
 fellow creatures are literally dependent on the cor- 
 rectness with which the rope is laid ; it is, therefore, 
 extremely difficult, in a moment of agitation, to de- 
 termine whether any overlay has taken place, an er- 
 ror that would infallibly destroy every endeavour, 
 and occasion even the fate of those whose lives we 
 might be exerting ourselves to preserve. Could 
 persons in the performance of this service be al- 
 ways collected, the two latter methods would have 
 a decided advantage over the first mode of faking, 
 they being laid in a much less space of time. 
 
 " As all these methods of laying the rope occupy 
 time to place it with the care necessary ; and as it 
 has repeatedly happened that vessels, very soon after 
 grounding, have gone to pieces, and all hands pe- 
 rished, it was necessary to produce a method of ar- 
 ranging the rope, so that it could be immediately 
 projected as soon as it arrived at the spot; and 
 none proved so effectual as when brought ready 
 laid in a basket." (Plate CX. fig. 23.) 
 
 " In this case, the rope shouldbe most carefully laid 
 in alternate tiers or fakes, no part of it overlaying, 
 and it should be well secured down, that in travelling it 
 be not displaced. But, above all things, no mistake 
 must happen in placing the basket properly. 
 For example, that the end of the basket, from which 
 the shot hangs in the above plate, should be pre- 
 viously marked, as it is here represented, and must 
 be placed towards the sea or wreck, that the rope 
 be delivered freely, and without any chance of en- 
 tanglement. It will be scarcely necessary to add, 
 there will be several tiers of the rope when laid. 
 The utmost care and attention are required in lay- 
 
 ing the rope in tiers with strict regularity, to pre- 
 vent entanglement, 
 
 P. 36. The next is the application of the mor- 
 tar. If the wind is side wise to the shore, it must be 
 pointed sufficiently to windward to allow for the slack 
 of the rope lighting on the object, as the rope will, 
 of course, be considerably borne to leeward by the 
 effect of a strong wind, and by its being laid at a 
 low elevation, insures the rope falling . against the 
 weathermost part of the rigging. While this ser- 
 vice is performing, great care should be taken to 
 keep the mortar dry ; nor should it be loaded until 
 every thing is ready ; when that is done, it should 
 be primed ; but as it would be impossible to do it 
 with loose powder in a storm, a tube is constructed 
 in the simplest manner of common writing paper 
 (the outer edge being cemented with a little gum) 
 in this form. (Plate CX. fig. 2.) It is filled 
 with meal gunpowder, made into paste with spirit of 
 wine; when in a state of drying, run a needle 
 through the centre, and take care the hole is left 
 open, for, on the tube being inflamed, a stream of 
 fire darts through the aperture with such force as to 
 perforate the cartridge. The mortar should then 
 instantly be fired, and in order to lessen a difficulty 
 that has often occurred in performing this service, a 
 pistol may be used, having a tin box over the lock, 
 to exclude the effect of wind or rain on the priming ; 
 and the muzzle being cut [obliquely], dilates the in- 
 flammation, so as to require but little exactness in 
 the direction of the aim. 
 
 " We will suppose the communication to be 
 secured, although it is scarcely necessary to offer 
 any other assistance than that of a rope, as the in- 
 ventive genius of a sailor will supply every thing 
 else, yet I could expect the people on shore to get a 
 boat ready for meeting the vessel when driven on a 
 beach ; it is the promptest and most certain method 
 of relief, as well as the most easy to be accomplished, 
 for by hauling her off with the rope projected, the 
 boat's head is kept to the . waves, and not only in- 
 sures safety by rising to the surge, but prevents her 
 
 upsetting." , w ^i. 
 
 Again, p. 59—" When the rope attached to the 
 shot (not having barbs to it) is fired over the vessel 
 and lodges, let it be secured by those on board, and 
 made fast to some firm part of the rigging or wreck 
 that they may haul off" a boat by it; but should 
 there not be any boat, then haul on board by the 
 projected rope a larger one, and a tailed block, 
 through which a smaller rope is rove. Let the 
 large rope be made fast at the mast head, between 
 the cap and the top of one of the lower masts, and 
 the tailed block a little distance below it ; but, if the 
 masts should have been cut or carried away, then it 
 must be made fast to the loftiest remaining part of the 
 wreck. When this is done, there will be supphed 
 from the shore a cot, hammock, netting, basket, 
 hoop, or any of the numerous resources of seamen, 
 which will run on the larger rope, and be worked 
 by the people on shore. If a cot be used, the men 
 may be so securely fastened to it, as to preclude all 
 possibility of falling out, and then be brought from 
 the wreck, one by one, in perfect safety." 
 
 p. 4,7. " While communication is gaining, three 
 
 1 
 
PRESERVERS. 365 
 
 Life Pre- stakes should be driven into the ground in a triangular 
 server, position, so as to meet close at the heads to support each 
 other. As soon as communication has been effected by 
 the crew of the vessel^ and they have secured the line 
 attached to the shot, made fast to these stakes, and the 
 crew will haul on board by it a large rope and a tailed 
 block, through which a smaller rope is to be rove, 
 both ends of which (the smaller rope) are to be kept 
 on shore. When they have secured these on board, 
 and the larger rope is rove through the rollers, let 
 a gun tackle purchase be lashed to it, then lash the 
 purchase to the stakes. By the means of the purchase, 
 the larger rope may be kept at a fit degree of ten- 
 sion ; for, if care be taken to slacken the purchase as 
 the ship rolls out to sea, the danger of the rope being 
 broken will be guarded against ; and on the other 
 hand, if the purchase be gathered in as the ship 
 rolls toward the shore, the slackness of the rope, 
 which would prevent the cot traversing as it ought 
 to do, and plunge it in the water more than it other- 
 wise would, will be avoided." (Plate CX. fig. 9.) 
 
 p. 59. — <' Supposing neitlier boat nor cot appara- 
 tus at hand, first cast off the shot from the projected 
 rope, and with a close hitch, thus (Plate CX. fig. 
 17), let it be put over the head and shoulders of the 
 person to be saved, bringing it close under each arm, 
 drawing it tight, observing particularly the 
 KNOT IS ON THE BREASTBONE ; for, by having the 
 knot in that position, on the people of the shore 
 hauling the person from the wreck, he will natural- 
 ly be on his back, consequently, the face will be 
 uppermost to seize every moment for respiration, 
 after each surf has passed over the body. If cir- 
 cumstances compel recourse to this method, care 
 must be taken to free the rope from any part of the 
 wreck, and to jump clear away ; but should there 
 be more than one on board, each man should make 
 himself fast in the same way, above four feet from 
 the other, and join hands, all attending to the same 
 directions." 
 
 P. 6 1 — " For giving Relief to Vessels Stranded 
 on a Lee shore in a Dark and Tempestuous Night. 
 It will be requisite, first, to devise the means of dis- 
 covering precisely where the distressed vessel lies, 
 when the crew are not able to make their situation 
 known by luminous signals ; secondly, to produce a 
 method of laying the mortar for the object, with as 
 much accuracy as in the light ; thirdly, to render 
 the flight of the rope perfectly distinguishable to 
 those who project it, and to the crew on board of 
 the vessel, so that they cannot fail of seeing on what 
 part of the rigging it lodges, and consequently have 
 no difficulty in securing it." 
 
 *' To attain the first object, a hollow ball was 
 made to the size of the piece, composed of layers of 
 pasted cartridge paper of the thickness of half an 
 inch, having a lid on the top to contain a fuze 
 (Plate CX. fig. 3), and it was then filled with about 
 fifty luminous balls of star composition, and a suffi- 
 cient quantity of gunpowder to burst the ball and 
 inflame the stars. The fuze fixed in the ball was 
 graduated, to set fire to the bursting powder at the 
 height of 300 yards. Through the head of the fuze 
 were drilled holes, at equal [distances], to pass 
 through them strands of quick match, to prevent the 
 
 possibility from any accident of the match falling Life Pre- 
 out, or from its not firing the fuze. servers. 
 
 " On the stars being released they continued ^^-^ 
 their splendour while falling, for near one minute, 
 which allowed ample time to discover the situation 
 of the distressed vessel. 
 
 " During the period of the light, a stand, with 
 two upright sticks (painted white, to render them 
 more discernible in the dark), was ready at hand, 
 and pointed in a direct line to the vessel." (Plate 
 CX. fig. 7.) 
 
 " A shell, affixed to the rope, having four holes in 
 it, to receive a like number of fuzes (headed as before 
 described), and filled with the fiercest and most 
 glaring composition, which, when inflamed at the 
 discharge of the piece, displayed so splendid an illu- 
 mination of the rope, that its flight could not be 
 mistaken." (Plate CX. fig. 22.) 
 
 P. 66. — " To get a Boat from a Beach over the Surf. 
 The importance of going to the relief of ships in 
 distress at a distance from the land, or for taking off 
 pilots, was viewed as of the highest consequence by 
 the Elder Brethren of the Trinity House, and 
 offered to my particular attention by several distin- 
 guished characters. After numerous experiments to 
 accomplish it in various ways, the mode following 
 was most approved. About forty fathoms of two 
 and a half inch rope, made fast to two moving an- 
 chors, was laid out parallel with the shore, at a dis- 
 tance beyond the sweep of the surf ; to the centre 
 of this rope was made fast a buoy of sufficient power 
 to suspend the great rope, and prevent it from chaf- 
 fing on the sand, rock, or stones, as well as embed- 
 ding, a circumstance that has rendered it impossible, 
 on a sandy or shingly coast, to heave out an anchor 
 with a rope to it from the shore. As this service 
 should be performed in fair weather (to be prepared 
 for the storm), it may be regulated with the greatest 
 exactness, and should take place at the top of high 
 water, that the upper part of the buoy may be at 
 the full stretch of its power, and only seen at that 
 time. (Plate CX, fig. 10.) 
 
 " Should the shore be extremely flat, it will be 
 desirable to place another set at a sufficient distance 
 beyond the first, to ensure the operation of this me- 
 thod in any state of the tide." 
 
 P. 71 — " The royal mortar being brought to the 
 spot, is to be pointed in the direction for the buoy, 
 and should be laid at a very low elevation, but such 
 as to insure the range ; for the more it is depressed, 
 the less slack of rope there will be from the parabo- 
 la formed in the shot's flight ; the basket with the 
 rope ready laid (having a barbed shot to it) is to be 
 placed in the front of the mortar ; on its being fired, 
 instantly haul the slack of the rope in, to prevent 
 the effect produced on it by a strong tide. Which 
 being done, let the remainder be gently hauled in to 
 insure the shot's grappling with the great rope ; 
 when that is caught and hooked, a power will be ac- 
 quired fully adequate to the service. (Plate CX. 
 fig. 16.) 
 
 As a cast-iron anchor appears particularly adapt- 
 ed to this method, and would be much cheaper than 
 hammered, the following is a plan of one which the 
 Honourable the Navy Board approved, and allowed 
 
66 
 
 PRESERVERS. 
 
 Life Pre- 
 
 me to cast at their expense, for the purpose of mak- 
 ing the experiment." (Plate CX. fig. 20.) 
 
 P. 43. — " When a vessel is in that extreme and 
 perilous situation, driven under a rugged and inac- 
 cessible cliff, and in danger of going soon to pieces, 
 the most prompt method I should suggest is, by 
 lowering to the crew a rope with stiff loops spliced 
 into it, at the distance of a foot and a half from each 
 loop, of sufficient size to contain the foot, by which 
 they can ascend as a ladder. (Plate CX. fig. 6.) 
 
 " This rope ladder is capable of being pro- 
 jected ; and one of an inch and half rope was 
 thrown from a mortar 194; yards. It might also, 
 from the simplicity of its structure, be extremely 
 useful in escaping from a house on fire. By mak- 
 ing one end fast to the leg of a bed or a table, 
 the person would come down from the window 
 in safety, and with much less difficulty, and quick- 
 er than with the common rope ladder, which is 
 heavier and more unwieldy. It has great advan- 
 tages when employed in saving shipwrecked men in 
 situations just described, when, from extreme cold, 
 and almost benumbed limbs, it Avould be impossible 
 for them to climb up a rock, or ascend it even by 
 the aid of a common rope. The holds, thus spliced 
 in, will support both hands and feet." 
 
 The Report of the Committee of the House of 
 Commons contains also a paper of instructions for the 
 managers of Captain Manby's apparatus on shore, 
 which are somewhat more minute than the directions 
 published in his Essay. For example, p. 13, 
 
 If the wind be sideways to the shore, the mor- 
 tar must be pointed sufficiently to windwards to al- 
 low for the slack of the rope lighting on the object, 
 as the rope will, of course, be borne considerably to 
 leeward by the effect of a strong wind." 
 
 " The distance your judgment decides the vessel 
 to be from the shore, should regulate the charge of 
 powder as stated in the scale, — taking just a suffi- 
 cient quantity to clear the object; an attention to 
 this will be more certain of your effecting commu- 
 nication, and guarding against the danger of the 
 rope breaking, or any other circumstance that might 
 prevent the successful performance of the service. 
 The elevation of 1 5 degrees is to be preferred, par- 
 ticularly if the wind is sideways, pointing the mor- 
 tar sufficiently to windward, as the rope would then 
 fall against the weathermost part of the rigging of 
 the stranded vessel." 
 
 " When a vessel is driven on shore in the night, 
 you will flash gunpowder as often as convenient on 
 your way ; this will animate the crew, and denote 
 to them you are coming to their assistance. On get- 
 ting to the spot where you have reason to suspect 
 the vessel lies, as you are not able to discover her 
 from the extreme darkness, and if the people on 
 board cannot |[make known] their situation by lumi- 
 nous signals or noises (which they will be directed 
 to make if possible), you will lay the mortar at a very 
 high elevation, and fire a light ball." 
 
 " Just before you fire (the rope) it would be ad- 
 visable to let off a blue light to put the crew on their 
 guard, to look out, and be ready to secure the rope. 
 The service can be performed with a carronade." 
 
 In p. 1 5, Ch. IV. we have a copy of Directions to Life Pre- 
 persons on board vessels stranded on a lee shore, servers, 
 proposed to be delivered to the masters at the cus- ""n^"^ 
 tom house. It is observed, that even snapping a 
 pistol, when the powder is wet, may sometimes af- 
 ford a signal visible on shore, from the sparks of the 
 steel alone. The other parts of the directions will 
 be easily supplied by those who understand the 
 principles of the proposed mode of relief. 
 
 The last description of the inventions to be con- Life Boat 
 sidered with regard to the preservation of lives, in 
 cases of shipwreck, is that of Life Boats which are 
 of such a construction as to be incapable of sinking 
 even when filled with water. The occasional adap- 
 tation of the common boats of the ship to such pur- 
 poses, by means of empty casks, has been already 
 considered. But the boats now in question are sup- 
 posed to be kept on shore at proper stations, and 
 manned by active persons, who are in the habit of 
 exerting themselves for the relief of seamen in dis- 
 tress. 
 
 Mr Henry Greathead, of South Shields, received 
 a gold medal and fifty guineas from the Society of 
 Arts in 1802, and a Parliamentary reward of L. 1200, 
 besides further remunerations from the Trinity 
 House, and from Lloyd's Coffee-House, for his in- 
 vention of a life boat, which is described in the 
 Transactions of the Society, Vol. XX. p. 283. The 
 length of this boat is thirty feet, its breadth ten, and 
 its greatest depth about three, besides a general cur- 
 vature which nearly doubles the depth, as reckoned 
 from the ends ; the convexity below being intended 
 to give it a greater facility of txirning, and a greater 
 power of mounting on the waves without submersion 
 of the bow, which would increase the resistance, 
 though it would not sink the boat ; the breadth is 
 also continued further than usual fore and aft, in or- 
 der to contribute to the same property. The gun- 
 wale projects some inches, and the sides below it 
 are cased with pieces of cork, amounting in the 
 whole to seven hundred weight, which are secured 
 by plates of copper. There are ten short oars of fir, 
 fixed on pins to the gunwales, and a longer oar for 
 steering at each end, both ends of the boat being 
 alike. It is painted white, in order to be more con- 
 spicuous, and a carriage is provided, for conveying it 
 over land when required. The description is ac- 
 companied by documents of the preservation of two 
 or three hundred men by the boats of South Shields 
 and North Shields, which were built in 1789 and 
 179B respectively. 
 
 Mr Christopher Wilson received a gold medal in 
 1807, for a life boat with air gunwales, which was 
 tried at Newhaven, and was said to be lighter and 
 more manageable than Mr Greathead's. {Transac- 
 lions, XXV. 55.) 
 
 " Little is required," says Captain Manby, p. 73, 
 " to establish the importance and advantages that 
 will result from giving every boat the properties of a 
 life boat, particularly when taken into consideration 
 that it can be produced at a very trifling expense." 
 
 To illustrate the method of giving the properties 
 of preservation to any boat, I have selected the re- 
 presentation of a man of war's jolly boat, fitted up 
 
PLATE ex. 
 
 I 
 
Life Pre- 
 
 PRE 
 
 to make experiments thereon, by permission of the 
 Honourable Commissioners of the Navy Board. 
 (Plate ex. fig. 25.) 
 
 " To give it buoyancy, empty casks were well 
 lashed and secured in it. For the advantage of 
 keeping it in an upright position, launching from a 
 flat shore, beaching, and to resist upsetting, it had 
 billage boai'ds of equal depth with the keel, and 
 when a good sized piece of iron or lead was let into, 
 or made fast to the keel, if any accident did upset 
 the boat, it immediately regained its original posture. 
 A stout projecting rope, with swellings upon it to 
 increase its elasticity, surrounded the gunwale, serv- 
 ed as a fender, and prevented it being stoved in low- 
 ering down, or when driven in contact with the ves- 
 sel it might be going to relieve. 
 
 " 'l"he boat thus described had the plug out, and 
 was filled with water until it ran over the gunwale, 
 when a crew of four, with myself, tried it in every 
 way, and found from the buoyant property of the 
 casks, it kept the boat so much above the water's 
 edge, that it was rowed with the greatest ease, and 
 was capable of performing any service required." 
 
 Mr J. Boyce, in 1814, obtained a medal for his 
 life boat and safety buoy, consisting of hollow cy- 
 linders, made of canvas, painted and varnished, and 
 connected with each other. It was tried on a river, 
 and carried a man with safety (Vol. XXXII. p. l77); 
 but surely it could not be trusted among breakers on 
 a lee shore. In 1818, Mr Gabriel Bray obtained a 
 silver medal for his invention of a boat filled with 
 air boxes, under the seats and along the sides. (Vol. 
 XXXV. p. 172.) 
 
 P R I 
 
 367 
 
 Life Pre- 
 servers 
 
 Captain Manby's proposal for throwing ropes 
 from ship to ship in cases of accidents, may easily 
 be understood from the methods which he employs p^-Jl^ 
 for saving lives in shipwrecks. Mr Thomas Cook's Wales's 
 life buoy is related to the same class of inventions ; its Island, 
 object is to preserve the life of a person falling over- "■^'N^'^ 
 boai'd in the night by means of a floating light ; and 
 it obtained him a gold medal from the Society of 
 Arts in 1818. {^Transactions, XXXVI. p. 121.) He 
 observes that a ship may often have to run half a 
 mile before she can get about, and lower a boat ; so 
 that it becomes highly desirable to afford a tempo- 
 rary support to the sufferer. The machine consists 
 of two casks, with a pillar between them, carrying a 
 composition of portfire, to be lighted by a lock when 
 the accident happens, and to serve as a rendezvous 
 to the man and the boat. He found that it might 
 be lighted, and let down into the water in the short 
 time of five seconds ; being always kept suspended 
 in a proper manner between the cabin windows at 
 the stern of the ship. Mr Miller's safety poles for 
 skaiters, and Mr Prior's mode of preventing acci- 
 dents in descending mines, are mentioned in the 
 Transactions of the Society of Arts, Vols. XXXII. 
 and XXXVI. ; but they do not require more parti- 
 cular notice on the present occasion. 
 
 A sketch of the expedients which have been re- 
 commended for the preservation of mariners, pub- 
 lished in a work entitled. Shipwrecks and Disasters 
 at Sea (3 vols. 8vo. Edinb. 1822, Vol. III. p. 459), 
 contains a few further historical details relating to 
 some of the inventions which have been described. 
 
 (v. N.) 
 
 PRINCE OF Vi'-ALES'S ISLAND, called also 
 Ptjlo Pinang, or Betel Nut Island, an island 
 situated off the west coast of the Malay peninsula, 
 from which it is separated by a narrow strait, about 
 two miles broad, which forms the harbour, and 
 affords excellent anchorage for the largest ships. 
 There is also an inner harbour, where ships may 
 receive every kind of repair that can be performed 
 without going into dock. The principal entrance 
 into the harbour is from the north-west ; but there 
 is also a fine channel to the southward. 
 
 This island is of an irregular four-sided figure ; 
 the north side being the longest, and the south the 
 shortest. It is near five leagues in length, and is 
 seven or eight miles in breadth. Throughout the 
 centre of the island there is a range of lofty hills, 
 decreasing in magnitude as they approach the south ; 
 and from these flow numerous fine streams, which 
 supply the island abundantly with water. 
 
 The soil of this island is various, generally a light 
 black mould, mixed with gravel, clay, and in many 
 parts sandy. The whole island had been for ages 
 covered with an immense forest, from which origi- 
 nated a fine vegetable mould, formed by the decayed 
 leaves, which, as the woods were cleared, and the 
 surface exposed to the weather, in a considerable de- 
 gree disappeared ; but the soil in the interior is still 
 equal to any sort of cultivation. These forests pro- 
 duce excellent timber for ship building, and supply 
 
 masts of any dimensions ; lower masts of one piece 
 having been procured here for a 74 gun ship. Much 
 of the north, and nearly the whole of the south and 
 east sides of the island, are in a state of cultivation. 
 The principal productions are pepper, betel-nut, 
 betel-leaf, cocoa-nuts, coffee, sugar, paddy, ginger, 
 yams, sweet potatoes, and a great variety of vege- 
 tables. The fruits are the mangosteen, rambosteen, 
 pine apples, guavas, oranges, citrons, pomegranates, 
 &c. The exotics raised here are cloves, nutmegs, 
 cinnamon, pimento, kyapootee, colalava, and a num- 
 ber of other plants from the Moluccas and eastern 
 isles. Pepper is the chief article of cultivation : the 
 quantity raised in 1 804 was calculated at two mil- 
 lions of pounds. The elastic gum vine (Urceola 
 elastica) or American caout-chouc, is found in great 
 plenty on Prince of Wales's Island. It is about the 
 thickness of the arm, almost round, with a strong 
 ash- coloured bark, much cracked and divided longi- 
 tudinally, with points at small distances, that send 
 out roots, but seldom branches. It creeps along the 
 ground to the distance of more then 200 paces, and 
 then ascends among the branches of high trees. The 
 milky juice of the vine is drawn off by wounding 
 the bark, or by cutting the vine in pieces. The 
 best is procured from the oldest vines, which will 
 yield two-thirds of their weight of gum. The che- 
 mical properties of this vegetable milk surprisingly 
 resemble those of animal milk. 
 
368 
 
 PHI 
 
 This island was originally granted to the East 
 India Company by the King of Queda, at the 
 request of Captain Francis Light, who had mar- 
 ried his daughter. The Bengal government see- 
 ing the island so peculiarly adapted as a mercan- 
 tile station for vessels from all the Malay ports, 
 the Moluccas, Borneo, Celebes, and the Philip- 
 pine islands, did not hesitate to accept the King of 
 Queda's grant ; conceiving that, by an establishment 
 properly secured, the Bengal trade, with that of 
 China, would be connected : and, from the conduct 
 of the Dutch, it became necessary to have a port 
 where the country ships might meet the eastern 
 merchants, as well for the promotion of that valuable 
 commerce, as to afford a windward station of refresh- 
 ment and repair to the king's, the company's, and the 
 country ships. A small detachment was accordingly 
 sent from Calcutta, under the command of Captain 
 Light, who took possession of the island in the name 
 of his Britannic Majesty, and for the use of the 
 East India Company, on the 12th of August 1786. 
 He immediately commenced clearing the country, 
 and began the construction of a small fort for the 
 protection of the detachment against any attempts 
 of the Malay powers, who might be instigated by the 
 Dutch at Malacca, or induced, by the fickleness of 
 their own disposition, to cut them off. Captain 
 Light was authorized to receive such colonists as 
 he might judge expedient ; to allot such a portion of 
 land to each family as circumstances would admit; 
 and, as an encouragement to trade, the port was 
 made free to all nations. In a very short space of 
 time, numerous adventurers flocked to the settle- 
 ment, some with the intention of remaining, others 
 merely with a view of traffic. These finding a 
 ready sale for their goods, and meeting with the 
 merchandise they required in return, the commerce 
 of the port rapidly increased : a town, called George 
 Town, was marked out, and within the year there 
 were upwards of sixty Chinese families living in it, 
 besides great numbers of Malays, Buggesses, and 
 other Eastern traders. The settlements continued 
 in a progressive state of improvement, both in regard 
 to its population and cultivation. In the year 1797, 
 there were 698? inhabitants on the island, exclusive 
 of Europeans and the garrison; and in 1801, they 
 had increased to 10,310, of which 1222 were slaves. 
 In 1805, the inhabitants of all descriptions were esti- 
 mated at 14,000, and have since been progressively 
 increasing, and exhibit an uncommon diversity of 
 races. Here are to be seen British, Dutch, Portu- 
 guese, Americans, Arabs, Parsees, Chinese, Chulias, 
 Malays, Buggesses, Birmans, Siamese, Javanese, &c. 
 .&c. The settlement having risen in importance, the 
 company, in 1805, determined to constitute it a re- 
 gular Government, subordinate only to the Governor- 
 general of India ; but, on account of the enormous 
 expenc£ incurred by the establishment, some modi- 
 fications were made in it in 1808. 
 
 The fort, which is called Fort Cornwallis, is built 
 on the north-east point of the island. It was origi- 
 nally badly constructed; and large sums have been 
 spent upon it without completing it. It is incapable 
 of defence, from its size and construction. In the 
 fort are barracks for the military, the ars^Jal, maga- 
 
 P R I 
 
 zine, and military store-houses. The sea has of late J P ^^ncc oj 
 years made encroachments on the north face of the idand.^ 
 fort, and along the esplanade, and for upwards of a 
 mile in that direction. The town, called George 
 Town by the English, and Panjang Panaique by 
 the Malays, is of considerable extent. It is bounded 
 on the north and east by the sea, on the south by a 
 small river, and on the west by the high road. 
 The streets, which cross each other at right angles, 
 are spacious and airy ; but having been at first 
 merely lined out, without being either raised or 
 drained, were frequently impassable after hard rain. 
 This inconvenience has been removed, as the princi- 
 pal streets are now properly raised and drained ; and 
 the town has in consequence improved much in ap- 
 pearance and cleanliness. There is a large pier for 
 landing and shipping goods, to which fresh water is 
 conducted by pipes. Since the island has become 
 the seat of government, considerable alterations have 
 taken place in every department. A government 
 house, a ehurch, a jail, and several substantial 
 bridges, have been built ; the fortifications have been 
 improved and strengthened, and the public roads 
 repaired and widened. The markets are -well sup- 
 plied with fish of various kinds, and of excellent 
 quality ; poultry of all sorts, pork, grain of every 
 description, and a great profusion of fine fruits and 
 vegetables. The beef and veal are not of a good 
 quality; sheep are imported from Bengal and the 
 coast of Coromandel ; goat mutton is procured from 
 the Malay peninsula and Sumatra. Milk, bread, and l 
 butter, are very dear, and the first very scarce. Al- 
 most all the country ships bound to the eastward, 
 particularly those for China, touch here, where • 
 they refresh and purchase such articles of trade as i ! 
 they have room for. The East India Company's ; i 
 ships bound to China touch also here, and load large ; j 
 quantities of tin, canes, rattans, sago, pepper, betel- • 
 nut, birds' nests, &c. for the China mai-ket, as also > ) 
 to serve for dunnage for their teas to Europe. 
 
 The imports from Europe, either directly or from i i 
 the other Presidencies, are generally European ma- • - 
 nufactures in iron and steel ; such as anchors, , , 
 cutlery of all sorts, fire-arms, nails ; also tin- ware, , , 
 patent shot, sheet lead, sheet copper, iron in bars, , , 
 boots and shoes, cables, canvas, cabinet-ware, , , 
 cloths and cassimeres, glass-ware, hats, haberdash- - - 
 ery, hosiery, musical and mathematical instru- - - 
 ments, oilman's stores, painters' colours, plated- - - 
 ware, watches, malt liquor, and European wines of f f 
 all sorts. The value of the goods imported from 1 1 
 England amounted in 1807 to L.76,000 ; in 1810, , », 
 to L.38,253. Large quantities of Bengal and I 1 
 Madras piece-goods are imported for the Malay r f 
 trade, and the consumption of the European resi- - - 
 dents. The other articles imported are opium, , , 
 grain, tobacco, red wood, sandal wood, shark fins, i, 
 myrrh, pepper, rice, betel-nut, benzoin, camphire, -, 
 gold dust, elephants' teeth, &c. A great many of f f 
 these commodities are re-exported to Sumatra, Cey- - - 
 Ion, and the other Indian islands ; also to China, i, i, 
 to Bengal, and Coromandel. Long, of the north- - - 
 east point, 100° 19'- E. Lat. 5° 25' N.— (From thee e 
 Edinburgh Gazetteer^ or Geographical Dictionary ^ /, 
 Vol. V. Part I.) 
 
369 
 
 PRI N 
 
 Printing. 1 HE article Printing, in the Encyclopcedia, brings 
 ^-^^i'"^ down the history of this invaluable art to the year 
 
 1790, and describes the presses and other implements 
 in use at that period. In this article it is proposed 
 — 1. To give a short detail of the principal improve- 
 ments which have since taken place ; and 2. To give 
 some account of Stereotype printing, a slight notice 
 only of which is contained in the EncyclopcBdia. 
 
 Few of the mechanical arts seem to have made such 
 rapid progress to perfection as that of printing. For 
 centuries after the invention little seems to have been 
 attempted in point of improvement, and nothing dis- 
 covered of material use ; indeed, in all the essentials 
 of printing, many of the earlier productions of the 
 press equal any thing that has since been produced. 
 The printing-press, used in the infancy of the art, 
 remained without improvement till about 1620, when 
 William Jansen Bleaw, of Amsterdam, fabricated the 
 press, which, till very lately, was in universal use ; 
 and till the beginning of the eighteenth century, and 
 the establishment of the elder Caslon's letter-foun- 
 dery, the printers of Britain imported nearly all their 
 types from Holland. 
 
 William Caslon, to whom English typography is so 
 much indebted, was originally an engraver of or- 
 naments on gun-barrels, and was first employed to 
 make punches for an Arabic New Testament in 
 1720. Under the patronage of Mr Bowyer, he, in 
 1722, cut the beautiful English letter which was 
 used in printing Selden's works, 1726; and after im- 
 proving the art of letter-founding, in all its parts, 
 and carrying on an extensive business for nearly 
 half a century, he died in 1766, leaving a son, by 
 whom the foundery was carried on, and individuals 
 instructed by him, who still further improved the art 
 of letter- founding. The chief of these was Joseph 
 Jackson, who cast a fount of letter for the Domes- 
 day Book, and furnished the t3'pes for the Bible 
 published by Mr Macklin. Mr Jackson died in 
 
 1791. (Nichols's Lit. Anec. Vol. II. p. 355.) 
 Another individual, who acquired some celebrity 
 
 in his attempt to improve English typography, was 
 John Baskerville. Mr Baskerville was born at 
 Wolverley, in the county of Worcester, in 1706. 
 He was trained to no occupation, but in 1726 be- 
 came a writing-master in Birmingham. He after- 
 wards betook himself to the occupation of a japan- 
 ner ; and in 1750 turned his attention to printing. 
 He manufactured his own paper, types, and ink ; 
 and his first attempt was a 4to edition of Virgil, 
 printed in 1756. He obtained leave from the Uni- 
 versity of Cambridge to print a Bible in royal folio, 
 and two editions of the Book of Common Prayer, in 
 three sizes, for which permission he paid a premium 
 to the Society. The Bible was printed in 1763. 
 He also printed, in royal 4to, editions of Terence, 
 Catullus, Lucretius^ Sallust, and Florus. Mr Bask- 
 erville died in 1775, and his types, &c. not finding 
 
 VOL. VI. PART I. 
 
 TING. 
 
 purchasers in England, were sold to a Literary So- ^"ntiBg. 
 ciety in Paris, for L. 3700. (Nichols's Lit. Jnec. '"""'■"^^^ 
 Vol. III. p. 450.) 
 
 The exertions of Caslon and of Baskerville to im- 
 prove the form of the types and render the letter-press 
 more attractive, were not without their effect in in- 
 troducing a taste for superior printing. Bodoni of 
 • Parma, Didot of Paris, and Bensley of London, succes- 
 sively called the public attention to specimens of typo- 
 graphy, of an elegance till then unknown ; and the 
 grandsons of the first Caslon had the merit of produc- 
 ing specimens of types, which showed that even the 
 form of the letters might be altered with advantage. 
 Messrs Caslon and Catherwood published their speci- 
 mens of these improved types in 1803 ; William Cas- 
 lon junior began his improvements about the same pe- 
 riod ; and they were speedily followed by Messrs Fry 
 and Steele, and all the other letter-founders in Lon- 
 don. These improvements consisted chiefly in the hair- 
 strokes of the letters being made finer, and the main 
 body, or stalk, bolder. Many of the double or tied 
 letters were also at this time discarded, such as the 
 sh, ss, St ; and the long s was finally exploded. The 
 form of the letters was also improved, by rounding 
 the terminations of several which formerly ended in 
 acute angles ; and the Italic types, in particular, 
 were so much altered, as to present the appearance 
 of beautiful writing. 
 
 When the taste for printing in better style began 
 to gain ground, it was soon found that the common 
 press was deficient in the necessary power to pro- 
 duce a sharp and beautiful impression of the types. 
 Besides this want of power, which rendered the 
 operation of printing a very severe one for the 
 workmen, it had another palpable defect in its 
 only printing half the sheet of paper at one pull. 
 Many attempts were of course made by individuals 
 to remedy these defects, and with various success. 
 One of the first of these was an improvement of the FrcnchPress. 
 common press, which took its rise in France. It 
 was a wooden press of the ordinary construction, 
 except that the platen was formed of an iron plate 
 instead of wood, and made sufficiently large to print 
 the whole side of the sheet of paper at once. The 
 under surface of this plate was covered with brass. 
 The screw or spindle, instead of being turned by the 
 bar or lever in the usual manner, was united by con- 
 necting rods with a strong lever placed at the side 
 of the press, and it was worked by the man applying 
 both hands to the lever to bring it down, nearly by 
 the same action as working the lever of a common 
 pump. But although additional power was thus pro- 
 cured, the exertion required from the workmen ren- 
 dered this press unfit for general use. 
 
 In the year 1796, Thomas Prosser, of London, Mr Prosser's 
 obtained a patent for an improvement of the print- Press, 
 ing-press. The chief feature of this invention was 
 an attempt to increase the power by the addition of 
 a spring between the cap and head to resist the 
 3 A 
 
370 
 
 PRINTING. 
 
 printing, pressure upwards, and a similar one under the lower 
 board or winter, to resist the pressure downwards. 
 {Repertorij of Arts, Vol. VI 11. p. 368.) 
 Mr Row- Another improvement adapted to the common 
 orUi's Piess. press was made by Mr Roworth, a printer in Lon- 
 don, which he is said to have found successful in a 
 long course of practice. Instead of the screw, Mr 
 Roworth substituted a plain vertical spindle, fur- 
 nished with a bar, hose, &c. as in the common press: 
 but the upper part, where the thread of the screw is 
 usually cut, was a plain cylinder, fitted into a socket 
 in the head of the press. Upon the upper end of 
 the spindle, just beneath the head, a short cross arm 
 is fixed, which acts against a circular inclined plane, 
 fixed under the head of the press. On turning the 
 bar or lever, this short arm, by its action on the in- 
 clined plane, causes the spindle to descend in the 
 same manner as the screw ; but with this advantage, 
 that the inclined plane is formed so as to give a ra- 
 pid descent to the spindle when the action first be- 
 gins ; and when the platen comes in contact with 
 the tympan and types, and the pressure is begun, the 
 plane has a very slight inclination, and a power which 
 increases as the resistance increases. The inclined 
 plane and cross arm of Mr Roworth's press are form- 
 ed of hardened steel. 
 
 Mr Brown's In 1807, Mr John Brown, of London, obtained a 
 patent " for improvements in the construction of a 
 press for printing books and other articles, part of 
 which may be applied to presses now in common 
 use." Mr Brown's press is of iron ; the pressure is 
 produced by a screw, which is put in action by a 
 bevel-wheel and pinion. The handle which gives 
 motion to these is fixed on a spindle, or shaft, at- 
 ■ tached to the side of the press. Another handle 
 which moves the bed with the types, likewise puts 
 in motion two rollers or cyHnders, covered wiih 
 flannel or any other elastic substance, and this again 
 with parchment or vellum, which rollers revolve and 
 feed the types with ink. Mr Brown, from the spe- 
 cification of his patent, seems to consider this mode 
 of inking the types as his chief improvement, and ap- 
 plies his invention to the common press by means of a 
 fly-wheel or treadle, which puts in motion the two 
 rollers or inking cylinders. {Repertory of Arts, Second 
 Series, Vol. XIV, p. 368.) 
 
 The Stan- But the most successful improvement upon the 
 
 hope Press, printing-press was about this period made by the 
 late Earl of Stanhope, whose genius for mechanics 
 led him to turn his attention to this important ma- 
 chine. The Stanhope Press, as it is named from 
 the inventor, is formed of iron, and prints the whole 
 surface of the sheet of paper at once. The most 
 important part of his Lordship's invention, however, 
 consists in his having obtained, by a combination of 
 levers, the requisite power for this purpose, without 
 the excessive labour of the common press, where the 
 lever or bar is fixed upon the axis of the screw. It 
 consisted in applying a short lever upon the top of 
 the screw of the press, and connecting it by a link 
 with the extremity of another lever, which was fixed 
 upon the top of a spindle or axis placed parallel to 
 the screw. To the lower end of this spindle the 
 handle or lever for working the press was attached ; 
 and the relative position of the levers was such, that 
 
 when the workman first pulls the handle towards Printing, 
 him, t!ie platen is moved or brought down with a 
 considerable velocity ; but on arriving at the point 
 where the pressure is required, the levers have 
 changed their position in such a manner as to ope- 
 rate upon the platen with a very slow motion, and 
 a power immensely great. This principle has 
 been employed, with certain modifications, in almost 
 every description of printing press that has been 
 brought forward since tlie date of Lord Stanhope's 
 invention. (See Plate CXI. figs. I, 2, 3, and De- 
 scription, for the details). 
 
 A Stanhope press of a new construction was after- De Heine' 
 wards invented by Augustus Frederick de Heine, of 
 London, and a patent procured for it in 1810. The 
 principle of this invention is the application of two 
 sectors, or a sector and a cylinder, or a sector and a 
 roller, to move one against the other by a single or 
 compound lever. Mr de Heine's press is of iron, as 
 the Stanhope press ; the only material improvement 
 being the substitution of a spiral or curved inclined 
 plane in place of the screw. In turning the lever, the 
 piston attached to the platen is depressed as by the 
 common screw, but with this difference, that as the 
 descent of the piston increases in velocity, the power 
 increases in the same proportion. In the screw the 
 descent is equal, and the power, of constquence, 
 equal. The lever is fixed to a moveable spindle, 
 and a regulating screw is fixed at the top. A dis- 
 covery similar in many respects to this had been made, 
 as formerly mentioned, by Mr Roworth, and adapt- 
 ed to the common press ; but Mr de Heine had the 
 merit of combining it with the iron frame and levers of 
 Lord Stanhope's machine. {Repertory of Arts, 
 Second Series, Vol. XVI. p. 32!.) 
 
 Mr Peter Kier, of Camden Town, also made some Mr Kier'i 
 improvements upon the construction of the Stan- Press, 
 hope press, which have been considered as contri- 
 buting much to the accurate performance and dura- 
 bility of the machine. A cylindrical hole is bored 
 in the centre of the press, and into this a cy- 
 hnder is accurately fitted, the platen being fixed on 
 its lower end. To prevent the cylinder from turn- 
 ing round, a flat side is made to the cylinder, and a 
 bar of iron is screwed across the two cheeks, which 
 bears against the flat side of the cylinder. Another 
 improvement is in the spindle to which the handle is 
 fixed. This has a screw cut upon its lower end, 
 which is fitted into a nut, and thus, when it is turn- 
 ed round, the spindle rises and falls a quantity equal 
 to the descent of the main screw in the same period. 
 By this means the connecting lever always draws in 
 a horizontal direction. In the other presses one end 
 remains at the level while the other descends, which 
 occasions the joints to wear irregularly. 
 
 Mr Brooke, of London, about the same time ap- A*ir BrookeV 
 plied the compound levers of the Stanhope press to the l^'''^**- 
 common press with much success ; but as the wood- 
 en frame of the old press is not calculated to afford 
 the same resistance as those constructed of iron, the 
 power of these presses i.s, of course, much inferior. 
 Mr Brooke's improvement, however, has been pretty 
 universally adopted. 
 
 Mr Medhurst, of London, is also the inventor of aivfir Med 
 printing-press of great merit, from the simplicity of l-wrst sPiew 
 
PRINTING. 
 
 S7I 
 
 Printing, its construction, and which has nearly the same ad- 
 ■^^.■'^ vantage in point of power as that of Lord Stanhope. 
 
 It is a common press in all its parts, but the platen 
 is made the full size of the sheet, and instead of a 
 screw a plain spindle is employed. On the lower 
 part of the spindle, just above the bar or lever, a cir- 
 cular plate is fixed, wliich affords steps for the points 
 of two iron rods which extend up to the head, and 
 are there supported by their points entering sockets. 
 When the platen is up, these rods stand in an in- 
 clined position ; but when the spindle is turned by 
 the lever, the circular plate in which the lower end 
 of the rods rest turns round likewise, and the upper 
 end remaining stationary, they come into a vertical 
 position, in which motion the spindle and attached 
 platen are forced to descend in the same manner as 
 though a screw were employed. This motion seems 
 to have every advantage of the Stanhope levers or 
 Mr Roworth's press, without the friction of either ; 
 for the power increases as the resistance, and when 
 the rods come nearly parallel to the spindle, or in a 
 vertical position, it is immense. 
 Mr Ruth- In 1813, Mr John Ruthven, of Edinburgh, took 
 ven's I'ress. ^ patent for a printing-press, by which the ne- 
 cessary power is produced by a combination of le- 
 vers alone. This ingenious mechanist, from being 
 himself a printer, had long observed the defects of 
 the common press, and set himself to remedy them ; 
 but finding this impracticable to the extent he wish- 
 ed, he at last succeeded in producing the printing- 
 press which now goes by his name. Mr Ruthven's 
 press differs from all those formerly invented, in the 
 platen being moveable and the types stationary. 
 The platen is the size of the sheet to be printed ; 
 there is no central pressure, the platen being drawn 
 down by the two ends ; and the resistance, being 
 sustained against the under side of the table, affords 
 complete security to all the parts. But the con- 
 struction and appearance of this press will be best 
 jwdged of by a reference to the plate. (See Plate 
 CXTI. figs. 4, 5, 6, and Description.) 
 
 Mr Rulhven makes these presses of all sizes, from 
 a cubic foot to the largest newspaper s'ze; and by an 
 ingenious application of the same principle, has form- 
 ed very useful machines for copying lettersj printing 
 from stone, &c. 
 umbian What is called the Columbian press is also form- 
 !ss. ed to operate by a combination of levers, and is pro- 
 bably the most powerful of any of those construct- 
 ed on this mechanical power. This press, which 
 is now very generally introduced, was invented in 
 1814. by Mr George Clymer of Philadelphia. Its 
 success in America induced the inventor to come 
 to London in 1818. where he established a manu- 
 factory for its fabrication ; and the trials it re- 
 ceived there in some of the largest printing-offices, 
 soon called the attention of the trade to this inge- 
 nious macliine. A front and side view of it are 
 given in Plate CXI. figs. 7, 8, from which its 
 movement will be readily understood. The orna- 
 ments, which are formed upon the castings of the 
 frame and levers, and which give this press so dis- 
 tinguished an appearance, are, however, omitted in 
 the engraving, on account of the diminished scale of 
 the figures. 
 
 Another press of American invention has been Printing, 
 lately imported into this country by Mr David Bar- -"^^^"^ 
 clay, who has obtained a patent for it. The power in ^^rclay's 
 v.- • 1 1 u I ,.• American 
 
 this machme is produced by a wedge acting uponp^^jj 
 
 two cylinders, which again act upon inclined planes. 
 The construction of this press is sufficiently simple, 
 and it is said to work well, and with much ease to the 
 workmen. (See Plate CXII. figs. 1, 2.) 
 
 As adapted to the improved presses which are ca- 
 pable of printing double sized sheets of paper, it may 
 be farther mentioned, that Mr Thomas Curson Han- 
 sard of London invented dividing tympans, which, in 
 the process of printing, cut such double sized sheets 
 to the ordinary size. This invention was secured 
 to him by patent dated the 1st of November 1817. 
 {Repertory oj Arts, Vol. XXXIII. Second Series, p. 
 257.) 
 
 These are the chief improvements which have been 
 made in the construction of the printing-press within 
 the last thirty years ; and previous to that period little 
 or nothing had been done to improve this useful ma- 
 chine. But not only was ingenuity successfully 
 applied to increase the power, and lessen the la- 
 bour required in working the common press, but 
 attempts were made, and with more success than had 
 been anticipated, to render manual labour in this de- 
 partment of printing almost unnecessary, by the in- 
 vention of machinery. 
 
 Machine Printing. 
 
 The late Mr William Nicholson of London was, it Nicholson's 
 is believed, the first who proposed the introduction 
 of a machine for printing, which should supersede 
 entirely the ordinary press. He obtained a patent, 
 dated the 29th April 1790, " for a machine or in- 
 strument for printing on paper, linen, cotton, wool- 
 len, and other articles, in a more neat, cheap, and 
 accurate manner than is effected by the machines 
 now in use." A description of this machine, illus- 
 trated by figures, is inserted in the Encyclopceclia ; 
 but as far as regards book printing, Mr Nicholson's 
 invention was found impracticable, as it required the 
 types to be so formed as to be fixed upon the surface 
 of a cylinder. The ink was supplied by a cylinder 
 or roller covered with soft skin, and stuffed with hair 
 or wool, and the quantity wais regulated by smaller 
 cylinders, which acted so as to distribute it equally 
 upon the larger one. This last part of Mr Nichol- 
 son's invention, however, or the idea of inking the 
 types in printing by means of a roller, in place of the 
 balls formerl)' used, has been since improved upon, 
 and is now universally adopted. 
 
 Another machine for printing was invented by Bacon and 
 Messrs Bacon and Donkin, for which they obtained Donhin's 
 a patent in the year 1813. This machine is ,so far dif. Machine, 
 ferent from Mr Nicholson's, that in place of the 
 types being required to be cast so as to be arrang- 
 ed on the surface of a cyUnder, they are firmly 
 fixed in pages or galleys upon the surface of a re- 
 volving prism, having four, five, or any required nunj- 
 ber of sides. This prism is mounted in a frame so as 
 to be capable of turning round on its axis, and is 
 called the Printing Prism. Beneath this a revolving 
 platen is mounted on an axis, the circumference of the 
 platen being so formed, that it always keeps iu con- 
 
372 P R I N 
 
 Printing, tact with the surface of the types or blocks upon the 
 ^i^.^^ printing prism. The types being inked, and the ma- 
 chine put in motion, the paper to be printed passes 
 between the prism and the platen, and thus receives 
 the impression. The ink is applied to the types by 
 means of a roller or cylinder with an elastic surface, 
 which is formed so as to turn round in contact with 
 the printing prism. But the structure of the machine 
 will be best understood from the plate and accompa- 
 nying Description. (See Plate CXIIf.) 
 
 Shortly after the patent was procured, one of these 
 machines was employed by the University of Cam- 
 bridge for printing Bibles and Prayer Books ; but its 
 structure, though very ingenious, was too complicat- 
 ed, and too liable to derangement, to give any hopes 
 of its being generally adopted ; and the subsequent 
 invention of a machine upon a different principle, 
 and of which the moving power was steam, has ren- 
 dered prior inventions of comparatively little value. 
 Bensley's This ingenious application of machinery to the 
 Machine, operation of printing was the invention of M. Konig, 
 a native of Saxony, and a printer. M. Konig is said to 
 have, many years ago, turned his attention to this 
 subject, though his first efforts were bounded to give 
 an accelerated motion to the common press. Fail- 
 ing in his applications to the most eminent of the 
 continental printers, he came to London about 1804-, 
 and submitted his scheme to several printers of repute 
 in that city. By most of these his proposals were coldly 
 received ; till fortunately he was introduced to Mr 
 Bensley, senior, who, judging favourably of M. Ko- 
 nig's plans, entered into an arrangement with him 
 for the purpose of carrying them into execution. 
 
 Mr G. Woodfall and Mr R. Taylor now joined 
 the projectors ; but the former having soon retired 
 from the concern, the remaining gentlemen perse- 
 vered in their experiments to fabricate a press which 
 should have accelerated motion, and render the work 
 of a man to ink the types unnecessary. After many 
 experiments, however, and considerable expence, it 
 was discovered that the attempt to improve the com- 
 mon press could never be attended with any great 
 results, and attention was now turned to printing by 
 means of a cylinder. 
 
 After some years of renewed experiments, a small 
 machine was at last produced, which promised to be 
 successful. The principle of this machine was, that 
 the operation of printing was performed by the sheet 
 of paper passing between a large cylinder, which 
 gave the pressure, and the form of types. In place 
 of balls used by hand, rollers, covered with leather, 
 as in Mr Nicholson's invention, were substituted; 
 under which the form of types passed its way to the 
 printing cylinder. The action of this model now 
 showed the practicability of extending the same 
 principle to a more powerful machine ; and on ex- 
 hibiting it to Mr Walters, proprietor of the Times 
 newspaper, and pointing out the further improve- 
 ments which had suggested themselves, an agree- 
 ment was entered into with that gentleman for the 
 ejection of two large machines for printing his jour- 
 nal. The machines were accordingly erected ; and 
 so secret had been the operations of the patentees, 
 that the first intimation of their invention was given 
 
 n N G. 
 
 to the public in the Times of Monday, the 28th of iPrintinf. 
 November 1814, the reader of which was told that ' 
 he then held in his hand a newspaper printed by ma- 
 chinery and by the power of steam. 
 
 The next step in the improvement of the machine ^ 
 was to fabricate one which should print both sides 
 of the sheet at once ; the first one erected being 
 merely calculated to do this in succession, or one 
 form of types after the other. A machine on this 
 principle was accordingly erected for Messrs Bens- 
 ley, complicated indeed, but not more so than might 
 have been expected, from the difficulty of making 
 the pages fall precisely on the back of one another. 
 As the strained skins by which the ink was applied to 
 the types were found unequal in their surface, the 
 inking cylinders were now covered with an elastic 
 preparation of glue and treacle, which has been 
 found to answer completely. The patentees issued 
 a prospectus, dated 18th March 1817) offering three 
 different kinds of these machines at a high scale of 
 prices ; and besides the original purchase money, de- 
 manding a large annual premium. Bui the proposals 
 were so extravagant, that they effectually operated 
 to prevent their adoption by the trade. 
 
 Various individuals now turned their attention to 
 the improvement and simplification of the machine, 
 but with little success. At last, however, Mr Dry- 
 den, a judicious engineer, under the instructions of 
 Messrs Applegath and Cowper, produced a machine 
 similar in its capabilities to the one last mentioned, 
 but much more simple in its construction. In the 
 old machine it required upwards of 100 wheels to ef- 
 fect the purpose, which in this last improvement is 
 performed by a tenth part of the number. Messrs 
 Bensley's original machine, however, answered many 
 useful purposes ; and massive and complicated as it 
 was, in comparison of the more recent improve- 
 ment, they continued using it till the destruction 
 of their establishment by fire in 1819. The fabri- 
 cators of the present machine, however, had applied 
 the inking apparatus invented by them to this ma- 
 chine, which, from its simplification, removed no less 
 than forty wheels required to effect the same purpose 
 by the old one. Even after the rebuilding of the 
 premises, the machinery, which had been only par- 
 tially deranged, was repaired, and worked for some 
 time ; but it has now given place to two machines 
 erected on the improved plan, which appear indeed 
 so simple in their operations, as apparently to be sus- 
 ceptible of but little further improvement. 
 
 The printing machine as now improved, besides 
 being less cumbrous than that of M. Konig, pro- 
 duces work of better quality. The double or per- 
 fecting machine throws off 800 to 1000 sheets, 
 printed on both sides, within the hour, and the single 
 machine delivers 1500 or l600 printed on one side. 
 {^Literary Gazette, No. SOI.) 
 
 Inking Roller. 
 
 The old method of inking the types by balls, ai inlking 
 described in the Encyclopaedia, has been super- Roblki. 
 fieded by the use of elastic rollers, which fulfil the 
 intention more completely, and with less labour to 
 (be workmen. The first idea of a roller for this 
 
PRI N 
 
 Printing. ■ purpose seems to have occurred to Mr Nicholson ; 
 
 this being a necessary part of the apparatus of the 
 printing machine, for which he obtained a patent in 
 1790, and it has formed an appendage in every ma- 
 chine since proposed. At the first outset, the roll- 
 ers were made of leather stuffed in the manner of a 
 cushion ; but they were soon found to lose their elas- 
 ticity and to grow hard, and by the unequal stuffing, 
 to ink the types irregularly. A composition of glue 
 and treacle spread upon canvas, which was used in 
 some printing offices ts cover the stuffed balls in 
 place of skins or soft leather, was afterwards applied 
 to a cylinder, and found not less admirably calcula- 
 ted for the operation of a machine, than for printing 
 by manual labour at the ordinary press. 
 
 On the introduction of the inking roller, many de- 
 vices were fallen upon to supply it regularly with 
 ink. Of these it is scarcely necessary to give a de- 
 tailed description in this place. An inking table 
 formed of a plate of cast iron, with a longitudi- 
 nal trough or box at one end to contain the ink, 
 seems best adapted to the purpose. A metal roller, 
 in the centre of this trough, and of which a small 
 part of the surface is exposed, turns in the centre of 
 the trough of ink, and a steel bar along its up- 
 per surface, fixed by screws, regulates the quantity 
 given out. The elastic roller, on being pushed up 
 to the trough, receives a stripe of ink throughout its 
 whole length, which is distributed equally over its 
 surface, by rolling on the table before being applied 
 to the types. 
 
 The roller is cast in a mould, upon a core of hard 
 wood, which is mounted upon a light frame of iron, 
 so as to revolve freely upon pivots, with two handles 
 for the workmen to use it. 
 
 Mr Thomas Parkin of London has lately invented 
 an apparatus to facilitate the operation of inking by 
 composition rollers, which is said to be capable of 
 being applied to most printing presses. Of this ap- 
 paratus there is a sketch in Plate CXI. figs. 4, 5, 
 and 6. But it has not yet been established for a 
 sufficient length of time, to authorize a judgment 
 to be formed of its superiority to the common mode 
 of using the elastic roller. 
 
 Stereotype Printing. 
 
 Stereotype printing (from gn^sos, solid or entire, 
 and rims a type) is the art of printing from solid 
 plates instead of moveable types. Though printing 
 from wooden blocks has been known for fifteen or 
 sixteen centuries in China ; and although this was 
 the first form in which books were printed at the in- 
 vention of the art in Europe, yet the Chinese blocks, 
 and other similar devices, are in reality only a species 
 of engraving. The letters are cut in the block by 
 the artist, and the impression is produced directly 
 from it ; while in the formation of stereotype plates, 
 a mould is first formed from the page of moveable 
 types, and from this mould, a fac-simile of the origi- 
 nal page is cast, from which the impressions are 
 taken. 
 
 The history of stereotype printing has been hither- 
 to involved in considerable obscurity ; and Hoi- 
 
 TING. 37; 
 
 land, France, and Scotland, have contested the merit Hrinting. 
 of its discovery. The Dutch claimant was J. Vander ^-^N^^ 
 Mey, father of the well known painter of that name, 
 who resided at Leyden about the end of the otx- 
 teenth century. His pretensions were stated in the 
 Nietu Algemein Konst en Letter Bode, 1798, No. 
 232, in which it is asserted that the Dutch had been 
 m possession of the art of printing with solid or fixed 
 plates for above 100 years. With the assistance 
 of Muller, the clergyman of the German congrega- 
 tion at Leyden, who superintended the correction, 
 Vander Mey is said to have prepared and cast the 
 plates for an edition of the Bible, which was printed 
 in 4to, and the forms of which were in the posses- 
 sion of G. and J. Luchtmans of Leyden. A folio 
 edition was likewise prepared in the same manner 
 with large margins, ornamented with figures, the forms 
 of which were in the possession of Elwe, a book- 
 seller at Amsterdam. Besides these, an English 
 New Testament, Shaaf's Syriac Dictionary, 2 vols. 
 4to, and a small Greek Testament, were printed by 
 Vander Mey in this manner ; but at his death the 
 art of preparing solid blocks was said to have been 
 lost, or not afterwards employed on account of the 
 expence. (Tilloch's Philosophical Magazine. Vol. 
 X. p. 275, 276.) 
 
 Such are the pretensions of the Dutch to the ho- 
 nour of the invention of printing by means of ste- 
 reotype. But unfortunately for this claim, M. Ca- 
 mus, who published two papers on Polytype and 
 Stereotype in the Memoirs of the National Insti- 
 tute cf France (Vols. III. and V.), in his anxiety 
 to do justice to the merits of a countryman of his 
 own, was led to make some inquiries regarding the 
 existence of Vander May's plates of the Bible. The 
 result was, that he found these plates were still in 
 existence, and in the possession of Messrs G. and J. 
 Luchtmans of Leyden ; the grandchildren of Samuel 
 Luchtmans, the bookseller, at whose expence it ap- 
 pears Vander Mey had originally prepared them. 
 From a letter of these gentlemen to M. Renouard, 
 a bookseller in Paris, dated 21th June 1801, ac- 
 curately describing the plates of this Bible, it turns 
 out that the forms of types have no analogy at all to 
 modern stereotype plates, but are merely the pages 
 of common moveable types, soldered together at the 
 bottom : " c'est une reunion de caracteres ordinaires 
 par le pied avec de la matiere fondue." {Mem. de 
 r Instil. Tom. V. p. 330.) The Dutch Bible in folio, 
 we learn from the same authority, was at that time 
 in the hands of Elwe the bookseller, and the Greek 
 Netv Testament in the hands of Messrs Luchtmans. 
 The forms of the other works mentioned as having 
 been prepared in this manner had been broken up 
 and sold. 
 
 M. Camus having disposed of the pretensions of 
 Vander Mey, his next object was to support the title 
 of one Valleyre, a Paris printer, to the merit of the 
 invention ; at least to the practice of printing from 
 stereotype plates. In his first memoir (Mem. de 
 VInst. Tom. III. p. 440), he claims the invention for 
 the French ; 1st, Because, in a modern catalogue of 
 the printers of Paris by Lottin, it is asserted, without 
 any proof of the fact being adduced, that the calen- 
 
374 PR IN 
 
 Printing, dars at the beginning of church books were printed 
 ^-^'^^ from solid plates towards the end of the seventeenth 
 century. 2d, From the existence of a plate formed of 
 copper, of which he has given an impression in his 
 memoir, containing a page of such a calendar ; and 
 3d, From the testimony of a compositor, who had 
 been witness of the use of such plates in the office of 
 Valleyre, prior to the year 17^55. Two other pages 
 of a similar calendar were in the possession of M. Her- 
 han ; but unfortunately, notwithstanding one of these 
 contained the months of January and February, and 
 another the months of November and December, 
 the year to which they referred was not inserted ; 
 nor was M. Camus's industry sufficient to procure 
 one of those church books printed by Valleyre to 
 ascertain this fact, though, from their nature, it is 
 reasonable to conclude the impressions must have 
 been numerous. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to make any remarks up- 
 on this claim of M. Camus for the invention being 
 French. Lottin's catalogue is of no authority on 
 the point ; and the recollection of a nameless com- 
 positor, who must have been nearly eighty years of 
 age, concerning a circumstance which happened sixty 
 years before, is not more satisfactory. It seems, 
 therefore, more than probable, that the plates of the 
 calendar alluded to, which, if complete, would have 
 only amounted to six very small 24mo pages, had 
 been formed by some Parisian printer, who had 
 heard of the invention of Ged, and attempted to imi- 
 tate it ; or, if they can be really proved to have been 
 manufactured previous to 1735, the material, and 
 the manner of their formation, were so different from 
 his, and so nearly similar to the head and tail pieces 
 fabricated by the Dutch founders for centuries be- 
 fore, that all claims to the invention of stereotype, 
 as now practised, by Valleyre or his predecessors, 
 must fall to the ground. 
 
 It may be mentioned that these plates of copper 
 containing the calendar seem to have been cast, 
 and that not very perfectly, from a mould formed of 
 sand, clay, or some similar substance ; precisely in the 
 same manner that, till within thei-e twenty years, the 
 larger letters and vignettes used in printing were 
 fabricated by the ordinary letter-founders, both on 
 the Continent and in England. We have seen 
 many of these antique decorations cast in type 
 metal of the thickness of stereotype plate, and fas- 
 tened to blocks of wood to raise them to the pro- 
 per height ; and though the transition from this to 
 stereotype plates appears sufficiently obvious, yet it 
 seems quite certain, that till our ingenious country- 
 man, William Ged, attempted and perfected the pro- 
 cess, in a manner that had not before been practised, 
 the art of stereotype printing was unknown. 
 
 William Ged, the inventor of printing from plates 
 in place of moveable types, and whose invention has 
 formed the basis of all the subsequent attempts in 
 the art, was a goldsmith in Edinburgh, in which 
 profession he is said to have made many improve- 
 
 1 1 N G. 
 
 ments, which he liberally communicated to the other FPrinting. 
 members of the trade. In the year 1725, happen- v 
 ing to be in company with a printer, the conversa- 
 tion turned on the disadvantages which persons in 
 that profession experienced from want of a letter- 
 foundery ; the printers at this time, both in Scotland 
 and England, being chiefly supplied with types from 
 Holland. Mr Ged's friend then showed him the 
 types, both singly and put together in pages, and 
 asked him if he could contrive a method to remedy 
 that defect. " I answered" (says Mr Ged, in a nar- 
 rative dictated by himself a short time before his 
 death), <' That I judged it more practicable for me 
 to make plates from the composed pages than single 
 types. To which he replied, that if such a thing 
 could be done, an estate might be made by it. I 
 desired he would give me a page for an experiment, 
 which, after some days trial, I found practicable, 
 and so continued for near two years improving on 
 my invention, and making a great many experi- 
 ments, several of which were expensive ; but the 
 more I practised, and the less chargeable materials 
 I used, I was the more successful, till at last I 
 brought it to bear, as that no distinction could be 
 made between the impression from my plates, and 
 that from the types." * 
 
 Mr Ged's invention was now complete; and nothing 
 but the want of capital hindered itsbeingbrought before 
 the public in the most complete manner. To procure 
 the necessary funds, he, therefore, in 1727, entered 
 into a contract with a gentleman of Edinburgh, who, 
 for a fourth share of the profits, agreed to advance the 
 money that might be necessary for carrying on the 
 work. But the jealousy of trade soon interrupted Mr 
 Ged's progress ; for his partner, consulting with a 
 printer on the subject, was led to believe that his 
 whole fortune would not be sufficient to complete 
 the undertaking. This representation so intimidated 
 the monied man, that in two years he had made no 
 farther advance than L. '22 ; and so, says Mr Ged, 
 " finding no appearance of success that way, I was 
 glad of an opportunity by which 1 might expect 
 better encouragement." 
 
 In July 1729, Mr Fenner, a London stationer, 
 being in Edinburgh, and hearing of Mr Ged's pro- 
 ject, made him proposals for carrying it on in Lon- 
 don. He was, accordingly, induced to enter into a 
 contract with that gentleman ; obliging himself to 
 share with him the profits of the proposed concern, 
 on condition that he advanced the money that should 
 be required. Mr Ged, accordingly, removed to Lon- 
 don ; but not finding that his partner Mr Fenner had 
 provided the necessary accommodation and funds, 
 Thomas James, a letter-founder, and his brother 
 John James, an architect, were successively adopted 
 into the copartnership ; and some time afterwards, 
 a privilege was obtained from the University of 
 Cambridge, in the name of Fenner, for printing 
 Bibles and Prayer Books on the new plan. This 
 connection turned out unfortunately for Mr Ged ; 
 
 * See Biographical Memoirs of William Ged ; including a particular Account of his Progress in the 
 Art of Block- Printing. Nichols, London, 1781, p. 1. 
 
PRINTING 
 
 375 
 
 Printing, for Thomas James, whose types were little cal- 
 culated to do honour to their exertions, had, it is 
 alleged, leagued with the King's Printers to defeat 
 a measure which might eventually hurt their in- 
 terests ; and it seems to have been the object of 
 Fenner, after acquiring sufficient knowledge of the 
 art to carry it on without assistance, to drive Ged 
 from the concern. 
 
 To accomplish their purposes, these persons are 
 said to have engaged only such people, and procured 
 only such types as were most likely to render the 
 undertaking abortive ; and the workmen themselves, 
 averse to an invention which promised to lessen the 
 demand for their labour, were not backward in lend- 
 ing their assistance to the same end. One of the 
 workmen engaged in the business informed Mr 
 Mores, that the compositors, when they corrected 
 one fault, purposely made half a dozen more, and 
 that the pressmen, when the masters were absent, 
 broke the pages intentionally in aid of the composi- 
 tors. The consequence was, that the Bible and 
 Prayer Books printed in this manner were suppress- 
 ed at the University; the plates were afterwards 
 sent to the King's Printing-house, and from thence 
 found their way to Mr Caslon's foundery. {Me- 
 moirs of Ged, p. 36.) 
 
 Disappointed in his prospects, and depressed by 
 the ill-usage which he had experienced from all 
 with whom he was connected in this unfortunate 
 speculation, Mr Ged returned to Edinburgh. His 
 friends in this city being anxious that a specimen of 
 his art should be published, a subscription was open- 
 ed for this purpose, and an edition of Sallust was 
 finished in 1739, in 150 pages 12mo. We copy 
 the title-page of this curious and interesting monu- 
 ment of Ged's ingenuity : " C. Crispi Sallustii Belli 
 Catilinarii et Jugurtliini Historiae. Edinburgi, Guliel- 
 mus Ged, Aurifaber Edinensis, non Typis mobilibus, 
 ut vulgo fieri solet, sed Tabellis seu Laminis fusis 
 excudebat, Mdccxxxix." 
 
 Even in getting this small work carried through 
 the press Mr Ged met with difficulties, which it is 
 painful to believe should have obstructed his pro- 
 gress. No compositor could be found to set up the 
 types from which the plates were to be fabricated; 
 and the whole of the work was composed by his son 
 James, then a boy about twelve years of age. He 
 had been put apprentice to a printer about a year 
 before, and with the consent of his master, he was 
 allowed to work at this task in the night time when 
 all the workmen were absent. 
 
 What became of the plates of this volume is not well 
 known. Mr Alexander Tilloch, the ingenious editor of 
 the Philosophical Magazine, and the second inventor 
 of the art of stereotype printing, i elates, in a paper 
 on the subject in the tenth volume of that work, 
 that he was in possession of one of them. " This 
 plate," says he, " I first saw in the hands of the de- 
 ceased Mr John Murray, bookseller, in the year 
 1782, but do not now recollect the way in which he 
 said it came into his possession. Having, about a 
 year ago, applied to his successors in business, 
 Messrs Murray and Highley, to request, if the 
 plate could be found, that I might be allowed to 
 take some impressions of it, they very politely insist- 
 
 ed on my acceptance of what they had used for Printing, 
 years as a flat weight to lay upon papers at the end ^-^-^ 
 of the desk." f Philosophical Magazine, Vol. X. p. 
 273.) Philip Denis Pierres, an ingenious printer of 
 Versailles, had, along with a copy of the book, the 
 plate of page 44, so early as 1773. Its size, ap- 
 pearance, &c. is minutely described in the first me- 
 moir of M. Camus (Mem. de I'Irtst. 'i'om. HI. p. 445) ; 
 and Pierres, we are given to understand, made many 
 fruitless attempts to discover the mode by which 
 it was produced. 
 
 Some years afterwards another work, which is less 
 known, was undertaken and finished by Mr Ged. 
 'J'his was The Life of God in the Soul of Man, in a 
 small writing pot 12mo. The imprint of this little 
 volume, which is as well executed as books were 
 generally at the time, is, " Newcastle : Printed and 
 sold by John White, from plates made by William 
 Ged, goldsmith in Edinburgh, 1742." Mr Tilloch 
 was in possession of a copy of this volume ; and in 
 the Philosophical Magazine has given an impression 
 of a page of Ged's Sallust, and specimens of his own 
 and Mr Foulis's stereotype, in Greek and Roman 
 letters. ( Vol. X. p. 272.) 
 
 William Ged died at Edinburgh, in but indifferent 
 circumstances, on the I9th of October 1749, after 
 having invented, and dedicated the greater part 
 of his life to the improvement of an art from which 
 neither he nor his family were destined to receive 
 any benefit. From the testimony of his daughter, 
 however, it appears that advantageous terms had 
 been repeatedly offered to him if he would remove to 
 Holland, or sell his invention to the printers of that 
 country; but that he uniformly rejected offers, the 
 acceptance of which would have had the effect of 
 giving an advantage to strangers over the artists of 
 his own country. {Memoirs of JV. Ged, p. 26.) 
 His son, James Ged, whom the disappointments of 
 the family had induced to join the rebel army in 
 1745, was seized at Carlisle and condemned; but 
 through the interest of some of his father's friends, 
 was pardoned and liberated in 1748. Notwithstand- 
 ing the ill success his father had met with, he 
 published proposals for reviving stereotype print- 
 ing, dated at London, 29th May 1 7.51 ; but these pro- 
 posals having met with but little encouragement, he 
 went to Jamaica, where he died in I767. His 
 younger brother, William Ged, had previously re- 
 moved to the same island, where he died the year 
 after his departure from England ; and the name of 
 Ged andtheart of stereotype itself was soon forgotten. 
 
 Fifty years after the invention of stereotype by 
 Mr Ged, Mr Tilloch was led to a similar discover)', 
 without having, at the time, any knowledge whatever 
 that another had preceded him in the invention. 
 " The knowledge of this fact,*' says Mr Tilloch, " les- 
 sened the value of the discovery so much in my esti- 
 mation, that I felt but little anxiety to be known as a 
 second inventor; and, but for the persevering at- 
 tempts of others to deprive Ged of the fame his me- 
 mory so justly merits, and which he dearly earned, 
 I might still have remained silent." [Philosophical 
 Magazine, Vol. X. p. 268.) 
 
 Mr Tilloch having communicated his ideas upon 
 the subject to Mr Foulis, printer to the University of 
 
376 
 
 PRINTING. 
 
 Ptintbg. Glasgow, where he then resided, that gentleman fur- 
 "^■"y"*^ nished him with a page of types ready set up for his 
 first experiment. The success of this trial induced 
 Mr Tilloch to make others; and after numberless 
 experiments, in which he was assisted by Mr Foulis, 
 he was at length able to produce plates, the impres- 
 sions of which could not be distinguished from those 
 taken from the types from which they were cast. 
 
 Mr Tilloch and Mr Foulis, who, as a practical 
 printer, saw all the advantages which the art pro- 
 mised, now agreed to prosecute the business to- 
 gether, and, if possible, to bring it to perfection. 
 In the mean time they accidentally learnt, that the 
 art had been practised many years before by Mr 
 Ged ; and a biographical memoir of that ingenious 
 man having been published soon after (in 1781) by 
 Mr Nichols, they discovered that perseverance in 
 the plan might be attended with difficulties which, 
 till then, they had never contemplated. Notwith- 
 standing, however, of the opposition which they 
 were thus led to expect from prejudice and igno- 
 rance, Mr Tilloch and Mr Foulis persevered in their 
 object, and took out patents for England and Scot- 
 land, dated l^th May 1784<, to secure to themselves, 
 for the usual term, the benefits of an invention which 
 they considered as much their own as if nothing 
 similar had been practised before.. 
 
 Neither the ingenuity of Mr Tilloch, nor the 
 public spirit of Mr Foulis, were, however, rewarded ; 
 for, owing to circumstances of a private nature, and 
 after printing a few volumes in this way, the business 
 was laid aside for a time ; and Mr Tilloch's removal 
 to London, and other avocations, prevented its being 
 again resumed. The prejudices of the booksellers, 
 besides, were so strong against books printed in this 
 manner, that what volumes Messrs Tilloch and 
 Foulis had completed were sold to the trade without 
 any intimation of their being printed out of the 
 common way. Their first attempts were confined to 
 trifling popular books, such as The Seven Champions 
 of Christendom, The Twelve Ccesars, &c. and a 
 cheap edition of The Economy of Human Life. A 
 Greek volume, however, Xenophon's Anabasis, was 
 printed in 1783 ; and they had prepared plates for 
 several small volumes of the English poets, which, 
 however, were never put to press. {Philosophical 
 Magazine, Vol. X. p. 275.)" 
 
 The art of stereotype printing was thus twice in- 
 vented and practised in Britain, by natives of Scot- 
 land, prior to any thing of the same kind being at- 
 tempted, or brought to the same perfection, in any 
 other country of Europe. 
 
 In the year 1784 Francis Ignatius-Joseph Hofi"- 
 mann, a native of Alsace, established himself in 
 France as the printer of a stereotype journal, and an 
 improver of the art ; but, from the testimony of M. 
 Camus, it would appear that he was in the know- 
 ledge of what Ged had previously done, and perhaps 
 also knew of the patent and productions of Messrs 
 Tilloch and Foulis. Hoffmann's process is thus de- 
 scribed by himself : " A page set up with move- 
 able types in the usual manner, serves to make an 
 impression in a soft fat earth mixed with plaster, and 
 prepared with a gelatinous paste, formed of gum and 
 potatoe-sediment. This impression became a matrix, 
 
 in which a composition of lead, pewter, and bismuth, Printing, 
 when pressed in at the moment of cooling, gave a ^— ■ 
 solid page, which bore in relief the characters that 
 had served to form the matrix." 
 
 By this process Hoffmann printed many leaves of 
 his Polytype Journal ; and the work entitled Les Re- 
 cherches Historiques sur les Maures by De Chenier, 
 in 3 vols. 8vo, which appeared in 1787. Hofimann 
 and his son had also procured, in 1785, an extensive 
 privilege for their new mode of priiitling, and some im- 
 provements which they had made in the art of en- 
 graving ; but by a new order of council, in Novem- 
 ber 1787, the establishment was suppressed. (Mem. 
 de I'Inst. Tom. HI. p. 460.) 
 
 Hoffmann, thus deprived of his printing office (seem- 
 ingly from having lent his art to the fabrication of 
 prohibited books), turned his ingenuity to devise 
 some method which should facilitate the ordinary 
 mode of printing. He began with forming two kinds 
 of punches to stamp the characters in his matrices ; 
 thefirstof single letters in the ordinary mode, and the 
 second of the same letters combined into syllables of 
 most frequent occurrence in the French language ; 
 such as ais, etre, eurs, ment, &c. Hoffmann de- 
 nominated this invention the Logotype art. By this 
 combination the case for the types consisted of no 
 less than 370 boxes. He published a Memoir on 
 the subject in 1792 ; and in the same year procured 
 a patent for his invention for the period of 15 years. 
 Hoffmann does not seem to have been aware that lo- 
 gotype had been proposed by Henry Johnson in 
 1778 ; and in France the same plan is said to have 
 been invented by a lady in 1774. (See the Article 
 LoGOGRAPHY in the Encyclopcedia.) 
 
 The proceedings of Hoffmann attracted consider- 
 able notice in France; and some numbers of his 
 Polytype Journal having fallen into the hands of Jo- 
 seph Carez, a printer at Toul, he was struck with 
 the advantages which it presented, and in 1785 be- 
 gan his operations. His first idea was, to take off the 
 impression of the moveable types in plaster; but he af- 
 terwards adopted the plan of impressing the page in me- 
 tal while at a certain heat ; and this impression served 
 him as a mould for casting with accuracy the fac-si- 
 mile of the original page. In 1786 Carez executed 
 by this process an edition of a church book in two 
 large vols. 8vo, of more than a thousand pages each, 
 twenty volumes of other descriptions, and afterwards 
 a Bible in nonpareil characters, the execution of 
 vvrhich is indeed very creditable to his ingenuity. 
 {Mem. de I'Inst. Tom. HI. p. 467.) 
 
 Other individuals, whom the attempts of Hoffmann 
 excited to experiment, also made new discoveries in 
 the art, or improved those already known ; and all 
 the departments of printing were afterwards improv- 
 ed by the artists called in to assist in the manufac- 
 ture of Assignats at the period of the French Revolu- 
 tion, who were prompted to exertion, as M. Camus 
 expresses it, " by a power which nothing could re- 
 sist." Among the artists who assisted in the fabrica- 
 tion of Assignats, Firmin and Henry Didot, Louis 
 Etienne Herhan, and Nicolas Marie Gatteaux, se- 
 verally obtained patents for different modifications of 
 stereotype printing in the year 1798. 
 
 From the specification in the patent of Herhan, 
 
PRINTING. 
 
 Printing, his mode of Stereotyping seems to have been parti- 
 cularly ingenious. He invented moveable types, in 
 which the letters, in place of being in relief, were sunk 
 (en creux) ; and by merely setting up these types, 
 or rather matrices, which were of copper, he was en- 
 abled to produce from them directly a stereotype 
 plate, without the necessity of an intermediate 
 moulding. Herhan printed specimens of this mode 
 of stereotyping by moveable matrices of copper, 
 which are extremely pretty. One is inserted in the 
 Memoirs of the Institute, Vol. III. 510. 
 
 M. Poterat, many years afterwards, with a view to 
 avoid the diflSculty and expence of composing with 
 matrices, suggested a plan by which the matrix of 
 copper is soldered to the bottom of the types, which 
 bear the characters in relief. But this plan is 
 attended with an expence which more than counter- 
 balances the proposed advantages. 
 
 Soon after their patents were obtained, Pierre Di- 
 dot, the eider, Firmin Didot, his brother, and Louis 
 Etienne Herhan, issued a prospectus for printing 
 works in stereotype. An edition of Virgil in 18mo 
 was published in the year 1798; and in spite of the 
 clamours of those interested in opposing the scheme, 
 Phaedrus, and successively afterwards many splendid 
 works, were given to the world, by which these indivi- 
 duals have rendered their names celebrated as im- 
 provers of the art of printing. {Mem. de I' Inst, Tom. 
 III. p. 502.) 
 
 M. Camus thus describes the mode of stereotyping 
 practised by Didot and Herhan ; only concealing the 
 composition of the metal of which the types used 
 in stereotyping were formed, and that of the metal 
 which formed the mould. 
 
 The types are cast in the ordinary mode, but of 
 metal of a particular composition, and sufficiently 
 hard to bear vsrithout injury the pressure required to 
 stamp the metal matrix. After the page is composed, 
 it is enclosed in a steel box, where it is compressed 
 on all sides, and the surface made accurately plane. 
 The page thus disposed serves for a punch. The 
 metal plate intended for the matrix has two essen- 
 tial qualities, that of being able to receive a pure and 
 distinct impression, and that of not being subject to 
 any alteration, or commencing fusion, when by the 
 action of a press it is brought into contact with the 
 heated metal. The punch, or page of moveable 
 types, is now placed above the matrix, and an equal 
 pressure is made upon it by a machine, in some re- 
 spects resembling that used in giving the impress to 
 coin. The matrix is afterwards fixed in a frame, and 
 is ready for the next operation, which the French 
 founders consider as one of the most essential in the 
 process. A table firmly fixed to the ground is pro- 
 vided, and at one side of this table two pieces of 
 wood of convenient height are fixed, with a vertical 
 groove or canal. A piece of wood furnished with a 
 tongue, or feather, is formed to run in these grooves, 
 so disposed as to act in the manner of the ram- 
 mer used in sinking piles. At the lower part of this 
 piece of wood, perpendicular to its axis, is fixed a 
 
 screw, and the box or frame which contains the ma- 
 trix has in its back a female screw to correspond. 
 The matrix is thus screwed firmly to the mass of 
 wood, or rammer, with its face downwards. A drawer 
 or tray of thick paper, or card, is now placed on the 
 table below the descending matrix. This tray is fill- 
 ed with melted type metal, and when the metal is at 
 the point of congelation, a peg disengages the ram- 
 mer, which falls with its weight upon the metal, which 
 congeals at the same moment. The matrix is now 
 disengaged from the stereotype page by the blade of 
 a knife, and the operation is completed if all the parts 
 of the process have been well executed. * The ram- 
 mer is raised by a handle ; and a thin slip of copper 
 or brass round the matrix regulates the thickness of 
 the plate. {Mem. de I'Insl. Tom. III. p. 4q2. 4Q3 
 and 505, 506.) 
 
 Previous to this period, it may be mentioned, that 
 Firmin Didot in 1796 prepared an edition of the Lo- 
 garithmic Tables of Callet, much in the manner of 
 Vander Mey's Bible. The displacement of a figure 
 in works of this kind, from causes well known to 
 printers, often occasions a serious error ; and, with a 
 view to prevent similar accidents, after the pages 
 were composed in the usual manner, and finally 
 corrected, the form of types was soldered at the 
 bottom, by which all chance of a figure being dis- 
 placed was completely prevented. {Mem. de VInst, 
 Tom. III. p. 509.) 
 
 Towards the end of the year 1798, M. Bouvier, 
 also one of the artists who were engaged in the fa- 
 brication of Assignats, stereotyped with considerable 
 success, by a process different from that of Didot 
 and Herhan. The metal of his plate was copper, 
 and his mould was formed of argillaceous earth. M. 
 Camus has given a specimen of a page cast in this 
 way, which, however, does not seem so perfect as 
 those fabricated by the other process. M. Bouvier, 
 in extending his invention, applied it to many other 
 purposes, one of which was adapting it to the print- 
 ing of music. {Mem. de I' Inst. Tom. HI. p. 509.) 
 
 The success of the French printers in stereotype 
 printing naturally excited the attention of their bre- 
 thren in England ; and the next attempt to introduce 
 the art into England was happily more successful 
 than those which had been previously made. About 
 the year 1800 Mr Wilson, a respectable printer in 
 London, engaged with the late Earl of Stanhope, 
 whose love for the mechanical arts is well known, for 
 the purpose of bringing this mode of printing into 
 general practice. His Lordship is said to have re- 
 ceived his first instructions in the formation of stereo- 
 type plates from Mr Tilloch, the second inventor, and 
 had afterwards the personal attendance of Mr Foulis 
 for many months at his seat at Chevening, where his 
 Lordship was initiated in the practical part of the 
 operation. 
 
 After nearly two years spent in maturing the dif- 
 ferent processes connected with the operation, Mr 
 Wilson announced to his friends that the ingenuity 
 and perseverance of Earl Stanhope had overcome 
 
 377 
 
 Printing. 
 
 * This operation is termed clichage, from clicker, a word signifying to make fall perpendicularly, quick- 
 ly, and with force, a matrix upon a metal in fusion. 
 
 VOL. VI. PART I. 3 b 
 
378 
 
 PRINTING. 
 
 Printing, every difficulty, — that the various processes had been 
 •^^^v*^ so contrived as to combine the most beautiful simpli- 
 city with the most desirable economy, — and that the 
 public might look forward to the period when, by the 
 application of this art to the manufacture of books, 
 the prices of all standard works would be reduced at 
 least thirty, and in many cases forty per cent. 
 
 In the year 1804 Mr Wilson offered, upon certain 
 terras, the art of printing in stereotype to the Uni- 
 versity of Cambridge, for their adoption in the print- 
 ing of Bibles, Testaments, and Prayer Books ; but 
 some differences between the syndics and the printer 
 occasioned the contract to be dissolved. The plan, 
 however, has been since adopted both at this univer- 
 sity and that of Oxford ; and thousands of Bibles^ 
 &c. are annually issued from their presses printed in 
 stereotype. The art has also been gradually diffus- 
 ed, not only in the capital, but in other cities of the 
 kingdom ; and it was carried on to some extent in 
 Edinburgh by the late Mr Charles Stewart, printer 
 to the University, in the printing of school-books, 
 for which, as insuring greater accuracy than the 
 common mode, it is admirably adapted. 
 
 The mode of casting stereotype is sufficiently sim- 
 ple. A page of any work proposed to be stereotyp- 
 ed is set up in the usual manner, with the ordinary 
 moveable types. From this page, when corrected, a 
 mould in plaster, the basis of which is gypsum, is 
 taken off, and from this mould an impression is cast 
 in the ordinary type metal, from which the printing 
 is made. Of course, the whole of a work to be ste- 
 reotyped is set up by the compositor in distinct pages, 
 from which casts are formed ; and from these casts 
 plates are procured from which impressions may be 
 made, exactly the same in every particular as that 
 from the moveable types originally set up. A 
 stereotype plate is, therefore, nothing more than 
 a fac-simile of the page from which it was taken ; 
 but the advantage in point of expence is, that a 
 plate of stereotype docs not require to be more 
 than the seventh or eighth part of the thickness or 
 height of the ordinary types. 
 
 In the selection of a proper substance for the 
 moulds, and the management of the casting, the suc- 
 cess of the operation chiefly consists. The head and 
 tail pieces of the older printers were chiefly cast in 
 moulds formed of clay or sand ; Ged, Tilloch, and 
 after them Hoffmann, used a composition, of which 
 plaster of Paris was the chief ingredient ; while Her- 
 han, Didot, Carez, and others, procured their mould 
 by impressing the types in a soft metal, or metal in 
 the act of congelation. The substance required for 
 this purpose must be of a nature so delicate when soft, 
 as to be capable of receiving jyi impression from the 
 finest lines, and when dry, must be capable of bear- 
 ing without injury the action of the melted metal. 
 Gypsum or plaster of Paris, when finely pulveriz- 
 ed, and mixed with water, soon becomes hard, and 
 will also bear any degree of heat. But gypsum con- 
 tracts when exposed to heat, and is liable to warp ; 
 it is also difficult to expel the air and moisture which 
 it absorbs and retains. The defects of the plaster 
 of Paris are, therefore, to be counteracted by com- 
 pounding it with other substances less absorbent; 
 but whatever be added, must be capable of receiv- 
 ing and retaining a fine surface, so as to preserve a 
 
 perfect polish in the plate to be cast from it. The J'ri^it'ng- 
 following simple expedient has been recommended 
 as fully answering this purpose. A quantity of com- 
 mon whiting is dissolved in a tub of clean water, and 
 made nearly of the consistence of what is generally 
 used in white-washing. The plaster is mixed with 
 this solution, which makes it contract but little from 
 the heat, and renders it less liable to crack than 
 when the plaster is employed alone. 
 
 In making the mould for the page to be cast, a 
 frame of cast-iron is prepared, nearly half an inch 
 wider and larger than the page or pages proposed 
 to be cast, and nearly an inch deep. This frame de- 
 termines the thickness and strength of the mould. 
 Four cubic pieces of metal are now required, the 
 height of which should be exactly four-fifths of the 
 height of the types ; as on the height of these the 
 thickness of the stereotype plate depends. The 
 page or pages, wedged up as usual in the chases or 
 iron frames commonly used, are now to be laid up- 
 on the moulding table, and in the openings at the 
 corners of the page are placed the four pieces of 
 metal, on which the iron frame rests when laid over 
 the page. 
 
 To prevent the adhesion of the plaster to the types 
 it is necessary to oil over the surface of the page 
 with a soft brush. Then a quantity of the white- 
 wash is taken into a wooden bowl, and as much fine- 
 ly powdered gypsum added to it as will make it in- 
 to a thin plaster. When reduced to an equal con- 
 sistence, it is applied to the face of the types with a 
 painter's brush, so as to fill every cavity ; and the re- 
 mainder is then poured in so as to fill the frame. 
 When beginning to harden, the superfluous plas- 
 ter is struck off with a straight metal rule, to 
 smooth the back of the mould ; and when sufficiently 
 consolidated the mould is separated from the page, 
 and dried in an oven. 
 
 The mould properly formed, the next process 
 is the casting of the plate. For this purpose, the 
 dried mould is put in a pan about two inches deep 
 with the face upwards, and a small moveable screw 
 is placed at each side or end of the pan, to fix the 
 frame which contains the mould. The fluid metal 
 (which is of the same composition as that used for 
 ordinary types) is now appHed to the mould in the 
 pan, and carried to the oven, in which it should re- 
 main from one to two hours, to acquire an equal de- 
 gree of heat ; for, on the principle of equal tempera- 
 ture between the metal and moulds, the success of 
 the operation materially depends ; and unless the 
 oven be kept sufficiently warm to raise the tempera- 
 ture of the mould to that of the fluid metal, the ex- 
 periment cannot succeed. 
 
 After the plate has been cast, little imperfections 
 are frequently discovered ; such as that of the top of the 
 e or similar letters, having been full of dust when 
 the mould was taken. The workman now takes the 
 plate, and after clearing it of all superfluous metal, 
 pulls a proof, marks the defects, and proceeds to 
 make the requisite alterations. If any letter or 
 word chance to be damaged in the course of the 
 operation, it is cut out, and a letter or word from 
 moveable types of the same size, cut to the proper 
 depth, is inserted in its place. When this is done, 
 the plate is ready for the press. The pages are ar- 
 
PRINTING. 
 
 379 
 
 Printing, ranged upon wooden blocks, and fastened down with 
 '^"V^^ slips of brass and a screw. 
 
 Such is the process of stereotyping, as usually 
 practised ; and such is its accuracy, that plates may 
 be cast from copperplates as perfect as the engrav- 
 ing itself. Wood cuts and ornaments of every kind 
 may be cast in the same manner. 
 
 A patent for producing stereotype plates, in a 
 manner different from that now described, was 
 granted to Mr Augustus Applegath, of Surrey, print- 
 er, in April 1818. Mr Applegath's plan, however, 
 is so similar to the process of Didot and Herhan, 
 that it is not necessary to describe it. Both his 
 mould and plates are procured by an impress on the 
 semifluid metal in the act of congelation, in the man- 
 ner originally practised by the French printers ; and 
 the instrument he has invented for stamping the im- 
 pression is the same in principle, though a little dif- 
 ferent in form, as the cliche or stamping-machine of 
 our continental neighbours. {Repertory of Arts, Vol. 
 XXXVI. Second Series, p. 69.) 
 
 As connected with stereotype printing, it may be 
 mentioned that Mr T. C. Hansard of London procur- 
 ed apatent, dated thelst November 1817,for a species 
 of stereotype plate risers, with holdfasts or claws, 
 which are formed of metal, are moveable, and easily 
 adapted to any size of plates or forms- These plate 
 risers were intended to supersede the wooden blocks 
 
 upon which the plates were generally fixed. (Reper- l*rinting- 
 tory of Arts, Vol. XXXIII. Second Series, p. 262.) 
 
 The advantages of stereotype printing are, saving 
 in point of expence, and security against typographi- 
 cal errors. For works in great and general demand, 
 such as the Greek and Roman classics, standard 
 books in foreign languages, Bibles, Prayer Books, 
 School-Books, &:c. the saving in stereotyping is con-^ 
 siderable. The expence of renewed composition in 
 successive editions is thereby saved ; and the addi- 
 tional capital expended in preparing the plates is, per- 
 haps, more than compensated by the facility with which 
 small editions of works can be printed without lay- 
 ing aside a stock of paper in warehouses to meet the 
 gradual sale. But it is only in works of this descrip- 
 tion that stereotype can be profitably employed. For 
 works of living authors, successively improved by 
 corrections and additions, stereotype printing is quite 
 unsuitable. Mr Wilson, the coadjutor of Lord Stan- 
 hope, in extending the practice of the art in Eng- 
 land, stated, that the probable saving by stereotype 
 to the public might be from 25 to 4tO per cent.; but 
 whatever may be the advantages in point of expence, 
 its merit in point of accuracy is unquestionable. 
 Dictionaries, classics, works on arithmetic and ma- 
 thematics, once made accurate, may for ever be kept 
 so with but little chance of error. (q. q. q.) 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES. * 
 
 Fig. 1, Plate CXI. represents a side elevation of 
 the improved Stanhope Press ; fig. 2, a front view, 
 and fig. 3, an horizontal plan ; the same letters of re- 
 ference being used upon all the figures. A A shows 
 a strong cast-iron frame of the form represented in 
 fig. 2. This frame is screwed down upon a piece of 
 timber B, which has another timber C morticed into 
 it at right angles, forming a T frame, to serve as a 
 base for the whole press. D D represent two hori- 
 zontal rails, having channels formed along their up- 
 per surfaces, into which the two rails or ribs upon 
 the underside of the carriage or table E E are adapt- 
 ed to slide. The carriage is put in motion by the 
 action of the handle F and barrel W, which has 
 three strong straps or belts passing round its cir- 
 cumference, as seen in fig. 2 ; the ends of the said 
 belts being attached to the opposite ends of the car- 
 riage, in the manner of ordinary printing presses. 
 The table E E is made perfectly flat upon its upper 
 surface in order to receive the form of the types : 
 m represents the tympan, which is jointed to the 
 end of the table ; it is composed of a light frame of 
 wrought iron, and fitted up in the usual manner. 
 
 The rails D D upon which the carriage runs, are 
 secured to the main frame A A by screw bolts a a ; 
 the outer extremities of the rails D are united to- 
 gether by cross bars, and supported by an arched 
 frame b and upright pillar G, the foot of which is 
 bolted down to the timber C. H H represent the 
 platen, which is guided in its perpendicular motion 
 by a slider, I, moving between angular ribs formed 
 
 within the opening of the main frame, as seen in fig. 
 2. The upper part d of the frame is considerably 
 enlarged, and is perforated in the centre to re- 
 ceive a brass nut or female screw, through which 
 the main screw of the press works. M shows an up- 
 right spindle, the lower end of which is lormed with 
 a pivot adapted to turn in a hole at the top of the 
 arch of the main frame ; the upper part of the spin- 
 dle M works through a collar c, formed in a piece 
 of metal, which projects from the main frame, and is 
 secured by a screw, as seen in figs. 2 and 3. N re- 
 presents the handle of the press : it is firmly attached 
 to the lower parts of the spindle M, by passing 
 through a cross hole in the said spindle, and hav- 
 ing a nut on the opposite side to keep it in its place. 
 Thus, when the handle is moved backwards or for- 
 wards it turns the spindle M round, and by the ope- 
 ration of the lever O, and connecting link P, the 
 motion is communicated to the main screw, by the 
 intervention of the arm or lever R fixed upon the 
 top thereof. The platen is raised up and kept in 
 contact with the end of the screw, by the ope- 
 ration of the balance weight S. The levers N 
 O, and R, fig. 3, are represented in the posi- 
 tions they assume when at rest ; but the dotted 
 lines will serve to explain their positions when the 
 power has been applied to the handle N ; the 
 motion in that case being limited by the broad part 
 of the connecting link P coming to bear against a 
 projecting rib formed upon the upper surface of the 
 lever O ; at which period the lever O and connecting 
 
 * Owing to an oversight, some of the figures in Plates CXI. and CXI I. have been reversed. 
 
380 
 
 PRINTING. 
 
 Printing, link P will be nearly in one right line, and conse- 
 -^^■^ quently exerting a very great power upon the lever 
 R ; which being nearly at right angles to the con- 
 necting link, is in a position to receive the greatest 
 effect from the power applied to the handle N. The 
 degree of pressure may be increased or diminished 
 by the operation of the screw p at the end of the 
 connecting link being disposed so as to admit of 
 varying the effective length of the link. 
 
 Mr Parkins Inking Apparatus. 
 
 Plate CXI. fig. 4, shows a side view of the appa- 
 ratus, which was obliged to be placed vertically in 
 the Plate for want of room. Fig. 5 shows an hori- 
 zontal plan. A represents a square frame of metal 
 which is mounted so as to slide freely backwards and 
 forwards, being guided between a number of small 
 rollers, b, the pivots of which turn in small stand- 
 ards attached to a fixed frame of cast iron, B, by 
 screws and nuts so as to admit of raising or lowering 
 any one of the rollers in order to adjust the position 
 of the moving frame. I shows the inking roller, 
 which is made of elastic composition, being support- 
 ed upon pivots working in short pieces of metal which 
 project from the cross bar a of the moving frame. The 
 roller I receives its requisite supply of ink by passing 
 over and rolling across the narrow table or metal 
 plate T, as the moving frame is pushed in or drawn 
 out by its handle H. The ink is distributed along the 
 surface of the table T by means of a small furnishing 
 roller F, being mounted in a carriage so as to be ca- 
 pable of rolling along the surface of the table T in 
 a direction at right angles to the motion of the 
 sliding frame A. The furnishing roller F is made of 
 the elastic composition, and receives the ink upon 
 its circumference, by coming into contact with the 
 ink boxes or reservoirs 1 and 2, situated at each 
 end of the table T. The boxes 1 and 2 contain a sup- 
 ply of ink which finds its way slowly through a fine 
 wire grating forming the face of the boxes ; and is 
 taken off upon the circumference of the furnishing 
 roller every time that the moving frame is drawn out 
 or put in. The carriage of the furnishing roller 
 moves upon small wheels along the surface of the 
 lower rail C of the fixed frame, and the pivots of the 
 furnishing roller are not inserted into round holes 
 through the plates of its carriage, but have the 
 liberty of sliding up and down a short distance in 
 obloBg holes ; so that the circumference of the roller 
 may always accommodate itself to the surface of the 
 table T, along which it moves ; the roller being kept 
 down sufficiently by its own weight, in addition to 
 the weight of several small metal rollers which are si- 
 tuated over the roller F, and adapted to bear upon 
 it, for the purpose of distributing the ink more ef- 
 fectually upon its surface as it turns round. The 
 traversing motion of the roller F, and its carriage 
 along the table T, is effected in the following man- 
 ner. The ends of the carriage have small catgut lines 
 attached to them, which pass over pulleys i i, si- 
 tuated at the ends of the cross rail C ; the catgut 
 lines then return under the rail C and pass round 
 small horizontal pulleys k k, fixed also to the lower 
 rail, as shown in fig. 6, from whence they proceed to 
 two pulleys m, one only of which is seen in the 
 drawing fig, 4, being placed close together in one 
 
 frame, but so as to turn round quite independent of Printing, 
 each other. The frame of the pulleys ?n is screwed to 
 the fixed frame B, and the catgut lines pass up and 
 over two pulleys n fixed in a frame in the same man- 
 ner as the pulleys m. Both of the pulleys n are seen 
 in the plan, fig. 5, where one of the catgut lines 
 marked o is represented as attached directly to the 
 cross bar e of the moving frame A ; and the other 
 catgut line p is conducted over a pulley q, which is 
 mounted in a frame projecting from the fixed cross 
 bar t of the frame B : the line p then returns and is 
 attached to the cross bar e in the same manner as 
 the line o. This apparatus is intended to be fixed 
 behind the printing press (as represented by the 
 dotted lines in fig. 7, Plate CXL), in such position 
 that the surface of the table T may be exactly on a 
 level with the surface of the form of types to be 
 inked; and so that the pressman may take hold of 
 the handle H, and thereby move the frame A with 
 its inking roller I across the types, to apply the ink 
 and prepare them for printing. 
 
 Columbian Press. 
 A front view of this press is represented in fig. 7> 
 Plate CXI., and a side elevation in fig. 8. A A shows 
 the standards or main frame, of cast iron ; they are 
 united together at the bottom, but separate at the 
 top ; the main frame is supported upon four legs, 
 XX. B B represent the rails or guides, upon which 
 the carriage or table, C C, with its appendages of 
 tympan, z, and frisket, i/, is adapted to run, being 
 moved backwards ^d forwards by the handle, E, 
 and barrel, F, round which strong linen belts are pass- 
 ed, and affixed to braces v, rv, at each end of the car- 
 riage, as in ordinary printing presses. D shows the 
 platen, which is guided in its motion up and down 
 by its square stem or pillar, d, being placed angle- 
 ways, and sliding between pieces of metal, a a, which 
 project from the main frame, A A. The pieces a a are 
 furnished with adjusting screws and wedges for the 
 purpose of tightening them up, and preventing any 
 looseness in the platen. The stem d has a square 
 plate, e, upon it at the part where it joins to the 
 platen. The pressure is produced by a combina- 
 tion of levers situated at the upper part of the 
 frame. G, H, I, shows the main lever, moving 
 on a strong centre bolt at H, between a forked 
 or divided part of the main frame ; the end, I, of 
 this lever also passes through an oblong opening 
 formed between the bars, h, and projects some 
 distance beyond the outside of the frame. The cen- 
 tral part, G, of the main lever has a strong pivot or 
 trunnion cast upon it, which projects out sufficiently 
 on each side to enter into collars formed at the top 
 of the stem, d, of the platen, being retained in their 
 places by four screw bolts, two of which are seen at 
 G in figure 7. m, n, o, shows the second lever, 
 moving on a fixed centre pin in the main frame at 
 m\ it has the links n I jointed to it at the point n, 
 one upon each side, as seen in figure 8 : the up- 
 permost ends of these links are also jointed on each 
 side of the main lever at I. The point o of the se- 
 cond lever has the link or connecting-rod, p, jointed 
 to it, whilst the opposite extremity of the connect- 
 ing-rod is jointed to the lever or handle N, by which 
 the pressman puts the system of levers into action. 
 
PRINTING. 
 
 381 
 
 Printing. The handle N turns upon a fixed centre pin passing 
 — through projecting pieces of the main frame, as seen 
 at i i; and the connecting-rod p is furnished with a 
 double or universal joint, where it unites with the 
 lever o, Jo admit of the oblique motion of the handle 
 N, when it is pulled forwards to produce the pressure. 
 
 A counter-lever, r, s, t, is applied at the top of the 
 press, moving upon a fulcrum at s ; this lever has a 
 balance weight clamped upon it by a screw at r, 
 whilst the short end, t, of the lever is attached by a 
 link to the end of the main lever at the end I. By 
 this means the weight of the levers and platen is 
 counterbalanced sufficiently to raise them up, when 
 the handle N is left at liberty. The different levers 
 in this press are so arranged, that the first motion 
 which is communicated to the handle N brings the 
 platen down quickly ; but by the time that its un- 
 der surface arrives upon the tympan, the second le- 
 ver, m, n, is brought nearly in a line with the direc- 
 tion of the links n I, which causes them to draw 
 down the end, I, of the main lever with great power ; 
 at the same time that the point, o, of the second le- 
 ver is in the most favourable position to be operated 
 upon powerfully by the connecting-rod proceeding 
 from the handle N. When the impression is produc- 
 ed, two balance weights act in concert to return the 
 handle N, and raise up the platen. The main frame 
 A A of the press is strengthened by a cross bar si- 
 tuated behind the main lever, which bar serves to 
 connect the top parts of the frame together, as shown 
 by the dotted lines in fig. 7- 
 
 Barclay s American Press. 
 Fig. 1, Plate CXII. represents a side elevation of 
 this press ; fig. 2 is a back view ; and fig. 3 a hori- 
 zontal plan, representing the table or carriage as 
 partly run in. The same letters of reference are 
 used upon all the figures. A A represents the 
 cheeks or iron frame of the press, being of a curved 
 form, as seen in fig. 2, and supported upon cast iron 
 legs, B B. C C shows the table to receive the form 
 of types ; it is composed of a cast iron plate turned 
 and ground perfectly flat upon its upper surface, and 
 strengthened by deep ribs on the underside, two of 
 which ribs are made straight, and serve as guides to 
 slide in grooves upon the upper edge of the rails 
 D D, as seen in fig. 2, for running the carriage back- 
 wards and forwards. The carriage is moved by 
 the handle E in the usual manner. G G repre- 
 sent strong brackets which are cast upon the main 
 frame of the press, and serve to support the rails 
 D D, at the part where the pressure is applied. The 
 farther ends of the rails are united by a cross piece, 
 H, seen in fig. 3, from which two small pillars, I, 
 descend to the ground, to support the weight of the 
 carriage when run out. K K shows the platen ; it 
 is guided so as to move steadily up and down by the 
 metal frames or bars, L L, being screwed to its up- 
 per surface in such manner as to embrace the upper 
 part of the main frame of the press, and slide between 
 small projecting pieces, c e. The bars L L are fur- 
 nished with spiral springs, which bear upon the top 
 of the frame A A, and serve to balance the weight 
 of the platen, keeping it always clear above the sur- 
 face of the tympan, when the handle N of the press 
 is left at liberty. 
 
 We shall now describe the manner in which the Printing, 
 requisite pressure is effected in this press. R and ^— ^ 
 S, figs. 1 and 2, represent two steel cylinders or rol- 
 lers, having small projecting flanges on each end : 
 the upper roller R, bears against the under surface 
 of an inclined steel plate which is screwed to the 
 projecting part T, of the main frame, and the under 
 roller S, bears upon the upper surface of a similar 
 inclined steel plate screwed upon the upper boss V, of 
 the platen. In this situation a steel wedge is intro- 
 duced between the rollers R and S, and this wedge 
 is connected by a link W, with the lever or handle 
 N, of the press, as shown in the plate, fig. 3. Now 
 it is evident, that if the steel wedge is drawn forci- 
 bly between the rollers R and S, it will roll them 
 along between the two inclined steel plates, and con- 
 sequently force the plates asunder ; and, since one 
 of the inclined plates is fixed to the platen, and the 
 other to the solid frame of the press, the platen 
 will be forced down upon the types placed beneath it. 
 The two small figures Y and Z, representing the rollers, 
 &c. detached from the press, will serve to explain their 
 operation. The rollers R and S, as also the inclined 
 plates T V, and the wedge W, are made of steel, 
 and hardened in the most perfect manner ; other- 
 wise, the immense pressure acting upon a mere line 
 of contact upon their surfaces would indent them, 
 and totally destroy their operation. The handle 
 N, moves upon a fixed center of motion, at N, in the 
 projecting part of the frame, Q Q, and the pressure is 
 regulated by lengthening or shortening the connect- 
 ing link W, which is furnished with a screw in the 
 middle of its length for that purpose. The rails D D, 
 upon which the carriage moves, are furnished with small 
 square pieces of steel placed at regular distances. 
 
 Ruthvens Press. 
 Plate CXII. figures 4, 5, and 6. Fig. 4 on the 
 Plate shows an horizontal plan of the press ; fig. 5, 
 a vertical section taken through the middle; and 
 fig. 6, an end view. The same letters of refer- 
 ence are used on all the figures. A A represents 
 the table or surface upon which the form of types 
 is laid. This table is mounted upon a framing of 
 cast iron, consisting of four upright legs, B, 
 strengthened by diagonal braces C. Immediately 
 beneath the table two levers, D E, D E, are situat- 
 ed, moving upon fixed centers or fulcruras, at D D. 
 These levers are jointed to double hooks or clutches 
 F F, so that when the ends, E, of the levers are de- 
 pressed or drawn down by the links, a (communi- 
 cating with a third lever G, H, I), the hooks F F 
 are drawn down also, but with a slow motion. The 
 fulcrum of the third lever is at G, and the point H 
 is where the power is applied to actuate it by the 
 connecting-rod K ; the opposite end of which is 
 jointed to a crank or short lever, situated upon an 
 axis, L, which extends to the front of the press, and 
 is furnished with a winch or handle N, for the 
 pressman to move it by. M represents the platen. 
 It has a strong metal bar, P, united to it by screws, 
 r r, at the extremities of the bar P : strong iron 
 bolts, d d, are secured by nuts upon their upper- 
 most ends. These bolts have heads or projections 
 formed at their lower ends, which are exactly fitted 
 to the hooks or clutches, F F : by this means the 
 
382 
 
 PRINTING. 
 
 Printing, platen is connected occasionally with the levers 
 D E, D E, and may be brought down upon the 
 types by the pressman turning the winch, N, in the 
 direction shown by the arrow in fig. 5. 
 
 By returning the winch N to its original position, 
 the pressure is relieved, and the platen M may be 
 removed from off the types. Thus, at the ends of 
 the bar P, two springs e e are affixed, and in the 
 ends of these springs small rollers or wheels are fit- 
 ted to move freely upon these center pins. These 
 wheels have grooves in their edges, adapted to run 
 upon the angles of two rails R R, which extend on 
 each side of the table A A, and project sufficiently 
 behind the press to support the platen, when push- 
 ed back from off the types into the position shown 
 in figures 4 and 6. The springs e e are so adjusted, 
 that when the platen moves along upon the rails 
 R R, its under furface will be raised up sufficiently 
 above the tympan to allow it to come into its proper 
 position, to produce the pressure ; as shown by the 
 dotted lines in fig. 6 ; or to go back into its original 
 situation, without meeting with obstruction ; but 
 when the hooks F and bolts d are united, and the 
 pressure brought on by turning the winch N, the 
 springs yield and permit the platen to press upon 
 the types. The platen in the model originally made 
 by Mr Ruthven was contrived to be brought forward 
 by a treddle ; but in the presses since made, it is 
 both brought forward and pushed back by the han- 
 dle n. The centers of motion D D of the great le- 
 vers, and of the lever G, as well as the pivots L of 
 the winch N, are all supported in one frame, com- 
 posed of two metal cheeks, which are situated be- 
 neath the table, and united thereto by screws, as 
 shown by the dotted lines in the Plan, fig. 4- The 
 lever G H is in the most favourable position to re- 
 ceive the action of the rod K, viz. perpendicular to 
 it ; and the lever G I is in a position to exert a 
 greater power upon the links «, and levers D E, 
 than when it is in the horizontal position ; for when 
 the pressman first takes the handle N, it acts with 
 but little advantage as to power upon the levers, 
 and, therefore, brings the platen down very quickly 
 upon the tympan ; but when the handle has arrived 
 near the horizontal position, then the power it ex- 
 erts to bring down the platen is immensely great. 
 The tympan is jointed to one end of the table in the 
 usual manner. 
 
 (» 
 
 Bacon and Donkin's Printing Machine. 
 Plate CXIir. The machine represented in the 
 Plate is furnished with a square prism, marked A, 
 having four surfaces, upon which the types are fix- 
 ed. The pivots at the ends of its axis are supported 
 in bearings in the frames B B, and it is caused to 
 revolve by a connection of wheelwork D E and F G, 
 from the fly wheel and winch H. The types yield 
 their impression upon the paper by means of the 
 platen I, which is placed immediately beneath the 
 printing prism. The circumference of the platen 
 being formed, as shown at I in the section, fig. 3, 
 applies itself in its revolution to the surface of the 
 types. The ink is applied to the types by the cy- 
 linder K, placed above the prism. It is composed 
 of a soft elastic substance upon a metallic cylinder 
 or axis ; and, that its surface may always apply to 
 
 the types, its spindle is fitted in the pieces L, which 
 move upon an axis n, so as to allow the cylinder to 
 rise and fall, and thereby accommodate itself to the 
 prism. The inking cylinder receives its ink from a 
 second cylinder M, which is called the Distributing 
 Roller, having also an elastic surface, which is sup- 
 plied with ink by a third roller N, made of metal, 
 and turned as true and cylindrical as possible. The 
 ink is deposited in quantity against this roller, up- 
 on a steel plate O, the edge of which being placed 
 at a very small adjustable distance from the circum- 
 ference, permits the roller, as it revolves, to carry 
 down upon its surface a thin film of ink, which be^ 
 ing taken off by the distributing roller, is applied to 
 the surface of the inking cylinder, which, as before 
 mentioned, inks the types. 
 
 The sheet of paper to be printed is introduced to 
 the machine by placing it upon a blanket, which is 
 extended upon a feeding board P, and drawn in at a 
 proper time by having a small rail or ruler a, fig. 3, 
 fixed to it ; the ends of which are taken forwards by 
 studs h attached to endless chains, extending from the 
 wheels e (at the end of the platen seen in fig. 1), to 
 other wheels d, which are supported in the frame of 
 the feeding board. The wheels e, having teeth en- 
 tering the links of the chains, cause them to traverse 
 and draw the blanket and sheet of paper into the 
 machine. The page or pages of types are compos- 
 ed in the usual manner in gallies, which gallies are 
 attached by screw clamps to the sides of the print- 
 ing prism, so as to be readily taken off. They are 
 also furnished with adjusting screws to fix them ex- 
 actly in their proper situations, as shown in the 
 Front Elevation, fig. 1. The two wheels D E, 
 which cause the prism and platen to accompany 
 each other in their revolution, are formed, as shown 
 in fig. 4, to correspond with the prism and platen : 
 thus the upper wheel D, is a square with its angles 
 rounded off, and the geometrical outline is exactly 
 the same as that of the prism. The lower wheel E, 
 is of the same shape as the platen, and its pitch 
 line the exact shape of the surface thereof. These 
 wheels being toothed must revolve together, so that 
 no slipping or sliding can take place between the 
 surfaces of the printing prism and platen at the 
 point of contact. 
 
 To regulate the pressure upon the paper, the 
 bearings in which the pivots of the platen are sup- 
 ported can be elevated by screws, and to prevent any 
 derangement of the wheels, D and E, by such adjust- 
 ment, universal joints are applied in their axes,as shown 
 at R in fig. 1. The inking cylinder is turned round by 
 a cog-wheel V upon the extremity of the axis of the 
 prism, which is the same shape as the wheel D and 
 shapes T. The wheel V communicates motion to a 
 circular wheel W, fixed upon the end of the spindle 
 of the inking cylinder. The wheel W gives motion 
 to the distributing roller M, by a pinion /, and this 
 again turns the ink roller N by a third pinion g, fix- 
 ed upon the end of its axis n, which is supported 
 upon bearings on the frame B B. The pieces L L, 
 which support the pivots of the distributing roller 
 and inking cylinder, are fitted upon the axis n of 
 the ink roller, so as to rise and fall upon it as a center 
 of motion. The steel plate o for regulating the 
 supply of ink to the roller N, is supported by a bar 
 
PRINTING. 
 
 383 
 
 ►rinting. of metal extending across the fixed frame B B, and 
 the ink is prevented from flowing off at the ends of 
 plate o, by pieces of metal p, which enter a short 
 distance into grooves formed round the ink roller N 
 near its ends. The frame, supporting the feeding 
 board P, is composed of two rails fitted upon round 
 parts of the axis of the platen, and borne up at their 
 outermost ends by a brace from the wood framing 
 of the machine : these rails sustain the pivots of the 
 wheels d, as shown at X in fig. 2. The feeding 
 board has two ledges c formed along its sides to al- 
 low the rulers a of the blanket to slide freely upon, 
 in their progress to the types ; and the space left 
 between the segments of the platen, as seen at 6 in 
 the section, fig. 3, receives the ruler a. 
 
 Bensley's Printing Machine. 
 
 Fig. 1, Plate CXIV. represents a perspective view 
 of a machine employed in Mr Bensley's printing of- 
 fice, which is moved by the power of a steam-engine. 
 It is supposed to be in the act of printing, being at- 
 tended by two boys, one of whom is occupied in 
 laying on the blank sheets of paper, and the other in 
 receiving the printed sheets as they quit the ma- 
 chine. Fig. 2 shows a longitudinal section of the 
 machine, to explain the manner in which the paper 
 passes through to receive the impression upon both 
 sides, and also the means employed to apply the ink 
 to the surface of the types. Though all the material 
 motions of the machine are displayed, yet some of 
 the minute parts, which produce the various move- 
 ments, b-ave been omitted, in consequence of the di- 
 minutive scale of the figures, which is only about 
 one-third of an inch to a foot. 
 
 The supply of blank paper is laid upon a support 
 or table, A, from whence the sheets are taken, one 
 by one, by a boy standing upon an elevated platform, 
 who lays them out upon the table B, which has a 
 number of narrow linen tapes or girths passing across 
 its surface. These tapes are formed into endless bands, 
 which extend round the cylinders, or rollers C and 
 
 D, in such a manner, that when the rollers are turn- 
 ed round, the motion of the tapes will carry the sheet 
 of paper along with them, and deliver over the roller 
 
 E, where it is seized between two systems of endless 
 tapes, passing over a series of rollers to keep them 
 extended. These endless tapes are so adapted, in num- 
 ber and position, as to fall between the pages of 
 printing, and also on the outsides, or beyond the 
 margin of the printing; they may, therefore, remain 
 in contact with the sheet of paper on both sides dur- 
 ing its whole passage through the machine ; by which 
 means the paper being once received or taken in be- 
 tween the two systems of endless tapes, it will be ca- 
 pable of continuing its motion along with the tapes, 
 in order to bring it into a situation to be printed on 
 both sides, without destroying the register (or coin- 
 cidence of the pages on the opposite sides of the 
 sheet). F and G represent the two maitr cylinders 
 which effect the pressure upon the paper. They are 
 mounted upon strong axes, which turn in stationary 
 bearings affixed to the main frame of the machine. 
 H and I are two intermediate cylinders situated 
 upon axes between the main cylinders. Their use is 
 
 to effect the inversion of the sheet of paper, in order IMntine 
 to print the opposite side. 
 
 We must now describe the manner in which the two 
 systems of endless tapes before mentioned are arrang- 
 ed, to give a clear idea of the operation of the machine. 
 We will suppose one system of tapes to commence 
 at the upper part of the roller E, from whence they 
 proceed in contact with the under portion of thecir- 
 cumferen ce of the main cylinder F ; they then pass 
 over the upper portion of the intermediate cylinder 
 H, and under the intermediate cylinder I, from 
 whence they proceed to encompass a considerable 
 portion of the main cylinder G; and by passing in 
 contact with the rollers a, b, c, d, and e, they arrive 
 again at the roller E, from whence they commenced ; 
 thereby forming one of the systems of endless tapes. 
 The other system we will suppose to commence at 
 the roller h. They are equal in their number to the 
 tapes already described, and correspond with them 
 also in their place upon the cylinders, so that the 
 sheets of paper may be securely held between them. 
 The second tapes descend from the roller h to the 
 roller E, where they meet and coincide with the first 
 system, in such a manner that the tapes proceed to- 
 gether under the main cylinder F, over the cylinder 
 H, under the cylinder I, and round the main cylin- 
 der G, until they arrive at the roller i, where they 
 separate ; having remained thus far in actual contact, 
 except at the places where the sheets of paper are 
 held between them. From the roller i the tapes de- 
 scend to the roller k, and by passing in contact with 
 the rollers m, n, and o, they arrive at the roller h, 
 from whence they commenced. Thus the two sys- 
 tems of endless tapes are established and arranged so 
 as to be capable of circulating continually without 
 interfering with each other. The cylinders F, G, H, 
 and I, as also the roller E, are connected by toothed 
 wheels, as represented in the perspective view, fig. l, 
 so as to cause their circumferences to move with one 
 uniform velocity, and thereby prevent any sliding or 
 shifting of the two systems of tapes over each other 
 during their motion ; as much of the perfection of the 
 printing depends upon this circumstance. The se- 
 parate forms of types for printing the two sides of 
 the sheet are placed at a certain distance asun- 
 der upon one long carriage, which is represented 
 in a detached state at fig. 3. This carriage, with 
 the forms of type secured upon it, is adapted to move 
 backwards and forwards upon steady guides or sup- 
 ports attached to the main frame of the machine ; in 
 such a position, that the surfaces of the types may be 
 operated upon by the circumference of their respec- 
 tive cylinders F and G, to produce the impression as 
 the carriage moves backwards and forwards. This 
 reciprocating movement of the carriage is effected 
 by a pinion fixed upon the end of a vertical spindle, 
 K, fig. 2, engaging in the teeth of an endless rack, 
 L L, which is connected by a system of levers with 
 the type carriage in such a manner, that when the 
 pinion is turned round, it engages at alternate pe- 
 riods in the teeth formed upon the opposite sides of 
 the rack L L, and consequently on the opposite cir- 
 cumference of the pinion; thereby a continuous mo- 
 tion of the pinion communicates a reciprocating mo- 
 
384 PRINTING, 
 
 Printing, tloti to the rack and carriage ; the vertical spindle at one end of the machine, the printing is performed Printin 
 ^^/"^bJ K is turned by a pair of bevelled wheels from the at the other end on one of the sides of the sheet from 
 pinion P, fig. 1, which receives its motion by an in- the types last inked, and vice versa. The type car- 
 termediate wheel, Q, from the toothed wheel upon riage is caused to move steadily along with the cir- 
 the end of the main cylinder G. cumferences of the cylinders F and G, by having 
 The mechanism for furnishing and distributing the racks Y Y formed on each side of the forms of types 
 ink upon the surfaces of the types in this machine is (as seen in fig. 3), which engage with sectors or 
 very ingeniously arranged, and performs its opera- portions of toothed wheels, a; x, upon the ends of the 
 tion with great certainty. It is one of the most im- said cylinders ; at which part the surfaces of the cy- 
 portant points, and the most difficult to effect in linders are covered with a blanket or felt, to give 
 printing machines. Two similar and complete sys- elasticity, and cause them to press equally upon the 
 tems of inking apparatus, one situated at each end paper, as in ordinary printing presses, 
 of the machine, are adapted to ink their respective The machine is put in motion by a strap, y y, 
 forms of types ; we will therefore describe, by re- passing round a pulley, X, as seen in fig. 1, upon 
 ference to the fig. 2, the inking apparatus situated the axis of which pulley a pinion is fixed, engaging 
 at the right hand end of the machine. It consists with the teeth of the large wheel upon the end of 
 of a cylindrical metal roller, N, Which has a slow the main cylinder G. Thus the various cylinders, 
 rotatory motion communicated to it by a catgut with their two systems of tapes, are caused to re- 
 band passing round a small pulley upon the end of volve with an uniform movement in the direction of 
 the axis of the main cylinder G. The roller N is the arrows (seen in fig. 2), whilst the type carriage 
 adapted to carry down a thin film of ink upon its travels alternately backwards and forwards upon its 
 circumference, by turning in contact with a mass of guides, as before mentioned. The operation of 
 ink disposed upon a horizontal plate of metal, the printing is performed as follows : The sheets of 
 edge of which plate is ground straight, and fixed by blank paper are laid one by one upon the table B, so 
 screws r r, at a small adjustable distance from the as to bear upon the linen tapes which extend over 
 surface of the said roller. O represents an elastic its surface. In this situation the rollers C and D are 
 composition roller, which is mounted in a frame caused to move a portion of a revolution, by the 
 turning upon an axis, p, extending across the main operation of a lever fixed upon the axis of the roller 
 frame of the machine. This roller is connected by D, being acted upon by another lever fixed on the 
 cranked levers with a small eccentric circle fixed cog-wheel of the main cylinder F. This motion ad- 
 upon the end of the axis of the cylinder G (as seen vances the sheet of paper sufficiently to enable it to 
 in fig. 1), which causes it to move round the axis p, be seized between the two systems of endless tapes 
 and remain for a short period in contact with the at the point where they meet each other, or between 
 surface of the ink roller N (,as seen by the position the rollers h and E. As soon as the sheet of paper 
 at the left hand end of the machine, fig. 2), thereby is carried clear off the table B, the rollers C and D 
 receiving a portion of ink upon its surface ; it then are caused to turn back again to their original po- 
 descends and rests with its whole weight upon the sition, by the operation of a weight, W, and cord, 
 surface of a flat metal plate or table, T, which is af- iv, as seen in fig. 2, ready to advance a second sheet 
 fixed to the type carriage, as seen in fig. 3 ; so that of blank paper into the machine. The sheet of pa- 
 the reciprocating motion of the carriage causes the per is carried along between the systems of tapes, 
 ink table T to receive ink upon its surface from the and applies itself to the circumference of the main 
 elastic roller O. In this situation, when the type car- cylinder F, upon the blanket before mentioned; and 
 riage returns, the surface of the table T is obliged by the continuous motion of the cylinder, the sheet 
 to pass under three small elastic rollers (seen at R), of paper is pressed upon the surface of the form of 
 which are mounted upon pivots in a frame, with li- types as they pass under the cylinder by the reci- 
 berty of motion up and down, in order that the roll- procating motion of the carriage. By this means 
 ers may bear with their weight upon the surface of one of the sides of the sheet receives its impression 
 the table. The frame in which they are centered has at the same time the form of types situated at the 
 also a slight end motion given to it by the inclined opposite end of the carriage is receiving its ink, as 
 form of the end of the table T (as seen in fig. 3), before described. Now, by the continuous motion 
 bearing against a roller fixed upon the said frame, of the machine, the sheet of paper advances in corn- 
 Thus the small composition rollers R operate in a pany with the endless tapes round the intermediate 
 very complete manner to equalize the supply of ink cylinders H and I, until it applies itself to the blanket 
 over the surface of the table T, and by the farther upon the surface of the main cylinder G ; at which 
 motion of the type carriage the ink table is caused place it will be found in an inverted position, so that 
 to pass under four small elastic rollers (seen at S), the printed side of the sheet is in contact with the 
 which, in like manner, bear with their weight upon blanket and the blank side of the sheet downwards, 
 the surface of the table (but without end motion), which, upon meeting with the other form of types at 
 and thereby take up the ink upon their circumfer- the proper instant, is pressed upon their surface 
 ences. The type carriage then returns, for the table sufficiently to produce the impression. Thus having 
 T to receive a new supply of ink, and by the form of arrived at the point i, where the two systems of tapes 
 types passing under the elastic rollers S, the letters separate, the printed sheet is delivered upon the 
 become inked in a very perfect and uniform manner, board Z, where it is received by a boy, and laid up^ 
 Whilst the operation of inking the types is going on on the pile. 
 U 
 
PRIJNTTING. 
 
 FJLATJE CXI 
 
385 
 
 PRISONS AND PRISON DISCIPLINE. 
 
 Prisons and T HE arrangements, necessary to adapt prisons to the 
 Prison Dis- ends for which they are designed, seena to require 
 , cipl ina. ^ YiiiIq more than the exercise of practical good sense ; 
 ^^^"^^"^ and yet the manner in which the practice of the 
 world blunders on from one absurdity, and very of- 
 ten from one atrocity, to another, shows pretty dis- 
 tinctly, how little the public affairs of mankind have 
 hitherto had the benefit of that practical faculty, or 
 of any thing that resembles it. 
 Endsoflm. Prisons have been applied to three purposes; 
 prisonment. 1^^, That of safe custody ; 2dly, That of punishment ; 
 3c?/y, That of reformation. 
 
 It is very evident, that each of these purposes re- 
 quires an arrangement of means peculiar to itself. 
 
 Though each requires a combination of means pe- 
 culiar to itselfj it does not follow that, of the means 
 required for each, a portion may not be the same in 
 all. Every body will acknowledge that this is the 
 case. 
 
 The means of safe custody, for instance, are equal- 
 ly required for those who are imprisoned in order to 
 be punished and those who are imprisoned in order 
 that they may be reformed, as for those who are im- 
 prisoned to the sole end of being made present at a 
 particular time and place. 
 
 The arrangements, then, for safe custody, form a 
 basis, on which every combination of means for at- 
 taining any of the other ends of imprisonment 
 must always be erected. Other means for the at- 
 tainment of these ends are to be considered as ac- 
 cessions to those required for the first. 
 
 It is a corollary from this position, that the same 
 house may, at one and the same time, be employed 
 for all the three purposes. Those properties in the 
 building which make it fittest, at the least expense, 
 for safe custody, make it fittest also for the purposes 
 either of punishment or of reformation. This will be 
 rendered abundantly apparent in the sequel ; and 
 from the single circumstance, that the means of pu- 
 nishment and reformation are only additions to those 
 of safe custody, it wants not much of its demonstra- 
 tion already. If the arrangements needed, for those 
 who are to be punished, and those who are to be re- 
 formed, interfere not with one another, or with those 
 needed on account of the persons in safe custody 
 merely, the truth of the corollary is indisputable ; for 
 nobody will deny that, in point of economy, there 
 must be very great advantage. 
 
 Means of I. We shall consider, first of all, what is the best 
 safe Custody, combination of means for safe custody. Dungeons 
 and fetters are the expedient of a barbarous age. 
 And in respect of prisons, as of every thing which 
 comes within the precincts of law, the expedients of 
 a barbarous age are, with great industry, retained in 
 those which are civilized ; they are, indeed, not only 
 retained with great industry, but preserved with a 
 success which, if it were not experienced, would be 
 altogether incredible. As the expedients of a bar- 
 
 VOL. VI. PART I. 
 
 barous age are still preserved in many more of the Prisons and 
 arrangements for the purposes of law, so it is but ^"-""j^^g"*' 
 yesterday that the prisons of our forefathers have ^ ^ _ ^ 
 been regarded as fit for reform, or the means which 
 in their ancestorial wisdom those sages devised 
 for attaining the ends of imprisonment were sup- 
 posed capable of being altered for the better, by their 
 less instructed sons. 
 
 It is at last, however, allowed, that inspection is a 
 means for safe custody, which renders unnecessary 
 all but very ordinary means of any other description. 
 Thus, so long as a man is, and knows that he is, un- 
 der the eyes of persons able and willing to prevent 
 him, there is very little danger of his making an at- 
 tempt, which he sees would be vain, to effect a 
 breach in the wall, or force open the door, of his cell. 
 Any great strength, therefore, in such wall or door, 
 as well as fetters upon any part of his body, the ob- 
 ject of which is to make provision against such at- 
 tempts, are whollj' unnecessary ; since the attempts 
 avQ sure of not being made, or of being instantly 
 frustrated. 
 
 The plan of a prison, in which the power of in- 
 spection is rendered so complete, that, the prisoner 
 may be, and cannot know but that he is, under the 
 eyes of his keepers, every moment of his time, and 
 which we owe to General Bentham, so universally 
 known for his mechanical genius, is described by hi« 
 brother, in his work entitled Panopticon, or Inspection 
 House ; where also a system of management is deli- 
 neated, and its principles are so perfectly expound- 
 ed, and proved, that they who proceed in this road, 
 with the principle of utility before them, can do little 
 else than travel in his steps. 
 
 An idea of the contrivance may be conveyed in a 
 few words. It is a circular building, of the width of 
 a cell, and of any height ; carried round a space, 
 which remains vacant in the middle. The cells are 
 all open inwards, having an iron grating instead of a 
 wall, and, of course, are visible in every part to an 
 eye properly placed in the vacant space. A narrow 
 tower rises in the middle of that space, called the 
 inspection tower, which serves for the residence of the 
 keepers, and in which, by means of windows and 
 blinds, they can see without being seen; the cells, 
 t?y lights properly disposed, being capable of being 
 rendered as visible by night as by day. 
 
 We have thus provision for safe custody ; and along 
 with it, five other important purposes are gained. 
 First of all, there is great economy ; the vast expense 
 of thick, impenetrable walls, being rendered unne- 
 cessary. Secondly, All pretence for subjecting pri- 
 soners to the torture and degradation of irons is 
 taken away. Thirdly, No misbehaviour of the pri- 
 soners can elude observation, and instant correction. 
 Fourthly, No negligence, or corruption, or cruelty, 
 on the part of the subordinate agents in the prison, 
 can escape the view of their principals. And, Fifth- 
 ly, No misconduct towards the prisoners, on the part 
 3 c 
 
S86 
 
 PRISONS. 
 
 Prisons and of their principals, can remain unknown to the pub- 
 Pi^on Dis. ijg^ j^jjy obtain a regulated admittance into the 
 . J inspection tower, and regulated communication with 
 
 ^ the prisoners. 
 
 The persons who are liable to be in prison, for sure 
 custody merel)', are of three classes. First, Persons 
 apprehended, and about to be put on their trial, for 
 the commission of a crime. Secondly, Persons con- 
 victed of a crime, and about to receive their pu- 
 nishment ; and, Thirdly, Debtors. 
 
 Under a good system of law, very little provision 
 would need to be made for these cases. It is one of 
 the essential properties of a good system of law to 
 permit as little time as possible to intervene between 
 the apprehension and trial, and between the convic- 
 tion and punishment, of a person for a crime. There 
 would never, therefore, be many such persuns in any 
 prison at a time. And under a good system of law, 
 there never would be any body in a prison on ac- 
 count of debt. * This is mentioned merely to show 
 how little, under a good system of law, the apparatus 
 and expense of a separate prison, for this set of 
 cases, would be wanted. 
 
 These persons being inmates of a prison, for 
 insuring their presence merely, the question is, What 
 treatment they ought to receive ? 
 
 Persons in prison before trial, and debtors, are 
 persons of whom nothing is certainly known, but that 
 they are unfortunate. They are, therefore, entitled 
 to all the benevolence which is due to the unfortu- 
 nate. 
 
 What is done for them in a prison musf, however, 
 be done at the expense of the community, that is, by 
 sacrifices demanded of those who are not in prison ; 
 and those sacrifices ought, undoubtedly, to be the 
 smallest possible. The question is, therefore, to be 
 settled by a compromise between the principle of 
 benevolence, and the principle of economy. 
 
 The principle of benevolence undoubtedly requires 
 that the health of the prisoners should not be impair- 
 ed ; for this, importing the premature loss of life, is 
 in reality the punishment of death, inflicted upon 
 those to whom no punishment is due. 
 
 That health may not be impaired, three things are 
 indispensable: — 1. A wholesome apartment; 2. A 
 sufficiency of wholesome food ; 3. Sufficient clothing. 
 
 The principle of economy, with equal certainty, 
 exacts, that all those should be of the cheapest pos- 
 sible kind. 
 
 All this is abundantly clear. It is equally clear 
 that, with respect to those who are in prison for s^e 
 custody merely, the principle of benevolence re- 
 quires, and the principle of economy does not forbid, 
 that they should be free to use any indulgence, 
 which costs nothing, or which they provide for 
 themselves ; and that no farther restraint should be 
 placed upon their liberty than the custody of their 
 persons, and the rule of economy, which prescribes 
 
 the limits and accommodations of the place, may de* Prisons and 
 
 Prison Dis- 
 
 raand 
 
 Few words will be necessary to show what is ap- 
 propriate to the case of the man, who is in prison 
 during the interval between his sentence and his pu- 
 nishment. 
 
 By the supposition, in this case, his punishment is 
 something distinct from his imprisonment ; because, 
 if not, it is a case which comes under another head, 
 namely, that of persons who are in prison for the 
 sake of punishment ; and will be fully considered in 
 another part of this discourse. 
 
 If he is in prison for detention merely, his pu- 
 nishment, as meted out and fixed by the judge, being 
 something wholly separate ; every particle of hard- 
 ship, imposed upon him, not necessary for his deten- 
 tion, is something without law, and contrary to 
 law ; is as much injustice and a crime, when in- 
 flicted upon him, as if inflicted upon any other 
 member of the community. The same considera- 
 tions, which, as we found above, ought to regulate 
 the imprisonment of debtors, and persons in cus- 
 tody before trial, namely, the compromise be- 
 tween the principle of benevolence and the principle 
 of economy; apply, without the smallest difference, 
 to the case of persons who, during the interval he^ 
 tween their sentence and its execution, are in prison 
 for the mere purpose of preventing their escape. 
 
 We foresee a difficulty, or rather an objection, for 
 there is really no difficulty in the case. 
 
 Persons come into prisons, who have been accus- 
 tomed, in the preceding part of their lives, to all de- 
 grees of delicate and indulgent living ; to whom, 
 therefore, the hard fare prescribed by the principle 
 of economy will occasion very different degrees of 
 uneasiness. 
 
 Such persons, when in prison for safe custody 
 merely (what is required when persons are in prison 
 for punishment, or for reformation, will be seen 
 hereafter), may be allowed to make use of any funds 
 which they may possess for procuring to themselves 
 all unexceptionable indulgences. They may be al- 
 so allowed the exercise of any lucrative art, consist- 
 ent with the nature of the prison, for p'-ocuring to 
 themselves the means of such indulgences. This 
 the principle of benevolence dictates, and there is 
 nothing in the principle of economy which forbids it. 
 
 We shall be told, however, that there are per- 
 sons, who have been accustomed to a delicate mode 
 of living, and who come into prison without the 
 command of any funds, or the knowledge of any 
 art, by which they may soften the hardship of their 
 lot : and we shall be asked what is the course which 
 our philosophy recommends for the treatment of 
 them ? The course which it recommends is very 
 clear. Such persons are paupers, and whatsoever 
 treatment is fit for paupers of the description to 
 which they belong, is fit also for them. IF there are 
 
 cipline. 
 
 * If evident fraud were committed in contracting the debt, or if the property of others, obtained by 
 loan, had evidently been dishonestly spent, or dishonestly risked, such fraud, or dishonesty, being crimes,^ 
 pot a debt, might justly subject a man to imprisonment, or any other sort of due punishment. 
 
 3 
 
PRISONS. 
 
 387 
 
 Prisons anil an}' funds, to which as paupers they can apply, the 
 application should be open to them. If there are 
 cip me. jjyjjp^ there is no person to whose benevolence 
 they can resort, the effects of such a destitute situa- 
 tion must be sustainef', the same way in a prison, as 
 they must be, when any person falls into it, out of a 
 prison. 
 
 Means of l\. Having stated what appears to us necessary 
 Punish- fQj. illustrating the principles which ought to regulate 
 the imprisonment ot those, in respect to whom safe 
 custody is the end in view, we come, in the next 
 place, to the case of those, in respect to whom, in 
 addition to safe custody, punishment is to be effect- 
 ed through the same medium. 
 
 This subject we shall unfortunately be under the 
 necessity of treating superficially ; because, in order 
 to explain it fully, we ought to have before us the 
 whole doctrine of punishment ; and, for this purpose, 
 a developement,too extensive for the present purpose, 
 would be required. 
 
 This we may assume as an indisputable principle ; 
 that whatever punishment is to be inflicted, should 
 be determined by the judge, and by him alone ; that 
 it should be determined by its adaptation to the 
 crime ; and that it should not be competent to those 
 to whom the execution of the sentence of the judge 
 is entrusted, either to go beyond the line which he 
 has drawn, or to fall short of it. 
 
 We have already established, on what seemed suf- 
 ficient reasons, that for persons confined, on account 
 of safe custody merely, the cheapest accommoda- 
 tion, not importing injury to health, in respect to 
 apartment, food, and clothing, should alone be pro- 
 vided at the public expense. 
 
 Unless in the case of those whom the judge might 
 condemn to lose a portion of their health, as the pu- 
 nishment due to them, by the sufferings of an un- 
 wholesome prison, unv/holesome food, or improper 
 cldthing, this accommodation ought to be afforded 
 even to those who are placed in prisons for the sake 
 of punishment. And if it should be thouglit that 
 the loss of health never can be a proper punishment, 
 if it has never been regarded as such even by sa- 
 vages, and is repudiated by every principle of rea- 
 8on, then it follows, that the accommodations which 
 we have described in the former part of this dis- 
 course, as required in the case of prisoners detained 
 for safe custody, are required in the case of prison- 
 ers of every description. 
 
 This is a basis, therefore, upon which every thing 
 is to rest. In every rational system of prison ma- 
 nagement, this is an essential condition. We are 
 now to see in what manner, upon this footing, pu- 
 nishment, by means of imprisonment, is to be effect- 
 ed. 
 
 One mode is sufficiently obvious and sufficiently 
 known. The punishment may be rendered more or 
 less severe by its duration. Want of liberty is, in 
 almost all cases, a source of uneasiness ; want of li- 
 berty, added to the denial of all pleasures of sense, 
 can hardly ever fail to be a source of great uneasi- 
 ness- A long imprisonment therefore, with the 
 cheapest accommodation not importing injury to 
 health, must be a severe punishment. This, it is 
 
 evident, may be graduated to more or less of severi- Pwsons and 
 ty, not only by degrees of time, but the use of such^"P" 
 means as the prisoner might command for procuring "^y"!!!, 
 accommodations and indulgences. '"~ 
 
 To this imprisonment may be added solitude. But 
 though we mention this, as a practicable addition to 
 simple imprisonment, it is well known how little, un- 
 less for short periods, and on very particular occa- 
 sions, it is to be recommended. 
 
 The modes, wliich lately have been most in repute, 
 of adding to the severity of simple imprisonment for 
 the purpose of punishment, have been two; 1st, 
 Hard labour ; and, 2dly, Bad prisons, and bad ma- 
 nagement in those prisons. 
 
 1. The species of labour which appears to have 
 obtained the preference is that of treading in a wheel. 
 
 If a criminal in a prison is ever to be let out again, 
 and to mix in society, it is desirable that nothing 
 should be done, and least of all done on purpose, to 
 make him a worse member of society than when he 
 went in. There cannot be a worse quality of a pu- 
 nishment, than that it has a tendency to corrupt and 
 deteriorate the individual on whom it is inflicted ; 
 unless, indeed, he is a prisoner for life ; in that case, 
 people of a certain temper might say, that making 
 worse his disposition is a matter of little importance ; 
 and to them we have no time to make any reply. 
 
 Most of those persons who come into prison as 
 criminals, are bad, because they have hated labour, 
 and have had recourse to other means than their in- 
 dustry of attaining the supply of their wants and 
 the gratification of their desires. People of indus- 
 try, people who love labour, seldom become the cri- 
 minal inmates of a prison. 
 
 One thing, however, is pretty certain, ♦hat men 
 seldom become in love with their punishments. If 
 the grand cause of the crimes which have brought a 
 man to punishment is his not having a love but ha- 
 tred of labour ; to make labour his punishment, is on- 
 ly to make him hate it the more. If the more a 
 man hates labour, the more he is likely to act as a 
 bad member of society ; to punish a man with la- 
 bour, and then to turn him out upon society, is a 
 course of legislation which savours not of the highest 
 wisdom. 
 
 Besides, in treating labour as an instrument of pu- 
 nishment, call it hard labour, if you will, what sort 
 of a lesson do you teach to the industrious and la- 
 borious class, who form the great body of your peo- 
 ple ? to those whose lot is labour, whose lot is hard 
 labour, harder than any which it is in your power to 
 impose ? What compulsory labour is so hard as many 
 species of voluntary labour ? 
 
 As an instrument of reformation, labour, as we 
 shall presently see, is invaluable. As an instrument 
 of punishment, hardly any thing can be conceived 
 more exceptionable. That which is the source of 
 all that mankind enjoy^ that which is the foundation 
 of every virtue in the most numerous class of the 
 community, would you stamp with ignominy and dis- 
 honour, by inflicting it as a punishment upon the 
 worst and basest of your people ? Is this your ex- 
 pedient for rendering it, what every wise legislator 
 would wish to render it, honourable, and thence de- 
 sirable ? 
 
388 
 
 Prisons and 
 Prison Dis- 
 cipline. 
 
 PRISONS. 
 
 There are other objections, perfectly decisive, 
 against labour as a punishment. It operates with 
 more inequality than almost any other instrument 
 of punishment that ever has been invented. The 
 same degree of labour vpould kill one man, that to 
 another would be only a pastime. From this source 
 we may apprehend the most horrid abuses, in the 
 continuance of those tread-mills. We may be very 
 sure, that the most atrocious cruelty will often be 
 inflicted upon those who, with strength below the 
 average standard, are placed in those penal engines ; 
 while, in the case of those whose strength is much 
 above that standard, they will hardly operate as a 
 punishment at all. 
 
 It is impossible that the judge can measure out 
 this punishment ; because the judge has not the 
 means of ascertaining the relative strength of the 
 parties who come before him. It must, therefore, 
 be left to the jailor. The jailor, not the judge, will 
 mete out and determine the degree of suffering which 
 each individual is to undergo. The jailor, not the 
 judge, is the man who adapts the punishment to the 
 crime. Hence one of the stains which mark a care- 
 less and stupid legislation. 
 
 It is a far inferior, though still no inconsiderable 
 proof of a blundering legislation, that the labour, if 
 labour it must be, is not of such a sort as to be use- 
 ful. The turning of a wheel, by human labour, when 
 so many better means of turning it are possessed in 
 abundance, is destitute of even this recommendation. 
 It stands upon a similar footing with the contrivance 
 of the jailor, whom Mr Bentham celebrates : " We 
 are told somewhere," he says, " towards the close of 
 Sully's Memoirs, that for some time after the decease 
 of that great and honest minister, certain high mounts 
 were to be seen at no great distance from his house. 
 These mounts were so many monuments of his cha- 
 rity. The poor in his neighbourhood happened to 
 have industry to spare, and the best employment he 
 would find for it was, to remove dirt from the place 
 where it lay to another where it was of no use. By 
 the mere force of innate genius, and without having 
 ever put himself to school to learn economy of a 
 French minister, a plain English jailor, whom How- 
 ard met with, was seen practising this revived 
 species of pyramid architecture in miniature. He 
 had got a parcel of stones together at one end 
 of his yard, and set the prisoners to bring them to 
 the other : the task achieved, Now, says he, you 
 may fetch them back again. Being asked what was 
 the object of this industry, his answer was, ' To 
 plague the prisoners.' " — In a note on this passage, 
 Mr Bentham says, " I beg the jailor's pardon ; what 
 is above was from memory ; bis contrivance was the 
 setting them to saw wood with a blunt saw, made 
 blunt on purpose. The removers of mounts were a 
 committee of justices." 
 
 2. Bad prisons, and bad management in these 
 prisons, is a mode of punishment, the recommenda- 
 tion of which has lately been revived, after we might 
 have hoped that, in this country at least, it was ex- 
 ploded for ever. The language of such recommen- 
 dation has, on several recent occasions, been heard in 
 Parliament; and an article on Prison Discipline, which 
 
 lately appeared in the Edinburgh Revie^v, cannot be Prisons and 
 interpreted in any other sense. Even the Committee 1'".^°" 
 of the Society Jor the Improvement of Prison Disci" ' ^' 
 ■pline have not been able to withstand the i'orce of 
 what they may have supposed to be fashionable doc- 
 trine. In their Fourth Report, lately published, which 
 we are sorry to say evinces more of good intention, 
 than of enlightened views for its guidance, they say; 
 " No charge can be more mistaken and unfounded, 
 than that the plans recommended by this institution 
 are calculated to introduce comfort into gaols. The 
 committee are of opinion, and have always contend- 
 ed, that severe punishment must form the basis of an 
 effective system of prison discipline ;'' thereby con- 
 founding two things, punishment, and prison disci» 
 pline ; which are totally distinct ; and between which, 
 it is of so much importance to preserve the distinc- 
 tion, that without it not a rational idea can be enter- 
 tained about either. 
 
 No doubt crimes must be punished. W^ho needs 
 instruction upon that head? But when the judge 
 has prescribed, that, in a particular way, which he 
 points out, a particular measure of pain shall be in- 
 flicted upon an individual ; and when the individual 
 is taken, and made to sustain the operations through 
 which the pain is generated ; what has this to do 
 with the discipline of the prison ? It is an act or 
 series of acts, sui generis ; acts not forming any part 
 of the ordinary course of prison management ; acts 
 which would not have taken place, which ought not 
 to have taken place, if the judge had not command- 
 ed them, and which were performed solely and ex- 
 clusively in obedience to his commandment. This is 
 the nature of punishment, — other punishment than 
 this there ought to be none. 
 
 The Committee would make severe punishment 
 the basis of prison discipline! What business have 
 the Committee with punishment? The assigning of 
 punishment the legislature have given to other and 
 fitter hands; to those who take cognizance of the 
 offence, and alone ought to measure the punish- 
 ment. Saying they would make punishment the 
 basis of prison discipline, what do they intend by this 
 ill-contrived expression ? Do they mean, that their 
 jailor shall hold the scales, and weigh out the proper 
 quantity ? If not, how are they to be understood ? for 
 if not the jailor but the judge is to weigh, and the jail- 
 or is to do nothing but punctually carry the prescrip- 
 tion of the judge into execution, then is punishment, 
 in no proper sense of the word, any part of prison dis- 
 cipline. It is a separate operation, performed on a 
 particular occasion, because prescribed by the judge, 
 and in the exact manner in which the judge has pre- 
 scribed it. If it is, on the other hand, a part of 
 prison discipline, then all the horrid consequences, 
 inseparable from making the jailor the judge and 
 meter of punishment, present themselves to the ima- 
 gination ; and he who can endure to look at them may 
 dwell upon the picture of a prison, wherein the poor 
 will not be more comfortable than at home, nor by the 
 charms of imprisonment enticed to the commission of 
 crimes. 
 
 Nothing can more clearly indicate that state 
 of mind, which consists in confusion of ideas, than 
 
PRISONS. 
 
 389 
 
 'risons and the vague language Vi^hich we hear about the ne- 
 'risonDis- cessity of making prisons the seats of wretched- 
 .miinp. ^Q^g^ crimes, they say, may not receive en- 
 
 couragement. 
 
 We have already seen, that, unless it is part of a 
 man's punishment, expressly ordained, that he shall 
 lose a portion of his health ; that is, that his life shall 
 be cut short ; that is, that after a period of torture, 
 he shall receive a capital punishment ; a wholesome 
 apartment, a sufficiency of wholesome food, proper 
 clothing, all of the cheapest kind, must be provided 
 for every body. When people talk about making 
 prisons seats of wretchedness, do they mean some- 
 thing worse than this ? 
 
 Many of them will no doubt answer ; Yes, we mean 
 hard labour in addition. We ask again, Do you 
 mean hard labour, according to the prescription of 
 the judge, or without the prescription of the judge ? 
 If according to the prescription of the judge, the case 
 is the same with that which we have previously ex- 
 amined. This instrument of -punishment is excep- 
 tionable, only because it is a bad instrument. 
 
 The whole matter evidently comes to this. If 
 more wretchedness is desired than what is implied 
 in confinement under the worst accommodation which 
 the preservation of health admits, it must be meted 
 out, either at the pleasure of the jailor, or the plea- 
 sure of the judge. The writer in the Edinburgh 
 Revieiv, and the Committee of the Society for the 
 Improvement of Prison Discipline, speak as if they 
 had never reflected upon the difference. 
 
 We do not mean to bestow a word upon that 
 theory, which, for the prevention of offences, would 
 make prisons scenes of wretchedness at the pleasure 
 of the jailor. 
 
 The only question which can deserve a solution 
 is, what mode of inflicting evil in a gaol can the 
 judge make use of for best attaining the ends of pu- 
 nishment ? The answer is not difficult. Unless, where 
 that course of reformatory discipline, which we shall 
 delineate under the next head, suffices ; and we allow, 
 that, though it may be made to involve no small de- 
 gree of punishment, there are cases in which it would 
 not suffice ; it will certainly appear, that prisons are 
 not the best instruments of punishment. 
 
 A single consideration suffices for the proof of this 
 proposition. Punishment in a prison loses the grand 
 requisite of a punishment, that of engendering the 
 greatest quantity of terror in others, by the smallest 
 quantity of suffering in the victim. The principal, 
 perhaps the sole end of punishment, is to restrain by 
 the example ; because, with respect to the individual 
 whom you have got, if you think society in any 
 danger from him, you can keep him in sight, and no 
 mare is required. Yet, the language we hear about 
 the tread-mill, and hear from the mouths of high per- 
 sons, implies, that hardly any thing more is in their 
 minds, than the effect upon the individual sufferers. 
 " Nothing finer than the tread-mill ; a fellow who 
 has been in the tread-mill never comes back again." 
 Be it so; but by your leave, this is a very insignifi- 
 cant part of the question. 
 
 The choice of expedients, for obtaining the pu- 
 nishment best adapted to the several cases for which a 
 course of reformatory discipline does not suffice, be- 
 longs to another head of inquiry, and must, for the 
 
 present purpose, be regarded as determined. All that Prisons and 
 it is necessary for us to show here is, that a prison is P"?on ijis- 
 
 1 • . ciplme. 
 
 not the proper scene for it, nor the instruments or a ..^^JL/-^ 
 
 prison the proper instruments. To render a punish- 
 ment the most efficacious in accomplishing the great 
 end of punishment, it must be a punishment calcu- 
 lated to make the strongest impression upon the 
 senses, and, through the senses, upon the imagina- 
 tion, of the public at large; more especially of that 
 part of the public who lie under the strongest 
 temptations to the commission of similar crimes. But 
 the punishments inflicted in a prison are withdrawn 
 from the senses of the public, and seem as if they 
 were intended to make the smallest possible, not the 
 greatest possible, impression upon the imaginations 
 of those who are to be deterred from crime. They 
 are defective, thei'efore, in the most essential quality 
 of a punishment, and can always be supplied by bet- 
 ter means of attaining the same end. 
 
 The proper idea of a prison is that of a place of 
 custody, and that alone. This idea ought to be 
 clearly, and distinctly, and steadily preserved in the 
 mind, in all disquisitions respecting prison discipline. 
 Punishment and reformatory discipline may be an- 
 nexed to safe custody ; and in as far as they consist 
 of a series of operations, requiring time for their per- 
 formance, it is essential to them. As reformatory 
 discipline consists wholly in such a series, imprison- 
 ment is a necessary condition of it. Since manj', al- 
 so, of the best kinds of punishment are not such as can 
 be executed all at once, but require a period of time, 
 imprisonment is equally necessary for these punish- 
 ments. But though you must have safe custody to 
 enable you to execute certain punishments, and also 
 to enable you to carry into effect a course of reform- 
 atory discipline, safe custody is not the same thing 
 with punishment, nor the same thing with reform- 
 atory discipline; and no conclusions can be de- 
 pended upon, in which ideas so distinct are con- 
 founded. 
 
 III. Having thus considered prisons, as instruments Reformatory 
 of safe custody, and as instruments of punishment ; Discipline, 
 two of the purposes to which they have been applied 
 as means ; it remains, that we consider them, as in- 
 struments of reformatory discipline, the third of the 
 purposes to which they have been applied. 
 
 It is necessary, first of all, to state a clear idea of 
 reformatory discipline. 
 
 When offences, against which it is necessary that 
 society should have protection, are committed, it is 
 desirable that the punishment of the offender should 
 have three properties ; 1st, That it should deter all 
 other persons from committing a similar offence, 
 which is its most important property. 2dly, That it 
 should have the effect of deterring the man himself 
 from a repetition of the offence. Sdlt/, That it should 
 have the effect of removing his former bad habits, 
 and planting useful habits in their stead. It is this 
 last property which is sought to be communicated to 
 his punishment by reformatory discipline. 
 
 As the creating and destroying of habits is the 
 work of time, and as the restraint of safe custody, and 
 restraint from all indulgences, except under certain 
 conditions, are necessary to reformatory discipline, 
 whatever punishment is involved in such protracted 
 
390 
 
 PRISONS. 
 
 Prisons and coercion, is a necessary part of reformatory disci 
 
 Prison Dis- pjipp 
 
 cipline. 
 
 What is desired is, to create a habit of doing use- 
 ful acts, in order to break the habit of doing hurtful 
 acts. To accomplish this, means must be obtained 
 of making the individual in question perform cer- 
 tain acts, and abstain from the performance of cer- 
 tain other acts. 
 
 The means to be employed for producing perform- 
 ance cannot be of more than two sorts ; the pleasur- 
 able, and the painful. A man may be induced to 
 perform certain acts, either by punishment, or reward. 
 He may be made to abstain from performing certain 
 acts by an additional means, by withholding the 
 power of perforriiing them. 
 
 The latter is the means chiefly applicable for pre- 
 venting the performance of hurtful acts in prisons ; 
 not only crimes, but acts of intemperance, gaming, 
 or any others, the tendency of which is towards 
 crimes. As this is nearly the universal practice, the 
 reasons of it must be so generally known, as not to 
 need developement. 
 
 The inquiry which chiefly calls for our attention 
 is, What are the best means of producing the per- 
 formance of those acts, the habit of performing which 
 we desire to render so perfect, that it may be relied 
 upon for the effect, even in a state of freedom ? 
 
 The persons on whom reformatory discipline is in- 
 tended to operate, belong to the class of those who 
 depend upon their industry for their support. So 
 nearly, at least, do they belong to this class exclu- 
 sively, that the immaterial exceptions may, in this 
 general inquiry, be omitted. 
 
 The necessary foundation, in the case of such per- 
 sons, not only for all virtues, but for abstinence from 
 crime, is the habit of performing some one of those 
 series of acts, which are denominated lawful industry, 
 and for which the performers obtain payment or re- 
 ward. 
 
 Labour, therefore, in some of its useful branches, 
 is to be regarded as the foundation of all reformatory 
 discipline. Bu-t as the object of this discipline is to 
 train the man to love, not to hate labour, we must 
 not render the labour in such a case any part of his 
 punishment. The labour must, for this important 
 purpose, be a source of pleasure, not of pain. 
 
 The way in which labour becomes agreeable to 
 men out of a prison, is the way in which it can be 
 made agreeable to them in a prison ; and there is no 
 other. Advantages must accrue from the perform- 
 ing of it. 
 
 The way of attaching to it advantages the most 
 intensely persuasive, in a reformatory prison or Feni- 
 tentiarj/, is exceedingly obvious. 
 
 There it is easy to preven t the attainmg of any 
 pleasure, except through the medium of labour. 
 
 What is provided in the prison, according to the 
 principles already explained, is lodging, food, and 
 clothing, all of the very cheapest kind not pro- 
 ducing injury to health. In the monotony of a pri- 
 SOD, there is no one who will not intensely desire 
 pleasure in addition to this. 
 
 In the sentence of a criminal, who is subjected to 
 reformatory discipline, it may, and as often as the 
 case requires, it ought, to be rendered a part, that 
 
 he shall not be permitted to make any additions to Prisons and 
 this hard fare from any source belonging either to ^'^-T 
 himself or others, except his labour ; but that what ^ 
 he earns by his labour he may, in a certain way, lay 
 out to procure to himself better food, or any other 
 indulgence (certain hurtful ones excepted) which he 
 may desire. Few cases, indeed, will be found in 
 which this simple contrivance will not produce stea- 
 diness of application. 
 
 We have now then attained what is of principal 
 importance. For if we have got the inmates of a 
 prison to labour steadily in some useful branch of 
 industry, to look to labour as tl>e great or only 
 source of their enjoyments, and to form habits of 
 so doing, sufficiently confirmed to be depended upon 
 for governing their conduct in a state of freedom, 
 we have prepared them for being useful members of 
 society, and our purpose is accomplished. 
 
 Here, then, comes the question, By what ar- 
 rangements, in detail, can the business of confining, 
 maintaining, and setting offenders to work, be most 
 advantageously performed ? 
 
 In other words, In what hands should the govern- 
 ment of Penitentiaries be placed, and under what 
 rules should it be ordained for them to act ? 
 
 It is an universal axiom in morals, that no security 
 is equally to be depended upon for any desirable 
 result, as the interest of those upon whom its ac- 
 complishment depends. If, in devolving upon a man 
 the task of bringing about a particular end, we make 
 it his interest to bring it about in the best possible 
 manner, especially if we make it his interest in any 
 high degree, we can hardly be disappointed in 
 counting upon his most strenuous exertions. On the 
 other hand, if he has no interest, or a very inconsi- 
 derable interest, in the end which he is entrusted to 
 bring about; if little cognizance will be taken of his 
 proceedings, whether good or bad ; if to attend to the 
 business would be exceedingly troublesome, to ne- 
 glect it will produce little inconvenience ; we may be 
 very sure that, by a great majority of men, the bu- 
 siness of the task devolved upon them will be very 
 imperfectly performed. If they can make a profit out 
 of oppression, or if, as is the case, to so great a degree 
 in prisons, they can consult their ease by imposing 
 additional and mischievous restraints upon the pri- 
 soners, their interests are strongly set against their du- 
 ties, and ill conduct is still more perfectly secured. 
 
 This last, how deplorable soever the confession, 19 
 the state of management of all British prisons, with 
 hardly any exception. There is a Jailor, who re- 
 ceives a salary and power ; and is told to manage the 
 prison well ; and there is a number of Justices, that 
 is, gentlemen of the neighbourhood, who obtain not 
 a little power, and a great deal of praise, for under- 
 taking to do certain public duties of a local nature, 
 with little interest in doing them well, and no little 
 interest in doing them in many respects exceedingly 
 ill, who have the charge of looking after him. Va- 
 rieties we cannot afford to particularize. This is the 
 general description. 
 
 The management, then, of the prison, is the joint 
 concern of the jailor and the justices, or magistrates, 
 including sheriffs, who, jointly or severally, have n© 
 such interest, as can be expected generally to pro- 
 
PRISONS. 
 
 S91 
 
 nsons and duce any considerable effect, in any thing more 
 rison Dis- j^an such a kind of management as will not excite 
 ciphne. atj-ention and indignation^by its badness. All the 
 degrees of bad management, which are within those 
 limits, having little or no interest to prevent, they 
 have abundant interest to permit. 
 
 It is surely not necessary, that we should go far 
 into the detail of this case, to show the causes which 
 it places in operation, and their natural effects. 
 
 First of all, it is sufficiently evident, that the 
 jailor has an interest in obtaining his salary, and other 
 emoluments, with as little trouble to himself as pos- 
 sible. 
 
 It is not less evident, that the magistrates have an 
 interest in getting the power and credit, attached to 
 their office, with as little trouble to themselves as 
 possible. 
 
 This is enough. The hook of human nature is 
 clear upon the subject. This principle, at uncon- 
 trolled work in a prison, is perfectly sufficient to 
 generate all the evils which those abodes of misery 
 can be made to contain. 
 
 It is undeniable, that so far as those, who thus 
 have the superintendence of jailors, are disposed to con- 
 sult their ease, and to perform negligently a trouble- 
 some duty, which they may perform well or ill, just as 
 they please, so far they will be indisposed to listen to 
 any complaints against the jailor. It saves them a 
 good deal of trouble to confide in the jailor. They 
 speedily come, therefore, to look upon confidence 
 in the jailor, and to speak of it, as a good thing, — a 
 dutj'. " Has not the jailor been most carefully and 
 judiciously selected for his office, by wise and good 
 men ? (viz. ourselves). Would it not be an injury 
 to a man of his character to distrust him ? And to 
 distrust him — for what ? For the complaints of pri- 
 soners. But prisoners are always complaining, al- 
 ways giving trouble. Jailors are a good set of men. 
 Prisoners are a bad set of men ; especially complain- 
 ing prisoners. They are the very worst kind of 
 men ; — they are, therefore, to be silenced; and it is 
 often very difficult to silence them ; nothing but harsh 
 measures will do it ; when harsh measures, however, 
 are absolutely necessary, it is the duty of jailors to 
 use them, and the duty of magistrates to protect 
 such men in the discharge of so important a duty." 
 
 Such are the feelings and conclusions which are 
 undeniably prompted, by the mere love of ease, in 
 the bosoms of such men as English magistrates. 
 
 So far as the magistrates consult their ease 
 (men generally do consult their ease when they have 
 not a preponderating motive to the contrary), the 
 jailor is at liberty to consult his ease. 
 
 In the jailor's consulting his ease, every thing that 
 is horrid in a prison finds its producing cause. 
 
 What the jailor has chiefly to guard against is, 
 the escape of his prisoners, because that is a result 
 which cannot be hidden, and will not escape ani- 
 madversion. But the love of ease prompts him to 
 take the easiest means for this purpose ; locking up 
 in dungeons, loading with irons, and prohibiting com- 
 munication from without : in other words, all the 
 measures which are the most tormenting to the pri- 
 soner. If the prisoner, confiding in his ingenuity or 
 his strength, makes any attempts to free himself from 
 
 this misery, by escaping, the disturbance which is j^^'j^ons 
 thus given to the ease of the jailor, is a cause of 
 pain, proportional to the love with which he cherishes ^^^^^ 
 his ease ; this pain, excites resentment, resentment 
 calls for vengeance, and the prisoner is cruelly pu- 
 nished. The demon despotism reigns in his most 
 terrific form. 
 
 This is only one half of the evil. The servants of 
 the jailor, the turnkeys, as they are called, and 
 others who wait upon the prisoners, are as fond of 
 their ease as the jailor is of his. If the jailor has 
 not adequate motives to make him take care that the 
 business of the prison is well done, he will repose the 
 same confidence in his servants, which the magistrates 
 so liberally exercise towards him. He will leave 
 them to indulge their ease, as he could not do other- 
 wise without disturbing his own. 
 
 From the servants of the prison indulging their 
 ease, neglect of the prisoners is the immediate and 
 unavoidable consequence. From neglect of prisoners, 
 that is, of men placed in a situation destitute of all 
 the means of helping themselves, all those evils, 
 which, in another situation, could be produced only 
 by the most direful oppression, immediately ensue. 
 
 Upon the servants of a gaol, cherishing their ease, 
 and left by their superintendents to do so, every call 
 of a prisoner for help, for relief from any annoyance, 
 is felt as an injury, and resented as such. Cruelty 
 speedily comes, as a co-operator with neglect, to fill 
 up the measure of the prisoner's calamity. 
 
 The prisoner, finding himself destitute of all re- 
 medy, except he can prevail upon the people who 
 approach him to remove some of the causes of the 
 misery which he endures, has recourse to bribery, 
 when he can possibly command the means ; and then 
 pillage, without limit and without mercy, is added to 
 all the evils of this den of horrors. 
 
 If such are the consequences of entrusting the 
 management of prisons to persons who have no in- 
 terest, or not a sufficiency of interest, in good ma- 
 nagement, we have next to consider the important 
 question. By what means a sufficiency of interest in 
 good management can be created ? We need not 
 have any doubt, that if a sufficiency of good accrues 
 to the managers from every particle of good manage- 
 ment, and a sufficiency of evil from every pai'ticle of 
 bad, we shall have as much as possible of the good, 
 and as little as possible of the evil. 
 
 1. The grand object, as we have stated, of reforma- 
 tory discipline is, to create habits of useful industry. 
 
 2. A second object is, to preserve the health of 
 the prisoners, and impose upon them no suffering, 
 not implied in the conditions of their confinement, 
 or prescribed by the judge. 
 
 3. A third is, by moral and religious tuition, to 
 generate and strengthen good dispositions. 
 
 4. A fourth is, to attain those ends at the smallest 
 possible expense. 
 
 It is not difficult to give the manager or keeper of 
 a reformatory prison or Penitentiary, a very strong 
 interest in all these important results. 
 
 We have already seen, that the mode of giving to 
 the prisoner a motive to labour, is, by giving him a 
 share in the produce of his labour. 
 
 It is evident that an equally certain mode of giv- 
 
392 
 
 PRISONS. 
 
 Prisons and ing to the jailor a motive for obtaining as much of 
 prison Dis- jj^^j. labour as possible, that is, for doing all that de- 
 ^ pends upon him to make the prisoners labour as 
 
 j^ygjj gg possible, and as productively as possible, is 
 by giving him also a share in the produce of their 
 labour. 
 
 It may be said, however, that if the jailor receives 
 a share of the labour of the prisoners, he will have 
 a motive for making them labour too much : labour 
 may be so excessive as to equal the severest tor- 
 ture. 
 
 Effectual expedients, however, for the prevention 
 of this evil, are easy and obvious. In the first place, 
 it does not seem necessary that the labour should be 
 in any degree compulsory. If a prisoner is, accord- 
 ing to the rule abo/e laid down with respect to the 
 cheapest fare, confined to the coarsest kind of bread, 
 and water, if he does not labour, but has it in his 
 power to add to his enjoyments by labouring, more 
 especially if he may labour in company, but if he 
 will not labour, must remain in solitude, the cases 
 will be exceedingly few in which compulsion will be 
 needful ; and these might, if it were deemed of suf- 
 ficient importance, be specially provided for by the 
 legislature. 
 
 If a man may work, or not work, as he pleases, 
 and much or little as he pleases, there is no need of 
 any farther security' against excessive labour. If 
 there were, it would be afforded by the interest 
 which it is easy to give to the jailor in the health of 
 the prisoner. 
 
 Giving to the jailor a share in the produce of the 
 labour of a prisoner has two happy effects ; not on- 
 ly that of giving him an interest in rendering the 
 value of that produce as great as possible, but that, 
 also, of giving him an interest in the health of the 
 prisoner, because the produce of a man's labour is 
 greater when he is in health than when he is not. 
 
 This may be encreased by giving to the jailor, 
 through a very obvious channel, an interest, and an 
 interest to any amount, in the life of each prisoner. 
 It being ascertained what is the proportion of per- 
 sons of a similar age that die annually, when not 
 confined in a prison, all that is necessary is, to enti- 
 tle the jailor to a sum of money for each of the in- 
 dividuals above that proportion whom he preserves 
 alive, and to make him forfeit a sum for each indi- 
 vidual above that proportion who dies. This sura, 
 it is evident, may be sufficiently high, to ensure, on 
 the part of the jailor, a strong desire for the life, and 
 thence a proper attention to the health of the pri- 
 soners. 
 
 Another particular in this case requires attention. 
 It is obvious, that the motive of the prisoner to ren- 
 der the quantity or value of his labour the greatest, is, 
 when the share which he enjoys of it is the greatest. 
 It is equally obvious, that the motive of the jailor to 
 promote the augmentation of this quantity or value 
 is the greatest when his share is the greatest. 
 
 If the whole of the produce of the labour of each 
 of the prisoners were left to be divided between 
 himself and the jailor, the motives of the two par- 
 ties, taken jointly, would be at the highest. And 
 the question then would be, according to what pro- 
 portion iphould the division be made i 
 
 The peculiar circumstances of this case permit the Prisons a: 
 most decisive answer to be returned. No evil can ^ 
 accrue, and every good purpose is best gained, by . 
 allowing the jailor to take as much as he pleases. It 
 being first established that he can employ no com- 
 pulsory methods, that the prisoner must have as 
 much of the coarsest fare and accommodation as he 
 needs, whether he works or not, and that work can 
 thus be obtained from him only by the operation of 
 reward, it will be the interest of the jailor to make 
 his reward sufficiently high to obtain from him all 
 the work which he can perform, and, in his situa- 
 tion as a criminal, he ought, generally speaking, to 
 receive no more. The propriety of this regulation, 
 therefore, rests on conclusive evidence. 
 
 Here, however, an objection, worthy of attention, 
 occurs. If the jailor receives so great a proportion 
 of the produce of the labour of the prisoners, he may 
 receive a much higher remuneration than the nature 
 of his duties requires ; and so far the public is de- 
 prived of a fund which ought to be available for the 
 public service. 
 
 This observation is true; and the question is, in 
 what manner can the separation of what is necessary 
 in remuneration of the jailor, and what should be 
 detached for the benefit of the public, be most ad- 
 vantageously made ? 
 
 If the situation of the jailor affords more than an 
 adequate reward, he will be willing to give some- 
 thing annually in order to retain that situation. And 
 for measuring exactly what he ought to give, there 
 is a sure and a well tried expedient : it is, to lay 
 the thing open to competition. 
 
 By this -expedient, a double advantage is gained : 
 for both the public receives as great a share of the 
 produce of the labour of the prison, as is compatible 
 with the due remuneration of the jailor ; and the 
 jailor being entitled, in the first instance, to share 
 the whole of the produce with the labourers, hav- 
 ing both to pay what he owes to the government, and 
 obtain his own remuneration out of his share, has a 
 motive as strong as if the whole were his own, to 
 render the produce as great as possible. 
 
 It will easily be seen that this contract between 
 the public and the jailor, if sufficient securities can be 
 taken for its being cancelled, as soon as misconduct 
 on his part should render it desirable that it should be 
 so, ought, for important reasons, to be concluded for 
 a considerable number of years, or for his life. It 
 is of importance that those individuals, who are to 
 undergo the reformatory discipline, and who are un- 
 acquainted with any trade, should, especially if they 
 are young, be taught the trade in which their la- 
 bours can be turned to the greatest account : and, to 
 make it the interest of the jailor to have them taught, 
 it is evident that he must have the prospect of en- 
 joying the benefit of their skilled labour for a suffi- 
 cient length of time. This short illustration we 
 hope will suggest to the reader sufficient reflections, 
 for evidence on this point ; and we must hasten to 
 the remainder. 
 
 We have now shown, to how great an extent, up- 
 on the plan which we have thus briefly sketched, 
 the interest of the jailor is rendered co-incident with 
 the ends which are in view, ahd the most effectual 
 
PRISONS. 
 
 Prisons and of all securities is obtained for t\}e goodness of his 
 'rison Dis- management. We proceed to show what additional 
 cipl'.ne. securities this plan enables us to provide. 
 
 Let us, first of all, attend to the power of inspec- 
 tion, which may be afforded in a degree altogether 
 unparalleled. By the admirable properties of the 
 building which we have recommended, not only is 
 the conduct of the prisoners rendered wholly trans- 
 parent to the jailor, but the conduct of the jailor 
 may be rendered equally transparent to his inspec- 
 tors. And as the central lodge, or tower of inspec- 
 tion, may be entered by any number, without giv- 
 ing the least disturbance to the prisoners., without 
 their even knowing that any body is there, the pub- 
 lic may be admitted on such terms, as to afford the 
 full benefit of public inspection, — the most efficient 
 of all inspections, — over the whole economy of the 
 prison. By means of whispering tubes, oral com- 
 munication might be permitted with the prisoners, 
 at such times, and under such regulations, as would 
 prevent it from interfering with the working hours, 
 or other parts of the discipline, to all persons who 
 might have a wish to hear if they had any com- 
 plaints. 
 
 Another very simple expedient would make an 
 important addition to the list of securities. It ought 
 to be an obligation on the jailor to keep a book, in 
 which all complaints of the prisoners should be 
 entered, and, as often as they could write, signed 
 with their names. Along with the complaint should 
 be entered a statement of what had been done for re- 
 moving the ground of the complaint, or of the rea- 
 sons for doing nothing. And this book should be 
 open to the perusal of the public, and should lie in 
 a place convenient for the inspection of all the visi- 
 tors of the prison. 
 
 A still more important and indispensable security 
 would be, the obligation of the jailor to present, an- 
 nually, to the principal court of justice, such as the 
 Court of King's Bench in England, a report on the 
 management and state of the prison during the pre- 
 ceding year, containing, with all other points of 
 useful information, exact accounts of the receipts and 
 disbursements ; to verify these statements by his oath ; 
 to print and publish them at his own expense ; and 
 to answer, upon oath, all interrogatories, made to 
 him, in open court, by the judge, or by any other 
 person, how much soever the answer might tend 
 to his own crimination ; and this as often as the 
 judge might call upon him for such a purpose. By 
 this means, with the obvious security afforded for 
 other still more important ends, so perfect a know- 
 ledge would be communicated of the gains of the 
 jailor, and the mode of obtaining them, as would 
 ensure an accurate bargain, rigidly proportioned to 
 the amount of them, as often as the contract came 
 to be renewed. 
 
 The last thing which we think it necessary to re- 
 commend in the shape of a security, would operate 
 as a test of the efficacy of the management in its 
 character of a reformatory discipline. The jailor 
 should be held bound to pay a certain sum, varying 
 in proportion to the length of time during which the 
 prisoner had been subject to his discipline, for eacli 
 VOL. VI. PART I. 
 
 of the prisoners who, after liberation, should be 
 convicted of a crime. 
 
 Connected with the important part of the subject 
 relating to the labour of the prisoners, it is proper to 
 bring to view the advantage of a subsidiary estab- 
 lishment for receiving and employing those who 
 might be liberated from the prison. It is a well known 
 ground of lamentation, that persons liberated from 
 a prison, find often great difficulty in obtaining em- 
 )3loyment, and are constrained, by a kind of neces- 
 sity, to.betake themselves to their former evil courses, 
 though with the inclination to have devoted them- 
 selves to honest industry, had the means not been 
 denied them. The best mode of obviating this 
 great evil would be, to have a subsidiary establish- 
 ment, the architectural form the same as that of the 
 prison, in which the jailor should be obliged to re- 
 ceive all persons who have been liberated from the 
 prison, and who make application for admittance ; 
 and to employ them on the same terms as the pri- 
 soners, with the single exception of its being in their 
 power to remove when they please, and to make, in 
 respect to terms, all such stipulations with the jailor 
 as may be for their mutual advantage. 
 
 The next part of the subject to which we proceed^ 
 is the plan according to which the prison shall be 
 supplied with the articles which the prisoners are 
 enabled by their labour to purchase. 
 
 As there are certain articles, such as intoxicating 
 liquors, which ought to be altogether withheld, un- 
 less for special reason permitted, and as the jailor 
 could not have a sufficient command over the articles 
 conveyed into the prison, unless he had, in his own 
 bands, the power of supply ; as the intercourse, also, 
 which would be created with strangers, if the pri- 
 soners were at liberty to purchase of whom they 
 pleased, would be incompatible with the discipline 
 of the prison, the power of supplying articles of 
 purchase to the prisoners ought to be confined to the 
 jailor. 
 
 If it be objected that the jailor would thus have 
 the power of oppressing the prisoners, by selling 
 bad articles, or good articles too dear, the answer is, 
 That he could not. We have already seen, that in or- 
 der to derive from the prisoners the greatest quantity 
 of profit to himself, he must give to them a reward 
 for their labour sufficient to make them labour to 
 the most profitable account. But if he sells arti- 
 cles to them at more than the usual price, this is 
 merely a reduction of the reward left to them for 
 their labour : this he cannot reduce beyond a certain 
 point, without reducing the amoUnt of his profit ; 
 and any greater reward than up to this point, the 
 nature of the case renders undesirable. 
 
 We have now then stated all that seems necessary . 
 to be said on the three great subjects ; 1st, Of the 
 structure and form of the prison ; 2dli/, The securities 
 which may be applied for obtaining good conduct 
 on the part of the jailor ; and 3dli/, The first and prin- 
 cipal paft of reformatory discipline, namely, volun- 
 tary labour. 
 
 The remaining conditions of reformatory disci- - 
 pline will not require much explanation. 
 
 1*. .Separation, as far as concerns the sexes, and as 
 3d. 
 
 393 
 
 Prisons and 
 Prison Dis- 
 cipline. 
 
394 
 
 PRISONS. 
 
 Prisons and fav as concerns the good from the bad, is now so ge- 
 Prison Dis- i^grally attended to as an object of importance, that 
 ciplinc. ^i^g danger sometimes is of other things being too 
 much overlooked in the comparison. 
 
 In a prison, such as we have described, in which, 
 by means of moveable partitions, the cells may be 
 enlarged or contracted at pleasure, and in which the 
 prisoners are all under continual inspection, the pow- 
 er of separation, to any desired extent, is complete. 
 
 The two sexes, though inmates of the same prison, 
 and simultaneously subject to the same inspection, 
 may be as completely disjoined as if they were inha- 
 bitants of a dilferent'region. By a piece of canvas, 
 and nothing more costly, extended in the form of 
 a curtain, from the boundary on each side of the 
 female cells, in the direction of a radius across the 
 central area to the inspection lodge, the females 
 would be as completely cut off from seeing, or being 
 seen by the male prisoners, as if they were separated 
 by seas and mountains ; the same effect would be 
 obtained as to hearing, by merely leaving a cell va- 
 cant between those of the males and females; and 
 thus the space appropriated to each of the two sexes 
 might, in the easiest manner, be diminished or en- 
 larged, as their relative numbers might require. 
 
 A much more complete and desirable separation, 
 than that which is aimed at, as the utmost in other 
 prisons, is easily attainable in this. The ordmary 
 separation of young offenders from old, of the great- 
 ly corrupted from those who are presumed to be less 
 deeply infected, is still apt to leave associations too 
 promiscuous, and too numerous, not to be unfavour- 
 able to the progress of reformation. 
 
 The prisoners should be put together in companies 
 of twos, and threes, and fours, seldom more; each 
 company occupying a separate cell. It would be 
 the interest of the jailor to put them together in such 
 assortments as would be most conducive to the quan- 
 tity and value of work they could perform, and to 
 the .o-oodness of their behaviour; that is, to the most 
 perfect operation of the reformatory discipline : and 
 his experience of their dispositions and faculties 
 would of course fit him beyond any one else for 
 making the selection. 
 
 It will have been all along understood, that, to at- 
 tain the ends of inspection and economy, the same 
 rooms or cells which form the day and working 
 rooms on our plan, form also the sleeping rooms. 
 Not the smallest inconvenience from confusion of 
 things in the apartment can thence be derived ; be- 
 cause the hammocks, which would be more conve- 
 nient than beds, could be stowed away in little com- 
 pass during the day. 
 
 It is also to be particularly observed, that what- 
 ever degree of seclusion might either be indulged to 
 the feelings of an individual, or might be deemed 
 conducive to his mental improvement, might still, 
 upon this plan, be easily secured; because, by means of 
 screens, a portion of the cell might be formed into as 
 many private apartments as might be desired ; and 
 where experience of good conduct had laid a foun- 
 dation for confidence, periods of seclusion, even from 
 the eye of the inspector, might be allowed. 
 
 2. Nothing of great importance to be mentioned 
 in this summary sketch seems now to remain, except 
 schooling, and religious instruction. 
 
 The Sunday is the appropriate period for both. Piisons aiK 
 Sunday-schools are found by experience to be sufh-^"?°" ^i^- 
 cient for communicating to children the important 
 arts of reading, writing, and accounts. It would ^ 
 be obligatory on the jailor to afford the means of in- 
 struction in these respects to every prisoner who 
 might not have attained them; together with all 
 other means, not incompatible with the case, of pro- 
 moting their moral and intellectual improvement. 
 
 3. The religious services proper to the day, and 
 such other devotional exercises as might be thought 
 requisite on other days, would be conducted by the 
 chaplain, the prison affording remarkable facilities 
 for bringing all the prisoners into a situation conve. 
 niently to hear ; and also, which would be a circum- 
 stance of great importance, bringing the public 
 from without, to participate in the religious services 
 of the prison, for whom temporary accommodation 
 in the vacant central area might be provided, and to 
 whom, by the charms of eloquence and music, and 
 the power of curiosity, it would be the interest of 
 the jailor, by letting the seats, to provide sufficient 
 attraction. 
 
 It seems to be necessary, before concluding, to ob- 
 viate an objection, which, though it has seldom been 
 urged as a reason against reformatory discipline, is 
 yet considered as requiring a great deduction to be 
 made in the estimate formed of its advantages. The 
 objection is, that, by affording the means of employ- 
 ment to prisoners, we take away those means from a 
 corresponding number of persons who are not pri- 
 soners, and thus sacrifice the deserving to the worth- 
 less. 
 
 This objection is drawn from some of the conclu- 
 sions of Political Economy. That which affords the 
 means of employment to labour is capital ; in other 
 words, the means of subsistence to the labourer, the 
 tools he works with, and the raw material on which 
 he is employed. When labourers are too numerous 
 for the means of employment, it is evident that, if 
 any new ones are added to the number, you can 
 give employment to them only by taking it away 
 from the old ones. It is, therefore, said, that by 
 giving employment to prisoners, we make an equal 
 number of honest workmen paupers. 
 
 In this objection, however, as is generally the 
 case with false reasoning, a part only of the essen- 
 tial circumstances, not the whole, is taken into the 
 account. In the first place, with regard to the pri- 
 soners, one principal part of the capital which puts 
 labour in motion, namely subsistence, is afforded to 
 them of course, whether they labour or not. 
 
 In the next place, the objection proves too much ; 
 for, if it would be better, for the sake of affording 
 employment to others, that the man should do no- 
 thing in prison, it would equally be better tliat he 
 should have done nothing out of prison ; better that 
 we should have a portion of our population useless 
 than productive. According to this doctrine, the 
 proper rule, whenever population exceeds the de- 
 mand for labour, and wages are low, would be to 
 give subsistence to a portion of the people, on the 
 condition of their abstaining from labour. 
 
 Thus much of the allegation is true, namely, that 
 when to the subsistence, which you would have 
 given at any rate, you add tools and raw mate* 
 
PRUSSIA. 
 
 395 
 
 risons and rials, you so far diminish the quantity of tools and 
 risen Dis- ^^y^ materials which can be furnished to others. 
 
 ^ But_, counting only this circumstance, another most 
 Prussia, important circumstance is left out of the computa- 
 tion. This deduction of tools and raw materials is 
 made once for all. The productive labourer replaces 
 ,the capital, which employs him, with a profit. Ad- 
 vance to him^ for one year, the food and other arti- 
 cles which he needs, you never need to advance any 
 thing more. What he produces in the course of the 
 year, replaces the food and all other articles which 
 he has used, with a profit. But if he has not labour- 
 ed, he has produced nothing ; you have to supply 
 him, therefore, with the means of subsistence, not 
 one year, but every year, from the produce of other 
 men's labour. If he labours, you have to give him 
 once, out of the general stock of means for the em- 
 ployment of labour, subsistence for a year, with 
 tools and raw material, and you have no occasion to 
 give him any more. If he is to be idle, you give 
 him, it is true, only subsistence, without tools and 
 raw material, the first year ; but you have to give 
 him subsistence, that is, so far to diminish the means 
 of employing other men's labour, every year ; where- 
 as, if he is a productive labourer, for the advance 
 which you make to him the first year, he not only 
 exempts you from all farther deductions from the 
 means of employing other men, but he every year 
 adds to those means, by the whole amount of the 
 profit made upon his labour. To make those per- 
 sons, therefore, productive labourers, whom you 
 must at any rate subsist, is to increase, not to dimi- 
 nish the means of employii'g others. 
 
 As to another objection which is sometimes offer- 
 ed, that the commodities produced in a prison glut 
 
 the market, and injure other manufacturers, this is Prisons and 
 still more evidently founded upon the consideration 
 of part of the determining circumstances, without, 
 consideration of the remainder. If it is meant to Prussia, 
 apply not to one class, or two classes of commodities, 
 but to the mass of commodities in general, it may 
 instantly be seen to be imtrue. The men who be- 
 come sellers of the articles produced in a prison, be- 
 come buyers to the same amount. Whenever a man 
 sells a greater amount of articles than before, he gets 
 the means of buying an equally greater amount. He 
 always brings as much of a new demand into the 
 market as he brings of a new supply. If he intro- 
 duces more of some one commodity than the mar- 
 ket requires, and reduces the profits on producing 
 it, capital leaves that employment till the inequality 
 is redressed. If the number of people is the same, 
 and the quantity of commodities is encreased, it is a 
 contradiction in terms, not to say that the circum- 
 stances of such a people are improved. 
 
 Having answered these objections, it does not oc- 
 cur to us that there is any thing more which in this 
 outline it is necessary for us to add. The plan, 
 both of construction and management, appears to us 
 simple, and easy to be understood ; and to offer se- 
 curities for the attainment of the end, such as the 
 imperfection of the human powers, seldom permit 
 to be realized. In the delineation presented, the on- 
 ly merit we have to claim is that (if our endeavour 
 has been successful) of adding perspicuity to com- 
 pactness. There is not, we believe, an idea which 
 did not originate with Mr Bentham, whose work 
 ought to be the manual of all those who are con- 
 cerned in this material department of public admi- 
 nistration, (f. f.) 
 
 PRUSSIA. 
 
 HEN the article under this head in the Eri' 
 cyclopaedia was written, the kingdom of Prussia 
 was reduced to a very low condition, and its bound- 
 aries contracted within a very narrow compass. 
 Its capital and fortresses were in possession of the ar- 
 mies of France, and the whole country was considered 
 merely as the highway to the future scenes of conquest 
 which Buonaparte had planned. By a treaty of peace, 
 which was merely nominal, since France fulfilled 
 none of her part of the stipulations, the Prussian do- 
 minions were considerably curtailed, by the cession 
 of many provinces to the powers that were allowed to 
 exist, with an apparent sovereignty, under the con- 
 trol of the French chief. The reverse which the 
 arms of France received in Russia led the Prussian 
 monarch, who was, in reality, a prisoner in his ca- 
 pital, to break the chains by which he was bound, 
 and turn the whole force of his state against his 
 conqueror. During the lowest depression of his 
 kingdom, though his army was reduced and his 
 finances seized by his enemies, yet some part of the 
 internal management of his affairs was lefi under the 
 direction of his own ministers. As long as the 
 French occupied his country, though the number of 
 
 his troops in actual service were but few, yet, by 
 dismissing those who had been sufficiently drilled!, 
 and enlisting a constant succession of new recruits, 
 when the proper period for exertion arrived, so great 
 a proportion of the inhabitants had been taught the 
 use of arms, that, from the general spirit of indig- 
 nation which existed against France, and the sim- 
 plicity of the system of recruiting which had been 
 long established, no difficulty was found in raising, 
 almost instantly, an army of numerous and mode- 
 rately instructed soldiers. The French had, indeed, 
 stripped the kingdom of arms, but the deficiency 
 was supplied, with unexampled promptitude, from 
 the arsenals of Great Britain ; so that, within a few 
 months after the retreat of the French from Mos- 
 cow, the Prussian monarch was enabled to bring 
 into the field an army of more than two hundred 
 thousand men. The principal fortresses were gar- 
 risoned by the enemy, but the communication be- 
 tween them was completely cut off, as soon as the 
 French had been compelled to abandon the fields of 
 Prussia, and collect their forces in Saxony for the 
 campaign of 1 8 1 3. During that year the arms of 
 Prussia, united to those of Russia and Sweden, at 
 
396 
 
 PRUSSIA, 
 
 Pnisbia. 
 
 first, and subsequently with tliose of Austria, were 
 splendidly victorious, and crowned a brilliant cam- 
 ^paign by the decisive battle of Leipsic ; by which 
 Prussia and the whole of Germany were at length 
 freed from that Gallic yoke which had pressed them 
 down for the seven preceding years. The Congress 
 which assembled in Vienna, after the conquest of 
 France, had the difficult and dangerous task of as- 
 signing to the various powers who had contributed 
 to that event the dominions which, by right of con- 
 quest, had fallen among them ; and after various 
 discussions, and it is reported, after altercations that 
 threatened the renewal of hostilities, settled the 
 state of Europe according to the divisions that now 
 exist ; and made such provision for extending the 
 2>ow£r of Prussia as was thought most conducive to 
 the' security of the balance of power on the con- 
 tinent. 
 
 Prussia has been gradually rising in importance 
 in the scale of European politics, and has increased 
 its dominions in tlie last hundred and thirty years 
 by conquest and cessions, as well as by the augmen- 
 tation of its territorial wealth and its population. 
 On the death of Prince Frederick William in 1688, 
 the number of Prussian subjects was 1,500,000 ; at 
 the death of King Frederick in 1713, they were 
 1,620,000 ; at the death of Frederick William the 
 First in 1 74-0, they were 2,200,000 ; at the death of 
 Frederick the Second in 1786, they were 5,800,000 ; 
 at the death of Frederick William the Second in 
 1797> when the present king ascended the throne, 
 they amounted to 8,700,000, and by the late acquisi- 
 tions they have reached to 10,536,000. The divisions 
 which Prussia received in 1815 were, from France, 
 
 Piussia. 
 
 the province of the Lower Rhine, and part of Juliers 
 Cleeve and Berg; from the kingdom of Westphaha 
 (created for Jerome Buonaparte), the principality of 
 Munster and part of Berg and Cleeve ; from the 
 kingdom of Saxony, the ancient duchy of that name, 
 and a part of Lausatia ; and from Poland, the pro- 
 vince of Posen, which had, indeed, been formerly 
 added to this kingdom on the last division of that 
 country. 
 
 Prussia has no intercourse betwixt its eastern and Boundarie, 
 western provinces, without passing through the domi- 
 nions of other princes. Hanover, to the north, is inter- 
 posed between the eastern and western provinces of 
 Prussia ; and in the southward parts of it, the sove- 
 reigns of Brunswick, Waldeck, Hesse-Casel, Hesse 
 Darmstadt, Nassau, Saxe Weimar, and Saxe Gotha, 
 intercept the direct communication. The bounda- 
 ries of this kingdom are on the north, the Baltic 
 Sea, and a small portion of the duchy of Mecklenburg ; 
 on the east, Russia and its dependant kingdom Poland ; 
 on the south-east Austria ; on the south the khigdom 
 of Saxony, and the Saxon duchies ; on the south-west 
 Bavaria and part of France ; and on the west France 
 and the kingdom of the Netherlands. In describing 
 these boundaries, it is, however, necessary to re- 
 mark, that some parts of the kingdom are small de- 
 tached portions entirely insulated by the dominions 
 of other powers, such as Neufchatel in Switzerland, 
 Suhl in Saxony, and Rahnis in Saxe Weimar. 
 
 The great divison of Prussia is into those pro- Divisions 
 vinces which are in Germany, which form a part of 
 the Germanic Confederation, and maintain a stipu- 
 lated number of troops for its defence; and of those 
 states which have no connection with that alliance. 
 
 The German Provinces are, 
 
 Brandenburg , 
 
 Pomerania 
 
 Silesia 
 
 Saxony 
 
 Westphalia 
 
 Juliers Cleves and Berg 
 
 The Lower Rhine 
 
 Prussian Provinces out of Germany. 
 
 East Prussia 
 
 West Prussia 
 
 Posen 
 
 Extent in British 
 Statute Acres. 
 
 11,025,280 
 8,331,520 
 
 10,598,400 
 6,663,040 
 5,534,720 
 2,325,760 
 4,039,360 
 
 10,333,440 
 6,844,800 
 7,919,360 
 
 73,615,680 
 
 Number of In- 
 habitants. 
 
 1,297,795 
 700,766 
 1,992,598 
 1,214,219 
 1,074,079 
 935,040 
 972,724 
 
 919.580 
 581,970 
 847,800 
 
 10,536,571 
 
 Capitals. 
 
 Berlin. 
 
 Stettin. 
 
 Breslaw* 
 
 Magdeburg. 
 
 Munster. 
 
 Cleves. 
 
 Coblentz. 
 
 Konrgsberg. 
 
 Dantzic. 
 
 Posen. 
 
 Population. Of this population, by the census of 1817, the 
 males were 5,244,308, and the females 5,320,535. 
 The marriages were 1 1 2,034, the deaths 306,484, and 
 the births 454,031 ; of which 53,576 were illegitimate; 
 the proportion of sexes born was 20 males to 19 fe- 
 n^ales. The deaths, two in 69, were one male to 33, 
 and one female to 36. Of the illegitimate children 
 tliat were born, three out of every ten died in the 
 first year, of the legitimate only two out of every ten. 
 
 The inhabitants of this kingdom are distributed in 
 the following manner: 
 
 In 26 cities of more than 10,000 souls... 836,079 
 1 36 cities of more than 3500 and less 
 
 than 10,000 souls 765,936 
 
 1 94 towns between 2000 and 3500 souls 508,933 
 
 407 towns between lOOO and 2000 souls 597,947 
 
 258 towns of less than lOOO souls 186,937 
 
 2,895,832 
 
 In villages and scattered houses 7,640,739 
 
 10,536,571 
 
PRUSSIA. 
 
 397 
 
 Prussia. The people of this monarchy are of different races. 
 •*^y^^ The most numerous body are of German origin^ di- 
 Different vided bv lanffua/je and customs into the Hiffh and 
 Laii'ma'^es ^'^^^ Germans. These together amount to 8,600^000, 
 andj with the exception of the province of Posen, 
 form everywhere the great majority. The Low Ger- 
 man OY plait Deutsche language is generally spoken in 
 the countries between the Rhine and the Eibe^ on 
 the north side ot" the Hartz mountains^ and prevails 
 along the Baltic, through part of Brandenburg and 
 Pomsrania. In Silesia, in the southern part of Sax- 
 ony, in the trans- Rhemish provinces, and in East 
 Prussia, a dialect, or rather differing idioms of the 
 High German tongue, are spoken ; but all far remov- 
 ed from the pure language of Saxony, or, as it is 
 called, Der Meissnichen Dialed. The Walloons 
 in the vicinity of the forest of Ardennes, and the co- 
 lonists descended from French refugees at the time 
 of the revocation of the edict of Nantes, are now 
 much mixed with the German inhabitants, but many 
 of them have confused the two languages, and speak 
 a kind of German-French- Patois. Among the high- 
 er classes in every part of the kingdom the pure 
 High German language is spoken, generally with the 
 peculiar idiom and pronunciation of Berlin; and that 
 language is universally used in books, in the churches, 
 in the courts of law, and in the more important 
 transactions of commerce. 
 
 The Prussian subjects of Sclavonian origin amount 
 to about 1,750,000, and retain their original lan- 
 guage. About 1^500,000 of these are usually deno- 
 minated Poles, and are the inhabitants of parts of 
 Posen, West Prussia, and Silesia. About 50,000 
 people in Lithuania have a peculiar language of their 
 own. The Wenclen or Vandals have also a different 
 language from all the other subjects of Prussia. The 
 whole number of them is about 225,000. They are 
 settled, a few in the province of Brandenburg, the 
 remainder in the province of Pomerania, and the dis- 
 tricts of Leignitz and Kassubon in East Prussia. To 
 these must be added the Jews, amounting to about 
 130,000 individuals, who are to be met with in 
 every part of the Prussian territory, but principally 
 in the province of Posen. 
 Rel!"^ian. '^'^^ predominant religion in Prussia is the Pro- 
 testant, now denominated the Evangelical Confession; 
 comprehending Lutlierans, Calvinists, Hei'nhuthers, 
 or Moravians, and Hussites, The pi'ofessors of it 
 amounted in 18 17 to 6,370,380 individuals ; of whom 
 more than 6,000,000 were, before the union, of 
 the sects of the Lutheran persuasion. They form 
 a large majority in the circles of Konigsberg, Gura- 
 binnen, Dantzic, Berlin, Potsdam, Frankfort, Stet- 
 tin, Koslin, Stralsund, Breslaw, Reichenbach, Leig- 
 nitz, Magdeburg, Merseburg, Erfurt, and Minden. 
 The Catholics amounted at the same period to 
 4,023,513 ; and formed the majority in the districts 
 of Marienwarder, Bromberg, Posen, Oppeln, Mun- 
 ster, Arensberg, Cologne, Dusseldorf, Cleves, Ko- 
 blentz, AacheUj and Treves. The Mennonites, a 
 species of Anabaptists, amount to about 1 5,000, and 
 the Jews, as before stated, to about 130,000. These 
 different parties are all equal in the eye of the law, 
 have the same protection for their worship, and are 
 
 Prussia. 
 
 all alike eligible to every civil, judicial, and military 
 office. 
 
 The inhabitants are divided into classes. At the Ranks of 
 head of these the nobles are of two kinds practi- Society, 
 cally, though not legally. The high nobility are 
 the princes who were formerly petty Sovereigns 
 on their own estates, but whose independence has 
 merged in the general government i they amount to 
 . about fifty families. The lower nobility, consisting 
 of about 200,000 individuals, have preferable claims 
 to certain offices in the army, the state, and the 
 church ; but their privileges have been gradually con- 
 tracting, and they are noAv in almost every point 
 only equal to the burghers or citizens. The burgher 
 class of inhabitants, including the military, amount 
 to 2,900,000 individuals. The power of the guilds 
 in the cities has been gradually diminished, and they 
 are now scarcely obstacles, as they were formerly ; 
 here, and still are in other parts of Germany, to the 
 exercise of industi'y and ingenuity in any profession 
 which individuals may select for themselves. The in- 
 habitants who enjoy personal rank are the civil officers 
 of government, and the clergy ; the former with their 
 wives and children comprehend 170,000, and the 
 latter about 50,000 individuals. The whole of the 
 other people are the Baners or peasants. They were 
 formerly slaves, and were usually sold, as in Russia, 
 with the estates to which they were attached ; but 
 their lot has been progressively ameliorated, and 
 during the reign of the present king, the last vestiges 
 of this barbarism have been totally abolished. The 
 final extinction of personal slavery was not decreed 
 till September 1811 ; and from the military events 
 . which speedily succeeded, it has not been practical- 
 ly destroyed till Avithin the last four years. At pre- 
 sent the peasantry, who amount to two-thirds of the 
 whole population, are a species of copyholders with 
 customary quitrents and herriots to the land own- 
 ers ; but they may purchase land, and become them- 
 selves proprietors ; a benefit only recently conferred 
 on them, and which those who are industrious and 
 economical very eagerly avail themselves of. 
 
 As the cultivation of the soil is the employment of g^ji j^^^ 
 three-fourths of the inhabitants of the dominions of Agticuitural 
 Prussia, it deserves the first notice in a description Productions, 
 of the country. The greater part of the territory is 
 a sandy soil, generally very level, and often covered 
 with heaths. The woods of it are nearly one-fourth 
 of the whole surface, and only certain portions near 
 the rivers, or in particular situations, can be consi- 
 dered as fertile, or even grateful soils. The wants 
 and the industry of the inhabitants, aided by a rigid 
 parsimony, directed and stimulated by a paternal, 
 though absolute government, have changed, in th^ 
 course of the last century, the most sterile and 
 unproductive kingdom of Europe into a territory 
 which more than supplies the demands of its own in- 
 habitants, and leaves a surplus quantity of corn in 
 most years for provisioning other countries. Besides 
 its corn, it exports to the neighbouring states vast 
 quantities of fruits, whose cultivation was unknown 
 in the kingdom, at the accession of Frederick the 
 Great in 1740. In so extensive a territory there 
 will necessarily be great inequalities in soil, in cul- 
 
S98 
 
 PRUSSIA. 
 
 Prussia, tui'e, and in productions. Many barren sandy plains 
 are to be found, whicli are deemed to be more ex- 
 pensive to bring into cultivation than could be re- 
 paid by their productions. This is especially the 
 case in the Churmark, in Lower Lausatia, and in 
 some of the Westphalian provinces, where large 
 spaces are occupied by heaths ; such as the heaths of 
 Minden, which extend over 10,000 acres, those of 
 Lippstadt of 20,000, and the still larger ones of Sen- 
 ner and Fuhling. In East Prussia are several very 
 extensive morasses, which require draining to ren- 
 der them productive. In the fruitful district of 
 Magdeburg the bog of the Dromling covers more 
 than 100,000 acres. A part of it, indeed, is in the 
 Hanoverian, and a part of it in the Brunswick terri- 
 tory, which prevents the necessary drains from be- 
 ing executed, which would make it one of the most 
 valuable tracts of land in that part of Germany. 
 
 The most fruitful corn land in the kingdom of 
 Prussia is the vicinity of Tilsit, and some other districts 
 of East Prussia, and the greater part of the province 
 of Posen. In West Prussia the district of the Netz, 
 the country round Marienburg, and that near Dant- 
 zic and Elbing, are excellent corn countries. In the 
 Mark of Brandenburg only some districts, such as 
 the Mark of Prignltz and the Uker-mark, are cele- 
 brated for the quantity and quality of their grain. 
 In both Prussian and Swedish Pomerania, and espe- 
 cially on the island of Rugen, excellent corn is rais- 
 ed, as well as in some small portions of New Silesia. 
 The soil is very favourable for all kinds of grains in 
 the duchies of Saxony and Magdeburg, and in 
 Thuringia, and in the principalities of Halberstadt 
 and Quedlingburg. These divisions, in favourable 
 seasons may be considered as the real granaries from 
 which the less fertile parts of Prussia draw their 
 supplies of corn. 
 
 The western part of the Prussian dominions are 
 far less productive in grain than the eastern. A few 
 only of the Westphalian provinces are highly fruit- 
 ful. The districts most eminent for corn are the 
 vicinity of Minden and of Padderborn, the borders 
 of the Soester, and circles of the Sieg and the Wup- 
 per. In the Rhenish provinces the neighbourhood 
 of Julich, Bonn, Cologne, Coblentz, Kreusnach, 
 Bacharach, and the banks of the Meuse, are tolerably 
 fertile. Though some parts of the kingdom are de- 
 ficient, yet, on the whole, Prussia grows more 
 corn than its consumption requires ; and in favour- 
 able years the value of the surplus exported to 
 other counti'ies has amounted to from 1,800,000 to 
 2,000,000 florins, each florin estimated at two sliil- 
 lings Sterling. The principal grains of Prussia are 
 Tvheat, rye, barley, and oats. The quantity of rye 
 far exceeds that of every other kind of corn ; it forms 
 the principal aliment of the inhabitants, among whom 
 wheat is seldom eaten in bread. Pease, both white 
 and grey, are extensively raised, and especially that 
 description of them known in England by the name 
 of " Prussian blues." Beans of all varieties are cul- 
 tivated in the soils on the borders of the rivers, that 
 are suitable to their growth. Buck wheat is much 
 sown in some parts, and forms an important part of 
 the sustenance of the labouring classes. An article 
 
 for food is collected in Prussia, especially in Bran- Pru9sia. 
 denburg, from the seeds of the grass called Festuca '■^^/"'^ 
 Jluitans. It is manufactured into a substance called 
 Manna grits, and is more agreeable to the taste, 
 though employed for the same purposes, as oatmeal 
 with us. The cultivation of potatoes has for many 
 years past been gradually extending, and is become 
 so great as to supply almost the sole aliment of a 
 very great proportion of the labouring popviiation. 
 
 The most productive branch of rural economy. Cattle, 
 next to corn, is that of breeding and fattening cat- 
 tle. The practices in this branch are, however, of a 
 very low description ; and though the different races, 
 especially of cows, are to be found in Prussia, yet so 
 little attention has been paid by crossing them, to 
 obtain the most perfect animals, that they are almost 
 all very indifferent. The sheep generally are bad ; 
 but of late years great improvements have been made 
 in their fleeces by the introduction of the Merino and 
 Paduan rams. The fine wooUed sheep now amount 
 to 7,000,000, and supply the manufacturers with that 
 raw material wliich used formerly to be furnished 
 principally from Spain. The races of horses are not 
 good, though great efforts have been made by the 
 government to improve them, and establishments of 
 stallions, for gratuitous propagation, are fixed in se- 
 veral parts of the kingdom. The breeding of swine 
 is a very considerable employment; and the haras, 
 bacon, and sausages made from them form a large 
 proportion of the animal food of the inhabitants of 
 the Prussian dominions. 
 
 The great deficiency in the rural economy of Appropria- 
 Prussia, as in most parts of the Continent, is the tio" of the 
 small portion of land appropriated to pasture. Hence ^^^^ 
 the number of cattle maintained is small in propor- 
 tion to its extent ; and the effects of the deficiency of 
 manure is to be found in the small increase on the 
 different crops of grain. The average increase is 
 stated to be six for one of wheat, five and three quar- 
 ters for one of barley, four for one of rye, and four 
 and a half for one of oats. The land of this kingdom 
 is thus appropriated : 
 
 English Acres. 
 
 Under the plough 29,224,741 
 
 In garden culture 295,302 
 
 Vineyards 36,908 
 
 Meadows and pasture 14,672,000 
 
 Woods, forests, and plantations 1 7,574,294 
 
 61,803,24-5 
 
 The remaining 11,800,000 acres are either in lakes, 
 ponds, rivers, canals, roads, the sites of cities, towns 
 and villages, or of so bad a soil as not to be deemed 
 worth cultivation. 
 
 Besides articles for food, the soil of Prussia pro- Productions 
 duces many for commerce : the principal of these isfumishwl to- 
 flax, which is grown in every village, and ^I'^^'^st ^^^^'"J^'^"^ 
 by every peasant. Besides what is used by the \^^{\^ 
 growers for their own domestic manufactures, the 
 quantity annually l)rought to the markets is calcu- 
 slated at 22,000,000 pounds. Two-thirds of this 
 quantity is produced from, Silesia alone. It is gene- 
 
PRUSSIA. 
 
 Prussia, rally of a good quality, with a fine and long fibre, 
 especially when raised from foreign seed. This 
 change of seed is found so essential, that large quan- 
 tities are annually brought from Russia ; and the 
 seed preserved at home is mostly used for making 
 oil and oil cake, with the latter of which the oxen 
 are fattened. Tobacco, madder, woad, saflour, and 
 ■ hops, have been much grown, especially during the 
 continental restrictions of Buonaparte ; and though 
 the openings of foreign commerce have much dis- 
 couraged their cultivation, they are still continued 
 upon a small scale. Chicoiium, or succory, as in 
 other parts of Germany, is much used as a substi- 
 tute for coffee ; and though the peace has reduced the 
 price of the latter article, the succory finds an ex- 
 tensive sale, and is still cultivated very largely in 
 many districts. The wine made in Prussia before 
 the acquisition of the Rhenish provinces was of a 
 bad quality, and scarcely superior to vinegar ; but 
 these territories yield wine of good flavours and great 
 strength : the annual quantity is calculated to vary 
 from six to eight million gallons. The forests, 
 amounting, as before stated, to nearly two-sevenths 
 of the whole country, furnish timber for building 
 and for exportation, fuel, tar, pitch, rosin, and pot- 
 ash, and are more valuable from the great facilities 
 which the rivers and canals afford to internal navi- 
 gation, by which their products can be easily con- 
 veyed to the borders of the sea. 
 
 iues. The mines are by no means worked to the extent of 
 
 which they are capable. Every province possesses 
 iron, which is prepared in forges and blast-furnaces in 
 their vicinity. They are principally worked with char- 
 coal from the neighbouring forests, but in some few 
 instances with fossil coal. Little or no iron is export- 
 ed, as it can be made cheaper in countries that have 
 more easy access to the ocean. The mines of rock 
 salt, and the salt springs, are sufficiently worked to 
 supply the consumption of their vicinity, but the pro- 
 vinces in the Baltic Sea find it more advantageous to 
 draw their supplies from the mines of Cheshire. 
 Coals are found in Silesia, Saxony, and Westphalia ; 
 but the mines are not extensively worked : the whole 
 quantity raised not exceeding 330,000 chaldrons. 
 From the unproductive state of the gold mines of 
 Silesia, they ceased to be worked in I798. The 
 silver mines are those of Tarnouitz and Rudelstad, 
 in Silesia, and of Mansfeld and Rothenburg, in 
 Saxony. Their united produce does not at present 
 exceed 1 60,000 ounces. The other minerals are 
 copper, lead, cobalt, calamine, arsenic, alum, vitriol, 
 and saltpetre ; but they do not yield sufficient for 
 the internal consumption. Amber is almost an ex- 
 clusive production of Prussia. It is found in mines, 
 as well as procured by the fishermen on the shores 
 of the Baltic. It belongs to the crown, and is let to 
 farm. 
 
 The capital, and annual produce of the land of 
 Prussia has been calculated, by Professor Krug, 
 from documents in the Statistical Bureau, at Berlin, 
 as follows : 
 
 Ploughed land, L. 
 
 Pasture & grazing land, 
 Woodland, 
 
 Value of the 
 Capital in 
 Pounds Sterling. 
 
 Annual Income. 
 
 200,513,150 
 77,890,150 
 75.72Q 1 50 
 11,591,650 
 1,195,850 
 
 2,964.,775 
 2,642,290 
 
 8,029,500 
 2,614,566 
 
 440,483 
 47,500 
 
 118,592 
 105,291 
 
 Gardens and vineyards. 
 Mines, 
 
 Fisheries on lakes & ) 
 Game (abundant in ") 
 
 To these may be added 
 the annual produce 
 of the live stock, af- 
 ter deducting the 
 amount of the sup- 
 posed produce of the 
 
 372,527,015 
 L. 
 
 12,376,128 
 10,754,098 
 
 23,130,226 
 
 According to the estimate of the same statistical 
 writer, the live stock in the whole of the Prussian 
 dominions, and their annual produce, was — 
 
 .Species of Stock. 
 Horses and foals, 
 
 Numbers, 
 
 l,66l,800\ 
 1,255,000/ 
 2,355,900 7 
 1,646.918J 
 1 1,230,000 
 2,644,000 
 181,000 
 521,000 
 
 L 
 
 Produce. 
 0,355,000 
 
 10,140,010 
 
 1,663,450 
 622,400 
 7,441 
 356,090 
 266,47.^ 
 
 Cows, 
 
 Heifers and calves, ... 
 Sheep and lambs. 
 Swine, 
 
 Goats, 
 
 Hives of bees, 
 
 Feathered tribes, 
 
 From which is to be de- 
 ducted the supposec 
 annual proceeds of the 
 meadow and pasture 
 land, 
 
 13,410,866 
 2,614,566 
 
 Leaving the net produce 
 of the stock. 
 
 10796,300 
 
 399 
 
 Prussia. 
 
 Prussia is a manufacturing country, though these 
 branches of industry give employment to a far lessfj^""^^*^' 
 portion of its inhabitants than the, cultivation of the *"^'* 
 soil. The most natural manufacture is that of linen 
 cloth, the raw material of which, and all the parts 
 which contribute to its perfecting, are produced at 
 home. It has been long estabhshed, and extensively 
 spread. In Silesia, especially, the habit of spinning 
 fine thread has given to the females a delicacy of 
 tact, that is only excelled in some parts of the Ne- 
 therlands. Besides, the common articles for person- 
 al and domestic use, the finest and most beautiful 
 damask services for the table are made, which are 
 generally preferred to all others, in the higher cir- 
 cles, through the whole of Europe. Before the late 
 
I 
 
 400 
 
 PRUSSIA. 
 
 war, the produce of the linen of Silesia, from 34,910 
 looms, amounted to L. 1,689,915 Sterling; of which 
 I.. 970,000 was destined for foreign consuvTiption. 
 In the western provinces, the linen cloth is princi- 
 pally made for home consumption. The number of 
 looms in the whole kingdom, in 1816, was 207,870. 
 
 The increase of Merino sheep has given a great 
 stimulus to the fine woollen manufactures, especial- 
 ly to those in the newly acquired provinces on the 
 French frontiers, where some of the best superfine 
 cloths that Europe can exhibit are made. In the 
 late department of the Roer, or, as it is now denomi- 
 nated, the circle of Aachen, in the towns of Eupen, 
 Aachen^, Montjoie, Stolberg, and Montmedy, fine 
 cloths and cassimeres are manufactured, which are 
 estimated to amount to L. 1.500,000 Sterling, and 
 afford employment to upwards of 50,000 workmen, 
 as well as to every kind of machinery that has been 
 invented in England, or in any other country. The 
 cloths for the dress of the middle and lower classes 
 are wholly made within the kingdom from their na- 
 tive wools. 
 
 Cotton goods have been made to a considerable 
 exteht. In some instances the yarn is spun in 
 foreign countries, and the weaving, bleaching, and • 
 dyeing only, executed in Prussia ; and as the raw 
 material, a foreign article, cannot be rendered so 
 cheap as in England, this branch of industry has 
 much diminished since the general peace. The 
 iron manufactures are more than suflicient for the 
 domestic consumption, and furnish to the value 
 of about L. 300,000 Sterling for exportation. There 
 are three hundred paper-mills, which furnish the 
 common kinds of paper in quantities sufficient for 
 the consumption of the country ; but the finer sorts 
 are supplied either from England or France, Silk 
 goods, and goods mixed either of silk and cotton, or 
 silk and woollen, are chiefly made in the capital, in 
 which, and in some other places, they give employ- 
 ment to about 20,000 looms. The various kinds of 
 leather are made from skins produced at home, as 
 far as they are found sufficient, and the deficiency is 
 supplied from Buenos Ayres, through the interven- 
 tion of England or Spain. Copper and brass wares, 
 for all domestic purposes are made, partly from the 
 copper and calamine of their own mines, but chiefly 
 with copper furnished by other countries. The 
 amount of these wares is estimated at about 
 L. 200,000 Sterling. Tobacco, snuff, sugar, soap, 
 candles, cabinet-ware, earthen-ware, porcelain, tin 
 goods, and almost every article of common consump- 
 . tion, is made within the kingdom. As no wine is 
 made in the eascern part of Prussia, the common 
 beverage is either beer or brandy distilled from the 
 native grains : the establishments for brewing and 
 distilling are consequently very numerous, but none 
 of them approach in magnitude to the larger con- 
 cerns of a similar kind in England. The whole 
 qufintity of beer brewed is4<,243, 100 casks, of 50 gal- 
 lons each. The consumption of corn brandy is up- 
 wards of 8,000,000 gallons. In the larger cities, the 
 letter-founders, printers, engravers, musical, optical, 
 and mathematical instrument makers, gold and silver 
 smiths, jewellers, watch-makers, and other similar 
 artificers, are to be found as abundant and as skil- 
 
 ful as in the other countries on the Continent. The Prussia, 
 number of workmen, including masters, journej'- 
 men, and apprentices, exclusive of females and chil- 
 dren, is estimated at 350,000, and the value of their 
 productions, above the cost of the raw materials, is 
 calculated to amount to L. 7. 6 00,000 Sterling. 
 
 Few of the countries of Europe have been more Rivers, 
 favoured by nature than Prussia, with streams that 
 contribute to fertility and intercourse ; and the la- 
 bour of the inhabitants has been advantageously di- 
 rected to several public works, which have facilitat- 
 ed the communication between the different rivers. 
 As the slope of the whole Prussian dominions is to- 
 wards the west and north, all the rivers that rise in, 
 or pass "through them, empty themselves either into 
 the Baltic Sea or the German Ocean. The streams 
 that merge in the first of these are the Niemen, 
 which comes out of Russia, and becomes navigable 
 at Schmaleninken : about ten miles below Tilsit it 
 divides into two branches, which, through the Ku- 
 rish Haff, empty themselves into the sea. During 
 its short course through the Prussian territory, it 
 receives, on its right side, the waters of the Schess- 
 chappe, and on its left those of the navigable river 
 Jura. The Pregel is composed of the united streams 
 of the Pisa, Ran it, Russe, Augerap, and Inster : 
 after it assumes its name it receives the Deine near 
 TapiaUj and the Alle near Wehlaw ; it becomes na- 
 vigable near Gatterburg, and, passing Konigsberg, - 
 discharges its streams by the Frish Haff into the 
 Baltic. The Vistula, or, as it is better known on 
 the Continent by the name of the Weisel or Weich- 
 sel, rises in the A ustrian part of Silesia. It passes 
 through Poland, where, at Cracow, it becomes navi- 
 gable. On its entrance into the Prussian territories, 
 it divides into two branches, the eastern of which 
 takes the name of the Nogat, and joins the Baltic 
 near Elbing; the western is again subdivided into 
 two arms, one of which is lost in the Frishe Haff, 
 and the other reaches the sea near Dantzic. Its 
 course, after entering Prussia, is about 140 miles, 
 and during its progress, it is augftiented by the 
 streams of the Ossa, the Brahe, and the Mottlaw 
 The Oder, rising in Moravia, enters the Prussian 
 province of Silesia, soon after which, near Ratibor, 
 it becomes navigable, and, after passing through 
 Brandenburg and Pomerania, divides into two 
 branches, and enters the great estuaries that com- 
 mvmicate with the Baltic Sea, through the three 
 mouths of Swine, Peene, and Divenow. Its course, 
 in the Prussian states, is 370 mi^es, the general rate 
 of its current is languid, and it is prevented from 
 overflowing by embankments It receives, near Oder- 
 berg, the waters of the Oppa, near Breslau, those of 
 the Ohlau, near Grosglogau, those of the Bartsch, 
 near Neuzelle, those of the Neisse, and at Custrin, 
 those of the Wartha. This last is the most valuable of 
 all the secondary rivers of Prussia, because it affords 
 the means of communication between the Oder and 
 the Vistula. The rivers of Prussia which empty them- 
 selves into the German Ocean are the Elbe, coming 
 from Bohemia. It is navigable at Muhlberg, where 
 it enters this kingdom. It receives the Elster, near 
 Wittenburg, the Muldau, near Dessau, the Saale, 
 near Saalhorn, and the Havel^ near Werben, soon 
 
P R U 
 
 ' after which, in its passage to the ocean, it quits the 
 Prussian dominions. The Weser enters but a small 
 portion of the territory of this kingdom, though it 
 forms the boundary on the eastern side of the West- 
 phalian provinces, from Holtzminden to Carlshafen. 
 The only part where both its banks are in Prussia, 
 is near Minden, where it has forced its way through 
 the range of mountains, and formed the celebrated 
 passage, well known to the ancients as the Porta 
 Westphalica. The Rhine enters the newly acquir- 
 ed provinces of Prussia, at Bingen, a little below 
 Mentz, and quits them at Kerkerdom, above Nime- 
 guen. It receives, within the Prussian territories, 
 the streams of the Nahe, the Lahn, the Moselle, the 
 Ahr, the Erft, the Roer, and the Lippe. The Ems, 
 though it rises in the province of Westphalia, is a 
 small stream, not navigable till it enters the king- 
 dom of Hanover. 
 
 Most of the rivers of Prussia are so advantageous- 
 ly connected with each other, by means of naviga- 
 ble canals, that an uninterrupted intercourse is main- 
 tained by them from Halle and Magdeburg to El- 
 bing • and the surrounding districts have the bene- 
 fit of those facilities for exchanging their various . 
 productions. The Fredricksgraben canal, in East 
 Prussia, is formed to avoid the dangerous naviga- 
 tion of the Kurishe HaflT, in the intercourse between 
 Tilsit and Memel. The Bromberg canal joins the 
 Netze and the Brahe, and by their means the Oder 
 and the Vistula. It is the most expensive of all the 
 Prussian canals, having, within eighteen miles, ten 
 locks. The commerce on it furnishes freight to 
 about 600 barges annually, each of 30 tons burden, 
 besides smaller boats. The Finnow canal unites 
 the Oder and the Havel, is about twenty miles long, 
 and has on it about 4000 small, and from l600 to 
 1700 large boats. The new Oder canal shortens the 
 navigation of that river, and serves also for the pur- 
 pose of draining the meadows through which it 
 passes. The Plauen canal connects the Havel with 
 the Elbe, and is the channel of intercourse betwixt 
 Berlin and Hamburg. The Fredrick Williams ca- 
 nal unites the Oder and the Spree. Besides these 
 are others of less importance, viz. the Storkow, the 
 Werbellin, the Klodnitz, the Saxon, and the Mun- 
 ster canals, all of which are of local benefit ; and the 
 Rhine canal, begun in 1809, but not yet complet- 
 ed. 
 
 The lakes of Prussia, especially on the eastern 
 portions of the kingdom, are numerous and exten- 
 sive. On the coast of the Baltic, those lakes, usual- 
 ly denominated Haffs, to distinguish them from the 
 bays, are of fresh water, - The largest of them, the 
 Kurische Half, on the north-east part, extends over 
 700 square miles. The Frische HafF, near Pillau, 
 is of 360 square miles. The Stettin HafF is of near- 
 ly the same extent. Besides the lakes on the shore, 
 those in the interior of the country are stated to ex- 
 ceed 1 000, many of them from ten to twenty miles 
 in length. In East Prussia are 300, in West Prus- 
 sia 160, and in the province of Brandenburg 680. 
 Many parts of these lakes have been contracted by 
 embankments, and the soil they covered gradually 
 appropriated to agricultural purposes. At present 
 
 VOL. VI. PART I. 
 
 SSI A. 401 
 
 they supply vast quantities of fish, the right to take Prussia, 
 which is in many instances farmed at very high ^'^"^ — 
 rates. 
 
 The climate may be generally described as tempe- Climate, 
 rate and healthy, though, from the great variety of 
 situations, there are many exceptions. On the bor- 
 ders of the Baltic, the winters are severely cold, and 
 the weather changeable, raw, and foggy. The great- 
 est degree of cold, in the last century, was from the 
 21st to the 25th January 1795, when Reaumur's ther- 
 mometer was at 24° below zero. The greatest heat 
 of that century was in the following summer, when 
 the same thermometer was at 36° above zero. The 
 middle provinces of Posen, Brandenburg, Silesia, 
 Saxony, and the whole western parts of the monarchy, 
 possess a more mild and less variable chmate, but 
 very different in the several localities. The heat on 
 the sandy plains of Brandenburg is, in summer, very 
 oppressive, and the air, from the abundance of stag- 
 nant water, frequently unhealthy ; whilst in the vici- 
 nity of the Hartz, the cool mountain breezes are en- 
 joyed. The banks of the Rhine and Moselle are 
 covered with verdure before the inhabitants of Rie- 
 sengebirgs and of the Lithuanian heaths have laid 
 aside the fur pelisses of the winter. Upper Silesia, 
 and the mountainous parts, have a much rawer cli- 
 mate and a longer winter than Lower Silesia ; but 
 though the air is milder in the latter, from the great 
 quantity of its water, it is not more healthy. 
 
 The commerce of Prussia with foreign nations is Foreign 
 much less tlian the extent of the country and the Commerce, 
 number of its inhabitants would lead us to expect. 
 It is loaded with many restrictions, which, however - 
 necessary they may be deemed in a fiscal view, are 
 vexatious and harassing. The commerce by land, 
 by internal navigation, is principally with Austria 
 and Russia, and with both those states the balance 
 is unfavourable to Prussia. From Russia she draws 
 hemp, corn, hides, tallow, and some other produc- 
 tions of the soil, and sends in return both linen and 
 woollen cloths. From Austria she receives salt and 
 wine, and has only linen yarn to send to that coun- 
 try. The provinces on the Rhine carry on very 
 considerable traffic in wine and manufactured goods 
 with the adjoining provinces in the kingdom of the 
 Netherlands, and with several of the states of Ger- 
 many. 
 
 As Prussia possesses no sea-ports, except on the 
 Baltic, and as none of its harbours are calculated to 
 receive ships of a great draft of water, or enjoy 
 good entrances, there is very little commerce carried 
 on beyond the limits of Europe. The shipping be- 
 longing to the different ports of Prussia, in 1817, 
 consisted of 883 vessels, capable together of carry- 
 ing 90,290 lasts of corn, or about 950,000 quarters. 
 The greater part of their exports are conveyed by 
 foreign ships, of which the British exceed in num- 
 ber those of all other nations together. Dantzic, 
 once a Hans town, and the seat of extensive com- 
 merce, has much declined since it has become sub- 
 ject to Prussia, notwithstanding its favourable situa- 
 tion for exporting the productions raised on the 
 banks of the Vistula and its tributary streams. It 
 still, however, exports corn, wood, pot-ashes, linen, 
 3 E 
 
402 
 
 PRUSSIA. 
 
 Prussia, wool, wax, honey, horse-hair, and feathers ; and im- 
 ..-B^,.^^* ports colonial wares and some few manufactured 
 goods. Konigsberg exports corn, but the vessels to 
 be loaded with it can approach no nearer than to 
 Pillau. Elbing has lately increased by dividing the 
 commerce with Dantzic, and the articles imported 
 and exported are of the same description as consti- 
 tute the trade of that city. Memel is, at present, 
 the largest exporting city, and the corn, ship-tim- 
 bei and masts, pot and pearl-ashes, with flax-seed, 
 are its chief commodities. Stettin has the greatest 
 portion of the import trade, as, from its position on 
 the Oder, it is best calculated to receive colonial 
 produce, and forward it to the capital and to the cen- 
 tre of the kingdom. It is also the port in which the 
 greater part of the vessels for the fisheries are equip- 
 ped. Stralsund, though it enjoys a good harbour, 
 has but little trade, from being destitute of water 
 communication with the interior of the kingdom. 
 The other ports of Prussia, Colberg, Rugenwalde, 
 Stolpe, Barth, Swinemunde, and Wolgast, carry on 
 some trade, and though not to a great extent, it is 
 valuable, from being almost exclusively conducted 
 in national vessels. The whole exports of Prus- 
 sia, both by land and by sea, amount to about 
 L. 4,500,000 Sterling; the whole of the imports to 
 about L. 3,750,000 ; but in the latter is not includ- 
 ed the products of their own oil and herring fishe- 
 ries. 
 
 Government The government of Prussia is an unlimited Mo- 
 narchy ; for though in some of the provinces, by an- 
 cient custom, the States still exist, they seldom as- 
 semble, and only for such inferior purposes as regu- 
 lating the debts or expences of their respective 
 provinces. They have no legislative powers, and 
 scarcely even the right to make representations to 
 the monarch. The crown is hereditary in the old- 
 est member of the royal family, whether male or fe- 
 male. The sole executive and legislative power is 
 vested in the king, and his authority is less restrain- 
 ed by the ancient privileges and usages of his sub- 
 jects, than that of any other European monarch. 
 The administration is vested in a council of state, 
 consisting of members of the royal family, and of the 
 ministers of foreign affairs, of the finances, of jus- 
 tice, of public instruction, of trade, of the public 
 debt, of police, and of war. The State Chancellor 
 is president of this council, and to him all the heads 
 of the different departments are accountable, and 
 make their weekly reports. He is uncontrollable by 
 his colleagues, and directed solely by the king. In 
 the details of the administration, through all the in- 
 ferior departments, there is much simplicity, and a 
 degree of economy in remunerating public services, 
 which scarcely finds a parallel under any other go- 
 vernment. 
 
 Ke venues. The revenues of Prussia are derived from taxes 
 on the land, on persons, on patents and licences, 
 which are denominated direct contributions ; and 
 from an excise, or rather a custom duty, on foreign 
 productions. A small sum is derived from stamped 
 paper. In those provinces which were taken from 
 the French empire, the taxes on land, on trades, on 
 doors, and windows, as then established, are still 
 
 continued, and will remain till the whole of these 
 provinces are brought under the simple regulations 
 established in the other dominions. More than one- 
 fourth of the revenue of the monarchy is derived 
 from the royal domains, and the hereditary rights 
 or royalties, which are exercised over the mines, the 
 salt springs, the game, the coinage, the posting and 
 the postage, with some other branches. Though 
 the higher branches of the administration appear to 
 be benefited, by parsimony in the salaries, yet in 
 the inferior department it appears to be injurious ; as 
 the petty officers, who are very numerous, are too 
 poor to refuse bribes, and they are not deterred from 
 the apprehension of dismissal from office, whose fair 
 emoluments scarcely equal the wages of a day-la- 
 bourer. As the revenue is returned to Berlin in a 
 mass, from the different provinces, we give them in 
 that form, rather than in the more detailed one of the 
 several branches from which it is derived. 
 
 East Prussia 8,100,000 
 
 West Prussia 3,750,000 
 
 Posen 3,100,000 
 
 Brandenburg 9,000,000 
 
 Pomerania 3,000,000 
 
 Silesia 13,500,000 
 
 Westphalia 8,413,000 
 
 Saxony 10,417,000 
 
 Juliers-Cleves-Berg 8,670,000 
 
 Lower Rhine 7,000,000 
 
 Prussia. 
 
 74,968,000 Gulden. 
 
 L. 7,520,000 Sterling. 
 
 Before the reign of the father of the present king. National 
 Prussia had no public debt, but usually a sufficient 
 accumraulation of money to meet any emergency 
 that might occur. The present king, on his ac- 
 cession, by economy and regularity, had reduced the 
 debt which his predecessor had incurred, when the 
 rupture with Buonaparte in I8O6 drew forth all his 
 resources, and, till the year 1815, the debt continued 
 to increase. Since the restoration of general peace, 
 due measures have been taken for the reduction of 
 it. The floating debt has been reduced to less than 
 L. 2,000,000 Sterling, and the funded debt amounts 
 to about L. 24,000,000 Sterling ; in which is includ- 
 ed a loan of L. 6,000,000 from British subjects, and 
 the debts assumed on the cessions of territory from 
 Sweden, Denmark, and Saxony, amounting to 
 L. 650,000 Sterling. Besides this national debt, 
 many of the corporate bodies have borrowed con- 
 siderable sums, which were presented to the go- 
 vernment in the most critical periods, and which 
 are in progress of being hquidated from their own 
 incomes. 
 
 The expenditure of the government is upon a very Expendi 
 low scale : no court can be less expensive than that 
 of Berlin, and no monarch can be less attentive to 
 his personal gratifications than the present king, who, 
 like his predecessor Frederick II. appropriates but 
 a small portion of his patrimonial income to his 
 private purposes, devoting it principally to the ser- 
 
P R n S S I A. 
 
 vace of the state. The expenditui-e, m I8I9, was, 
 Establishment of the royal house- 
 hold L, 2,250,000 
 
 Military expenditure 37,500,000 
 
 Civil expenditure 7,500,000 
 
 Interest on the public debt 15,000,000 
 
 403 
 
 62,250,000 Gulden. 
 
 L. 6,510,000 Sterling. 
 
 The army of Prussia consists of regulars, and two 
 kiinds of militia, called the Landwehr and the Land- 
 stiirm ; the regulars are, 
 
 Guards 18,220 men. 
 
 Infantry of the line 1 1 2, 140 
 
 Cavalry 19,232 
 
 Artillery and Engineers ] 5,408 
 
 165,000 
 
 The regular ranks are filled by a conscription, 
 which compels every young man, as he arrives at 
 20 years of age, to serve for a limited period. If 
 the conscript can purchase his arms and accoutre- 
 ments, and pay a small sum, he may, at the end of 
 one year, pass into the landwehr, which is composed 
 of this class of men, and of all others between 25 
 and 40 years. In time of peace, the landwehr is 
 exercised but one day in the year, but in war it be- 
 comes a disposable force, and is marched wherever 
 its services may be deemed necessary. It amounts 
 to 160,000 men, including cavalry, infantry, and ar- 
 tillery. The other militia force, the landsturm, is 
 composed of all males capable of bearing arms above 
 40 years of age. This force is only called out in 
 periods of great emergency, and then its duty is en- 
 tirely domestic, being confined to guarding prisoners 
 and maintaining internal tranquillity, 
 ninistra- Prussia enjoys a peculiar Code of Laws, founded 
 of Law by Frederick the Great, upon the ancient customs 
 Police, and usages of the people, and finally reduced to a 
 more regular system in 1794. The magistracy, in 
 the rural districts, is still a patrimonial right, vested 
 in owners of particular estates ; but the power for- 
 merly possessed by them has been contracted within 
 narrower limits than formerly. The judgment of 
 those lower courts is not final, except in very triflino- 
 cases, and an appeal may be made to the tribunals of 
 the second instance, which are established in the 
 several provinces, and to whom is attached the su- 
 perintendence of the colleges for imparting legal 
 knowledge to pupils. These tribunals of the second 
 instance, or Oberlandesgerichten, have the duty of 
 promulgating the laws, of watching over the interests 
 of lunatics and minors, as well as of deciding pro- 
 cesses. They are usually divided into two portions, 
 one of which attends to the appeals from the inferior 
 courts, and the other pronounces sentence on such 
 civil and criminal cases as originate in them. In the 
 provinces on the Rhine, the legal code of Napoleon 
 is yet in force, but in a short period, the Prussian 
 system is to be extended over those districts. From 
 all the Oberlandesgerichten appeals may be brought 
 
 before the high College of Justice in Berlin, whose Prussia 
 decisions are final. The Prussian system of law is 
 more simplified than most of those of feudal origin, 
 and in its practice it is expeditious, economical, and 
 uniform. The Police is under separate jurisdictions, 
 and in the country, the Landraths resemble, in some 
 measure, our petty sessions of justices of the peace. 
 In the cities are peculiar Boards appointed, under 
 whose direction the regulation of buildings, sewers, 
 and the supplies of water and of food, are placed.' 
 The police lias the superintendence of the examina- 
 tion of those who are licensed to practice the medi- 
 cal profession ; of the assurance offices against losses 
 by fire, and of the engines and other implements to 
 prevent fires from extending. To this is added the 
 keeping a watchful eye on all individuals who have 
 no visible means of subsistence. In all the cities, 
 the police is mildly and regularly administered, with 
 more attention to the prevention than the punish- 
 ment of crimes. 
 
 Few of the nations of Europ.^ have, within the Education, 
 last two centuries, exceeded Prussia in the number 
 and eminence of its men of learning, or in the vari- 
 ous establishments for the promotion of science and 
 literature that have been founded. In no other coun- 
 try is the instruction of the lower classes so sedulously 
 provided for ; and in none are there so few persons 
 who are ignorant of the first rudiments of know- 
 ledge. With the exception of those provinces which 
 formed a part of the French empire, where inatten- 
 tion to popular instruction prevailed to a great de- 
 gree, and to which the system of Prussia is not yet 
 extended, no village is without its school, in which 
 reading, writing, and arithmetic, are taught, and 
 moral and religious principles inculcated. Next to 
 the village are bufgher schools, where the pupils 
 are taught the first elements of knowledge, and pre- 
 pared for admission into institutions called Gymna- 
 siums, similar to our great schools of Winchester, 
 Eton, Westminster, and Edinburgh. In these, classi- 
 cal learning is pursued to a great extent, as prepara- 
 tory to admission into the universities. The num- 
 ber of these gymnasiums is 105 ; some under the di- 
 rection of the Protestants, others under that of the 
 Catholics, and some few under a combined direction 
 of both sects. They have, according to their extent, 
 from four to twelve masters ; and the pupils are di- 
 vided into five or six classes ; the lower of which 
 differ but little in their pursuits from the burgher 
 schools. In the larger and middle sized cities, 
 schools are established for the instruction of the 
 females, with which, in Silesia, are combined, among 
 those of the lower class, the teaching the delicate art 
 of ]ace-m.aking. The universities, like those of the 
 other parts of Germany, are either endowed, or the 
 expences of the professors and libraries are de- 
 frayed by the government. The course of study 
 IS left much to the choice of the students, and 
 is, therefore, too much influenced by the tem- 
 porary popularity of particular professors. The 
 means of instruction in every branch of science 
 and literature is abundantly furnished ; and, in spite 
 of the want of discipline which generally prevails, 
 the foundation is laid in them of those eminent ac- 
 quirements in which the students have afterwards 
 
404 
 
 P R U S S I A. 
 
 Prussia- 
 
 Libraries I 
 
 State of the 
 Press. 
 
 Money. 
 
 distinguished themselves in the various walks of 
 science and literature. The universities are, Berlin, 
 with 50 professors and 950 students ; Breslau, 51 
 professors and 366 students ; Geifswalde, 28 profes- 
 sors, 158 students ; Halle, 51 professors, 500 stu- 
 dents ; Konigsberg, 43 professors, 210 students; and 
 Bonn, instituted in 1818, with 22 professors and 240 
 students. There are seminaries for the instruction of 
 the village schoolmasters in fourteen of the cities ; 
 as well as theological academies for the Catholics, 
 Lutherans, and Moravians, imconnected with the 
 universities, where the clergy of the different parties 
 receive the appropriate instruction to qualify them for 
 the duties of their functions. Besides these are 
 useful establishments for pupils in medicine, surgery, 
 midwifery, the veterinary and military professions, 
 rural economy, and for teaching the deaf and dumb, 
 and the blind. . ^ ■ 
 
 The collections of natural history, the philosophi- 
 cal and astronomical apparatus, and the public li- 
 braries, are upon a very liberal footing, and at the 
 service of any individual who wishes to avail him- 
 self of their help. The libraries of Berlin, thus open 
 to general use, contain more than 300,000 volumes ; 
 those of Breslau more than 100,000 ; Halle more 
 than 50,000, and in the other cities are generally to 
 be found large collections. 
 
 The freedom of the press has been of late some- 
 what restrained, as far as relates to fugitive and pe- 
 riodical publications of the smaller class. All books 
 must pass under Censors previous to publication ; but 
 works of science are allowed to pass with scarcely 
 any inspection ; and there is no restriction on bring- 
 ing into Prussia any works published in any of the 
 other states of Germany. The universities have an 
 unlimited right of printing without a previous cen- 
 surate. Thus, with the exception of the political writ- 
 ings of the lowest character, the practical freedom 
 of the press is enjoyed to a greater extent than in 
 any other country except Great Britain, In the 
 year 1819, the newspapers were, sixty-two govern- 
 ment weekly papers, which contained little but do- 
 mestic intelligence and advertisements ; fifteen po- 
 litical papers, written by individuals, but with much 
 reserve ; and one literary journal. 
 
 The currency of Prussia consists of metallic and 
 paper money, but the former is so much greater in 
 amount, that the latter suffers no depreciation. The 
 metallic money is estimated to amount to 30,000,000 
 reichs thaleren ; the paper money, including that of 
 a privileged company (see Handlung ohligationem), 
 does not amount to more than 5,000,000, and by 
 means of a sinking fund, is gradually diminishing, 
 and wiU soon be extinct. The money is coined m 
 
 Prussia. 
 
 Berlin, Breslau, and Dusseldorf. The gold coins are 
 double, single, and half Frederick Williams d'ors, ' 
 valued at lOd. 5d. and 2|d. reichs thalern. The 
 silver coins are the thaler, half thaler, third, sixth, 
 and twelfth of the thaler. The copper and mixed 
 metal coins are groschen, sechser, drier, and pfen- 
 ninge. In the old provinces, accounts are kept in 
 dolfars (thalern), groschen, and pfenningen. Twelve 
 pfenningen make a grosch, and twenty-four groschen 
 a dollar. The value of the dollar in exchange with 
 London varies from 3s. to 3s. 2d. In the other pro- 
 vinces, the accounts are kept in various denomina- 
 tions of money ; but they are easily reduced into 
 florins or gulden ; three of which are equal to two 
 dollars, and whose value in exchange with London 
 is about two shillings. J 
 The legal long measure of Prussia is the Berlin ^eig»J^»' 
 ell of two feet, which contains 25 1 Rhenish inches, 
 or 296 French lines. In the distant provinces, a lo- 
 cal measure of length prevails, which differs in each. 
 The Prussian mile is 23,685 feet, or nearly the same 
 as the German geographical mile, or one-fifteenth of 
 a degree of latitude, being somewhat less than 4^ 
 English miles. The land measure is the Magde- 
 burghmorgen of 180 roods, each rood of 12 feet ; 
 the foot is about one-seventh longer than the English, 
 thus a morgen is nearly two-thirds of an English 
 acre. The dry measure is the Berlin scheffel of 
 2,7581^- Parisian cubic inches, or nearly one bushel, 
 one peck, and one gallon English measure. The 
 liquid measures are more various than any other, 
 and differ in every province ; but as they are all 
 legally reducible to Berlin measure, we give that, 
 viz. a oxhoft is six eimer, an eimer two ankers, an 
 anker thirty-two quarts, the quart two nbseln. 'J he 
 quart contains 58 Parisian cubic inches, or nearly 
 one-ninth less than the English quart. The weights 
 of commerce are the shipslast, containing 1 2 ships- 
 pounds. The shipspound contains 280 common 
 pounds. The centner of 110 pounds is divided in- 
 to light and heavy stones, having ten of the former 
 and five of the latter. The pound is divided into 
 two marks, the marks into sixteen loth, the loth into 
 four quentchen, the quentchen into four pfenninge. 
 
 See Stein's Landbitrch der Preiiss, Berlin, 1818; 
 Statistische. Darstellung der Preusische Monarchie, 
 von J. A. Demain, 1818; JJebersicht der Boden- 
 Jlache itnd Bevolkerung des Preusiche Staats, aus 
 den filr das Jahr, 1817:, Eingezognen Nnchrichten, 
 1818; Heidemann, Handbuch der Poslgeographie 
 der Konigl, Preuss Staaten, 1819; Jacob's View of 
 the Agricullurey 8^c. of Germany^, London, 1820. 
 
 (W. w.) 
 
 f 
 1 
 
QUA 
 
 QUA 
 
 405 
 
 QUA 
 
 QUAKERS. — Under this head, the Encyclopcedia languages were;" the second, Netos coming up out of Quakers, 
 contains an account of the tenets of the Society of the North sounding touoards the South, in which Fox s-i-^,^— 
 Friends, commonly called Quakers, extracted from is represented as saying pf himself, " I am the same 
 a Summary of the History, Doctrine, and Discipline door that ever was : the same Christ yesterday, to- 
 of that Society, published by authority. The article day, and for ever;" and the third, a Letter to Cram- 
 is prefaced with some observations on the character well, in which Fox in like manner says of himself, 
 of George Fox, copied, seemingly, from the theo- " Him whom the world calls George Fox, who is 
 logical writings of the celebrated polemic, Charles the Son of God." 
 
 Leslie, which appear to have given offence to the With regard to the Batlledoor for Teachers and 
 Society ; as well on account of their alleged unfair- Professors, it has been observed, first, that it is by no 
 ness, as on account of the impropriety of reviving means correct to refer to it as being exclusively, or 
 and circulating them in a work so generally refer- even chiefly written by Fox. On the contrary, it 
 red to by all classes of the community. These ob- appears to have been compiled, with some assistance 
 servations have been accordingly subjected to some from him, by two of his friends ; a circumstance 
 pointed animadversions in a piece entitled, A Re- wholly overlooked by the writer of the article in the 
 Jutation of the more modern Misrepresentations of the Encyclopcedia. Tt is thus raentioHed by Fox, in 
 Society of Friends, written by Joseph Gurney Be- that singular work, the JowrwaZ o/Zii* Li/e. "When 
 van; and as we have been requested to notice this I was prisoner in Lancaster Castle, the Book called 
 piece, and have been also furnished with some addi- the Batlledoor came forth, which was written to 
 
 tional strictures on the article in question, we think show, that in all languages iAo?« and thee is the proper 
 
 it right to take the present opportunity of stating the and usual form of speech to a single person, and you 
 
 substance of the remarks, printed and manuscript, to more than one. This was set forth in examples 
 
 that have been laid before us in regard to it. It or instances taken out of the Scriptures, and out 
 
 would be worse than uncourteous to refuse this sa- of books of instruction in about thirty languages, 
 
 tisfaction to a Society so highly respectable, so mo- John Stubbs and Benjamin Furly took great pains 
 
 derate in controversy, and which has so often distin- in compiling it, which I put them upon ; and some 
 
 guished itself by its generous and persevering efforts things I added to it." * Now, unless it could be 
 
 in the cause of truth and humanity. shown, that the objectionable words quoted from 
 
 The observations complained of, in regard to this piece were " some of the things added" by Fox, 
 
 George Fox, the founder of this Society, are not there is evidently no reason for imputing them to him 
 
 merely such as tend to disparage his intellectual rather than to Stubbs or Furly. The author of the 
 
 character, by representing him as a fanatic and Refutation adds the following observations by way 
 
 enthusiast ; representations of that kind Quakers of apology for the passage, whether written by Fox, 
 
 are accustomed to, and can bear in silence; but or by one of his coadjutors. " 1 have granted that 
 
 they are such as represent him arrogating to him- the expression ' all languages are to me no more than 
 
 self a superhuman nature, and even blasphemous- dust, who was before languages were,* is liable to 
 
 ly designating himself as " Christ," and " the Son exception ; but I think when we construe it by the 
 
 of God." In support of these statements, re- context, the fairest way of interpreting that which is 
 
 ference is made in the Encyclopcedia to three diffe- obscure in the writings of deceased authors, some of 
 
 rent pieces, all of which are quoted as undoubted the difficulty ceases. It should be remembered that 
 
 productions of Fox. The first of them is entitled the main tenet, on which George Fox and his 
 
 The Battledoor for Teachers and Professors, in the friends insisted, was the infinite superiority of the 
 
 introduction to which, the writer says, " All langua- Spirit to the Letter. The learned of that day, as of 
 
 ges are to me no more than dust, who was before other times, valuing tliemselves on their knowledge 
 
 * The sequel of the passage is curious. When it (the Battledoor) was finished, some of them 
 were presented to the King and his Council, to the Bishops of Canterbury and London, and to the 
 two Universities, one a-piece ; and many bought of them. The King said, ' It was the proper lan- 
 guage of all nations.' The Bishop of Canterbury, being asked what he thought of it, was so at a stand that 
 he could not tell what to, say to it. For it did so inform and convince people, that few afterwards were so 
 rugged towards us for saying Thou and Thee to a single person, which before they were exceeding fierce 
 against us for. For Thou and Thee was a sore cut to proud flesh, and them that sought self-honour ; who, 
 though they would say it to God and Christ, would not endure to have it said to themselves. So that we 
 were often beat and abused, and sometimes in danger of our lives for using those words to some proud men, 
 who would say, ' What ! you ill-bred clown, do you Thou me !' as though there lay Christian breeding in 
 saying You to one, which is contrary to their grammars and teaching books, by which they instructed their 
 youth." — Journal, p. 328. 3d edit, folio, London, 1765. 
 
406 QUA 
 
 Quakers, of languages, despised our Friends for their igno- 
 ^-^^^^•y^^ ranee; these in return frequently decried human 
 learning, to a degree in which, probably, they would 
 not have slighted it, if they had not thought it to be 
 set too much in competition with the knowledge of 
 divine things, which they believed the soul to receive 
 by immediate internal communication with the Me- 
 diator, Christ." " All languages are to me no more 
 than dust, who was before languages were." (The 
 writer immediately goes on,) " and am come'd be- 
 fore 4anguages were, and am redeemed out of lan- 
 guages into the power where men shall agree ; but 
 this (meaning the Bailledoor) is a whip and a rod 
 (alluding to the correction of children) to all such 
 who have degenerated through the pride and ambition 
 from their natural tongues and languages, and all 
 languages upon the earth is but natural, and makes 
 none divine, but that which makes divine is the word, 
 which was before languages and tongues were." — 
 Refutation, p. S9, ^O. 
 
 The most serious charge against Fox, that of as- 
 summg the name of the Saviour, and impiously de- 
 signating himself as " the Son of God," in so far as 
 it is founded upon his acknowledged piece, entitled, 
 Neiios coming up out of the North, appears to us to 
 have been most unfairly made ; and to require no 
 other refutation but the simple inspection of the pas- 
 sage in which these words occur. We here copy it 
 verbatim, with all its palpable defects of grammatical 
 John 1 1 construction and punctuation : *' Now to all dear ones, 
 and dear hearts, I speak, the same seed, which is 
 Christ, the same spirit takes upon it now as ever 
 was, the same world is now as ever was, the same temp- 
 tations, and the same Divels, and the same worship of 
 the world, twining into another form and colour, but 
 Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and life, he is the 
 lohn 14 6 ^^^^ must passe through, and he is the por- 
 
 John 10.*3.| ter that opens it ; I am the same door that ever was, 
 Luke 11.34. same Christ to day, yesterday and for ever."* 
 It is abundantly clear, as well from the context of 
 this uncouth passage, as from the references to the 
 gospels affixed to the words upon which the charge 
 against Fox is made, that he is not here speaking 
 in the first person, but copying certain expressions, 
 used by Christ himself, in the texts referred to. 
 We cannot conceive it possible for any rational per- 
 son to entertain a doubt upon this point ; and the 
 
 QUA 
 
 use which Leslie has made of the passage, can be Quakers, 
 viewed in no other light than as an instance of that 
 blind zeal and gross unfairness which has often dis- 
 figured theological controversy. 
 
 The charge, in so far as it rests upon a Letter to 
 Cromvoell, does not admit of so direct a refutation. 
 It is certain, that Fox, after being apprehend- 
 ed and brought to London, upon suspicion of be- 
 ing concerned in some plot, did address himself 
 by letter to the Protector, with a view to satisfy 
 him, that he was not a person at all likely to take 
 arms against the government. Fox himself gives 
 the substance of the letter, and some graphical 
 details of the interview which followed it, in his 
 Journal ; f but the letter itself is not inserted ; and 
 it has never, it is said, appeared any where but in 
 one of Leslie's pieces against the Quakers. It there 
 appears, with an attestation of its authenticity, sign- 
 ed by two persons, who mention their having seen it 
 delivered by Fox to the messenger who carried it 
 to Cromwell. But the Society, notwithstanding, seem 
 very unwilling to admit the genuineness of this letter 
 and its attestations ; at least, of the passage in which 
 Fox designates himself as " the Son of God." X It 
 cannot, however, be denied, that the letter, as pu- 
 blished by Leslie, corresponds pretty exactly with 
 Fox's own account of its contents, given in that part 
 of his Journal above referred to. But, granting that 
 the words in question really made a part of it, we 
 should be inclined to consider them rather as exem- 
 plifying some awkward elliptical reference to scrip- 
 ture, or as a specimen of the mystical jargon then 
 prevalent, than as indicative of any intention in Fox 
 to apply them literally to himself. Every page, al- 
 most, of his Journal, contains proofs of his ardent 
 belief in the Divinity of Christ ; and, whatever other 
 fancies he may have entertained, it seems, therefore, 
 quite absurd to speak of him as one who fancied him- 
 self possessed of the nome or nature of the Saviour. 
 
 Penn and Barclay, the most generally respected 
 names among the early Quakers, are alluded to in 
 the article in the Encyclopadia, in a way which 
 seems to imply, that their creed diftered from, and 
 was more rational than that of Fox, and that they 
 did not altogether approve of his ministry. The 
 information laid before us, however, bears, that there 
 was a strict conformity in their tenets ; that they 
 
 * Nexves coming up out of the North sounding to/wards the South, p. 15. 4to. Lond. 1655. 
 
 + " I spoke much to him (Cromwell) of truth ; and a great deal of discourse 1 had with him about re- 
 ligion, wherein he carried himself very moderately. As I was turning, he catched me by the hand, and 
 with tears in his eyes, said, ' Come again to my house ; for if thou and I were but an hour of a day toge- 
 ther, we should be nearer one to the other adding, that he wished me no more ill than he did to his own 
 soul. I told him, ' If he did, he wronged his own soul ; and admonished him to hearken to God's voice, 
 that he might stand in his counsel, and obey it ; and if he did so, that would keep him from hardness of 
 heart ; but if he did not hear God's voice, his heart would be hardened.' He said. It was true. Then I 
 went out ; and when Captain Drury came out after me, he told me his Lord Protector said, I was at liberty, 
 and might go whither I would. Then I was brought into a great hall, where the Protector's gentlemen 
 were to dine. I asked them, What they brought me thither for ? They said, it was by the Protector's 
 order, that T might dine with them. I bid them let the Protector know, I would not eat ol his bread nor 
 drink of his drink. When he heard this, he said, ' Now I see there is a people risen, that I cannot win 
 either with gifts, honours, offices, or places ; but all other sects and people I can." Journal, p. 127, 128. 
 J See the observations upon this point in Bevan's Re/utation of Modern Misrepresentations, p. 43, 44- 
 
QUA 
 
 often preached them in conjunction, and in the most 
 interesting circumstances, in perfect accordance ; * 
 and that Fox was always held in the highest respect 
 by both of his associates. 
 ' QUEEN'S COUNTY, a county in the province 
 of Leinster, in Ireland, bounded by Kildare on the 
 north, Carlow on the east, Kilkenny and Tipperary 
 on the south, and King's County on the west ; about 
 32 English miles long, and 25 broad, and containing 
 about 600 square miles, or 384,000 English acres. 
 It is divided into eight baronies and 50 parishes, the 
 latter belonging to the Sees of Leighlin, Ossory, 
 Kildare, and Killaloe. Portarlington, its principal 
 town, on the northern side of the county, is situated 
 In north latitude 53° 9' 30", and west longitude 
 7° 13'. 
 
 Excepting on the boundary with King's County, 
 where the Sliebh-bloom mountains rise to a consi- 
 derable height, this district is generally level; so 
 much so, that, notwithstanding considerable tracts 
 of bog, about three-fourths of the whole are said to 
 be cultivated. The soil, though various, is for the 
 most part fit for producing all the usual crops : and 
 limestone for manure abounds in every townland. 
 In the south-eastern quarter, near Carlow, coal, si- 
 milar to that of Kilkenny, is wrought to a consider- 
 able extent ; and iron ore, sandstone, marble, with 
 marl, and a variety of clays, have been found in va- 
 rious parts. Besides a number of small streams, it 
 has two considerable rivers, the Barrow and the 
 Nore, which, having their source among the mountains 
 on the westjflow, the former north-east and thensouth, 
 and the latter south-east, until they meet at New Ross, 
 in the county of Wexford, after which they are joined 
 by the Suir from the west, and fall into the sea at 
 Waterford Bay. Next to the Shannon these are the 
 most considerable rivers in Ireland. The Barrow is 
 navigable from New Ross upwards to Carlow and 
 Athy, from which the communication is continued 
 by a canal to Dublin. The Nore is also navigable 
 for a few miles, but not in this county. After their 
 junction at New Ross, there is water sufficient for 
 large ships downwards to the sea. Queen's County, 
 therefore, though an inland district, has the advantage 
 of ready access by water both to the east and south 
 coasts of Ireland. 
 
 Much of this county is divided into large estates, 
 worth from L. 5000 to L. 15,000 a-year and up- 
 wards. Some of the most valuable, having been let 
 on perpetual leases, afford a large income to the les- 
 sees. It is these lessees who form the middle class 
 of gentry, with clear incomes of from L.lOO to L.800 
 per annum, obtained from tenants to whom their 
 lands are subset at rack-rent, and commonly in very 
 
 QUE 
 
 407, 
 
 Queen's 
 County 
 
 li 
 
 Quesnay. 
 
 small farms. These leases are usually for 21 years 
 and a life. The principal proprietors are the Mar- 
 quis of Drogheda; Lords De Vesci, Ossory, Ash- 
 brooke. Stanhope, Castlecoote, and Portarlington ; 
 Sir Charles Coote, Mr Parnel, Mr Strange, and Mr 
 Wellesley Polo, now Lord Maryborough. Here 
 and in King's County, Mr Wakefield observed sonie 
 of the best farming in Ireland, with much more atten- 
 tion to a systematic course of cropping, and to keep- 
 ing the land in good heart. Oxen and horses are 
 used for the plough, the former generally preceding 
 the latter. A good deal of cheese is made here for 
 the Dublin market. In other respects the rural 
 economy of this district does not differ materially 
 from that of the Irish counties already described. 
 
 There is no large town in Queen's County. Mary- Towns, 
 borough, the county town, though pleasantly si- 
 tuated near the Barrow, is a place of no consideration. 
 Portarlington, partly in King's County, noted for its 
 schools, and for its being the residence of the smaller 
 gentry, is the most extensive and populous. Mount- 
 mellick, Mountrath, Ballynakill, and Stradbally, are 
 only villages. The manufactures are linen and 
 coarse woollens, to no great extent ; and its exports 
 chiefly corn and other kinds of land produce. 
 
 In 1813 the Humber of inhabitants was 1 13,857; Population, 
 in 1821 the number was 129,391, making an in- Ac- 
 crease of 15,534. The county sends two members 
 to Parliament, and the town of Portarlington a 
 third. Before the Union, this district had eight 
 representatives in the Irish Parliament ; two for each 
 of the boroughs of Portarlington, Maryborough, 
 and Ballynakill, and two for the county. The 
 Irish language is still spoken in some parts, though 
 the English is now more common. A few years 
 ago, the wages of common labour were one shil- 
 ling a-day for men and sixpence for women ; their 
 food is potatoes, their fuel turf or peat, and their 
 clothing, excepting that of the females on holidays, 
 the produce of their own domestic manufacture. 
 
 See the general works quoted under the former 
 Irish counties, and Sir Charles Coote's Agricultural 
 Survey of (Queens County. (a.) 
 
 QUESNAY (FBANgois), a physician of consider- 
 able eminence, but who is chiefly known in the his- 
 tory of philosophy as a profound and ingenious in- 
 quirer into the constitution of society, and as the 
 founder of the sect of the Economists. 
 
 The accounts of the life of this distinguished per- 
 son — a life which, unlike that of most literary men- 
 abounded in incident and adventure — are exceed- 
 ingly meagre and contradictory. — Neither the place 
 of his birth, nor the condition of his parents, is well 
 ascertained ; but the accounts apparently most enti- 
 
 * In 1677, Penn, Barclay, Keith, and others, crossed over to Holland, where they preached, or discours- 
 ed together before numerous assemblages of the people. — " This being first-day, we had a very large meet- 
 ing, there coming to it a great concourse of people of several opinions. Baptists, Seekers, Socinians, Brown- 
 ists, and some of the Collegians. Robert Barclay, George Keith, William Penn, and I, did all severally 
 declare the everlasting truth among them ; opening the state of man in the fall, and shewing by what way 
 man and woman may come into the restoration by Christ Jesus. The mystery of iniquity and the mystery 
 of godliness were very plainly laid open, and the meeting ended quietly and well." Journal, p. 502. 3d 
 edit. fol. Lond. 1765. 
 
408 QUE 
 
 Quesnay. tied to credit state that he was born at the viU 
 lage of Ecquivilly, in the Isle de France, in 1694-; 
 and that his father was either a common labourer, or 
 a small proprietor, who cultivated his own little 
 property. * His humble origin is indeed evident from 
 the fact mentioned by all his biographers, of his early 
 education being almost entirely neglected, and of his 
 being constantly occupied, until his fourteenth or six- 
 teenth year, in the sports or labours of the fields, with- 
 outhavingbeen either sent to school or taught to read. 
 But though placed in such unfavourable circumstan- 
 ces, young Quesnay was embued with an ardent love 
 of knowledge, and with a strong desire to emerge 
 from the painful and obscure life in which he had 
 been brought up. The Maison Rustique of Liebaut 
 was the first book that came into his hands ; and he is 
 said to have learned to read it by the assistance of a 
 few lessons he received from a gardener of the vil- 
 lage ! The perusal of this book, which seems to 
 have had a material influence on his future studies, 
 awakened his latent powers, and stimulated him to 
 make further efforts to extend his information. Hav- 
 ing acquired a competent knowledge of his verna- 
 cular tongue, by the eager reading of such French 
 books as came within his reach, he next applied him- 
 self to the study of the dead languages ; and speedily 
 attained, partly by the slender assistance of a self- 
 dubbed surgeon of the village, but chiefly by his 
 own extraordinary industry and sagacity, to a toler- 
 able proficiency in Latin and Greek. 
 
 Quesnay now resolved, in opposition to the wishes 
 of his parents, and especially of his mother, to devote 
 himself to the profession of surgery, and received the 
 rudiments of his instruction in that art from the vil- 
 lage doctor who had assisted him in his philological 
 studies. But the pupil very soon surpassed the 
 master; and when the latter applied to be admitted 
 into the Maitrise, or Corporation of Surgeons, he 
 presented, as testimonials of his skill in bis profes- 
 sion, and of his capacity to practise it with advan- 
 tage, some Essays which Quesnay had written, and 
 which were received with very great applause. 
 Quesnay was not privy to this ruse ; but soon 
 after its occurrence he left his paternal village, 
 and set out to prosecute his studies at Paris. 
 We are not informed by what means he sup- 
 ported himself in that city, nor how long he re- 
 mained there : while, however, his indefatigable 
 industry and zeal enabled him to make great pro- 
 gress in his studies, his merit and modesty procured 
 him several friends. Besides attending the prelec- 
 tions on the various branches of surgery, and the 
 
 QUE 
 
 different hospitals, he found leisure to devote Quesnay. 
 some portion of his time to metaphysical researches, -' ' 
 and the study of philosophy, for which the perusal 
 of the Recherche de la Veriie of Malebranche had 
 given him a very decided taste. Nay, such was the 
 almost unparalleled activity and vigour of his mind, 
 that having accidental!)' met, during his stay in Pa- 
 ris, with the celebrated M. Cochin, of the Royal 
 Academy of Painting, he put himself under his 
 tuition ; and we are told, that he profited so well 
 by the few lessons he received as to be able not 
 only to take remarkably good likenesses, but to de- 
 sign and engrave, with his own hand, the various 
 bones of the human skeleton, in a manner which 
 would not have disgraced the most skilful artists ! 
 
 On finishing his studies at Paris, Quesnay formed 
 the design of establishing himself as a surgeon in 
 Mantes, a considerable town in his native province, 
 and presented himself to the surgeons of its Mai- 
 trise for examination. But they refused, from jea- 
 lousy of his talents, to admit him to trial. He was 
 thus laid under the necessity of returning to Paris, 
 where he passed his examinations with eclat ; and 
 received letters ordering him to be admitted into 
 the Maitrise of Mantes in 1718. 
 
 Having established himself at Mantes, his reputa- 
 tion soon extended itself. He was employed by 
 some of the first families in the neighbourhood, and, 
 among others, by that of the Marshall de Noailles, 
 Due de Villeroi, who persuaded him to leave his 
 residence in the country, and to accompany him to 
 Paris as his surgeon, as nearly as we can collect in 
 1729 or 1730. An incident not long after occur- 
 red, which had the most material influence on his fu- 
 ture prospects and life. Having accompanied the 
 Due de Villeroi to the house of the Comtesse d'Es- 
 trades, Quesnay remained behind in the carriage 
 while the Due went in to visit that Lady, who, 
 during the interview, was suddenly seized with an 
 epileptic fit. The Due called in Quesnay, who, on 
 perceiving the nature of the attack, with singular 
 presence of mind instantly ordered the Due and the 
 other attendants out of the room, and managed so 
 well as to succeed in concealing the malady. The 
 Comtesse was so much pleased with the dexterity 
 and address of Quesnay, that she lost no time in 
 recommending him to her all-powerful friend, Ma- 
 dame d'Estioles, afterwards Marquise de Pompadour, 
 who made him her physician : and, besides obtain- 
 ing for him apartments at Versailles, procured him, 
 in 1737, the place of Surgeon in Ordinary to the 
 King.f 
 
 ♦ It is stated in the Eloge Hisiorigue of Quesnay, in the Memoires de I'Academie des Sciences for 1774, 
 that he was the son of an advocat en Parlement, who practised at Montfort, and that he was born at Merey. 
 But it is difficult to suppose, had his father been in such a station, that his education would have been so 
 entirely neglected. In the brief but interesting notice of Quesnay, given by Mr Crawfurd, in a note to 
 the Journal of Madame du Hausset, femme-de-chambre de Madame de Pompadour, et I'amie de Quesnay, 
 in the Melanges d'Histoire et de Literature (p. 276), he is stated to have been the son of a labourer. 
 This is also the statement in the Encyclopedic Methodique. According to the notice prefixed by Dupont 
 to the Ehge of M- Gournay in the third volume of the (Euvres de Turgot, Quesnay was the son d'un pro- 
 prietaire cultivateur. 
 
 f This incident is related by Mr Crawfurd, Melanges, p. 276, and is referred to by Marmontel. 
 
QUE 
 
 Quesnay was shortly after appointed Secretary to 
 ^ the Royal Academy of Surgery, cstabiis'ied in 1731 ; 
 and besides several articles on particular branches of 
 surgery, he contributed the preface to the first vo- 
 lume of its Memoires ; which has always been reck- 
 oned peculiarly valuable for its profound and dis- 
 criminating observations on the respective uses of 
 theory and observation in the physical sciences, and 
 on the assistance which they reciprocally lend to 
 each other. 
 
 Having from an early period been much subject 
 to the gout, and becoming, in consequence, less 
 able to discharge his duties as a surgeon, Quesnay 
 took the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1744; and 
 was soon after appointed, through the influence of 
 his patroness, to the important place of consulting 
 physician to his Majesty. In this capacity he at- 
 tended Louis in the campaigns of 1744? and 1745; 
 and amid the distractions of a camp, collected and' 
 prepared the greater part of the materials for his 
 Traite de Fievres, published in 1 753. 
 
 His appointment to the situation of Physician to 
 the King was preceded by the grant of letters of no- 
 bility, issued on occasion of the recovery of the 
 Dauphin from the small-pox. Louis, who was much 
 struck with the justice and solidity of Quesnay s re- 
 marks, and who familiarly called him son petiseur, 
 gave him, in allusion to this title, three pansey 
 flowers (in French pensees), for his arms, with the 
 motto Propter cogitationem mentis. 
 
 The leisure Quesnay now enjoyed, enabled him to 
 prosecute his studies with greater assiduity. In 
 1 74<7, he republished an enlarged edition, in 3 tomes. 
 12mo, of his Essai Physique sur I'Economie Animale, 
 originally published in 1736 ; in 1748, he published 
 an Examen impartiel des Contestations des Medicins 
 et des Chirurgiens de Paris ; in 1749, he published 
 a Memoire sur la Sagesse de I' Ancienne Legislation 
 de la Chirurgie en France^ and two separate treatises, 
 in l2mo, the one on Suppuration, and the other, De 
 la Gangrene ; in 1750, he republished his Traite des 
 Effels et de V Usage de la Saigne, written during 
 his residence at Mantes, and originally published 
 in 1730 ; and in 1753, he published his Traite des 
 Fievres Continues, in 2 tomes 1 2mo. 
 
 These works have been all held in very high esti- 
 mation; and an excellent judge has lately given it 
 as his opinion, that " the Traite de la Gangrene is 
 by far the most valuable publication which we yet 
 possess upon this subject." Every page of this work, 
 he adds, " is distinguished by the same talent for 
 accurate observation, and perspicuous arrangement. 
 
 QUE 
 
 409 
 
 which are so remarkable in all the other •.vritin'^s of Quesnay. 
 
 (Dr Thomson's Lectures on 
 
 this celebrated author." 
 Inflammation, p. 502.) 
 
 The Traite des Fievres was the last of Quesnay's 
 professional works. He appears to have henceforth 
 comparatively abandoned his medical studies. At 
 no period, indeed, had he allowed them exclusively 
 to occupy his attention, and he now devoted him- 
 self, in preference, to other and, if possible, still 
 more interesting inquiries. He had always enter- 
 tained a strong predilection for agricultural pur- 
 suits, the effect, perhaps, of his situation in early 
 life; and this, combined with the speculative and 
 metaphysical cast of his mind, seems to have led him 
 to those peculiar notions respecting the paramount 
 importance of agriculture as a source of wealth, and 
 the constitution of society, which have rendered his 
 name so justly celebrated in the history of economi- 
 cal science. The articles " Fermier" and " Grains" 
 in the Encyclopedze, published in 1756 and 1757, 
 contain the earliest developement of his views on 
 this subject. Both articles are written with great 
 ability, and display an intimate acquaintance with the 
 subject, considerable reading, and great powers of 
 analysis. In the article " Grains" the distinction he- 
 tweenthe produit total and the produit net,between the 
 productiveness of agriculture, and the unproductive- 
 ness of all other employments, the doctrine of the un- 
 restricted freedom of commerce, and most of the other 
 leading principles in the theory of the economists, are 
 distinctly stated and illustrated with much ingenuity 
 and talent. The Tableau Economique, and the 
 Maximes Generales da Gouvernement Economique, an- 
 nexed to it, under the title of Fxtraits des Economies 
 Royales, de M. de Sully, were printed, by the ex- 
 press command of the King, at Versailles in 1758, 
 with the following very remarkable epigraph for a 
 work brought forth under such auspices, Pauvres 
 paysans, pauvre royaume ; pauvre royaume, pau- 
 vre Souverain ! The maxims, which contain a short 
 but comprehensive abstract of Quesnay's system, were 
 reprinted, together with an analysis of the Tableau, 
 and a selection from various articles contributed by 
 Quesnay, in defence of his peculiar doctrines, to the 
 Journal d'Agrictdture, and the Ephemerides du 
 Citoyen, * in the collection of Quesnay's economical 
 works, entitled Physiocratie, ou Constitution Naturelle 
 du Gouvernement le plus Avantageux au Genre Hu- 
 main, edited by his friend and scholar, D upon t, in 1 767. 
 
 We have elsewhere entered at considerable length 
 into an examination of the speculations of Quesnay and 
 his followers, with respect to the constitution of po- 
 
 The Ephemerides du Citoyen was begun in 1767. and was, for a few months, conducted by the Abb6 
 Baudeau, and then by Dupont. It was published monthly, and two numbers make a considerable duode- 
 
 t^r.}t!riu T^T f ^"^^"^^^ ^"'^ economists. Their discussions em- 
 
 braced only the moral and poht.cal sciences; many branches of which they have treated with much abiikv 
 
 d^Albon The fol n"' " " ''f^fc ^""T^^ ^^75, written by the Co7e 
 
 d Albon. The fo lowmg extract from the approbation given by the Censeur to the third number for 1770 
 
 Iin'";""r " "'^"^^^^ ^"'^"'•^ ^' ^^ ^ resister a la tenta i^n de c i- 
 
 t,quer_Le bonheur du citoyen t.ent a sa confiance_On peut et Von doit quelquefois avertir en secret ceTx 
 
 Z 12 ri'eS" ' ' M-^^ on ne doit pricher aux particuliers que leur propre rejrme^t 
 
 VOL, VI. PART I. Or, 
 
410 
 
 Quesnaf. 
 
 QUE 
 
 lltical societies, and the sources of public wealth. (See 
 ' the articles Economists and Political Economy.) 
 That there is a good deal of error in them must be 
 allowed ; but this is far more than compensated by 
 the many just, discriminating, and original views, and 
 important discoveries, which they contain. Perhaps, 
 however, the principal merit of Quesnay, and the sect 
 of which he was the founder, does not consist so much 
 in the discoveries they made, as in theirhaving been the 
 earliest philosophers who perceived that the institu- 
 tions of society ought always to harmonize with the na- 
 tural principles on which it is founded/br, as they 
 termed it, with the Ordre naturel et essentiel des 
 .Societes Politiqnes. Economical science is defined 
 bv them to be, '* L'etude et la demonstration des 
 LOix DE LA NATURE, relatives a la subsistence, et la 
 multiplication du genre hiimain. L'observation uni- 
 verselle de ces loix est I'interet commun et general 
 de tous les hommes. La connaissance universale de 
 ces loix est done le preliminaire indispensable, et le 
 moyen necessaire du bonheur de tous." {Epheme- 
 rides du Citoyen, 1 769, No. II. p. 13.) It is to be re- 
 gretted that, in investigating these laws, they proceeded 
 almost entirely on abstract and speculative principles, 
 without sufficiently attending to the effects of parti- 
 cular institutions, and to the various phenomena ma- 
 nifested in the progress of society. But notwith- 
 standing the detective mode in which the econo- 
 mists conducted their researches, they succeeded 
 in establishing- and elucidating many important 
 principles ; and there is certainly much more rea- 
 son to wonder at the general correctness of their 
 conclusions, than to feel surprised at the errors into 
 which they fell. Quesnayand his disciples established, 
 that society was formed for the purpose of securing the 
 greatest possible advantage to its members ; that the 
 security of property and the freedom of industry 
 were its essential bases ; and that the proper busi- 
 ness of the politician was not to interfere to regulate 
 the pursuits of individuals, but to protect the equal 
 rights and liberties of all, and to secure the utmost 
 freedom of competition in all the departments of m- 
 dustry. And though it is undoubtedly true, that most 
 of these principles had been pointed out by previous 
 writers, Quesnay and his school have the unques- 
 tionable merit of being the/r*/ who showed their de- 
 pendence on each other, who presented them in a 
 systematic and consentaneous form, and who were thus 
 enabled to give a scientific demonstration of the in- 
 justice and impolicy of such institutions as igno- 
 ranee or mistaken views of national interest had es- 
 tablished in opposition to them. 
 
 In our article on Political Economy we have 
 shown the fallacy of Quesnay's opinion with re- 
 spect to agriculture being the only source of 
 wealth ; and the experience of all ages sufficiently 
 
 QUE 
 
 proves that the despotisme legal, in the hands of an Quesnay. 
 hereditary monarch, wiiiiout conlreforces of any kind, 
 which he strangely supposed was the best of all pos- 
 sible governments, is about the very worst. * _ ' 
 Notwithstanding his great age, and the sufferings 
 he experienced from the almost incessant attacks of 
 the gout, the activity of Quesnay's mind continued 
 unimpaired. // a, said one of his friends, nne tele de 
 trente ans sur itn corps de quatre-vingts. He con- 
 tributed, subsequently, to the publication of the 
 Physiocratie, many acute and able articles to the 
 Ephemerides du Citoyen ; and continued wholly oc- 
 cupied with these studies and mathematics, to which 
 he had latterly begun to pay considerable attention, 
 till his death, which took place at Versailles, in 
 December 1774, in the 80th year of his age.^ 
 
 Quesnay was a roan of the most inflexible integri- 
 ty ; the nicest sense of honour ; and the greatest 
 prudence and discretion. Though highly esteemed 
 by the King, and long resident at Court, he never 
 intermixed in the intrigues of which it was the con- 
 stant theatre. No one ever scrupled to express him- 
 self freely in his presence, nor was the confidence 
 placed in him ever betrayed. " II recevoit chez lui 
 des personnes de tous les partis, mais en petit nom- 
 bre, et qui toutes avoient una grande confiance en 
 lui. On y parloit tres hardiment de tout ; etce qui 
 fait leur eloge et le sien, jamais on na rien repete." f 
 To the utmost frankness and sincerity, he added the 
 easy address and polished manners of a courtier and 
 the intelligence of a philosopher. No man was 
 ever less solicitous of distinguishing himself, or more 
 careful to offend the self-esteem of others. His con- 
 versation was animated, without the least effort at 
 brilliancy. So much, indeed, was he averse to 
 every appearance of pretension, that he was in the 
 habit of veiling the most profound remarks and ob- 
 servations, under the form of apologues, which gene- 
 rally referred to some subject connected with rural 
 affairs, to which he was always particularly attached. 
 He was most indulgent to the faults and errors of 
 others, provided they were unalloyed by any taint 
 of artifice or baseness, for which he never hesitated, 
 whatever might be the rank of the party, to express 
 the utmost contempt. Quesnay was truly a patriot 
 and a philosopher. And we doubt much whether 
 another instance can be produced of one who had 
 lived so long in a profligate and luxurious Court, 
 unsullied by its vices, and aloof from its contentions; 
 and who preserved, to an extreme old age, all those 
 generous and kindly feelings, with that unobtrusive 
 but ardent zeal in the cause of humanity, and that 
 love of speculation and profound inquiry, which dis- 
 tinguished his earlier years. 
 
 Quesnay, says Madame du Hausset, " etoit un 
 grand genie, suivaot I'opinion de tous ceux qui 
 
 * We are at a loss to conjecture the grounds on which Mr Chalmers has presumed to affirm (Biographtcal 
 Dictionary Vol. XXV. Art Quesnay). that the " economists abused their influence by crculatrngdemocra- 
 ?calTincip It would be quite_ as correct to say, that Locke and his followers had abused their m- 
 
 fluence, by circulating despotical principles. „„„fl,i^„«<» 
 
 ^Journal de Madame du Hausset in the Melanges. S^c. p 277- A striking instance 
 placed by the most opposite parties in Quesnay is given m the second volume of Marmontel s Memoirs, ■ 
 
QUE 
 
 Uuesnay I'avolt connu et de plus un homme fort gai. II 
 aimoit causer avec moi de la campagne ; j' y avois 
 .dnorshire. elevee, et il me faisoit parler des herbages de 
 Normandie et du Poitou, de la richesse des fermiers, 
 et de la maniere de cultiver. C'etoit le meilleur 
 homme du monde, et la plus eloigne de la plus petite 
 intrigue. II etoit bien plus occupe la cour de la 
 meilleure maniere de cultiver la terre que de tout ce 
 que s'y passoit." {Melanges, p. 343.) 
 
 " Tandis," says Marmontel, " que les orages se for- 
 moient et se dissipoient au-dessous de Tentresol de 
 Quesnay, il grifFonnoit ses axiomes et ses calculs 
 d'economie rustique, aussi tranquille, aussi indifferent 
 a ces mouvemens de la cour, que s'il en eut ete a cent 
 lieues de distance. Labas, on decidoit dela paix, de 
 la guerre, du choix des gen^raux, du renvoi des mi- 
 nistres ; et nous, dans I'entresol, nous raisonnions 
 d'agriculture ; nous calculions le produit net, ou quel- 
 quefois nous dinions gaiement avec Diderot, d'Alem- 
 bert, Duclos, Helv^tius, Turgot, BufFon; et M.me de 
 Pompadour, ne pouvant pas engager cette troupe de 
 philosophes a descendre dans son salon, venoit elle- 
 meme les voir a table et causer avec eux.'* 
 
 Dr Smith was well acquainted with Quesnay. He 
 frequently met with him during his residence at Pa- 
 ris in 1766 ; and while he bears the most honoura- 
 ble testimony to the " modesty and simplicity" of 
 his character, he has pronounced his system to be, 
 " with all its imperfections, the nearest approxima- 
 tion to the truth that has yet been published on the 
 subject of Political Economy." (Wealth of Nations, 
 Vol. III. p. 28.) So highly, indeed, was Dr 
 Smith impressed with a sense of his merits, as a man 
 and a philosopher, that it was his intention, had he 
 not been prevented by Quesnay's death, to have in- 
 scribed to him the Wealth of Nations. (Mr Stew- 
 art's Account of the Life and Writings of Dr Smith.) 
 Quesnay had a son by his wife, to whom he was 
 
 RAD 
 
 411 
 
 united when at Mantes. He gave him an excel- Quesnay 
 lent education ; and exhibited a striking proof of || 
 his disinterestedness, by constantly refusing to solicit 
 for him any place or situation under government. 
 This son ultimately settled in the country on an 
 estate near Beauvoir. One of Quesnay's grandsons 
 was appointed by Turgot to a place in the admi- 
 nistration ; and another entered the army, and acted 
 as a captain of infantry at the battle of Jemappes. 
 
 No man was ever more esteemed by his friends 
 than Quesnay, and none ever existed who was more 
 ready to do all in his power to advance their inte- 
 rests. Mercier de la Riviere, the author of the 
 work Sur I'ordre Naturel et Essentiel des Societes 
 Politiqites, and who had been Intendant at Marti- 
 nique, seems to have occupied the chief place in his 
 esteem, and was regarded by him as the only person 
 in France who was qualified to conduct the admini- 
 stration of the Finances. He was also much attach- 
 ed to the Marquis de Mirabcau, Turgot, Dupont, 
 the Abbe Baudeau, and the other leading economists, 
 who willingly acknowledged him for their master, 
 and enthusiastically exerted themselves to defend 
 and propagate his doctrines. " The economists 
 were in reality, and not merely in appearance, a sect 
 of philosophers. 
 
 Secta fuit servarc motlum, finemque tueri 
 Naturamque sequi, ritamque impendere vero, 
 Nec sibi sed toto genitum se credere murido. 
 
 They acted from honest zeal for the truth, and not 
 from fashion, eccentric tastes, or the love of singula- 
 rity; their sole object was to enlighten and improve 
 mankind ; and to them, among political inquirers, 
 belongs the rare praise of having first pointed out the 
 natural order of things, or the observed course of na- 
 ture in the conduct of the world, as the example and 
 guide of human policy." (s. s.) 
 
 RAD 
 
 oundarles RADNORSHIRE, an inland county of South 
 Extent. Wales, bounded on the north by Montgomeryshire, 
 on the west by the counties of Cardigan and Brecon, 
 on the south-east by Herefordshire, and on the north- 
 east by Shropshire. Its extremities from east to 
 west are twenty miles, and from north to south 
 twenty-four miles, as under. Its surface is computed 
 to measure 426 square miles, or 272,640 English 
 statute acres. 
 
 The population in 1811 amounted to 20,900 
 souls, and in 1821 to 22,503, of whom 11,300 
 were males, and 11,203 females. The total sum 
 charged to the property-tax in 1811, under the 
 heads of rent of land and tithes, was, for the former, 
 L. 88,250, and for the latter L. 9373. On comparing 
 these numbers with the Other returns of Great Bri- 
 tain, it appears that this county is the lowest in nu- 
 
 Population 
 and Rental. 
 
 merical population, except the county of Rutland ; 
 although its annual rental is higher than either 
 Anglesey or Merioneth. 
 
 This district of country continued under the ju- jurisdiction 
 risdiction of the Lords Marchers, until it obtained and Divi- 
 the privileges of a county by act of Henry VIII., and^'°"®" 
 was divided into the hundreds of Radnor, Knighton, 
 Painscastle, Rhayder, Colwyn, and Kevenlleece. By 
 the same act it was also empowered to return two 
 members to Parliament, one for the county, and one 
 for the contributary boroughs of Radnor, Rhayder, 
 Knighton, Knuclas, and Kevenlleece. The county 
 is farther divided into parishes and townships. The 
 former are fifty- two in number, and are all in the 
 diocese of St David's, except five, which are included 
 in the English diocese of Hereford. New Radnor, 
 said to have been at one period the principal town 
 
412 
 
 RAD 
 
 Radnorshire, is now a very poor village ; it was an ancient borough 
 ^-•■^v'*^ by prescription, and has also had charters granted by 
 
 Queen Elizabethj and by George II. 
 Face of the Two-thirds of the whole area of the county are 
 Country. supposed to be uninclosed, and uncultivated. An 
 extensive mountainous tract, nearly in the centre, is 
 usually called the Forest, though there is no reason 
 to believe it was ever covered with trees. A part of 
 this range still belongs to the Crown, although the 
 forests of Radnor and Blathvagh have both been 
 alienated, and are now held by Thomas Frankland 
 Lewis, Esq. and Richard Price, Esq. as foresters. 
 There is nothing remarkable in the circumstances or 
 character of these mountains ; the summit of which 
 was ascertained, by Colonel Mudge, to be 2163 feet 
 above the level of the sea. Within their limits is a 
 torrent, called by a name, which, when translated, is 
 " Water-break-its neck," that falls abruptly from a 
 height of about 150 feet. The higher ranges pro- 
 duce only heath, but the sides and lower parts of the 
 hills, which are less exposed to the winds, are en- 
 tirely devoted to the pasturage of sheep and small 
 horses. The north-western angle of the county is 
 jQQOuntainous and uninclosed, and it was in the re- 
 cesses of these wilds that the British monarch, Vor- 
 tigern, retreated from the Saxons. On the eastern 
 and southern districts, the valleys are wider and more 
 fertile, and abound with small rivulets: the hills are 
 less elevated, and are partially clothed with wood. 
 Soil andCli- The soil of this county is as varied in quality as 
 mate. its position is in elevation. A small portion of the 
 southern angle is composed of the fertile red earth, 
 which prevails in the adjoining counties of Brecon 
 and Hereford. The mountains on the western side 
 are chiefly of the primary slate rocks which abound 
 in Wales ; and the valleys between these and the fo- 
 rest have frequently a clayey substratum retentive 
 of water. The forest, and thfi other subordinate 
 hills connected with it, consist of a slatey rock, con- 
 taining a portion of lime, which decomposes rapidly 
 on exposure to the atmosphere. The valleys to the 
 eastward of this range are chiefly of a fertile loamy 
 soil, incumbent on an extremely absorbent gravel. 
 The climate is wet and stormy, and the spring months 
 are particularly cold and ungenial. It is, neverthe- 
 less, healthy : there are no peculiar or prevalent 
 diseases, and the inhabitants are robust and long 
 lived. 
 
 The principal river is the Wye, which enters the 
 county at Savan y Coed, and flows to the south till 
 it divides it from Brecon. Its tributary streams are 
 the Elan, the Ithon, the Edda, and the Mackwy. 
 The river Terne flows on the eastern border, and 
 continues it« course by Ludlow to the Severn. The 
 Lug and the Arrow, in the more central parts, form 
 considerable streams before they enter the county of 
 Herefoi-d. There are some small lakes or pools 
 requiring notice only as contributing to the beauty 
 of the scenery. These are — Llyn, Llanbychllyn, 
 Hendwell Pool, and Llyn-Gwyn. A cataract, at 
 Rhayader, was formerly an object much visited by 
 travellers; but the construction of a bridge has 
 widened the channel, and deprived it of much of its 
 remarkable character. 
 Agriculture. The agriculture of the county is gradually im- 
 proving. Irrigation has long been practised to a 
 
 Rivers and 
 LaKes. 
 
 RAD 
 
 considerable extent, and its effects on absorbent Radnorshire 
 soils are found to be highly beneficial ; but the pro- 
 cess is not conducted in the most scientific manner. 
 Lime is abundantly used as a manure, and is chiefly 
 supplied from a valuable stratum of rock near Old 
 Radnor. The ploughing was usually performed by 
 two oxen and two horses; but oxen are now seldom 
 used, and the plough with two horses is in gradual 
 adoption. The implements of husbandry are, for the 
 most part, in a rude form. Most of the farms con- 
 sist of an equal portion of arable and of grass land. 
 The latter is generally appropriated to the dairy, 
 and the young cattle are reared on the more hilly 
 and barren spots. About one-fifth of the county is 
 under the plough, and one tenth meadow : the re- 
 mainder is generally used for sheep walks. 
 
 In the mountainous districts the cattle differ little Cattle. 
 from those which are common in the principality of 
 Wales, but in the more fertile parts the Hereford- 
 shire breed prevails. The sheep are small, and when 
 fattened, their mutton is excellent : the horses also 
 are generally small, strong, and hard}'. 
 
 There is little commerce carried on in this coun- (^Q^j^gj.^,. 
 ty, and the only manufactures are of flannels and Manufac- 
 coarse woollen cloths, which the inhabitants make tures, and 
 for their own use. Cattle, sheep, horses, wool, but- ^""^l** 
 ter, and, from the south-east districts, a surplus of 
 grain, are sent annually to the markets of England. 
 The county is not known to contain any valuable 
 minerals. A lead mine has been opened and aban- 
 doned, and, in some places, an uncertain belief has 
 prevailed of the existence of copper. Various mine- 
 ral springs are known, and Llandrindad is a place of 
 resort on account of the medicinal qualities of its sa- 
 line sulphureous, and chalybeate wells. In several 
 other parts are similar springs, the properties of 
 which have not been accurately ascertained. 
 
 There are many vestiges of antiquity. The Ab- Antiquities, 
 bey of Cwm Hir stood formerly in a singularly retir- 
 ed and romantic situation on the banks of a rivulet, 
 which runs into the Wye. A small vestige remains 
 of a castle at Nev/ Radnor, which was assailed and 
 destroyed " by the irregular and wild Glendower," 
 previous to the battle noticed by Shakespeare, in 
 the first part of Henry IV., when Mortimer was 
 taken prisoner. It was fought at Pilleth in this 
 county. A Roman road, which reached from 
 Chester to Caermarthen, traversed this county, en- 
 tering its confines on the northern extremity, in 
 the direction of Newtown, following the valley of 
 the river Ithon, and crossing the Wye into Breck- 
 nockshire, near the town of Beulth. At Cwm, near 
 Llandrindad, the remains of a Roman station, on this 
 road, are still discernible. 
 
 The market towns, and their present population, 
 are as follows: Presteign, 1387; Knighton, 1000; 
 Rhayder, 647- The principal gentlemen's seats are — 
 Slanage Park, Edward Rogers, Esq. ; Maeslowgh, 
 Walter Wilkins, Esq. ; Harpton Court, T. Frankland 
 Lewis, Esq. ; Wellfield, D. Thomas, Esq. ; Downton, 
 Percival Lewis, Esq. ; Pennybout Hall, J. C. Severn, 
 Esq.; Cwm- Elian, R. Peel, Esq.; and Noyadd, H. 
 Powell Evans, Esq. 
 
 See Ree^' South Wales, Malkin's Sauth Wales, 
 Clark's Agriculture of Radnorshire, Barber's Tour 
 through South Wales, (w. w.) 
 
RAILWAY. 
 
 413 
 
 RjiUway. RAILWAY, a species oF road or carriage-way, 
 in which the track of the carriage-wheels being laid 
 with bars, or rails, of wood, stone, or metal, the 
 carriage is more easily drawn along this smooth sur- 
 face than over an ordinary road. 
 
 Wooden railways are said to have been intro- 
 duced at the Newcastle coal-mines so early as the 
 year 1680, for transporting the coals from the mouth 
 of the pits to the ships in the river Tyne. Even at 
 that period, many of these mines employed each 
 of them 400 or 500 carts in this traffic ; it be- 
 came, therefore, an object of manifest importance to 
 reduce the great expence thereby incurred in the 
 keeping up of horses, drivers, and roads ; and the 
 plan of wooden rails was the best, and, indeed, the 
 only effectual method which could at that time have 
 been devised for the purpose ; for which also the si- 
 tuation was in other respects favourable, presenting 
 in most cases an easy descent towards the river. 
 These railways then were very generally introduced, 
 and continued for a long period in use in this part 
 of the kingdom. Slips of ground of the requisite 
 breadth for the railway were marked out between the 
 coal-pits and the river, and were either leased by 
 the coal owners, or purchased of the different pro- 
 prietors whose ground the proposed line of road in- 
 tersected in its course. To obtain the most easy 
 and regular descent, this line was varied in its direc- 
 tion to meet the inequalities of the ground; or, where 
 these inequalities were inconsiderable, it was carried 
 straight forward, and the regular slope made up by 
 embankments and cutting. The ground being then 
 smoothed and levelled as for an ordinary road, large 
 logs of wood, termed sleepers, cut in lengths equal 
 to the breadth of the road, were laid across it, and 
 firmly bedded into it at short distances, to sustain and 
 hold fast the rails, or slips of wood, on which the 
 waggon-wheels were intended to run. These rails 
 were made of beech, and were laid end to end, so as 
 to form two continued lines of rail or wooden ridges, 
 running parallel to each other, along each side of 
 the road, crossing the large logs at each of their ex- 
 tremities, on which they rested as on so many 
 foundations; and were also nailed, or otherwise se- 
 cured, to keep each piece in its proper place. The 
 waggons were of the usual construction, but of a 
 large size, so as to contain several tons of coals, and 
 set upon low wheels ; the smoothness of the way 
 rendering wheels of the ordinary size unnecessary. 
 On these rails a single horse could readily draw 
 three tons of coals from the pits to the river. Where 
 any steep declivity occurred on the road, this was 
 termed a run, or an inclined plane ; and on it the 
 descent of the waggons was retarded, and regulated 
 by a species of brake, or crooked lever, termed a 
 convot/, attached to the waggon and managed by 
 the driver. The banks of the Tyne, near Newcas- 
 tle, are remarkably steep on each side ; but instead 
 of forming inclined planes on them, the railway was 
 here continued on a wooden stage, raised to the 
 same height as the top bank of the river, and carried 
 forward until it came perpendicularly over the river 
 side, where a wooden platform, termed a staith, was 
 erected for the convenience of delivering the coals ; 
 the waggons being emptied into a trough, or spout, 
 
 VOL. VI. PART II. 
 
 down which the coals descended either directly Into Railway, 
 the ships, or into the store below. s^v-^^ 
 
 Such was the construction of the original railways, Iron Rail- 
 in which we evidently perceive all the parts and ^^y^* 
 members of the railway as it is formed at the present 
 day ; viz. the regular formed road, the rails, the 
 sleepers, the low waggons, and the inclined plane. 
 Their only defect consisted in the soft and decaying 
 nature of the wood, the wear and tear of which caus- 
 ed such expence for repairs, as greatly limited their 
 application ; so that it was only the shortness of the 
 distance, and the great extent of the traffic, which 
 rendered their application at all beneficial. It was 
 only about the year 1738 that they were attempted 
 in the cilleries of Whitehaven ; and it does not 
 appear that they were adopted in any other part " 
 of the kingdom. The use of iron, therefore, in. 
 place of wood, was an essential improvement in the 
 construction of railways, and caused, indeed, a com- 
 plete change in this, as it has done in every other 
 branch of practical mechanics into which it has been 
 introduced. Flat bars of iron were at first fastened 
 on the top of the wooden rails ; but after various 
 unsuccessful attempts, the rails themselves were at 
 last wholly composed of iron, cast in short bars, 
 united at their extremities, and resting on sleepers, 
 or square blocks of stone, disposed at short dis- 
 tances along each side of the road ; and this con- 
 struction having been once fairly reduced to prac- 
 tice, was not only adopted universally in place of 
 wood, but soon led to new and more extensive ap- 
 plications. Iron railways were quickly introduced 
 into all the coal and mining districts of the kingdom. 
 They were employed on canals, in place of locks, to 
 raise the barges on an inclined plane from a lower 
 to a higher level ; in some instances they were adopt- 
 ed in preference to the canal itself; and, on the 
 whole, they now form an important auxiliary to in- 
 land navigation, pushing the channels of trade and 
 intercourse into districts otherwise inaccessible, and 
 even into the interior of the mines. 
 
 The railways in Britain are so numerous, that'Railways in 
 it would exceed our limits to specify the particular ^^la"^ 
 lines. In the Newcastle coal district, on the river Wear, * 
 in the coal and raining districts of Yorkshire and 
 Lancashire, as well as of Derbyshire and Staffordshire, 
 there are numerous railways branching off from the 
 navigable rivers and canals to the different mines. 
 In Shropshire also, and in the great mining districts 
 along the vale of the Severn, the use of railways is 
 very general, and it was here that the inclined plane 
 was first brought in aid of inland navigation. In 
 Surrey, there is a railway of a considerable extent, 
 termed the Surrey Railway, and this presents one of 
 the few attempts that have been made to form pub- 
 lic railways for general use. In the great mining 
 districts on the west of the Severn, including South 
 Wales, the rail or tram roads are very numerous ; 
 and here, owing to the steepness and impracticable 
 nature of the ground, they have been of essential 
 utility in supplying the place of canals. In the year 
 1791» there was scarcely a single railway in all South 
 Wales, and in 1811, the completed railroads con- 
 nected with canals, collieries, iron, and copper-works 
 in the counties of Monmouth, Glamorgan, and Caer» 
 3 G 
 
4.U RAIL 
 
 Railway, mar then, amounted to nearly 150 miles in length, 
 ^^^/"^ exclusive of a great extent within the mines them- 
 selves ; of which one company in Merthyr-Tydvil 
 possessed 30 miles under ground. In Monmouth- 
 shire, the Sirhoway railway forms one of the first in 
 point of magnitude which has hitherto been con- 
 structed. It extends from Pilgwelly, near New- 
 port, to the Sirhoway and Tredagar iron-works, dis- 
 tant 23 miles, whence it is continued five miles far- 
 ther to the Trevil lime-works, in Brecknockshire, 
 along with a branch to the west, to the Rumney and 
 Union Iron-works. This railway was made by the 
 Monmouthshire Canal Company, under the authori- 
 ty of an act of Parliament. From Sirhoway, a 
 branch proceeds eastwards to the Ebbwy werks, and 
 I from thence down the course of the Ebbwy to Crum- 
 
 lin Bridge, whence it joins the canal from Newport ; 
 and from Sirhoway again, the Brinare railway is 
 continued over the Black Mountain to the vale of 
 the Uske at Brecon, and from thence to Hay on the 
 river Wye. In Glamorganshire, the principal rail- 
 ways are the Cardiff and Merthyr-Tydvil, the Aber- 
 dare, and the Swansea railways. In Caermarthen- 
 shire, the principal railway is that which extends 
 from Caermarthen to the lime-works near Llande- 
 bie, a distance of 15 miles. 
 
 From this account of the chief railways in Eng- 
 land and Wales, it will appear that this species 
 of inland carriage is principally applicable where 
 trade is considerable and the length of convey- 
 ance short ; and is chiefly useful, therefore, in trans- 
 porting the mineral produce of the kingdom from 
 the mines to the nearest land or water commu- 
 nication, whether sea, river, or canal. Attempts 
 have been made to bring it into more general use, 
 but without success ; and it is only in particular cir- 
 cumstances that navigation, with the aid either of 
 locks or inclined planes to surmount the elevations, 
 will not present a more convenient medium for an 
 extended trade. South Wales, however, presents an 
 example, where the trade being great, and also chiefly 
 descending, the country rugged, and the supply of 
 water scanty, railways have been adopted with com- 
 plete success ; and have been found in some cases at 
 least equal to canals in point of economy and dis- 
 patch. The Surrey railway, not having these ad- 
 vantages, has scarcely answered the expectations of 
 its projectors, more especially the southern line from 
 Croydon to Gadstone. It was at one time propos- 
 ed to continue this railway to Portsmouth, but the 
 plan was abandoned. 
 Railways in In Scotland there are various railways proceeding 
 Scotland, from the different mines throughout the kingdom. 
 
 The principal one in point of magnitude is the Duke 
 of Portland's railway, extending from the town of 
 Kilmarnock to the harbour of Troon, a distance of 
 nearly ten miles. Its chief object is the export of 
 coal and lime, in which articles a great trade is 
 carried on by means of the railway. In the coal 
 and mining districts round Glasgow, there are nu- 
 merous smaller railways, and also in the coal fields 
 of Mid Lothian and Fife. Plans have been proposed 
 for a public railway from Edinburgh to the different 
 coal-works in the neighbourhood. An extensive rail- 
 way was also at one time projected from Glasgow to 
 
 ^ A Y. 
 
 Berwick-upon-Tweed, but none of those schemes Railway, 
 have been carried into effect. ^^^v^ 
 
 The original wooden railways already mentioned Constructi< 
 are the model on which all the succeeding ones have^^ Railwaj 
 been formed, and of which we shall now describe 
 shortly the construction. In regard to the road it- 
 self, this should, in the first place, be formed in such 
 a direction, and with such a declivity as may best 
 suit the nature of the ground through which it passes, 
 and of the trade to be carried on upon it. If the 
 trade, for example, be all or chiefly in one direction, 
 the road should obviously decline that way, so that 
 the waggons, with their contents, may descend on 
 this inclined plane as much as possible by their own 
 gravity. The inclination should also be proportion- 
 ed to the extent of the trade up the railway, so that 
 the draught each way may be equal. If the ex- 
 ports and imports, therefore, be equal, the road should 
 be on a level ; and where the ground will not permit 
 that declivity or level best suited to the trade, the 
 line should be varied, and the inequalities made 
 up, if it can be done at a moderate expence, so as 
 to bring it as near as possible to the proper stand- 
 ard. If the inequalities are such as to render this 
 impracticable, the only resource lies in inclined 
 planes. Where the difference of level, for example, 
 between the two extremities of the road is such as 
 would render an equal declivity too steep, the road 
 must then be carried, either on a level or with the 
 due degree of slope, as far as practicable, and then 
 lowered by an inclined plane ; on which the waggons 
 are let gently down by means of a brake, are drag- 
 ged up by means of an additional power to that 
 which draws them along the road, or at once let down 
 and drawn up by means of a roller or pulley, the 
 heavier preponderating over the lighter. In laying 
 out a line of railway, therefore, as every situation pre- 
 sents peculiar circumstances, no general rule can be 
 laid down, and the plan must be left to the skill and 
 judgment of the engineer. 
 
 The line of railway being fixed on, the road is then 
 properly formed, and of such a width as will be 
 sufficient for containing the opposite rails, and for 
 forming a foot-path on one side. The distance be- 
 tween the opposite rails varies from three feet to four 
 and one half feet ; some preferring a long and narrow 
 waggon, and others a broad short one. Hence a 
 breadth of from nine to twelve feet will be sufficient for 
 a single road, and from fifteen to twenty for a double 
 one- The next operation is the setting and firm bed- 
 ding of the stone sleepers. These consist of solid blocks 
 of stone, each of the weight of one or two cwt. 
 Their shape is immaterial, provided their base be 
 broad, and their upper surface present an even and 
 solid basis for the rail. They are placed along each 
 side of the road, about three feet distant from each 
 other from centre to centre ; the opposite ones 
 being separated by the width between the opposite 
 rails. The ground under them is beat down to form 
 a firm foundation, or, if it be of a soft nature, is first 
 laid with a coat of gravel or small metal, and this 
 beaten under the stones ; the situation of each 
 stone being properly gauged both as to its distance 
 from the adjoining ones, and as to the level or de- 
 clivity of its upper surface, on which the rails are in- 
 
RAIL 
 
 Railway, tended to rest. The space between the sleepers is 
 then filled up with gravel, metal, or other road ma- 
 terials, such as may consolidate into a hard and firm 
 mass. 
 
 The next object is the construction of the iron 
 rails; and on this point two very different plans 
 have been adopted, each of which has its advocates, 
 and is practised to a great extent. The one is term- 
 ed the^a^ rail, or tram plate ; the rails being laid on 
 their side, and the waggon-wheels travelling over their 
 broad and flat surface. The other is termed the edge 
 rail J the rails being laid edgeways, and the wheels 
 rolling on their upper surfaces. The flat rail, or 
 tram plate, consists of a plate of cast-iron, about 
 three feet long, from three to five inches broad, and 
 from half an inch to an inch thick ; extending from 
 sleeper to sleeper, and having a flaunche turn up or 
 crest on the inside, from two and a half to four inches 
 high. This rail bears on the sleepers at each end at 
 least three inches, where the rails are cast about 
 half an inch thicker than in the middle. As there is 
 no intermediate bearing for the rail between the sleep- 
 ers, except the surface of the road, the use of the 
 flaunche is not merely to prevent the waggon from be- 
 ing drawn off the road ; it resists the transverse strain 
 arising from the weight of the waggon; on this account 
 it is often, and with great propriety, raised higher in 
 the middle than at the sides, forming an arch of a cir- 
 cle ; and, to strengthen the rail still farther, a similar 
 flaunche, arched inversely, is added below, as repre- 
 sented in Plate CXV. figs. 1 , 2, 3. The weight of each 
 rail is from forty to fifty pounds. To unite these rails 
 into one continued line, they are merely laid to each 
 other, end to end, all along each side of the road ; be- 
 ing kept in their places, and at the same time made 
 fast to the sleepers, by an iron spike driven through 
 the extremity of each rail into a plug of oak fitted 
 into a hole in the centre of each sleeper. This spike 
 is about six inches long ; it has no head, but the up- 
 per end, of it forms an oblong square, about one inch 
 broad, half an inch thick ; and the hole in the rails, 
 through which it passes, is formed by a rectangular 
 notch, half an inch square, in the middle of the ex- 
 tremity of each rail ; the opposite notches of each rail 
 forming, when laid together, the complete oblong 
 square of one inch by half an inch, and slightly dove- 
 tailed from top to bottom, so as to fit exactly the taper- 
 ing head of the spike, vsrhich is driven clear below the 
 upper surface of the rail. Plate CXV. fig. 4, repre- 
 sents a section of a rail, with its sleeper and fastening. 
 Wherever the rails cross any road, the space between 
 them and on each side must be paved or causewayed 
 to the level of the top of the flaunches, that the car- 
 riages on the road may be enabled to pass clear over 
 the rails. In single railways it is necessary to have 
 places at certain intervals where the empty waggons, 
 in returning, may get off the road to allow the loaded 
 ones to pass. A place of this kind is termed a turn- 
 out; and the waggons are directed into it by a move- 
 able rail termed a pointer, fixed at the intersection be- 
 tween the principal rail and the turn-out, and turning 
 on its extremity, so as to open the way into the turn- 
 out, and shut that along the road. This contrivance 
 is also used whenever one line of railway crosses an- 
 
 WAY. 415 
 
 other. It is represented at Plate CXV. fig. 5, where, Railway, 
 also, fig. 6 is a plan of the railway and of the turn- "^^^^"^ 
 out. 
 
 The tram roads have been universally adopted in 
 Wales, where they are preferred to any other spe- 
 cies. They are also used in most parts of England. 
 The Surrey railway is of this description, and was 
 designed by Mr Jessop. In Scotland the Duke of 
 Portland's railway, which, we believe, was planned 
 by the same engineer, is of the same kind, and the 
 rails nearly of the same dimensions. These flat 
 railways have one advantage, in admitting waggons or 
 carts of the ordinary construction, and this is particu- 
 larly exemplified in the Troon railway. According to 
 an account with which we have been favoured by Mr 
 Wilson of Troon, ** there are several kinds of wag- 
 gons used upon the railway under certain restrictions ; 
 such as four-wheeled waggons with flat bottom and 
 low shelmets for carrying stone, limestone, grain, 
 timber, slates, &c. from the harbour to Kilmarnock^ 
 the mills," &c. ** The common make of a cart is al- 
 lowed to use the railway if the wheels are cylindrical, 
 and there be no greater load on each pair than 28 
 cwt, A great deal is done with these carts in 
 carrying timber, barks, grain, &c., as, with the same 
 cart, they can carry these articles into and through 
 the streets of the town." 
 
 The other railways in Scotland, however, are 
 chiefly of the edge kind. In the principal collieries 
 of the north of England, also, the flat rail has been 
 almost entirely superseded by the edge rails, and the 
 latter are now generally admitted to be decidedly 
 superior in the ease of draught which they occasion ; 
 the edge of the bar presenting less friction, and be- 
 ing less liable to clog up with dust and mud, or to 
 be obstructed with stones driven off the road upon 
 the surface of the rails. The edge rail consists 
 merely of a rectangular bar of cast-iron, three feet 
 long, three or four inches broad, and from one-half 
 inch to one inch thick ; set in its edge between sleep- 
 er and sleeper, and bearing on the sleepers at its ex- 
 tremities. The upper side of the rail is flaunched 
 out to present a broader bearing surface for the 
 wheels, and the under side is also cast thicker than 
 the middle, for the sake of strength. But the great- 
 est strength is evidently attained by casting the rail 
 not rectangular, but deeper in the middle than at the 
 ends, to resist better the transverse strain. The 
 ends may be safely reduced nearly to one- third of 
 the depth in the middle, and still be equally strong. 
 To unite the rails together, and at the same time 
 preserve them in their places, and in their upright 
 position, and to bind them also to the sleepers, they 
 are set in a cast-iron socket or chair, which is at- 
 tached firmly to the sleeper. This socket embrac- 
 ing the extremities of the adjacent rails, which are 
 here made to overlap a little ; a pin is driven at once 
 through the rails and through the socket, and binds 
 the whole together. This is the general naethod of 
 uniting the edge rails, but the shape and dimensions 
 of the metal chair and of the overlap of the rails are 
 varied according to the judgment and taste of the en- 
 gineer. Plate CXV. fig. 7, represents a section of an 
 edge railway with the sleepers and waggons, &c. ; 
 
416 
 
 RAILWAY. 
 
 Railway, and figs. 8, 9, 10, is an enlarged section of a rail and 
 Uii-v— «J sleepers with a plan. Since edge railways have 
 come into more general use, an essential improve' 
 ment has been made in their construction by the use 
 of raalleable iron, in place of cast-iron, in forming 
 the rails. The advantage of malleable iron rails is, 
 that they are less subject to breakage than cast-iron ; 
 a circumstance of importance in this case, where it 
 is not easy to avoid those jolts and sudden shocks 
 which cast-iron is least of all capable of withstand- 
 ing, and though they should happen to give way, 
 they are easily repaired. They can also be laid in 
 greater lengths, and requiring therefore fewer joints ; 
 they can be bent with ease to the curvature of the 
 road ; when worn out they are of greater value ; 
 and lastly, their first cost is very little, if at all, 
 greater than that of cast-iron rails. Malleable iron 
 is, no doubt, less able to withstand exposure, decay- 
 ing more readily under the influence of air and mois- 
 ture; but hitherto this inconvenience has not been felt, 
 and, on the whole, the malleable iron is now decid- 
 edly preferred. These rails are laid and joined in 
 the same manner as the cast-iron, only in greater 
 lengths. Malleable iron, we believe, was first intro- 
 duced in railways by Mr George Grieve, at Sir John 
 Hope's collieries, near Edinburgh, where it was 
 first tried on the lighter work which is done under 
 ground. The rails consisted of square bars one inch 
 or one and one-fourth inch square, nine feet long, rest- 
 ing on one or two sleepers in the middle, and resting 
 and made fast to sleepers at the extremities ; a simple 
 knee being formed on each end of the bar, and the 
 two knees of each two adjacent rails jammed into 
 one socket in the sleeper. The use of these rails 
 was found so beneficial, that they have since entire- 
 ly superseded the flat cast-iron rail in general use at 
 the time of their invention. For heavier loads the 
 rails are made deeper. We have been favoured 
 with the following account of their construction by 
 an engineer (Mr Neilson of Glasgow) who has form- 
 ed several of the kind. 
 
 " One of them is on the property of the Earl of 
 Glasgow, commencing at the Hurlet extensive coal 
 and lime-works, and extending to the Paisley canal, 
 a distance of about two miles. It is formed of flat bar 
 iron two and one-fourth inches deep, by nearly three- 
 fourths of an inch thick, and the rail in lengths of 
 nine feet, each rail being supported at every three 
 feet by a sleeper and cast-iron chair. The joinings 
 are formed by a cast-iron dovetailed socket suited to 
 receive the jointed ends of the bar, and a dovetailed 
 glut or key, by which means the several rails are 
 Joined as if into one continued bar." 
 
 An improvement has lately been made in the con- 
 struction of malleable iron rails, which promises to 
 be of essential utility. It consists in the use of bars, 
 not rectangular, but of a wedge form, or swelled out 
 on the upper edge. In the rectangular bar there is 
 evidently a waste of metal on the under surface, 
 which, not requiring to be of the same thickness as 
 where the waggon-wheel is to roll, may be evident- 
 ly reduced with advantage, if it can be done easily. 
 The bar may then be made deeper, and broader at 
 the top than before, so as with the same quantity of 
 metal to be equally strong, and present a much 
 
 broader bearing surface for the wheel. This has Railway, 
 been accomplished by Mr Birkinshaw of the Bed- - -.■ ^ i_ 
 lington Iron-works, who has obtained a patent for 
 these broad topped rails. The peculiar shape is given 
 them in the rolling of the metal, by means of grooves 
 cut in the rollers, corresponding with the requisite 
 breadth, and depth, and curvature of the proposed 
 rail. Mr B. recommends his rails to be of 18 feet in 
 length. We have seen one of these patent rails 
 at Sir John Hope's colliery; and it certainly forms 
 the niost perfect iron rail which has hitherto been 
 contrived; combining very simply and ingeniously in its 
 form the qualities of lightness, strength, and durability. 
 It is twelve feet long, two inches broad along the top, 
 about half an inch along the bottom, and still thinner 
 between. It rests on sleepers at every three feet, 
 and at those places the rail is two inches deep, while 
 in the middle point between the sleepers it is three 
 inches deep. Fig. 1 1 is a longitudinal section of this 
 rail, and figs. 12 and 13 are transverse sections at the 
 sleepers, and at the middle point between each 
 sleeper. All these inequalities, we believe, are pro- 
 duced on the metal by means of the rollers ; and this 
 circumstance is well deserving of attention, as it may 
 obviously be applied not merely to the formation of 
 railways, but to a variety of other purposes in the 
 arts. The moulding and shaping of the metal in this 
 manner is quite a new attempt in the iron manufac- 
 ture, and it is not easy to say how far such an inven- 
 tion may yet be carried by the skill of British art- 
 ists. 
 
 The waggons used on railways are of various sizes, Waggon* 
 but of nearly the same general shape, and all set o-n used on 
 four wheels from two to three feet diameter. They Railways 
 are made to carry from 20 to 50 cwt. exclusive of 
 the waggon itself, which weighs from 12 t© 15 cwt. 
 The axles of the fore and hind wheels are fixed three 
 feet asunder or more, so that the rail is never loaded 
 with more than one-fourth of the waggon at once. 
 According to Mr Wilson, " The size of the coal 
 waggons of Kilmarnock colliery are, on an average, 
 mean length 80 inches, mean breadth 45 inches, and 
 depth 30 inches. Each contains 40 bushels, equal 
 to 32 cwt. of fine coal, and 35 cwt. of blind or malt- 
 ing coal. The weight of the waggon, exclusive of 
 the coal, is 13 cwt. Each waggon, including two 
 pair of wheels and axles, costs from about L. 13 
 to L. 15, and are mostly lined with sheet iron." In 
 Sir John Hope's railway the waggons are also nearly 
 of the above dimensions. In the Sirhoway railway 
 each waggon carries two and one-half tons. 
 
 In regard to the expence of constructing a rail- Expence of 
 way, this will depend greatly on the ease or diffi. constructing^ 
 culties to be ra^t with in forming the road, and mak- Railways, 
 ing up the inequalities to the required slope. The 
 above railway described by Mr Neilson cost only 
 L. 660 per mile ; but where there are considerable 
 embankments to form, bridges to build, and deep 
 cuttings, the expence may rise to L. 4000 and 
 LiSOOOper mile. The usual rate of tonnage on coals, 
 &c. conveyed on railways is 2d. per ton per mile. 
 
 An important consideration regards the work Comparative 
 done, or capable of being performed on a railway. ^^^^ 
 On this point, however, the accounts from different 
 railways are various ; the performance depending on 
 
E A I 
 
 Railway, many circumstances little attended to in the general 
 -—V'^-' estimate of work ; such as the quality of the horses, 
 the state of the road, the greater or less declivity of 
 the rails, and various other circumstances. More 
 exact observations or experiments are therefore want- 
 ing to form correct notions on this subject ; but in 
 the mean time, we shall state such facts as have 
 been noticed by different observers. The most ex- 
 act experiments were made by Joseph Wilkes, Esq. 
 of Measham in Derbyshire. The result is, that one 
 horse, value L.20, on a railway declining at the rate 
 of one foot perpendicular to 115 in the length of 
 the road, "drew 21 carriages or waggons, laden with 
 coals and timber, amounting in the whole to 35 tons, 
 overcoming the vis inertice repeatedly with great 
 ease." This performance appears, no doubt, enor- 
 mous ; but was evidently owing not so much to the 
 diminution of friction by the railway as to the great 
 declivity ; circumstances whose effect must be dis- 
 tinguished in order to obtain any general rule for 
 future works. It is well known that, on any inclin- 
 ed road or plane, every carriage has a tendency to 
 descend of itself, and with a force in proportion to 
 its own weight, exactly as the height of the plane is 
 to its length. In the above example, therefore, the 
 carriages, independent of any external force of 
 traction, would have been urged by their own gravi- 
 ty with a force of 115th of their weight, and equal, 
 therefore, to 680 lbs. But as it will not be too low an 
 estimate to assume 150 lbs. as the working draught of a 
 horse, hence the waggons would descend by their mere 
 weight as if they had been dragged on a level way 
 by at least four horses. If, then, to this 680 lbs. we 
 add 150 for the action of the horse, the sum, or 830 
 lbs. will be equal to the power necessary to overcome 
 the friction and inertia of these waggons, and which 
 appears by division to amount to ^^th of their whole 
 I weight ; so that, if the railway had been level, the 
 horse would only have drawn 6^th tons. Carriages 
 on an ordinary road require j'jth or ^^jth of their 
 actual weight to draw them along ; so that, on a 
 railway, the ease of draught is six times greater than 
 on a common road. The same horse, Mr Wilkes 
 observes, drew up the acclivity five tons with ease. 
 Here the v^eight of the waggon, or its 115th part, 
 would act against the horse, which would not only have 
 to overcome their friction and inerti£E,but to drag also 
 this additional load upwards. But -g^j + of 5 
 tons = 216 lbs., the force of traction, which was 
 evidently a strained effort. The same horse drew 
 three tons up an acclivity of 1 in 20. Here ^ + ^\ 
 of 3 tons, = 407 Ihs., a power of traction which few 
 horses could exert, and none could sustain for any 
 length of time. The other experiments of Mr 
 Wilkes agree nearly with the above. Mr Outram, 
 Engineer, observes, that, with a declivity of 1 in 
 108, the waggons will almost descend of themselves, 
 so that the horse has only to pull a little at his 
 load. This would make the friction and inertia 
 nearly ^^oth of the weight, and the draught of 
 a horse nearly 6|th tons. Mr Telford observes, 
 that in a railway, with a declivity of 1 in 98, a 
 horse will readily take down waggons containing 
 frpm 12 to 15 tons, and bring back the same with 
 
 REN 417 
 
 four tons in them. The total load, in the first case, Railway 
 would be about 18 tons, and in the second 8 tons. II 
 Here the waggons being urged with J^th of their Renfrew- 
 weight; this makes the friction and inertia equal ^^"^ , 
 to y^th of the weight, and the draught of a horse "-^.^^ 
 on a level way only 4|tli tons. In the Troon rail- 
 way, the declivity is about 1 in 660; and, according 
 to Mr Wilson's account, some horses take down two 
 and some three waggons each, containing 33 cwt. of 
 coal, and weighing itself 13 cwt., travelling at the 
 rate of three miles an hour. The total load here 
 may be averaged at 115 cwt. ; and, the waggons be- 
 ing used with of their weight, this makes the 
 friction and inertiae yijth of the weight, very nearly 
 equal to the last. We have been favoured by Mr 
 Grieve with the following particulars regarding Sir 
 John Hope's railway, which is of the edge kind. It is 
 on a level; and one horse draws five loaded waggons,, 
 each containing 30 cwt. of coals, and weighing, un- 
 loaded, 12 cwt. equal in all to 210 cwt. or 10| tons; 
 travelling at the rate of four miles an hour, deducting 
 stoppages. This makes the friction 150th of the load. 
 This performance is beyond any that we have yet 
 stated, and shows decidedly the ease of draught of 
 the edge rail. Previous to the formation of this rail- 
 way, it required eight horses for the work which is 
 now done with one. On the whole, then, it may be 
 concluded, that on a level tram road, making allow- 
 ance for the weight of the waggon, one horse will 
 be required for every four tons of coals, or other 
 articles conveyed ; and on an edge railway, one horse 
 will be required for every seven tons. On an ordi- 
 nary canal, one horse, with a boat, will be sufficient 
 for every 30 tons. But the first cost of a canal is 
 three or four times greater than that of a railway ; 
 so that, in some cases, it may become a question, 
 whether a railway might not be adopted with ad- 
 vantage. 
 
 On some of the railways near Newcastle, the wag- 
 gons are drawn by means of a steam-engine working 
 in a waggon by itself, the wheels of which are driven 
 by the engine, and acting on a rack laid along the 
 railway, impel forward both the engine and the at- 
 tached waggons : in some cases the wheels of the 
 waggon operate without rail work, by the mere fric- 
 tion between them and the railway. The steam- 
 engines employed for this purpose are of the high- 
 pressure kind ; these requiring no condensing appara- 
 tus. But this application of steam has not yet ar- 
 rived at such perfection as to have brought it into 
 general use. (r. r. r.) 
 
 REFRACTION (Double), See Addendum to 
 this Volume. 
 
 RENFREWSHIRE, a county in Scotland, lying situation 
 between 55° 41' and 55° 48' north latitude, and be- and Bound, 
 tween 4° 15' and 4° 53' west longitude; is bounded on a^es. 
 the west and north by the Frith of Clyde (excepting 
 that a small tract opposite the town of Renfrew is 
 situated on the north bank of the Clyde), and it has 
 Lanarkshire on the east and Ayrshire on the south. 
 From east to west it extends about 26 miles, and 
 from north to south from nine to 13 ; and has an 
 area of nearly 241 square miles, or 154,182 English 
 acres. It comprehends 21 parishes, besides a small Divisions. 
 
 » 
 
418 REN 
 
 Renfrew- portion of some others, the churches of which are 
 shire. situated in the adjoining counties. Two of the pa- 
 
 ■^•^^y^^ rishes, Eaglesham and Cathcart, belong to the 
 presbytery of Glasgow, and the other nineteen com- 
 pose the presbytery of Paisley. Notwithstanding its 
 moderate extent, its manufactures and commerce 
 render it one of the most important in Scotland. 
 
 Surface. About two-thirds of this district, comprising the 
 western and south-eastern sides, are hilly, the me- 
 dium elevation being from 500 to 600 feet ; Misty- 
 law, the highest hill, is about 1240 feet, and two 
 others may be about 1000. This division is, in ge- 
 neral, kept in pasture, for which it is better adapted, 
 by the nature of its surface, than for tillage ; though, 
 as it has a free light soil, which readily absorbs 
 water, it is seldom injured by moisture. The culti- 
 vated land lies on the north and north-east, and in 
 the centre of the county, on both sides of the 
 Black Cart. Of this, however, the greater part is 
 not level, but consists of low detached hills, among 
 which there is a good deal of natural wood in the 
 state of coppice, and many winding rivulets, which 
 give variety to the landscape. Much of this tract 
 has a close subsoil of small stones and coarse clay, 
 almost impenetrable to water, though there are here 
 many flat holms of great fertility. It is only between 
 Paisley and the Clyde that the country sinks down 
 to a plain, the extent of which does not exceed 
 12,000 acres. Here the soil is generally a deep 
 rich loam, of a dark brown colour, sometimes of the 
 nature of what is called carse clay ; and much of it 
 seems to have been formed by the deposition of ve- 
 getable mould from the higher grounds. Moss pre- 
 vails in the first and last divisions, but is not found 
 in the second or middle one, where the soil is pretty 
 uniform. 
 
 Climate. Like the other western counties of Scotland, Ren- 
 frewshire has a moist climate, with frequent rains ; 
 and the prevailing wind is from the south-west. At 
 Largs, a village in Ayrshire, near the western ex- 
 tremity of this county, the yearly quantity of rain, in 
 1809 and 1810, was 38f inches ; at Glasgow, near 
 the eastern extremity, for 30 years, from 1761 to 
 1790, it was 29*65 inches. 
 
 Rivers. The principal rivers are the Clyde, the "White 
 
 Cart, the Black Cart, and the Gryfe. The first, 
 which only flows along the boundaries of this 
 county, is by far the most considerable and im- 
 portant. The White Cart, which rises in Lanark- 
 shire, enters Renfrewshire from the south ; and, 
 flowing west towards Paisley, and then north, re- 
 ceives the united streams of the Black Cart and the 
 Gryfe at Inchinnan, and joins the Clyde about six 
 miles below Glasgow. By means of a short cut, a 
 little above Inchinnan, the White Cart has been 
 rendered navigable from Paisley to the Clyde. 
 The Black Cart from the south-west, and the Gryfe 
 from the west, meet at Walkinshaw, about two 
 miles above their confluence with the White Cart. 
 These streams are chiefly deserving of notice for 
 their being employed in giving motion to the cotton 
 and other mills seated along their course. Several 
 Other and smaller ones have been applied in the 
 same manner in various parts of the county ; a steady 
 
 REN 
 
 supply of water being secured by means of reser- I Renfrew^ 
 voirs, some of which are of the size and appearance f^"'^* 
 of considerable lakes ; or by enlarging the natural ' -'~ 
 lakes themselves, of which there are many. OfLaiakes. 
 these last, Castlesemple loch, in the middle of the 
 southern boundary, from whence the Black Cart 
 takes its rise, extending over about 200 acres, is the 
 most considerable. These streams and lakes abound 
 in the usual kinds of fish ; but tlje salmon fishery 
 on the Clyde, so far as it belongs to this county, is 
 not of great value, seldom affording a rent of more 
 than L. 200 a-year. 
 
 The minerals of this county are of great im- Mlttinerals. 
 portance, constituting the main source of its manu- 
 factures and commerce ; but we can only advert to 
 them very generally. Coal, limestone, and sand- 
 stone, are wrought at Neilston, one of the parishes 
 of the hilly district ; and both coal and lime have 
 been found in the flat district near Renfrew ; but it 
 is in the middle division that mines are wrought to 
 the greatest extent. Of coal there are generally 
 about 12 different works carried on; of which the 
 most extensive and valuable are at Polraadie, on the 
 north-east boundary, at Hurlet, three miles south- 
 east from Paisley, and at Quareltown, south-east 
 from the Bridge of Johnston, on the Black Cart, 
 near the centre of the county. The coal at this 
 latter place consists of five contiguous strata ; the 
 thickness of the whole, measured at right angles 
 to their surface, is upwards of 50 feet ; but as, in 
 some places, the seam forms a considerable angle 
 with the horizon, the thickness of the whole in these 
 places, measured vertically, is about 15 fathoms. 
 In consequence of this great depth, it is wrought in 
 floors or storeys. Limestone abounds in various 
 parts, and is commonly wrought at eight different 
 quarries. Ironstone in beds and balls is very gene- 
 rally diffused throughout this middle division of the 
 county. Considerable quantities of pyrites are found 
 in the stratum of coal at Hurlet and Househill, and 
 manufactured into sulphate of iron or green vitriol. 
 Alum is obtained at Hurlet, from the decomposed 
 schistus, which forms one of the strata of its coal 
 mines. Excellent freestone, lying near the surface, 
 is wrought near Paisley and at other places. 
 
 The valuation of the lands of Renfrewshire is VaT'aluation 
 L. 69,172, is. Scots ; but in 1811 the real rent of the^'^'"^ 
 lands was L. 127,068, 15s. 9d. and of the houses, 
 L. 106,238, 7s. 2d. Sterling. In 1795 the land rent 
 was only about L. 67,000, so that it must have near- 
 ly doubled in fifteen or sixteen years. The land- Esistates. 
 ed property in 1811 was divided into 328 estates; of 
 which 300 were under the valuation of L. 500 Scots, 
 and only six above L. 2000 Scots. Nearly half the 
 valuation belonged to estates held under entail, and 
 by corporations, which were not, therefore, allowed 
 to be brought to market. The number of free- 
 holders entitled to vote in the election of a member 
 for the county was 77; but it appears that more 
 than half this number voted on rights of superiority 
 only, and not as owners of estates. There are about 
 30 seats of noblemen and gentlemen, besides villas 
 belonging to merchants and tradesmen. The county 
 is well covered with woods and plantations. The 
 
REN 
 
 copse-woods, which are cut every SO years, used to 
 bring from L. 25 to L. 30 an acre. 
 
 Renfrewshire does not rank high as an agricultural 
 ^' district. Farms are generally fmall, seldom exceed- 
 ing 100 acres on the arable land, and 400 or .500 
 acres on the hills ; and the houses and other accom- 
 modations of the farmers are proportionally inferior 
 to those of their brethren in most other parts of the 
 lowlands of Scotland. The average rent per English 
 acre, in 1811, would be about 15s., varying from 2s. 
 or 3s. to L. 4 or L. 5 ; partly owing to situation, but 
 still more to the different degrees of the natural fer- 
 tility of the soil. Garden grounds let at from L. 8 
 to L. 10, and, in one instance near Greenock, as high 
 as L. 40 the English acre. The University of Glas- 
 gow have right to the tithes of several parishes near 
 that city, for which they receive, in some instances, 
 no more than 4s. per Scots acre, and in no case 
 more than 15s. The most common period of leases 
 here, as in other parts of Scotland, is 19 years; but 
 many are now shorter, though, in that case, it is the 
 practice to enter into a new lease, two or three years 
 before the old one expires. About two-thirds of the 
 arable land is almost always in grass, on which the 
 stock chiefly kept is cows, whose milk is made into 
 butter. There are few cheese dairies. The rotation 
 of crops is in many instances objectionable, two or 
 more corn crops being taken successively; clover and 
 rye -grass are sown only for hay; and turnips, even 
 upon the most suitable soils, are in very limited cul- 
 tivation. A flock of Merino sheep, consisting of 
 about 1000 or 1200, of the pure Paular breed, was 
 sent into this county in 1810, by Colonel Downie of 
 Paisley, who was then in Spain, some of which are 
 still to be found on the farms of the proprietors. In 
 other respects, the rural economy of Renfrewshire 
 presents nothing particularly worthy of notice. 
 
 It is by its manufactures and commerce that this 
 district has been long distinguished. Among its ma- 
 nufactures are cordage and sail-cloth, ship-building, 
 and sugar-boiling, at Greenock and Port-Glasgow, 
 with a variety of others subordinate to these ; but 
 Paisley and its environs have long been the seat of 
 its principal establishments. The linen manufacture, 
 in various forms, was carried on here more than a 
 century ago, and continued to extend till superseded 
 by that of cotton, about the year 1780. This last is now 
 by far the most extensive manufacture in the county; 
 and is conducted in all its various branches, from 
 the spinning of the yarn to the finishing of the finest 
 fancy goods. In 1810, the cotton yarn sold was said 
 to amount to L.630,000 ; and the capital employed 
 in the buildings and machinery of the mills was 
 estimated at L. 300,000. About 70OO looms were 
 then employed in the weaving of muslins, besides 500 
 which were wrought by steam, and produced coarse 
 cottons to the value of L. 125,000 yearly. Paisley 
 was long distinguished for its silk manufacture, which 
 is now inconsiderable ; and that of thread, though 
 still extensive, is said to be on the decline. Soap- 
 making, tanneries, distilleries, breweries, and foun- 
 deries, with a great many bleachfields and print- 
 fields, furnish employment to a large portion of the 
 inhabitants. 
 
 REN 4] 
 
 The principal towns are Paisley, Greenock, and Renfrew 
 Port-Glasgow, (See these Articles in the Encyclo- 
 pcedia.) It is at these towns, or rather at the two 
 last, that the foreign and coasting trade of the coun- 
 ty, and the principal foreign trade of Scotland, is 
 carried on. Greenock and Port-Glasgow have an 
 extensive trade with America and the West Indies, 
 Ireland, and the west of England ; and coastwise, 
 and, by means of the Forth and Clyde Canal, with 
 every part of Scotland. The canal proposed to be 
 earned from Glasgow to Ardrossan, through Paisley 
 and Johnstone, has been executed as far as John- 
 stone, eleven miles from Glasgow; and passing 
 through several populous parts of Renfrewshire, af- 
 fords great accommodation to the trade between 
 Paisley and Glasgow. The herring and whale fish- 
 eries were once prosecuted to a greater extent than 
 at present, though the former is still considerable ; 
 and the merchants of Greenock are extensively en- 
 gaged in the Newfoundland and Nova Scotia fish- 
 eries. As Renfrewshire does not raise enough of 
 grain for its consumption, a good deal of corn is 
 usually imported from Ireland and Canada, as well 
 as coastwise. The other imports are the raw mate- 
 rials of its manufactures, and the commodities re- 
 quired for the consumption of its inhabitants ; and 
 Its exports, the produce of its manufactures, mines, 
 and fisheries, and of its import trade from America 
 and the West Indies. 
 
 Notwithstanding the extensive manufactures ofpoor. 
 this county, the great fluctuation in the wages of 
 labour, and its dense population, which, in 1811, 
 was at the rate of 384 per square mile, there are 
 regular assessments for the poor only in two or three 
 parishes. In the rest of the count}', the poor are 
 supplied by voluntary contributions, aided by assess- 
 ments imposed when circumstances require them. 
 
 The county sends one member to Parliament; and Repreienta- 
 its only royal burgh, Renfrew, a place containing 
 about 1600 inhabitants, joins with Glasgow, Ruther- 
 glen, and Dumbarton, in the election of another for 
 the Scottish burghs. Paisley and Greenock, not- 
 withstanding their wealth and population, have no 
 vote. The SheriiF Court is now held at Paisley ; yet 
 Renfrew is still considered the county town, where 
 the quarter sessions are held, the head courts, and 
 the meetings of the freeholders for the election of 
 members of Parliament. 
 
 The population in 1754 was only 26,645; in 1801 Population, 
 h amounted to 78,056; in 1811 it was 92,596; to 
 which, if there be added the number of registered 
 seamen, about 5000, and of men serving in the 
 navy, army, and militia at the latter period, it would 
 appear that it had quadrupled within 57 years, a rate 
 of increase unexampled in any other county of Scot- 
 land. In 1821 it was 112,175; of which 51,178 
 were males, and 60,997 were females. The families 
 employed in agriculture were 2725 ; in trade and 
 manufactures, 15,780; in other occupations of va- 
 rious kinds, 5472. The increase of the population 
 from 1811 to 1821 was 19,579. 
 
 See the general works quoted under the former 
 Scottish counties, and Wilson's General P'ietv of the 
 Agriculture, S^c. of Renfremhire. (a.) 
 
420 RE 
 
 Rennie. RENNIE (JoHN, F.R. S.), Meclianist, Architect, 
 v""^and Civil Engineer, was born on the 7th June 1761, at 
 Phanlassie, in the parish of Prestonkirk, in the county 
 of East Lothian. His father, a highly respectable far- 
 mer, died in 1766, leaving a widow and nine children, 
 of whom John was the youngest. The first rudi- 
 ments of his education were acquired at the village 
 school ; and as it frequently happens, that some 
 trifling circumstance in early life gives a bent to the 
 pursuits, and fixes the destinies, of the future man, 
 so it fared with young Rennie. The school was 
 situated on the opposite side of a brook, over which 
 it was necessary to pass by means of a rustic bridge 
 of stepping-stones ; but when the freshes were out, 
 the only alternative of crossing the stream was by 
 means of a boat, which was kept at the workshop of 
 Mr Andrew Meikle, an ingenious mechanic, well 
 known in Scotland as the inventor of the threshing- 
 machine, and many improvements in agricultural 
 implements. In passing through this workshop, 
 which stood on his family property, young Rennie's 
 attention was forcibly drawn to the various opera- 
 tions that were in progress ; and a great part of his 
 leisure and holiday-time was passed therein. The 
 sons of Mr Meikle, and the workmen, seeing the 
 delight which he appeared to take in examining 
 their labours, were in the habit^ of indulging him 
 with their tools, and showing him their various uses. 
 His evenings were chiefly employed in imitating 
 those models which had particularly attracted his 
 attention in the workshop ; and it is known in the 
 family, that, at little more than ten years of age, he 
 had constructed the model of a windmill, a pile- 
 engine, and a steam-engine. That of the pile-en- 
 gine is still in existence, and is said to be remark- 
 ably well made. 
 
 Having continued at Preston school till twelve years 
 of age, he had a quarrel about that time with his 
 schoolmaster, whom he deemed incompetent to give 
 him further instruction, and therefore entreated that 
 he might be permitted to leave the school. But his 
 active mind became restless ; for the first time he 
 felt the hours hang heavily on his hands ; and having 
 expressed a wish to be placed under his friend Mr 
 Meikle, he employed himself with this ingenious 
 mechanic for about two years: but his mind ex- 
 panding with his. growth, be began to feel that the 
 progress of bis intellectual faculties was likely to be 
 retarded by a constant application to manual labour. 
 He therefore at length determined to place him- 
 self under the tuition of Mr Gibson, an able teacher 
 of mathematics at Dunbar ; where he soon distin- 
 guished himself in so particular a manner, that Mr 
 David Loch, General Inspector of the Fisheries in 
 Scotland, in describing a visit which he paid to 
 the school at Dunbar in 1778, notices the great 
 proficiency displayed by young Rennie ; prophesying 
 that at no distant period he would prove an honour 
 to his country.* From this school, in less than two 
 
 REN 
 
 years, he returned to Mr Meikle, with a mind well Rennie. 
 stored with every branch of mathematical and phy- "-^^^ 
 sical science which Mr Gibson could teach him. 
 About this time, Mr Gibson being appointed master 
 to the public academy of Perth, he earnestly recom- 
 mended young Rennie to succeed him at Dunbar. 
 But his views were of a more aspiring cast. As a 
 matter of favour, he undertook the management of 
 the school for about six weeks, when he returned to 
 his family, occasionally visiting and assisting his 
 friend Mr Meikle, but mostly improving himself in 
 drawing and making models of machinerj'. His 
 first essay in practical mechanics was the repairing 
 of a corn-mill in his native village ; and he erected 
 two or three others, before he was eighteen years of 
 age. 
 
 Resolved, however, that these mechanical occu- 
 pations should not interfere with his studies, he laid 
 bis plans so that he should be able to proceed occa- 
 sionally to Edinburgh, with a view of improving him- 
 self in physical science. He there attended the 
 lectures of Professors Robison and Black, and form- 
 ed that acquaintance with the former of these 
 gentlemen, which was gradually raised into friend- 
 ship, and which, perhaps, may be said to have 
 laid the foundation of his future fortune ; for by him 
 he was introduced to Messrs Bolton and Watt of 
 Soho near Birmingham. With these gentlemen he re- 
 mained but a few months, for the purpose of receiving 
 explanations respecting the plan of the Albion Mills, 
 then erecting, the machinery of which he superin- 
 tended. This exactly suited his views, for, conscious 
 of his own powers, he deemed the Capital the proper 
 theatre to try their strength, and in this he was not 
 mistaken. 
 
 In proceeding from Edinburgh to Soho, he had 
 taken the route by Carlisle, Lancaster, Liverpool, 
 and Manchester, for the purpose of visiting the dif- 
 ferent mills and public works in those great com- 
 mercial and manufacturing towns; and the remarks 
 which he made on the bridge then building over 
 the Lune at Lancaster, on the docks at Liver- 
 pool, and more particularly on the Bridgewater 
 canal, are distinguished by great sagacity, and were 
 of essential use to him afterwards. On leaving 
 Soho, he again made a tour through the manufac- 
 turing districts of Leeds, Sheffield, Rotherham, and 
 Newcastle. 
 
 For some time after he was settled in London, 
 the Albion Mills, of which Bolton and Watt and 
 Mr Wyatt were the projectors and leading pro- 
 prietors, and who engaged him to superintend the 
 execution of the mill-work, occupied a great share 
 of his attention. Mr Watt, in his Notes to Pro- 
 fessor Robison's Account of the Steam Engine, 
 says. That, " in the construction of the mill- 
 work and machinery, they derived most valuable 
 assistance from that able mechanician and en- 
 gineer Mr John Rennie, then just entering into 
 
 * Loch's Essays on the Trade, Commerce, Manufaciures, and Fisheries of Scotland, Vol. UL p. 211. 
 
REN 
 
 Rennie. business, who assisted in placing them, and under 
 whose direction they were executed." He also 
 says, that the machinery, which used to be made 
 of wood, was here made of cast-iron, in improved 
 forms, and thinks that this was the commencement 
 of that system of mill-work which has proved so be- 
 neficial to this country. In fact, Rennie's mills are 
 the most perfect species of mechanism in that way 
 that exist, distinguished by a precision of movement, 
 and a harmony and proportion of parts that now 
 ^ serve as models throughout the empire. His water- 
 mills are so accurately calculated, that every particle 
 of water is effectively employed, and none of it lost, 
 as in the common mode of constructing water-wheels. 
 There is reason to believe that the difficulties which 
 occurred at the Albion Mills with regard to the ebb 
 and flow of the tides, and which required all the in- 
 genuity of that extraordinary genius Mr Watt, first 
 led Mr Rennie to the study of that branch of civil 
 engineering connected with hydraulics and hydrody- 
 namics, and in which he soon became so celebrated, as 
 to have no rival after the death of Smeaton, in whose 
 steps, he always used to say, he was proud to follow. 
 
 Our limited space will not permit us to enter upon 
 even an enumeration of all his great works, much 
 less to give any detailed account of them; we must 
 therefore content ourselves by mentioning some of 
 the most important designs and undertakings in his 
 threefold capacity of mechanist, architect, and civil 
 engineer ; three branches of art so intimately blend- 
 ed, as scarcely to admit of a separation. 
 
 First, as a Mechanist Immediately after the 
 
 completion of the Albion Mills, in 1786 or 1787, 
 Mr Rennie's reputation was so firmly established 
 in every thing connected with mill-work, that he 
 found himself in a very extensive line of business. 
 To him the planters of Jamaica and of the other 
 West India islands applied for their sugar-mills, 
 which' he constructed in a manner so superior to 
 the old ones, that he soon obtained almost a mono- 
 poly of these expensive works. The powder-mill at 
 Tunbridge, the great flour- mill at Wandsworth, se- 
 veral saw-mills, the machinery for various breweries 
 and distilleries, were mostly of his manufacture ; and 
 wherever his machinery was required to be impelled 
 by steam, the incomparable engines of his friends 
 Messrs Bolton and Watt supplied the moving power ; 
 but, contrary to what has been stated in some of the 
 public journals, he never had the least concern in 
 directing, contriving, or advising any one part or 
 movement of the steam-engine. He also construct- 
 ed those beautiful specimens of machinery, the roll- 
 ing and triturating mills at the Mint on Tower- 
 Hill, to which Bolton and Watt's engines give mo-, 
 tion ; and, at the time of his death, he was engaged 
 in the construction of a rolling-mill, and similar ma- 
 chinery, for the intended mint at Calcutta. 
 
 As a bold and ingenious piece af mechanism, 
 which may be considered as distinct from positive 
 architecture, there is nothing in Europe that can 
 bear a comparison with the Southwark Bridge. The 
 tliree immense arches, the centre one of 240, and 
 each side arch of 210 feet span, consist entirely of 
 masses of cast-iron, of various forms and dimensions, 
 
 VOL. VI. PART II. 
 
 REN 421 
 
 put together, on the same principle as a similar fa- Rennie. 
 brie of hewn stone ; a method of employing iron, ^«^V^^ 
 which may be considered to form a new epoch in the 
 history of bridge building. Various sinister pre- 
 dictions were entertained against this light and beau- 
 tiful bridge, which was to be rent in pieces by the 
 expansive power of the first summer's heat, or, if 
 it escaped that, by the contraction of the first win- 
 ter's cold ; but it has stood the test of many win- 
 ters and summers, and appears not to feel either. 
 Mr Rennie was applied to by the East India Com- 
 pany for the design of a cast-iron bridge to be 
 thrown over the river Goomty at Lucknow, at the 
 desire of the Nabob Vizier of Oude. It consisted 
 of three arches of cast-iron, the centre arch nine- 
 ty, and each of the other arches eighty feet span. 
 The arches were cast, and a superintending en- 
 gineer sent out with them, but on their arrival the 
 Nabob, in one of those moments of caprice to which 
 eastern despots, even in their impotency, are so 
 liable, changed his mind, and would not allow it to 
 be put up. 
 
 Secondly, as an Architect. — As there are few 
 parts of civil engineering that do not occasionally 
 require the aid of architecture, Rennie, at a very 
 early stage of his progress, was called upon for a 
 display of his skill in this line. Among his first un- 
 dertakings in either line was that of the Lancaster « 
 Canal, which presented many difficulties, and, among 
 others, that of carrying it by an aqueduct over the 
 Lune, so as not to interrupt the navigation of the 
 river. Being one of the largest fabrics of its kind 
 in Europe, and of a pleasing design, it is an object 
 that arrests the attention of strangers, and is very 
 generally admired. The bridges of Leeds, Mussel- 
 burgh, Kelso, Newton-Stewart, Boston, New Gallo- 
 way, and a multitude of others, attest the architec- 
 tural skill, the solidity, and, we may add, the good 
 taste of Rennie; whilst a thousand smaller ones, with- 
 the various locks, wharf-walls, quays, embankments 
 appertaining to canals, rivers, and harbours in every ' 
 part of the United Kingdom, are so many proofs of 
 his diversified talent, and his skill in adapting the 
 means to the end. The Breakwater in Plymouth 
 Sound can scarcely be called an architectural work, 
 but it is constructed on true hydrodynamic prin- 
 ciples, and so gigantic in its dimensions, and Cy- 
 clopean in its structure, as equally to defy the force 
 of the waves and the ravages of time. To Mr Whid- 
 by, who has zealously superintended the execution 
 of this immortal work, now near its completion, 
 the highest praise is also due ; nor was the plan 
 finally determined on without his advice and assist- 
 ance. 
 
 But the architectural work which, above all others, 
 will immortalize the name of Rennie, is the Water- 
 loo Bridge, a structure which even foreigners admit 
 has no parallel in Europe (and if not in Europe, 
 certainly not in the whole world) for its magnitude, 
 its beauty, and its solidity. That a fabric of this im- 
 mensity, presenting a straight horizontal line, stretch- 
 ing over nine large arches, should not have altered 
 more than a few inches, not five, in any one part, 
 from that straight line, is an instance of firmness and 
 * 3 H 
 
422 
 
 REN 
 
 Rennie. solidity utterly unknown, and alnaost incredible ; * 
 but all Rennie's works have been constructed for 
 posterity; he made nothing slight; nor would he 
 engage in any undertaking where, from an ill-judg- 
 ing economy, a sufficiency of funds was not forth- 
 coming to meet his views. 
 
 Another work, from a design of his, is now likely 
 to be carried into execution, to which fur some years 
 past he had given his attention. It is that of a new 
 stone bridge over the Thames, to replace that dis- 
 grace to the present age, the existing London Bridge. 
 His design, which has been selected by a Committee 
 of the House of Commons out of at least thirty that 
 were offered, consists of a granite bridge of five arches, 
 the centre one of 150 feet span, which will be the 
 largest stone arch in the w^orld constructed in mo- 
 dern times. The execution of this work will form a 
 remarkable feature in the future history of the capi- 
 tal, for, of the five bridges which bestride the 
 Thames within the precincts of London, three of 
 them, and those beyond comparison the most mag» 
 nificent, will have been built from the designs of one 
 man ; — a record which will throw a lustre on the 
 name of Rennie, and be read with a feeling of pride 
 by every, even the most distant, branch of the fa- 
 mily. 
 
 Thirdly, as a Civil Engineer — The first great 
 attempt in this line of his profession was the survey 
 and execution of the Crinan Canal, a work remark- 
 able for the multitude of practical difficulties that 
 occurred throughout the whole of this bold under- 
 taking ; it being necessary in many places to cut 
 down through solid rock, to the depth of sixty feet; 
 and it is rather remarkable, that the second under- 
 taking, the Lancaster Canal, was also replete with 
 difficulties, and called for the exercise of his skill as 
 an architect, as we have seen in noticing the aque- 
 duct over the Lune. But these two works establish- 
 ed his reputation as a civil engineer, and his opinion 
 and assistance were required from all quarters. His 
 faculties were now called into full play, and they ex- 
 panded with the demands made upon them. The 
 rage for canals had pervaded every part of the king- 
 dom, and scarcely any of these useful means of con- 
 veyance and communication was thought of without 
 a previous consultation with Rennie ; so that in a 
 few years the surveys he was called upon to make 
 were so numerous, that he knew the surface of Eng- 
 land as it were by heart, and could tell at Once, 
 when a canal was projected, whereabouts the line of 
 it ought to be carried. The following are some of 
 the most important of those whose execution he 
 personally attended: Aberdeen, Brechin, Grand 
 Western, Kennet and Avon, Portsmouth, Birming- 
 ham, Worcester, besides many others. 
 
 But the resources of his mind were displayed in 
 all their vigour in the plans and construction of those 
 magnificent docks, which are at once an ornament 
 to the capital, and of the utmost utility to commerce 
 and navigation. Nor are these splendid and useful 
 
 REN 
 
 works confined to the metropolis. The docks at Rennie. 
 Hull, Greenock, Leith, Liverpool, and Dublin, at- "^—^-^ 
 test his skill ; and the harbours of Queensferry, Ber- 
 wick, Howth, Holyhead, Dunleary (now called 
 Kingstown Harbour), Newhaven, and several others, 
 owe their security and convenience to his labours. 
 
 But even those works, splendid as they are, must 
 yield to what he has planned and executed in his 
 Majesty's dock-yards at Portsmouth, Plymouth, Chat- 
 ham, and Sheerness. The latter was a mere quick- 
 sand of forty feet deep, mixed with mud and the 
 wrecks of old ships ; the whole of which was excavat- 
 ed, and a magnificent basin constructed, with a beau- 
 tiful surrounding wall of granite, with which three 
 of the finest dry-docks in the universe communi- 
 cate ; and that important dock-yard, which may 
 be said to command the mouths of the Thames and 
 the Medway, from being an unhealthy and detest- 
 able place, and wholly inefficient for its purpose, is 
 now, by being raised many feet, and laid out with 
 skill and judgment, one of the most convenient 
 in the kingdom. He also planned the new naval 
 arsenal at Pembroke, which is considered as a perfect 
 model for a building-yard. But his plan for the pro- 
 jected naval arsenal at Northfleet on the Thames was 
 far superior to all in design ; and on a scale so grand 
 as to be capable of containing afloat two-thirds of 
 the whole navy, with dry-docks and slips for repair- 
 ing and building ships of all classes to the same 
 extent ; with all manner of storehouses, workshops, 
 and manufactories of all such articles as were i-equir- 
 ed for consumption in the navy. But the estimated 
 sum of eight millions, which would probably have 
 amounted to ten, induced the Government to pause, 
 and it was finally deemed prudent to abandon the 
 design altogether. 
 
 The late excellent architect and civil engineer, 
 Mr Smeaton, was the first who used the diving-bell 
 effectually for building with stone under water ; but 
 the machine he employed for that purpose was very 
 defective, and could be used only in certain situa- 
 tions. But Rennie, by improvements in the instru- 
 ment itself, and in the machinery by which its move- 
 ments could be regulated, was enabled to carry on 
 the finest masonry, and the foundations of sea-walls, 
 piers, and quays, as well under water as above it. The 
 repairing of the pier-head of Ramsgate Harbour was 
 a remarkable instance of this kind. The violence of 
 the waves, acting upon the bad quality of the stone, 
 had so completely undermined it, that the stability 
 of the whole pier began to be endangered. It was 
 from ten to thirteen feet below the level of low-wa- 
 ter, spring- tides ; yet, by means of the improved div- 
 ing-bell, and its apparatus, the pier-head was not 
 only effectually secured, but rendered more solid 
 and durable than it originally had been. In the 
 harbour of Howth, the diving-bell was of the utmost 
 use ; and it is remarkable enough, that the masons 
 who have been for a little while accustomed to work 
 under water prefer it, at least the Irish masons do, 
 
 * The Bridge of Neuilly, which the vanity of the French has ranked as superior to that of Waterloo, ac- 
 tually sunk 23 inches. 
 
 4 
 
REN 
 
 Rennie. to working in the air ; it being cooler in summer, and 
 warmer in winter; though an increase of pay forsub* 
 marine work is probably the real cause of preference. 
 
 The last effort of Rennie's genius^ to which we shall 
 advert, was the drainage of that vast tract of marsh 
 land bordering upon the rivers Trent, Witham, New 
 Welland, and Ouse, which for centuries past had 
 baffled the skill of some of the ablest men in that de- 
 partment of civil engineering. Upon the same prin- 
 ciples, he laid down a grand scheme for draining the 
 whole of that immense district known by the name 
 of the Bedford Level, which has in part been carried 
 into execution by the completion of the Eau-brink 
 Cut, near Lynn. The estimate he made for drain- 
 ing the whole amounted to L. 1,200,000. 
 
 Such are some of the grand undertakings which 
 Rennie, during the last thirty years of his life, was 
 either employed to project or to carry into execu- 
 tion, and which, on a rough estimate, collected from 
 his valuable Reports, did not fall far short of forty 
 millions Sterling ; about twenty millions of which 
 were expended under his own immediate superin- 
 tendence. Indeed, few great works were carried on, 
 either by the public or individuals, on which he was 
 not either employed or consulted. His industry was 
 very extraordinary. Fond of the society of his select 
 friends, and of rational conversation, he never suffer- 
 ed amusement of any kind to interfere with his busi- 
 nesSj which seldom engaged less than twelve hours, 
 and frequently fifteen in the day. His conversation 
 was always amusing and instructive. He possessed 
 a ridi fund of anecdote, and, like his old friend 
 James Watt, told a Scotch story admirably. As a 
 travelling companion, he was highly entertaining ; he 
 knew every body on the road, and every body knew 
 John Rennie. Of an ardent and anxious mind, and 
 naturally impetuous, he was gifted with the most 
 perfect self-control ; and the irritation of the moment 
 was seen but as a light summer's cloud, passing across 
 his finely marked features, which were on so large 
 a scale, though blended with much mildness as well 
 as dignity, as to obtain for his noble bust by Chan- 
 trey, when exhibited in Somerset House, the name 
 of Jupiter Tonans. 
 
 Were we to seek for a parallel to Rennie, the 
 name of Smeaton would at once suggest itself. 
 Their boyhood was employed precisely in the same 
 manner, in making models of pumps and windmills, 
 while their school-fellows were at play; their pur- 
 suits in manhood were similar, and their paramount 
 success pretty nearly the same : but the spirit of 
 speculation and improvement was but just springing 
 up, when Smeaton finished his career, and when Ren- 
 nie began his. He was, in fact, the successor of 
 Smeaton. There was a strong characteristic like- 
 ness between Rennie and the late Mr Ram^den. 
 The pursuits of the former embraced a wider sphere 
 of action, but they both arrived at their proposed 
 objects by the most simple and obvious, and, at the 
 same time, most effectual means. They were both 
 equally clear in their mode of communicating infor- 
 mation to others ; and it is sufficiently remarkable 
 that, in their illustrations, both of them had re- 
 course rarely to any other instrument than a 
 two-feet rule, which each always carried in his 
 
 R E N' 423 
 
 pocket. Many a time has the writer of this article Kennie. 
 derived instruction from the two-feet rules of John '•^^-"'^-^ 
 Rennie and Jesse Ramsden. They were both equal- 
 ly communicative, when they saw that information 
 was desired ; and nothing like professional jealousy, 
 or selfish feelings, actuated either of these ingenious 
 men, who, on the contrary, were always kind and 
 condescending to the more humble artists of their re- 
 spective professsions. To foreigners, in particular, the 
 loss of Rennie will be severely felt; for to those who 
 visited England with the view of inspecting her arts 
 and manufactures, he was always ready to afford 
 every information, and all the facihties in his power. 
 
 Mr Rennie possessed considerable skill in biblio- 
 graphyt and being a zealous and liberal collector, 
 he succeeded in forming a very valuable library ; 
 consisting of the best and rarest books in all the 
 branches of science and art, of voyages and tra- 
 vels, and many curious books in the black-letter; 
 while in his own department, it contained every 
 work of the least merit, in whatever language it 
 might be written. He had, besides, a good collec- 
 tion of mathematical and astronomical instruments, 
 and frequently spoke of erecting an observatory, but 
 did not live to carry his intention into execution. 
 He had for some years laboured under a disease of 
 the liver, which had apparently yielded to the usual 
 treatment, but a relapse took place; and on the 16th 
 October 1821, after a few days illness, he expired 
 without a struggle, in the 60th year of his age. 
 
 Mr Rennie, in 1789, married Miss Mackintosh, 
 who died in 1806, leaving a family of seven young 
 children, six of whom are now living. The two 
 eldest, George and John, are successfully following 
 the profession, and promise to tread in the footsteps 
 of their late father. 
 
 Sixteen mourning coaches, filled with his friends, 
 mostly men of eminence in the arts, sciences, or li- 
 terature, followed his hearse to St Paul's, where his 
 remains were interred near those of Sir Christopher 
 Wren. A plain granite slab covers his grave, on 
 which is the following appropriate inscription : 
 
 Here lie the mortal remains of 
 JOHN RENNIE, 
 Civil Engineer, 
 F. R. S. L. & E. F. A. S. &c. &c. 
 Born at Phantassie, in East Lothian, 7th June 1761 ; 
 deceased in London 4th Oct. 1821. 
 This stone 
 testifies his private virtues, 
 and records 
 the affection and the respect of 
 his family and his friends ; 
 but 
 
 the many splendid and useful works 
 by which, 
 under his superintending genius, 
 England, Scotland, and Ireland, 
 have been adorned and improved^ 
 are 
 
 the true monuments 
 of 
 
 his public merit.. (k.) 
 
24 R O A D M 
 
 Road. ROADMAKING. There are few departments of 
 Hiaking. practical mechanics in which every individual, at 
 --v^ some period or other of his life, is more immediately 
 interested than in the management of roads and pave- 
 ments. The mechanical theory of the motions of 
 wheel carriages, and of the nature of the frictions 
 and resistances that they have to overcome, as relat- 
 ing to the ultimate objects for which roads are con- 
 structed, may naturally constitute the first section of 
 an essay on this subject ; the second will naturally 
 comprehend the best arrangement of the means for 
 attaining those objects, by the form and construction 
 of such roads and pavements as appear to be the 
 most eligible under various circumstances; and the 
 third may be devoted to some historical illustrations 
 of the principal roads which exist, or which have 
 existed, in various parts of the world. 
 
 Section I Of the Objects of Roads. 
 
 The grand object of all modern roads is the ac- 
 commodation of wheel carriages. The construc- 
 tion of foot paths and of bridle roads is so simple as 
 to require very little separate consideration : except 
 that, in cities and towns, the convenience of the in- 
 habitants requires that some pains should be taken 
 to avoid dust, and has generally been a reason for 
 employing pavements in preference to gravel roads, 
 which might in some other respects be more eligible. 
 
 For facilitating the motion of carriages, the most 
 essential requisite is to have the road as smooth, and 
 as hard, and as level as possible. The wheels of car- 
 riages are principally useful in diminishing the fric- 
 tion of the materials ; a dray sliding without wheels, 
 even on a rail road of greased and polished iron, 
 would have to overcome a friction as much greater 
 than that of the wheel on its axle, as the diameter of 
 the wheel is greater than that of the axle. The 
 wheels assist us also in drawing a carriage over an 
 obstacle ; for the path which the axis of the wheel 
 describes is always smoother and less abrupt than 
 the surface of a rough road, on which the wheel rolls, 
 and so much the smoother as the wheel is larger, 
 since the portions of larger circles, which constitute 
 the path in question, are less curved than those of 
 smaller ones. 
 
 But in all common cases of roads not extremely 
 hard, by far the greater part of the resistance, actu- 
 ally exhibited by a road to the motion of a carriage, 
 is that which depends on the continual displacement 
 of a portion of the materials from their inelasticity, 
 which causes them to exert a continual pressure on 
 the fore part of the wheet, without rising behind it 
 to propel it forwards by its reaction, as an elastic 
 substance would do. Hence, in a soft sand, although 
 the axles of the wheels may move in a direction per- 
 fectly horizontal, the draught becomes extremely 
 heavy. The more the wheel sinks, the greater is the 
 resistance, and if we suppose the degree of elastici- 
 ty of the materials, and their immediate resistance 
 at different depths, to be known, we may calculate 
 the whole effect of their action on the wheel, and 
 the force that is required to displace them, in the 
 progressive motion of the carriage. Thus, if the ma- 
 terials were perfectly inelastic, acting only on the 
 preceding half of the immersed portion of the wheel. 
 
 A K I N G. 
 
 and their immediate pressure or resistance were Road- 
 simply proportional to the depth, like that of fluids, ^ mak ing, 
 or that of elastic substances compressed, the hori- 
 zontal resistance would be to the weight nearly as 
 two fifths of the length of the part immersed at once, 
 in the newly formed rut, to the diameter of the 
 wheel ; or, on a still more probable supposition re- 
 specting the greater resistance of the more deeply 
 seated parts of the rut, about half as much as this, or 
 as about one fifth of the length of the part immersed 
 in the rut to the diameter. Thus, if a coach or wag- 
 gon, weighing sixty hundred weight, supported by 
 wheels four feet in diameter, formed a new rut, an 
 inch deep, in a smooth road, the length of the part 
 immersed being about fourteen inches, the resistance 
 would be about i\\h of the weight, upon the lowest 
 supposition that is at all admissible, and more pro- 
 bably about one ninth, or from six to seven hundred 
 weight at least ; and if the rut were two inches deep, 
 the resistance would be half as much more. But, on 
 any supposition, the increased height, and even the 
 increased breadth of the wheel, is calculated to di- 
 minish the resistance, by diminishing the depth of the 
 part immersed : thus, if a wheel were made four times 
 as high, the length of the part immersed, considering 
 the road as an imperfect fluid, would be doubled, 
 and the resistance would be diminished, theoretically 
 speaking, to about half of its former magnitude ; and 
 if the breadth were increased from one to eight, the 
 length of the part immersed would be diminished to 
 about a half, and the resistance would in this case 
 also be reduced to a half. 
 
 In soft and boggy soils, as well as in sandy roads, 
 this consideration is of great importance ; and the 
 wheels employed for removing heavy weights, in such 
 cases, ought to be as high and as broad as possible 
 consistently with sufficient lightness and economy. 
 But whether a broad, and, at the same time, a low 
 roller, possesses any advantages above a narrow coach 
 wheel, is a matter much more questionable ; it must 
 be remembered that a narrow wheel may often run 
 between stones, where a broader would have to pass 
 over them ; and there appears to be no theoretical 
 reason for preferring a low roller, except with respect 
 to a single pair of wheels, as affording a more con- 
 venient attachment for the shafts in a moderate in- 
 clination, which is both more favourable to the ex- 
 ertion of the horses, and more effective in overcom- 
 ing the friction ; since it has been demonstrated that 
 the angle affording the most advantageous line of 
 draught is exactly the same as the inclination of a 
 plane along which the carriage would just begin to 
 descend by its own weight on the same kind of sur- 
 face. In fact, however, there is no necessity for fix- 
 ing the axletree precisely in the line of draught ; and 
 the principal reason for having the fore wheels lower 
 than the others is for the convenience of turning the 
 carriage more abruptly. A very accurate practical 
 roadmaker has observed, that a good road never suf- 
 fers from naiTOw wheels with moderate weights not 
 in rapid motion, but that it is equally worn by the 
 rapid driving of heavy stage coaches, and by the slow 
 grinding of the conical rollers of overloaded, broad- 
 wheeled waggons. 
 
 Such being the operation of the wheels of ear- 
 
R 0 A D ]\^ 
 
 Uoad- riages on sandy or on rough roads, it is easy to per- 
 making. ceive how much the hardness and smoothness of the 
 ^^^^'"^•^ surface must facilitate the draught ; it is obvious also 
 that the same qualities must be equally conducive to 
 the durability of the road, since the inequalities will 
 always cause the carriage to fall on it with a certain 
 impetus after being elevated by the irregularities, arid 
 the same shock which strains the carriage will also 
 tend to wear away the road still more where it is 
 lowest ; and, on the other hand, the i-esistance of the 
 soft materials before the wheel will tend to tear up 
 the road, as it causes the wheel to thrust them be- 
 fore it. 
 
 It happens not very uncommonly that the interests 
 of the traveller and the postmaster are somewhat at 
 variance with respect to the qualities of a road. The 
 French postillion keeps to the rough pavement as 
 long as the aching limbs of the ladies in the carriage 
 will allow them to be silent, except when, in going 
 down hill, he saves himself the trouble of locking the 
 wheel, by bringing it to the soft edge of the ditch or 
 kennel ; and the horses of the Parisian cabriolets, in 
 their excursions to the suburbs, have sagacity enough 
 to incline always to the pavement, when their drivers 
 allow them to have a will of their own; while a sin- 
 gle horseman, on the contrary, more commonly finds 
 his steed on the gravel road, if he happens to leave him 
 to his own direction. In Great Britain the roads are 
 commonly managed by commissioners, who have no 
 community of interest with the innkeepers ; on the 
 Continent they are universally under the immediate 
 direction of the different governments, who also ap- 
 point the postmasters, while the carriages are almost 
 as uniformly the property of particular individuals, 
 who have no immediate influence on the manage- 
 ment of the roads ; and this diversity may perhaps 
 explain, in some measure, the different systems of 
 roadmaking which prevail on the opposite sides of 
 the Channel. But it may be said of roads as of go- 
 vernments, that which is best administered is best;" 
 whether a very smooth pavement not too slippery, or 
 a very hard gravel road not worn into great inequa- 
 lities. 
 
 Sect. II — Of the Mechanical Fonnatwn of Roads, 
 
 The only strongly marked division of the different 
 kinds of roads depends on their being paved or gra- 
 velled ; but each of these classes admits of consider- 
 able diversity in the principles on which the road is 
 constructed. The theory of pavement appears to be 
 extremely simple ; the stones, however, may be ei- 
 ther small or large ; the former being understood to 
 be employed without previous preparation of their 
 shape, as in the inferior kind of work which is called 
 " pitching" in the west of England ; the latter being 
 more or less cut to fit each other, whether in the 
 form of thick rough blocks, not very remote from 
 cubes, or of flat and smooth flagstones : in the cities 
 of Great Britain the former are commonly used for 
 horse pavements, and the latter for foot passengers ; 
 but in Florence the whole breadth of the streets is 
 paved with flagstones placed diagonally, and in Na- 
 ples the surfaces are nearly as smooth ; in both these 
 cases it is necessary to roughen the stones frequent- 
 
 A K I N G. 425 
 
 ly with chisels wherever there is a hill or a bridge, Road- 
 in order to prevent the horses slipping, but in both making, 
 cities the horses from habit are sufficiently sure-foot- '^^^^"^ 
 ed, even when running with some rapidity. In Mi- 
 lan both kinds of pavements are mixed in the same 
 streets; the smooth in two double lines, for the 
 wheels of carriages coming and going, and the rough- 
 er in the intermediate parts, for the feet of the 
 horses, as in the British railroads. But in none of 
 these cities is there much heavy traffic to wear these 
 well arranged surfaces into such inequalities as would 
 probably soon be observed in the streets of London, 
 if they were so delicately formed ; although, until 
 this deterioration actually took place, the locomotion 
 would be luxurious both for the horses and for the 
 passengers, and only ruinous to the coachmakers. 
 The Romans used large and heavy blocks for their 
 roads, cutting them on the spot into such forms as 
 enabled them to be best adjusted to those of the 
 neighbouring stones, though seldom exactly rectan- 
 gular in their surfaces ; and even at Pompeii, where 
 the ruts are worn half through the depth of the 
 blocks, the bottom remains tolerably even, in a longi- 
 tudinal direction, at least as much so as would be re- 
 quired for carts and other carriages of business. 
 
 Our more particular object, however, at present, 
 is the consideration of gravel roads rather than of 
 pavements ; the word gravel being here understood 
 to mean in general all stone broken small, whether 
 by nature or by art. The improvement of such roads 
 has long been a subject of great interest with the 
 agricultural and commercial inhabitants of Great 
 Britain, It was soon after the year I70O that a part 
 of the charge of repairing roads was taken off the re- 
 spective parishes through which they pass, and levied 
 on the general traveller by means of turnpike- gates; 
 but it was for many years a complaint that the roads 
 were little, if at all, fundamentally improved by the 
 expenditure of the money so raised. This complaint 
 is very energetically advanced in A Dissertation con- 
 cerning the present State of the High Roads of Eng- 
 land, especially of those near London, voherein is pro- 
 posed a nexv Method of repairing and maintaining^ 
 them ; read before the Royal Society in the Winter of 
 1736-7, by Robert Phillips, and printed in a small 
 separate volume. The author's great object is to 
 recommend washing the roads by a constant stream 
 if possible, and at any rate, washing the materials of 
 which they are composed ; in this respect, notwith- 
 standing the existence of single roads so situated 
 that the effects of water upon them have been very 
 beneficially introduced, his plans for the universal 
 employment of water have been altogether supersed- 
 ed by later experience ; but he remonstrates, with 
 great propriety, against the practice, which has, 
 however, continued to prevail so generally even of 
 late years, of laying down large heaps of unprepared 
 gravel, to be gradually consolidated into a harder 
 mass, at the expense of the intolerable labour of the 
 poor animals that are obliged to grind it down. As 
 an illustration of the good effect of water, he men- 
 tions that even the sediment deposited by it at the 
 bottom of Fleetditch, which was supposed to be a 
 soft mud, and to require removal when the ditch wa» 
 
426 
 
 IIO ADM AKIN G. 
 
 Koad- 
 making. 
 
 fiiled up, proved in fact to be a hard gravelly sub- 
 stance, which afterwards afforded an excellent foun- 
 dation for the roads and buildings supported by it. 
 
 The attention of the public has been more lately 
 directed to the subject of roads and carriages by se- 
 veral essays which appeared in the Communications 
 of the Board of Agriculture ; they principally belong 
 to the names of Beatson, Wright, Jessop, Hall, 
 Wilkes, Erskine, Ellis, Gumming, Whetley, Amos, 
 and Booth : the most remarkable are Mr Wilkes s 
 Remarks on the Advantages of Concave Roads ; Mr 
 Ellis's o« Washing Roads; Mr Wilkes's on Rail- 
 waus ; and Mr Cumming's on Wheel Carriages ; 
 showing particularly the disadvantage of broad coni- 
 cal wheels, and the historical progress of the practice 
 of bending the line of the axes. 
 
 But all these improvements, whether real or ima- 
 ginary, have of late been in a great measure super- 
 seded by the ingenuity and success of Mr Loudon 
 Macadam, a gentleman whose practice is in general 
 principally to be applauded for its obvious simplicity 
 and economy, though he has also had the merit of 
 discovering that the simplest and cheapest methods, 
 in particular cases, especially in that of boggy soils, 
 are also the most scientific and the most effectual. 
 The practical observations, which are to be here in- 
 serted, cannot therefore be so well expressed m any 
 other form, as in that of an abstract qf Mr Maca- 
 dam's own directions. 
 
 Mr Macadam's leading " principles are" {RemarJa, 
 p. 37), " that a road ought to be considered as an 
 artificial flooring, forming a strong, smooth, solid 
 surface, at once capable of carrying great weights, 
 and over which carriages may pass without meeting 
 any impediment." . . 
 
 He proceeds to give directions for repan-ing an 
 old road and for making a new one, in the form of a 
 communication to a Committee appointed by the 
 House of Commons, in the year I8I9, with some 
 subsequent corrections. 
 
 No additional materials, he observes, are to be 
 brought upon a road, unless in any part of it there 
 be not a quantity of clean stone equal to ten inches 
 in thickness. 
 
 The stone already in the road, supposing it to 
 have been made in the usual manner, is to be loosen- 
 ed and broken, so that no piece may exceed six 
 OUNCES in weight ; the road is then to be laid as flat 
 as possible, leaving only a fall of three inches from, 
 the middle to the sides, when the rOad is thirty feet 
 wide. The stones, thus loosened, are to be dragged 
 to the side by a strong heavy rake, with teeth two 
 inches and a half in length, and there broken ; but 
 the stones are never to be broken on the road itself. 
 
 When the great stones have been removed, and 
 none are left exceeding six ounces in weight, the 
 surface is to be made smooth by a rake, which will 
 also settle the remaining materials into a better con- 
 sistence, bringing up the stone, and letting the dirt 
 fall down into its place. 
 
 The road being so prepared, the stone that has 
 been" broken by the side is then to be carefully 
 spread over it ; this operation requires very particu- 
 lar attention, and the future quality of the road will 
 greatly depend on the manner in which it is per- 
 
 formed ; the stone must not be laid on in shovels 
 full, but scattered over the surface, one shovel full 
 following another, and being spread over a consider- 
 able space. 
 
 Only a small part of the length of the road should 
 be lifted in this manner at once ; that is, about two 
 or three yards ; five men in a gang should be em- 
 ployed to li/t it all across, two continually digging 
 up and raking off the large stones, and preparing the 
 road for receiving them again, and the other three 
 breaking them at the side of the road. It may, 
 however, happen, that the surveyor may see cause 
 to distribute the labour in a proportion somewhat 
 different. 
 
 The only proper method of breaking stones, in 
 o-eneral, both for effect and for economy, is in a sit- 
 ting posture. The stones are to be placed in small 
 heaps, and women, boys, and old men past hard la- 
 bour, may sit down and break them with small ham- 
 mers into pieces not exceeding six ounces in weight. 
 When the heavy work of a quarry can be performed 
 by men, and the lighter by their wives and children, 
 the stone can be obtained by contract for two thirds 
 of the former prices, although the stones were then 
 left four times as large. It has also been recom- 
 mended by Mr Macadam and others (p. 35), that 
 the largest stone employed should not exceed the 
 measure of an inch in its greatest dimensions, or in 
 other words, that it should be capable of being con- 
 tained in a sphere of about an inch in diameter, 
 which would seldom weigh more than a single ounce- 
 
 In some cases, it would be unprofitable to lift and 
 relay a road, even if the materials should have been 
 originally too large ; for example, the road betwixt 
 Bath and Cirencester was made of large stones, but 
 so friable, that in lifting they would have fallen into 
 sand; in this case, Mr Macadam merely had the 
 highe'r parts cut down, and replaced when sifted 
 (p. 107), and the surface kept smooth, until those 
 materials were gradually worn out ; and they were 
 afterwards replaced by stone of a better quaUty, pro- 
 perly prepared. At Egham, it was necessary to re- 
 move the whole road, in order to separate the small 
 portion of valuable materials from the mass of soft 
 matter in which they were enveloped, and which was 
 carried away, at a considerable expense, before a 
 good road could be made. But although freestone 
 is by no means calculated to make a durable road, 
 yet, by judicious management, it may be made to 
 form a very good road as long as it lasts, (p. 103.) 
 
 Whenever new stone is to be laid on a road al- 
 ready consolidated, the hardened surface is to be 
 loosened with a pick, in order to enable the fresh 
 materials to unite with the old. 
 
 A new road, however well it may have been made, 
 will always receive the impressions of the carriage 
 wheels until it is hardened ; a careful person must, 
 therefore, attend the road for some time, in order to 
 rake in the tracks made by the wheels ; that is, as 
 long as any loose materials are left that can be so 
 
 employed. ..... 
 
 It is always superfluous, and generally injurious, 
 to add to the broken stone any mixture of earth, 
 clay, chalk, or any other matter, that will imbibe wa- 
 ter, and be affected by frost ; or to lay any thing 
 10 
 
 Road- 
 making 
 
ROADMAKING. 
 
 427 
 
 Road- whatever on the clean stone for the purpose of bind- 
 makmg. iog it ; for good stone, tuell broken, mil alwat/s com- 
 bine hy its own roughness into a solid substance, with 
 a smooth surface, that will not be affected by the vi- 
 cissitudes of weather, or disfigured by the action of 
 wheels, which, as they pass over it without a jolt, 
 will consequently be incapable of doing it any con- 
 siderable injury. 
 
 The experience of the year 1820 strongly confirm- 
 ed the inutility and inconvenience of employing 
 chalk with the stone. In January, when a hard frost 
 was succeeded by a sudden thaw, a great number of 
 roads broke up, and the wheels of the carriages pe- 
 netrated into the original soil ; in particular it was 
 observed, that all the roads, of which chalk was a 
 component part, became nearly impassable ; and even 
 roads made over chalky soils gave way in most 
 places. But not one of the roads, that had been 
 thoroughly made after these directions, was observ- 
 ed to give way. (p. 44, 46.) 
 
 The TOOLS required for lifting roads are, 1. Strong 
 picks, but short from the handle to the point. 2. 
 Small hammers, weighing about a pound, with a face 
 the size of a shilling, well steeled, and with a short 
 handle. 3. Rakes, with wooden heads, ten inches 
 in length, and with iron teeth, about two and a-half 
 inches long, and very strong, for raking out the 
 large stones when the road is broken up, and for 
 keeping it smooth after it has been finished, and 
 while it is consolidating. 4. Very light broad 
 mouthed shovels, to spread the broken stones, and 
 to form the road. 
 
 The whole expense of lifting and newly forming 
 a rough road, to the depth of four inches, has gene- 
 rally been from a penny to twopence per square 
 yard, being more or less, according to the quantity 
 of stone to be broken. With proper tools, and by 
 proper arrangements, stone may be broken for ten- 
 pence or a shilling per ton, including, in some cases, 
 the value of the stone itself. A very material ad- 
 vantage of Mr Macadam's method is the introduction 
 of a much greater proportion of human labour, in- 
 stead of the work of horses : formerly one fourth of 
 the whole expense was paid, in the district of Bris- 
 tol, for men's labour, and three fourths for that of 
 horses : now, on the contrary, one fourth only is 
 paid for horses' labour, and the other three to men, 
 women, and children. 
 
 Mr Macadam argues very strongly against the old 
 opinion, of the necessity of placing a quantity of 
 large stones, as a foundation, to carry the road over 
 a wet subsoil. He says, that whatever be the nature 
 of the soil, if it be previously " made quite dry," and 
 a covering impenetrable to rain placed over it, the 
 thickness of the covering needs only to depend on 
 its own capability of becoming impervious. Large 
 stones, he says, will constantly work up by the agi- 
 tation of the traffic on the road, and leave vacuities 
 for the reception of water; and the only way of 
 keeping the stones in their places, is to have them of 
 a uniform size. A rocky bottom causes a road to 
 wear out "much the faster [acting, probably, as a 
 lower millstone in facihtating the operation of grind- 
 ing]. " It is a known fact, that a road lasts much 
 longer over a morass, than when made over rock. 
 
 In the neighbourhood of Bridgewater, for example, Road- 
 the materials consumed on a rocky road, when com- "^^^^'"^c 
 pared with those which are required for a similar 
 road made over the naked surface of the soil, are in 
 the proportion of seven to five." 
 
 In the summer of 18I9j upon some new roads 
 made in Scotland, more than three feet of materials, 
 of various dimensions, were laid down ; and more 
 than two thirds of them, according to our author, 
 were worse than wasted. In such an arrangement, 
 the water generally penetrates to the bottom of the 
 trench made to receive the road, and remains there 
 to do mischief upon every change of weather. 
 
 To prevent such inconveniences, it is necessary 
 in wet soils, either to make drains, to lower ground, 
 or to raise the road above the general level, in- 
 stead of making a trench to receive the stones ; and 
 from the penetration of rain the solidity of the road 
 itself must protect it. A well made road, not quite 
 four inches in thickness, was found to have kept the 
 earth below it dry in the parish of Ashton coar 
 Bristol : but six, eight, or ten inches of materials are 
 generally required to make a firm road ; being laid 
 on in successive layers of about two inches in thick- 
 ness, all well broken, well cleaned, and well sized. 
 Sometimes, indeed, a much greater depth of stone 
 than this is required : in a road, for example, which 
 has lately been made from Lewes to East Bourn, 
 entirely upon Mr Macadam's principles, as much as 
 three feet of materials was required in many parts 
 before the road could be sufficiently consolidated ; 
 it has, however, ultimately been made excellent, 
 though at an expense of not much less than a thou- 
 sand pounds a mile. 
 
 Mr Macadam maintains that the quantity of stone 
 required for paving is fully sufficient to make an 
 excellent gravel road in any part of the world ; and 
 in almost every case, materials equally good can be 
 obtained for roads at a still cheaper rate ; commonly, 
 indeed, at one tenth of the expense of pavements. It 
 is, however, in steep ascents that pavements are most 
 objectionable ; at the north end of Blackfriars' Bridge, 
 more horses are said to fall and receive injury 
 than at any other place in the kingdom. In the 
 suburbs of Bristol the pavements have lately been 
 converted into roads with great success. It is pro- 
 bable that neither the inhabitants of these suburbs 
 nor their housemaids were much consulted on the 
 occasion, although justice seems to require that the 
 pedestrian order should not be altogether sacrificed 
 to the equestrian without their consent ; but, in fact, 
 the inhabitants of these ci-devant streets are said to 
 be well satisfied with the change; and we seem in 
 danger, from the opposition of contending theories, 
 of having all the streets of our cities dug up, and 
 many of our country roads, on the other hand, en- 
 cumbered with pavements. Mr Macadam has re- 
 ceived a new encouragement from Parliament to the 
 amount of L. 4000, and not Charing Cross, indeed, 
 but St James's Square, is going to be Macadamised 
 without delay. 
 
 We find some further confirmations and illustra- 
 tions of Mr Macadam's principles and precepts in 
 the Report of the former Committee of the House of 
 Commons as reprinted in his Remarks. 
 
28 R O A D M 
 
 Road- This gentleman, it seems, arrived from America 
 making, in the year 178S, at the time that many new roads 
 -"^^■^ were raalcing in Scotland (p. 97) ; he was then ap- 
 pointed a commissioner of the roads, and studied the 
 subject in that capacity there ; he has since resided 
 chiefly in Bristol, and was induced to take charge 
 of the roads of that district as a surveyor in I8I6; 
 because it was ly in that situation that he could 
 carry his principles into practice, and make the ne- 
 cessary experiments for estabhshing them. He ob- 
 served in his travels, that the mixture of clay and 
 chalk, with the materials of roads, was the almost 
 universal cause of their failure ; and he convinced 
 himself that, by a proper application of materials, a 
 good road might be made in every country. His 
 improvements have been very generally adopted in 
 the west and the south of England ; and principally 
 under his own direction or under that of his family. 
 They had superintended more than 300 miles of 
 road, and twice as many more had been improved 
 by their advice and influence. Sober, active, and 
 well informed subsurveyors he considers as the most 
 important of all materials for a good road; and 
 among the extrinsic arrangements which are often 
 required, he thinks the union of different trusts into 
 a single one the most likely to be generally bene- 
 ficial- 
 
 The operation of washing gravel Mr Macadam 
 has not found eligible, because it is more expensive 
 than screening or sifting, and less effectual ; for 
 about London the common gravel is not capable of 
 being cleaned by any ordinary washing, though the 
 Thames gravel, where it can be procured, is gene- 
 rally clean and serviceable. Coarse gravel broken, 
 he says, is preferable to fine, as it consolidates 
 more perfectly into a single mass. The old practice 
 of putting a heap of unprepared gravel along the 
 middle of the road, and letting it work its own way 
 gradually, to the sides, he thinks every way repre- 
 hensible. 
 
 The objection to a very convex road is, that tra- 
 vellers only use the middle of it, which is, therefore, 
 worn into three furrows by the string of horses, and 
 by the wheels ; if the road is flatter, it becomes worn 
 more equally. Ditches, he observes, only require to 
 be so deep that the surface of the water in them may 
 be a few inches below the level of the road ; the far- 
 mer often makes them dangerously deep on account 
 of the value of the mould that is dug out of them. 
 Mr Macadam would prefer a bog to any other foun- 
 dation for a road, provided that it would allow a man 
 to walk over it ; and he justly observes, that the re- 
 sistance to the motion of a carriage would not be ma- 
 terially affected by the foundation, if the road were 
 well made. From Bridgewater to Cross, a part of the 
 road shakes when a carriage passes over it ; yet the 
 consumption of materials is less there than on the lime- 
 stone rock in the neighbourhood. He does not use 
 any faggots in such cases, nor any stones larger than 
 six ounces in weight ; and these never sink in the 
 bog, but unite into one mass like a piece of timber, 
 which rests on it. He makes such a road generally 
 at three different times : and he always prefers work- 
 ing iD weather not very dry. The surveyors are direct- 
 
 A K I N G. 
 
 ed to carry a pair of scales and a six ounce weight Road- 
 in their pockets, as a check upon the workmen. making. 
 
 Mr Macadam has generally found reason to ap- '^^^"^ 
 prove the usual regulations respecting carriage- 
 wheels : but he thinks broad wheels less advantage- 
 ous to roads than is commonly supposed. He sug- 
 gests that the tolls might always be fairly made pro- 
 portional to the exact number of horses employed ; 
 except that the waggoners should be encouraged to 
 harness them in pairs rather than in a line. The co- 
 nical form of broad wheels he thinks very injurious. 
 
 Clean flints from the sea side are among the best 
 materials for roads, and might often be procured 
 cheap by canals : granite chippings also, brought as 
 ballast, are excellent ; and when the middle of the 
 road has been well made with good stones, the sides 
 may often be left for a few feet less abundantly pro- 
 vided with them, as they are naturally much less ex- 
 posed to wear. 
 
 Of the other evidence produced to the Committee 
 of the House of Commons, there is much that gives 
 us valuable information respecting the economy of 
 horses and carriages in general, and some that de- 
 serves to be noticed, as affording partial exceptions 
 to the universal adoption of the system introduced by 
 Mr Macadam. 
 
 Mr Waterhouse observes (p. 85), that stage coach 
 horses generally last about four years in the neighbour- 
 hood of London, and about six in remoter parts. He 
 agrees with Mr Macadam, that a very slight convexi- 
 ty is better for a road than a greater : that roads in 
 wet situations often require underdraining ; and that 
 the gravel near London is too often used without be- 
 ing sufficiently cleaned. Mr Home's horses generally 
 wear out in about three years. The " light" coaches, 
 with their loads, generally weigh about two tons and 
 a half ; the coach one, the passengers one, and the 
 luggage a half ; the Uxbridge road, he says, is gene- 
 rally heavy, because it lies lower than the neighbour- 
 ing land, and is not sufficiently drained. Mr Eames 
 reports, that the Guildford road is so much improv- 
 ed by the introduction of flints instead of gravel, that 
 sixteen miles are as easily performed on it by his 
 horses as twelve were before the alteration. Mr Fa- 
 rcy explains the principle upon which some of the 
 roads about London are watered in winter ; it is in 
 order to soften the tenacious mud, that is formed up- 
 on the surface ; to prevent its adhering to the car- 
 riage wheels, and to enable it to be scraped off with 
 ease. He says that about Whitechapel it has been 
 found very advantageous for the heavy traffic, to have 
 the middle of the road paved ; and he thinks that 
 two lines of pavement, one on each side, would be 
 preferable to a single one, in order that the waggon- 
 ers might walk at the sides of the road, leaving the 
 middle for lighter carriages. He would have a road 
 55 feet wide, elevated about 12 inches in the middle 
 Broad wheels, he thinks, are seldom so flat as to bear 
 on their whole surface at once, being commonly ra- 
 ther conoidal than conical ; so that they differ less in 
 their effect from narrower wheels than is commonly 
 supposed. Mr Walker adheres to the old opinion, 
 that in soft soils a road ought to be founded on 
 bushes or " bavins ;' that is, where they can be ex- 
 
 4 
 
ROAD 
 
 Road- pected to remain always wet, so as not to be liable 
 making. ^^^y speedy decay. He observes, that if a road 
 does not possess some considerable convexity at first, 
 it will wear concave, and collect mud ; the elevation, 
 he thinks, should be about ^'^th of the breadth. Mr 
 Telford informs the committee (p. 188) that the de- 
 clivity of the Welsh roads was formerly in many 
 places one inch in ten ; and in some one in eight, 
 and even one in six ; but that the modern road 
 scarcely ever rises above an inch in thirty ; and that 
 the utmost ascent in the whole line is one in seven- 
 teen, for about two hundred yards. With respect to 
 the weight of the stones, he agrees with Mr Macadam, 
 that they ought not to exceed six or eight ounces ; 
 and that gravel is best cleaned by riddling it repeat- 
 edly, and leaving it to dry in the intervals. 
 
 Sect. III. — Of the Roads of different Ages and 
 Countries. 
 
 The Romans appear to have been beyond compa- 
 rison the greatest roadmakers of the ancient or the 
 modern world. The story told by Montaigne (III. 
 vi. p. 206) of a road in Peru, from Quito to Cusco, 
 SOO leagues long, and 25 paces broad, made of stones 
 10 feet square, with a running stream and a row of 
 trees on each side, seems to have been considerably 
 exaggerated ; and it is not very clear v/hether the 
 stones he mentions were used for the road or for the 
 houses of entertainment built at intervals by its side; 
 nor have the " rocks cut through" and " mountains 
 levelled" been very particularly noticed by more re- 
 cent travellers in that country. In Italy only, the 
 Romans are said to have made more than 14,000 
 miles of road, which was generally executed v/ith 
 great care and labour ; and many of their roads still 
 remain as the foundation of the most favourite routes 
 of Italian travellers. The more than Roman despot 
 of modern times was as much a Roman in his road- 
 making as in the selfish character of his general po- 
 licy ; and in proportion to the duration of his dynas- 
 ty, he performed more than all the Appii and Flami- 
 nii of antiquity. Whatever his merits may have been, 
 the beneficial effects of his measures remain, and 
 those who have profited by his improvements have no 
 right to criticize his motives with too great severity. 
 
 Of the great roads diverging from the gates of an- 
 cient Rome, about twelve have been enumerated by 
 antiquaries, and twelve more branched off from these 
 at a small distance from the city ; eighteen others 
 commenced in different parts of Italy, and in the 
 whole there are at least fifty, which have been dis- 
 tinguished by appropriate names, without including 
 the military roads through the distant provinces ; 
 such, for example, as in England were distinguish- 
 ed by the name of streets, of which many traces yet 
 remain in different parts of the country. 
 
 Directly to the sea the Romans travelled by the 
 Ostian road ; along its shores to the north west by 
 the Aurelian, and to the south east by the Appian. 
 Next within the Aurelian was the Flaminian, then 
 the Salarian, the Nomentanian, the Tiburtine, the 
 Praenestine, the Lavican, and the Latin ; and then 
 the Appian, which was the most ancient of all, hav- 
 ing been made as far as Capua, in the ^iad year of 
 the city, accompanied to a considerable distance by 
 Vol. VI. PART II. 
 
 MAKING. 42 
 
 an aqueduct. The Aurelian road was made in the Road, 
 year 512 ; the Flaminian about 533. making. 
 
 I. The Flaminian road still affords the great north- ""^"'^^^^ 
 em approach to Rome by the Porta del Popolo ; it 
 
 led to Foligno, Aneona, and Rimini, and was conti- 
 nued by the Emilian to Bologna, and thence to 
 Aquilegia, near Venice ; the present mountain route 
 from Bologna to Rome is still facilitated by the re- 
 mains of the ancient structures. Besides the Emi- 
 lian road, the Flaminian was also connected with the 
 Cassian, leading to Modena ; the Claudian to Arez- 
 zo, Florence, and Lucca ; there were also six other 
 branches of less note, each named after its founder. 
 
 II. III. The Salarian and the Nomentanian roads 
 lay to the east of the Flaminian ; the former, from 
 the Porta Salara, led through the country of the Sa- 
 bines by Rieti to Hadria ; the latter from the Porta 
 Sant' Agnese went north eastwards to Nomentum. 
 
 IV. The Tiburtine road led from the Porta Tibur- 
 tina, now San Lorenzo, to Tivoli, with a branch on 
 the right called the Gabian. The large blocks 
 which were employed to form this road, near the 
 town of Tivoli, in ascending from the river, are still 
 in their ancient places; they are accurately fitted 
 together, and present a surface sufficiently smooth, 
 after having been in use for about two thousand 
 years. 
 
 V. VI. VII. The three next in order all met at 
 Anagnia, 24< miles beyond Praeneste or Palestrina. 
 The Praenestine, from the Esquiline gate, now called 
 Porta Maggiore, on account of the magnitude of the 
 ruins of the aqueduct of Clodius, with which it is in- 
 corporated, led by Aquinum to Praeneste ; the -La- 
 vican led from the same gate, more to the right, by 
 way of Beneventum ; and the Latin road, from the 
 Porta Latina, went first to Compitum ; and from 
 Anagnia proceeded to join the Appian near Capua. 
 
 VIII. The Appian road is as well known from the 
 minute description of Horace's progress, in his jour- 
 ney to Brundusium, as from the eagerness with 
 which a modern traveller reckons the stages that he 
 has completed, on his way to Naples, without a visit 
 from the banditti that infest it. The original extent 
 of this road, from the Colosseum to Capua, was 142 
 Roman miles ; and it was continued 238 miles fur- 
 ther to Brundusium by Julius Cassar. It was con- 
 structed with large stones, or rather rocks, joined 
 together with great care ; and it is said to have had 
 a foot pavement two feet wide on each side, besides 
 the agger, or principal mass of stones in the middle, 
 and the two marginal parts, which were probably 
 unpaved. 
 
 IX. The Ostian road led from the Porta di San 
 Paolo, near the Tiber, in a straight line to the 
 mouth of that river. 
 
 X. The Aurelian, from the Porta Aurelia, a gate 
 which was near the Moles Adriani, or Castle of Sant' 
 Angelo, led by Laurentum to Centumcellae, or Ci- 
 vita Vecchia, to Genoa, and thence by Susa, across 
 the Montcenis, as far as Aries in Provence. This 
 seems to have been the oldest passage into the 
 Gauls ; it was improved by Pompey the Great under 
 the name of the Strata Romana. Several other pas- 
 sages over the Alps are also particularised in the 
 Itinerary of Antonine on the roads from Milan to 
 
 3 I 
 
430 R O A 
 
 Road- Aries ; from Milan to Vienne in Dauphiney either by 
 making, Grecian or by the Cottian Alps: the former 
 ' north, the latter south of Montcenis ; from Milan to 
 Strasburg; and from Milan to Mentz, 
 
 XL XII. The Triumphal road began from the Ca- 
 pitol, and went over the Tiber into the country be- 
 yond the present site of the Vatican. We may con- 
 sider as the last of the twelve great roads, originat- 
 ing from Rome, the Collatine, leading due north 
 from the Porta Pinciana on the Monte Pincio. 
 
 Among the less remarkable roads about the me- 
 tropolis of the ancient world were also the Cam- 
 panian, the new and the old Valerian, both lead- 
 ing by Tivoli to the Adriatic; the Tusculan, the 
 Alban, the Ardeatine, on the right of the Appian; 
 the Laurentine, a little more to the right, Pliny's 
 villa being mentioned as accessible from either of 
 these last ; the Portuensis, from the Porta Portuese 
 Trasteverina, leading to Ostia ; and the Aurelia No- 
 va, beginning from the Porta Janiculi, now Porta 
 San Pancrazio, and leading towards Civita Vecchia. 
 
 Whether on the foundations of the ancient roads, 
 or in any new lines that have been prepared in mo- 
 dern times by the magnificence of the Pontiffs or of 
 the Princes, the great roads of Italy are at present 
 almost universally well made and well repaired. In 
 Lombardy, indeed, and throughout the immense 
 plain that extends from the Alps to the- Apennines, 
 they are quite as good, in summer at least, as in 
 England. The cross roads of Italy are, howeyeri 
 greatly neglected ; for it is in fact almost exclusive- 
 ly in Great Britain that private and individual exer- 
 tion supersedes the necessity of public munificence. 
 The intercourse of Italy with the rest of Europe has 
 been greatly facilitated by the improvements made 
 in the two great passages over the Alps by the au- 
 thority of Bonaparte. The more useful of these im- 
 provements are probably those which have been ef- 
 fected on the southern side of Montcenis, since they 
 enable the traveller to pass with little danger or dif- 
 ficulty at all seasons of the yeai' ; the more magnifi- 
 cent are the works at the Simplon, which, however, 
 are not completely secure from the danger of avalan- 
 ches, whenever fresh snow is lying on the ground. 
 The Apennine portion of the Aurelian road has al- 
 so been greatly improved by some still more recent 
 operations, so that carriages may now pass with com- 
 parative ease and safety from Lucca to Genoa; 
 though, for one stage, near Sestri, it is not thought 
 advisable for the travellers to retain their seats with- 
 in them. 
 
 The general declivity of the new road over Mont- 
 cenis is 1 inch in 15 or 20; and it is never greater, 
 in the steepest part, that is, in the fourth and fifth- 
 turns that wind up over Laqslebourg, than 1 in 
 12.* The road over the Simplon was executed jointly 
 by the French and Italians, under the government of 
 Bonaparte, from 1 801 to 1 805. The greatest declivity 
 is l inchin 29; , so that an English stage coachman 
 might trot his horses up almost the whole way. The 
 longest gallery or tunnel is about 500 feet underground. 
 
 ROB 
 
 The roads in France are generally rough in their Road- 
 original formation, and still rougher from want of i"aking 
 care in repairing them, as the traveller feels to his Roblson. 
 cost in passing over the primitive mountains in the _„,- 
 south of that country, where the roads are certainly 
 very different from those which are made by Maca- 
 dam across a bog ; although some of the more recent 
 French and Flemish pavements, as long as they re- 
 main unimpaired, are truly excellent : the new pave- 
 ment between Cologne and Brussels, for example, is 
 far more perfect than some of the unpaved parts of 
 the continuation of the same line of road to Calais, 
 although the civil postmasters are in the habit of 
 congratulating their English guests on the " fine 
 gravel road" they will have to pass over. In Ger- 
 many they have few pavements, and the roads, ex- 
 cept in sandy countries^ are generally kept, or keep 
 themselves, in good repair ; that is, in the south and 
 the west of Germany, Mr Cripps informs us, that 
 the great roads in Sweden are beautiful; they are 
 very slightly convex, and made of granite broken to 
 the size of a walnut. The Irish roads, according to 
 Mr Edgeworth, are generally better than the English ; 
 the Scotch, Macadam thinks worse, though the mate- 
 rials are better ; but in many parts of Scotland the 
 roads appear to be more than sufficiently good for 
 the commerce of the country. 
 
 [Bergier, Histoire des Grands Chemms de FEm' 
 pire Romain, 2 vols. 4to. Brussels, 1728: died in 
 1622. Considerations on Roads, 8vo. Lond. 1734'. 
 Phillips's Dissertation concerning the High Roads, 
 Svo. Lond. 1737. Homer's Inquiry into the Stale 
 of the Rbads, 1767. Lambert On the best Ascent of 
 Roads, Ac. Berl. 1776. Meister On the Shortest 
 Roads to Different Places, N. Comm. Gott. 1777. 
 Edgeworth On Roads and Carriages. Edgewortlr 
 On Rail Roads. Young's Natural Philosophy, IL 
 p. 203 -• Instruments for Making and Cleaning Roads. 
 Communications to the Board of Agriculture, I." 
 1797; p. 119, Beatson; 162, Wright; 176, Joseph ; 
 183, Hall; 199, Wilkes On Concave Roads; Er- 
 skine On Iron Roads ; 205, Wright On Watering 
 Roads near London ; 207, Ellis On Washing Roads. 
 II. 1800; p. 353, Cumming On Broad Wheels: 
 474, Wilkes On Railways. VI. 1808; p. 182, Whet- 
 ley ; p. 464, Amos On Wheels. VII. 1811; p. 10, 
 Cumming Ou the Origin of Bent Axle Trees ; 30, 
 Booth On Wheel Carriages. Paterson's Practical 
 Treatise. Quarterly Review, May 1820, XXII 1.' 
 p. 96. Macadam's Remarks on the Present System 
 of Roadmakingi with Observations deduced from Prac- 
 tice and Experience^ with a view to a Revision of the 
 Existing Laws, and the Introduction of Improve' 
 ment in the Method of Making. Repairing, and Pre- - 
 serving Roads, and Defending the Road Funds from - 
 Misapplication. 6th edit. Svo. Lond. 1822.] 
 
 (a. L.) 
 
 ROBISON (John), a distinguished Professor of 
 Natural Philosophy, born, in 1739, at Boghall, in 
 the parish of Baldernock, and in the county of Stir- 
 ling, was a younger son of John Ilobis;on, Esq. who 
 
 * Derrien, Notice Bistorique et Descriptive sur la Route de Montcenis. 
 
ROB 
 
 Robison. had formerly been a merchant at Glasgow, and had 
 " retired to live in considerable affluence on his estate 
 at Boghall, not far from that city. 
 
 He was of a family sufficiently respectable to en- 
 able his son at a subsequent period to prove himself, 
 to the satisfaction of the Court of St Petersburg, a 
 ■gentleman born. As a younger brother, that son 
 was originally intended for the church, and went at 
 an early age, according to the custom of Scotland, in 
 1750, to enter as a student of humanity in the Uni- 
 versity of Glasgow ; so that he was initiated almost 
 in the rudiments of Latin and Greek literature un- 
 der the able instruction of Dr Moore, the well known 
 professor of Greek ; and he acquired such a know- 
 ledge of these languages as served to constitute him 
 a correct classical scholar through life. He pur- 
 sued his studies with so much attention, as to obtain 
 the approbation of his teachers, and the admiration 
 of his contemporaries, who were delighted with the 
 originality and ingenuity of his conversation, though 
 he did not himself reflect with perfect satisfaction 
 upon the degree of application which he had exerted 
 in his academical education. He took a degree of 
 Master of Arts in 1 756, having studied mathematics 
 under Dr Robert Simson, and moral philosophy under 
 Dr Adam Smith. The example of so correct and rigid 
 a follower of the ancient methods of demonstration, as 
 Dr Simson, must unquestionably have exercised con- 
 siderable influence on his yet unformed taste in ma- 
 thematics ; but he seems to have had a natural pre- 
 ference, either from the conytitution of his mind, or 
 from some previously acquired habits of thinking, 
 for the geometrical method ; for we are informed 
 that " he first attracted the regard of Dr Simson by 
 owning his dislike of algebra, and by returning a 
 neat geometrical solution of a problem which had 
 been given out to the class in an algebraical form ; 
 with this mode of solution the professor was delight- 
 ed, though the pupil candidly acknowledged that it 
 had been adopted only because he could not solve 
 the problem in the manner required of the class." 
 
 He had imbibed, in the course of his studies, an 
 insuperable aversion to the pursuit of his original ob- 
 jects in the church ; not certainly from any want of 
 reh'gious feeling, or from a dislike to the kind of life 
 that was intended for him, but probably from some 
 difficulties that had occurred to him respecting par- 
 ticular points of doctrine or of practice. He was 
 therefore compelled to provide himself with some 
 other occupation ; and he readily accepted the offers of 
 some of his friends in 1758, to recommend him to Dr 
 Blair, a prebendary of Westminster, who had formed 
 a scheme for sending Prince Edward, the young 
 Duke of York, to complete his professional educa- 
 tion at sea, in company with a son of Admiral 
 Knowles ; and Mr Robison was to have instructed 
 his Royal Highness in mathematics and navigation. 
 He was much disappointed, on his arrival in London, 
 to find that the expedition had never been seriously 
 intended ; and he readily accepted an engagement 
 to attend young Knowles as a private tutor, when he 
 went as a midshipman on board of the Neptune of 
 90 guns, with Admiral Saunders, who had the com- 
 mand of a fbrce intended to co-operate with Ge- 
 neral Wolfe in the reduction of Quebec ; and 
 
 ROB 431 
 
 upon the appointment of his friend as a lieute- , Robison. 
 nant on board of the Royal William, Robison '"■^"V^ 
 was himself rated as a midshipman in that ship. 
 
 The fleet arrived on the coast of America in April 
 1759; in May they got up the river, and Mr Robi- 
 son was one of a party of 100 seamen draughted 
 from the Royal William into the Admiral's ship, 
 imder the command of Lieutenant Knowles: in this 
 capacity he had an opportunity of seeing consider- 
 able service, and of making some surveys of the river 
 and of the neighbouring country, an employment for 
 which he was perfectly qualified, both as a geome- 
 trician and as a draughtsman. He also remarked 
 the effect of the Aurora Borealis on the compass, 
 which had been noticed by Mairan and Wargentin 
 some years before, but which was then not common- 
 ly known. After the battle, which was signalised 
 by the victory and death of the gallant Wolfe, the 
 Royal William sailed with his body to Europe, and 
 arrived at Spithead in November. The next year 
 she was sent to cruise off Cape Finisterre, but in six 
 months she was obliged to return home, from having 
 the greater part of the men disabled by the scurvy. 
 
 He used to consider the two years that he spent 
 on board of the Royal William as the happiest of his 
 life ; and no inconsiderable part of his gratification 
 was derived from the study of seamanship as he saw 
 it practised under the auspices of Captain Hugh Pi- 
 got. He did not, however, acquire any firm at- 
 tachment to the mode of life v^'hich he had tempo- 
 rarily adopted ; he was rather disposed to resume 
 his academical pursuits, and he had overcome his 
 earlier objections to the ecclesiastical profession. 
 He could not, however, refuse the friendly invitation 
 of Admiral Knowles to come and live with him in 
 the country, and to assist him in some important ex- 
 periments which he was making upon mechanical 
 and nautical subjects. 
 
 In the month of February 1762, Lieutenant 
 Knowles was appointed to the Peregrine sloop, of 
 20 guns, and Mr Robison accompanied him with the 
 hope of becoming a purser. He visited Lisbon and 
 several other parts of Portugal; but he found a 
 cruise in a small ship much less convenient and 
 agreeable than in a large one, and, fortunately for 
 himself and for mankind, he finally quitted the Pe- 
 regrine and the naval service in June, and returned 
 to live with Admiral Knowles ; who soon after re- 
 commended him as a proper person to take charge 
 of Harrison's timekeeper, which had been completed 
 by the labour of 35 years, after many unsuccessful 
 experiments, and which was now sent out by desire 
 of the Board of Longitude to the West Indies, un- 
 der the care of young Harrison and of Mr Robison. 
 The rate of the chronometer was ascertained at 
 Portsmouth the 6th November 1762, and it indicat- 
 ed, at Port Royal in Jamaica, a difference of time 
 amounting to 5'' 2"" 47', which is only four seconds 
 less than the true longitude. After a few days, the 
 observers had a prompt opportunity of returning 
 home by the Merlin sloop, which was sent to Europe 
 with despatches. The voyage was most disastrous 
 with respect to wind and weather, and at last the 
 ship took fire ; but she arrived safe at Portsmouth in 
 March, and on the 2d of April the watch gaver 
 
432 ROB 
 
 Robison. nh 58™ 6|', instead of 12^ for the time of mean 
 v^^^ noon, so that the error, after six months, was only 
 5Sy, amounting to no more than about 20 miles 
 of distance. 
 
 Mr Robison received, upon his return, the afflict- 
 ing intelligence of the total loss of the Peregrine, 
 which had foundered at sea with her commander 
 and the whole of the ship's company. He was also 
 greatly disappointed in the failure of some hopes 
 which had been held out to him from the Admiralty 
 and the Board of Longitude ; though in fact there 
 is little reason for the public to regret that he was 
 not gratified with the pursership, which he claimed 
 as the reward of his services. He was indeed after- 
 wards actually made a purser by Lord Sandwich, in 
 1763 ; but he then declined accepting the appoint- 
 ment. His biographers very naturally complain of 
 the neglect of those Boards which ought to have re- 
 compensed him ; but certainly the Board of Longi- 
 tude had no power whatever, and probably not much 
 influence, in the appointment of a purser ; and after 
 all, the delay of a year or two was nothing very un- 
 common in the navy. 
 
 He had now no other resource than to return to 
 Glasgow, and to resume his academical pursuits with 
 renewed energy. It was from this time that he dat- 
 ed his serious application to his studies ; he became 
 extremely intimate with Dr Reid and Dr Alexander 
 Wilson, and he had the advantage of being a witness 
 of two of the greatest steps in the improvement of 
 physical science that have been made in modern 
 times, Dr Black's experimental theory of heat, and 
 Mr Watt's invention of a new steam-engine. Dr 
 Black was the first that determined the quantity of 
 heat required for the conversion of ice into water ; 
 Mr Watt, who was settled as a mathematical instru- 
 ment-maker at Glasgow, had been employed in re- 
 pairing a working model of Newcomen's engine for 
 one of the professors of the university, and it was the 
 difficulty of supplying this model with steam that 
 suggested to Mr Watt the eligibility of having a se- 
 parate condenser, and that led him, in conjunction 
 with Dr Black, to a knowledge of the quantity of 
 heat consumed in evaporation. 
 
 Amid the enthusiasm which is always inspired by 
 the progress of scientific discovery, and of practical 
 improvement, Mr Robison found every encourage- 
 ment and every facility for the pursuit of his favour- 
 ite objects. He was recommended by Dr Black, up- 
 on his removal to Edinburgh in 1766, as his succes- 
 sor in the lectureship of chemistry, though without 
 the appointment of a professor. He took charge, 
 also, of the education of Mr Macdowal of Garthland, 
 and of Mr Charles Knowles, afterwards Sir Charles. 
 Admiral Knowles was soon after recommended by 
 the British government to the Empress of Russia, in 
 order to effect a reformation in her navy, having been 
 employed on a similar service in Portugal almost 
 fifty years before ; he had always been a firm friend 
 to Mr Robison, and now engaged him on this mis- 
 sion, with a salary of L. 250 a year ; and they pro- 
 ceeded together to St Petersburg in December 
 1770. Being hospitably entertained on their way by 
 the Prince Bishop of Liege, whom they found to 
 constitute, with his chapter and all his servants, a 
 
 ROB 
 
 lodge of freemasons, Mr Robison was easily persuad- Robison. 
 ed to become one of that fraternity ; in a few days ^— "v^** 
 he was made an apprentice, and by degrees attained 
 the rank of Scotch master, as he has himself related 
 in his publication upon the subject. He continued 
 nearly two years at St Petersburg, still acting in the 
 capacity of private secretary to Sir Charles, who was 
 appointed president of the Board of Admiralty, 
 much to the advantage of the Russian navy, though 
 his improvements were frequently retarded by the 
 prejudices of the native officers. Mr Robison was 
 then appointed inspector general of the corps of ma- 
 rine cadets at Cronstadt, with a double salary, and 
 with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. His duty was 
 to receive the report of about forty teachers and pro- 
 fessors, respecting the studies of 400 young noble- 
 men, who were their pupils, and to class them accord- 
 ing to his judgment of their merits ; but he had 
 himself nothing to teach, nor could he have had 
 much occasion for " lecturing fluently in the Russian 
 language," though he was introduced by his friend 
 Kutusoff to the Grand Duke Paul as a proficient in 
 that language ; but to the Empress he was not per- 
 sonally known. At Petersburg he could have lived 
 without regretting his country, in the society of such 
 men as Euler and Alpinus, admired by the Russians, 
 and beloved by the British; but Cronstadt in winter 
 was deplorably melancholy ; and he was induced, 
 without much difficulty, in 1773, to make some little 
 pecuniary sacrifice in accepting the professorship of 
 Natural Philosophy at Edinburgh, which had be- 
 come vacant by the death of Dr Russell, and to 
 which he had been recommended by Dr Robertson, 
 then Principal of the University. His determination 
 was not disapproved by the Russian government, 
 who granted him a pension of about L. 80 a year for 
 life ; but it was only paid as long as three or four 
 young men, who had accompanied him as pupils, 
 continued to reside at Edinburgh ; some discontent 
 having been expressed because he did not keep up a 
 correspondence with the Academy on the improve- 
 ment of maritime education. 
 
 He arrived at Edinburgh in September 1774 ; he 
 married soon after, and continued to reside in that 
 city for the remaining thirty years of his life, paying 
 only an annual visit to his native place, where he 
 possessed a part of his paternal estate ; not being 
 solicitous to extend it, although he did not dimi- 
 nish it otherwise than as it had been diminished be- 
 fore," that is, in making provision for younger child- 
 ren. His predecessor had been very judicious and 
 successful as a lecturer, though not a mathematician 
 of the highest order ; he had himself more practical 
 knowledge and experience in mechanics, and was 
 better acquainted with the foreign mathematicians, 
 who had naturally fallen under his notice during his 
 residence on the Continent. His lectures were con- 
 sidered by most of his pupils as somewhat too diffi- 
 cult to be followed ; a complaint which, if it did not 
 depend on their own want of preparatory informa- 
 tion, arose perhaps rather more from the hasty man- 
 ner of his enunciation, than from the abstruseness of 
 his matter. " The singular facility of his own ap- 
 prehension," says Professor Playfair, " made liim 
 judge too favourably of the same power in others. 
 
ROB 
 
 Robison. To understand his lectures completely was, on ac- 
 count of the rapidity, and the uniform flow of his 
 discourse, not a very easy task, even for men toler- 
 ably familiar with the subject. On this account, his 
 lectures were less popular than might have been ex- 
 pected from such a combination of talents as the 
 author of them possessed." This inconvenience was 
 increased " by the small number of experiments he 
 introduced, and a view that he took of Natural Phi- 
 losophy, which left but a very subordinate place for 
 them to occupy. An experiment, he would very 
 truly observe, does not establish a general proposi- 
 tion, and never can do more than prove a particular 
 fact :" but he seems to have carried this principle to 
 some little excess: it is, in fact, the illustration , and 
 not the proof, of general principles that is the object 
 of a public exhibition of experiments ; and it is very 
 doubtful whether Archimedes, or Newton, or Leib- 
 nitz, or Euler, would have been very successful as 
 showmen. With respect, however, to " accuracy of 
 definition, to clearness, brevity, and elegance of de- 
 monstration, and even to neatness and precision in 
 experiments," Professor Robison tuas very success- 
 ful ; his course extended " to every branch of phy- 
 sics and of mixed mathematics," and entered so fully 
 into the detail of each particular division of the sub- 
 jects, that " a more perfect system of academical in- 
 struction is not easily to be imagined nothing, in 
 short, was wanting, but so much previous knowledge 
 of mathematics in his pupils as he thought he had a 
 right to expect, though his expectations were too 
 rarely fulfilled. 
 
 The Philosophical Society of Edinburgh had been 
 almost suffered to sink into oblivion after the publi- 
 cation of the third volume of its Essays, in 1756. 
 Professor Robison became a member of it soon after 
 his return from Russia, and was chosen Secretary of 
 the new Society upon its formation by Royal charter, 
 in 1783, when it incorporated with itself the whole 
 of the surviving members of the former Society. In 
 1798, he received the compliment of a degree of 
 Doctor of Laws from the University of New Jersey; 
 and a similar honour was paid him at Glasgow the 
 year after. In 1800 he was elected, as successor to 
 Dr Black, on the list of the Foreign Members of the 
 Royal Academy of Sciences of St Petersburg. 
 
 He was attacked, in 1785, by a severe disorder, 
 from which he was never afterwards wholly free, 
 though it produced little inconvenience besides pain, 
 with some depression of spirits, which was, however, 
 attributed rather to the closeness of his application 
 than to the immediate effect of the disease, which 
 was a glandular induration. For many years he was 
 obliged to obtain the assistance of substitutes in the 
 delivery of his lectures ; but towards the end of his 
 life he was able again to perform the duties of the 
 professorship in person. He continued his literary 
 labours with little intermission, and was most happy 
 in the care and attention of his wife and children, 
 whose virtues he found the best alleviation of his suf- 
 
 ROB 
 
 ferings. He took a slight cold, after giving a lec- Robison. 
 ture, on the 28th of January 1805, and died on the 
 30th. 
 
 1. It was comparatively late in life that Professor 
 Robison assumed the character of an author, having 
 communicated to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 
 in 1785, a paper on the Determination of the Orbit 
 and Motion of the Georgium Sidus, which was pub- 
 lished in the Edinburgh Transactions, Vol. I. He 
 had observed the opposition of the planet, in 1786, 
 with an equatorial telescope only, and he had com- 
 puted the elements of its orbit with greater accuracy 
 than any other astronomer had then done ; although 
 his suspicion of the effect of such a planet on the 
 motions of Jupiter and Saturn has not been confirm- 
 ed by later investigations, the irregularities of these 
 planets, on the contrary, having been otherwise ex- 
 plained. 
 
 2. A second paper, published in the same collec- 
 tion. Vol. II. p. 82, r^elates to The Motion of Light, 
 as affbcted by refracting or reflecting substances 
 which are themselves in motion : the author corrects 
 some errors of Boscovich, who had miscalculated 
 the effect of a water telescope ; but he seems to agree 
 with Dr Wilson in the suggestion of another experi- 
 ment of a similar nature, which, to say the least, is 
 wholly superfluous. 
 
 S. The most important, beyond all comparison, 
 of Professor Robison's scientific publications, are the 
 articles which he communicated from time to time to 
 the third edition of the Encyclopcedia Briiannica, and 
 to its Supplement. It was under the care of Mr Colin 
 Macfarquhar that the twelve first volumes of that edition 
 of this work were published ;* and upon his death, 
 in 1793, the task of continuing it was committed to 
 Dr Gleig, to whom Professor Robison became a most 
 essential co-operator, and from that time ** the work 
 ceased to be a mere compilation." The first of 
 his contributions, according to Professor Playfair, 
 was the Article Optics, but he probably only revis- 
 ed and enlarged that article ; it was followed bv 
 Philosophy, which he wrote jointly with Dr Gleig'; 
 by Physics, Pneumatics, Precession, Projec- 
 tiles, Pumps, Resistance, Rivers, Roof, Rope- 
 making, Rotation, Seamanship, Signal, Sound, 
 Specific Gravity, Statics, Steam, Steam En- 
 gine, Steelyard, Strength, Telescope, Tide, 
 Trumpet, Variation, and Waterworks ; and in 
 the Supplement, by Arch, Astronomy, Boscovich, 
 Carpentry, Centre, Dynamics, Electricity, 
 Impulsion, Involution, Machinery, Magne- 
 tism, Mechanics, Percussion, Pianoforte, Po- 
 sition, Temperament, Thunder, Trumpet, 
 Tschirnhaus, and Watchwork. Notwithstand- 
 ing some degree of prolixity and want of arrange- 
 ment, which could scarcely be avoided in the pre- 
 paration of original articles for such a mode of pub- 
 lication, the whole of them, taken together, undenia- 
 bly exhibit a more complete view of the modern im- 
 provements of physical science than had ever before 
 
 * The third edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica consisted of eighteen volumes ; the Supplement to 
 it of two volumes. 
 
434 ROB 
 
 iJobisoii. been in the possession of the British public ; and dis- 
 ^v^'^ play such a combination of acquired knowledge with 
 original power of reasoning, as has fallen to the lot 
 of a few only of the most favoured of mankind. 
 
 4. It is not altogether with so high approbation 
 that his friends and his biographers have mention- 
 ed a work, of a nature rather political than philo- 
 sophical, entitled Proofs of a Conspiracy against all 
 the Religions and Governments of Europe, 8vo. Ed. 
 1797 ; though it went through several editions. The 
 principal part of the book consists of the history of 
 the Illuminati and the German Union, whom he 
 considers as having become the chief agents in a 
 plot first formed by the Freemasons, at the suggestion 
 of some ex-jesuit, who proposed for their model the 
 internal economy of the order which he had quitted ; 
 and whatever foundation this outline may have had 
 in truth, there is no doubt that the manner, in which 
 Professor Robison has filled it up, betrays a degree 
 of credulity, extremely remarkable in a person used 
 to calm reasoning and philosophical demonstration. 
 For example, in the admission of a story told by an 
 anonymous German author, that the minister Turgot 
 was the protector of a society that met at Baron 
 d'Holbach's, for the purpose of examining the brains 
 of living children, in order to discover the principle 
 of vitality. He does not accuse the English Free- 
 masons of having participated in the conspiracy ; but 
 he considers the Continental lodges as having been 
 universally implicated in it. 
 
 5. After the death of Dr Black in 1799, he un- 
 dertook to superintend the publication of his Lectures 
 on Chemistry, which appeared in 1803. 2 vols. 4. And 
 he executed this task, which was - rather laborious 
 than difficult, with equal zeal and ability. He en- 
 deavoured to reduce to their just estimate the com- 
 parative pretensions of the French and British che- 
 mists, though he is somewhat puritanically severe in 
 criticizing the literal meaning of the compliments 
 paid to Black by Lavoisier, on which he founds a 
 charge of insincerity. 
 
 6. His last publication was the first volume of a 
 series which was to form a complete system, entitled 
 Elements of Mechanical Philosophy, 8. Ed. 1804. 
 It comprehended only Dynamics and Astronomy ; and 
 it never became very popular : it was too difficult 
 for the raanj', who wished for general and philosophi- 
 cal notions only, and not sufficiently precise and de- 
 monstrative for the few, who wanted practical and 
 numerical results. In attempting to combine the 
 separate merits of the Exposition du Systeme du 
 Monde, and of the Mecanique Celeste, the author 
 sacrificed both the popular simplicity of the former, 
 and the mathematical perfection of the latter. A 
 few inaccuracies, which ought not to escape the at- 
 tention of the reader of the work, have been pointed 
 out in the Imperial Revieto for March 1805; a 
 journal long since discontinued. 
 
 7. The contents of the volume last mentioned, to- 
 gether with some manuscripts intended to have 
 formed part of a second, and the greater part of 
 the articles furnished by Professor Robison to the 
 Encyclopcedia, were collected into a System of 
 Mechanical Philosophy, ivith Notes, by David Brew- 
 ster, LL.D. 4 vols. 8. Ed. 1822 ; a spirited book- 
 
 ROB 
 
 seller in London having undertaken the risk of Robison. 
 the publication. l. The first volume begins with ^^^^'"'^ 
 the articles Dynamics, Projectiles, Corpuscu- 
 lar Forces, Capillary Attraction, Bosco- 
 vich's Theory, and Rotation, all as remodelled 
 for the Elements: then follow Strength of Mate- 
 rials, Carpentry, Roof, Construction of 
 Arches, Construction of Centres. 2. The ar- 
 ticle Steam-Engine is enriched with notes and an 
 appendix, by the late Mr Watt ; the next is Ma- 
 ci^inery; then Resistance of Fluids, Rivers, 
 Waterworks, Pumps. 3. Astronomy, Tele- 
 scope, Pneumatics. 4. Electricity, Magnetism, 
 Variation, Temperament, Trumpet, Watch- 
 work, and Seamanship. The notes are not nume- 
 rous, and the editor's principal labour has been to 
 retrench some passages that appeared to him super- 
 fluous, when the papers were to stand as parts of 
 such a collection. 
 
 " Although Dr Robison's name," says Dr Brew- 
 ster in his preface, " cannot be associated with the 
 great discoveries of the century which he adorned, 
 yet the memory of his talents and his virtues will be 
 long cherished by his country. Imbued with the 
 genuine spirit of the philosophy which he taught, he 
 was one of the warmest patrons of genius wherever 
 it was found. , His mind was nobly elevated above 
 the mean jealousies of rival ambition, and his love of 
 science and of justice was too ardent to allow him 
 either to depreciate the labours of others, or to 
 transfer them to himself. To these great qualities 
 as a philosopher, Dr Robison added all the mere 
 estimable endowments of domestic and of social life. 
 His friendship was at all times generous and sincere. 
 His piety was ardent and unostentatious. His pa- 
 triotism was of the most pure and exalted character ; 
 and, like the immortal Newton, whose memory he 
 cherished with a peculiar reverence, he was pre- 
 eminently entitled to the high distinction of a Chris- 
 tian, patriot, and philosopher." His person was 
 handsome, and his physiognomy prepossessing ; and 
 he appears to have been endowed with an extraordi- 
 nary combination of talents, even exclusively of 
 those which were called into immediate activity in 
 his professional pursuits ; for he was a good linguist, 
 an excellent draughtsman, and an accomplished mu- 
 sician : his conversation was always energetic and 
 interesting, and sometimes even poetical ; and his 
 liberality of sentiment was only limited by his regard 
 for what he considered as the best interests of man- 
 kind. 
 
 A short account of his life was published in 
 1802, by a contributor to the Philosophical Ma- 
 gazine, who, among other inaccuracies, thought 
 himself at liberty to assert that he was an ad- 
 mirer of the algebraical form of representation, 
 in preference to the geometrical. His friend, 
 Dr Gleig, stepped forwards soon after to correct 
 these mistakes, in the Antijacobin Revieiv for 1802, 
 and his letter was copied into the Philosophical Ma- 
 gazine. He asserts, from his own knowledge, that 
 even yet Professor Robison delights much more 
 in geometry than in any of the modes of algebra, 
 assigning, as the reason of his preference, that in 
 the longest demonstration, the geometrician has al- 
 
Romance. 
 
 ROB 
 
 Robison ways clear and adequate ideas, which the most ex- 
 pert algebraist can very seldom have." It may per- 
 ^ haps be asserted, on the other hand, that the same 
 reasoning would lead us always to employ actual mul- 
 tiplication or division, in preference to the use of lo- 
 garithms or of a sliding rule ; and that the whole of the 
 magic of calculation depends on the abstraction of the 
 results from the numerous and separately unimportant 
 steps by which they are obtained : but the having once 
 seen those steps clearly is certainly of great import- 
 ance to the process of reasoning, even when the me- 
 mory no longer retains them ; and no mathematician 
 of correct taste can study the ancient geometricians 
 without admiring the elegance and precision of their 
 method, even amidst the pedantry which too fre- 
 quently envelopes their expressions, and without be- 
 ing grateful for their punctuality in collecting their 
 results into the very convenient form of distinct pro- 
 positions, and in making such references from each 
 proposition to the foundations on which it depends, 
 as to enable him readily to trace back their steps to 
 the most elementary principles ; which is scarcely 
 possible in any of the works of the most modern 
 school of analysis. Professor Robison, however, 
 
 ROM 
 
 435 
 
 Romance- 
 
 seems rarely to have cultivated the higher raathe- Robison 
 matics for their own sake only, or any further than 
 as they could be applied to the study of the pheno- 
 mena of nature, or to the practice of the combina- 
 tions of art; in fact, without some such limitation, there 
 w^ould be no track to guide us in the pathless regions 
 of quantity and number, and their endless relations 
 and functions. But besides the utility of the pure 
 mathematics, as a branch of early education, in ex- 
 ercising and fortifying the powers of the mind, it is 
 impossible to foresee with certainty hono much of 
 mathematics may be wanted by the natural philoso- 
 pher in any given investigation ; and Professor Robi- 
 son, as well as many others of his countrymen, would 
 certainly have been the better for the possession of 
 a little more., as the author of the criticisms in the 
 Imperial Revietu has already had occasion to remark. 
 
 [_Phil. Mag. XIII. Dr Gleig, in Antijacohin Mag'. 
 XI. 1802. Stark's Biographia Scotica. Aikin's 
 General Biography, VIII. 4<. Lond. 1813. Playfair, 
 in Ed. Trans. Yll. 1815, p. 4.95. Chalmers's Bio- 
 graphical Dictionarj/, XXV. 8vo. Lond. I8I6.] 
 
 (A. L.) 
 
 ROMANCE. 
 
 Definition Dr Johnson has defined Romance, in its primary 
 sense, to be " a military fable of the middle ages; 
 
 Romance. ^ ^^'^ adventures in love and chivalry." But 
 
 although this definition expresses correctly the ordi- 
 nary idea of the word, it is not sufficiently compre- 
 hensive to answer our present purpose. A compo- 
 sition may be a legitimate romance, yet neither re- 
 fer to love nor chivalry — to war nor to the middle 
 ages. The " wild adventures" is almost the only 
 absolutely essential ingredient in Johnson's defini- 
 tion. We would be rather inclined to describe a 
 Romance as " a fictitious narrative in prose or verse; 
 the interest of which turns upon marvellous and un- 
 common incidents ;" being thus opposed to the kin- 
 dred term Novel, which Johnson has described as 
 *' a smooth tale, generally of love;" but which we 
 would rather define as " a fictitious narrative, dif- 
 fering from the romance, because accommodated to 
 the ordinary train of human eventSj and the modern 
 state of society." Assuming these definitions, it is 
 evident, from the nature of the distinction adoptedj 
 that there may exist Compositions which it is difficult 
 to assign precisely or exclusively to the' one class or 
 other ; and which, in fact, partake of the nature of 
 both. But the distinction will be found broad enough 
 to answer all general and useful purposes. 
 
 The word Romance, ia its original meaning, was 
 
 far from corresponding with the definition now as- 
 signed. On the contrary, it signified merely one or 
 other of the popular dialects of Europe, founded 
 (as almost all these dialects were) upon the Roman 
 tongue, that is, upon the Latin. The name of ro- 
 mance was indiscriminately given to the Italian, to 
 the Spanish, even (in one remarkable instance at 
 least)* to the English language. But it was espe- 
 cially applied to the compound language of France ; 
 in which the Gothic dialect of the Franks, the Celtic 
 of the ancient Gauls, and the classical Latin, formed 
 the ingredients. Thus Robert De Brunne : 
 
 AH is calde geste Inglis, 
 That en this language spoken is— 
 Frankis speeda is caled Romance, 
 So sayis clerkis and men of France." 
 
 At a period so early as 1150, it plainly appears that 
 the Romance Language was distinguished from the 
 Latin, and that translations were made I'rom the one 
 into the other ; for an ancient romance on the sub- 
 ject of Alexander, quoted by Fauchet, says it was 
 written by a learned clerk, 
 
 " Qui de Latin la trest, et en Roman la mit." 
 
 The most noted romances of the middle ages were 
 usually composed in the romance or French lan- 
 
 * This curious passage was detected by the industry of Ritson in Giraldus Cambrensis, " Ab aqua ilia 
 optima, quK Scottice vocata est Froth; Brittanice, Weird; Romane vero Scotie-Wattre." Here the 
 various names assigned to the Frith of Forth are given in the Gaelic or Earse, the British or Welsh } and 
 the phrase Roman is applied to the ordinary language of England^ But it would be difficult to show 
 another instance of the English language being termed Roman- or Romance. 
 
4S6 
 
 ROMANCE. 
 
 Romance. 
 
 guage, which was, in a peculiar degree, the speech 
 of love and chivalry ; and those which are written in 
 English always affect to refer to some French origi- 
 nal, which usually, at least, if not in all instances, 
 must be supposed to have a real existence. Hence 
 the frequent recurrence of the phrase. 
 
 Or, 
 
 " As in romance we read ;" 
 
 *' Right as the romaunt us tells ;' 
 
 and equivalent phrases, well known to all who have 
 at any time perused such compositions. Thus, very 
 naturally, though, undoubtedly, by slow degrees, the 
 very name of romaunt, or romance, came to be 
 transferred from the language itself to that peculiar 
 style of composition in which it was so much em- 
 ployed, and which so commonly referred to it. How 
 early, a transference so natural took place, we have 
 no exact means of knowing ; but the best authority 
 assures us, that the word was used in its modern 
 sense so early as the reign of Edward HI. Chau- 
 cer, unable to sleep during the night, informs us, 
 that, in order to pass the time, 
 
 " Upon my bed I sate upright ; 
 A RoMAUNCE, and he me it took 
 To read and drive the night away.'*^ 
 
 The book described as a romance contained, as we 
 are informed. 
 
 Fables 
 
 That clerkis had, in old time, 
 And other poets, put in rhyme." 
 
 And the author tells us, a little lower, 
 
 " This book ne spake but of such things, 
 Of Queens' lives and of Kings." 
 
 The volume proves to be no other than Ovid's Me- 
 tamorphosis; and Chaucer, by applying to it the 
 name of romance, sufficiently establishes that the 
 word was, in his time, correctly employed under the 
 modern acceptation. 
 
 Having thus accounted for the derivation of the 
 word, our investigation divides itself into three prin- 
 cipal branches, though of unequa'i extent. In the 
 FIRST of these we propose to inquire into the general 
 History and Origin of this peculiar species of compo- 
 sition, and particularly of Romances relating to Euro- 
 pean Chivalry, which necessarily form the most inte- 
 resting object of our inquiry ; and in the second, to 
 give some brief account of the History of the Romance 
 of Chivalry in the different states of Europe. Thirdly, 
 We propose to notice cursorily the various kinds of 
 Romantic Composition by which the ancient romances 
 of chivalry were followed and superseded, and with 
 these notices to conclude the article. 
 
 General His- I. In the views taken by Hurd, Percy, and other 
 tory of Ro- older authorities, of the origin and history of ro- 
 mance, mantic fiction, their attentions were so exclusive- 
 ly fixed upon the romance of chivalry alone, that 
 they seem to have forgotten that, however interesting 
 and peculiar, it formed only one species of a very nu- 
 
 merous and extensive genus. The progress of ro- Romance, 
 mance, in fact, keeps pace with that of society, ^^•>*- 
 which cannot long exist, even in the simplest state, 
 without exhibiting some specimens of this attractive 
 style of composition. It is not meant by this asser- 
 tion, that in early ages such narratives were invented, 
 in the character of mere fictions, devised to pass 
 away the leisure of those who have time enough to 
 read and attend to them. On the contrary, romance 
 and real history have the same common origin. It is 
 the aim of the former to maintain as long as possible 
 the mask of veracity ; and indeed the traditional me- 
 morials of all earlier ages partake in such a varied 
 and doubtful degree of the qualities essential to those 
 opposite lines of composition, that they form a mixed 
 class between them ; and may be termed either ro- 
 mantic histories, or historical romances^ according 
 to the proportion in which their truth is debased 
 by fiction, or their fiction mingled with truth. 
 
 A moment's glance at the origin of society will 
 satisfy the reader why this can hardly be other- 
 wise. The father of an isolated family, des- 
 tined one day to rise from thence into a nation, 
 may, indeed, narrate to his descendants the circum- 
 stances which detached him from the society of his 
 brethren, and drove him to form a solitary settlement 
 in the wilderness, with no other deviation from truth, 
 on the part of the narrator, than arises from the infi- 
 delity of memory, or the exaggerations of vanity. 
 But when the tale of the patriarch is related by his 
 children, and again by his descendants of the third 
 and fourth generation, the facts it contains are apt 
 to assume a very different aspect. The vanity of the 
 tribe augments the simple annals from one cause— 
 the love of the marvellous, so natural to the human 
 mind, contributes its means of sophistication from 
 another — while, sometimes, the king and the priest 
 find their interest in casting a holy and sacred gloom 
 and mystery over the early period in which their 
 power arose. And thus altered and sophisticated 
 from so many different motives, the real adventures 
 of the founder of the tribe bear as little proportion 
 to the legend recited among his children, as the fa- 
 mous hut of Loretto bears to the highly ornamented 
 church with which superstition has surrounded and 
 enchased it. Thus the definition which we have given 
 of Romance as a fictitious narrative turning upon the 
 marvellous or the supernatural, might, in a large 
 sense, be said to embrace 
 
 quicquid Grsecia mendax^ 
 
 Audet in historia, 
 
 or, in fine, the mythological and fabulous history of 
 all early nations. 
 
 It is also important to remark, that poetry, or ra- 
 ther verse — rythm at least of some sort or other, is 
 originally selected as the best vehicle for these tra- 
 ditional histories. Its principal recommendation is 
 probably the greater facility with which metrical 
 narratives are retained in the memory — a point of the 
 last consequence, until the art of writing is generally 
 introduced ; since the construction of the verse itself 
 forms an artificial association with the sense, the one 
 of which seldom fails to recal the other to recollec- 
 tion. But the medium of verse, at first adopted 
 
 10 
 
R O M A N C fl 
 
 .Romance, merely to aid the memory, becomes soon valuable on 
 '"^'^'^ account of its other qualities. The march or mea- 
 sure of the stanza is gratifying to the ear, and, like a 
 natural strain of melody, can be restrained or ac- 
 celerated, so as to correspond with the tone of feel- 
 ing which the words convey; while the recurrence of 
 the necessary measure rythra, or rhyme, is perpe- 
 tually gratifying the hearer by a sense of difficulty 
 overcome. Verse being thus adopted as the vehicle 
 of traditional history, there needs but the existence 
 of a single man of genius, in order to carry the com- 
 position a step higher in the scale of literature than 
 that of which we are treating. In proportion to the 
 skill which he attains in his art, the fancy and inge- 
 nuity of the artist himself are excited ; the simple 
 narrative transmitted to him by ruder rhymers is in- 
 creased in length ; is decorated with the graces of 
 language, amplified in detail, and rendered interest- 
 ing by description ; until the brief and barren original 
 bears as little resemblance to the finished piece, as the 
 Iliad of Homer to the evanescent traditions, out of 
 which the blind bard wove his tale of Troy Divine. 
 Hence the opinion expressed by the ingenious Percy, 
 and assented to by Ritson himself. When about to pre- 
 sent to his readers an excellent analysis of the old ro- 
 mance of Lybius Disconius, and making several re- 
 marks on the artificial management of the story, the 
 Bishop observes, that " if an Epic poem may be de- 
 fined a fable related by a poet to excite admiration 
 and inspire virtue, by representing the action of some 
 one hero favoured by Heaven, who executes a great 
 design in spite of all the obstacles that oppose him, 
 I know not why we should withhold the name of 
 Epic Poem from the piece which I am about to ana- 
 lyse." * 
 
 Yet although this levelling proposition has been 
 laid down by Percy, and assented to by Ritson 
 (writers who have few opinions in common), and al- 
 though, upon so general a view of the subject, the 
 Iliad, or even the Odyssey, of Homer might be de- 
 graded into the class of romances, as Le Beau De- 
 connu is elevated into that of epic poems, there lies 
 in ordinary speech, and in common sense, as wide a 
 distinction between these two classes of composition, 
 as there is betwixt the rude mystery or morality of the 
 middle ages, and the regular drama by which these 
 were succeeded. Where the art and the ornaments 
 of the poet chiefly attract our attention — where each 
 part of the narrative bears a due proportion to the 
 others, and the whole draws gradually towards a final 
 and satisfactory conclusion — where the characters are 
 
 sketched with force, and sustained with precision 
 
 where the narrative is enlivened and adorned with so 
 much, and no more, of poetical ornament and descrip- 
 tion, as may adorn, without impeding its progress 
 
 where this art and taste is displayed, supported, at the 
 same time, by a sufficient tone of genius, and art of 
 composition, the work produced must be termed an 
 Epic Poem, and the author may claim his seat upon 
 the high and honoured seat occupied by Homer, 
 
 437 
 
 Virgil, and Milton. On the other hand, when a story Romant 
 languishes in tedious and minute details, and relies "^^.'^ 
 for the interest which it proposes to excite, rather 
 upon the wild excursions of an unbridled fancy, than 
 upon the skill of the poet—when the supernatural 
 and the extraordinary are relied upon exclusively as 
 the supports of the interest, the author, though his 
 production may be distinguished by occasional flashes 
 of genius, and though it may be interesting to the his- 
 torian, as containing some minute fragments of real 
 events, and still more so to the antiquary, from the 
 light whidi it throws upon ancient manners, is still 
 no more than a humble Romancer, and his work 
 must rank amongst those rude ornaments of a dark 
 age, which are at present the subject of our consi- 
 deration. Betwixt the extremes of the two classes 
 of composition, there must, no doubt, exist many 
 works, which partake in some degree of the charac- 
 ter of both ; and after having assigned most of them 
 each to their proper class, according as they are dis- 
 tinguished by regularity of composition and poetical 
 talent, or, on the contrary, by extravagance of ima- 
 gination, and irregularity of detail, there may still 
 remain some, in which these properties are so equal- 
 ly balanced, that it may be difficult to say to which 
 class they belong. But although this maybe the 
 case in a very few instances, our taste and habits rea- 
 dily acknowledge as complete and absolute a differ- 
 ence betwixt the Epopeia and Romance, as can ex. 
 ist betwixt two distinct species of the same generic 
 class- 
 
 We have said of romance, that it first appears in 
 the form of metrical history, professes to be a narra- 
 tive of real facts, and is, indeed, nearly allied to such 
 history as an early state of society affords ; which is 
 always exaggerated by the prejudices and partialities 
 of the tribe to which it belongs, as well as deeply 
 marked by their idolatry and superstition. These it 
 becomes the trade of the romancers still more to ex- 
 aggerate, until the thread of truth can scarce be dis- 
 cerned in the web of fable which involves it ; and we 
 are compelled to renounce all hope of deriving se- 
 rious or authentic information from the materials 
 upon which the compounders of fiction have been so 
 long at work, from one generation to another, that 
 they have at length obliterated the very shadow of 
 reality or even probability. 
 
 The view we have given of the origin of romance 
 will be found to agree with the facts which the re- 
 searches of so many active investigators of this curious 
 subject have been able to ascertain. It is found, for 
 example, and we will produce instances in viewing 
 the progress of romance in particular countries, 
 that the earliest productions of this sort, known to 
 exist, are short narrations or ballads, which were 
 probably sung on solemn or festival occasions, re- 
 cording the deeds and praises of some famed cham- 
 pion of the tribe and country, or perhaps the history 
 of some remarkable victory or signal defeat, calcu- 
 lated to interest the audience by the associations 
 
 * Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, III. xxvii. 
 fi^xed to Telemachus. 
 
 VOL. yi. PART II. 
 
 The Prelate is citing a discourse on epic poetry, pre« 
 
 3 K 
 
438 
 
 liomance. 
 
 ROMANCE. 
 
 Temporal 
 and Spi- 
 ritual Ro- 
 mances. 
 
 which the song awakens. These poems, of which very 
 few can now be supposed to exist, are not without 
 flashes of genius, but brief, rude, and often obscure, 
 from real antiquity or affected subhmity of diction. 
 The song on the battle of Brunanburgh, preserved 
 in the Saxon Chronicle, is a genuine and curious 
 example of this aboriginal style of poetry. 
 
 Even at this early period. * there may be observed 
 a distinction betwixt what may be called the Tempo- 
 ral and Spiritual romances ; the first destined to the 
 celebration of worldly glory,— the second to record- 
 ing the deaths of martyrs and the miracles of saints ; 
 both which themes unquestionably met with an al- 
 most equally favourable reception from their hear- 
 ers. But although most nations possess, in their ear- 
 ly species of literature, specimens of both kinds of 
 romance, the proportion of each, as was naturally to 
 have been expected, differs according as the genius 
 of the people amongst whom they occur leaned to- 
 wards devotion or military enterprise. Thus, of 
 the Saxon specimens of poetry, which manuscripts 
 still afford us, a very large proportion is devotion- 
 al, amongst which are several examples of the spi- 
 ritual romance, but very few, indeed, of those re- 
 specting warfare or chivalry. On the other hand, 
 the Norman language, though rich in examples of 
 both kinds of romances, is particularly abundant in 
 that which relates to battle and warlike adventure. 
 The Christian Saxons had become comparatively 
 pacific, while the Normans were certainly accounted 
 the most martial people in Europe. 
 
 However different the spiritual romance may be 
 from the temporal in scope and tendency, the nature 
 of the two compositions did not otherwise greatly 
 differ. The structure of verse and style of compo- 
 sition was the same ; and the induction, even when 
 the most serious subject was undertaken, exactly 
 resembled that with which minstrels introduced their 
 idle tales, and often contained allusions to them. War- 
 ton quotes a poem on the Passions, which begins, 
 
 I hereth one lutele tale, that Ich eu wille telle, 
 As wi vyndeth hit invrite in the godspeUe, 
 Nuz hit nouht of Carlemeyne ne of the Duzpere, 
 Ac of Criste's thruurynge, &c. 
 
 The temporal romances, on the other hand, often 
 commenced by such invocations of the Deity, as 
 would only have been in place when a much more 
 solemn subject was to be agitated. The exordium 
 of the Romance of Ferumbras may serve as an exam- 
 ple of a custom almost universal : 
 
 God in gloryc of mightis moost 
 
 That all things made in sapience, 
 By virtue of Word and Holy Gooste, 
 
 Giving to men great excellence, &c. 
 
 The distresses and dangers which the knight en- 
 dured for the sake of obtaining earthly fame and his 
 mistress's favour, the saint or martyr was exposed 
 to for the purpose of securing his rank in heaven, and 
 
 the favour of some beloved and peculiar patron saint. Romance. 
 If the earthly champion is in peril from monsters, dra- 
 gons, and enchantments, the spiritual hero is repre- 
 sented as liable to the constant assaults of the whole 
 invisible world, headed by the ancient dragon him- 
 self. If the knight is succoured at need by some 
 favouring fairy or protecting genius, the saint is un- 
 der the protection not only of the whole heavenly 
 host, but of some one divine patron or patroness who 
 is his especial auxiliary. Lastly, the conclusion of 
 the romance, which usually assigns to the cham- 
 pion a fair realm, an abundant succession, and a 
 train of happy years, consigns to the martyr his fane 
 and altar upon earth, and in heaven his seat among 
 saints and angels, and his share in a blessed eter- 
 nity. It. remains but to say, that the style and 
 language of these two classes do not greatly differ, 
 and that the composers of both employ the same 
 structure of rythm and of language, and draw their 
 ideas and their incidents from similar sources ; so that, 
 having noticed the existence of the spiritual romance, 
 it is unnecessary for the present to prosecute this 
 subject farther. 
 
 Another early and natural division of these works Comie Ro- 
 of fiction seems to have arranged them into Serious^^^^- 
 and Comical. The former were by far the most nu- 
 merous, and examples of the latter are in most coun- 
 tries comparatively rare. Such a class, however, ex- 
 isted, as proper romances, even if we hold the comic 
 romance distinct from the Contes and Fabliaux of the 
 French, and from such jocular English narratives as 
 the WifeLapt inMorir$ Skin, The Friar and the Boi/, 
 and sirailf>r humorous tales; of which the reader 
 will find many examples in Ritson's Ancient Eng- 
 lish Poetry, and in other collections. The scene 
 of these gestes being laid in low, or at least in ordi- 
 nary life, they approach in their nature more near- 
 ly to the class of novels, and may perhaps be con- 
 sidered as the earliest specimens of that kind of com- 
 position. But the proper comic romance was that 
 in which the high terms and knightly adventures of 
 chivalry were burlesqued, by ascribing them to 
 clowns or others of a low and mean degree. They 
 formed, as it were, a parody on the serious romance, 
 to which they bore the same proportion as the anti- 
 masque, studiously filled with grotesque, absurd, and 
 extravagant characters, " entering," as the stage di- 
 rection usually informs us, "to a confused music," 
 bore to the masque itself, where all was dignified, 
 noble, stately, and harmonious. 
 
 An excellent example ^f the comic romance is the 
 Tournament of Tottenham, printed in Percy's Re- 
 ligues, in which a number of clowns are introduc- 
 ed practising one of these warlike games, which were 
 the exclusive prerogative t)f the warlike and noble. 
 They are represented making vows to the swan, the 
 peacock, and the ladies ; riding a tilt on their clumsy- 
 cart horses, and encountering each other with plough- 
 shares and flails; while their defensive armour consisted 
 of great wooden bowls and troughs, by way of helmets 
 
 * The religious romances of Barlaam and Jehosaphat were composed by John of Damascus ii 
 eighth century. 
 
ROMANCE. 
 
 4S9 
 
 and cuirasses. The learned editor seems to have 
 thought this singular composition was like Don Quix- 
 ote, with which he compares it, a premeditated effort 
 of satire, written to expose the grave and fantastic 
 manners of the serious romance. This is considering 
 the matter too deeply, and ascribing to the author a 
 more critical purpose than he was probably capable 
 of conceiving. It is more natural to suppose that 
 his only ambition was to raise a laugh, by ascribing 
 to the vulgar the manners and exercises of the no- 
 ble and valiant ; as in the well known farce of High 
 Life Below Stairs, the ridicule is not directed against 
 the manners described, but against the menials who 
 affect those that are only befitting their superiors. 
 The Hunting of the Hare, published in the collec- 
 tion formed by the late industrious and accurate Mr 
 Weber, is a comic romance of the same order. A yeo- 
 man informs the inhabitants of a country hamlet that 
 he has found a hare sitting, and invites them to come 
 to course her. They attend, accordingly, with all the 
 curs and mastiffs of their village, and the unsportsman- 
 like manner in which the inexperienced huntsmen and 
 their irregular pack conduct themselves, forms the in- 
 terest of the piece. It can hardly be supposed the 
 satire is directed against the sport of hunting itself; 
 since the whole ridicule arises out of the want of the 
 necessary knowledge of its rules, incident to the ig- 
 norance and inexperience of the clowns who under- 
 took to practise an art peculiar to gentlemen. The 
 ancient poetry of Scotland furnishes several exam- 
 ples of this ludicrous style of romantic composition ; 
 as the Tournament at the Drum, and the Justing of 
 Watson and Barbour, by Sir David Lindsay. It is 
 probable that these mock encounters were sometimes 
 acted in earnest ; at least King James I. is accused 
 of witnessing such practical jests; " sometimes pre- 
 senting David Droman and Archie Armstrong, 
 the king's fool, on the back of other fools, to tilt at 
 one another till they fell together by the ears." — (Sir 
 Antony Weldon's Court of King James.) 
 
 In hastily noticing the various divisions of the ro- 
 mance, we have in some degree delayed our pro- 
 mised account of its rise and progress ; an inquiry 
 which we mean chiefly to confine to the romance of 
 the middle ages. For, although it be true that this 
 species of composition is common to almost all na- 
 tions, and that even if we deem the Iliad and Odii/s- 
 sey compositions too dignified by the strain of poetry 
 in which they are composed to bear the name of 
 metrical romances ; yet we have the pastoral romance 
 of Daphnis and Chloe, and the historical romance of 
 Theagenes and Churiclea, which are sufficiently ac- 
 curate specimens of that style of composition to which 
 it is probable the Milesian fables and the romances 
 of Antonius Diogenes, described by Photius, could 
 they be recovered, would also be found to belong. 
 It is impossible to avoid noticing that the Sybarites, 
 whose luxurious habits seem to have been intellec- 
 tual, as well as sensual, were peculiarly addicted to 
 the perusal of the Milesian fables ; from which we 
 may conclude that they were not of that severe kind 
 which inspired high thoughts and martial virtues. 
 But there would be little advantage derived from ex- 
 tending our researches into the ages of classical an- 
 tiquity respecting a class of compositions which, 
 
 though they existed then, as in almost every stage Romance, 
 of society, were neither so numerous nor of such ^ ^ v*^^ 
 high repute as to constitute any considerable portion 
 of their literature. 
 
 Want of space also may entitle us to dismiss Eastern Ro- 
 the consideration of the Oriental romances, unless *"ances. 
 in so far as in the course of the middle ages they 
 came to furnish materials for enlarging and va- 
 rying the character of the romances of knight-er- 
 rantry. That they existed early, and were highly 
 esteemed both among the Persians and Arabians, has 
 never been disputed ; and the most interesting light 
 has been lately thrown on the subject by the publica- 
 tion of Antar, one of the most ancient, as well as 
 most rational, if we may use the phrase, of the 
 Oriental fictions. The Persian romance of the Sha- 
 Nameh is well known to Europeans by name," and by 
 copious extracts ; and the love-tale of Mejnoun and 
 Leilah is also familiar to our ears, if not to our recol- 
 lections. Many of the fictions in the extraordinary 
 collection of the Arabian Tales approach strictly to • 
 the character of romances of chivalry ; although in 
 general they must be allowed to exceed the more 
 tame northern fictions in dauntless vivacity of inven- 
 tion, and in their more strong tendency to the mar- 
 vellous. Several specimens of the comic romance are 
 also to be found mingled with those which are seri- 
 ous J and we have the best and most positive autho- 
 rity that the recital of these seductive fictions is at 
 this moment an amusement as fascinating and general 
 among the people of the East, as the perusal of 
 printed romances and novels among the European 
 public. But a minute investigation into this parti- 
 cular species of romance would lead us from our 
 present field, already sufficiently extensive for the li- 
 mits to which our plan confines it. 
 
 The European Romance, wherever it arises, and Romances of 
 in whatsoever country it begins to be cultivated, had Chivalry, 
 its origin in some part of the real or fabulous history 
 of that country ; and of this we will produce, in the 
 sequel, abundant proofs. But the simple tale of tra- 
 dition had not passed through many mouths, ere 
 some one, to indulge his own propensity for the 
 wonderful, or to secure by novelty the attention of 
 his audience, augments the meagre chronicle with 
 his own apocryphal inventions. Skirmishes are mag- 
 nified into great battles ; the champion of a remote age 
 is exaggerated into a sort of demi-god ; and the enemies 
 whom he encountered and subdued are multiplied in 
 number, and magnified in strength, in order to add 
 dignity to his successes against them. Cbaunted to 
 rythmical numbers, the songs which celebrate the 
 early valour of the fathers of the tribe become its 
 war-cry in battle, and men march to conflict hymn- 
 ing the praises and the deeds of some real or sup- 
 posed precursor who had marshalled their fathers In 
 the path of victory. No reader can have forgotten 
 that when the decisive battle of Hastings commenced, 
 a Norman minstrel, Taillefer, advanced on horse- 
 back before the invading host, and gave the signal 
 for onset, by singing the Song of Roland, that re- 
 nowned nephew of Charlemagne, of whom romance 
 speaks so much, and history so little; and whose fall, 
 with the chivalry of Charles the Great in the pass of 
 Roncesvalles, has given rise to such clouds of ro- 
 
440 
 
 ROMANCE. 
 
 Romance, mantic fiction, that its very name has been for ever 
 >^'^y^^ associated with it. The remarkable passage has been 
 often quoted from the Brut of JVace, an Anglo-Nor- 
 man metrical chronicle. 
 
 Taillefer, qui moult bien chantont 
 Sur un cheval gi tost alont, 
 Devant le Due alont chantant 
 De Karlemaigne et de RoUant, 
 Et d'Oliver et des vassals, 
 Qui morurent en Rencevals. 
 
 Which may be thus rendered, 
 
 Taillefer, who sung both well and loud, 
 Came mounted on a courser proud ; 
 Before the Duke the minstrel sprung, 
 And loud of Charles and Roland sung, 
 Of Oliver and champions mo, 
 Who died at fatal Ron<5evaux. 
 
 This champion possessed the sleight-of-hand of the 
 juggler, as well as the art of the minstrel. He toss- 
 ed up his sword in the air, and caught it again as he 
 galloped to the charge, and showed other feats of 
 dexterity. Taillefer slew two Saxon warriors of dis- 
 tinction, and was himself killed by a third, Ritson, 
 with less than his usual severe accuracy, supposed that 
 Taillefer sung some part of a long metrical romance 
 upon Roland and his history; but the words chanson, 
 cantilena^ and song, by which the composition is 
 usually described, seems rather to apply to a brief 
 ballad or national song ; which is also more conso- 
 nant with our ideas of the time and place where it 
 was chaunted. 
 
 But neither with these romantic and metrical chro- 
 nicles did the mind long remain satisfied ; more de- 
 tails were demanded, and were liberally added by 
 the invention of those who undertook to cater for the 
 public taste in such matters. The same names of 
 kings and champions, which had first caught the na- 
 tional ear, were still retained, in order to secure at- 
 tention, and the same assertions of authenticity, and 
 of reference to real history, were stoutly made both 
 in the commencement and in the course of the nar- 
 rative. Each nation, as will presently be seen, came 
 to adopt to itself a cycle of heroes like those of 
 the Iliad ; a sort of common property to all min- 
 strels who chose to make use of them, under the 
 condition always that the general character ascrib- 
 ed to each individual hero was preserved with some 
 degree of consistency. Thus, in the romances of 
 The Round Table, Gawain is uniformly represented 
 as courteous ; Kay as rude and boastful ; Mordred as 
 treacherous; and Sir Launcelot as a true though a sin- 
 ful lover, and in all other respects a model of chi- 
 valry. Amid the Paladins of Charlemagne, whose 
 cycle may be considered as peculiarly the property 
 of French in opposition to Norman- Anglo ro- 
 mance, Gan, or Ganelon of Mayence, is represented 
 as uniformly faithless, and engaged in intrigues for 
 the destruction of Christianity ; Roland as brave, un- 
 suspicious, devotedly loyal, and somewhat simple in 
 his disposition ; Renaud, or Rinaldo, is painted with 
 all the properties of a borderer, valiant, alert, inge- 
 nious, rapacious, and unscrupulous. The same con- 
 
 ventional distinctions may be traced in the history of Romance, 
 the Nibelung, which has supplied matter for so many '^•^^./'^'•^ 
 Teutonic adventurers. Meister Hildebrand, Etzel, 
 Theodorick, and the champion Hogan, as well as 
 Chrimhelda and the females introduced, have the 
 same individuality of character, which is ascribed, 
 in Homer's immortal writings, to the wise Ulysses, 
 the brave but relentless Achilles, his more gentle 
 friend Patroclus, Sarpedon, the favourite of the gods, 
 and Hector, the protector of mankind. It was not 
 permitted to the invention of a Greek poet to 
 make Ajax a dwarf, or Teucer a giant, Thersites a 
 hero, or Diomedes a coward; and it seems to have 
 been under similar restrictions respecting consisten- 
 cy that the ancient romancers exercised their inge- 
 nuity upon the materials supplied them by their pre- 
 decessors. But, in other respects, the whole store 
 of romantic history and tradition was free to all 
 as a joint stock in trade, on which each bad a right 
 to draw as suited his particular purposes. He was at 
 liberty not only to select a hero out of known and es- 
 tablished names which had been the theme of others, 
 but to imagine a new personage of his own pure 
 fancy, and combine him with the heroes of Arthur's 
 Table or Charlemagne's Court, in the way which 
 best suited his fancy. He was permitted to excite 
 new wars against those bulwarks of Christendom, 
 invade them with fresh and innumerable hosts of 
 Saracens, reduce them to the last extremity, drive 
 them from their thrones, and lead them into capti- 
 vity, and again to relieve their persons, and restore 
 their sovereignty, by events and agents totally un- 
 known in their former story. 
 
 In the characters thus assigned to the individual 
 characters of romantic fiction, it is possible there 
 might be some slight foundation in remote tradition, 
 as there were also probably some real grounds for the 
 existence of such persons, and perhaps for a very 
 few of the leading circumstances attributed to 
 them. But these realities only exist as the few 
 grains of wheat in the bushel of chaff, incapable of 
 being winnowed out, or cleared from the mass of 
 fiction with which each new romancer had in his 
 turn overwhelmed them. So that romance, though 
 certainly deriving its first original from the pure 
 font of History, is supplied, during the course of a 
 very few generations, with so many tributes from 
 the Imagination, that at length the very name comes 
 to be used to distinguish works of pure fiction. 
 
 When so popular a department of poetry has at- 
 tained this decided character, it becomes time to in- 
 quire who were the composers of these numerous, 
 lengthened, and once admired narratives which are 
 called metrical romances, and from whence they drew 
 their authority. Both these subjects of discussion 
 have been the source of great controversy among 
 antiquarians ; a class of men who, be it said with their 
 forgiveness, are apt to be both positive and polemi- 
 cal upon the very points which are least susceptible 
 of proof, and which are least valuable if the truth 
 could be ascertained ; and which, therefore, we would 
 gladly have seen handled with more diffidence, and 
 better temper in proportion to their uncertainty. 
 
 The late venerable Dr Percy, Bishop of Droraore, The Min- 
 
 strels. 
 
ROMANCE. 
 
 441 
 
 led the way unwarily to this dire controversy, by as- 
 cribing the composition of our ancient heroic songs 
 and metrical legends, in rather too liberal language, 
 to the minstrels, that class of men by whom they 
 were generally recited. This excellent person, to 
 whose memory the lovers of our ancient lyre must 
 always remain so deeply indebted, did not, on pub- 
 lishing his work nearly fifty years ago, see the rigid 
 necessity of observing the utmost and most accurate 
 precision either in his transcripts or his definitions. 
 The study which he wished to introduce was a new 
 one-^it was his object to place it before the public 
 in an engaging and interesting form; and, in consi- 
 deration of his having obtained this important point, 
 we ought to make every allowance, not only for 
 slight inaccuracies, but for some hasty conclusions, 
 and even exaggerations, with which he was induced 
 to garnish his labour of love. He defined the min- 
 strels, to whose labours he chiefly ascribed the me- 
 trical compositions on which he desired to fix the at- 
 tention of the public, as " an order of men in the 
 middle ages, who subsisted by the arts of poetry and 
 music, and sung to the harp verses composed by 
 themselves or others."* In a very learned and ele- 
 gant essay upon the text thus announced, the reve- 
 rend Prelate in a great measure supported the de- 
 finition which he had laid down ; although it may 
 be thought that, in the first editions at least, he has 
 been anxious to view the profession of the minstrels 
 on their fairest and most brilliant side ; and to assign 
 to them a higher station in society than a general re* 
 view of all the passages connected with them will 
 permit us to give to a class of persons who either 
 lived a vagrant life, dependent on the precarious taste 
 of the public for a hard-earned maintenance, or, at 
 best, were retained as a part of the menial retinue of 
 some haughty baron, and in a great measure identi- 
 fied with his musical band. 
 
 The late acute, industrious, and ingenious Mr 
 Joseph Ritson, whose severe accuracy was connect- 
 ed with an unhappy eagerness and irritability of tem- 
 per, took advantage of the exaggerations occasional- 
 ly to be found in the Bishop's Account of Ancient 
 Minstrelsy, and assailed him with terms which may 
 be termed any thing but courteous. Without find- 
 ing an excuse either in the novelty of the studies in 
 which Percy had led the way, or in the vivacity of 
 imagination which he did not himself share, he pro- 
 ceeded to arraign each trivial inaccuracy as a gross 
 fraud, and every deduction which he considered to 
 be erroneous as a wilful untruth, fit to be stigma- 
 tized with the broadest appellation by which false- 
 hood can be distinguished. Yet threre is so little 
 room for this extreme loss of temper, that, upon a 
 recent perusal of both these ingenious essays, we 
 were surprised to find that the reverend Editor of the 
 Reliquesy and accurate Antiquary, have differed so 
 very little as, in essential facts, they appear to have 
 done. Quotations are, indeed, made by both with no 
 sparing hand, and hot arguments ; and, on one side 
 
 at least, hard words are unsparingly employed ; while, Romance, 
 as is said to happen in theological polemics, the con- •^'^^'"'^ 
 test grows warmer in proportion as the ground con- 
 cerning which it is carried on is narrower and more 
 insignificant. In reality, their systems do not es- 
 sentially differ. 
 
 Ritson is chiefly offended at the sweeping conclu- 
 sion in which Percy states the minstrels as subsisting 
 by the arts of poetry and music, and reciting to the 
 harp verses composed by themselves and others. 
 He shows .very successfully that this definition is 
 considerably too extensive, and that the term min- 
 strel comprehended, of old, not merely those who 
 recited to the harp or other instrument romances 
 and ballads, but others who were distinguished by 
 their skill in instrumental music only ; and, moreover, 
 that jugglers, sleight-of-hand performers, dancers, 
 tumblers, and such like subordinate artists who were 
 introduced to help away the tedious hours in an an- 
 cient feudal castle, were also comprehended under 
 the general terra of minstrel. But although he dis- 
 tinctly proves that Percy's definition applied only to 
 one class of the persons termed minstrels, those name- 
 ly who sung or recited verses, and in many cases of 
 their own composition ; the bishop's position remains 
 unassailable, in so far as relates to one general class, 
 and these the most distinguished during the middle 
 ages. All minstrels did not use the harp, and recite 
 or compose romantic poetry ; but it cannot be denied 
 that such was the occupation of the most eminent of 
 the order. This Ritson has rather admitted than de- 
 nied ; and the number of quotations which his in- 
 dustry has brought together, rendered such an ad- 
 mission inevitable. 
 
 Indeed, the slightest acquaintance with ancient ro- 
 mances of the metrical class, shows us that they were 
 composed for the express purpose of being recited, 
 or, more properly, chaunted to some simple tune or 
 cadence for the amusement of a large audience. 
 Our ancestors, as they were circumscribed in know- 
 ledge, were also more limited in conversation than 
 their enlightened descendants j and it seems pro- 
 bable, that, in their public festivals, there was great 
 advantage found in the presence of a minstrel who 
 should recite some popular composition on their 
 favourite subjects of love and war, to prevent those 
 pauses of conversation which soraetknes fall heavily 
 on a company, even of the present accomplished 
 age, and to supply an agreeable train of ideas to 
 those guests who had none of their own. It is, 
 therefore, almost constantly insinuated, that the ro- 
 mance was to be chaunted or recited to a large and 
 festive society, and in some part or other of the 
 piece, generally at the opening, there is a request of 
 attention on the part of the performer ; and hence, 
 the perpetual " Lythe and listen lordings free," 
 which in those, or equivalent words, forms the in- 
 troduction to so many romances. As, for example, 
 in the old poem of Guy and Colhrand, the minstrel 
 speaks of his own occupation : 
 
 * Essay on Ancient Minstrels in England, prefixed to the first volume of Bishop Percy's Reliques. 
 
442 
 
 ROMANCE. 
 
 Romance. <' When meat and drink is great plentye, 
 
 >-**'*V'"'W Then lords and ladyes still will be, 
 
 And sit and solace lythe. 
 Then it is time for mee to speake, 
 Of kern knights and kempes greate, 
 Such carping for to kythe." 
 
 Chaucer, also, in his Ryrae of Sir Thopas, assigns 
 to the minstrels of his hero's household the same 
 duty of reciting romances of spiritual or secular he- 
 roes, for the good knight's pastime while arming 
 himself for battle : 
 
 " Do cum," he sayed, " my minestrales, 
 And jestours for to tellen tales 
 
 Anon in min arming, 
 Of romaunces that ben reales, 
 Of popes and of cardinales, 
 
 And eke of love-longing." 
 
 Not to multiply quotations, we will only add one of 
 some importance, which must have escaped Ritson's 
 researches ; for his editorial integrity was such, as 
 rendered him incapable of suppressing evidence on 
 either side of the question. In the old romance or 
 legend of True Thomas and the Queen of Elfland, 
 Thomas the Rhymer, himself a minstrel, is gifted by the 
 Queen of the Faery with the faculties of music and 
 song. The answer of Thomas is not only conclusive as 
 to the minstrel's custom of recitation, but shows that 
 it was esteemed the highest branch of his profession, 
 and superior as such to mere instrumental music : 
 
 " To harp and carp Thomas wheresover ye gon, 
 Thomas take the these with the" — 
 
 " Harping," he said, " ken I non, 
 
 For tong is chefe of Mynstralse." * 
 
 We, therefore, arrive at the legitimate conclusion, 
 that .although, under the general term minstrels, 
 were comprehended many who probably entertained 
 the public only with instrumental performances, with 
 ribald tales, with jugglery, of farcical representa- 
 tions, yet one class amongst them, and that a nume- 
 rous one, made poetical recitation their chief, if not 
 their exclusive occupation. The memory of these 
 men were, in the general case, the depository of the 
 pieces which they recited ; and hence, although 
 many of their romances still survive, very many more 
 have doubtless fallen into oblivion. 
 
 That the minstrels were also the authors of many 
 of these poems, and that they altered and enlarged 
 others, is a matter which can scarce be doubted, 
 when it is proved that they were the ordinary re- 
 citers of them. It was as natural for a minstrel to 
 become a poet or composer of romances, as for a 
 player to be a dramatic author, or a musician a 
 
 composer of music. Whosoever, among a clas8, Romance, 
 whose trade it was to recite poetry, felt the least 
 degree of taste or enthusiasm in a profession so pe- ; 
 culiarly calculated to inspire it, must, from that | 
 very impulse, have become an original author, or | 
 translator at least ; thus giving novelty to his recita- | 
 tions, and acquiring additional profit and fame. J 
 Bishop Percy, therefore, states the case fairly in the i; 
 following passage : " It can hardly be expected j 
 that we should be able to produce regular and un- | 
 broken annals of the minstrel art and its professors, j 
 or have sufficient information, whether every min- 
 strel or bard composed himself, or only repeated, 
 the songs he chaunted. Some probably did the one 
 and some the other ; and it would have been won- 
 derful, indeed, if men, whose peculiar profession it 
 was, and who devoted their time and talents to en- 
 tertain their hearers with poetical compositions, were 
 peculiarly deprived of all poetical genius themselves, 
 and had been under a physical incapacity of compos- 
 ing those common popular rhymes, which were the 
 usual subjects of their recitation." f While, how- 
 ever, we acquiesce in the proposition, that the min- 
 strels composed many, perhaps the greater part of 
 the metrical romances which they sung, it is evident 
 they were frequently assisted in the task by others 
 who, though not belonging to this profession, were 
 prompted by leisure and inclination to enter upon 
 the literary or poetical department as amateurs. 
 These very often belonged to the clerical profession, 
 amongst whom i-elaxation of discipline, abundance 
 of spare time, and impatience of the routine of cere- 
 monious duties often led individuals into worse occu- 
 pations than the listening to or composing metrical 
 romances. It was in vain that both the poems and 
 the minstrels who recited them were, by statute, de- 
 barred from entering the more rigid monasteries. 
 Both found their way frequently to the refectory, and 
 were made more welcome than brethren of their own 
 profession ; as we may learn from a memorable Gestj in 
 which two poor travelling priests, who had been receiv- 
 ed into a monastery with acclamation, under the mis- 
 taken idea of their being minstrels, are turned out in 
 disgrace, when it is discovered that they were indeed 
 capable of furnishing spiritual instruction, but under- 
 stood none of the entertaining arts with which the 
 hospitality of their convent might have been repaid 
 by itinerant bards. 
 
 Nay, besides a truant disposition to a forbidden 
 task, many of the grave authors may have alleged, 
 in their own defence, that the connection between 
 history and romance was not in their day entirely dis- 
 solved. Some eminent men exercised themselves 
 in both kinds of composition; as, for example. 
 
 * Jamleson's Popular Ballads, Vol. II. p. 27. 
 
 f Essay on the Ancient Minstrels, p. 30. 
 
 Another authority of ancient date, the Chronicle of Bertrand Guesclin, distinctly attributes the most re- 
 nowned romances to the composition of the minstrels by whom they were sung. As the passage will be af- 
 terwards more fully quoted, we must here only say, that after enumerating Arthur, Lancelot, Godfrey, Ro- 
 land^ and other champions, he sums up his account of them as being the heroes 
 
 " De quoi cils miqestiiers font les nobles romans." 
 
ROMANCE. 
 
 443 
 
 Romance. Maitre Wace, a canon of Caen, in Normandy, who, 
 besides the metrical chronicle of Le Brut, containing 
 the earliest history of England, and other historical 
 legends, wrote, in 1155, the Roman de Chevalier 
 de Lyon, probably the same translated under the 
 title of Ywain and Gavoain. Lambert li Cors, and 
 Benoit de Saint-Maur, seem both to have been of the 
 clerical order ; and, perhaps, Chretien de Troyes, a 
 most voluminous author of romance, was of the same 
 profession. Indeed, the extreme length of many ro- 
 mances being much greater than any minstrel could 
 undertake to sing at one or even many sittings, may 
 induce us to refer them to men of a more sedentary 
 occupation thau those wandering poets. The religi- 
 ous romances were, in all probability, the works of 
 such churchmen as might wish to reconcile an agree- 
 able occupation with their religious profession. All 
 which circumstances must be received as exceptions 
 from the general proposition, that the romances in 
 metre were the composition of the minstrels by 
 whom they were recited or sung, though they must 
 still leave Percy's proposition to a certain extent un- 
 impeached. 
 
 Condition of To explain the history of Romance, it is necessary 
 ' to digress a little further concerning the condition of 
 
 the minstrels by whom these compositions were often 
 made,' and, generally speaking, preserved and recit- 
 ed. And here, it must be confessed, the venerable 
 Prelate has, perhaps, suffered his love of antiquity, 
 and his desire to ennoble the productions of the 
 middle ages a little to overcolour the importance and 
 respectability of the minstrel tribe; although his op- 
 ponent Ritson has, on the other hand, seized on all 
 circumstances and inferences which could be adduc- 
 ed to prove the degradation of the minstrel charac- 
 ter, without attending to the particulars by which 
 these depreciating circumstances were qualified. In 
 fact, neither of these excellent antiquarians has cast 
 a general or philosophical glance on the necessary 
 condition of a set of men who were by profession the 
 instruments of the pleasure of others during a pe- 
 riod of society such as was presented in the middle 
 
 the Min 
 
 ■strels. 
 
 In a very early period of society, ere the division 
 of ranks had been generally adopted, and while each 
 tribe may ire yet tjonsidered as mte great family, and 
 the nation as an union of such independent tribes, the 
 poetical art, so nearly allied to that of oratory or 
 persuasion, is found to ascertain to its professors a 
 very high rank. Poets are the historians and often 
 the priests of the tribe. Their command of language, 
 then in its infancy, excites not merely pleasure but 
 enthusiasm and admiration. When separated into a 
 distinct class, as was the case with the Celtic Bards, 
 and, perhaps, with the Skalds of Scandinavia, they 
 rank high in the scale of society, and we not only 
 find Kings and Nobles listening^to them with admira- 
 tion, but emulous of their art, and desirous to be en- 
 rolled among their numbers. Several of the most re- 
 nowned northern Kings and Champions valued them- 
 selves as much upon their powers of poetry as on 
 their martial exploits ; and of the Welsh Princes, the 
 Irish Kings, and the Highland Chiefs of Scotland 
 very many practised the arts of poetry and music 
 Llwarch Hen was a Prince of the Cyraraig,— Brian, 
 
 -Boromhe, a harper and a musician,— -and without re- Romance, 
 sorting to the questionable authenticity of Ossian, se- 
 veral instances of the same kind might be produced 
 in the Highlands. 
 
 But, in process of time, when the classes of society 
 come to assume their usual gradation with respect to 
 each other, the rank of professional poets is uniform- 
 ly found to sink gradually in the scale, along with 
 that of all others whose trade it is to contribute 
 to the amusement of society. The mere professional 
 poet, like the player or the musician, becomes the 
 companion and soother only of idle and convivial 
 hours ; his presence would be unbecoming on occa- 
 sions of gravity and importance ; and his art is ac- 
 counted at best an amusing but useless luxury. 
 Although the intellectual pleasure derived from poet- 
 ry or from the exhibition of the drama be of a differ- 
 ent and much higher class than that derived from 
 the accordance of sounds, or from the exhibition 
 of feats of dexterity ; still it will be found that the 
 opinions and often the laws of society, while in- 
 dividuals of these classes are cherished and held 
 in the highest estimation, has degraded the profes- 
 sions themselves among the idle, dissolute, and use- 
 less appendages of society. Although it may be ac- 
 counted ungrateful in mankind thus to reward the 
 instruments of their highest enjoyments, yet some 
 justification is usually to be drawn from the manners 
 of the classes who were thus lowered in public opi- 
 nion. It must be remembered, that, as professors of 
 this joyous science, as it was called, the minstrels 
 stood in direct opposition to the more severe part 
 of the Catholics, and to the monks in particu- 
 lar, whose vows bound them to practise virtues of 
 the ascetic order, and to look upon every thing 
 as profane which was connected with mere world- 
 ly pleasure. The manners of the minstrels them- 
 selves gave but too much room for clerical cen- 
 sure. They were the usual assistants at scenes, not 
 merely of conviviality, but of licence ; and as the 
 companions and encouragers of revelling and excess, 
 they became contemptible in the eyes, not only of 
 the aged and the serious, but of the libertine himself, 
 when his debauch palled on his recollection. The 
 minstrels, no doubt, like their brethren of the stage, 
 sought an apology in the corrupted taste and jaan- 
 ners of their audience, with which they were obliged 
 to comply, under the true but melancholy condi- 
 tion that 
 
 —they who live to please must please to live. 
 
 But this very necessity, rendered more degrading by 
 their increasing numbers and decreasing reputation, 
 only accelerated the total downfal of their order, and 
 the general discredit and neglect into which they had 
 fallen. The statute of the 39th Queen Elizabeth, 
 passed at the close of the sixteenth century, ranks 
 those dishonoured sons of song among rogues and 
 vagabonds, and appoints them to be punished as 
 such ; and the occupation, though a vestige of it 
 was long retained in the habits of travelling ballad- 
 singers and musicians, sunk into total neglect and 
 contempt. Of this we shall have to speak here- 
 after ; our business being at present with those ro- 
 
444 
 
 R O M A N C E. 
 
 Romance, mances, which, while still in the zenith of their reputa- 
 ' tion, were the means by which the minstrels, at least 
 the better and higher class among them, recommend- 
 ed themselves to the favour of their noble patrons, and 
 of the audiences whom they addressed. 
 
 It may be presumed, that, although the class of min- 
 strels, like all who merely depend upon gratifying the 
 public, carried in their very occupation the evils which 
 first infected, and finally altogether depraved their re- 
 putation; yet, in the earlier ages, their duties were more 
 honourably estimated, and some attempts were made 
 to introduce into their motley body the character of 
 a regular establishment, subjected to discipline and 
 subordination. Several individuals, both of France 
 and England, bore the title of King of Minstrels, 
 and were invested probably with some authority over 
 the others. The Serjeant of Minsti*els is also men- 
 tioned ; and Edward IV. seems to have attempted to 
 form a Guild or exclusive Corporation of Minstrels. 
 John of Gaunt, at an earlier period, established (be- 
 tween jest and earnest, perhaps) a Court Baron of 
 Minstrels, to be held at Tilbury. There is no reason, 
 however, to suppose that the influence of their esta- 
 blishments went far in restraining the licence of a 
 body of artists so unruly as well as numerous. 
 
 It is not, indeed, surprising that individuals, whose 
 talents in the arts of music or of the stage rise to the 
 highest order, should, in a special degree, attain the 
 regard and affection of the powerful, acquire wealth, 
 and rise to consideration ; for, in such professions, 
 very high prizes are assigned to pre-eminent excel- 
 lence ; while ordinary or inferior practisers of the 
 same art may be said to draw in the lottery some- 
 thing more than a mere blank. Garrick, in his cha- 
 riot, and whose company was courted for his wit and 
 talent, was, after all, by profession, the same with the 
 unfortunate Stroller, whom the British laws condemn 
 as a vagabond, and to whose dead body other coun- 
 tries refuse even the last rites of Christianity. In 
 the same manner it is easy to suppose that, when in 
 compliance with the taste of their age, monarchs en- 
 tertained their domestic minstrels,* those persons 
 might be admitted to the most flattering intimacy 
 with their royal masters ; sleep within the royal 
 
 Romance 
 
 chamber, f amass considerable fortunes, found hos- 
 pitals, + and receive rewards singularly over-propor- ' 
 tioned to the perquisites of the graver professions ;§ 
 and even practise in company with their royal mas- 
 ters the pleasing arts of poetry and music, which all 
 are so desirous of attaining ; || whilst, at the same 
 time, those who ranked lower in the same profession 
 were struggling with difficulty to gain a precarious 
 subsistence, and incurring all the disgrace usually at- 
 tached to a vagabond life and a dubious character. 
 In the fine arts, particularly, excellence is demand- 
 ed, and mere mediocrity is held contemptible ; and, 
 while the favour with which the former is loaded, 
 sometimes seems disproportioned to the utility of 
 the art itself, nothing can exceed the scorn poured 
 out on those who expose themselves by undertaking 
 arts which they are unable to practise with success. 
 Self-conceit, however, love of an idle life, and a va- 
 riety of combined motives, never fail to recruit the 
 lower orders of such idle professions with individuals 
 by whose performances, and often by their private 
 characters, the art which they have rashly adopt- 
 ed can only be discredited without any correspond- 
 ing advantage to themselves. It is not, therefore, 
 surprising that, while such distinguished examples of 
 the contrary appeared amongst individuals, the whole 
 body of minstrels, with the romances which they com- 
 posed and sung, should be reprobated by graver his- 
 torians in such severe terms as often occur in the 
 monkish chronicles of the day. 
 
 Respecting t^e style of their composition, Du character 
 Cange inform us, that the minstrels sometimes devot- and Style of 
 ed their strains to flatter the great, and sing the the Ro- 
 praises of those Princes by whom they were protect- 
 ed ; while he owns, at the same time, that they often ^"^^^^^"^ 
 recommended to their hearers the path of virtue and 
 nobleness, and pointed out the pursuits by which the 
 heroes of romance had rendered themselves renown- 
 ed in song. If He quotes from the romance of 
 
 Bertrand Guesclin, the injunction on those who 
 would rise to fame in arms to copy the valiant acts 
 of the Paladins of Charles, and the Knights of the 
 Round Table, narrated in romances ; and it cannot 
 be denied, that those high tales, in which the vir- 
 
 * Berdic (Regis Joculator), the jougleur or minstrel of William the Conqueror, had, as appears from the 
 Domesday record, three vills and five caracates of land in Gloucestershire without rent. Henry I. had a 
 minstrel called Galfrid who received an annuity from the abbey of Hide. 
 
 t A minstrel of Edward I., during that prince's expedition to the Holy Land, slept within his tent, and 
 came to his assistance when an attempt was made to assassinate him. 
 
 :j: The Priory and Hospital of Saint Bartholomew, in London, was founded in the reign of Henry I. by 
 Royer or Raher, a minstrel of that prince. 
 
 § In 1441, the monks of Maxlock, near Coventry, paid a donation of four shillings to the minstrels of 
 Lord Clinton for songs, harping, and other exhibitions, while, to a doctor who preached before the commu- 
 nity in the same year, they assigned only sixpence. 
 
 II The noted anecdote of Blondel and his royal master, Richard Cceur de Lion, will occur to every 
 reader. 
 
 f MiNisTELLi dicti praesertim Scurrae, mimi, joculatores, quos etiamnum vulgo Menestreux vel Mene- 
 
 striers, appellamus.- Porro ejusmodi scurrarum erat Principes non suis duntaxat ludicris oblectare, sed 
 
 et eorura aures variis avorum, adeoque ipsorum Principum laudibus, non sine assentatione, cum cantilenis et 
 
 musicis instrumentis, demulcere Interdum etiam virorum insignium et heroum gesta, aut explicata et 
 
 jucunda narratione commemorabant, aut suavi vocis inflectione, fidibusque decantabant, quo sic dominorum, 
 eaeterorumque qui his intererant ludicris, nobilium animos ad virtutera capessendam et euramorura virorum 
 
 1 
 
ROM 
 
 omance. tues of generosity, bravery, devotion to his mistress, 
 ^""^ and zeal for the Catholic religion, were carried to 
 the greatest height of romantic perfection in the 
 character of the hero, united with the scenes 
 passing around them, were of the highest import- 
 ance in affecting the character of the age. The 
 fabulous knights of romance were so completely 
 identified with those of real history, that graver 
 historians quote the actions of the former in illus- 
 tration of, and as a corollary to, the real events 
 which they narrate. * The virtues recommended in 
 romance were, however, only of that overstrained 
 and extravagant cast which consisted with the spirit 
 of chivalry. Great bodily strength, and perfection 
 in all martial exercises, was the universal accom- 
 plishment inalienable from the character of the 
 hero, and which each romancer had it in his power 
 to confer. It was also easily in the composer's power 
 to devise dangers, and to free his hero from them 
 by. the exertion of valour equally extravagant. But 
 it was more difficult to frame a story which should 
 illustrate the manners as well as the feats of chivalry ; 
 or to devise the means of evincing that devotion to 
 duty, and that disinterested desire to sacrifice all 
 to faith and honour ; — that noble spirit of achieve- 
 ment which laboured for others more than itself — 
 which form, perhaps, the fairest side of the system 
 under which the noble youths of the middle ages 
 were trained up. The sentiments of chivalry, as we 
 have explained in our article on that subject, were 
 founded on the most pure and honourable principles, 
 but unfortunately carried into hyperbole and extrava- 
 gance ; until their religion approached to fanaticism, 
 their valour to frenzy, their ideas of honour to absur- 
 dity, their spirit of enterprise to extravagance, and 
 their respect for the female sex to a sort of idolatry. 
 All those extravagant feelings, which really existed 
 in the society of the middle ages, were magnified and 
 exaggerated by the writers and reciters of romance ; 
 and these given as resemblances of actual manners 
 became, in their turn, the glass by which the youth 
 of the age dressed themselves ; while the spirit of chi- 
 valry and of romance thus gradually threw light upon 
 and enhanced each other. 
 
 The romances, therefore, exhibited the same sys- 
 tem of manners which existed in the nobles of the 
 age. The character of a true son of chivalry was 
 
 A N C E. 445 
 
 raised to such a pilch of ideal and impossible per- Romance, 
 fection, that those who emulated such renown were^***N^*^ 
 usually contented to stop far short of the mark. The 
 most adventurous and unshaken valour, a mind ca- 
 pable of the highest flights of romantic generosity, 
 a heart which was devoted to the will of some fair 
 idol, on whom his deeds were to reflect glory, and 
 whose love was to reward all his toils, — these were at- 
 tributes which all aspired to exhibit who sought to 
 rank high in the annals of chivalry; and such were 
 the virtues which the minstrels celebrated. But, like 
 the temper of a tamed lion, the fierce and dissolute 
 temper of the age often showed itself through the 
 fair varnish of this artificial system of manners. The 
 valour of the hero was often stained by acts of 
 cruelty, or freaks of rash desperation ; his courtesy 
 and munificence became solemn foppery and wild 
 profusion ; his love to his lady often demanded 
 and received a requital inconsistent with the honour 
 of the object ; and those who affected to found their 
 attachment on the purest and most delicate meta- 
 physical principles, carried on their actual inter- 
 course with a licence altogether inconsistent with 
 their sublime pretensions. Such were the real man- 
 ners of the middle ages, and we find them so depicted 
 in these ancient legends. 
 
 So high was the national excitation in conse- 
 quence of the romantic atmosphere in which they 
 seemed to breathe, that the knights and squires of 
 the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries imitated the 
 wildest and most extravagant emprises of the heroes 
 of romance ; and, like them, took on themselves the 
 most extraordinary adventures to show their own 
 gallantry, and do most honour to the ladies of their 
 hearts. The females of rank, erected into a species 
 of goddesses in public, and often degraded as much 
 below their proper dignity in more private inter- 
 course, equalled in their extravagances the youth of 
 the other sex. A singular picture is given by 
 Knyghton of the damsels errant who attended upon 
 the solemn festivals of chivalry, in quest, it may rea- 
 sonably be supposed, of such adventures as are very 
 likely to be met with by such females as think proper 
 to seek them. *' These tournaments are attended 
 by many ladies of the first rank and greatest beauty, 
 but not always of the most untainted reputation. 
 These ladies are dressed in party-coloured tunics. 
 
 imitationem accenderent : quod fuit olim apud Gallos Bardorum ministerium, ut auctor est Tacitus. Ne- 
 que enim alios k Ministellis, veterum Gallorura Bardos fuisse pluribus probat Henricus Valesius ad 15. 
 Aramiani. — Chronicon Bertrandi Guesclini ; 
 
 Qui veut avoir renom des bons et des vaillans, 
 III doit aler souvent d la pluie et au champ, 
 Et estre en la haiaille, ainsy que fu Rollans, 
 Les quaire Jils Haimon et Char Ion U plus grans, 
 Li Dus Lions de Bourges, et Guion de Connans, 
 Perceval li Galois, Lancelot et Tristans, 
 Alexandres, Artus, Godefroy li sachans, 
 De quoy cih Menestriers font les nobles Romans. 
 
 * Barbour, the Scottish historian, censures a Highland chief, when, in commending the prowess of Bruce 
 in battle, he likened him to the Celtic hero. Fin Mac Coul, and says, he might in more mannerly fashion have 
 compared him to Gaudifer, a champion celebrated in the romance of Alexander. 
 
 VOL. VI. PART II. 3 L 
 
446 ROMi^ 
 
 Romance, one-half of one colour, and the other half of another ; 
 
 their lirripipes, or tippets, are very short ; their caps 
 remarkably little, and wrapt about their heads with 
 cords; their girdles and pouches are ornamented 
 with gold and silver ; and they wear short swords, 
 called daggers, before them, a little below their na- 
 vels; they are mounted on the finest horses, with 
 the richest furniture. Thus equipped, they ride 
 from place to place in quest of tournaments, by 
 which they dissipate their fortunes, and sometimes 
 ruin their reputation." — (Knyghton, quoted in Hen- 
 ry »s History, Vol. VIII. p. 402.) 
 
 The minstrels, or those who aided them in the 
 composition of the romances, which it was their pro- 
 fession to recite, roused to rivalry by the unceasing 
 demand for their compositions, endeavoured emu- 
 lously to render them more attractive by sujjjects 
 of new and varied interest, or by marvellous incidents 
 which their predecessors were strangers to. Much 
 labour has been bestowed, somewhat unprofitably, in 
 endeavouring to ascertain the sources from which 
 they drew the embellishments of their tales, when 
 the hearers began to be tired of the unvaried recital of 
 battle and tournament which had satisfied the sim- 
 plicity of a former age. Percy has contended for 
 the Northern Sagas as the unquestionable origin of 
 the romance of the middle ages ; Warton conceiv- 
 ed that the Oriental fables^ borrowed by those min- 
 strels who visited Spain, or who in great numbers 
 attended the crusades, gave the principal distinctive 
 colouring to those remarkable compositions ; and a 
 later system, patronised by later authors, has derived 
 them, in a great measure, from the fragments of 
 classical superstition, which continued to be preserv- 
 ed after the fall of the Roman Empire. All those sys- 
 tems seem to be inaccurate, in so far as they have 
 been adopted, exclusively of each other, and of the 
 general proposition. That fables of a nature similar to 
 the romances of chivalry, modified according to 
 manners and state of society, must necessarily be 
 invented in every part of the world, for the same 
 reason that grass grows upon the surface of the soil 
 in every climate and in every country. " In reality," 
 says Mr Southey, who has treated this subject with 
 his usual ability, " mythological and romantic tales 
 are current among all savages of whom we have any 
 full account ; for man has his intellectual as well as 
 his bodily appetites, and these things are the food 
 of his imagination and faith. They are found 
 wherever there is language and discourse of reason, 
 in other words, wherever there is man. And in si- 
 milar stages of civilization, or states of society, the 
 fictions of different people will bear a corresponding 
 resemblance, notwithstanding the difference of time 
 and scene." * 
 
 To this it may be added, that the usual appear- 
 ances and productions of nature offer to the fancy, 
 in every part of the world, the same means of diver- 
 sifying fictitious narrative by the introduction of pro- 
 digies. If in any romance we encounter the de- 
 scription of an elephant, we may reasonably con- 
 
 N C E. 
 
 elude that a phenomenon, unknown in Europe, must Romance 
 have been borrowed from the east ; but whosoever — i^.-"- 
 has seen a serpent and a bird, may easily aggravate 
 the terrors of the former by conferring on a fictitious 
 monster the wings of the latter ; and whoever has 
 seen or heard of a wolf, or lion, and an eagle, may, 
 by a similar exertion of invention, imagine a griffin 
 or hippogriff. It is imputing great poverty to the 
 human imagination, to suppose that the speciosa mi- 
 racula, which are found to exist in different parts of 
 the world, must necessarily be derived from some 
 common source ; and perhaps we should not err 
 more grossly in supposing that the various kinds of 
 boats, skiffs, and rafts, upon which men have dared 
 the ocean on so many various shores, have been 
 all originally derived from the vessel of the Ar- 
 gonauts. 
 
 On the other hand, there are various romantic in- 
 cidents and inventions of a nature so pecuHar, that 
 we may boldly, and at once, refer them to some par- 
 ticular and special origin. The tale of Flora and 
 Blanchejleur, for example, could only be invented in 
 the east, where the scene is laid, and the manners of 
 which are observed with some accuracy. That of 
 Orfeo and Herodiis, on the contrary, is the classical 
 history of Orpheus and Euridice, with the Gothic 
 machinery of the Elves or Fairies, substituted for the 
 infernal regions. But notwithstanding these and 
 many other instances in which the subjects or lead- 
 ing incidents of romance can be distinctly traced to 
 British or Armorican traditions, to the tales and his- 
 tory of Classic Antiquity, to the wild fables and rich 
 imagery of Arabia, or to those darker and sterner 
 themes which were first treated of by the Skalds of 
 the north, it would be assuming greatly too much up- 
 on such grounds, to ascribe the derivation of romantic 
 fiction, exclusively to any one of these sources. In 
 fact, the foundation of these fables lies deep in hu- 
 man nature, and the superstructures have been imi- 
 tated from various authorities by those who, living 
 by the pleasure which their lays of chivalry afforded to 
 their audience, were especially anxious to recommend 
 them by novelty of every kind ; and were undoubted- 
 ly highly gratified when the report of travellers, or 
 pilgrims, or perhaps their own intercourse with min- 
 strels of other nations, enabled them to vary their 
 usual narrations with circumstances yet unheard in 
 Bower and Hall. Romance, therefore, was like a com- 
 pound metal, derived from various mines, in which 
 one metal or other was alternately predominant ; and 
 viewed in this light, the ingenious labours of those 
 learned antiquaries, who have endeavoured to seek 
 the origin of this style of fiction in one of these 
 sources alone, to the exclusion of all others, seem 
 as vain as that of travellers affecting to trace the 
 proper head of the Nile to various different springs, 
 all of which are allowed to be accessary to form the 
 full majesty of his current. 
 
 As the fashion of all things pass away, the metrical Prose Ro. 
 romances began gradually to decline in public estima-™^""- 
 tion, probably on account of the depreciated charac- 
 
 * Preface to Southey's edition of the Morte D' Arthur, Vol. II. Lond. 1817« 
 
ROMANCE. 
 
 447 
 
 ter of ihe minstrels by whom they were recited. Tra- 
 dition, says Ritson, is an alchemy, which converts gold 
 into lead ; and there is little doubt, that, in passing 
 from mouth to mouth, and from age to age, the most 
 approved metrical romances became gradually cor- 
 rupted by the defect of memory of some reciters 
 and the interpolations of others ; since few compara- 
 tively can be supposed to have had recourse to the 
 manuscripts in which some have been preserved. 
 Neither were the reciters in the latter, as in the for- 
 mer times, supplied with new compositions of interest 
 and merit. The composition of the metrical ro- 
 mance was gradually abandoned to persons of an 
 inferior class. The art of stringing together in loose 
 verse a number of unconnected adventures, was too 
 easy not to be practised by many who only suc- 
 ceeded to such a degree as was discreditable to the 
 art, by showing that mere mediocrity was sufficient 
 to practise it. And the licentious character, as well 
 as the great number of those who, under the various 
 names of glee-men, minstrels, and the like, traversed 
 the country, and subsisted by this idle trade, brought 
 themselves and their occupation into still greater 
 contempt and disregard. With them, the long re- 
 citations formerly made at the tables of the great, 
 were gradually banished into more vulgar society. 
 
 But though the form of those narratives underwent 
 a change of fashion, the appetite for the fictions 
 themselves continued as ardent as ever ; and the Prose 
 Romances which succeeded, and finally superseded 
 those composed in verse, had a large and permanent 
 share of popularity. This was, no doubt, in a great 
 degree owing to the important invention of printing, 
 which has so much contributed to alter the destinies 
 of the world. The metrical romances, though in 
 some instances sent to the press, were not very fit to 
 be published in this form. The dull amplifications 
 which passed well enough in the course of a half- 
 heard recitation, became intolerable when subjected 
 to the eye ; and the public taste gradually growing 
 more fastidious as the language became more co- 
 pious, and the system of manners more complicated, 
 graces of style and variety of sentiment were de- 
 manded instead of a naked and unadorned tale of 
 wonders. The authors of the prose romance endea- 
 voured, to the best of their skill, to satisfy this new- 
 ly awakened and more refined taste. They used, 
 indeed, the same sources of romantic history which 
 had been resorted to by their metrical predecessors ; 
 and Arthur, Charlemagne, and all their chivalry, were 
 as much celebrated in prose as ever they had been 
 in poetic narrative. But the new candidates for 
 public favour pretended to have recourse to sources 
 of authentic information, to which their metrical 
 predecessors had no access. They refer almost al- 
 ways to Latin and sometimes to Greek originals, 
 which certainly had no existence ; and there is little 
 doubt that the venerable names of the alleged au- 
 thors are invented, as well as the supposed originals 
 from which they are said to have translated their 
 narratives. The following account of the discovery 
 of La tres elegante delicieux melliflue et tres plaisante 
 hystoire du tres Nohle Roy Perceforest (printed at 
 Paris in 1528 by GaUiot du Pre), may serve to show 
 that modern authors were not the first who invented 
 the popular mode of introducing their works to 
 
 the world as the contents of a newly discovered ma- Romance, 
 nuscript. In the abridgment to which we are li- v^"^ 
 mited, we can give but a faint picture of the minute- 
 ness with which the author announces his pretended 
 discovery, and which forms an admirable example 
 of the lie with a circumstance. In the year 1286, 
 Count William of Hainault bad, it is averred, cross- 
 ed the seas in order to be present at the nuptials of 
 Edward, and in the course of a tour through Britain, 
 was hospitably entertained at an abbey situated on 
 the banks of the Humber, and termed, it seems, 
 Burtimer, because founded by a certain Burtimeri- 
 cus, a monarch of whom our annals are silent, but 
 who had gained, in that place, a victory over the 
 heathens of Germany. Here a cabinet, which was in- 
 closed in a private recess, had been lately discovered 
 within the massive walls of an ancient tower, and was 
 found to contain a Grecian manuscript, along with a 
 royal crown. The abbot had sent the latter to King 
 Edward, and the Count of Hainault with difficulty ob- 
 tained possession of the manuscript. He had it ren- 
 dered from Greek into Latin by a monk of the ab- 
 bey of Saint Landelain, aad from that language it 
 is said to have been translated into French by the 
 author, who gives it to the world in honour of the 
 Blessed Virgin, and for the edification of nobleness 
 and chivalry. 
 
 By such details, the authors of the prose romances 
 endeavoured to obtain for their works a credit for 
 authenticity which had been denied to the rythmi- 
 cal legends. But in this particular they did great 
 injustice to their contemned predecessors, whose 
 reputations they murdered in order to rob them with 
 impunity. Whatever fragments or shadowings of 
 true history may yet remain hidden under the mass of 
 accumulated fable, which had been heaped on them 
 during successive ages, must undoubtedly be sought 
 in the metrical romances ; and according to the view 
 of the subject which we have already given, the more 
 the works approach in point of antiquity to the pe- 
 riod where the story is laid, the more are we likely 
 to find those historical traditions in something ap- 
 proaching to an authentic state. But those who 
 wrote under the imaginary names of Rusticien de 
 Puise, Robert de Borron, and the like, usually 
 seized upon the subject of some old minstrel ; and, 
 recomposing the whole narrative softer their own 
 fashion, with additional characters and adventures, 
 totally obliterated in that operation any shades which 
 remained of the original, and probably authentic 
 tradition, which was the original source of the ela- 
 borate fiction. Amplification was especially em- 
 ployed by the prose romancers, who, having once got 
 hold of a subject, seem never to have parted with it 
 until their power of invention was completely ex- 
 hausted. The metrical romances, in some instances, 
 indeed, ran to great length, but were much exceed- 
 ed in that particular by the folios which were written 
 on the same or similar topics by their prose succes- 
 sors. Probably the latter judiciously reflected that 
 a book which addresses itself only to the eyes, may 
 be laid aside when it becomes tiresome to the 
 reader ; whereas it may not always have been so easy 
 to stop the minstrel in the full career of his metri- 
 cal declamation. 
 
 Who, then, the reader may be disposed to inquire^ 
 
448 
 
 ROMANCE. 
 
 Komanc;. can have been the real authors of those prolix works, 
 ^•^^•'^''^ who, shrouding themselves under borrowed names, 
 derived no renown from their labours, if successful, 
 and who, certainly, in the infant state of the press, 
 were not rewarded with any emolument ? This 
 question cannot, perhaps, be very satisfactorily an- 
 swered ; but we may reasonably suspect that the 
 long hours of leisure which the cloister permitted to 
 its votaries, were often passed away in this manner ; 
 and the conjecture is rendered more probable, when 
 it is observed that matters are introduced into those 
 works which have an especial connection with sacred 
 history, and with the traditions of the church. 
 Thus, in the curious romance of Huon de Bour- 
 deaux, a sort of second part is added to that de- 
 lightful history, in which the hero visits the terres- 
 trial paradise, encounters the first murderer Cain, in 
 the performance of his penance, with more matter to 
 the same purpose, not likely to occur to the imagi- 
 nation of a layman ; besides, that the laity of the 
 period were, in general, too busy and too ignorant to 
 engage in literary tasks of any kind. The mystical 
 portion of the romance of the Round Table seems 
 derived from the same source. It may also be men- 
 tioned, that the audacious and sometimes blas- 
 phemous assertions, which claimed for these fictions 
 the credit due even to the inspired writings them- 
 selves, were likely to originate amongst Roman Catho- 
 lic churchmen, who were but too familiar with such 
 forgeries for the purpose of authenticating the le- 
 gends of their superstition. One almost incredible 
 instance of this impious species of imposture oc- 
 curs in the history of the Saint Graal, which curious 
 mixture of mysticism and chivalry is ascribed by the 
 unfearing and unblushing writer to the Second Per- 
 son of the Trinity. 
 
 Churchmen, however, were by no means the only 
 authors of these legends, although the Sires Clercs, 
 as they were sometimes termed, who were accounted 
 the chronicles of the times in which they lived, were 
 usually in orders ; and although it appears that it was 
 upon them that the commands of the sovereigns 
 whom they served often imposed the task of pro- 
 ducing new romances under the usual disguise of 
 ancient chronicles translated from the learned lan- 
 guages, or otherwise collected from the ruins of an- 
 tiquity. As education became improved, and know- 
 ledge began to be more generally diffused, indivi- 
 duals among the laity, and those of no mean rank, 
 began to feel the necessity, as it may be called, of 
 putting into a permanent form the *' thick-coming 
 fancies" which gleam alongst the imagination of men 
 of genius. Sir Thomas Malony, who compiled the 
 Morte D' Arthur from French originals, was a person 
 of honour and worship ; and Lord Berners, the ex- 
 cellent translator of Froissart, and author of a ro- 
 mance called The Chevalier de la Cygne, is an illus- 
 trious example that a nobleman of high estimation 
 did not think his time misemployed on this species 
 of composition. Some literary fame must therefore 
 have attended these efforts ; and perhaps less emi- 
 nent authors might, in the later ages, receive some 
 pecuniary advantages. The translator of Percejorest., 
 formerly mentioned, who appears to have been an 
 Englishman or Fleming, in his address to the warlike 
 
 and invinciblenoblHty of France, holds the language of Romance, 
 a professional author, who expected some advantage '"i^/"^-^ 
 besides that of pleasing those whom he addressed ; 
 and who expresses proportional gratitude for the 
 favourable reception of his former feeble attempts to 
 please them. It is possible, therefore, that the pub- 
 lishers, these lions of literature, had begun already 
 to admit the authors into some share of their earn- 
 ings. Other printers, like the venerable Caxton, 
 compiled themselves, or translated from other lan- 
 guages, the romances which they sent to the press ; 
 thus uniting in their own persons the three separate 
 departments of author, printer, and publisher. 
 
 1 he prose romance did not, in the general conduct 
 of the story, where digressions are heaped on di- 
 gressions, without the least respect to the principal 
 narrative, greatly differ from that of their metrical 
 predecessors, being, to the full, as tedious and un- 
 artificial ; nay, more so in proportion as the new ro- 
 mances were longer than the old. In the transference 
 from verse to prose, arid the amplification which 
 the scenes underwent in the process, many strong, 
 forcible, and energetic touches of the original author 
 have been weakened, or altogether lost ; and the 
 reader misses with regret some of the redeeming 
 bursts of rude poetry which, in the metrical romance, 
 makes amends for many hundred lines of bald and 
 rude versification. But, on the other hand, the prose 
 romances were written for a more advanced stage of 
 societj'^, and by authors whose language was much 
 more copious, and who certainly belonged to a more 
 educated class than the ancient minstrels. Men 
 were no longer satisfied with hearing of hard battles 
 and direful wounds ; they demanded, at the hand of 
 those who professed to entertain them, some insight 
 into nature, or at least into manners ; some description 
 of external scenery, and a greater regard to proba- 
 bility both in respect of the characters which are 
 introduced, and the events which are narrated. 
 These new demands the prose romances endeavour- 
 ed to supply to the best of their power. There 
 was some attention shown to relieve their story, by 
 the introduction of new characters, and to illustrate 
 these personages by characteristic dialogue. The 
 lovers conversed with each other in the terms of 
 metaphysical gallantry, which were used in real life ; 
 and from being a mere rhapsody of warlike feats, 
 the romance began to assume the nobler and more 
 artificial form of a picture of manners. It is in the 
 prose folios of Lancelot du Lac, Perceforest, and 
 others, that antiquarians find recorded the most ex- 
 act accounts of fights, tournaments, feasts, and other 
 magnificent displays of chivalric splendour ; and as 
 they descend into more minute description than the 
 historians of the time thought worthy of their pains, 
 they are a mine from which the painful student may 
 extract much valuable information. This, however, 
 is not the full extent of their merit. These ancient 
 books, amid many pages of dull repetition and unin- 
 teresting dialect, and notwithstanding the languor 
 of an inartificial, protracted, and confused story, 
 exhibit from time to time passages of deep interest, 
 and situations of much novelty, as well as specimens 
 of spirited and masculine writing. The general read- 
 er, who dreads the labour of winnowing out these 
 
ROMANCE. 
 
 449 
 
 valuable passages from the sterile ehafF through 
 which they are scattered, will receive an excellent 
 idea of the beauties and defects of the romance from 
 Tressan's Corps d'Extraits de Romans de Chevalrie, 
 from Mr Ellis's Spechnens of Early English Ro- 
 mances, &nd Mr Dunlop's History of Fiction. 
 
 These works continued to furnish the amusement 
 of the most polished courts in Europe so long as 
 the manners and habits of chivalry continued to ani- 
 mate them. Even the sagacious Catherine of Me- 
 dicis considered the romance of Perceforest as the 
 work best qualified to form the manners and amuse 
 the leisure of a young prince ; since she impressed 
 on Charles IX. the necessity of studying it with at- 
 tention. But by degrees the progress of new opi- 
 nions in religion, the promulgation of a stricter code 
 of morality, together with the important and ani- 
 mating discussions which began to be carried on by 
 means of the press, diverted the public attention from 
 these antiquated legends. The Protestants of Eng- 
 land, and the Huguenots of France, were rigorous in 
 their censure of books of chivalry, in proportion as 
 they had been patronized formerly under the Catho- 
 lic system ; perhaps because they helped to arrest 
 men's thoughts from more serious subjects of occu- 
 pation. The learned Ascham thus inveighs against 
 the romance of Morte D' Arthur, and at the same 
 time acquaints us with its having passed out of fa- 
 shion : " In our forefathers' tyme, when papistrie, as a 
 standyng poole, covered and overflowed all E7ig- 
 lande, fewe bookes were read in our tongue, savyng 
 certaine bookes of chevalrie, as they said for pastime 
 and pleasure; which, as some say, were made in 
 monasteries by idle monks, or wanton chanons. As 
 for example, La Morte D' Arthur, the whole pleasure 
 of which booke standeth in two speciall poyntes, in 
 open manslaughter, and bold bawdrye : in which 
 booke they counted the noblest knightes that do kill 
 most men without any quarrell, and commit fowlest 
 adulteries by sutlest shiftes ; as Sir Launcelote, with 
 the wife of King Arthur his master ; Sir Tristram^ 
 with the wife of King Marke his uncle ; Sir Lame- 
 rocke, with the wife of King LotCt that was his own 
 aunt. This is good stuffe for wise men to laughe at, 
 or honest men to take pleasure at : yet I know, when 
 God's Bible was banished the court, and La Morte 
 Arthur received into the prince's chamber."* 
 The brave and religious La Noue is not more fa- 
 vourable to the perusal of romances than the learn- 
 ed Ascham ; attributing to the public taste for these 
 compositions the decay of morality among the French 
 nobility. " The ancient fables whose relikes doe yet re- 
 maine, namely, Lancelot of the Lake, Pierceforest, 
 Tristran, Giron the Courteous, and such others, doe 
 beare witnesse of this olde vanitie; herewith were men 
 fed for the space of 500 yeeres, untill our language 
 growing more polished, and our mindes more ticklish, 
 they were driven to invent some nouelties wherewith 
 to delight us. Thus came y* bookes of Amadis into 
 
 light among us in this last age. But to say y^ truth, Romance. 
 Spaine bred the, and France new clothed the in gay '"'■^-^^-^ 
 garments. In y^ dales of Henrie the Second did they 
 beare chiefest sway, and I think if any man would 
 then have reproved the, he should have bene spit at, 
 because they were of themselves playfellowes and 
 maintainers to a great sort of persons ; whereof some, 
 after they had learned to amize in speech, their teeth 
 watered, so desirous were they even to taste of some 
 small morsels of the delicaces therein most livelie and 
 naturally represented."t The gallant Marechal pro- 
 ceeds at considerable length to refute the arguments 
 of those who contended that these books were in- 
 tended as a spur to the practice of arms and honour- 
 able exercises amongst youth, and labours hard to 
 show that they teach dishonest practices both in love 
 and in arms. It is impossible to suppress a smile 
 when we find such an author as La Noue denounc- 
 ing the introduction of spells, witchcrafts, and en- 
 chantments into these volumes, not because such 
 themes are absurd and nonsensical, but because the 
 representing such beneficent enchanters as Alquife 
 and Urganda is, in fact, a vindication of those who 
 traffic with the powers of darkness ; and that those 
 who love to read about sorceries and enchantments 
 become, by degrees, familiarized with those devilish 
 mysteries, and may at length be induced to have re- 
 course to them in good earnest. 
 
 The romances of chivalry did not, however, sink 
 into disrepute under the stern rebuke of religious 
 puritans or severe moralists, but became gradually 
 neglected as the customs of chivalry itself fell into 
 disregard; when, of course, the books which breathed 
 its spirit, and were written under its influence, ceas- 
 ed to produce any impression on the public mind, 
 and, superseded by better models of composition, and 
 overwhelmed with the ridicule of Cervantes, sunk by 
 degrees into utter contempt and oblivion. 
 
 Other works of amusement, of the same general 
 class, succeeded the proper romance of chivalry. Of 
 these we shall take some notice hereafter ; since we 
 must here close our general view of the history of 
 romance, and proceed briefly to give some account 
 of those peculiar to the various European nations. 
 
 IT. We can here but briefly touch upon a subject Romances 
 of great interest and curiosity, the peculiar charac- 
 ter and tone, namely, which the romance of chival- Europe!" 
 ry received from the manners and early history of 
 the nations among whom it is found to exist ; and 
 the corresponding question, in what degree each ap- 
 pears to have borrowed from other countries the 
 themes of their own minstrels, or to have made use 
 of materials common to the whole. 
 
 Scandinavia, as was to be expected, may '^^ 5^^^^^ R°J^*an™g 
 considered as the richest country in Europe in an- 
 cient tales corresponding with the character of ro- 
 mance ; sometimes composed entirely in poetry or 
 rythm, sometimes in prose, and much more frequent- 
 
 * Works of Roger Ascham, p. 254. 4to edition. 
 
 f The Politicke and Militarie Discourses of the Lord De La Nowe, pp. 87, 88. Quarto, Lend. 1587. 
 
450 ROMANCE. 
 
 Romance, ly in a mixture of prose, narrative, and lyrical effu- 
 ^-^''^^ sions. Their well-known Skalds or bards held a high 
 rank in their courts and councils. The character of 
 a good poet was scarce second to that of a gallant 
 leader, and many of the most celebrated champions 
 ambitiously endeavoured to unite both in their own 
 persons. Their earlier Sagas or tales approach to 
 the credit of real history, and were unquestionably 
 meant as such, though, as usual at an early period, 
 debased by the intermixture of those speciosa mira- 
 cula which the love of the wonderful early introduces 
 into the annals of an infant country. There are, how- 
 ever, very many of the sagas, indeed by far the greater 
 number of those now known to exist, which must'be 
 considered as falling rather under the class of ficti- 
 tious than of real narratives ; and which, therefore, 
 belong to our present subject of inquiry. The 
 Omeyinger Saga, the Heimshringla, the Saga of 
 Olaf Triggwason, the Eirbyggia Saga, and several 
 others, may be considered as historical ; whilst the 
 numerous narratives referring to the history of the 
 Nibilungen and Volsungen are as imaginary as the 
 romances which treat of King Arthur and of Charle- 
 magne. These singular compositions, short, abrupt, 
 and concise in expression, full of bold and even ex- 
 travagant metaphor, exhibiting many passages of force- 
 ful and rapid description, hold a character of their own; 
 and while they remind us of the indomitable courage 
 and patient endurance of the hardy Scandinavians, at 
 once the honour and the terror of Europe, rise far 
 above the tedious and creeping style which charac- 
 terised the minstrel efforts of their successors, whether 
 in France or England. In the pine forests also, and 
 the frozen mountains of the north, there were nursed, 
 amid the reliques of expiring paganism, many tradi- 
 tions of a character more wild and terrible than the 
 fables of classical superstition ; and these the gloomy 
 imagination of the skalds failed not to transfer to 
 their romantic tales. The late spirit of inquiry which 
 has been so widely spread through Germany, has al- 
 ready begun to throw much light on this neglected 
 storehouse of romantic lore, which is worthy of much 
 more attention than has yet been bestowed upon it 
 in Britain. Ii must, however, be remarked, that al- 
 though the north possesses champions and romances 
 of its own, unknown to southern song, yet, in a later 
 age, the inhabitants of these countries borrowed from 
 the French minstrels some of their most popular sub- 
 jects ; and hence we find sagas on the subject of Sir 
 Tristrem, Sir Percival, Sir Ywain, and others, the 
 well-known themes of French and English romance. 
 These, however, must necessarily be considered later 
 in date, as well as far inferior in interest, to the sagas 
 of genuine 'northern birth. Mr Ritson has indeed 
 quoted their existence as depreciating the preten- 
 sions of the northern nations to the possession of 
 poems of high antiquity of their own native growth. 
 Had he been acquainted with the Norman-Kiempe' 
 Datur, a large folio, printed at Stockholm in 1737, 
 » he would have been satisfied, that out of the nume- 
 rous collection of legends respecting the achieve- 
 ments of Gothic champions, far the greater part are 
 of genuine Norse origin ; and although having many 
 features in common with the romances of southern 
 
 chivalry, are, in other marked particulars, distinct- Romance, 
 ly divided from that class of fictitious composition. 
 
 The country of Germany, lying contiguous to^""'*"^'*' 
 France, and constantly engaged in friendly and hos-""'"'^'^ 
 tile intercourse with that great seat of romantic fic- 
 tion, became, of course, an early partaker in the 
 stores which it afforded. The Minnesingers of the 
 Holy Empire were a race no less cherished than the 
 Troubadours of Provence, or the Minstrels of Nor- 
 mandy ; and no less active in availing themselves of 
 their indigenous traditions, or importing those of 
 other countries, in order to add to their stock of ro- 
 mantic fiction. Godfred of Strasburgh composed many 
 thousand lines upon the popular subject of Sir Tris- 
 tram ; and others have been equally copious, both as 
 translators and as original authors, upon various sub- 
 jects connected with French romance ; but Germany 
 possessed materials, partly borrowed from Scandina- 
 via, partly peculiar to her own traditional history, as 
 well as to that of the Roman empire, which they ap- 
 plied to the construction of a cycle of heroes as fa- 
 mous in Teutonic song as those of Arthur and of 
 Charlemagne in France and Britain. 
 
 As in all other cases of the kind, a real conqueror, 
 the fame of whose exploits survived in tradition, was 
 adopted as the central object, around whom were to 
 be assembled a set of champions, and with whose 
 history was to be interwoven the various feats of 
 courage which they performed, and the adventures 
 which they underwent. Theodorick King of the 
 Goths, called in these romantic legends Diderick 
 of Bern (i. e. Verona), was selected for this pur- 
 pose by the German Minnesingers. Amongst the 
 principal personages introduced are Ezzel, King of 
 the Huns, who is no other than the celebrated Atti- 
 la ; and Gunter, King of Burgundy, who is identified 
 with a Guntachar of history who really held that king- 
 dom. Thegood knight Wolfram de Eschenbach seems 
 to have been the first whoassembled the scattered tra- 
 ditions and minstrel tales concerning these sovereigns 
 into one large volume of German verse, entitled 
 Helden-Bnch, or the Book of Heroes. In this the 
 author has availed himself of the unlimited licence of 
 a romancer ; and has connected with the history of 
 Diderick and his chivalry a number of detached le- 
 gends which had certainly a separate and independ- 
 ent existence. Such is the tale of Sigurd the Horny, 
 which has the appearance of having originally been 
 a Norse Saga. An analysis of this singular piece 
 was published by Mr Weber, in a work entitled 
 Illustrations of Northern Antiquities, Jrom the earlier 
 Teutonic and Scanditiavian Romances ; and the sub- 
 ject has been fully illustrated by the publications of 
 the learned Von der Hagen in Germany, and those 
 of the Honourable William Herbert, 
 
 It is here only necessary to say, that Theodorick, 
 like Charlemagne and Arthur, is considered in the 
 romance as a monarch more celebrated for the va- 
 lorous achievements of the brotherhood of chivalry 
 whom he has drawn around him than for his own, 
 though neither deficient in strength or courage. His 
 principal followers have each their discriminatory 
 and peculiar attributes. Meister Hildebrand, the 
 Nestor of the band, is, like the Maugis of Charle- 
 
 4 
 
ROMANCE. 
 
 451 
 
 Romance, magne's heroes, a magician as well as a champion. 
 
 — ^,^-^Hogan, or Hagan, begot betwixt a mortal and 
 a sea-goblin, is the fierce Achilles of the con- 
 federation. It is the uniform custom of the ro- 
 mancers to conclude by a general and overwhelm- 
 ing catastrophe, which destroys the whole ring 
 of chivalry whose feats they had commemorated. 
 The ruin which Roncesvalles brought to the Paladins 
 of Charlemagne, and the fatal battle of Camlan to the 
 Knights of the Round Table, fell upon the warriors 
 of Diderick through the revengeful treachery of 
 Crimhilda, the wife of Ezzel ; who, in revenge for the 
 death of her first husband, and in her inordinate de- 
 sire to possess the treasures of the Niflunga or Bur- 
 gundians, brought destruction on all these celebrated 
 champions. Mr Weber observes that these German 
 fictions differ from the romances of French chivalry, 
 in the greater ferocity and less refinement of sentiment 
 ascribed to the heroes ; and also in their employing 
 to a great extent the machinery of the Duergar, or 
 Dwarfs, a subterranean people to whom the Helden- 
 Buch ascribes much strength and subtilty, as well as 
 profound skill in the magic art ; and who seem, to a 
 certain extent, the predecessors of the European 
 fairy. 
 
 Italian Ro- •^•^^'y'' ^0 long the seat of classical learning, and 
 nance. where that learning was first revived, seems never to 
 have strongly embraced the taste for the Gothic ro- 
 mance. They received, indeed, the forms and insti- 
 tutions of chivalry, but the Italians seem to have 
 been in a considerable degree strangers to its spirit, 
 nor to have become deeply enamoured of its litera- 
 ture. There is an old romance of chivalry proper to 
 Italy, called Guerino the Wretched, but we doubt 
 if even this be of indigenous growth. Indeed, when 
 they did adopt from the French the fashionable tules 
 of Charlemagne and his Paladins, they did not at- 
 tract the attention of the classical Italians, until 
 Boiardo, Berni, Pulci, and, above all, the divine Ari- 
 osto, condescended to use them as the basis of their 
 well-known romantic poems ; and thus the fictitious 
 narratives originally composed in metre, and after re- 
 written in prose, were anew decorated with the ho- 
 nours of verse. The romantic poets of Italy did not even 
 disdain to imitate the rambling, diffuse, and episodi- 
 cal style proper to the old romance ; and Ariosto, in 
 particular, although he torments the reader's atten- 
 tion by digressing from one adventure to another, 
 delights us, upon frequent perusals, by the extreme 
 ingenuity with which he gathers up the broken ends 
 of his narrative, and finally weaves them all hand- 
 somely together in the same piece. But the merits 
 and faults of romantic poetry form themselves the 
 fruitful subject of a long essay. We here only no- 
 tice the origin of those celebrated works, as a spe- 
 I cies of composition arising out of the old romance, 
 
 I though surpassing it in regularity, as well as in all 
 
 the beauties of style and diction. 
 Spanish and With Spain the idea of romance was particularly 
 Portuguese connected ; and the associations which are formed 
 Romance, upon perusing the immortal work of Cervantes, in- 
 duce us for a long time to believe that the country of 
 Don Quixote must be the very cradle of romantic 
 fiction. Yet, if we speak of priority of date, Spain 
 
 was among the last nations in Europe with whom ro- Romance, 
 mance became popular. It was not indeed possible 
 that, among a people speaking so noble and poetical 
 a language, engaged in constant wars, which called 
 forth at once their courage and their genius, there 
 should not exist many historical and romantic bal- 
 lads descriptive of their rencounters with the Moors. 
 But their native poets seem to have been too much 
 engaged with the events of their own age, or of that 
 which had just preceded them, to permit of their seek- 
 ing subjects in the regions of pure fiction ; and we 
 have not heard of a Spanish metrical romance, un- 
 less the poems describing the adventures of the Cid, 
 should be supposed to have any affinity to that class 
 of composition. The Peninsula, however, though 
 late in adopting the prevailing taste for romantic fic- 
 tion, gave origin to one particular class, which was at 
 least as popular as any which had preceded it. Ama- 
 dis de Gaul, the production, it would seem, of Vasco 
 de Lobeira, a Portuguese knight, who lived in the 
 fourteenth century, gave a new turn to the talesof chi- 
 valry ; and threw into the shade the French prose ro- 
 mances, which, until the appearance of this distin- 
 guished work, had been the most popular in Eu- 
 rope. 
 
 The author of Amadis, in order, perhaps, to faci- 
 litate the other changes which he introduced, and to 
 avoid rushing against preconceived ideas of events 
 or character, laid aside the worn-out features of Ar- 
 thur and Charlemagne, and imagined to himself a 
 new dynasty both of sovereigns and of heroes, to 
 whom he ascribed a style of manners much more re- 
 fined, and sentiments much more artificial, than had 
 occurred to the authors of Perceval or Perceforest. 
 Lobeira had also taste enough to perceive, that some 
 unity of design would be a great improvement on 
 the old romance, where one adventure is strung to 
 another with little connection from the beginning to 
 the end of the volume ; which thus concludes, not be- 
 cause the plot was winded up, but because the au- 
 thor's invention, or the printer's patience, was ex-, 
 hausted. In the work of the Portuguese author, on 
 the contrary, he proposes a certain end, to advance or 
 retard which all the incidents of the work have direct 
 reference. This is the marriage of "Amadis with Ori- 
 ana, against which a thousand difficulties are raised by. 
 rivals, giants, sorcerers, and all the race of evil, 
 powers unfavourable to chivalry ; whilst these obsta- 
 cles are removed by the valour of the hero, and con- 
 stancy of the heroine, succoured on their part by 
 those friendly sages, and blameless sorceresses, whose 
 intervention gave so much alarm to the tender-con- 
 scienced De la Noue. Lobeira also displayed con- 
 siderable attention to the pleasure which arises from 
 the contrast of character ; and to relieve that of Ama- 
 dis, who is the very essence of chivalrous constancy, 
 he has introduced Don Galaor, his brother, a gay 
 libertine in love, whose adventures form a contrast 
 with those of his more serious brother. Above all, 
 the Amadis displays an attention to the style and con- 
 versation of the piece, which, although its effects are 
 now exaggerated and ridiculous, was doubtless at 
 the time considered as the pitch of elegance ; and 
 here were, for the first time, introduced those hyper- 
 
452 
 
 ROMANCE. 
 
 Komance. bolical compliments, and that inflated and compli- 
 ^^^■^ cated structure of language, the sense of which walks 
 as in a masquerade. 
 
 The Amadis at first consisted only of four books, 
 and in that limited shape may be considered as a very 
 well conducted story ; but additions were speedi- 
 ly made which extended the number to twenty- 
 four ; containing the history of Amadis subsequent 
 to his obtaining possession of Oriana, and down to 
 his death, as also of his numerous descendants. The 
 theme was not yet exhausted ; for, as the ancient ro- 
 mancers, when they commenced a new work, chose 
 for their hero some newly invented Paladin of Charle- 
 magne, or knight of King Arthur, so did their suc- 
 cessors adopt a new descendant of the family of 
 Amadis, whose genealogy was thus multiplied to a 
 prodigious degree. For an account of Espla?idian, 
 Florimond of Greece, Palmerin of England, and the 
 other romances of this class, the reader must be re- 
 ferred to the valuable labours of Mr Southey, who 
 has abridged both Amadis and Palmerin with the 
 most accurate attention to the style and manners of 
 the original. The books of Amadis became so very 
 popular, as to supersede the elder romances almost 
 entirely, even at the court of France, where, accord- 
 ing to La Noue, already quoted, they were intro- 
 duced about the reign of Henry II. It was against 
 the extravagance of these fictions in character, and 
 in style, that the satire of Cervantes was chiefly di- 
 rected ; and almost all the library of Don Quixote be- 
 longs to this class of romances, which, no doubt, his 
 adventures contributed much to put out of fashion. 
 
 In every point of view, France must be considered 
 as the country in which chivalry and romance 
 flourished in the highest perfection ; and the origi- 
 nals of almost all the early romances, whether in 
 prose or verse, whether relating to the history of 
 Arthur or of Charlemagne, are to be found in the 
 French language; and other countries possess only 
 translations from thence. This will not be so sur- 
 prising when it is recollected, that these earlier ro- 
 mances were written, not only for the use of the 
 French, but of the English themselves, amongst whom 
 French was the prevailing language during the reigns 
 of the Anglo-Not'man monarchs. Indeed, it has 
 been ingeniously supposed, and not without much 
 apparent probability, that the fame of Arthur was 
 taken by the French minstrels for the foundation of 
 their stories in honour of the English kings, who 
 reigned over the supposed dominions of that British 
 hero ; while, on the other hand, the minstrels who 
 repaired to the coast of France, celebrated the prow- 
 esses of Charlemagne and his twelve peers as a sub- 
 ject more gratifying to those who sat upon his 
 throne. It is, perhaps, some objection to this inge- 
 nious history, that, as we have already seen, the bat- 
 tle of Hastings was opened by a minstrel, who sung 
 the war-song of Roland, the nephew of Charlemagne ; 
 so that the Norman duke brought with him to Eng- 
 land the tales that are supposed, at a much later date, 
 to have been revived to soothe the national pride of 
 the French minstrels. 
 
 How the French minstrels came by the tradi- 
 tional reliques concerning Arthur and Merlin, on 
 which they wrought so long and so largely, must, 
 
 French Ro 
 mance. 
 
 we fear, always remain uncertain. From the Sax- 
 ons we may conclude they had them not ; for the 
 Saxons were the very enemies against whom Ar- 
 thur employed his good sword excalibar, that is 
 to say, if there was such a man, or such a weapon. 
 We know, indeed, that the British, like all the 
 branches of the Celtic race, were much attached to 
 poetry and music, which the numerous reliques of 
 ancient poetry in Wales, Ireland, and the Highlands 
 of Scotland, sufficiently evince. Arthur, a name fa- 
 mous among them, with some traditions concerning 
 the sage Merlin, may have floated either in Armorica, 
 or among the half-British of the borders of Scotland, 
 and of Cumberland ; and thus preserved, may have 
 reached the ear of the Norman minstrels, either in 
 their newly conquered dominions, or through their 
 neighbours of Britanny. A theme of this sort once 
 discovered, and found acceptable to the popular ear, 
 gave rise, of course, to a thousand imitations ; and 
 gradually drew around it a cloud of fiction which, 
 embellished by such poetry as the minstrels could 
 produce, arranged itself by degrees into a system of 
 fabulous history, as the congregated vapours touch- 
 ed by the setting sun, assume the form of battlements 
 and towers. We know that the history of Sir Tris- 
 tram, first versified by Thomas the Rymer of Ercil- 
 doune, was derived from Welsh traditions, though 
 told by a Saxon poet. In fact, it may be easily sup- 
 posed, that the romancers of that early period were 
 more eager to acquire popular subjects than delicate- 
 ly scrupulous of borrowing from their neighbours; and 
 when the foundation-stone was once laid, each subse- 
 quent minstrel brought his contribution to the build- 
 ing. The idea of an association of knights assembled 
 around one mighty sovereign, was so flattering to all 
 the ruling princes of Europe, that almost all of them 
 endeavoured to put themselves at the head of some 
 similar institution. The historical foundation of this 
 huge superstructure is almost imperceptible. Mr 
 Turner has shown that the evidence rather inclines 
 to prove the actual existence of King Arthur; and the 
 names of Gawain, his nephew, and of Genuera, his 
 faithful spouse, of Mordred, and Merlin, was preserv- 
 ed by Welsh tradition. To the same source may be 
 referred the loves of Tristrem and Ysolde, which, al- 
 though a separate story, has become, in the later 
 romances, amalgamated with that of Arthur. But 
 there can be little doubt that all beyond the bare 
 names of the heroes owes its existence to the imagi- 
 nation of the romancers. 
 
 It might be thought that the romances referring to 
 the feats of Charlemagne ought to contain more his- 
 torical truth than those concerning Arthur; since the 
 former relate to a well-known monarch and conque- 
 ror, the latter to a personage of a very doubtful and 
 shadowy existence. But the romances concerning 
 both are equally fabulous. Charles had, indeed, an 
 officer named Roland, who was slain with other no- 
 bles in the field of Roncesvalles, fighting, not against 
 the Saracens or Spaniards, but against the Gascons. 
 This is the only point upon which the real history of 
 Charlemagne coincides with that invented for him 
 by romancers. Roland was Prefect of Bretagne, and 
 his memory was long preserved in the war-song which 
 bore his name. A fabulous chronicler, calling himself 
 10 
 
ROMANCE. 
 
 453 
 
 Romance. Turpin, compiled, in or about the eleventh century, 
 a romantic history of Charlemagne; but it may be 
 doubted whether, in some instances, he has not avail- 
 ed himself of the fictions already devised by the early 
 romancers, while to those who succeeded them his 
 annals afforded matter for new figments. The per- 
 sonal character of Charlemagne has suffered con- 
 siderably in the hands of the romantic authors, al- 
 though they exaggerated his power and his victories. 
 He is represented as fond of flattery, irritable in his 
 temper, ungrateful for the services rendered him by 
 his most worthy Paladins, and a perpetual dupe to 
 the treacherous artifices of Count Gan, or Ganelon, 
 of Mayence ; a renegade to whom the romancers im- 
 pute the defeat at Roncesvalles, and all the other 
 misfortunes of the reign of Charles. This unfa- 
 vourable view of the Prince, although it may bear 
 some features of royalty, neither resembles the real 
 character of the conqueror of the Saxons and Lom- 
 bards, nor can be easily reconciled with the idea, 
 that he was introduced to flatter the personal vanity 
 of the princes of the Valois race, by a portrait of their 
 great predeces'sor. 
 
 The circumstance, that Roland was a lieutenant of 
 Britanny, and the certainty that Marie borrowed 
 from that country the incidents out of which she 
 composed her lays, seems to fortify the theory, that the 
 French minstrels obtained from that country much 
 of their most valuable materials ; and that, after all 
 that has been said and supposed, the history of Ar- 
 thur probably reached them through the same chan- 
 nel. 
 
 The Latin writers of the middle ages aff'orded 
 the French romancers the themes of these metrical 
 legends which they have composed on subjects of 
 classical fame. 
 
 The honour of the prose romances of chivalry, ex- 
 clusive always of the books of Amadis, belongs en- 
 tirely to the French, and the curious volumes which 
 are now the object of so much research amongst col- 
 lectors, are almost universally printed at Paris, 
 aglish Ro- England, so often conquered, yet fated to receive 
 ftnce. an accession of strength from each new subjugation, 
 cannot boast much of ancient literature of any kind ; 
 and, in the department of which we treat, was total- 
 ly inferior to France, The Saxons had, no doubt, 
 romances (taking the word in its general accepta- 
 tion) ; and Mr Turner, to whose researches we are so 
 much indebted, has given us the abridgment of one 
 entitled Caedmon, in which the hero, whose adven- 
 tures are told much after the manner of the ancient 
 Norse Sagas, encounters, defeats, and finally slays 
 an evil being called Grendel, who, except in his be- 
 ing subject to death, seems a creature of a superna- 
 tural description. But the literature of the Saxons 
 was destroyed by the success of William the Con- 
 queror, and the Norman knights and barons, among 
 whom England was in a great measure divided, 
 sought amusement, not in the lays of the van- 
 quished, but in those composed in their own lan- 
 guage. In this point of view, England, as a country, 
 may lay claim to many of the French romances, 
 which were written, indeed, in that language, but for 
 the benefit of the court and nobles of England, by 
 whom French was still spoken. When the two Ian- 
 
 VOL. VI. PAUT II. 
 
 guages began to assimilate together, and to form Romance, 
 the mixed dialect termed the Anglo-Norman, we ^-^V^ 
 have good authority for saying that it was easily ap- 
 plied to the purpose of romantic fiction, and recited 
 in the presence of the nobility. 
 
 Robert de la Brunne, who composed his Histori/ 
 of England about this time, has this remarkable pas- 
 sage, which we give, along with the commentary of 
 the Editor of Sir Tristrem, as it is peculiarly illus- 
 trative of the subject we are inquiring into. 
 
 Als thai haf wryten and sayd 
 Haf I alle in myn Inglis layd. 
 In symple speche as I couthe, 
 That is lightest in manne's mouthe. 
 I made noght for no disours, 
 Ne for no seggours, no harpours, 
 Bot for the luf of symple men, 
 That strange Inglis cannot ken ; 
 For many it ere that strange Inglis, 
 In ryme wate never what it is ; 
 And bot thai wist what it mente, 
 Ellis methought it were alle schente. 
 1 made it not for to be praysed, 
 Bot at the lewed men were aysed. 
 If it were made in ryme couwee, 
 Or in strangere, or enterlace, 
 That rede Inglis it ere inowe 
 That couthe not have coppled a kowe. 
 That outher in cowee or in baston, 
 Sum suld haf ben fordon ; 
 So that fele men that it herde 
 Suld not witte howe that it ferde. 
 I see in song, in sedgeyng tale. 
 Of Erceldoune and of Kendale, 
 Noil iham sayis as thai thaim wroght. 
 And in ther saying it semes noght. 
 That may thou here in Sir Trislrem, 
 Over gestes it has the steem, 
 Over all that is or was, 
 If men it sayd as made Thomas ; 
 Bot I here it no man so say. 
 That of some copple som is away. 
 So thare fayre saying here beforne, 
 Is thare travaile nere forlorne ; 
 Thai sayd it for pride and nobleye, 
 That were not suylke as thei. 
 And alle that thai willed overwhere, 
 Alle that ilke will now forfare. 
 Thai sayd it in so quaint Inglis, 
 That many wate not what it is. 
 Therfore heuyed wele the more 
 In strange ryme to travayle ?ore 
 And my wit was oure thynne ; 
 So strange speche to travayle in ; 
 And forsoth I couth noght 
 So strange Inglis as thai wroght, 
 And men besoght me many a tyme 
 To turne it bot in light ryme. 
 Thai seyd if I in strange ryme it turn, 
 To here it many on suld skorne ; 
 For in it ere names fulle selcouthe, 
 That ere not used now in mouthe. 
 And therfore, for the commonalte, 
 That blythely wild listen to me, 
 On light lange I it began, 
 For luf of the lewed man. 
 
 " This passage requires some commentary, as the 
 sense has been generally mistaken. Robert de 
 Brunne does not mean, as has been supposed,, that 
 the minstrels who repeated Thomas's romance of 
 Sir Tristrem, disguised the meaning by putting it 
 into ' quainie Inglis ; but, on the contrary, that Ken- 
 dal and Thomas of Erceldoune did themselves use 
 such * quainie Inglis* that those who repeated the 
 3 M 
 
R O M A IS C E. 
 
 story were unable to understand it, or to make it in- 
 telligible to their hearers. Above all, he complains 
 that, by writing an intricate and complicated stanza, 
 as ' ri/me covoee, strangere, or entrelace' it was dif- 
 ficult for the diseurs to recollect the poem; and 
 of Sir Tristrem, in particular, he avers, that he never 
 heard a perfect recital, because of some one ' cop- 
 pie or - stanza, a part was always omitted. Hence 
 he argues at length, that he himself, writing not for 
 the minstrel or harper, nor to acquire personal fame, 
 but solely to instruct the ignorant in the history of 
 their country, does well in chusing a simple struc- 
 ture of verse, which they can retain correctly on 
 their memory, and a style which is popular and easi- 
 ly understood. Besides which, he hints at the ridi- 
 cule he might draw on his poem, should he intro- 
 duce the uncouth names of his personages into a 
 courtly or refined strain of verse. They were 
 Great names, but hard in verse to stand. 
 
 While he arrogates praise to himself for his choice, 
 he excuses Thomas of Erceldoune and Kendale for 
 using a more ambitious and ornate kind of poetry. 
 They wrote for pride (fame) and for nobles, not 
 such as these my ignorant hearers.''* 
 
 If the editor of Sir Tristrem be correct in his 
 commentary, there existed in the time of Thomas de 
 Brunne minstrels or poets who composed English 
 poetry to be recited in the presence of the great, and 
 who, for that purpose, used a singularly difficult stan- 
 za, which was very apt to be mutilated in recitation. 
 Sir Tristrem, even as it now exists, shows likewise 
 that considerable art was resorted to in constructing 
 the stanza, and has, from beginning to end, a con- 
 cise, quaint, abstract turn of expression, more like 
 the Saxon poetry than the simple, bold, and diffuse 
 details of the French minstrel. Besides Sir Tris- 
 trem, there remain, we conceive, two other exam- 
 ples of " gestes written in quaint Inglis" composed, 
 namely, according to fixed and complicated rules of 
 verse, and with much attention to the language, 
 though the effect produced is far from pleasing. 
 They are both of Scottish origin, which may be ex- 
 plained, by recollecting that in the Saxon provinces 
 of Scotland, as well as at the court, Norman was 
 never used; and therefore it is probable that the 
 English language was more cultivated in that coun- 
 try at an early period than in England itself, where 
 it was for a long time superseded by that of the con- 
 querors. These romances, entitled Sir Gaxuain, and 
 Sir Gologras, and Sir Galeran of Gallovoay, have all 
 the appearance of being original compositions, and 
 display- considerable poetical effort. But the un- 
 couth use of words dragged in for the sake of allitera- 
 tion, and used in secondary and oblique meanings, 
 renders them extremely harsh in construction, as 
 well as obscure in meaning. 
 
 In England it would seem that the difficulties 
 pointed out by De la Brunne threw out of fashion this 
 ornate kind of composition ; and the English min- 
 strels had no readier resource than translating from 
 
 the French, who supplied their language at the same Romance, 
 time with the phrases of chivalry which did not exist 
 in English. These compositions presented many fa- 
 cilities to the minstrel. He could, if possessed of the 
 slightest invention, add to them at pleasure, and they 
 might as easily be abridged when memory failed, or 
 occasion required. Accordingly, translations from 
 the French fill up the list of English romance. They 
 are generally written in short lines rhyming together ; 
 though often, by way of variety, the third and sixth 
 lines are made to rhyme together, and the poem is thus 
 divided into stanzas of three couplets each. In almost 
 all of these legends, reference is made to " the ro- 
 mance," that is, some composition in the French lan- 
 guage, as to the original authority. Nay, which is very 
 singular, tales where the subjects seem to beof English 
 growth, seem to have yet existed in French ere they 
 were translated into the language of the country to 
 which the heroes belonged. This seems to have 
 been the case with Hornchild, with Guy of Warvoick, 
 with Bevis of Hampton, all of which appear to belong 
 originally to England; yet are their earliest histories 
 found in the French language, or at least the verna- 
 cular versions refer to such for their authority. Even 
 the romance of Richard, England's own Cceur de 
 Lion, has perpetual references to the French original 
 from which it was translated. It must naturally be 
 supposed that these translations were inferior to the 
 originals, and whether it was owing to this cause, or 
 that the composition of these rhymes was attended 
 with too much facility, and so fell into the hands of 
 very inferior composers, it is certain, and is proved 
 by the highest authority, that of Chaucer himself, 
 that even in his time they had fallen into great con- 
 tempt. The Rime of Sir Thopas, which that poet 
 introduces as a parody, undoubtedly, of the rythmi- 
 cal romances of the age, is interrupted by mine host 
 Harry Bailly with the strongest and most energetic 
 expressions of total and absolute contempt. But 
 though the minstrels were censured by De la Brunne 
 for lack of skill and memory, and the poems which 
 they recited were branded as " drafty rhymings," by 
 the far more formidable censure of Chaucer, their 
 acceptation with the public in general must have been 
 favourable, since, besides many unpublished volumes, 
 the two publications of Ritson and Weber bear evi- 
 dence of their popularity. Some original composi- 
 tions doubtless occur among so many translations, 
 but they are not numerous, and few have been 
 preserved. The poem of Sir Eger and Sir Greme, 
 which seems of Scottish origin, has no French ori- 
 ginal ; nor has any been discovered either of the 
 Sqvire of Loxv Degree, Sir Eglamour, Sir Plein- 
 dam.our, or some others. But the French derivation 
 of the two last names renders it probable that such 
 may exist. 
 
 The minstrels and their compositions seem to 
 have fallen into utter contempt about the time of 
 Henry VIII. There is a piteous picture of their 
 condition in the person of Richard Sheale, which it 
 is impossible to read without compassion, if we con- 
 
 * Sir Tristrem, Introduction, pp. Ixi. Ixii. Ixiii. Ixiv. Ixv. Edin. 1804. 
 
 4 
 
R O M x\ N C E. 
 
 455 
 
 Romance.' sider that he was the preserver at least, if not the 
 ^«»^ author, of the celebrated heroic ballad of CheDy 
 Chace,2A. which Sir Philip Sidney's heart was wont 
 to beat as at the sound of a trumpet. This luckless 
 minstrel had been robbed on Dunsmore Heath, and, 
 shame to tell, he was unable to persuade the public 
 that a son of the muses had ever been possessed of the 
 twenty pounds which he averred he had lost. The ac- 
 count he gives of the effect upon his spirits is melan- 
 cholj', and yet ridiculous enough. 
 
 After my robbery my memory was so decayde, 
 That I colde neather syng nor talke, my wytts wer so dismayde. 
 My audacitie was gone, and all my myrry tawk, 
 Ther ys sum heare have sene me as myrry as a bawke ; 
 But nowe I am so trublyde with phansis in my mynde, 
 That I cannot play the myrry knave, accordyng to my kynd. 
 Yet to tak thought, I perseve, ys not the next waye 
 To bring me out of det, my creditors to paye. 
 I may well say that I hade but well hape, 
 For to lose about threscore pounde at a clape. 
 The losse of my mony did not greve me so sore, 
 But the talke of the pyple dyde greve me moch mor. 
 Sum sayde I was not robde, I was but a lyeng knave. 
 Yt was not possyble for a mynstrell so much mony to have ; 
 In dede, to say the truthe, that ys ryght well knowene, 
 That I never had so moche mony of myn owene, 
 But I had frendds in London, whos namys I can declare, 
 That at all tyras wold lende me cc.lds. worth of ware, 
 And sum agayn such frendship I founde, 
 That thei wold lend me in mony nyn or tene pownde. 
 The occasion why I cam in dete 1 shall make relacion, 
 My wyffin dede ys a sylk woman be her occupacion, 
 And lynen cloths most chefly was her greatyste trayd. 
 And at faris and merky tts she solde sale-ware that she made ; 
 As shertts, smockys, partlytts, hede clothes, and othar thinggs, 
 As sylk thredd, and eggyngs, skirrts, bandds, and strings. 
 
 From The Chant of Richard Sheale, 
 British Bibliographer, No. XIII. p. 101. 
 
 Elsewhere, Sheale hmts that he had trusted to his 
 harp, and to the well known poverty attached to 
 those who used that instrument, to bear him safe 
 through Dunsmore Heath. At length the order of 
 English minstrels was formally put down by the act 
 39th of Queen Elizabeth^ classing them with sturdy 
 beggars and vagabonds ; in which disgraceful fellow- 
 ship they only existed in the capacity of fiddlers, who 
 accompanied their instrument with their voice. 
 Such a character is introduced in the play of Mon- 
 meur Thomas, as the " poor fiddler who says his 
 songs." The metrical romances which they recitedalso 
 fell into disrepute, though some of the more popular, 
 sadly abridged and adulterated, continued to be 
 published in chap, books, as they are called. About 
 fifty or sixty years since, a person acquired the nick- 
 name of Rosexual and Lilian from singing that ro- 
 mance about the streets of Edinburgh, which is pro- 
 bably the very last instance of the proper minstrel 
 craft. 
 
 If the metrical romances of England can boast of 
 few original compositions, they can show yet fewer 
 examples of the prose romance. Sir Thomas Ma- 
 lory, indeed, compiled, from various French au- 
 thorities, his celebrated Morte d' Arthur, indisputa- 
 bly the best prose romance the language can boast. 
 There is also Arthur of Little Britain ^ and the Lord 
 Berners compiled the romance of the Knight of the 
 Swayi. The books of Amadis were likewise translat- 
 ed into English ; but it may be doubted whether 
 the country in general ever took that deep interest 
 
 Romance. 
 
 in the perusal of these records of love and honour 
 with which they were greeted in France. Their 
 number was fewer ; and the attention paid to them 
 in a country where great political questions began to 
 be agitated was much less than when the feudal sys- 
 tem still continued in its full vigour. 
 
 HI. We should now say something on those various 
 kinds of romantic fictions which succeeded to the 
 romance of chivalry. But we can only notice briefly 
 works which have long slumbered in oblivion, and 
 which certainly are not worthy to have their slum- 
 bers disturbed. 
 
 Even in the time of Cervantes, the pastoral ro- Pastoral Ro- 
 mance, founded upon the Diana of George of Men- niance. 
 te Mayer, was prevailing to such an extent as made 
 it worthy of his satire. It was, indeed, a system 
 still more remote from common sense and reality 
 than that of chivalry itself. For the maxims of chi- 
 valry, high-strained and absurd as they are, did ac- 
 tually influence living beings, and even the fate of 
 kingdoms. If Amadis de Gaule was a fiction, the 
 Chevalier Bayard was a real person. But the ex- 
 istence of an Arcadia, a pastoral region, in which a 
 certain fantastic sort of personages, desperately in 
 love, and thinking of nothing else but their mistresses, 
 played upon pipes, and wrote sonnets from morning 
 to night, yet were supposed all the while to be tend- 
 ing their flocks, was too monstrously absurd to be 
 long credited or tolerated. 
 
 A numerous, and once most popular, class of fic- Heroic Ro- 
 tions, was that entitled the Heroic Romance of the"^3.nces. 
 Seventeenth Century. 
 
 If the ancient Romance of Chivalry has a right to 
 be called the parent of those select and beautiful 
 fictions which the genius of the Italian poets has en- 
 riched with such peculiar charms, another of its 
 direct descendants. The Heroic Romance of the 
 Seventeenth Century, is, with few exceptions, the 
 most dull and tedious species of composition 
 that ever obtained temporary popularity. The 
 old rom^ce of Heliodorus, entitled Theagenes and 
 Churiclea, supplied, perhaps, the earliest model of 
 this style of composition ; but it was from the ro- 
 mances of chivalry that it derive* its most peculiar 
 characteristics. A man of a fantastic imagination, 
 Honore d'Urf6, led the way in this style of compo- 
 sition. Being willing to record certain love in- 
 trigues of a complicated nature which had taken 
 place in his own family, and amongst his friends, he 
 imagined to himself a species of Arcadia on the 
 banks of the Lignon, who live for love and for love 
 alone. There are two principal stories, said to re- 
 present the family history of D'Urfe and his brother, 
 with about thirty episodes, in which the gallantries 
 and intrigues of Henry IV.'s court are presented 
 under borrowed names. Considered by itself, this is 
 but an example of the pastoral romance; but it was 
 so popular that three celebrated French authors, 
 Gomberville, Calprenede, and Madame Scuderi, 
 seized the pen, and composed in emulation many 
 interminable folios of heroic romance. In these in- 
 sipid performances, a conventional character, and a 
 set of family manners and features, are ascribed to 
 the heroes and heroines, although selected from dis- 
 
456 
 
 ROM 
 
 Romance tant ages and various quarters of the world. The 
 II heroines are, without exception, models of beauty 
 ^^;^3™^and perfection; and, so well persuaded of it them- 
 ""'"^ selves, that to approach them with the most humble 
 declaration of love is a crime sufficient to deserve 
 the penalty of banishment from their presence ; and 
 it is well if it is softened to the audacious iover, by 
 permission, or command to live, without which, ab- 
 sence and death are accounted synonimous. On 
 the other hand, the heroes, whatsoever kingdoms 
 they have to govern, or other earthly duties to per- 
 form, live through these folios for love alone ; and 
 the most extraordinary revolutions which can agi- 
 tate the world are ascribed to the charms of a 
 Mandana or a Statira acting upon the crazy un- 
 derstanding of their lovers. Nothing can be so 
 uninteresting as the frigid extravagance with which 
 these lovers express their passion ; or, in their own 
 phrase, nothing can be more freezing than their 
 flames, more creeping than their flights of passion. 
 
 R 0 S 
 
 Yet the line of metaphysical gallantry which they 
 exhibited had its fashion, and a long one, both in 
 France and England. In the latter country they 
 continued to be read by our grandmothers during 
 the Augustan age of English, and while Addison was 
 amusing the world with its 'vit, and Pope by its 
 poetry. The fashion did not decay till about the 
 reign of George I.; and even more lately, Mrs Len- 
 nox, patronized by Dr Johnson, wrote a very good 
 imitation of Cervantes, entitled, The Female Quixote, 
 which had those works for its basis. They are now 
 totally forgotten. 
 
 The modern romance, so ennobled by the produc- 
 tions of so many master hands, would require a long 
 disquisition. But we can here only name that style 
 of composition in which De Foe rendered fiction 
 more impressive than truth itself, and Swift could 
 render plausible even the grossest impossibilities. 
 
 (n. n.) 
 
 Romance 
 
 II 
 
 Ross-shire- 
 
 Situation ROSCOMMON, a county in the province of Con- 
 and Bound, caught in Ireland, bounded on the north by Sligo 
 and Leitrim ; on the east by the river Shannon, 
 which separates it from Longford and Westmeath ; 
 on the south by Galway ; and on the west by Mayo. 
 It is of a very irregular form, extending about 60 
 miles from north to south, at both which extremities 
 its breadth is greatly contracted ; from east to west 
 Extent and greatest extent is about 37 niiles ; and it contains 
 Divisions. ggg^gqyaj.g ^^^^^^ 556,84? English acres, divided 
 into six baronies and 56 parishes. Of these pa- 
 rishes, 50 belong to the see of Elphin, and the rest 
 to those of Tuam, Clonfert, and Ardagh. Roscom- 
 mon, the county town, situated near its centre, is m 
 north latitude 53° 35', west longitude 8° 8', about 
 89 English miles W. N. W. of Dublin, 
 Surface.; rp^^jg jg f^j. ^^^^ part a flat country; in some 
 places sprinkled with rocks, in many inter5ppted by 
 extensive bogs ; but having few hills, except in its 
 northern quarter, where the Curlew Mountains form 
 its boundary with Sligo. In this quarter, at Arig- 
 na, coal and iron-works were carried on a few years 
 ago, but afterwards discontinued. The soil is for 
 the most part rich, incumbent upon limestone, and 
 adapted to either tillage or grazing. The rivers are 
 the Shannon and the Suck. The Shannon flows 
 along the eastern boundary for about 60 miles, and 
 is there navigable for small vessels. In its course it 
 forms several fine lakes, of which the most consider- 
 able are Loughs Ree, Baffin, and Allen. The Suck, 
 in like manner, separates this county from Galway 
 on the south and west. Both flow south, and almost 
 parallel to each other, till the Suck, turning to the 
 east, joins the Shannon a little to the north of Clon- 
 fert. There are several other lakes, the largest of 
 which is Lough Key, on the north side, distinguish- 
 ed for its beautiful scenery of wooded islands and 
 
 Estates surrounding groves. , ^ , ^ ^ 
 
 i^siaies. UQxe, as in most parts of Ireland, the estates were 
 
 once very large ; but they have been broken down in 
 some instances, by the granting of leases in perpe- 
 
 tuity ; a practice which has given rise to a class of 
 landholders, interposed between a few great pro- 
 prietors on the one hand, and a numerous body of 
 cultivators on the other. 
 
 Roscommon is chiefly a grazing county, and feeds Grazing and 
 some of the best long-horned cattle and long-woolled™^S^- 
 sheep in Ireland, but there are few dairies. During 
 the late war its fine green pastures, under this ma- 
 nagement, afforded a very ample rent, and tillage 
 was therefore conducted on a small scale ; but the 
 plough has been more in request since the peace, 
 both here and in other parts of Ireland ; and the soil 
 of such rich grazing lands requiring nothing more 
 than the common operations of tillage to yield large 
 crops, the growth of corn throughout Ireland has 
 been greatly increased. Yet within these few years 
 agriculture was here in a very backward state. 
 " In Roscommon,'' says Mr Wakefield, " I heard of 
 horses being yoked to the plough by the tail, but I 
 had not an opportunity of seeing this curious prac- 
 tice. I was, however, assured by Dean French, that 
 it is still common with two- year-old colts in the 
 spring." Potatoes, oats, and flax, are the principal 
 crops. 
 
 There are no large towns here. The principal Towns, 
 are, Boyle, Roscommon, the county town, Stokes- 
 town, and Elphin, the birth-place of Oliver Gold- 
 smith; none of which are so considerable as to 
 be represented in Parliament; though Roscommon, 
 Boyle, and Tulsk, the latter a wretched village, had 
 each two representatives in the Irish Parliament. 
 The county itself, in which the Catholic interest pre- 
 dominates, sends two members to the Parliament of 
 the United Kingdom. In 1791 the population was Population, 
 estimated to be 86,000, nearly all Catholics ; and 
 by the census of 1821 the number is 207,777. The 
 English and Irish languages are spoken in most parts 
 of the county with equal facility. — See the general 
 works quoted under the former Irish counties, (a."^ 
 
 ROSS-SHIRE, one of the northern counties of^Bound- 
 Scotland, situated between 57° 8' and 57° 59' north anes. 
 
R 0 S 
 
 ioss-shire. latitude, and between 4° and 5° 46' west longitude 
 
 —V—' from Greenwich. Including the small county of 
 Cromarty, which consists for the most part of de- 
 tached tracts surrounded by Ross-shire, the boun- 
 daries are the sea on the east and west, the county 
 of Sutherland on the north, and Inverness-shire on 
 the south. On the east are the Friths of Dornoch, 
 Cromarty, and Moray, arms of the sea which run up 
 into the interior; the latter, the most considerable, 
 washing its south-eastern extremity. The west coast 
 is still more indented with similar, though smaller, 
 inlets, here called lochs ; of which the largest are the 
 Great and Little Loch Broom, Loch Groinard, Loch 
 Ewe, Gareloch, where there has long been a regu- 
 larly productive cod-fishery. Loch Terridon, Lochs 
 
 stent. Kisserne and Carron, and Loch Duich. From north 
 to south Ross-shire extends about 56 miles, and from 
 east to west somewhat more than 70 ; having an area, 
 according to the latest authorities, of 2129 square 
 miles, or 1,362,560 English acres, without including 
 the island of Lewis, one of the Hebrides belonging 
 to this county, or the space occupied by the county 
 of Cromarty. In the Agricultural Survey by Sir 
 George Mackenzie, its extent is computed to be 
 greater by about half a million of acres. Ross and 
 Cromarty contain 33 parishes, of which seven are on 
 the west coast, and four in the island of Lewis. One 
 parish lies within the bounds of the synod of Glen- 
 elg, and all the rest in that of Ross. Many of these 
 parishes are very large, but the ministers are assisted 
 in their duties by missionaries maintained by the 
 Royal bounty, and the Society for Propagating Chris- 
 tian Knowledge. 
 
 irface. In the Encydopcedia will be found a pretty full 
 description of this extensive district, to which we 
 must refer, and shall notice here only such circum- 
 - stances as may be necessary to give a general vievsr 
 of its present condition. Excepting a narrow tract 
 on the sea-coast on the east, where the soil and cli- 
 mate are not unfavourable to cultivation, the general 
 character of Ross-shire is that of a rugged moun- 
 tainous country, interspersed with narrow glens, 
 fresh water lakes, and mountain streams, with here 
 and there fringes of natural wood, and plantations of 
 some extent, and a few gentlemen's seats ; but, upon 
 the whole, it is a wild and desolate region, upon 
 which a great deal of rain falls in summer, and snow 
 in winter, the latter lying among the recesses of some 
 of the mountains all the year. Including the wood- 
 lands, only about 9 acres in 100 are supposed to be 
 susceptible of cultivation. 
 
 states. The landed property of Ross-shire, valued in the 
 
 cess-books at L. 75,043, 10s. 3d. Scots, consisted, 
 in 1811, of 85 estates, of which 50 were under the 
 valuation of L.500 Scots each, 25 above L.500, and 
 below L. 2000, and 10 above L. 2000 ; from which 
 it would appear that they are generally of great ex- 
 tent ; the medium size being upwards of 16,000 Eng- 
 lish acres. But their value is far from being in pro- 
 portion ; the real rent of the lands in that year having 
 been L. 91,089, 18s. 8d., and of the houses L.2798, 
 Is. 4d. Sterling ; the former affording a mean rental 
 for each estate of not quite L. 1072, oi' about ls.4d. 
 
 its. per acre. The principal seats are Brahan Castle, Stew- 
 art Mackenzie; Tulloch Castle, Davidson; Fowlis 
 
 R O S 457 
 
 Castle, Monro, Bart.; Coul, Mackenzie, Bart.; No- Ross shire, 
 var House, Munro, Bart. ; Invergorden Castle, Mac- ^••^'n/'"^ 
 
 lend ; Balnagowan, Ross, Bart. ; Tarbat House, Hay 
 Mackenzie; Geanies House, Macleod; Conan House, 
 Hector Mackenzie, Bart.; Rosehaugh, Roderick 
 Mackenzie, Bart.; Cromarty House, Ross; and Loch- 
 alsh, Innes, Bart. 
 
 The occupation of this district in an agricultural Rural Eco- 
 view, and the system of management which prevails """'y* 
 among the tenantry, do not differ materially from 
 what we have already described under Inverness- 
 shire and the other Highland counties of Scotland. 
 The native farmers hold a few acres of arable land, with 
 grazings commonly contiguous, but in some cases at a 
 distance; — raise oats, bear or big, and potatoes; and 
 keep a great many cattle and horses, which are always 
 stunted in their growth for want of food, and in se- 
 vere winters many of them perish. Except in seed- 
 time and harvest, and while they are preparing peat 
 for their winter's fuel, the tenants spend much of 
 their time in idleness, or in the practice of illicit dis- 
 tillation among their hills, though in some parts, par- 
 ticularly on the west coast, also in fishing ; and their 
 labour, and that of their cattle, is, generally speak- 
 ing, irregular and unproductive. Several of the pro- 
 prietors, however, and some farmers brought hither 
 from other counties, conduct their farming operations 
 upon the most approved system ; and upon the east 
 coast all the crops grown in Scotland may be seen 
 under excellent cultivation. Sheep-farming, too, 
 notwithstanding the opposition of the small tenants, 
 has been introduced into this as well as most of the 
 other Highland counties. Leases for nineteen years 
 have become common here as in other parts of Scot- 
 land. 
 
 The towns are Dingwall, at the bottom of the Frith Towns, 
 of Cromarty, Fortrose, Tain, on the south coast of 
 Dornoch Frith ; ail royal burghs, but very small 
 places, and situated on the east side of the county. 
 On the west, the only place of any consideration is 
 the village of Ullapool, on the banks of Loch Broom, 
 built within these thirty years by the British Society 
 for extending the Fisheries, &c. at an expence of up- 
 wards of L. 20,000. But the herring-fishery on this 
 coast, always precarious, having failed for several 
 years in succession, the inhabitants have been often 
 reduced to great distress, and notwithstanding every 
 encouragement, many have abandoned it. It remains 
 to be seen whether the recent repeal of the salt du- 
 ties may not lead to a more spirited and successful 
 prosecution of the fisheries, so much to be desired 
 for the employment and subsistence of the people of 
 this and other parts of the Highlands, who are by 
 far too numerous to be employed beneficially in agri- 
 culture. Even the loch- fishings, hitherto much ne- 
 glected, might be rendered a valuable resource in 
 this respect. 
 
 There is scarcely any thing in Ross-shire that de- Tarfrom the 
 serves the name of a manufacture, except one of a '""'^ 
 somewhat peculiar description, and which may be 
 worth notice for that reason. We allude to the 
 practice of obtaining tar, so necessary for the sheep- 
 stocks of the county, and other purposes, from the 
 roots and trunks of the fir-trees found in the mosses. 
 These mosses, which are of great extent here, as 
 
Ross-shire 
 
 Representa- 
 tion. 
 
 458 R O S 
 
 well as in many other parts of Scotland, so generally 
 abound in such materials, that Sir George Macken- 
 zie thinks that more tar might be thus procured than 
 would suffice for home consumption. From these 
 roots the Russians extract considerable quantities of 
 turpentine by a very simple and unexpensive process, 
 described by Dr Howison in a recent communication 
 to the Highland Society of Scotland. 
 
 Ross-shire, which has about 9^ freeholders, sends 
 one member to Parliament ; and in the elections for 
 the Scottish burghs, Dingwall and Tain are associat- 
 ed with Dornoch, Wick, and Kirkwall, and Fortrose 
 with Forres, Nairn, and Inverness. The jurisdiction 
 of one sheriff extends over this and the shire of Cro- 
 marty ; and his substitutes hold their courts at Tain, 
 Dingwall, and Fortrose, for the mainland of the 
 county, and at Stornoway, in Lewis, for the islands 
 Population, politically attached to it. The population of the two 
 counties of Ross and Cromarty, according to the cen- 
 sus of 1801, was 52,291; in 1811 it amounted to 
 60,853; and in 1821 to 68,828, of which 32,324 
 were males, and 36,504 were females. The families 
 employed in agriculture were 7947; in trade and 
 manufactures 3356; in other occupations of various 
 kinds 3203. The increase of population from 1811 
 to 1821 was 13,485. 
 
 See the general works quoted under the former 
 Scottish counties, and Sir George Mackenzie's Ge- 
 neral View of the Agriculture of the Counties of Ross 
 and Cromarty. Also the article Cromarty in this 
 Supplement. (a.) 
 
 ROXBURGHSHIRE, a county in Scotland, on 
 its south-eastern extremity, where it meets with 
 England, situated between 55'^ 6' and 55° 43' north 
 latitude, and between 2° 12' and 3° 7' west longi- 
 tude from Greenwich. It is sometimes called Teviot- 
 dale, from its principal river the Teviot, but impro- 
 perly, as it also includes a tract called Liddesdale on 
 the south-west, which is unconnected w ith the Te- 
 viot. Its boundaries are Berwickshire, from which 
 it is separated in part by the river Tweed, on the 
 north ; Selkirkshire and Dumfries-shire on the west, 
 and south-west ; and the English counties of Cumber- 
 land and Northumberland on the south-east and east. 
 Between Berwickshire and Selkirkshire, a small 
 tract touches the county of Mid-Lothian ; on the 
 south, between Dumfries-shire and Cumberland, the 
 county terminates almost in a point ; on the west it 
 surrounds small portions of Selkirkshire in some 
 places, and in others projects into that county ; and 
 it has the Cheviot hills on the east ; the outline be- 
 ing exceedingly irregular on all sides. According 
 to the latest authorities, its area is 715 square miles. 
 Extent. or 457,600 English acres; containing 30 entire pa- 
 rishes, and part of other four, which properly belong 
 to the counties adjoining. For the purposes of jus- 
 Divisions, tice and police, it is divided into the four districts of 
 Kelso and Jedburgh on the east, and Melrose and 
 Hawick OH the west. In an agricultural view, it may 
 be considered as divided into arable land and hilly 
 pasture ; the pasture land, estimated at about fths 
 of the whole, occupying the eastern, southern, and 
 western quarters, and surrounding, in a circular form, 
 the arable, which lies on the north and north-east 
 sides of the county. 
 
 Situation 
 and Bound 
 aries. 
 
 R O X 
 
 Except upon the banks of the streams, which are Eoxburs: 
 commonly of no great width, there is very little level 
 or flat land in this district ; and, compared with the '-"^""^ 
 high grounds in other parts of Scotland, hardly any^"'^*^*"* 
 part of it can be said to be mountainous. The 
 cultivated districts are beautifully diversified with 
 narrow valleys, each traversed by its own rivulet, of- 
 ten fringed with wood, and bounded by gentle accli- 
 vities ; and the hills in pasture are, with few excep- 
 tions, clothed in verdure to their very summits. On 
 the confines of Northumberland, the most elevated 
 quarter, the hills seldom reach the height of 2000 
 feet, but there are many from that height down to 
 800 or 1000 feet. The most considerable are Min- 
 to and the Eildon hills, both in the arable division ; 
 and Dunion, Ruberslaw, Wisp, Ilownam Law, Mil- 
 lenwood-Fell, Carter-Fell, and Chillhill, in the pas- 
 toral districts. Most of them having a conical form, 
 insulated at their base by streamlets, and not rising 
 in a continuous range, present very conspicuous ob- 
 jects, and at a distance seem higher than they are 
 found to be when approached. The beauties of the 
 natural scenery have, over all the lower grounds, 
 been heightened and improved by the wealth and 
 industr}' of its inhabitants ; all this division abound- 
 ing in gentlemen's seats, comfortable, and sometimes 
 elegant farm-houaes ; the fields inclosed with hedges of 
 thorn, and belts of wood, and many spots covered 
 with young trees. On the skirts of the hills, too, cul- 
 tivation has made considerable progress of late, as 
 much, perhaps, as could be expected in the natural 
 circumstances of the country ; but the interior of the 
 pastoral district is in general naked, without trees or 
 fences, and very thinly inhabited. 
 
 The prevailing soil of the arable land, and over Soil. ' 
 most of the hills, is what is called a sandy loam, 
 though of different qualities, excellently adapted to 
 the turnip culture. Tracts of a clayey or more 
 heavy soil, however, occupy a considerable space, 
 especially on the north-west. Clay is also found on 
 the north, near the Tweed, where it is rich and fer- 
 tile. Moss, marsh, and heath, occur in the south- 
 west, and occasionally in other quarters ; but alto- 
 gether they cover but a small proportion of the sur- 
 face. 
 
 No district in Britain is better supplied with Rivers, 
 streams, though it has only two that deserve the 
 name of rivers, the Tweed and the Teviot. The 
 Tweed, which crosses the north part of the county, 
 and for part of its course forms the boundary with 
 Berwickshire, enters it from Selkirkshire, on the 
 north-west, and leaves it below Redden on the north- 
 east ; carrying with it nearly all the waters that pass 
 through, or have their source in, this district. Its 
 banks, especially near Kelso, where it is crossed by 
 an elegant bridge, built about 20 years ago, are per- 
 haps equal in richness and beauty to those of any 
 river of the same extent in Britain. The Teviot more 
 properly belongs to this county ; rising and terminat- 
 ing within its bounds. It has its source in the south- 
 west extremity, near the confines of Duaafries-shire, 
 and flowing north-east almost through the middle of 
 the district, joins the Tweed, in which its name is, 
 lost, a little above the town of Kelso. From Ha- 
 wick downwards it is a considerable stream, and. 
 
R O X 
 
 like the Tweed, flows through a very fertile and well 
 cultivated countr}'. The principal rivulets that fall 
 into the Teviot from the south are Allen, Slittrick, 
 Rule, Jed, Oxnam, and Kale; and from the north 
 and west, Borthwick and Ale. The Liddel and 
 Hermitage, which run on the south-west, and whose 
 united streams retain the name of Liddel, from which 
 this tract is called Liddesdale, soon leave Roxburgh- 
 shire ; and after forming the boundary between Dum- 
 fries-sl\;re and Cumberland, fall into the Esk above 
 Longtown. The other streams are the Etterick, 
 which joins the Tweed from the south-west as it en- 
 ters this county ; another Allen and the Leader, 
 which fall into the same river from the north ; and 
 the Eden, which, after an easterly course, partly on 
 the boundary with Berwickshire, enters the Tweed 
 on the north-east, a little before it leaves the coun- 
 ty. The Beaumont also rises here among the Che- 
 viot hills on the east, but after a short course, passes 
 by Kirkyetholm, and enters Northumberland. Of 
 the smaller streams, the Ale, Jed, Rule, and Hermi- 
 tage, are distinguished for their natural scenery ; to 
 which we may add the Liddel, celebrated by the 
 late Dr Armstrong, a native of Liddesdale. Tweed 
 is the only river frequented by salmon, except at the 
 time of spawning, when they are found in most of 
 the other streams. Trout abounds in the Ale, Rule, 
 Jed, and Kale, and there are a few small lakes which 
 contain perch and pike. 
 
 Roxburghshire is not rich in minerals. Coal has 
 been found on the Carter Hill, near the borders of 
 Northumberland, and in the southern extremity of 
 Liddesdale. Tt is worked at the latter place, but 
 this is too remote to render it of much value to the 
 inhabitants of this county, who are chiefly supplied 
 with coal from Northumberland. Limestone, which 
 abounds in various parts, is not wrought to any ex- 
 tent, owing to the want of coal. There are excel- 
 lent sandstone quarries at Sprouston on the Tweed, 
 and marl in several parishes, particularly at Eck- 
 ford, on the Teviot, and Ednam, near the Tweed. 
 But the use of marl as a manure is confined to a 
 narrow circle around the places where it is found ; 
 lime, of which a much smaller quantity answers the 
 purpose, being most in request; and the lime is al- 
 most all like the coal brought from Northumberland, 
 from 20 to 30 miles distant from many parts of the 
 arable district. 
 
 The valued rent of Roxburghshire is L. 314,66.^, 
 6s. 4d. Scots, being next to Fife and Perth, the high- 
 est in Scotland; and the real rent of the lands, in 
 1811, was L. 230,663, 9s. 9d. Sterling, and of the 
 houses L. 11,508, 6s. 3d. It is one of the few coun- 
 ties where the rent in Sterling falls below the valua- 
 tion in Scots money ; a circumstance which is cer- 
 tainly not owing to the want of improvements to sus- 
 tain rent, nor to the present rents being too low ; but 
 to the mistaken vanity of its land owners, whose rent- 
 rolls at the time of the valuation are understood to 
 have been stated too high. Of this valuation, virhich 
 in 1811 was divided among 349 estates, about one- 
 third belongs to lands held under entail, and more 
 than two-thirds to families of the name of Kerr, 
 Scott, Elliot, and Douglas. The principal proprie- 
 tors are the Dukes of Roxburgh and Buccleuch, 
 
 R O X 
 
 459 
 
 and the Marquises of Lothian and Tweeddale ; but Roxburgh, 
 there are 33 estates in all that have a valued rent of 
 upwards of L. 2000 Scots each ; and 55 more are ^^'^'^^"^ 
 from L. 500 to L. 2000. Yet moderate and small 
 properties are very numerous; the remaining 26l 
 estates being under L. 500 Scots. Several of these 
 exceeding a valuation of L. 400 Scots, and held of 
 the Crown, have been acquired by professional 
 farmers, who have thus become freeholders, and en- 
 joy a share of political influence. Among the seats 
 in the county, which are too numerous to be men- 
 tioned here, the most splendid is Fleurs, the man- 
 sion of the Duke of Roxburgh, beautifully seated 
 at the confluence of the Tweed and Teviot, near 
 Kelso. 
 
 Roxburghshire is divided, for the most part, into parms. 
 larger farms, if we except a few sheep farms in the 
 Highlands, than any other county in Scotland ; many 
 of them, consisting of land partly arable and partly 
 pasture, being from 1000 to 3000 acres ; and several 
 of these, in some instances, are in the occupation of 
 one tenant. Farms altogether arable, containing 
 from 500 to 1000 acres, are not uncommon. The 
 capital and knowledge required for conducting con- 
 cerns so extensive entitle such men to suitable ac- 
 commodations in their houses and farm-offices, many 
 of which are accordingly laid out and constructed in 
 a superior style. Most of the farm servants are mar- 
 ried and live in houses apart, set down together in 
 some convenient quarter of the farm, each having a 
 small garden attached. It is the practice here, as 
 in other parts of the lowlands of Scotland, to pay 
 most of their wages in the produce of the farm, and 
 not in money ; every married ploughman, or hind, 
 getting a certain quantity of corn, a cow kept, and 
 some land allowed for potatoes, and often also for 
 flax : he is also commonly allowed to keep a pig and 
 a few hens. Whatever may be the fluctuation of the 
 markets, these labourers are thus always provided 
 with the necessaries of life ; and the sale of the but- 
 ter made from their cow, with its calf, and the eggs of 
 their poultry, and, if the family be not large, a part of 
 their corn, supplies them with the other articles they 
 need ; while they fatten their pigs, and work up the 
 flax for the use of their families. No class of men 
 of their rank are to be compared with these hinds 
 for propriety of conduct and frugality ; and few of the 
 labouring classes any where are so comfortable and 
 contented with their condition. The practice of 
 paying wages in kind is not, it must be admitted, 
 free from objections ; a little pilfering is sometimes 
 detected on the one hand, and a hard master, on the 
 other, may be willing to pay in produce of an infe- 
 rior quality ; but after all, the long experience that 
 has been had of this system over five or six of the 
 principal agricultural counties of Scotland, and the 
 north of England, warrants us in asserting that it 
 works well for both parties, and might have some 
 effect in keeping down poor rates if it prevailed 
 more generally among our southern neighbours. 
 
 On the best soils, the rotation of crops is very Rotation of 
 simple, corn being taken every second year M'ith a Crops, 
 green crop intervening ; but, in general, the land 
 does not admit of such constant tillage, and two-fifths, 
 or a half, is commonly in pasture from seeds. Un- 
 
460 
 
 Roxburgh- 
 shire. 
 
 Sheep and 
 Cattle. 
 
 Towns and 
 Manufac- 
 tures. 
 
 R O X 
 
 der a six years' course, the most profitable on rather 
 weak soils, and in a district where there are no large 
 towns to furnish manure, the rotation from pasture 
 is oats, turnips, barley or wheat, clover and rye- 
 grass, partly cut for hay the first year, but chiefly 
 pastured with sheep, and then continued in pasture 
 two years longer. Under this system the crops are 
 almost always good, and the land, instead of being 
 exhausted, is kept in a state of progressive improve- 
 ment. Though little of the soil be naturally adapt- 
 ed to wheat, yet this grain is now raised to a great 
 extent on all the better descriptions of sandy loam ; 
 generally after turnips eaten on the ground by sheep, 
 which, by their treading, give consistency to the soil, 
 as well as leave it greatly enriched by their manure. 
 Only a small part is under beans, somewhat more 
 under pease ; barley has in many instances been su- 
 perseded by wheat ; so that wheat and oats are the 
 principal crops of grain ; while, whatever be the 
 number of acres in corn, nearly half the quan- 
 tity is allotted to turnips, and the other half to 
 clover and rye-grass. Potatoes occupy but a very 
 small part of every farm ; and flax, where raised at 
 all, is only in small patches for the use of the farm 
 servants. The turnip crop, however, has been late- 
 ly attacked with a disease which has already begun 
 to make some alteration in the system, leading to 
 the more extensive culture of potatoes, and also of 
 cabbages. This disease, which has been long known 
 in England, but which was a stranger in this and 
 other parts of Scotland JO or 12 years ago, popular- 
 ly known by the name of fingers and toes, converts 
 the bulb of the turnip, when one has been allowed 
 to form, into a shapeless and morbid mass which no 
 animal will eat, and becomes putrid, and disappears 
 altogether on the first approach of frost. It often 
 prevails over extensive fields, while others adjoining 
 escape ; and it seems to make no difference whether 
 the land be fresh from pasture or has been long in 
 tillage. 
 
 The pastoral district of this county is occupied 
 with an excellent breed of sheep called the Cheviot, 
 from tlie general name of the hills on which they feed ; 
 for an account of which breed we must refer to the 
 Article Agriculture in this Supplement. On the 
 arable farms, the short-horned cattle and Leicester 
 sheep, neither of them, however, always in a pure 
 state, form the principal stock ; and, as so large a 
 proportion of even the arable land is always in 
 grass, the number of both is very great. By means 
 of turnips, most of the disposable stock, whether of 
 cattle or sheep, are carried forward till they are 
 ready for the butcher ; when the far greater part is 
 sent to the weekly market of Morpeth in Northum- 
 berland, for the consumption of Newcastle and 
 other towns in the north of England. 
 
 The progress which agriculture has made in this 
 district has not been favoured by its situation in 
 respect to markets. It has no large towns, and com- 
 paratively a small population. Most of the corn, as 
 well as live stock, must, therefore, be carried out of 
 the county ; and Berwick-upon -Tweed, the nearest 
 seaport, is upwards of SO miles from much of its 
 corn lands. 
 
 The towns are Kelso, Jedburgh, Hawick, and Mel- 
 
 R O X 
 
 rose ; and of the villages the most considerable are Roxburgli 
 Yetholm and Kirkyetholm, near its eastern boundary. 
 Kelso, pleasantly situated on the north bank of the 
 Tweed, is a well built, cleanly, and cheerful place, con- 
 taining near 5000 inhabitants, the capital of this and 
 the adjoining county of Berwick. Some branches 
 of the leather and woollen manufacture, and that of 
 thread, have been long carried on here, with a con- 
 siderable brewery. Jedburgh, the county town, si- 
 tuated on the rivulet Jad, in the interior, though 
 a place of note formerly, has been long station- 
 ary, if not declining. Hawick, which stands on the 
 Teviot, at the point where it is joined by the Slit- 
 trick, is a more thriving place, and has manufac- 
 tures of carpeting, stockings, and other sorts of 
 woollen goods. Melrose, near' the south bank of 
 the Tweed, about 10 miles west from Kelso, is no 
 otherwise distinguished than for its abbey. (See 
 Melrose in the Enci/clop(sdia.) The two Yetholms 
 are worthy of notice for their fairs, at which a great 
 part of the cattle, sheep, and wool, of the county are 
 sold ; and Kirkyetholm for being the residence of 
 gypsies, and their principal colony in Scotland. 
 Roxburgh, which gives its name to the county, and 
 whose castle was of such importance in the wars be- 
 tween England and Scotland, has long since ceased 
 to exist, and has left no trace of its former conse- 
 quence. At Jedburgh, Kelso, Melrose, and the vil- 
 lage of Gattonside, there are some valuable orchards, 
 particularly at Jedburgh and Melrose, where some 
 very old trees which belonged to their abbeys are 
 still remarkably prolific. 
 
 This county, placed on the borders of the two Antiqultij 
 kingdoms, the scene of frequent warfare and depre- 
 dation, presents the ruins of a great many castles and 
 towers, and other remains of an early age. It was 
 also distinguished for its religious buildings, of which 
 there are still magnificent remains at Kelso and Jed- 
 burgh, as well as at Melrose. 
 
 Roxburghshire, which has about 140 freeholders, Represents 
 sends one member to Parliament ; and Jedburgh, its 
 only royal burgh, joins with Lauder, Haddington, 
 Dunbar, and North Berwick, in electing another for 
 the Scottish burghs. This is one of the few Scottish 
 counties in which there are regular assessments for 
 the poor ; and, not many years ago, it presented the 
 still greater anomaly of a Scottish clergyman drawing 
 tithes in kind. Among the eminent men to whom Eminent 
 this district has given birth are Thomson, Armstrong, 
 Lord Kames, Elliot, the brave defender of Gibral- 
 tar, Leyden, Park, the African traveller, and Wil- 
 liam Dawson, the father of the improved agriculture 
 of Scotland. 
 
 The population, according to the census of ] 801, l'°P"^^'''*" 
 was 33,682; in 1811 it amounted to 37,230; and 
 in 1821 to 40,892, of which 19,408 were males, and 
 21,484 were females. The families employed in agri- 
 culture were 3613 ; in trade and manufactures 2822; 
 in all other occupations 2204. 'J he increase of po- 
 pulation from 1811 to 1821 was 7210. 
 
 See the general works quoted under the former 
 Scottish counties, and Douglas' General View of the 
 Agr'cultiire of Roxburghshire. (a.) 
 
 RUMFORD (Count). See Thompson (Sir Ben- 
 jamin). 
 
 10 
 
R U S 
 
 Rush. RUSH (Benjamin), a celebrated American physi- 
 cian^ born, 5th January 1745, near Bristol in Penn- 
 sylvania, was descended from a family who were ori- 
 ginally Quakers, and who had accompanied Penn, in 
 l683, to his infant colony. 
 
 He lost his father at an early age, and having been 
 first placed by his mother at a school kept by the Rev. 
 S.Finley, he proceeded to finish his classical education 
 at the College of Princeton, and there took a degree 
 of Bachelor of Arts before he was sixteen. He then 
 determined to make the profession of physic the pur- 
 suit of his life, and went to study it, first under the 
 care of Dr Redman of Philadelphia, and then at 
 Edinburgh, where he was created a Doctor of Phy- 
 sic in 1768. At the time of his return from Europe, 
 a new school of medicine was about to be founded in 
 Philadelphia, and he became Professor of chemistry 
 immediately upon his arrival. In 1776, he began to 
 take an active part, with the rest of his countrymen, 
 in the political struggle of the day, and he was cho- 
 sen a member of Congress for the state of Pennsyl- 
 vania; in 1777 he was appointed Surgeon General to 
 the army, and not long after became Physician Gene- 
 ral : he also contributed his best efforts to the im- 
 provement of the internal government of the state 
 which he represented. But he soon withdrew his at- 
 tention from political affairs, in order to devote it ex- 
 clusively to medical and literary subjects, and he 
 continued to be actively engaged in the practice of 
 physic for the remainder of his life. 
 
 In 1776 be married Miss Julia Stockton of New 
 Jersey. He had by her thirteen children, nine of whom 
 survived him in respectability and prosperity. In 
 1791, when the two medical colleges of Philadelphia 
 were incorporated into a single university, he was 
 appointed Professor of the Institutes of Medicine, 
 and of Chnical Practice. In 1793, he greatly dis- 
 tinguished himself by the new and apparently suc- 
 cessful modes of practice that he introduced in the 
 epidemic yellow fever, which was then causing great 
 mortality throughout the United States ; and which, 
 shortly before his death, he was induced to believe 
 not contagious, but derived from some general causes 
 independent of the previous existence of the disease. 
 He died on the 13th of April 1813, after an illness 
 of five days, of a typhous fever, with some pulmonary 
 symptoms He had for a considerable part of his 
 life been threatened with consumption, but had com- 
 bated its attacks with unusual success. The number 
 of his writings is considerable in proportion to their 
 bulk ; the times and the state of society in which he 
 lived being such as to produce rather hasty and spi- 
 rited than highly finished compositions. 
 
 1. His inaugural dissertation was entitled De Con- 
 coctione ciborum in ventriculoy and contained an ex- 
 planation of the opinions relating to digestion, which 
 he had learned from Dr Cullen. Edin. 1768. 
 
 2. Account of the Effects of the Stramonium. Amer. 
 Phil. Trans. 1. 1770. 
 
 3. On the Utility of Wort in ill conditioned Ulcers. 
 Med. 06*. Inq. IV. 1770 ; addressed to Dr Huck. 
 
 4. Inquiry into the Natural History of Medicine 
 among the Indians of North America^ an anniversary 
 oration delivered in I774. 
 
 VOL. VI. PART II. 
 
 R U S 461 
 
 5. Remarks on Bilious Fevers, addressed to Dr Rush. 
 Huck. Med. Obs. Inq. V. ^^^4-^ 
 
 6. Account of the Influence of the Revolution on the 
 Human Body ; with Observations on the Diseases of 
 Military Hospitals. 
 
 7. Inquiry into the Cause of the Increase of Bi- 
 lious and Intermitting Fevers in Pennsylvania. Am. 
 Trans. II. 
 
 8. Observations on Tetanus. 
 
 9. Inquiry into the Influence of Physical Causes 
 upon the Moral Facidty. 
 
 10. Remarks on the Effects of Ardent Spirits upon 
 the Body and Mind. 
 
 1 1 . Inquiry into the Causes and Cure of Pulmon- 
 ary Consumption, in his Medical Inquiries and Ob' 
 servations, 1. Phil. 1788. His grand object, in the 
 cure of consumption, is to recommend exercise, and 
 every thing which will enable the patient to take ex- 
 ercise; anticipating a practice which has become 
 somewhat fashionable in England of late years, from 
 its frequent success as a temporary palliative. The 
 subject is continued in the second volume of the In- 
 quiries, published in 1793 ; and bleeding is very 
 strongly recommended in the earlier and only curable 
 stages. Consumption, he observes, is common in 
 America, though scrofula scarcely ever occurs ; and 
 it has sometimes been known to be clearly communi- 
 cated by infection to the negroes belonging to a fa- 
 mily, who had, of course, no consanguinity that could 
 account for a similarity of constitution. Five volumes, 
 in the whole, of this collection appeared from I788 
 to 1798 ; a second edition was published, in four vo- 
 lumes Bvo, 1804; a third in J 803, revised and en- 
 larged, with a continuation of the Histories of the 
 Yellow Fever from 1793 to 1809/ a Defence of 
 Bloodletting, as a Remedy for certain Diseases; A 
 View of the State of Medicine in F'hiladelphia ; An 
 Inquiry into the Sources of the usual Forms of Sum- 
 mer and Autumnal Diseases in the United States; 
 and the recantation of his opinion of the contagious 
 nature of the yellow fever already mentioned. 
 
 12. Information to Europeans disposed to Emigrate 
 to the United States, in a Letter to a Friend. 
 
 13. Observations on the Population of Pennsylvania. 
 
 14. Observations on Tobacco. 
 
 15. A New Mode of Inoculating Small-Pox, a Lec- 
 ture. Reprinted. 8. Phil. 1792. 
 
 16. Essay on the Study of the 'latin and Greek 
 Languages, American Museiim ; condemning it as a 
 waste of time, oppressive to the poor dunces who 
 are tortured into their parts of speech, to the great 
 scandal of a humane and republican country, and 
 subversive of a proper respect for the rights of boys 
 and, consequently, for the rights of man. 
 
 17. Essays, Literary, Moral, and Philosophicalj 
 Bvo. 1798 : containing a republication of the last ar- 
 ticle, together with the author's Eulogiums on Dr 
 Cullen and on Professor Rittenhouse, delivered in 
 1790 and 1796, and with some other miscellaneous 
 papers of less moment. Ed. 11. 1806. 
 
 18. Lectures on the Cause of Animal Life, 1791. 
 
 19. Account of the Sugar Maple Tree. Am. Tr. 
 III. 1791. 
 
 20. Observations on the Black Colour of ike Negro. 
 
 3 N 
 
462 
 
 Rush 
 
 II. 
 Russian 
 Empire. 
 
 R U S 
 
 Am. Tr. IV. 1792; attributing the blackness to 
 leprosy. . 
 
 21. History of the Yellow Fever. 1794;. This ce- 
 lebrated work has been translated into French and 
 Spanish ; at the tiniie of its publication, an almost 
 superstitious dread was entertained by medical men 
 of the use of the lancet in idiopathic fever ; and few 
 books have ever had so powerful and extensive an 
 effect in altering the general treatment of a disease 
 as this history had produced in every part of the 
 world ; probably, indeed, it may have carried a num- 
 ber of the younger and bolder practitioners into an 
 opposite extreme ; but, with respect to the author's 
 claims to merit on the occasion, it must be allowed 
 that the innovation showed an uncommon combina- 
 tion of courage, with talent and good sense; and the 
 accurate description of the disease, that he has given 
 us, fully establishes his claim to the character of an 
 accurate nosologist. 
 
 22. On the Symptoms and Cure of Dropsy, and es- 
 pecially of Water in the Head. 1793. 
 
 23. An Account of the Influenza of Philadelphia 
 w 1789, 1790, 1791. 
 
 24. Observations on the Slate of the Body and Mmd 
 
 in Old Age. 1794. 
 
 25. Observations on the Nature and Cure of Gout 
 and Hydrophobia. 1797» 
 
 26. Inquiry into the Cause and Cure of the Cholera 
 Infantum. 1797. 
 
 27. Observations on Cynanche Trachealis. 1797- 
 
 28. Introductory Lectures. 1801. Ed. 2. 1811 ; 
 with ten new introductory lectures, and two lectures 
 on the Pleasures of the Senses and of the Mind. 
 
 29. In 1809, he published the works of Sydenham 
 and of Cleghorn, with Notes, and in 1810 those of 
 Pringle and Hilary. 
 
 30. On Diseases of the Mind. 8. 1812 ; an ela- 
 borate work, which had long been impatiently ex- 
 pected. 
 
 R U S 
 
 31. A Letter on Hydrophobia. 1813; addressed to 
 Dr Hosack, and containing additional reasons for 
 believing the seat of the disease to be chiefly in the 
 blood vessels ; an opinion which, in all probability, 
 has at least tended to shorten the sufferings of seve- 
 ral individuals on whom the experiment of profuse 
 depletion has been tried. 
 
 Dr Rush's numerous publications obtained him 
 many marks of respect from his contemporaries, and 
 procured him admission, as an honorary member, in- 
 to the most distinguished literary and philosophical 
 societies of Europe. His name was familiar to the 
 medical world as the Sydenham of America; his ac- 
 curate observations and correct discrimination of 
 epidemic diseases well entitled him to this distinc- 
 tion ; while, in the original energy of his reasoning, 
 he far excelled his prototype. His literary and pro- 
 fessional character, indeed, appears to have been 
 greatly influenced by the moral and political senti- 
 ments which were prevalent in his day. A love of 
 innovation led him to that proud defiance of esta- 
 blished authority which is just as likely to be perni- 
 cious as to be salutary. The study of the learned 
 languages he depreciated, in one of his early essays, 
 as unfit for a republican education ; and this was 
 the first step to the true Jacobin doctrine, that it 
 was unrepublican and aristocratical to have received 
 any education whatever. In physic, his rejection of 
 the prejudices of antiquity was somewhat more con- 
 sistent with moderation, and the reform that he at- 
 tempted was occasionally more successful than his 
 literary speculations ; nor can it be denied that there 
 are a multitude of original suggestions in his works, 
 which may very probably be found capable of afford- 
 ing valuable hints to the lovers of medical experi- 
 ments. 
 
 Hosack and Francis in the Amer. Med. Philos. 
 Register. Chalmers's Biographical Dictionary, XXV. 
 8. Lond. 1816. (a. l.) 
 
 Rush 
 
 RUSSIAN 
 
 The Article RtssiA in the Encyclopedia appears 
 to have been drawn up with attention, and, as far as 
 it was founded on the documents collected by Mr 
 Tooke, with accuracy; but the changes that have 
 taken place, and the additional information that has 
 been communicated, render it necessary to give some 
 account, in this place, of the present state of the 
 empire. The principal changes in Europe have 
 arisen from the possession of Finland, and the 
 erection of Poland into a kingdom under the con- 
 trol of Russia. In Asia, some additions of terri- 
 tory have been gained from Persia and Tartary. 
 In America, settlements have been established 
 on the north-west coast of that continent, and 
 claims have been made to some extensive trgicts of 
 country which are supposed to conflict with the 
 rights of Great Britain, of the United States of Ame- 
 rica, or of Spain. 
 
 11 
 
 EMPIRE. 
 
 General View of the Russian Empire. 
 
 The Russian dominions, including Poland, form Bounds a 
 a connected territory, extending from the frontiers Extent, 
 of Germany and Prussia eastward to the sea which 
 divides America from Asia, and beyond that, on the 
 continent of America, to an extent hitherto unde- 
 fined, and which is likely to become the subject of 
 discussion with the other powers established in that 
 division of the globe. Its most western point is in 
 longitude 18° 6', and its most eastern in 202° 26" 
 east from London. Its northern and southern 
 boundaries have deep indentations; the extreme 
 points of the former are in 78° north latitude, and of 
 the latter 39° 50'. The extent of this empire has 
 been calculated by different writers with consi- 
 derable variations. Some have included the moun- 
 tains of Caucasus, others the whole of the Cas- 
 pian Sea ; whilst some, again, have omitted the 
 
RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 463 
 
 one and not the other. The comparative results of 
 the several calculations, and the modes by which they 
 have been conducted, lead to the conclusion, that 
 an extent of 7,350,000 English square miles, or 
 4,704,000,000 acres, is the nearest approximation to 
 accuracy. The whole of China is not equal to two- 
 thirds of Russia ; and the Roman Empire, at the pe- 
 riod of its greatest extension, did not comprehend 
 more than one-foiu:th of the territory now subject to 
 that power. * The extent of the European portion 
 of her dominions is only calculated at about one- 
 fifth part of the whole. 
 
 The increase of population in Russia appears to 
 have been equal to that of any other European coun- 
 try. The accounts were very imperfectly kept be- 
 fore the year I796, as neither the females nor the 
 privileged classes were noticed. By estimates, found- 
 ed upon the return of taxable males, the inhabitants 
 were calculated to have been, in 1723, 11,736,676 ; 
 in 1743, 13,653,191; in I763, 17,886,139; and in 
 1783, 25,482,214. 
 
 The Memoirs of the Academy of Petersburg give 
 the population of the following years till 1805, thus : 
 
 Year. Population. 
 In 1800 ,..33,159,860 
 
 1801 34,043,357 
 
 1802 34,893,828 
 
 1803 35,134,177 
 
 1804 36,043,483 
 
 In these accounts, the inhabitants of Moscow and 
 Petersburg, the military and their families, and the 
 wandering tribes, amounting to 2,900,000 persons, 
 were not included. With the addition of those classes, 
 the result of the calculation gave, as the whole num- 
 ber of inhabitants, 41,253,483. 
 
 The following Table is formed from the reports 
 published by the Synod (which, however, includes 
 only the members of the Orthodox Greek church), 
 and shows the rate of the progressive increase of the 
 population, as far as relates to that most numerous 
 proportion of the people. 
 
 Kussian 
 Empire. 
 
 
 1806. 
 
 1810. 
 
 1816. 
 
 1820. 
 
 Marriages 
 
 299,057 
 
 320,389 
 
 329,683 
 
 317,805t 
 
 Births 
 
 1,361,286 
 
 1,374,926 
 
 1,457,606 
 
 1,570,3991: 
 
 Deaths 
 
 818,585 
 
 903,380 
 
 820,383 
 
 917,680§ 
 
 Deaths of 
 
 
 
 
 Persons 
 
 
 
 
 
 above 100 
 
 
 
 
 
 years old 
 
 293 
 
 350 
 
 689 
 
 807 
 
 Taking the account of the population, as stated 
 before, to have been in the year I8O6 - 41,253,483 
 And inferring an annual increase by ex- 
 cess of births over deaths at 500,000 
 from I806 to 1822, being 16 years, 
 or - - 8,000,000 
 
 And for acquired territory, viz. 
 
 in 1807, Bialystock, - - 219,050 
 
 1809, Finland, - - 1,101,898 
 
 1812, Caucasus provinces> - 120,000 
 
 Moldaw and Bessarabia, 310,000 
 
 1815, The portion of Poland, 3,472,500 
 
 We estimate the inhabitants of this em- 
 pire - - - 54,476,931 
 
 This vast population consists of several distinct 
 races, which have been classed and calculated 
 by several different writers under the following 
 heads : || 
 
 1st, Sclavonians. These, comprehending the in- DifFerent 
 habitants of Russia, Poland, Lithuania, and Cour- Races, 
 land, are estimated at 44,930,000. 
 
 2d, Fins. These consist of the chief residents of 
 Finland, Livonia, Lapland, and some other tribes, 
 which together amount to about 2,360,000. 
 
 3d, Tartars. They comprehend several tribes, 
 and a great number of subdivisions of tribes. The 
 Tartars proper are divided into fourteen different 
 branches ; the Noggiers into six ; besides which are 
 the Kirgusiens, the Aralians, the Chewensens, the 
 Bucharens, the Bashirs, the Teleutes, and the Ja- 
 kutes, who are taken together at 1,800,000. 
 
 4!th, The Caucasians, which comprehend the 
 Ischerkessens, the Awcheses, the Lesghies, the Os- 
 setts, and Kistenses, estimated at 1,300,000. 
 
 5th, Monguls. Under this head are comprehend- 
 ed the Monguls proper, the Calmucks, the Buritens, 
 and the Kuriles, supposed to amount to 350,000 
 only. 
 
 6tk, The Mandshurs, in two branches, viz. Tun- 
 gusens and Lamutes, whose numbers do not exceed 
 80,000. 
 
 1th, Polar People, comprehending Samoiedes, 
 Korjacks, Ostjacks, Kamschats, and some smaller 
 tribes, whose whole numbers are not more than 
 300,000. 
 
 Sth, The Colonists. These include the various 
 foreigners established in the empire with peculiar 
 rights. The Jews amoimt to about 500,000 ; the 
 Germans to 250,000 ; and the other Europeans and 
 Asiatics to about 750,000 ; making together, under 
 this head, 1,500,000, 
 
 The comparative religious classes in the Russian Religion, 
 dominions have been recently stated as follow : 
 
 * See Kraft, Sur la Surface Geometrique de la Russie. Novis Act. Petersb. T. I. p. 389 — 400. 
 
 f It appears that the marriages in 1820 were fewer by 22,470 than in the year 181 9. 
 
 X The births of 1820 exceeded those of 1819 by 48,265. 
 
 § The deaths of 1820 were fewer than those of 1819 by 1429. 
 
 II J. B. Georgi Beschreibung aller Nationen des Russischen Reichs. Hempel's and Geisler's Abbildung 
 und Beschreibung der Vblker anter Alexander. Le Peuples de la Russie, par le Comte Ch. de Rechberg. 
 
464 RUSSIAN 
 
 Russian Orthodox Greek Church, 40,351,000 
 Empire. Catholics and United Greeks, 5,990,000 
 ^"■-^ Lutherans, - - 2,400,000 
 Reformed or Calvinists, 82,800 
 Armenians, - - 63,000 
 
 Hernhuters, - - 9,200 
 
 Mennonites, - - 6,000 
 
 Christians, - 48,902,000 
 
 Mahomedans, - - 3,100,000 
 
 Jews, - - - 500,000 
 
 Worshippers of the Grand Lama, - 300,000 
 
 Scharaans or Heathens, - - • 600,000 
 
 53,402,000 
 
 The people of Great and Little Russia, the Cos- 
 sacks, the Greeks, Arnauts, Walachians, Moldavians, 
 and Bulgarians, adhere to the Greek church. The 
 Catholics are chiefly in Poland and Lithuania, and 
 among the colonists. The Lutherans are to be 
 found mostly in Finland, Courland, and Esthonia, 
 and among the German colonists. The Armenians 
 are mostly in the southern part of the Asiatic divi- 
 sion of Rvissia, in the vicinity of Astrachan. The 
 Calvinists, Hernhuters, Mennonites, are all colo- 
 nists, except a few in Poland. Tartary contains 
 chiefly Mahomedans. Schamanism or idolatry is 
 practised by the Samoiedes and other Polar tribes. 
 
 All religious sects, whether Christians or others, 
 enjoy equal civil rights ; and the same protection in 
 the exercise of their various modes of devotion. 
 The predominant party, the Greek church, possess 
 about 70,000 places of worship, which are served by 
 about 160,000 secular clergy. There are 480 mo- 
 nasteries, and 156 nunneries, under the direction of 
 the regular clergy. The whole are governed by a 
 Consistory, of which the Emperor is perpetual presi- 
 dent, and which is divided into three departments; 
 and these again into thirty-six sections or dioceses. 
 The learning of the inferior clergy is very inconsi- 
 derable ; many of them can merely repeat by rote a 
 few established prayers, can scarcely read, and much 
 less write. They are allowed to marry once, but 
 not after becoming widowers. Their sons must all 
 be devoted to the ecclesiastical profession. They 
 are generally paid small stipends by the govern- 
 ment ; but some few of them enjoy landed proper- 
 ty attached to their benefices. A few men of learn- 
 ing are to be found among the higher ranks of the 
 clergy ; but their number and acquirements have 
 never been very distinguished. 
 
 The Catholic church, governed by a Consistory, 
 comprehends one archbishopric, six bishoprics, and 
 about forty religious establishments belonging to 
 the several orders of Benedictines, Franciscans, Car- 
 melites, Bernardines, and Trinitarians. 
 
 The Lutherans, established in Finland, in Cour- 
 land, and Livonia, are under the superintendence of 
 their respective Consistories, each of which has a 
 bishop as their president. 
 
 The other religious Christian denominations are 
 rather voluntary associations, recognized by the 
 state, than, properly speaking, established ecclesias- 
 tical communities. 
 
 Few of the Mahomedans are very rigid in their 
 
 EMPIRE. 
 
 adherence to the regulations of their prophet. They Russian 
 have colleges for education ; several mullahs, and two Empire, 
 muftis. The mufti of Ufa enjoys a stipend of"'"'"''^'^ 
 1 500 roubles from the crown, and has two mullahs in 
 Casan, The mufti of Taurus has joined with him 
 a cadi, an effendi, and five ulemas, who regulate re- 
 ligious affairs, and administer the laws in that pro- 
 vince. 
 
 The worshippers of the Grand Lama have their 
 principal religious establishment at Darsan, in the 
 province of Udinsk. Their priests are numerous, 
 and, in the province of Irkurzk alone, are said to be 
 near 300, where they are very successful in making 
 converts among the wandering tribes. 
 
 The inhabitants of Russia are divided into the Different 
 following classes or ranks ; for though all offices ^j^gg^*"^ 
 are equally open to every description of subjects, 
 yet exclusive privileges are enjoyed by some numer- 
 ous bodies. 
 
 The Nobles in Russia, though distinguished by Nobles, 
 the several titles of prince, count, or baron, are all 
 upon an equal footing, and enjoy equal privileges. 
 Their persons and lands are freed from taxation ; 
 they are exempted from the recruiting ballot ; and 
 are not subject to bodily penalties. These exemp- 
 tions are, however, more apparent than real ; for 
 though their lands and persons are not taxable, yet 
 a capitation tax, at the will of the government, may 
 be imposed on their slaves, who form the most va- 
 luable part of their possessions. Though not in 
 person compelled to serve in the army, yet they are 
 bound to furnish from their slaves a number of re- 
 cruits in proportion to the demands of the service. 
 In some of the more recently acquired provinces, 
 such as Livonia, Esthonia, and in Poland, the nobles 
 have, or rather exercise other privileges, extending 
 even to the power of life and death, over their vas- 
 sals ; but these powers arise from custom and gene- 
 ral acquiescence much more than from the existing 
 law. 
 
 The Clergy are exempt from taxation, and from Clergy, 
 corporal punishment ; which privileges are extended 
 to each eldest son, who must, however, though his 
 father is excused, take the risk of being called upon 
 for military service. 
 
 The Citizens are divided into three guilds orCitizen&> 
 classes, according to the amount of capital they pos- 
 sess ; and have some most whimsical privileges pro- 
 portioned to their rank. Those of the first rank, 
 with a capital of from 10,000 to 50,000 roubles, 
 may carry on home or foreign trade ; may be owners 
 of ships ; may drive a carriage with two horses ; and 
 are exempt from corporal punishment. The mem- 
 bers of the second guild, possessing a capital of from 
 5000 to 10,000 roubles, can only carry on home 
 trade, but enjoy all the other rights of the first 
 guild. The members of the third guild must enjoy 
 a capital between 1000 and 5000 roubles ; they may 
 carry on retail trades, be proprietors of barges and 
 boats, keep taverns, and drive one horse, though 
 not in a coach ; but are not exempt from corporal 
 punishments. Besides these there are the foreign 
 and designated citizens. In this class is compre- 
 hended each person who has twice served any civic 
 office; learned men and artists who can produce 
 
RUSSIAN 
 
 ussian academic testimonials ; bankers who possess capitals 
 mpire. f^^j^ 100,000 to 200,000 roubles ; wholesale dealers, 
 that keep no shops, and shipowners, that use the sea. 
 These may harness two or four horses to a coach ; 
 may possess country houses and gardens ; may own 
 ships ; and are exempt from bodily penalties. None 
 of the trading classes are exempt from the military 
 conscription ; but they are allowed to procure sub- 
 stitutes. 
 
 Peasants. The next class is that of the Peasants or free inha- 
 bitants of the country. In this rank are included, 
 1st, The ancient race of proprietors who cultivate 
 their own lands, but do not enjoy the right of possess- 
 ing slaves. The males of this description amount to 
 about 1,150,000. 2d, The Tartars, the Bashirs, and 
 several other races, less numerous, to the south of Si- 
 beria, who are all proprietors of the lands they cul- 
 tivate. 3d, The peasants of Finland. Since the ac- 
 quisition of New Finland, the privileges enjoyed by 
 the peasants of that country, under the Swedish go- 
 vernment, have been continued and confirmed to 
 them ; and the same rights granted to those of Old 
 Finland, where all are now either proprietors or 
 renters. 4th, The colonists, consisting of foreign fami- 
 lies of agriculturists, who are proprietors of the lands 
 they cultivate, and whose number is about 65,000. 
 5th, The military colonists. These are soldiers who, 
 after having served a prescribed period, have had 
 land given to them, and a capital sufficient to cultivate 
 it, in the southern provinces. And lastly. The free 
 cultivators, a new class, founded by the present 
 Emperor in 1803. They comprehend several vil- 
 lages, which have been liberated as an experiment. 
 The number of individuals in 1810 was 1 3,757, since 
 which period they have rapidly increased, and are 
 said now to be near 20,000. 
 
 The class next below these is that of the Serfs. 
 They are chiefly peasants on the Crown lands, or of 
 the province of Livonia. The first of these, the 
 Crown peasants, amount to near 12,000,000, some 
 of whom labour in the fields, the others in the 
 mines and manufactories. The lot of this class 
 seems to be placed on the confines betwixt liberty 
 and slavery. They may rise to the rank of citizens, 
 they may acquire property, they enjoy the protec- 
 
 EMPIRE. 465 
 
 tion of the laws; and, under some restrictions, may Russian 
 quit their residences to obtain employment for a li- Empire, 
 mited time ; but they are liable to be hired to the ^"■"^/"'^ 
 service of the mines, or to be sold. Although the 
 Empress Catherine rarely gave these peasants away 
 as presents to favourites, and the present Emperor 
 has never done so, yet there is no legal security 
 against the practice ; and consequently their condi- 
 tion is scarcely less precarious than it was formerly. 
 The peasants of Livonia, amounting to about 
 560,000, were slaves until the year 1804, when 
 they first obtained the rights of serfs. They are 
 now subject to some peculiar claims, but those 
 claims are fixed, and they cannot be removed from 
 the soil without their own consent. 
 
 The last and most numerous class is that of the Slaves. 
 Slaves. These amounted, in 1782, to 6,678,000 
 males, and at present are estimated to include 
 23,000,000 persons. They are in law considered 
 as things, not as persons ; may be bought, sold, or 
 exchanged, with no more restrictions than are en- 
 acted in dealing for 'cattle ; and have no other pro- 
 tection against their masters than what is created by 
 a regard to their pecuniary interest. They belong 
 to the nobles, or to such civil or military officers as 
 have acquired the right of possessing them. They 
 are divided into agricultural, mining, manufactur- 
 ing, or domestic slaves, and have their condition 
 only improved when drawn for military service. 
 
 The accounts of the agricultural and manufactur- Productions, 
 ing productions of Russia are fully detailed in the Commerce, 
 article of the Encyclopcedia already mentioned. They 
 have undergone very few alterations in their na- 
 ture since that article was written ; and, consequent- 
 ly, only that their amount has increased with the in- 
 crease of population and the extension of territory, 
 no other notice seems here to be required beyond 
 the value of the imports and exports at different 
 periods. 
 
 The following Table exhibits a view of the Im- 
 ports into, and Exports from, the whole of the Rus- 
 sian dominions, by sea and by land, in bank assig-, 
 nation roubles, estimated at four frapcs each, at se" 
 veral periods : 
 
 Year. 
 
 Imports. 
 
 Exports. 
 
 Together. 
 
 Value in Pounds 
 
 
 
 Sterling. 
 
 1797 
 
 36,980,111 
 
 54,601,368 
 
 91,581,479 
 
 15,263,570 
 
 1802 
 
 56,330,094 
 
 63,277,759 
 
 119,607,853 
 
 19,934,642 
 
 1803 
 
 55,557,675 
 
 67,148,643 
 
 122,706,318 
 
 20.451,053 
 
 1805 
 
 55,529,118 
 
 72,434,095 
 
 127,963,213 
 
 21,277,152 
 
 1819 
 
 167,599,003 
 
 210,589,310 
 
 378,188,310 
 
 66,531,235 
 
 The chief exports are corn, hemp, tallow, flax, 
 flax-seed, iron, furs, linen goods, live cattle, timber, 
 and potash. The principal imports are cotton and 
 woollen goods, wines, dyers' drugs, raw silk, cotton 
 wool, tea, sugar, coffee, salt, silk goods, fruit, and 
 foreign silver coin. 
 
 The Government of Russia is an absolute heredi- 
 tary monarchy, in which the Emperor is the sole 
 framer of the laws ; but, as in other absolute 
 
 monarchies, the exercise of power is tempered and 
 somewhat moderated by the rights and privileges 
 to which many bodies in different provinces have, 
 by long established usage, such claims as would 
 be dangerous to the monarch to infringe. In the 
 administration of the government, there is an uni- 
 formity preserved throughout all the several pro- 
 vinces, and in the different branches into which the 
 executive power is divided. The Emperor, through 
 
466 RUSSIAN 
 
 Russian the directing senate, issues his ukases or laws to the 
 Empire. Governors of the several provinces ; which laws are 
 executed by a Board, divided into sections, of which 
 they are presidents. Besides the civil, there is a 
 military governor in each department, to whom 
 alone the affairs of the army are intrusted. There 
 are deviations from this regularity of system among 
 some tribes of Cossacks, who are ruled by their he- 
 reditary chiefs, and among the ruder classes. The 
 ministers are appointed to different branches, deno- 
 minated Foreign Affairs, War, Marine, Interior, In- 
 struction, Finance, Justice, Police, Agriculture, and 
 Ecclesiastical. 
 
 Law. The Civil and Criminal codes of Russia are very 
 
 imperfect, notwithstanding the efforts directed to- 
 wards its improvement by the Empress Catherine, 
 and the more practical, but unfinished attempt of 
 the present Emperor. In the cities, two burgo- 
 masters and four counsellors ; and in the country, 
 one justice, with two noble and two plebeian pro- 
 prietors, form tribunals of the first instance. From 
 these, appeals may be made to higher courts in the 
 several provinces ; and from them again to the 
 supreme tribunals at St Petersburg or Moscow. 
 Among the less civilized people, great deviations 
 from this system are still indulged ; and theu- chiefs 
 exercise an hereditary power in civil as well as in cri- 
 minal matters, over their several tribes. A kind of 
 Court of Conscience exists in most places, which 
 hears verbal complaints ; acts as arbiters in differ- 
 ences about smaller matters ; and exercises power in 
 behalf of minors and imbeciles. 
 Finances. The Finances of the Russian empire are not sub- 
 mitted to general inspection with the same freedom, 
 nor with the same accuracy, as is now practised by 
 most other governments. The great depreciation 
 experienced in the paper currency creates some 
 difficulty in ascertaining the amount of the income, 
 expenditure, and national debt. Besides the pay- 
 ments in money, so many personal services and 
 other benefits are derived to the crown, that the 
 bare produce of the taxes falls considerably short 
 of the effective revenue which is extracted by the 
 government. The chief taxes are the capitation- 
 tax of two roubles from each peasant, and five from 
 each burgher; the property-tax of I ^ per cent, on 
 the capital of the traders ; and the duties on the im- 
 portation of foreign goods. The other material 
 sources of revenue are, the monopoly of distilled 
 corn spirits ; the profits of the coinage, of postage, 
 and of stamped paper ; and the sale of wood from 
 the annual cuttings of the royal forests. These se- 
 veral branches have been estimated to have afforded, 
 in the year 1820, about thirteen or fourteen millions 
 Sterling, including the kingdom of Poland. The 
 expences of the state, for many years, exceeded 
 the income; and thus the public debt has been 
 constantly increasing; but, it is said, the revenue 
 now equals, or rather exceeds the expenditure. The 
 national debt is supposed to amount to 1,000,000,000 
 roubles, or about L. 160,000,000 Sterling. One- 
 half of this is believed to consist in the government 
 paper roubles, which have been issued at a gradual- 
 ly increasing depreciation. The other half, or fund- 
 ed debt, is principally owing to foreigners, and the 
 
 EMPIRE. 
 
 interest is paid to them in silver money. This state of Russian 
 debt, for so extensive and so numerously peopled a Empire, 
 country, may not appear very heavy ; but in Russia, 
 there is only paper money in circulation, and the 
 constant drain to pay the interest of the debt in the 
 precious metals, makes the difficulty of returning to 
 a metallic currency almost insurmountable. The 
 project of a sinking fund was adopted in 1817, but 
 it has hitherto made but a slight progress in redeem- 
 ing the debt, or in diminishing the quantity of cir- 
 culating paper ; which is not at the present period 
 worth one-fourth of its nominal value. 
 
 The increase of the Russian army has far exceed- Army, 
 ed what has been experienced in either the territory, 
 the population, or the revenue of the empire. 
 
 Czar Peter I. in lG87 had of regular troops 10,000 
 
 Emperor Peter I. in 1724 108,350 
 
 Empress Elizabeth in 1747 162,750 
 
 Empress Catherine in 1771 198,107 
 
 — in 1786 263,662 
 
 Emperor Paul in 1800 368,715 
 
 Emperor Alexander in 1805 428,287 
 
 in 1820 989,117 
 
 At the last of these periods the land force was 
 composed of the following descriptions of troops : 
 
 Men. 
 
 189 regiments and 565 battalions infantry 613,722 
 
 76 regiments and 563 squadrons cavalry. 118,141 
 
 30 battalions artillery 47,088 
 
 Extra corps 27,632 
 
 Irregular troops (horse and foot) 105,534 
 
 Garrison troops 77,000 
 
 989,117 
 
 Besides this prodigious force, a national guard, or mi- 
 litia, is organised in all parts of the empire, except in 
 Siberia and the two northern European provinces. 
 The expence of this vast force is very small ; the ar- 
 . tides for their equipment, provisioning, and arming, 
 being of the cheapest and coarsest kind ; and as the re- 
 cruits are procured by ballot, and the pay of officers 
 and men is low, the whole expence of the establishment 
 is only 20,000,000 roubles, or about L. 3,000,000 
 Sterling. The institutions for military education are 
 fully commensurate to the extent of the force. In 
 the Cadets-house at Petersburg are 1000 youths; 
 and the whole number in the empire, under appro- 
 priate instruction for the military profession, amount 
 to nearly 3000. 
 
 The navy of Russia has been neglected ; and al- Naval 1^ o 
 though the present force is equal to what existed in 
 1813, yet its character is much inferior, as many of 
 the ships are become old. Very little timber of the 
 best quality is to be found in the Russian territory ; 
 but every other article, required for a navy, is abun- 
 dantly and cheaply supplied from domestic sources. 
 
 The fleet consists of 32 ships of the line, 1 8 fri- 
 gates, 6 cutters, 7 brigs, 25 floating batteries, 121 
 gun-boats, and numerous armed small craft. This 
 force is divided between the Baltic, the Caspian, 
 and the Black Seas. The whole number of officers^, 
 
RUSSIAN 
 
 European seamen, and marines, with which the fleet is man- 
 Russia, ned, is about 32,000, who are obtained by ballot 
 ~ from the seafaring people of the maritime pro- 
 vinces. The naval ports are at Cronstadt, Revel, 
 Sweaborg, and Rotschensalm, on the Baltic ; at Arch- 
 angel, on the White Sea ; at Nikolajew, Sewastopel, 
 Taganrog, and Cherson, on the Black Sea ; and at 
 Astrachan, on the Caspian. 
 
 Having thus given a view of the general condi- 
 tion and circumstances of the Russian empire, in 
 those respects in which alterations have taken place 
 since the article in the EncyclopcBdia was written ; 
 we may now proceed to a more particular descrip- 
 tion of its members and divisions. 
 
 European Russia, including the Dependent 
 Kingdom of Poland. 
 
 The grand division of European Russia is into six 
 provinces, viz. 
 
 Names. 
 
 Extent in 
 Square Miles. 
 
 Population. 
 
 
 192,064 
 
 3,857,107 
 
 
 938,929 
 
 21,330,279 
 
 Little Russia 
 
 88,256 
 
 6,124,585 
 
 South or New Russia ... 
 
 192,362 
 
 2,550,700 
 
 
 139,712 
 
 8,480,022 
 
 
 46,741 
 
 2,732,324 
 
 It thus appears, that in. the whole of European 
 Russia, the density of the population is somewhat 
 less than 2\ persons to each square mile, or nearly 
 one person to 282 English statute acres. 
 
 The East Sea province is divided into the follow- 
 ing governments, viz. 
 
 Names. 
 
 Extent in 
 Square Miles. 
 
 Population. 
 
 
 18,090 
 
 808,512 
 
 
 134,444 
 
 1,346,139 
 
 
 6,890 
 
 396,032 
 
 
 20,110 
 
 737,734 
 
 
 9,544 
 
 568,690 
 
 The inhabitants in this province are nearly one to 
 twenty acres of land. The principal cities in the 
 government of Petersburg are, Petersburg, one of 
 the capitals of the empire, with 300,000 inhabitants ; 
 Kronstadt, with 35,000 ; Narva, with 3800. In Fin- 
 land are Helsingfors, with 8000 inhabitants; Abo, 
 with 1 1,300 ; Uleaborg, with 3350; and Wiborg, with 
 3200. The chief city of Esthonia is Revel, with 
 15,000 inhabitants. The cities of Livonia are Riga, 
 with 30,000 ; Dorpat, with 6000 ; and Pernau, with 
 2500. The only city of note, in Courland, is Mil- 
 tau, containing 12,000 inhabitants. No other places 
 than those here noticed, in the East Sea province, 
 contain so many as 2000 inhabitants. 
 
 The province of Great Russia is divided into 19 
 governments, whose names, extent, and population, 
 are as follows : 
 
 EMPIRE. 467 
 
 Names. 
 
 1 ■■ ■ — 
 
 Extent in 
 Square Miles. 
 
 Population. 
 
 
 1\}}0\J\J 
 
 
 Sinol pn^Vo 
 
 
 
 
 
 /oo,y4o 
 
 Novogorod 
 
 fid. onT 
 
 you,uuu 
 
 Olonez 
 
 
 
 Archangel 
 
 O^Oj 1 00 
 
 lD-<J,Ot)0 
 
 
 10.9, ( 1 ^ 
 
 Qf\o t lyo 
 
 Kostronifi 
 
 00,0 /U 
 
 1 ACiCi r^AA 
 
 Nishegorod 
 
 OA Kfll 
 
 1 Q/tO IAQ 
 
 J ,3*y,ouo 
 
 Vv nl ndimiv 
 
 1 Q fifiO 
 
 io,ODy 
 
 1 ,aUt),U4D 
 
 Tula 
 
 11, yu* 
 
 1 AOQ *70l 
 
 Kaluga 
 
 i-'isi 30 
 
 1 1 ka /jaa 
 
 i,ioy,DUu 
 
 Twer 
 
 24,213 
 
 1,233,358 
 
 Jaroslaw 
 
 14,528 
 
 1.022,991 
 
 Kurst 
 
 14,954 
 
 1,6] 1,109 
 
 Orel 
 
 16,779 
 
 1,270,085 
 
 Riasan , 
 
 14,553 
 
 1,270,291 
 
 Tambow 
 
 22,869 
 
 1,391,400 
 
 Woronesh 
 
 32,487 
 
 1,436,357 
 
 The inhabitants in this province are nearly one to 
 twenty-four acres of land. The chief cities in the go- 
 vernment of Moscow are, first, Moscow, one of the 
 capitals of the empire, nearly the whole of which 
 was destroyed by the fire in 1812, when the French 
 troops were in possession of it. It has been since 
 rebuilt in a great part, as far as regards the dwell- 
 ings of individuals, but many of the public edifices 
 are yet unfinished. There are now rebuilt upwards 
 of 200 churches, more than 9000 houses, and be- 
 tween 6000 and 7000 booths. The number of in- 
 habitants in the summer of 1 820 was about 200,000 ; 
 and in the following winter, when the nobles, with 
 their numerous establishments of domestics and 
 slaves, took up their residence in the city, they are 
 said to have been increased to about 50,000. The 
 city of Kolomna contains 5809 inhabitants, Ser- 
 puchow 5540, Wereja 5941, and Moshaish 3944; 
 all the others have less than SOOO inhabitants. In 
 the government of Smolensko, the city of that name 
 contains about 12,000 persons, Weasma 1150. Ples- 
 kow contains 10,000, and Toropez 12,000 inhabit- 
 ants. Novogorod has 10,000, and Storaja Russa 
 5250 persons. In the government of Olonez the 
 city of Petrosawodsh has 3285, and Kargapol 3032. 
 The only city in the government of Archangel is of 
 that name, and contains 8000 souls. The popula- 
 tion of the city of Wologda amounts to 1 0,529, and 
 of Oustjug to 12,000. Kostroma contains 8000, 
 Galitzkaja 3300, and Galitsch 6OOO inhabitants. 
 Nishegorod has 12,000, and Arsamas 8000 persons. 
 No place in the government of Wolodimir contains 
 2000 persons ; the capital of the same name has only 
 1500. Tula or Toola, the chief city of the govern- 
 ment of that name, has 30,000 inhabitants, Bjeleu 
 7000, and Obajew 3200. The city of Kaluga con- 
 tains 25,000 souls, Borowsk 6000, and Koselsk 
 3500. In the government of Twer, the city of that 
 name contains about 20,000 people, Stariza 3500, 
 Ostaschkow 6207, Torshok 15,000, Wolotschok 
 3500, Kalasin 3521, Kashin 3513, and Beshezk 
 3120. In Jaroslaw, the city of the name has a po- 
 
468 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 Kuropean pulation of SijGOO, Uglitsch 7000, and Rostow 6000. 
 Russia. ^ -pjjg government of Kurst contains the city of that 
 
 "^/"^ name, with 20,000 inhabitants, Rylsk with 6000, 
 Sudsha with 7000, Bielgorod with 8000, Korotsha 
 with 4000, and Obojan with 5500. The city of 
 Orel has 20,000 inhabitants, Minsk 6000, Bolchow 
 14,000, Briansk 5000, Trubtochwsk 3500, Siawsk 
 5,000 Liwny 6000, and Jelez 8000. The city of 
 Riasan, in the government of that name, contains 
 5000 souls, Soraisk 4500, and Kasimow 10,000. 
 The government of Tombow contains Tombow, with 
 15,000 souls, Hoslow with 8000, Lebedjan with 
 3500, Lipesk with 6400, Kirsanow with 4500, Mor- 
 shansk with 5500, Shazh with 6500, Temnikow with 
 4500, and Jelatma with 5800. Woronesh has no city 
 of more than 3000 souls, except the capital of the 
 same name, which contains about 15,000. 
 
 The province of Little Russia, composed chiefly 
 of the Ukraine, or the country of the Cossacks, the 
 best peopled of the whole empire, is now divided 
 into four governments, viz. 
 
 Names. 
 
 Extent in 
 Square Miles. 
 
 Population. 
 
 
 17,557 
 21,717 
 22,983 
 16,810 
 
 1,353,800 
 1,471,000 
 1,378,500 
 1,933,000 
 
 
 The inhabitants are about one to eight acres of 
 land. The city of Kiew, or Kiow, contains about 
 40,000 inhabitants ; the population of no other place 
 in the government reaches beyond 3000. Charkow 
 contains 15,000, Sumy 15,000, Bielopolje 9000, Le- 
 bidjan 8970, Achtyrka 12,788, Bogoduchow 6749, 
 Walkj 9286, Sraijew 5000, and Isjum 4248 inhabit- 
 ants. The smaller towns in Slobodsk Ukraine are 
 numerous. In the government of Tschernigow, the 
 city of that name contains 10,000, Neskin 16,000, 
 Gluchow 9000, Nowgorod 8000, Starodub 4000, and 
 Mglin 5077 inhabitants. Pultowa has 10,000, Mir- 
 gorod 7437, Lubni 6000, Pereaslawl 6000, Solo- 
 tonscha 5500, and Krementschuk 8000 inhabitants ; 
 besides which, the smaller towns and villages in the 
 government of Pultowa are well peopled. 
 
 The province of South Russia, a great part of 
 which has been added to the empire in the course of 
 the eighteenth, and the first ten years of the nine- 
 teenth century, is divided into five governments, viz. 
 
 Names. 
 
 Extent in 
 Square Miles. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Land of the Don Cos-l 
 
 29,757 
 25,728 
 43,562 
 18,711 
 
 77,034 
 
 944,994 
 523,600 
 437,428 
 310,000 
 
 398,103 
 
 The inhabitants are about one to forty-nine acres 
 of land. The city of Catherinoslaw contains about 
 5000 inhabitants ; none of the other places more than 
 
 2000 ; and only two reach to that number. The Europea 
 towns in the government of Cherson are almost Russia, 
 wholly of very recent foundation. The capital of ^ 
 that name contains 5000 inhabitants, Nicolajew 
 (founded in 1789) 9000, and Jelisawetgrad 12,000. 
 The greater part of the inhabitants of Taurida are of 
 the Tartar race, and of the Mahomedan religion. 
 The population of the cities has been very fluctuat- 
 ing since this district first came under the Russian go- 
 vernment. Kaffa or Feodosia, formerly the seat of 
 the Genoese trade, with the countries around the 
 Black Sea, and then stated to have had a population 
 of 40,000, when visited by Dr Clarke, had only 50 
 families; but in 1820 had increased to more than 
 4000 persons. Simferopol, a frontier garrison city, 
 has 20,000 inhabitants, of various nations and reli- 
 gions. Baktschisarai contains 5777 persons, mostly 
 Tartars, and Koslow 4410 of the same description. 
 Bessarabia was formerly a part of Moldavia. Aker- 
 man, a strongly fortified place, has a population of 
 about 10,000. Ismail, celebrated for its siege, and 
 once containing 40,000 people, is still in ruins, and 
 nearly without inhabitants. The only city among 
 the Don Cossacks is Ischerkask, in a very unhealthy 
 situation, but containing a population of 15,000. 
 
 West Russia comprehends those provinces of Po- ' 
 land and Lithuania which have been formed into a 
 component part of the Russian empire. They have 
 been divided into eight governments, viz. 
 
 Names. 
 
 Extent in Square 
 Miles. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Wilna 
 
 23,061 
 
 1,328,100 
 
 
 11,434 
 
 842,500 
 
 Minsh 
 
 14,140 
 
 914,686 
 
 Witebesk 
 
 23,424 
 
 1,135,100 
 
 Mohileu 
 
 19,584 
 
 963,400 
 
 
 29,739 
 
 1,464,000 
 
 Podolia 
 
 20,224 
 
 1,606,400 
 
 Bialystock 
 
 3,370 
 
 219,050 
 
 The inhabitants are about one to eleven acres of 
 land. The chief cities and their population are, in 
 Wilna, Wilna with 25,000, of whom 12,000 are Jews, 
 and Kieydani, with 5000 inhabitants. In Grod- 
 no, the city of that name, with 5000, and Slonem 
 6000. In Minsh 6000, in Slusk and in Pinsk 4000. 
 In Witebesk, the city of that name, 1 5,000, Welisk 
 4700, Dunaburg 4000, and Polozk 320a The 
 city of Mohileu has 16,000. The cities of Wolhy- 
 nia are Berdyczeu with 10,000, Zaslow with 4500, 
 Staro Constantino with 4200, Ostrog with 4500, 
 Rowno with 3270, Waldimer with 3126, and Dubno 
 with 5635 inhabitants. In Podolia are the cities of 
 Kamenetz, with 5650 inhabitants, and Mohileu with 
 7000. The city of Bialystock contains 3350 inha- 
 bitants ; and no other place of that government 2000. 
 
 The ancient kingdom of Poland has, by successive Kingdom 
 divisions, been reduced to a small territory, when Poland, 
 compared with its former extent. A description of 
 the Duchy of Posen, a part of it, is to be found in 
 this work, under the head of Prussia. Gallicia is 
 united to Austria; part is included in the present pro- 
 vince of West Russia; and a very small portion, con- 
 1 
 
RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 469 
 
 European taming the City of Cracow, and the surrounding dis- 
 Russia. trict, is formed into an independent republic. The 
 •^"^ part now called the kingdom of Poland is, properly 
 speaking, a Russian viceroyalty. It has, indeed, 
 been permitted to retain some of its ancient forms 
 and institutions ; but it is effectively, at present, a 
 mere province of the Russian empire, and in that 
 view we must now consider it. 
 
 The grand divisions are into eight Way wodeships, 
 and these are again subdivided Into Obwodeships. 
 
 Name of Way- 
 wodeship. 
 
 Extent in 
 Square 
 Miles. 
 
 Population in 
 1819. 
 
 Capitals and their 
 Inhabitants. 
 
 Massovia ... 
 
 6858 
 
 481,000 
 
 Warsaw 
 
 98,000 
 
 Kalitch 
 
 6862 
 
 512,000 
 
 Kalitch 
 
 7,310 
 
 
 4500 
 
 445,000 
 
 Kielce 
 
 5,000 
 
 Sandomir . . . 
 
 5982 
 
 432,000 
 
 Radom 
 
 1,500 
 
 
 6657 
 
 490,000 
 
 Lublin 
 
 10,300 
 
 Polachia .... 
 
 4864. 
 
 286,000 
 
 Siedlec 
 
 2,145 
 
 Augustow 
 
 6870 
 
 335,000 
 
 Suwalki 
 
 3,000 
 
 Flock 
 
 6635 
 
 364,000 
 
 Flock 
 
 6,000 
 
 The inhabitants are one to about nine acres of 
 [ land. 
 
 Soil Cli- Poland is generally a level country, but towards 
 mate, and the south is more undulating, and some of the hills 
 Productions, rise to the height of 2000 feet above the level of the 
 sea. It is well supplied with running streams. To 
 the north of the Vistula and the Bug, the soil is for 
 the most part sandy, but generally fertile. In the 
 south, the soil is a rich vegetable mould, intermix- 
 ed with marshes and morasses. The climate is 
 colder in the winter than in the same latitude in Ger- 
 many and France. The productions are, corn of all 
 kinds, hemp, flax, hops, tobacco, wood, fruit, cattle, 
 abundance of game, river fish, honey, and wax. 
 The minerals are copper, lead, iron, and calamine. 
 There is much marble, alabaster, and limestone ; and 
 in some parts salt, sulphur, saltpetre, and coal. The 
 maimfacturing labour is chiefly destined to provide 
 clothing, and the most homely articles for domestic 
 use. The Jews are the chief traders, manufacturers, 
 and innkeepers ; and their dwellings, in the towns 
 and villages, are far better than those of the clergy, 
 or even the lower nobility. 
 ■Different The inhabitants have increased at an extraordi- 
 jciasses of nary rate since the return of tranquillity. The 
 inhabitants, difference between the year 1815 and 1819 ap- 
 I pears to be 708,400 individuals, many of whom are 
 
 German colonists. The number of Jews in 1819 
 was 212,944. All religious professions enjoy equal 
 rights. The Roman Catholic is the predominant 
 sect ; their hierarchy consists of an archbishop and 
 five bishops. There is a Unitarian bishop of the 
 Greek ritual, who presides over 200 churches. The 
 Lutherans are about 150,000, who have a consistory 
 and superintendent. The Calvinists are about 6000. 
 Besides these are several smaller Christian sects, and 
 more than 100 families of Mahomedans. The nobi- 
 lity are very numerous, comprehending more than 
 60,000 families. They are distinguished by differ- 
 ent titles, but have none of the privileges of rank, 
 unless they possess property. Many of them are 
 
 VOL. VI. PART II. 
 
 very poor, but about 1 00 enjoy very extensive estates. European 
 Some restrictions in the use of titles have been -re- Russia, 
 cently introduced, which prevent those from assum- ""^"V^^ 
 ing them who do not possess a graduated specific 
 amount of income according to the title. Professors 
 of the universities of ten years standing, civil and 
 military officers of the same length of service, and 
 such burghers as make useful discoveries, may be 
 now admitted into the ranks of nobility. The 
 burghers have some civil rights granted in addition 
 to those formerly enjoyed. The peasants have, how- 
 ever, been most benefited by the divisions that have 
 been made of Poland. Under the ancient system, 
 this numerous class of persons had neither property 
 nor rights ; and their common proverb, " We have 
 nothing but what we drink," is sufficiently descrip- 
 tive of their low condition, and their habitual intem- 
 perance. They have now acquired personal free-, 
 dora, and the right of holding landed property. To 
 this extension of freedom may, in some measure, be 
 attributed the recent increase of inhabitants ; as many 
 of the German emigrants would not have availed 
 themselves of the greater fertility of the Polish soil, 
 whilst the old slavish degradation of the peasants Avas 
 continued. 
 
 The present constitution of Poland is a limited Constitution 
 monarchy. The Emperor nominates the King, who Govern- 
 has the sole executive power. The legislature is di- 
 vided into two chambers. The upper, or senate, 
 consists of thirty members, nominated for life by the 
 king ; of whom ten are bishops, or clergy (approv- 
 ed by the Pope), ten are Waywodes, and the other 
 ten Castellans, or Magnates. The lower house con- 
 sists of sixty members, who must have attained 40 
 years. They are chosen for nine years, but every 
 third year the retirement of one-third of them is de- 
 termined by lot. They are elected by the provincial 
 assemblies of the nobles, where there are at least 600 
 qualified electors. A commissioner is appointed for 
 civil affairs, another for criminal matters, and a third 
 for finances. These three persons, with the mini- 
 sters who sit in the assembly, not by election, but of 
 right, are the only members permitted to speak, and 
 all the others give their votes in silence. The assem- 
 blies are convened every other year, and sit only 
 fourteen days to dispatch such business as is laid 
 before them. They have no power to initiate a law, 
 nor the right to exercise any inquisitorial functions. 
 The assent of the upper chamber is not indispensa- 
 ble for promulgating a new law, if it be approved 
 by the lower chamber, on the recommendation of 
 the king. 
 
 The Poles had formerly few or no written laws; Law. 
 but in the year 1257, Boleslau the Fifth introduced 
 the use of the law-book of Magdeburg, which has 
 been continued ever since as the compendium of ci- 
 vil and criminal law. The local courts consist of 
 the landowners ; the next higher court extends over 
 each Waywodeship, and from them there is a court 
 of general appeal. A new code of laws has been 
 drawn up, but is not yet in practice. 
 
 The income of Poland is about L. 850,000 Sterling, Finances, 
 derived from a hearth and capitation-tax ; from 
 stamps, customs, lotteries, and posting. The civil list 
 is about L. 1 70,000 ; one-half of which arises from the 
 3 o 
 
470 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 Asiatic 
 Russia. 
 
 Army. 
 
 national domains, the other is taken from the public 
 treasury. The debts of the state, including old and 
 new, amount to 200,000 Polish gulden. The ex- 
 pences are not accurately known, as no budget has 
 yet been made public since the introduction of the 
 new constitution, and the accession of the Russian 
 Imperial family. 
 
 The army consists of 30,000 infantry and 20,000 
 cavalry, of whom the royal guards form a body of 
 12,000 ; but the militai-y organization is not yet 
 completed. Every Pole, without exception of rank er 
 religion, is, by the law, a soldier from the age of twen- 
 ty to thirty ; but, in practice, numerous exceptions 
 to the general rule are allowed. The muskets are 
 supplied from a manufactory at Kouskie, but the 
 cannon, as well as cloths for vxniforms, must be 
 drawn from other countries. There is a scarcity of 
 gunpowder, although saltpetre is abundant. * 
 
 Asiatic Russia. 
 The dominion of Russia comprehends the whole 
 of Northern Asia, and extends from longitude 37° 
 14' to 190° 22' east from London; and from lati- 
 tude 38° 58' to 78° 2' north. This vast dominion is 
 calculated to be spread over f^ths of the land of the 
 globe, and to be rather more than one-third of the 
 surface of the whole of the continental portions of it. 
 Face of the The eastern division of the Asiatic Russian terri- 
 Country. j^Qj-y, from the river Jenisy, or Yenesii, has, on its 
 southern and eastern parts, vast mountain ranges ; 
 and on its interior there are several chains that run 
 to the Arctic Ocean in vast masses. It is covered 
 with woods, large lakes, or extensive elevated plains, 
 and terminates, towards the shores of the Frozen 
 Ocean, in vast fields of eternal ice. The division to 
 the -^vestward has, indeed, some ranges of moun- 
 tains, especially the Altaian chain on the south, the 
 Ural range on the west, and the ridge of Caucasus 
 on the south-west, with their various projecting 
 branches ; but taken as a whole, it may be describ- 
 ed as a vast level plain, partially watered, but by its 
 climate and soil, ill adapted for the increase or the 
 comfort of human beings. The soil to the westward 
 of the Ural mountains is generally very fertile, and 
 produces abundant returns of corn, but to the east- 
 ward it is barren, cold, and scarcely exhibits any 
 symptoms of vegetation. 
 Steppes. Although Russia in Asia is in part surrounded 
 by, and in some parts covered with mountains, yet 
 there are several barren plains of great extent, usual- 
 ly denominated Steppes. The most remarkable of 
 these are, the Kirgissch Steppe, between the Irtish 
 and the Orenburg boundary line. It is a very dry 
 and barren district, with some lakes, whose water is 
 saline. The few rivers have copious streams in the 
 spring from the melted snows, but in summer be- 
 come dried up. The Wolgau Kalmuck Steppe, be- 
 tween the Ural and the Wolga, extending from the 
 Caspian Sea to Samara, is of the same description. 
 The Kuman Steppe, extending from the Caspian 
 
 Asiatic 
 Russia. 
 
 Sea to the Don and the Wolga, resembles a lake re- 
 cently dried up ; being formed of a mixture of sand 
 and clay with an undulating surface, intermixed 
 with salt lakes, and utterly destitute of vegetation. 
 The other steppes, with slight varieties of character, 
 are that of Terek, between the rivers Terek and 
 Kuma, touching on the Caspian Sea ; of Kuban, ex- 
 tending from Kuban to the Manitsch and the lake 
 of Bolschei ; of Jettish to the eastward of the Ural ; 
 of Ischim on both sides the river of that name, be- 
 tween Tobol and the Irtish ; and the Baraba, be- 
 tween the Irtish and the Ob. To these may be 
 added the Arctic plain, between the 67th degree of 
 latitude and the Frozen Ocean, whose whole surface 
 is little more than morasses, mixed with rocks, and 
 bound up by frost betwixt ten and eleven months in 
 the year. These extensive plains are sometimes 
 passed by the wandering tribes, who find subsistence 
 on the less sterile spots which are to be met with on 
 the banks of the rivers that bound them. 
 
 The rivers of Asiatic Russia that empty them-Riyejg, 
 selves into the Arctic Sea, are among the most con- 
 siderable of the ancient world. The most remark- 
 able of these are, 1st, The Ob, whose course is 
 2800 miles in length, during which it receives the 
 great rivers, the Tom, the Kek, the Irtish (which, 
 before the junction, runs 2500 miles, and takes 
 into its stream the waters of the Ischim, the To- 
 bal, and many other rivers), the Tyda, and all 
 their tributary streams. 9.d, The Yenesii, or Jenisy, 
 which has a course of 2000 miles, with fewer sinuo- 
 sities than are usually observed in other great rivers. 
 It receives the waters of fourteen large streams and 
 all their tributary collections. Sd, The Piasana, 
 whose course is 300 miles. 4>th, The Taimurskoe, 
 a short stream issuing from a lake of the same name, 
 in latitude 70°. 5th, The Khatanga, which empties 
 itself into the bay of Khatangaskoi, on the Frozen 
 Ocean. Qth, The Anabara, an Arctic stream. 7M, 
 The Olenk, whose waters only become considerable 
 after entering the Arctic circle. Sth, The Lena, one 
 of the largest of the Asiatic Russian rivers. It rises 
 in the Backal mountains to the north of China, in 
 latitude 52° 30', and empties itself into the ocean in 
 latitude 70° 40', and longitude 164° 26', after re- 
 ceiving the waters of fourteen large rivers and their 
 numerous tributary streams, ^th. The Omoloi. 1 0th, 
 TheJana. lli/j. The Indigirka. 12fA, The Alazeja. 
 \Sth, Kolyma. \Uh, The Tchauna; and, 1 5th, The 
 Amgonia. The streams whose courses have been 
 traced to fall into the sea of Kamtschatka, between 
 Asia and America, are the Anadyr, the Katirka, the 
 Kamtschatka, the Penshena, the Tilcha, the Ischiga, 
 the Tauna, the Okhota, the Uda, the Argun, and 
 the Shilka. The Black Sea receives from Russian 
 Asia the great rivers Kooban and Rioni, with their 
 tributary waters, and several smaller streams which 
 arise on the western sides of the mountains of Cau- 
 casus. The rivers which discharge themselves into 
 the Caspian Sea are, 1st, The Wolga, which comes 
 
 * The best recent works on Poland are. Guide du Voyageur en Pologne, Varsovie, 1820; Pokn Staats 
 veranderungen und Leiztere Verwaltung, von F. Jakel, Wien, 1819- 
 
RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 471 
 
 Asiatic out of the centre of European Russia, and forms the 
 Russia, principal means of internal water communication be- 
 tween the European and Asiatic portions of the em- 
 pire. Its course is upwards of 2500 miles in length, 
 during the progress of which it receives the streams of 
 fourteen large, and of a vast number of smaller rivers. 
 2i, The Kuma, rising in the northern Caucasus. 
 
 The Teret, a mountain torrent, nearly dry in 
 summer. Mh, The Akhracan. 5th, The Sulach, 
 both rivers only abundant in the spring, and nearly 
 dry in summer. 6i/<, The Kur, a stream formed by 
 a union of several others in Armenia and Georgia, 
 and navigable from Teflis. "tih. The Ural, rising 
 in the Uralian range of mountains, and forming a 
 course of nearly 1400 miles, during which it re- 
 ceives the waters of six large, and numerous smaller 
 rivers, 8ii^, The Jemba, a river coming from the north, 
 and running about 4-50 miles. 
 Lakes. jjie lakes in Russian Asia are very numerous, and 
 
 some of them very extensive. One of the largest is 
 the Baikil in Siberia, between latitude 52° and 55°, 
 and longitude 104° 26', and 109° 56', extending over 
 11,180 square miles. Its water is clear and bright, 
 the depth varies from 18 to 480 feet. It is covered 
 with ice from the middle of December till April. The 
 river Angara, which runs to the Jenisy, issues from it. 
 It receives the waters of several streams which come 
 either from the Chinese territory or its vicinity. 
 The lakes next in extent are the Tchani and the 
 Piasenskoe, both in the government of Tomsk. Al- 
 most every province has one or more lakes, several 
 of which are of salt water, on whose banks a natu- 
 ral crystallization prepares culinary salt for the use 
 of the inhabitants. 
 Agricultural The agriculture necessarily varies both in its 
 Products, practices and its productions in countries so ex- 
 tensive as those we are sketching. By an harvest 
 table before us, it appears that the winter corn 
 (wheat and rye) does not yield, on an average, 
 more than three and a half for one grain that is 
 sowed ; and the summer corn (barley and oats) not 
 much more than two and a half for one. The in- 
 crease of production seems to be about as progres- 
 sive as the increase of population. By a return of 
 the whole produce of the harvest of 1808, it appears 
 that the whole quantity raised was 43,424,966 
 tschetwerts on 29,854,622 quarters ; from which, if 
 two-sevenths be allowed for seed, there will remain 
 for subsistence 21,324,760 quarters. Taking the 
 whole population at 10,164,000, and allowing for 
 1,164,000 who eat no bread, there will -have been 
 about 18 bushels of corn for each individual. In 
 many parts the goats and sheep, and in some the 
 oxen, furnish food for the inhabitants ; whilst aid 
 for the subsistence of others is afforded from the fish 
 of the seas, lakes, and rivers. 
 
 The mines of Russian Asia are by far more pro- 
 ductive than those of any other portion of the em- 
 
 pire ; as from them is extracted the whole of the 
 gold, silver, and lead, nine-tenths of the copper, and 
 eleven-twelfths of the iron which is brought mto 
 use. By the latest returns the whole produce was 
 as follows: 
 
 Asiatic 
 Russia. 
 
 Gold, 
 
 Silver, 
 
 Copper, 
 
 Lead, 
 
 Bar-iron, 
 
 Vitriol, 
 
 Rock Salt, 
 
 17,940 ounces. 
 540,000 ounces. 
 3,360 tons.* 
 900 tons. 
 1,680,000 tons. 
 5,184 tons. 
 14,675 quintals. 
 
 According to the work from which these state- 
 ments are taken, + the culinary salt, aimually pre- 
 pared in Asiatic Russia, is 830,000 quintals. 
 
 The fishery is a considerable branch of industry. Fisheries, 
 and furnishes articles for exportation. The crown &c. 
 lets to farm its fishing on the Caspian Sea to some 
 companies in Astrachan. The produc* consists chief- 
 ly of the flesh an^jl the roe of the sturgeon, and of 
 the skins of seals. In 1815 there were employed 
 1847 boats, and 6688 men in this fishing. The 
 Wolga and some other rivers yield prodigious quan- 
 tities of excellent fish. The whole value of this 
 object is estimated at 8,000,000 silver roubles, or 
 more than L. 1,500,000 Sterling. The chase is a bu- 
 -siness of much importance, both on account of the 
 food which it supplies for subsistence, of the peltry 
 which furnishes for winter garments, as well as arti- 
 cles for an export trade. The productions of the fo- 
 rests not only supply the article of fuel which the 
 severe climate requires, but furnish large quantities 
 both for building and firing to other nations. Most 
 of the forests belong to the crown: those of Asia, 
 exclusive of Siberia, are calculated to cover 43,500,000 
 desjatines, or nearly 100,000,000 English statute 
 acres. 
 
 The manufactures are very few, and very homely. ^^.^^^ 
 The best article produced is the leather. Some linen ^Jmi^erce, 
 is made of a coarse kind. In Casan and Astrachan 
 there are establishments for making cotton, woollen, 
 and silk goods, and for various kinds of hardware and 
 glass. The breweries, but especially the distilleries, 
 are more numerous than any other manufacturing ob- 
 jects. Making corn spirits is a royal monopoly, but 
 in some of the Asiatic cities it is let to farm by the 
 government. The chief commerce is internal between 
 the several provinces whose productions are most dif- 
 ferent from each other. There is an increasing tran- 
 sit trade between China, India, and Europe, and 
 custom-houses are estabhshed on the frontiers, at 
 which the tolls are collected. We have no state- 
 ments of the extent of this trade that are sufficiently 
 accurate to create much confidence. The value of 
 the goods, which in 1809 were manifested in the 
 governments of Irtusk and Kiachta, on the Chinese 
 
 * It appears from a recent intelligent work (Tooke On High and Loxo Prices, Part II.), that the exporta- 
 tion of copper from Russia, which before 1818 was trifling, in that year amounted to 155 tons; m 1819 
 1419 ; in 1820 4466 ; in 1821 5023 ; and in 1822 3545 tons. 
 
 f Die Wichtigkeit des Riissichen Berghaus, von Herman. 
 
472 RUSSIAN 
 
 Asiatic frontier, was 5,049,138 silver roubles, or about 
 ^ L. 840,000 Sterling, including both exports and im- 
 
 ports. 
 
 Divisions. The names and divisions, both military and poli- 
 tical, of Russian Asia, are at present the following : 
 
 Kingdom of Casan. 
 
 Governments. 
 
 Extent. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Capitals. 
 
 Casan 
 
 g g- 1 Wiatka 
 
 % ^-l Perm 
 
 i Simbirsk .... 
 2 vPensa 
 
 22,272 
 47,381 
 127,017 
 29,910 
 16,597 
 
 1,138,804 
 1,265,900 
 1,232,474 
 1,095,145 
 1,044,824 
 
 Casan. 
 
 Wiatka. 
 
 Perm. 
 
 Simbirsk. 
 
 Pensa. 
 
 The city of Casan, about five miles from the Wol- 
 ga, in north latitude 55° 47' 51", and east longitude 
 49° 26' 41", is an increasing place, with 25,000 in- 
 habitants. In it the governor and Archbishop have 
 palaces, and there are some few other good stone 
 buildings. A very wide- spreading conflagration de- 
 stroyed many hundred houses in 1815, and the new 
 buildings since erected on their site have much im- 
 proved the appearance of the city, which is now half 
 European and half Asiatic. The city of Wiatka, in 
 latitude 58° 24', and longitude 50° 48', contains 
 12,000 inhabitants, employed in the trades of corn, 
 tallow, and hemp, and in the manufacture of leather, 
 soap, and some hardware. Most of its productions 
 are conveyed by the Dwina to Archangel. Stobosk, 
 in latitude 58° 30', and longitude 50° 20', has 6000 
 inhabitants, occupied as those of Wiatka. Perm, in 
 latitude 58° 1' 13", erected into a city in 1780, is 
 built almost wholly of wood, and contains 6000 in- 
 habitants, employed chiefly in trade arising from the 
 copper mines. Soltikumsk, in latitude 59° 39', and 
 longitude 56° 50', supports about 6000 people, 
 chiefly by copper, tin, and gold manufactures. Ir- 
 bit, in latitude 57° 35', and longitude 63° 26', con- 
 tains 3600 inhabitants, who depend mainly on the 
 great fairs which are held there, in which the pro- 
 ductions of Europe and Asia are exchanged for each 
 other. The sales in the fair have amounted to 
 6,287,000 roubles ; of which 800,000 consisted of 
 cloth, 1,400,000 of Chinese goods, 850,000 of pel- 
 try, 9000 of spices, 350,000 of sugar, and 350,000 
 of linen. Jekaterinburg, in latitude 56° 50' 15", and 
 longitude 60° 56', contains 6000 inhabitants, who 
 subsist on trades dependant on the mines, and aris- 
 ing also from its being on the high road to Si- 
 beria. Simbirsk, in latitude 54° 24', and longi- 
 tude 49° 55", contains 15,000 persons, who find 
 subsistence from several manufactures, from the 
 fishery, and carrying trades on the Wolga, and from 
 the corn, tallow, and hemp of the surrounding dis- 
 tricts. Samara, in latitude 53° 53', and longitude 
 49° 57', contains 3500 inhabitants, who are employ- 
 ed in the fishery on the Wolga, and export by it 
 large quantities of fresh and salted fish, and of cavi- 
 are, or the roes of the sturgeon. The city of Pensa, 
 in latitude 53° 30', and longitude 45° 44', contains 
 1697 private dwellings, of which only three are 
 built of stone, and 10,000 inhabitants. There is a 
 cathedral, five stone, and eight wooden churches, 
 and several other public buildings. Its principal 
 
 EMPIRE, 
 
 trade consists in leather, linen, soap, and corn ; part Asiatic 
 of which is conveyed to the different markets by Russia, 
 land carriage, and part is sent by the small river '^■■"-v-* 
 Sura to the Wolga. Saransk, in latitude 54° 23', 
 a-nd longitude 44° 41', contains 6200 inhabitants. 
 
 Kingdom of Astrachan. 
 
 Governments. 
 
 Extent in 
 Square 
 Miles. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Capitals. 
 
 § 1 Savatow .... 
 0 'S 3 Astrachan 
 '^2 J Caucasus ... 
 J f Orenburg 
 
 91,563 
 83,178 
 33,813 
 120,021 J 
 
 1,305,170 
 200,000 
 130,000 
 
 1,044,000 
 
 Saratow. 
 Astrachan. 
 Georgiewsk. 
 Orenburg. 
 
 The city of Saratow, in latitude 51° 31' 28", and 
 longitude 46° &, contains 6500 inhabitants, whose 
 chief dependence is on the produce of the fisheries 
 on the Wolga, and the transit commerce between 
 Eastern and Western Russia, carried on by means 
 of that river. Molsk, in latitude 52° 4', and longi- 
 tude 47° 37', on the right bank of the Wolga, has 
 5000 inhabitants ; and trades on the river. Kusnezk, 
 in latitude 53° 7', and longitude 46° 42', has about 
 5000 inhabitants. Astrachan, in latitude 46° 21' 12", 
 and longitude 48° 8' 17", is situated at the spot 
 where the Wolga begins to form that delta by which, 
 in various branches, it enters the Caspian Sea. It 
 contains several public edifices for government, and 
 for the various religious forms of worship which its 
 Christian, Mahomedan, and Hindoo inhabitants fol- 
 low. There is a naval arsenal, a seminary for Greek 
 priests, several inferior seminaries for the different 
 classes of the people, and an imperial botanic gar- 
 den. The inhabitants are about 30,000, who manu- 
 facture silks, cottons, leather, soap, linen, and some 
 other articles. The fisheries are considerable, and 
 in 1815 employed 1847 vessels, with 6688 men. 
 The gardens and vineyards are important objects, 
 and produce much fruit, and tolerable wine and 
 vinegar ; which are conveyed by the Wolga to the 
 interior of European Russia, Georgiewsk, or St 
 George's, a fortified city, in latitude 44° 4', and lon- 
 gitude 42° 47', contains about 3000 inhabitants, some 
 few of whom are citizens or merchants, but the 
 greater part are Cossacks. Mosdok on the Terek, in 
 latitude 43° 43' 46", and longitude 27" 52' 51", con- 
 tains 4000 people, who trade by that river with the 
 Caspian Sea. Kislan Cower, on the same river, in 
 latitude 43° 51' 15", and longitude 46° 20', is a ra- 
 pidly rising place, chiefly from the industry of the 
 Armenians, with 10,000 inhabitants. The city of 
 Orenburg is situated on the river Ural, in latitude 
 51° 46' 5", and longitude 55° 10' 17", and is the 
 head quarters of the military power, and the seat of 
 the provincial government ; it is fortified, the streets 
 paved, and has a good market-place in its centre. It 
 contained in 1820 about 29OO houses, and rather 
 more than 20,000 inhabitants. There are manufac- 
 tures of cloth, linen, soap, and leather. The chief 
 support of the population is derived from commerce. 
 About half a mile from the city stands the exchange, 
 a large mass of square building, containing 392 
 shops, in which the productions of Europe and Asia 
 
RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 473 
 
 are exchanged. The building has two gates, by one 
 of which the Europeans enter, and by the other the 
 Asiatics. The sales effected in this place amount to 
 upwards of 1,000,000 roubles annually. The coun- 
 try round it is a complete waste. Ufa, in latitude 
 54° 42' 45", and longitude 55° 59' 17", has a popu- 
 lation of 6000 inhabitants, of whom one-half are 
 Tartars, who carry on considerable trade, and are 
 employed in agriculture and breeding cattle. Troizk, 
 in latitude 54° 10', and longitude 55° 10' 17", is, 
 next to Orenburg, the most considerable trading 
 place, and has like it an exchange, in which are 300 
 shops. 
 
 Xingdom of Siberia, 
 
 Government. 
 
 Extent in 
 Square Miles. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Capitals. 
 
 a .« \ Tobolsk ... 
 i Irkwzk.... 
 
 3 C 
 
 532,501 
 1,289,056 
 2,655,660 
 
 887,186 
 500,000 
 575,000 
 
 Tobolsk 
 
 Tomsk 
 
 Irkwzk 
 
 In this statement of the population, the numbers 
 of the wandering tribes, who are very numerous, 
 and some very small, is necessarily an estimate, and 
 not the result of that census which has been taken of 
 the settled inhabitants. The extent of land is thus 
 near 1900 acres to each individual of the population. 
 Each of the governments is divided into circles, in 
 which the capital is denominated a city, though the 
 number of its inhabitants, in many cases, scarcely 
 equal those ofthe villages in more civilized countries. 
 
 The city of Tobolsk, in latitude 58° 1 2' 30", and 
 longitude 68° 31', was founded, in 1587, at the junc- 
 tion of the rivers Tobolsk and Irtish ; and contained, 
 in 1820, 25,000 inhabitants, who are employed in the 
 trade for domestic consumption, as well as in the 
 transit trade between China and Europe. Since a 
 great fire in 1784, which destroyed most of the 
 houses, then built of wood, the buildings have been 
 constructed of stone, and on much better plans than 
 formerly. Tomsk, in latitude 56° 29' 39", and lon- 
 gitude 85° 36' 23", is situated on the navigable river 
 of the same name, at its junction with the Uschaika, 
 on the great road to China. It has few manufac- 
 tures, but depends principally on transit trade, and 
 on some great fairs, where much business is transact- 
 ed. Kainsk, in latitude 55° 33', and longitude 78° 40', 
 has 3500 inhabitants, and is the place of a great an- 
 nual fair. Barnaul, in latitude 53° 20', and longi- 
 tude 83° 32' 32", has 6000 inhabitants, who chiefly 
 derive their subsistence from the mines in the sur- 
 rounding district. Korjakow, on the Irtish, has 
 .S500 inhabitants, chiefly employed in mining. Kus- 
 nezk contains 3400, and Krasnoijarsk 3500 inhabit- 
 ants, employed in mining, and in the transit trade with 
 China. Irkuzk is the seat of the governor of the pro- 
 vince, in latitude 52° 16' 41", and longitude 104° 39' 
 17". It contains 30,000 inhabitants, many of whom 
 are Tartars or Chinese, and others, in their dress and 
 manners, approach nearly to those people. It is the 
 chief seat of the trade with China, and for that of furs, 
 which are brought from the north-east coasts of Asia, 
 
 and the north-west shores of America. Okhozk, in 
 latitude 59° 20' 10", and longitude 143° 18' 17", is the 
 easternmost city of the Russian dominion. It is the 
 chief seat of the American Company, and there are 
 many vessels built here for their trade. The inha- 
 bitants are between 2000 and 3000, mostly military 
 men, agents of the company, or ship carpenters. 
 The fishery is productive ; but the attempts to grow 
 corn have been hitherto unsuccessful. The other 
 places, though many of them are denominated cities, 
 are of small population. In the circle of Kamschat- 
 ka, one of the divisions of the government of Irkurzk, 
 there are two places denominated cities, Mishnii 
 and Werchnoi ; the former only with 300, and the 
 latter with 200 inhabitants. 
 
 Islands in the Polar and Eastern Oceans. 
 
 In the Polar Ocean are the groups of New Sibe- 
 ria and of the Bear's Island. The first consists of 
 four large and many smaller islands. They are 
 covered with snow the greater part of the year ; 
 their surface is generally rocky, and on some of them 
 are marks of volcanoes. They are chiefly remarkable 
 for the bones and teeth of the mammoth, rhinoce- 
 ros, buffalo, and other animals, which are found 
 upon and beneath the surface of the ground. The 
 search for this ivory first induced the Russians to 
 visit these islands ; and an expedition for exploring 
 them was equipped in 1820, which had not return- 
 ed when the last dispatches to the government were 
 forwarded. These islands do not appear to be inha- 
 bited, though marks of human beings have been dis- 
 covered by the Russians engaged in the fisheries. The 
 Bear's Island group consists of six small islands, with 
 several kinds of plants and shrubs on them, but no 
 trees ; although their shores are found to be covered 
 with large drift wood. The southernmost point of 
 these islands is in latitude 69° 5', and they extend to 
 latitude 76° 20'. Their longitude is between 154° 
 and 183° 50' east. 
 
 In the Eastern Ocean the islands are thus classed : 
 1st, The islands of Gevosbewy and Nelken, in 
 Behring's Straits, in latitude 65° 4', with about 400 
 people. 
 
 2d, St Lawrence, latitude 63° 40', and longitude 
 190° 26', and three smaller islands on the south-east 
 of it. 
 
 3d, St Mathew's, in latitude 6o°, in the sea of 
 Kamtschatka, consisting of three islands, one of which 
 was named by some early British navigators Pin- 
 nacle Island. 
 
 4!th, The Prebelow Islands, in latitude 57°. Two 
 of them have been named St Paul and St George. 
 The former is about 28 miles long, and 20 broad, 
 and both are well stocked with animals whose furs 
 are valuable, 
 
 5th, The Aleutian Islands. This is a chain of 
 islands extending from the peninsula of Kamtschatka 
 to the American peninsula of Alaschka, between 51° 
 and 55° 10' north latitude, and l67° and 197° east 
 longitude. (See Aleutian Islands in this Supple- 
 ment.) 
 
 6th, The Kurile Islands. This chain extends from 
 north latitude 43° 48' to 50° 56', and from longitude 
 145° 5' to 156° 30' east. They are evidently of vol- 
 
 Asiatic 
 Russia. 
 
474 
 
 RUSSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 American 
 Russia. 
 
 canic origin. In some of them good water is found, 
 but others are utterly destitute of it. The few in- 
 habitants are of Japanese origin. Many of these 
 islands have hitherto obtained no European names ; 
 but nineteen of the most considerable have been 
 named by the Russians. 
 
 Provinces of Caucasus. 
 
 Government. 
 
 Extent in 
 Square 
 Miles. 
 
 Popula- 
 tion. 
 
 Capitals. 
 
 "o . /Grusia .. 
 
 C g Tscherkessia 
 "i 1 iDaghestan... 
 ^ VSchirwan .... 
 
 26,64'5 
 5,077 
 
 32,547 
 9,249 
 9,493 
 
 600,000 
 56,000 
 800,000 
 184,000 
 120,000 
 
 Teflis. 
 
 Anakria. 
 
 Waldikawkas. 
 
 Derbent. 
 
 Baku. 
 
 Thus it appears there is one human being to 645 
 acres of land. 
 
 Grusia is recently so denominated by the Russians 
 from the river of that name, but is better known by 
 the Asiatic name Curdistan, or the European name 
 Georgia. It is subdivided into the provinces of 
 Imeretus, Mingrelia, and Guria, and further divided 
 into circles, or districts. The greater part of these 
 provinces were wrested from Persia in the war which 
 terminated in 1813 ; or the authority over the native 
 princes was acquired at different periods. From 
 having been long the seat of bloody and wasting 
 hostilities, the country has become almost depopu- 
 lated ; but, under a settled government, such as it has 
 now acquired, as much of the land is fertile, it has 
 rapidly increased in population and cultivation, and 
 many of the wandering tribes are gradually becoming 
 stationary. The city of Teflis, in latitude 41° 28' 30", 
 and longitude 44° 23', is the capital, containing 1 8,000 
 inhabitants, besides the Russian garrison. It is a 
 placeof considerable commerce with Turkey,and with 
 Persia, and by the navigable river Kur, is connected 
 with the Caspian Sea. Anakaria, though called a 
 city by the Russians, is rather a military post than 
 a civil or trading place. Waldikawkus is also a mi- 
 litary station, considered as the key to the Caucasian 
 provinces, and rapidly increasing. Derbent, in la- 
 titude 42° 5' 45", and longitude 47° 45', on the Cas- 
 pian Sea, contains a population of 4000 persons, 
 mostly Mahomedans, who are employed in manu- 
 factures of cotton, silk, carpets, and leather. The 
 vineyards around the city produce excellent wine. 
 Taxki, the capital of one of the ancient princes, or 
 khans, in latitude 42° 59', and longitude 46° 58', 
 contains 10,000 inhabitants, employed in making 
 silk goods, and in agriculture. Baku is a Russian 
 fortress of the first class. In it is the palace built 
 by Shah Abbas. The harbour is the best on the 
 Caspian Sea, from which wheat, maize, wine, silk, 
 opium, salt, saltpetre, and naphtha, are exported. 
 
 American Russia. 
 The claim of Russia to that dominion on the west 
 coast of North America, which is now to be discus- 
 sed by different powers, is founded on the right of 
 prior discovery. In 164^, as the Russians assert, a 
 
 person named Deschneew sailed from the river Ka- Araericar 
 lyma, and passed round Cape Shelatskoi to Kamt- ^"ssia. 
 schatka. His account of this voyage was generally 
 discredited in Europe, and scarcely engaged any at- 
 tention in Russia itself; where no measures were 
 taken to verify the narration till the year 1725, 
 when Behrings was equipped for northern discovery, 
 and, in 172S, succeeded in passing through the straits 
 separating Asia from America, which have since 
 borne his name. In that and the following year, 
 with TschirikofF and Spangberg, he reached the la- 
 titude 67° 1 8', and next year explored the Kurile 
 Islands. In 1730 and 1731, Gwosdew and Krupis- 
 chew made the land of America, in latitude 66°, and 
 Behrings himself that part which lies in latitude 
 58° 28'. Captain Cook, in 1778, explored the whole 
 of this coast, as high as latitude 70° 44' ; and has 
 since been followed by the other English navigators 
 Clarke, Vancouver, Dixon, Portlock, and Meares; by 
 the Frenchman Peyrouse, and by the Russian Bil- 
 lings. These several officers have given names to 
 the different capes, inlets, and rivers. The Russian 
 government was desirous to appropriate to itself the 
 beneficial trade in furs which this extensive district 
 furnished. With this view the American Company 
 was formed in 1799- It soon established its chief 
 factory on the island Kodjah, and founded several 
 smaller dependant branches along the American 
 shore from latitude 55°, and even to Badoga, in lati- 
 tude 38° 50', in the vicinity of the Spanish settle- 
 ments. It does not appear, by any accounts that 
 have reached us, how far the government of Russia 
 laid claim to the exclusive right of trading with those 
 countries till the year 1822; when iki Ukase was 
 issued, asserting a right, not only to the whole coast 
 from latitude 51° northwards, but to the seas which 
 border them, to the extent of 100 leagues from the 
 shores. Notice to this effect has been formally given 
 to the British and United States' ships ; and the trade 
 hitherto carried on by them has been prohibited. 
 The British claim the whole coast from latitude 51° 
 to 56° 30' ; whilst the Americans have some preten- 
 sions to portions of it. 
 
 Without entering farther^ into the different views 
 which may be entertained by the several claimants to 
 the dominion of the countries, designated by us as 
 New Albion, New Hanover, New Cornwall, and 
 New Norfolk, we shall consider the territory of Rus- 
 sia as extending from 56° SO' to 71° north; and from 
 the point of Alaska to Mackenzie's River from west 
 to east ; thus extending over 14° 30' of latitude, and 
 27° 40' of longitude. Unless we knew the trending 
 of the land between Mackenzie's River and Behring's 
 Straits, which will be ascertained if Captain Parry 
 should succeed in the object of his present voyage, 
 any estimate of its extent can only be an approxima- 
 tion to the truth. The medium calculation would 
 make it extend over 512,000 square miles. The se- 
 veral Russian factories on this coast contain from 
 800 to 1000 people on the whole, who traffic with 
 the Aborigines for peltry, and direct such of them 
 as have been reduced to obedience, and a kind of ci- 
 vilization, as to the spots which they shall select for 
 hunting. The furs collected here are nearly of the 
 same description as are furnished from Hudson's 
 
R U S 
 
 Bay. The capital of the company, that conducts 
 the whole Russian operations in America, amounts 
 to 2,747jOOO roubles ; each share receives a dividend 
 of 156 roubles ; and the present value of their actions 
 ' is 3700 roubles. The Emperor, as protector of the 
 company, receives one-tenth of all the furs for his 
 share. The factories of the company are in general 
 only an assemblage of huts, defended by palisades, 
 and just sufficiently strong to protect the property 
 from any attacks that the tribes of Indians can 
 make. The country, even close to them, remains in 
 a state of nature, except at the southernmost of them, 
 Bodago, in latitude 38° 20', where, under the guns 
 of the fort, about 100 huts are erected, inhabited by 
 Russians and natives, who cultivate corn, potatoes, 
 turnips, and hemp. 
 
 The recent voyage of the Russian Captain Kotze- 
 bue has thrown much light on the geography of the 
 north-west coast of America, and we hope for still 
 
 RUT 
 
 475 
 
 greater information from the present expedition un- AmericaH 
 der Captain Parry. Russia 
 (Besides the works already referred to in this ar- j^ufjl^^j 
 tide, see Russland oder das Russ. Reich u. s, tv., von shhc ' 
 K. Mor von Bromsen. Berlin, 1819. D'drstellungder 
 Russ. Monarchie nach ihreti 'uoichtigsfen Politischen 
 Beziehungen, von B. von Wickmann. Leipzig, 
 1814. Vollstandiges Handbuch der neuesten Erde- 
 heschreibung, von Gaspari, Hassel, Cannabich, und 
 Gutsmuths. Weimar, 1821. Clarke's Travels in 
 Various Countries of Europe, Asia, and Africa. 
 Klaproth's Reise durch Russland und Siberia nach 
 Mongolischen Tartar ei. TUbingen, 1815. Engel- 
 hardt und Parrot, Reise durch die Krim und den 
 Kaukasus. Berlin, 1815. Ehrmanns und Lind- 
 ners Neueste Kunde, von Asien. Weimar, 1812. 
 Guide du Voyageur en Pologne. Varsovie, 1820. 
 Tableau de la Pologne, ancienne et moderne, par 
 Malte-Brun. Paris, 1807-) (w. w.) 
 
 mndaries, RUTLANDSHIRE, an English county, nearly 
 ttent, and in the centre of the kingdom, and the smallest of all 
 ivisions. the divisions so denominated. It is bounded by Lin- 
 colnshire on the east and north-east, by Leicester- 
 shire on the north-west and west, and by North- 
 amptonshire on the south. Its length, from north 
 to south, is sixteen, and its breadth, from east to 
 west, is twelve miles. The square contents are 200 
 miles, or 128,000 acres. It is divided into five 
 hundreds, and contains two market towns, Upping- 
 ham and Okeham, and 49 parishes ; being a greater 
 number, in proportion to its extent, than any other 
 county in the kingdom. 
 Dlitical It gives only one title at present, that of Duke, to 
 ate. the family of Manners ; two former peerages, that of 
 Ferrars of Oakham, and Noel of Exton, being ex- 
 tinct. Only two members are returned to the] House 
 of Commons from the county, and none from either 
 of the towns. In judicial affairs, it is on the mid- 
 land circuit of the judges; and in ecclesiastical mat- 
 ters it has formed, since the year 1541, a portion of 
 the bishoprick of Peterborough. 
 ICC of the The appearance of this small county is pleasing to 
 •untry. ^.j^g traveller. It is much diversified by ranges of 
 moderate hills, rvmning from east to west, in some 
 parts well timbered. Between these ranges of hills 
 the valleys, of about half a mile in breadth, are lux- 
 uriant and verdant. The principal vale, called Cat« 
 mose, is in the centre of the county, having to 
 the north a tract of table land, overlooking the 
 well wooded plains of Leicester, Lincoln, and Not- 
 tinghamshire. The eastern part is more diversified ; 
 the southern division of it consisting of a beautiful 
 valley, stretching towards Northamptonshire, and the 
 western, bordering on Leicestershire, being abun- 
 dantly wooded, 
 n and The soil on the east and south-east parts is chiefly 
 shallow, resting upon a basis of limestone, compos- 
 ed of clays and loams. The other parts consist 
 principally of a tenacious but fertile loam ; but the 
 vale of Catmose enjoys a most fertile soil of good 
 clay, or red loam, or a grateful mixture of both those 
 earths. A peculiarity of the soil is a redness which 
 
 generally prevails, and which tinges all the waters 
 of the country. 
 
 Mr Parkinson, surveyor for the Board of Agricul- 
 ture, estimates the land of the county in the follow- 
 ing manner, viz. 
 
 Pasture land 34,861 acres. 
 
 Arable land 42,536 
 
 Wastes 30 
 
 Woods 2,815 
 
 Meadows 9,356 
 
 Commons 693 
 
 Plantations 65 
 
 Lakes and ponds 44 
 
 The woods of this county were far more exten- 
 sive in former ages than they are at present. The 
 ancient forest of Leafield, and the chase of Beaumont, 
 though now under the plough, once occupied a great 
 portion of the surface. The climate is generally ac- 
 counted peculiarly soft and healthy ; and the eleva- 
 tion is of that medium kind which equally exempts 
 it from the pernicious effects of moist exhalations and 
 cold mountain fogs. 
 
 The agriculture, though it has partaken of some Agriculture, 
 modern improvements, is not conducted, upon the 
 whole, in the best manner. In some parts, the 
 reprobated system of two corn crops succeeding 
 a fallow is still continued. In other parts, after 
 a fallow, barley is sown with clover ; the clover is 
 mowed two years, or sometimes fed the second 
 year, and then, after one ploughing, the land is 
 sown with wheat. In some cases, on the lighter lands, 
 the four course system of turnips, barley, clover, 
 and wheat, is followed. The wheat of Rutlandshire 
 is highly valued for seed, and much in request in 
 even very distant counties. Nearly two-thirds of 
 the land are tithe free, and in all the late inclosures, 
 provisions to that end have been inserted in the 
 acts of Parliament for effecting them. The cows of 
 Rutlandshire are remarkable for the richness of their 
 milk, though they yield but a small quantity. The 
 rich cheese, commonly known as Stilton,, is chiefly 
 
476 
 
 Rutland- 
 shire 
 
 11 
 
 Salop. 
 
 Rivers and 
 Canal. 
 
 RUT 
 
 made in the dairies of this county. As many oxen 
 are brought from the more northern countries, and 
 fattened in Rutlandshire, as are bred within it : the 
 annual number of each is from 2700 to 3000. The 
 sheep are more numerous in proportion than horned 
 cattle. Mr Parkinson calculated them to be about 
 80,000 ; consisting of old and new Leicesters, of South- 
 downs, and a few Lincolnshires. It has been re- 
 marked, that though the quality of the wool has in- 
 creased in fineness, the diminution in the weight of 
 the fleeces has of late years more than counterba- 
 lanced that advantage. 
 
 The small rivulets that water this district run mto 
 the two rivers, the Guash, or Wash, which passes 
 through it, or the Walland, which forms its southern 
 boundary. The latter river is navigable only to 
 Stamford, on the confines of Rutlandshire ; but is 
 useful in opening a communication with the ocean. 
 A canal has been constructed from Oakham to Mel- 
 
 Rutland-, 
 shire J 
 
 Salop. I 
 
 SAL 
 
 ton Mowbray, by which a supply of coals has been 
 drawn from the mines of Leicestershire. 
 
 Rutlandshire is neither a manufacturing nor a mi- 
 neral district, but depends exclusively on its agricul- 
 ture. By the returns in 1801, the inhabitants were™ . . 
 16,356; viz. 7978 males, and 8378 females; in igll ^"P"^*'*"" 
 the numbers were 16,380, viz. 7931 males, and 84?4'9 
 females; in 1821 they were 18,487, viz. 9223 males, 
 and 9264- females. 
 
 The residences of noblemen and gentlemen in this 
 county hold nearly the same proportion as in the 
 other divisions of England ; the most remarkable 
 are, Ayston, G. B. Breidnell, Esq. ; Burley on the 
 Hill, Earl of Winchelsea ; Cotsmore House, Earl of 
 Lonsdale ; Exton, Colonel Noel ; Lyndon, Thomas 
 Barker, Esq.; Normanton, Sir Gilbert Heathcote; 
 Ryall, Matthew Pierrepoint, Esq. 
 
 See Parkinson's Agricultural Survey ; and Beau- 
 ties of England and Wales. (w. w.) 
 
 SAL 
 
 Civil and 
 Ecclesias- 
 tical Divi- 
 sions. 
 
 SALOP, or SHROPSHIRE, an inland county of 
 Extent and England. It is bounded on the north by Cheshire, 
 Boundaries, and the Welsh counties of Flint and Denbigh ; on 
 the west by the Welsh counties of Denbigh, Mont- 
 gomery, and Radnor ; on the south by Herefordshire 
 and Worcestershire ; and on the east by Staffordshire. 
 It is of an oblong figure, extending from north to 
 south, and contains a variety of projections and in- 
 dentations. Its greatest length is about 46, and its 
 greatest breadth 37 miles. Its superficial contents 
 are 1341 square miles, or 854,240 statute acres. 
 
 This county is divided into fifteen districts, or 
 hundreds, of which five are on the north-east side of 
 the river Severn, three extend to both banks of that 
 river, and the remainder are on its south-west side. 
 The ecclesiastical divisions of the county are into the 
 diocese of Lichfield and Coventry, extending over 
 114 churches,— of Hereford over 127,— of Worces- 
 ter over 3, — and of St Asaph over 12 ; — besides 
 which there are 6 in the peculiar jurisdiction of 
 Bridgenorth, making in the whole 262 churches, of 
 which 229 are parochial. 
 Population. The population of this county has increased at a 
 much less ratio, between the census of 1811 and 
 that of 1821, than that of any other of the English 
 or Welsh counties ; the average increase of the king- 
 dom being 16 per cent, and that of Shropshire only 
 5 per cent. By the latter enumeration, the number 
 of individuals was 206,153; of whom 102,056 were 
 males, and 104,097 females. The number of fami- 
 lies were 41,636 ; of whom 18,414 were chiefly era- 
 ployed in agriculture, 17,485 in trade, manufactures, 
 or handicraft, and 5737 were not comprised in 
 either of those classes. The number of houses were 
 38,663 inhabited, 179 building, and 1012 unin- 
 habited. 
 
 Face of the The face of the country is much diversified. On 
 Country. western side it has the wild appearance of the 
 
 adjoining principality of Wales. Throughout the 
 
 rest of the county the land is rather undulating, to- 
 lerably wooded, and with many beautiful rivulets 
 meandering along the different valleys. The whole 
 tract of country, from Wellington to the termination 
 of the county between Oswestry and Chirk, exhibits 
 the mild beauties of a fertile and cultivated dis- 
 trict, inclosed by well formed hedges into. fields, of 
 dimensions well calculated for advantageous husban- 
 dry ; and ornamented with several domains of noble- 
 men and gentlemen, which present a most pleasing 
 succession of pictures to the traveller. 
 
 That singular insulated mountain, the Wrekin, 
 rising from a plain to the height of 1100 feet, exhi- 
 bits its sugar-loaf form over the tops of the smaller 
 elevations in its vicinity, and increases the interest of 
 the scenery. In the southern division of the county, 
 the Brown Clee Hill, and the Titterson Clee Hill, 
 rise to greater elevations than the Wrekin, and pro- 
 duce much picturesque variety. 
 
 In a county of such extent, the soil must be very Soil and ( 
 varied. On the eastern side, the valleys are flat and mate, 
 warm, and the soil generally of a sandy nature. In 
 the middle part, the soil is more tenacious, and the 
 bottoms of the wider valleys have frequently a stiff 
 but rich clay. On the most western parts, the soil 
 is very shallow, resting upon rocks of varied descrip- 
 tions; and is better calculated for sheep pasture 
 than for producing grain. There are some moor 
 lands, but inclosures and drainage have considerably 
 diminished their extent. A very great portion of 
 the soil rests on a limestone subsoil ; and almost the 
 whole of the plains are easy to work with light 
 ploughs, and two or three horses. The easterly 
 winds generally prevail in the spring, and the wester- 
 ly in autumn ; the former are more remarkable for 
 their regularity than the latter. The whole of the 
 county enjoys a salubrious air ; but on the hills, on 
 the western side, the cold of winter is most intense- 
 ly felt. 
 
SAL 
 
 Salop. The chief river is the Severn, whicli runs through 
 ••"v^^ the whole extent of the county from north-west to 
 ^^"■^1 south-east. It is navigable at all seasons to the 
 kes, Ca- gj.jgtQi Channel downwards, and in wet seasons up- 
 
 I? mi CI 
 
 lilroads. vvards to Welshpool, in Montgomeryshire. The na- 
 vigation is, however, at all times, impeded by many 
 obstructions. In dry weather, the fords are only 
 passable- with difficulty, and in very wet weather the 
 floods cover the banks, and extend so far over the 
 level land on both sides, that the barges cannot be 
 drawn up, from wanting a path on which the men 
 I who draw them can securely walk. It is one of the 
 
 i singularities of this navigation, that men are employ- 
 
 i ed instead of horses, as on other rivers, to draw the 
 
 vessels against the stream. Imperfect as this navi- 
 gation is, it is, however, the chief source of the 
 wealth of the country, as affording the means of con- 
 veying to good markets the various heavy produc- 
 tions which it yields. The fish found in the Severn, 
 in its course through Shropshire, are salmon, pike, 
 flounders, grayling, and eels. There are also some lam- 
 preys in the Shropshire part of the Severn, but they 
 are less abundant than in the lower parts of the river. 
 The principal tributary rivers are the Camlet, the 
 Vyrnwey, the Tern, the Clun, the Ony, and the 
 Teme. There are, besides, innumerable rivulets and 
 streams, which adorn and fertilize the country. The 
 lakes of Shropshire, though neither numerous nor 
 extensive, form a variety in its landscapes rarely to 
 be seen in the midland counties of England. Ad- 
 joining the town of Ellesmere is a beautiful lake of 
 116 acres, with some others smaller near it. On the 
 western side of the county is Marton Pool, of 45 
 acres. On the north of the Severn are Fennymere, 
 Llynclyspool, and Ancot ; and at Shrawardine is a 
 fine lake of 40 acres. That side of the county which 
 most abounds in running streams has few or no lakes. 
 The canals of this county, if not equal in extent 
 to those in some others, yield to none in their 
 construction, or the obstacles they have surmounted, 
 or in the beneficial consequences by which they have 
 been followed. The first canal was a private under- 
 taking by a Mr Reynolds, completed in 1788, for 
 the conveyance of his iron-stone and coals. It was 
 a short canal, but a descent of seventy-three feet was 
 conducted by a well contrived inclined plane, and 
 double railroad, by means of which the loaded boat 
 passing down drew up another with a load, nearly- 
 equal to one-third of its own weight. This contriv- 
 ance was found to be applicable to similar purposes, 
 upon a larger scale, and was speedily adopted by a 
 company who, under the power of an act of Par- 
 liament, soon constructed the Shropshire Canal, 
 which passes through the most considerable iron and 
 coal works, till it reaches the Severn. The Elles- 
 mere Canal is a most important undertaking, as by it 
 a communication is opened between the Severn and 
 all the great canals and rivers in the north of Eng- 
 land. Bristol and Liverpool are thus become con- 
 nected by inland navigation, and the rivers Severn, 
 Dee, Mersey, Trent, and Humber, are united for the 
 purposes of conveyance. In districts where the in- 
 equalities of the surface would not admit of canals, 
 iron railways have been constructed, on which heavy 
 goods are conveyed, in appropriate waggons, with a 
 great saving in the expence of carriage. 
 
 VOL. VI. PART II. 
 
 SAL 477 
 
 There are few counties in which the agricultural Salop, 
 business is, on the whole, better conducted than ^— «^^— / 
 Shropshire. The land is very well adapted for the Agriculture, 
 turnip cultivation, and the large flocks of sheep 
 which are commonly fed on that valuable root a 
 great part of the year, supply abundance of manure 
 for the due cultivation of the different kinds of 
 grain. The most prevailing breed of sheep are the 
 Southdown, but many of the New Leicesters are to 
 be seen, and in the hilly parts of the county are 
 many of the fine-woolled Welsh sheep. The mea- 
 dows on the banks of the Severn, and on the flat 
 lands contiguous to the smaller streams, afford pas- 
 turage for numerous cows, whose milk, when con- 
 verted into cheese, is commonly sold under the de- 
 nomination of Cheshire. The corn generally culti- 
 vated is either wheat, barley, oats, or pease, and the 
 crops, on an average, equal in productiveness those 
 of the best districts of the kingdom. Hops are 
 grown in small quantities on that part of the 
 county which adjoins to Herefordshire. Some small 
 portions of land are appropriated to the growth of 
 hemp and flax. The cultivation of potatoes has 
 been very much extended of late years, and now 
 furnishes a large proportion of the aliment of the 
 labouring part of the population. The growth of 
 hay, and the cultivation of artificial grasses, are more 
 neglected than any other branch of rural economy. 
 On the flat lands, the deposits from the overflowing 
 of the streams sufficiently enriches them without any 
 artificial manure ; but from the embankments being 
 neglected, the hay produced on such situations is 
 liable to be much injured by the floods that fre- 
 quently occur in summer. 
 
 A great portion of the wealth of this county con- Minerals 
 sists in the mineral productions, which are most"^ 
 profusely found beneath its surface. The chief of 
 these are lead, iron, limestone, freestone, pipe-clay, 
 and coals. The lead is procured in considerable 
 quantities chiefly from the mines of the Hope and 
 Snailbeach. The matrix of the ore is crystallized 
 quartz, sulphate and carbonate of barytes, and car- 
 bonate of lime. The iron ore is found contiguous 
 to the coal, and frequently close to it. This is 
 especially the case about Colebrook Dale, a division 
 peculiarly rich in those minerals. This district is 
 about eight miles long and two broad, on the banks 
 of the Severn, on the western side of the Wrekin, 
 and running parallel with it, from north-east to 
 south-west. The whole, but especially the southern 
 part of the coal district, is considerably above the 
 plain of Shropshire, so that at one part the height is 
 500 feet above the Severn. The works of the 
 Dale supply both ore and coal, as well as limestone, 
 in great quantities ; and every part of the process, 
 from digging the ore to the completion of the ma- 
 nufacture, including the conversion of the coal into 
 coke, is performed on the spot. Arthur Young, de- 
 scribing this part of the county, says, Colebrook 
 Dale is a winding glen, between two immense hills, 
 which break into various forms, being all thickly 
 covered, and forming most beautiful sheets of hang- 
 ing woods. The noise of the forges, mills, furnaces, 
 &c., with all their vast machinery ; the flames burst- 
 ing from the furnaces, with the burning coal, and 
 the smoke of the limekilns, are altogether horribly 
 3 p 
 
478 S A L 
 
 Salop, sublime.*' A bridge of cast iron, the first, we be- 
 '^'^s/^^ lieve, constructed in this kingdom, thrown over the 
 Severn, gives to the whole scenery a most romantic 
 appearance. Soon after it was ascertained that iron 
 might be made with coals, reduced to the state of 
 coke, as well as from wood, the operation of coking 
 was begun here by Lord Dundonald, with a view to 
 obtain the fossil tar in the course of the process. 
 This operation led to the discovery of that gas, ex- 
 tracted from coal, whose brilliant light now serves 
 to illuminate so many of our streets and public 
 buildings. In this dale was discovered, in opening 
 a coal mine, a copious spring of fossil tar. It yield- 
 ed, at first, very plenteously, but the quantity dimi- 
 nished in a few years, and though it still runs, its pro- 
 duce is but of small amount. Though the iron-works 
 in this dale were the first begun, on a large scale, 
 they are by no means confined to it ; for in many 
 other parts of the county, they are carried on to an 
 extent that is unequalled in any other country but 
 Great Britain. 
 
 Manufac- Besides the process of separating the iron from 
 tures and its ore, and bringing it into the state of bar-iron and 
 Trade. pjg.iron, the other steps in the application of that 
 mineral to general purposes are made within this 
 county. The larger kind of iron goods, whether 
 cast or wrought, are prepared, and most of the iron 
 bridges which have been erected in different parts 
 of the kingdom have been formed here into such a 
 state as only to require to be put together in the 
 places where they were destined to be ultimately 
 fixed. Some of the largest establishments for making 
 porcelain have been formed here, especially that for 
 iron-stone china in Colebrook Dale, which has lowered 
 the price of that beautiful commodity so as to bring 
 it within the reach of a greater number of consumers 
 than could formerly afford it. Manufactures of a 
 coarser kind of earthenware, and of tobacco pipes, 
 are carried on at Broseley and other places. The 
 raw materials of which these articles are formed are al- 
 most all found near the spots where they are converted 
 to those useful and profitable purposes. The manu- 
 facture of cotton has been recently introduced into 
 this county, and establishments formed at Coleham 
 and some other places, which rival the largest fac- 
 tories in the county of Lancaster. Many branches 
 of the linen trade have been long, though not ex- 
 tensively, carried on in the northern part of the 
 county. Some of the coarser kinds of woollens are 
 made in different districts ; but none of the estab* 
 lishments for their fabrication are upon an extensive 
 scale. The trade in Welsh flannels centres in a 
 great degree in Shrewsbury. The merchants of that 
 town repair to the markets of Welshpool and Os- 
 westry, and make their purchases of the small coun- 
 try weavers, who bring their goods in an unfinished 
 state ; and the pieces are rendered fit for the mar., 
 kets to which they are destined by the Shrewsbury 
 traders, A coarser kind of woollens, called Welsh 
 webs, are prepared in the same manner, and are ex- 
 ported to the West Indies for clothing the ne- 
 groes. 
 
 Shrewsbury. Shrewsbury, the county town of Shropshire, from 
 its vicinity to Wales, in which the towns are few, and 
 from its distance from any other large town, has ever 
 
 SAL 
 
 been considered as a kind of provincial capital. It is Salop, 
 situated on a circular peninsula, of considerable ele- '"^^'"^^ 
 vation, formed by the curvatures of the Severn. It 
 presents, at every approach, a pleasing variety of 
 views ; and the noble sweep of the river, which seems 
 to embrace it, heightens at every turn the charm of 
 the scenery. The exterior ranges of houses com- 
 mand the rich and beautiful landscapes of the sur- 
 rounding country. The stately spires of two vener- 
 able churches, and the massive towers of the castle, 
 give that imposing grandeur to the whole which is 
 commonly felt in contemplating the works of anti- 
 quity. The walks between the river and the town 
 are finely shaded by an avenue of lofty trees, and 
 furnish an agreeable promenade to the inhabitants. 
 The interior of the town by no means corresponds 
 with its external beauty. The streets are intricate- 
 ly dispersed, many of them steep and narrow, and 
 all badly paved. They exhibit a strange contrast of 
 ancient and modern buildings, and are as uncouth 
 in their names as in their appearance. This town, 
 as well as many other parts of the county, exhibits 
 now many interesting remains of antiquity. Among 
 these is the castle, placed on the narrow neck of 
 land, by which the only entrance to the town can be 
 gained without passing a bridge. The remains consist 
 of the keep, a square building of 100 feet, connected 
 with two towers ; the walls of the inner court ; and 
 the great arch of the interior gate. The keep 
 is the most perfect of the whole mass of building. 
 The walls of this building are ten feet in thickness, 
 and its beams of very large dimensions. It is stated 
 to have been built by Roger de Montgomery, the 
 Norman, as a feudal hold ; but being forfeited to the 
 crown in the reign of Henry I., was used as a royal 
 fortress in subsequent periods, to check the incursions 
 of the less civilized Welsh. The remains of the ab- 
 bey , erected by the same founder as the castle, rewards 
 the lover of antiquities for the inspection of them. 
 The most perfect of the remains of this edifice is an 
 octagonal structure six feet in diameter, usually call- 
 ed the Stone Pulpit, standing upon a portion of the 
 ruined wall. It is crowned by an obtuse dome of 
 stone-work at about eight feet from the base, sup- 
 ported on six narrow pointed arches rising on pillars. 
 The ancient Church of St Chad, which fell down in 
 1788, presents an interesting group of ruins. That 
 of St Mary, founded by Edgar, as well as St Alk- 
 munds, founded by Queen Elifleda, daughter of Offa, 
 King of Mercia, have received such alterations in 
 more recent periods, that they exhibit the architec- 
 tural taste of several successive ages. The charitable 
 institutions of Shrewsbury, consisting of hospitals, 
 infirmary, schools, and other establishments, rather 
 exceed the proportion to be found in other places of 
 equal population, and do much credit to the liberali- 
 ty of the natives. 
 
 Our limits do not admit of lengthened descrip- AntiquUie 
 tions of the numerous remains of ancient architec- 
 ture which are still existing in this county. The 
 most remarkable are Haugmond Abbey, about four 
 miles from Shrewsbury ; the walls of Wroxeter, 
 of British and Roman construction ; the Abbey 
 of Buildwas, founded in 1135 by Roger, Bishop 
 of Chester, for monks of the Cistercian order ; 
 
SAXONY. 
 
 the Monastery of Wenlock, founded in 680, de- 
 stroyed by the Danes, and afterwards re-establish- 
 ed ; the Roman Camp called the Walls at Quat- 
 ford ; the Castle of Ludlow, celebrated for its 
 splendour in the reigns of Henry VIII. and of 
 Elizabeth ; — during the latter period the residence 
 of the Sidneys, and in the reign of Charles I. 
 immortalized as the place where Milton compos- 
 ed some of his works ; Wannington Castle, near 
 Oswestry, a house of strength before the Norman 
 Conquest ; Lilleshall Abbey, near Newport, with 
 one of the most highly adorned Norman arches in 
 the kingdom ; and Boscobel House, with the oak in 
 the grounds near it which served as a shelter to 
 Charles H. when, after the battle of Worcester, he 
 was closely pursued by the victorious party. 
 
 Shropshire returns to Parliament two members for 
 the county, and two each for the boroughs of 
 Shrewsbury, Ludlow, Wenlock, Bridgenorth, and 
 Bishop's Castle. 
 
 The titles of peers derived from the county are 
 — Earl of Shrewsbury, and Barons Hill and For- 
 rester. As there are fewer titles derived from this 
 county, so the seats of peers are much fewer than 
 in any other of the same extent. The most re- 
 markable residences of noblemen and gentlemen 
 are t!ic following : Walcot Hall, Earl Powis ; Hard- 
 wicke, Lord Hill ; Ross Hall and Willey Park, Lord 
 Forrester ; Apley Park, Thomas Whitmore, M. P. ; 
 Dudmaston, William Whitmore, M. P. ; Pitchford, 
 Honourable C. C. C. Jenkinson, M. P. ; Hodnett, 
 Reginald Heber, M. P. ; Hawkstone, Sir Richard 
 Hill, Bart. M. P. ; Kinlet Hall. W. C. Childe, Esq. 
 M. P. ; Stanley Hall, Sir T. Tyrwhit Jones, Bart. ; 
 Altingham, Lord Berwick ; Manor House, Sir G. 
 Jerningham, Bart. ; Pradoe, Honourable Thomas 
 Kenyon ; Pentrepant Hall, Honourable F. West ; 
 Orlaton Hall, William Cludde, Esq. ; Downton 
 Castle, Richard Payne Knight, Esq. ; Oakley Park, 
 Honourable Robert Clive; Plowden Hall, Edward 
 Plowden, Esq.; Audlim, Lady Cotton. 
 
 By the census of 1821, the population of the 
 towns was as follows: Shrewsbury, 21,695; Wen- 
 lock, 17,265; Wellington, 8390; Hales Owen, 8187; 
 Ellesmere, 6056 ; Bridgenorth, 4345; Ludlow, 4820; 
 Oswestry, 3910; Newport, 2343; Bishop's Castle, 
 1880. 
 
 See Plymley's Survey of Shropshire; Aikin's 
 Tour; Telford's Account of the Inland Navigation 
 of Shropshire ; Antiquities of Shrewsbury, by the 
 Rev. Hugh Owen; and Beauties of England and 
 Wales. (w. w.) 
 
 SAXONY. The kingdom of Saxony has been 
 formed out of the principality of the same name. 
 The duchy from which the sovereign dignity arose 
 was no part of tjie ancient duchy, but a Vandal pro- 
 vince, which Albert, Margrave of Saltzweded, seized 
 and transmitted as an inheritance to his son Bernard. 
 This Bernard received the ducal rank from the Em- 
 peror Frederick, usually distinauished by the name 
 of Rothbar, or Redbeard ; ana nis territories were 
 spread out from the Weser to the Rhine, and from 
 Westphalia to the borders of Bohemia. In these 
 turbulent times power was necessary to preserve the 
 
 dominion possessed by the petty sovereigns j and di- 
 visions arising between different branches of the fa- 
 mily, the other Saxon duchies were formed into in- 
 dependent states, leaving to the descendants of Ber- 
 nard the sovereignty over the Margravate of Meissen, 
 and that of Saxony in a contracted state ; whilst the 
 houses of Gotha, of Weimar, of Coburg, and some 
 others, inherited the whole of the western parts, 
 which Albert had seized. Meissen and the remain- 
 ing part of Saxony was then formed into one inde- 
 pendent state, on which the electoral dignity was 
 conferred by the Emperor Charles V. because of 
 the adverse conduct of the Elector of the house of 
 Weimar, the oldest branch of the family, in the wars 
 which arose from the reformation of Luther. 
 
 From that period till the war of the French 
 Revolution, though its territories had been oc- 
 cupied, and its capital taken by Frederick of Prus- 
 sia, Saxony had experienced but little alteration. 
 When France attacked Prussia in 1806, the Elec- 
 tor of Saxony took part with the latter power, 
 but the reverse occasioned by the battle of Jena 
 compelled him to join the conqueror. An alliance 
 was formed between Buonaparte and the Elector, 
 who, as the Empire of Germany was dissolved, and 
 the electoral dignity annihilated, assumed, under the 
 sanction of the Ruler of France, the rank and 
 title of King. The newly created King maintained 
 with good faith the alliance, which necessity had com- 
 pelled him to form, till the overthrow of the French 
 armies, in the decisive battle of Leipsic, occasioned 
 in part by the defection of his troops ; on which event 
 he was taken prisoner by the allied sovereigns in 
 that city, and his dominions placed under sequestra- 
 tion. When, at length, he was reinstated on his 
 throne, nearly one-half of his subjects were forced 
 to transfer their allegiance to the Prussian monarch, 
 to whose kingdom was added the duchy of Saxony 
 itself, comprising the most fertile part of his domi- 
 nions. 
 
 The kingdom of Saxony, in its present state, is a Extent, 
 compact and connected territory. It extends from Boundaries, 
 28° 5' to 31° 13' east longitude, and from 50° 10' to^."^ Popula- 
 51° 31' north latitude. It is bounded on the north 
 and north-east by Prussia; on the south-east and 
 south by Austria; on the south-west by Bavaria; 
 on the west by the principality of Reus and the 
 duchy of Saxe Gotha, and on the north-west by 
 Prussia. Its square extent is about 7150 miles, or 
 4,625,000 English acres. 
 
 It is divided into five circles or provinces, and 
 these are subdivided into Amts or Baliwichs. 
 
 Circles or 
 Provinces. 
 
 Number of 
 Inhabitants. 
 
 Extent in 
 English 
 Acres. 
 
 Capitals. 
 
 Meissen ... 
 Leipsic .... 
 Erzgebirge 
 Voightland 
 Lusatia ... 
 
 297,945 
 216,355 
 459,264 
 88,639 
 169,879 
 
 1,006,080 
 743,080 
 
 1,403,520 
 440,320 
 
 1,031,680 
 
 Dresden & Meissen. 
 
 Leipsic. 
 
 Freiburg. 
 
 Planen. 
 
 Bautzen. 
 
 1,232,082 
 
 4,624,680 
 
480 SAX 
 
 Saxony. The inhabitants are divided into those who live 
 
 ^ In two large cities, . - - 8*5,167 
 In six cities, between 5000 and 15,000 souls, 51,319 
 In thirty-four cities, between 2500and5000, 112,660 
 In ninety-three towns, between 1000 and 
 
 2500, - - - 130,428 
 
 In towns of less than 1000, and in villages, 852,508 
 
 1,232,082 
 
 This state of the population is drawn from a cen- 
 sus taken in 1817- 
 Face of the The northern part of the kingdom of Saxony is, 
 Country. for the most part, a level, or an undulating country ; 
 
 but on the south it is very mountainous. The moun- 
 tains rise in three successive ridges, denominated 
 the Vorgeberg, Mithelgeberg, and Hochgeberge ; 
 the southernmost of these, bordering on Bohemia, is 
 the loftiest. The highest points of these mountains 
 are those of the Fichtelberg, 3730 feet ; Auersberg, 
 2931 feet; the Lausche, 24)00 feet; and Hochwald, 
 2299 feet. 
 
 Saxon Swit- A part of this mountainous district, betwixt Dres- 
 zeiland. den and Bohemia, usually denominated Saxon Swit- 
 zerland, has peculiar charms for the lovers of pic- 
 turesque scenery. It is about 28 miles in length, 
 and 23 in breadth, displaying deep chasms border- 
 ed by perpendicular rocks, some naked, and others 
 clothed with every variety of trees. Rapid streams 
 pour from declivities, forming cascades in some 
 parts, and in others, in deep vales, meander through 
 verdant meadows, without their issue or their egress 
 being discoverable by the observer from the preci- 
 pices which enclose such recesses, and from whence 
 he can see no path by which the vales can be reach- 
 ed. Through this mass of mountains the river Elbe 
 has worn itself a passage, by a most tortuous course, 
 and washes the bases of rocks, in some parts of 
 near one thousand feet perpendicular height, from 
 whose summit that Stream appears to the beholder as 
 an insignificant rivulet. From the surface of this 
 mountain plain rise the pinnacles of rocks, on which 
 castles, in the feudal times, were erected, some of 
 whose ruins add to the romantic grandeur of the 
 prospect ; whilst others, such as Koenigstein and 
 Litherstein, have had applied to them all the arts of 
 modern fortification, and are the most impregnable 
 fortresses in the Saxon dominions. Koenigstein es- 
 pecially, though, from its great height, it appears to 
 terminate in a point, has on its apex strong walls, sur- 
 rounding buildings in which the treasures of the 
 crown are secured in times of danger, with ground 
 to yield potatoes enough to feed the garrison, as that 
 vegetable grows there to perfection ; though, from 
 being 1400 feet high, the rigid cold of winter is most 
 severely felt. This fortress, and that of Lillienstein 
 on the opposite side of the Elbe, are considered to 
 be the keys to Bohemia. Few spots in Europe create 
 greater interest in the geologist, the botanist, or the 
 lover of picturesque scenery, than this portion of the 
 country so appropriately denominated Saxon Swit- 
 zerland. 
 
 Eivers. The principal i-iver of Saxony, and that to which 
 
 almost all the others contribute their streams, though 
 not till it has left this kingdom, is the Elbe. It en- 
 ters from Bohemia, and is navigable for barges through 
 
 ) N Y. 
 
 the whole of its Saxon course. The other rivers are Saxony 
 the Black Elster, which rises in LusaCia, and soon 
 enters the Prussian territory; the Spree, which comes 
 out of Bohemia, divides itself into two branches near 
 Bautzen, and then passes into- Prussia. These rivers 
 fall into the Elbe on its right bank. On the left 
 bank it receives the Moldau, which has two sources 
 in Bohemia, and in Saxony unites with the Zwichau, 
 and runs parallel to the Elbe till it joins that stream 
 at Dessau. The White Elster rises in Voightland, 
 with many curvatures, reaches the suburbs of the 
 city of Leipsic, and, receiving there the small river 
 Pleisse, falls into the Saale, and ultimately is lost in 
 the Elbe, above Magdeburg. The only river that 
 does not run to the Elbe is the Neisse, which rises 
 in the eastern corner of the kingdom, and, passing 
 into Silesia, at length is emptied into the Oder. 
 There are no lakes in Saxony, nor any canals, ex- 
 cept such as are used in the mining districts for con- 
 veying the ore to the mills. 
 
 As compared with most parts of Germany, the Agricultur 
 agriculture of Saxony is much advanced. Wherever 
 the soil is capable of cultivation, it is worked with 
 diligence ; and the more hilly and poorer soils have 
 a good herbage, and yield pasture to numerous flocks 
 and herds. The sides of the mountains towards the 
 Elbe, from Pirna to Meissen, are covered with vines 
 which yield both red and white wine ; the former 
 from the vicinity of Pilnitz and Loschwitz, and the 
 latter from Hoflasnitz, are the most valued ; but the 
 great portion of the Saxon wine is of a very indif- 
 ferent quality. The best of them are produced from 
 the vineyards belonging to the king; and though 
 they are sold at the highest prices, it is very doubt- 
 ful if the expences of cultivation, and the rent which 
 might be obtained for the land, does not exceed 
 what is produced by the sale of the wine. 
 
 The whole of Saxony is highly productive of fruit, 
 and the care and skill exercised in its cultivation is 
 amply rewarded. Great destruction to the fruit trees 
 took place during the tremendous military conflicts 
 of which the country was the theatre; but still the 
 orchards and gardens are very extensive, and new 
 trees, planted since the wasting warfare of 1813, are 
 beginning to yield their products. The calamities 
 which were injurious to the fruit trees have lessened 
 the number of cattle of every description ; in the 
 year 1817, in many districts of the circle of Meissen, ' 
 not a single head of cattle was to be found. The 
 bee-hives were destroyed by the same events ; and it 
 will yet require some years before Saxony can, as 
 in past periods, supply the neighbouring countries 
 with meat, hides, honey, and wax. The sheep were 
 better preserved than the other kinds of animals, 
 being mostly driven to the mountainous districts. 
 These have increased, and great attention having 
 been paid to breeding them so as to produce the 
 finest wools, they have succeeded to such an extent, 
 that their fleeces are now superior to those of Spain, 
 and furnish the chief agricultural article which is ex- 
 ported. * 
 
 The arable land is chiefly cultivated on a three 
 course system, consisting of a fallow, winter sown 
 grain, and spring sown grain. In some cases there 
 is a fallow crop of flax, hemp, or potatoes. The 
 
SAX 
 
 Saxony, winter corn that succeeds is generally rye, and 
 sometimes, though less extensively, wheat ; the sum- 
 mer corn which follows is chiefly oats and sometimes 
 barley. The greater part of the arable land is in 
 common fields, held under a feudal tenure, over 
 which the lord of the manor has the right of depas- 
 turing his flocks between the harvest and the next 
 seed time. The farming occupations are generally 
 very small, and the increase of grain through the 
 whole kingdom is said not to average more than five 
 for one. The culture of potatoes has been very 
 much extended of late years, and forms almost ex- 
 clusively the food of the labouring classes in the 
 mountainous districts. Tobacco, hemp, flax, wood, 
 hops, and chiccory, are grown in some parts of the 
 kingdom, but neither of them to the extent which 
 the consumption of the country requires. The woods 
 of the khigdom, since the separation of its best por- 
 tions, are insufficient to furnish the inhabitants with 
 the necessary fuel ; and though abundance of coal is 
 found near Dresden, it is of so sulphureous a nature 
 as to be deemed unwholesome, and is used only by 
 those who are unable to pay the high price for wood 
 which its scarcity has created, 
 inerals. Saxony abounds in minerals, and though the veins, 
 in general, are far from being of great thickness, the 
 ore is tolerably rich ; which, added to superior skill 
 and economy in working the mines, and separating 
 the metals, makes them very beneficial to the crown, 
 to whom the greater portion of them belong. The 
 mineralogical school of Freyberg has had a won- 
 derful influence, not only in Saxony, but in all 
 parts of the world, in increasing the knowledge and 
 improving the practice of the operative labourers 
 in the mining art. The annual produce of the silver 
 mines is about 400,000 ounces ; besides this, they 
 yield copper, lead, tin, iron, sulphur, -quicksilver, 
 bismuth, arsenic, and coal. Gold is found in very 
 small quantities, 
 [anufac- P^'^t continent has manufacturing in- 
 
 tes, dustry been carried to so great an extent, or occu- 
 pied so large a proportion of the population, as in 
 Saxony. Before the separation from it of the most 
 productive agricultural provinces, it was calculated 
 that two-fifths of the inhabitants were employed in 
 manufactures ; but since that unfortunate event, it is 
 estimated that three-fifths are occupied in commerce 
 and manufactures, and only two-fifths in agriculture. 
 It is only by the extent of its manufactures that the 
 country can be furnished with the means of paying 
 for those articles of the first necessity, of which a 
 sufficiency is not now produced within it. The pro- 
 vinces which supplied corn, fuel, and salt, have been 
 ceded to Prussia, and those articles must be paid for 
 by the sales of the minerals and manufactures. Dur- 
 ing the continuance of Buonaparte's continental sys- 
 tem, the Saxon manufacturers enjoyed a most exten- 
 sive trade, and the encouragement thus obtained 
 gave an impulse which directed the efforts and the 
 capital of the country towards their perfection; but 
 the division of labour was not carried to such an ex- 
 tent, nor was the application of machinery so gene- 
 rally adopted, as to enable them to withstand the 
 competition with the British goods, which peace in- 
 troduced into many of those markets which they had 
 
 before almost exclusively supplied. It would in- Saxony, 
 elude almost the whole catalogue of European ma- ^-^""w"^ 
 nufactures to enumerate all the respective kinds of 
 goods made in Saxony. Woollens, linens, cottons, 
 and silks for clothing ; iron, brass, and copper 
 wares; paper, leather, earthenware, hats, musical 
 instruments, and turnery-ware ; various chemical and 
 dyeing preparations ; clocks, watches, swords, guns, 
 and pistols, are all comprehended in the list of Sax- 
 on manufactures. 
 
 The commerce of a country, whose inhabitants Commerce, 
 are chiefly occupied in manufactures, and produce 
 an insufficiency of food for their own consumption, 
 must be extensive. The trade of Saxony chiefly 
 centres in the city of Leipsic, from whence, at the 
 time of the two annual fairs, the greater part of the 
 manufactures are disposed of, and contracts are 
 made for such foreign commodities as the supply of 
 the country demands. As the fairs of Frankfort on 
 the Maine precede, and those of Frankfort on the 
 Oder follow, the fairs of Leipsic, some portion of 
 the trade is carried on by those channels. The roads 
 leading to Leipsic are generally good, and trains of 
 waggons, loaded with goods, are to be seen proceed- 
 ing to and from that place at all times ; many of 
 which come from Flanders, Holland, Hamburg, and 
 > Brunswick, on one side, and from Russia, Poland, 
 and even Turkey, on the other. At the fairs of 
 Leipsic, the new books printed in most parts of Ger- 
 many are brought for publication. There the pub- 
 lishers meet and exchange the works of one part of 
 the country, where the German language is spoken, 
 with those of another. So extensive is this trade, 
 that it is said the commissions on it to the brokers 
 and merchants of Leipsic amount to more than 
 40,000 rix-dollars a year.- The whole sales at the 
 fairs in that city are estimated, including exports and 
 imports, at about 20,000,000 rix-dollars, or more 
 than L. 3,000,000 Sterling. Saxony disposes, in 
 this way, of sheep's wool, fine woollen goods, linen 
 and thread lace, yarn and worsted, ironmongery, 
 cutlery and braziery, and books. It receives in re- 
 turn, corn, wine, salt, wood, and colonial wares. 
 Although the river Elbe is navigable from the ocean 
 to the interior of Saxony, it is only used for the con- 
 veyance of the heaviest goods, and for them but par- 
 tially. It is found that the tolls on that river, with 
 the risk of damage and of robberj', make it more ad- 
 vantageous to convey commodities by land than by 
 water. 
 
 The government is a monarchy hereditary in the Govern- 
 Saxon Albertine line, and in failure of that, on the "^e"** 
 Ernestine, or Saxe Weimar branch of the family. The 
 monarchy may be called limited ; but the hmitations 
 are of such a nature that the liberties of the people 
 have been more secured by the mildness of the reign- 
 ing family than by any restrictions that the states have 
 or could exercise. The king enjoys the whole execu- 
 tive power, confirms pardons, bestows commissions, 
 nominates the supreme judges, and enjoys the power 
 of making peace and war, and of concluding all 
 treaties. In making new laws, and in imposing new 
 taxes, the states have the right to be consulted. 
 According to the ancient constitution, which is still 
 adhered to, the states are constituted of various ele- 
 
483 
 
 Saxony 
 
 Scotland. 
 
 Revenue, 
 Taxes, and 
 Debt. 
 
 SAX- 
 
 ments ; and, in fact, are an araalgama of various cor- 
 porations, each of which thinks only of its own pecu- 
 liar interests, and contrives to cast the weight of all 
 public burdens from the cities and the nobles, who 
 are represented, to the country people who have no 
 voices. The assembly consists, 1st, Of members 
 chosen by the provincial representatives of the no- 
 bility ; 2dly, Of the representatives of the prelates, 
 who, before the Reformation, had seats ; but who 
 have since been chosen by the higher class of nobles 
 in right of their possessing certain estates of which 
 the prelates were deprived ; and, Sdly, The univer- 
 sity of Leipsic. These states represent only the 
 circles of Meissen, Leipsic, Erzgebirge, and Voight- 
 land ; for that of Lusatia has its own peculiar assem- 
 bly of states, which differs but little from those of 
 the other four, except that the members from the 
 land possessors must have at least sixteen quarterings 
 in their coats of arms. When the king pleases these 
 states are convoked ; but, as it has not been found 
 necessary to impose new taxes, or to make great al- 
 terations in the laws, they have seldom been assem- 
 bled, and their session has usually been very short. 
 The administration is conducted by a Cabinet Coun- 
 cil, under which, through the medium of the privy 
 council, orders are communicated to the depart- 
 ments of Finance, War, Domains, Police, and Foreign 
 Affairs. 
 
 The re venue at presen t amounts to about L. ] ,250,000 
 Sterling annually. This revenue is derived in a 
 great degree from royal domains, possessed by the 
 government by ancient grants from the imperial 
 court, or obtained by having been mortgaged and 
 foreclosed for non-payment, or purchased by the 
 ancestors of the present monarch. The royalties 
 belonging to the crown furnish also a considerable 
 share of this revenue ; they consist of the mines, the 
 forests, the fisheries, and of interest on money lent. 
 The direct taxes are on land, on trades, various ex- 
 cise duties, stamp taxes, and tolls on roads, rivers, 
 and bridges ; the greater part of which fall exclusive- 
 ly on those who have no voice in the states. The 
 whole public debt, including the cash notes (Kas- 
 senbillels), which did amount to L.550,000, but are 
 now reduced to L.450,000, and circulate as freely as 
 cash, is somewhat less than L.4,000,000 ; the in- 
 terest on which is regularly paid, and a portion of 
 the principal is annually discharged. The credit of 
 no government stands higher than that of Saxony, 
 
 Scotland. 
 
 SCO 
 
 and nearly the whole debt is due to its own sub- Saxony 
 jects. 
 
 The regular army of Saxony at present is reduced 
 to 10,000 men, including cavalry, infantry, and ar- ^-"^^^^ 
 tillery. Since the year 1817, when the regulars 
 were thus reduced, there has been a register kept of 
 the single men between 18 and 31 years of age, who 
 form a kind of militia, and from among whom the 
 troops of the line are chosen ; from this conscription, 
 however, the privileged orders are exempt. There 
 are military academies in Dresden for instructing 
 both the cadets of the line and those of the artillery. 
 
 Although the royal family profess the Catholic Religion, 
 religion, and are zealous in discharging its injunc- 
 tions, the established faith is the Lutheran, and, un- 
 til the year 1811, no person of any other sect was 
 eligible to seats in the several corporations in the 
 provincial or general assembly of the states. At 
 that period all sects were placed on the same foot- 
 ing. The whole number of Catholics is about 40,000, 
 some of whom are attached to the royal household ; 
 but most of them are found among the inhabitants 
 of the province of Lusatia. The number of Pro- 
 testants dissenting from the established church, in- 
 cluding Moravians and Calvinists, is not supposed 
 to exceed two thousand. The Lutheran church is 
 regulated by four Consistories or Assemblies of di- 
 vines ; differing in the number of superintendents, 
 but comprising together twenty-four of that order. 
 The Catholics in Lusatia are regulated by the Abbot 
 of Bautzen, on whom the Pope generally bestows the 
 title of Bishop inpartibus infidelium. 
 
 Education is well conducted in the university of Education. 
 Leipsic, and in the endowed classical schools of 
 Meissen, Wurzen, and Grimma, as well as in seve- 
 ral gymnasiums. The popular education is not so 
 well managed as in the other Protestant German 
 states ; and some recent efforts to improve the sys- 
 tem have not been attended with good practical re- 
 sults. The fine arts have been cultivated with con- 
 siderable success ; and both statuary and painting 
 receive valuable assistance from the fine productions 
 of both which the collections of Dresden contain. 
 
 See Leonhardi Erdbeschreibung der KurfurstlicJce 
 und Herzoglicke S'dchischen Lander. Sachsen Dar- 
 gestellt,^ von K. F. Mosch. PoHtz Geschichte und 
 Statestik der Konigreich Sachsen. Jacob's View of 
 Germany. (w. w.) 
 
 SCOTLAND. 
 
 The history of Scotland as a separate kingdom hav- 
 ing been treated at considerable length in the Ency- 
 clopcedia, all that we propose here is, to supply what 
 is wanting in the imperfect account there given of 
 its Statistics ; referring, however, to our county 
 articles for local description and details, and confin- 
 ing ourselves, for the most part, to such general state- 
 
 ments as concern the industry, population, and re- 
 sources of the nation at large. 
 
 I — General Description of the Country. 
 
 Scotland, the northern division of Great Britain, situation 
 is situated between 54*' 37' and 58° 42' north lati- and Extent 
 tude, and between V 47' and 6° 7' west longitude, 
 4 
 
SCOTLAND. 
 
 from Greenwich ; having the sea on all sides, except 
 the south, where it is separated from England partly 
 by the Tweed, and other streams, and partly by a 
 line supposed to be drawn along the high grounds in 
 that quarter. Its greatest extent in the same longi- 
 tude is from the Mull of Galloway, on the south, to 
 Farouthead in Strathnaver, on the north, a distance 
 of 275 miles ; while its breadth from east to west va- 
 ries from 36 to 147 miles; its area, calculated from 
 Arrowsmith's map, being about 25,520 square miles 
 of land, and 494) square miles of fresh water lakes. 
 This is the extent of the Mainland only, exclusive of 
 the islands on the west, called the Hebrides ; and 
 those of Orkney and Zetland on the north, which 
 altogether are computed to extend over 4224 square 
 miles. Including these islands, the northern limit of 
 Scotland stretches beyond the 6lst degree of lati- 
 tude, and its longitude is between the meridian of 
 London and S*' 18' west ; and its area comprehends 
 30,238 square miles, of which the fresh water lakes 
 occupy 638 square miles, or about one forty-eighth 
 part of the whole. The outline on the sea-coast is 
 exceedingly irregular, and of great extent, the sea 
 penetrating to a great depth, both on its eastern and 
 western sides. Of these arms of the sea the most 
 considerable are the Friths of Forth and Tay, and 
 the Moray Frith, on the east ; and the Frith of Clyde 
 and the bays of Glenluce and Wigton on the west 
 and south-west : along the northern and north-west- 
 ern coasts there are a number of smaller inlets, called 
 lochs, which indent the country in all directions. 
 
 With the exception of narrow tracts along its prin- 
 cipal rivers, there is very little of the country flat or 
 level, and not a large proportion of the whole that 
 would be deemed productive land in more favoured 
 regions. Every where, even in the south, and along 
 the east and west coa&ts of what is called the Low- 
 lands, the surface presents great variety ; in some 
 places, gently rising from the sea, and the banks of 
 the principal rivers, and spreading out into consider- 
 able tracts of fertile land ; and in others projecting 
 into the ocean, the termination of those ridges which 
 traverse the interior, and which, a few miles from the 
 coast, sometimes ascend to the height of 2000 feet. 
 In this quarter of Scotland, a tract of mountainous 
 country, known by various names, stretches in a 
 south-west direction from the Cheviot hills of Rox- 
 burghshire, on the borders of England, to the Irish 
 Channel, sending off branches on both sides ; while 
 detached hills frequently occur overall the low coun- 
 try. These high grounds, however, are for the most 
 part clothed in green, almost to their summits, and 
 have little of that wild and desolate character which 
 distinguishes many of the mountains of the High- 
 lands. Northward from the isthmus formed by the 
 Friths of Forth and Clyde, the low grounds form but 
 a small proportion of the whole. Here, in latitude 
 57°, the Grampians extend from sea to sea, with a 
 breadth of from 40 to 60 miles ; and parallel to them, 
 to the south, is another and lower chain, called the 
 Sidlaw, Ochills, and Campsie hills. Between these 
 two ranges lies the fertile valley of Strathmore. 
 Farther north, cultivation is mostly confined to the 
 sea-coast, the banks of the larger rivers, and the nar- 
 row glens between the mountains. On the north- 
 
 483 
 
 Scodand. 
 
 west, beyond the line of the Caledonian Canal, the 
 country is, with few exceptions, singularly rugged and 
 sterile, consisting of lofty mountains, either covered 
 with heath, or presenting a mass of naked rocks, in- 
 terrupted only by deep and dark ravines, lakes, and 
 precipitous streamlets. Caithness, the north-eastern 
 county of the Mainland of Scotland, is, nevertheless, 
 generally low, but marshy and unproductive. 
 
 The elevation of the most considerable mountains Mountains, 
 of Scotland above the sea, with the counties in which 
 they are situated, are stated as follows : (Playfair's 
 Scotland, Vol. II. p. 341,- and. General Report of 
 Scotland, App. Vol. I. p. 128). 
 
 Names. 
 
 Height 
 in Feet. 
 
 Situation. 
 
 Benevis 
 
 4380 
 
 Inverness-shire 
 
 
 4380 
 
 Ross-shire 
 
 Benmacdowie 
 
 4300 
 
 Aberdeenshire 
 
 Cairngorum 
 
 4060 
 
 Banffshire 
 
 
 3944 
 
 Zetland 
 
 Benlawers 
 
 3978 
 
 Perthshire 
 
 
 3673 
 
 Ibid. 
 
 Hartfell 
 
 3302 
 
 Dumfries- shire 
 
 Benlomond 
 
 3262 
 
 Stirlingshire 
 
 Lowthers 
 
 3150 
 
 Lanarkshire 
 
 Goatfield 
 
 2950 
 
 Arran Isle 
 
 Hartfield 
 
 2800 
 
 Peebles-shire 
 
 Muirfoot Hills 
 
 1850 
 
 Edinburghshire 
 
 Ruberslaw 
 
 1419 
 
 Roxburghshire 
 
 Eildon Hill 
 
 1330 
 
 Ibid. 
 
 Soutra Hill 
 
 1000 
 
 Berwickshire 
 
 North Berwick Law 
 
 940 
 
 Haddingtonshire 
 
 Cockburn Law 
 
 900 
 
 Berwickshire 
 
 Arthur's Seat 
 
 822 
 
 Edinburghshire 
 
 To these heights we may add the site of the village 
 of Leadhills, in Lanarkshire, 1564 feet above the 
 sea. The land near this village is the highest culti- 
 vated land in Scotland. In Aberdeenshire the plough 
 sometimes reaches the height of nearly 1300 feet. But 
 with few exceptions, an elevation of 600 feet seems 
 to be the limit to the tillage lands of Scotland. None 
 of the Scottish mountains ascend to the line of per- 
 petual congelation, yet snow may be found in some 
 of their dark recesses, on which the sun never shines, 
 all the year round. 
 
 The climate of Scotland, as might be expected, Climate, 
 from its insular situation and high latitude, is cold, 
 cloudy, and wet. This is its general character, as 
 compared with the greater part of England ; yet, even 
 in the south of England, frost is sometimes more in- 
 tense, and snow falls more copiously, than in Scotland ; 
 and on the west coast of that country the quantity 
 of rain is also greater. Corn, however, and most of 
 the fruits and vegetables common to both divisions of 
 Great Britain, attain maturity nearly a month soon- 
 er in England than in Scotland ; and some plants, 
 such as hops, and a few others, cannot be profitably 
 cultivated at all in the latter country. The range of 
 the baronneter is 2.82 inches, or from 30.92 to 28.10 
 inches ; in the Orkneys it is somewhat more, or 
 about 3 inches. The lowest yearly temperature is 
 41® 11', the highest 50° 32', and the annual average 
 
484 
 
 SCOTLAND. 
 
 Scotland, for all Scotland may be between 45° and 47^. Of 
 -■•-v-^ rain the average is about 31 inches ; and the differ- 
 ence between the east and west coasts, in this re- 
 spect, has been estimated generally at one-fifth more 
 on the latter than on the former. The number of 
 fair days on the west coast is only 160, while on the 
 east it is 230. The prevailing winds in both situa- 
 tions are from the westerly points ; but on the east 
 coast it blows from the easterly points for about a 
 third of the year. Easterly winds generally prevail 
 in March and April, and often in May and part of 
 June ; and not only check vegetation, but occasion 
 various slight disorders among the inhabitants. 
 
 For the purpose of exhibiting the distribution of 
 heat and of rain throughout the year, we give the 
 following abstract from a register of the weather kept 
 near Perth, for the year 1820. The temperature is 
 probably not very different from the average temper- 
 ature of Scotland, but the number of rainy days, and 
 the quantity of rain, are both considerably less than 
 on the western coast. 
 
 
 Fair 
 Da^s. 
 
 Rainy 
 Days. 
 
 Quantity of 
 Rain. 
 
 Mean Tem. 
 perature. 
 
 
 21 
 
 10 
 
 1.321 
 
 30.4 
 
 February ... 
 
 24 
 
 5 
 
 1.198 
 
 39.1 
 
 March 
 
 25 
 
 6 
 
 0.332 
 
 40.6 
 
 
 24 
 
 6 
 
 0.690 
 
 46.7 
 
 
 10 
 
 21 
 
 5.447 
 
 49.4 
 
 
 18 
 
 12 
 
 1.745 
 
 54.6 
 
 July 
 
 22 
 
 9 
 
 1.635 
 
 57.6 
 
 
 12 
 
 19 
 
 2.228 
 
 56.0 
 
 September.., 
 
 16 
 
 14 
 
 0.973 
 
 52.6 
 
 
 20 
 
 11 
 
 2.295 
 
 44.5 
 
 November ... 
 
 20 
 
 10 
 
 1.658 
 
 41.6 
 
 December ... 
 
 20 
 
 11 
 
 2.165 
 
 38.7 
 
 (Edin. Annual 
 Re^. 1820.) 
 
 232 
 
 134 
 
 21.687 
 
 45.98 
 
 For an account of the mineralogy, zoology, and 
 botany, and also of the rivers, lakes, and forests, of 
 Scotland, see Scotland in the Encyclopcedia, and 
 the Scottish counties in this Supplement. 
 
 II. — Divisions. 
 
 Divisions. The most natural and obvious, as well as the most 
 ancient, division of Scotland, is into the Lowlands 
 and the Highlands ; a distinction marked by the dif- 
 ference in the language and dress of the people as 
 well as by the surface of the country ; though the 
 line of separation between the two is by no means 
 well defined. The friths or arms of the sea, which 
 entering the land on both sides, leave but a compa- 
 ratively small extent of country between their ex- 
 treme points, present limits more distinct ; especially 
 since the execution of the two canals, which, being 
 carried along these isthmuses, connect the eastern 
 and western seas. These are the Forth and Clyde 
 Canal between the friths so called ; and the Caledo- 
 nian Canal, now (1823) nearly completed, which runs 
 from the Moray Frith on the north-east to Linnhe 
 10 
 
 Loch on the south-west. The country to the south Scotland, 
 of the Forth and Clyde Canal has been called the '"^'^'''^ 
 southern division ; that between the two canals the 
 middle ; and all to the north and north-west of the 
 Caledonian Canal the northern division. 
 
 The divisions generally recognized are counties Counties an 
 and parishes. Of the counties, the number is 33, P^"shes. 
 most of which are again subdivided by local acts of 
 Parliament into two or more districts in each, for 
 the purposes of police and internal economy ; and se- 
 veral of them comprise a variety of territorial divi- 
 sions, founded on the natural circumstances of the 
 country. Thus the county of Berwick is popularly 
 divided into the three districts of the Merse, Lau- 
 derdale, and Lammermuir ; Lanarkshire into the 
 Upper, Middle, and Lower Wards ; and, in the exten- 
 sive Highland counties, the subdivisions are still 
 more numerous. The number of parishes is at pre- 
 sent 899, but liable to vary from annexations and dis- 
 junctions. Every country parish contains a church 
 and burying-ground, with a manse or dwelling- 
 house, and a few acres of land as a glebe, for the 
 clergyman, who is always resident; and a school, with 
 a schoolmaster's house and garden. In several of the 
 towns one church has two ministers, so that the 
 number of the clergy is greater than that of the pa- 
 rishes. In 1813, the parochial clergy amounted to 
 938, besides assistants and ministers of chapels of 
 ease. An indefinite number of parishes form the 
 ecclesiastical division, called a presbytery, and seve- 
 ral presbyteries unite to compose a synod. We 
 shall give the names and extent of these divisions 
 under their proper head. 
 
 III. — Internal Communication. 
 
 Until after the middle of last century there was Roads, 
 scarcely any thing that deserved the name of a good 
 road in Scotland. About the year 1732, indeed, 
 Government began to open up the country by roads 
 made by the military, hence called Mihtary Roads, 
 which extended in all about 800 miles; but thesebeing 
 confined for the most part to the Highlands, and in- 
 tended only for military purposes, and formed with lit- 
 tle or no regard to such ascents and descents as do 
 not impede the passage of an army, were of little ad- 
 vantage to the more populous parts of the country. 
 It is within the recollection of persons still alive, 
 when corn, coals, and other heavy articles, were 
 usually carried on the backs of horses, even in the 
 southern counties of Scotland ; the roads or rather 
 the tracks being for the greater part of the year un- 
 fit for wheel- carriages. But so great a change has 
 been made in this respect, particularly within the 
 lastforty years, that mail-coaches, and other carriages, 
 now run day and night at the rate of from six to 
 eight miles an hour through every part of the coun- 
 try, from the borders of England to Thurso in 
 Caithness, the northern extremity of Great Britain. 
 
 The only funds formerly applicable to the making 
 and the repairing of the roads in Scotland were what 
 is called the Statute- Labour, ox ihe labour of the oc- 
 cupiers of the land, for six days annually, on the 
 roads passing through their respective parishes ; and 
 a small assessment imposed upon the proprietors. 
 
SCOTLAND. 
 
 485 
 
 ighland 
 Dads and 
 ridges. 
 
 |Scotland. Xhis labour, which has been converted into a pay- 
 '■^'""^ ment in money, and also the sums raised by assess- 
 ment on the proprietors, under the name of road and 
 bridge money, are now applied to bye-roads, or such 
 as communicate with the great turnpikes, or others 
 ■ calculated for the accommodation of the particular 
 district in which the money is levied. Almost 
 every county has procured an act of Parliament 
 which fixes the rate of these assessments ; but this 
 varies in different counties, according to the circum- 
 stances of each. 
 
 The turnpike roads and bridges in the Lowlands 
 have been made and are kept in repair by means of 
 tolls exacted from those who use them, under the 
 authority of private acts. The trustees named in 
 these acts are commonly empowered to borrow 
 money on the security of the funds to be received, 
 by which means the work is executed more speedily, 
 to the great advantage of the public. The expence 
 of these roads depends so much upon local circum- 
 stances, that it has varied from L.1200 to L.lOO per 
 mile ; but may be averaged at about L.400, the rate 
 which the Highland roads, confessedly not so sub- 
 stantially made as the great roads in the Lowlands, 
 have cost under the direction of the Parliamentary 
 Commissioners. Of the road between Glasgow and 
 Carlisle, conducted under the same superintendence, 
 39 miles, which was nearly finished in 1821, would 
 cost, with its bridges, L.50,000, or L.1282 per mile. 
 {Ninth Report of the Commissioners for Highland 
 Roads and Bridges.) 
 
 In the Highlands, the nature of the country, and 
 the state of the population, did not admit of the 
 same system as in the Lowlands. The military 
 roads had not only been made, but were kept in re- 
 pair at the public expence, for which L.5000 a-year 
 was usually granted by Parliament; but a great 
 many new roads and bridges were required ; and, in 
 1803, an act was passed, proceeding upon " A sur- 
 vey and report of the coasts, and central Highlands 
 of Scotland," by which Parliament agreed to provide 
 half the estimated expence of the necessary roads 
 and bridges ; the other half to be defrayed by the 
 landed proprietors ; and Commissioners were named 
 to carry into effect the beneficent intentions of the 
 Legislature. It appears from the Report just referred 
 to, that, under this act, the Commissioners had, in 
 1821, expended, on 875 miles of road, and several 
 large bridges, upwards of L. 450,000, of which 
 L.240,000 was granted by Parliament, and the rest 
 defrayed by the counties through which the roads 
 passed; and that L. 100,000 more had been laid out by 
 them on harbours, of which L.50,000 was paid out of 
 the funds arising from the Forfeited Estates in Scot- 
 land, and the remainder was raised by the Burghs, and 
 the contributions of individuals. If, to these sums, we 
 add the amount of the losses sustained by the con- 
 tractors, as stated in the Report, and the expence of the 
 new roads made at the sole expence of the proprie- 
 tors to communicate with the Parliamentary roads, 
 together with the charges of repairs, the whole 
 amount expended within these twenty years on the 
 roads, bridges, and harbours of the Highlands of 
 Scotland, may not be too high stated at a million 
 Sterling. The Commissioners have under their 
 charge both the maintaining of their own roads, and 
 
 VOL. VI. PART II. 
 
 part of the military roads ; the extenC of the whole Scotland, 
 in 1821 being 1183 miles; and about L. 1 0,000 '"—^^^ 
 a-year, of which L.5000 is granted by Parliament, 
 was considered to be necessary for this purpose, in- 
 cluding all charges of management. 
 
 We have already mentioned the Forth and Clyde Canals, 
 and Caledonian Canals, as affording the means of 
 communication between the east and west seas. A 
 full account of the former has been given in the En- 
 cyclopadia (see Canal), and of the latter in this Sup- 
 plement. On the Caledonian Canal, now nearly com- 
 pleted, there had been expended, in May 1822, 
 L.884,159, 12s. Ifd. (See Nineteenth Report of 
 the Commissioners on the Caledonian Canal.) The 
 other canals are the Crinan, cut across the peninsula 
 of Kintyre at an expence of L.140,000; the Glas- 
 gow, Paisley, and Ardrossan Canal, of which only 
 about a third part of the line, or 11 miles, is finish- 
 ed ; a cut from the Forth and Clyde to Port-Dundas 
 at Glasgow ; the Monkland Canal, extending about 
 12 miles from Glasgow to the collieries in the parish 
 of Monkland; a canal from the harbour of Aber- 
 deen to Inverury, about 18 miles; and the Union 
 Canal from Edinburgh to the Forth and Clyde near 
 Falkirk. For a more particular account of these 
 works, see the Scottish counties through which they, 
 pass in the Encyclopedia, and in this Supplement. 
 
 Railways have not yet been carried to any great Railways, 
 extent in Scotland. They are employed for a short 
 distance at some of the principal coal-works and 
 others ; but the most considerable is that which has 
 been carried from Kilmarnock to the harbour of 
 Troon in Ayrshire, a distance of 10 miles, at the ex- 
 pence of the Duke of Portland, the proprietor of ex- 
 tensive coal-fields in that quarter. 
 
 IV. — Valued and Real Rent — Proportions of 
 Land Cultivated and Uncultivated. 
 
 About the middle of the seventeenh century, the Valuation ©f 
 lands of Scotland were valued, with a view to ascer- Lands, 
 tain what proportion of the land, and other taxes, 
 should be paid by each county ; and this valuation, 
 called the V alued Rent, which had been undertaken 
 under the authority of Cromwell, was afterwards esta- 
 blished by an act of the Scottish Convention in 1667. 
 It is still the rule by which the counties, and the es- 
 tates of each county, are assessed for payment of the 
 land-tax, and all local imposts on land. The Table 
 subjoined to this section exhibits, among other things, 
 the valued I'ent of each county, as it stood in 1674, 
 and the amount of the whole, namely, L.3,804,221 
 Scots, or L.31 7,01 8, 8s. 4d. Sterling. In 1811 this 
 valuation was divided as follows : 
 
 Description of the Estates. 
 
 Number of 
 Proprietors. 
 
 Large properties or estates above L, 2000 
 
 
 of valued rent .... 
 
 396 . 
 
 Middling properties or estates, from 
 
 
 L. 2000 to L. 500 of valued rent . 
 
 1077 
 
 Small properties or estates, under L. 500 
 
 of valued rent . . . . 
 
 6181 
 
 Estates belonging to corporate bodies 
 
 14-4 
 
 Total 
 
 '7798 
 
 3 Q 
 
 Estates. 
 
486 
 
 Scotland. 
 
 Tenures. 
 
 SCOTLAND. 
 
 Rental. 
 
 Leases. 
 
 The land-rights of Scotland are still subjected to 
 feudal tenures; and all the land is held either imme- 
 diately or mediately of the Crown, as the paramount 
 superior. The only distinction in regard to land- 
 rights, which requires to be noticed here, is that be- 
 tween property which acknowledges no othersuperior 
 than the Crown, and that which is held immediately 
 of a subject ; the right of voting in the election of 
 the county representatives being vested- in proprie- 
 tors of the former class, while those of the latter, 
 however large their estates, are wholly excluded. 
 In general, to give a right to vote requires a free- 
 hold to the extent of L. 400 Scots of valued rent ; 
 but it is not necessary that the freeholder should have 
 property in the soil to that amount ; the mere feudal 
 superiority of lands of that valuation, though seldom 
 affording any income, is sufficient; for the lands 
 themselves may, and in many cases do, belong to 
 another. The number of voters in each county, at 
 Michaelmas 1822, will be found in the table subjoined ; 
 but it varies, though not greatly, from year to year. 
 
 The gross rental of the lands and houses of Scot- 
 land, according to the returns made under the late 
 Property-tax act, for the year 1812, is exhibited m 
 the same table. Of this, the rent of the land may 
 amount to nearly five millions, which may not be 
 far from the present revenue of the landed pro- 
 prietors ; for although many of the rents contracted 
 for during the last years of the late war have been 
 reduced since, yet others, upon the falling in of 
 older leases, have been much advanced. As the 
 common duration of the lease in Scotland is nme- 
 teen years, the average term of the current leases at 
 any period must be between nine and ten years, so 
 that half the leases current in the beginning of 1812 
 must have been entered into soon after the begmmng 
 of the century, and at such rents as would even now, 
 considering the improvements that have been so ge- 
 nerally made since, admit of some augmentation. 
 
 This rent is paid by tenants ; only a very small 
 proportion being in the occupation of the proprietors 
 themselves ; and, with the exception of grazing lands 
 near their scats, which are usually let for the season 
 only, the tenants all hold on written leases for periods, 
 varying from 12 or 15 to 21, and in some cases 38 
 years. These leases, with few exceptions, prohibit 
 the tenant to sub-let his farm, either in whole or in 
 part, without the consent of the proprietor ; and upon 
 the death of the tenant, the lease falls to his heir at 
 law. Life leases were formerly very common, at 
 least in those districts where the more improved 
 system of agriculture had made little progress ; but 
 the extraordinary enhancement of prices during the 
 late war had the effect of deterring landholders from 
 letting out their estates for an indefinite, and, as it 
 often proved, a very long term ; and the practice, 
 now almost obsolete, is not likely to be revived. 
 
 The rents are paid in money, and not, as in for- 
 mer times, in grain or other produce, or in services. 
 Of late, since the great fall in the prices of land 
 produce, it has become not uncommon to regulate 
 the rent by the price of grain ; the quantity and 
 kinds of grain being fixed by the lease, and the rent, 
 or the price of that grain, by the rates of the mar- 
 ket ; or more commonly by what is called the Fiars, 
 
 or prices struck yearly, for certain purposes, by a Scodand. 
 jury in all the counties of Scotland. In some parts ^— "^^^ 
 of the Highlands, where the land is still in some in- 
 stances let out again by the principal tenant in small ij 
 portions, the sub-tenants are required to perform ;| 
 certain sorts of work for the superior tenant ; and || 
 on the shores of the western and northern islands the t 
 tenant may be said to pay his rent chiefly in kelp or 
 in fish ; but all these exceptions bear but a small 
 proportion to the whole rent of Scotland. j 
 The main source from which rent is paid over Extent cult| 
 ttie greater part of Scotland is live stock, princi- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
 pally cattle and sheep. Of the area, extending ii 
 to 29,600 square miles, or 18,944,000 English 
 acres, exclusive of lakes, little more than a fourth, 
 or five millions of acres, are regularly or occa- 
 sionally in cultivation ; and about two-thirds even 
 of this is employed in grazing and in raising crops 
 for live stock, or is under fallow. According to the 
 General Report of Scotland, drawn up for the Board 
 of Agriculture, the extent yearly under corn, with 
 beans and pease, is only 1,799,150 acres; of which 
 1,260,362 produce oats, 280,193 barley, and only 
 140,095 wheat; an estimate which is probably rather 
 above the truth as to both oats and barley. The 
 rest of the country, or nearly 14 millions of acres, 
 is, after deducting about 900,000 acres, as the esti- 
 mated extent of the natural and planted wood, still 
 in a state of nature, and by far the greater part 
 must always remain so. But much of this yields a 
 valuable return under sheep, with a small proportion 
 of cattle. For an account of these and the other 
 kinds of live stock kept on the farms of Scotland, 
 see Agriculture in this Supplement. 
 
 It is little more than half a century since the ma- 
 nagement of tillage lands was conducted even in the 
 Lothians and Border counties, according to the 
 system which has now become pretty general over 
 all the country. Previous to that period the mode 
 of cultivation did not differ materially from that 
 which, though falling into disuse, may still be met with 
 in some of the Highland counties, and which we have 
 described under these counties in this Supplement. 
 Almost every where the practice was to take ci-ops 
 of grain successively, and then to leave the soil in a 
 state of waste, till gradually invigorated again by time 
 and the folding of the cattle. Such of the farmers 
 as wished to learn better methods sought for this 
 information in England, where agriculture was then 
 in a much more advanced state than in Scotland ; 
 but in many parts of which it has long remained sta- 
 tionary, while that of Scotland has been always 
 making some progress since, and within the last 
 twenty-five years a very rapid progress. The crops 
 cultivated (see Agriculture in this Supplement) 
 are now the same in both countries, with the excep- 
 tion of a few species, not of great importance, which 
 the climate of Scotland does not bring to profit- 
 able maturity. 
 
 With regard to the capital invested in the agricul- Value of 
 ture of Scotland, and the amount of its yearly pro- 
 duce, of which little can be said with any great pre- 
 tension to accuracy, we must refer to the Tables in 
 the General Report of Scotland, Vol. III., which have 
 been given in the last edition of the Encyclopcedia. 
 1 
 
SCOTLAND. 
 
 487 
 
 Taking the rental, exclusive of mines, quarries, and 
 river fisheries, at 4^ millions, and supposing that to 
 be equal to one-third of the gross produce, a common 
 estimate in most parts of Scotland, the amount of the 
 latter would be 13| millions; but as lands in their 
 natural state, depastured with sheep, certainly do 
 not yield three times the rent, perhaps it would be 
 nearer the truth to estimate the total annual produce 
 of the soil, exclusive of mines, &c. at twelve mil- 
 lions. 
 
 The least proportion of cultivated land is in the coun- 
 ties of Selkirk, Sutherland, and Orkney, being only 
 about six acres in the hundred; the greatest in the 
 county of Haddington, or East Lothian, where not 
 quite a fourth remains uncultivated; and the average 
 of all Scotland is 26.6 in the 100. Including mines. 
 
 quarries, and fisheries, the medium rent of the land Scotland, 
 may be a little more than 5s. an acre. s^v^--^ 
 
 It is worthy of remark, that both the law and 
 practice of Scotland are favourable to agricultural 
 enterprise. Leases are almost universal, and of con- 
 siderable duration. There is no tithe drawn ; poor 
 rates are unknown, except in a few districts, and 
 where they do prevail, of a very trifling amount ; and 
 commons and common fields, for the division of 
 which no act of Parliament is necessary, have, with 
 very few exceptions, disappeared. 
 
 The titles of the columns in the following Table 
 sufficiently indicate the contents of each. The rental 
 for 1812 is the gross rental of the Lands and Houses 
 as returned by the parties, or estimated by assessors 
 acting under the Property-tax act. 
 
 Counties. 
 
 Aberdeen 
 
 Argyle 
 
 Ayr 
 
 Banfi'. 
 
 Berwick 
 
 Bute 
 
 Caithness 
 
 Clackmannan 
 
 Cromarty 
 
 Dunbarton ... 
 
 Dumfries 
 
 Edinburgh 
 
 Elgin 
 
 Fife 
 
 Forfar 
 
 Haddington ... 
 
 Inverness 
 
 Kincardine .... 
 
 Kinross 
 
 Kirkcudbright 
 
 Lanark 
 
 Linlithgow .... 
 
 Nairn 
 
 Orkney 
 
 Peebles 
 
 Perth 
 
 Renfrew 
 
 Ross M... 
 
 Roxburgh 
 
 Selkirk 
 
 Stirling 
 
 Sutherland ... 
 Wigton 
 
 Totals ... 
 
 lixtent. 
 
 Description of Land. 
 
 Valued Rent. 
 
 Rental in 1812. 
 
 er of 
 
 Id- 
 
 B22. 
 
 Acres. 
 
 Cultivated 
 Acres. 
 
 Uncultivated 
 Acres. 
 
 Scots Money. 
 
 Sterling Money. 
 
 
 
 
 
 L. 
 
 
 d. 
 
 L. 
 
 
 d. 
 
 
 1,254,400 
 
 451,584 
 
 802,816 
 
 '235,665 
 
 8 
 
 11 
 
 301,098 
 
 14 
 
 8 
 
 188 
 
 2,002,560 
 
 270,990 
 
 1,731,570 
 
 140.505 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 207,306 
 
 16 
 
 Q 
 
 76 
 
 oo4,9o0 
 
 325,830 
 
 339,130 
 
 191,605 
 
 0 
 
 7 
 
 369,742 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 181 
 
 412,800 
 
 123,840 
 
 288,960 
 
 79,200 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 85,262 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 36 
 
 282,880 
 
 137,197 
 
 145,683 
 
 178,366 
 
 8 
 
 
 236,224 
 
 19 
 
 3 
 
 131 
 
 103,040 
 
 29,440 
 
 73,600 
 
 15,042 
 
 13 
 
 10 
 
 20,955 
 
 2 
 
 9 
 
 15 
 
 439,680 
 
 92,333 
 
 347,347 
 
 37,256 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 32,835 
 
 6 
 
 
 29 
 
 30,720 
 
 23,040 
 
 7,680 
 
 26,482 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 39,173 
 
 2 
 
 0 
 
 19 
 
 108,900 
 
 21,080 
 
 147,880 
 
 12,897 
 
 2 
 
 7 8 
 '12 
 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 145,920 
 
 53,990 
 
 
 33,327 
 
 19 
 
 0 
 
 63,262 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 47 
 
 801,920 
 
 232,557 
 
 5Qg,s6s 
 
 158,502 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 264,614 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 79 
 
 226,560 
 
 144,999 
 
 81,561 
 
 191,054 
 
 3 
 
 9 
 
 713,431 
 
 11 
 
 10 
 
 178 
 
 302,720 
 
 121,088 
 
 181,632 
 
 65,603 
 
 0 
 
 5 
 
 66,839 
 
 10 
 
 3 
 
 30 
 
 298,880 
 
 209,216 
 
 89,664 
 
 363,129 
 
 3 
 
 7A 
 8 
 
 378,757 
 
 5 
 
 8 
 
 241 
 
 568,320 
 
 369,408 
 
 198,912 
 
 171^239 
 
 16 
 
 326,157 
 
 16 
 
 8 
 
 122 
 
 174,080 
 
 139,264 
 
 34,816 
 
 168,873 
 
 10 
 
 8 
 
 213,329 
 
 15 
 
 0 
 
 102 
 
 2,594,560 
 
 244,365 
 
 2,350,195 
 
 73,188 
 
 9 
 
 0 
 
 172,437 
 
 11 
 
 10 
 
 69 
 
 243,200 
 
 92,416 
 
 150,784 
 
 74,921 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 88,284 
 
 19 
 
 6 
 
 72 
 
 46,080 
 
 27,648 
 
 18,432 
 357,517 
 
 20,250 
 
 4 
 
 
 24,959 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 25 
 
 525,760 
 
 168,243 
 
 114,597 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 192,046 
 
 10 
 
 10 
 
 148 
 
 602,880 
 
 271,296 
 
 331,584 
 
 162,131 
 
 14 
 
 
 616,434 
 
 11 
 
 1 
 
 164 
 
 76,800 
 
 57,600 
 
 19,200 
 
 75,018 
 
 10 
 
 6 
 
 91,928 
 
 10 
 
 2 
 
 65 
 
 124,800 
 
 37,440 
 
 87,360 
 
 15,162 
 
 10 
 
 IH 
 
 12,917 
 
 19 
 
 9 
 
 21 
 
 819,200 
 
 46,368 
 
 772,832 
 
 57,786 
 
 0 
 
 4A 
 
 20,213 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 50 
 
 204,160 
 
 24,500 
 
 179,660 
 
 51,937 
 
 13 
 
 10 
 
 60,099 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 46 
 
 1,656,320 
 
 530,022 
 
 1,126,298 
 
 339,892 
 
 6 
 
 9 
 
 512,336 
 
 13 
 
 8 
 
 222 
 
 144,000 
 
 72,000 
 
 72,000 
 
 69,172 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 234,777 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 153 
 
 1,677,440 
 
 149,895 
 
 1,527,545 
 
 75,043 
 
 10 
 
 3 
 
 111,857 
 
 3 
 
 8 
 
 87 
 
 457,600 
 
 205,920 
 
 251,680 
 
 314,663 
 
 6 
 
 4 
 
 242,179 
 
 10 
 
 1 
 
 138 
 
 168,320 
 
 10,100 
 
 158,220 
 117,360 
 
 80,307 
 
 15 
 
 6 
 
 41,162 
 207,236 
 
 10 
 
 0 
 
 38 
 
 312,960 
 
 195,600 
 
 108,509 
 
 3 
 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 118 
 
 1,122,560 
 
 63,045 
 
 1,059,515 
 
 26,093 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 28,458 
 
 8 
 
 4 
 
 23 
 
 288,960 
 
 101,136 
 
 187,824 
 
 67,641 
 
 17 
 
 0 
 
 131,778 
 
 12 
 
 10 
 
 59 
 
 18,944,000 
 
 5,043,450 
 
 13,900,550 
 
 3,804,157 19 
 
 0 9 
 
 ^2-? 
 
 6,108,050 
 
 2 
 
 H 
 
 2987 
 
 V. — Mines and Fisheries. 
 Scotland is not deficient in the most useful mine- 
 rals. It has coal, iron, lead, with excellent stones 
 for building and paving, slate, limestone, and marble. 
 
 Its great coal-field, stretching across the country Coal, 
 in a diagonal line from west to east, or from the 
 Frith of Clyde at Dynbarton to St Andrews, in Fife, 
 and Haddington, in East Lothian, is about 98 miles 
 
 » The rental of this small county is included in that of Ross-shire, in which its lands are interspersed. 
 
488 
 
 SCOTLAND. 
 
 Scotland, long, with an average breadth of S3 miles, and esti- 
 mated to extend over 600,000 acres. Coal has also 
 been found to the norths, in the county of Suther- 
 land, and in Dumfries-shire and Roxburghshire on 
 the south ; but owing to situation, or to its inferior 
 qualify, it is not worked in either quarter to any 
 considerable extent. Hence, though at the present 
 rate of working, it has been calculated that the great 
 coal-field would last 3000 years, yet a large portion 
 of the country is but indifferently supplied with this 
 necessary of life in so cold a climate. In the High- 
 lands and Isles, peat or turf is the most common 
 fuel, and the only sort to which the lower classes 
 have access ; and in the south and south-west coals 
 are imported largely from Newcastle and White- 
 haven, by sea, and from the borders of Northumber- 
 land by land carriage. On the other hand, Scot- 
 land exports to Ireland and other parts to a still 
 greater amount, and some of her best kinds begin 
 to find a ready market even in England. The 
 Scotch coal differs from the English in its rising in 
 large masses, which do not adhere or cake together 
 in burning; and though it makes a more cheerful 
 fire it is not so durable, and the common kinds leave 
 more ashes than the English. Some of the fusing 
 or caking coal is occasionally met with in the same 
 pits with the other kind, but it bears a small propor- 
 tion to the whole. The quantity consumed in the 
 country is stated to be about two and a-half millions 
 of tons, of which two millions are supposed to be 
 required for domestic purposes, and the remainder 
 for the iron and lime works and other manufactures ; 
 and the price V/'hich, in 1813, was averaged at the 
 pit-mouth at 6s. 8d. the ton, may be less at present 
 by 10 or 15 per cent. After paying all charges at 
 the works, the coal owner's share of the price does 
 not exceed Is. a ton. 
 
 Iron. Iron is very generally found, particularly in the 
 
 ' coal districts, and is wrought to a considerable ex- 
 tent ; though a great deal is still imported, chiefly 
 from Wales. The greatest manufactory is near Fal- 
 kirk, well known by the name of the Carron-works. 
 A few years ago there were in all 21 blast furnaces 
 in Scotland, producing about 33,000 tons annually, 
 and giving employment to 7650 people. 
 
 Lead. Lead, which occurs in many parts of Scotland, is 
 
 wrought to the greatest extent at Leadhills and 
 Wanlockhead, on the confines of the counties of 
 Lanark and Dumfries, where between 3000 and 4000 
 tons are raised yearly. The number of people in 
 these two villages, the most elevated in Scotland, 
 employed in and supported by the labour of the 
 mines, is about 2000. Other mines, upon a small 
 scale, have been long worked in the isle of Isla, one 
 of the Hebrides, and on the west coast. The pro- 
 duce of the whole has been estimated at L. 136,000, 
 of which the proprietor has a sixth part, and the 
 contractor, or lessee, who bears all the charges, the 
 remainder. The silver obtained from th« lead vary- 
 ing from six to seventeen ounces for every ton, is 
 said to be worth about L. 10,000 a year, and is now 
 extracted at home instead of being sent to Holland 
 for that purpose, as was the practice till within the 
 last thirty years. 
 
 stone. Granite, sandstone, basalt, and other stones, are so 
 
 abundant, that in every district one or more kinds 
 
 is at hand for biilding, paving, inclosing, and other Scotland, 
 purposes ; but i: is only near large towns that the 
 quarries afford any considerable rent to the owners. 
 Those in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, from 
 which the freestone of the elegant buildings in the 
 New Town is procured, rented at about L. 10,000 
 per annum more than twenty years ago. The most 
 beautiful and durable species of freestone in the 
 kingdom is that furnished by the quarries at Culello, in 
 Fifeshire. Slate is wrought extensively at Easdale, Slate, 
 one of the Hebrides, at Balachelish, in Argyleshire, 
 and other places. Limestone, producing in all about LimeeJonc, 
 12,000,000 of bishels of slacked lime, worth upwards 
 of L.350,000, is wrought in various parts, but chiefly 
 in the neighboarhood of the coal-works. About 
 100,000 acres are supposed to be dressed every year 
 with this important manure. Marble is found in the Marble. 
 Hebrides, on the west coast of Argyleshire, and in Ac- 
 Sutherland, but often blended with other minerals, 
 which injure its appearance, and render it difficult 
 to work. A pearl fishery on the Tay is said to have 
 yielded L. 10,000 annually for a few years, but has 
 produced little or nothing for more than half a cen- 
 tury. Marl has a local value as a manure, but the 
 quantity that must be applied to land is too great to 
 admit of its being used at a distance from the spot 
 whei-e it is found. 
 
 Mineral waters, of various qualities, occur in many Mineral 
 parts of Scotland. Those which have been long in Waters, 
 most repute, and still maintain their character, are 
 found at Moffat, in Dumfries-shire, and Pitcaithly, 
 in Strathearn, in the county of Perth. 
 
 The fisheries form a very important article in the Fisheriee. 
 productive labour of Scotland ; the annual value of 
 the whole having been estimated, ten years ago, at 
 near a million and a half Sterling. Since that time 
 the herring fishery, which was then stated at half a 
 million, has been progressively increasing ; and the 
 repeal of the duties on Scotch salt in the last session 
 of Parliament (1822), must afford encouragement, 
 especially to the small fishermen on the coast, who 
 felt themselves so much annoyed by the excise re- 
 gulations, to prosecute both that and the other fish- 
 eries to the utmost extent of the market ; for as to 
 the supply it is held to be inexhaustible. But, for 
 a particular account of this great branch of national 
 industry, we must refer to the Article Fisheries in 
 this Supplement, and also to the Article Orkney, 
 where notice has been taken of a productive cod 
 bank lately discovered in that quarter. 
 
 VI Manufactures, Commerce, and Shipping. 
 
 Since the Union with England, and more espe- Manufac- 
 cially since the close of the American war of inde-tures. 
 pendence, Scotland has enjoyed a full share, in pro- 
 portion to her wealth and population, of the manu- 
 factures and commerce of Great Britain. There is 
 scarcely a single branch of either in which she does 
 not participate, while in some articles, such as linen 
 and spirits, she has long been in advance of England, 
 and has one or two others almost pecujiar to herself. 
 
 As several of the Tables given under this head in the 
 Article England, in this Supplement, embrace Scot- 
 land as well as England, for which, in some instances, 
 it would be impracticable to exhibit separate articulate 
 statements, we must refer the reader to that article. 
 
SCOTLAND. 
 
 489 
 
 and confine ourselves at present^o a general view of 
 ' such branches belonging to Scotland as are com- 
 mon to both countries ; giving some further notices of 
 others which are more properly of a Scottish cha- 
 racter. 
 
 Of the nnanufactures, that of woollen, carried to 
 so gteat an extent in England, has never made much 
 progress in Scotland. A variety of articles, of a 
 coarser description, are made for domestic consump- 
 tion in country families ; and a number of small esta- 
 blishments have been formed in different parts, where 
 machinery is employed, and the several processes of 
 the English manufacture, from the raw material to 
 the finished fabric, are adopted with considerable 
 success. But most of the wool grown in the coun- 
 try is still exported to England, and almost all classes 
 of the people, at least in towns, use English broad 
 cloth, flannels, and blankets, in preference to their 
 native fabrics. Carpeting is made to some extent at 
 Kilmarnock and a few other places ; tartans in the 
 county of Stirling ; and Shetland has been long noted 
 for its hosiery. 
 
 The cotton manufacture, though not half a cen- 
 tury old, has been much more successful. Its prin- 
 cipal seat is in Lanarkshire and the western counties 
 adjacent, where it is conducted in its various branches 
 to such an extent, as to give employment to about 
 150,000 .hands, of whom 90,000 are women and 
 children. The value of the goods produced was 
 estimated, in 1812, at near seven millions Sterling. 
 In 1818, Glasgow and its neighbourhood furnished 
 to the amount of more than five millions, about half 
 of which was exported. For a particular account of 
 this great branch of industry, see the Article Cot- 
 ton Manufacture in this Supplement. 
 
 Of the linen manufacture of Great Britain, Scot- 
 land has by far the greatest share. In 1727, a Board 
 was established at Edinburgh under the authority of 
 an act of Parliament (iSth Geo. I.), for the regula- 
 tion and encouragement of the linen and hempen 
 manufactures. Since 1812, according to a Return 
 made to Parliament (ordered to bq printed 3d July 
 1823), this Board has had an income of about L. 8000 
 a year, of which it expended annually between L. 3000 
 and L. 4000 for this purpose, and in premiums to the 
 growers of the raw materials. Among other regula- 
 tions it was till lately required, that all the linen cloth 
 made for sale should be stamped by officers appoint- 
 ed by the Board ; but this regulation was abolished 
 by the act of the 4th Geo. IV. cap. 40, passed in 
 June 1823. The quantity and estimated value, every 
 tenth year, from ifso to 1810, are as follows : 
 
 Scotland. 
 
 Years. 
 
 
 Total Yards. 
 
 Total Value. 
 
 1730 
 1740 
 1750 
 
 1760 
 1770 
 1780 
 1790 
 1800 
 1810 
 
 Under 9d. 
 
 Do. 
 Above 9d. 
 
 Do. 
 Above Is. 
 
 Do. 
 Under Is. 
 
 Do. 
 
 Do; 
 
 3,755,622i 
 4,609,6721 
 7,572,5401 
 11,747,7281 
 13,049,535 
 13,410,934^ 
 18,328,2571 
 24,235,6331 
 26,457,0791 
 
 L. s. d. 
 
 131,262 15 11| 
 188,777 16 5| 
 361,736 12 5| 
 523,153 10 5 
 634,411 7 
 622,187 16 4>l 
 729,748 16 51 
 1,047,598 10 10 
 1,265,669 17 2 
 
 After 1810, this branch seems to have declined. 
 In 1811, the quantity stamped was less by about five 
 millions of yards, and in 1812 it was further reduc- 
 ed by about two and a half millions. Since the 
 peace it has participated in the fluctuation, to which 
 almost all the other branches of our industry have 
 been exposed, but has of late increased very much, 
 and is now in a prosperous state. 
 
 Very little of the linen is of a fine quality; it consists 
 chiefly of sheetings, osnaburghs, bagging, &c. the 
 average price not exceeding Is. a yard. The fin- 
 er kinds are either made in private families or im- 
 ported from Ireland. The counties of Aberdeen, 
 Fife, and Forfar, carry this manufacture to the 
 greatest extent, having about four-fifths of the 
 whole. Machinery has been extensively employed 
 since 1790, but it has not yet been found applicable 
 to the finer qualities of yarn, which are still spun by 
 hand. 
 
 The royal navy, during the late wars, was chiefly Sail Cloth, 
 supplied with sail cloth from Scotland. In 1812, 
 the whole quantity made for this purpose, for private 
 shipping, and for exportation, was "estimated at 
 6,750,000 yards, worth about L. 300,000. This arti- 
 cle is not included in the returns made to the Board. 
 
 The total value of the linen and hempen manufac- 
 tures of Scotland, about the end of the war, includ- 
 ing the yarn exported to England, has been stated 
 at L. 1,775,000 ; but with what was made for private 
 use and not stamped, of which no accurate account 
 can be given, the whole perhaps amounted to about 
 two millions Sterling, and is now estimated at near 
 three millions. 
 
 As very little flax, and scarcely any hemp, are Flax and, 
 grown in Scotland, the raw materials must be im. Hemp, 
 ported ; the flax chiefly from Holland, and the hemp 
 from Russia ; the prices of which, during the latter 
 years of the late war, bore a large proportion to the 
 value of the manufacture. 
 
 In 1812, the imports of these articles into Scot- 
 land, and their value, were as follows : 
 
 
 Quantity. 
 
 
 Value. 
 
 Flax 
 Hemp 
 
 Tons. Ciet. qrs. lb. 
 
 6094 4 2 18 
 2496 17 1 18 
 
 @ L.100^tor 
 @ L.90 ^ ton 
 
 L. s. d. 
 
 609,423 6 l\ 
 224,718 7 04 
 
 8591 2 0 8 
 
 Amounting to 
 
 834.141 13 2 
 
 Since the peace, these prices have been greatly re- Export of 
 duced, and the import of flax is almost doubled ; but Linens, 
 the export trade has increased in the same propor- 
 tion, as appears from the following statement. (Cms- 
 tomhouse Returns, 13th May, 1823.) 
 
 Years. Official Value. 
 
 1812 L. 831,854 11 1 
 
 1814 1,115,304 19 4 
 
 1815 1,071,951 15 2 
 
 1816 1,089,518 5 8 
 
 1817 1,451,661 5 0 
 
 1818 1,675,838 5 2 
 
 1819 1,236,142 16 8 
 
 1820 1,438,501 I9 4 
 
 1821 1,701,709 18 4 
 
 1822 1,933,152 2 5 
 
490 
 
 Scotland. 
 
 SCOTLAND. 
 
 These are the exports of British linens, no separate 
 account being kept of what are made in Eng- 
 land and in Scotland ; but by far the greater part is 
 of Scotch manufacture. 
 
 The countries to which these exports were made 
 in the years 1821 and 1822 are as follows : {Parlia- 
 mentary Paper, ordered to be printed 22d May 
 1823.) 
 
 Scotland 
 
 Bounty on 
 Linens. 
 
 Malt and 
 .Spirituous 
 Liquors. 
 
 Countries. 
 
 Portugal, the Azores, and Madeira 
 
 Spain and the Canaries 
 
 Gibraltar 
 
 Asia 
 
 Africa 
 
 British North America 
 
 — West Indies 
 
 Foreign West Indies 
 
 United States 
 
 Brazils 
 
 Foreign Colonies on Continent of North America 
 All other Parts 
 
 1821. 
 
 L. s. 
 
 53,B97 1 
 24,624- 15 
 
 159,849 12 
 22,454 12 
 15,454 14 
 48,639 10 
 
 552,391 
 
 193,911 
 
 442,204 
 
 116,247 
 53,982 
 18,351 
 
 1! 
 
 8 
 18 
 11 
 11 
 
 3 
 
 d. 
 
 8 
 7 
 
 10 
 0 
 0 
 5 
 3 
 
 10 
 7 
 1 
 5 
 8 
 
 1822. 
 
 1,701,709 18 4 
 
 L. s. d, 
 
 40,627 9 5 
 
 78,812 7 0 
 
 162,685 2 7 
 
 29,026 4 2 
 
 6,268 8 0 
 
 75,324 19 4 
 
 542,947 4 9 
 
 161.164 19 10 
 
 516,781 3 1 
 
 179,387 15 5 
 
 115,206 0 6 
 
 24,920 8 4 
 
 1,933,152 2 5 
 
 A bounty is paid on the export of linen cloth ac- 
 cording to its value ; below 5d. the yard, a halfpen- 
 ny ; from 5d. to 6d., a penny ; and from 6d. to Is. 6d., 
 one penny halfpenny. On linens above Is. 6d. per 
 yard there is no bounty. The bounty is allowed on 
 English and Irish linens as well as Scotch. 
 
 Malt liquors and spirits are made in great perfec- 
 tion in Scotland ; and, notwithstanding the frequent 
 alteration of the laws by which this manufacture is 
 regulated, and a corresponding fluctuation in the 
 trade itself, it has long formed a most important 
 branch of the national industry. From 1786 to 1800, 
 the quantity of malt made in Scotland varied from 
 1,500,000 to 2,000,000 of bushels yearly ; the ordi- 
 nary rate of duty being then 7|^d. per bushel. In 
 1804, when the duty on malt made from barley was 
 raised to 3s. 8|-d., and from bear or bigg to 3s. 0^-d., 
 the number of bushels fell to 1,125,482, and never 
 reached 1,500,000 while these duties remained in 
 force. In 1817, 1818, and 1819, when the duty was 
 Is. 8-^d., the quantity increased from l,129,992/o 
 to 1,556,586 bushels. But in 1820, when it was 
 raised to 3s. 6d., the number of bushels fell to 
 1,284,91 8|. In 1822, under new modifications of 
 the duty, it was 1,347,432 bushels; and for the year 
 ending 5th April 1823, the number had increased to 
 2,150,795 bushels; of which 1,816,691 ^ were made 
 from barley, and 334,103^ from bear or bigg. No- 
 
 thing can afford a more striking proof of the unpro- 
 ductiveness, as well as the impolicy of a tax, when car- 
 ried to an extreme. In 1792, the number of bushels 
 was upwards of 2,000,000, and, at that rate, allowing 
 for the increase of population, it should have been al- 
 most 3,000,000 in 1822, instead of being, as it ac- 
 tually was, less in 1822 than 1792 by one-third. 
 
 The quantity of beer and ale made in Scotland in 
 1822 was near 350,000 barrels, less by almost 3000 
 barrels than in 1792. The exports to England for 
 the four years ending with J 820 was about 13,000 
 barrels yearly. Before 1801 it was seldom more 
 than 500 barrels. 
 
 The duties and regulations affecting the Scotch dis- 
 tilleries have been so often altered, and even the prin- 
 ciple itself according to which the duty is imposed, 
 that it becomes difficult to exhibit an intelligible 
 comparison between different periods without more 
 explanation than our limits will permit. But some 
 notion may be formed of their importance from the 
 following account, which embraces three different 
 rates of duty, and shows the influence of each on the 
 quantity produced, and the revenue derived from it. 
 The spirits are those made for home consumption 
 only, not partly for the English market, and all made 
 from grain or malt ; no sugar or molasses being used 
 in those years. {Report on the Malt Duties of Scot- 
 land, May 1821.) 
 
 Dates. 
 
 From loth Dec 
 to 1st Oct 
 1st Oct. 1814 
 
 to 9th Nov. 
 Year ending 
 
 10th Nov. 
 
 } 
 
 18131 
 1814J 
 
 1815 
 
 1816 
 
 1817 
 1818 
 1819 
 1820 
 
 Gallons of Spirit! 
 made and charg- 
 ed with Duty. 
 
 1,653,735 
 1,784,9431 
 
 1,030,772| 
 
 2,139,207i 
 2,367,9141 
 2,366,998 
 2,167,558 
 
 Rate of Duty per Gallon. 
 
 ■7s. l||^d. in Lowlands,} 
 5s. ll|d. in Higtilands J 
 
 8s. 4|d. 
 
 8s. 4|d. 
 
 5s. 6fd. 
 
 5s. 6)d. 
 
 5s. 6/^d. 
 
 5s. 6g\d. 
 
 Total Revenue pro- 
 duced. 
 
 L. s. 
 
 d. 
 
 587,781 8 
 
 n 
 
 743,506 0 
 
 3 
 
 427,658 16 
 
 8^ 
 
 599,168 3 
 
 51 
 
 663,464 16 
 
 4 
 
 658,773 18 
 
 4| 
 
 602,676 18 
 
 6i 
 
SCOTLAND. 
 
 491 
 
 For the quantity of spirits made in Scotland for 
 the English market, and exported to that country, 
 see the Article England in this Supplement. 
 
 Besides the spirits which pay duty, illicit distilla- 
 tion, carried on in most of the Highland counties, 
 supplies not a small proportion of the home consump- 
 tion ; the produce, from its being generally of a finer 
 quality, finding its way, in spite of the vigilance of 
 the revenue ofiicers, into every part of the country. 
 But the act passed in July 1823 (4th Geo.'IV.cap.p*), 
 by which the duty on spirits is greatly reduced, will 
 leave so small an advantage to the illicit distiller, 
 that he will probably find it no longer for his interest 
 to persist in a course which has been the cause 
 of so many evils both in this country and in Ire- 
 land. 
 
 Breweries have been established in all the towns 
 of Scotland, among which those of Edinburgh, Alloa, 
 and a few others, are in high repute. The principal 
 distilleries are in the Lothians and the counties of 
 Stirling, Fife, and Clackmannan. The business of 
 the maltster being rarely a separate one, is combined 
 with that of the distiller and brewer, the malt be- 
 ing generally made at the works where it is to be 
 used. 
 
 Of the other manufactures of Scotland we must 
 confine ourselves to a very brief notice. We have 
 already mentioned her iron- mines, and the quantity 
 produced yearly ; to which we may add, that there 
 are about 50 founderies, where it is converted into a 
 great variety of agricultural and domestic implements 
 and machinery, of which the export to America, the 
 West Indies, and the other British colonies, is con- 
 siderable ; but the finer branches of the iron manu- 
 facture, such as locks and hinges, cutlery, &c., are 
 not carried to any great extent. The silk manufac- 
 ture, about fifty years ago, was prosecuted to a con- 
 siderable amount in Paisley, but is now of little im- 
 portance. Among the other articles, we may men- 
 tion paper, glass, soap, culinary salt, and leather, 
 which, with many others, though not singly of much 
 interest, afford employment to a great many hands, 
 and produce altogether a large sum. 
 
 The simple process of burning sea-weed into kelp, 
 and the value of the article, form an important 
 branch, especially in the Western and Northern 
 Isles. About 80,000 people, of all ages, it is calcu- 
 lated, are employed in or dependent on this rude ma- 
 nufacture. The kelp is made during the summer 
 months by the same people who afterwards engage 
 in the herring fishery. The quantity has been stated 
 variously, but, in favourable seasons, may probably 
 amount to 16,000 tons ; the best of which, during 
 the late war, when the price of barilla was very high, 
 brought upwards of L. 20 per ton. But since the 
 peace, the price has been so much reduced, that it 
 will do little more than pay the expence of the labour 
 required, which may average between L. 3 and L. 
 per ton. Some of the Highland proprietors draw the 
 greater part of their income from their kelp shores, 
 and it is by their labour in making the kelp that 
 many of the small tenants are enabled to pay their 
 rents. 
 
 The commerce of Scotland with the British colo- 
 
 nies, and with foreign countries, is included in that Scotland, 
 of Great Britain given in the Article England in 
 this Supplement. Scotland trades with the same 
 countries as England, and the articles she exports 
 are, for the most part, of the same description. From 
 Leith, Dundee, Aberdeen, and a few other ports on 
 the east coast, a considerable trade is carried on with 
 Sweden, Russia, the shores of the Baltic, and Hol- 
 land ; but the principal part of her foreign and co- 
 lonial trade centres in the Clyde, which is the great 
 emporium of the trade with the West Indies and 
 America, and also with Ireland. 
 
 The trade between Scotland and England must be 
 to a large amount, but as that part of it which is car- 
 ried on by land does not appear in the Custom-house 
 books, it does not admit of being estimated with 
 much accuracy. Scotland sends to England exclu- 
 sively cattle, sheep, and wool, and home-made spi- 
 rits, and a large proportion of her other exportable 
 produce and manufactures, such as corn, kelp^ sal- 
 mon, linen goods, &c. 
 
 Intimately connected with the trade are the bank- Banks, 
 ing establishments of the country, which are nume- 
 rous, substantial, and liberal in their dealings. Three 
 of them, having their head offices in Edinburgh, and 
 a great many branches throughout the country, were 
 established by charter ; namely, the Bank of Scot- 
 land, the Royal Bank of Scotland, and the British 
 Linen Company. These, with several private banks 
 in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and other large towns, issue 
 notes, receive deposits, discount inland bills at three 
 or four months date, and pay and . receive sums so 
 low as L. 10 on cash accounts. Oa money deposit- 
 ed with them, and also on what is paid in on the 
 cash accounts, they invariably allow interest, though 
 at a less rate than they charge themselves. As 
 there is no limitation as to the number of partners, 
 the credit of the Scotch banks is above all suspicion ; 
 and even with such of them as have stopped pay- 
 ment, a thing which very rarely happens, the loss 
 has fallen upon the partners — very seldom, and to 
 a very small amount, upon the public. The circu- 
 lating medium of the country is almost entirely com- 
 posed of the notes of these banks. 
 
 The registered vessels belonging to Scotland, with Shipping, 
 the amount of their tonnage, and the number of men 
 and boys usually employed in navigating them, on the 
 30th September 1820, 1821, and 1822, were as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 
 Vessels. 
 
 Tons. 
 
 Men. 
 
 1820 
 
 3133 
 
 288,770 
 
 20,470 
 
 1821 
 
 3160 
 
 289,535 
 
 20,855 
 
 1822 
 
 3071 
 
 276,931 
 
 19,831 
 
 The number of vessels, with the amount of their 
 tonnage, built and registered in Scotland in the years 
 ending 5th January 1821, 1822, and 1823, will give 
 an idea of the extent to which ship-building is car- 
 ried on; and to show that it has more than its propor- 
 tional share of this trade, we subjoin the same ac- 
 count for England. 
 
492 
 
 Scotland. 
 
 SCOTLAND. 
 
 Steam- 
 Boats. 
 
 Parish- 
 Schools, 
 
 
 182L 
 
 1822. 
 
 1823. 
 
 
 Vessels. 
 
 Tonnage. 
 
 Vessels. 
 
 Tonnage. 
 
 Vessels. 
 
 Tonnage. 
 
 England 
 Scotland 
 
 461 
 121 
 
 54,014 
 11,004 
 
 399 
 122 
 
 46,296 
 9,457 
 
 442 
 87 
 
 43,212 
 6,162 
 
 The intercourse between the different parts of the 
 United Kingdom has been greatly faciHtated by the 
 recent invention of Steam-Boats. On the east coast 
 of Scotland, there is a cheap, speedy, and regular 
 communication by this means between all the prin- 
 cipal towns, and between Leith and London, and the 
 intermediate ports in England, for the greater part 
 of the year ; and on the west coast, besides those 
 which ply on the Clyde between Glasgow and Green- 
 ock, vessels of this description sail between Glasgow 
 and Liverpool, and cross the Channel to Ireland. 
 Hitherto, passengers have been the principal object, 
 and the hours of departure and arrival are almost as 
 regular as those of the mail-coaches. The voyage 
 between Leith and London is often made in about 
 fifty hours, and the ordinary rate of sailing on the 
 Forth and Clyde is from eight to ten miles an 
 hour. 
 
 VIL — Education — Religious I nstuuction — 
 The Poor. 
 
 By an act of the first Parliament of William and 
 Mary, it was provided, that " there be a school and 
 schoolmaster in every parish" of Scotland ; the sa- 
 lary of the schoolmaster to be not under 100 merks, 
 nor above 200. In 1803 the lowest salary was fixed 
 by another act at 300 merks (L. l6, 13s. 4d.), and 
 the highest at 400 (L. 22, 4s. 5d.), besides a dwell- 
 ing-house of at least two apartments, and a quarter 
 of an acre of ground for a garden. At all these 
 schools, reading, writing, and arithmetic are taught, 
 and at many of them the classics and the French lan- 
 guage, with geography, and some branches of the ma- 
 thematics. The fees paid by the scholars in the 
 country parishes, in addition to the salary, vary from 
 Is. 6'd. to 5s. the quarter; but the master is obliged 
 to teach the children of the poor on the recommen- 
 dation of the kirk-session, gratis. The school, and 
 schoolmaster's house and garden, are provided by the 
 parish by assessments on the land ; and one half of 
 the salary is payable by the proprietors, and the 
 other half by their tenants. These schools are un- 
 der the inspection of the presbytery in which they 
 are situated, who visit and examine them yearly. So 
 generally have the lower classes availed themselves 
 of this primary source of instruction, that an adult 
 male, a native of the Lowlands of Scotland, who is 
 ignorant of the common rules of arithmetic, is very 
 rarely to be met with ; and there are but few fe- 
 males who have not been taught to write as well as to 
 read. In the Highlands and Isles, however, where 
 many of the parishes are of great extent, and the 
 intercourse is obstructed by the nature of the coun- 
 try, the case is very different. In some of these, 
 half the inhabitants cannot read, and from the same 
 causes the means pf religious instruction are scanty, 
 and of difficult attainment. 
 
 The Society of Scotland for Propagating Christian Scotland. 
 Knovoledge, and the Committee of the Church for 
 applying the Royal bounty, have done much, in both 
 respects, by means of missionaries, catechists, and 
 schoolmasters. Every year at the meeting of the 
 General Assembly, the Sovereign, through his repre- 
 sentative, the Commissioner, presents to this Court 
 an order for L.2000, to be employed in these useful 
 labours. 
 
 Besides the parish-schools, a great many private 
 schools are supported by the fees of the pupils alone. 
 Of these, there is one or more in all the towns 
 and villages of Scotland ; and in the principal towns 
 ai'e found academies, and other seminaries of a high- 
 er order, besides the universities of Edinburgh, Glas- 
 gow, Aberdeen, and St Andrews. (See these towns, 
 and also Scotland in the Encyclopcedia, and Edin- 
 burgh and Glasgow in this Supplement.) Sunday 
 , schools, and those taught after the manner of Bell 
 and Lancaster, are therefore less wanted here than in 
 most other countries. Yet about 500 Sunday schools 
 were reported to the General Assembly in 1818, and, 
 including those of Edinburgh and Glasgow, the num- 
 ber of scholars was then upwards of 25,000. 
 
 For a particular account of the Church establish- The Churc 
 ment, we must refer to Scotland in the Encyclopce- 
 dia, and confine our notices here to its present state, 
 in so far as it differs from its former. In 1818 the 
 number of presbyteries and parishes which compose 
 each of the synods were as follows : 
 
 No. 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 4 
 
 5 
 6 
 7 
 8 
 
 9 
 10 
 11 
 12 
 IS 
 14 
 15 
 
 Synods. 
 
 Lothian and Tweeddale 
 
 Merse, or Berwick and Te 
 
 viotdale ^ 
 
 Dumfries 
 
 Galloway 
 
 Glasgow and Ayr 
 
 Perth and Stirling 
 
 Fife 
 
 Forfar and M earns 
 
 Aberdeen 
 
 Moray 
 
 Ross 
 
 Sutherland and Caithness .. 
 
 Argyle „ 
 
 Glenelg 
 
 Orkney 
 
 Presby- 
 teries. 
 
 Parishes. 
 
 7 
 
 104 
 
 6 
 
 66 
 
 5 
 
 53 
 
 3 
 
 S7 
 
 7 
 
 127 
 
 5 
 
 78 
 
 4 
 
 66 
 
 6 
 
 75 
 
 8 
 
 97 
 
 7 
 
 52 
 
 S 
 
 23 
 
 3 
 
 23 
 
 5 
 
 39 
 
 5 
 
 29 
 
 4 
 
 30 
 
 78 
 
 899 
 
 The stipends of the clergy, the amount of which fj^g'^f "gj^^^^'J 
 varies from year to year with the prices of grain, af- 
 ford a moderate competence to all, but afiluence to 
 none. Throughout the country parishes, in seasons 
 of average prices, the medium amount may be about 
 L. 200 a-year, with a good dwelling-house, and a 
 glebe, worth at least L. 50 more. In 1810 all the 
 stipends below L. 150, which, from the want of free 
 tithe, -could not be augmented by the Commissioners 
 of Teinds, were, by the 50th Geo. III. cap. 84, raised 
 to that sum ; the deficiency, which amounts to about 
 11 
 
SCOTLAND. 
 
 493 
 
 • L. lOjOOO a-year, being supplied by Parliament 
 This, therefore, is the minimum stipend in the church 
 of Scotland^ though, from very low prices of corn, 
 some of those that do not partake in this bounty may 
 occasionally fall below it. Out of 899 parishes, this 
 augmentation was required for 172, or 1 in 5|. 
 
 The Dissenters from the Established Church do not 
 amount to a fourth part of the population, and two- 
 thirds of them differ from it rather in matters of disci- 
 pline than in doctrine. The most numerous classes of 
 Dissenters are the Burghers and Antiburghers(recent- 
 ly united), and the Relief denomination. The other 
 dissenters are Roman Catholics, Episcopalians, Me- 
 thodists, with a few hundred Quakers, and a very 
 small number of Jews. All these sects have their 
 own places of worship, to which they resort in pre- 
 ference, though few of them exclusively. They mix 
 freely in society, and their children, at least all those 
 whose parents are of the Presbyterian persuasion, 
 are taught at the same schools; little or nothing now 
 remaining of that religious animosity which was once 
 so prevalent in this country. 
 Poor. The poor of Scotland are provided for partly by 
 rates levied under the authority of the laws, but 
 chiefly by voluntary contributions ; and altogether, 
 both their number, and the sums applied to their re- 
 lief, are comparatively inconsiderable. In the coun- 
 try parishes, the sum to be raised by assessment is 
 fixed b^ the land-owners, or heritors, and paid in 
 equal proportions by themselves and their tenants ; 
 and in the towns the rate is levied from the inhabit- 
 ants according to the rent of their dwelling-houses, 
 or the estimated value of their property. The vo- 
 luntary contributions consist of collections at the 
 church-doors, fees paid at marriages and baptisms, 
 and other small sums under the management of the 
 Kirk-Session ; to which in many parishes there is added, 
 in seasons of peculiar pressure, such as a year of 
 scarcity and high prices, a sum raised from the heri- 
 tors and their tenants, upon the same principle as the 
 legal assessments. In addition to these funds, some 
 of the greater proprietors occasionally bestow dona- 
 tions in money, oatmeal, and coals, to be distributed 
 under the inspection of the clergyman, or his elders ; 
 and not a few of the parishes have had bequests made 
 to them for the maintenance and education of their 
 poor, the interest of which forms the greater part of 
 the yearly disbursements. 
 
 The following results, taken from the "General Ab- 
 stract of the Population, Poor, and means of main- 
 taining the Poor in Scotland," subjoined to the Stip- 
 plementary Report of the General Assembly laid be- 
 fore Parliament in ] 820, present the best information 
 we have access to on this interesting subject : 
 
 Population for which the returns 
 
 were made . . . , 1,764,987 
 
 Number of paupers . . . 44,199 
 
 Proportion of paupers to population 1 to Scotland. 
 
 Assessments . L. 49,7 1 8 10 5j-| 
 
 Collections, and other voluntary 
 
 payments . . . 64,477 7 3^^ 
 
 Gross funds . . L. 114,195 
 
 17 
 
 9 
 
 Sum which each pauper costs . L. 2 
 
 11 
 
 8 
 
 Expence to each individual of 
 
 
 
 the population . . 0 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 As this Report was prepared little more than a 
 year before the last census, the proportion of pau- 
 pers to the population, and the expence that falls 
 upon each individual, is stated too high. On the popu- 
 lation of 1821, the proportion will be one pauper to 
 47/5, and the expence 13d. for each individual of 
 that population. If the whole sum applied to the 
 relief of the poor were raised by a rate on the lands 
 and houses, it would be equal to about L. 1, I8s. 
 per cent, of the rent in 1812 (see preceding Table, 
 containing the Extent and Rental of Scotland) ; or 
 about 4^d. per pound of that rentaK The returns 
 from which the Assembly's Report was prepared 
 were complete, with the exception of twenty High- 
 land parishes, having a population (in 1811) of 
 36,290. 
 
 According to other returns made to the Assem- Friendly 
 bly in 1818, the number of Friendly Societies, ex- Societies and 
 elusive of those of Edinburgh and Glasgow, amount- 
 ed to 327, composed of 72,153 members; and with 
 the same exclusion, 130 Savings Banks were reported, 
 having 7000 contributors, and deposits to the amount 
 of L. 30^000. It is stated, on the same authority, 
 that a capital of L. 10,082, with L. 2034 of interest, 
 was mortified for the support of the poor; and 
 L. 100,750 of capital (including L. 70,000 lately 
 bequeathed to the country parish of Dollar, in Clack- 
 mannanshire), and L. 793 of interest for their educa- 
 tion. These sums do not include the funds of the 
 great hospitals, of which an account will be found 
 under Edinburgh and the other towns in the En- 
 cydopcedia and in this Supplement. 
 
 VIII. — Population. 
 
 The population of Scotland was taken, though not 
 by authority, in 1755; and the writers of the Statis- 
 tical Account afford the means of estimating its 
 amount about 1798, when it appears to have been 
 less by 72,576 than in 1801. But in the following 
 Table, we shall confine ourselves to the three enu- 
 merations made under the authority of Parliament ; 
 presenting only the totals for 1801 and 1811, but giv-' 
 ing that of 1821 under separate heads. The Table 
 also shows the extent of every county in square 
 miles, the increase of its population from 1801 to 
 1821, and the rate per square mile in 1821 ; 
 
 VOL. VI. PART II. 
 
494 
 
 Scotland. 
 
 S C O T L A N D. 
 
 Counties. 
 
 Aberdeen 
 
 A-rgyle 
 
 Ayr 
 
 Banff 
 
 Berwick 
 
 Bute 
 
 Caithness 
 
 Clackmannan 
 
 Dumbarton.. , 
 
 Dumfries , 
 
 Edinburgh 
 
 Elgin 
 
 Fife . 
 
 Forfar 
 
 Haddington 
 
 Inverness ., 
 
 Kincardine 
 
 Kinross 
 
 Kirkcudbright , 
 
 Lanark 
 
 Linlithgow 
 
 Nairn 
 
 Orkney and Zetland 
 
 Peebles 
 
 Perth 
 
 Renfrew .,, 
 
 Ross and Cromarty 
 
 Roxburgh 
 
 Selkirk 
 
 Stirling , 
 
 Sutherland 
 
 Wigton 
 
 Totals 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Population, 1821. 
 
 Extent in 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Square 
 Miles, ex- 
 clusive of 
 
 Population 
 in 1801. 
 
 Population 
 in 1811. 
 
 Males. 
 
 Females. 
 
 Totals. 
 
 <er cent. 
 to 1821. 
 
 te per 
 re Mile. 
 
 Lakes. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 S CO 
 
 
 lybU 
 
 
 lJo,075 
 
 .... 
 
 72,38o 
 
 83,004 
 
 155,387 
 
 26.2 
 
 79-3 
 
 
 71,859 
 
 85,585 
 
 ^7,775 
 
 49,541 
 
 97,316 
 
 35.4 
 
 31.1 
 
 1 AQO 
 
 Q A. Qf\Cl 
 
 10 J,954 
 
 61,077 
 
 66,222 
 
 127,299 
 
 51.0 
 
 122.5 
 
 
 00, yu/ 
 
 cxR ado 
 JO, 608 
 
 20,193 
 
 23,368 
 
 43,561 
 
 21.6 
 
 67.5 
 
 
 QA AToi 
 oU,Ozi 
 
 OA ^r^r\ 
 
 30,779 
 
 15,976 
 
 17,409 
 
 33,385 
 
 8.9 
 
 75.5 
 
 lol 
 
 11,791 
 
 12,033 
 
 6,474 
 
 7,323 
 
 13,797 
 
 17.0 
 
 85.7 
 
 Do / 
 
 
 ^:3,4iy 
 
 14,196 
 
 l6,04'i 
 
 30,238 
 
 33.7 
 
 44.0 
 
 AO 
 
 1 A 0 cro 
 JU,o5o 
 
 12,010 
 
 6,356 
 
 6,907 
 
 13,263 
 
 22.1 
 
 276.3 
 
 //O 
 
 .iU,7 10 
 
 24,189 
 
 13,046 
 
 14,271 
 
 27,317 
 
 31.9 
 
 IJ9.& 
 
 
 f A rfCih 
 
 5%59 1 
 
 62,960 
 
 33,572 
 
 37,306 
 
 70,878 
 
 29.8 
 
 56.6 
 
 
 
 148,007 
 
 87,759 
 
 103,755 
 
 191,514 
 
 55.8 
 
 541.0 
 
 'hi o 
 
 26,705 
 
 do 1 /^o 
 
 2o,108 
 
 14,299 
 
 16,870 
 
 31,162 
 
 16.7 
 
 65.8 
 
 '±0 / 
 
 9«3j74'3 
 
 101,272 
 
 53,540 
 
 61,016 
 
 114,556 
 
 22.2 
 
 245.3 
 
 OOO 
 
 on 1 0*7 
 
 1 A*7 0£? 
 
 107,264 
 
 52,071 
 
 61,359 
 
 113,430 
 
 14.4 
 
 127.7 
 
 Li A 
 
 on Ao/^ 
 
 0 1 , 1 04 
 
 16,828 
 
 18,29c 
 
 35,127 
 
 17.1 
 
 129.1 
 
 4f05'l 
 
 74,292 
 
 78,336 
 
 42,304 
 
 47,853 
 
 90,157 
 
 21.3 
 
 22.2 
 
 380 
 
 20,849 
 
 27,439 
 
 13,540 
 
 15,578 
 
 29,118 
 
 10.5 
 
 76.6 
 
 
 6,725 
 
 7,245 
 
 3,660 
 
 4,102 
 
 7,762 
 
 15.4 
 
 107.8 
 
 
 29,2 II 
 
 33,684 
 
 18,506 
 
 20,397 
 
 38,903 
 
 33.2 
 
 47.3 
 
 f\A O 
 
 1 Af! i^Cin 
 
 140,099 
 
 191,752 
 
 115,385 
 
 129,002 
 
 244,387 
 
 66.6 
 
 259.4 
 
 120 
 
 1 7)8'1"4 
 
 19,451 
 
 10,703 
 
 11,982 
 
 22,685 
 
 27.1 
 
 189.0 
 
 195 
 
 8,257 
 
 8,251 
 
 4,082 
 
 4,924 
 
 9,006 
 
 
 a(\ Ci 
 
 40.Z 
 
 
 40,824 
 
 40,15.3 
 
 24,070 
 
 29,054 
 
 53,124 
 
 13.4 
 
 41.5 
 
 JI9 
 
 8,735 
 
 9,935 
 
 4,97s 
 
 5,07s 
 
 10,046 
 
 15.0 
 
 31.5 
 
 2588 
 
 1 O/C ono 
 
 120,366 
 
 135,093 
 
 66,033 
 
 73,017 
 
 139,050 
 
 10.0 
 
 53.7 
 
 225 
 
 78,056 
 
 9^,596 
 
 51,178 
 
 60,997 
 
 112,175 
 
 43.7 
 
 498.5 
 
 2885 
 
 55,343 
 
 60,853 
 
 32,324 
 
 36,504 
 
 68,828 
 
 24.5 
 
 24.0 
 
 i\ p; 
 ( 10 
 
 
 
 1 Q 4,AG 
 
 iy,'*uc 
 
 0 1 A 0 A 
 
 21,484 
 
 40,892 
 
 21.4 
 
 57.2 
 
 263 
 
 5,070 
 
 5,889 
 
 3,205 
 
 3,432 
 
 6,637 
 
 30;9 
 
 25.2 
 
 489 
 
 50,825 
 
 58,174 
 
 31,718 
 
 33,658 
 
 65,376 
 
 28.6 
 
 133.7 
 
 1754- 
 
 23,117 
 
 23,629 
 
 11,088 
 
 12,752 
 
 23,840 
 
 3.1 
 
 13.6 
 
 45U 
 
 22,918 
 
 26,891 
 
 15,837 
 
 17,403 
 
 33,240 
 
 45.0 
 
 73.6 
 
 29,600 
 
 1,599.068 
 
 1,805,688 
 
 983,552 
 
 1,109,904 
 
 2,093,456 
 
 30.9 
 
 70.7 
 
 Occupations. 
 
 Familief. 
 
 Agricul- 
 
 Trade. 
 
 AH Others. 
 
 13,775 
 
 1 6 090 
 
 t\ Qn7 
 
 8,989 
 
 3,468 
 
 0}O0Z 
 
 6,207 
 
 1 '1 nos 
 
 
 4,150 
 
 2,939 
 
 9 7Q6 
 
 3,334 
 
 1 09^ 
 
 
 1,314 
 
 
 oil 
 
 3,052 
 
 2,188 
 
 
 434 
 
 1,418 
 
 
 1,168 
 
 2,602 
 
 1,0 / 1 
 
 4,340 
 
 4,706 
 
 ^ 41 9 
 
 4,830 
 
 18,700 
 
 1 Q^A 
 
 2,676 
 
 
 0 QOi 
 
 5,260 
 
 
 0, /'Sfl 
 
 5,114 
 
 
 
 3,009 
 
 2 Q47 
 •*,yT / 
 
 1 n7c 
 
 10,2l5 
 
 9 447 
 
 0,00.j 
 
 3,025 
 
 
 •1 , Ji)y 
 
 446 
 
 
 O'iO 
 
 3,047 
 
 
 0 fi07 
 
 4,883 
 
 
 10,000 
 
 1,224 
 
 1,817 
 
 1,924 
 
 799 
 
 429 
 
 903 
 
 6,604 
 
 1 524 
 
 9 ^s'lK 
 
 L,oOo 
 
 837 
 
 '651 
 
 474 
 
 7,774 
 
 12,523 
 
 10,673 
 
 2,725 
 
 15,780 
 
 5,472 
 
 7,947 
 
 3,356 
 
 3,203 
 
 3,6l3 
 
 2,822 
 
 2,204 
 
 421 
 
 409 
 
 542 
 
 2,600 
 
 6,641 
 
 4,492 
 
 3,362 
 
 642 
 
 818 
 
 3,525 
 
 2,089 
 
 1,160 
 
 130,699 
 
 190,264 
 
 126,997 
 
 From this Table it appears that, with the excep- 
 tion of Orkney and the small county of Nairn, there 
 was an increase in all the counties of Scotland be- 
 tween 1801 and 1811; and that in every one of them 
 the population of 1821 is greater than that of 1801 ; 
 so far is it from being true that the Highlands of 
 Scotland, as has often been alleged, are in the course 
 of being depopulated. The greatest increase is in 
 the manufacturing county of Lanark and in the 
 county of Edinburgh ; but several counties, which 
 are wholly or chiefly agricultural, have also increas- 
 ed considerably in these twenty years. The rate of 
 increase for the whole period is very nearly 31 per 
 cent, on the population of 1801. From 1801 to 
 1811, the rate is nearly 13 per cent.; and from 1811 
 to 1821 it is 15 f per cent. If the population should 
 go on increasing at the last rate, the period of doub- 
 ling would be little more than 47 years. The ave- 
 rage population, per square mile, is 70.7 ; the low- 
 est being that of Sutherland, which is only at the 
 rate of 3.1 ^er square mile, and the highest that of 
 Edinburgh, which is 541. 
 
 From the want of correct registers, the proper- Births, M 
 tions of births, marriages, and deaths, cannot be ac- "ages, an 
 curately stated ; but in the absence of these, we give 
 the following general i-esults for the city and suburbs 
 of Glasgow, of which the population, in 1822, was 
 147,043 : 
 
 The number of Births, including still-born, 5,624 
 
 Marriages, ^..1,470 
 
 Burials, 3,690 
 
 Births to one marriage, 3-815 
 
 to one burial, 1*524 
 
 Burials to one marriage, 2*510 
 
 One birth to persons, 26*146 
 
 One marriage to persons, ...100'029 
 
 One burial to persons, 39*849 
 
 (See Cleland's Statistical Tables.) 
 
 The population of the principal towns, at the pe- Town 
 riods of the three enumerations, was as follows. Populatioj 
 Those to which the letter B is added are royal 
 burghs: 
 
SCOTLAND. 
 
 495 
 
 Towns. 
 
 Edinburgh, B 
 
 Glasgow, B 
 
 Paisley 
 
 Aberdeen (city and dis- 
 trict), B 
 
 Dundee, B , 
 
 Greenock... 
 
 Perth, B 
 
 Dunfermline, B 
 
 Kilmarnock 
 
 Inverness, B 
 
 Falkirk 
 
 Dumfries, J5 
 
 Montrose, B 
 
 Campbellton, B 
 
 Ayr, B 
 
 Stirling, B 
 
 Irvine, B 
 
 Port- Glasgow 
 
 St Andrew's, B 
 
 Rutherglen, B 
 
 1801. 
 
 82,560 
 77,385 
 31,179 
 
 35,412 
 26,084 
 17,458 
 14,878 
 9,980 
 
 8,079 
 8,732 
 8,838 
 7,288 
 7,974 
 7,093 
 5,492 
 5,256 
 4,584 
 3,865 
 4,203 
 2,437 
 
 1811. 
 
 102,987 
 100,749 
 36,722 
 
 44,211 
 29,616 
 19,042 
 16,948 
 11,649 
 10,148 
 10,757 
 9,929 
 9,262 
 8,955 
 7,807 
 6,291 
 5,820 
 5,750 
 5,116 
 4,311 
 3,529 
 
 1821. 
 
 138,235 
 147,043 
 47,003 
 
 55,094 
 30,575 
 22,088 
 19,068 
 13,681 
 12,769 
 12,264 
 11,5 
 11,052 
 10,338 
 9,016 
 7,455 
 7,113 
 7,007 
 5,262 
 4,899 
 4,640 
 
 It appears from the Report made to the General 
 Assembly in 1818, that there were of 
 
 Blind 1100 
 
 Deaf and Dumb 784 
 
 Insane 4650 
 
 6534, being in the pro- 
 portion of 1 to 320 of the population of 1821 ; but 
 for the insane, the returns were not complete, and the 
 numbers of the blind and deaf and dumb are given 
 partly on supposition. 
 
 IX — Revenue. 
 
 The revenue of Scotland, at the Union, was as 
 follows : 
 
 Crown rents 
 Feudal casualties 
 
 L. 5,500 0 0 
 3,000 0 0 
 
 Carry forward, L. 8,500 0 0 
 
 Brought forward, 
 
 L. 8,500 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 The customs 
 
 . 30,000 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 The excise 
 
 33,500 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 The post-office 
 
 1,194 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 Coinage impositions 
 
 . 1,500 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 The land-tax 
 
 . 36,000 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 Total 
 
 L. 110,694 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 For the year ending 5th January 1804, the amount 
 
 is thus stated (Sinclair's History of the Revenue) : 
 
 
 Customs .... 
 
 L. 729,694 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 The excise, including the salt-tax, 
 
 
 
 but exclusive of the annual duties 
 
 
 
 on tobacco and malt 
 
 1,281,856 
 112,467 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 Tobacco and malt, annual 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 Stamps 
 
 194,275 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 The post-office 
 
 117,321 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 Land and assessed taxes 
 
 215,839 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 The 6d. per pound on pensions, 
 
 sa- 
 
 
 
 laries, &c. 
 
 2,666 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 The Is. on ditto 
 
 3,860 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 L. 2,657,978 0 0 
 
 Of which there was paid for 
 Collection L. 230,721 0 0 
 
 Bounties, &c. 355,816 0 0 
 Expences of civil 
 government of 
 Scotland . 137,165 0 0 
 
 Deduct — 723,702 0 0 
 
 Remains L. J,934,276 0 0 
 
 Of which there was remitted to the Exchequer of 
 Great Britain L. 1,932,397- 
 
 In 1813, the nett revenue was L. 4,155,599, in. 
 eluding the property-tax, the gross receipt of which 
 was L. 966,790. 
 
 The property-tax having been repealed, and other 
 taxes reduced, the gross and nett revenue, and 
 charges of management for the year ending 5th Ja- 
 nuary 1822, were as follows : 
 
 
 Gross Revenue ac- 
 crued w'thin the 
 Year. 
 
 Nett Revenue ac- 
 crued within 
 the Year. 
 
 Charges of 
 Management. 
 
 Rate per a 
 pence C( 
 
 The Gross 
 Revenue. 
 
 'Tit. of Ex- 
 )llecting. 
 
 The Nett 
 Revenue. 
 
 Land and assessed taxes ... 
 
 Totals 
 
 L. s. d. 
 
 759,796 7 9^ 
 2,408,972 0 2| 
 480,274 5 Ij 
 470,311 2 5| 
 168,250 10 7 
 4,963 2 11 
 
 L. s. d. 
 
 405,156 2 11 
 2,035,401 11 7 
 438,172 5 7| 
 432,223 13 6| 
 120,855 6 01 
 4,833 2 11 
 
 L. s. d. 
 
 148,042 5 5 
 169,403 18 Hi 
 32,542 11 3 
 38,087 8 11 
 47,395 4 6i 
 130 0 0 
 
 L. s. d. 
 
 19 9 8 
 
 7 0 8 
 6 15 6 
 
 8 2 0 
 28 3 5 
 
 2 12 5 
 
 L. s. d. 
 
 36 10 9 
 8 6 5 
 
 7 8 6 
 
 8 16 S 
 39 4 4 
 
 2 13 10 
 
 4,292,567 9 U 
 
 3,436,642 2 7| 
 
 435,601 9 1 
 
 10 2 n 
 
 12 13 6 
 
 Of the two great branches of customs and excise, 
 Scotland pays considerably more than appears in 
 this abstract ; for several important articles, tea for 
 instance, pay the duties io England, and are, there- 
 
 fore, included in the English accounts, though part- 
 ly consumed in Scotland, to which they are carried 
 duty free. 
 
 The following Abstract, made from an account 
 
496 
 
 SCOTLAND. 
 
 Scotland, presented to the House of Commons in May 1823, 
 ~ shows the exciseable articles paying duty in the 
 
 years ending 5th July I792 and 1822 respectively, 
 and the amount of duty on each : 
 
 Articles. 
 
 1792. 
 
 Auctions 
 
 Beer and ale 
 
 Bricks and tiles 
 
 Candles 
 
 Coaches 
 
 Cocoa nuts and colFee 
 
 Cyder and perry 
 
 Glass 
 
 Hides and skins 
 
 Licences 
 
 Malt 
 
 Paper 
 
 Pepper 
 
 Printed goods 
 
 Salt 
 
 Soap 
 
 Starch 
 
 Spirits (foreign) 
 
 (British) 
 
 Stone bottles 
 
 Sweets 
 
 Tea 
 
 Tobacco and snufF...,. 
 
 Vinegar „.. 
 
 Wine 
 
 L. 4,700 
 55,078 
 3,283 
 16,804 
 99 
 443 
 
 2 
 
 H 
 
 0 
 11'- 
 
 24,719 9 
 19,618 13 
 10,813 3 
 74,960 12 
 5,744 18 
 
 n 
 
 n 
 2 
 
 78,002 0 4 
 
 43,969 8 4 
 
 9,749 17 3 
 
 56,520 8 1 
 
 52,470 5 2 
 
 31,774 8 51 
 30,990 9 61 
 
 Totals L. 519,743 9 
 
 4J 
 
 1822. 
 
 L. 13,645 12 6| 
 
 87,217 9 9^ 
 
 6,348 16 41 
 
 19,704 2 31 
 
 16,785 
 28 
 
 132,770 
 51,045 
 90,581 
 199,695 
 63,688 
 305 
 246,278 
 106,992 
 122,306 
 5,325 
 124,112 
 740,709 
 9 
 111 
 49 
 
 301,428 
 753 
 68,716 
 
 3 
 8 
 13 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 n 
 7 
 7 
 
 8 5 
 3 9 
 19 3 
 7 6 
 
 7 
 16 
 6 81 
 
 12 
 
 10 1 
 
 14 5| 
 
 4 lU 
 
 1 4' 
 4 2 
 
 2 7| 
 17 0 
 
 2 0' 
 
 L. 2,398,609 11 51 
 
 CivU Esta- "^^^ expence of the Civil Establishment of Scot- 
 biishment. land, for the year ending Sth January 1823, was 
 L. 137,635, 17s. 7i\^- This sum, to the amount of 
 L. 114,250, lis. 10/jd., is composed of the salaries 
 of the Crown Officers, of the Judges and Officers of 
 the several courts in Edinburgh, and of the Sheriffs'- 
 depute and substitute of the counties. 
 
 X.-— Representation in Parliament. 
 
 Of the Peers. The Peerage of Scotland is represented in the 
 House of Lords by 16 members of their body ; and 
 the Counties have 30 and the Royal Burghs 15 
 members in the House of Commons. 
 
 At the Union, the number of Scotch Peers was 
 159; of whom, in 1812, 77 were extinct or dormant, 
 or their titles merged in, or united to others, or for- 
 feited ; and of the remaining 82, 23 were British 
 Peers and two Roman Catholics. The Peers who 
 were qualified to vote at the election in that year 
 were 74, but the number who actually voted was 
 only 52. 
 
 oftheCoun- Each county sends one member to the House of 
 ties. Commons, with the exception of Bute and Caith- 
 
 ness, Clackmannan and Kinross, Cromarty and Nairn, 
 which have only three members ; each of these pairs 
 choosing a member alternately. 
 Of the The burghs, 66 in all (see Scotland in the En- 
 
 Burghs. cyclopcedia), with the exception of Edinburgh, which 
 sends a member by itself, are classed together, not 
 fewer than four, nor more than five ; every class or 
 district choosing one member by means of delegates 
 
 sent from each of its burghs. These delegates are 
 chosen by the magistrates and town-councils, who, 
 with one or two exceptions, are themselves nominat- 
 ed by their predecessors in office, and not by the 
 burgesses. The number of electors in each burgh 
 varies with its particular Constitution, but may be 
 averaged at 20, making 1320 in all. The popula- 
 tion of the royalties of these burghs cannot be less 
 than 456,000. (See Cleland's Statistical Tables.) 
 
 The population in 1821 being 2,093,456, and the 
 number of representatives in Parliament 45, there is 
 thus a representative for every 46,521 persons over 
 all Scotland ; and taking the burghs by themselves, 
 one for every 30,400 persons residing within the 
 royalties, exclusive of the inhabitants of the suburbs 
 and dependencies ; which, in the case of Edinburgh 
 and Glasgow, are more numerous than those of the 
 burghs themselves. 
 
 Again, as to the proportion of the inhabitants who 
 enjoy the elective franchise, the number of the 
 freeholders (at Michaelmas 1822) being, as already 
 
 stated, 2987 
 
 and the voters in the royal burghs 1320 
 
 the total number of voters is 4307 ; or at the 
 
 rate of one in every 486 of the population. Finally, 
 the 30 members for the counties have each, at an 
 average, 99^ constituents, and the 15 members for 
 the burghs 88 ; and taking all Scotland, the electors 
 are to the members as about 95| to 1. 
 
 Several large or considerable towns, such as Pais- 
 
SCOTLAND. 
 
 ley, Greenock, Kilmarnock^ and Falkirk (see the 
 preceding Population Tables), not being burghs, have 
 no share in the elections ; while Queensferry, For- 
 trose. New Galloway, and Anstruther, having each 
 only from 500 to 1000 inhabitants, and other l6, 
 less than 2000 each, have near one-third of the 
 political influence of the Scottish burghs. The 
 county of Fife, which in this respect may be called 
 the Cornwall of Scotland, has 13 of the 66 burghs; 
 of which nine are so inconsiderable as scarcely to 
 deserve the name of villages. 
 
 The inadequacy, inconsistency, and inequality of 
 this system of representation is abundantly obvious ; 
 but the discussion of these points does not belong to 
 this place. 
 
 XL—Judicial Establishments. 
 
 Sect. 1.— Cm7 Jurisdictions. 
 
 1. Justices of the Peace. These are magistrates 
 appointed by royal commission, within the several 
 counties of Scotland, chiefly for the preservation of 
 the public peace, but with a right also of exercising 
 a limited jurisdiction in other respects, derived part- 
 ly from statute, and partly resting on consuetude. 
 No particular qualification in point of rank, money, 
 or property, is necessary here, as in England, to 
 entitle a person to act as a Justice. The office is 
 gratuitous, and is held during the pleasure of his 
 Majesty. 
 
 The first introduction of Justices was above two 
 centuries ago (1587, c. 82, 1609, c. 7), and their 
 powers and duties have, from time to time, been re- 
 gulated since, by various acts, both of the Scots and 
 British Legislatures. 
 
 They are competent in questions of servants' wages, 
 of aliment to natural children, of straighting marches 
 and erecting fences between adjacent properties, 
 &c. They issue warrants of meditatio JugcB against 
 debtors intending to leave Scotland with a view of 
 defrauding their creditors ; and imprison them until 
 they find caution de judicio sisii. They have ample 
 powers in regulating highways, bridges, and ferries, 
 and in determining questions concerning them. 
 They judge in a numerous and important class of 
 questions with regard to the revenue ; particularly 
 the Excise and Customs. They formerly had power 
 to fix prices of work for artificers, labourers, and 
 craftsmen, and to compel the service of these classes 
 at the stated rates ; but the old statutes authorizing 
 this abuse are now repealed (5Sd Geo. III. c. 40). 
 
 The most important branch, however, of their 
 civil jurisdiction, and certainly the most extensively 
 useful to the public, is of modern date ; viz. that 
 which is vested under the Small Debt -acts. Prior to 
 these, there had existed in the city of Edinburgh, and 
 it is believed in some other places, an ancient con- 
 suetudinary jurisdiction ; under which the magi- 
 strates decided, in a summary way, questions of debt 
 not exceeding L. 40 Scots. By S5th Geo. III. c. 
 123, the experiment was tried of extending such a 
 jurisdiction over Scotland, by authorizing any two or 
 more justices, within their respective counties, to 
 hold courts, and try all causes for recovery of debts 
 not exceeding the same limited amount ; and this 
 
 being eminently successful, the system was im- 
 proved and rendered perpetual by 2>9th and 4<0th 
 Geo. III. c. 46, which farther extended the amount 
 of debt competent to be sued, to any sum not ex- 
 ceeding L.5 Sterling. 
 
 In the period from 1st October 1795 to 1st June 
 1800, there were decided in the small debt court 
 of Edinburgh 13,968 cases, making an annual 
 average of 2991 ; and from 1st June 1800 to 1st Oc- 
 tober 1820, 96,979 cases, or an annual average 
 of 4767. The maximum debt competent to be 
 sued, during the first period, was L.3, 6s. fid. 
 and the total value of the cases decided L. 16,865, 6s. 
 1 id. Duringthe second period L.5 was the maximum, 
 and the total value of cases L.191,991, 16s. 8^d. 
 In other districts the results were correspondent. In 
 Glasgow, the number of decided cases averaged 
 annually 5200; in Paisley, 1279' In some 
 districts, courts are held weekly ; in others once 
 a fortnight, and in few, it is believed, seldomer 
 than once a month. The fees of every step of 
 procedure are regulated by the statute; and so 
 moderate are they, that where the defender resides 
 on the spot, and where no examination of witnesses, 
 nor oath of party is required, an extracted decree 
 may be obtained, if in absence of the defender, for 
 2s. 5d., and if he appear for 2s. lid. Arrestment 
 may be used on it for 6d. more ; the defender's goods 
 may be poinded and sold for 4s. ; and his person 
 may be lodged in jail for 3s. Expence is farther 
 prevented by the absence of all written pleadings, 
 and by the salutary provision that the parties shall 
 conduct their cases in person. 
 
 The proceedings of the Justices in these small 
 debt courts, unless, indeed, they have exercised 
 jurisdiction in matters to which they are incom- 
 petent, are subject neither to " advocation, nor to 
 any suspension, appeal, or other stay of execution 
 but they may be challenged within a year from 
 their date, by action of reduction, " on the ground 
 of alleged iniquity, or oppression ;" the pursuer 
 being bound to give surety " for payment of such 
 expences as may be awarded against him." ( 39th 
 and 40th Geo. III. c. 46, § 1 3.) 
 
 In most other branches of their civil jurisdiction, the 
 proceedings of Justices are subject to the usual pro- 
 cesses of review in the Court of Session, or Circuit 
 Courts of Justiciary. The Justices have no power of 
 reviewing their own judgments ; except in as far as 
 an appeal generally lies to the Quarter Sessions from 
 the judgments of the ordinary sessions. The Quarter 
 Sessions are the stated quarterly meetings of the 
 Justices of a Avhole county, which are appointed to 
 be held on the first Tuesdays of March, May, and 
 August, and the last Tuesday of October : or re- 
 gular adjournments of these meetings. The ordi- 
 nary sessions are the subordinate meetings held as 
 occasion requires for the dispatch of business. 
 
 2. Burgh Courts. These may be considered as 
 existing, Ist, In royal burghs ; or 2d, In burghs of 
 barony or regality. 
 
 (1.) In most royal burghs, there are both a Bailie 
 Court and Dean cf Guild Court ; in others only the 
 former, which, in that case, exercises in addition to 
 its^ own all the functions peculiar to the latter. 
 
498 
 
 Scotland. 
 
 SCOTLAND. 
 
 The civil jurisdiction of the Bailie Court is as ex- 
 tensive within the limits of the burgh as that of the 
 Sheriff in his county. It comprehends all questions 
 at-ising out 'personal contract, bond, or obligation, 
 claims of debt to any amount, actions of damages, 
 &c. ; likewise all actions as to real property, which 
 are merely of a possessory nature, and do not involve 
 the question of radical title. 
 
 The jurisdiction of the Dean of Guild Court was 
 formerly more extensive than now, comprehending 
 "all actions, and matters concerning merchants, — 
 betwixt merchant and merchant, — and betwixt mer- 
 chant and mariner." (1593, c. 184.) The maritime 
 part of this jurisdiction was taken away by 1681, c. 
 16, and vested exclusively in the Court of Admiralty : 
 Neither have the Guild courts of a long time exer- 
 cised the powers conferred on them in causes be- 
 tween merchant and merchant. {Ersk. 1. 4. S-i.) 
 Their chief province now is " to take care that build- 
 ings within burgh be agreeable to law, neither en- 
 croaching on private property, nor on the public 
 streets or passages ; and that houses m danger of 
 falling be thrown down." {Ibid.) 
 
 Within the limits of the burgh, the jurisdiction of 
 the Dean of Guild is exclusive ; the Bailies again 
 exercise a jurisdiction, for the most part cumulative 
 with that of the Sheriff. The proceedings in both 
 courts are conducted in writing, by practitioners ad- 
 mitted under authority of the judge ; and proofs, 
 when necessary, are taken by commission, the clerk 
 of court, or some still more subordinate person, being 
 usually the commissioner. The judgments pro- 
 nounced may, in the first instance, be submitted 
 to reconsideration of the inferior court by petition ; 
 ultimately they may be brought before the Court of 
 Session, or Circuit Court of Justiciary, by the usual 
 processes of review. 
 
 From the constitution of these courts, the judicial 
 functions can scarcely be said to be performed by 
 the nominal judge; who, in few cases, has either ex- 
 perience, knowledge, or education, for the discharge 
 of such an important duty. He is chosen for other 
 purposes, deriving his authority from an annual 
 election under the constitution peculiar to his 
 burgh. The active and real discharge of the judicial 
 office it has been found necessary to devolve upon 
 the clerk of court, or other assessor appointed by 
 the Magistrates and Council. 
 
 (2.) The judicial business in the courts of Burghs 
 of Barony and Regality has in like manner been de- 
 volved upon assessors ; the election of Magistrates 
 being conducted there in a way precisely similar to 
 what prevails in the royal burghs. 
 
 Their jurisdiction was originally commensurate 
 and cumulative with that of the Baron or Lord of 
 Regality, their superior ; and embraced all questions 
 of debt or personal contract, with most of the pos- 
 sessory actions, &c., but subject to review in the 
 same way as the similar classes of actions in the 
 royal burghs. In those burghs " which are inde- 
 pendent of the Lord of Regality or Baron," this 
 jurisdiction still remains entire, notwithstanding the 
 judicial powers of the latter, along with every other 
 heritable jurisdiction, were almost entirely anniliilated 
 by 20th Geo. II, c. 4;3. ; commonly called the Juris- 
 
 4 
 
 diction Act. A similar reservation has been held to Scotland, 
 extend to such burghs of regality or barony as, 
 though dependent, are dependent upon royal burghs. 
 (Fac. Col. Dovoie, May 30, 1817.) Since the Juris- 
 diction Act, his Majesty has been empowered to erect 
 free and independent Burghs of Barony, on those 
 parts of the sea coast where the fisheries are cari'ied 
 on (35th Geo. III. c. 122); but the Magistrates of 
 such burghs are only to exercise the powers of Jus- 
 tices of the Peace, cumulatively with the Justices of 
 the county. (Ibid.) 
 
 3. Baron and Regality Courts. Before the Juris- 
 diction Act, every lord of regality, and every pro- 
 prietor of lands erected by the Crown in libcram bu' 
 roniam, had an extensive jurisdiction, both civil and 
 criminal ; and " a baron, where he sold part of his 
 barony lands to be holden of himself, was even un- 
 derstood to communicate to the purchaser a certain 
 degree of jurisdiction over that part of the barony 
 which he had sold." (Ersk. 1, 4, 27.) By that act, 
 however, the civil jurisdiction of the baron, &c. was 
 expressly taken away, except in actions where the 
 debt or damages should not exceed 40s. Sterling, or 
 in those brought for recovering from his own vassals 
 and tenants the feu-duties and rents of his lands, 
 and the multures or services prestable to his mills 
 {20th Geo. II. c. 43) — an exception which has very 
 seldom been taken advantage of. 
 
 4. Sherif and Stewart Courts. The office of She- 
 riff is of such antiquity, that no distinct trace remains 
 either of its first institution, or of the amount of ju- 
 risdiction originally conferred with it. 
 
 The present form of the Court was introduced by 
 the same statute which abolished heritable jurisdic- 
 tions. The office of Principal or High Sheriff is 
 no longer a judicial one {mik Geo. II. c. 43), but 
 is granted solely for purposes of the executive 
 government, and generally in connection with the 
 office of Lord Lieutenant of the county., The judi- 
 cial claaracter is exclusively vested in the Sheriff-de- 
 pute, who holds his commission directly frorn the 
 Crown, and is in every respect independent of the 
 Principal or High Sheriff; where such officer exists. 
 
 The office of Stewart has undergone similar modi- 
 fications ; and the distinction between the offices of 
 Sheriff and Stewart is now merely nominal. Both are 
 now judges of precisely the same class, having the same 
 sort of duties to perform in their respective terri- 
 tories, and invested with the same powers, and the 
 same extent of jurisdiction. By the Jurisdiction Act, 
 " One sheriff-depute, or stewart-depute, is to be ap- 
 pointed by the King in every shire or stewartry not 
 dissolved ; who is to be an advocate of three years 
 standing, and who is declared incapable to act as an 
 advocate in apy cause that shall be brought from his 
 county. These deputies are authorized to name each 
 a substitute, or substitutes, either over the whole 
 shire, or within such a particular district of it as shall 
 be mentioned in the substitution ; and they may not 
 only hold stated courts at their head burghs, but itine- 
 rant ones, when and where they please, or shall be di- 
 rected by the King, on previous notice to be publish- 
 ed at the several churches, within the district where 
 the court is to be held." (Ers/c. 1, 4, 11.) They 
 hold their offices ad vitam out culpam. 
 
SCOTLAND. 
 
 499, 
 
 cotland. "phe sheriff or Stewart exercises civil jurisdiction 
 in all personal actions upon contract, bond, or ob- 
 ligation, to the greatest extent, whether the suit be 
 brought against the debtor himself or his represen- 
 tatives ; in actions of rent and of forthcoming ; in 
 poindings of the ground ; and even in adjudica- 
 tion of lands, when it proceeds on the renunciation 
 of the apparent heir ; in all possessory actions, as re- 
 movings, ejections, spuilzies, &c. ; in all brieves is- 
 suing from Chancery, as of inquest, terce, division, 
 tutor, &c., and generally in all civil matters which are 
 not by special law or custom appropriated to other 
 courts," (ErsJc. 1. 4!. S.) He judges also in questions 
 of mutual inclosures, straighting of marches, run- 
 rig, &c, (1669, c, 17, &c.) By a recent statute (i-th 
 Geo. IF. C.97), abolishing the- inferior commissariats, 
 he is invested with the office, powers, and jurisdic- 
 tion of commissary. He has besides many import- 
 ant ministerial duties to perform. 
 
 The forms of procedure in the Sheriff-Court are 
 much the same as in those of the Royal Burghs ; and 
 their judgments are liable to review in the same man- 
 ner. As, however, in the Sheriff- Courts, it is the 
 substitute who, in the first instance, generally de- 
 cides, and as an appeal lies from his judgment to the 
 sheriff-depute, an opportunity is in many cases given 
 for a still more protracted litigation. 
 ' 5. Conwiissary Court. This was originally an ec- 
 clesiastical court ; but on the abolition of Episcopal 
 jurisdiction in 1560, a new nomination of commis- 
 saries, one in every diocese, to act under the royal 
 authority, was made by Queen Mary. Soon after- 
 w^ards a supreme Commissary Court, consisting of 
 four judges, who are now appointed ad vitam aiit 
 culpam, was established at Edinburgh ; as already 
 noticed, the inferior commissariats were abolished 
 by a recent statute {Uh Geo. IV. c 97), and their 
 jurisdiction conferred on the sheriffs. 
 
 The jurisdiction of the Edinburgh commissaries is 
 exclusive in all strictly consistorial cases, viz. ques- 
 tions of marriage, divorce, separation, legitimacy, 
 confirmation of persons dying abroad with estates in 
 Scotland, &c. They have a cumulative jurisdiction 
 with the sheriff and other civil courts, in actions of 
 slander and defamation, aliment of wives against 
 their husbands, applications for inspecting or seal- 
 ing up the repositories of persons deceased, &c. 
 Formerly the commissaries, both superior and infe- 
 rior, had a jurisdiction in actions for the recovery of 
 debts, not exceeding L.40 Scots ; and, indeed, where 
 their jurisdiction was prorogated there was no limit 
 in point of amount ; but this is now taken away, 
 and all prorogation of their jurisdiction in questions 
 of debt prohibited. Geo. IV. c. 97.) 
 
 The Court of Session, as the King's great con- 
 sistory (I6O9, c. 6), is vested with the power of 
 reviewing all decrees pronounced by the commis- 
 saries, by advocation or reduction. The commis- 
 saries of Edinburgh used to have a similar power of 
 review as to the jurisdictions of the inferior commissa- 
 ries: but this had long fallen into disuse, and by the 
 late statute, transferring the jurisdiction of the inferior 
 commissaries to the sheriffs, it is declared that " all 
 such proceedings shall be reviewable only by the 
 Court of Session." 
 
 6. Court of Admiralty. The judicial powers ex- Scotland, 
 ercised in ancient times by the Admiral of Scotland ''■^•v— ~ 
 are not distinctly known. The offices of High Ad- 
 miral and Vice-Admiral of Scotland are no longer 
 judicial oneg. That character now belongs only to 
 the Judge of the High Court of Admiralty, who de- 
 rives his commission ad vitam aut culpam immedi- 
 ately from the Crown, and who must be chosen from 
 the list of practising advocates of at least three 
 years standing. {SlGth Geo. HI. c. 47.) 
 
 The jurisdiction of this court is chiefly regulated 
 by the Scots statute 1681, c. 16. In civil causes, it 
 is exclusive in strictly maritime questions, viz. in 
 questions of charter-party, freight, salvage, wrecks, 
 &c. ; but merely cumulative with that of other 
 civil courts in ordinary mercantile questions, viz. 
 in actions on bills of exchange, mercantile con- 
 tracts, policies of insurance, &c. In the latter 
 class of cases, it is, with few exceptions, incom- 
 petent to raise any action in the Admiralty Court, 
 where the subject in dispute, exclusive of expences, 
 is of less value than L. 25 Sterling. {\st and 2d 
 Geo. IV. c. 39.) 
 
 The Judge of the High Court of Admiralty may 
 name inferior deputies, whose jurisdiction is confined 
 within particular districts, and whose sentences are 
 subject to the review of the High Court. The 
 High Court may also review its own judgments, even 
 after extracted decree, by suspension or reduction : 
 a peculiar privilege, and usually appertaining to 
 courts of supreme authority alone. This court is 
 not, however, in a proper sense. Supreme ; for the 
 Court of Session is vested with a power of review as 
 to all its proceedings, even in those questions where 
 the jurisdiction of the Admiral is in the first instance 
 exclusive. 
 
 The procedure in the Admiralty Court is substan- 
 tially the same as has already been described in the 
 rest. One important distinction is, that the Admiral 
 has power, where matters of fact are to be proved, 
 to remit cases for trial upon issues in the Jury 
 Court. (59th Geo. III. c. 35.) 
 
 7' Court of Session. This Court is the supreme 
 civil judicature of Scotland. It superseded the an- 
 cient courts of The Session and Daily Council, and 
 was instituted in 1532, during the reign of James 
 V. after the model of the Parliament at Paris. In 
 its present shape, it consists of fifteen Ordinary 
 Lords, including the Lord President and Lord Jus- 
 tice Clerk ; who, till lately, acted as one great Court ; 
 but the increasing business of the country requiring 
 an additional tribunal, it was divided into two Cham- 
 bers, called the First and Second Divisions, each ex- 
 ercising independent, but cumulative and co-ordinate 
 jurisdictions. 
 
 The Court of Session has an universal juris- 
 diction in civil matters. As a Court of Review, 
 it has, with a few exceptions in special cases, the 
 power of advocating, suspending, or reducing the 
 decrees of all the inferior tribunals. As a court 
 of the first instance, its jurisdiction is, in some causes, 
 privative ; e. g. in declarators of property in heritage, 
 and other competitions of heritable rights ; restitu- 
 tions of minors ; provings of the tenor ; cessio bono- 
 rum ; reductions of deeds, &c. ; judicial sales ; mer- 
 
500 SCOT 
 
 Scotland, eantile sequestrations ; complaints against burgh 
 -^"s/^^ elections ; proceedings of courts of freeholders, &c. 
 
 In all othersj its jurisdiction is cumulative with 
 that of the inferior courts ; excepting, \st, That in 
 causes under the value of L. 25 it is incompetent to 
 raise actions before the Court of Session, in the first 
 instance ; and 2rf, That in maritime and consistorial 
 cases, &c. the Court of Session has no primary 
 jurisdiction, and can proceed only by way of review. 
 
 The Court of Session is a court of Equity, as 
 well as of Law, but in this respect its powers are 
 loose and ill defined ; its decisions in equity not 
 being, as in England, regulated by any distinct or 
 settled general principles. It exercises, also, what 
 is called a nobile qfficium ; an expression which, in 
 ancient times, seems to have covered every exercise 
 of power for which no more satisfactory source could 
 be pointed out ; and under which may be classed all 
 those acts of interference which appear in the Books 
 of Sederunt ; sometimes fixing the price of victual in 
 the city of Edinburgh ; at others, regulating the sale 
 of butcher-meat, or framing enactments against the 
 " vending and retailing of bad twopenny ale" {A. S. 
 %lh July 1725), &c. 
 
 The judicial proceedings in the Court of Session 
 may be considered as they take place, \st. In the 
 Bill-Chamber; In the Outer-House; or Sd, In 
 one or other of the Inner Divisions. 
 
 In Session time, the junior, or last appointed 
 judge of the fifteen, has devolved on him the bu- 
 siness of the Bill-Chamber. This chiefly consists in 
 disposing of the preliminai'y stages of the process 
 of review, where bills of suspension or advocation 
 are presented against the decrees or proceedings of 
 inferior courts ; it embraces, also, questions of sum- 
 mary interdict against all illegal proceedings ; sus- 
 pension of diligence unduly put, or threatened to be 
 put, in execution; liberation from prison, where ex- 
 ecution has already taken place, &c. In time of va- 
 cation, the whole judges, with the exception of the 
 Lord President and Justice Clerk, officiate in the 
 Bill-Chamber by rotation. The judgments pro- 
 nounced in the Bill-Chamber are subject to review 
 in the Inner- House. 
 
 The business of the Outer- House is conducted 
 by the five junior Lords of Session, including 
 the Bill-Chamber judge, who has the parti- 
 cular department allotted to him of judging in ac- 
 tions of reduction, and in some other questions 
 which are from time to time remitted from the Inner- 
 House. The other four Lords Ordinary, as they 
 are called (two belonging to either Division), offi- 
 ciate by rotation ; they have separate rolls of causes, 
 comprising, 1*^, All actions brought in the first in- 
 stance before the Court, except a few which are ex- 
 clusively competent to the Inner- House ; and, 2rf, 
 The class of cases which, passing through the Bill- 
 Chamber, as above, have received the sanction of 
 the judge there as deserving of further considera- 
 tion. The proceedings in the Outer-House, like 
 those in the Bill-Chamber, are subject to review in 
 the respective Divisions of the Inner-House. 
 
 Each Chamber of the hmer-House consists of four 
 Lords, three of whom are a quorum. The Lord 
 President presides in the First Division, the Lord 
 
 LAND. 
 
 Justice Clerk in the Second. They are chiefly oc- Scotland, 
 cupied in reviewing the judgments which have been 'v.^v^* 
 pronounced by the Lords Ordinary in the Bill-Cham- 
 ber or Outer- House. But they have also a primary 
 and exclusive jurisdiction in the sequestration of 
 landed estates ; the appointment of judicial factors, 
 curators bonis &c. ; proceedings for redemption 
 of the land-tax ; complaints in election matters ; 
 petitions and summary complaints under the bank- 
 rupt statute, &c. In cases of great importance 
 or difficulty, either Division of the Inner-House is 
 empowered to take the opinions of the other judges ; 
 but these opinions when taken are not always regard- 
 ed ; and one case is reported where judgment was 
 ultimately pronounced by the votes of three judges 
 in one of the Divisions, though an unanimous opinion 
 to the contrary had been given by no fewer than ten 
 of the other judges, including the two Heads of the 
 Court. {Auld, Nov. 12, 1819, Fac. Col.) 
 
 The extent of business before the Court may be 
 judged of, from an interesting document lately drawn 
 up by the Clerks of Session, under the directions of 
 the Court. Two tables are there given ; — one of 
 " causes appearing in the printed rolls of the Outer- 
 House ;" from which the total number of such cases 
 during the period from 1 802 to 1 822, inclusive, ap- 
 pears to be 50,970 ; giving an annual average of 
 24.27: — another, of " original petitions, petitions 
 and complaints, and other summary applications to 
 the Inner-House ;" from which the total number of 
 such cases in the period from 1811 to 1821, inclusive, 
 appears to be 5302, giving an annual average of 482- 
 
 The forms of procedure in the Court of Session 
 it would require much space to explain. There, 
 as in the inferior courts, all the more import- 
 ant pleadings are conducted in writing ; and 
 proofs taken by commission. In this latter respect, 
 the power of remitting cases for trial upon issues in 
 the Jury Court is a vast improvement, and may 
 eventually draw after it, what is of great and essen- 
 tial consequence, — viz. a distinct separation of the 
 matter of fact from considerations of law, in pro- 
 nouncing judgment, even in those cases which are 
 not submitted to a jury. 
 
 An appeal lies from the judgments of the Court of 
 Session to the House of Lords. The disparity in 
 the proportion of such appeals from Scotland, com- 
 pared with those arising in the sister countries, is 
 striking enough. Between 3d May 1813, and 14th 
 March 1823, the appeals presented from Scotland 
 alone were 426, while from England there were 
 only 56, from Ireland 84, and from Wales 4. In 
 291 Scots appeals decided during the same period, 
 only 145 were affirmed, while 62 were reversed, 
 two altered, and 80 remitted for reconsideration. 
 The increasing load of Scots appeals, combined with 
 the circumstance of such a number of alterations 
 and reversals, has lately given rise to much discus, 
 sion; and a Parliamentary Commission is at this 
 moment (October 1 823) sitting, from whose investi- 
 gation into the sources of the evil,, the country is 
 entitled to anticipate the most important and benefi- 
 cial results. 
 
 8. Teind Court. After various temporary Com- 
 missions of Parliament, the first of which was ap- 
 10 
 
scot: 
 
 pointed in l6l7, c. 3, the Lords of Council and 
 Session were at last created a perpetual " Commis- 
 sion for the Plantation of Kirks and Valuations of 
 Teinds," by 1709, c. 9- This court, though consisting 
 of the same individual judges, has always exer- 
 cised a jurisdiction separate and distinct from that 
 of the Court of Session ; and when the latter was 
 recently divided into two chambers, it was provid- 
 ed, that the former should in all respects continue 
 untouched. The quorum of this court is nine : 
 the same as that of the Court of Session before its 
 division. 
 
 By the act 1707, the Teind Court was appointed 
 to meet every Wednesday during the sitting of the 
 Court of Session, but now it meets " once a fort- 
 night only," viz. every alternate •Wednesday. (48^^ 
 Geo. III. c. 138.) 
 
 The extent of its jurisdiction is pretty fully set forth 
 in the act 1707 ; — it has power " to determine in 
 all valuations and ^ales of teinds ; to grant augmen- 
 tations of ministers' stipends ; prorogations of tacks 
 of teinds ; to disjoin too large parishes ; to erect 
 and build new churches ; to annex and dismember 
 churches," &c. 
 
 9. Jury Court. This court is of very recent in- 
 stitution, having only been introduced so late as 1 8 1 5. 
 It is composed of one Chief Judge and two other 
 judges, called " the Lords Commissioners of the Ju- 
 ry Court in Civil Causes ;" but trials may proceed 
 equally ''in presence of one, or more than one, of the 
 saidthree Commissioners." (55tk Geo.III.c.4>2.) The 
 Commissioners must be either Lords of Session or 
 Barons of Exchequer (Ibid.), with the exception of 
 the Chief Commissioner, who may or may not hold 
 such other judicial office, but must be qualified to be 
 appointed a Lord of Session. (59th Geo. IIL c. 35.) 
 The court, as well as its forms of procedure, are 
 framed very much on the English model ; the jury 
 also, as in that country, must be twelve in number, 
 and their verdict unanimous. 
 
 As at present constituted, no action can originate 
 before this court. It derives its jurisdiction by vir- 
 tue of Remits either from the Court of Session, the 
 Court of Admiralty, or the House of Peers, as the 
 court of last resort. " In all processes raised in the 
 Outer-House of the Court of Session, by ordinary ac- 
 tion or otherwise, on account of injuries to the person, 
 whether real or verbal, as assault or battery, libel or 
 defamation; or on account of any injury to moveables, 
 or to lands where the Title is not in question ; or on 
 account of breach of promise of marriage, seduction, 
 or adultery ; or any action founded on delinquency 
 of any kind, where the conclusion shall be for da- 
 mages or expences only" (59thGeo.III.c.S5), the 
 Order for Remit after the lodging of defences is (un- 
 less a question of law or relevancy arises) peremp- 
 tory. In other cases, " where matters of fact are to 
 be proved," the Lord Ordinary in the Outer-House, 
 or either of the Inner Chambers of the Court, the 
 Judge of the High Court of Admiralty, and the 
 House of Lords, judging on appeal, may or may not 
 remit, as it shall seem expedient. (Ibid.) In all 
 cases where such remits are made, it is declared in- 
 competent to bring under review in any shape any 
 interlocutor or judgment ordering a trial by jury. 
 
 VOL. VI. PART II. 
 
 :.AND. so 
 
 The Jury Court has its ierms and sittings like the Scotland 
 English courts. The judges also travel circuits ^ ^ 
 twice a year, about the same periods as the Lords of 
 Justiciary. 
 
 10. Circuit Courts of Justiciar^/. The constitution 
 of these courts will be explained below. The only 
 thing to be noticed in regard to them here is, that 
 they have a civil jurisdiction conferred on them by. 
 statute (20th Geo. II. c. 43 ; 5i>th Geo. III. c. 67) ; 
 whereby they judge, by way of appeal, from the 
 sentences of inferior courts, in all cases not exceed- 
 ing L. 25 in value, exclusive of the expences of liti- 
 gation. The decision of the Circuit Judges in these 
 cases is final ; but in questions of difficulty they may 
 certify the cause to the Court of Session. 
 
 11. Court of Exchequer. This is the King's Re- 
 venue court. The old Scots Court of Exchequer 
 was superseded at the Union by the establishment 
 of the present, which consists of a Chief Baron, and 
 four (or rather, as the court is at this moment con- 
 stituted, of three) Puisne Barons, who must be ei- 
 ther Serjeants at law, or English Barristers, or Scots 
 Advocates of four years' standing. 
 
 The judges of tihis Court have " a peculiar juris- 
 diction as to all duties of custom and excise, and 
 other revenues pertaining either to the King or 
 Prince of Scotland, and as to all honours and estates, 
 real and personal, forfeitures and penalties of what 
 nature soever, arising to the Crown within Scotland ; 
 and as to all questions relating to the said matters, 
 which they are authorized to determine either" in law 
 or equity, by the same forms that have been used in 
 the English Exchequer." (Ersk. 1. 3. 31.) By a 
 late statute, this Court has also jurisdiction in ques- 
 tions as to the administration of what is called the 
 common good of Royal burghs, at the instance of Bur- 
 gesses against their Magistrates. (Sd Geo. IV. c. 91.) 
 
 Sect. 2 — Criminal Jurisdictions. 
 
 Most of the Courts enumerated above as exercis- 
 ing civil, have also a certain jurisdiction in criminal 
 matters. 
 
 1. Justices of the Peace, by the terms of their 
 commission, &c. would seem here, as in England, to 
 have power to judge even of the highest crimes ; but 
 in practice (perhaps from the circumstance of their 
 never using juries), their jurisdiction is limited to 
 the trial of petty delinquencies, e. g. all petty crimes 
 tending to the disturbance of public tranquillity, 
 petty acts of theft or pickery, &c. They are entitled 
 to punish by fine or imprisonment, and perhaps also 
 by banishment from the county, though this last 
 seldom takes place, unless on the petition of, or con- 
 sent of the party. Though the Justices, however, 
 are not competent to the trial of the higher offences, 
 they have full power, and it is a chief part of their 
 duty, to take all necessary steps for securing the 
 offenders, and making the proper investigations pre« . 
 paratory to trial : e, g. they lead precognitions as to 
 all circumstances connected with the offence, grant 
 warrant for apprehending the delinquent, for im- 
 prisoning him for examination, or trial, &c. ; they 
 issue warrants of search also as to stolen goods, &c. ; 
 and having thus so far brought the case into shape, - 
 they report their proceedings to the Crown officers, 
 3 s 
 
502 
 
 SCOTLAND. 
 
 Scotland with whom it lies to proceed or not before the com- 
 « IV '1 h- petent court. 
 
 Selkirkshire. Burgh Courts, as to their powers in all those 
 '^^^^^^^^ g^gpg preparatory to trial of the graver offences, are 
 on the same footing with the Justices ; — but their 
 own peculiar jurisdiction in the trial o£ criminal cases 
 is somewhat more extensive. They are competent 
 in all the lesser offences, where trial by jury is not 
 required. Where the burgh grant carries an express 
 right of Sheriffshipj as is the case in Edinburgh, 
 Stirling, Perth, &c. their jurisdiction within the 
 bounds of the Royalty is co-extensive and cumulative 
 with that of the Sheriff. 
 
 3. Barony and Regality Courts, since the Juris- 
 diction Act, have no criminal jurisdiction but in as- 
 saults, batteries, and smaller offences, which may be 
 punished, either by a fine not exceeding 20s. Ster- 
 ling, or by setting the delinquent in the stocks in 
 the day time' not exceeding three hours. 
 
 4. Sheriffs are competent to the trial of all crimes 
 and offences, except treason, and the four pleas of 
 the Crown, robbery, rape, murder, and wilful fire- 
 raising :— in the lower classes of cases without, 
 in the higher and more important with, the aid 
 of a jury. Sheriffs cannot punish by transporta- 
 tion beyond seas, nor even by simple banishment 
 from Scotland ; but they may convict capitally ; 
 and sentence of death pronounced (:28th January 
 1785) by the Sheriff of Forfar, in a case of house- 
 breaking, seems actually to have been carried into 
 execution. ('2. Hume, 57 and 64.) In the pre- 
 paratory steps towards trial of offences in the Su- 
 preme Court of Justiciary, Sheriffs exercise the same 
 powers as Justices of the Peace, &c. 
 
 5. Court of Admiralty. This Court, in the first 
 instance, has "the exclusive cognizance of the crimes 
 of piracy, mutiny on shipboard, plundering of 
 wrecks, destruction of insured ships, and others 
 which may with propriety be called maritime causes." 
 But in such crimes as murder, theft, &c. which 
 " offend not against the rules of navigation, its ju- 
 risdiction is not exclusive, though they should be 
 committed on shipboard." {Krsk. I. 3, 35.) It is 
 the nature of the crime, not the local boundary of 
 its perpetration, which regulates the Admiral's juris- 
 diction as exclusive; it is, on the other hand, the 
 occurrence of the offence within the local boundary 
 which alone gives existence to his jurisdiction as 
 cumulative. The Admiral may punish capitally; 
 an instance of which, in a case of piracy, occurred 
 so late as 1822. 
 
 6. Court of Session. This Court also has a cer- 
 tain criminal jurisdiction. It is " competent to the 
 trial of deforcement and breach of arrestment (1581, 
 
 c. 118); of contravention of lawburrows (l58i, c. ScotJaji 
 117) ; of perjury and subornation of perjury, when ^ .11 
 these offences emerge in the course of business be- '^'^'^"'^s^" 
 fore themselves (1555, c. 4<7) ; of fraudulent bank- 
 ruptcy (1696, c. 6) ; of wrongous imprisonment, 
 usury, and clandestine marriage, to the effect of in- 
 flicting the pecuniary penalties of these several trans- 
 gressions (1701, c. 6; 1597, c. 251; 1661, c. 34). 
 By ancient custom they are judges also in cases of 
 improbation and forgery," — also, " in the trial of 
 the lower species of falsehood, when committed or 
 discovered in the course of their judicial proceed- 
 ings," &c. (2. Hume, 68; Ersk. 1.3,21.) They 
 are likewise, to a certain extent, competent to the re- 
 view of the proceedings of inferior courts. The 
 criminal jurisdiction of the Court of Session is, in all 
 cases, exercised without a jury. 
 
 7. Justiciar-y Court. This is the supreme criminal 
 tribunal of Scotland. As at present constituted, it 
 consists (besides the Justice General, who, by his 
 commission, is constant President of the Court, but 
 seldom if ever takes part in the judicial business) 
 of six Judges, including the Lord Justice Cleric, all 
 of them being likewise Lords of Session, and three 
 being a quorum. (23d Geo. III. c. 35.) Its judg- 
 ments proceed on the verdict pronounced by the ma- 
 jority of a jury of fifteen. 
 
 The jurisdiction of this Court, as it is supreme in 
 degree, is also universal in extent. It embraces the 
 four pleas of the Crown, and even High Treason, 
 though this last is generally tried by a special com- 
 mission of Oyer and Terminer, appointed by the 
 Crown. As a Court of Review, also, the proceed- 
 ings of all inferior judicatures, including the Court 
 of Admiralty, may, with a few trifling exceptions, 
 be brought before this Court. 
 
 The principal seat of the Justiciary Court is at 
 Edinburgh. But, for the better dispatch of busi- 
 ness, the act 1672, c. 16, divided Scotland into three 
 districts; and Circuit Courts, with the full powers of 
 the whole Court, are now appointed to be holden 
 each spring and autumn, by two of the Commission- 
 ers, at Ayr, Dumfries, and Jedburgh ; by two at 
 Stirling, Glasgow, and Inverary ; and by two at 
 Perth, Aberdeen, and Inverness. It is " lawful 
 for one judge to proceed on business in absence of 
 his colleague." (Ersk. 13, 26.) These Circuits have 
 also a power to review, by way of appeal, all senten- 
 ces of inferior courts, inferring " neither death nor 
 demembration." (20th Geo. III. c. 43.) 
 
 No appeal lies from the judgments and sentences 
 of the Court of Justiciary, either to the House of 
 Lords or any other tribunal. 
 
 (A.)* 
 
 Situation, SELKIRKSHIRE, a county in Scotland, situat- Greenwich. It has Mid-Lothian, or the county of 
 Boundaries, ed between 55° 21' and 55° 42' north latitude, and Edinburgh, on the north : Roxburghshire on the 
 and Extent, between 2° 48' and 3° 20' west longitude from east and south-east ; Dumfries-shire on the south ; 
 
 * The last section, that, namely, on Judicial Establishments, was contributed by a Gentleman of the 
 Bar, well qualified, to execute it with accuracy. The preceding sections were written by the Gentleman 
 ' whose Signature is annexed to the Article. — Ed. 
 
S E L 
 
 Jkkkshire. and Peebles-shire, or Twreeddale, on the west. The 
 ■-^^^ line which separates it from these counties being on 
 all sides, but the south, exceedingly irregular, its 
 area has been computed very differently; but, ac- 
 cording to the latest authorities, it appears to be 
 about 269 square miles, or 172,160 English acres. 
 It includes only two entire parishes, with five parish 
 ' churches : but other seven parishes belong partly to 
 
 this, and partly to the adjoining counties, 
 urface. This is almost entirely a pastoral district, and in 
 many respects bears a resemblance to the higher 
 parts of the contiguous county of Roxburghshire. 
 Like the latter county, its general declivity is to- 
 wards the north-east and north, where all its streams 
 discharge themselves into the Tweed ; and the sur- 
 face differs principally, in so far as some of the hills 
 are more elevated, its streams smaller, and the val- 
 leys in which they flow still more contracted. Seve- 
 ral of the hills are more than 2000 feet high ; such as 
 Windlestraw Law at the northern extremity, on the 
 confines of Mid-Lothian, Blackhouse Heights, and 
 IVIinchmoor on the borders of Peebles-shire, and Et- 
 trick-penn on the south-west boundary. The lower 
 hills are for the most part green, and afford good 
 pasturage for sheep; but heath prevails on many of the 
 higher grounds, especially towards the south-west. 
 The lowest land is about 300 feet above the level of 
 the sea, and the sites of many of the houses are from 
 600 to 1000 feet high and upwards. 
 
 The rivers are the Tweed, which crosses the north 
 side of the county in its course from Peebles-shire on 
 the west to Roxburghshire on the east ; the Gala, 
 which, for some distance, forms the boundary with 
 Roxburghshire on the north-east, and falls into the 
 Tweed, from the north, a little below the village of 
 Galashiels ; the Cador, a beautiful stream, which 
 also joins the Tweed from the north; the Ettrick 
 and Yarrow, which have their sources on the confines 
 of Dumfries-shire, and, flowing north-east, almost 
 parallel to each other, join their streams above Sel- 
 kirk, and afterwards, under the name of Ettrick, 
 passing to the west of that town, and, for a short dis- 
 tance along the boundary with Roxburghshire, enter 
 the Tweed, in which their name is lost, and which 
 then becomes the boundary with that county. The 
 Ale, which rises in the north-east, soon after passes 
 into Roxburghshire, and also the Borthwick, which 
 washes the north-eastern boundary. Next to the 
 Tweed, the most considerable waters are the Ettrick 
 and the Yarrow, which receive, in the first instance, 
 nearly all the other streams that traverse this dis- 
 trict. Both have been celebrated in song, and given 
 their names to some plaintive melodies of great 
 beauty and feeling. The scenery on the Yarrow is 
 exceedingly romantic and delightful. Soon after its 
 rise, it passes through two lakes, the Loch of the 
 Lows, and St Mary's Loch; the latter, which is se- 
 parated from the former only by a narrow neck of 
 level ground, and is three miles long, having its 
 banks partly covered with coppice-wood, is the finest 
 piece of water in the south of Scotland. From 
 thence the Yarrow flows for eight or nine miles, 
 through sheep-walks, without wood or cultivation; 
 btit afterwards the sides of the lofty hills in its course 
 are covered with wood to a considerable height, 
 
 S E L 503 
 
 and its valley is embellished with a variety of bushes Selkirkshire, 
 and wild flowers. Ettrick, the larger stream, has a ^^^^/'^^ 
 wider and more cultivated valley, and a little before 
 it receives the Yarrow, natural wood begins to ap- 
 pear on its banks. It afterwards flows for four 
 miles through a rich tract, sheltered by plantations 
 on the hills, till it loses its name in the Tweed. 
 From this river the whole district has been some- 
 times called Ettrick Forest ; but the name of Forest 
 here, as elsewhere, has long since ceased to denote 
 the existence of extensive woodlands, of which, 
 whatever may have been thfe case formerly, there are 
 rlow scarcely any traces here. Besides the two lakes 
 we have mentioned, a great many smaller ones are 
 scattered over the east and south-east quarters, of 
 which the more considerable are Lochs Alemoor, the 
 principal source of the Ale, and Oakermoor, noted 
 for the vast quantity of marl which it contains. 
 
 The soil of the arable land, which does not much Soil, &c. 
 exceed one-twentieth part of the whole, is light, dry, 
 and easily cultivated ; and produces oats, barley, or 
 bear, turnips and potatoes; but very little wheat, 
 for which the country is too elevated, and its climate 
 in general too moist and rigorous. There is no 
 coal, limestone, or sandstone, but a great deal of 
 shell-marl in the lakes and mosses, which, when si- 
 tuated conveniently for the arable land, serves as a 
 valuable manure. The rest of the county is almost 
 exclusively occupied by sheep, which are now, for 
 the most part, of the Cheviot breed, though not of- 
 ten pure, and scarcely, in any instance, equal to 
 those of Roxburghshire. The heath or mountain 
 race still keep their ground near the sources of the 
 streams in the elevated districts on the south-west. 
 There is but a small number of cattle, which are 
 kept chiefly for their milk. The valued rent of the Valuation 
 county is L. 80,307, 15s. 6d. Scots, and the real and Rental, 
 rent of the lands and houses in 1812 was L. 41,162, 
 10s. Sterling. In the same year the land-rent was 
 divided among forty-four estates, of which nine had 
 each a valuation exceeding L. 2000 Scots, twenty 
 were below L. 2000 and above L. 500, and fifteen 
 below L. 500 ; a division which indicates that most 
 of the district belonged to a few individuals. Two- 
 fifths of the whole are held under entail. The 
 principal proprietors are the Duke of Buccleuch, 
 the Earl of Traquair, Lords Elibank and Napier, 
 and gentlemen of the names of Pringle, Lockhart, 
 Elliot, Murray, and Scott. 
 
 Selkirk, the county town, and a royal burgh, and the Towns, 
 village of Galashiels, contain nearly all that part of the 
 population that is not employed in husbandry ; and 
 both are small places. Selkirk is situated on a rising 
 ground below the confluence of the Yarrow and Et- 
 trick near the borders of Roxburghshire, and is a 
 place of considerable antiquity. Galashiels, on the 
 Gala, north from Tweed, also on the borders of the 
 same county, has been long distinguished for its 
 woollen manufacture, the most considerable of the 
 kind in the south of Scotland ; where all the various 
 processes, from the sorting of the fleece to the 
 finishing of the fabric, are conducted with much 
 skill and success. For some time only coarse cloths 
 were made, such as were formerly worn by farm 
 servants, seldom worth more than 3s. the yard, and 
 
504 S E L 
 
 Selkirkshire popularly known by the name of GalasMel greys ; 
 \\ but within these few years some very fine broad 
 '^^*^^''* cloths have been produced, and a hall has been 
 
 ''"^^^ opened for the sale of their cloths, similar to those 
 long established at the woollen manufactories of 
 England. A considerable proportion of the wool of 
 the county finds a market at Galashiels. An inkle 
 work and some tanneries are the only other branches 
 carried on for sale out of the county ; so that its ex- 
 ports consist chiefly of raw produce, of which its 
 sheep and wool are by far the most considerable 
 articles. 
 
 Representa^ Selkirkshire, which has thirty-eight freeholders, 
 sends one member to Parliament, and Selkirk, 
 along with Peebles, Lanark, and Linlithgow, elect 
 another for the Scottish burghs. Though it is 
 a very thinly peopled district, containing, in 1811, 
 only about twenty-two inhabitants to the square 
 mile, yet poor rates have been long and univer- 
 
 Population. sally established. The population, according to the 
 census of 1801, was 5070; in 1811 it amounted to 
 5889 ; and in 1821 to 6637, of which 3205 were 
 males, and 3432 females. The families employed 
 in agriculture were 421, in all other occupations 409. 
 The increase of population, from 1811 to 1821, was 
 748. 
 
 See the general works quoted under the former 
 Scottish counties, and Douglas' General View of the 
 Agriculture of Selkirkshire. (a.) 
 
 SHETLAND, New South, a large tract of 
 uninhabited land, situate to the southward of Cape 
 Horn, discovered in 1819 by Mr William Smith, 
 the master of a British merchant Brig, and which, 
 in some minds, revived the belief of a vast con- 
 tinent within the Antarctic Circle. Mr Smith 
 gave to it the name of South Shetland, on ac- 
 • count of its lying nearly in the same degree of 
 
 south, as the Shetland Isles of north latitude. There 
 is a full account of his observations in a letter 
 written by Mr J. Miers, published in the Edinburgh 
 Philosophical Journal, Vol. IIL p. 367- Though 
 he gave the appellation of Neiu to the land in 
 question, it rather appears, as we have observed 
 in our article on the Polar Seas, that the first 
 discovery of it was made so long ago as the year 
 1599) by a Dutch navigator of the name of Gherritz. 
 We have also stated, in the same place, that this land 
 appears to be an Island, and not part of a Continent. 
 See p. 215 of this Volume. 
 Sicily. SICILY. This island, a part of the kingdom of 
 
 the Two Sicilies, has undergone few or no changes, 
 either in its government, manners, religion, or pro- 
 ductions, during the convulsions which, for near 
 thirty years, have agitated every part of the conti- 
 nent of Europe. Upon the overthrow of the go- 
 vernment of Murat in Naples, the royal family re- 
 turned to that capital, quietly resumed the authority 
 that had formerly been exercised, and Sicily ceased 
 to be the seat of government. The tranquillity 
 which followed was interrupted by the late revolu- 
 tion in Naples, the promoters of which resolved to 
 force their own regimen on the unwilling Sicilians. 
 The island was invaded by the troops of the revolu- 
 tionists, and after some most bloody encounters, was 
 
 SIN 
 
 compelled to submit to the dictation of the trium- Sicily 
 phant party. They were in their turn dispersed by II 
 the Austrians, and the ancient system in Sicily was Sincapore, 
 speedily restored, to the high gratification of its in- 
 habitants. 
 
 The commerce of this island consists in the ex- Commerce, 
 port of the surplus of its raw productions ; for its 
 manufactures are inconsiderable, and by no means 
 equal to the wants of the people. The chief 
 exports are corn, nuts, hemp, flax, oil, wine, sul- 
 phur, fish, silk, and fruits; the whole amount of 
 which does not commonly exceed 11,000,000 ducats, 
 or about L. 240,000 Sterling. The imports are of 
 nearly the same value. 
 
 The revenues of the island, in the year 1820, Finances, 
 amounted to 1,637,332 ounces, or about L. 200,000, 
 and the expenditure to 1,665,355. The expences 
 are restricted to 1,817,680 ounces; of which sum 
 150,000 ounces are applied to the discharge of that 
 part of the public debt which bears no interest, and 
 after that is liquidated, to form a sinking fund to ex- 
 tinguish those on which interest is payable : the 
 amount of the latter is not known to the public. 
 
 The regular Sicilian army, including the different Army and 
 branches of horse, foot, and artillery, amounts to^^vy. 
 10,000 men, besides which there is a militia force of 
 8000. The Sicilian navy is now united with that 
 of the kingdom in general. The arrangements re- 
 specting the forces are at present (1823) undergoing 
 revision, and therefore in a temporary state of con- 
 fusion. 
 
 Sicily has been recently divided into seven Inten- Divisions, 
 dancies, instead of the three great provinces, which 
 before formed its component parts. These Inten- 
 dancies, and their population, and principal cities, 
 are as follows : 
 
 Intendancies. 
 
 Population in 
 1817. 
 
 Capitals and their 
 Population. 
 
 Palermo 
 
 405,231 
 
 Palermo 
 
 180,000 
 
 Messina 
 
 236,784 
 
 Messina 
 
 44,650 
 
 Catania 
 
 289,406 
 
 Catania 
 
 45,081 
 
 Siragosa 
 
 192,710 
 
 Siragosa 
 
 13,850 
 
 Caltanisetta 
 
 155,225 
 
 Caltanisetta 
 
 15,627 
 
 Girgente 
 
 288,877 
 
 Girgente 
 
 14,882 
 
 Trapani 
 
 145,712 
 
 Trapani 
 
 24,330 
 
 
 1,713,945 
 
 
 
 The whole extent of the island is calculated to be 
 12,533 square miles. 
 
 See Vaughan's Views of the present State of Sicily, 
 1812. Thompson's Sicily and its Inhabitants, 1815. 
 Smyth's Sicily and its Islands, 1823. (w. w.) 
 
 SINCAPORE, or Singapore, an island in the 
 Straits of Malacca, situate at the extremity of the 
 Peninsula of that name, upon which a British Settle- 
 ment was formed in 1819, under the enlightened 
 direction of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, the Lieu- 
 tenant-Governor of Bencoolen. Of this island, upon 
 which there is a town of the same name, nothing has 
 
 11 
 
SIN 
 
 yet appeared, so far as we know, in the way of de- 
 scription, except some detached notices in periodical 
 publications, particularly in the Asiatic Journd. 
 We are thus unable to give any very distinct or de- 
 tailed account, either of its situation, extent, or 
 productions. In the interior, its surface is said to 
 exhibit a succession of hills and dales, mostly covered 
 with woods, and affording some fine prospects. The 
 soil is fruitful ; the water, a material circumstance, 
 of good quality ; the temperature remarkably cool 
 for a tropical region ; and the climate has hitherto 
 proved extremely healthy. 
 
 The town of Sincapore exhibits yet all the ap- 
 pearances of an infant settlement, but it is rapidly 
 extending, and a site for its enlargement is laid out 
 upon a regular plan. It is built near the shore, and 
 the mercantile part of it extends along an inlet of the 
 sea, which penetrates into the interior, and is near 
 300 feet wide at its mouth ; affording every facility 
 for the landing and shipping of goods. The harbour 
 is safe, easily approached, and well sheltered. Seve- 
 ral mercantile houses of respectability are already 
 established here ; and there seems every reason to 
 believe, that if maintained on the present footing of 
 a Free Port, Sincapore will at no distant day become 
 one of the greatest emporiums of the Eastern world. 
 Its situation, in the centre, so to speak, of a vast 
 Archipelago, in a strait through which the vessels of 
 various countries are constantly passing, and within 
 a few days sail of China, clearly points it out as well 
 fitted to become the entrepot of an extensive com- 
 merce, equally beneficial to these countries and to 
 Britain. There are several statements to this effect, 
 in the Evidence annexed to the Report of the Select 
 Committee of the House of Lords relative to the Trade 
 with India and China, printed, by order of the House 
 of Commons, in May 1821. 
 
 The establishment of a British settlement in Sin- 
 capore is said to have excited some feelings of jea- 
 lousy in the older one of Penang, or Prince of Wales' 
 Island; but the Evidence just referred to shows, 
 that if such a feeling exists, it ought to be discou- 
 raged and disregarded ; for it there appears that a 
 settlement situate farther within the Archipelago than 
 Penang was highly expedient, and that Sincapore 
 presented the most eligible situation for founding 
 such a settlement as was wanted. The rapidity of 
 its progress affords, of itself, sufficient proof that 
 the situation was well chosen. " The rapid rise of 
 this important station," says its intelligent founder, 
 in a letter written in 1820, annexed to the above- 
 mentioned Report, " is, perhaps, without a parallel. 
 When I hoisted the British flag, the population 
 ' scarcely amounted to 200 souls ; in three months 
 the number was not less than 3000; and it now 
 €iceeds 10,000, principally Chinese. No less than 
 173 sail of vessels of different descriptions, principally 
 native, arrived and sailed in the course of the first 
 two months ; and it already has become a commer- 
 cial port of importance." 
 
 The latest accounts seem to contain additional 
 proofs of the growing importance of this settlement. 
 We copy the annexed statement from the Asiatic 
 Journal for September 1823. (No. 93, p. 245.) 
 
 S L I 505 
 
 The following is the amount of tonnage, &c. em- Sincapore 
 ployed in 1822. ^^^^ 
 
 Exports. 
 
 Tons. 
 
 Jy^^'P^ , fi'clol 66,968 , 
 
 By native vessels 15,892 J 
 
 Imports. 
 
 By ships 48,0377 g 
 
 By native vessels 15,6243 
 
 Total tonnage 130,629 
 
 Number ofvessels importing in 1822 1,593 
 Ditto exporting ditto 1,733 
 
 Total 3,326 
 
 Value of imports in 1822. Drs. 
 
 By ships ..Dollars 2,597,975> 3^6^0,206 
 
 By native vessels 1,012,2315 
 
 Value of exports in 1822. 
 
 By ships ?'?o!'Sh472,S32 
 
 By native vessels 1,127,461) 
 
 6,782,538 
 
 Not included in official returns 1,713,634 
 
 Total amount of imports and \ g ^^^^ 
 exports Dollars f ' 
 
 The settlement of Sincapore was early disturbed, 
 not merely by the conflicting interests of other Bri- 
 tish establishments in the East, but by certain preten- 
 sions brought forward by the Dutch to the possession 
 of the country, as a dependency of Malacca, over 
 which they claimed sovereignty. The discussions 
 which arose between the British Government and 
 that of the Netherlands, upon this point, have for 
 some time, it is understood, been allowed to rest ; 
 and if they should be resumed, it is not very likely 
 that this country will agree to sacrifice an important 
 establishment, to satisfy claims which seem to have 
 no better foundation than the commercial jealousy of 
 the claimants. 
 
 SLIGO, a county in the province of Connaught, Situation 
 in Ireland, bounded by the ocean on the north-west ^nd^ Bound- 
 and north, by Leitrim and Roscommon on the east ^ 
 and south-east, and by Mayo on the south and west. 
 It extends about 40 miles from north to south, and Extent, 
 from east to west 38, and contains 727 English 
 square miles, or 465,280 English acres. The town 
 of Sligo, which is about 13 miles from its northern 
 extremity, is situated in west longitude 8° 26', and 
 north latitude 54° 13'. The county is divided into 
 six baronies and thirty-nine parishes. 
 
 Bogs, mountains, and waters, occupy more than Surface, 
 a third of this district. The greater part of the 
 waste land is found towards the north and west, 
 though there are considerable tracts of the same 
 description on the south ; but except the range of 
 the Ox and Foxford mountains, which begin on the 
 
S06 
 
 S L I 
 
 Sligo. confines of Mayo on the south-west, and occupy a 
 considerable part of the western division, the waste 
 grounds are everywhere intermixed with such as are 
 productive, and in some parts very fertile. The 
 better part of the district lies to the south of the 
 town of Sligo ; a few miles from which, along its 
 whole breadth, the country is in general rich and 
 beautiful, containing several gentlemen's seats, and 
 ' presenting views of great variety and interest. For 
 
 about 140 square miles in this quarter, the soil is 
 equally fitted for tillage or grazing. In other parts 
 much of it is shallow and moorish, incumbent on a 
 close stratum, here called leaclea, or grey flag, which, 
 in its natural state, is unfavourable to vegetation, 
 though it becomes friable on exposure to the atmo- 
 sphere. 
 
 Minerals. Lead, iron, manganese, and copper, are known to 
 exist in the mountains ; of these iron only has ever 
 been wrought, and that not for many years ; and 
 there is a variety of clays, sonsie of them very fine, 
 or fit for the pottery. 
 
 Waters, The principal fresh water lakes are Loughs Gill, 
 
 Arrow or Arva, Talt, and Gara. The scenery 
 around Lough Gill, which contains a number of wood- 
 ed islands, is particularly striking. On Innismore, 
 one of these islands, are the remains of a church and 
 other ruins. On the north, the sea has formed se- 
 veral considerable inlets, particularly at the bays of 
 Sligo and Killala, the former of which communicates 
 with Lough Gill, near the town of Sligo. To the north 
 of this bay is the small Island of Innismurry. This 
 district has also a great number of streams ; of which 
 the most considerable are the Sligo, Bonnet, Owen- 
 more, Arrow or Arva, Cooloney, Esky,and Moy; the 
 last of which is for some miles the boundary between 
 this county and Mayo. The Sligo, which is merely 
 the outlet of Lough Gill, is navigable from the lake to 
 the town of that name ; and the Moy for six or seven 
 miles from the sea. On the Sligo and the Moy there 
 are considerable salmon fisheries ; trout is plentiful 
 in the lakes, particularly in the Talt and Gara, and 
 dn the coast there is abundance of white fish. Her- 
 rings have not much frequented it for many years, 
 yet a few are still caught in summer. 
 
 Estates and Sligo contain^ estates of almost every size. A 
 
 Farms- fg^^ ^^e worth from L, 5000 to L. pOOO a year ; yet 
 a considerable proportion of the county is divided 
 into small properties. The principal proprietors are 
 absentees. Farms vary in size from three acres Irish 
 to 500 ; the larger farms, however, are not held by 
 individual tenants, but in partnership. The leases are 
 for 31 years and three lives, and in some instances 
 for 61 years and three lives, being, in general, longer 
 here than in other parts of Ireland. Tillage farm- 
 ing is still in a very backward state. The plough is 
 worked by three or four horses yoked abreast, di- 
 rected by a man who walks backward before them. 
 Oats, barley, and potatoes, are the principal crops. 
 Of the two former, a great proportion is consumed 
 in illicit distillation, which, within these few years, 
 was carried on in almost every of the coun- 
 ty. It was to the sale of the spirits that many 
 of the small tenants looked as the means of pay- 
 ing their rents. In some parts, both cattle and 
 sheep are kept in considerable numbers, and a great 
 1 
 
 S L I 
 
 deal of butter is exported from the town of Sligo ; sligo. 
 but the land occupied in this way bears but a small 
 proportion to the whole; to grow corn being the 
 principal object. Limestone and limestone gravel, 
 which are in abundance in most places, are in gene- 
 ral use as manures ; also marl, and on the coast sea- 
 weeds. 
 
 The manufactures for export are linen, salt, and Manufac 
 kelp. There is a hnen hall at Sligo, where a good tures. 
 deal of business is done in this line ; and from this 
 place, which is situated on the bay of that name, the 
 cloth is sent in large quantities to the English mar- 
 ket in a finished state ; there being many bleaching- 
 greens in the county. This being the only town of 
 any extent, and having a harbour that admits ves- 
 sels of 200 tons close to its quay, all its exports 
 and imports centre here. Besides linen and butter, 
 Sligo exports a great deal of corn. Its population, 
 according to the author of the Agricultural Report, 
 IS about 10,000. The other places called towns, of 
 which there are 21 in all, are inconsiderable hamlets 
 at which fairs are held. 
 
 The cabins, food, fuel, and clothing, of the lower condition 
 classes seem to be as uncomfortable as in any of the the Peasan 
 Irish counties already described. About 20 years '7- 
 ago, the price of labour, near the town of Sligo, was 
 about a shilling a day throughout the year. Cot- 
 tiers who had a cabin, an acre of land, and grass for 
 a cow, for L. 3 a year, got only 5d. or 6d. In 1815, 
 the rate of common labour in the country parishes 
 was only lOd., and Is. Id. in spring time and har- 
 vest. Beef and mutton were from 3d. to 5d. per 
 pound; oatmeal 10s. to 12s., and potatoes Is. to 
 Is. 4d. per ctot. 
 
 In 1790, the population of this county was about 
 60,000, and by the census of 1821, it was 127,879. 
 According to Mr Wakefield, the Catholics are to the 
 Protestants at least as 80 to 1. In one considerable 
 landward parish, that of Kilmactige, there were, in 
 1815, 1200 Catholic and only 10 Protestant fami- 
 lies. The Irish language is still very common, and 
 in some places English is almost unknown. Within 
 these few years, the London Hibernian Society has 
 established several schools, which promise to effect a 
 happy change among the lower classes, who seem to 
 be very ignorant and superstitious, and of most irre- 
 gular and improvident habits. Their marriages, 
 which are generally contracted at an early age, and 
 their christenings and funerals, are all conducted at 
 a most unsuitable expence both of time and money. 
 The numerous holidays of the Catholic Churchj 
 passed in sport or idleness rather than in re- 
 ligious observances, and their habit of attending " 
 fairs and markets without having any business at 
 them, have also a very bad effect on the industry of 
 the people; whose condition is still farther depressed 
 by the payments that must be made to their clefgy 
 at baptisms, marriages, confessions, and on other oc- 
 casions. Accordingly, while many of the men leave 
 home in summer to find employment elsewhere, their 
 wives and children set out at the same time and tra- 
 vel over the country as beggars till their return. 
 
 Sligo county sends two members to Parliament, Reprcsenta- 
 and the town of Sligo, which has twelve self-elected tion. 
 burgesses, a third. Mr Wynne is patron of the 
 
)merset- 
 sliire. 
 
 mclaries 
 I Extent, 
 
 [visions 
 
 S O M 
 
 borough, and the political influence of the county is 
 in possession of absentees. 
 
 See Mr Parian's Statistical Survey of the County 
 of Sligo (1802), and the general works quoted under 
 the former Irish counties. (a.) 
 
 SOMERSETSHIRE, a maritime county of Eng. 
 land, lying in a crescent-like form on the Bristol 
 Channel, to which its north-western side is turned. 
 It is bounded to the north- east by Gloucestershire, 
 on the east by Wiltshire, on the south by Dorset- 
 shire and part of Devonshire, and on the west by 
 the latter county. Its greatest length, from east 
 to west, is 65 miles, and its greatest breadth, from 
 north to south, 45 miles. Its boundary line has se- 
 veral considerable indentations. The whole area 
 comprehends 1642 square statute miles, or 1,050,880 
 English acres; being in extent the seventh in the 
 list of the English counties. The acreable value of 
 the land, according to the late returns under the 
 Property-tax, exceeded that of any other county ex- 
 cept Leicestershire, being, including the tithes, 
 L. 876 per square mile, or about 27s. per acre. 
 The civil divisions of this county are denominated 
 d Popula- the eastern and the western. The eastern division 
 contains twenty hundreds and seven liberties, and 
 I the western twenty-two hundreds. The whole coun- 
 
 P try is in the diocese of Bath and Wells ; and is ec« 
 
 clesiastically divided into three archdeaconries, un- 
 der which are 13 deans, who superintend 482 parishes. 
 There ai-e within the county two cities (besides a 
 part of Bristol), seven boroughs sending members 
 to Parliament, and twenty-nine market towns. The 
 population, by the returns under the census of 1821, 
 was 355,314, of whom the males were 152,447, 
 and the females 165,357- The increase since the 
 census of 1801 had been at the rate of 17 per 
 cent. The inhabited houses were 6l,852, the un- 
 inhabited 1974, and those building 850. The num- 
 ber families was 73,537. of whom 31,448 were 
 chiefly employed in agriculture, 27,132 in trade, ma- 
 nufactures, or handicraft, and 14,957 not included 
 in either of the preceding classes. 
 ^ Few districts contain a greater variety of soil and 
 situation than the county of Somerset. In the north- 
 east corner, the range of the Mendip hills present a lof- 
 ty tract of country, of late improved on the surface, 
 but chiefly valuable for the coal and other mines be- 
 neath it. On the western side are the Quantock hills, 
 an extensive and sterile range, and beyond them the 
 elevated bleak plane called the Forest of Exmoor, the 
 highest district in the western counties. One spot on 
 this forest, called Dunkeny,isl668 feet above the level 
 of the sea, and from it a prospect over an extended 
 and diversified country is displayed ; terminating on 
 one side in the Bristol, and on the other in the Eng- 
 lish Channel. These hilly, and somewhat barren por- 
 tions of the county, bear, however, but a small pro- 
 portion to the whole ; and between them is to be seen 
 the richest meadows and arable lands, whose value 
 more than counterbalances the sterility of the hills. 
 In the better parts of the county, it may rather be 
 described as rich than beautiful. There is a defi- 
 ciency of woods ; the streams that run in the valleys 
 are sluggish, and in summer nearly stagnant ; but 
 the extent of orchards, especially when in full bloom. 
 
 S O M 
 
 507 
 
 Somerset- 
 shire. 
 
 ic of the 
 juntry. 
 
 produce a pleasing effect, and in some measure com 
 pensate for the, want of woods. 
 
 The rivers of the county are the Avon, which en^ 
 ters it from Wiltshire, and becomes navigable atp'^^f**"** 
 Bath, which city it nearly surrounds. It then passes, *' 
 with many curvatures, to Bristol, and soon after is 
 lost in the Severn. The Axe rises in the Mendip 
 hills in two branches, one of which issues from a na- 
 tural excavation, called Wookey Hole, resembling 
 some of the Derbyshire caverns. Its course is short, 
 and it empties itself through some marshes, below 
 Axbridge, into the Bristol Channel. The Brue rises 
 in Wiltshire, and also enters the Bristol Channel, 
 being navigable not more than two miles from its 
 mouth. The Parret rises at a village of the same 
 name in Dorsetshire, becomes navigable at Lang- 
 port, and in rainy seasons a few miles above that 
 town. It is joined, at Boroughbridge, by the Thone 
 or Tone, which proceeds from Taunton, and passing 
 by Bridgewater, empties itself into the sea. The 
 only navigable canal that has been completed is the 
 Kennet and Avon, which unites together the two 
 great rivers Thames and Severn. It commences 
 near Bath, and soon enters Wiltshire. Other canals 
 have been projected in different directions, but none 
 of them have been prosecuted to completion ; though 
 on several of them large sums have been ex- 
 pended. 
 
 ^ As Somersetshire contains, on the borders of its Cattle and 
 rivers, large tracts of the richest meadow lands, the Dairy, 
 most valuable branch of its rural economy is the 
 fattening of cattle and the management of the nu- 
 merous dairies. The oxen, bred chiefly in the less 
 fertile pastures of Devonshire, when grazed in this 
 county, afford the best beef, and furnish, in great 
 numbers, the markets of the metropolis, as well as 
 those of Bristol and Bath, in their immediate vici- 
 nity. The produce of the dairy is of the best kind. 
 The cheese of Cheddar has obtained great celebrity, 
 but that made in many other parts, and frequently 
 sold as Gloucester, is equal to any in the world. 
 The butter in the southern division of the county is 
 excellent, and much of it, collected in the vicinity 
 of Crewkerne, is sent to the London q^eesemongers, 
 who supply it to their customers under the denomi- 
 nation of Dorsetshire butter. 
 
 The next agricultural product is cider, which forms Productions 
 almost the universal beverage of the working classes, of Soil, 
 It is a more pure and yet a stronger liquor than the 
 cider either of Herefordshire or Devonshire ; the con- 
 sumption of it within the country is very large, and 
 some is sent to distant parts. Nature has been so 
 bountiful in furnishing spontaneous productions, that 
 less attention is paid to those agricultural pursuits 
 which depend on skill and industry in this than in 
 many other districts. The abundance of natural 
 grass is such, that the farmers do not find it neces- 
 sary to grow a crop of clover, or other artificial grass, 
 so uniformly between two corn crops as is necessary 
 in other counties ; nor is the practice of fallowing, or 
 of introducing a rotation by commencing with tur- 
 nips, much resorted to. Notwithstanding this, they 
 grow good crops of corn, and in the hundred of 
 Taunton Dean the wheat is of the very best quality. 
 Barley is not cultivated very extensively, as the ge- 
 
508 
 
 Somerset- 
 shire 
 
 II 
 
 Spain. 
 
 Mineral 
 Products. 
 
 ManufaC' 
 tures. 
 
 S O M 
 
 neral use of cider causes but little consumption of 
 malt. The bear crops are in general very good. 
 Oats are cultivated extensively, but scarcely equal 
 the demands of the county, and the easy inter-, 
 course with Ireland readily supplies any deficiency 
 when it occurs. The soil is well calculated for the 
 growth of flax, and a large proportion of that used in 
 the manufactures of the county is raised within it. 
 It is not unusual to rent land for half a year whilst a 
 crop of flax is grown ; after which it is taken again by 
 the regular occupant, who finds the flax to be an ex- 
 cellent preparative for wheat, from the careful weeding 
 which was necessary to its success. The rich loamy 
 soils bring to maturity the best elm timber. Goose 
 feathers were formerly afforded in great abundance, 
 but the draining and inclosing many of the richest 
 marshy plains has rendered these capable of yielding 
 more profit by other productions, and the quantity 
 of feathers is much diminished of late years. The 
 landed property of the county is much divided, no 
 one proprietor or great family having such exten- 
 sive possessions as to give a preponderant political in- 
 fluence. There is a great number of yeomen who 
 share the lands, many of whom maintain the homely 
 independence of the past generations. 
 
 The mineral products of this county are valuable. 
 The hills of Mendip supply with coals their vicinity, 
 the cities of Bath and Wells, and the towns of Frome 
 and Shepton Mallet. The other parts of the county 
 use the coals of Newport, which are brought by sea 
 to Bridgewater. Lead, of a quality superior to that 
 of Derbyshire, is raised in Mendip and on the Ched- 
 dar hills. Calamine is extensively produced, and 
 supplies the brass manufacturers of Bristol. Copper 
 is found near Stowey. Manganese, bole, and red 
 ochre, are among the other products of Mendip. 
 
 Nearly the whole of Somersetshire is a manufac- 
 turing country. Cloths of Spanish and Saxon wool 
 are made extensively at Frome, Shepton Mallet, and 
 their vicinity. Some woollen goods, of a middle 
 quality, are produced at Ilminster, Chard, Taunton, 
 and Wellington ; and some of a coarser kind at We- 
 velscombe, Milvarton, Watchel, and other places. 
 The linen goods are chiefly dowlas, tickens, and sail- 
 cloth ; these are mostly made at Yeovil, Crewkerne, 
 Montacute, and Martock. There are silk-mills at 
 Bruton and Taunton. Gloves are extensively made 
 
 SPA 
 
 at Yeovil. Of late, the wove-lace manufacturers 
 from Nottingham have found secure asylums at Chard, 
 from the insanity of the Luddites, and carry on there 
 large manufactories. Near Wells are establishments 
 for making fine paper ; and in the vicinity of Bristol 
 the glass-houses produce a large quantity of valuable 
 wares. 
 
 The foreign commerce of Somersetshire passes 
 chiefly through Bristol, which is the mart for such 
 goods as are required in distant countries. Some of 
 the woollen goods which are manufactured at Taun- 
 ton and Wellington are shipped from Exeter. The 
 far greater portion of the productions of the county 
 are, however, destined to supply the demand for in- 
 ternal consumption. The cattle, butter, and cheese, 
 are chiefly sent to London, and, in time of war, to 
 Portsmouth and Plymouth. The linen and woollen 
 goods are distributed through the western and Welsh 
 counties, and, in general, are designed more for the 
 home than for foreign markets. 
 
 The titles derived from this county are — Dukes of 
 Somerset and Wellington ; Marquises of Lansdowne 
 and Bath ; Earls of Bridgewater, Poulett, Bristol, 
 and Ilchester ; Barons Mendip and Glastonbury. 
 
 The county returns two members to the House of 
 Commons, and two from each of the following places: 
 Bath, Wells, Taunton, Bridgewater, Tlchester, Mine- 
 head, and Milborn Port ; besides two for the city of 
 Bristol, which is partly in this county, and partly in 
 Gloucestershire, but retains an independent jurisdic- 
 tion as a county of itself. 
 
 Ilchester, from the elections being held there, and 
 the gaol and county court, is usually considered the 
 county town, although the assizes in the spring are 
 held at Taunton, and in the summer at Wells and 
 Bridgewater altei-nately. 
 
 The principal towns and their population are, 
 Bath, 36,811 ; Taunton, 8534; Bridgewater, 6155 ; 
 Wells, 5888; Shepton Mallet, 5021; Yeovil, 4655 ; 
 Wellington, 4170; Frome, 12,411; Crewkerne, 3434; 
 Bedminster, 7979 1 North Petherton, 3091; Wed- 
 more, 3079* 
 
 See Beauties of England and Wales. Toulmin's 
 Taunton. Bellingsley's Agriculture of Somerset, and 
 Warner's Bath. (w. w.) 
 
 SOUTH WALES, New. See WALES, New 
 South. 
 
 Somerst 
 shire 
 II 
 
 Spain. 
 
 Commercl 
 
 Peerages 
 
 Memben 
 Parliatnc 
 
 SPAIN. 
 
 The Article Spain, in the EncyclopcBdia, contains a 
 full view of the history of that country from the earliest 
 periods down to the expulsion of the armies of Buo- 
 naparte by Lord Wellington. It also contains some de- 
 scriptive and statistical details, drawn chiefly from the 
 work of M. Laborde. We shall here endeavour to sup- 
 ply what appears to us wanting in the article referred 
 to, as well as to exhibit a view of the more recent 
 history of this interesting and unfortunate country. 
 
 and of its internal condition up to the date of its in- 
 vasion by the army of Louis XVIII. in April 1823. 
 
 I. Spain may be considered as composed of a series Externa 
 of mountain terraces, which, projecting successively Structui 
 their rugged edges towards the south, present ap^^j^^P^ 
 flight of gigantic steps from the Pyrenees to the 
 Mediterranean. * From the Rock of Lisbon to Cape 
 Creus, it stretches through a line of 216| leagues, 
 
 * Wilson, History of Mountains y Vol. II. p. 113. 
 
SPAIN. 
 
 509 
 
 Spain. measiuiiig V2° IS' 40" of longitude. The difference 
 of latitude between Cape Ortegal, the most northern, 
 and the islet adjoining Tarifa^ the most southern 
 point of Spain, is 7" 46' l(y'. 
 
 The chains of mountains which terminate and di- 
 vide the great plains of the peninsula, are branches 
 of the immense ridge that, from the most elevated 
 part of Tartary, runs across Asia and Europe, pene- 
 trates into the south of France, by Switzerland, and, 
 entering Spain in the direction of the valleys of Ron- 
 cal and Bastan, separates Navarre from Guipuscoa ; 
 Biscay from A'lava ; the highlands of Burgos from 
 the plains of Old Castillo ; and Asturias from the 
 kingdom of Leon ; it then crosses Galicia, and dips 
 into the ocean at the Capes Ortegal and Finisterre. * 
 The Pyrenees are lateral ramifications of this great 
 trunk, which run east and west, on the eastern side 
 of Spain, and take a south-west and north-west di- 
 rection on the confines of Aragon and Navarre. The 
 accumulated mass of these mountains presents, to- 
 wards the peninsula, the convex side of a spherical 
 segment, which, like a shield with its boss to the 
 south, rounds its edges near the Atlantic and the 
 Mediterranean, and rears the highest part of its 
 curve on the Spanish territory, between the springs 
 of the rivers Cinca and Ara. This eminence, called 
 Mont Perdu by the French, is known, in Aragou, 
 by the appellation of Tres Sorores, alluding to its 
 three peaks, distinctly seen from Zaragoza, of which 
 the highest, according to the French naturalist, Ra- 
 mond, who examined it in 1802, rises 4114 Spanish 
 yards above the level of the sea. The line of per- 
 petual congelation is there at the height of 2924 
 yards. Till this measurement by Ramond, the peak 
 of Canigu, on the French confines of Catalonia, had 
 been deemed the highest point of the Pyrenees. It 
 is, however, only 3364 feet above the sea. f 
 
 In the minor branches which strike off from the 
 Pyrenees in a south direction, without forming a part 
 of the great secondary chains, which we shall pre- 
 sently describe, there are some mountains too re- 
 markable to be left unnoticed. Such are, the Mon- 
 sein, on the coast of Catalonia, near the town of 
 Arens, and the well known Monserrat, which rises, 
 
 on the same coast, to the height of 1479 yards above Spain, 
 the sea: — such the Sierras of Ribagorza, Barbastro, ^'"■•■^r^ 
 Huesca, and Jaca, which take their names from the 
 principal cities in their neighbourhood : — such, final- 
 ly, those nuraerous spurs of the great ridge which 
 run into Navarre, whose various appellations would 
 only tend to confuse the reader. The most remark- 
 able object, among these hills, is the Higa de JMon- 
 real, probably so called from the fancied resemblance 
 of its highest rock to a fig (Higo, or Higa). It 
 stands about three leagues to the east of Pamplona, 
 on the high land which divides the waters of the 
 rivers Arga and Aragon. 
 
 Of the main ridges which run across the peninsu- 
 la, that which rises to the west of the source of the 
 Ebro was called Idubeda by the Ront>ans, and form- 
 ed the limits of the ancient Celtiberia. In its course 
 towards the Mediterranean, the natives, according 
 to a general custom, distinguish the various portions, 
 or great links of the chain, by the appellation of 
 Sierras, adding the name of some town or notable 
 height in their vicinity. Such are the Sierra de 
 Oca, of Urbion (the Distertice of the middle ages), 
 of Moncayo {Mons Caunus), of Molina, Albarracio, 
 and Cuenca. Part of this chain forms the limits of 
 Aragon and Castillo ; it then penetrates into Valen- 
 cia, Murcia, and Granada, and ends in the Capes 
 Oropesa (Tenebrium), Martin, Palos, J and Gata. 
 The small town of Alcolea, in the province of 
 Soria, stands on this chain at the height of 1486 
 yards above the sea. Its mean elevaiion, on the 
 road between Molina and Teruel, in Aragon, is 1580 
 yards. 
 
 It is this chain, which Antillon calls the Iberian, 
 that, by its direction from its origin to the heights 
 of Moncayo, drives the Ebro to the east, and feeds 
 the Duero towards the west. The Duero proceeds, 
 however, to the south till it comes to Almazan, 
 where the great ridge, forming an elbow to the south- 
 south-west, forces the stream into its westerly bed. 
 Farther south, near the sources of the small rivers 
 Xalon and Tajuria, the Iberian ridge, bearing the 
 name of Sierra Ministra, divides the waters between 
 the Tagus and the Ebro. 
 
 • Elementos de la Geogrqfia Astronomica, Natural y Polttica de Espana, por Don Isidore de Antillon. 
 Madrid, 1808- This is a book of great merit. Its author, whose premature death, while representing his 
 native kingdom of Aragon in the second Cortes at Cadiz, is lamented by his numerous friends, as well as by 
 all who, knowing his worth and talents, can appreciate the loss which his country sustained by that event, 
 spared himself no trouble in the collection of materials for this elementary book, which he wrote for the use 
 of his pupils at the Royal College of Nobles, at Madrid. Besides the extensive local knowledge he had ac- 
 quired in his travels through Spain, these Geographical Elements contain a great deal of information derived 
 from the unpublished works of other scientific Spaniards. Such is the Ensayo de una descripcionjisica de 
 Espana, por Don Josef Cornide, printed in 1803, but which had not come into circulation in 1808. Antil- 
 lon professes himself indebted to Cornide for his description of the Spanish mountains, as we are to him for 
 our geographical account of that country, and some valuable facts relating to its statistics. 
 
 t The divisory line, between Spain and France, formed by the Pyrenees, extends from Cape Higuer, on 
 the Atlantic near Fuenterrabia, to Cape Cervera, north of Cape Creus, on the Mediterranean, through a 
 space of 92 leagues. 
 
 J Cape Palos derives its name from the sea lagoon (Palus) called Albufera, from which one of the French 
 Marshals derived his title. It communicates with the sea by an opening, which is easily closed. The Al- 
 bufera is valuable for the great quantities of fish, especially mullets and john-dories, that abound in it. The 
 Cape itself was called Scombrarium, fwxa the abundance of the fish SeomirM*, akind of mackerel, on that coast. 
 
 VOL. VI. PART U. 3 T 
 
510 S P A 
 
 Spain. The first point where this great ridge splits into 
 «-"*v'-^^ the minor chains which lose themselves in the Me- 
 diterraiaean, is to the north of Albarracin, in Aragon. 
 Of these branches the most remarkable is that which, 
 entering the province of Valencia, is again subdivid- 
 ed into the smaller ridges which terminate at Penis- 
 cola and Cape Oropesa. The waters that descend 
 from- these heights, to the north, mix finally with the 
 Ebro, while the Turia and the Mijares are swelled 
 by those which flow from the southern declivities. 
 On the branch stretching towards Pemscola, and in 
 the limits of Aragon, rises the Muela de Ares, * a 
 conical mountain, deprived of its apex ; whose top is 
 an extensive plain covered with luxuriant pasture, 
 and surrounded by fearful precipices, at the eleva- 
 tion of 1562 Spanish yards above the sea. This is 
 one of the highesJ: spots in the peninsula ; the Tagus, 
 the Xucar, and the Gabriel, take their rise among 
 these mountains, and divide the waters which flow 
 from their sides, between the Atlantic and the Medi- 
 terranean. Numerous flocks of sheep, both itinerant 
 and stationary, find, in the valleys formed by this 
 chain, the most abundant summer pastures. 
 
 From Albarracin, this chain strikes into the terri- 
 tory of Cuenca in a direction nearly north and south. 
 It then sends oft" a branch to the east-south-east, on 
 which the CoUado de la Plata, or Silver Hill, rises 
 1598 yards above the sea. It contains a quicksilver 
 mine, which was worked a few years ago, at the dis- 
 tance of four leagues west of Teruel. From the 
 neighbourhood of this town the Sierra de Espadan 
 runs, like an unbroken bulwark, to the sea near 
 Murviedro, in a direction between south-east and 
 north-west. The ruggedness of the hills, the terrific 
 depth of the precipices, and the intricacy of the 
 mountain passes, overhung with perpendicular rocks 
 of black marble, are described in glowing colours by 
 the great Spanish botanist, Cavanilles, whose account 
 of a scientific tour in these highlands of his native 
 province, Valencia, is quoted by Antillon. The 
 Pico, which is considered the most elevated point in 
 these mountains, rises 1303 yards above the sea. 
 Its latitude has been determined by accurate obser- 
 vations to be 39° 31' 38". Its longitude 3° 0' S6'' 
 east of the meridian of Madrid. 
 
 Near the source of the Tagus, the Iberian ridge 
 sends off another branch which, stretching in almost 
 a southern direction, separates La Mancha from the 
 province of Murcia, to the west of the town of Al- 
 bac6te, and rises into the lofty mountains of Alcaraz 
 and Segura (the ancient Orospedd), dividing the wa- 
 ters between the Guadalquivir and the Segura, the 
 
 IN. 
 
 two main streams which severally and finally convey Spain, 
 them to the ocean and the Mediterranean, f One 
 of the two great limbs which terminate the Iberian 
 ridge runs into the sea at the Cape Cervera; the 
 other, bending to the south, skirts the kingdom of 
 Granada, and disappears at the Cape Gata. To the 
 latter belongs the mountain called Cabezo \ de Ma- 
 ria, between Cartagena and Cape Gata, one league 
 west of the town of Vera on the coast of Valencia. 
 It rises 2287 yards above the sea, and has its sum- 
 mit covered with snow during one-half of the year. 
 
 Smaller branches of this chain project between the 
 Turia and the Gabriel, which loses itself in the Xucar 
 at Cofrentes. A ridge runs between the last mention- 
 ed river and the Alcoy, another stream, which flows 
 into the sea near Gandia. A minor chain separates 
 the Alcoy and the mouth of the Segiira. The pro- 
 vince of Valencia is, in fact, divided by mountains 
 into most fertile stripes, watered by numerous streams, 
 and enjoying every blessing which nature grants to 
 the most favoured climates. The mountains on the 
 right of the Xucar, from Cofrentes to the sea, bear 
 the two appellations of Cortes de Pallas and Millares, 
 each applying to a different portion of the ridge. 
 To the left of the same river, the mountains are 
 known by the names of Torres and Dos Aguas, 
 which they change for that of Monte Caballon when 
 they penetrate into Valencia from the province of 
 Guinea. The rock on which the castle of Monser- 
 rate stands, near the sea-shore, five leagues west of 
 the lake Albufera, may be considered as belonging 
 to this ridge. The castle is 313 yards above the 
 sea. From the mountains of Millares, to the right 
 of the Xucar, another ramification projects between 
 the provinces of Murcia and Valencia. Before reach- 
 ing Villena it bends towards the sea, on the left of 
 the Alcoy, where it is known by the name of Sierra 
 de Mariola. The number, purity, and copiousness 
 of the streams, which are fed by these hills, render 
 them the main source of wealth and comfort to the 
 neighbouring country. The highest summit of this 
 ridge is called Moncabrer. Another arm stretches 
 from Villena, in which we find the Sierra de Viar, 
 the rock of Xix6na, the mountain of Aytdna, and 
 the pyramidical mountain of Mongo, near the Capes 
 San Antonio and Martin. The longer duration of 
 snow on its top makes Cavanilles believe that it sur- 
 passes Moncabrer in height, especially as the latter 
 is at a greater distance from the sea. The southern- 
 most part of the chain, which strikes off at Villena, 
 sends out its waters to swell the stream of the Segura. 
 
 Before we proceed to the next main branch of 
 
 * The insulated rocks which, rising above the ridges, terminate in a plain, are distinguished in Aragon 
 and Valencia, where they abound, by the appellation of muelas (grinders). 
 
 f The Turia, though a considerable river during part of its course, is so drained by canals of irrigation, 
 that it is reduced to a poor stream when it enters the sea. Cavanilles gives a very interesting description 
 of that river, the constant theme of the Valencian poets. The Spanish naturalist represents the Turia, in 
 its strength, as opening a way between the two ridges which decide the course of its waters, and presently 
 " engaging into such fearful chasms, that, near the village of Chulilla, it rushes through a channel 600 feet 
 deep, and not more than 50 in breadth, winding, in intricate curves, over a bed harder than common marble." 
 
 :j: The masculine termination in o is sometimes used in Spanish as an augmentative. Mountain heads are 
 generally called Cabezos, instead of Cabezas. One of the beauties of the Provengal consisted in this power 
 of varying the gender of nouns according to the colouring which the writer wished to give to his pictures. 
 Vide Sismondi Literature du Midi, Vol. I. 
 
SPAIN. 
 
 511 
 
 in. Spanish mountains, it will be proper to exhibit a ge- 
 neral view of the Iberian chain, which we have hi- 
 therto pursued in detail. This would hardly be ne- 
 cessary if we possessed more accurate maps of Spain 
 than are to be found even in that country. * In the 
 absence, however, of a graphic representation^ the 
 course of the rivers will sufficiently indicate the 
 great valley formed by this chain, and which might 
 be named the valley of the Ebro. Its skirts may be 
 traced by a line passing over the sources of the small- 
 er streams to the south of the Ebro, first, as far as 
 Albarracin; then, in a direction nearly west and 
 east, to the Cape Oroplsa. This latter part of the 
 chain bears the names of Sierras de Gudar and 
 Penagolosa. All the rivers to the north of this ridge 
 flow into the Ebro. From Albarracin to Cape Gata 
 the waters are sent off, by the other branch, to the 
 Mediterranean from the east declivity : and from the 
 western, to the Tagus, the Guadiana, and the Gua- 
 dalquivir, which convey them to the ocean. 
 Ridge A map of Spain must be imperfect indeed which 
 the does not mark the great ridge whose summits di- 
 vide the waters between the Duero and the Tagus. 
 ^"^* It grows out of the Iberian chain, not far from the 
 sources of the Xalon and the Tajuiia,f to the south 
 of the city of Sofia, and the site of the ancient Nu- 
 raantia. Where it divides the province of Guada- 
 laxara from that of Soria, it is called Sierra de Pare- 
 des, and Altos de Baraona. On one of the hills, 
 north of Sigu§aza, rises the Henares, which gives 
 its name to the ancient Complutum, now the seat of 
 a Spanish University. Near the source of the Lo- 
 zoya, a rivulet which runs into the Xarama, these 
 mountains are called Somosierra, till, more to the 
 west, they bear the name of Guadarrama ; an appel- 
 lation which they preserve throughout the long 
 course in which they skirt the provinces of Segovia, 
 A'vila, Guadalaxara, and Madrid. The Puerto de 
 Navacerrada, the highest point on the road from Ma- 
 drid to the summer palace of San Ildefonso, is 2204.< 
 yards above the sea. The descent to the royal resi- 
 dence is excessively rapid, the difference of elevation 
 between these two points being 816 yards in the 
 space of about three leagues. 
 
 The mountains of Guadarrama are a very striking 
 object when seen from the neighbourhood of Ma- 
 drid, on the road to Old Castille. They principally 
 consist, according to Mr Townsend, of naked, frac- 
 tured granite rocks, heaped up together, and adorn- 
 ed only Howards their bases with single evergreen 
 oaks, while the upper parts are bleak, dreary, and 
 barren, presenting fantastic prominences, and in 
 many places covered with perpetual snow. 
 
 This chain, in its course towards Portugal, where 
 it ends in the Rock of Lisbon, rises into some re- 
 
 Spain. 
 
 markable elevations. We shall notice that of Pefia- 
 lara, between the sources of the Eresma and the Lo* 
 zoya, 2834; yards above the sea ; the Puerto del Pico, 
 in the province of Salamanca ; the Pena de Francia, 
 and Sierra de Gata, on the northern limits of Spanish 
 Extremadura, In Portugal, this chain takes the 
 name of Sierra de Estelha (Mows Herminius), and 
 terminates under the well known appellation of Cin- 
 tra. The Sierra de Estelha runs between the Mon- 
 dego and Cecere for a space of twelve leagues, where 
 its summit expands into a plain three leagues in 
 length, and one in breadth, containing three lakes, 
 fed by the snow which covers that elevated spot 
 from October till June. Fi'om one of these lakes the 
 Mondego takes its source. 
 
 Our limits compel us to omit Antillon's accurate 
 and interesting description of the minor branches 
 which run nearly north and south from the main 
 ridge, which that writer conceives to end in Cape 
 Finisterre. They may be traced from the opposite 
 course of the rivers which flow either into the Duero 
 and the Mino, J or into the ocean, on the western coast 
 of Galicia. 
 
 Almost parallel to the mountains of Guadarrama, Chain of the 
 we find the ridge which divides the waters between Tagus and 
 the Tagus and the Guadiana. The rise of this 
 branch out of the Iberian chain would hardly be 
 perceptible, but for the separation of the waters, 
 which begins in the vicinity of Huete, south of Cuen- 
 ca. The gradual elevation of the ground from Ta- 
 rancon to Tembleque, in the province of Toledo, 
 raises the latter town 740 yards above the sea. 
 Bolder hills appear at Madrilejos ; and the town of 
 Consuegra has an elevation of 769 yards. Proceeding 
 a short distance to the south-west, the Sierra de Ye- 
 venes clearly shows the direction of the ridge, which 
 is soon after known by the name of Guadalupe 
 (Montes Carpetani) ; it then runs between Truxillo 
 and Merida, under the name of Sierra de Marchal, 
 penetrates into Portugal by Castel de Vide and Por- 
 toalegre, is seen to the west of Elvas and Estremoz, 
 and descends to Cape Espichel, having Beja and Se- 
 tubal to the south, E'vora and the mouth of the Ta- 
 gus to the north. 
 
 The third great branch of the Iberian ridge is the Ridge of the 
 Sierra Morena {Monies Mariani), which divides the Guadiana 
 waters between the Guadiana and the Guadalquivir. 
 It begins in the vicinity of Alcaraz, near the eastern 
 limits of the province of La Mancha, issuing from 
 that spur of the Iberian chain which terminates in 
 Cape Palos, and, trending in a direction north-east 
 and south-west, with La Mancha, Spanish Extrema- 
 dura, to the north, and Jaen, Cordoba, Seville, and 
 Algarve (Portugal), to the south, ends in the ocean 
 at Cape St Vincent. The pass named Puerto del 
 
 * The map which Antillon constructed for his work, though upon a very small scale, is the most accurate 
 in existence ; and we would strongly recommend it to the attention of those who devote their industry and 
 talents to the important department of geography. 
 
 f The division of the waters occasioned by this ridge begins at these two rivers, the Xalon flowing into 
 the Ebro, the Tajuna, through the Xarama, into the Tagus. 
 
 J We have preferred the Spanish appellations of these rivers in a description of Spain. They, in fact, dif- 
 fer very little from the Portuguese names. Miiio and Minho express the same sound, the Portuguese nh be- 
 ing exactly similar to the Spanish ii. Both are signs of the gn of the Italians. 
 
512 
 
 SPAIN. 
 
 Spain. Rey, where the road from Madrid to Andalusia 
 '""^^■^^ crosses these mountains, is 821 yards above the sea. 
 
 Near Cordoba, where the bold skirts of the Monies 
 Mariani are seen, within a short distance to the 
 north, like a skreen raised to protect the rich and ex- 
 Xensive plains watered by the Guadalquivir, the ridge 
 borrows the name of the neighbouring city. On the 
 southern limits of Extremadura, and to the north of 
 Seville, it is called Sierra de Guadalcanal. The chain 
 now bends to the south-west, forms the northern 
 boundary of the Portuguese province of Algarve, and, 
 through the Sierras of Caldeiraon and Monchique, 
 connects itself with Cape St Vincent. 
 Ridge of The brink of the last mountain plain towards the 
 Granada and south of Spain is skirted by the ridge of Granada and 
 Ronda. Ronda, which, striking off at the extremity of the 
 Iberian chain, is successively called Sierra de Gador, 
 Sierra Nevada, Bermeja, and de Ronda, till it ends 
 in various points of the coast, but most conspicuous- 
 ly in the Rock of Gibraltar. 
 
 Part of Sierra Nevada rises above the highest Py- 
 renees. According to the geometric levelling per- 
 formed in 1 804; by Don Ramon de Roxas Clemente, 
 the Cumbre de Mulhacen is 4254; yards above the 
 sea ; the Picacho de Veleta 4153.* The line of per- 
 petual congelation is found in these mountains at 
 the height of 3305 yards. 
 Rivers. In describing the principal chains of the Spanish 
 
 mountains, we have already mentioned the five great 
 streams which water the intermediate plains, the 
 Mino, the Ebro, the Duero, the Tagus, the Guadia- 
 na, and the Guadalquivir. We will now select a few 
 particulars relating to each. 
 The Mino. The Miiio, or Minho (Minhis or Bcenis), rises in 
 Galieia, in the district of Lugo, from a beautiful 
 spring called Fuente Miha. This river is navigable 
 only to Salvatierra, two leagues above Tuy. 
 Tlie Ebro. The Ebro rises, near Reynosa, out of so copious a 
 spring, that it works a corn-mill a few steps from its 
 source. After a course of 110 leagues, it flows into 
 the Mediterranean at Alfaques. From the bound- 
 aries of Navarre to the sea, the Ebro makes a pro- 
 gress of 1° 12' 42" towards the south. The chief 
 towns on this stream are Logrono and Calahorra, in 
 the province of Rioja ; Tud^la, in Navarre ; Zarago- 
 za, in Aragon ; and Tortosa, in Catalonia. It is a 
 misfortune for Spain that this gi'eat river presents 
 strong obstacles to navigation, both in its course and 
 where it joins the sea. Of the plans which have been 
 conceived, and partly executed, to obviate these im- 
 pediments, we shall presently have an occasion to 
 speak. 
 
 The Duero. The Duero, or Douro, has its source to the north 
 of the city of Osma, in a deep lake, at the summit 
 of that portion of the neighbouring chain of moun- 
 tains which has been mentioned by the name of 
 Sierras de Urbion. Its course is at first towards the 
 south, passing by Garay and Soria, where it turns to 
 
 the west, continuing in that direction till it reaches Spain. 
 Miranda. From this town to Moncorvo the river v—i—s,.-^ 
 falls again into a south direction. It lastly takes a 
 decided course to the ocean, where it ends near 
 Oporto, having traversed a distance of 150 leagues. 
 The Duero advances 10^ to the south from Aranda 
 to TordesiUas ; from hence to Miranda it inclines 40' 
 to the north. Its mouth lies 33' 45" south of Mi- 
 randa. This river is navigable up to the tower of 
 Moncorvo, a space of thirty leagues. The naviga- 
 tion, which was formerly obstructed by rapids, has 
 been expedited through tlie exertions of the Portu- 
 guese Company of Alto Douro. Some of the smaller 
 streams flowing into the Duero, rise at remarkable 
 heights. The Adaja, which descends from the north- 
 ern slope of the great chain between the Duero and 
 the Tagus, is, at A'vila, 1271 yards above the sea; 
 the Eresma, when it flows by the castle of Segovia, 
 is 1107 yards above the same level. 
 
 We have mentioned that elevated part of the rpjjg Ta^usii 
 chain between the Tagus and the Guadiana, which " 
 takes the name of Albarracin, and the truncated 
 mountain called Muela de San Juan. An inconsider- 
 able spring, denominated Pie Izquierdo, is the source 
 of the majestic Tagus. In its course through the 
 province of Cuenca it is considerably augmented by 
 the contributions of several streams. Before its wa- 
 ters reach Aranju6z, they surmount the rocky edge 
 of its native mountain, anti, dashing upon the plain 
 beneath, sink into a pool of great depth, called 011a 
 de Borlaque. The Tagus, now running placidly 
 through the plains of Zorita and the royal gardens 
 of Aranjuez, at the elevation of 621f yards above 
 the sea, directs its course to Toledo, passes by Tala- 
 vera, Alcantaras Abrantes, and Santarera, losing it- 
 self finally in the sea, near Lisbon. The latitudes of 
 several towns on the banks of the Tagus show the 
 gradual inclination of its stream toward the south. 
 It amounts to 49' 6" from Trillo to Toledo, to 6' 24" 
 from the latter city to Alcantara, and no less than 
 1° 1' 40" from thence to the capital of Portugal. 
 
 The river Guadiana is, according to Antillon, very The Guadit 
 inaccurately represented in the Spanish maps of Lo- na. 
 pez, both as to the point where it disappears, and 
 that where, emerging from the ground, through 
 which its waters are filtered, it resumes its sluggish 
 course to the ocean. 
 
 The sources of the Guadiana have been rendered 
 classical ground by the pen of Cervantes. They are 
 found north of Alcaraz, in La Mancha, at the pools 
 of Ruidera, well known to the admirers of Don 
 Quixote. The course of the river is first to the 
 north-west, for eight leagues. It is then absorbed by 
 the soil, and disappears for seven leagues. The first 
 gathering of its waters, after their subterraneous dis- 
 persion, takes place near Daymiel. The spot is 
 called Ojos (Eyes) de Guadiana. The stream now 
 proceeds to Ciudad Real, the head town of the pro< 
 
 * The result of this, and several other measurements executed by Mr Clemente, was communicated to 
 Mr Antillon, who has given them in his work, with the initials R. C. Those relating to Sierra Nevada have 
 lately been published in the Annales de Chimie, Vol. XX. p. 99. 
 
 f This barometric measurement was taken by Humboldt in 1799' 
 
 4 
 
SPAIN. 
 
 vince of La Mancha, to Merida, Badajoz, M^rtola, 
 in Portugal, and, re-entering the Spanish territory, 
 terminates in the ocean at Ayamonte. In its course 
 to this point, the Guadiana passes over a space of 
 more than one hundred leagues. 
 
 The abundance of pasture which betrays the hid- 
 den course of Guadiana is the origin of a boast often 
 repeated in La Mancha, that their river has so broad 
 a bridge as to allow thousands of cattle to feed upon 
 it. * That bridge affords, however, but a dangerous 
 pastoral station ; for the country being subject to 
 sudden inundations, both flocks and shepherds are 
 not unfrequently in the most imminent danger of be- 
 ing swept away by the waters. The stream of Gua- 
 diana, near Villarta, is only at the height of 710 yards 
 above the sea. It is not navigable higher than M6r- 
 tola in Portugal. 
 
 The Guadalquivir occupies the centre of the plain 
 which lies between the Sierra Morena and the chain 
 of Granada, where it takes its source to the north- 
 east of Ja§n. The chief towns on its banks are An- 
 dujar, Cordoba, Seville, and San Lucar {Templum 
 Lucijeii). At the ferry near Menglbar, on the road 
 from Madrid to Granada, the Guadalquivir is 203 
 yards above the sea.f The Guadalquivir is navi- 
 gable for large vessels up to Seville ; but its bed be. 
 ing constantly raised and obstructed by growing 
 shallows, the navigation is extremely tedious. J 
 
 II. On the subject of population, the data which 
 the Spanish government possessed before the French 
 invasion must have been greatly deficient in accu- 
 racy. The suspicions of the inhabitants, constantly 
 alive against every public measure, were roused into 
 full activity by the domiciliary inquiries which took 
 place in 1798, when a general census was made. It 
 is, therefore, more than probable, that the number 
 of inhabitants considerably exceeded what we find in 
 the official reports. We subjoin the Table published 
 by Antillon from documents in the possession of the 
 Commissioners for the Encouragement of Trade {Ba- 
 lanza Mercantil, y Fomento de Comercio), in 1803. 
 
 A Table of the Population of Spain in 1803. 
 
 
 
 Surface in 
 
 Inhabit- 
 
 Provinces, 
 
 Total of In- 
 habitants. 
 
 square 
 leagues, 2( 
 to a degree. 
 
 ants to 
 square 
 
 
 
 league. 
 
 
 
 Tin 
 
 Qn7o 
 to 
 
 VJ U aUal a A U r<i 
 
 191 11^ 
 
 
 743 
 
 1^ 1 1 on 1^51 
 
 904 9Qn 
 
 y-io 
 
 ol 1 
 
 
 
 
 0\J0 
 
 iTj.2iiic>iia 
 
 9.0^ R4<f< 
 
 A/\JiJ jij T?C 
 
 6«{1 
 
 O/iO 
 
 A Vllft 
 
 ^ 9s OR 1 
 
 
 KA.Q 
 
 OCl' U V let 
 
 164,007 
 
 9Q0 
 
 nfifi 
 
 
 1Q8 1 07 
 
 341 
 
 Ooi 
 
 w\ 1 1 1* f T r\ c 
 JLjUI 
 
 4,70 fcQC 
 
 <i4.9 
 
 7Q/I 
 
 /o4 
 
 
 
 1 1 QQ 
 
 Q*;7 
 
 
 9,^9, 028 
 
 ^ kJ V ^ C7 
 
 <14R 
 
 794. 
 
 3 ticn 
 
 90fi 807 
 
 968 
 
 779 
 
 Tlx 
 
 
 
 719 
 
 992 
 
 VirctlldUa 
 
 
 o\JO 
 
 oul 
 
 
 6 IQfi 
 
 108 
 
 fin 
 
 K^inoTflnm f\f IVTiirnn 
 
 383 22fi 
 
 
 
 A TO rpr\T\ 
 
 xi raguu 
 
 
 OO't 
 
 
 
 643 
 
 1 9S^? 
 
 Principslity of C^t^lonis. 
 
 O CQ Q I t 
 0£)0) O 1 C 
 
 1 Wo 
 
 ooO 
 
 Islsnd of Mfijorcd 
 
 
 119 
 
 J ZOO 
 
 iVl inorCii 
 
 
 on 
 
 looy) 
 
 xUlcta allU X Ullliwiildc} 
 
 
 1 ^ 
 
 T m Q 
 
 LVJiitruuin Ul xNaVdirtJ 
 
 
 
 1 r>QO 
 lUoz 
 
 I lUVlIlce Ol Drecay 
 
 111 y'±0\J 
 
 1 uu 
 
 
 Guipuzcoa 
 
 104,491 
 
 52 
 
 2009 
 
 A'lava 
 
 67,523 
 
 
 746 
 
 Principality of Asturias 
 
 364,238 
 
 308| 
 
 1180 
 
 Province of Leon 
 
 239,812 
 
 493 
 
 486 
 
 Palencia 
 
 1 1 8,064 
 
 145 
 
 814 
 
 Salamanca 
 
 209,988 
 
 471 
 
 446 
 
 V alladolid 
 
 187,390 
 
 271 
 
 692 
 
 Z atnora 
 
 71,40] 
 
 133 
 
 537 
 
 Toro 
 
 91.370 
 
 165 
 
 590 
 
 Kingdom of Galicia 
 
 1,142,630 
 
 1,330 
 
 859 
 
 
 10,351,075 
 
 15,005| 
 
 690 
 
 * The Spaniards of old times delighted in this kind of startling metaphors about their country. In the 
 same taste, they would say that the King of Spain had three noble subjects, who brought into the field six 
 thousand knights, wearing gold spurs, meaning the Grand Masters of Santiago, Alcantara, and Calatrava ; 
 that he had a lion (Leon), and a bull (T6ro), that fed daily on twelve beeves, in reference to the towns 
 bearing these names ; that he had three dogs (Gawes), who served him with two hundred Castillian lances, 
 such being the military service due by the three towns Can de Roa, Can de Muna, and Canes de Zurita. 
 Can is the Castillian pronunciation of the original Spanish word Campt which afterwards became Campo, a 
 field, or district. 
 
 f The following barometric measurements show the rising of the ground from that point to Alcala la Real, 
 where the waters are divided between the Guadalquivir and the Genii. Mengibar is 350 yards above the 
 sea ; Torre-Campo, at the distance of four leagues, 705 ; Alcaudete, five leagues, 835 ; Alcala, three leagues, 
 1023. 
 
 % The Guadalquivir was navigable up to Cordoba in 1360, as appears by a petition of the Seville barge- 
 men to Peter the Cruel, complaining that the openings required by law across the mill-dams had been nar- 
 rowed, and, in some cases, closed against them. The king ordered the obstructions to be removed, and 
 fixed for the breadth of the channel that of an arch in the cathedral of Cordoba, called the Arch of Blessing. 
 Cronica del Rey Don Pedro, anno 1360, p. 309. 
 
 § In comparing the respective population of the Spanish provinces, the inhabitants of Madrid, amounting 
 to 168,000, should be excluded as adventitious, and mostly belonging to other parts of the kingdom. 
 
SPAIN. 
 
 Population of Portugal,Jrom the Official Returns of 
 1798.* 
 
 
 
 Surface in 
 
 Inhabit- 
 
 Provinces. 
 
 Total of Inha- 
 
 square 
 
 ants to the 
 
 bitants. 
 
 leagues, 
 
 square 
 
 
 
 &c. 
 
 league. 
 
 Entre Douro e Minho 
 
 907,965 
 
 291 1 
 
 3115 
 
 Tras OS Monies 
 
 318,665 
 
 455 
 
 700 
 
 Beyra 
 
 1,121,595 
 
 753 
 
 14981 
 
 Extremadoura 
 
 826,680 
 
 823 
 
 1004| 
 
 Alentejo 
 
 380,480 
 
 883 
 
 431 
 
 Algarves 
 
 127,615 
 
 232 
 
 550 
 
 
 3,683,000 
 
 3437^ 
 
 1071 
 
 Taking a general view of the population of Spain, 
 it appears to have been distributed, in 1803, over the 
 15,005^ square leagues of its surface, in the follow- 
 ing proportions : 
 
 Maximum of population — province of 
 
 Guipuzcoa 
 Minimum — province of Cuenca 
 North maritime provinces, collectively 
 (Galicia, Asturias, Burgos, Biscay, 
 Guipuzcoa, and Catalonia) 
 South maritime provinces^ collectively 
 (Valencia, Murcia, Granada, and 
 Seville) - - - 
 
 Northern provinces of the interior, col- 
 lectively (Leon, Palencia, Zamora, 
 Toro, Valladolid.A'vila, Segovia, S6- 
 ria, Guadalaxara, A'lava, Navarre, 
 and Aragon) 
 Southern provinces of the interior, col- 
 lectively (Salamanca, Extremadura, 
 Cordoba, Jaen, Mancha, Toledo, 
 and Cuenca) 
 Maritime provinces, collectively 
 Inland do do - 
 
 Inhabitants 
 to the square 
 league. 
 
 2009 
 311 
 
 887 
 926 
 
 604 
 
 428 
 904 
 507 
 
 on Popula. 
 tion. 
 
 Influence of The facilities afforded by an extensive sea coast, 
 the Extent for the subsistence and consequent multiplication of 
 nl^r.?u* neighbouring inhabitants, appear in a striking 
 light when the following facts are taken into consi- 
 deration : 
 
 The extent of coast from Cape Cervera to Cape 
 Trafalgar is 251 f leagues; from the latter to Cape 
 Finisterre it amounts to 262 leagues; from that 
 point to Cape Higuer there is a line of 143 leagues. 
 The subjoined Table exhibits the proportion of coast 
 possessed by the maritime provinces of Spain and 
 Portugal, compared with the areas of their territo- 
 ries. We shall add a column containing the num- 
 ber of inhabitants to the square league, that the 
 reader may have all the necessary data before him: 
 
 
 
 Ratio of the 
 
 
 
 
 Coast to the 
 
 uLxiucr ui 
 
 
 Extent of 
 
 area, the lat- 
 ter being re- 
 
 Inhabitants 
 
 Coast. 
 
 to the square 
 
 
 
 presented hy 
 
 league. 
 
 
 
 1000. 
 
 
 Catalonia 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 1000 
 
 : 68 
 
 856 
 
 Valencia 
 
 69 
 
 
 107 
 
 1283 
 
 Murcia 
 
 21 
 
 
 32 
 
 582 
 
 Granada 
 
 74 
 
 
 92 
 
 861 
 
 Seville (19 leagues on 
 
 
 
 
 
 the Mediterranean, 35 
 
 
 
 
 
 on the Atlantic) 
 
 54 
 
 
 72 
 
 992 
 
 Algarve (Portugal) 
 
 43 
 
 
 185 
 
 550 
 
 Alentejo, do 
 Extremadoura, do 
 
 19 
 
 
 22 
 
 431 
 
 60 
 
 
 73 
 
 1004^ 
 
 Beyra, do 
 
 23 
 
 
 31 
 
 U891 
 
 Entre Douro e Minho, 
 
 
 
 
 do 
 
 27 
 
 
 93 
 
 SI 15 
 
 Galicia 
 
 110 
 
 
 • 83 
 
 859 
 
 Asturias 
 
 40 
 
 
 130 
 
 1180 
 
 Burgos 
 
 27 
 
 
 42 
 
 734 
 
 Biscay 
 
 1.3 
 
 
 123 
 
 1051 
 
 Guipuzcoa 
 
 9 
 
 
 173 
 
 2009 
 
 It appears from the preceding table, that Guipuz- 
 coa, Asturias, and Biscay, are the most populous 
 provinces of Spain ; and that the excess of their po- 
 pulation is nearly in the ratio of their coast to their 
 territory, compared with the other divisions of the 
 country. If Valencia, with less coast to its area 
 than Biscay or Asturias, is more peopled than 
 either, the extraordinary fertility of its soil, and the 
 unrivalled salubrity of its climate, will easily account 
 for the anomaly. The province of Granada, which 
 possesses a greater proportion of coast than Galicia, 
 is also more thickly inhabited. The same may be 
 observed in comparing Galicia with Catalonia, Bur- 
 gos with Murcia. Antillon attributes the excess of 
 populati on in the province of Seville over Granada 
 to the conflux occasioned by the two great towns of 
 Seville and Cadiz, both enjoying peculiar advantages; 
 the former from its sea-port, the latter from the na- 
 vigation of the Guadalquivir. 
 
 The comparison of Portugal with Spain aflPords a 
 further confirmation of this theory. The latter 
 kingdom has 468 leagues of sea coast, Portugal 172. 
 The ratios of their areas to their line of coast are 
 100:3,24— and 100:5. Now, in the Jirst place, 
 The mean population of Portugal exceeds that of 
 Spain by 38 1 inhabitants to the square league ; 2dly, 
 The most populous province of Spain falls short of 
 the most populous in Portugal by 1106 souls to the 
 same portion of territory ; Sdly, In the respective 
 provinces where population is thinnest, the Portu- 
 guese exceed the Spaniards at the rate of 120 per- 
 sons to the square league. 
 
 If we compare the population of the Portuguese 
 provinces with the ratio of their areas to their line 
 
 * These Tables are inserted here for the convenience of the reader, who would otherwise be obliged to 
 keep the article Portugal constantly under his eye, in order to judge of the observations we shall presently 
 make on the comparative population of the two peninsular countries. The Portuguese returns reckon by 
 Jbgo^ (hearths), which Mr Antillon has calculated at the rate of five persons to each. 
 
SPAIN. 
 
 515 
 
 of coast, we shall find that Alentejo, the lowest in 
 that scalCi is also the least populous. Entre Douro 
 e Minho, which has a greater proportion of coast 
 than Beyra and Extremadoura, is more inhabited 
 than either.* If the relative population of these two 
 appears to be an exception, the fact may be easily 
 explained by the consideration, that Beyra, besides 
 the Mondego, and some other copious streams, en- 
 joys the navigation of the Douro and the Tagus 
 from the farthest limits of its territory, while Extre- 
 madoura has only a share in the benefits of the latter 
 river. Entre Douro e Minho, possessing the Douro, 
 the Lima, and the Minho, which are navigable a 
 great way up the interior, may be reckoned to ex- 
 ceed Algarve in the advantages arising from a sea- 
 coast, though the sea washes a smaller portion of its 
 territory. The difference, too, of the soils affords an 
 additional answer to the objection, since that of 
 Entre Douro e Minho is confessedly the richest in 
 Portugal, while the inhabitants of Algarve have the 
 most sterile portion of the kingdom for their lot. 
 
 Whatever may be thought of the accuracy of the 
 preceding theory, it cannot be denied, that, besides 
 the great quantity of food afforded by the sea, the 
 facility of communication and conveyance, which a 
 neighbouring coast presents, must have a direct ten- 
 dency to increase the wealth of the inhabitants, and 
 consequently to multiply their numbers. The terri- 
 tory of Spain has been quaintly, though accurately, 
 compared to an embroidered waistcoat ; the edges full 
 and ornamented, the centre a blank, with a few scatter- 
 ed flowers. Were it all as fully inhabited as Guipuz- 
 coa, it would contain 30,146,050 souls, nearly 
 three times the number in 1803. Even at the mo- 
 derate rate of the Catalonian population, or 856 
 souls to the square league, Spain would have 
 12,844,708 inhabitants, about two millions and a 
 half above the last returns. That this comparative 
 dearth of population does not, either exclusively or 
 chiefly, arise from the national system of govern- 
 ment, is proved by the state of population in Portu- 
 gal, a country which, from time immemorial, has 
 been no less than Spain, under the influence of poli- 
 tical and religious despotism. Capmany, f one of 
 the most able and well informed Spaniards of our own 
 times, has satisfactorily shown, that the accounts of 
 some old writers, who make the population of Spain, 
 in the sixteenth century, ascend to twenty or twenty- 
 one millions, are groundless and exaggerated. We 
 are, therefore, inclined to attribute more influence 
 on this point to the physical or geographical circum- 
 
 stances of Spain than has been hitherto allowed by Spain, 
 writers on Spanish statistics, and shall give it the ^■"^^^'"'^ 
 first place in the consideration of the chief obstacles 
 which have hitherto opposed the prosperity of that 
 country. 
 
 III. No depth of observation is required to per- Obstacles to 
 ceive that, whatever opposes the internal trade and ^T^f 
 interchange of commodities, must, by checking the ^ " 
 progress of wealth, check also the increase of popu- 
 lation ; while a mere glance at a good map of Spain 
 will suffice to perceive how unfavourable the struc- 
 ture of that country must be to the purposes of na- 
 tional commerce. The enormous chains of moun- 
 tains which traverse the peninsula in a direction al- 
 most parallel to the equator, and the consequent 
 want of navigable rivers from north to south, the dis- 
 tance from the central provinces to the coast, the 
 difficulty of cutting roads and canals through high 
 ridges of mountains and extensive plains at very- 
 different levels, are obstacles which would require 
 all the activity of a rich and well governed nation to 
 smooth or to subdue. 
 
 Little, however, could be expected from the en- 
 feebled and corrupt despotism into which the go- 
 vernment of the Spanish Bourbons had settled after 
 some fitful aims at improvement, which a court in- 
 trigue or the death of a minister was sure to defeat. 
 Yet, it is but justice to say, that the only progress 
 which Spain has made, since the time when the fo- 
 reign influence of her monarchs, and the discovery 
 of America, gave her a false appearance of internal 
 vigour, has taken place under the present dynasty. J 
 How much was done for the encouragement of agri- 
 culture, in the reign of Charles HI., may be deduc- 
 ed from the fact that, whereas that monarch found 
 Spain under the annual necessity of importing corn § 
 to the value of one hundred millions of francs, the 
 deficiency was found so far reduced under his suc- 
 cessor as to be supplied, in the more favourable 
 years, at the expence of only fifteen millions of the 
 same money. || 
 
 How truly the necessity of importing corn arises 
 from the want of easy communications between the 
 provinces, appears from the average crops which, 
 as we learn from the demi-official authority just 
 quoted, amount to more than seventy millions of 
 quintals by weight.lT In the kingdom of Aragon, 
 there is an annual surplus of 388,000 cahices 
 (2,910,000 bushels) of corn.** The incorrectness 
 of Spanish statistical documents is, however, so evi- 
 
 • In the comparison of the Portuguese provinces it must be remembered, that Extremadoura includes 
 the adventitious population of Lisbon, 
 f Capmany, Quesfiones Criticas. 
 
 X See a Memoir of the Count of Floridablanca, published by Archdeacon Coxe as an Appendix to the 
 1st volume of his History of the Spanish Bourbons. 
 
 § The quantity of corn supposed to be imported yearly into Spain is sixty millions of fanegas, or one 
 thirteenth of the whole consumption. Upon a rough calculation, two fanegas are equal to three bushels. 
 
 11 Histoire de la Guerre d'Espagne contre Napoleon Buonaparte^ par une commission d'qfficiers de toutes 
 armes etablie a Madrid aupres de S. Ex. le Ministre de la Guerre : traduite de I'Espagnol, avec notes et eclair- 
 dssements par un temoin oculaire. Tome I. Introduction, p. 120. 
 
 f Ibid. p. 118. 
 
 ** Antillon, upon the authority of a Memoir which obtained the prize in 1799 from the Aragonese Socie- 
 ty. Geograjia de Espana, p. 151, 2d edit. 
 12 
 
516 
 
 S P A I N. 
 
 Spain. 
 
 Internal Na 
 vigation. 
 
 dent, that it would be rash to admit any inferences 
 from them implicitly, or to their full extent. Yet, 
 it cannot be doubted, that, in years of abundance, 
 the produce of the interior is often allowed to 
 waste, while corn is imported from Africa and Russia 
 at a cheaper rate than the native produce could be 
 sold for on the coast. 
 
 The benefits of the exportation of wine, which are 
 now limited to some of the provinces bordering on 
 the sea, might be extended to more than one-half of 
 the country if, by means of canals or navigable 
 rivers, that article could be transported to the coast 
 at a cheap rate. But the luxuriant vineyards of 
 Andalusia, not in the immediate vicinity of the wa- 
 ter, are of little advantage to the owners ; and the 
 juice, which might ferment into a variety of exqui- 
 site wines, is often thrown away, when the small 
 quantity, which will supply the demand of a very 
 limited district, has been collected in the cellars. 
 
 The water carriage in Spain is reduced to the in- 
 ' considerable portions of the intended canals of Ara- 
 gon and Castille, which have been constructed ; to 
 the slow and laborious navigation of the Ebro from 
 Zaragoza to Tortosa, performed, almost exclusively, 
 for the conveyance of wheat ; and to the floating of 
 timber down that river, the Tagus, the Xucar, the 
 Segdra, and the Guadalquivir. This last river, on 
 which a steam-boat, built and worked under the di- 
 recdon of a British engineer, alFords, of late, an easy 
 and speedy communication between Seville and San 
 Ldcar, is the only one from which Spain derives any 
 considerable advantage in point of trade. 
 
 It may be reckoned among the unfortunate com- 
 bination of circumstances which have hitherto check- 
 ed the internal prosperity of Spain, that the navi- 
 gable part of its finest rivers belongs to another 
 kingdom. The Tagus and the Douro may be said 
 to exist for the exclusive advantage of Portugal. 
 
 During the short and ill-fated union of the two 
 peninsular crowns, the engineer Antonelli under- 
 took to open the navigation of the Tagus as far as 
 Toledo, and completed that useful work in 1558. 
 After the separation of Portugal from Spain, seve- 
 ral plans have been presented to the Spanish go- 
 vernment for removing the obstacles which obstruct 
 the bed of that river from Alcantara to Toledo, and 
 even from the latter town to Aranjuea, which, by 
 means of canals, was to be joined with Alcala. Sur- 
 veys were made by order of the government, from 
 which, as Antillon observes, no benefit accrued to 
 the country except an accession of topographical 
 knowledge, and the fruitless conviction that the 
 communication of La Mancha with the ocean was 
 opposed, chiefly, by moral and political obstacles.* 
 
 The Ebro, under the Roman dominion, is said to 
 have been navigable up to Logrono, a distance of 
 65 leagues inland. In the twelfth century, the Em- 
 peror Don Alonso ordered gallies to be sunk near 
 
 Zaragoza, as a defence against the Moorish navy. 
 Zurita relates, that, in the fifteenth century. King 
 Don Juan sailed down the Ebro from Navarre into 
 Aragon.^ We find, however, the Cortes of the lat- 
 ter kingdom, under Charles li. of Spain, towards 
 the end of the seventeenth century, deliberating up- 
 on plans for expediting the navigation of the Ebro 
 near the sea. A survey was made for the same pur- 
 pose in 1738, but with no practical result. The 
 grand canal ©f Aragon was at length begun under 
 Charles III., the grandfather of the present king ; 
 and were it completed, it would stand a splendid 
 monument of the spirit of the nation.f It is, how- 
 ever, much against the practical utility of the pub- 
 lic works undertaken in Spain, that, by a natural 
 disposition of the people, they are all begun upon a 
 scale which would require the wealth and power of 
 imperial Rome for their completion. The little that 
 exists of the canal of Aragon might, if we believe 
 Antillon, compete with the works of that period ; 
 but, instead of reaching the sea through the Ebro, 
 and terminating in an artificial harbour, as was in- 
 tended, it has been carried on for the space of eigh- 
 teen leagues only, and contributes but little to the in- 
 ternal navigation of the country. Whether it is more 
 favourable to agriculture, by the copious irrigation 
 which it affords in its course, is, we find,, a point in 
 dispute among the Spaniards. Jovellanos, in his ex- 
 cellent Informe sobre la Ley Agrarian mentions the 
 farmers' complaints against the canals for irriga- 
 tion. It is hard, indeed, upon all land owners within 
 a certain distance to be forced to pay a tax for irri- 
 gation, whether they have or not the means, the skill, 
 or the inclination, to avail themselves of the proffer- 
 ed benefit. The farms, for instance, near the canal 
 of Aragon, from Zaragoza to Sastago, pay one-fifth 
 of their corn, and one-seventh of all other produce, 
 for irrigation. Lands newly brought into tillage 
 pay only one-sixth of the corn, and one-eighth of the 
 other produce. 
 
 Such complaints, it seems, were louder in the 
 vicinity of the canal of Castille, where the Spanish 
 practice of allowing the fields to lie fallow every 
 other year was still adhered to, notwithstanding the 
 abundance of water. § This canal begins at Alar 
 del Rey, in the province of Burgos. It is fed by 
 the Pisuerga, whose right bank it follows till it joins 
 that stream on the limits of the kingdom of Leon. 
 It then runs to the south and south-west, crossing 
 the river Cierza, and proceeds on its right bank till, 
 passing through the Carri6n, it turns to the west of 
 Palencia, and terminates in the same river. The 
 small canal of Campos, running more to the west, 
 joins that of Castille to the north of Palencia. 
 
 According to one of these gigantic plans with 
 which the Spanish government have often amused 
 their vanity, providing, as it were, in the magnitude 
 of the enterprise, a ready excuse for their inactivity, 
 
 * Antillon, Geogr. de Espana, p. l62. • j u 
 
 t The canal of the Ebro was begun under the Emperor Charles V., but bemg soon discontmued, the 
 
 present canal is, properly speaking, a modern work, 
 t Jovellanos, Xf?/ ^grar/a, p. 29, § Ibid. p. 39- 
 
SPAIN. 
 
 617 
 
 Spain, the canal of Castille was to reach the sea at Santan- 
 der, through the river Cam§sa^ through the Ebro, 
 near Reynosa, and finally through the Besaya and 
 the Pas. From its present termination near Palen- 
 cia, it was, on the other side, to reach Valladolid, 
 to strike off from the Duero, in order to join the 
 Adaja, and then to follow the Eresma as far as Se- 
 govia. From thence it was to be directed to the 
 canal of Aragon, and thus to unite the ocean with 
 the Mediterranean, across the kingdom. Don Ra- 
 mon de Pignatelli, the engineer who superintended 
 the works of the canal of Aragon, laid the plans of 
 this immense work before Charles III. whose sanc- 
 tion they received. We must, however, remind the 
 reader, that the only traces which exist of this 
 mighty dream attract but faintly the notice of the 
 traveller, near Burgos, and in the vicinity of Ma- 
 drid, where the head of one of the intended 
 branches extends for four or five miles almost un- 
 disturbed by barge or boat 
 
 Such are the effects of a despotic government, 
 even in its kindest moods, and when it, fairly and 
 honestly, means to promote the good of its subjects. 
 Unwilling to consult, and unable to ascertain the 
 real opinion of those immediately concerned in the 
 result of its measures, it moves with ponderous 
 haste towards the object which dazzles its eyes, of- 
 ten crushing in its way those it meant to relieve. 
 Complaints are heard at length ; which, joined to the 
 exhaustion attending all unnatural exertions, never 
 fail to put the despot in a passion with his subjects, 
 and make him repent that he ever was so good and 
 gracious as to try to improve their condition. 
 
 Had the Spanish farmers of the different pro- 
 vinces been fairly heard before their lands were in- 
 discriminately drenched, in virtue of a royal decree, 
 the treasure which was thus mispent might have 
 been employed in opening roads across the pro- 
 vinces, by means of which the value of their crops 
 would have risen at once. But the purblind pro- 
 jectors of these schemes forgot every circumstance 
 of the case, except that, in the provinces bordering 
 on the Mediterranean, irrigation increased agricul- 
 tural produce. This was enough to convince them 
 that it would have the same effect in the centre of 
 Castille. The farmers declared, however, that the 
 abundance of water deteriorated their lands; and, 
 though much abused for their ignorance, they pro- 
 bably were in the right. Yet, supposing that irri- 
 gation could double their crops, they still had good 
 reason to complain that, under the burden of an ad- 
 ditional tax, the abundance of corn only lowered the 
 price in the small district which formed their mar- 
 ket ; and that living, as they do, at the distance of 
 many miles from their fields, they could not bestow 
 that constant labour and attention, which alone 
 might enable them to raise a yearly crop on the 
 same soil. 
 
 We have just adverted to another of the great 
 Po. obstacles which oppose the agricultural wealth of 
 Spain. The want of rural population, and the great 
 distance of the farmers' dwellings from their farms. 
 Independently of the loss of time and strength aris- 
 ing from a walk of four or six miles before the day's 
 work is begun, there are long periods in the year 
 
 VOL. VI. PART II. 
 
 when the fields are scarcely visited by the owners, Spain, 
 generally gentlemen farmers, and but seldom by the 
 rustic, who acts as steward. Field work, in fact, is 
 not continued throughout the year, but hastily and 
 slovenly performed, at the sowing and the reaping 
 season, by large parties of labourers, for whose ac- 
 commodation, in farms at considerable distance 
 from any town, there is a building not unlike a large 
 barn, which affords a promiscuous shelter to man 
 and beast. Bands of ploughmen, with thirty or 
 forty team of oxen, are seen at the beginning of 
 winter, slightly turning up the sods in the fields 
 which have lain fallow the preceding year. The 
 sowers walk slpwly behind them, scattering the seed 
 by handfuls, of which, part is picked up by the 
 large flocks of birds which hover over those exten- 
 sive soUtudes, and part prevented from taking root 
 by being improperly lodged in the earth. The har- 
 row is hardly known in Andalusia, and weeding is 
 an operation seldom resorted to. The coi*n-fields, thus 
 abandoned to the influences of the climate, and the 
 rank luxuriance of the soil, present, at the approach 
 of summer, the colours of the rainbow to the eye of 
 the traveller, who, but for the absence of all human 
 habitation, might easily mistake them for flower gar- 
 dens. We are, it is true, describing the Andalusian 
 method of farming, with which we are best acquaint- 
 ed ; but, with the exception of Murcia, Valencia, and 
 Catalonia, on the coast, and part of Aragon, in the 
 interior, we have reason to believe that agriculture 
 is neither better understood nor practised than in 
 Andalusia ; the mismanagement of whose extensive 
 and fertile plains has, by far, the greatest share in the 
 agricultural disadvantages of Spain. Indeed, Anda- 
 lusia and Aragon, alone, might, under an active and 
 enlightened system of tillage, supply the whole coun- 
 try with corn. 
 
 It was once proposed to the Spanish government Projects lor 
 to distribute the uncultivated land, amounting to a the Encou- 
 large proportion of the whole country, among such ^S^ment of 
 of the natives as were disposed to bring their lots ^ 
 into tillage. This measure, it was hoped by Jovel- 
 lanos, would tend to a wider and more equal distri- 
 bution of the Spanish population, now crowded in 
 towns at great distances from each other. But it is 
 hardly less difficult to alter the original and con- 
 firmed constitution of the body politic than of the 
 animal frame. The constant state of warfare against 
 the Moors obliged the Spaniards, from the earliest 
 period of that protracted struggle, to live in large 
 towns; where they might find security against the sur- 
 rounding enemy. The necessity also of arming the 
 whole male population saved Spain, it is true, from 
 that degraded state of vassalage, which so long op- 
 pressed the greatest portion of the people of Europe ; 
 but the want of a class of men bound to the soil, and 
 forming part of the agricultural stock of their mas- 
 ters, prevented the existence of a numerous peasant- 
 ry, which, being spread over the country, might, in 
 the course of time, obtain their emancipation, and 
 become the fathers of a free and happy agricultural 
 population. 
 
 Under these circumstances, all schemes to alter 
 the form and character which the growth of cen- 
 turies has given to civil society in Spain, must prove, 
 3u 
 
 1!> 
 
518 
 
 SPAIN. 
 
 Spain. 
 
 Wrong No- 
 tions oil 
 Landed 
 Property. 
 
 we fear, vain and visionary. It is not in the power 
 of man suddenly to convert the idle and degraded 
 inhabitants of large cities into sober and industrious 
 farmers ; nor, even if that were possible, could such 
 a nation find means to furnish the home colonist 
 with stock and implements, as well as support, till 
 the new broken land should yield enough for their 
 maintenance. Men will soon find their way to every 
 spot, where either nature or the aggregate industry 
 of the people that inhabit the country, affords them 
 the means of living by moderate exertion. When- 
 ever the Spanish government shall have opened an 
 easy communication between the central provinces 
 and the coast, and joined every important town in 
 the peninsula by cross roads — when the means of 
 internal traffic shall have opened a market for the 
 produce of the soil — when the laws which fetter the 
 industry of the Spaniards shall have been repealed 
 long enough to allow them to perceive their real in- 
 terests, and to exert themselves with the steadiness 
 and confidence of habitual freedom, then, and not 
 before, will the productive power of their land be 
 called into action. Cultivation will gradually spread 
 from the insulated spots which it always presents in 
 its first stages ; towns will join hands across deserts, 
 and men will start up as it were from the furrows — 
 a truth, we believe, recorded in fable by primitive 
 philosophy, and placed in the light of demonstration 
 by that which is the boast of our own times. 
 
 Before we close this part of our article, we cannot 
 omit to mention an obstacle to the prosperity of 
 Spanish agriculture, which, limited as we are for 
 space, we would pass over in silence, were it not a 
 curious instance of the influence of national circum- 
 stances upon ideas and sentiments which habit often 
 represents as natural and invariable. 
 
 The rights of property in land, wherever the feu- 
 dal system has existed in full vigour, are so exclu- 
 sive and peremptory, that it must surprise an English- 
 man to learn, that there are but very few spots in 
 Spain which the landlord can call his own, from the 
 moment he has housed the harvest. The right of 
 driving cattle into the stubble-fields is claimed and 
 maintained with great obstinacy, not only by the 
 powerful association of owners of Merino flocks, call- 
 ed La Mesta, but even by the poorest individuals. 
 The arable land of Spain becomes, in fact, a vast 
 common, every year, to which the lord has no more 
 right than any one else. The privilege enjoyed by 
 the Andalusian farmers of inclosing one-ninth of 
 their fields from Michaelmas to May-day is, accord- 
 ing to Jovellanos, who was for some years a judge in 
 the Supreme Court of that province, the source of 
 perpetual law-suits ; — a proof of the impatience with 
 which it is borne by the mass of the people. 
 
 If we seek the origin of a prejudice so injurious to 
 agriculture, so incompatible with every improvement 
 
 in husbandry, we shall find it in the peculiar state of Spain, 
 the country to which we have attributed the want of 
 a rural population. The Spaniards, while recovering 
 their country from the Moorish usurpers, could 
 hardly consider any land as properly their own but 
 what they had inclosed within the strong walls of 
 their towns. All that the farmers could wish for 
 was to escape an inroad of the enemy while the crops 
 were on the ground. As th,ey could not think of 
 inclosing or improving any particular spot, they 
 cared not whose cattle picked vip a scanty feed upon 
 their stubble-fields. When, by the gradual retreat of 
 the Moors, the rights of exclusive property upon 
 land might have been asserted by the owners, their 
 very limited knowledge of agriculture did not allow 
 them to see the advantages which might be derived 
 from inclosures. Thus, in the course of centuries, 
 the general right of pasture was established, which, 
 from the immediate, though paltry, advantages it 
 confers on the multitude, will, we fear, be found 
 among the most intractable prejudices of the Spa- 
 niards. 
 
 Connected with the ignorance of the advantages Merino 
 arising from the exclusive rights of property in land. Sheep, 
 are the exorbitant privileges which the Spanish laws 
 have granted to the owners of migratory or Merino 
 flocks. From the mountains of Leon to the farthest 
 limits of Extremadura, the members of the Mesta, an 
 association composed of the wealthiest Grandees, 
 gentlemen, and religious bodies, have a right to graze 
 their sheep on a broad belt of land called Canada, 
 gradually and slowly changing their stations, as the 
 mild winters of the south clothe the earth with grass, 
 or the heat of summer thaws the snows of the Leo- 
 nese mountains. The privileges of this body are de-- 
 fended and enforced by a court of judges created for 
 that purpose, and in the appointment and pay of 
 the Mesta, who, with a numerous host of dependants, 
 are the terror of the agriculturist wherever their ju- 
 risdiction extends. Lands upon this pastoial road 
 are scarcely the property of any but these formidable 
 shepherds, who fix the price of pasture, obtain it 
 by compulsion wherever it is found, and look upon 
 farmers and their labours as the natural rivals and 
 impediments to their gains. The total of Merino 
 sheep was calculated in 1808 at six millions. A 
 great part of that number were stationary in the dif- 
 ferent provinces, the fineness of the wool depending 
 entirely upon the breed, and not on the change of 
 soil. 
 
 Since Spain, however, seems to have no chance of 
 becoming a manufacturing country, and must de- 
 pend for wealth on her natural productions, we readi- 
 ly agree with Jovellanos* as to the necessity of en- 
 couraging the growth of wool, an article which, for 
 centuries, has constituted one of the main resources 
 of that kingdom.f To balance the contending 
 
 * Jovellanos, Ley Agraria, p. 47. 
 
 f The importation of the Merino sheep from England into Spain is a fact recorded both by Spanish and 
 English authorities. It appears to have taken place at three different periods. The Bachelior Fernan 
 Gomez de Ciudad Real, physician to John II. of Spain, says, that " the office of Judge of the Mesta had 
 always been conferred on honourable Hidalgos." — *' The first (he continues) was Inigo Lopez de Orosco, 
 
I 
 
 SPAIN. 
 
 19 
 
 in. claims of the pastoral and the agricultural interests 
 in Spain, must be the work of time under a wise 
 legislature. 
 
 He of IV. We have, in vain, tried to procure a satisfac- 
 mmerce tory account of the state of commerce and industry 
 i Indus- in Spain. All we can find in the boolcs which we have 
 consulted amounts to little more than general com- 
 plaints upon this topic. The only substantial fact 
 contained in the first volume of the History of the 
 late War, published by the government of Ferdinand 
 VII., is that, in 1808, the annual exports of Spain 
 were to the imports as three to seven ; the value of 
 the former amounting to seventy-five millions of 
 francs (we leave the denomination unaltered), while 
 the latter rose to one handred and twenty-five mil- 
 lions of the same money. " In 1802 (say these offi- 
 cial historians),* the produce of our industry was 
 calculated at three hundred and fifty millions of 
 francs ; but it was soon reduced to much less in 
 consequence of the maritime war (with England), 
 and the malversations of the Prince of the Peace. 
 The effects of these checks were the more felt, as the 
 remittances from the American colonies were in- 
 adequate to cover the deficit. Our industry in 1808, 
 
 represented by the amount of its produce, was to 
 that of France nearly as seven to forty." 
 
 " Our commerce in 1802, soon after the peace 
 
 of Amiens, was to that of France as two to three 
 
 such, at least, is the result of the statistical docu- 
 ments published by the continental powers at that 
 period. But according to the more accurate esti- 
 mate presented to government by Mr Canga Ar- 
 guelles, in 1803, the proportion was that of twenty- 
 eight to one hundred and eighty-two, which, in fact, 
 dilFers but little from the preceding." 
 
 " When Great Britain declared against us, in the 
 following year, our commerce, which was just be- 
 ginning to recover from the losses of the past war, 
 may be said to have received its death wound. Our 
 mercantile companies, then the most powerful in 
 Europe.t were ruined by the general stagnation of 
 trade, by the large and frequent loans made to a 
 government, who never paid either interest or prin- 
 cipal. The Philippine Islands Company, whose funds 
 were immense, failed to the amount of six millions 
 (of francs). The Deputation of the Jive Gremios 
 of Madrid, well known to all Europe for its credit 
 and wealth, was ruined, partly by the inactive state 
 of our industry, partly by the financial operations 
 
 whom King Don Alonso (XI.) appointed to that office when the sheep were first brought from England 
 in the Carracks." {Centon Epistolario, Letter 73d, dated 1437.) The appointment of Inigo Lopez was made 
 in 1329. (See a note to the Chronicle of Peter the Cruel, p. 60. Madrid, 1779-) The second importation 
 was in the reign of Henry III. of Castille, and formed part of the marriage portion of his wife, Catharine 
 Plantagenet, daughter of John of Gaunt. (See Historia de la Vida y Hechos del Rey Don Henrique Tercero 
 de Castilla, por Gil Gonzalez Davila, p. 11.) This marriage was celebrated in 1388. (lb. p. 4.) The 
 third importation is mentioned by Holinshed (Vol. II. p. 668), who relates that, in 1466, Edward IV. of 
 England concluded an amitie and league with Henrie King of Castile, and John King of Aragon, at the 
 concluding whereof he granted licence for certaine Cottesholde sheepe to be transported into the countrie 
 of Spaine (as people report), which have there so multiplied and increased, that it hath turned the coramo- 
 ditie of England much to the Spanish profit." Stowe (p. 419) repeats the account of Holinshed ; but adds, 
 that " long ere this were sheep in Spaine, as may appeare by a pattent of King Henry the Second, the 31 of 
 his raigne, granted to the weavers of London, that if any cloth were found to be made of Spanish wool 
 mixed with English wool, the Maior of London should see it brent." 
 
 From this regulation of Henry II., it may be inferred that Spanish wool was, at that time, inferior in qua- 
 lity to English wool, and this conclusion is confirmed by Capmany, who remarks, that, till the middle of the 
 fifteenth century, the Spanish wool could not be brought into competition with that of England, for the fine 
 manufactures of Florence and Flanders {Questiones Criiicas, p. 9) ; which again agrees with the com- 
 plaints of Stowe, Harrison, Speed, and Sir Richard Baker, that Spanish wool was so much improved in 
 their days as to rival that of England. 
 
 It cannot, however, be doubted that the travelling flocks, called Trashumantes, were known in Spain 
 long before the importation of sheep from England ; as the Concejo de la Mesta, which was created for the 
 preservation of their privileges, possess a charter dated 2d of September 1273. (See Quaderno de la Mesta.*) 
 
 The custom of changing the stations of the flocks according to the seasons, the Spaniards must have 
 derived from the Romans, whose practice on this point of rural economy is thus described by Varro: " Illae 
 (oves) in saltibus quae pascuntur — et a tectis abeunt longe, portant secum crates aut retia quibus cohortes 
 in solitudine faciant, caeteraque utensilia; longe enim et late in diversis locis pasci solent, ut multa millia 
 absint saepe hybernae pastiones ab astivis. Ego vero scio, inquam, nam mihi greges in Appulis hybernabant 
 qui in Reatinis montibus aestivabant." De Re Rust. Lib. II. c. 2. 
 
 * For the most valuable part of this historical information we acknowledge ourselves indebted to the friendship of John Allen, 
 Esq. of Dulwich College. 
 
 * Introduction, p. 123, et seq. 
 
 t The military historians seem not to have recollected the existence of the East India Company, in 
 England. It is certainly to be regretted that habits of inaccuracy and exaggeration still prevail too much 
 among the Spanish writers, especially upon subjects connected with national feeling. 
 
520 
 
 SPAIN. 
 
 Spain. 
 
 of our ministers. Neither the National Bank of 
 San Carlos, which opened with a capital of seventy- 
 five millions (of reals, about seven millions and a 
 half Sterling), nor the Royal Maritime Company, 
 created in 1789, could realize their objects, or even 
 preserve their funds, which were soon drained, to 
 fill the strong chests of the Favourite, or spent in 
 France for the support of armies which were, at no 
 distant period, to be employed against us." 
 
 " The failure of remittances from Spanish Ame- 
 rica, the enormous subsidies which we paid to 
 France, and the ruinous measures by which the an- 
 nual deficits were met, exhausted the treasury, and 
 put an end to public credit. No funds were safe 
 from the hands of the Favourite. The capital of the 
 bank, that of the Monte de Piedad, the judiciary 
 deposits, the pauper's fund, — all was seized by ser- 
 vile ambition, that it might support injustice and 
 prodigality. The plans of internal navigation were 
 forgotten, the public works then in progress were 
 suspended, and those that had been concluded were 
 left to decay for want of means to repair them." 
 
 " The government, wholly intent on guilty schemes 
 of momentary advantage, not only neglected the 
 country whose interests it was their duty to pro- 
 mote, but actually increased the obstacles which 
 were opposed to her industry. Customhouses were 
 found in every direction, the roads were crowded 
 with revenue officers, and tolls were levied, at every 
 step, upon travellers. The merchants were com- 
 pelled to make declarations injurious to their inte- 
 rests; and, when they had gone through ten thou- 
 sand vexatious forms, they could not yet feel se- 
 cure, or beyond the reach of the fiscal vultures." 
 
 Recent His- V. Such was the state of Spain in 1808, when the 
 tory. ambition of France, and the dissensions of the royal 
 family, brought her to that dangerous crisis, of 
 which the extraordinary events of the last fifteen 
 years are not sufficient to point out the issue. We 
 must, however, refer the reader for a sketch of that 
 part of Spanish history to the Article Great Bri- 
 tain in this Supplement ; and attempt a more de- 
 tailed view of the period beginning with the return 
 of Ferdinand VII. from his captivity in France, and 
 ending in the invasion of the French army in 1823. 
 New Consti- The hopes which had induced some of the most 
 tution of enlightened Spaniards to join in the popular struggle 
 Spam. against the establishment of Joseph Buonaparte on 
 the throne of their country, had been crowned with 
 success on the publication of the New Constitution, 
 at Cadiz, on the igth of March 1812. 
 
 By one of the first articles in that code, the sove- 
 reignty is declared to reside essentially in the na- 
 tion, which, being free and independent, neither is, 
 nor can be, the patrimony of any person or family. 
 — All Spaniards, without distinction, are subject 
 to taxation. — " The religion of the Spanish nation 
 is, and shall be for ever, the Catholic, Apostolic, 
 and Roman, which is the only true religion." — 
 " The nation," it is added, " protects it by wise and 
 just laws, and forbids the exercise of any other 
 whatever." — The government of the Spanish nation 
 is stated to be " a limited hereditary monarchy." — 
 
 The power of making laws is vested " in the Cortes, 
 jointly with the King." — In describing the class of 
 Spaniards who enjoy the privileges of citizenship, 
 persons " reputed of African origin, either by the 
 father or the mother's side," are excluded. A simi- 
 lar exclusion is given to Spaniards who obtain natu- 
 ralization in another country, or who, without leave, 
 absent themselves five years from Spain. The only 
 basis for the number of representatives in the Cor- 
 tes is Population, to be taken from the census of 1797, 
 till one more correct can be made. For every se- 
 venty thousand souls there is to be one deputy in 
 the Cortes. The returns of the members are made 
 by three successive elections. Every parish ap- 
 points electors for the district to which it belongs. 
 These repair to the chief town of the district to 
 choose another set of electors, who, lastly, meeting 
 in the capital of the province, make the final ap- 
 pointment to the Cortes. The Cortes is triennial. 
 No member can be elected for two successive re- 
 presentations. No debate can be carried on in the 
 presence of the king ; his ministers may attend and 
 speak, but are not allowed to vote. There is a per- 
 manent deputation, or committee of the Cortes, 
 composed of seven members, appointed by the 
 whole body, before a prorogation or dissolution, 
 whose duty is to watch over the executive, and re- 
 port any infringement of the constitution to the 
 next Cortes. It also belongs to them to convoke 
 an extraordinary Cortes in the cases prescribed by 
 the constitution. 
 
 The powers of the Cortes are chiefly these: 1st, 
 To move and pass the laws ; and to interpret and 
 alter them when necessary. 2d, To administer the 
 constitutional oaths to the King, the Prince of As- 
 turias, &c. ^d, To determine any doubt or fact re- 
 lative to the succession. Uh, To elect a regency, 
 and define its powers. 5th, To make the public re- 
 cognition of the Prince of Asturias. 6th, To ap- 
 point guardians to the king while a minor. 7^/^, To 
 approve or reject treaties previous to ratification. 
 Sth, To allow or refuse the admission of foreign 
 troops into the kingdom. 9th, To decree the crea- 
 tion or suppression of offices in the tribunals esta- 
 blished by the constitution, as well as of places of 
 public trust. 10///, To fix, every year, by the 
 king's proposal, the land and sea forces. 11/^, To 
 regulate the military code in all its branches. \2tb. 
 To fix the expences of the government. \Sth, To im- 
 pose taxes, contract loans, and direct every thing re- 
 lating to the revenue. I'^th, To establish a plan of 
 public instruction, and direct the education of the 
 Prince of Asturias. \5th. To protect the political 
 liberty of the press. \6th, To enforce the respon- 
 sibility of the secretaries of state, and other persons 
 in office. 
 
 Laws may be proposed, in writing, by any one of 
 the deputies. Two days after the motion, the bill is to 
 be read a second time. It is then determined whe- 
 ther the subject is to be debated, or to be referred 
 to a committee. Four days after the bill has been 
 voted worthy of discussion, it is read a third time, 
 and a day is appointed for the debate. A majority 
 of votes decides the fate of the bill ; the members 
 
 Spain. 
 
SPAIN. 
 
 present on these occasions must exceed the half of 
 their total number by one. 
 
 The powers of the king are, 1st, To suspend the 
 passing of a law by withholding his sanction. He 
 can exercise this power against any decree of the 
 Cortes, for two consecutive sessions ; but is compel- 
 led to give his assent if the same law is passed by 
 three Cortes successively. 2d, The executive pow- 
 er resides exclusively in the king, and extends to 
 whatever relates to the preservation of public order 
 in the interior, and to the external security of the 
 state, according to the constitution and the laws. 
 The privileges and duties of the executive are thus 
 detailed in the constitution: the King may issue 
 decrees, regulations, and instructions, for the more 
 effectually enforcing of the laws ; — it is his duty to 
 watch over the administration of justice; — he de- 
 clares war, and makes peace, under the control of 
 the Cortes ; — he appoints judges to all the civil and 
 criminal courts, on the presentation of the council 
 of state ; — all civil and military employments are of 
 the king's appointment ; — he presents to all bishop- 
 ricks, ecclesiastical dignities and benefices which 
 may be in the gift of the crown ; all by the advice 
 of the council of state ; — the king is the fountain of 
 honour; the army and the navy are at his com- 
 mand, and he has the appointment of generals and 
 admirals ; — he has the right of coinage, and the 
 privilege of impressing his bust on the metallic cur- 
 rency of the realm; — the king can propose new 
 laws, or amendments to those in existence. — It be- 
 longs also to him to circulate or withhold the Pope's 
 rescripts and bulls ;— he can choose and dismiss his 
 own ministers. 
 
 The following checks are laid on the king's au- 
 thority by the constitution : 
 
 Ist, The king cannot prevent the meeting of the 
 Cortes at the periods fixed by the constitution ; nei- 
 ther can he dissolve them or disturb their sittings. 
 His advisers and abettors in such attempts are 
 guilty of treason. 2d, If the king should quit the 
 kingdom without the consent of the Cortes, he is 
 understood to have abdicated the crown. 3d, The 
 king cannot alienate any part of the Spanish terri- 
 tory. 4!th, He cannot abdicate the crown in favour 
 of his successor without the consent of the Cortes. 
 5th, He cannot enter into any political alliance, or 
 make commercial treaties without the consent of the 
 Cortes. 6th, He cannot grant privileges or mono- 
 polies. 7th, The king cannot disturb any individu- 
 al in the enjoyment of his property, nor deprive 
 him of his personal liberty. If the interest of the 
 state should require the arrest of any individual by 
 virtue of a royal order, the prisoner must be deliver- 
 ed over to a competent tribunal within eight and 
 forty hours. Sth, The king cannot marry without 
 the consent of the Cortes ; he is supposed to abdi- 
 cate the crown by taking a wife against their will. 
 
 The Council of State is composed of forty indivi- 
 duals, viz. two bishops, two priests, and four gran- 
 dees ; the other thirty-two must not belong to any 
 of these classes. The members of the Council of 
 State shall be chosen by the king out of a triple list 
 presented to him by the Cortes. The Councillors 
 
 521 
 
 of State cannot be removed without a trial before 
 the Supreme Court of Justice. Their salary is fixed' 
 by the Cortes. The functions of this Council of 
 State are to advise the king on all important matters 
 of government, and especially upon giving or refus- 
 ing his sanction to the laws, declaring war, or mak- 
 ing treaties. The king, besides, cannot bestow any 
 ecclesiastical benefice, or appoint any judge, but at 
 the proposal of the Council of State, who, upon 
 every vacancy, are to confine his choice to one out 
 of three individuals, whose names they are to lay 
 before his majesty. 
 
 The laws for the security of personal liberty are 
 these, 1st, No Spaniard can be imprisoned without a 
 summary process, wherein he is crediblycharged with 
 the infraction of some law which subjects the of- 
 fender to corporal punishment ; 2d, The arrest can- 
 not take place without the warrant of a competent 
 judge ; 3d, Prisoners are not to be examined upon 
 oath ; 4!th, The gaoler shall keep a register of the 
 prisoners, expressing the warrant, and the alleged 
 cause of his confinement. 
 
 Such are the main articles of the Spanish Consti- 
 tution ; a production which, considering the circum- 
 stances of its appearance, highly deserves the atten- 
 tion of the politician and the philosopher. Spain 
 had been for ages under the most effectual restraints 
 which can be laid on the human mind, to prevent 
 its dwelling upon subjects connected with the autho- 
 rity of civil and ecclesiastical rulers. Few Spaniards, 
 out of the learned professions, devoted any part of 
 their time to reading. The knowledge of the clergy 
 was generally limited to scholastic divinity, as that 
 of the lawyers to the forms of the civil courts. A 
 small proportion of both classes had privately ven- 
 tured to look beyond the bounds which church and 
 government had set to their speculations, and, 
 books being smuggled from France, an inconsider- 
 able number were become initiated in the principles 
 of the French Philosophical School. The seeds of 
 doubt and dissent, in matters of religion and policy, 
 had greatly spread for the last forty years ; but the 
 bulk of the nation was still without a thought on 
 these subjects, and blindly followed the impulse 
 which time and habit had given them. The events 
 which dethroned Charles IV. had no farther broken 
 these habits than merely to show the people how ef- 
 fectually they could oppose their own will to the 
 constituted authorities. But their loyalty was not 
 impaired by their successful efforts. The name of 
 Ferdinand VII, was the great bond of union which 
 preserved the Spaniards from anarchy. To defend the 
 authority of the crown was the only object of their 
 general insurrection ; and, having deposited its un- 
 bounded powers in the hands of a few, the people 
 retired to their homes, setting no limits to their 
 obedience. 
 
 Had not the progress of the French armies dis- 
 persed the Central Junta, and concentrated the fu- 
 gitive patriots at Cadiz, it is more than probable 
 that the Cortes would have been assembled accord- 
 ing to the ancient forms, and that the privileged 
 classes, supported by the majority of the nation, 
 would have defeated any attempt to alter the old 
 
 Spain. 
 
522 SPA 
 
 Spain, constitution. But Cadiz offered to that party, 
 ^^-s''^/''^ which has been since known by the name of Liberal, 
 the most favourable opportunity of striking a deadly 
 blow at the very root of the monarchical power, un- 
 der which they had so long groaned in hopeless, 
 yet silent, restlessness. 
 Poiitical From its maritime position, its commercial inter- 
 Character of gg^g^ ^jj^j ji^g foreign extraction of many of its inha- 
 bitants, Cadiz has, at all times, exhibited a scene of 
 life so different from that which strikes the observer 
 in the interior, that, upon entering its walls, he 
 might imagine himself suddenly transported out of 
 the kingdom. There, instead of the national pre- 
 judices in favour of birth, he might perceive the 
 pride of wealth, and an ill disguised impatience of 
 all other claims to respect and influence. If the^ 
 rich merchants decked themselves with the marks of 
 distinction so eagerly coveted by Spaniards, they 
 still wore them without ease or satisfaction. Appa- 
 rently raised by these externals to the ranks of the 
 old titled gentry, the new marquis or knight still 
 found himself but little removed above those of his 
 former condition. He could not meet with the he- 
 reditary deference which the Cahallero of the inte- 
 rior found in the labouring classes. Cadiz, in its 
 days of prosperity, had no poor ; for, while a stream 
 of wealth was poured in from the American colo- 
 nies, the sea forbad its population to spread beyond 
 the limits of comfortable subsistence. The line of 
 distinction between the higher and the lower classes 
 was, therefore, less marked than in other large 
 towns of the peninsula ; and, when the season^ of 
 mercantile prosperity was over, as the depression 
 was general, it left the various classes at the same 
 proportionable distance. Cadiz, unknown to herself, 
 cherished, in fact, a republican spirit. The line 
 which divided her rich and her poor, her workmen 
 and their employers, was almost imperceptible when 
 compared with the gulf of prejudice and pride which 
 separated the merchant from the grandee.^ Thus, 
 undivided by jealousies of rank, and feeling in com- 
 mon that impatience of political superiority which is 
 inherent to the human heart, the people of Cadiz 
 were ready to greet any prospect of change in the 
 monarchical and aristocratical system of the country. 
 
 All that was wanting to bring these dispositions 
 into action, and give them a definite aim, was 
 driven into Cadiz by the advance of the French 
 armies within sight of its walls. Madrid had, for a 
 long time, been the resort of the most enlightened 
 Spaniards; the only spot where persons, who had 
 embraced Liberal principles, could feel the oppres- 
 sive yoke of religious tyranny somewhat eased on 
 their necks. As they generally belonged to that 
 numerous class of the Spanish gentry who look up to 
 the patronage of government for the means of sub- 
 sistence, the court drew them together from the 
 provinces. On the prospect of the political changes 
 which the captivity of Ferdinand opened to the 
 country, these men attached themselves to the CeH' 
 tral Junta, and finally followed its members in their 
 flight from Seville to Cadiz. Thither, too, flocked 
 all the stragglers of the philosophical party ; and, on 
 the dissolution of that dull, dilatory knot of ill assort- 
 
 IN. 
 
 ed men, who, under the veil of dignified gravity, Spain, 
 had for a time concealed their unfitness to direct the 
 nation, the Spanish speculatists found themselves in 
 the midst of a population highly disposed to listen to 
 their doctrines, to embrace their views, and consti- 
 tute them the organs of the new laws which were 
 to remodel the kingdom. 
 
 The majority of the first Cortes'' being composed C Charactei 
 of the class of men whom, by anticipation, we have J; ^jj^^ J^^^^ 
 called Liberales, the project of a Constitution was im- ^- oftbeCoi 
 mediately set on foot, and a committee of the ablest u tution. 
 members appointed to draw up the fundamental i 
 code of the monarchy. Such a task, at all times ar- • 
 duous, was, in the present circumstances of the ; 
 country, beset with peculiar difficulties. The legis- ■ 
 lators, confined within the walls of a town where in- • 
 novations could not fail to be popular, went through 
 their task under a strong delusion, mistaking their ' 
 own wishes and the applause of the surrounding ; 
 multitude for the sense of the nation. Encouraged I 
 by the absence of the king, placed beyond any r 
 check from the privileged classes, and the weight of f 
 the landed property of the country, it is surprising j 
 that the framers of the new constitution were not t 
 more rash than they appear in the code, of which i 
 we have laid an abstract before our readers. 
 
 We strongly suspect, however, that the authors 3 
 of the Spanish constitution were less disposed to ^ 
 consider the real sense of the nation, than to pre- - 
 pare, in their code, the most effectual means of work- - 
 ing a radical change in the public mind. Perhaps s 
 they despaired of being able, by a more truly f 
 Spanish system of laws, to make a lasting reform in i 
 the state. Perhaps they feared that, if a portion of f 
 the legislative power was deposited in the hands of f 
 an upper house, composed of the Grandees and the 9 
 Clergy, it would clog the motion which they wished 1 | 
 to impress upon the almost disorganized machinery y i 
 of the Spanish state. Perhaps they conceived that t I 
 the power, which, in the hands of the crown, had i 1 
 been so outrageously abused, could not be reduced 1 
 too much ; and that, since the constitution must re- - 
 cognize a king, he could not be too strictly watched i 
 and fettered. We are not, indeed, surprised to find i 
 these views in the authors of the Spanish constitu- - 
 
 tion they were the natural result of their position a 
 
 right feelings exasperated by a long endurance of >f 
 
 tyranny and misrule^ But we cannot, on the other r 
 hand, give them credit for any degree of that sound i 
 and practical wisdom which shone in the English h 
 patriots of l688. The authors of the Spanish con- 
 stitution had, it is true, to reconstruct the state al- - 
 most from the foundations. But, professing that it 
 they only, intended to re-establish the ancient consti- i- 
 tution of the kingdom, they bad not the ability even n 
 to preserve its external form„ They certainly neglect- ;- 
 ed all the old materials. Nor have they shown n 
 deeper views in the solution of the general problems is 
 of politics, such as the basis of representation, and d 
 the form of election. The Spanish legislators have, ?, 
 on both these points, shrunk at the view of difficul- 1- 
 ties which they wanted either the knowledge or the e 
 courage to meet fairly. 
 
 On one subject alone the authors of the constitu- 1- 
 
 10 
 
SPAIN. 
 
 523 
 
 tion yielded to national prejudice without reserve or 
 modification. The article on religion is, unfortu- 
 nately, an accurate expression of the opinions 
 which the mass of the Spanish nation hold upon that 
 point. Shall we, then, suppose the framers of the 
 constitution sincere in the profession of the strong, 
 undoubting, dictatorial faith, which blazes forth in 
 that notable article ? Must we not suspect that ex- 
 uberance of belief which makes a Liberal party stand 
 Catholic sponsors for generations unborn ? For our 
 part, we believe it equally impossible tliat men, 
 whose course of reading and thinking had led them 
 to embrace the political principles which have been 
 enforced in the Spanish constitution, should approve 
 the article in question, as that a nation, still bigoted 
 to such doctrines, should be disposed to receive that 
 constitution. It has been answered, we know, that 
 the political part of the Spanish code was calculated 
 to overturn the law concerning religion. But was it 
 not to be feared that the reverse might happen i Or 
 was it consistent with the wisdom of constitutional 
 legislators to combine the most irreconcileable prin- 
 ciples in the fundamental laws of the state? Had 
 they been more temperate and yielding in their po- 
 litical views, — had they not alarmed every Spanish 
 prejudice by their plan of reform, they might have 
 found their religious adversaries less on their guard, 
 and gained some ground on the side of toleration. 
 But the Spanish constitution was like one of those 
 treaties which wily politicians sign with a mutual 
 hope that they contain the elements of destruction 
 to the other contracting party. The Liberales, un- 
 able to cope with religious prejudice, trusted to the 
 operation of democratic principle ; the bigots, cut off 
 from their main body within the walls of Cadiz, 
 clung to their monstrous privilege of keeping the 
 conscience of every Spaniard in bondage. The Li- 
 lerales meant more than they dared to express — the 
 bigots gained all they wanted. Thus, while victory 
 was apparently on the side of the former, the latter 
 held, in the religious intolerance of the country, now 
 raised into a constitutional law, the strongest pledge 
 of a future and more permanent triumph. The 
 events which followed the return of Ferdinand must 
 convince every impartial judge, that the great mass 
 of the Spaniards were not disposed to second the 
 views of the Liberales ; and that, if the constitution 
 has, at a later period, had influence enough to arm 
 one part of the kingdom in its defence, it owes this 
 support to the injustice and misconduct of the Court 
 faction after the restoration, and not to an original 
 attachment on the part of the people. 
 
 The rapid series of misfortunes which had shaken 
 the imperial throne of France to its foundations 
 opened the way for the return of the captive Ferdi- 
 nand to Madrid. His appearance on the frontiers 
 would, a short time before, have been hailed by his 
 subjects with general and sincere joy. But an ab- 
 sence of six years, employed by the friends of con- 
 stitutional liberty in disseminating the principles of 
 political reform, and fomenting a spirit of jealousy 
 against the crown, had now created an active party, 
 who dreaded the appearance of a monarch, born and 
 bred a despot, among a people whose habits were 
 
 Spain. 
 
 those of implicit obedience. The arrival of the fa- 
 mous Palafox (who, since the taking of Zaragoza, 
 had been a prisoner in France), bearing dispatches 
 from the king to the i*egency, threw the constitu- 
 tionalists into great consternation. Ferdinand an- 
 nounced to the regency that he had concluded a 
 treaty with Napoleon, which, in his opinion, " con- 
 tained no condition that did not accord with the ho- 
 nour, glory, and interests of the Spanish nation ; as 
 that country could not have obtained a more advan- 
 tageous peace after a succession of victories." This 
 implied acknowledgment of successive defeats, this 
 readiness to conciliation with Napoleon, were strong 
 indications of a mind habituated to feelings very 
 different from those which had influenced the 
 Spaniards during the eventful war against the French 
 emperor. Such want of sympathy with those na- 
 tional feelings, which might have been supposed 
 most flattering to any other man in Ferdinand's cir- 
 cumstances, gave little hope of his quiet submission 
 to laws and principles which were plainly intended to 
 reduce his power, and make him the first subject of 
 the kingdom, instead of its absolute sovereign. 
 
 The Regency, composed of Cardinal Bourbon (a 
 man, who, though related to the royal family, bore in 
 the weakness of his mind the best security against 
 ambition) and Agar and Ciscar, two naval officers 
 of respectable abilities in their profession, whose 
 only recommendation for that post seems to have 
 been the absence of every qualification which might 
 have gi;/en the slightest probability to their elec- 
 tion — this Regency beheld with alarm the danger 
 which threatened the system from which they derived 
 their power. The treaty was, of course, rejected, 
 and the attention of the constitutional government 
 anxiously fixed on the means of averting the blow 
 which was already aimed at their authority. 
 
 By a decree of the Cortes, the king was suspend- Precautions 
 ed from the exercise of all power till he should of the Con- 
 take the oath which the new constitution prescribed 
 a route was made out for his journey from the fron-j^g^j^ 
 tiers to Madrid, and an escort directed to watch 
 over him in his progress. The Cardinal, president of 
 the Regency, was to meet his royal relative on the 
 road, under strict injunctions not to perform the 
 usual ceremony of kissing the king's hand. General 
 Copons, the military commander of Catalonia, was 
 made the bearer of copies of the constitution, and of 
 the decree which suspended the royal authority. 
 These he was to deliver into the hands of Ferdinand 
 on the frontiers of the kingdom. 
 
 The king entered the Spanish territory on the 
 24!th of March 1814, and followed the route pre- 
 scribed by the Cortes, till the vicinity of Zaragoza af- 
 forded him a pretext for visiting that renowned scene 
 of Spanish patriotism. He soon perceived a general 
 indifference to the constitution among the lower 
 classes ; a jealousy of the new men who had risen in- 
 to importance by means of the late changes ; and a 
 revival of those feelings of passive loyalty which the 
 unbounded power of the Spanish monarchs, during 
 so many centuries, had blended with the national 
 character. From Zaragoza, Ferdinand repaired to 
 Valencia, a city well affected to the crown, where 
 
524 
 
 SPAIN. 
 
 Spain. Elio, a royalist general, had the command of a con- 
 siderable body of troops. Thither flocked many 
 grandees and dignitaries of the church, anxious to 
 inform the king of the favourable turn of public 
 opinion in favour of an absolute monarchy. The 
 cardinal, who, missing the king on the prescribed 
 roadj had been obliged to retrace his steps, arrived 
 at Valencia, when a numerous train of royalists, ready 
 to support their master, would have placed a bolder 
 and abler representative of the Cortes in difficulties 
 from which it would be almost impossible for any 
 one to extricate himself with credit. The weak 
 prelate's attempt to follow the directions he had re- 
 ceived, added humiliation to the act of homage into 
 which he was awed by the king's frown. His kiss- 
 ing hands, however, did not save him from banish- 
 ment anddeprivationof the two sees of Toledo and Se- 
 ville, which he held together with the pope's consent. 
 Revulsion of The progress which the constitutional principles 
 Feeling in had made was so slight, and the new political system 
 the Nation, jj^d lately lost so much among people otherwise in- 
 clined to a reform in the state, that it was easy to 
 foresee a revulsion of feeling in which the great mass, 
 which had hitherto been nearly passive, would give 
 the court party an irresistible preponderance. Fer- 
 dinand's advisers were sufficiently quick-sighted to 
 seize the favourable moment. Elio, in the name of 
 his militarj' division, presented a memorial to the 
 king, in which he was entreated to govern in the 
 manner of his ancestors. A petition, signed by sixty- 
 nine members of the sitting Cortes, reached the king, 
 about this time, describing that body as a mere tool 
 in the hands of a republican party, without freedom 
 of debate, and acting under the control of a mob 
 regularly hired to take possession of the galleries. 
 
 A more favourable opportunity has seldom pre- 
 sented itself to any monarch for consolidating the 
 privileges of his crown,' while he promoted the hap- 
 piness of his people, than that which the circumstan- 
 ces of Spain offered to Ferdinand at this moment. 
 The feeble roots, which the new political principles 
 had struck in the nation, were just kept alive by a 
 recollection of the ruinous follies of the preceding 
 reign. The slightest security against the recurrence 
 of similar excesses, granted by the throne to the 
 people, would have deprived the Liberal party of the 
 remnant of their influence. With his own party, the 
 king was still absolute ; and his will would have been 
 obeyed without the least attempt at evasion or resist- 
 ance. Ferdinand might have confirmed the aboli- 
 tion of the Inquisition, and the existence of the 
 Cortes. He might have established a Chamber of 
 Peers, and raised the grandees, by that means, from 
 a state of moral and intellectual degradation, which 
 renders them worse than a useless burden to the 
 state. A few reforms in the internal administration 
 of the kingdom might, if proceeding from the crown, 
 have enabled Spain to rise gradually, and without 
 convulsions, from her former languor into a state of 
 convalescence ; during which, life and energy would, 
 in due proportions, diffuse themselves through the 
 whole body. But unfortunate Spain was doomed 
 to suffer from the same cause, which, in our opinion, 
 threatens Europe with a long series of bloody strug- 
 
 gles between the people and their rulers, The popular Spain, 
 leaders aimed at the possession of paramount power, ^■"^.-^ 
 while nothing but uncontrolled authority would satisfy 
 the crown. 
 
 On the 4th of May 1814, a decree was solemnly Re8uinpti 
 promulgated, in which the Cortes were declared ille- of Abeolu 
 gal, and all their laws consequently rescinded. The 
 spirit of the worst times of the Spanish monarchy ^ 
 seemed to have dictated this first act of the restored 
 Ferdinand — that king for whom Spaniards of all 
 classes, opinions, and denominations, had been lavish 
 of their blood. Having thus announced his inten- 
 tion to wipe off the memory of constitutional free- 
 dom, he set off for the capital, preceded by a divi- 
 sion of Elio's army, under the command of General 
 Eguia. These troops found no resistance either on 
 their way to Madrid, or upon entering that town. 
 The people, on the contrary, seemed generally dis* 
 posed to greet the approach of the absolute king. 
 The Cortes, thus despised and neglected by the ma- 
 jority of the Spaniards, and internally cankered by 
 the presence of a strong party, who had constantly 
 aimed at the destruction of the system which they 
 had sworn to support, were instaetly dispersed by 
 the soldiers. The arrest of the two inferior regents, 
 Agar and Ciscar, and of the president and secretary 
 of the Cortes, which took place on the nights of the 
 10th and 11 th, seem to have been considered as pre- 
 paratory steps to the reappearance of Ferdinand in 
 the capital. 
 
 The news of these events had scarcely reached the Demonsra 
 chief towns in the provinces, when the mob, headed by tions of J 
 their usual leaders, the priests, broke out into fierce '^ifferei 
 demonstrations of joy, calHng for the instant restora- gpa^n"^ 
 tion of the Inquisition, and hastening to demolish the " ,; 
 lapidary inscriptions, which the Cortes, from the 
 vanity of displaying their triumph over their oppo- 
 nents, had caused to be erected in every town and 
 village. It is fortunate, indeed, that no bloody 
 scenes followed this reaction of a long suppressed 
 popular feeling; though a desperate attempt was 
 made at Corunna against the most active members of 
 the Liberal party in that town, who had been pre- 
 viously committed to prison. 
 
 Had Ferdinand and his advisers allowed their spirit of 
 judgment to prevail over their resentment, they venge di 
 would have readily perceived that their future secu- played t 
 rity was not consistent with the habits of insubordi- * ^ 
 nation which the Spanish mob was so rapidly acquir- 
 ing ; and that leniency and forgiveness were the most 
 effectual means of thinning the ranks of their ene- 
 mies. The court party, however, showed a fixed de- 
 termination of allowing full sway to their revengeful i 
 spirit. The arrest of between thirty and forty depu- 
 ties of the late Cortes, attended with seizure of pa- 
 pers and sequestration of property, was decreed by 
 the king, who appointed a commission of three 
 judges, two of whom had been fellow- deputies of the 
 prisoners, to collect evidence against them. By ■ 
 another order, the members who had subscribed the 
 above-mentioned petition for the repeal of the consti- 
 tution, were invited to criminate the Liberal depu- 
 ties for their conduct and opinions during the last 
 session. 
 
 U 
 
SPAIN. 
 
 525 
 
 ain* In the course of this persecution not one was 
 'spared who had, directly or indirectly, contributed 
 to the establishment of the constitutional system. 
 The number of state prisoners was increased in the 
 month of June, by the arrest of forty-five individuals, 
 formerly members of the Cadiz Cortes, and literary men 
 of eminent talents, who had assisted the popular go- 
 vernment with their pen. The trial of the prisoners, 
 if such a name can be given to judicial proceedings, 
 which precluded all chance of acquittal, was con- 
 ducted with more than Spanish dilatoriness. Three 
 sets of judges were successively appointed and re- 
 moved; till the king, impatient of further delays, 
 ordered a list of the prisoners to be laid before him ; 
 and in a decree of the 15th of December 1815, each 
 of the names (about seventy in number) appeared 
 before the public, bearing the sentence which Ferdi- 
 nand, in bis own writing, had affixed to them. We shall 
 give the following by way of specimens. Count 
 Toreno, Mina, and Florez de Estrada, who had 
 evaded pursuit, and fled the country, were con- 
 demned to death. Arguelles, who may be consi- 
 dered the author of the constitution, was sentenced 
 to eight years' exile at Ceuta, on the coast of 
 Africa. Canga Arguelles was confined to the for- 
 tress of Peiaiscola, in Catalonia, for an equal period. 
 The same length of confinement was assigned to 
 Martinez de la Rosa, and to Calatrava, two distin- 
 guished members of the Cortes. The four eccle- 
 siastics, Villanueva, Munoz-Torrero, Oliveros, and 
 Cepero, were sentenced to six years' imprisonment 
 in different convents, and to the loss of their bene- 
 fices. A'lvarez-Guerra and Garcia-Herreros, who 
 were ministers to the Regency on Ferdinand's re- 
 turn, and Generals VaWis, O'Donoghue, and Villa- 
 campa, who had evinced a firm attachment to the 
 new system, were to be imprisoned for periods of 
 eight, six, and four years. Quintana, one of the 
 first ornaments of modern Spanish literature, who, 
 probably from his great moderation, and love of 
 studious retirement, had never been elected a mem- 
 ber of the Cortes, was sentenced to be imprisoned 
 six years in the fortress of Pamplona. Strict orders 
 were issued to deprive the prisoners of all communi- 
 cation, and not to be allowed pen and ink. The 
 persons contained in the list, who had not escaped, 
 were seized in the night of the 17th December, and 
 subsequently removed to their destinations. 
 
 It was not more safe to be admitted to Ferdinand's 
 confidence than to side with the enemies of his arbi- 
 trary power. Macanaz, his confidant, in France, 
 was arrested, the same night, by the king in person. 
 Escoiquiz, Ferdinand's tutor, and one of his compa- 
 nions in exile, was, at this period, disgraced and re- 
 moved to Zaragoza. The Duke of San Carlos, an- 
 other of the king's adherents in his misfortunes, was 
 dismissed from the ministry. 
 
 The court party having gratified their spite, 
 wished now to secure the support of the clergy, 
 whom the Liberals had offended. By a royal order 
 of the 20th of May 1814, all purchasers of church 
 property were compelled to restore it, without re- 
 ceiving compensation. The Inquisition was regular- 
 ly re-installed, and urged to exert its powers against 
 all persons suspected of Liberal opinions. A bull 
 
 VOL. VI. PART II. 
 
 was obtained from the Pope for the restoration of Spain, 
 the Jesuits in Spain. Monks and bigots were the'^'^V"** 
 sole directors of the king's conscience. Conceiving 
 that the times when Spanish monarchs could trample 
 down their subjects, without being disturbed by a 
 single murmur, bad returned, he publicly declared 
 himself " not accountable to any, except God and 
 his confessor," and thus proclaimed his will to be 
 the law. 
 
 The convulsions, however, which had agitated the Progress of 
 kingdom, could not but have roused the dormant ^H'^'*^*^"* 
 energy of such spirited people as the ^Spaniards. 
 The novelty, it is true, of the political doctrines which 
 the Cortes had sanctioned; the disturbance which 
 the new order of things had given to the national 
 habits ; the doubtful, or still unperceived advantages 
 of the Liberal institutions ; the jealousy which is 
 always created by the sudden elevation of new men ; 
 — such were the main sources of the dissatisfaction 
 with the Cortes, which restored despotic power to the 
 hands of Ferdinand. But a fresh disappointment 
 awaited the fond hopes of the people. Ferdinand 
 could not recal the languid repose of former days. 
 The spell of custom, which bound the nation to- 
 gether, with the ties of mere form, and made the 
 strength of millions shrink before the shadow of 
 power, had been broken for ever. The court, be- 
 sides, had found the treasury doubly drained, from 
 the effects of former extravagance, and the demands 
 of the late war. Bribery and venality were soon 
 seen to prevail round the throne, to a greater extent 
 than in the time of Godoy. The army, who had 
 been hitherto amused with promises of regular pay 
 and promotion, began to groan under want and ne- 
 glect. Officers of high rank appeared about the 
 streets in the night imploring the charity of their 
 fellow countrymen. The armed bands, or Guerillas, 
 who had assisted in the defeat of the French, having 
 now nothing to expect from Ferdinand, and being 
 unfit to resume habits of industrious labour, became 
 regular and organized banditti. Melchor, the lead- 
 er of a numerous band, infested the whole of Extre- 
 madura, for a considerable time, setting the helpless 
 magistrates at defiance, and committing all sorts of 
 atrocities. 
 
 A government so unable to gratify the ambition 
 of its adherents, and so incapable of affording pro- 
 tection to the people, could not employ restrictive 
 measures without hastening its own destruction. In 
 vain did the court party silence the press, or bribe 
 it into their service. Facts, which crowded before 
 the eyes of the public, and addressed themselves to 
 their feelings, pleaded, daily, the cause of liberty, in 
 the most powerful language. 
 
 Many of the Spanish officers, who were prisoners Secret Socie- 
 in France, had become Free-Masons in that country, tics, 
 and numerous lodges were established in Spain, du- 
 ring the occupation by Napoleon's armies. Mason- 
 ry had at all times been held in the utmost abhor- 
 rence by the church and government, and both had 
 employed their respective weapons to deter their 
 subjects from its mysteries. Finding now that the 
 evil they dreaded had found its way into the coun- 
 try, nothing was left untried in order to check its 
 progress. A fresh sentence of excommunication was 
 
 3 X 
 
526 
 
 SPA I N. 
 
 Spain, obtained from the Pope against Free-Masons. The 
 ' Inquisition traced out, in every province, the officers 
 who had been initiated in France, as well as the 
 members of the Spanish lodges. Fortunately, they 
 were too numerous to be punished with all the ri- 
 gour of the law. But the imprisonment of some, and 
 the fears of all, were sufficient to prevent the Spanish 
 Masons from acting collectively. 
 Comuneros. It was, however, about this time, we believe, that 
 another kind of secret societies, exclusively political, 
 were formed in Spain. The members assumed the 
 name of Comuneros, to denote that they met in the 
 spirit of Padilla and his followers, who, under the 
 same appellation, rose against the encroaching des- 
 potism of Charles V.* An extensive correspondence 
 was established between the associates in the differ- 
 ent provinces, who, acting in concert, and according 
 to a fixed plan, were ready to seize the first oppor- 
 tunity of restoring the constitution. 
 Public burn- Though we account it a signal misfortune that 
 iiig of the Spanish patriotism had not a less objectionable rally- 
 tiom ing point than the Code of the Cadiz Cortes, yet it is 
 probable that, but for the existence of such a definite 
 object for which to contend, the enemies of despot- 
 ism would not have been able to combine their efforts. 
 Men possessed of more talents than the purblind 
 crew who surrounded the throne would have easily 
 seen the necessity of setting up some rival Charter ; 
 anything in the shape of a Fundamental Law, which 
 might divide the public opinion, and divert it from a 
 constitution which had been conceived in a spirit of 
 violent hostility to the crown. But Ferdinand's 
 counsellors took the course which was most apt to 
 raise the new code in the estimation of the country. 
 As many copies as could be obtained at Madrid were 
 heaped on a cart, together with the journals of the 
 Cortes. The guilty volumes were thus conducted, 
 with ludicrous solemnity, to one of the public squares, 
 and there committed to the flames by the hands of 
 the hangman. This contemptible triumph was closed 
 with a solemn Te Deum in the collegiate church of 
 the capital. 
 
 The effect of prohibitions and autos dafe against 
 books is well known ; it gives them reputation in all 
 ' countries ; how much more among a people whose 
 eyes were just opening to a perception of the intel- 
 lectual thraldom in which they had been kept by si- 
 milar means;— a country, where the notion that the 
 merit of a work should be judged by the anathemas 
 it lay under, was making a rapid progress ? 
 
 The constitution of the Cortes, though ill suited 
 to the institutions, habits, and feelings of the bulk of 
 the Spanish nation, is a manual of popular principles, 
 which might, under any circumstances, bring con- 
 stant accessions of strength to the Liberal party. A 
 train «f reasoning, however powerful, upon the rights 
 of the people, would make but a slight impression in 
 a country where close and industrious reading is 
 
 scarcely known. But the effect of a small volume, Spain, 
 containing the abstract principles of democracy dis- ^-^v'-^^ 
 guised under monarchical forms, and reduced to 
 practical laws or simple declarations, would engage 
 the attention of thousands ; for the shallowest and 
 most undisciplined mind will readily catch the no- 
 tion of sovereignty inherent in the people ; and, in 
 proportion to the want of deep views on the compli- 
 cated machinery of human society, will be the self- 
 complacency of the young politician, who imagines 
 he has obtained a clue to every problem of govern- 
 ment. 
 
 The effects of the new Constitution, considered as Progress of 
 a political pamphlet, could only be checked by the Discontent 
 dignified and judicious conduct of a court supported 
 by the most respectable classes. But Ferdinand 
 was surrounded by a medley of cowled courtiers, 
 intriguing priests, and old placemen, all poor, and 
 all a.mbitious. The king himself had much to ask 
 for, and but little to give, save empty titles. The 
 army, who had now learnt their irresistible weight 
 in political changes, became dissatisfied and restless 
 under a state of things which doomed them to neglect 
 andpoVerty. Theinferior gentry, of whichagreatpor- 
 tion depend on court favour for places, saw, with dis- 
 may, that while the late reform had swept away many 
 of the situations under government, such as remain- 
 ed were reserved for those only who had never wa- 
 vered in their allegiance to monarchical despotism. 
 The young men, lastly, of the middle classes, who, 
 during the existence of the Cortes, had had a taste 
 of the agreeable excitement of a popular system, 
 could not brook the death- like apathy which follow- 
 ed the restoration. 
 
 The malcontents, though numerous, and constant- Activity of 
 ly augmenting, would have found it difficult to com- tbe Secret 
 municate with each other, to calculate their strength, 
 and direct it with skill, if the secret societies had 
 not created among them something like the union and 
 activity which, in free states, are the effects of a well- 
 regulated party. In spite of the Inquisition and its 
 emissaries, the Comuneros held meetings in most of 
 the head towns, and kept up an active correspond- 
 ence among their lodges. Cadiz, whose political 
 temper has been described already, was, it seems, 
 the head-quarters of the conspirators. They could 
 not have fixed upon a more advantageous position ; 
 for, besides the opportunities which its numerous and 
 changing garrison constantly afforded of tampering 
 with the officers, some wealthy merchants of that 
 place had devoted their fortunes to the restoration of 
 liberty. 
 
 Cadiz and its neighbourhood had been made the General Mi 
 rendezvous of the troops which, under the command "'lo practi 
 of General Morillo, were ordered by Ferdinand's go- j^g"p°" 
 vernment against the revolted provinces of South 
 America, f It being now agreed among the Liber- 
 (lis that the intended revolution should be effected 
 
 * Vide Robertson's Charles V. ^ 
 
 t The unyielding and illiberal spirit of the Cortes in regard to the Colonies was closely followed by the 
 king's government on his resumption of absolute power. It is a curious circumstance that the Liberal par- 
 ty, who, by their obstinate refusal of the demands of the Colonies, urged them into open rebellion, should 
 
SPAIN. 
 
 527 
 
 ilicia. 
 
 Spain, by the army, the presence of a strong military divi- 
 ^y^J sion reluctantly engaging in a dangerous service be- 
 yond the seas, must have greatly raised their hopes 
 and increased their activity. Morillo's loyalty was 
 tried, and he seemed for a time to waver between 
 the obvious duties of his station and the suspicious 
 call of revolutionary patriotism. * It is said that the 
 General was found, at first, ready to listen to the 
 offers of the patriots ; and if it be true that he sub- 
 sequently thought it necessary to make a sponta- 
 neous confession before the Inquisition, he must have 
 been present at some masonic meetings ; — a crime 
 from which, we believe, none but the members of 
 that tribunal could give absolution at that period. 
 By what precautions of the patriots, or what subter- 
 fuge of Morillo (who, though shrinking from the pro- 
 posed rebellion, might yet be unwilling to break for ever 
 with a determined and fast growing faction), the ef- 
 fects of such a recantation were not felt by the 
 lodges, we are not told, and cannot conjecture. It 
 is a fact, however, that Morillo embarked with his 
 troops while the secret societies continued their la- 
 bours unmolested, 
 ►rlier's Galicia was one of the provinces to which the 
 [ttemptand^^adiz patriots had extended their secret influence, 
 aiiure in Don Juan Diez Porlier, an officer who had distin- 
 guished himself against the French, was at this time 
 confined, under suspicion of disaffection, to the Cas- 
 tle of San Anton, near Corunna. His health being 
 impaired after a year's imprisonment, he obtained 
 leave to proceed under an escort to a watering-place 
 in the neighbourhood. The officer, to whom the 
 prisoner was given in charge, was a member of the 
 secret societies, in correspondence with the head 
 lodge at Cadiz. He soon put Porlier in possession 
 of the plans for a military insurrection which were 
 then under discussion among the patriots, and ear- 
 nestly urged him to strike the first blow in the pro- 
 vince of Galicia* Many officers in garrison at Co- 
 runna and Ferrol offered also their services to Por- 
 lier, who, miscalculating his means, and judging of 
 public feeling from that which prevailed among his 
 friends, was not long in accepting the dangerous 
 command to which he was invited. Attended by the 
 officer, whose duty it was to prevent his escape, and 
 the twelve soldiers commanded by that officer, Por- 
 lier entered the city of Corunna, about midnight of 
 the 18th September 1815, and was soon joined by 
 most of the troops in that town. Supported by his 
 associates, he arrested the governor and the principal 
 supporters of the Servile party. The imprisoned Li- 
 berals were set free, and such proclamations as are 
 usual on these occasions were posted about the 
 town. The oath to the constitution of 1812 was re- 
 
 peated, and a detachment of 800 men was ordered Spain, 
 to march on Ferrol, where the garrison, it was said, >-»^^'^-» 
 only awaited the presence of Porlier to declare in 
 favour of the constitutional system. But the royalist 
 party had been actively employed in that town since 
 the arrival of the news from Corunna. Emissaries 
 were sent to mix with Porlier's troops on their march. 
 They found him with his detachment at the village 
 of O'rdenes, where the troops were to pass the night. 
 The non-commissioned officers were soon gained 
 over, and the men yielded to the first suggestion of 
 making their peace with the king's government by 
 the seizure of their leader. Porlier and some of his 
 officers were at supper when the soldiers surrounded 
 the house. The officers, it should seem, were able 
 to escape ; but the General, being obliged to surren- 
 der, was executed at Corunna, on the 3d of October. 
 Porlier met his fate with the dignity and composure 
 of a man who feels conscious of the justice of his 
 cause and the purity of his intentions. Had that 
 unhappy officer possessed means to keep his ground 
 till Cadiz, Barcelona, Valencia, and Zaragoza, had 
 declared themselves, the revolution would have been 
 complete, as it happened at a subsequent period. 
 
 Our limits do not permit us to mention the nume- Lacy's At- 
 rous conspiracies which were discovered and quelled tempt in Ca- 
 after the death of Porlier. But we cannot omit a t^loma. 
 brief account of the unfortunate attempt made by 
 General Lacy in Catalonia, where, during the latter 
 part of the war against France, he had commanded 
 the Spanish army against the invaders. As a reward 
 for his services. Lacy had been appointed Captain- 
 General of Galicia ; but being suspected by Ferdi- 
 nand's government, he was removed to Catalonia, 
 and confined within the limits of a certain district. 
 In the spring of 1817, Lacy obtained leave to visit 
 the mineral waters of Caldetes, near Barcelona. He 
 there met with several discontented officers, with . 
 whom he planned an insurrection. It was expected 
 that all the garrisons of Catalonia would mutiny on 
 the 5th of April, a day on which Lacy was to raise 
 the standard of rebellion by the assistance of the re- 
 giment of Tarragona, which was stationed at a short 
 distance. Two companies had been gained over by 
 the lieutenant-colonel, when the whole plan was dis- 
 closed to the colonel by two subalterns in Lacy's 
 confidence. The colonel appealed to the loyal- 
 ty of the yet undebauched part of the regiment, 
 and he was answered by a display of zeal in the 
 royal cause. The two revolted companies joined 
 Lacy, who, perceiving no other movements in his 
 favour, began a march to Mataro, proposing to raise 
 the peasantry, or to escape into France if he failed of 
 support. The peasants appearing everywhere either 
 
 have virtually sanctioned the separation, by stopping the reinforcements which might have givea a chance of 
 success to the Spaniards. For an account of the war of independence in Spanish America, see the Articles 
 New Granada, Mexico, and Buenos Ayres. 
 
 " We relate this and similar facts on the authority of Mr Blaquiere's Historical Review of the Spanish 
 Revolution, which we have followed in the narrative of that period. From our personal knowledge of Spain, 
 we have considered ourselves entitled to use our own judgment in rejecting some circumstances which seem 
 to have been admitted into that work from the author's honest but excessive confideace in some of his Spa- 
 nish authorities. . 
 
528 
 
 SPAIN. 
 
 Spain, hostile or indifferent, the soldiers were disheartened, 
 ^-^-V^*' and fell off to a man. Lacy took shelter in a cot- 
 tage ; but was soon betrayed and taken. It was not 
 deemed safe by the government to execute the sen- 
 tence of death which a court-martial pronounced 
 against him, within the walls of Barcelona, where a 
 strong feeling of compassion had shown itself towards 
 the unfortunate Lacy. It was, therefore, reported 
 that the king had commuted the sentence into that 
 of imprisonment for life in the fortress of Majorca. 
 Lacy's removal took place under that impression. 
 He was cruelly undeceived, on his arrival, and de- 
 sired to prepare for death within a few hours. Lacy 
 was shot in the ditch of the castle at five o'clock in 
 the morning of the 4th July 1817. 
 Successful From the character of these attempts, and the 
 Revolution temper manifested by the bulk of the people, a dis- 
 near Cadiz, passionate observer will readily adopt the conclu- 
 sion, that the endeavours of the patriots depended 
 for success on some happy combination of circum- 
 stances, which, by once disconcerting the weak go- 
 vernment of Ferdinand, and making him yield even 
 for a moment, would give an impulse to that impas- 
 sive mass who had hitherto beheld the contest un- 
 willing to share its dangers. For it is clear, that a 
 great majority of the nation, though determined not 
 to make or modify a government for themselves, 
 would readily submit to any political system which 
 might happen to obtain the ascendancy. The chances 
 were, therefore, in favour of the active party, who, 
 though so often defeated, had still suflScient courage 
 and perseverance to renew their attacks on a dull 
 enemy, who adhered, from ignorance and weakness, 
 to a plan of defensive warfare. 
 Intended It was not long before the erroneous policy of the 
 Expedition court of Madrid, in regard to the revolted colonies, 
 ^elR°^°T P''^^^"'^'^ enemies at home the means of re- 
 
 istsin South establishing the constitution, and making their party 
 America. paramount in the state. Instead of paying the ar- 
 rears of the army, the only body of men which 
 could effect a revolution, the blind obstinacy of Fer- 
 dinand and his advisers employed all the money 
 they had been able to collect, in fitting up a second 
 expedition, which was to reinforce the Royalists at 
 Venezuela. The troops which were to embark in 
 the autumn of 1819 had been collecting in Andalu- 
 sia, then governed by Henry O'Donnell, Count of 
 Abisbal, vvhose assistance in the restoration of arbi- 
 trary power had been rewarded with the military 
 command of that province. The expeditionary ar- 
 my was, consequently, under his command till it 
 should sail from Cadiz, and the various corps had 
 been quartered at no great distance from that resi- 
 dence of the Captain- General. 
 
 It will be readily admitted, that a more favourable 
 opportunity could hardly offer itself to the Patriots 
 than the presence of a military division, whose offi- 
 cers were favourably inclined to' their cause, and 
 where a general dislike of the service, for which it 
 was intended, was prevalent. The prospect appear- 
 ed the more favourable as it was credibly reported, 
 that O'Donnell, wishing to atone for the mischief he 
 had done by an excess of loyalty, had volunteered 
 to be the leader of the insurrection. The report was, 
 indeed, well-founded. The Captain-General himself 
 
 had fixed a day for proclaiming the constitution, Spain, 
 and meetings had been held at his residence for the 
 organization of a temporary government. Some of- 
 fence, it seems, had been given him at one of these 
 conferences, by the determination of separating the 
 civil from the military command, when the revolu- 
 tionary government should be established. He had 
 continued, nevertheless, at the head of the conspi- 
 racy, and even urged the necessity of anticipating 
 discovery by striking the blow on the 8th, instead of 
 the 15th of July. On the 7th, O'Donnell repaired 
 to Port St Mary's, where all the infantry had been 
 collected by his orders. Sarsfield, his second in 
 command, was to join them, the next morning, in the 
 plain of Palmar, with the cavalry which was quar- 
 tered at Xerez. 
 
 Soon after sunrise, on the 8th, the infantry was 
 drawn up in the place of their rendezvous. The 
 officers who were in the secret could hardly refrain 
 from breaking it to the troops under their com- 
 mand ; yet waited with impatience the arrival of 
 the cavalry, and the presence of their general. Both 
 were at length seen at a distance, and approaching 
 in opposite directions. O'Donnell, with his staff, 
 and Sarsfield at the head of the horse, came up at the 
 same moment. But, instead of the expected signal, 
 the cries of Viva el Rey, which were raised by the 
 cavalry as they galloped along the line, were in^ 
 stantly re-echoed by the infantry. The deluded 
 conspiratoi-s were immediately called in front of the 
 Iroops, and Abisbal himself gave the necessary or- 
 ders for their removal under an escort, to some of 
 the neighbouring fortresses. 
 
 The duplicity of Abisbal had rendered such an 
 effectual service to the cause of despotism, and the 
 repeated defeats of the Liberal party had so clearly 
 shown the difficulty of giving an impulse to the low- 
 er classes in its favour, that it is quite surprising to 
 find a complete revolution effected within a few 
 months of the event we have related. But the 
 court party were not stupid enough to mistake Abis- 
 bal's conduct for pure unalloyed devotion to the 
 crown ; nor yet sufficiently politic to secure his ser- 
 vices to the king by such rewards as might satisfy 
 his ambition, and make him seal, by his subsequent 
 conduct, the well-merited distrust and hatred to 
 which he was exposed among the Patriots. He was 
 removed from the command of the expeditionary 
 troops, and a man scarcely known by his title of 
 Count Calderon, and much less by any talents dis- 
 played in the service, appointed to succeed him. 
 
 The reappearance of the yellow-fever at Cadiz, pFinal Sue 
 soon after the imprisonment of the patriot officers ccess of thi 
 at Palmar, obliged the government to remove the ILibendes. 
 troops to more healthy spots, at some distance. Ar- 
 cos was made the head-quarters ; the rest of the ar- 
 my was divided between Las Cabezas de San Juan, 
 to the north of that town, and Alcala de los Gazules, 
 in the opposite direction. This was considered a 
 favourable opportunity for carrying into execution 
 the same plan which had failed through the treach- 
 ery of O'Donnell. The members of the secret so- 
 cieties, at Cadiz, engaged to procure the escape 
 of the prisoners, one of whom, Quiroga, had been ap- 
 pointed to be the commander-in-chief of the revolt- 
 
SPAIN. 
 
 629 
 
 pain, ed army. Riego was, in the meantime, to be placed 
 at the head of the insurrection. 
 
 The 1st of January 1820, being fixed upon, the 
 soldiers were gradually gained over by means of the 
 gold with which the officers were supplied from 
 Cadiz. On the morning of that day, Riego drew out 
 the battalion of Asturias, of which he had a tempo- 
 rary command, and having proclaimed the constitu- 
 tion, began his march towards Arcos, where, by the 
 assistance of part of the officers in that town, he in- 
 tended to seize the general-in-chief. Quiroga, who, 
 it was expected, would be at liberty, by that time, 
 was to march with the forces stationed at Alcala, to 
 the Isia, and from thence to the gates of Cadiz, 
 which, if he could reach before the news of the insur- 
 rection, would be thrown open by some officers of 
 the garrison, now enrolled in the bands of the in- 
 surgents. Riego, though arriving at Arcos much 
 later than he had expected, effected the arrest of 
 Calderon, with scarcely any difficulty. Quiroga, 
 being much longer detained in his march, could 
 only take possession of La Isla. Riego advanced to 
 Xerez, thence to Port St Mary's, and finally joined 
 Quiroga. The strength of the patriots was about 
 five thousand men, unsupported by either artillery 
 or cavalry. 
 
 The period which followed this junction is one 
 which throws considerable light on the state of the 
 public mind in Spain, and shows the difficulty, which 
 we have pointed out already, of giving an impulse to 
 the great mass, who, influenced by inveterate habits, 
 will take no side in these political struggles, 
 o's Five and twenty days had elapsed since the pro- 
 
 :h to clamation of the constitution at Las Cabezas, with- 
 id the out the revolution making any visible progress. A 
 paper warfare was carried on by the leaders at the 
 Isla, and the authorities at Cadiz ; but the patriots 
 were left to their own resources within a very limit- 
 ed spot, while troops were collecting about them, 
 and the activity of the loyalists at Cadiz precluded 
 all hope of assistance from the revolutionists who 
 were within the walls. To rouse the spirit of the 
 country, and spread the flame of the insurrection, 
 Riego proposed to lead a flying column of 1500 
 men, in such direction as circumstances would al- 
 low. Followed by a division of the royalists, who 
 seemed more determined to harass him than to fight, 
 he successively proclaimed the constitution at Chic- 
 lana, Conil, Vejer, and Algeciras. Though ordered 
 by Quiroga to march back to the Isla, Riego found 
 it necessary to proceed in the only direction which 
 the royalists had left him. In this situation, how- 
 ever, he spent three days at Vejer, in public balls 
 and banquets, where officers and privates mixed in- 
 discriminately with the town's people. From thence 
 the flying column advanced to Malaga, closely 
 pursued by the enemy. Meeting with no support 
 from the inhabitants, Riego proceeded to Antequera. 
 Harassed by incessant marches, and having some- 
 times to fight their way through detachments of the 
 enemy's forces, Riego took the determination to 
 push, with the remnant of his force, now reduced, by 
 desertion, to about 300 men, into the fastnesses of 
 Sierra Morena, where they eluded further pursuit 
 by dispersion. 
 
 Spain. 
 
 The patriots of the Isla had seen three long 
 months elapse without any prospect of support from 
 their countrymen, and trusting merely on the '"^""^'^^jf 
 forts of the secret societies, which had hitherto ap- Jg°gnt^p^ts 
 peared unavailing. Mina had, however, entered the of Spain, 
 valley of Bastan, in Navarre, on the 25th of Febru- 
 ary. He had been, long before, obliged to fly into 
 France in consequence of a fruitless attempt to over- 
 turn the government of Ferdinand, and now he 
 hastened to lend his assistance to the patriots. He 
 found a numerous band ready to follow his standard. 
 
 The garrison of Corunna, headed by Don Carlos 
 Espinosa, a colonel of artillery, had risen, about the 
 same time, against the Captain- General ofGalicia, 
 and proclaimed the constitution throughout the whole 
 province. Similar movements took place on the 
 first days of March at Zaragoza, Carthagena, Va- 
 lencia, Murcia, and Granada. 
 
 These insurrections, though partial, could not but Ferdinand 
 appal the weak, ignorant, and unpopular party, accepts the 
 which surrounded the throne. Had Ferdinand been Constitution, 
 able to depend on the loyalty of an able general, he 
 still would have found fidelity among the soldiers, 
 and a great part of the officers. It was, however, 
 an expiring feeling which, in the present circumstan- 
 ces of the country, a mere breath could extinguish. 
 Should the general, to whom the command of a cen- 
 tral army, which was to be formed in La Mancha, be 
 inclined to betray bis charge, the king himself 
 would be obliged, by the constitutionalists of the ca- 
 pital, to save his life by the assumption of their 
 badge, and surrender, at once, at discretion. 
 
 Abisbal was still at Madrid ; and his late import- 
 ant service gave hopes that he would be faithtul to 
 the king, for whose sake he had sacrificed the honour 
 he had pledged to the patriots. It was considered 
 improbable that he would change a fourth time in 
 his politics ; and he was, accordingly, invested with 
 the command of the army of La Mancha. But, be- 
 fore he quitted Madrid, on the 3d of March, he had 
 plotted with the colonels and superior officers of the 
 garrison, engaging to declare for the constitution as 
 soon as he should reach Ocana, where one of his 
 brothers commanded a battalion of infantry. True 
 to this last engagement, Abisbal proclaimed the con- 
 stitutional system, the day after he had quitted the 
 court. He established a communication with the pa- 
 triots of La Isla, and left the final completion of the re- 
 volution to his reconciledfriends,theliberals of Madrid. 
 
 The account of the military insurrection at Ocana 
 did not fail to produce the eff"ect which had been 
 prepared by the constitutionalists of the capital. An 
 immense crowd surrounded the royal palace, who 
 called on Ferdinand to accept the constitution. 
 Things had now come to a point where there was no 
 room for deliberation. The king appeared at the 
 balcony holding a copy of the constitution in his 
 hand, as a pledge of his readiness to swear observance 
 to its laws. As, according to that code, the mo- 
 narch cannot exercise his portion of authority till he 
 has taken the oath therein prescribed, a committee 
 of government was installed, who should convoke 
 the Cortes, in whose presence alone the king can 
 perform those acts which put him in full possession 
 of his constitutional rights. 
 
530 
 
 SPAIN. 
 
 Cadiz. 
 
 Spain. Whatever may be the merits of the political sys- 
 
 v-tf-s,^"^ tem which the success of the Spanish Liberales re- 
 
 1 he Inqui- gto^ed, — whatever the censure which competent and 
 sition IS J. . . , , ' , . , 
 
 abolished, dispassionate judges may pass on the means which 
 
 and the ensured their success, — there is something so glori- 
 State Pri- ous in the first results of the change, that, for a rao- 
 soners set ment at least, the heart must give itself up to mere 
 feeling, and oblige reflection to shrink and be silent. 
 The instant dispersion of that abominable tribunal, 
 the Inquisition, and the liberation of the state pri- 
 soners, whom Ferdinand aHowed to linger in con- 
 finement, were acts which might ennoble a worse 
 cause than that of the Spanish Liberals. They were 
 performed without delay, and, as far as circumstan- 
 ces permitted, by the hands of the mob — a danger., 
 ous instrument indeed, which can never be employ- 
 ed without mischief; but which would lose much of 
 its destructive character if it were only used, as the 
 last resource, in the defence of humanity. 
 iMassacre at As it has been our study so to perform this rapid 
 sketch, as to put the reader in possession of such 
 facts as may enable him to understand the principles 
 and temper of the two great parties which contend 
 for political power in Spain, we cannot omit the 
 bloody and disgraceful scene which took place at 
 Cadiz on the 10th of March, the day which had 
 been appointed to proclaim the constitution. 
 
 The accounts from Madrid had dashed the hopes, 
 with which the unfavourable circumstances of the 
 constitutional troops of La Isla, had flattered the An- 
 dalusian royalists. Urged by a blind and ferocious 
 spirit of revenge — perhaps encouraged by some dark 
 hints from 4)ersons who could effectually screen them 
 — the partizans of absolute monarchy contrived a 
 plot, of which the absurdity is hardly exceeded by 
 its barbarity. 
 
 The Captain. General Freyre, on the receipt of 
 dispatches announcing the King's acceptance of the 
 Constitution, repaired to Cadiz from Pert St Mary's, 
 in the afternoon of the 9th of March. The impa- 
 tience of the triumphant party to have the Constitu- 
 tion proclaimed, scarcely allowed him to postpone that 
 ceremony till the next morning. But a desire that 
 the chiefs of the patriotic army, whom he had invit- 
 ed, should be present, was a sufficient reason to 
 check the eagerness of the people. Quiroga, the pa- 
 triot general, was, however, too well acquainted with 
 the temper and dispositions of his enemies, to acquiesce 
 in the demand that he should disband his troops, and 
 allow the unarmed soldiers to mix with the citizens, 
 at the ensuing solemnity. Four oflScers alone, pre- 
 ceded by a flag of truce, were sent to witness the 
 proclamation. Being admitted to the presence of the 
 Captain- General, the evident uneasiness under which 
 they perceived him labouring, and some expressions 
 indicating a degree of anxiety for their safety, had 
 just begun to raise their fears, when the report of 
 musquetry, mixed with the cries of the suffering, or 
 affrighted multitude, suddenly changed suspicion into 
 the most appalling certainty. Freyre hastened out 
 of the house, without providing for the safety of the 
 deputies, who yet were so fortunate as to find the 
 means of escaping the fury of their enemies. 
 
 In the mean time, the most atrocious, massacre 
 
 was taking place in the streets, and in the principal Spain, 
 square of Cadiz, where the people had assembled to ^ 
 witness the proclamation. The instruments of this 
 barbarous deed were the privates and non-commis- 
 sioned officers of two battalions of infantry, called the 
 Guides, and the Loyalists of Ferdinand the Seventh, 
 Instigated, as it is believed, by the governor of the 
 town, and the chiefs of the royalist party, the sol- 
 diers had engaged to disperse the multitude, and 
 prevent the intended ceremony. Large quantities 
 of wine and spirits had been sent to the barracks, 
 so that the men were in a state bordering upon in- 
 toxication, when they broke out with their arras. 
 From the moment these monsters were loosed^ 
 they continued firing, indiscriminately, upon the 
 people, till their ammunition was exhausted. About 
 five hundred persons, men, women, and children, 
 were seen in the streets of Cadiz, dead, dying, or 
 wounded, before the authorities of the place had 
 taken any measure to stop the massacre. Some offi- 
 cers of the Andalusian militia, not on duty, ran, of 
 their own accord, to their barracks, and, drawing up in 
 great haste, part of the men sallied forth into the 
 streets, where they exercised themselves, with the 
 utmost zeal, in protecting the lives of the defence- 
 less citizens, and giving help to the wounded. The, 
 author of this article feels the greater satisfaction in 
 recording this act of courage and humanity, as ha 
 believes it passed unnoticed, probably because the, 
 Andalusian militia had, to the last, remained in the 
 royalist army. He received, at the time, an ac- 
 count of the whole transaction from an eye-witness 
 of unimpeachable veracity. In the evening of the 
 same day, the soldiers who had been employed in 
 the massacre, were marched out of Cadiz. The de- 
 puties from the patriotic army, coming forward from 
 their places of concealment, surrendered themselves 
 into the hands of the Captain- General, who, still 
 hoping some favourable turn in the affairs of the 
 royalists, confined them within the Castle of Saint 
 Sebastian. Indeed, so bhndly confident were the 
 leaders of that party that the insurrection would 
 yet be quelled, as to have ventured on giving pub- 
 lic thanks to the assassins. But the next dispatches 
 from Madrid put an end to their hopes. The depu- 
 ties were set at liberty. Both Freyre, the Captain- 
 General, and Campana, the governor of Cadiz, were 
 arrested, to take their trial. That trial was, how- 
 ever, delayed till public indignation died away ; and 
 we have not heard of any punishment inflicted on^ 
 the criminals. 
 
 The Constitutional System being now completely iRg-Assei 
 restored, and in action, the Cortes assembled at>ly, Cha 
 Madrid in June 1820, and the King took his solemn '^'er, and 
 oath, before them, on the 9th of ihe . following ^^^'^^f 
 month. 
 
 We might here conclude this article, leaving the 
 task of describing the events of this new era to those 
 who, free from the mists which always envelope and 
 distort the passing transactions of political revolu- 
 tions, would be able to record them without the 
 danger of being misled by their own prejudices, or 
 the misrepresentations of parties. But we feel that 
 we should not do justice to our readers, did we co,n- 
 
SPA 
 
 elude without attempting a brief sketch of the charac- 
 ^"^^"^ ter and temper of the Government of the Cortes, their 
 chief aims in the reform of the country, and the ob- 
 stacles which have hitherto opposed their system. 
 
 The Cortes Extraordinary, which were convened 
 on the restoration of the constitution, contained most 
 of the patriots who had suffered during the arbitrary 
 reign of Ferdinand-*-the original contrivers and sup- 
 porters of the constitution. This was a measure 
 which the military reformers of the Isla could not, 
 and, probably, were not disposed, at that time, to 
 oppose. But the seeds of jealousy between the two 
 parties, the contending claims of the liberators, and 
 those they had set free, could not remain dormant 
 and inactive. The Isla Patriots naturally aspired to 
 the first places and influence in the state : the Old 
 Liberals soon felt their own dependence and inferio- 
 rity. The Secret Societies were now more active 
 than ever, and a rivalship between the Free-Masons 
 and the Comuneros grew out of the different prin- 
 ciples adopted by each of these parties, who, in 
 their character and views, might be compared to the 
 Old Whigs and the Radical Reformers in England. 
 The Free-Masons, however, soon found themselves 
 defeated ; and those who had been forced upon Fer- 
 dinand, as his Ministers, were displaced to make room 
 for the friends of the Revolutionary army. 
 
 The Cortes, though elected under the influence of 
 the triumphant party, and acting under the direc- 
 tion of the popular leaders and their emissaries, who 
 were regularly stationed in the galleries of the House, 
 exhibited a degree of moderation which does honour 
 to the national character. The measures of retalia- 
 tion were limited, and infinitely less severe than those 
 in which the king's friends had indulged. Even the 
 most violent democrats, those who had placed them- 
 selves at the head of the populace, were satisfied, for 
 a time, with the awe into which the Revolution had 
 thrown their opponents. But the numerous conspir- 
 acies, subsequently discovered, increasing the fears 
 of the new patriots, a deed of horror was perpetrated 
 at Madrid, on the person of a dignified priest, which, 
 from the perfect indifference shown, upon the occa- 
 sion, by the existing authorities, we strongly suspect 
 to have been planned by the secret societies. It was 
 indeed evident, since that period, that nothing was 
 done but through their influence in Spain. 
 
 Few of these atrocities were needed in that coun- 
 try to paralyze into perfect passiveness a great part 
 of the population, especially among the middle and 
 higher classes, and to revive those habits of silent 
 submission to " the powers that be," which a tyranny 
 of ages had confirmed. Had it been in the power 
 of the new government to establish themselves with- 
 out encroaching upon the rights of the church, and, 
 thereby, confirming the suspicions of infidelity, under 
 which all denominations of Liberals have long lain 
 among the Spaniards, the resistance to the new order 
 of things would have been limited, at least for a time, to 
 a very inconsiderable and powerless minority of the na- 
 tion. But, unfortunately for the interests of freedom in 
 Spain, the old political system is too intimately blended 
 with the strongest religious prejudices of the country. 
 
 To steer clear of this rock exceeded the powers of 
 human wisdom. The Cortes Extraordinary, as well 
 
 1 N. 
 
 as the Ordinary, which succeeded them, contained a Spain, 
 large proportion of the talent, though scarcely any ^^^^/'^ 
 of the rank and property, of the country. Most of 
 the clergymen, and perhaps all the lawyers, who had 
 obtained seats, belonged to that class of Spaniards, 
 who, free from religious prejudices, but having 
 no system of their own to support upon these points, 
 would shrink from an open contest with the zea- 
 lots, without, however, letting pass any opportunity of 
 showing their spite, by a side-blow. The pecuniary 
 wants of the government ; the desire of gaining par- 
 tizans to the constitutional system by the transfer of 
 property, exclusively under its sanction ; together 
 with the opportunity which the existing circum- 
 stances presented, of indulging the secret, though 
 strong, feelings of aversion to the national system of 
 religion, which rankle in the bosom of every liberal 
 Spaniard, betrayed the Cortes into measures which 
 could not fail to drive the bigots into an open and 
 desperate resistance. One of the first steps against 
 the rehgious orders was the suppression of those pro- 
 perly called Monks, — such as lived under the Ascetic 
 institutions which preceded the establishment of the 
 mendicant orders in the thirteenth century. As 
 their houses were wealthy, this measure might be 
 suspected to proceed rather from a wish to increase 
 the resources of the government, than from ill will to 
 the establishments themselves, which, besides, had 
 long ceased to be objects of veneration for the mass 
 of the people. But when, in the pure desire of re- 
 moving the most odious nuisance to which the reli- 
 gion of the country has given birth, the Cortes de- 
 creed the abolition of the privileges hitherto enjoyed 
 by the heads of the mendicant orders ; — when they li- 
 mited the number of convents, and subjected the 
 individuals resident in each to a local superior, under 
 the jurisdiction of the diocesan ; — when impediments 
 were thrown in the way of taking religious vows, and 
 the admission into the secular clergy, of such as were 
 willing to throw off the cowl, was encouraged ; — when 
 even the helpless victims of superstition, the nuns, 
 were protected by the civil magistrate, in case they 
 evinced a desire to break the perpetual imprisonment 
 of the cloister ; — the alarm of the bigots was turned 
 into downright frenzy, and even the court of Rome, 
 conscious as it is of its weakness, thought it neces- 
 sary to resent the insult. 
 
 A step, much more questionable both as to its 
 policy and justice, was taken by the Cortes against 
 the church interest, in the abolition of one half of 
 the tithes. Had they appropriated this portion of 
 the church property to the use of the State, the spo- 
 liation might have been excused upon the plea of 
 necessity. But the Cortes well knew that the farmers, 
 once freed from the religious feeling which enforces 
 the payment of tithes, would find means to defraud 
 the civil authorities of nearly all the sequestrated 
 portion. The measure was, therefore, simply directed 
 to the acquisition of friends to the new order of things. 
 
 We mention these detached specimens of the 
 policy of the Cortes, not so much for the sake of 
 their intrinsic importance, as in order to show the 
 temper of the Liberal party, and contrast it with that 
 of their opponents. And here we cannot help lament- 
 ing that w^ant of space compels us to omit the details 
 
53^ 
 
 SPAIN. 
 
 Spain. 
 
 contained in the Reports of the Ministers, presented 
 to the Spanish legislature in 1821 and 1822, as to the 
 nature and extent of the resistance offered to the pre- 
 sent system by one part of the nation. Cautious as 
 they are in their language, and desirous to make light 
 of the influence and resources of their adversaries, one 
 great and important fact is clearly established from 
 their evidence— a fact which has always forced itself 
 upon our conviction, and which, from the knowledge 
 we have of the country, appears to us in the shape 
 of an almost insuperable obstacle to a speedy triumph 
 of freedom in Spain— namely, that the present is a 
 purely religious contest, in which one party engages 
 with all the sincerity and straight-forwardness of 
 zeal, while the other has to defend itself under the 
 disadvantages of unavowed principles, and disguised 
 
 views. . , , . -rt 
 
 The Minister of Grace and Justice begms his Ke- 
 port of the 1st March 1822, by declaring that "the 
 evils arising from the existing circumstances of the 
 clergy are of the greatest magnitude." He then 
 proceeds to state the questions that had been agitated 
 between the two courts of Rome and Madrid, giving 
 a long detail of the theological and canonical argu- 
 ments with which the Pope's objections had been 
 met. Of these points some were yielded to the Spa- 
 niards, some absolutely insisted upon. But the most 
 resolute opposition had been made against a decree 
 of the Cortes, prohibiting the remittance of Spanish 
 funds for bulls and dispensations. And here we beg 
 our readers to observe the circumstances of the 
 whole transaction, as highly illustrative of the moral 
 and intellectual relations in which the mass of the 
 Spaniards stand, with the small party who have seized 
 the reins of Government. When the Spanish Minister 
 at Rome communicated this decree to the Papal autho- 
 rities he found that two thousand five hundred and 
 forty-one bulls had been stopped for want of payment. 
 Alarmed at the consequences of this spiritual embargo, 
 the Spanish government paid the whole amount of the 
 fees. But the sum had scarcely been laid down when 
 the mail brought ffteen hutidred petitions for bulls of 
 the same private nature. Baffled by the irresistible 
 power of religious prejudice, the Spanish Ministers 
 were under the necessity of engaging for the pay- 
 ment of airbuUs relating to Spain, until they should 
 be able to compound with his Holiness for an annual 
 sum. The account , of this transaction concludes 
 with the following observation of the Minister : " We 
 shall thus be able to stop the contraband in bulls 
 which has been set on foot already, and which is 
 likely to increase the contributions to Rome to a 
 much greater extent than before, as the parties con- 
 cerned, finding the regular channels obstructed by 
 government, have had recourse to others which, from 
 their private and confidential nature, will require 
 greater sacrifices on the part of the petitioners." We 
 cannot dismiss this topic without observing, that one 
 of the most certain and abundant sources of revenue 
 arises, in Spain, from the sale of an annual bull, call- 
 ed the Bull of the Crusade, which the government 
 (even the liberal government) buy of the Pope, and 
 retail to the people. The Report of the Minister of 
 Finance for the same year observes, that by the Cortes 
 having placed the produce of this pious sale in the 
 
 hands of the provincial treasurers, it had diminished I 
 from 1,500,000 of reals a month, to about 538,360 ) 
 of the same money. The re- establishment of the i 
 Commissary of the Crusades, a dignified ecclesiastic, , 
 into his former authority, had, however, increased I 
 the sale to 1,073,674 reals a month. 
 
 Whatever might be the caution and timidity of the i 
 middle classes of Spain, especially those that are pos- - 
 sessed of some wealth, or exercise any lucrative 2 
 branch of industry, it was impossible that the more i 
 violent and daring of the sincere Catholics should I 
 remain perfectly inactive under a state of things so dis- - 
 cordant with the truly national sentiments and habits. . 
 The rabble of the large towns, which is numerous, and 1 
 quite worthy of that name, had, since the revolution \ 
 of 1820, been gained over to the constitutionalists; ; 
 but the peasantry, who, to this day, have shown a ge- - 
 neral dislike of the new system, would afford a con-- 
 siderable number of active and determined partizanss 
 to any who should be ready and able to marshal thema 
 under the standard of i\\QFaithi — a word by which thee 
 Spaniards denote the Catholic religion, such as it wass 
 established in their country. Few months, indeed,!, 
 had elapsed, when conspiracies were detected inn 
 various parts of the country ; and Guerilla parties, inn 
 support of Religion and the King, were found rangingg 
 over the provinces. The seeds of a civil war hadd 
 thus been brought into activity, and in the opinionn 
 of all who are well acquainted with the dilatorinessiS 
 and obstinacy of the Spaniards, the character andd 
 circumstances of the contending parties were, alone,;, 
 enough to threaten the destruction of every sourcee 
 of power, wealth, and happiness, in that devotedd 
 kingdom. 
 
 It was not long, however, before a determinationn 
 was observed, on the part of France, to encouragee 
 and support the Spaniards, who were actually in arms,?, 
 or ready to take them up, against the new system obf 
 government. Emigrants were protected on thee 
 French side of the frontiers, and enabled to organizee 
 themselves into military divisions. The yellow-fever,;, 
 which attacked Catalonia, in the summer of 1822,!, 
 afforded a pretext for establishing a Cordon SanitairCy^y 
 which might act as an army of observation. Frenchh 
 money was employed in raising fresh disturbances ini 
 the kingdom ; and, it is more than probable, French i 
 influence fomented the conspiracy of the Guards,;, 
 which, on the 7th July of the same year, would havee 
 placed the King out of the hands of the Cortes if hee 
 had had either the will or the courage to join thee 
 troops, who awaited his presence at a short distancee 
 from the palace. 
 
 A congress of the powers which compose what iss 
 known by the name of the Holy Alliance, was, atit 
 this time, about to be assembled at Verona. Fromn 
 the character of the governments of Austria, Prus-^- 
 sia, and Russia, and their habitual fears of thee 
 spirit of political reform, which for the last thirtyy 
 years has shaken the foundations of all absolute mo-t- 
 narchies, it could hardly be imagined that Spainn 
 should pass unnoticed at this meeting. Nor was itit 
 long before the disclosure of their views and princi-i- 
 ples, joined to the open avowal of hostile intentions s 
 against Spain, on the part of France, evinced a set-,- 
 tled and systematic plan for restoring absolute mo* * 
 
 1 
 
 Spaii^ 
 
 Hostililj 
 France j 
 the Ne« 
 vernracs 
 
Spain 
 
 R 
 
 taftbrd- 
 sliire. 
 
 SPA 
 
 narchyin the former kingdom, and opposing, through- 
 out Europe, every curtailment of monarchical power, 
 however exorbitant and oppressive, and every at- 
 tempt to establish the liberties of the subject, upon 
 permanent and definite grounds. In vain did Eng- 
 land remonstrate against the impolicy and injustice 
 of interfering with the domestic concerns of an inde- 
 pendent nation. Notes, conceived in a spirit, and 
 couched in a style which could only irritate the 
 feelings of the constitutionalists, and strengthen 
 their hands by wounding the pride of the na- 
 tion, were addressed by the three Sovereigns of 
 Austria, Prussia, and Russia, to their Ministers at 
 Madrid, demanding a change in the constitution, as 
 the condition of the permanence of these accredited 
 agents at that court. Lest Europe should be left in 
 doubt as to the nature of the changes thus perempto- 
 rily required, the French King, on the 28th of Janu- 
 ary 1 823, announced to the Chambers, that he had one 
 
 S T A 
 
 hundred thousand troops ready to march into Spain, 
 unless Ferdinand VII. were allowed io give io his 
 people institutions tvhich they cannot hold hit from 
 him. 
 
 A principle so monstrous, backed by a threat so 
 unbecoming and dissonant, in the mouth of one who 
 has had so long to shrink from military force, could 
 not but urge the Spanish governors into a determin- 
 ed resistance to any proposals of accommodation 
 which should imply the least yielding on their side ; 
 and the invasion of Spain by a French army, with the 
 avowed purpose of restoring despotism, the monks, 
 and the Inquisition, took place on the 17th of April 
 1823, about the time when, fifteen years before, ano- 
 ther French army violated that territory, under pre- 
 tence of giving it a Constitutional Code, and wiping off 
 the disgrace which those barbarous institutions cast 
 upon the national character. * (s. s. s.) 
 
 533 
 
 Spain 
 II 
 
 StafFord- 
 shire. 
 
 Divi- 
 
 tent, STAFFORDSHIRE, an inland English county 
 inddvies, of an oblong form. Its greatest length from north- 
 east to south-west is about sixty, and its greatest 
 breadth about thirty-eight miles. It contains 1.148 
 statute square miles, or 734,720 acres. It is bound- 
 ed on the north by Cheshire, west by Shropshire, 
 south by Worcestershire and Warwickshire, and 
 east by Derbyshire. The great divisions are five 
 hundreds ; but, as each of these is subdivided into 
 the north and south portions, there are effectively 
 ten hundreds. These contain 181 parishes, 23 
 market towns, and one city. The whole of the 
 county, with the exception of two parishes, is with- 
 in the diocese of Lichfield and Coventry, and com- 
 prehended within the archdeaconry of Stafford. 
 
 According to the census of 1821, the increase of 
 the population in the preceding ten years had been 
 at the rate of sixteen per cent. At that period, the 
 inhabited houses were 63,319, and the families oc- 
 cupying them 68,780; of these families, 18,285 
 were chiefly employed in agi-iculture, 42,435 in 
 trade, manufactures, and handicraft, and 8060 com- 
 prised in neither of those classes. The whole num- 
 ber of persons was 341,040; of whom 171,668 were 
 males, and 169,372 females. 
 
 The middle and southern portions are generally- 
 level, but interspersed with gentle eminences. The 
 northern division is of an opposite character, the 
 surface being for the most part bleak and hilly. 
 
 pulation. 
 
 « of the 
 intry. 
 
 The general elevation of this district above the 
 southern part of the county is about two or three 
 hundred feet ; but some points rise to the height of 
 from 1200 to 1500 ; of those the most elevated are 
 Bunster and the Weever Hills. In the valleys on 
 the banks of the rivers are some tracts of country 
 equal to the most beautiful parts of the island ; of 
 these, the district betwixt Lichfield and Stone, and 
 the picturesque banks of the Dove, especially at 
 Ham, are very remarkable. 
 
 The soil is various, but the strong clays are the Soil ami 
 most predominant; next in extent is the sandy soil, C""""'^' 
 chiefly to the south of the Trent. There is no 
 chalk, and only a small district is calcareous. The 
 meadows, especially on the banks of the Trent, are 
 most rich and luxuriant ; and, though on spots 
 there is much inert peat, yet, when it is drained 
 properly, it becomes valuable pasture and meadow 
 land. The climate is generally raw and moist ; the 
 rain that falls on an average of several years is about 
 36 inches. The quantity of snow, in the winter on 
 the moorlands, is very great, which may contribute 
 to the general coldness of the district. 
 
 The Trent, the third river in England, is J^^^Y^j^Jf^'^ 
 principal stream of the county. It rises at New- ^ 
 pool on the confines of Cheshire, and enters Derby- 
 shire below Burton, after having formed a junction 
 with the Dove ; through the whole of its course in 
 this county it is a clear and rather rapid stream. 
 
 * By a proclamation of the Spanish Regency, an authority established by the French, every public act smce 
 the Revolution of 1820 has been declared null and void, and the country is to be reinstated into the same 
 condition as it had been before that change. The moderation with which, daring the interval of writmg 
 and publishing this article, the Prince D'Angouleme has behaved in Spain, though it can never justify the 
 armed interference of his government, might seem to invalidate our charge, as to the intended restoration of 
 the Inquisition. What the real feelings of his Royal Highness's government may be upon this point, the 
 author of the article has not the means to ascertain ; but he knows too well the spirit of the party, mto 
 whose hands it appears that the French wish to put the fate of the Spaniards, not to fear that the execrable 
 tribunal, to which Spain owes her degradation and sufferings, will re-appear in that unfortunate country. 
 Should his suspicions prove true, he has no hesitation to assert, that all the blame and disgrace of such a 
 restoration belongs to those who, when they were determined to interfere with the private concerns of the 
 Spaniards, did not care to extenuate the infringement of national rights, by any stipulations in favour of the 
 general interests of the invaded country. 
 
 VOL. VI. PART ir. 
 
 3 Y 
 
 IS 
 
534 S T A 
 
 Str.ffofd- The Dove is celebrated for the picturesque scenery 
 fcliiic. through which it flows. In its course it receives 
 ^•^^-"^ tlie Manifold and the Hamps, two streams which 
 are lost in subterraneous channels, but again emerge 
 at the distance of some miles, and rejoin it. The 
 smaller rivers are the Tame, the Blythe, the Sour, 
 and the Penk, all of which empty themselves into 
 tlie Trent. No part of Great Britain is so intersect- 
 ed with navigable canals as Staffordshire, and in no 
 country has their beneficial effects been so extensive- 
 ly experienced. The Grand Trunk was planned 
 Mid executed by Mr Brindley, the most eminent en- 
 gineer that ever exerted talent in this peculiar 
 branch of inland navigation. This canal is about 
 91 miles in length ; the fall of water to the north is 
 326 feet, and to the south 31 6 feet. It is 29 feet 
 wide at the top, and about four feet deep. It unites 
 by liavigation the internal trade of the great marts 
 of London, Liverpool, Hull, and Bristol. The 
 branches that extend from it in every direction are 
 very numerous, and serve to connect the great ship- 
 ping ports with all those disti'icts, in the centre of 
 tire kingdom, which produce those heavy commodi- 
 ties whose weight would make them almost worth- 
 less without the means of cheap conveyance to dis- 
 tant markets. 
 
 Minerals. The chief mineral productions of the coimty are 
 iron and coal, and these are so copious that they ap- 
 pear to be almost inexhaustible. Upwards of 
 50,000 acres have been already ascertained to have 
 beneath them beds of coal; and, notwithstanding the 
 length of time, and the extent to which they have 
 been worked, it is calculated that not one-tenth of 
 their contents have been yet consumed. The strata 
 of this mineral, in the mines already worked, vary 
 in thickness from 24 to 36 feet. Every portion of 
 the coal district abounds in iron ore ; and the strata 
 of that mineral are generally found beneath a 
 stratum of coal. Copper and lead are also raised, 
 but not to an extent nearly approaching that of 
 iron. Limestone, freestone, alabaster, marble, ochre, 
 gypsum, and clays of various descriptions, applica- 
 ble to the purposes of the potteries, are most abun- 
 dantly extracted from the bowels of the earth. 
 Though salt springs are both copious and richly im- 
 pregnated with that mineral, no rock salt has been 
 yet discovered ; but it is supposed there are some 
 abundant repositories of it beneath the surface. 
 Manufac The relative proportion of the employment of the 
 tures. several families show the great preponderance of 
 manufacturing labour in this county. The whole 
 of the southern part is occupied in the different 
 workings of metals. Wolverhampton is the chief 
 seat of the manufacture of locks, keys, hinges, bolts, 
 and the heavier kinds of iron ware. Walsal furnishes 
 buckles, bitts, stirrups, spvu's, and all the kinds of 
 hardware used by saddlers. Wednesbury sup- 
 plies guns, iron axle-trees, saws, trowels, hammers, 
 edge tools, and cast^ron works of every kind. Al- 
 most all the villages in the vicinity of these towns 
 contribute in a greater or less degree to supply part 
 of the work for which the town nearest to them is 
 the great mart. 
 
 The northern part of Staffordshire is celebrated 
 for the excellence of its earthenware, with which it 
 supplies the consumption of the greater portion of 
 
 S T A 
 
 the civilized world. The great extension of this StafFoi 
 manufacture has been owing to the scientific skill 
 and persevering energy of one distinguished indivi- ""-^"^ 
 dual, the late Mr Wedgewood ; whose combinations 
 of the different earths, and study of the arts of de- 
 sign, has given a value to that which before was al- 
 most worthless, and increased to a most wonderful 
 extent the wealth of his neighbourhood, and the 
 number and comfort of its inhabitants. By means 
 of the canals, the pipe-clay from Dorsetshire and 
 Devonshire, and the flints from Kent, are brought 
 to the spots where the clays and coal abound ; and 
 the finished goods, by the same means, are convey- 
 ed to the great shipping ports, from Avhence they 
 are distributed to all parts of the globe. Salt is 
 made from natural springs at Shirleyweck, and, of 
 late, at Lord Talbot's works at Ingestrie, to such 
 an extent as to supply all those parts of the mid- 
 dle of the kingdom which are not in more close con- 
 tact with the refineries of Northwich or Droitwich. 
 There are some respectable establishments at Cheadle 
 for making brass and copper goods. Shoes are ma- 
 nufactured on an extensive scale at Stafford and 
 at Newcastle. At Tamworth are great works for . 
 printing calicos. Burton has manufactures of ale, 1 
 of great celebrity, of hats, and of several kinds of 
 cotton goods. At Leek there are large and flourishing 
 establishments for ribbons, handkerchiefs, ferrets, 
 galloons, and other kinds of silk goods. 
 
 The cultivated lands of this county are nearly all Agriou 
 inclosed within good hedges, chiefly of the white 
 thorn, in fields of from twenty to thirty acres. The 
 general rotation of crops in the clayey soils is, 1st, 
 Fallow ; 2d, Wheat ; 3d, Oats, after which it is laid 
 down with clover, trefoil, and rye-grass, for two or 
 more years. On breaking up an old sward, the usual 
 course is, 1st, Oats; 2d, Fallow; 3d, Wheat; 4th, 
 Oats, and then the grasses. On the more friable 
 soils the rotation is, 1 st. Fallow ; 2d, Wheat ; 3d, 
 Beans, or pease ; 4th, Oats, and then the grasses. 
 On the light soil, the Norfolk system of turnips, 
 barley, clover, and then wheat, is most commonly 
 followed. 
 
 The black cattle are generally of the long-horned 
 breed, and have, of late years, been much improved 
 by the spirited exertions of some distinguished indi- ' 
 viduals. The sheep are of different races ; the new 
 Leicesters are said to be the most predominant. 
 About Cannoch and Sutton Colfield they have a 
 breed much resembling the South Downs. On the 
 moorland there is a breed with white faces, without 
 horns, and long combing wool. The county is well 
 stocked with timber, especially on the estates of 
 some of the great proprietors. The lands in an un- 
 improved state are still estimated to amount to near- 
 ly one-tenth part of the whole county. 
 
 The Roman antiquities are the Watling Street Andqu 
 and the Ichnield roads, which pass through it, and 
 the remains of ancient stations or encampments. 
 The Saxons have left few remains here that merit > 
 particular attention. 
 
 This county gives titles to the following peerages: Titles, 
 Marquis of Stafford, Earls of Ferrers, Talbot, and Reprcsei 
 Harrowby. The county returns two members to the 
 House of Commons, and two each aip sent from 
 Lichfield, Stafford, Newcastle, and Tamworth* 
 
ford, 
 ire 
 
 II 
 
 :eam- 
 aaine. 
 
 ion 
 rincipal 
 
 S T A 
 
 The most remarkable noblemen and gentlemen's 
 seats are the following: Trentham, Marquis of 
 Stafford; Beaudesert^ Marquis of Anglesea ; Inges- 
 trie, Earl Talbot; Sandon, Earl of Harrowby ; 
 Sandwell, Earl of Dartmouth; Enville, Earl of 
 Stamford ; Shugborough, Lord Anson ; Wrothesley, 
 Sir J. Wrothesley; Wolsely Hall, Sir Charles Wolse- 
 ly; Tixtall, Sir T. H. Clifford; Etruria, Josiah 
 Wedgewood, Esq. ; Weston, Earl Brodford. 
 
 The population of the principal places are as fol- 
 lows : Wolverhampton, 1 8,380; Sedgley,17,195; Bil- 
 ston, 1 2,00S ; Walsal, 1 1 ,9 1 4 ; Tipton, 11,54.6 1 Kings- 
 winford, 11,022; Burslem, 9699 ; West Bromwich, 
 9505; Lane End and Longton, 7100; Newcastle-un- 
 der-Line, 7031 ; Wednesbury,6471 ; Lichfield, 6o75; 
 Rowley Regis, 6o62; Stafford, 5730; Henley, 5622; 
 Darlaston, 5585 ; Uttoxeter, 4658 ; Burton-upon- 
 Trent, 4114. 
 
 See Plott's History of Stqfordshire ; Pitt's Agri- 
 cultural Survey of Staforch/hre ; Aiken's History of 
 Mmichester ; Shaw's History and Antiquities of Staf- 
 fordshire ; Jackson's History of Lichfield ; Beauties 
 'of England and Wales. (w, w.) 
 
 STEAM-ENGINE, Perkins's. In addition to 
 the detailed theory of Steam, and of the Steam- 
 Engine,* such as it has already been furnished by 
 the science of a Robison, and the ingenuity of a Watt, 
 some furlher theoretical investigations and computa- 
 tions are still required from time to time, in order to 
 keep pace with that restless spirit of incessant spe- 
 culation and practical improvement, to which Great 
 Britain is indebted for so much of its prosperity ; and 
 none of the inventions which have of late been in- 
 troduced are so striking, so promising, or at fii'st 
 sight so paradoxical, as those which have resulted 
 from the skill and enterprise of Mr l^erkins. In or- 
 der that we may be prepared to appreciate the me- 
 rit of these inventions, and to discriminate between 
 the effects which are the results of new philosophi- 
 cal principles, and those which are only obtained 
 from a high perfection of mechanical execution, and 
 a just confidence in the admirable art with which the 
 materials are selected and tempered ; it will be ne- 
 cessary to recur to the theories of heat and of steam 
 which have been already founded on acknowledged 
 facts, and to inquire how far they will carry us in 
 explaining all that has hitherto been made public 
 respecting the machinery which has excited so much 
 attention, before we allow ourselves to reject the 
 principles [of Almolngy~\ at present admitted, as 
 either erroneous or insufficient. 
 
 Respecting the density, or specific gravity, of steam 
 at different temperatures, there appear to have been 
 three different opinions ; that of Mr Wolf, who fan- 
 cied that it was nearly equal in all cases, and that 
 the difference of elasticity depended only on the im- 
 mediate effect of heat ; that of Mr Southern, who in- 
 ferred from his experiments that the density was 
 simply proportional to the elasticity, without any 
 regard to the effect of temperature ; and thirdly, the 
 earlier and more probable theory of Mr Dalton, 
 which is intermediate between them, and which at- 
 
 S T E 
 
 5S5 
 
 tributes the same effect to heat in the expansion of ^'^^^^ 
 pure steam that it possesses with respect to all other ^ ^""'"^ 
 gases, amounting for each degree of Fahrenheit to 
 about of their bulk at 52°, or to at 212°, 
 provided that no additional quantity of moisture be 
 present to furnish fresh steam by its evaporation. 
 The elasticity might be computed from Dr Young's 
 formula e=r.l78l (I +.006/)'', in which/ is reckon- 
 ed from the freezing point, and which agrees suffi- 
 ciently well with the latest experiments of Southern 
 and Ure, as well as with the earlier ones of Watt, 
 Schmidt, Biker, Betancourt, Robison, Dalton, and 
 otliers ; and we might transform it into the more 
 convenient expression E= (l + .0029/')^ for tlie 
 number of atmospheres expressing the elasticity, 
 reckoning the / from 2 1 2°. But since Mr Southern's 
 experiments, as described in Robison's System of 
 Philosophy, were carried to higher temperatures than 
 any of those which had been before made public, it 
 will be safer to adopt an exponent approaching more 
 nearly to that which he has employed, and to make 
 E— (l_|_,004/)^. Notwithstanding, however, tha 
 apparent accuracy of these experiments, it seems im- 
 possible to rely on them with perfect confidence; 
 they give, for example, the absolute specific gravity 
 of steam at 212°, ^e'oo 5 "^^^^^ ^"^"^ Humphry Davy's 
 very accurate observation of the perfect identity of 
 the space occupied by oxygen and hydrogen before 
 and after deflagration, makes it only ^ Jg^, which 
 ao-rees very nearly with the experiments communi- 
 cated by Mr Davies Gilbert to Dr Young {Nat. Phil. 
 II. p. 397), as well as with the much older determi- 
 nation of Desaguliers. 
 
 W^e obtain, upon these principles, the following 
 Table of the elasticities and densities : 
 
 Atmo- 
 
 Temper- 
 
 Differ- 
 
 ('ompar. 
 
 Specific 
 
 spheres. 
 
 ature. 
 
 ence. 
 
 Density. 
 
 Gravity. 
 
 ] 
 
 21 2'^ 
 
 37° 
 
 24 
 
 19 
 
 15 
 
 13 
 
 11 
 
 10 
 
 9 
 8 
 
 1.000 
 
 
 2600 
 
 2 
 
 249 
 
 1.896 
 
 
 1371 
 
 3 
 
 273 
 
 2.742 
 
 
 912 
 
 4 
 
 292 
 
 3.565 
 
 
 729 
 
 5 
 
 307 
 
 4.366 
 
 
 596 
 
 6 
 
 320 
 
 5.150 
 
 
 505 
 
 7 
 
 331 
 
 5.917 
 
 
 439 
 
 8 
 
 341 
 
 6.678 
 
 
 390 
 
 9 
 
 350 
 
 7.432 
 
 
 350 
 
 10 
 
 358 
 
 
 8 170 
 
 
 318 
 
 15 
 
 388 
 
 
 11.820 
 
 
 220 
 
 20 
 
 417 
 
 39 
 29 
 
 15.232 
 
 
 171 
 
 30 
 
 456 
 
 21.834 
 
 
 120 
 
 40 
 
 485 
 
 28.2 to 
 
 
 92 
 
 50 
 
 509 
 
 24 
 20 
 18 
 15 
 15 
 13 
 
 34.388 
 
 
 76 
 
 60 
 
 529 
 
 40.404 
 
 
 64 
 
 70 
 
 547 
 
 46.265 
 
 
 56 
 
 80 
 
 562 
 
 52.083 
 
 
 50 
 
 90 
 
 577 
 
 57.766 
 
 
 45 
 
 100 
 
 590 
 
 63.371 
 
 
 41 
 
 1000 
 
 957 
 
 148 
 97 
 
 465.33 
 
 
 5.6 
 
 2000 
 
 1 1 05 
 
 845.31 
 
 
 •3.1 
 
 3000 
 
 1202 
 
 1193.00 
 
 
 :2.1 
 
 * There are, in the Encyclopedia Britannica, very fuU articles under these heads, from the pen of tlie 
 late' Professor John Robison. 
 
536 S l' E 
 
 Steam- There is another of Mr Southern's opinions, which 
 Enginte. j^. appears to be ahiaost as difficult to reconcile with 
 ^"^^r^"^ other considerations as his conclusions respecting the 
 absolute and relative densities of steam: he imagines 
 that the heat consumed in the formation of steam is 
 almost all employed in the simple conversion of the 
 liquid into a gas, without any great deduction for 
 that Avhich is required for its expansion ; while, on 
 the other hand, if we adopted Dr Young's compu- 
 tation, deduced from the effect of expansion and com- 
 pression -on the velocity of sound, we should be 
 obliged to infer, that almost the whole of the heat is 
 required for the expansion only, and very little, if 
 any, would be left to supply what Mr Southern calls 
 the constitutional heat of the steam, in contradistinc- 
 tion to the heat of expansion. Dr Young's book is 
 so little known, though it has been sixteen years be- 
 fore the pujblic, that it will not be superfluous to ex- 
 tract from it the computation in question, which bears 
 immediately upon the utility of all engines with high 
 pressure. 
 
 *' We may deduce from" Mr Dalton's " experi- 
 ment," says Dr Young (Vol. II. p. 4-09), "an accele- 
 ration of about \ to be added to the calculation of 
 the velocity of sound ; and, since the results of [di- 
 rect] experiments on sound require an acceleration 
 of ^, or only \ more, which has been ascertained 
 with great accuracy, it may be fair to allow the sup- 
 position of Laplace and Biot, that the whole accele- 
 ration of sound is owing to this cause. We may, 
 therefore, make the exponent of the density ^ for 
 expressing the change of capacity, and the heat pro- 
 duced 1450 {xi — 1) ; which, when the density is 
 doubled or halved, becomes 131.2°; Qand] a com- 
 pression of ^Ijj will produce a heat of 1°. 
 
 " Now, it appears from experiments on the sounds 
 of different gases, and from the sound of a pipe in 
 air of densities the most various, that the correction 
 of the velocity of sound is nearly the same .in all ; 
 hence it may be inferred, that the heat produced by 
 condensation follows nearly the same law with re- 
 spect to all gases. This principle may, therefore, 
 probably be extended to steam. Supposing the con- 
 • version of water into steam to absorb as much heat 
 as would raise its temperature 940°, we may call its 
 capacity at 212°, 1.60, and may calculate a table for 
 other temperatures, assuming, with Mr Dalton, that 
 its simple expansion by heat is equal to that of air. 
 Mr Watt has shown, by direct experiment, that 
 steam has a greater capacity, as its temperature is 
 lower. 
 
 Hence, if a steam-engine work with double at- 
 mospheres, the heat being about 247°, it will re- 
 quire 1.87 times as much water, of which the capa- 
 city [[as steam] is 1.48; and its excess above that 
 of water | as much as at 212° ; it will therefore ab- 
 sorb about 752°, and the heat required for raising 
 water from 100° will be as 1.87 (147 + 752) to 
 112 + 940, or nearly as 8 to 5, while the effect is 
 doubled. 
 
 " Robison says, that four ounces of water, at 100°, 
 will condense in a second nearly 200 cubic feet of 
 steam, reducing its expansive force to |-. If this is 
 correct, it sets at defiance all theories of capacity. 
 The only distant analogy that can be found for it, is 
 
 S T E 
 
 the facility with which rarifled air is found to carry Steam 
 offbeat, which would induce us to suppose, that the ^ Engin. 
 capacity of a given bulk of air is much less affected 
 by its density than this calculation appears to demon- 
 strate ;" and this apology, if we allowed it any 
 weight, would carry us still farther from Mr South- 
 ern's opinion." 
 
 The two steps by which Dr Young's argument 
 proceeds are, first, the effect of compression on air, 
 as deduced from Laplace's ingenious and fortunate 
 suggestion respecting the velocity of sound; and, 
 secondly, the identity of this effect, as observed by 
 himself and others, in air of different densities, and 
 in gases of different kinds ; whence he infers, that 
 the same law may probably be extended to steam ; 
 that is, as far as we can depend on such analogies as 
 have been employed in the doctrine of the capaci- 
 ties of bodies for heat, which, however, appear to be 
 by no means unobjectionable. A remarkable con- 
 sequence of this mode of computation would be, that 
 water might be converted into steam of its own den- 
 sity almost without any expense of heat whatever 
 for what Mr Southern calls its constitutional heat ; 
 
 for if we make in the formula 1450 (^xh — 1 ), 
 
 we have 907° for the change of temperature attend- 
 ing such a compression or expansion ; and the re- 
 sult would be still greater, if we supposed the heat 
 evolved to be expressed by n log x, taking n above 
 400°, for the multiplier of the common logarithm of 
 the density. Probably, indeed, both these modes of 
 computation give a change of temperature greater 
 than the truth for the effect of any very considerable 
 compression or expansion of steam ; but the lowest 
 estimate that we can form of this effect will still 
 make it probable that steam is always cooled by its 
 expansion below the temperature which would al- 
 low it to subsist in its rarified state as pure steam ; 
 or, in other words, that a deposition of moisture is 
 always immediately produced by its expansion, and 
 that steam is rendered drier by compression, suppos- 
 ing no heat to be absorbed or emitted in either case. 
 The very low temperature at which a thermometer 
 stands, in the steam that issues out of a boiler under 
 a very high pressure, is a further proof of the great 
 increase of its capacity, or of the great absorption of 
 heat occasioned by the expansion. 
 
 Mr Perkins's invention, as described in the Edin^ 
 burgh Philosophical Journal for July 1823, appears to 
 consist in substituting for the boiler a strong vessel of 
 gun metal, which he very properly calls a generator, 
 intended to subject the water to a heat of between 
 400° and 500°, and allowing it to escape only 
 through a valve loaded with a weight equivalent to 
 35 atmospheres, while it is furnished with a safety 
 valve loaded to 37, and with a gage indicating, by 
 means of a portion of compressed air, the actual 
 pressure of the steam produced by it ; and even the 
 water that returns to the generator is subjected to a 
 pressure of five or six atmospheres, which keeps it 
 at a temperature of more than 300°. The generator 
 contains eight gallons of water, or 2352 cylindrical 
 inches, while the piston is two inches in diameter, 
 and the cylinder 18 inches long, containing 72 cy- 
 lindrical inches, or -^^ as much as the generator : 
 affording a stroke of 12 inches, with a pressure 
 10 . 
 
STEAM- NAVIGATION. 
 
 537 
 
 team- initially of about 430 pounds on each square inch, 
 "^'"'^ that is, about 1300 pounds in the whole, or pro- 
 bably somewhat less, since the valve of the genera- 
 ■gation. tor cannot be supposed to remain open long enough 
 for the pressure on each side of it to become equal. 
 The danger of explosion, which has hitherto pre- 
 vented the general employment of engines with very 
 high pressures, is here avoided by the great strength 
 and the moderate dimensions of the apparatus ; and 
 besides the safety valves, a thin ball of copper, or a 
 safety bulb, is provided, which will only sustain the 
 pressure of 1000 pounds on the square inch, while 
 every other part of the vessels is calculated to sus- 
 tain 4000. 
 
 Mr Perkins's mode of applying heat to the water 
 appears in reality to be extremely advantageous, not 
 so much from any evidence that has been produced 
 respecting the performance of the engine, as from the 
 fact asserted by the writer in the Journal, that " as 
 much low pressure steam, of four pounds on the 
 square inch, may be generated by one bushel of coals," 
 employed upon three tubes of gun metal, communi- 
 cating, by means of a loaded valve, with the boiler 
 of a common engine, as by nine bushels applied in the 
 ordinary manner. It has been conjectured that the 
 heat is more easily communicated by the generator 
 to the water, on account of the more intimate con- 
 tact which subsists between them, and the absence 
 of any nascent bubbles of steam in the neighbour- 
 hood of the common surface : but it appears to be 
 more probable, that by far the most material part 
 of the advantage depends upon the more perfect 
 combustion of the coal at a high temperature near 
 the external surface of the thick boiler : for it has 
 been sufficiently proved by Sir Humphry Davy and 
 others, that an intense combustion evolves a much 
 greater quantity of heat from the same materials 
 than a more languid oxygenization. 
 
 However this may be, there is nothing paradoxi- 
 cal, and nothing marvellous in the operation of the 
 engine itself, nor in the rapid production of a quart 
 of steam from eight gallons of water " almost red hot." 
 The writer in the Journal has fancied that the water, 
 as it " flashes out," may rob the neighbouring parti- 
 cles of their heat, so as even to leave them below the 
 freezing temperature, while it is itself much above 
 the boUing : but this supposition is in direct oppo- 
 
 sition to every thing that We know of the properties Steam- 
 of heat. If we reason at all in natural philosophy, we Eng"i« 
 must reason from analogy : such a phenomenon as ^ 'I 
 this would be incredible, even if it were asserted Xavigl'doi 
 upon the direct and clear testimony of the senses ; . , 
 but to assume it as a probability, without pretending 
 that it has been observed, appears to be setting com- 
 pletely at defiance the obvious dictates of common 
 sense. There is ?zo other instance uohatever in which 
 a body, contiguous to another, and exceeding it in 
 thermometrical temperature, does not communicate 
 heat to it rather than receive heat from it : nor, on 
 the other hand, is there any one fact besides, that 
 could be imagined to favour the hypothesis of a sud- 
 den and general communication of heat between the 
 distant parts of a material substance, like that which 
 appears to take place with regard to the electrical 
 fluid. - 
 
 The quantity of water, thrown out at each stroke, 
 appears, from the table of densities inserted in 
 this article, to be of the quantity that would fill 
 the cylinder, that is ^^^q of the content of the ge- 
 nerator, and its conversion into steam at any tem- 
 perature would not require, at the utmost, more 
 than 940° of heat, that is, a quarter of a degree for 
 the whole of the water in the vessel, and possibly 
 not above one fifth of a degree : and it is obvious 
 that the parts nearest the surface might easily fur- 
 nish this with sufficient rapidity, and yet without 
 approaching very near to the " freezing tempera- 
 ture." 
 
 But whatever mistakes may have been made re- 
 specting the principles of Mr Perkins's engine, there 
 can be no reason td doubt of its possessing some 
 considerable advantages in practice, which he will 
 probably soon be enabled to establish, by the accu- 
 rate test of its performance in pumping up water, 
 as compared with that of the engines at present in 
 common use, which are said to be capable of raising 
 a weight equal to that of the coals consumed to the 
 height of above half a million of feet: so that, in 
 order to make good the expectations that have been 
 held out to the public, he will have to raise an equal 
 weight to about five million feet ; and when this has 
 been performed, he will have triumphantly redeem- 
 ed the pledge that has been given on his behalf. 
 
 (a. l.) 
 
 STE AM-N A 
 
 tory of 1 HE idea of propelling vessels by the action of 
 mi-Navi- ^vheels or paddles, instead of oars, seems to have oc- 
 curred at a remote period. The mode of carrying 
 the project into execution is clearly, though concise- 
 ly, described in a very curious and learned treatise, 
 De Re Militari, by Valturius of Rimini. This re- 
 markable work is justly deemed one of the finest and 
 earliest specimens of typography and wood-engrav- 
 injir. It was first printed by John of Verona in 1472, 
 and from the same press an Italian translation of it 
 by Paul Ramusio issued in 1483. It was after- 
 wards reprinted at Paris in 1532, in the original 
 
 VIGATION. 
 
 Latin, by the celebrated Printer, Christian Weche- 
 lius. 
 
 Of the numerous machines described and deli- 
 neated in that rare volume, several have been fre- 
 quently reproduced as new inventions during the 
 course of the last century. Such waste of ingenuity 
 is really a serioas evil, arising from inattention to the 
 history of the mechanical arts, and the want of a public 
 repository to exhibit their successive improvements. 
 Mr Dibdin has given, in his Bibliotheca Spenceri- 
 ana, fac-similes of several warlike engines from 
 Valturius ; but we have copied the figure of a 
 
538 
 
 STEAM- NAVIGATION. 
 
 Steam- flat-bottomed boat for crossing rivers by the circum- 
 navigation, volution of paddles or vanes. (See Plate CXVI.) 
 ^"^"^V^^ These vanes consisted of pitched sail-cloth ; and it 
 will be seen, that the impulsion was communicat- 
 ed by means of cranks. The action of each axle 
 is said to have been equivalent to that of twelve oars. 
 (Valturius, De Re Militari, p. 314.) We must not, 
 however, suppose that the power thus applied was 
 really augmented by such machinery. It has been as- 
 certained that human force is advantageously exerted 
 in the act of rowing ; but this operation requires skill, 
 and not more than one person can work convenient- 
 ly at the same oar. Where paddles are substituted, 
 mere strength is sufficient ; and a number of men 
 may combine their labour in turning a crank. Ani- 
 mal power will, indeed, effect the same purpose. 
 Accordingly, some of the broad ferry-boats in 
 North America are fitted with paddles driven by 
 gin-horses. 
 
 It is clear, therefore, that, three or four centuries 
 ago, boats, propelled by the action of paddle-wheels, 
 were used on some of the large rivers in Italy, and, 
 most probably, in other parts of the Continent, for the 
 transporting of troops. Valturius even speaks of pon- 
 toons, composed of three parts, like drums, which 
 could be conjoined at any time, and again separated, 
 to facilitate their carriage over land. The method 
 of changing a reciprocating into a rotatory motion, 
 by the help of a crank, though not applied to the 
 steam-engine till 50 or 60 years after its invention, 
 had been understood and practised at the very dawn 
 of the mechanical arts. 
 
 The atmospherical steam-engine, which had been 
 invented by Newcomen and improved by Beighton, 
 began to be pretty generally adopted in the coal- 
 works about the year 1720 ; and it does not seem to 
 have required-any greatstretch of imagination to direct 
 such an efficient power to other purposes besides the 
 raising of water. 
 Mr J. Hulls. The first attempt, however, on record to apply steam 
 to navigation was made by a person of the name of 
 Jonathan Hulls, who, on the 2lst of December 1736, 
 obtained a Patent, to endure for 14< years, for what 
 may, without any impropriety, be called a Steam-Boat. 
 The Letters Patent, and a description of this boat, 
 illustrated with a plate, are contained in a very rare 
 Tract, published by Hulls in 1737, under the following 
 title : A Description and Draught of a new invented 
 Machine for carrying Vessels or Ships out of or into 
 any Harbour, Port, or River, against Wind and Tide, 
 or in a Calm. As the origin of the invention has 
 been much disputed, we shall subjoin some extracts 
 from this pamphlet, which lay totally forgotten till 
 within these few years, and is even yet, on account of 
 its great rarity, but very little known. * 
 
 He introduces his description by a concise view 
 of the principles of experimental philosophy ; in 
 which he observes (p. 39), " If a person were 
 to descend to the bottom of a well full of wa- 
 
 ter, his body would be pressed the same as if he Steam- 
 descended the same depth into the sea; for there ^^^ig**^*"^' 
 is thd same pressure against a pool-head as there is 
 against the sea-bank at the same depth, as hath be- 
 fore been demonstrated, 
 
 " Thus I have endeavoured to explain the nature 
 of the pressure of the air on other bodies, by com- 
 paring it with other fluids that are visible to our eye, 
 as mercury, water, &c. and, since the pressure is so 
 very great, it is the more fit to be applied to a pur- 
 pose wherein all sorts of manual operations are in- 
 sufficient. For this present undertaking cannot be 
 supposed to be done by strength of men or horseS;, 
 or any machine driven by either. 
 
 " The atmosphere being of a great weight, and 
 striving to get in where there is a vacuum, I shall 
 endeavour to show how this vacuum is made, and 
 in what manner this force is applied to drive the ma- 
 chine. 
 
 In some convenient part of the Tow-Boat there 
 is placed a vessel about two-thirds full of water, with 
 the top close shut ; this vessel being kept boiling, 
 rarifies into a steam. This steam being conveyed 
 through a large pipe into a cylindrical vessel, and 
 there condensed, makes a vacuum, which causes the 
 weight of the atmosphere to press on this vessel, and 
 so presses down a piston that is fitted into this cy- 
 lindrical vessel, in the same manner as in Mr New- 
 comen's engine, with which he raises water by fire. 
 (See Plate CXVI.) 
 
 — " It hath been already demonstrated, that a veshel 
 of thirty inches diameter, which is but two feet and 
 an half, when the air is driven out, the atmosphere 
 will press on it to the weight of four tons, sixteen 
 hundred weight, and upwards ; when proper instru- 
 ments for this work are applied to it, it must drive a 
 vessel with a great force." 
 
 "■ Note. — The bigness of the machines may be pro- 
 portioned to the work that is to be performed by 
 them ; but, if such a force as is applied in this first 
 essay be not sufficient for any purpose that may be 
 required, there is room to make such addition as 
 will move an immense weight with tolerable swiftness. 
 
 " It is my opinion it will not be found practicable 
 to place the machine here recommended in the ves- 
 sel itself, that is to be taken in or out of the port, &-c. 
 but rather in a separate vessel, for these reasons : — 
 
 " \st, This machine may be thought cumbersome, 
 and to take up too much room in a vessel laden with 
 goods, provisions, &c. 
 
 " 2g?, If this machine is put in a separate vessel, 
 this vessel may lie at any port, &c. to be ready on all 
 occasions. 
 
 " 2>d, A vessel of a small burthen will be sufficient 
 to carry the machine to take out a large one. 
 
 " 4!th, A vessel will serve for this purpose for 
 many years, after she is thrown ofi", and not safe to 
 be taken abroad." 
 
 The passages above quoted are followed by the 
 
 * It consists of forty-eight pages, in duodecimo ; was " printed for the author, and sold, price sixpence, 
 at the Pamphlet Shops in London and Westminster." 
 
 11 
 
STEAM-Ni? 
 
 steam. Explanation of the Machine. The Figure to which 
 ivigation. this Explanation refers is copied, from that given by 
 Hulls, in Plate CXVI. 
 
 " A represents the chimney coming from the fur- 
 nace. 
 
 " B, The tow-boat. 
 
 CC, Two pieces of timber, framed together, to 
 cajrry the machine. 
 
 " Da, D, and Db, are three wheels on one axis, to 
 receive the ropes F,Fa, and Fb. 
 
 " Note. — F is the same rope that goes into the 
 qjrlinder. 
 
 " Ha and Hb are two wheels on the same axis with 
 the fans IIIIII, and move alternately in such a man- 
 ner, that when the wheels Da, D, and Db, move 
 backward or forward, they keep the fans IIIIII in a 
 direct motion. 
 
 " Fb is a rope going from Hb to Db, that when the 
 wheels Da, D, and Db, move forward, moves the 
 wheel Hb forwards, which brings the fans forward 
 with it. 
 
 " Fa is a rope going from the wheel Ha to the wheel 
 Da, that when the wheels Da, D, and Db, move for- 
 ward, the wheel Ha draws the rope F, and raises the 
 weight G, at the same time as the wheel Hb brings 
 die fans forward. 
 
 ** When the weight G is so raised,, while the wheels 
 Da, D, and Db, are moving backward, the rope Fa 
 gives way, and the power of the weight G brings the 
 wheel Ha forward, and the fans with it, so that the 
 fans always keep going forward, notwithstanding the 
 wheels Da, D, and Db, move backwards and for- 
 wards, as the piston moves up and down in the cy- 
 linder. 
 
 LL are teeth for a catch to drop in from the axis, 
 «tnd are so contrived, that they catch in an alternate 
 manner, to cause the fans to move always forward, 
 for the wheel Ha, by the power of the weight G, is 
 performing his office, while the other wheel Hb goes 
 back in order to fetch another stroke. 
 
 '* Note. — The weight Gmust contain but half the 
 weight of the pillar ot air pressing on the piston, be- 
 cause the weight G is raised at the same time as the 
 wheel Hb performs its office, so that it is, in effect, 
 two machines acting alternately by the weight of one 
 pillar of air of such a diameter as the diameter of the 
 cylinder is. 
 
 " If it should be said that this is not a new inven- 
 tion, because I make use of the same power to drive 
 my machine that others have made use of to drive 
 theirs for other purposes ; I answer. The application 
 of this power is no more than the application of any 
 common and known instrument used in mechanism 
 for new invented purposes." P. 43. 
 
 I'his Explanation is followed with the annexed 
 '* Answers to some Queries that have been made con^ 
 cerning the possibility and usefulness of this under- 
 taking." 
 
 " Query I. 
 
 " Is it possible to fix instruments of sufficient 
 strength to move so prodigious a weight as may be 
 contained in a very large vessel ? 
 
 " Answer. All mechanics will allow it is possible 
 to make a machine to move an immense weight, if 
 
 V I G A T I 0 N. 3S9 
 
 there is force enough to drive the same ; for every Steam- 
 member must be made in a proportionable strength Navigation, 
 to the intended work, and properly braced with laces ^■*'*V"^^ 
 of iron, &c. so that no part can give way or break, 
 if the braces, &c. necessary for this work had been 
 put in the draught, it would have been so much 
 crowded with lines, that the main instruments could 
 not be so well perceived. 
 
 " Query II. 
 
 " Will not the force of the waves break any in- 
 strument to pieces that is placed to move in the 
 water ? 
 
 " Answer. First, It cannot be supposed that this 
 machine will be used in a storm or tempest at sea, 
 when the waves are raging ; for, if a merchant lyeth 
 in a harbour, &c. he would not choose to put out to 
 sea in a storm, if it were possible to get out ; but ra- 
 ther stay until it is abated. 
 
 Secondly. When the wind comes a-head of the 
 tow-boat, the fans will be protected by it from the 
 violence of the waves ; and when the wind comes 
 side-ways, the wind will come edge-ways of the fans, 
 and therefore strike them with the less force. 
 
 " Thirdly. There may be pieces of timber laid to 
 swim on the surface of the water on each side of the 
 fans, and so contrived as they shall not touch them, 
 which will protect them from the force of the waves. 
 Up inland rivers, where the bottom can possibly be 
 reached, the fans may be taken out, and cranks 
 placed at the hindmost axis, to strike a shaft to the 
 bottom of the river, which will drive the vessel for- 
 ward with the greater force. 
 
 « Query III. 
 
 " It being a continual expence to keep this ma- 
 chine at work, will the expence be answered ? 
 
 " Answer. The work to be done by this machine 
 will be upon particular occasions, when all other 
 means yet found out are wholly insufficient. How 
 often does a merchant wish that his ship were on tlie 
 ocean, when, if he were there, the wind would serve 
 tolerably well to carry him on his intended voyage, 
 but does not serve, at the same time, to carry him out 
 of the river, &c. he happens to be in, which a few 
 hours work of this machine would do. Besides, I 
 know engines that are driven by the same power as 
 this is, where materials for the purpose are dearer 
 than in any navigable river in England ; therefore, 
 experience demonstrates, that the expence will be 
 but a trifle to the value of the work performed by 
 those sort of machines, which any person that 
 knows the nature of those things may easily calcu- 
 late." P. 45—48. 
 
 Thus, Jonathan Hulls appears to have been the 
 first person who suggested the propulsion of vessels 
 by paddle-wheels moved by steam. His mode of con- 
 verting the rectilineal into a rotatory motion was in- 
 genious, though not so simple as the crank. It is 
 most probable, however, that he possessed not the 
 means, and did not receive at the time sufficient en- 
 couragement to carry his scheme into execution. 
 
 A long interval elapsed before a similar project was Marquw De 
 attempted. About the year 1772 the celebrated Mr''''"^'^y- 
 Watt had completely remodelled the steam-engine ; 
 
540 STEAM-K^A 
 
 steam- and before 1779 it was, by various improvements, 
 Navigation, reduced to a compendious form, and adapted to al- 
 '^"^'^"^ most every purpose where great power was required. 
 
 The idea of employing it to propel vessels then natu- 
 rally suggested itself. One of the first to whom it oc- 
 curred was the Marquis De JoufFroy, who, in 1 78 1 , con- 
 structed a steam-boat on the Saone at Lyons ; it was 
 140 feet long, and he made several experiments with it. 
 Messrs Fitch In the year 1785 two keen competitors for the 
 and Rumsey. invention of steam- navigation appeared in America; 
 
 namely, James Rumsey of Virginia, and John Fitch 
 of Philadelphia. The following extracts from a 
 Pamphlet, very little known in this country, publish- 
 ed by the latter in 1788, are curious : * 
 
 — '« I confess the thought of a steam-boat, which 
 first struck me by mere accident, about the middle 
 of April 1785, has hitherto been very unfortunate to 
 me ; the perplexities and embarrassments through 
 which it has caused me to vi^ade far exceed any 
 thing that the common course of life ever presented 
 to my view." — " In June and July I formed mo- 
 dels, and in August laid them before Congress, as 
 will appear on their files. In September 1 present- 
 ed them to the Philosophical Society, as per certifi- 
 cates." — 
 
 " Philadelphia, Sept. 27, 1785. _ At a special 
 meeting of the American Philosophical Society, a 
 model, accompanied with a drawing and description 
 of a machine for working a boat against the stream, 
 by means of a steam-engine, was laid before the So- 
 ciety by John Fitch." 
 
 " At a meeting of the American Philosophical 
 Society on December 2, 1785, a copy of the draw- 
 ing and description of a machine for working a boat 
 against the current, which some time ago was laid 
 before the Society by Mr John Fitch, he this even- 
 ing presented to them. 
 
 " Extract from the Minutes, 
 
 " Samuel Magaw, 
 " one of the Secretaries." 
 
 " In October I called on the ingenious Mr Henry 
 
 of Lancaster, to take his opinion on my drafts, who 
 informed me that I was not the first person who had 
 thought of applying steam to vessels ; that he had 
 conversed with Mr Andrew Ellicot as early as 1775, 
 and that Mr Paine, author of Common Sense, had 
 suggested the same thing to him in the winter of 
 1778." 
 
 " In Virginia I waited on his Excellency General 
 Washington, who, in the course of conversation, in- 
 formed me, that the thought of applying steam was 
 not original ; that Mr Rumsey had mentioned steam 
 to him : but nothing that passed in the conversation 
 with General Washington had the least tendency to 
 •convey the idea of Mr Rumsey 's relying on steam; 
 and General Washington's letter, p. 10 of Mr Rum- 
 sey 's pamphlet, clears up the matter — for the Ge- 
 neral himself did not conceive any such thing. 
 Knowing that the thought of applying steam to 
 boats had been suggested by other gentlemen long 
 
 M G ATI O N. 
 
 before ; I left his Excellency, with all the elated Steam 
 prospects that an aspiring projector qould entertain, Navigi 
 not doubting but I should reap the full benefit of ' 
 the project : for although I found that some had 
 conceived the thought before, yet I was the first 
 that ever exhibited a plan to the public; and was 
 fully convinced that I could not interfere with 
 Mr Rumsey, otl^erwise the known candour of Ge- 
 neral Washington must have pointed out to me 
 such interference. I immediately applied to the 
 Legislature of Virginia for assistance to execute 
 my plan, who signified their wish to encourage my 
 designs, but that the state of their finances prevent- 
 ed it." 
 
 *' Finding that undoubtedly I was the first person 
 in America that could be termed the inventor of a . 
 steam-boat, either agreeably to custom or equity, I '. 
 thought it prudent to apply to the different states i 
 for the exclusive privileges for the emoluments off 
 such invention, which were granted by New Jersey 
 in March 1 786, by Delaware, New York, and Penn- ■ 
 sylvania, in the winter and spring following, and by 
 Virginia in October 1787. 
 
 1 have from the time of my first thought pursued l 
 my scheme with unremitted application, without ai 
 suspicion of an interruption, until the circulation off 
 Mr Rumsey 's invidious pamphlet, the contents off 
 which I now find it necessary next to take under ' 
 consideration, not doubting but that the design andl 
 tendency of that production will be a sufficient ; 
 apology for the plainness with which I shall treat s 
 it." 
 
 " Mr Rumsey says, in page 2, that * in the month i 
 of September 1784?, he exhibited the model of ai 
 boat to his Excellency General Washington, at Bath, , 
 in Berkeley county, calculated for stemming the cur- ■ 
 rent of rapid rivers only, constructed on principles > 
 very different from his present one. Satisfied,' says ? 
 he, ' of the experiment of her making way against ; 
 a rapid stream, by the force of the stream, the Gene- . 
 ral was pleased to give me a most ample certificate : 
 of her efficacy.' Here it is to be observed, that no > 
 mention was made to General Washington of steam 
 at the time of such exhibition : the principles upon i 
 which the boat was propelled were entirely uncon- . 
 nected with, and distinct from steam ; being simply 
 a model, propelled by 'voater uoheels, cranks, andl 
 setting poles ; a mode which was many years ago » 
 tried on the river Schuylkill by a farmer near Read- . 
 ing, but without success. From an exhibition off 
 this plan it was that Mr Rumsey procured the cer- - 
 tificate from General Washington, and on that cer- - 
 tificate were Mr Rumsey 's laws founded. In his pe- - 
 titions to the several legislatures, he prayed for no > 
 exclusive right for the use of steam-boats; neither- 
 did he make mention of steam to their committees, , 
 or even suggest an idea of the kind." — 
 
 Patrick Miller, Esq. of Dalswinton, in Dumfries- ■ Mr 
 shire, made many experiments on the best mode of im- - 
 polling single, double, and triple vessels with paddle- - 
 
 * The Original Steam-Boat supported ; or a Reply to Mr James Rumsey s Pamphlet, shotving the true ? 
 priority of John Fitch, Philadelphia, 1788. 
 
STEAM-NAVIGATION. 
 
 541 
 
 team- wheels, by the power of men and horses ; and print- 
 ■gation. pj,^ circulated extensively an account of a Triple 
 Vessel and wheels, in February 1787. In this Tract, 
 he states, — " I have also reason to believe that the 
 power of the St earn- Engine may be applied to work 
 the tvheels, so as to give them a quicker motion, 
 and, consequently, to increase that of the ship. In 
 the course of this summer (1787)> I intend to make 
 the experiment." 
 
 As the power of men produced only the slow mo- 
 tion of five miles per hour, Mr James Taylor, then 
 residing in Mr Miller's family, and now at Cumnock, 
 suggested the application of a steam-engine as the 
 moving power; and he carried Mr Miller to the house 
 of Gilbert Meason, Esq. St Andrew's Square, Edin- 
 burgh, to see the model of a steam-carriage invented 
 by Mr William Symington of Falkirk. Mr Miller 
 was much pleased with the model, and desired Mr 
 Symington to make him a small steam-engine, to 
 work a twin or double boat on Dalswinton Loch. 
 The engine having been accordingly executed and 
 put on board the boat, the experiment was made 
 at Dalswinton in autumn I788 ; and it succeeded so 
 well, that Mr Miller commissioned Mr Symington to 
 jiurchase a gabert, or large boat, at Carron, and to fit 
 up a steam-engine on board of her, to make a trial 
 on a larger scale. Every thing being completed, the 
 trial was made on the Forth and Clyde Canal, in 
 summer 1789^ Messrs Miller, Stainton, Taylor, &c. 
 being on board, and the result answered their most 
 sanguine expectations. 
 Syming- From a manuscript Memorial on Sleam-Naviga- 
 Uon, drawn up by Mr Symington, with the perusal 
 of which we have been favoured, we make the fol- 
 lowing extract: 
 
 " Mr Miller being then very much engaged improv- 
 ing his newly purchased estate in Dumfries-shire, 
 and 1 also employed to construct large machinery 
 for the use of the lead-mines at Wanlockhead, the 
 idea of carrying the experiments, at that time, any 
 farther, was entirely given up, till meeting with the 
 late Thomas Lord Dundas of Kerse, who wished that 
 I would construct a steam-boat for dragging vessels 
 on the Forth and Clyde Canal, in place of horses. 
 Agreeably to his Lordship's request, a series of ex- 
 periments, which cost nearly L. 3000, were set on 
 foot in the year 1801, and ending in 1802, upon a 
 larger scale, and more improved plan, having a steam 
 cylinder 22 inches diameter, and four feet stroke ; a 
 complete model of which, with a set of ice-breakers 
 trttached, may be seen (if not in Lord Dundas's 
 house, Arlington Street) in the Royal Institution, 
 London, which proved itself very much adapted for 
 the intended purposes, as will appear from the fol- 
 lowing simple yet authentic narrative. Having pre- 
 viously made various experiments, in March 1802, 
 at Lock No. 20, Lord Dundas, the great patron and 
 steam-boat promoter, along with Archibald Speirs, 
 Esq. of Elderslee, and several gentlemen of their 
 acquaintance being on board, the steam-boat took in 
 drag two loaded vessels. Active and Euphemia of 
 Grangemouth, Gow and Espline masters, each up- 
 wards of 70 tons burthen, and with great ease car- 
 ried them through the long reach of the Forth and 
 Clyde Canal, to Port-Dundas, a distance of 19 J 
 
 VOL. VI. PART II. 
 
 miles, in six hours, although the whole time it blew Steam- 
 a very strong breeze right a-head of us ; so much so, Navigation, 
 that no other vessels could move to windward^ in the ^-*^v"^ 
 canal, that day, but those we had in tow ; which put 
 beyond the possibility of doubt the utility of the 
 scheme in canals or rivers, and ultimately on open 
 seas ; though in this state of forwardness it was op- 
 posed by some narrow-minded proprietors of the na- 
 vigation, under a very mistaken idea, that the undu- 
 lation of the water occasioned by the motion of the 
 wheel would wash and injure its banks : in conse- 
 quence the boat was, with great reluctance, laid up 
 in a creek of the canal, near Bainsford Draw-bridge, 
 exposed for years to public view ; where Henry Bell 
 from Glasgow, who f requently inspected the steam- 
 boat at Carron in 1789, did also particularly examine 
 this ; and afterwards, in conjunction with other gen- 
 tlemen, in the year 1811, constructed the first steam- 
 boat. Comet, to ply on the river Clyde, which wa)s 
 soon followed there by many more, and its use is 
 now rapidly extending to different regions of the 
 globe." 
 
 It is indisputable, therefore, that Mr Symington 
 was the first person who had the merit of success- 
 fully applying the power of the steam-engine to the 
 propulsion of vessels. The boat which he construct- 
 ed was, like that proposed by Hulls, really a Tug. 
 It is much to be regretted, that there existed not 
 enterprise enough at that time in Scotland to en- 
 courage the ingenious artizan to repeat his experi- 
 ments on the Clyde. All the subsequent improve- 
 ments, however, in steam-navigation may be fairly 
 traced to Mr Symington's attempt, and we cannot 
 help thinking that he has a strong claim on the na- 
 tional gratitude. He is still alive, and we fear not 
 in the most flourishing circumstances. Should the 
 state decline rewarding such meritorious services, 
 the opulent proprietors of steam-boats might well 
 evince their liberality and discernment, by bestow- 
 ing on him some recompence. 
 
 Considering the importance to America of navigat- Mr Fuhon. 
 ing her mighty rivers, it is not surprising that the 
 application of the power of steam to the propulsion 
 of boats should, by persevering efforts, have been 
 first carried into successful practice in that con- 
 tinent. This was achieved by the activity and zeal 
 of Mr Fulton, who appears evidently, however, to 
 have derived all his primary knowledge of the subject 
 from Scotland. 
 
 Mr Symington's Memorial, above referred to, gives 
 the following remarkable statement : 
 
 " When engaged in these last experiments in 1802, 
 I was called upon by Mr Fulton, who very politely 
 made himself known, and candidly told me that he was 
 lately from North America, and intended to return 
 thither in a few months, but having heard of our 
 steam-boat operations, could not think of leaving this 
 country without first waiting upon me in expectation 
 of seeing the boat, and procuring such information 
 regarding it as I might be pleased to communicate ; 
 he at same time mentioned, however advantageous 
 such invention might be to Great Britain, it would 
 certainly become more so in North America, on ac- 
 count of the many extensive navigable rivers in that 
 country ; and as timber of the first quality, both for 
 3 z 
 
54^ STEAM-NA 
 
 steam- building the vessels, and also for fuel to the engine, 
 Navigation, ^y^ld be purchased there for a small expence, he was 
 '"^^'"^ decidedly of opinion it could hardly fail, in a few 
 years, to become very beneficial to trade in that part 
 of the world ; and that his carrying the plan to North 
 America could not turn out otherwise than to my 
 advantage ; as, if I inclined it, both the making and 
 superintendence of such vessels would naturally fall 
 upon me, provided my engagements with steam-boats 
 at home did not occupy so much of ray time as to pre- 
 vent me from paying any attention to those which 
 m?ght afterwards be constructed abroad. 
 
 *' lyir Fulton having thus spoken, in compliancewith 
 his most earnest request, I caused the engine fire to 
 be lighted up, and in a short time thereafter, put the 
 steam-boat in motion, and carried him from Lock 
 No. 16, where the boat then lay, four miles west the 
 canal, and returned to the place of starting, in one 
 hour and twenty minutes, to the great astonishment 
 of Mr Fulton, and several gentlemen, who, at our 
 outset, chanced to come on board. 
 
 " During the above trip, Mr Fulton asked if I 
 had any objections to his taking notes respecting 
 tJie steam-boat, to which question I said, none; 
 as I considered the more publicity that was given to 
 any discovery intended for geneial good, so much the 
 better ; and having the privilege secured by letters- 
 patent, I was not afraid of his making any encroach- 
 ment upon my right in the British dominions; though 
 in the United States, I was well aware, I had no 
 pov/er of control. In consequence, he pulled out a 
 memorandam-book, and, after putting several point- 
 ed questions respecting the general construction and 
 effect of the machine, which I answered in a most ex- 
 plicit manner, he jotted down particularly every 
 thing then described, with his own remarks upon the 
 boat, while moving with him on board, along the ca- 
 nal ; but he seems to have been altogether forgetful 
 of this, as, notwithstanding his fair promises, I never 
 heard any thing more of him, till reading in a news- 
 paper an account of his death. 
 
 *' From the above incontrovertible facts, which can 
 be corroborated by a number of people of respecta- 
 bility living at this day, it is very evident that com- 
 merce is not indebted to North America for the in- 
 vention of steam-packets, it being hereby established 
 beyond the possibility of doubt, to be truly British, 
 both in idea and practice, and that Mr Fulton's steam- 
 vessel did not make its first appearance in the Hud- 
 son River earlier than 1806 or 1807, four years at 
 least posterior to his having been on board the Char- 
 lotte Dundas steam-boat, and minutely examined it, 
 when at work upon the Forth and Clyde Canal, and 
 18 years later than the date of the first experiments 
 made by me upon steam-boats, on the lake at Dal- 
 swinton, Dumfries-shire, in Great Britain." 
 Mr Henry The following statement upon the same point. 
 Bell. by ]y[j. Henry I3ell of Glasgow, was addressed by 
 him to the Editor of the Caledonian Mercury, and 
 published in that paper in October 1816: — " Sir, 
 I observed in your paper lately a paragraph re- 
 specting steam-boats, in which the Americans claim- 
 ed the right to the discovery, which is become 
 of so much utility to the public. On this ac- 
 count I propose to give you a full statement of 
 
 V I G A T I O N. 
 
 what I conceive to be the truth. Mr Miller of ft 
 Dalswinton first wrote upon the method of moving -^^i^' 
 or impelling vessels or rafts through water by pad- 
 dles, wrought by a capstan, or by the wind, in 
 the manner of a wind-mill, which idea he after- 
 wards gave to all the different Courts in Europe. 
 It will be recollected by most people in this coun- 
 try, that the French proposed to erect rafts for 
 conveying troops to invade this country by means 
 of Mr Miller's wind- mill or capstan plan; for it may be 
 stated that this gentleman built two vessels at Leith, 
 and put them in motion upon his new improvement, 
 and even sent one of them to the King of Sweden, 
 as a present. After this, he thought that an engine 
 could be so constructed as to be applied to work his 
 machinery for the moving of his paddles ; and ac- 
 cordingly he employed an engineer to put his plans 
 in execution ; but they failed for want of being pro- 
 perly executed. — But to give you a more correct 
 account of the manner Mr Fulton, the American 
 engineer, came to the knowledge of steam-boats, 
 that gentleman had occasion to write me about the 
 plans of some machinery in this country, and begged 
 the favour of me to call on Mr Miller of Dalswinton, 
 and see how he had succeeded in his steam- boat 
 plan ; and if it answered the end, I was to send 
 him a full drawing and description of it, along with 
 my machinery. This led me to have a conversa- 
 tion with the late Mr Miller, and he gave me every 
 information I could wish for at the time ; I told him 
 where, in my opinion, he had erred, or was misled by 
 his engineer ; and, at the same time, I told him that 
 I intended to give Mr Fulton my opinion on steam- 
 boats: the friends of Mr Miller must have amongst 
 their papers Mr Fulton's letter to me, for I left it 
 with Mr Miller. Two years thereafter I had a letter 
 from Mr Fulton, letting me know that he had con- 
 structed a steam-boat from the different drawings of 
 machinery I had sent him out, which was likely to 
 answer the end, but required some improvement on 
 it. This letter I sent to Mr Miller, for his informa- 
 tion, which must also be amon^ his papers. This 
 letter led me to think of the absurdity of writing my 
 opinion to other countries, and not putting it in prac- 
 tice m} self in my own country; and, from these consi- 
 derations, I was roused to set on foot a steam-boat, for 
 which I made a number of different models, before I 
 was satisfied. When I Was convinced that they 
 would answer the end, I contracted with Messrs John 
 Wood and Company, ship builders in Port-Glasgow, 
 to build me a steam vessel, according to my plans, 
 40 feet keel, and 10 feet 6 inches beam, which I 
 fitted up with an engine and paddle», and called her 
 the Comet, because she was built and finished tlte 
 same year that a comet appeared in the north-west 
 part of Scotland. This vessel is the first steam-boat 
 built in Europe that answered the end, and is at this 
 present time upon the best and simplest method of any 
 of them ; ibr a person sitting in the cabin will hard- 
 ly hear the engine at work. She plies on the Frith of 
 Forth, betwixt the east end of the Great Canal and 
 Newhaven, near Leith. The distance by water is 
 ^7 miles, which she performs, in ordinary weather, 
 in 3^ hours up, and the same down. There were 
 many attempts to make steam-boats in this country ' 
 
STEAM-NAVIGATION. 
 
 546 
 
 Lapid Pro- 
 fess of 
 team-Na- 
 igation. 
 
 Steam- before this one, but none of them ever answered the 
 SJavigation. q^^^ . and even three years after the Comet was set 
 ' a sailing, there was a number of our first rate engi- 
 neers joined together, and obtained a patent for 
 what they conceived a new discovery on the paddles 
 for impelling the vessel forward. They were disap- 
 pointed in their plan, and had to return to the mode 
 o^f the Comet.'' — 
 
 The first American steam boat which completely 
 succeeded was launched at New York on the 3d 
 October 1807 (five years before the construction of 
 the Comet at Port-Glasgow), and soon after plyed 
 between that city and Albany, a distance of 160 miles. 
 
 In Britain, steam-vessels were first brought into 
 use in 1812 upon the Clyde. They were built at 
 Port-Glasgow, Greenock, and Dumbarton, where 
 the art of ship-building had lor many years been 
 conducted by carpenters eminent in their pro- 
 fession. When launched, they were towed at a 
 very trifling expence up the Clyde to Glasgow, 
 situated in the midst of inexhaustible mines of coal 
 and iron, and where the number of skilful practical 
 engineers and artificers rendered the construction of 
 the engines and machinery easy, and the prices 
 moderate. 
 
 The early experiments were, of course, made upon 
 a small scale. The first steam- boat actually put to use 
 there was the Comet (40 feet keel, 10^ feet beam, 4 
 wheels, 4 shovel-shaped paddles on each, with a cistern 
 of fresh water to feed the boiler), built, as already men- 
 tioned, by Mr Henry Bell. She had an engine of only 
 tliree horses' power, being intended merely for passen- 
 gers; who, till then, had no other means of conveyance 
 on the river than small row boats, either quite open, 
 or supplied with only an awning to secure them from 
 the weather. Small as this engine was, it rendered 
 the passage certain in one tide ; the vessel being able 
 to make head-way even against the wind, and in 
 rough weather. 
 
 The success of the first experiment soon excited 
 competition ; and a larger vessel, the Elizabeth (58 
 feet on deck, 1 1 feet beam, with an engine of 8 horses 
 power), was completed in March 1813, and for a time 
 proved very profitable to the proprietors. The third 
 boat, the Clyde, which began plying in July of the 
 same year, was still larger in her dimensions ; being 
 70 feet keel, 75 feet on deck, 13 feet beam, with an 
 engine of 1 4 horse power. 
 
 At present there are about thirty-five steam-ves- 
 sels on the Frith of Clyde, some of which sail from 
 Glasgow almost every hour, or half-hour, during 
 day-light, to the various ports on the river, and 
 the lochs communicating with it ; as Dumbarton, 
 Helensburgh, Loch-Long, Rothsay, Loch-Fine, and 
 Campbellton, on the right bank, and Port-Glasgow, 
 Greenock, Gourock, Innerkip, Largs, Milport, Ar- 
 drossan, Ayr, Irvine, Girvan, Stranraer, &c. on the 
 left bank. Many of them occasionally visit Islay, 
 Mull, StafFa,Icolmkin, andadjacent islands, during the 
 summer months; and also Londonderry, Coleraine,and 
 other ports of Ireland. Several vessels of larger dimen- 
 sions, are employed as regular packets to Belfast, 
 the Isle of Man, Liverpool, &c., and thus a constant 
 communication between the united kingdoms is main- 
 
 tained. Since 1821, two steam-vessels have regular- Steam- 
 ly sailed from Leith to Aberdeen, calling at several Navigation, 
 of the intermediate ports. Five or six steam luggage- ^^^'"^ 
 boats are constantly employed as lighters and draggers 
 of other boats, for the speedy conveyance of goods 
 from Glasgow to the ports of exportation, and occa- 
 sionally towing large vessels in or out of harbour. 
 The annual voyages of each of these SB vessels may 
 be averaged at 10,000 English miles; consequently, 
 the whole sail 350,000 miles yearly, or nearly 14 
 times the circumference of our globe. 
 
 The success of steam-vessels at Glasgow stjon 
 excited attention in other quarters, and several of 
 the Clyde vessels were purchased as models. It is 
 worthy of mention, that shortly after the time of their 
 appearance on the Clyde, Mr Lawrence of Bristol 
 established a steam-boat on the Severn, and having 
 carried her to ply on the Thames, the Company of 
 Watermen made such opposition to this innovation, 
 that he was obliged to take her back. Now, bow- 
 ever, not only are all the chief navigable rivers in 
 Britain thus navigated, but steam-vessels ply regu- 
 larly from London to Aberdeen, sometimes passing 
 the Pentland Frith. 
 
 On the Holyhead station, to carry mails between 
 England and Ireland, there are three steam-vessels 
 employed, viz. the Royal Sovereign, 210 tons, two 
 40-horse engines; the Meteor, 190 tons, two 30- 
 horse engines; and the Ivanhoe, 165 tons, one 56- 
 horse engine. They have answered the purpose 
 much better than sailing vessels ; as a proof of which, 
 during the last year the latter were employed, ex- 
 actly 100 Irish mails arrived in London late ; while, 
 during the nine months after the steam-boats were 
 first established, only 22 arrived late ; and that winter 
 happened to be extremely boisterous. These boats 
 use sails occasionally, and go to sea when sailing 
 vessels dare not leave port. The average pas- 
 sage of the Royal Sovereign, from Houth to Holy- 
 head, is six hours, fifty-seven minutes ; from Holy- 
 head to Houth seven hours, thirty-six minutes. Of 
 the Meteor, from Houth to Holyhead, seven hours, 
 four minutes, and back, eight hours, thirteen mi- 
 Tiutes. The average passage is half the time in 
 which the average passage of sailing vessels used to 
 per.^orm the voyage. The shortest passage was from 
 Houth to Holyhead,five hours, thirty minutes; which, 
 the distance being about 73 miles, is nearly 12 miles 
 an hour. 
 
 It is difficult to say what is the maximum speed Speed of 
 of steam-vessels. Several of those between Lon- Steam- Ves- 
 don and Margate make the voyage in seven hours and 
 a half, a distance of 84 miles. The Hero made the 
 voyage, wind and tide in her favour, in six hours, six- 
 teen minutes. The Eclipse, from Belfast to Greenock, 
 120 or 130 miles, has been known to come in nine 
 hours ; and, on one occasion, having about 3000 
 square feet of canvas set, besides the engine at work, 
 she came from Ailsa to Greenock at the rate of 9 miles. 
 The Henry Bell, a new steam-trader between Glas- 
 gow and Liverpool, has delivered goods at various 
 warehouses in Glasgow, several hours before the in- 
 voices, or advice of the shipment, had arrived in 
 course of post. The New York steam-vessels run ifp 
 
544 
 
 Steam- 
 Navigation. 
 
 STEAM- NAVIGATION. 
 
 to Albany, 160 miles, in 21 hours, and down in 19 ; 
 never in less than 19. They go from Newhaven to 
 New York, 90 miles, in six hours and a half without 
 sail ; being nearly 14 miles per hour. 
 
 At present, steam-boats frequently ply between 
 London and Dieppe, Rouen, Havre de Grace, Cadiz, 
 Corunna, Alicant, Vigo, Lisbon, and other ports of 
 France, Spain, and Portugal. One was lately estab- 
 lished between Naples and Leghorn and Genoa ; but 
 soon abandoned, owing to the oppression of the qua- 
 rantine laws, and the rapacity of the government of the 
 Two Sicilies. Another steam- vessel was launched by 
 an American gentleman on the Lake of Geneva, but, 
 being a very bad sailer, it is about to be replaced by 
 another. Every season they are becoming more nu- 
 merous, and adventurous in sailing to greater distances 
 atid through heavier seas ; such as the Bay of Biscay, 
 the Mediterranean, the Baltic, the Gulfs of Finland, 
 Bothnia, &c. A steam-packet, carrying the mail, 
 now sails between Kiel, in Holstein, and Copen- 
 hagen. In the Adriatic, the Carolina goes every 
 second day from Venice to Trieste, and the Eridano 
 to Pavia ; the latter voyage being usually accom- 
 plished in $7 hours. The Royal George steam-packet 
 makes her passage from Portsmouth to Corunna 
 in from 60 to 64 hours ; a distance of between 400 
 and 500 miles. 
 
 Navigation. 
 
 Present State Having thus endeavoured to give a sketch of the 
 of Steam- origin and progress of steam-navigation, we shall now 
 proceed to describe the form and parts of a steam-boat 
 (suppose of 100 tons), and to some other details, cal- 
 culated to furnish a more particular view of the pre- 
 sent state of steam-navigation in Britain and other 
 countries. 
 
 Fig. I, Plate CXVn., is an elevation; fig. 2, a 
 longitudinal section ; fig. 3, a ground plan ; fig. 4, a 
 transverse section. The same letters refer alike to 
 the respective parts of each figure : A, the two 
 boilers, with their two manhole doors, one to each; 
 B, the chimney; C, the steam pipes; DD, the cy- 
 linders of the two engines; EE, the two air pumps; 
 F, the side lever ; one on each side of each engine ; 
 GG, the crank of the paddle-wheel shaft ; H, the rod 
 that works the steam valves or hand gear, moved 
 backward and forward by an eccentric wheel on the 
 shaft; I, the nozzles; K, pillars of the framing; 
 LL, the area wliere the fireman stands to put coals 
 into the furnace ; MM, place where the coals are 
 stowed away ; NN, the paddle-wheels and covers : O, 
 ladies' parlour ; P, principal cabin ; Q, second cabin ; 
 having each a raised lantern or sky-light, besides the 
 lateral windows of P and Q ; R, steward's room ; S, 
 breakfasting room ; TT, refreshment rooms for the 
 second cabin passengers : U, small boat ready to be 
 let down on an emergency ; V, rudder ; WW, sea- 
 men's beds ; XX, space for lumber or spare fuel. 
 The fireman stands in the space LL ; an iron trap- 
 ladder leads down to it from the deck, flush with 
 which are tvvo horizontal gratings for the admis- 
 sion of fresh air to himself and the fire; his coals are 
 built up behind him, and he brings down only a few 
 lumps at a time, which he breaks into small pieces 
 as required. The chimney B is a series of sheet-iron 
 cylinders rivetted at the joints, and slipt the one over 
 
 the other. Each boiler has a flue within, making Steam- 
 various convolutions under the surface of the water ; Navig 
 through which the smoke and flame pass, until they 
 enter the chimney. 
 
 These wheels being ponderous, acquire sufficient 
 momentum to turn the crank, and supersede the 
 necessity df a fly. The air-pump, feed-pump, and 
 occasional cold water-pump, are wrought by rods from 
 FF, the side horizontal levers. To prevent the waste 
 steam of the boilers from annoying the passengers, a 
 pipe conveys it into the chimney. Besides this, a waste 
 steam valve is within reach of the engine-man, who 
 loads and unloads it as he finds necessary. It is a 
 curious fact, that a great flow of steam into the chim- 
 ney prevents black smoke from issuing from it, which 
 otherwise would. The paddle-wheels are firmly 
 wedged on their shaft, and whatever pressure they 
 exert against the water causes an equal re-action on 
 the vessel, which is thus impelled either forwards or • 
 backwards according to the direction of circumvolu- 
 tion. 
 
 The principal cabin is painted, and otherwise taste- 
 fully fitted up, and furnished with a stove, the chim- 
 ney of w^hich rises up through the deck. The second 
 cabin occupies the fore-end of the vessel, and is also 
 completely furnished, less elegantly. Small steam- 
 boats from 30 tons upwards are generally laid out 
 much in the same way, only varying according to 
 the nature of their employment. When intended for 
 sea voyages, a great part of the internal space is allot- 
 ted for sleeping births. 
 
 Plate CXVL exhibits a sketch of one of the Clyde 
 vessels, the CilT/ of Glasgoxv, of 300 tons. 
 
 The following is an alphabetical list of steam-ves- 
 sels built in Britain : 
 
 When 
 Built. 
 
 1822 
 
 1821 
 
 1819 
 
 1816 
 
 1820 
 
 1816 
 
 1818 
 
 1822 
 
 1815 
 
 1821 
 
 1820 
 
 1821 
 
 1822 
 
 181 
 
 1817 
 
 1820 
 
 1821 
 
 1815 
 
 1816 
 
 1820 
 
 1621 
 
 1821 
 
 1813 
 
 1821 
 
 1822 
 
 1818 
 
 Names of Vessels. 
 
 Aaron Manby 
 
 Abbey 
 
 Active 
 
 Mtm (double vessel) 
 
 Aire and Calder 
 
 Albion 
 
 Albion 
 
 Albion 
 
 Argyle 
 
 Arrow 
 
 Belfast 
 
 Brilliant 
 
 Bristol Cambria 
 
 British Queen 
 
 Britannia 
 
 Britannia 
 
 Britannia 
 
 Caledonia 
 
 Caledonia 
 
 Caledonia 
 
 Caledonia 
 
 Cumbria 
 
 Clyde 
 
 City of Edinburgh 
 City of Glasgow 
 Cobourg 
 
 Ton- 
 nage. 
 
 140 
 
 83 
 7 
 
 no 
 
 92 
 75 
 160 
 88 
 130 
 190 
 160 
 100 
 75 
 70 
 100 
 80 
 102 
 80 
 80 
 84 
 130 
 69 
 400 
 300 
 75 
 
 Engines. 
 
 Horseie 
 Fow. 
 
 28 
 
 10 
 
 20 
 
 35p 
 
 223 
 
 24^- 
 
 600 
 
 32^ 
 
 400 
 
 70b 
 
 40p 
 
 300 
 
 20p 
 
 156 
 
 4ob 
 
 200 
 322 
 12k 
 30 
 30p 
 503 
 1411 
 80 
 100 
 24 
 
STEAM. NAVIGATION. 
 
 545 
 
 When 
 Built. 
 
 Names of Vessels. 
 
 Ton- 
 nage- 
 
 Engines. 
 
 Horee 
 Pow. 
 
 1812 
 
 Comet 
 
 25 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 
 Comet lengthened 
 
 yu 
 
 1 
 
 0\J 
 
 1816 
 
 Congo . . 
 
 100 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 AU 
 
 1819 
 
 Lountess or Scarborough 
 
 50 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 in 
 
 1821 
 
 Dasher 
 
 130 
 
 a 
 A 
 
 40 
 
 
 Defiance . . 
 
 oO 
 
 1 
 
 J. t 
 
 
 Diana 
 
 OU 
 
 0 
 
 /i 
 
 on 
 
 1818 
 
 Dispatch 
 
 O Q 
 OO 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 1820 
 
 Duchess of Northumberland 
 
 40 
 
 1 
 
 IC 
 
 1822 
 
 Duke of Lancaster 
 
 141 
 
 2 
 
 nij 
 
 1818 
 
 Dunbarton 
 
 100 
 
 J 
 
 Id 
 
 1814 
 
 liiagie (double vessel) 
 
 40 
 
 1 
 
 0 
 
 lolo 
 
 Eagle 
 
 70 
 
 1 
 
 20 
 
 1 a9i 
 
 i o ^1 
 
 Eagle . . 
 
 1 "TCI 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 Eclipse . 
 
 1 on 
 
 9 
 
 £i 
 
 DU 
 
 1 1 
 
 Eclipse 
 
 140 
 
 Ct 
 
 A 
 
 OO 
 
 1821 
 
 Edinburgh Castle 
 
 148 
 
 A 
 
 40 
 
 1813 
 
 Elizabeth 
 
 40 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 1 823 
 
 Emerald Isle 
 
 450 
 
 o 
 
 65 
 
 lo lb 
 
 tjngineer 
 
 o 1 C 
 
 315 
 
 9 
 Ai 
 
 70 
 
 1 R 1 0 
 
 Enterprise 
 
 an 
 
 OK) 
 
 1 
 
 c 
 
 1820 
 
 Earl or Egremont 
 
 50 
 
 2 
 
 24 
 
 1 Q 1 O 
 
 lolo 
 
 Favourite 
 
 160 
 
 A 
 
 40 
 
 1819 
 
 bavounte . . 
 
 117 
 
 1 
 
 2o 
 
 1817 
 
 Fingal 
 
 67 
 
 1 
 
 16 
 
 1813 
 
 Glasgow^ now the Thames 
 
 74 
 
 I 
 
 1 6 
 
 1820 
 
 ijrlasgow 
 
 90 
 
 1 
 
 24 
 
 1810 
 
 bourock 
 
 05 
 
 1 
 
 14 
 
 1817 
 
 brreenock 
 
 5'/ 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 182.? 
 
 Henry Bell 
 
 200 
 
 2 
 
 60 
 
 1 QOO 
 
 Hercules 
 
 1 30 
 
 
 60 
 
 
 Hero 
 
 ZOO 
 
 9 
 
 90 
 
 1823 
 
 Hibernia 
 
 280 
 
 2 
 
 40 
 
 I S9l 
 
 1 O Zil 
 
 Highlander . . 
 
 07 
 
 J. 
 
 OA 
 
 1 ooo 
 
 tlighland Chrertain 
 
 65 
 
 1 
 
 16 
 
 
 Hignlana Lad 
 
 K 1 
 O 1 
 
 1 
 
 12 
 
 lol5 
 
 Hope 
 
 45 
 
 
 6 
 
 I8i9 
 
 Hope 
 
 30 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 1817 
 
 Humber 
 
 80 
 
 1 
 
 12 
 
 1820 
 
 Inderatigable 
 
 30 
 
 JL 
 
 8 
 
 
 Industry . 
 
 79 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 
 Inverary Castle 
 
 114 
 
 9 
 
 40 
 
 1 Son 
 
 Ivanhoe 
 
 IVO 
 
 2 
 
 55 
 
 I I 
 
 1 0% I 
 
 James Watt . 
 
 AA Q 
 4*o 
 
 2 
 
 100 
 
 1817 
 
 T — T> 11 
 
 John Bull 
 
 75 
 
 ■f 
 1 
 
 15 
 
 I Q on 
 
 King of the Netherlands 
 
 140 
 
 9 
 
 80 
 
 1 S 1 /I 
 
 lol4 
 
 Lady ot the Lake 
 
 7o 
 
 1 
 
 20 
 
 1818 
 
 Lady of the Shannon 
 
 90 
 
 1 
 
 20 
 
 1821 
 
 Lady Stanley 
 
 87 
 
 1 
 
 20 
 
 1 C 1 n 
 
 Largs 
 
 90 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 35 
 
 
 Leeds . 
 
 
 1 
 
 30 
 
 
 Lemington Packet . 
 
 oV 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 
 London 
 
 W 
 
 1 
 
 14 
 
 
 r i\/r„i -.;i 1 -* 
 
 Lord Melville 
 
 Lord Nelson, see Sir William 
 Wallace 
 
 ZZO 
 
 
 80 
 
 1816 
 
 \Tajestic 
 
 90 
 
 1 
 
 24 
 
 1821 
 
 Majestic 
 
 350 
 
 2 
 
 100 
 
 1819 
 
 Maria Tug 
 
 80 
 
 1 
 
 24 
 
 1817 
 
 Marion 
 
 70 
 
 1 
 
 14 
 
 1813 
 
 Margery 
 
 70 
 
 1 
 
 14 
 
 1818 
 
 Marquis of Bute 
 
 60 
 
 1 
 
 14 
 
 When 
 Built. 
 
 Names of Vessels. 
 
 Ton- 
 nage. 
 
 Engines. 
 
 Horse 
 Pow. 
 
 1822 
 
 
 1 nn 
 lUU 
 
 1 
 
 X 
 
 <?fi 
 
 1 fiOQ 
 
 Lvieuusa . . 
 
 90 
 
 2 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 94. 
 
 
 I T-I C I is t; V • , 
 
 oU 
 
 1 
 
 On 
 zU 
 
 1 SO 1 
 
 Lvjeteor . . 
 
 190 
 
 
 ^n 
 OO 
 
 1 8 H 
 
 iVlril'ninn* .vlfot* 
 
 lUU 
 
 J 
 
 OA 
 
 1814 
 
 i'xuriiing otar • 
 
 on 
 
 ZV 
 
 High pres. 
 
 Q 
 
 1 5^9) 
 
 Mountaineer i . 
 
 190 
 
 2 
 
 *Tn 
 70 
 
 1821 
 
 ' <* V 1 ii d LUl • • 
 
 
 J. 
 
 1 8 
 J 0 
 
 1816 
 
 j\ Pntiino 
 
 t LI tulle • • 
 
 as 
 
 OO 
 
 0 
 z 
 
 
 1 81 
 
 Well • • 
 
 OU 
 
 2 Horiz. 
 
 1 0 
 
 1813 
 
 Orwpll 
 
 on 
 ZL 
 
 High pres. 
 
 Q 
 0 
 
 1815 
 
 0^ car 
 
 
 
 1 0 
 
 1814 
 
 1 C^l dCVCl CtllCC t • 
 
 fin 
 
 
 1 4 
 It 
 
 1814 
 
 i ilfJUUlX • • 
 
 O K 
 ZD 
 
 High pres. 
 
 A 
 'i 
 
 1 so 1 
 
 Postboy • • 
 
 80 
 
 1 
 
 zU 
 
 I SI n 
 
 Port Glasjjow . , 
 
 /O 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 ID 
 
 I «9 1 
 
 
 on 
 oU 
 
 9 
 
 on 
 zv 
 
 1 Q 1 Q 
 
 lolo 
 
 Prince of Orange 
 
 40 
 
 A 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 1 QOO 
 
 1 ozSr 
 
 Prince Llewellyn . 
 
 170 
 
 A 
 
 70 
 
 1 Q9l 
 1 O/l 
 
 Queen Margaret 
 
 60 
 
 1 
 
 zO 
 
 
 Quentin Durward 
 
 96 
 
 A 
 
 An 
 
 1 oZl 
 
 Rapid . • 
 
 140 
 
 2 
 
 5d 
 
 1 ROq 
 
 Rapid . . 
 
 140 
 
 0 
 z 
 
 ^Jn 
 
 OU 
 
 tolO 
 
 Regent . . 
 
 112 
 
 A 
 
 9/1 
 
 1 SI 4. 
 
 1 O 1 1- 
 
 Richmond • • 
 
 00 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 
 IRIS 
 
 Rising Star • . 
 
 400 
 
 0 
 
 /u 
 
 1810 
 1 o 1 y 
 
 Robert Bruce . 
 
 1 C 
 
 100 
 
 9 
 
 uu 
 
 1 S 1 Q 
 L o J y 
 
 ituoeri Duriis < 
 
 no. 
 to 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 9A 
 
 1 S 1 fi 
 
 lolo 
 
 ivoo itoy • 
 
 1 nn 
 lUU 
 
 1 
 
 c?n 
 oU 
 
 1 O i-V 
 
 Rothesay Castle . ■ 
 
 nn 
 90 
 
 1 
 
 OA 
 Z'i 
 
 i OZO 
 
 Royal George Ship . 
 
 
 A 
 
 
 1 O O 1 
 
 Loal 
 
 Royal Sovereign George IV. 
 
 210 
 
 A 
 
 80 
 
 L oZz 
 
 Royal Sovereign 
 
 220 
 
 2 
 
 80 
 
 1 OO 1 
 
 L oA 1 
 
 Safety • 
 
 ob 
 
 1 
 
 14 
 
 1 sol 
 
 Sampson • 
 
 1 nn 
 lUU 
 
 0 
 z 
 
 A n 
 40 
 
 1810 
 
 Lolo 
 
 oeicky . 
 
 Qn 
 oO 
 
 1 
 
 24 
 
 1 899 
 
 Sir Joseph Yorke 
 
 1 An 
 lUO 
 
 1 
 
 30 
 
 1816 
 
 Sir \A7illi!im ^A/^qIIsiop Enr- 
 oll vv iiiidiii TV diicict^j lur^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 lUcliy XJUiU jJNclbUll 
 
 00 
 
 9 
 
 QO 
 OZ 
 
 1 o zo 
 
 Soho • • 
 
 OIV 
 
 0 
 
 1 On 
 1 zO 
 
 1 8 1 C 
 
 Speedwell . . 
 
 40 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 1 S 1 A 
 
 Stirling Castle . 
 
 00 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 12 
 
 1817 
 
 OUIlo Ui v>Ullilllci • 
 
 sn 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 9n 
 ZU 
 
 1 899 
 
 
 
 0 
 
 q9 
 oA 
 
 1 S90 
 1 OZZ 
 
 Sovereign ^ . 
 
 n ft. 
 95 
 
 0 
 
 on 
 
 1 899 
 
 St George . • 
 
 010 
 olz 
 
 
 1 10 
 
 S9Q 
 I OZZ 
 
 Ol irdiriCK • . . 
 
 ono 
 
 Ays 
 
 0 
 
 1 1 n 
 1 lU 
 
 a9i 
 
 OZl 
 
 Star 
 
 on 
 9U 
 
 
 
 ft9n 
 
 . OZV 
 
 Superb • • . 
 
 246 
 
 9 
 £1 
 
 *7n 
 
 70 
 
 L821 
 
 ourprise 
 
 120 
 
 2 
 
 30 
 
 1 81 
 
 L O I 0 
 
 Sari ft 
 
 owin . > . 
 
 Iz 
 
 ■1 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 1 ftl 0 
 
 I o 1 y 
 
 OWIIL • . . 
 
 9 
 
 1 
 
 <? 
 
 1 89 1 
 
 1 O Z( 1 
 
 Swift 
 
 O w 1 1 L . • 
 
 ZDV 
 
 0 
 
 C5U 
 
 1 R9 1 
 
 Swiftsure . • 
 
 1 AA 
 1 04 
 
 9 
 
 30 
 
 1819 
 
 Talbot 
 
 156 
 
 2 
 
 60 
 
 1821 
 
 Tartar 
 
 180 
 
 2 Horiz., 
 
 fSO 
 
 182J 
 
 Thames, see the Glasgow 
 
 
 L Vertical. 
 
 jio 
 
 1821 
 
 Thane of Fife 
 
 148 
 
 2 
 
 40 
 
 1822 
 
 Tourist ( now Royal George) 
 
 200 
 
 2 
 
 80 
 
 1822 
 
 Towart Castle 
 
 120 
 
 2 
 
 SO 
 
 1818 
 
 Trusty 
 
 88 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 Steam- 
 Navigation. 
 
546 
 
 Steam- 
 Navigation. 
 
 ST EAM-NAVIGATION. 
 
 When 
 Built. 
 
 1817 
 1820 
 1820 
 1821 
 1822 
 182^/ 
 1821 
 1821 
 1818 
 1820 
 1819 
 1822 
 
 Names of Vessels. 
 
 Tug 
 
 Two Brothers 
 Tyne 
 Union 
 Union 
 
 Union, double ferry-boat 
 
 Venus . « 
 
 Velocity . • 
 
 Victory 
 
 Waterloo 
 
 Waterloo 
 
 Yorkshireman- 
 
 Ton. 
 
 nage 
 
 Engines. 
 
 Horse 
 row. 
 
 
 2 
 
 32 
 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 40 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 X 
 
 4 
 
 
 2 
 
 16 
 
 100 
 
 2 
 
 30 
 
 265 
 
 2 
 
 60 
 
 150 
 
 2 
 
 40 
 
 160 
 
 2 
 
 40 
 
 90 
 
 1 
 
 20 
 
 210 
 
 2 
 
 60 
 
 200 
 
 2 
 
 80 
 
 The Soho, the largest vessel in this list, indeed the 
 largest steam -vessel yet built in Europe, was launch- 
 ed in July 1823, intended to ply between Leith and 
 London, a distance of about 460 miles. She is im- 
 pelled by two engines of 60 horse power each ; her 
 length of deck is 163 feet ; breadth 27 ; depth of hold 
 16 feet, 10 inches; burden 510 tons. Her accom- 
 modations are extensive, having space for 112 beds. 
 The ladies' cabin is eight feet high. 
 
 The Soho is, however, of somewhat smaller dimen- 
 sions than the American steam-boat, the Chancellor 
 Livingston, plying on the Hudson river between New 
 York and Albany, constructed by Mr Fulton. The fol- 
 lowing are some particulars respecting this vessel. Her 
 keel is 154 feet long ; deck 1 65; 32 broad; burden 520 
 tons; draft of water about seven feet three inches; prin- 
 cipal cabin 54 feet long, 7 high ; ladies' cabin, above 
 the other, 36 long, with closets; forward cabin 30 
 long, 7 high. Permanent sleeping-births, in princi- 
 pal cabin, 38; in ladies' cabin, 24; in fore cabin. 56 ; 
 in captain's cabin on deck, 2 ; engineers' and pilots , 
 S ; forecastle, 6 ; fire-men, cooks, &c., 6 ; total, 
 135. Her engine is of 75 horse power ; diameter 
 of cylinder 40 inches, length five feet ; piston rod, 
 8| feet; stroke, five feet; boiler, 28 feet long, 
 12 broad, with two funnels ; paddle-wheels, 17 feet 
 diameter ; paddle-boards five feet, ten inches long, 
 with two fly-wheels, each 14 feet diameter, connect- 
 ed by pinions to the crank wheel. The machinery 
 rises 4^ feet above the deck. Average rate of sailing 
 ^ight and one-half to eight and three-fourths miles an 
 hour. With a strong wind and tide in her favour, 
 she has made twelve ; but with a strong wind and tide, 
 against her, not more than six miles per hour. The 
 hands employed onboard are— 13 mariners, 11 cooks, 
 waiters, -Stewards, &c. ; — in all 24. 
 
 This vessel, however, is still much surpassed in size 
 by the Lady Sherbrooke, of 787 tons, and 60 horse 
 power; being the largest of eight which ply on 
 the river St Lawrence. This gives 13 tons for each 
 horse power, whereas in the Soho the same burthen 
 has three times as much action applied to it. The 
 American steam-vessels, though fast sailers, are thus 
 impelled by comparatively smaller engines than those 
 built in this country. 
 
 It appears from the Report of the Select Committee 
 of the House of Representatives, for session 1817, 
 that there were then 17 large steam-boats in con- 
 stant employment on the American rivers, besides 
 
 ferry-boats. But since that time they have increased Steam 
 so rapidly, that there are now (1823) about 300. Navigati 
 The following are the names of 35 vessels, and ^^^^ 
 their tonnage, plying on the Mississippi and its tribu- 
 tary rivers alone, viz. Alabama, 200 tons ; Buffalo, 
 300; Cedar Branch, 250; Cincinnati, 120; Consti- 
 tution, 75 ; Eagle, 70 ; Etna, 390; Exchange, 200; 
 Experiment, 40 ; Frankfort, 320 ; General Jackson, 
 200; General Pike, 250; Governor Shelby, 120; 
 Harnot, 40; Hecla, 70; Henderson, 85 ; Independ- 
 ence, 300 ; James Monroe, 90; James Ross, 320; 
 Johnston, 80; Kentucky, 80; Louisiana, 54 ; Madi- 
 son, 200; Maysville, 150; Napoleon, 332; Ohio, 443; 
 Paragon, 400; Rifleman, 250; Rising States, 150; 
 St Louis, 220; Tamerlane, 320; Vesta, 100; Vesu- 
 vius, 390; Volcano, 250; Washington, 400; — in all 
 7259 tons. 
 
 Belonging to some of the States, there are steam 
 frigates and ships of war carrying guns, some of 
 them 100 pounders. These vessels are 13 feet thick 
 in the sides, of alternate layers of oak and cork ; are 
 so constructed, that they can eject boiling water on 
 their enemies ; and there are cases of cutlasses anxl 
 pikes which project from their sides, and draw back 
 again every fifteen seconds. 
 
 The Savannah, of 350 tons, was tiie first steam- 
 vessel that crossed the Atlantic. She arrived at 
 Liverpool 20th June 1819, in 21 days from land 
 to land ; 18 of which her engine was going; her 
 daily consumption of coal was about 10 tons, so that 
 she must have had at least 200 on board, leaving 
 150 for the weight of engine and cargo. Her paddles 
 were occasionally taken off, when she sailed by wind 
 and the whole of the paddle-wheels were capable of 
 being taken to pieces and shipped, in case of bad 
 weather. As the distance is not much short of 4000 
 miles, she must have averaged nearly 200 jo^r day. 
 
 By far the greatest number of steam-vessels use low 
 pressure engines. A larger proportion of American 
 vessels have high pressure engines than in this country. 
 High pressure engines are wrought with steam of 
 a great variety of strengths, from 30 to l60 Ihs. per 
 square inch. Some engineers assert, that it is capa- 
 ble of being used at 1000 lbs. The steam is not 
 condensed, but, after having acted on the piston, is 
 allowed to blow off into the air. The diameter of their 
 steam cylinders may be made of any size proportion- 
 ed to the strength of the steam used. Thus, when it 
 is 160 lbs., the area of the cylinder may be only a 
 sixteenth part of the area of one using steam of 10 
 lbs.; consequently, a five inch cylinder wrought 
 with such strong steam will be equal in power to a 
 20 inch cylinder wrought with such weak steam. 
 High pressure engines require neither air-pump, con- 
 ductor, nor the parts therewith connected ; and as 
 the volume of steam used is in proportion, their 
 boilers may consequently be much smaller. Hence 
 these engines occupy less room and tonnage, and 
 require somewhat less fuel ; but the risk of ex- 
 plosion is considerable. Were it otherwise, they 
 would be very valuable at sea, because their power 
 can be increased on emergencies, by merely increasing 
 the fire, whereas the power of condensing engines is 
 much more circumscribed, and confined to their ori- 
 ginal construction. The free effective power of large 
 
STEAM NAVIGATION. 
 
 PLATE CXVI 
 
I'i,l,/i..-/ir,/ I.I, A. C,,,,.-,/. ,!,/<■ X- (••: IS'^>4 
 
S T K 
 
 earn- low pressure engines is about eight or nine lbs. per 
 ^o*'^"'"- square inch of their steam pistons, and of small ones 
 under .SO horses, only seven or eight. 
 
 S T E 
 
 547 
 
 eral Oi3- 
 ftions as 
 £ lin- 
 emen t 
 lis Art. 
 
 It is remarkable that, after the first successful 
 trial, very little improvement has been made in the 
 construction of steam-vessels. Experience has only 
 fixed the suitable proportions of the several parts. 
 Much, however, still remains to be done. The great 
 objects wanted are to increase the power of the en- 
 gine ; to avoid the waste of force in the play of the 
 paddles ; and to render their action more equable. 
 Notwithstanding the number and variety of steam- 
 engines which have been erected in this island, it is 
 truly surprising that some of the most important 
 points of theory should be left uncertain and subject 
 to dispute. We have neither ascertained exactly the 
 density of steam formed under different pressures, 
 nor the quantity of heat absorbed in its formation. 
 Most of the conclusions of engineers are drawn ra- 
 ther from analogy than from facts ; and a new set of 
 experiments on steam, conducted with scrupulous at- 
 tention, and on a comprehensive plan, are much want- 
 ed at present to guide all our practical operations. It 
 seems probable that the most economical engines, on 
 the whole, are those which work under a high steam 
 pressure, though the statements given by different au- 
 thors cannot be easily reconciled. The vapour of other 
 fluids has sometimes been proposed instead of the 
 steam from water. It would be an important object 
 gained, if the same elastic force could be created 
 with less expence of heat. The prodigious con- 
 sumption of coals by the boilers proves a great hin- 
 drance to the extension of steam-navigation. The 
 store of this ponderous species of fuel required for 
 the supply of the engine in a distant voyage, would 
 
 Steel-En- 
 graving. 
 
 occupy the whole tonnage even of a large vessel. Steam- 
 The Rapid, of ISO tons burden, and 60 horse ^^avigation 
 power, required nearly a ton of coals every two hours, 
 and could not therefore continue at sea above eleven 
 days; and we have seen that the Savannah, which' 
 crossed the Atlantic, consumed ten tons of coals 
 every day, or 210 tons during the passage of 21 
 days, leaving only 140 of surplus tonnage. Unless 
 some great discovery, indeed, be made on the con- 
 centration of heat, we shall never dispatch steam* 
 packets directly to the East or West Indies, 
 
 The form and disposition of the paddles might 
 certainly be improved. They seldom strike the 
 water in the right direction, but splash it about, 
 and leave it to impede the progress of the vessel. 
 An irregular unpleasant motion is hence produced, 
 and much force thereby lost. With a strong side- 
 wind likewise, the larboard paddles are deeply im- 
 mersed in the water, while the opposite ones are 
 nearly suspended in the air, and scarcely act at all ; 
 the necessary consequence is, that, in such circum- 
 stances, the steam-vessel describes a winding path, 
 and becomes unmanageable by the helm. Is it not 
 possible to apply the immediate power of steam to pro- 
 pel vessels without dividing and diminishing its action 
 by the intervention of a train of cranks and paddles ? 
 
 Steam-navigation, though still limited in its opera- 
 tion, is a splendid triumph of ingenuity, and consti- 
 tutes an epoch in the history of the mechanical arts. 
 It has opened a most beneficial internal commerce 
 in the vast regions of America; it has wonderfully 
 facilitated the communication between the different 
 parts of Europe ; and by multiplying the friendly 
 intercourse of men in all countries, it has essentially 
 contributed to diffuse knowledge, to soften preju- 
 dices, and to quicken the efforts of general industry.* 
 
 STEEL, Engraving upon. At the first dis- 
 jcovery of the Art of Printing from engraved metals, 
 experiments would most probably be made with a 
 view of ascertaining the fittest metal for the pur- 
 pose ; indeed it is known, that copper, tin, and sil- 
 ver, were employed by the early artists ; and there 
 are some prints, by Albert Durer, which are consi- 
 dered to be impressions from plates engraved or 
 etched on steel. In the collection of Albert Durer's 
 prints, in the British Museum, there are five of these 
 prints, the chief of which are, Christ in the Garden, 
 a print 6 inches by 8^ inches, dated 1515; the 
 Lady and the Monster, 12 inches by S\ inches, 
 dated 1516; and ihe Cannon, l2| inches by 8J 
 inclies, dated 1518. 
 
 But, for the usual purposes of engraving, copper 
 has some advantages which have led to its being 
 nearly always employed in preference to other 
 metals ; and in one instance only have we found 
 that steel plate was used for engraving upon in this 
 
 country, before the late attempts to prevent the 
 forgery of bank-notes. The plate we allude to is 
 the Ceiling of the Star Chamber," in the Topo- 
 graphical Illustrations of Westminster, engraved by 
 Mr J. T. Smith, in 1805. 
 
 The great expense of renewing plates for bank- 
 notes, when any superior engraving is introduced, 
 for rendering imitation difficult, suggested the idea 
 of employing a harder material than copper to en- 
 grave upon. Steel plate was tried, and found capa- 
 ble of affording from 20 to 30 times the number of 
 impressions that could be obtained from a plate of 
 copper ; while it was not much more difficult to 
 engrave upon. The advantage to be derived from 
 employing steel was first made public, in this 
 country, in 1818, by the inquiry respecting the 
 prevention of forgery, instituted by the Society for 
 the Encouragement of Arts, &c. in London ; when 
 a specimen of engraving on soft steel was presented 
 to the Society by the late Mr Charles Warren ; and 
 
 • This Article was written mostly by a Gentleman of Glasgow, well informed on the subject of Steam- 
 navigation. — Ed. 
 
548 S T E 
 
 Steel-En- it appeared, from evidence collected by the Com- 
 graving. mittee, that notes, with ornamental borders, printed 
 ^'-^ from steel plates, were then in use, jn America. 
 Soon after this period, Messrs Perkins and Fairman, 
 from America, in conjunction with Mr Heath, ^ an 
 eminent engraver of London, formed an establish- 
 ment for printing notes, and other engravings, from 
 steel blocks. 
 
 The methods of engraving on steel, adopted by 
 Warren and others, were similar to those employed 
 in engraving on copper ; differing only so far as was 
 necessary on account of the nature of the material, 
 and the process of hardening the plates. In addi- 
 tion to these methods, Perkins, Fairman, and Heath, 
 employ a mechanical process for increasing the num- 
 ber of impressions. They first make the engraving 
 on a thick plate of soft steel ; the plate is then hard- 
 ened, and the impression is transferred, in a spring 
 press, to the surface of a soft steel cylinder, by roll- 
 ing the cylinder repeatedly to and fro on the en- 
 graved plate, under a very considerable pressure. 
 The transfer thus obtained is in relief, and the cy- 
 linder being hardened, it is made, by the same 
 spring press, to repeat as many impressions as may 
 be desired on soft steel, or on copper plates, for the 
 purpose of printing from. They usually impress 
 steel blocks, each of which will afford several thou- 
 sand impressions, and when the cylinder becomes 
 worn by transferring, a new one may be impressed 
 from the original engraving; and, consequently, an 
 inconceivable num-ber of prints may be obtained 
 from one original plate. 
 
 It ought, however, to be remarked, that an en- 
 graving cannot be transferred from steel to steel 
 without injury ; and that the injury will be greater 
 in proportion to the spirit, freedom, and delicacy of 
 the work. Indeed, where engravings are to be con- 
 sidered as works of art, it will always be preferable 
 to engrave or etch on tempered steel, and print 
 from it without hardening. A sufficient quantity of 
 impressions may thus be obtained, and of a superior 
 kind ; because steel being more compact and hard 
 than copper, it requires less labour to clean off the 
 superfluous ink, and it is, consequently, less worn 
 by this part of the process.* But the power of 
 transferring is of great value in all cases where a 
 great number of impressions is the chief object de- 
 sired ; as in notes, plates for school-books, ornamen- 
 tal borders for pottery, labels, &c. 
 
 In preparing steel plates, for either engraving or 
 etching, the surface should be well polished, so as 
 to render it compact, of an equable degree of hard- 
 ness,~ and perfectly smootTi. The same tools are 
 used as for copper, but they should be of the kind 
 of steel which is endowed with the greatest degree 
 of hardness and toughness. When a plate is to be 
 etched, the point which removes the varnish should 
 be sufficiently hard to penetrate the polish on the 
 surface of the plate ; the acid will then bite more 
 freely and to a greater depth, without spreading so 
 
 S T E 
 
 as to produce a broad and shallow line. A point of Steel-En 
 diamond is, we believe, sometimes employed, parti- gravin 
 cularly where the lines are drawn with the ruling- 
 machine, invented by Mr Wilson Lowry, the found- 
 er of a new school of engraving, which has been 
 of infinite use in diffusing correct taste in archi- 
 tecture and sound knowledge in mechanics. The 
 same ingenious artist observed, in the first etchings 
 on steel, that the Hues were broad without depth; 
 and, in consequence, tried to find a menstruum that 
 would answer the purpose better than the common 
 acids; in this he perfectly succeeded, and was en- 
 abled to bite the lines deep, and yet preserve the 
 desired degree of fineness. This discovery he 
 subsequently disposed of to Mr Heath : the exact 
 nature of the process we have not been able to as- 
 certain. 
 
 Of the common acids, diluted muriatic acid seems 
 to answer best, but diluted nitric acid produces 
 nearly the same effect. 
 
 When the plate is not to be hardened after being 
 engraved, one of a spring temper may be employed ; 
 and if etching only is to be done on the plate, thin 
 steel of a harder temper might be used ; but the 
 hardness must not be greater than will admit of its 
 being scratched by the tracing point ; otherwise a 
 fine line cannot be produced of the necessary 
 depth. 
 
 When the graver is to be much employed on a 
 plate, it should.be annealed (see Annealing in 
 this Supplement), in order to render it uniformly 
 soft. The plate, after being engraved, may be hard- 
 ened most effectually, and with the least injury 
 to the engraving, or risk of warping the plate, by 
 heating it m a metallic bath, and quenching the whole 
 in a cooling fluid. A bath of the fusible alloy of lead, 
 tin, and bismuth, which Dr Wollaston proposed for 
 hardening delicate steel-work, will, perhaps, answer 
 better than any other. (See Cutlery, p. 457, Vol. 
 III. of this Supplement.) It will always be an ad- 
 vantage to employ a perfectly fluid medium for 
 cooling ; and we have reason to conclude, from some 
 hasty experiments, that water heated to its boiling 
 point is better than cold water for cooling steel : 
 the quick abstraction of heat, by converting water 
 into steam, seems to have more effect than the mere 
 cooling power of a large body of cold water. 
 
 If plates are not to be transferred, there is some dis- 
 advantage in employing thick ones ; and more especi- 
 ally in cases where an alteration may be necessary, or 
 a mistake is to be rectified. In a thin steel plate it is 
 as easy to rectify an error as in copper ; but in a 
 thick one it is a troublesome process. 
 
 Mezzotinto engraving on steel is also found to 
 answer equally as well as the other kinds ; some very 
 fine prints have lately been done in this manner ; 
 and the great number of impressions a steel plate 
 affords, will cause this beautiful style of engraving to 
 be more generally cultivated. 
 
 The advantages of copper consist in its being 
 
 * A steel plate, which had not been hardened, has been known to afford 95,000 impressions without 
 material injury. 
 
 4 
 
S T E 
 
 iteel-En- more easily prepared for engraving upon ; in its 
 graving goftness, which renders it less difficult to engrave ; 
 kingshire. small degree of care necessary to protect 
 
 F the plate from injury, whenever it is not necessary to 
 print at once the whole number of impressions the 
 jjlate will afford. Now, it will always be difficult to 
 preserve steel plates without more care and attention 
 than can at all times be ensured ; hence, each metal 
 has its peculiar excellence; steel for the supply of a 
 rapid and extensive demand; copper for the slow 
 and regular progress of works on the sciences and 
 mts. 
 
 As printing from engraved steel is now much used 
 as a means of preventing forgery, we shall close this 
 article with a few remarks on that subject. It ap. 
 pears to us, that there should be nothing complex 
 in the figures that are selected for the engraving ; 
 tlieir excellence should consist in the perfect even- 
 ness and parallelism of lines, whether straight or 
 curved ; but curved lines of difficult kinds should 
 be preferred. Many crossings render a pattern in- 
 tricate and confused : they distract the attention and 
 dazzle the sight. Wavy patterns, with scattered 
 lights, have the same effect. In such cases it is 
 difficult to compare one specimen with another ; 
 and a general imitation is not so easily detected. 
 It will be desirable to unite the work of an artist to 
 that of a mechanical engraver; and in such cases 
 the subject should be of sufficient size to allow of 
 its being distinctly made out; because it will in- 
 crease the difficulty of imitation. Where the circu- 
 lation of notes is limited, good engraving on the 
 note will be an effectual check upon forgery ; but 
 the notes of different banks should be made as dis- 
 tinct as possible, instead of the same work being in- 
 troduced in different notes, as may easily be done 
 with steel cylinders. Where a whole empire is serv- 
 ed with one kind of notes, the temptation to forge 
 is so great that it cannot perhaps be altogether pre- 
 vented ; and, therefore, while every proper expedient 
 should be used to increase the difficulty of forgery, 
 no apparent difficulty of copying should render bank- 
 ers and others less on their guard against it. 
 
 See Report of the Committee of the Society of Arts, 
 8^c. on the Mode of Preventing the Forgery of Bank- 
 A^o^es, 8 vo. London, I8I9. Edinburgh Philosophi- 
 cal Journal, Vol. III. p. 140. (h. h ii ) 
 
 STEREOTYPE PRINTING. See the Article 
 Pri NTiNG in this Supplement. 
 
 STIRLINGSHIRE, a county in Scotland, si- 
 
 S T I 
 
 549 
 
 ration . - J , 
 
 Bound- tuated between 55° 55', and 56" 17' north latitude, 
 es. and between 3° 17', and 4° 40' west longitude, on 
 the isthmus between the Friths of Forth and Clyde. 
 It has the counties of Perth and Clackmannan on the 
 north, the Frith of Forth and Linlithgowshire on 
 the east, Lanarkshire on the south, and Dunbarton- 
 shire on the south-west and west ; and, extending 
 from 12 to I7 miles from north to south, and about 
 S.5 from west to east, contains 645 square miles, or 
 412,800 English acres ; divided into 21 entire pa- 
 rishes, with portions of other four, which partly be- 
 long to the adjoining counties. The river and 
 Frith of Forth is, for the most part, the boundary 
 on the north, though one entire parish, and parts of 
 other two are on the north side of that river ; on the 
 
 VOL. VI. PARI II. 
 
 tent 
 
 west It mcludes part of Lochlomond, and a narrow Stirlingshire 
 neck runs out on the north-west, the east side of ^^^"^ 
 which touches Loch Katrine. Like many other of 
 the Scottish counties, it is of a very irregular form, 
 yet most of its outline is well defined. Besides the 
 Forth on the north and north-east, the Avon marks 
 Us separation from Linlithgowshire, on the east and 
 north-east; the Kelvin flows along a great part of 
 the southern boundary ; and the Endric, before en- 
 termg Lochlomond, divides it for some distance 
 from Dunbartonshire on the west. 
 
 About two-thirds of Stirlingshire consist of hills Surface, 
 unfit for cultivation, but affording good pasturage for 
 sheep ; being chiefly covered with green herbage, 
 though sometimes intermixed with heath. The princi- 
 pal tract of this description, called the Lennox Hills, 
 runs across the county, from Dunbartonshire on the 
 west, to the town of Stirling on the north, but it sel- 
 dom presents an elevation of more than 1500 feet. 
 In other quarters, however, the elevation is greater ; 
 Benlomond, on the north-west, on the banks of Loch- 
 lomond, being 3262 feet high ; and Bencloch, in the 
 parish of Alva, on the north side of the Forth, up- 
 wards of 2400 feet. On the north, and still more on 
 the east of the Lennox Hills, the country is low ; the 
 summit level of the Forth and Clyde Canal, which 
 passes through the south-eastern side, being only 
 about 162 feet above the sea, and much of the land 
 along the Forth is a very rich plain, only a few feet 
 higher than the water. Towards the western and 
 southern extremities the surface is more varied, pre- 
 senting tracts of heath, moss, and green pastures, in- 
 termixed with cultivated land ; the latter confined, 
 for the most part, to the banks of the streams. 
 
 Stirlingshire has every variety of soil common in Soil. 
 . Scotland; but that for which it is chiefly distinguish- 
 ed in this respect is the alluvial or carse land on the 
 Forth ; which is computed to extend to about 40,000 
 English acres within this county, and twice as much 
 more in the adjoining counties of Perth, Clackman- 
 nan, and Linlithgow, or, in all, to about 200 square 
 miles ; certainly by far the richest tract in Scotland. 
 It consists of the finest particles of earth, without 
 stones ; in point of friability approaching to the cha- 
 racter of loam ; in some places 30 feet deep, and sel- 
 dom more than 25 feet above the level of the sea at high 
 water; and contains beds of shells, moss, and clay 
 marl. In one instance, at the depth of 19 feet, 
 there have been found in a stratum of moss the roots ' 
 of large trees, deer's horns, and bones, while the su- 
 perior strata were composed entirely of fine earth. 
 
 Coal, limestone, ironstone, and sandstone, abound Minerals, 
 in this county. Coal has not been found to the north 
 and west of the Lennox Hills, but prevails very ge- 
 nerally along their southern base, from Baldernock on 
 the west to Denny and St Ninian's on the east ; and 
 generally throughout all the eastern quarter, on both 
 sides of the Forth and Clyde Canal. By means of the 
 Union Canal carried from the city of Edinburgh to the 
 Forth and Clyde near Falkirk (see Edinburghshire 
 in this Supplement), these extensive coal-fields have 
 been rendered of easy access to the metropolis, which 
 already receives large supplies of coal from that 
 quarter at little more than two-thirds of the price 
 which the inhabitants formerly paid for this neces. 
 4 A 
 
550 
 
 S T I 
 
 Rivers. 
 
 The Forth. 
 
 Stirlingshire, sary article. Limestone abounds in the same quar- 
 ters with the coal, and in many instances there is one 
 stratum of it above, and another below the coal, the 
 former always of the best quality. Sandstone also 
 frequently accompanies both, though it is found m 
 other parts. At Kilsyth there is a quarry of white 
 sandstone, which takes a fine polish, and has been 
 often used in ornamental work. Ironstone is m great 
 abundance throughout the coal district, and is 
 wrought in several places to a considerable extent, 
 chiefly for the use of the Carron works. It is also 
 found in the parish of Kilsyth, in balls from a quar- 
 ter of an inch to a foot in diameter, which are richer 
 in metal than the common stone. Copper has not 
 been discovered in veins so rich as to encourage their 
 working, though mines were formerly opened at one 
 or two places. Veins of silver were discovered, about 
 sixty years ago, in the parishes of Logic and Alva, 
 on the northern extremity of the county, and tor a 
 few weeks the working was very successful, but was 
 soon abandoned. Cobalt was found in the same 
 quarter. There are indications of other minerals in 
 different parts of the county. 
 
 Besides the Forth, the Avon, the Kelvin, and the 
 Endric, already mentioned, which, though having 
 their sources in Stirlingshire, soon cease to_ belong to 
 it exclusively, flowing for the most part on its bound- 
 aries, this district is well supplied with other streams, 
 which traverse its interior. The Forth, however, is 
 by far the most important. It rises from a spring on 
 the northern side, and near the summit of Benlo- 
 mond ; after a course of eight or ten miles, under the 
 name of the Water of Duchray, it passes into Perth- 
 shire, where it is called Avendow, or Black River ; 
 and soon after, on returning to the borders of this 
 county, obtains the name of the Forth. A few miles 
 above Stirling it receives the Teith, and afterwards 
 the Allan, from the north, and Bannockbuin from 
 the south. The tide, which flows a little above Stir- 
 ling, renders it navigable to that town for vessels of 
 70 tons. Below Stirling the river winds in a remark- 
 able manner across its valley, making so little pro- 
 gress, that, following its course to Alloa, the distance 
 is about twenty miles, while in a direct line it is 
 scarcely seven. These windings are called the Links 
 of the Forth. Below Alloa it receives the_ Devon 
 from the north-east, and soon after expands into the 
 large estuary called the Frith of Forth, which washes 
 the north-eastern side of the county till it meets 
 with Linlithgowshire, a little .to the south of Grange- 
 mouth. Next in importance, and the only other 
 stream worthy of particular notice, is the Carron, 
 which, rising in the interior, pursues an easterly 
 course, and joins the Frith of Forth at Grangemouth. 
 It is navigable for vessels of 200 tons, as far as the 
 village of Carron Shore, the shipping place of the 
 Carron Company, nearly two miles from its con- 
 fluence with the Forth. Besides Lochlomond, of 
 which the greater part is in Dunbartonshire, several 
 small pieces of water occur in different parts, none 
 of them remarkable. Salmon are caught in the 
 Forth, and also in Lochlomond, and, some years ago, 
 afforded a revenue of L. 1200 or L. 1400 a year to 
 the town of Stirling ; but they are not now so nume- 
 rous s& formerly. 
 
 S T I 
 
 The valued rent of Stirlingshire is L. 108,509, 3s. Stirlingshifr 
 3d. Scot?, and the real rent of the lands and houses in ^ 
 1812 was L. 207,236, 8s. 8d. Sterling. In 181 1, the 
 number of estates was 147 ; of which 109 were below ^ "* 
 L.500 Scots, and only nine above L.2000 of valuation, 
 thus indicating that the landed property was much di- 
 vided ; and not a fourth of the whole was entailed, a 
 smaller proportion than in most parts of Scotland. The Instates, 
 estates of the Duke of Montrose, Lord Dundas, Sir 
 Charles Edmondstone, and Mr Forbes of Callendar, 
 the principal proprietors, were then rented at from 
 L. 8000 to L. 14,000, and several others were worth 
 from L.IOOO to L.4000 a year; but the greater num. 
 ber were below L. 1000. Some of the proprietors 
 have increased the value of their estates by means of 
 embankments on the Frith of Forth. Several hun- 
 dred acres, much of it worth a rent of L. 5 an acre, 
 have thus been reclaimed and brought into cultiva- 
 tion, and a great deal more may be gained in the 
 same manner. All the small proprietors, and most 
 of the great ones, reside upon their estates ; and se- 
 veral of the latter occupy considerable farms of their 
 own, which they have improved, and continue to cul- 
 tivate in a very judicious manner. There is, accord- 
 ingly, a great number of seats over all the lower 
 parts of the county. Before the Union between 
 England and Scotland, considerable tracts were 
 granted to the retainers and dependents, or the 
 tenants of the principal proprietors and their heirs 
 for ever ; subject only to the payment of the rent of 
 those times, which is now very trifling. These are 
 called /euars or poriioners, and, in some parishes, 
 form a pretty numerous class. Their houses and 
 fields still present a tolerably faithful picture of the ru- 
 ral economy of Scotland a century and a half ago. 
 
 There is a good deal of both natural and planted Woodlan 
 wood in Stirlingshire, and much of the former, in the 
 state of coppice, has long yielded a regular income 
 to the proprietors, little if at all inferior to the ave- 
 rage rent of the arable land. Of oak coppice alone 
 the extent is near 4000 English acres, of which more 
 than two-thirds belong to the Duke of Montrose, 
 growing near his seat of Buchanan, on the western 
 extremity of the county. The Buchanan woods seem 
 to be under very regular management, being divided 
 into twenty-four hags or portions, of which one is 
 cut every year. A few years ago, this produced 
 from L. 16 to L.24 the Scots acre, after leaving a 
 number of reserves to stand for timber. Every acre 
 gives at a medium about one ton and a half of bark, 
 which, during the late war, sold at L. 18; and the 
 small timber generally pays expences. Much of 
 the land on which this wood grows is of little va- 
 lue for any other purpose ; not worth half-a-crown an 
 acre. On the same estate, and also in other parts of 
 the county, extensive plantations have been made 
 within the last fifty years. 
 
 The mountainous parts of Stirlingshire are occu- Live Sto 
 pied with sheep of the black-faced or heath breed, 
 and the lower hills by Highland cattle ; and there the 
 farms are necessarily of considerable extent. The 
 arable land, however, is for the most part divided into 
 small farms, especially the Carse lands on the Forth, 
 where the general size does not exceed 50 or 60 acres. 
 The rotation of crops, accordingly, as well as the Crops. 
 
S T I 
 
 liiigshire. general management, is seldom so good as on the 
 '^^'^^ Carse of Gowrie, a similar tract on the banks of the 
 Tay in Perthshire, or in the border counties of Scot- 
 land. Yet very great crops of wheat and beans, and 
 the other kinds of grain, are obtained from this naturally 
 rich soil, which in many parts affords a rent of L. 4 
 and upwards the English acre. But besides a money 
 rent, it is still not uncommon to exact poultry, car- 
 j>. riages, &c. from the tenants ; burdens which, though 
 once general, are 'now almost unknown in those dis- 
 tricts where an improved system has made the great- 
 est progress. The land on the banks of the Forth is 
 exceedingly well adapted for orchards, of which 
 there are a few, but of no great extent. The island 
 of Inchmurrin, in Lochlomond, the property of the 
 ser. Duke of Montrose, has been stocked with fallow deer 
 for more than a century, the number about 240, 
 which are properly attended to, and kept always in 
 a thriving condition. Goats, about fifty years ago, 
 were an important article in the western district near 
 Lochlomond, much of the rent being then paid in 
 kids and goat milk cheese ; but they are now almost 
 extinct. 
 
 mufac- The manufactures are carpets and other coarse 
 ps- woollens in the town of Stirling; paper, cottons, 
 k alum, copperas, soda, Prussian blue, &c. on an exten- 
 
 f sive scale near Campsie on the south-west quarter; 
 
 spirits at several large distilleries, and iron goods at 
 frori Carron. The Carron Works, celebrated all over 
 w'^s. Europe, were established upon the banks of the river 
 of that name about sixty years ago, by Dr Roebuck 
 and Messrs Caddel and Garbet, who were joined in 
 the undertaking by several other gentlemen. By the 
 charter of the company, they are authorized to em- 
 ploy a capital of L. 150,000, which is divided into 600 
 shares, and ten of these are required to give a vote in 
 the management. During the late war they employt?d 
 upwards of 2000 able bodied men, and paid in wages 
 above L. 120,000 yearly. At these works all sorts of 
 cast-iron goods are made, and also bar iron, said to be 
 equal to the Russian ; but particularly cannon and 
 that kind called Carronades, which having been in- 
 vented here, take their name from the works. The 
 boring of the cannon is a very interesting operation, 
 which is performed in about forty-eight hours by 
 machinery moved by water. One of their engines 
 raises upwards of 30 tons of water in a minute ; and 
 so extensive are the works, that they are said to con- 
 sume every day about 200 tons of coals. They have 
 water carriage from the Frith of Forth by means of 
 the Carron, and to the Frith of Clyde by the Forth 
 and Clyde Canal, which passes through the district, 
 a little to the south of the Carron. 
 Iimerce. Notwithstanding the favourable situation of Stir- 
 lingshire, on a navigable river, and between the 
 east and west seas, which for thirty years have been 
 connected by a Canal, it has but a small town popu- 
 lation, and till lately, its commerce was inconsider- 
 able. Even now half its exports, not including its 
 agricultural produce, is supposed to be furnished by 
 wns. the Carron works. The principal town is Stirling, 
 
 S T I 551 
 
 containing, in 1821, 7i 13 inhabitants; a place of great StirUngshire- 
 antiquity, which, though situated on the navigable ^«^V^ 
 part of the Forth, has little trade by water, and is 
 chiefly indebted for its importance to its situation on 
 the confines of the Highlands. Falkirk, on the eastern 
 side of the county, a little to the south of the Forth and 
 Clyde Canal, had a population in 1821 of 1 1,536, and 
 is distinguished for its great fairs or trysU which ar« 
 held in August, September, and October; where 
 cattle, sheep, and horses, are brought for sale, to the 
 value of almost half a million Sterling. Grangemouth, 
 founded by Sir Lawrence Dundas, in 1777, on the 
 angle formed by the junction of the Carron and the 
 Forth and Clyde Canal, is now a considerable village, 
 and the principal sea-port of the county : its trade 
 is chiefly with the north of Europe, and along the 
 east coast. It has a custom-house, a dry-dock, and 
 other necessary works. The depth of water in the 
 harbour is generally in spring-tides from 16 to 18 
 feet, and in neap-tides from 10 to 12. In 1810, the 
 shipping of this port exceeded 60,000 tons. The 
 only other town is Kilsyth, on the borders of Lanark- 
 shire. On the east side there are a number of small 
 villages, occupied partly by agricultural labourers 
 and mechanics, and partly by weavers employed by 
 the Glasgow manufacturers. 
 
 The county, which, in 1822, had 118 freeholders, Representa- 
 sends one member to Parliament; and Stirling, itstion. 
 only royal burgh, is associated with Culross, Dun- 
 fermline, Inverkeithing, and Queensferry, in the elec- 
 tions for the Scottish burghs. A poor-rate is levied 
 here only in a few parishes ; the poor being chiefly 
 supported, as in most parts of Scotland, by volun- 
 tary contributions. 
 
 Stirlingshire exhibits remains highly interesting to Antiquities, 
 the antiquary, and has been the scene of some of 
 the most remarkable events in Scottish history. The 
 Roman Wall, called the Wall of Antoninus, and vul- 
 garly Greeme's Dyke, which traversed this county, 
 may still be traced in several places. The battle of 
 Bannockburn, which secured the independence of 
 Scotland, was fought on 24th June 1314, about three 
 miles south from Stirling, where a stone is still shown 
 in which the royal standard is said to have been fix- 
 ed. The eastern side of the county was the scene 
 of many other battles between the Scots and Eng- 
 lish ; but these belong to the history of Scotland, 
 and have been noticed under that head in the Ency- 
 clopedia. We may also refer on this point to Roy's 
 Mililary Antiquities and Chalmers's Caledonia. 
 
 The population of Stirlingshire, according to the Population, 
 census of 1801, was 50,825; in 1811 it amounted 
 to 58,174 ; and in 1821 to 65,S7(); of which 31,718 
 were males, and SS,Q5ii females. The families em- 
 ployed in agriculture were 2600; in trade and ma- 
 nufactures 6641 ; in all other occupations 4492. 
 The increase of population from 1811 to 1821 was 
 7202. 
 
 See the general works quoted under the former 
 Scottish counties, and Dr Graham's View of the 
 Agriculture of Stirlingshire, (a.) 
 
552 
 
 STONE-MASONRY and STONE-CUTriNG. 
 
 Stone- 
 Masonry. 
 
 Masonry 
 Defined. 
 
 Karljr His- 
 tory, 
 
 Greek 
 Masonry. 
 
 Roman 
 Masonry. 
 
 1. ]VIasokry is the art of building with stones : the 
 art of reducing stones to regular or determinate forms 
 is sometimes called stone- cutting, but is usually con- 
 sidered a branch of masonry. Workers in marble 
 are also called masons ; but it is stone-masonry on- 
 ly which we intend to treat of in this article ; as 
 marble masonry is rather a manual than a scien-r 
 tific art. 
 
 2. The art of building with stone is undoubtedly 
 of great antiquity ; and its early history is difficult to 
 trace beyond the existing remains of ancient build- 
 ings ; the oldest of which are objects of wonder, 
 chiefly on account of the difficulty of moving, with 
 ordinary powers, the immense stones of which they 
 are formed. There is one thing remarkable in these 
 stupendous efforts of human labour ; its directors 
 have often been happy in the choice of almost impe- 
 rishable materials, for a lasting evidence of their com- 
 mand of power. The remains of this kind of gigan- 
 tic masonry are found in various parts of the earth ; 
 some of the finest specimens are the ancient Egyp- 
 tian buildings ; which seem to have been intended to 
 resist the power of men, as well as the slow opera- 
 tions of time. 
 
 3. The masonry of the ancient Greeks closely re- 
 sembles that of the Egyptians : it is a more refined 
 application of the same principles of construction, to 
 a series of chaste and beautiful architectural formSj 
 in which the ornamental part of the art has evidently 
 been in that state of perfection, which is rarely, if 
 ever surpassed. The roof of the Octagon Temple of 
 -the Winds may be considered the best example of 
 their constructive skill, while it betrays their igno- 
 rance of the principles of the arch. 
 
 4. In Roman masonry we find less of ponderous 
 strength, and sound construction, than in the Egyp- 
 tian and Greek, and rarely any thing approaching 
 to the accurate and highly finished labours of the 
 latter, but considerably more artificial and economical 
 knowledge. If the manner of forming arches* and 
 domes was not actually invented by the Romans, at 
 least the merit of applying them successfully, in the 
 art of building, was undoubtedly theirs ; they also 
 excelled in the composition of mortars and cements : 
 hence, they found it easy to construct large works 
 at a moderate expense, which could not have been 
 accomplished by the limited methods of building of 
 their predecessors. It gives us a high notion of the 
 
 intrinsic value of the art of masonry, to examine its 
 application by the Romans, whether it be in the cele- 
 brated Cloacae, Aqueducts, Bridges, or the Military 
 Roads of those enterprising people. To them also 
 we owe the beautiful idea of covering a temple with 
 a dome. 
 
 5. After the decline of the Romans, the art of Early 
 masonry, in Europe, gradually acquired its former im- Englirfi 
 portance through its application to the construction J^^^^onry. 
 of castles, towers, and other places of defence ; and 
 eventually, it gained a complete ascendancy over the 
 other building arts in the construction of Cathedrals, 
 Monasteries, and the like. In our own island it made 
 an equal if not a greater degree of progress than on 
 the Continent. The science of masonry t appears to 
 have attained the most perfect state it arrived at in 
 those times, about the period when King's College 
 Chapel, at Cambridge, was built (about 1512). From 
 that time, or soon after, the knowledge of construc- 
 tion declined ; but the researches of men of science 
 have, in modern times, more than replaced those lost 
 principles which, there can be little doubt, the elder 
 free-masons possessed. Unfortunately, such prin- 
 ciples are, even at the present time, as inaccessible 
 to a plain workman as the mysteries of the mas- 
 ter-mason were to the apprentice and fellow-cratJt 
 of former ages ; unless it be in some rare instances 
 where the force of natural genius has risen superior 
 to the difficulties before it, and a mere workman, 
 like the " 'prentice of Roslin Chapel," has outstrip- 
 ped the masters of technical science. 
 
 6. The most important principle of the free-ma- PriiMripIo* 
 sons, or, as they are usually called, the " Gothic Gothk- M 
 builders," was that of reducing all the pressures of a^"'^^' 
 vaulted roof to a few principal supports. These sup- 
 ports were either strong pillars, or buttresses, accord- 
 ingly as the support was within the area, or formed 
 a part of the external wall. The buttresses were 
 made of considerable depth in the direction of the 
 pressure, with a thin wall from buttress to buttress, 
 for enclosing the building. If they had made the 
 external walls of uniform thickness, according to the 
 modern practice, a much greater quantity of mate- 
 rial would have been required to balance the prea* 
 sure of the vaulting. For similar reasons, tl>e 
 strength of their best vaulting consists in deep 
 moulded ribs ; the spaces between these ribs being 
 formed of thin light stones, supported from rib to" 
 
 * Perhaps the oldest arches, at present known, are those which Mr Belzoni discovered in Egypt ; they 
 are executed in bricks of the same size, and of the same material, as those the Egyptians used in the con- 
 struction of their walls and pyramids. For farther remarks on the subject of Arches, see the Article Bridge, 
 in this Supplement ; and the Earl of Aberdeen's Inquiry respecting Grecian Architecture^ page I9I — 211. 
 
 f What other term than science can be applied to that knowledge, which enables a mason to dispose 
 large masses of stone-work over a considerable area, with only a few distant supports I 
 12 
 
STONE-MASONRY. 
 
 lonry of 
 Six- 
 
 Stone- ribi. The principles of construction of the Gothic 
 36011^. {jyii^jers may be readily shown by a model of wicker 
 '^^^''^'^ work, in the manner of Sir James Hall's truly ele- 
 gant mode of explaining his ideas respecting the ori- 
 gin of Gothic vaulting, * The earliest notice we 
 have seen, in architectural works, of any thing re- 
 sembling the principles of construction just noticed, 
 is given by Alberti, who, alluding to a method of 
 building known to former architects, says, " The 
 arches on which the roof was placed being drawn 
 quite down to the foundation with wonderful art, 
 known but to few ; so that the work upheld itself 
 by being only set upon arches ; for those arches having 
 the solid earth for a chain, no wonder they stood firm 
 without any other support." t 
 
 7. Masonry, with some other arts, having been 
 nth and their ordinary course by the peculiar 
 
 renteenth State of society in the middle ages, fell back to their 
 nturies. common levels if not below it, at the Reformation ; 
 the natural consequence of this change was the loss 
 of the greater part of the knowledge which had been 
 gained by the experience of several centuries. But 
 even in the most depressed state of masonry, there 
 were some individuals in whom the love of that ex- 
 cellence which animated their predecessors, was not 
 subdued by want of encouragement ; and some scat- 
 tered works were executed which are worthy of no- 
 tice, if our limited plan would allow of it. 
 BMit State 8. When Britain had become happily free from 
 Jritish all internal disturbances, and there was little to oc- 
 cupy the time and attention of a rapidly increasing 
 population, except the improvement of thei.r own 
 condition in life ; the chief fruit of their exertions 
 for this purpose was, an unprecedented extension of 
 the foreign and domestic trade of the country ; 
 wharfs, docks, harbours, and lighthouses ; canals, 
 locks, roads, and bridges, became the necessary ap- 
 pendages of this new state of things ; and, according- 
 ly, it became desirable again to cultivate the art of 
 masonry. 
 
 These important works also called forth a new 
 profession, of which the celebrated Smeaton has been 
 called the father. Smeaton's first work was the Ed- 
 dystone Lighthouse, which, in originality of design, 
 and soundness of construction, has not been equalled. 
 Since its erection, such a succession of bold and 
 useful works have been accomplished, thot it would 
 be difficult to enumerate them ; J it is sufficient to 
 remark, that the masonry of our own age and coun- 
 try, as it is exhibited in these works, is without a pa- 
 rallel in preceding times. 
 feofMa- 9. In the northern states of Europe, their best 
 ^. works are chiefly modelled after ours ; and, with the 
 ^unen exception of France, there is not in the southern 
 states any considerable degree of encouragement 
 given to any branch of masonry. It may neverthe- 
 
 8onry. 
 
 553 
 
 less be remarked, that the principles of construction Stone- 
 is a popular subject of study in Italy. Masonry. 
 
 10. In France, masonry has always been a popular ^T^'TT^ 
 art ; partly, perhaps, from Paris being situate in the 
 
 midst of a district which abounds in excellent build- 
 ing stone. The French government has always di- 
 rected a considerable share of attention to the con- 
 struction of roads, bridges, and military works ; 
 and, consequently, has afforded sufficient scope for 
 its improvement. When, however, the larger works 
 of the French masons are compared- with those of 
 our own countrymen, one very remarkable difference 
 may be observed ; the French works have more of 
 the character of daring experiments, than that which 
 ought to belong to the works of regular professors 
 of an art; while the British works of the same kind 
 have evidently been directed by men better versed in 
 practical construction than in the refinements of sci- 
 ence. There is, perhaps, more of novelty in the 
 French works than is to be found in ours ; but it may 
 be remarked, that this novelty of character is often 
 obtained by a sacrifice of fitness; as in the cate^ 
 narian dome of the Pantheon, &c. ; or of strength, 
 as in the bridges of Nogent, Neuilly, &c. The true 
 criterion of excellence in a useful art seems to be, 
 fitness for producing the desired end in the best pos- 
 sible manner. 
 
 Sect. L — Of Materials used in Masonry. 
 
 11. The first object of attention, in a treatise on Afaterials. 
 masonry, ought to be, the nature of the materials 
 employed in it ; because the greater part of the prin- 
 ciples of an art always depend on the nature of the 
 substances it is to be exercised upon. 
 
 Of Stones. 
 
 12. Building stone is a dense, coherent body, of Nature of 
 considerable hardness and durability, but generally Stones, 
 brittle. It possesses these qualities in various de- 
 grees, according to the nature of its chemical ele- 
 ments, or the state of aggregation of its parts. 
 
 The structure of stones is either laminated or gra- 
 nulated, or of a mixed kind. 
 
 The chemical constituents of building stones are 
 silica, alumina, lime, magnesia, and metals; combin- 
 ed with acids, water, and sometimes with alkalies ; 
 some other chemical elements are found in building 
 stones, but not often in sufficient quantity to affect 
 the nature of the stones. 
 
 13. Laminated stones consist of thin plates, or Laminated 
 laye;s, cohering more or less strongly together ; Atones, 
 when the layers are of considerable size, and cohere 
 
 so slightly that they may be easily separated, the 
 stones are said to be slaty. The layers are always 
 nearly parallel to the quarry-beds of the stone, and 
 they should always be horizontal, or as nearly so as 
 
 • Essay on the Origin, History, and Principles of Gothic Architecture, London, 1813. 
 ed most of the forms employed, in his Tracts on Vaults, &c. London, 1822. 
 t Architecture of Leon Baptista Alberti (Leoni's Translation), Book' I. Chap. XIL 
 
 Ware has collect- 
 
 See the Articles Bell-Rock Lighthouse, Bjiidge, Breakwater, Caledonian Canal, Docks, in. 
 
 this Supplement 
 
mi 
 
 S T O N E-M A S 0 N R Y. 
 
 stone- possible, in a building; otherwise the action of the 
 Masonry, weather will cause them to separate, and fall off in 
 '^--^^'"^ flakes. In sandstones, the direction of the layers 
 may often be discovered by their different shades of 
 colour; in others, by the position of minute scales of 
 mica, which always lie parallel to the layers. In most 
 stones the direction of the layers may be ascertained 
 by the facility with which the stone yields to the tool in 
 that direction ; but a considerable degree of practice 
 is necessary to acquire so nice a discrimination of re- 
 sistance, and good workmen only attain it. Among 
 laminated stones, those are the most durable in which 
 the laminae are least distinct, and the texture uni- 
 form. When the laminae do not perfectly cohere, 
 they are soon injured by frost, and they are wholly 
 unfit for places alternately wet and dry. 
 Granular 14;. Granular stones consist of distinct concretions 
 Stones. resembling grains, either of the same, or of different 
 simple minerals cohering together. When the struc- 
 ture is uniform, and the grains or concretions are 
 small, stones of this kind are always strong and dur- 
 able, if the concretions themselves be so. Granular 
 stones are sometimes open and porous, but when they 
 are uniformly so, they seldom suffer materially by 
 frost; because their uniform porosity allows the ex- 
 pansive force of congealing water to be distributed 
 in every direction. 
 Compound 15. Stones of a compound structure, partly lami- 
 Stones. nated and partly granular, have more or less of the 
 characters of the two classes before described ; for 
 it may be observed in coarse-grained granite that the 
 laminated structure of some of its parts renders it very 
 susceptible of disintegration. 
 
 All kinds of stone obtained from quarries are 
 found divided by vertical or inclined seams, which 
 are sometimes so close that they cannot be distin- 
 guished till the stones are wrought ; but they often 
 separate under the tool at such seams ; and it is not 
 safe to employ stone to resist any considerable trans- 
 verse strain on account of the difficulty of knowing 
 where those seams are. 
 Durability of 16. In the present State of our knowledge of this 
 important subject, we may attribute the failure of 
 building stones to two causes ; the one chemical, and 
 the other mechanical, which we shall here distinguish 
 by the terms decomposition and disintegration. 
 
 17. Decomposition consists in the chemical ele- 
 ments of a stone entering into new combinations with 
 water, oxygen, or carbonic acid gas. Stones con- 
 taining such elements as are readily acted upon by 
 these external causes will be found most subject to 
 decompose ; and the process will be, in many kinds, 
 much hastened by a loose texture. 
 
 Stones containing saline matter, as the felspar of 
 some granites, are acted upon by water, particularly 
 where the soluble salt is in considerable proportion ; 
 and in some stones the application of salt water soon 
 destroys them. Dolomieu says, the houses at Malta 
 are built with a fine-grained limestone, of a loose and 
 porous texture, which speedily moulders away when 
 
 Stone- 
 Masonry. 
 
 Stones. 
 
 Decomposi- 
 tion. 
 
 it has been wetted with sea water. (Kirwan's Geolo- 
 gical Essays, p. 148, 149.) 
 
 Stones containing iron, which is not in a maximum 
 state of oxidation, are often destroyed by the absorp- 
 tion of oxygen and carbonic acid ; the presence of 
 moisture accelerates their decomposition, and it is al- 
 ways still further hastened by increase of temperature. 
 According to the observations of Kirwan, stones con- 
 taining iron in a low state of oxidation are of a black, 
 a brown, or a bluish colour ; and in some instances, 
 when united with alumina and magnesia, they are of 
 a gray, or a greenish gray; the former, as they become 
 more oxygenized, change to purple, red, orange, and 
 finally pale yellow ; the latter become at first blue, 
 then purple, red, &c. (Kirwan's Geological Es- 
 says, p. 145, 6.) But stones containing iron, com- 
 bined with its maximum of oxygen, do not rea- 
 dily decompose, such are red porphyry, jaspers, 
 &c. When stones contain manganese, lime, alumi- 
 na, carbon, or bitumen, in particular states, they are 
 subject to decomposition, from the affinities of one 
 or other of these bodies but nothing very decisive 
 is, or perhaps can be, known respecting such changes, 
 till some improvement be made in analytical che- 
 mistry, by which the state of combination of the 
 constituents of minerals can be determined with more 
 certainty. 
 
 18. Disintegration is the separation of the parts ofDisintegr 
 stones by mechanical action. The chief cause is thetion. 
 congelation of water in the minute pores and fissures 
 of stones, which bursts them open, or separates small 
 parts according as the structure is slaty or irregu- 
 larly granulated. The south sides of buildings, in 
 northern climates, are most subject to fail ; because 
 the surface is often thawed and filled with wet in the 
 sunny part of the day, and frozen again at night. 
 This repeated operation of freezing is also very in- 
 jurious to sea walls, the piers of bridges, and other 
 works exposed alternately to water and frost. * The 
 decay and destruction of rocks being the effects of 
 the same natural causes, the reader will find some 
 furthei* illustration of this subject in the Article Mi- 
 neralogy in this Supplement, Vol. V. p. 477« 
 
 19. The resistance of stones to wear and tear is, Resistanc 
 for many purposes, a subject which it would be use- Wear, 
 ful to investigate, since on this resistance depends 
 also the labour of working them. From some expe- 
 riments made by Rondelet, it appears that granite 
 will bear eight times as much wear as veined white 
 marble; and that the labour of sawing granite was 
 about ten times greater than that of sawing veined 
 white marble. ( Traite de I'Art de JBatir, Tome I. 
 p. 95.) 
 
 Scotland abounds in quarries of excellent build- 
 ing sandstone ; such, in particular, are the quar- 
 ries at Culello, in Fifeshire, i which furnished the 
 stones for the monument erected at Yarmouth to 
 the memory of Lord Nelson, and that at Edinburgh 
 to the memory of Lord Melville. Nothing can ex- 
 ceed the beauty of the sandstone used in those noble 
 
 * The decayed state of the piers of Westminster and Blackfriars' Bridges shows us hOw very little this 
 important subject has been studied ; as well as the necessity of studying it. 
 
 8 
 
STONE-MAS ONRY. 
 
 555 
 
 Lents. 
 
 mmon 
 rtar. 
 
 itone. stmctures ; and besides beauty, and other valuable 
 asonry. qualities, it has in a high degree that of being easily 
 chiselled into the smoothest and finest forms. 
 
 Of Mortars and Cements. 
 tars and 20. In the greater part of works executed in stone, 
 it is necessary to use some kind of cementitious mat- 
 ter for connecting the parts together, to render them 
 firm and compact. Works to be exposed to the ac- 
 tions of water, immediately after being built, require 
 this cementitious matter to be of such a nature, that 
 it w ill indurate under water. Hence it is, that we 
 havce occasion for two species of mortar ; one which 
 will set and harden under water, called a xmter mor~ 
 tar, or cement ; and common mortar. 
 iture of 21. If a piece of limestone, or chalk, be slowly 
 calcined, so as to expel the whole, or nearly the 
 whole, of its carbonic acid, it loses about 44- per cent. 
 of its weight ; and on a small quantity of water be- 
 ing added, it swells, gives out heat, and falls into a 
 finely divided powder, called slacked lime. The 
 bulk of the powder is about double that of the lime- 
 stone. If this powder be rapidly formed into a stiff 
 paste with water, it sets or solidifies as a hydrate of 
 lime, and ultimately hardens by the absorption of 
 carbonic acid from the air. This constitutes common 
 building mortar. Hydrate of lime consists of lime, 
 100 parts, and water SI parts, 
 rter Mor- 22. If any substance, in powder, which contains 
 much iron in a low state of oxidation, be mixed with 
 slacked lime, the mixture will become harder and 
 more coherent than when lime alone is employed ; 
 and it possesses the valu'able property of acquiring 
 an equal, or perhaps greater degree of hardness, if it 
 be immersed in water as soon as it is formed into a 
 paste. This constitutes water mortar. A paste of 
 hydrate of lime alone softens and dissolves in water. 
 
 Alumina, silica, and manganese, are endowed with 
 the same property as oxide of iron, but in an infe- 
 rior degree. 
 
 It may be observed, in forming such combinations, 
 that when the lime is in excess, it separates ; and in 
 favourable situations, either crystallizes or forms 
 stalactites ; indicating that there is a definite pro- 
 portion according to which the materials should be 
 combined to form the best cement, 
 e of Sand 23. If some kind of matter, in the state of parti- 
 Mortar, cles or grains, be mixed with the cementing mate- 
 rial, and then the mixture be formed into a paste 
 with water, the strength and hardness of the cement 
 will greatly depend on the nature of the particles 
 added to it. In order that the cement may be im- 
 proved by such addition, it is necessary that the 
 hardness of the particles should at least be equal to 
 the greatest degree of hardness the cement can ac- 
 quire ; and also, that the affinity between these par- 
 ticles and the cementing matter should exceed the 
 affinity between the parts of the cement itself. 
 
 From this explanation it will readily appear, that 
 any substance which is added to a cement for the 
 purpose of increasing its bulk, its hardness, or its 
 strength, ought to be in particles or grains ; and that 
 no soft, earthy, or pulverent matter is fit for this pur- 
 pose. 
 
 It will be equally apparent, to those who have 
 
 considered the nature of chemical combination, that Stone- 
 the cementing part of the materials employed in the ^lasonry. 
 composition of mortars and cements, should be in ''"^'V'^/ 
 the finest state of division that it is possible to re- 
 duce them to. 
 
 An attentive consideration of these principles will 
 afford an easy solution of some of the most interest-" 
 ing questions to which this important subject gives 
 rise ; and correct some errors that have originated 
 from a partial examination of the phenomena. We 
 have now to examine the qualities of those materials 
 which naturally occur in the earth ; from these must 
 be selected the kinds that can be obtained at the 
 least expense for the place they are to be employed 
 at, when their quality is suitable for the nature of 
 the work. 
 
 24. The cementing materials are chiefly from the Limestones, 
 different species of limestone, to which may be add- 
 ed puzzolana, terras, iron ores, basalt, and other sub., 
 stances of a like character. The limestones may be 
 divided, as regards cements and mortars, into three 
 
 classes ; common limestone, poor limestones {chaux 
 maigre of the French), and cement stones. 
 
 25. Common limestones consist of carbonate ofcomraon 
 lime with very little of any other substance ; they Limestones, 
 produce a white lime, which slacks freely when well 
 
 burnt; they dissolve in diluted muriatic acid with 
 only a small portion of residue, and never contain 
 more than a trace of iron. They differ much in ex- 
 ternal characters, as chalk, marble, common com- 
 pact limestone, &c. 
 
 These limestones do not form water cements with- 
 out the addition of other kinds of cementing matter ; 
 hence they are usually employed for common mor- 
 tar. The hardest marble and the softest chalk make 
 equally good lime when well burnt ; but chalk lime 
 will slack when not perfectly burnt, and, therefore, 
 seldom has a sufficient quantity of fire ; whereas 
 stone lime must have sufficient to make it slack. It 
 has also been observed, that stone lime does not re- 
 absorb carbonic acid so rapidly as chalk lime. (Hig- 
 gins on Mortar and Cements, p. 29-) 
 
 Lime, made from common limestones, sustains 
 very little injury from being kept after it has been 
 formed into a thin paste with water, provided the 
 air be effectually excluded; indeed, Alberti men- 
 tions an instance of some which had been covered 
 up in a ditch for a very long time, that was of an 
 excellent quality. 
 
 26. Poor limestones consist of carbonate of lime Poor Ldme. 
 united with silica, alumina, and metallic oxides. 
 
 They in general produce a buff-coloured lime, but 
 sometimes it is white. When the lime is white, 
 there are no metallic oxides present. They contain 
 a considerable portion of matter, which is insoluble 
 in acids. They differ considerably in external cha- 
 racters ; the blue lias, the Sussex clunch, and Sutton 
 limestones, may be cited as instances. 
 
 The lime of poor limestones does not slack freely ; 
 and it would always be desirable to reduce it to 
 powder by grinding, in preference to slacking, be- 
 cause in slacking a part of its setting property is 
 destroyed. When poor lime is slacked, it should be 
 made into mortar, and used immediately. Moisture 
 does such lime piore injury than the reabsorption of 
 
556 
 
 stoiie- carbonic acid. And mortar made of it ought not to 
 Masonry. |H,g disturbed after it has begun to set or harden. 
 ^^.^jT^ Poor limestones are subject to vitrify in burning, 
 unless the heat be increased gradually; but by a 
 little management in this respect they will bear a 
 heat sufficiently intense to convert them into good 
 lime. 
 
 The lime of poor limestones makes excellent 
 common mortar, when the precautions we have 
 pointed out have been attended to. It is much supe- 
 perior to mortar made from common limestones. It 
 is not, however, sufficiently powerful for a water ce- 
 ment without the addition of Puzzolana, Terras, or 
 other like substances. , „ 
 
 Cement 2?. Cement stones. We have taken the liberty ot 
 
 Stones. giving this name to the class of earthy bodies which 
 afford a good water-cement without addition; and 
 it appears to be essential for that purpose that there 
 should be at least 50 -per cent, of carbonate of lime 
 in the stone. Those cements which answer best 
 are made from stones containing about 60 fer ce«^ 
 The other substances usually contained in these 
 stones are, silica, alumina, oxide of iron, sometimes 
 oxide of manganese, carbonate of magnesia, with 
 traces of other alkaline and earthy salts. Cement 
 stones are in great part soluble, with effervescence, 
 in diluted muriatic acid; they lose about one-third 
 of their weight by calcination, after which they do 
 not slack, but may be ground into a fine powder, of 
 a brown colour, of different degrees of intensity ac- 
 cording to the nature of the stone. Those now used 
 to make cement are found in rolled pieces, or in no- 
 dules, with septa of carbonate of lime, on the sea- 
 coast at Sheppy, Harwich, and near Whitby, and at 
 Boulogne on the French coast. The nodules are 
 plentifully dispersed through the London clay stra- 
 tum, and the alum shale of Whitby ; they are term- 
 ed clay-balls, ludus helmoniii, septaria, &c. 
 
 Cement stones are also liable to vitrify in burning, 
 either from being quickly exposed to a strong heat, 
 or by making the heat too intense. 
 
 When cement stones have been calcined and 
 ground, the powder thus obtained should be kept in 
 a very dry place, as its setting property is soon de- 
 stroyed by moisture. It absorbs moisture rapidly 
 from the air; and, therefore, it should be as little ex- 
 - posed as possible ; but when closely packed, ana in 
 a dry place, it may be kept a considerable time. 
 28 There are perhaps few mineral bodies which 
 Cemer^ would answer as well as clay-balls for making ce- 
 ment ; unless it be calcareous marls ; but there are 
 very few situations where the means of forming an 
 artificial cement are wanting ; the manner of pro- 
 ceeding must depend on the nature of the substances 
 employed. In general it will be necessary to mix 
 slacked lime with the substance containing silica, 
 alumina, and oxide of iron, and calcine them toge- 
 ther, and afterwards grind them. The iron should 
 be in the state of protoxide, to the amount of from 
 13 to 18 ^er cent, by weight. The quantity of lime 
 may be about 30 fer cent, or 53 fer cent, of carbon- 
 ate of lime ; the silica and alumina being in equal 
 portions : hence, in the raw materials, one hundred 
 parts by weight may consist of 
 
 STONE-MASONRY. 
 
 Stono 
 
 Masor 
 
 Carbonate of lime.... .......53 
 
 Protoxide of iron 18 
 
 Silica and alumina 29 
 
 100 
 
 29. There are several mineral bodies which, com- 
 bined with lime, form good cements ; some of these 
 may be used in their natural state, others require 
 calcination. Puzzolana and tarras are of the for- 
 mer kind ; basalt, iron ores, and ferruginous clay, 
 belong to the latter class. 
 
 Puzzolana is a volcanic production much used in I*nzzolai 
 making water cements. It was known to the Romans, 
 and employed by them both in ordinary buildings 
 and water works. Its colour is reddish or reddish 
 brown; and gray or grayish black; that of Naples is 
 generally gray, that of Civita Vecchia more general- 
 ly reddish brown. 
 
 Its swrface is rough and uneven, and it has a 
 baked appearance; when broken and examined by a 
 magnifying glass it appears to be a spongy sub- 
 stance, with innumerable small cavities like a cinder, 
 and not much harder. It comes to this country in 
 pieces varying in size from the bulk of a nut to that 
 of an egg. It is very brittle, and has an earthy 
 smell. Specific gravity from 2*570 to 2-785. It does 
 not effervesce with acids ; and is not diffusible in cold 
 water. 
 
 The iron it contains is not oxidated ; and, being 
 finely divided and dispersed through its mass, offers 
 a large surface which quickly decomposes the water 
 with which it is mixed when made into mortar. ^ The 
 union of the oxygen of the water with the iron is the 
 principal cause of the solidification of water mortar ; 
 and this union is greatly facilitated by the heat given 
 out by quicklime. 
 
 30. The substance called Tarras or Trass, found Tarns, 
 near Andernach, on the Rhine, is endowed with si- 
 milar properties. Its colour is light gray or brownish 
 gray. Its surface is rough and porous j and it is 
 often found mixed with other matter. It is sonie- 
 times so hard that it yields with difficulty to tlxe 
 knife. According to Bergman, it contains more 
 
 lim.e than puzzolana does, and effervesces slightly with 
 acids. 
 
 Smeaton found puzzolana to be equal, if not su- 
 perior, to tarras in forming a water cement with 
 Aberthaw lime ; he also observed that tarras is infe- 
 rior for work which is to be alternately wet and dry. 
 
 31. If any stone be employed in which the iron is 
 perfectly oxidized, it will be necessary to abstract 
 some portion of the oxygen from the iron in the pro- 
 cess of calcination, on the same principle as the re- 
 duction of iron from the ore is effected. (See Iron- 
 Making in this Supplement.) It is also necessary to 
 employ similar means to restore the cementing 
 power of materials that have attracted moisture after 
 being calcined. 
 
 Sect. II. Of the Piiinciples of Strength 
 
 AND Stability in Masonry. 
 
 32. The strength and stability of stone-work de- Resistanc 
 pends partly on its mass or weight, and partly on the Stones. 
 
STONE-MASONRY. 
 
 557 
 
 one- resistance of the materials. And, since we cannot 
 ■sonry. imagine incompressible fulcra, nor that the materials 
 of masonry are infinitely hard and inflexible, as 
 writers on elementary mechanics consider them to 
 be ; therefore, it is essential that the resistance of 
 materials should be considered, and the effect of 
 their weight allowed for in estimating the power of 
 the straining force. 
 
 The resistance of stones being dependent on their 
 state of aggregation, and not on the hardness or 
 density of their elementary parts, their comparative 
 strength cannot be judged of by these qualities ; in- 
 deed, there are few kinds of materials of which the 
 resistance is so uncertain as that of stone ; hence, it is 
 not at all adapted for any support where its resist- 
 ance depends on its cohesion only, unless it be very 
 carefully examined, and abundant strength be allow- 
 ed. (See § 15.) The resistance of stone to compres- 
 sion is less affected by its irregular nature, particu- 
 larly as it is usually employed in blocks of inconsi- 
 derable height ; and, in general, there is scarcely 
 any reason to be sparing of a material which it is 
 often more expensive to reduce than to employ in 
 large blocks. When, however, works of great mag- 
 nitude are to be constructed, the weight of the ma- 
 terials themselves forms the chief part of the strain- 
 ing force ; and, consequently, in such cases it be- 
 comes desirable to form a tolerably accurate estimate 
 of their power. 
 
 33. This power is limited by a property of bodies, 
 which has not received that degree of attention its 
 importance would lead us to expect: we shall in 
 this place make it the basis of an investigation of the 
 power of materials to resist a force applied in any 
 given direction ; and show its application to some of 
 the cases where a mason is most likely to need the 
 assistance of calculation. 
 
 When a material is strained beyond a certain ex- 
 tent, every time the strain is increased to the same 
 degree, there is a permanent derangement of the 
 structure of the material produced ; and a frequent 
 repetition will increase the derangement till the 
 parts actually separate. (See Carpentry in this 
 Supplement, p. 622, 623.) When a small base rests 
 upon a considerable mass of matter, as a pier on 
 the ground, the quantity of derangement will in- 
 crease only till the mass be compressed to that de- 
 gree which renders the increase insensible; but in 
 many cases a number of years will elapse before the 
 settlement becomes insensible. 
 
 34. The strain which produces permanent de- 
 rangement in the structure of a material varies from 
 one-fourth to two-fifths of that which would destroy 
 its direct cohesion. In stone the lower value should 
 be taken, on account of its being subject to so many 
 defects ; and, for the present, let this strain be de- 
 noted by / lbs. upon a superficial foot. 
 
 35. Imagine ABCD to be a block, Plate CXVIII. 
 fig. 1, strained either in the direction EF or FE, by 
 a force W ; and let BDF be a line drawn in the 
 same plane as the direction of the straining force ; 
 and perpendicular to the axis ab of the block. 
 Now, if we consider the resistance of the block to 
 be collected at the centres of resistance t and c; 
 then, ^F will represent a lever acted upon by three 
 
 VOL. VI. PART II. 
 
 forces ; that is, the resistances at t and c, and the 
 straining force at F. If the angle, FE^, be denoted 
 by a ; then, the effect of the force W, reduced to a 
 direction perpendicular to the lever, will be express- 
 ed by cos. a W. (1.) 
 
 Also, if T be the resistance at t, and C the resist- 
 ance at c, we shall, in the case of equilibrium, have 
 C— T=cos. a W. (2.) 
 And, by the property of the lever. 
 
 cF 
 
 Hence, 
 
 = W COS. a 
 
 tc 
 
 cF 
 
 = 4-1 
 
 (3.) 
 
 (4.) 
 
 36. Without stopping to notice some maxims fur- 
 nished by this equation (see the Art. Bridge, PYop. 
 B), we will proceed to explain the notation used in 
 the investigation which follows : 
 
 I =r the length AB. 
 
 d=. the depth BD, measured in the same plane as 
 
 the direction of the strain. 
 h= the breadth. 
 
 z— the distance of the neutral point e from the 
 axis ab. 
 
 y=. the distance of the point g from the axis ah. 
 
 p\^d — z), and p{^d-\-z) the respective distances of 
 the centres of resistance t and c from the 
 neutral point ; and, consequently, 
 
 ^d— the distance, c/, between them. And, 
 
 g{^d.—z), and gi\d-\-z) the respective distances of 
 the centres of gravity of the sections into 
 which the neutral axis divides the block, 
 counted from the neutral point. 
 
 The leverage, cF, expressed in this notation will 
 
 be i^l^L? y — ; consequently, equa- 
 
 tion (4) becomes 
 
 pd 
 
 /sin. a 
 
 = 1 
 
 (5.) 
 
 37. Now, it is shown, by writers on the resistance 
 of solids, that the resistance of any section, collect- 
 ed at its centre of pressure, is equal to its cohesive 
 force multiplied by the distance of its centre of gra- 
 vity from the neutral axis, and divided by the dis- 
 tance of the point of greatest strain from the neutral 
 axis. (Emerson's Mechanics, Prop. 77- 4to. ed.) 
 
 Accordmgly we have C = ° , 
 
 And 
 
 Stone- 
 Masonry. 
 
 (6.) 
 (7-) 
 
 Therefore ■—= )\y ; which being substituted 
 in Equation (5), we obtain 
 
 2 
 
 If the block be rectangular jp=-, and, therefore, 
 
 o 
 
 4 B 
 
1 
 
 558 
 
 STONE-MASONRY. 
 
 Stone- 
 Masonry 
 
 the distance of the neutral point from the axis is 
 
 rf2 
 
 12 
 
 ( 
 
 /sin. a 
 
 -i.a \ 
 
 ycos 
 
 38. The value of z for a rectangular section being 
 determined, the magnitude of the straining force is 
 easily found, so that it may not exceed the power 
 of the material ; for, by the properties of the lever, 
 _ pdC 
 
 W cos. a 
 
 I sin. a , , , , ^ ' 
 
 and since C 
 
 COS. a 
 
 = Jig{hd-{-z) by Equation (6), and 
 
 by Equation (9), andg=^ by the 
 
 *12I 
 
 (I sin. a \ 
 +y I 
 COS. a ^ / 
 
 form of the section, we have 
 
 fbd^ 
 
 W=- 
 
 tZcos. c-|-6/sin. 0+6^ cos. a (^^O 
 39. In particular cases this formula becomes more 
 simple,-— for example, when the distance of the point 
 g from the axis ab is o, that is, when y—o, 
 
 W=- il., (II.) 
 
 a cos. a-\-Ql sm. a 
 
 In a column, or pillar, the section of greatest 
 strain will be at the middle of the length, as at BD 
 in fig. 2 ; and the direction EF of the straining 
 force is usually parallel to the axis ; and then sin. a 
 
 =0, and COS. a=l, and therefore W= ■ 'f!^t ~ 0-^-) 
 
 When the direction of the straining force coin- 
 cides with the axis, or when y=.o, the strain on a co- 
 lumn or pillar is expressed by the equation 
 
 Wzzzfbd (13.) 
 
 These equations apply also to tensile forces. 
 When the strain becomes transverse, or when 
 EF is perpendicular to the axis, as in fig. 3, then 
 
 cos. 0=0, and sin. 0=1, hence W 
 
 r-Jbd^ 
 
 61 
 
 fig. 4, the fracture will take place at BD ; and W in 
 equation (14) will be the pressure on either sup- 
 (9.) port, which is obviously half the load in the middle. 
 
 40. In any of these equations it is immaterial how 
 the load be distributed, provided that the line of di- 
 rection be that which passes through the centre of 
 gravity of the mass supported, and the weight be the 
 whole weight of that mass. Or, if the strain be the 
 combined effect of several pressures, then the direc- 
 tion must be that of the resultant of these pressures, 
 as determined by the principles of mechanics. (See 
 Carpentry, p. 627, in this Supplement. 
 
 41. If a slab of equable thickness and width be 
 supported along two of its sides, as at AC, AB in fig- 
 5, and it be strained by a force acting at D, in a di- 
 rection perpendicular to its surface, and DE be made 
 equal to DB, then the fracture will take place in the 
 direction EB ; for it may be shown, by the princi- 
 ples of the maxima and minima of quantities, thai 
 the resistance, according to that line, is a minimunu 
 And since, in that case, EB=2 FD, we shall have^ 
 
 fd^ 
 
 by equation (14), W=r — (15.) 
 
 A force uniformly diffused over the surface of the 
 slab would fracture it in the direction CB, shown 
 by a dotted line in the figure, and if uj be the load in 
 pounds upon a square foot of the surface, then the 
 proper values being substituted for the leverage and 
 
 breadth m equation (14), w = ^2>^g g2 
 
 The strength of a series of steps bearing upon one 
 another, as in the perspective sketch, fig. 6, may be 
 determined with sufficient accuracy by the last equa- 
 tion, supposing the depth to be the mean vertical 
 depth of any one step ; as, for example, taken at 
 GH in fig. 7, the figure showing the ends of the steps. 
 
 42. The case to which equation (14) applies, af- 
 fords the most convenient, as well as the most accu- 
 rate, means of determining the value of/for any ma- 
 terial ; and, supposing it to be one-fourth of the ab- 
 solute cohesion (§ 34), the last column of the fol- 
 (14'-) lowing table of experiments gives its value for va- 
 rious stones, mortars, &c. in the nearest simple num- 
 bers under the calculated value- 
 
 Stone' 
 
 Masor.r 
 
 If the block be supported at the ends, and the 
 load be applied in the middle of the length, as in 
 
 Table I. — Experiments on the Transverse Strength of Stones, 8^c. to the Case Equation (14.) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Values of/=J 
 
 No. of 
 Expts. 
 
 Substance tried. 
 
 Weight of a 
 Cubic Foot, 
 
 Length I 
 
 Depth d 
 
 Breadth b 
 
 Breaking 
 Weight. 
 
 of the absolute 
 strength of a 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Square Foot. 
 
 1 
 
 Statuary marble 
 
 I69'l2lbs. 
 
 15 inches 
 
 1-075 in. 
 
 1-075 in. 
 
 25 lbs. 
 
 65,000 lbs. 
 
 2 
 
 Ditto 
 
 
 7-5 
 
 1-08 
 
 1-05 
 
 55 
 
 73,000 
 
 3 
 
 Ditto 
 
 
 7 
 
 1-075 
 
 1-075 
 
 65 
 
 78,000 
 
 4 
 
 Dundee stone 
 
 163-80 
 
 7 
 
 1-5 
 
 1-45 
 
 207 
 
 95,000 1 
 
 5 
 
 Portland stone 
 
 132 
 
 21 
 
 1-5 
 
 2 
 
 28 
 
 28,000 
 
 6 
 
 Ditto 
 
 
 12 
 
 1-45 
 
 2 
 
 50 
 
 30,000 
 
 7 
 
 Ditto 
 
 
 6 
 
 1-55 
 
 2-07 
 
 135 
 
 35,000 
 
 8 
 
 Ditto 
 
 
 15 
 
 1-25 
 
 1-2 
 
 30 
 
 26,000 
 
 9 
 
 Craigleith white sandstone 
 
 147-6 
 
 7 
 
 1-55 
 
 1-55 
 
 68-5 
 
 26,000 
 
 10 
 
 White sandstone from Hailesl 
 Quarry . . y 
 
 134-8 
 
 7 
 
 1-5 
 
 1-55 
 
 6i-5 
 
 26,0C0 
 
 
 
 
 
 
ST ONE- MASONRY. 
 
 No. of 
 Expts. 
 
 Substance tried. 
 
 Weight of a 
 Cubic Foot. 
 
 Length I 
 
 Depth d 
 
 Breadth b 
 
 Breaking 
 Weight. 
 
 Value of fzn:^ 
 
 of the absolute 
 strength of a 
 Square Foot. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 1 
 
 W^liifp* GminQfriTip TTnrn T^onci'fiTl'npl' 
 
 VV XIXLC Odil vloLL/llC^ 11 Will XjV/XX^C1.lxix^ 1/ 
 
 138'25 
 
 9 
 
 1-525 
 
 1-45 
 
 46 
 
 26,000 
 
 12 
 
 Ditto . . 
 
 
 4.5 
 
 
 1-525 
 
 80 
 
 23,000 
 
 1 o 
 
 Ditto . • • 
 
 
 3-5 
 
 l"55 
 
 1-55 
 
 116-5 
 
 24,000 
 
 1 4. 
 
 
 1234 
 
 2.75 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 29 
 
 17,000 
 
 1 1 
 
 1 o 
 
 jLLv^vi IJL/i IJIiVl. V • • • 
 
 
 2-5 
 
 0-4 
 
 1 
 
 60 
 
 101,000 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 0-25 
 
 2 
 
 30 
 
 414,000 
 
 1 7 
 
 Scotcli roof* sl&tc . • 
 
 
 6 
 
 0-25 
 
 
 25 
 
 345,000 
 
 18 
 
 Coninion brick^ n6W • 
 
 
 4- 
 
 2-5 
 
 4 
 
 201.5 
 
 6,900 
 
 19 
 
 Ditto old 
 
 
 4 
 
 2-5 
 
 4 
 
 171-5 
 
 5,900 
 
 20 
 
 Best stock brick 
 
 
 
 2-5 
 
 4 
 
 222 
 
 7,600 
 
 21 
 
 Mortar from an old castle in Sussex 
 
 
 3 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 18-5 
 
 12,000 
 
 22 
 
 Mortar^ common 
 
 
 0-75 
 
 0-35 
 
 14 
 
 11-5 
 
 9,300 
 
 23 
 
 Mortar in the joints of two inch^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 6-75liv. 
 
 
 
 cubes of stone^ one month af- > 
 
 
 8 pou. 
 
 2 pou. 
 
 2 pou. 
 
 1,400 
 
 
 ter being joined . . ) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 559 
 
 Stone- 
 Masonry. 
 
 Numbers 18, 19, and 20, are from Barlow's £s5fl?/ 
 on Ike Strength of Timber, &c. p. 250 ; each a mean 
 ctf three trials. 
 
 Number 23, from Rondelet's Traite del'ArtdeBatir, 
 Tome III. p. 377, lowest result ; the rest of the ex- 
 periments were made by the writer of this article. 
 
 We have not availed ourselves of the experiments 
 of Gauthey (Rozier's Journal de Physique, Tome 
 IV.) on the transverse strength of stones ; because 
 tliose he fixed at one end appear to have been 
 injured in fixing, and only a calculated result 
 
 is given for the other specimens supported at both 
 ends; both of which are given in the Article Strength 
 OF Materials in the Enct/clopcedia. 
 
 43. Several experiments have also been made, 
 with the intention of measbring the direct resistance 
 to extension or compression ; but theory indicates 
 so nice an adjustment of the direction of the strain- 
 ing force to be necessary in these experiments, that 
 the reader may expect the results to differ as widely 
 among themselves as they do from theoretical calcu- 
 lation. 
 
 Table II, — Experiments on the Direct Resistance of Stones, S^c. to the Case Equation (13.) 
 
 No. of 
 Expts. 
 
 Substance tried. 
 
 Weight of a 
 Cubic Foot. 
 
 Area of Spe- 
 cimen. 
 
 Weight that 
 pulled it 
 asunder. 
 
 Value of /=J 
 of the absolute 
 strength of a 
 Square Foot. 
 
 1 
 
 Hard stone of Givry 
 
 147 lbs. 
 
 96 lines 
 
 1 64 livres 
 
 K,400 lbs. 
 
 2 
 
 Tender stone of Givry 
 
 130 
 
 324 
 
 183 
 
 1,400 
 
 3 
 
 Mortar of sand and lime 16 years old 
 
 
 1 pouce 
 
 53 
 
 1,800 
 
 4 
 
 Plaster of Paris . , . . 
 
 
 1 
 
 76 
 
 2,500 
 
 5 
 
 Adhesion of mortar to lias stone, joined 6 months 
 
 
 4 
 
 64 
 
 547 
 
 6 
 
 Adhesion of mortar to brick, joined 6 months 
 
 
 4 
 
 138 
 
 1,180 
 
 7 
 
 Adhesion of mortar to tile, joined 6 months 
 
 
 4 
 
 141 
 
 1,200 
 
 The experiments, Nos. 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, are ex- 
 tracted from Rondelet's L Art de Bdtir, Tome I. p. 
 SI 2. 
 
 Nos. I and 2, by Gauthey, Rozier's Journal de 
 Physique, Tome IV. p. 414. In the Article Strength 
 OF Materials, in the Encyclopcedia, these experi- 
 ments have been quoted as experiments on compres- 
 sion, by mistake. 
 
 44. In the resistance to actual fracture, from a 
 compressive force, the joint effect of cohesion and 
 friction is concerned, and, therefore, a much greater 
 force is required to crush than to tear asunder 
 the same quantity of material. The resistance to 
 fracture might be investigated on principles analo- 
 gous to those we intend to employ in determining the 
 pressure of earth against retaining walls, &c. (See 
 also Carpentry, p. 623, in this Supplement.) But 
 we conceive, that it is neither prudent, useful, nor 
 
 necessary, to load the parts of a structure beyond 
 that limit we have made the basis of our investiga- 
 tion. (See § 34.) Rondelet has observed, that the 
 load under which a stone began to split was, nearly 
 always, two-thirds of that which crushed it ; but that 
 stone, of some kinds, began to split with half the load 
 that crushed it (L'Art de Bdtir, III. 86 et 101): 
 the value of f should, therefore, not exceed one- 
 fourth of the force which splits stone, and supposing 
 the splitting force to be always half the crushing one, 
 we shall have/=one-eighth of the crushing force. 
 
 45. In this, as in the preceding tables, the reader 
 will observe, that the results of all experiments are 
 given in the original weights and measures; but that 
 the value of f and the weight of a cubic foot are in 
 English pounds Avoirdupois, and for an English foot. 
 The foreign weights and measures are distinguished 
 by their foreign names. 
 
560 
 
 Stone- 
 Masonry, 
 
 STONE-MASONRY. 
 
 Table III.-— Experiments on the Resistance to Crushing. 
 
 Stone 
 Mason] 
 
 No. of 
 Expts. 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 S 
 4 
 5 
 6 
 7 
 8 
 9 
 10 
 11 
 12 
 13 
 14 
 15 
 16 
 17 
 18 
 19 
 20 
 21 
 22 
 23 
 
 24 
 
 25 
 
 26 
 27 
 28 
 29 
 
 30 
 31 
 32 
 33 
 34 
 35 
 36 
 37 
 38 
 39 
 40 
 
 41 
 
 42 
 43 
 44 
 45 
 46 
 47 
 48 
 49 
 50 
 
 Porphyry 
 
 Granite, Aberdeen blue • 
 
 Peterhead, hard and close grained 
 
 — — Cornish 
 
 gray ^ . 
 
 rose Oriental 
 
 Marble, white statuary 
 
 Substance tried. 
 
 . veined white, Italian 
 
 ■ vaviesated red, Devonshire 
 
 Dundee stone 
 
 Craigleith stone, with the strata 
 
 Do. . . . 
 
 Bromley Fall sandstone near Leeds, with the strata 
 Portland stone . 
 
 Do. . , - . . 
 
 Culello white sandstone 
 Yorkshire paving stone 
 Hard stone of Givry . • . 
 
 Tender stone of Givry 
 
 Saillancourt stone, of which the arches of the\ 
 bridge of Neuilly are constructed . / 
 Fourneaux stone, used for the pillars of All\ 
 Saints, at Angers . . . / 
 
 Bagneux stone, used for the lower part of the \ 
 pillars of the Pantheon at Paris . / 
 Stone used for the bridge of St Maxence 
 Caserte stone, in Italy 
 
 Stone of which the temples at Paestum are built 
 Travertino, of which the chief of the ancient") 
 buildings at Rome are built . J 
 
 Derbyshire grit, a friable red sandstone 
 Ditto, from another quarry . 
 Roe stone, Gloucestershire 
 Tufa, from Rome . 
 Chalk ..... 
 Pumice-stone . . • 
 
 Brick, hard and well burnt 
 
 — pale red . . • • 
 
 — red, mean of two trials . 
 
 Stourbridge fire . . . 
 
 Mortar of lime and sand well beat together, 18 
 
 months old 
 Do. 16 years old 
 Do. not beaten, 18 months old 
 Do. of lime and pit sand, 18 months old 
 Do. beaten together, 1 8 months old 
 Do. of lime and pounded tiles, 1 8 months old 
 Do. beaten together, 18 months old 
 Do. do. 16 years old 
 Do. from an ancient wall at Rome 
 Do. from the Pont du Gard 
 Lastrico, brought from Naples • 
 
 } 
 
 
 
 
 Value of — ^ 
 of the Crushing 
 Force for a 
 Square Foot. 
 
 Weight of a 
 Cubic Foot. 
 
 A.rea of Spe- 
 cimen. 
 
 Weight that 
 Crushed it. 
 
 179*44 lbs. 
 
 20 lines 
 
 5,208 livres 
 
 640,000 lbs. 
 
 174-9 
 
 4 pouces 
 
 119,808 
 
 500,000 
 
 164-06 
 
 2-25 inch. 
 
 24,556 lbs. 
 
 1 96,000 
 
 
 2-25 
 
 18,636 
 
 149,000 
 
 166-37 
 
 2-25 
 
 14,302 
 
 1 14,000 
 
 171-06 
 
 4 pouces 
 
 39,168 livres 
 
 165,000 
 
 166-32 
 
 4 
 
 52,704 
 
 220,000 
 
 172-5 
 
 2-25 inch. 
 
 13,632 lbs. 
 
 109,000 
 
 
 1 
 
 3,216 
 
 57,000 
 
 168-37 
 
 4 pouces 
 
 19,584 livres 
 
 83,000 
 
 170-37 
 
 2-25 inch. 
 
 21,783 lbs. 
 
 174,000 
 
 
 2-25 
 
 16,172 
 
 129,000 
 
 
 
 1 A ni ft 
 
 HQ 000 
 
 153-25 
 
 2-25 
 
 15,550 
 
 124,000 
 
 
 2-25 
 
 12,346 
 
 98,000 
 
 156-62 
 
 2-25 
 
 13,632 
 
 109,000 
 
 151-43 
 
 2-25 
 
 10,284 
 
 82,000 
 
 
 4 
 
 14,918 
 
 67,000 
 
 151-43 
 
 2-25 
 
 10,264 
 
 82,000 
 
 156-68 
 
 2-25 
 
 12,856 
 
 102,000 
 
 147-31 
 
 324 lines 
 
 11,208 livres 
 
 85,000 
 
 129-43 
 
 
 0300U 
 
 
 141-31 
 
 4 pouces 
 
 
 
 160-68 
 
 4 
 
 26,600 
 
 110,000 
 
 137-12 
 
 25centim. 
 
 6,125 kilog. 
 
 62,000 
 
 156-25 
 
 4 pouces 
 
 23,380 livres 
 
 97,000 
 
 169-87 
 
 4 
 
 36,142 
 
 L50,000 
 
 140-87 
 
 4 
 
 13,720 
 
 58,000 
 
 147-37 
 
 4 
 
 18,112 
 
 77,000 
 
 144 70 
 
 2*25 inch. 
 
 T,{JiO luS. 
 
 KR 000 
 
 151-75 
 
 2-25 
 
 9,776 
 
 78,000 
 
 
 2.25 
 
 1,449 
 
 11,500 
 
 76-00 
 
 4 pouces 
 
 3,520 livres 
 
 15,000 
 
 
 2*25 inch. 
 
 1,127 lbs. 
 
 9,000 
 
 37 81 
 
 4 pouces 
 
 2,100 livres 
 
 8,900 
 
 97-31 
 
 378 lines 
 
 5,280 
 
 34,000 
 
 130-31 
 
 2-25 inch. 
 
 1,265 lbs. 
 
 10,100 
 
 135-5 
 
 2-25 
 
 1,817 
 
 14,500 
 
 
 2-25 
 
 3,864 
 
 30,900 
 
 llS'Sl 
 
 4 pouces 
 
 2,552 livres 
 
 10,900 
 
 
 4 
 
 2,864 
 
 12,000 
 
 101'56 
 
 4 
 
 1,866 
 
 7,900 
 
 99-25 
 
 4 
 
 2,475 
 
 10,600 
 
 118-93 
 
 4 
 
 3,420 
 
 14,600 
 
 91-06 
 
 4 
 
 2,896 
 
 12,300 
 
 103-93 
 
 4 
 
 3,970 
 
 16.900 
 
 
 4 
 
 4,948 
 
 21,000 
 
 89-37 
 
 4 
 
 4,248 
 
 18,000 
 
 93-75 
 
 4 
 
 3,090 
 
 13,000 
 
 62-5 
 
 4 
 
 4,664 
 
 10,400 
 
 12 
 
STONE. MASONRY. 
 
 561 
 
 The Experiments, Nos. 1, 21, 22, and 36, were 
 ry- made by Gauthey. (Roz. Journal de Physique, Tome 
 w IV. p. 406.) Those numbered 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, to 20, 
 30, 31, 32, 34, 37, 38, and 39, were made by Mr 
 George Rennie. {PhilosophicalTransactionsfor 1818.) 
 The others were made by Rondelet. {Traite de I'Art 
 de Batir, Tome I. and Tome III.) We have selected 
 those which will be most useful, with others of a more 
 interesting and curious nature ; such are Rondelet's 
 experiments on the effect of beating mortar, the 
 strength and density of ancient mortar, and the re- 
 sistance of stones used in ancient and modern struc- 
 tures. 
 
 46. It was observed by Rondelet, in the course of 
 his very numerous experiments, that it was not the 
 heaviest stones which offered the greatest degree of 
 resistance to compression, but those of a fine even 
 grain and close texture, with a deep colour ; that of 
 granites, the most compact and perfectly crystallized 
 are the stron^st {VArt de Bdtir, I. 213, 215) ; and 
 when all other qualities were the same, it appears 
 that the strength was in proportion to some function 
 of the specific gravity. 
 
 The writers who have contributed to our experi- 
 mental knowledge of the strength of stones are not 
 numerous ; the chief are Emerson, in his Me- 
 chanics, 4ta Ed. p. 115 ; Gauthey, in his Memoire 
 sur la charge que peuvent porter les Pierres in Ro- 
 zier's Journal de Physique, Tome IV. 1774, and in 
 his Constriiction des Pants, Tome I. p. 267 ; Cou- 
 lomb, Memoir es presentes d I' Academie, 1773 ; Ron- 
 delet, in his Traite de I'Art de Bdtir, Tome I. et 
 III. The latter volume contains the experiments 
 made by Perronet and Soufflot. Rennie, Philo' 
 sophical Transactions for 1818, or Philosophical Ma- 
 gazine, Vol. LIII. ; Tredgold, Philosophical Maga- 
 zine, Vol. LVI. p. 290. 
 Mai Load 47. The last column in each of the three tables of 
 , on Stone experiments shows the greatest load that we suppose 
 Practice, should be borne by a superficial foot of the different 
 kinds of stone contained in those tables ; we now pro- 
 pose to give the results of some calculations re- 
 specting the extent to which stone has been loaded 
 in practice. The foreign ones are reduced to our 
 own weights and measures, and the whole stated in 
 round numbers. 
 
 The pillars of the Gothic church of Allsaints at 
 Angers, of the stone, No. 24, Table III. support on 
 each superficial foot a pressure of 86,000 lbs.* 
 
 The pillars of the dome of the Pantheon at Paris, 
 the lower part of which are of Bagneux stone (No. 
 25, Table III.), support on each superficial foot 
 60,000 lbs.t 
 
 The pillar in the centre of the Chapter.house at 
 
 Elgin, which is of red sandstone, supports on each Stone- 
 superficial foot 40,000 lbs. X Masonry. 
 
 The piers which support the dome of St Paul's, in ^*^v"^ 
 London, sustain a pressure on each superficial foot 
 of 39,000 lbs. t 
 
 The piers which support the dome of St Peter's 
 at Rome, sustain a pressure on each superficial foot 
 of 33,000 lbs. f 
 
 The pressure on the key-stone (No. 23, Table III.) 
 of the Bridge of Neuilly has been estimated for each 
 superficial foot at 18,000 lbs.§ 
 
 On these examples we have to remark, that the 
 calculators of them have considered the pressures to 
 be uniformly distributed over the pressed surface ; this 
 can only be true when the direction of the resultant 
 of the straining force coincides with the axis of the 
 pier or pillar ; besides, stones cannot be wrought ab- 
 solutely level, nor bedded in perfect contact. From 
 these circumstances, the strength of piers, columns, 
 pillars, and arch-stones, should be estimated by equa- 
 tion (1.2), and when the line of direction falls within 
 the pier, always making y — half the least dimension 
 of the section, an allowance which will include the 
 effect of the greatest possible inequality of action. 
 
 We shall, in that case, have-r^— ,= — =W. (l7.) 
 
 -J- 6a 4 
 
 ~2 
 
 If the pressure on the Bagneux stone in the piers 
 of the dome of the Pantheon at Paris be estimated 
 by this formula, it will be found that it is sufficient 
 to split the stones, and this has actually happened. [) 
 
 48. The chief elements of the theory of arches Principles of 
 have already been given in the Article Bridge ^^^^^^ 
 (Sect. II.) in this Supplement, to which we refer the ^ ' 
 reader, at the same time expressing a hope that the 
 excellent article referred to will be useful in correct- 
 ing some absurd notions respecting catenarian and 
 
 other curves, which are too commonly entertained. 
 The conical support of the lantern of St Paul's is a 
 fine example of an appropriate form, while the ca- 
 tenarian dome of the French Pantheon exemplifies a 
 scientific blunder of the first magnitude. ^ 
 
 The principles of domes, of groins, and of vaulting 
 of every kind, are the same as those of arches, ex- 
 cepting that each kind has its peculiar manner of 
 distributing the load on the different parts. See 
 Prop. M and N, Art. Bridge. 
 
 Of the Pressure of Earth, Fluids, 8fc. against 
 Walls. 
 
 49. When a high bank of earth, or a fluid, is to be ^^^^^"^^ °^ 
 sustained by a wall, as it is often necessary to do in ^gafnst 
 forming bridges, locks, quays, reservoirs, docks, and Walls. 
 
 • Gauthey, Rozier's Journal de Physique, Tom. IV. p. 409, or Construction des Ponts, Tom, I. p. 273. 
 
 t Rondelet, L' Art de Bdtir, Tom. III. p. 74. 
 
 I* Telford, Edinburgh Encyclopcedia, Art. Bridge, p, 505. 
 
 § Gauthey, Construction des Ponts, Tom. I. p. 260. 
 
 II Gauthey, Construction des Ponts, Tome I. p. 273. 
 
 ^ La charge considerable que cette voute devait porter a son somraet, a determine a choisir pour la courbe 
 de son ceintre la chainette, Traite I'Art de Bdtir, II. 308. 
 
562 
 
 STONE-MASONRY. 
 
 Stone- 
 Masonry. 
 
 military works, the construction is very expensive, 
 however economical the means employed may be ; 
 hence it is desirable to devote some space to an ob- 
 ject of which the importance is manifest. 
 
 Let EC, Plate CXVIII. fig. 8, be the line accord- 
 ing to which the earth would separate, if the wall 
 were to yield in a small degree ; then AEC will re>- 
 present the section of the prism of earth, the pres- 
 sure of which causes the wall to yield. 
 Put W=the weight of the prism AEC, when its 
 
 length is unity. 
 R=the resistance of the wall, when its length 
 
 is unity. 
 
 a =:the angle EC«, which the plane of fracture 
 
 makes with a vertical line. 
 c = the angle ACa, which the back of the wall 
 
 makes with a vertical line. 
 F=the friction of the earth when the pressure 
 
 is unity. 
 
 ^ = the vertical height of the wall aC in feet, 
 and S=the weight of a cubic foot of earth, water, 
 or other matter to be supported. 
 If g be the centre of gravity of the prism of earth, 
 the triangles rpg, CnE, being similar, the effort of 
 the prism to slide, in the direction EC, reduced for 
 
 1 r- • .1,, W(] — Ftan.a) 
 
 the friction, will be=i- — — - (18.) 
 
 sec. a 
 
 This effort is to be opposed by the resistance of 
 the wall, which let us suppose to be collected at c, 
 the centre of pressure, and, reducing it to the direc- 
 tion CE, the effect of friction being allowed for, it 
 
 becomes ^^^"^ tan. ») (19.) 
 sec. a 
 
 Hence, in the case of equilibrium, 
 
 W(l— Ftan. a) _ R(F-ftan.fl) _ 
 sec. a sec. a * 
 
 0'.H=W(J^^) ,.0.) 
 
 50. But, in the case now considered^ the radius 
 
 being unity, 'W=—^(tar\.a — tan. c V Therefore, 
 
 AgSr(ta n.a—tan.c) x(l— F tan.fl )-| 
 ^ = -2~L F+ tan. a J* ^"^^'J 
 
 And, from the state of the variable quantities in Ston 
 this equation, it is obvious that it has a maximum 
 value, which determines the angle of fracture. By 
 the principles of maxima and minima, the maximum 
 pressure takes place when 
 
 tan a=—F+^l + Ftan. c+^^^+ F^^"" (22.) 
 
 If the angle which the plane of repose (Bridge, 
 Sect. III.) makes with a vertical plane be denoted 
 1 
 
 by t, then Fz=, and tan. a= 
 
 tan. I 
 
 — l+(tan.c. tan. ^i-j- tan.22_L tan.ctan.?-f 1)^ 
 
 If the back of the wall be vertical, tan. c=o, and 
 then this equation reduces to the simple form, which 
 Prony obtained, of tan. c=tan. ^i. (24.) 
 
 51. When we substitute in equation (21) the va- 
 lue of the tan. a, which has been found in equa. (23), 
 
 It becomes R=-r A tan. t+t&n.c.-' 
 
 2 tan. i C 
 
 tan. i 
 
 And, when the back of the wall is vertical, it be- 
 
 (26.) 
 
 comes R = -^^(tan. *|z) 
 
 The tan. i being the co-tangent of the angle of re- 
 pose, if the matter to be supported be of so fluid s 
 nature that it naturally assumes a sensibly level sur- 
 face when at rest, the tan. becomes equal to uni- 
 
 ty j and, consequently, R: 
 
 (27. 
 
 The same result may be obtained from the common 
 principles of hydrostatics in the case of fluids. 
 
 Since the only variable quantity which enters into 
 the calculation of the distance of the centre of pres- 
 sure is the height h, whatever the nature of the sup- 
 ported material may be ; therefore that distance 
 counted from the base will always be ^h, as in the 
 pressure of fluids. (See Hydrostatics, in the En- 
 ci/clopcBdia.) 
 
 52. Table IV. — Table of Constant Quantities necessary for calculating the 
 Pressure of some Materials. 
 
 Substance. 
 
 Water 
 
 Fine dry sand 
 
 Do. moist 
 
 Quartz sand (dry) 
 
 Angle of 
 Repose. 
 
 0° 
 33° 
 
 35° 
 
 Weight of a 
 Cubic Foot 
 =8. 
 
 62-5 lbs. 
 
 92 — 
 119 — 
 102 — 
 
 Value of R in 
 Equation (26.) 
 
 R=13-8«2 
 
 R=17'85A2 
 
 R=1S-77A2 
 
 Value of R in 
 Equa. (25) when 
 0=10". 
 
 R=31iF 
 R=4-8A2 
 
 R=6-2A2 
 R= 4-64 A3 
 
 In sand, clay, and earthy bodies, the natural 
 slopes should be taken when the material is dry, 
 and the clay and earth pulverised. When any of 
 these bodies are in a moist state, the parts cohere, 
 
 and the angle of repose is greater, though the fric- 
 tion be actually less. The preceding Table shows 
 that the pressure of water is greater than that of any 
 of the other kinds of matter, and from the nature ol 
 
S T O N E . M A S 0 N R Y. 
 
 563 
 
 fluids it is evident, that if water be suffered to col- 
 lect behind a retaining wall, calculated to sustain 
 common earth only, it will most likely be overturn- 
 ed. Such accidents may be prevented by making 
 proper drains. 
 
 53. The preceding analysis will apply, without 
 sensible error, to the curved walls which have lately 
 become fashionable. Fig. 10 is a section of one of 
 these walls, as executed from a design by Rennie. 
 The vertical height, AB, 21 feet; the wall of uniform 
 thickness, with counterforts 15 feet apart ; and the 
 front of the walls described by a 69 feet radius, with 
 tlie centre in the horizontal line DA produced. The 
 wall is built of brick, and the uniform part is 4*5 feet 
 thick. The radius is usually thrice the vertical height 
 of the wall ; when this proportion is adhered to, the 
 angle c will be ten degrees, for which the value of R 
 is calculated in the Table. 
 
 Resistance of Walls. 
 54;. In the first place, we propose to investigate 
 tlie resistance a wall offers to being overturned ; and, 
 in so doing, it appears desirable that the resistance 
 of the mortar in the joints should be considered one 
 of the elements of the strength of the wall. Good 
 mortar adds much to the firmness of walls, and still 
 more to their durability, and, all things considered, 
 its first cost is less than that of bad ; besides, the re- 
 sistance of mortar to compression must be consider- 
 ed, for, in practice, we have no perfectly hard arrises 
 to fulfil the conditions of common mechanical hypo- 
 theses. 
 
 Put A=the area of the wall. 
 
 t«=the weight of a cubic foot of masonry. 
 t/=the horizontal distance, ga, between the 
 vertical passing through the centre of gravity of the 
 wall, and the point where the axis cuts the plane of 
 fracture, the same notation being applied to theother 
 quantities as in the foregoing equations. 
 
 Let G, fig. 9» be the centre of gravity of the wall ; 
 and on the vertical Gg set off gl, the height of the 
 centre of pressure: also," let IK represent A X w= 
 the weight of the wall, and HI the force R of the 
 earth. 
 
 Then, completing the parallelogram, EI will re- 
 present the direction and intensity of the straining 
 
 force ; consequently, = tan. a (28.) 
 
 Which determines its direction, and its intensity is 
 
 (29.) 
 
 COS. a 
 
 But, we have found, equa. (10), 
 
 fbd^ 
 
 W = 
 
 and as W= 
 
 d COS. a-\-6l sin. a-\-Qy cos. a ' 
 
 Equa. (29.)^ ; tan. 0=-?- ; Equa. (28) ; /= 
 cos.a\ ' / Ato * 
 
 ^h, art. 51 ; and 6=unity ; the equation reduces to 
 fcP—kdw—6Kwy—'2M. (30.) 
 
 If the section of the wall be a parallelogram, then 
 A=hd, and — tan. c=i/ ; these values of A and 
 y being substituted in Equa. (30), it becomes — whd^ 
 +fd^-j-3lM tan. czz2Rh. (31.) 
 
 Or, d=: 
 
 h^xv / — Stan, c 
 
 f—hw 
 
 ( 
 
 Stone- 
 Masonry. 
 
 (32.; 
 
 When the section of the wall is a rectangle y=o, 
 therefore Equa. (31) reduces to 
 
 / 2R/^ 
 -V J—hw 
 
 (33.) 
 
 This last Equation is also correct for a wall of 
 which the back is vertical, and the front sloping. We 
 suppress the investigation, to afford the young stft- 
 dent an opportunity of proving that the diminution 
 of weight is exactly counterbalanced by the altera- 
 tion of the distance of the centre of gravity from the 
 axis. 
 
 The tendency of a wall to slide forward may be 
 easily prevented, by giving an inclination to the 
 joints. 
 
 55. To illustrate these rules we shall give two 
 examples, and in these show the construction of a 
 table, which the reader may enlarge at his plea- 
 sure. 
 
 Example I. Let it be required to determine the 
 thickness of a rectangular wall for supporting the 
 front of a wharf 10 feet in height, the earth being a 
 loose sand, and the wall to be built of brick. 
 
 The weight of a cubic foot of brick-work may be 
 estimated at 100 lbs., and the resistance of mortar 
 being valued at 5000 lbs. per superficial foot, the 
 experimental value being 7900 lbs.. Table III. Ex- 
 periment 42, and the difference an allowance for 
 any irregularity in building, consequently, y=5000 ; 
 t<;=100 ; and by Table IV. Rz=13'8h^; hence, Equa. 
 
 (33), /?EiMxA'= 
 ^ V 5000--100A 
 
 When A =10 feet, then the thick- 
 
 ness of the wall 2*644 feet. If k be made suc- 
 cessively 10, 20, 30, 40, &c. feet, the numbers under 
 the head of dry sand in the following Table will be 
 obtained, observing that they are only calculated to 
 the nearest tenth of a foot. 
 
 The proper thickness being found for supporting 
 one kind of material, that for any other may be 
 easily determined ; as the thickness varies as the 
 square root of R, Equa. (33). Let the thickness for 
 dry sand be d, then ^13^:^31-25: :d:i'5d the 
 
 thickness for supporting water. V 1 3-8 ', Vl 7.85*. : 
 d:i'14!d the thickness for supporting moist sand. In 
 this manner, by means of Table IV. the thicknesses 
 for other kinds are easily calculated. 
 
 Example II. If a retaining wall be intended to 
 support a sandy and loose kind of earth, to be con- 
 structed of brick, and to be inclined 10 degrees 
 from the vertical, the thickness being uniform ; it i« 
 required to determine that thickness for any given 
 height. 
 
 By Equa. (32), d. 
 
 3 tan. c 
 
 i" 
 
 -+ 
 
564 
 
 ST ONE- MASONRY. 
 
 stone- /2R(f—hiv) . /3 tan. c\2\ 
 
 Masonry. V ^^—^^^ ~ + ( 2~ ) ) ^" 10", tan. 
 
 c='18, hence ^ —=-27, and its square=-0/29. 
 
 Also f=z5000, and w=100, consequently, 
 
 50- ^ 
 For sandy earth R=r4-8/i2, therefore a=55;:ryi 
 ^—•27+ J^-j—^^^^J ' ^^'^ making & succes- 
 sively 10, 20, &c. feet, the numbers obtained xyill be 
 the same within one-tenth of a foot, as those m the 
 following Table, column 5. 
 
 56 Table Y.—A Table of the Thichiesses for Re- 
 taining Walls, Revetments, Dock-walls, S^c. 
 
 Height of 
 Wall. 
 
 Thickness of Rectangular Walls to 
 support. 
 
 Thickness of 
 Leaning and 
 Curved Walls 
 for supporting 
 Dry Sand, the 
 A.ngle of In- 
 clination being 
 
 Water. 
 
 Dry Sand. 
 
 Moist Sand- 
 
 10 feet 
 20 
 
 so 
 
 40 
 
 4-0 feet 
 12-9 
 29-2 
 62-5 
 
 2-7 feet 
 
 8-6 
 19-4 
 41-7 
 
 3.1 feet 
 
 9-8 
 22-2 
 47-5 
 
 1- 1 feet 
 
 2- 8 
 5-2 
 9-2 
 
 Our investigation informs us that the mortar of 
 high walls must be of a superior strength ; indeed, we 
 know that when its consolidation takes place, under 
 considerable pressure, it is of much greater strength. 
 According to what function of the pressure the 
 strength increases, we have not experiments to de- 
 termine, and we therefore point out the circumstance 
 to the notice of experimental inquirers. 
 Construction 57. The preceding analysis being confined to the 
 of Walls, conditions under which the equilibrium could not be 
 disturbed by the pressure, it would be quite unne- 
 cessary to consider the phenomena of actual fracture, 
 if it were not for the proof which even these pheno- 
 mena afford of the defects of the common mode of 
 constructing these walls. The back of the wall is 
 generally formed of inferior materials, hence the 
 technical term /ace mortar and backing mortar ; hut, 
 even with inferior mortar, the workmanship is so 
 carelessly done, towards the back of the wall, that 
 when it fractures a portion is left behind. A mo- 
 ment's attention to the direction of the pressure (see 
 fig. 9) must show the importance of using good 
 mortar, and making good bond at the back of the 
 
 wall ; if any part be neglected it ought to be the 
 middle, which is of least importance, provided the 
 wall be well bound together by cross bond stones. 
 
 The strength of a wall to sustain earth will always 
 be greatly increased by any roughness or irregularity 
 in the back of the wall, such as projecting stones or 
 bricks ; in stone work it is easy to gain much stabi- 
 lity by this means. The friction against a smooth 
 wall mvist add much to its strength ; we have not 
 thought it necessary to include its effect in our cal- 
 culations; but intend that, with counterforts, it should 
 be considered as a set-ofF against accidental pres- 
 sures, &c.* 
 
 Counterforts are usually placed at 'about three 
 times the thickness of the wall apart, and are made 
 of the same width as the thickness of the wall. In 
 fig. 11 is shown a plan for building a wall to sustain 
 the pressure of earth according to the form proposed 
 by Vitruvius, Lib. VI. Cap. IX. And fig. 12 is a 
 plan from Perrault's Notes. Various other plans have 
 been proposed, the chief of which Colonel Pasley has 
 collected in his Course of Fortification ; but most of 
 them have little to recommend them. It seems de- 
 sirable that every kind of curved work should be 
 avoided; and perhaps that plan which unites the 
 most economy with the greatest stability is shown by 
 figs. 13 and 14, Plate CXIX. The spaces A, A, A, 
 are proposed to be filled with gravel or fragments 
 of stone ; the whole of the stone-work to be well 
 bonded ; and the front and back wall of that thick- 
 ness which is best suited for bond, in the kind of 
 material to be employed. 
 
 Bond of Walls and Cramps. 
 
 58. It is not sufficient to depend entirely upon the 
 cementing power of mortar in the construction of 
 walls ; the stones themselves should also be bound 
 together by their disposition. The art of disposing 
 stones for this purpose is called bonding. Part of 
 the longest stones should be employed to bind the 
 wall in length, and the other part to bind it cross- 
 ways ; the former are called stretchers, the latter 
 headers. 
 
 Figs. 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19, show various me- 
 thods of bonding walls ; these are selected from 
 Greek and Roman examples. The courses of stone 
 are often irregular, as in fig. 17 ; and in some works 
 we find both irregular courses and broken ones ; 
 that is, such as are intercepted by large blocks of 
 stone. Broken courses should be avoided, because 
 they occasion irregular settlements. 
 
 The bond of walls requires to be most carefully 
 attended to in the construction of piers, angles, 
 and, in general, every part exposed to great strain. 
 
 On this subject it also may be remarked, that 
 crossing the joints properly is a more effectual 
 means of bonding a wall than that of employing very 
 long stones, unless they be very strong ones. For if 
 a stone exceed about three times its thickness in 
 
 * See Philosophical Magazine, Vol. LI. p. 401, where the effect of such friction is considered. 
 
S T O N E-M 
 
 length, it cannot be so equally bedded but that it is 
 ^^y- liable to break from unequal pressure ; and the frac- 
 ture commonly takes place opposite to a joint, and 
 therefore destroys the bond of the wall. This de- 
 fective mode of construction we have often had oc- 
 casion to notice. 
 
 In works of hewn stone destined to support great 
 pressure, or to bear the action of a heavy sea, it is 
 necessary that the stones should be of great bulk, 
 and connected in the firmest manner. Sometimes 
 this is effected by forming the stones so as to lock 
 them together. The Eddystone and Bell-Rock 
 Light-Houses are bound together at the base 
 on this principle. (See Bell-Rock in this Supple- 
 ment.) 
 
 Where less strength is required, iron cramps are 
 used, and sometimes pieces of hard stone are dove- 
 tailed into the adjoining blocks. We think cramps 
 of cast-iron might be employed with much advantage 
 in all these cases. 
 
 59. The proper quantity of mortar to be employed 
 in stone-work is another point to which it will be 
 useful to direct the mason's attention. A stone 
 cannot be very firmly bedded upon a very thin layer 
 of mortar ; and if the stone be of an absorbent na- 
 ture, the mortar will dry too rapidly to acquire any 
 tolerable degree of hardness {Fitnivius, Lib. II. Cap. 
 VIII.), however well it may have been prepared. On 
 the other hand, if the bed of mortar be thicker 
 than is necessary to bed the stone firmly, the work 
 will be a long time in settling, and will never be per- 
 fectly stable. 
 
 When the internal part of a wall is built with 
 fragments of stone, they should be closely packed 
 together, so as to require as little mortar as possible. 
 Walls are often bulged by the hydrostatic pressure 
 of mortar, when it is too plentifully thrown into the 
 interior, to save the labour of filling the spaces with 
 stones. 
 
 The walls of houses are frequently built with hewn 
 stone on the outside, and rubble stone on the inside* 
 The settlement of these two kinds of stone-work 
 during the setting of the mortar are so different, 
 that the walls often separate : or where this separa- 
 tion is prevented by bond stones, the wall bulges 
 outwards, and bears unequally on its base. These 
 evils are best prevented by using as little mortar as 
 possible in the joints of the interior part of the wall, 
 and not raising the wall to a great height at one 
 time. 
 
 Foundations* 
 
 60. The nature of the materials employed in ma- 
 sonry having been considered, and also the methods 
 of uniting them^ we have, in the next place, to turn 
 our attention to the nature of those foundations on 
 which it is commonly required to raise permanent 
 structures of such heavy matter. 
 
 In founding on dry ground, the nature of the 
 foundation is ascertained without much difficulty. 
 When it is found to be of firm hard rock, that will 
 bear the action of the weather, no particular precau- 
 tions are necessarj' ; but in all other cases it is de- 
 sirable to level the trenches to such a depth as will 
 prevent them from being affected by the change of 
 
 VOL. VI. PART II. 
 
 A S 0 N R Y. 565 
 
 seasons. Frost, we believe, seldom penetrates so low stone- 
 as two feet below the surface (see Climate in this Masonry. 
 Supplement y Vol. Ill, p. 179) ; but in clayey ground, '^^-^^ 
 the effect of shrinkage, by heat, is often sensible at 
 four feet below the surface; for to that depth the 
 cracks in summer often extend. Consequently, in 
 clay, the depth of the foundations should never be 
 less than four feet, and in heavy buildings, deeper in 
 proportion to the weight they are to support. 
 
 In large works it is also necessary to examine the 
 matter, inclination, and thickness of the under strata, 
 particularly when the upper stratum is of inconsi- 
 derable thickness. For this purpose, the older 
 writers on architecture, with much propriety, re- 
 commend that a well should be dug near the place, to 
 ascertain these points. A knowledge of the incli- 
 nation and nature of the strata will also be of use in 
 planning drains, a subject of no small importance to 
 the durability and comfort of a mansion. 
 
 In soft ground the base of the wall should be made 
 wide, and it may be reduced to the proper thickness 
 by small off-sets or steps, as in fig. 20. On clay or 
 dry sand the breadth at the bottom may be double 
 the thickness of the wall. On compact gravel or 
 chalk the breadth may be to the thickness as 3 
 is to 2. 
 
 If the ground be soft and wet, with a firm bottom 
 within the reach of piles, then piles may be employed 
 with advantage ; but they are very likely to rot, in a 
 few years, where the ground is not wet ; and, there- 
 fore, in the case of soft ground, not sufficiently wet 
 to preserve piles from decay, we should recommend, 
 in preference, a very wide base or footing, well 
 bonded together, with bars of cast-iron, disposed so 
 that one part could not settle without causing the 
 adjoining ones to go down at the same time ; and the 
 whole of the base should, for greater strength, be 
 built in the best water cement. 
 
 It is a practice with some architects to employ 
 timber beams and planking in such cases, and in 
 consequence of its decay, in many instances it has 
 been necessary to replace the timber with stone and 
 brick at an enormous expense. It should be a 
 maxim in construction, never to employ timber in a 
 permanent structure where it is not either absolutely 
 wet or perfectly dry. 
 
 When ground is very soft and wet, and the solid 
 stratum is beyond the reach of piles, a solid mass may 
 be formed to erect the superstructure upon, by means 
 of a grating of timber, planked over. The brick 
 or stone work which is built upon the planking 
 should be joined with a water cement. 
 
 When such ground is not absolutely wet, instead 
 of planking we would employ a connected grating of 
 cast-iron, with stone or brick work built in water 
 mortar. 
 
 In all these cases the greatest difficulty consists 
 in preventing irregular settlements ; and hence the 
 advantage of employing wood or iron to bind the 
 base together, and render it, as far as possible, an in- 
 flexible and solid mass. 
 
 In all edifices which press perpendicularly on their 
 foundations, the centre of pressure should coincide, 
 as nearly as may be, with the centre of gravity of 
 the surface which sustains it. In wharf walls, ter- 
 4 c 
 
566 
 
 STONE-MASONRY. 
 
 Stone- race Walls, abutments and piers of bridges, and the 
 Masonry, jjjjg^ {-{^g resultant of the pressures should fall in the 
 ■^""^^'^ centre of gravity of the surface which supports it. 
 
 Foundations are most difficult to manage where 
 the ground is irregular, particularly for highly finish- 
 ed buildings, which are so much disfigured by a 
 small settlement. In such cases we would endeavour 
 to procure an inflexible base by means of cast-iron 
 beams. It is a good plan to form counter arches 
 under the openings, provided these arches be care- 
 fully built ; but where they are not well built, they 
 yield so much as to be no better than common wall- 
 ing. 
 
 Excavating and removing the earth from founda- 
 tions is frequently a considerable part of the ex- 
 pense of large works ; hence the peculiar species of 
 management which will economize this branch of 
 
 O ... 
 
 labour, has become an interesting subject of investi- 
 gation. We intended to give an outline of the man- 
 ner of treating it, but we find that it would extend 
 this article far beyond its proper limits. 
 NewMethod 61. Founding in water may be done in various 
 of Founding ways ; most of them are very expensive, presenting 
 m Water, many difficulties in deep and rapid water ; we shall 
 confine our attention to this case only. The best 
 method now in use consists in excluding the water 
 from the space to be founded upon by means of a 
 dam, called a coffer-dam, formed by rows of piles, 
 with bricks or clay between the rows. When bricks 
 are used, it is necessary to caulk the interstices be- 
 tween pile and pile. The space is kept clear of water 
 by means of engines, and the foundation deepened, 
 and piled if necessary. 
 
 Considering the immense expense and risk of life, 
 which is encountered in excluding water of 30 or 40 
 feet depth, we shall here propose, for suitable ground, 
 a more economical and safe method, which is adapt- 
 ed for founding piers, abutments, sea-walls, &c. 
 
 The space for the foundation being cleared, let 
 the space it is to occupy be inclosed by a single 
 row of piles, driven near to one another, but not so 
 close as is necessary for a dam. The upper ends of 
 these piles must be high enough for a stage to be form- 
 ed upon them ; which should be just above the height 
 of floods or tides as the case may be. From this 
 stage, the ground within the inclosure may be exca- 
 vated, by means of a machine, formed so as to com- 
 bine the principle of the field plough with that of the 
 dredging-machine. (See Dredging-Machine in 
 this Supplement.) 
 
 When the foundation has been cleared to a proper 
 depth by this process, and levelled, the stone-work 
 may be built in courses with a proper bed and joint 
 of water cement. (See Sect. I. art. 22.) A simple 
 machine might easily be contrived for the purpose. 
 If brick be employed instead of stone, it may be 
 done, by forming the bricks into blocks of three feet 
 long, and eighteen inches square, with cement, and 
 using these blocks instead of stones. This method 
 
 of building with blocks is already in use for construct- Stora- 
 ing sewers in London. When the work is brought Masonry, 
 to that height which will enable the workmen to pro- 
 ceed in the ordinary manner, either then or after- 
 wards, the piles may be cut off at low-water line, 
 and a cap-sill being fixed upon their tops, they will 
 remain, and serve as a protection to the work below 
 water. 
 
 62. For many purposes It would not be necessary 
 to excavate, nor yet to build in courses ; for example, 
 let us suppose it to be the pier of a light bridge, the 
 row of piles being driven in an elliptical form, a 
 strong chain should encircle it at one or two places, 
 and the internal space filled with rough stones, thrown 
 in with water cement, to fill the interstices between 
 them. As the cement indurated, the whole mass 
 would become one solid stone. This mode of con- 
 struction is effected on the same principle as that 
 the French term " Les Enrochements en Beton" 
 (Gauthey, Construction des Fonts, II. p. 276) ; and we 
 have the advantage of a much superior cement to 
 any they have employed. 
 
 Sect. III. — Stone-Cutting. 
 
 63. Before we proceed to explain methods of Of the Beds 
 forming stones to the particular shapes required 
 
 arches, vaults, &c., it may be remarked, that the ] 
 young mason should be extremely careful to avoid 
 making the beds of stones concave or hollow. 
 For, if this be done, in any case where the stones 
 have to bear much pressure, they will flush, or break 
 off in flakes at the joints, and entirely disfigure the : 
 work. It is better that they should be slightly con- 
 vex. In the construction of piers and columns, 
 where perfectness of form is at least as much regard- 
 ed as strength, this maxim should be carefully attend- 
 ed to. Nothing can be moi-e offensive to the eye than 
 a flushed joint, since it not only deforms, but also 
 gives the idea of want of strength. 
 
 64. Stone-cutting may be equally well done by Methods of ; 
 various methods ; the most certain consists in ^'o^f"" c^^^fj^ 
 
 ing as many plane surfaces to the stone as may be " 
 necessary, in such manner that these surfaces may 
 include the intended form, with the least waste of 
 stone, or in the most convenient way for applying 
 the moulds. Upon the plane surfaces thus prepared, 
 the proper moulds are to be applied, and the stone 
 worked to them. It will generally happen that the 
 bed of the stone will be one of the first plane sur- 
 faces, and the arrangement should always be made, 
 so that there may be as little reworking as possible.* 
 
 65. When an arch is square to the face of the Describing 
 wall, the only difficulty is in drawing it to the proper Arches, 
 curve. When the arch is circular, it may be de- 
 scribed from a centre, unless the centre be very dis- 
 tant ; and in that case a method proposed by Dr T. 
 Young f will be found extremely convenient for the 
 mason's purposes. Fig. 21 represents the instrument. 
 
 Three points in the curve being known, it is easily 
 
 " Frezier may be consulted with advantage on this subject. Coupe des Pierres. Tome 11. p. 14. 
 t Lectures on Natural Philosophy, Vol. I. Plate VI. fig. 83. This instrument might be usefully applied 
 in Ship-building. 
 
• 
 
 STONE-M ASONRY. 
 
 567 
 
 Stone- adjusted to the curve, and will also answer as a 
 Masonry, naould in many cases. AB is a straight bar of any 
 convenient length ; at each end, a small roller is fixed 
 by means of two plates of brass ; against these rollers 
 the elastic bar CD slides as it adapts itself to a re- 
 gular curvature, when moved by the screw E. The 
 natural form of the elastic bar is shown by C D', the 
 depth in the middle, H, should be double the depth 
 at either end, and the breadth uniform throughout 
 the length. This bar, when of wood, should be of 
 straight-grained ash, or lance-wood ; the latter is 
 best. 
 
 An elliptic arch may be described by continued 
 motion, in the following manner. On a straight bar 
 AB, fig. 22, if AC be made equal to the height of 
 the arch, and CB equal to half the span, then if the 
 end A be moved along a straight edge, ED, while 
 the point B moves along another straight edge, FD, 
 the point C will describe an ellipse.* If the bar be 
 made to move on rollers, an arch on a large scale 
 may be easily and accurately described in this way, 
 when a tramnael would become very unmanageable. 
 For other methods, seeELLiPTOGRAPH in this Supple- 
 ment. 
 
 To find the direction of the joints, with a radius 
 equal to half the span, from the point K, fig. 22, as 
 a centre describe the arc GH, which determines the 
 points G,H, called the foci. Let it now be required 
 to draw the joint I, join IG, and IH, draw LI to 
 bisect the angle GIH, and it is the joint at I. 
 
 A parabolical arch may be drawn very easily on a 
 large scale by means of tangents. Make AE, fig. 
 
 23, equal to the rise CA, and join ED and EB. 
 Draw FG parallel to DB, and divide DF and EG 
 (which are equal) each into the same number of 
 equal parts, then join li, 22, 33, &c., as is shown in 
 the figure ; a curve drawn to touch these tangents is 
 a parabola. 
 
 Arches are most conveniently drawn on a large 
 scale by means of parallel ordinates ; and an extreme- 
 ly simple method of this kind, for a parabolic arch, 
 has been described by Professor Leslie. {Itiquiry 
 into the Nature of Heat, p. 503.) Let AB, fig. 
 
 24, be the span, and CD the height. Divide AB 
 into twenty equal parts, and raise a perpendicu- 
 lar from each point of section. Let CD be 100 by 
 a scale of equal parts, make the next ordinate on 
 each side 99 parts, or 9x 11> by the scale; the next 
 pair of ordinates make 96 parts, or 8x 12, and so 
 on ; those numbers being respectively as the rec- 
 tangles of the segments into which AB is divided. 
 
 To draw the joints of a parabolic arch, let I be 
 a point, at which a joint is to be drawn, fig. 24 ; draw 
 \d parallel to BA ; and make DT equal to Yid ; join 
 IT, and make EI perpendicular to IT, which is the 
 joint required. 
 
 66. The finest form for a Gothic arch is a cubic 
 parabola ; it is easily constructed from its equation. 
 
 Observing that the vertex of the curve is at the Stone- 
 springing of the arch, and making x the abscissa, and Masonry. 
 y its corresponding ordinate, by the nature of the 
 
 - Now, if we make y successively equal 
 
 curve x=- 
 
 to 
 
 1 I g 
 
 1, 2, 3, &c. feet, we shall have —=.x ; - 
 
 27 
 
 64__ IV 
 a ' 
 
 125_ V, 
 a ' 
 
 a 
 
 216 VI 
 
 — =a; ; 
 a 
 
 a 
 343 
 
 512 vni 729 IX . rv a a u 
 
 =ix ; =zx ; &c. 10 fand a, when x is 
 
 a a 
 
 equal to half the span CD, fig. 25, Plate CXX., and 
 
 AD^ 
 
 y = the height AD ; we have a = 
 
 CD 
 
 If it be de- 
 
 sirable that the ordinates should be 1 — nth part of a 
 foot apart, then divide each by the n^, which gives 
 the dimensions in feet. 
 
 Example. In a Gothic building it is proposed to 
 make an arch to an opening 1 0 feet wide, the height 
 of which is to be 4 feet 6 inches above the springing 
 line. There CD = 5 feet, and AD = 4,-5 feet, 
 
 therefore =— — =:18-225. And using this 
 
 CD 5 
 
 number for a divisor, the ordinates are easily found, 
 by once setting a slide rule, to be, 
 
 j;^=-0548 feet o'=:-0068 feet 
 II 
 
 = .4,38 . 
 
 IT 
 
 .185 
 
 0 = '851 
 
 third, and fifth, each by 8 
 (considering n = 2), gives the intermediate ordi- 
 nates ; 0 , 0^^, o"^. The advantage of this me- 
 thod consists in the facility of setting out the v/orfc 
 on either a large or small scale. Every practical 
 man is aware of the trouble of dividing a distance 
 into equal parts, or of performing other geometrical 
 operations on a platform, or floor ; but here, by an 
 easy arithmetical operation, this is avoided. Draw 
 the springing line CD, and the middle line AD ; and 
 let the line EC be drawn parallel to AD. Beginning 
 at D, make a mark at every 6 inches on DA, and 
 also on CE, beginning at C ; then, through these 
 divisions draw the parallel ordinates. Let the ab- 
 scissas be measured off on these ordinates, from the 
 line CE by a rod divided into feet, tenths and hun- 
 dredths of a foot. Put a nail in at each point found in 
 the curve, and bend an uniform lath against the nails, 
 and mark the curve. 
 
 67. Our next example is for the purpose of show- Arches for 
 
 large 
 
 Bridges. 
 
 * See Edinburgh Review^ Vol. VI. p. 387. A most ingenious extension of the principles of describing 
 curved lines has been lately invented by Mr Joseph Jopling, which promises to be of much use in the arts, 
 as well as a curious subject for mathematical speculation. The system is somewhat obscurely announced 
 in a Pamphlet, entitled The Septenary System of Generating Curves by Continued Motion. London, 1823= 
 
568 
 
 STONE - MASONRY. 
 
 Stone- 
 Masonry. 
 
 ing the principles of constructing an arch for a bridge, 
 when the span is considerable. In the Article 
 Bridge, Prop. S, the equation of the curve of equili- 
 
 brium is found to be ?/ = 
 
 for a disposi- 
 
 tion of the load which has place commonly in bridges. 
 Making X successively 10, 20, 30, &c. feet, we have 
 
 3/1 
 
 m 
 
 1-1506). 
 
 m 
 
 m 
 1250, 
 
 =- 
 
 -(a+4l6|5). 
 
 = l^(,+6006). 
 
 VII 
 
 2/ = 
 
 m 
 2450 
 
 (a + 8l6|&), &c. &c. 
 
 The curve of equilibrium being to pass at the mid- 
 dle of the depth of the arch-stones, CB, fig. 26, will 
 be the height = h, and AB the semi-span = S ; also 
 let the depth of the arch and roadway at the crown, 
 or a, be 7 feet ; and suppose the quantity of matter 
 
 10 
 
 be so regulated by hollow spandrils that 5 = g^. 
 Under these conditions we shall have 
 
 semi- 
 
 span be 72 feet, and the height 24 feet, then m=936, 
 and b = -OOIOS. Calculating the ordinates from these 
 
 data, we shall have = '375 
 
 2/" 
 
 
 1-52 
 
 
 
 3-5 
 
 
 
 6-4 
 
 
 
 10-4 
 
 
 
 15-7 
 
 
 
 22*4 
 
 AD 
 
 
 24-0 
 
 Construct the curve according to these ordinates, and 
 divide it for the arch-stones. The joints should be 
 perpendicular to this curve ; but great accuracy is 
 not necessary in this respect, provided the inclina- 
 tion from that perpendicular be considerably within 
 the angle of repose. {See Bridge, Prop. Z.) 
 The joints may be drawn thus, with any radius : 
 
 from the next division on one side of the joint a de- Stone- 
 scribe an arc, and from the next division on the other Masonry, 
 side, with the same radius describe another arc to in- ^••^v'^^ 
 tersect the former one, through the intersection and 
 the division a draw the direction of the joint. 
 
 To find the depth of the key-stone, let the hori- 
 zontal thrust m=936 be multiplied by the mean spe- 
 cific weight of a cubic foot of the materials to form 
 the bridge, and calculate the depth by equation 
 (17). Suppose the mean to be 160 lbs. then the 
 horizontal pressure will be 149,760 lbs. and 
 
 ■^^=149,760; which, considering 6= unity, gives 
 4 
 
 ^__ 599;040 ^ For Craigleith stone. No. 15, Table 
 S 
 
 III. the key-stone should be 6 feet deep. 
 
 To find the depth of the arch-stones at any other 
 part of the arch, set off Be equal the depth at the 
 key-stone, and draw be parallel to a tangent to the 
 curve of equilibrium at the point where the depth is 
 to be determined, then be is the depth at that point. 
 The depth at a sufiicient number of points being 
 found as above, and set off equally on each side of 
 the curve of equilibrium, the form of the intrados 
 will be determined, which may be terminated by a 
 circular arc at the springing ; and it is not a little 
 remarkable that the arch, thus described from prin- 
 ciple, is a pointed arch. 
 
 68. When an arch cuts a plane wall in an oblique Oblique 
 direction, there is a little more scope for the art of Arches, 
 the stone-cutter. But previously to attempting to 
 proceed further, we would recommend the young 
 student to make himself master of the principles of 
 projection, developement, and solid angles. The 
 first section of the Article Joinery in this Supple- 
 went is wholly restricted to these principles ; all of 
 which being equally applicable to both arts, it will be 
 unnecessary to repeat them in this place. 
 
 Let an elliptical arch be supposed to cut a plane 
 wall obliquely, and the wall to be inclined, A BCD, 
 fig. 27, is the plan of the arch ; EF a section at right 
 angles to its direction ; IH a section at right angles 
 to the line AB. Project the inclined face of the 
 wall, as shown at AO PB, by the method of project- 
 ing planes (Joinery, Sect. 1 and 7) ; and in doing 
 this it will be found an advantage to produce the 
 joints till they cut the base line EF, because the 
 angles will be set out with greater accuracy from 
 long lines. In the case where the wall is vertical, 
 the section and projection of the face are not requir- 
 ed. Next let the soffit be developed, on the sup- 
 position that the arch is a polygon of as many sides 
 as there are arch-stones. (See Joinery, Sect. I. art. 
 13.) KLMN shows the developement of the sofiit 
 or soffit moulds. The form of the bed of each stone is 
 
 • Monge, in an elaborate article on the application of Descriptive Geometry to the use of Architects, has 
 drawn a very erroneous conclusion respecting the joints of vaults and arches; for it is the direction ot the 
 pressure, and not the form of the soffit, which determines the best direction for a jomt ; but the views deve- 
 loped in the Article Bridge were not known at the time Monge wrote. In other respects, the article of 
 Monge is well worthy of the attention of the mason. See GSomSlrie Descriptive, article 130, 4me ed. Pans, 
 1820. 
 
 12 
 
STONE. M 
 
 Stone- shown by the planes a, h, c, and d, and is thus found. 
 Masonry, for the joint, 4>, draw he and mf parallel to EF, and 
 ^■■^v"*^ produce the joint 84 on the developeraent to cut he 
 in g ; set off ge equal to 4i, and draw e/ parallel to 
 48 ; then, a line drawn from e through the point 4, 
 will give the bevel at one end, and a line drawn ^rotaf 
 through 8 gives the bevel at the other end ; its width 
 is equal to 4^ on the section. As there are no curv- 
 ed parts, except the soffit of the arch, the stones may- 
 be worked by means of bevels, without having 
 moulds made for the soffits and beds.* 
 Oblique or 69. When a road crosses a canal in an oblique di- 
 skew rection, the bridge is often made oblique. When the 
 Bridges. angle does not vary more than ten or twelve degrees 
 from a right angle, the arch-stones may be formed 
 as already described ; but in cases of greater ob- 
 liquity, a different principle of construction is neces- 
 sary. These cases should, however, be avoided 
 wherever it is possible ; as, however solid the con- 
 struction of an oblique bridge may be in reality, it 
 has neither that apparent solidity nor fitness which 
 ought to characterize an useful and pleasing ob- 
 ject. 
 
 An oblique arch may be constructed on the prin- 
 ciple of its being a right arch of a larger span, as is 
 shown in fig. 28. Let ABCD be the plan, and 
 EFGH the corresponding points in the elevation, in 
 this elevation the dotted lines show the parts which . 
 would not be seen. 
 
 The joints of the arch are supposed to be divided 
 upon the middle section, and therefore drawn to the 
 mean centre K, which corresponds to the point I on 
 the plan. 
 
 Divide AD into any number of equal parts, as at 
 1, 2, S, &c. and transferring these points to the ele- 
 vation ; describe the arch belonging to each point, 
 and also draw the parallel lines 11, 22, &c. on the 
 plan. 
 
 To find the mould for the arris of any joint, as a, 
 draw ab parallel to the base line EF, and from a, as 
 a centre, transfer the distances of the points where 
 the arches cut the joint, to the line ab. Then let 
 fall perpendiculars from the points in the line ai to 
 the lines 11, 22, &c. in the plan, whence we find 
 a, m, n, o, p, in the curve of the mould for the arris 
 of the joint a. The mould for any other joint may 
 be found in the same manner. The ends of the arch- 
 stones will be square to the joints, and pcde will be 
 the mould for one end, and acdf the mould for the 
 other end. It will be of some advantage in working 
 the arch-stones to observe, that the arch-stone be- 
 ing in its place, the soffit should be everywhere 
 perfectly straight in a direction parallel to the 
 horizon.f 
 
 A S 0 N R Y. 569 
 
 70. If it be required to construct an arch in the Stone- 
 wall of a circular building, as in fig. 29, where ABCD ^^sonry. 
 
 is the plan of the wall, the elevation EF should be ^^'^''^^ 
 
 • • • Arches in 
 
 drawn, and the joints in the same manner, as if the circulat 
 
 arch were in a plane wall. The curved surface of Walls, 
 the soffit should be correctly developed by the pro- 
 cess described in the Article Joinery, art. 13, and 
 the moulds made of some flexible material ; these 
 soffit moulds are shown at a, h, c, &c. The mould 
 for the joint 2 may be found by dividing the joint 
 into any number m, n, &c. parts ; and let a perpendi- 
 cular fall from each point of division to the curved 
 lines representing the faces of the wall on the plan, 
 and from each point in which the curved lines 
 are intersected by these perpendiculars, draw a line 
 parallel to EF. Also, from 2, as a centre, transfer 
 the divisions on the joint to the horizontal line J'2, 
 and from thence let perpendiculars fall, which will 
 cut the lines that are parallel to EF in the points 
 through which the curves of the mould must be 
 drawn, as shown by the shaded part P on the plan. 
 Any other joint may be described in the same man- 
 ner, i In the figure, the section is drawn, because it 
 shows somewhat more distinctly the size of the arch- 
 stones; it is not necessary in finding the moulds, 
 except the face of the wall be inclined, a case 
 of very rare occurrence in practice. An arch in 
 a circular wall always has the appearance of a want 
 of strength on the convex side ; and when the cur- 
 vature is considerable, it becomes absolutely inse- 
 cure. 
 
 The method describing the raking mouldings, so 
 as to mitre with horizontal ones, has been explained 
 in the Article Joinery in this Supplementt art. 21 — 
 24, and the same methods apply in masonry. 
 
 71. Respecting the general principles of stairs, we Stairs, 
 may also refer the reader to Joinery, art. 39, 40, 
 where the proportions of steps, &c. are shown ; in 
 masonry the kinds termed geometrical stairs are the 
 only ones which offer any considerable difficulty in 
 
 the execution. 
 
 Each step of a geometrical stair is partly support- 
 ed by wedging its end into the wall of the staircase, 
 and it is further strengthened by resting upon the 
 step below it. The outward end of a series of these 
 steps is represented by fig. 7, Plate CXVIII. ; the line 
 abc shows the form of the joint between two adjoining 
 steps ; in the straight part of a flight of stairs, a5 is made 
 about an inch, and the part be is made perpendicular 
 to the soffit of the stair, and of such a depth as may be 
 required for the kind of stone. As this depth is de- 
 termined by the mean depth necessary to render a 
 stair safe, we shall here give an example of computing 
 the mean depth of a step for Craigleith stone, by 
 
 • Our method is analogous to that called Biais par abrege by the French writers. See Frezier, Tome 
 II. p. 133. Other methods are given by Frezier, Simonin, Rondelet, Nicholson, &c. in the works referred 
 to at the end of this article. 
 
 f For further information respecting oblique or skew bridges, the reader may consult Gauthey, Construe' 
 tion des Fonts, Tome I. p. 390 ; Chapman, in Rees' Cyclopcedia, Art. Oblique Arch ; and the Article Na- 
 vigation, Inland, in the Edinburgh Encycloptedia. 
 
 X Other methods are given by Frezier, Nicholson, &c. 
 
570 
 
 Stone- 
 Masonry 
 
 II 
 
 Suffolk. 
 
 S T O 
 
 equa. 16 (art. 41 )• Put iv=z the greatest uniform load 
 on a square foot, including the weight of the stone 
 itself, = 300 lbs. the horizontal distance between 
 C and D (fig. 6), =10 feet, and the length of the 
 
 =d^, or 
 
 step BD=6 feet, en 
 
 th a?X(CD)2x(DB)2 
 
 /(CD^+DB^) 
 
 300 X 100X36 
 
 -—■55 feet, the mean depth 
 
 26,000 X (100+36)' 
 GH,fig. 7. 
 
 That part of a step which is inserted into the wall 
 of the staircase is made about eight or nine inches 
 long for ordinary staircases, but ought to be longer 
 when the steps are longer. 
 
 Steps, and landings, and balconies, should be made 
 to bear as evenly and firmly as possible upon their 
 supports ; and from a little consideration of the na- 
 ture of the strains to be resisted in such operations, 
 the mason may perhaps derive some instruction, since 
 a mistaken view of the subject is likely to be attend- 
 ed with serious consequences. 
 
 Let AB, fig. 30, Plate CXX., be a step fixed in a 
 wall, CD being the face of the wall, and CA the part 
 inserted in the wall. It will be obvious that the weight 
 of the projecting part, DB, of the step, with any load 
 upon it, will tend to raise the fixed part at A, and to 
 depress it at C. But it will require a less force at A 
 to sustain the step than at any other point between 
 A and D ; and the nearer to D, the greater the strain 
 will be, consequently a greater risk of failure. Hence 
 the effectual resistance on the upper side should be 
 at the extremity, A, of the step, and the support at 
 C should be immediately at the face of the wall. 
 
 We have often observed in stone stairs, where 
 
 Stone- 
 Masonry 
 
 II 
 
 Suffolk. 
 
 S U F 
 
 steps are alternately in straight flights and winding 
 ones, the soffit of the stair to be irregular, with sud- 
 den and abrupt changes of form where the winding 
 steps began and terminated. These may always be 
 avoided, by making a developement of the ends of 
 the steps, and forming the abrupt changes into easy 
 curves, as a joiner does the hand-rail of a stair. (See 
 Joinery, Plate LXXXVII. fig. 35.*) 
 
 The earliest author on stone-cutting appears to Writers on 
 have been Philibert De L'Orme ; and in the intro* Stone-Cut- 
 duction to the fourth book of his work he remarks, ting, 
 that he had " never heard of any thing that had been 
 written on stone-cutting, either by ancient or mo- 
 dern architects." The labours of De L'Orme on 
 this subject form the third and fourth books of his 
 Treatise on Arckiteciure, in folio, Paris, 1567- We 
 shall close this Article with the following- list of some 
 other authors on stone-cutting, in the order they 
 were published : 
 
 Mathurin Jousse, Le Secret de I' Architecture, folio, 
 1642. Francois Derrand, L'Art des Traits et Coupe 
 des Voutes, folio, Paris, l643. Abraham Bosse, 
 Practique du Trait a preuves de M. Desargues, 1643. 
 J. B. De la Rue, Traite de la CoiipS des Pierres, fol. 
 1728; this was a republication of Derrand's work, 
 with additions. Batty Langley, Ancient Masonry, 
 folio, London, 1733. Frezier, Traite des Coupe des 
 Pierres, 3 tomes 4to, 1737 — 1739- Encyclopedic, 
 Article Ma90Nnerie. Encyclopedie Methodique, 
 Ma§onnerie, 1785. Simonin, Traite Elemeniaire 
 de la Coupe des Pierres, 4to, 1792. P. Nicholson, 
 Carpenters' and Joiners* 4to, London, 1797. 
 
 J. Rondelet, Traite Theorique et Practique de V Art 
 de Batir, Tom. IL 4to, Paris, 1804. (h. h. h.) 
 
 Boundaries, SUFFOLK, an English maritime county on the 
 Extent, and borders of the German Ocean. It is bounded on the 
 Divisions, g^gt by the sea ; on the south by Essex, from which 
 it is divided by the river Stour ; on the west by Cam- 
 bridgeshire ; and on the north by Norfolk. Its me- 
 dium length from east to west is forty-seven miles, and 
 its breadth from north to south twenty-seven. The 
 square contents are 1512 miles, or 967,680 statute 
 acres. It consists of two grand divisions, one called 
 the Liberty of Bury, the other the Guildable Land, 
 each of which furnish a distinct grand jury at the 
 county assizes. The next division is into twenty- 
 one hundreds, and these are subdivided into five hun- 
 dred and twenty-three parishes. The whole county 
 forms a part of the diocese of Norwich. 
 Population. The number of houses in 1 821 was 42,773, inhabited 
 by 55,064 families ; of whom 30,795 were chiefly em- 
 ployed in agriculture ; 17,418 in trade, manufactures, 
 or handicraft; and 6851 were not comprehended in 
 
 either of those classes. The whole number of inha- 
 bitants was 270,542 ; of whom 132,410 were males, 
 and 138,132 females. The increase in population 
 since the preceding census, ten years before, was at 
 the rate of 16 per cent. 
 
 Suffolk is generally a level tract of country, in Soil, Agri- 
 which, as there are few elevations, there are scarcely ciJture, and 
 any extensive prospects. It is, however, tolerably f*roductions. 
 well clothed with trees, but wants running water; 
 most of the streams being very sluggish in their 
 course, and by no means copious. The soil is as va- 
 rious as in other districts of the same extent. On 
 the sea-coast it is in general sandy, but rendered pro- 
 ductive by the application of shell marl, which is 
 found in abundance. In the middle of the county, 
 from north to south, called usually High Suffolk, 
 which is the larger part, the soil is a tenacious, loamy 
 clay, affording good pasturage for cows, whose but- 
 ter is chiefly used to supply the London markets. 
 
 * The French methods of constructing stairs differ considerably from those of our own country ; but it 
 .would extend this article too much to explain them ; therefore, the reader may consult the works of Frezier, 
 Rondelet, or Simonin, where he will find these methods detailed. 
 
J'ltbtiy/uul l)y ^-1. Co-nsialla & C?i:drrLrj82^. 
 
STtONE MASONRY 
 
 I'LATE CJX. 
 
<ancled Pro 
 erty. 
 
 S U F 
 
 The nofth-westem division is a poor sandy soil, in 
 many places covered with heath, and scarcely fit for 
 any other purpose than that of feeding sheep, or 
 breeding rabbits ; of which latter animals it is said 
 the skins of more than 40,000 annually supply fur to 
 the hatters. The corn furnished by the eastern di- 
 vision of the county, besides supplying its vicinity, is 
 sent to London from the ports of Ipswich and Wood- 
 bridge. The cultivation is commonly conducted on 
 the Norfolk system of turnips, barley, clover, and 
 wheat, and the husbandry being well executed, the 
 crops are generally very good. The beans are pe- 
 culiarly productive. Turnips, and, in some districts, 
 carrots, are extensively cultivated. Hemp is grown 
 in the garden of almost every peasant, and spun into 
 linen for their domestic uses. Some few^ hops are 
 grown in the vicinity of Stowmarket. 
 
 They have an excellent breed of draught horses, 
 well known by the name of Suffolk punches. The 
 cows have been long celebrated for the abundance of 
 their milk, which, in proportion to their size, and 
 the quantity of food which they consume, exceeds 
 the produce of any other race in the kingdom. They 
 are all without horns. The sheep, of which large 
 flocks are kept, are mostly of the Norfolk breed ; but, 
 of late years, they have been changed for those of 
 the South Downs. 
 
 There are few manufactures in this county, though 
 it was the first in which the Flemings introduced the 
 clothing trade. Until the extension of machinery 
 in the northern counties, the females found constant 
 winter employment in spinning worsted, but that has 
 ceased. At Stowmarket there is some occupation in 
 making coarse linen for bags, bed-sacking, and other 
 similar uses. At Sudbury there are manufactures of 
 says, and bunting for ships' flags, and of some kinds 
 of silk goods. Near Eye some bone-lace is made. 
 Salt is refined at several places on the sea-shore, 
 from a solution of rock-salt in sea-water. 
 
 The branch of industry which, next to agriculture, 
 gives employment to the greatest number of inhabit- 
 ants, is the fishery. Many vessels are equipped at 
 Lowestoffe and Southwold to take herrings, which 
 are cured in houses appropriated for that purpose in 
 those towns. The taking of mackerel is beneficial 
 before the season when the shoals of herrings arrive 
 on the coast. There is little other commerce in the 
 county than that which arises from the transmission 
 of the agricultural products to the metropolis. 
 
 The navigable rivers are the Lark, which passes 
 by Thetford, and runs to the Ouse. The Deben, of 
 short course, which runs by Woodbridge to the sea ; 
 the Orwell, a beautiful river, navigable to Ipswich ; 
 and the Blythe, navigable to Framlingham. To 
 these may be added the Waveney, which forms the 
 northern boundary of the county, and the Stour, 
 which is its southern. The only navigable canal is 
 one between Ipswich and Stowmarket. 
 
 The landed property of the county is much di- 
 
 S U F 
 
 571 
 
 vided. There are scarcely any estates so large as to Suffolk, 
 create a decided political preponderance ; and there ^v-"w 
 are a larger number of proprietors occupying their 
 own lands, of a value of from L. 100 to L. 400 per 
 annum, than in any other county. Except in the 
 heavy clay districts, the farms are generally large, 
 and the tenants being possessed of ample capitals, 
 the agricultural business is admirably conducted. 
 There are neither mines nor mineral springs in this 
 county. In the summer season, sea-bathing attracts 
 a considerable portion of company to the shore 
 at Lowestoffe, Southwold, and some other spots, 
 where every accommodation for such parties is pro- 
 vided. 
 
 Among the antiquities of this county stand first Antiquities, 
 the remains of the ancient Roman castle at Burgh, 
 on the banks of the Yare. It is said to have been 
 the ancient Garianonum erected by Publius Os- 
 torius Scapula, in the reign of the Emperor Clau- 
 dius. The walls, which are still standing, inclose a 
 space 642 feet in length, and 320 in breadth ; they 
 are fourteen feet in height, and nine feet in thickness. 
 The whole ground plan, including the walls, is more 
 than five acres, and is capable of containing a cohort 
 and half; having been built to keep in subjection the 
 Iceni, a people inhabiting Suffolk, Norfolk, Hunt- 
 ingdonshire, and Cambridgeshire. The most re- 
 markable of the Saxon antiquities are the monastery 
 at Bury St Edmund's, that of Framlingham, and se- 
 veral ancient churches. 
 
 The following peers derive their titles from places Titles, and 
 in this county : Marquis Cornwallis ; Earls of Suffolk, Representa- 
 Orford, and Stradbrooke ; and Baron Rendlesham. 
 The county returns two members to the House of 
 Commons; and two are chosen for each of the boroughs, 
 Ipswich, Bury St Edmund's, Sudbury, Eye, Dun- 
 wich, Alborough, and Orford. 
 
 The most remarkable seats among a very great 
 number belonging to noblemen and gentlemen in this 
 county, are Euston-Hall, Duke of Grafton; Broom- 
 Hall, Marquis Cornwallis ; Ickworth, Earl of Bris- 
 tol ; Henham, Lord Stradbrooke ; Boston-Hall, Sir 
 Charles Banbury ; Rendlesham, Lord Rendlesham ; 
 Benacre, Sir Thomas Gooch ; Heveningham-Hall, 
 Lord Huntingfield; Sotterly Park, Miles Barne, Esq.; 
 Flinton-Hall, Alexander Adair, Esq. ; Redgrove- 
 Hall, Admiral Wilson ; Woolverston-Park, Charles 
 Berners, Esq. ; Long Melford, Sir William Parker ; 
 Shrubland-Park, Sir William Middleton ; and Tend- 
 ring-Hall, Sir William Rowley. 
 
 The chief towns and their population are, Ips- Principal 
 wich, 17,186; Bury St Edmund's, 9990; Wood- Towns, 
 bridge, 4060 ; Sudbury, 3950 ; Lowestoffe, 3657 ; 
 Beccles, 3493 ; Bungay, 3290 ; Stowmarket, 2252 ; 
 Mildewhall, Sg?-! ; Hadleigh, 2929 ; Framlingham, 
 2327 I and Halesworth, 2166. 
 
 See Kirby's Suffolk Traveller. Arthur Young's 
 General Vieiu of the Agriculture of Suffolk. Viem 
 in Suffolk, by W. E. Brayley. (w. w.) 
 
572 
 
 SURGERY. 
 
 Surgery. SuRGERY, rich as it is in sound information, well- 
 "-^■V^ established facts, and plans and means for the relief 
 and cure of numberless injuries and diseases, to which 
 the human body is liable, cannot be presumed to have 
 yet reached all the perfection and efficiency of which 
 it is susceptible. Were any doubt entertained upon 
 this point, it would be immediately dispelled by the 
 consideration, that scarcely a year passes away with- 
 out new and improved modes of practice being sug- 
 gested, and receiving the sanction of impartial ex- 
 perience. Besides, who can pretend yet to under- 
 stand every thing relative to a long list of very diffi- 
 cult subjects which enter into the surgical depart- 
 ment of the healing art ; as, for instance, inflamma- 
 tion, suppuration, cancer, syphilis, scrofula, &c.&c.? 
 Many questions, connected with these and numerous 
 other affections, still remain in the deepest obscurity, 
 presenting an extensive field, in which the diligent 
 and faithful observer may gather immortal fame for 
 himself, and confer infinite and lasting benefit upon 
 the rest of mankind. The great deal that has been 
 done for tlie advancement of surgery, in the course 
 of the last fifty years, ought to furnish the assurance 
 that much more will be done for its improvement in 
 the half-century that is to come ; particularly when 
 the zeal, the emulation, and the ardent love of truth, 
 now presiding over every useful scientific inquiry, 
 are duly contemplated. The design of the present 
 article is, to collect and place before the reader a 
 few of the most interesting novelties in surgery ; com- 
 prising those which have been produced subsequently 
 to the period when the article upon this subject in the 
 Encyclopcediawas composed, and others which, though 
 known earlier, escaped notice in that article. In per- 
 forming this task, we shall take up the subjects in the 
 order in which they present themselves in the original 
 article, to which this is meant to be a supplement. 
 
 Of Wens. The first topic that seems to us to admit of a few 
 additional remarks is that of encystedtumoicrs, or ivetis, 
 as they are popularly called. Though tumours and 
 excrescences of various kinds form one of the most 
 frequent classes of diseases, and, what is more, though 
 they often afford convincing illustrations of the effi- 
 cacy of surgery, the exact causes and manner of their 
 origin cannot be said to have received hitherto any 
 very successful elucidation. In the article referred 
 to, some notice is taken of the interesting opi- 
 nions of Bichat respecting the production of encyst- 
 ed tumours ; and of his refutation of a common no- 
 tion, that they are not new formed parts, but only 
 dilated cells of the cellular membrane. At the same 
 time, his own particular belief is mentioned, that 
 their formation more probably depends upon laws, 
 which regulate the growth of the different parts of 
 our bodies ; which laws, however, not being known 
 and comprehended, leave us as much in the dark re- 
 specting the matter in question as if no reference to 
 .-them had been made. But, what particularly claims 
 
 our attention here, is the great analogy which Bichat Surgery, 
 finds between the cysts of encysted tumours and Vi^n,^-^ 
 serous membranes ; because, if such analogy prevail, 
 it is a strong fact against the correctness of an ex- 
 planation of the origin of encysted tumours, lately- 
 promulgated in this country. Bichat says, — " The 
 cysts, like serous membranes, form a species of sac, 
 •without an opening; they contain the fluid which 
 they exhale, and they have a smooth and polished 
 surface contiguous to the fluid, whilst the other sur- 
 face is unequal, and connected with the adjacent 
 cellular membrane." Now, this account is singular- 
 ly at variance with the doctrine that has been recent- 
 ly proposed by an English surgeon of the highest 
 reputation ; who, in his description of the nature of 
 encysted tumours, at least of those which are so fre- 
 quently seen upon the head, face, and back, and 
 sometimes under the skin of other parts of the body ; 
 instead of regarding the cysts as at all analogous to 
 serous membranes, represents them as dilated cutatie- 
 ous follicles, lined with cuticle, and, of course, par- 
 taking rather of the character of mucous membranes. 
 Speaking of the origin of encysted tumours. Sir Ast- 
 ley Cooper expresses his conviction, that it depends 
 upon " a follicle extremely enlarged, and incapable 
 of discharging its contents, from an obstruction of 
 the orifice by which it opens upon the surface of the 
 skin." Then, adverting to the nature of follicles, 
 he observes, that, upon superficial examination, they 
 appear to be only pores in the skin ; but that, when 
 a small probe is introduced into them, they are found 
 to proceed through the skin into the subjacent cel- 
 lular membrane. " The first circumstance (says he) 
 which induced me to believe that an encysted tumour 
 was an obstructed follicle, was examining a tumour 
 of this kind situated upon my own back. It had ac- 
 quired a diameter of about two inches, and was si- 
 tuated at the lower part of the dorsal vertebrae. I 
 thought of requesting a friend to remove it, but, on 
 examining it by means of two mirrors, I saw a small 
 black spot in the centre of the swelling, and by 
 pricking this, I extracted a piece of sebaceous mat- 
 ter with a black head, like those seen in the follicles 
 of the nose. I then squeezed the tumour, and 
 through the orifice occupied by the black sebaceous 
 matter, I emptied the tumour by squeezing out a 
 large quantity of sebaceous substance. This was ef- 
 fected without pain, and without succeeding inflam- 
 mation ; but, gradually, the secretion became renew- 
 ed ; by frequent pressure, however, I have now for 
 several years kept it empty, although the bag and 
 its orifice still remain. A lady applied to me with 
 one of these swellings upon her shoulder. It had a 
 small black spot upon its centre, through which I 
 could squeeze its curd-like contents. I removed it 
 with the skin over it, and found that the opening 
 was a follicle leading into the hollow of an encysted 
 tumour, which contained sebaceous matter, was 
 lined with cuticle, and had a cyst of the usual cha- 
 
SU RGER Y. 
 
 573 
 
 Surgery, racter. Often have I seen the follicular aperture 
 over these swellings, by which the point of a tent- 
 probe was readily admitted into the cavity of the 
 cyst, and through which I could immediately squeeze 
 its contents. The follicle is, however, generally ob- 
 structed at its orifice, and a depression only is seen 
 (and not always even this) when the sides of the 
 swellings are compressed." {Surgical Essays, Part II. 
 p. 236.) 
 
 This experienced surgeon conceives, that an en- 
 cysted tumour begins in the following way : a folli- 
 cle becomes obstructed at its termination upon the 
 skin, and the secretion, still proceeding, its sides are 
 extended in the cellular membrane wherever this 
 most readily yields. If it be inquired, how it is pos- 
 sible for a follicle to be thus extended, the answer 
 is, that other membranes expand to a much greater 
 comparative size. An ovarium, that would not con- 
 tain within its membrane more than two drachms of 
 water, will expand to a magnitude capable of folding 
 nearly a hundred. The same author also considers 
 pressure, and a want of moisture in a diseased state 
 of the secretions, as occasional causes of encysted 
 tumours. When we first perused Sir Astley Cooper's 
 explanation of the formation of these swellings, a 
 difficulty presented itself to the admission of the 
 doctrine, on account of many encysted tumours be- 
 ing found in situations, where any suspicion of their 
 connection with the follicles of the skin cannot for 
 a moment be entertained. Upon referring to his 
 essay upon the subject, however, we find, that his 
 observations are meant to apply only to the kind of 
 encysted tumour, which is situated just under the 
 skin, and that he acknowledges different species of 
 these swellings. Such difficulty is obviated, _ there- 
 fore, in the particular cases spoken of by this gen- 
 tleman, as far as the consideration goes upon which 
 it was founded ; yet, for various other reasons, the 
 doctrine is not to us, by any means, satisfactory ; 
 and it may even be doubted, whether the same mis- 
 take may not here have been made respecting the 
 enlarged follicle, as surgeons once made about the 
 dilated cell of the cellular membrane. That there is 
 a particular class of encysted tumours, having upon 
 their centre a minute dark spot, through which a 
 small probe can be introduced into them, is a fact, 
 which Sir Astley has most correctly described, and 
 he is entitled to the credit of having first made this 
 original observation ; but it does not follow, that be- 
 cause there is such a dark spot, or even an aperture, 
 that it must be that of a cutaneous follicle. With 
 respect to the sebaceous substance said to have been 
 pressed out of the opening, some experiments would 
 also be requisite to determine whether it were actually 
 of the same nature as the secretion of the cutaneous 
 follicles. Nor does the occasional presence of cuti- 
 cle in the cyst prove the truth of the doctrine ad- 
 vanced ; because, in the formation of wens, nature 
 presents unaccountable irregularities, sometimes pro- 
 ducing in the cyst a substance resembling cuticle, 
 sometimes hair, and, in a few instances, even teeth. 
 The inner surface of almost all the encysted tumours 
 that we have examined, corresponded rather to that of 
 a serous membrane, as explained by Bichat. If en- 
 
 VOL. VI. PART 11. 
 
 cysted tumours arose in the mechanical way, above Surgery, 
 specified, we should expect them not only to be a '•^^""^ 
 much more frequent disease, than they actually are, 
 inasmuch as the cutaneous pores are innumerable, 
 and must very often be obstructed, as we see hap- 
 pen on the nose ; but, when the disease is formed, 
 we should expect its cure by the simple removal of 
 the stoppage would be more commonly practicable, 
 than experience shows. Even in the cases vehich 
 take place near the eye-lids, and have an opening, 
 out of which the contents may be completely press- 
 ed, a cure will not follow, unless the cyst be re- 
 moved. These reflections, at all events, tend to the 
 conclusion, that there must be some other important 
 cause concerned in the production of encysted tu- 
 mours, besides the mere obstruction of the cutaneous 
 follicles. As the subject, however, is yet obscure, 
 and the new observations upon it come from so high 
 an authority, we have deemed it our duty not to 
 pass them over in silence. 
 
 The following practice is adopted by Sir Astley 
 Cooper : If the follicle can be seen only as a black 
 spot, filled with hardened sebaceous matter, a probe 
 is passed through it, and the sebaceous matter squeez. 
 ed out of the tumour, which may be done with little 
 inconvenience. But, when the contents cannot be 
 pressed out without violence, the preference is given 
 to the plan of enlarging the opening, in order to 
 avoid bringing on inflammation. When an encysted 
 tumour is to be removed, the plan of first making an 
 incision into it is preferred ; and the sides of the 
 skin are then pressed together, by which means the 
 cyst, it is said, may be easily everted and removed. 
 This way of operating was recommended for parti- 
 cular cases in the Encyclopcedia ; but doubts may be 
 entertained concerning the advantages of the plan as 
 a general practice. 
 
 The removal of encysted tumours is not altogether 
 unattended with danger : Sir Astley Cooper has seen 
 three instances of severe erysipelatous inflammation 
 after operations of this kind upon the head, and one 
 of them ended fatally ; one or two other cases, equal- 
 ly unfortunate, have also been reported to us. 
 
 In the history of encysted tumours, the curious 
 circumstance of the occasional growth of horny ex- 
 crescences upon the human body deserves to be no- 
 ticed : recent investigations prove, that the horny 
 matter is, in fact, the secretion of the cysts of some 
 of these tumours out of which it protrudes, and as- 
 sumes various shapes, sometimes even that of a ram's 
 horn, as happened in the remarkable case mention* 
 ed by Dr 'Roots of Kingston. This is a subject 
 which has been particularly considered by Sir Ever- 
 ard Home, in the Philosophical Transactions for 
 1791. The case that fell under the observation of 
 Dr Roots may be perused in the Article Horny 
 Excrescence, in Dr Rees's Cyclopcsdia. Such 
 horns will be reproduced, if care be not taken in the 
 operation to cut away every particle of the cyst. 
 
 On the subject of erysipelas, the remarks of Mr Of Erysipe- 
 Hutchison claim attention: he has found seafaring^' 
 men particularly liable to phlegmonous erysipelas of 
 the legs, frequently occasioned, as he supposes, by 
 the exposure of these parts to the irritation of salt 
 4< D 
 
574: SURG 
 
 Surgery, waiter, and the friction of coarse Irowsers. In such 
 ^-^"'^^^''^ patients, the disease is said to proceed with extraor- 
 dinary rapidity to the gangrenous state. Even when 
 mortification is prevented^ large abscesses very often 
 form, and spread to a surprising distance between 
 the muscles and under the skin. Now, according to 
 Mr Hutchison's experience, the best way of hinder- 
 ing all these evils, is to maice several free incisions 
 into the inflamed surface as early in the disease as 
 possible, the knife being carried through the integu- 
 ments and down to the muscles. We fear many 
 practitioners will consider this practice severe, more 
 80, perhaps, than circumstances can ever justify in 
 as early a stage as the author speaks of; because, at 
 this period, who can predict, that the case will ever 
 be serious enough to require the employment of the 
 knife ? However, as Mr Hutchison never had any 
 unfortunate cases after he adopted the preceding 
 method, and the contrary used to happen under the 
 other plans, which he was formerly in the habit of 
 trying, the proposal appears to deserve mature con- 
 sideration. 
 
 In most works on surgery, little valuable practical 
 information is to be met with respecting the best lo- 
 cal applications for erysipelas ; the sentiments of the 
 late Dr Bateman, therefore, concerning this unset- 
 tled part of practice, may here not be unacceptable. 
 In the early stage of the disease, Dr Bateman found 
 powdery substances, like flour, starch, chalk, &c. 
 increase the heat and irritation, by forming, with the 
 concreting fluid, hard crusts upon the tender sur- 
 face. In this gentleman's opinion, the only unob- 
 jectionable plan is that formerly advised by Dr Wil- 
 lan, which consists in fomenting, or washing the 
 parts, from time to time, with milk, bran and water, 
 or a decoction of elder-flowers. Great benefit is stat- 
 ed to result from tepid bathing, and sometimes from 
 the application of the diluted liquor ammonice ace- 
 taiis. 
 
 Gonorrhoea. With regard to the complaint termed gonorrhoea, 
 it seems right just to notice a medicine that has 
 been of late very much employed, and frequent- 
 ly with great benefit. Cubebs, a spice brought from 
 China and Java, is the remedy here spoken of; it 
 has been recommended (no doubt in terms rather 
 too high) as a specific for gonorrhoea, equally pro- 
 per in "the early inflammatory stage, and in the later 
 chronic form of the disease. The dose is a dessert 
 spoonful of the powder, an hour before breakfast, a 
 second six hours afterwards, and a third at bed-time. 
 The pov/der is to be taken in water. If given while 
 the discharge is copious, and the inflammation se- 
 vere, the painful symptoms, it is asserted, will be 
 removed in two days, and the discharge will generally 
 cease on the third or fourth day. The antiphlogis- 
 tic regimen is to be observed, and the powder continu- 
 ed a day or two after the stoppage of the discharge. 
 (See Edin. Med. and Surgical Journ. Jan. 181 9, p. 
 61, &c.) Cubebs appears to act upon the mucous 
 membrane of the urethra very similarly to the bal- 
 sam of copaiva, or turpentine medicines; that is to 
 eay, through the medium of the urine, to which it 
 communicates particular qualities, and, amongst them, 
 a powerful smell ; its operation, however, is certain- 
 
 E R Y. 
 
 ly more potent, than that of the above mentioned Surgery 
 balsam, and, on this account, it may be sometimes »v"-»«= 
 more effectual. 
 
 As a supplement to the observations on strictures Striotuies 
 of the urethra, a short account of the manner of Ureth? 
 using bougies, armed with caustic potassa, as intro- 
 duced into practice by the late Mr Whately, may 
 not be uninteresting ; and to the same subject we mean 
 to annex a brief description of the way, in which a 
 passage is sometimes forced through bad strictures by 
 means of a catheter of a conical shape ; as done at 
 the present day by some surgeons of considerable 
 eminence, particularly in France. 
 
 Our reason for introducing an account of Mr 
 Whately's plan of treating strictures, is not that the 
 practice seems to us by any means entitled to the 
 reputation which it acquired, but because there are 
 some surgeons, whose judgment and talents we re- 
 spect, who think more highly of such treatment, than 
 we could ever yet venture to do ourselves. Mr 
 Whately regarded strictures of the urethra, not 
 merely as contractions, but as really diseased por- 
 tions of the membrane lining that canal, with a con- 
 tinued disposition to increased contraction. Hence, 
 he conceived, that the remedy should be calculated 
 both to remove the diseased affection, and to dilate 
 the contracted part, without putting the patient to 
 the inconvenience of wearing a bougie. Such a re- 
 medy he deemed caustic, when employed with skill 
 and judgment. That to which he gave the prefer- 
 ence was the caustic potassa, applied in a particular 
 manner, as being, according to his description, more 
 efficacious, and less painful and hazardous, than bou- 
 gies armed with lunar caustic. 
 
 The following is the practice detailed and reoom- 
 mended by Mr Whately : Before the caustic potassa 
 is used, the urethra should be rendered sufficiently 
 capacious to let a bougie, rather above the smallest 
 size, pass into the bladder, and the irritability of the 
 strictures, if very considerable, should be lessened, 
 in the first instance, by the use of common bougies. 
 
 A small quantity of the caustic potassa is to be put 
 upon a piece of paper, and broken with a hamnrer 
 into small pieces of about the size of large and enaall 
 pins' heads. When thus broken, it is to be preserv- 
 ed for use in a phial closed with a ground stopi>er. 
 A suitable curvature is to be communicated to the 
 bougie, by drawing it several times between thefbre- 
 finger and thumb of the left hand, and it ought to be 
 just large enough to enter the stricture with some 
 degree of tightness. It is to be gently introduced 
 into the urethra, and when its point stops at the 
 stricture, a notch is to be made on the upper portion 
 of the bougie, precisely half an inch from the ex- 
 tremity of the penis. As soon -as the bougie has 
 been withdrawn again, a small hole, described, as 
 about the sixteenth part of an inch deep, is te be 
 made in its rounded end. Then a bit of the caustic, less 
 than the smallest pin's head, is to be selected for the 
 first application. It is to be fixed in the hole of the 
 bougie with a pocket knife, and pushed into it with 
 the blunt end of a pin, rather below its margin. In 
 order to hinder the caustic from slipping out, the 
 hole is next to be contracted a little with the finger, 
 
SURG 
 
 Surgery, and the remaining vacancy filled with hog's lard. 
 The bougie, after being oiled, is to be introduced 
 with its concavity upwards, as far as the anterior 
 part of the stricture, the situation of which has been 
 previously ascertained, and the bougie marked, as 
 already noticed. The instrument should rest there 
 a few seconds, for the purpose of letting the disso- 
 lution of the caustic begin to take place ; it is then 
 to be very gently pushed towards the bladder, about 
 one-eighth of an inch, when it is again to be kept 
 quiet for a second or two. The bougie is now to be 
 inU-oduced further, in the same gentle manner, until 
 it reaches beyond the stricture. The next business is 
 to withdraw it immediately, by a very gentle motion, 
 to the part at which it was made to rest awhile. 
 Then it is to be very slowly passed through the 
 stricture a second time, but not allowed to stop in 
 its passage. If pain or faintness arise, the operation 
 is now to end, and the bougie to be removed ; but if 
 no such consequences occur, the instrument is to be 
 moved backwards and forwards once or twice more. 
 
 The foregoing process is to be repeated once 
 every seven days, and if the stricture be found to be 
 dilated, the size of the bougie must be increased ac- 
 cordingly. This method of treating strictures hav. 
 ing attained some celebritj^ we deemed it worthy of 
 bi-ief notice in the present Work ; but our experience 
 leads us to regard the practice as very inferior to 
 that executed with other armed bougies : to the 
 particle of potassa, indeed, we can impute little cer- 
 tain effect, dissolved and blended as it may or may 
 not be with the oil on the end of the bougie, and the 
 mucus of the passage. Its regulation also, in the 
 precise manner described by Mr Whately, so that it 
 may operate exactly on the diseased portion of the 
 urethra, and not upon the sound part, appears to us 
 rather visionary, than really performed. How, then, 
 has the method succeeded at all ? Our answer 
 would be, that it has effected cures principally by 
 means of the mechanical dilatation of the bougies, 
 without the potassa having any effect, or at least any 
 that is not much more likely to do harm than good. 
 The practice seems already to be on the decline, — 
 a fact confirming the judgment here delivered con- 
 cerning it. 
 
 We quit Mr Whately's suggestion to make a few 
 observations upon anotlier modern proposal relating 
 to the cure of strictures. Every body, at all acquaint- 
 ed with the history of this disease, knows, that, in 
 France, the use of armed bougies of any kind never 
 met with much approbation, having been there, for the 
 most part, represented as a very dangerous and harsh 
 remedy. Yet, who would have anticipated in this 
 same country, where caustic is abused on the prin- 
 dple of its being a harsh mode of treatment, the ori- 
 gin of another method of cure, in which every thing 
 is to be completed by actual force ? Mr Cross, a 
 surgeon at Norwich, who visited the medical schools 
 at Paris for the express purpose of ascertaining the 
 state of the practice of surgery in France at the pre- 
 sent day, gives a relation of what he saw there in re- 
 ference to the treatment of strictures. He informs 
 us, that, when he first went to La Charite, there 
 were fifty-three male patients in the surgical ward, 
 amongst whom were five with strictures of the ure- 
 
 E R Y. 575 
 
 thra. The caustic bougie, he says, is not used in Surgery, 
 any of the hospitals, and it was censured by all the 
 surgeons whom he conversed with, as a perilous and 
 harsh remedy. Mr Cross justly observes, however, 
 that the Parisian method of treating many cases of 
 stricture is not milder than the use of caustic. A 
 case is then detailed, which this gentleman saw in La 
 Charite. A man, who had had a permanent stricture 
 a long while, had been repeatedly under surgical 
 treatment for it. There was difficulty of making wa- 
 ter, but not complete retention. For several days, un- 
 successful attempts were made to pass an instrument 
 into the bladder by gentle means. The patient was 
 still able to void his urine, although with great pain and 
 difficulty. M. Roux, the surgeon, now took a conical 
 silver catheter, with a very slight curvature, and an al- 
 most pointed extremity, and by means of force, re- 
 gularly applied, he passed the instrument into the 
 bladder, notwithstanding all obstacles. Care was 
 taken to keep the catheter in a central position, and 
 the direction of its point was judged of by the lateral 
 rings. The rule, laid down by M. Roux, for com- 
 mencing the great depression of the outer end of the 
 catheter was, when he could feel, by means of his 
 finger in the rectum, that the point had reached the 
 apex of the prostate gland. The patient was put to 
 considerable pain ; but the instrument really went 
 into the bladder. The urine was not allowed to flow 
 out immediately, the outer orifice of the catheter being 
 stopped up with a bit of wood. In general, M. 
 Roux suffers the conical catheter to remain in the 
 urethra three or four days ; but, the sufferings of this 
 patient from it were so intolerable, that it was taken 
 out in twenty-four hours. Rather a large elastic gum- 
 catheter was then easily introduced, the end of which 
 was fastened to the abdomen, while the orifice was 
 closed with a stopper, and the urine permitted to flow 
 occasionally. The next day, the patient was com- 
 paratively easy. On the fourth day, there was a 
 swelling of the testicle, scrotum, and perinaeum. A 
 poultice was applied, and the elastic catheter con- 
 tinued. In four days more, the swelling of the parts 
 had subsided so considerably, that the poultice was 
 unnecessary. A fresh gum-catheter of large size was 
 now used, and, in about six weeks, one of the largest 
 dimensions could be introduced. 
 
 The event of another case was less fortunate : The 
 sonde conique had been employed for making a pas- 
 sage into the bladder, and a gum-catheter afterwards 
 introduced ; but, in less than a week, the patient,, 
 supposing he could make water without its assistance,, 
 withdrew it of his own accord. The next day, an 
 effusion of urine in the scrotum had taken place, and 
 it became necessary to let out the extravasated fluid 
 by two free incisions. Unfortunately, the elastic 
 catheter could not be introduced again. The incisions 
 did indeed prevent sloughing of the scrotum ; but 
 the patient, who was in a very reduced state, died in 
 a few days. It is but fair to add, that this case was 
 so inveterate, that Mr Cross believes the patient vyould 
 have sunk under any mode of treatment. On dissec- 
 tion, the bladder was found to be half an inch thick, 
 the stricture cartilaginous, and extensive sinuses were 
 traced, communicating with the once membranous 
 part of the urethra. 
 
576 SURG 
 
 Surgery. The promptitude with which relief may be afford- 
 ed in some very bad cases of stricture, where no 
 bougie, nor elastic catheter, can be introduced, is 
 the reason given for the foregoing practice ; and 
 M. Roux even assured Mr Cross, that he had never 
 seen any inflammation or irritation produced by it, 
 that did not readily yield to proper means. We sus- 
 pect, however, that, by this declaration, M. Roux 
 meant to refer all disastrous circumstances to the 
 disease, when they happened, so as to screen the 
 mode of treatment from all suspicion of being some- 
 times itself a source of dangerous consequences. Yet, 
 we cannot understand, how he could hope to pro- 
 duce an universal conviction of the accuracy of such 
 an insinuation ; because, in his Clinical Lectures, he 
 spoke of two fatal cases, which he dissected, where 
 he found false passages, extravasation of urine, 
 sloughing, &c. amongst other mischief. On the 
 whole, without pronouncing this forcible use of cathe- 
 ters to be always bad practice, we shall venture to 
 say, that it is generally so, and ought very seldom to 
 be attempted. M. Ducamp, an intelligent writer on 
 the present subject, differs altogether from some of 
 his countrymen, by whom the treatment has been 
 carried to a high degree of absurdity. *' Surgeons 
 (says he), who are ambitious of the title of operators, 
 despise the slow progress and minute attention which 
 the bougies require ; nothing but what is prompt, 
 great, and striking, is agreeable to their taste ; they 
 thrust a silver catheter through every obstacle into 
 the bladder : at the end of three or four days, they 
 exchange it for one of elastic gum ; this last they 
 withdraw every eighth or tenth day, and this they 
 call practising good surgery on a grand scale 1" The 
 result is, in general, that a false passage is establish- 
 ed, and inflammation of the urethra and prostate is 
 produced by the presence of the instrument. In 
 short, Ducamp clearly shows, from the nature of the 
 stricture itself, that the operation, even when the 
 instrument does not wander from the urethra, does 
 not depend upon dilating the stricture, but upon 
 tearing it ; and as the stricture is more resistent than 
 the rest of the canal, the chance is, that a false pas- 
 sage is made. 
 
 Having mentioned M. Ducamp, we shall not quit 
 him without recommending to the attention of sur- 
 geons, his ingenious contrivances for the application 
 of the lunar caustic to strictures ; contrivances 
 which are meant to regulate the action of the caustic 
 more precisely than in the common mode : indeed, 
 the whole of his work deserves, to be consulted. See 
 Traite des Retentions d' Urine, causees par le Retre- 
 cissemeni de I' Uretre, et des moyens d. Vaidc desquels 
 on pent detruire completement les Obstructions de ce 
 Canal, Paris, 1822, 8vo. 
 
 While we are upon the subject of strictures, Mr 
 Arnott's dilator occurs to us as a very ingenious in- 
 strument deserving to be mentioned, though we are 
 not exactly acquainted with the degree in which it 
 has yet been found to answer in practice. It was 
 conceived, that, for the purpose of dilating strictures, 
 an instrument was needed, calculated to pass through 
 the obstruction with facility, then to admit of its 
 diameter being increased to any size, and with any 
 force, yet, when the surgeon wishes to extract it, to 
 12 
 
 E R Y. 
 
 be capable of being reduced to its primitive small- Surgery, 
 ness. The dilator consists of a tube of oiled silk, -m^ 
 lined with the thin gut of some small animal to render 
 it air-tight, and then fixed upon the end of a small 
 canula, by means of which it can be distended with 
 air or water from a bag, or syringe at the outer end, 
 while a stop-cock or valve serves to confine the air 
 after it has been received. It is said generally to 
 pass as easily down to the stricture as a small bougie ; 
 but Mr Arnott sometimes prefers introducing it 
 through a smooth canula, especially when the urethra 
 is irritable, and unaccustomed to the presence of in- 
 struments. As soon as the bag is sufficiently within 
 the stricture or strictures, as much air as the patient 
 can easily bear is to be injected into it. The dilator, 
 it is asserted, can be made to act with more effect 
 than a bougie, which, as soon as it yields, loses its 
 power of distention, while the force of the dilator is 
 concentrated at the stricture, and unceasing. In 
 principle, it resembles Bromfield's contrivance for 
 dilating the meatus urinarius. 
 
 Here the subject of diseases of the urinary pas- 
 sages must not be quitted, without mention being 
 made of the success with which Mr Earle formed a 
 canal, which answered perfectly as a substitute for a 
 considerable portion of the urethra that had been 
 destroyed. The details of this case, which appear to 
 us very interesting, may be perused in the Phil. Trans. 
 for 1821. 
 
 To what is delivered concerning hydrocele, in the Of Hydro- 
 Encyclopcedia, a few new and useful observations may 
 be annexed. Since the article on Surgery in that work 
 was written. Professor Scarpa has laid down in his va- 
 luable treatise upon Hernia some cautions, highly ne- 
 cessary to be recollected by surgeons in the operation 
 of tappingahydrocele. TheSnalogy, existing between 
 large scrotal herniae and hydroceles of considerable 
 size, led Scarpa to suspect, that, in the latter disease, 
 a displacement and separation of the vessels of the 
 spermatic chord from each other might alsoliappen. 
 Careful investigations, afterwards made upon the 
 dead subject, fully justified the conjecture. In fact, 
 in all considerable hydroceles, he found the spermatic 
 vessels so displaced and separated, that the artery and 
 vas deferens were commonly situated upon one side 
 of the tumour, and the veins upon the other. Some- 
 times all these vessels extended over the lateral parts 
 of the tumour, as far as its fore part, principally to- 
 wards the bottom of the swelling. Now, in nume- 
 rous examples, theoperationof puncturing a hydrocele 
 has been followed by copious extravasation of blood 
 within the tunica vaginalis ; but, it was not until 
 within the last few years that Scarpa became ac- 
 quainted with a case of this kind, sufficiently well de- 
 tailed and authentic to be quoted as an instance of 
 the spermatic artery being wounded in the opera- 
 tion. Such a fact, however, was at length communi- 
 cated to him by Gasparoii, an eminent surgeon at 
 Pallanza; who, in introducing the trocar into the 
 lower part of the swelling, wounded the spermatic 
 artery, and the accident terminated in the patient's 
 being obliged to submit to castration. As Scarpa 
 justly observes, the accident may be avoided by 
 taking care to puncture the tumour at a considerable 
 distance from its bottom, that is to say, a little below 
 
SURGERY. 
 
 577 
 
 its middle, and on a line that would divide the swell- 
 ing longitudinally into two perfectly equal parts. 
 Experience proves, that, for the purpose of complete- 
 ly emptying a hydrocele, there is not the slightest 
 occasion to make the opening at the lower part of 
 the swelling : the natural corrugation of the scrotum, 
 and a little pressure made with the hand, will suffice 
 for discharging all the fluid contained in the tunica 
 vaginalis, even though the puncture be not lower 
 than the middle of the tumour. These remarks upon 
 the proper method of tapping hydroceles, which are 
 amongst the most frequent cases in surgery, cannot 
 fail to be highly interesting to every practical sur- 
 geon, and both on this account, and because they 
 are modern, and perhaps not yet sufficiently known 
 and understood, a short notice of them here appear- 
 ed to us desirable. 
 
 The old method of curing hydroceles by the ex- 
 cision of a portion of the scrotum, and the greater 
 part of the tunica vaginalis, has been very properly 
 rejected from practice ; as being an operation of an 
 unnecessarily painful nature, liable to many severe 
 ill consequences. This remark, however, should not 
 be extended to the mode of excision, proposed a few 
 years ago, and practised with success by Mr Kinder 
 Wood : it is indeed a very different proceeding from 
 that which was anciently adopted, inasmuch as it is 
 perhaps the mildest of every plan hitherto devised 
 for the radical cure of this disease, as it simply con- 
 sists in puncturing the hydrocele with an abscess- 
 lancet, drawing out a little piece of the sac with a 
 tenaculum, and cutting it off. (See Med. Chir. Trans. 
 Vol. IX.) If it prove as little subject to failure as 
 the mode of cure by means of an injection, a point 
 yet remaining to be settled in the extensive field of 
 experience, we should say, that Mr Kinder Wood's 
 simple and mild operation is as good a practice as 
 any that has yet been suggested, with reference to the 
 present disease. To us it seems not barely a tran- 
 sient novelty in surgery, but a proposal that may 
 become a solid and lasting improvement. 
 
 The cure of an encysted hydrocele of the spermatic 
 chord with an injection, is generally considered by 
 modern surgeons less certain and advantageous, than 
 the excision of a part of the cyst. That judicious 
 and excellent practical surgeon, the late Mr Hey of 
 Leeds, has left some useful observations upon this 
 subject, though he does not appear to be aware, that 
 his method of curing encysted hydroceles of the 
 spermatic chord is substantially the same as that 
 long ago recommended by Bertrandi : it consists in 
 cutting down to the cyst, and removing the fore-part 
 of it, while the portion, closely attached to the cord, 
 is not at all interfered with, by which means, all 
 hazard of doing injury to the spermatic vessels is 
 avoided, and the operation itself shortened. 
 Diseases of The next subject, on which we shall have to dwell 
 the Synovial a little, is that treated of in the article referred to, 
 Membrane, under the head of Diseases of the Synovial Mem- 
 branes. From the observations of Mr Brodie, it ap- 
 pears, that the usual consequences of inflammation 
 of the synovial membrane, or capsular ligament of a 
 joint, are, first, a preternatural secretion of synovia; 
 secondly, an effusion of coagulating lymph into the 
 cavity of the joint ; thirdly, a thickening of the syno- 
 
 vial membrane, a conversion of it into a substance Surgery, 
 resembling gristle, and an effusion of coagulating 
 lymph, and probably of serum, into the cellular sub- 
 stance, by which it is connected to the external parts. 
 Mr Brodie has met with several cases, where, from 
 the appearance of the joint and the symptoms, there 
 was every reason to believe, that the inflammation 
 had produced adhesions of the reflected fold of mem- 
 brane, and in dissection, he has sometimes noticed 
 adhesions, which might have arisen from inflamma- 
 tion at some former period. These effects of inflam- 
 mation of the synovial membrane, he conceives, bear 
 a strong resemblance to those of inflammation of 
 serous membranes. There are, however, some points 
 of difference. In the former, Mr Brodie thinks, that 
 suppuration rarely takes place independently of 
 ulceration, while, in the latter, this is a frequent oc- 
 cui'rence. Some cases have fallen under this gentle- 
 man's notice, where there was extensive destruction 
 of the cartilages, apparently in consequence of 
 neglected inflammation of the synovial membrane; 
 but, he believes, that, in most cases, where ulcera- 
 tion of the cartilage is combined with such inflamma- 
 tion, the former is the primary affection, and the 
 latter takes place subsequently, in consequence of 
 the formation of an abscess within the joint. Accord- 
 ing to the same writer, original inflammation of a 
 synovial membrane seldom happens in young chil- 
 dren ; but is frequent in adult persons ; — the reverse 
 of what takes place in some other diseases of the joints. 
 
 Synovial inflammation frequently becomes chronic, 
 and is then liable to be confounded with other more 
 formidable diseases, under the general name of white 
 swelling. The complaint is described by Mr Brodie 
 as frequently proceeding from cold, and being on 
 this account more common in the knee and ankle, 
 than in the hip or shoulder It may also arise from 
 the immoderate use of mercury, and, in particular 
 constitutions, from rheumatism and general debility. 
 In such examples, it often leaves one joint, and at- 
 tacks another ; and it is less severe, and less disposed 
 to produce an effusion of coagulating lymph, or a 
 thickening of the membrane, than when apparently a 
 local disease. In this last case, the disorder is more 
 likely to assume a severe character, and may be of 
 long duration, leaving the joint more or less impaired, 
 and sometimes ending in its total destruction. The 
 following are represented by Mr Brodie as the chief 
 symptoms of inflammation of the synovial membrane : 
 Though, in the beginning, some pain is felt over the 
 whole joint, the patient complains principally of one 
 point, and generally a week or ten days pass, before 
 the suffering attains its greatest severity. Sometimes, 
 even at this period, the pain is trifling; but, frequent- 
 ly, it is considerable, and every motion of the joint 
 distressing. In a day or two after the commence- 
 ment of the pain, the joint swells, the enlargement 
 arising at first entirely from fluid within the capsular 
 ligament, and where the joints are not covered by 
 much flesh, an undulation may be distinguished. 
 After the inflammation has lasted some time, how- 
 ever, the fluid becomes less perceptible, either in 
 consequence of the synovial membrane being thicken- 
 ed, or lymph effused ; and the more solid the swell- 
 ing is, the more is the mobility of the joint impaired. 
 
578 SURC 
 
 Surgery. The shape of the diseased joint does not correspond 
 ^■*'~V'^^ to that of the heads of the bones ; but, as the swell- 
 ing is chiefly produced by the distention of the syno- 
 vial membrane, its figure depends in a great measure 
 upon the situation of the ligaments and tendons, 
 which resist it in certain directions^ and allow it to 
 take place in others. Thus, when the knee iS affect- 
 ed, the swelling is principally observable on the an- 
 terior and lower part of the thigh, where there is 
 only a yielding cellular structure between the ex- 
 tensor muscles and the bone. It is also frequently 
 considerable in the spaces between the ligament of 
 the patella and the lateral ligaments, because at these 
 points the fatty substance is propelled outwards by 
 the fluid. In the elbow, the swelling occurs princi- 
 pally above the olecranon, under the extensor mus- 
 cles of the fore-arm ; and in the ankle, it is between 
 the lateral ligaments and the tendons in front of the 
 joint. In the hip and shoulder, where the disease is 
 not so common, the fluid cannot be felt ; but the 
 swelling may be perceived through the muscles. In 
 the beginning of this disease in the hip, a fulness 
 both in the groin and nates may be remarked ; but 
 afterwards, the nates become flattened, and the 
 glutasi waste away, from want of exercise. The 
 pain is usually confined to the hip ; but Mr Brodie 
 has seen cases, in which it was also referred to 
 tlie knee. The disease may be discriminated 
 from the case, in which the cartilages of the hip 
 are ulcerated, by observing that the pain is more 
 severe in the beginning than in the advanced stage 
 of the complaint; it never amounts to the excruciat- 
 ing sensation felt in the other disease; and it is ag- 
 gravated by motion, but not by pressing the cartila- 
 ginous surfaces against each other. The wasting of 
 the glutsei is also preceded by a fulness of the nates. 
 After the subsidence of the inflammation, the fluid is 
 absorbed, and the joint frequently recovers its natural 
 figure and mobility ; but, in the majority of cases, 
 some stiffness and swelling remain, and the patient 
 continues very liable to relapse, the pain returning 
 and swelling increasing, whenever the patient exposes 
 himself to cold, or exercises the limb much. When 
 tlie synovial membrane is thickened, a slow inflam- 
 mation sometimes continues in the part, notwithstand- 
 ing the absorption of the fluid, and the subsidence of 
 the principal swelling, the disease at length extend- 
 ing to the cartilages, suppuration taking place, and 
 the articular surfaces being completely destroyed. 
 In this advanced stage, the history of the disease, 
 and not its present appearance, is the only thing, by 
 which one can learn, whether the primary affection 
 was inflammation of the synovial membrane, or ulcera- 
 tion of the cartilages. (See Brodie's Pathological 
 and Surg. Obs. p. 21, &c.) 
 
 In cases where inflammation of the synovial mem- 
 brane has arisen from an ill managed, or a tedious 
 course of mercury, this gentleman recommends a 
 trial of sarsaparilla ; and, when it is connected with 
 riieumatism, the medicines praised are opium with 
 diaphoretics, preparations of colchicum autumnale, 
 and other remedies usually prescribed in cases of 
 rheumatism. When several joints have been affect- 
 ed, however, he has known benefit result from mo- 
 derate doses of mercury. 
 
 ^ERY. 
 
 We need not here enter into a description of the Smgery. 
 treatment of the acute stage of synovial inflamma- "*""^/ 
 tion ; as soon as this is over, the surgeon's aim should 
 be, to remove the thickened state of the capsular li- 
 gament ; the rigidity of the joint ; the pain on mo- 
 tion ; the fluid remaining within the capsule, &c. 
 The inflammation having abated, a blister may be 
 applied, and kept open with the savine cerate, or a 
 succession of blisters kept up, as preferred by Mr 
 Brodie. The blisters, he says, should be of con- 
 siderable size ; and, if the joint be deep-seated, they 
 may be applied as near it as possible, but otherwise, 
 at a httle distance. Mr Brodie thinks blisters ha^e 
 more effect, than any other means, in removing the 
 swelling ; but, excepting in very slight cases, he very 
 rightly condemns their use, unpreceded by bleeding. 
 After the inflammation has sufficiently subsided, ex- 
 ercise of the joint, and stimulating liniments, are re- 
 commended. The camphor liniment is to be strength- 
 ened with the addition of liquor ammoniae, or tinc- 
 tura lyttse. A very good liniment, much employed 
 by the same practitioner, consists of three parts of 
 olive oil, and of one of sulphuric acid. Mr Brodie 
 has also a favourable opinion of the effects of the an- 
 timonial ointment. Plasters of gum ammoniac, be 
 considers, as sometimes useful in preventing relapses. 
 Issues and setons are said to be never serviceable, 
 unless the cartilages are ulcerated. For the remov- 
 al of the remains of the swelling and stiffness, friction 
 and exercise are set down as the best means. The 
 friction may be made with camphorated mercurial 
 ointment, or with powdered starch ; but it is to be 
 adopted with caution, as otherwise it may produce a 
 return of the inflammation. When this is the case, 
 it must bg left off, and blood taken from the part. 
 On the whole, Mr Brodie seems to regard friction as 
 more calculated for cases where the stiffness depends 
 upon the state of the external parts, than for others, 
 where it arises from disease in the joint itself. The 
 plan of letting a column of warm water fall on the 
 part is allowed to be sometimes beneficial ; but it re- 
 quires the same caution as friction. 
 
 In the article in the Encyclopcedia, some account is 
 given of the moveable bodies occasionally found voilhin 
 thesynovial capsules, and the methodof cureby an ope- 
 ration is mentioned. This practice, though generally 
 successful, has sometimes brought on severe, and even 
 fatal consequences. Hence, in addition to the obser- 
 vations made upon this subject in the above article, 
 it seems right to state, that the plan of fixing and 
 making pressure on the cartilaginous body has been 
 tried by various surgeons of considerable eminence, 
 as a means of relier". Here we shall only mention 
 the late Mr Hey of Leeds, as an advocate for such 
 practice. Duly impressed with the unfortunate 
 event of some attempts that have been made to cu»e 
 the disease by the extraction of loose cartilaginous 
 substances from the knee-joint, this judicious prac- 
 tical surgeon preferred trying what relief might be 
 obtained by the employment of a laced knee-cap ; 
 and the cases which he has published tend to prove 
 that the plan answers extremely well, the benefit not 
 being temporary, but lasting at least as long as the 
 patient continues the bandage. One of Beyer's pa- 
 tients used a knee-cap a year, at the end of which it 
 
SURGERY. 
 
 urgery 
 
 Veasdiseontinued, and the patient remained free from 
 inconvenience. This practice appears to us to de- 
 serve notice, as a safer, though perhaps a less certain 
 plan of relief, than the operation of extracting the 
 substances which are the cause of annoyance. ^ 
 p... With regard to spina bifida, treated of in the 
 same article, some observations of considerable in- 
 terest were published a few years ago by Mr 
 Abernethy and Sir Astley Cooper. The first of 
 tliese surgeons may be said to have the merit ot 
 suggesting the principles, on which a few successful 
 attempts at relief have now been made. His re- 
 flections upon the nature of the malformation led 
 him to think the trial of a gentle degree of pressure 
 upon the tumour from its commencement extremely 
 piausible ; because it might have the effect of pro- 
 moting the absorption of the fluid, and, at the same 
 time, prevent the distention of the dura mater by 
 keeping it supported. But, if this method were un- 
 availing, and the fluid to increase, Mr Abernethy 
 conceived that, as the disease, now left to itself, 
 would unavoidably soon end in death, it might be a 
 warrantable experiment to let out the fluid by means 
 of a fine puncture, which could be immediately 
 closed with sticking-plaster, and healed by the first 
 intention. He proposed, that an endeavour should 
 then be made to prevent another collection by ban- 
 dages and topical applications ; but, if the swelling 
 returned, notwithstanding such means, he recom- 
 mended the small puncture to be repeated, and the 
 same mode followed again. We shall not here de- 
 tail the case, in which Mr Abernethy put the plan to 
 tlie test of experience, but shall merely state, that, 
 though the child was not ultimately saved, there were 
 circumstances in the case affording a degree of en- 
 couragement to future trials of the same kind. Sir 
 Astley Cooper, proceeding on the principles already 
 specified, tried the effect of puncturing spinas bifidte 
 with a fine needle, letting out the fluid from time to 
 time, and promoting the closure of the opening m 
 the spine with a compress and bandage. In one 
 case upon record, the treatment in this manner led 
 to a complete cure. (Med. Chir. Trans. Vol. II. 
 p. 326.) Sir Astley Cooper, however, follows two 
 methods, according to the circumstances of the case, 
 the one being palliative, the other radical The 
 first consists in treating the case as a hernia, and ap- 
 plying a truss to prevent its descent ; the second in 
 pricking the tumour with a small needle, and pro- 
 ducing adhesion of the sides of the sac, whereby the 
 opening in the spine is closed, and the disease alto- 
 gether prevented. The first is attended with no 
 risk ; the second exposes the patient to a great deal 
 of illness; but if successful!, hinders the return of 
 the disease. It deserves to be remembered, also, 
 that, when the adhesive process cannot be effectual- 
 ly accomplished by the plan intended for a radical 
 cure, the palliative treatment will yet admit of trial. 
 
 In order to be able to practise judiciously in these 
 difficult cases, the surgeon should know, that there 
 are particular examples, which afford not the slight- 
 est chance of a cure ; they are unfortunately very 
 frequent ; for a statement of their nature, the profes- 
 sion is indebted to the last mentioned practitioner. 
 If the tumour is connected with an unnatural en- 
 
 largement of the head, and hydrocephalus ; if the 
 lower extremities are paralytic, or the feces and 
 urine come away involuntarily, there is no hope. 
 Also, if the tumour is burst at the period of birth, or 
 soon afterwards, little expectation of a cure can be 
 entertained. The deficiency of the spine is some- 
 times so considerable, that the tumour, at the time 
 of birth, is already very large; the nerves protrude 
 from the spinal canal ; the medulla itself is injured ; 
 and, under these circumstances, all surgical treat- 
 ment must of course prove ineffectual. 
 
 Palsy of the lower extremities, from a diseased Palsy ftom 
 state of the spine, a case considered in the article 
 referred to, has had, of late years, a great deal 
 of attention bestowed upon it ; and surely no dis- 
 ease, in the long list of those to which the hu- 
 man body is liable, has a stronger claim to be most 
 carefully investigated, whether the difficulty of cure, 
 or the degree of affliction brought on by the dis- 
 order, be contemplated. From Mr Brodie's ob- 
 servations, it would appear, that the affection of 
 the spine is not always of one kind, but that the 
 disease sometimes originates in ulceration of th« 
 intervertebral cartilages, and sometimes in a morbid 
 condition of the cancellous structure of the bodies of 
 the vertebrae. This gentleman concurs with Mr 
 Pott, and other writers, respecting the fact, that the 
 actual curvature of the spine must be preceded by 
 disease of this part, unaccompanied with any visible 
 deformity, and cannot take place until caries has 
 made considerable progress. Hence, in the early 
 stage of the case, when the diagnosis is of the high- 
 est importance, no information can be obtained from 
 the appearance of the spine itself, the shape of which 
 is yet unchanged ; and frequently the symptoms, 
 which do come on early, are rather ambiguous, be- 
 ing, according to Mr Brodie, a pain, and some degree 
 of tenderness in that part of the spine, where the 
 disease has begun ; a sense of constriction of the 
 chest ; an uneasiness at the pit of the stomach, and 
 over the whole abdomen ; a disturbed state of the 
 functions of the alimentary canal, and of the urinary 
 bladder ; a sense of weakness and aching, and occa- 
 sional cramps in the muscles of the extremities. 
 But, it is also acknowledged by the same writer, that 
 very similar complaints may arise from other causes, 
 and sometimes no particular ailments are mentioned 
 previously to the curvature. Mr Brodie is inclined 
 to think that the disease, which begins in the can- 
 cellous structure of the vertebrae, is more immediate- 
 ly followed by suppuration, than that which com- 
 mences in the intervertebral cartilages; and that the 
 first form of the disease seldom produces so extensive 
 a destruction of the vertebras as the last. But, with 
 the exception of these circumstances, nothing which 
 he has hitherto observed enables him to point out any 
 differences in the symptoms of these different diseases. 
 
 The deformity of the spine, as Mr Brodie remarks, 
 is generally of a peculiar kind, and such as nothing 
 can produce, except the destruction of the bodies of 
 one or more vertebras. The spine is bent forward so 
 as to form an angle posteriorly ; and, although the 
 destruction of the vertebrae may be to the same ex- 
 tent, the distortion is more obvious in some parts of 
 the spine than others. For example, the spinous 
 
SURGERY. 
 
 580 
 
 Surgety. processes in the middle of the back being long, and 
 projecting downwards, the elevation of one of these 
 must occasion a greater prominence, than that of one 
 of the spinous processes of the neckj which are short, 
 and stand directly backwards. 
 
 A curvature of the spine forwards may arise from 
 other causes, as a weak condition of the muscles, or 
 a ricketty affection of the muscles. In such cases, 
 it generally occupies the whole spine, which assumes 
 the shape of a segment of a circle. At other times, 
 however, it occupies only a portion of the spine, 
 usually that which is formed by the superior lumbar 
 and inferior dorsal vertebrad. But, in this circum- 
 stance, Mr Brodie finds, that the curvature is always 
 gradual, and never angular ; a circumstance distin- 
 guishing it from the curvature produced by caries. 
 The cases, he thinks, have often been confounded, 
 and some speedy and complete cures of carious 
 spines on record, he infers, must have been cases of 
 quite a different nature. 
 
 Besides the form of disease described by Mr Pott, 
 the observations of the late Mr Wilson prove, that 
 another form commences within the theca vertebralis, 
 and thence extends to the bones. In his lectures at 
 the College of Surgeons, the same gentleman also 
 demonstrated what he called scrofulous tumours in 
 the spinal marrow. Such diseases would create a 
 loss of power in the parts below them, without any 
 curvature of the spine. 
 
 We shall not here dwell upon the common treat- 
 ment of diseased vertebrae, attended with a particu- 
 lar palsy of the limbs ; it is already detailed in the 
 former article, and consists principally in keeping 
 open issues near the diseased bones. In France, it 
 seems, the moxa is preferred to caustic issues, and 
 cupping in the vicinity of the disease is often prac- 
 tised. 
 
 The great influence of the opinions of Mr Pott 
 concerning the present distemper, has generally kept 
 regular practitioners from making any trial of me- 
 dhanical means for the support of the spine. It is 
 questionable, however, whether Mr Pott may not 
 have entertained prejudices against machinery, which, 
 under some circumstances, may perhaps be useful. 
 In these cases, mechanical contrivances are never 
 now recommended, under the idea of there being 
 any dislocation ; an error sometimes prevailing in 
 former times. We entirely coincide with Mr Brodie, 
 and (we may say indeed) with the great mass of mo- 
 dern practitioners, that machines ought never to be 
 employed with the view of elongating the spine, and 
 correcting the deformity ; but, if they be used mere- 
 ly for the purpose of taking off the weight of the 
 head, chest, and upper extremities, from the diseas- 
 ed part of the spine, they may sometimes be of ser- 
 vice. No doubt, Mr Brodie is fully justified in the 
 observation, that they ought never, in the first in- 
 stance, to supersede the constant maintenance of the 
 horizontal position, though they may become advis- 
 able, when it is afterwards considered right for the 
 patient to begin to sit up a part of the day. 
 
 The good which Mr Pott described as arising 
 in these cases from issues, was imputed by the late 
 Mr Baynton, not in reality to them, but to the long 
 observance of the horizontal posture. Now, although 
 
 we fully agree, that keeping the patient as quiet as Surges 
 possible in the recumbent position is judicious prac- 
 tice, it does not follow that, because we entertain this 
 belief, we must subscribe to the notion, that issues 
 should be rejected, and that quietude will do every 
 thing. Mr Baynton appears to us to have fallen in. 
 to an error in supposing, that the process by which 
 the diseased part of the spine is to be restored, and 
 united, should be conducted exactly on the same 
 principles as the union of bones free from disease. 
 The truth is, there is an additional indication, name- 
 ly, that of checking the progress of the disease, for 
 which purpose experience proves, that issues, aided 
 by rest, are the means affording the best chance of 
 success. That issues frequently do render essential 
 benefit is fully proved by the fact noticed by Mr 
 Brodie, that many patients find themselves improved 
 almost as soon as the issues are made ; or regularly 
 experience amendment each time the caustic is ap- 
 plied. 
 
 To the section on diseases of the bones, in the ^^^moval o 
 former article, we deem it right to add a few observa- 
 tions respecting the new and bold operation of re- 
 moving the lower jaw ; a proceeding which has been 
 adopted several times in France by Dupuytren, Lalle- 
 mand, &c. An interesting case of this practice 
 was detailed a short time ago by the latter gentle- 
 man, who is Professor of Surgery at Montpellier. 
 The patient, a robust man, aged 68, was received 
 into the hospital St Eloy, on the 23d of May 1822. 
 Nearly the whole of the lower lip, from one commis- 
 sure to the other, extending downwards to the lower 
 margin of the chin, was in a state of cancerous ul- 
 ceration, in which disease the periosteum and bone 
 itself appeared to participate. M. Lallemand began 
 the operation with two semi-elliptical incisions, which 
 commenced in the upper lip, about five or six lines 
 from the commissure, and ended about the middle 
 of the thyroid cartilage. The cheek on each side 
 was dissected up to the front edge of the raasseter. 
 In this situation, the periosteum appeared perfectly 
 sound ; and here M. Lallemand sawed through the 
 jaw, commencing with the left side. He then de- 
 tached the muscles and soft parts on the internal 
 side of the bone, and sawed through the right side 
 from behind forwards, as he had done with respect to 
 the left. The labial, submaxillary, and, raninal ar- 
 teries were successively tied, as well as a few less 
 considerable branches. The lower angle of the 
 wound was afterwards brought together with the 
 twisted suture, and the branches of the jaw, and 
 soft parts covering them, approximated by means of 
 adhesive plaster. Soon after the operation, a con- 
 siderable hemorrhage arose, which could not be sup- 
 pressed without the actual cautery. In fifty days, 
 the wound completely healed. There was then an 
 interspace of nearly two inches between both ends 
 of the jaw, through which the tongue passed, and 
 the saliva dribbled away. For this last inconve- 
 nience, Lallemand contrived a silver chin, upon the 
 concave surface of which was placed a sponge, se- 
 cured by straps that passed back over the neck. 
 {Journ, Univers. December 1822.) It is to be hop- 
 ed that the successful instances of the removal of 
 the lower jaw, now upon record, may not have the 
 
SURGERY. 
 
 581 
 
 eflFect of leading young zealous admirers of every 
 'thing in the shape of a new and grand operation to 
 repeat the practice in any cases, where the necessity 
 for it is not clear, urgent, and unequivocal ; for with 
 the knowledge that we possess of the great deal that 
 nature will do for the cure of necrosis of this bone, 
 and of the bad, but temporary, disfigurement attend- 
 ing some stages of this disease, we would caution 
 surgeons against any propensity to be too officious 
 in such a case, which may -even be erroneously con- 
 sidered as a cancerous affection. It is far from our 
 intention, however, to insinuate, that the above case 
 did not truly demand the bold measure winch was 
 put in execution. 
 
 Since the former Article on Surgery was com- 
 posed, a great many new and very interesting 
 observations have been made upon aneurisms ; and 
 the share which English surgeons have had in the 
 modern improvements that have taken place in the 
 treatment of these formidable diseases, reflects such 
 credit upon them, for science, judgment, and enter- 
 prise, that, in all works, devoted to the consideration 
 of the diseases of the blood-vessels, their names must 
 be inseparably connected with every successful at- 
 tempt to meliorate this part of practice, and every 
 praiseworthy effort to throw light upon the nature of 
 the morbid changes to which the arteries and veins are 
 liable. Whoever looks over Hodgson's valuable work 
 on the diseases of the blood-vessels, will find the 
 justness of this encomium completely established ; 
 and it is a book to which we refer with considerable 
 pleasure, on account of the perspicuity and correct- 
 ness prevailing in every part of it. 
 
 As an aneurism grows larger, its pulsations be- 
 come weaker, and when the magnitude of the tumor 
 is considerable, they are sometimes hardly distin- 
 guishable. This diminution of the pulsation has 
 been accounted for by the coats of the artery losing 
 their suppleness, in proportion as they become dis- 
 tended, and consequently the aneurismal sac no 
 longer admitting of an alternate diastole and systole 
 from the action of the heart. There can also be no 
 doubt, that the fact is in a great measure owing to 
 lamellated coagulated blood being deposited on the 
 inner surface of the sac. This is an occurrence of 
 great importance ; for, when the disease undergoes 
 a spontaneous cure, the deposition of lamellated 
 coagufa within the sac, is the mode by which this 
 desirable event is accomplished. As Mr Hodgson 
 remarks, one of the circumstances, which, in the 
 most early stage, generally attend the formation of 
 aneurism, is the establishment of that process, which 
 is the basis of its future cure. The blood, which 
 enters the sac soon after its formation, generally 
 leaves upon its internal surface a stratum of coagu- 
 lum, and successive depositions of the fibrous part of 
 the blood, gradually diminish the cavity of the tu- 
 mour. At length, the sac becomes entirely filled 
 with this substance, and the deposition of it generally 
 continues in the artery, which supplies the disease, 
 forming a firm plug of coagulum, which extends on 
 both sides of the sac to the next important ramifica- 
 tions given off by the artery. The circulation 
 through the vessel is thus prevented, the blood is 
 conveyed by collateral channels, and another process 
 
 VOL. VI. PART n. 
 
 is instituted, whereby the bulk of the tumor is re- Surgery, 
 moved. (Ow the Diseases of Arteries, p. 114<.) 
 
 External aneurisms, when, they burst, give way 
 by the sloughing of the extremity of a thin conical 
 prominence that is previously formed upon them ; 
 but the bursting happens in a different manner in 
 internal aneurisms. As Mr Allan Burns first no- 
 ticed, these generally burst by actual laceration, and 
 not by the sphacelation of the cyst. But the most 
 correct account of this subject is to be found in Mr 
 Hodgson's work. We are there informed, that when 
 the sac points externally, it rarely or never bursts by 
 laceration, but the extreme distention causes the in- 
 teguments and investing parts to slough ; and upon 
 the separation of the eschar, the blood issues from 
 the tumour. A similar process takes place, when 
 the disease extends into a cavity, which is lined by 
 a mucous membrane, as the oesophagus, intestines, 
 bladder, &c. In such cases, the cavity of the aneu- 
 rism is generally exposed, by the separation of a 
 slough, which is formed upon its most distended 
 part, and not by laceration. But when the sac pro- 
 jects into a cavity lined by a serous membrane, as 
 the pleura, the peritonaeum, the pericardium, &c. 
 these membranes do not slough, but the sides of the 
 tumour having become extremely thin from disten- 
 tion, at length burst by a crack, or fissure, through 
 which the blood is discharged. 
 
 A few years ago, Professor Scarpa published a 
 valuable treatise upon aneurism, maintaining the an- 
 cient doctrine, that no anetBrisms consisted in a dila- 
 tation of all the arterial coats, but that they were all 
 attended with a rupture of the proper coats of the 
 vessel, the muscular and internal. Scarpa considers 
 it an error to suppose, that aortic aneurisms, pro* 
 duced by a violent and sudden exertion of the body, 
 or of the heart in particular, and preceded by a con- 
 genital relaxation of a certain portion of this artery, 
 or a morbid weakness of its coats, ought always to 
 be regarded as a tumour, formed by the distention 
 or dilatation of the proper coats of the artery itself, 
 that is, of its internal and fibrous coats. On the 
 contrary, he deems it fully demonstrable, that such 
 aneurisms are produced by a rupture of these tunics ; 
 and, consequently, by the effusion of arterial blood 
 under the cellular sheath, or other membrane cover- 
 ing the vessel. At the same time, he does not deny, 
 that, from congenital relaxation, the proper coats 
 of the aorta may occasionally yield and be disposed 
 to give way ; but he will not allow that dilatation of 
 the vessel precedes and accompanies all its aneu- 
 risms, or that its proper coats ever yidd sufficiently 
 to constitute the aneurismal sac. The root of an 
 aneurism of the aorta, he observes, never includes 
 the whole circumference of the artery : and the an- 
 eurismal sac arises from one side of it, in the form 
 of an appendix, or tuberosity. But what is called a 
 dilatation of an artery, he says, always extends to 
 the whole circumference of the vessel, and therefore 
 diflFers essentially from aneurism. Hence, he argues, 
 that there is a striking difference between a dilated 
 and an aneurismal artery, although the two affections 
 are sometimes found combined together, especially 
 at the origin of the aorta. It is also noticed, that 
 the dilatation of an artery may exist, without any 
 4 £ 
 
582 S U R G 
 
 Surgery, ^organic afFection, the blood being always within the 
 cavity of the vessel ; that, in an artery so affected, 
 no lamellated blood is deposited ; and that the dila- 
 tation never gives rise to a swelling of considerable 
 size. In fact, no doubt can be entertained, that 
 these circumstances fully warrant the inference, that 
 aneurism differs essentially from bne kind of dilata- 
 tion of an artery. 
 
 According to the observations of Scarpa, the 
 aneurismal sac never comprises the whole circum- 
 ference of the vessel. Where the tumour joins the 
 side of the artery, the aneurismal sac presents a kind 
 of constriction, beyond which it is more or less ex- 
 panded. This, he says, would never be the case, if 
 the sac were formed by an equable distention of the 
 tube and proper coats of the affected artery. In 
 incipient aneurisms, at least, the greater size of the 
 tumour would then be in the artery itself, or root of 
 the swelling, while its fundus would be the smallest 
 part. But whether aneurisms be recent and small, 
 or of long standing and large, the passage from the 
 artery is always narrow, and the fundus of the swell- 
 ing greater in proportion to its distance from the 
 vessel. Scarpa further explains, that the sac is al- 
 ways covered by the same soft, yielding, cellular 
 substance, which, in the healthy state, united the 
 artery to the surrounding parts. In aneurisms of 
 the thoracic aorta, this cellular substance is covered 
 by the pleura, and, in those of the abdominal aorta, 
 by the peritonaeum, which membranes include the 
 sac and ruptured artery, presenting externally a 
 continued smooth surface, just as if the artery itself 
 were dilated. But Scarpa observes, that, if the 
 aorta be opened lengthwise on the side opposite the 
 constriction, the place of the rupture of the proper 
 coats of the artery immediately appears within the 
 vessel, on the side opposite to that of the incision. 
 The margin of the fissure, that has occurred, is 
 sometimes fringed, and often indurated, and through 
 it the blood passed into the cellular sheath, which 
 was itself converted into the aneurismal sac. If, as 
 sometimes happens in the arch of the aorta near the 
 heart, the artery, before being ruptured, has been 
 somewhat dilated, it seems, at first, as if there were 
 two aneurisms; but the constriction, which the 
 nearest part of the sac and the artery presents exter- 
 nally, denotes precisely the limits, beyond which the 
 internal and muscular coats of the aorta had not 
 been able to resist the distention, and where, of 
 course, they were ruptured. The partition, which 
 Scarpa asserts may always be seen dividing the tube 
 of the artery from the aneurismal sac, and is lace- 
 rated in its centre, consists of nothing but the re- 
 mains of the internal and muscular coats of the rup- 
 tured artery. 
 
 Scarpa states, that, when an incision is made 
 lengthwise in the side of the vessel opposite the 
 rupture, its proper coats are found either perfectly 
 sound, or a little weakened, and studded with earthy 
 points, but still capable of being separated into dis- 
 tinct layers. On the contrary, in the opposite side 
 of the aorta, where the rupture is, the proper coats 
 are unusually thin, and not separable from each other 
 without difficulty, or even not at all ; they are fre- 
 quently brittle, like an egg-shell, and are disor- 
 
 ER Y. 
 
 ganized and torn at the place, where they form the Siirger} . 
 partition between the ruptured artery and the mouth 
 of the aneurismal sac. Continuing to separate these 
 coats from within outwards, we arrive at the cellular 
 sheath surrounding the aorta. As in large aneurisms, 
 this sheath is considerably thickened, and very ad- 
 herent, at the constriction of the sac, to the subja- 
 cent muscular coat of the artery, it is liable to be 
 mistaken for a dilated portion of the vessel itself. 
 But even in such cases, it may at length be separated 
 without laceration from the tube of the artery, above 
 and below the injury, and successively from the 
 muscular coat, as far as the neck of the aneurism. 
 It then becomes manifest that the muscular coat 
 does not pass beyond the partition between the 
 cavity of the artery and that of the aneurismal sac, 
 over which it is not extended, but terminates in a 
 jagged manner at the edge of the rupture. The 
 aorta and the sac being both covered by the pleura, 
 or peritonaeum, is a circumstance tending very much 
 to lead surgeons into mistaken views of the real state 
 of things. 
 
 As the portion of the aorta within the pericardium 
 is covered only by a thin reflected layer of this 
 membrane, such layer may also give way, when the 
 proper coats of the vessel burst, and the consequence 
 be an instantaneous effusion of blood within the 
 pericardium itself. But every other part of the 
 aorta makes long resistance to the fatal effusion, 
 because there is between it and the peritonaeum or 
 pleura, a cellular sheath of a strong and elastic na- 
 ture, which is capable of expanding into a sac, and 
 while it is strengthened externally by the peritoneum 
 or pleura, its strength is inwardly augmented in a 
 very material degree, by the layers of coagulated 
 blood. 
 
 Scarpa's doctrine, that all aneurisms are attended 
 with rupture of the proper coats of the artery, great 
 as the weight and influence of his opinion justly 
 are, is far from having received general or even ex- 
 tensive sanction ; for, in France, it is rejected by 
 Richerand, Boyer, Dubois, Dupuytren, Sabatier, 
 Breschet, &c. ; and, in this country, every lecturer 
 has continued to adopt the common division of an- 
 eurisms into true and false, or into some cases ac- 
 companied with dilatation, and into others attended 
 with rupture of the arterial coats. The foundation 
 for Scarpa's sentiments has now been very ably and 
 impartially considered by numerous correct observers; 
 and the love of truth obliges us to confess, that tlie 
 mass of facts and authorities is decidedly against the 
 doctrine which he maintains, without exceptions. 
 As Mr Hodgson has remarked, the proofs of a par- 
 tial dilatation of the coats of an artery, particularly 
 of the aorta, are incontestably established by the 
 possibility of tracing the coats of the vessel through- 
 out the whole extent of the expansion, and by the 
 existence of those morbid appearances in the sac, 
 which are peculiar to the coats of arteries. 
 
 In the year 1811, this gentleman dissected an 
 aneurism of the aorta. The sac was equal in size to 
 a small melon, and the disease had proved fatal by 
 bursting into the posterior mediastinum, and sub- 
 sequently into the cavity of the thorax. This aorta 
 exhibited the formation of aneurism in three distinct 
 
SURGE R Y. 
 
 583 
 
 Surgery. Stages. The internal coat was throughout inflamed, 
 and presented a fleshy and irregular appearance. 
 At the arch of the aorta there was a dilatation, not 
 larger than the half of a small pea. About two 
 inches lower was a second dilatation, which would 
 have contained a hazel-nut, and immediately above 
 the diaphragm was the large aneurism, which had 
 proved fatal. Mr Hodgson removed that portion of 
 the vessel which contained the smallest dilatation, and 
 he then macerated it until its coats could be separated 
 without violence. The dilatation was found to pre- 
 vail equally in the three coats of the vessel, and, 
 after being separated, each presented the appearance 
 of a minute aneurism. The second dilatation exhi- 
 bited the same circumstance in a more advanced 
 stage ; the coats of the vessel being, however, more 
 closely adherent to each other than in the natural 
 state. Yet it was perfectly evident that the dilata- 
 tion comprised all the coats of the vessel, the inter- 
 nal, middle, and external. In the large aneurism, 
 the disorganized internal and middle coats could be 
 traced for some distance into the sac, and then the 
 parts contained in the posterior mediastinum, and 
 tlie vertebrae, formed the remainder of the cyst. Mr 
 Hodgson has met with this partial kind of dilatation 
 at the division of the carotids and iliacs, in the ar- 
 teries of the brain, and in almost all the arteries 
 which are subject to aneurism. Partial, as well as 
 general dilatation, he observes, frequently precedes 
 the formation of aneurism in the extremities. A gen- 
 tleman had a large femoral aneurism, which under- 
 went a spontaneous cure. Upon examining the 
 limb after death, the popliteal artery was found to be 
 thickened and covered with calcareous matter. A 
 small pouch, which wouldrhave contained the seed 
 of an orange, originated from the side of this artery, 
 and was evidently formed by a dilatation of the coats 
 of the vessel ; for the internal and middle coats could 
 be traced in its circumference, and the former in that 
 situation exhibited the same morbid appearances 
 which it possessed in other parts of the vessel. A 
 man died from the sloughing of an aneurism in the 
 ham : in the femoral artery there was a small aneu- 
 rism of about the size of a walnut. The external 
 coat was dissected from the surface of the tumour to 
 a considerable extent. The internal and middle 
 coats were plainly dilated, and contributed to the 
 formation of the sac. Their dilatation was gradual, 
 and, after making part of the sac for a considerable 
 distance, they were inseparably blended with the 
 surrounding parts. (See Hodgson's Treatise on the 
 Diseases of Arteries, ^c. p. 70, &c.) 
 
 With respect to differences existing on the pa- 
 thology of aneurism between Scarpa and other mo- 
 dern writers, they seem to us to be reduced to one 
 question, viz. Whether any of the dilatations on re- 
 cord, alleged to comprehend all the arterial coats, 
 ought, or ought not, to receive the name of aneu- 
 rism ? iWiis eminent professor has always distinctly 
 admitted, that the arteries may be dilated, though 
 the kind of dilatation to which he refers is thought 
 by him, as well as by Mr Allan Burns and Mr 
 Hodgson, to require discrimination in a pathological 
 point of view. Dissection shows, says Scarpa, that 
 the morbid dilatation is circumscribed by the proper 
 
 coats of the diseased artery ; and that the inner sur- Surgery, 
 face of the sac, formed by the partial, or total pro- ^-^"V*^ 
 trusion of the arterial tube, is never filled with poly- 
 pous laminae, or layers of fibrine, disposed over each 
 other, which layers never fail to be formed, in greater 
 or smaller quantity, in the cavity of an aneurism. 
 The notion, that these layers of coagula are not met 
 with in small dilatations of arteries, but are found in 
 large expansions of them, he says, is contradicted by 
 numerous careful observations, and especially by a 
 specimen actually before him when he was writing, 
 where a morbid dilatation of the arch of the aorta, 
 in the vicinity of its origin from the heart, six inches 
 in length and five in breadth, was completely free 
 from the lamellated coagula always found in aneu- 
 risms. On the contrary, the sac of an aneurism 
 being formed of the parts surrounding the wounded 
 or ruptured artery, and the blood never entering it 
 as a natural receiver, the latter fluid always deposits 
 in it these layers of fibrine, and this sometimes so 
 copiously as to fill the whole cyst. At the same 
 time, it is particularly explained by Scarpa, that, if 
 accidentally furrows or fissures exist on the inside of 
 the morbid dilatation, the fibrine may be deposited 
 in these rough places, but only in them. Such fis- 
 sures and inequalities of the inner surface of the 
 morbidly dilated artery, he regards strictly as ao 
 many beginnings of another disease of the vessel, 
 quite different from dilatation, that is, of aneurism 
 subsequent to dilatation. 
 
 Scarpa, in his first publication on aneurism, re- 
 peatedly mentions, that the morbid dilatation of an 
 artery constantly extends to the whole circumference 
 of it. But this point seems from the appendix to 
 be renounced ; as he now observes, where the mor- 
 bid dilatation is partial, or on one side of the artery, 
 like a thimble, (for, very Jrequentli/, even in the arch 
 of the aorta, this partial dilatation does not exceed 
 the size of half a bean,) the entrance for the blood 
 into this capsule is as large as the bottom of the sac. 
 Where the dilatation occupies the whole circumfe- 
 rence of the arterial tube, the swelling always retains 
 a cylindrical or oval form ; and if compressed, it 
 yields very readily, and is found after death much 
 smaller than during life. On the contrary, Scarpa 
 remarks with respect to aneurism, that, whether it be 
 preceded by dilatation or not, it constantly originates 
 from one side of the ruptured artery. The entrance 
 for the blood is small compared with the size of the 
 fundus of the sac ; the tumour assumes an irregular 
 shape ; yields with difficulty to pressure ; retains 
 nearly the same size in the dead that it had in the 
 living subject ; and its sac, instead of becoming 
 thinner as the swelling enlarges, or the coats of an 
 artery do when they are simply affected with dilata- 
 tion, grows thicker the larger the aneurism becomes. 
 According to Scarpa, cases of morbid arterial dila- 
 tations are positively incurable ; which is not abso- 
 lutely the fact with respect to internal aneurisms, 
 difficult and rare as such an event may be. 
 
 The conclusions, justified by facts, seem to be 
 those laid down by Mr Hodgson. Is^, That nume. 
 rous aneurisms are formed by the destruction of the 
 internal and middle coats of the arteries, and the ex- 
 pansion of the outer coat into a small cyst, which. 
 
584 SURG 
 
 Surgery, giving way from distention, the surrounding parts, 
 whatever may be their structure, compose the re- 
 mainder of the sac. 2dly, That the disease some- 
 times commences with a dilatation of a portion of 
 the circumference of the artery. Such dilatation 
 increases until the coats of the vessel give way, when 
 the surrounding parts form the sac in the same man- 
 ner as when the disease is, in the first instance, pro- 
 duced by destruction of the coats of an artery. 
 
 Whenever an aneurismal sac beats strongly, and 
 for a long while, against a bone, as the sternum, 
 ribs, clavicle, and vertebrae, the bones are, in the 
 end, always destroyed ; so that the sac then lifts up 
 the integuments of the breast, or back, and throbs 
 directly under the skin. This effect is referred by 
 all the best modern writers to the action of the ab- 
 sorbent vessels, which, under these circumstances, 
 take away the particles of bone, against which the 
 tumour beats. J. L. Petit found the condyles of the 
 femur, and the upper head of the tibia, nearly de- 
 stroyed by a popliteal aneurism, and another case, 
 in which the injury of the bone had proceeded to a 
 great extent, is recorded by Rosenmiiller. It is 
 correctly noticed by Mr Hodgson, that the carious 
 and corroded state of the bones in aneurism is rare- 
 ly or never attended with the formation of pus. In 
 this respect, therefore, the morbid change differs 
 essentially from common caries or ulceration of 
 bones. Exfoliation also very rarely accompanies it, 
 from which fact one important practical observation 
 is deducible, namely, that if the aneurism be cured, 
 the bones will recover their healthy state, without 
 undergoing those tedious processes which take place 
 in the cure of caries or necrosis. 
 
 Mr Hodgson confirms the remark first made by 
 Dr W. Hunter, and subsequently repeated by Scarpa 
 and others, that cartilage is less_ rapidly destroyed 
 by the pressure of an aneurism than bone itself. 
 
 Aneurisms are much less frequent in women, than 
 men. The following comparative Table, affording 
 information on this point, is contained in Mr Hodg- 
 son's work : 
 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 <u 
 
 Of the ascending aorta, the arteria in- 
 nominata, and arch of the aorta 
 
 
 l6 
 
 
 21 
 
 5 
 
 Descending aorta 
 
 8 
 2 
 
 7 
 
 1 
 
 Carotid artery 
 
 2 
 
 
 Subclavian and axillary 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 
 Inguinal artery - • • 
 
 12 
 
 12 
 
 1 
 
 Femoral and popliteal 
 
 15 
 
 14 
 
 
 63 
 
 56 
 
 7 
 
 A common notion amongst surgeons is, that an 
 operation for aneurism should not be undertaken un- 
 til the disease has continued sufficiently long for the 
 collateral arteries to enlarge, so that the circulation 
 may be more sure of going on in the parts beyond 
 the ligature, and the danger of mortification be les- 
 sened. Gangrenous mischief was formerly a very 
 
 ERY. 
 
 frequent consequence of operations for the cure of Surgery, 
 aneurism, and constituted the practitioner's chief 
 dread ; but, while his mind was anxiously directed to 
 the risk of such an occurrence, and while he was 
 even so much alarmed at it, that he, not unfrequent- 
 ly, recommended amputation of the limb, when the 
 aneurism might have been cured by the ligature, 
 and the member preserved ; yet, it never struck him, 
 that the frequency of mortification was generally 
 owing to the bad method of operating, formerly 
 practised in cases of aneurism, and not to the mere 
 stoppage of the flow of blood through a part of the 
 main artery of the limb. We here allude to the se- 
 vere plan of opening the sac, and turning out the la-, 
 mellated coagula, previously to the application of 
 the ligature, which, after all, was generally put upon 
 a diseased portion of the vessel ; so that, if the patient 
 escaped mortification, he rarely escaped the equally 
 formidable consequence — secondary hemorrhage. 
 
 At the present day, operations for the cure of 
 aneurism have reached a great degree of perfection; 
 and, generally speaking, they are mild proceedings, 
 compared with what they used to be in the hands of 
 the older practitioners. The result is, that mortifica- 
 tion now much less frequently follows them, and 
 surgeons entertain greater confidence in the powers 
 of nature to supply the limb with blood. Hence, 
 also, some of the most judicious practitioners con- 
 demn all delay of the operation, merely for the pur- 
 pose of affording time for the enlargement of the col- 
 lateral vessels. Certain it is, that delay often does a 
 great deal of harm, by letting the tumour become so 
 large, and the effects of its pressure so extensive and 
 injurious, that, after the artery is tied, the swelling 
 is frequently attacked wit!» severe inflammation, sup- 
 puration, and sloughing, and the patient sometimes 
 falls a victim to what would not have taken place 
 had the operation been performed sooner. Nay, de- 
 lay may have an opposite effect to that expected by 
 its advocates, with reference to allowing time for the 
 anastomosing vessels to dilate ; for, as Mr Hodgson 
 has remarked, the large size of an aneurism is in 
 reality a circumstance which must materially prevent 
 the establishment of a collateral circulation. When 
 the tumour is of immense bulk, it has probably de- 
 stroyed the parts in which some of the principal 
 anastomosing branches are situated, or may prevent 
 their dilatation by its pressure. Nor can it be 
 doubted, that, where the tumour has been suffered 
 to attain a large size, before an attempt is made to 
 cure it, and where, from this cause, both the neigh- 
 bouring soft parts and the bone are considerably aL 
 tered, the completion of the cure, that is to say, the 
 full restoration of the use of the limb, must be far 
 more distant, than in other cases, where the cure is 
 attempted in an earlier stage. 
 
 According to Scarpa, the complete cure of an 
 aneurism cannot be effected in whatever part of the 
 body the tumour is situated, unless the ar#^y, from 
 which the aneurism is derived, be obliterated, either 
 by nature or art ; and converted; into a perfectly 
 solid, ligamentous substance, for a certain extent 
 above and below the place of the ulceration, lacera- 
 tion, or wound. Notwithstanding the general cor- 
 
SURGERY. 
 
 585 
 
 Surgery, rectness of this observation, we believe there are 
 exceptions to it in a few aneurisms of the aorta, es- 
 pecially those of its arch, which seem to have been 
 occasionally lessened and cured by Valsalva's treat- 
 ment, repeated bleeding, very spare diet, &c. Here, 
 we are not to suppose, that the aorta is obliterated 
 at its very beginning; but that the diminution of 
 the quantity of circulating blood, the reduced im- 
 petus of this fluid, the lessened distention of the 
 aneurismal sac, the general weakness induced in the 
 constitution, and the increased activity of the lym- 
 phatic system, all necessary effects of Valsalva's 
 treatments have combined to bring about a greater 
 or lesser subsidence of the tumour. Certain facts, 
 recorded by Mr Hodgson, satisfactorily prove, 1*^, 
 That a deposition of coagulura may take place in an 
 aneurismal sac to such an extent as entirely to pre- 
 clude the communication between its cavity and that 
 of the artery, from which it originates ; ^dly, That a 
 sac, thus filled with coagulum, cannot prove fatal by 
 rupture ; and, Mly, That the gradual absorption of 
 its contents, and the consequent diminution of the 
 sac, may proceed to such an extent, that the disease 
 shall be cured without any obstruction taking place 
 in the calibre of the vessel, from which it originates. 
 
 Both the spontaneous and surgical cures of 
 aneurism have generally two stages ; in the first, the 
 entrance of blood into the aneurismal sac is prevent- 
 ed ; in the second, the parietes of the artery ap- 
 proach each other, and, becoming agglutinated, the 
 vessel is converted into a solid cylinder. In order 
 that compression may be the means of uniting the 
 opposite sides of the artery, and thus of producing 
 a radical cure of aneurism, the degree of pressure, 
 according to Scarpa, musb be such as to place these 
 opposite sides in firm and complete contact, and 
 such as to excite the adhesive inflammation in the 
 coats of the artery. The point of compression must 
 also fall above the laceration, or wound of the arte- 
 ry. Another condition is essential to §UGGe§§ ; thg 
 coats of the vessel, at the place where the pressure 
 is made, must be sufGclently free from disease to be 
 susceptible of the adhesive inflammation. When 
 the arterial coats, round the root of an aneurism, are 
 much diseased, Scarpa considers them as unsuscepti- 
 ble of the adhesive inflammation, although compress- 
 ed together in the most scientific manner, and even 
 when tied with a ligature. This statement would 
 appear to be corroborated by the following fact : 
 Mr LangstafF amputated the thigh of a person seven- 
 ty-five years of age ; but the vessels were so ossified 
 that they could not be effectually tied, and, in less 
 than twenty-four hours, the patient died from loss of 
 blood. It is generally supposed, says Mr Lawrence, 
 that this condition of the arterial coats is incompati- 
 ble with their union under the application of the li- 
 gature. The opinion should be received, however, 
 with some limitation. In a man fifty-nine years of 
 age, bleeding took place nearly a month after am- 
 putation, from an ossified femoral artery; and Mr 
 Lawrence was, therefore, obliged to expose and tie 
 that vessel again for the suppression of the hemor- 
 rhage, when he found a hard tube, which cracked im- 
 mediately after the ligature was tightened ; the bleed- 
 ing, however, rxever returned. This case is mention- 
 
 ed, not witHi any view of encouraging surgeons to ap- Surgery, 
 ply ligaturffis rourid disieased portions of arteries, a ^"^v^* 
 thing whioh shoiuld always be avoided when possi- 
 ble ; but,, t.omake them aware, that the ossified state 
 of an artery, unfTawourable as the circumstance may 
 be, is not an absolute and constant prohibition to 
 the successiful apjplication of the ligature. 
 
 Whenevier the treatment by pressure is attempted, 
 the plan should be promoted by repeated bleedings, 
 spare diet, and strict repose in bed. Digitalis may 
 also be prescribed, with the view of lessening the im- 
 petus of the circulation. Snow, or powdered ice, is 
 sometimes applied to the tumour, with the design of 
 facilitating the coagulation of the blood within the 
 aneurismal sac, and thus bringing about the oblitera- 
 tion of tiie cavity of the aneurism and the artery. 
 Ice should be employed, however, with some degree 
 of caution. We learn from Breschet, that, when the 
 swelling is large, the parts very tense, their texture 
 changed, and the skin thin, the practice is likely to 
 accelerate the iformation of a slough ; and he con- 
 firms a renaark, made by Mr Hodgson, that some pa- 
 tients cannot continue this treatment longer than a 
 few minutes, while others find it absolutely insup- 
 portable. 
 
 Modern experience has fully confirmed the fact, 
 that the plan which can be most depended upon for 
 the cure of external aneurism, is that of tying the 
 artery sora?e way from the tumour, in the direction 
 towards the heart. The following general instruc- 
 tions respecting the ligature, have received the sanc- 
 tion of many of the best surgeons in this country. 
 
 1. The cord sshould be thin and round, such a li- 
 gature being most likely to effect a clean division of 
 the internal and middle coats of the vessel, and not 
 liable to occasion extensive ulceration and slough- 
 ing. 
 
 2. The ligature should be tightly applied, in order 
 to insure the complete division of the internal and 
 middle coats of the artery, and to prevent its detach- 
 ment; it being almost impossible, even with the thin- 
 nest ligatures, to cut entirely through a healthy ar- 
 tery. 
 
 3. The vessel shiould be detached from its con- 
 nection, only sot far as is necessary for the convey- 
 ance of the ligature umderneath it. 
 
 4. The immediate adhesion of the wound should 
 be promoted by all such means as are known to pro- 
 mote that proc&ss io general. (See Hodgson's Trea- 
 tise on Diseases of Arteries, p. 225.) 
 
 The late Dr Jo^neS;, in his interesting experiments 
 upon animals, perfoTnned with the view of ascertain- 
 ing the effects of a liigature upon the blood-vessels, 
 made out a fact,, winiich at first raised the expecta* 
 tion that it would Lead to a considerable improve- 
 ment of the operattion for the cure of aneurisms. 
 After having assuxeid hamself of the correctness of an 
 observation, first; nnaid(e by Desault, that, when a firm 
 ligature is applied to an artery, it causes a division 
 of the internal a;nd imiiddle coats, he discovered, that 
 if such ligature be .afte rwards removed, an effusion 
 of lymph takes pllace between the cut surfaces into 
 the cavity of the vessel ; and that, if several divisions 
 of the internal aradl miiididle coats be thus effected in 
 the vicinity of eacih otthier, the effusion of lymph was 
 
586 
 
 SURG E R Y. 
 
 Surgery, sufficiently extensive to obliterate the cavity of the 
 vessel. 
 
 Here we see that Jones's experiments did not 
 really justify any hope that a single division of the 
 internal coats of the vessel with one ligature would 
 lead to the obliteration ^f the tube at the tied part, 
 though the cord were removed immediately after its 
 application. On the contrary, his experiments prov- 
 ed that several ligatures, and several divisions of the 
 inner coats of the vessel with them, were necessary, 
 if they were to be taken away directly aftar being 
 tightened. However, surgeons overlooked this dif- 
 ference, and their zeal allowed them to form hopes, 
 which, in fact, had no foundation in any of the true 
 results of Dr Jones's experiments. At the same time, 
 it cannot be doubted, that if, immediately after tying 
 the trunk of an artery for the cure of an aneurism, 
 the ligature could be altogether removed, and yet 
 the vessel become obliterated, it would be highly 
 advantageous ; as no extraneous substance would then 
 be left in the wound to prevent its union, or increase 
 the chance of secondary hemorrhage, by causing the 
 sloughing, or ulcerative process to extend too far. 
 Suffice it here to state farther, with reference to this 
 acherae, that the trials which have been made of it 
 fully prove that it is ineffectual ; a conclusion which 
 might have been drawn from Dr Jones's own expe- 
 riments. Still the fact of the ligature, though ap- 
 plied only for a moment, bringing on an effusion of 
 lymph within the vessel, and a permanent constric- 
 tion of it on the part operated upon, continued to 
 keep the attention of surgeons fixed upon the sub- 
 ject ; and their genius exerted itself in every possible 
 way to render the new information the means of lead- 
 ing to some great and beneficial change in the ope- 
 ration for the cure of aneurism. In particular, it ap- 
 peared to Mr Travers, that the want of union was 
 chiefly owing to the circumstance of the opposite 
 sides of the vessel not being retained in a state of 
 contact, so that they might have an opportunity of 
 adhering together. This object is fulfilled by the li- 
 gature in the common mode of its application ; and 
 for the success of Dr Jones's experiment, it was con- 
 ceived, it would be sufficient to let the ligature re- 
 main on the vessel only until the adhesion were strong 
 enough to resist the passage of the blood through 
 the tube. In short, Mr Travers thought, that if a 
 ligature were applied to an artery, and suffered to 
 remain only a few hours, the adhesion of the inner 
 surface of the vessel would then be sufficiently ad- 
 vanced to insure the permanent obliteration of the 
 cavity of the vessel. The early removal of the liga- 
 ture, it was hoped, would prove highly advantage- 
 ous by diminishing the chance of hemorrhage, and 
 facilitating the union of the wound. 
 
 The trials which have been made of the temporary 
 application ofcthe ligature for the cure of aneurism, 
 we regret to say, have not had such decidedly fa- 
 vourable results, as to enable us to rank the practice 
 as an establishetl improvement. On the contrary, 
 tliough some. cases treated in this manner have been 
 encouraging, the greater number has been of the op- 
 posite description. Sir Astley Cooper operated upon 
 a popliteal aneurism in this way ; the flow of blood 
 
 to the tumour was completely stopped by the llga- Surgery, 
 ture for thirty-two hours, and the cord then remov- 
 ed; but the pulsations of the disease returned. A 
 ligature was then applied forty hours longer, at the 
 end of which time no pulsation followed the removal 
 of the ligature ; but, on the twelfth day, a consider- 
 able bleeding came on, and it was necessary to take 
 up the vessel again. The careful consideration of 
 this and various other cases, and, in particular, the 
 perusal of Scarpa's examples of the practice, have 
 perfectly satisfied us that, however flattering tl>e 
 suggestion deduced fro«i Dr Jones's observations 
 might at first be, the plan of removing the ligature, 
 previously to its natural separation, will never an- 
 swer in the operation for the cure of aneurism, un- 
 less either an obliteration of the arterial tube follow, 
 with reasonable certainty, the taking away of the li- 
 gature directly after it has been applied, and it has 
 divided the inner coats of the vessel; or, at all events, 
 unless the ligature can always be withdrawn at a de- 
 terminate period, and the same obliteration eitlier 
 cei-tainly ensue, or be already complete. All this, 
 too, ought to be effected with such regularity and in- 
 fallibility in every case, that there would be no 
 chance of the surgeon being obliged to apply anoilier 
 ligature, do a second operation, or cause disturbance 
 of the artery in any manner whatsoever. 
 
 Independently of the uncertainty of the period, • 
 when the arterial tube is closed by the adhesive in- 
 flammation in various patients, it appears that the dis- 
 turbance of the vessel and wound by the steps ne- 
 cessary for the loosening and removal of the ligature, 
 will ever form an insuperable objection to the prac- 
 tice. Scarpa has some apprehension of this kind 
 himself ; for he remarks, ."In the act of removing 
 the ligature, there can be no doubt, it is of great 
 consequence that the artery be not rudely handled 
 or stretched. And, indeed, if, on untying the run- 
 ning knot, the subjacent knot could be with the same 
 facility untied, we could not wish for a better mode 
 of performing this part of the operation. But the 
 knot, although a simple one, is not so I'eadily untied 
 as the running knot ; on account of the moisture with 
 which the threads forming the ligature are soaked, 
 or because the ligature has been previously waxed." 
 These apprehensions lead him to suggest the scheme 
 of placing a thread longitudinally on each side of the 
 cylinder of linen, interposed by him between the 
 knot and the artery. This he does before the knot 
 is made ; and at the time of removing the ligature, 
 the threads are to be drawn in opposite directions, in 
 order to undo the knot without displacing or stretch- 
 ing the artery. Thus, instead of one small ligature, 
 which is all that an English surgeon leaves in the 
 wound, Scarpa recommends his ligature of four or, 
 six threads, a roll of linen, and two other threads ; a 
 quantity of extraneous substances, which cannot fail 
 to be a source of serious irritation and mischief. 
 Were there, however, only the following single ob- 
 jection to this practice, it would never be established 
 in this country ; its advocates ai'e necessarily obliged 
 to renounce the infinite advantage of bringing tlie 
 edges of the wound together directly after the opera- 
 tion. If it had been practicable to withdraw the li- 
 
SURGERY. 
 
 58 
 
 lurgery. gature as sbon as the inner coats of the vessel had 
 been divided by it, and the obliteration of the mo- 
 mentarily constricted portion of the artery followed 
 as a matter of certainty, the case would have been 
 very different, as there would then have been no fo- 
 reign body at all left in the wound ; the parts might 
 have been immediately brought together, so as to 
 leave the greatest chance of union by the first inten- 
 tion, and no future disturbance either of the artery 
 or of the wound would have been incurred. 
 
 In the section upon the popliteal aneurism, in the 
 former Article, two things are recommended, which 
 the experience of many of the best surgeons does not 
 at present sanction. The first is the application of a 
 double ligature, and then dividing the vessel at a point 
 between the two cords ; the second is using a ligature 
 of sufficient thickness to hinder it from cutting through 
 the coats of the vessel. With respect to the first 
 of these proceedings, it seems to be of great antiqui- 
 ty, but had fallen into oblivion, when again brought 
 into notice by Mr Abernethy. The reflections 
 which led this gentleman to revive the practice were 
 ingenious ; for, when the artery was tied with two 
 ligatures, and divided in the interspace between them, 
 it was argued, that it would be quite lax, possess its 
 natural attachment, and be as nearly as possible in 
 the same circumstances as a tied artery upon the 
 face of a stump. Strictly speaking, however, as Mr 
 Hodgson first pointed out, an artery tied in two 
 places, and cut through in the interspace, cannot be 
 regarded as placed exactly in the same condition as 
 an artery tied in amputation. In the latter case, the 
 retraction of the vessel corresponds with that of the 
 surrounding parts, which are divided at the same in- 
 stant, and therefore its relative connections stand as 
 before the operation. But, in the operation for 
 aneurism, the retraction of the artery takes place 
 without being attended with a corresponding retrac- 
 tion of its connections. How far the retraction of 
 the artery is beneficial or injurious, is by no means 
 evident ; and the advantages arising from it may be 
 obtained in most situations by simply placing the 
 limb in a bent position, without dividing the vessel. 
 Oae important object, however, is gained by the di" 
 vision of the artery ; namely, that in this case it is 
 generally tied close to its connections, and it is very 
 evident how liable the application of the ligature, in 
 the middle of a denuded extent of the vessel, must 
 be to produce ulceration, or sloughing of its coats. 
 The same object, however, will be gained by tying 
 the undivided artery close to its connections, at the 
 end nearest to the heart ; and the presence of a sin- 
 gle ligature at the bottom of the wound will be less 
 liable to give rise to suppuration, and the formation 
 of sinuses, than the employment of two. When an 
 artery is divided, the portions situated beyond the 
 ligatures must slough, and be an additional cause 
 of suppuration in the wound. Experience has amply 
 proved, as Mr Hodgson correctly states, the safety of 
 employing a single ligature, and it is at present pre- 
 ferred by many of the most experienced operators in 
 this country. 
 
 The second thing recommended in the section upon 
 the popliteal aneurism; namely, the use of a largish 
 
 ligature, with the view of not cutting the coats of the Surgery- 
 vessel, is a plan which by no means corresponds with 
 the valuable doctrines inculcated by the late Dr Jones 
 in his excellent work upon hemorrhage; nor is it found 
 to be advisable on any practical grounds. On the 
 contrary, the advantage of lessening, as much as pos- 
 sible, the quantity of extraneous substance in the 
 wound, and the manner in which the dividing the in- 
 ner coats of the vessel by the ligature insures the ef- 
 fusion of lymph within it, and the quick obliteration 
 of its cavity, are considerations which dictate the 
 propriety of always employing a round and slender, 
 but very firm ligature, made of such materials as will 
 combine these properties in the greatest degree. A 
 larger ligature than is absolutely necessary, must ever 
 be disadvantageous, not only by being less calculat- 
 ed, than a smaller one, to cut through the inner coats 
 of the vessel, but by acting as a source of consider- 
 able irritation at the bottom of the wound ; whereby 
 the healing process, with respect to the wound itself 
 and the tied part of the artery, must be placed in 
 less favourable circumstances. 
 
 A few years ago, Mr Lawrence extended to 
 operations for aneurism the plan of tying the artery 
 with a very firm, small, silk ligature ; the whole of 
 which is immediately afterwards cut off, with the ex- 
 ception of the noose and knot ; and an attempt is 
 then made to heal the wound by the first intention. 
 When this plan is adopted, it is of importance to use 
 a ligature made of dentists' silk, and not catgut, 
 and other substances, which are less fitted for the 
 purpose. Every case, in which any deviation in this 
 respect is made from the directions given by Mr 
 Lawrence, cannot be received as a fair trial of the 
 practice. 
 
 Various pincers and compressors have been de- 
 vised by different surgeons, as means well calculated 
 to obliterate the artery ; and, in the opinions of the 
 inventors, they accomplish this business more cer- 
 tainly and securely, than a ligature. Some of these 
 contrivances may, indeed, answer better than the 
 large clumsy cords which are sometimes emploj'ed, 
 accompanied with the further irritation and dangers 
 of what are called ligatures of reserve ; but all the 
 best surgeons in this country unite in a decided pre- 
 ference to the ligature when of proper construction 
 and skilfully applied. As Scarpa justly observes, 
 metallic instruments, designed to be applied direct- 
 ly to an exposed artery, for the purpose of obliterat- 
 ing it by compression, are liable to all the inconve- 
 niences which are inseparable from the presence of 
 hard bodies, introduced and kept for several days in 
 the bottom of the wound; particularly of a recent 
 wound, where they cannot be retained in a proper 
 direction without difficulty, or precisely at such a 
 depth as will not be attended with hurtful pressure 
 upon the wound itself, and the important parts in 
 its vicinity. And, with regard to Asalini's forceps, 
 Monteggia has observed, that, if the obliteration of 
 the artery is retarded, the forceps divides the ar- 
 tery just like the ligature, by causing the death of 
 the included portion. In one case, the same sur- 
 geon also saw the extremity of the instrument rest- 
 ing at the bottom of the wound upon the subjacent 
 
588 SURG 
 
 Surgery, femoral vein, the anterior half of which it ruptured, 
 though such portion had not been taken hold of by 
 it. 
 
 As a recent improvement in the operation for po- 
 pliteal aneurism, that of making the incision some- 
 what higher up the thigh, than was commonly the 
 practice a few years ago, deserves to be noticed. 
 For this suggestion, we are principally indebted to 
 Scarpa, some of whose other measures in the opera- 
 tion seem to us far less deserving of imitation. " The 
 surgeon," says Scarpa, " is to explore with his fore- 
 fino-er the course of the artery from the crural arch 
 downwards ; and, when he comes to the place where 
 the vibration of the vessel begins to be less distinct- 
 ly felt, this point is to be fixed upon for the lower 
 end of the external incision. This angle of the 
 wound will fall nearly on the inner edge of the sar- 
 torius, just where this muscle crosses the track of 
 the femoral artery, and at the very apex of the tri- 
 angle formed by the convergence of the triceps and 
 vastus internus. A little more than three inches 
 above the place here fixed upon, the surgeon is to 
 begin with a convex-edged bistoury the incision 
 through the integuments and cellular substance, and 
 carry the wound down the thigh in a slightly oblique 
 line from without inwards ; so as to make it follow 
 the course of the artery as far as the apex of the 
 triangle already specified, or the point where the 
 vessel passes under the inner edge of the sartorius 
 muscle." Scarpa's reason for making the incision 
 higher up in the thigh than Mr Hunter did, is to 
 avoid the necessity of removing the sartorius muscle 
 from its position, or of turning it back, in order to 
 get at the artery. We have seen the best operators, 
 and even professors of anatomy, perplexed by having 
 the sartorius muscle immediately in their way after 
 the first incision had been made ; and, as the vessel 
 is more superficial a little higher up, the place is far- 
 ther from the diseased portion of the artery, and the 
 method does not interfere with the profunda, which 
 arises about an inch and a half, or an inch and 
 three quarters, below Poupart's ligament, the practice 
 seems to us on every account right and unobjec- 
 tionable. 
 
 Subsequently to the period when the former Ar- 
 ticle on Surgery was written, the operation of tying 
 the external iliac artery, for the cure of femoral 
 aneurisms, has been repeated with a degree of suc- 
 cess, that the most ardent practitioners could scarce- 
 ly have anticipated. Indeed, as far as our observa- 
 tions and inquiries extend, it is an operation attend- 
 ed with nearly, if not quite as much success, as that 
 of taking up the artery in the thigh for the cure of 
 popliteal aneurism. Out of twenty-five cases, we 
 know of only three in which the limb was attacked 
 ivith gangrene. The proportion is not so much as 
 qrie in eight. 
 
 The following is Sir Astley Cooper's method of 
 performing this operation. A semilunar incision is 
 made through the integuments in the direction -of the 
 fibres of the aponeurosis of the external oblique 
 muscle. One extremity of this incision will be situat- 
 ed near the spine of the ilium ; the other will termi- 
 nate a little above the inner margin of the abdomi- 
 nal ring. The aponeurosis of the^ external oblique 
 
 ER Y. 
 
 muscle having been exposed, is to be divided Surgery, 
 throughout the extent, and in the direction, of the ^"•^"'V^ 
 external wound. The flap, which is thus formed, 
 being raised, the spermatic cord will be seen passing |i 
 under the margin of the internal oblique and trans- 
 verse muscles. The opening in the fascia, which 
 lines the transverse muscle, through which the sper- 
 matic cord passes, is situated in the mid-space be- 
 tween the anterior superior spine of the ilium and 
 the symphysis pubis. The epigastric artery runs 
 precisely along the inner margin of this opening, be- 
 neath which the external iliac artery is situated. 
 Hence, if the finger be passed under the spermatic 
 cord, through this opening in the fascia, it will come 
 into immediate contact with the artery, which lies 
 on the outside of the external iliac vein. The ar- 
 tery and vein are connected together by dense cel- 
 lular membrane, which must be separated to enable 
 the operator to pass a ligature by means of an aneu- 
 rism-needle round the ^former of these vessels. (See 
 Hodgson's Treatise on Diseases of Arteries, <5'C. p. 
 421.) In this operation, as well as in all others for 
 aneurisms, a single ligature is now mostly preferred 
 by all the best surgeons of this country. 
 
 Perhaps, no branch of surgery has received so much 
 attention and decided improvement during the last 
 twenty years, as that which has for its object the 
 cure of aneurismal diseases. Cases formerly aban- 
 doned as certainly fatal, or in which the patient was 
 saved only by amputation, are now cured, and this 
 without any severe mutilation, or irremediable dis- 
 figurement. Nay, aneurisms, seemingly almost out 
 of the reach of the surgeon's hand, are now not re- 
 linquished as a matter of course, but every possible 
 means of checking and removing the disease is con- 
 sidered ; and the boldest operations, conceivable by 
 the most enterprising surgeon, are planned and un- 
 dertaken. One proof of this advancement of modern 
 surgery we find in an operation that has now been per- 
 formed with success in two examples ; we allude to 
 that of tying the internal iliac artery for the cure of 
 aneurisms of the gluteal artery. This proceeding, 
 which was not before the public at the time when 
 the former article came out, was first adopted by Mr 
 Stevens, a surgeon at Santa Cruz. "An incision, 
 about five inches in length, was made in the left side, 
 in the lower and lateral part of the abdomen, paral- 
 lel with the epigastric artery, and nearly half an inch 
 on the outer side of it. The skin, the superficial 
 fascia, and the three thin abdominal muscles, were 
 successively divided ; the peritonaeum was separated 
 from its loose connection with the iliacus internus 
 and psoas magnus ; it was then turned almost di' 
 rectly inwards, in a direction from the anterior su- 
 perior spinous process of the ilium to the division of 
 the common iliac artery. In the cavity which I h^ad 
 now made (continues Mr Stevens), I felt for the in- 
 ternal iliac, insinuated the point of my fore-finger 
 behind it, and then pressed the artery betwixt my 
 finger and thumb. Dr Lang now felt the aneurism 
 behind ; the pulsation had entirely ceased, and the 
 tumour was disappearing. I examined the vessel in 
 the pelvis ; it was healthy', and free from its neigh- 
 bouring connections. I then passed a ligature be- 
 hind the artery, and tied it about half an inch from 
 
SURGERY. 
 
 589 
 
 its origin. The tumour disappeared almost immediate- 
 ly after the operation, and the wound healed kindly. 
 About the end of the' third week the ligature came 
 away, and in six weeks the woman was perfectly 
 well." {Med. Chir. Trans. Vol. V.) The operation 
 is represented as free from any particular difficulty ; 
 and it is said, that not an ounce of blood was lost. 
 - The ureter was easily avoided, which followed' the 
 peritonaeum, when this membrane was pushed in- 
 wards. 
 
 A second example of the performance of the same 
 operation is recorded in the 38th volume of the Medi- 
 cal and Physical Journal, p. 267. The operator 
 was Mr Atkinson of York, the disease a gluteal aneu- 
 rism, and the patient a stout bargeman, aged 29. 
 This case, however, had not a fortunate result, as the 
 patient sunk partly from the discharge, and partly 
 from hemorrhage, about nineteen days after the opera- 
 tion. That the internal iliac artery was really tied, 
 seems verified not only by the effect of the ligature 
 upon the swelling, but by the still more positive evi- 
 dence obtained by the examination of the body after 
 death. 
 
 The possibility of tying the carotid artery in cases 
 of wounds and aneurisms, without any injurious ef- 
 fect upon the functions of the brain, has been of late 
 years repeatedly illustrated. Hebenstreit, in Vol. 
 IV. p. 266, 3d ed. of his Translation of Mr B. Bell's 
 Surgery, reports an instance in which the carotid ar- 
 tery happened to be wounded in the extirpation of a 
 scirrhous tumour ; and the hemorrhage would have 
 been fatal, had not the surgeon immediately tied the 
 trunk of the vessel. The patient lived many years 
 afterwards. This is probably the earliest authentic 
 case, in which a ligature was applied to the carotid 
 artery. Mr Abernethy's case is perhaps the second, 
 and that in which Mr Fleming, a naval surgeon, tied 
 the common carotid in a sailor, who attempted sui- 
 cide, and who was saved by the operation, is still 
 Jater, not having occurred till the year 1803. (See 
 Med. Chir. Jour. Vol. III.) 
 
 These were all cases of wounds. Sir Astley 
 Cooper first tied the carotid artery for the cure of 
 an aneurism in the year 1805. An incision, two inches 
 in length, was made at the inner edge of the sterno- 
 cleido-mastoideus from the lower part of the tumour 
 to the clavicle. This wound exposed the omo-hy- 
 oideus and sterno-hyoideus muscles, which were 
 drawn aside towards the trachea, and the jugular vein 
 presented itself. The motion of this vein produced 
 the only difficulty in the operation, as in the diffisrent 
 states of breathing the vessel sometimes became tense 
 and distended under the knife, and then suddenly 
 collapsed. This vessel was kept out of the way of 
 the knife by the finger, and the carotid artery having 
 been exposed by another cut, two ligatures were 
 passed under it with a common aneurism-needle. 
 Care was taken to exclude the recurrent nerve, on 
 the one hand, and the par vagum on the other. The 
 ligatures were then tied about half an inch asunder ; 
 but the intervening portion of artery was left undi- 
 vided. This case had not a favourable termination ; 
 and Sir Astley Cooper concludes his account of it 
 with expressing his belief that, in future, the causes 
 of failure may be avoided by operating before the tu- 
 
 VOL. VI. I'ART II. 
 
 raour is of such size as to make pressure upon im- Surgery 
 portant parts ; or, if the swelling is large, by letting ^ 
 out its contents as soon as inflammation invades it. 
 {Med. Chir. Trans. Vol. I.) 
 
 In another case of carotid aneurism, operated upon 
 by the same surgeon in 1808, success was complete. 
 The patient was a man aged 50, and the aneurism 
 was attended with severe pain all over one side of 
 the head, throbbing in the brain, hoarseness, cough, 
 slight difficulty of breathing, nausea, giddiness, &c. 
 The patient perfectly recovered, and resumed his 
 occupation as a porter. The intellects remained 
 perfect ; the nervous system was unaffected ; and the 
 severe pain which, before the operation, used to af- 
 fect the side of the head adjoining the aneurism, 
 never returned. In this example, two ligatures were 
 applied, and the intervening portion of the artery di- 
 vided : subsequent cases, however, have fully evinc- 
 ed the sufficiency of a single ligature, and the inuti- 
 lity of applying two, and cutting through the vessel 
 between them. 
 
 The carotid artery has also been several times 
 taken up with the view of checking the progress of 
 the disease well known to surgeons under the name 
 of aneurism by anastomosis. Of course, the com- 
 plaint must be so situated as to afflDrd a rational 
 chance of such application of the ligature being ca- 
 pable of cutting off the main supply of blood to the 
 tumour, to justify the practice. A very encourag- 
 ing case is recorded by Mr Travers, who, by means 
 of the operation, effectually cured an aneurism by 
 anastomosis in the orbit. {Med. Chir. Trans. Vol. 
 II.) And another very interesting case of the same 
 kind has been published by Mr Dalrymple of Nor- 
 wich, in the 6th volume of those Transactions. These 
 examples, however, should not lead surgeons to be 
 too confident of being always able to cure aneurisms 
 by anastomosis on the above principle ; namely, that 
 of tying the main artery, from which the swelling re- 
 ceives its supply of blood. The great cause of fail- 
 ure is the impossibility of preventing, in some situa- 
 tions, the transmission of a considerable quantity of 
 Blood into the tumour, through anastomosing ves- 
 sels. For cases proving the caution, with which the 
 prognosis should be made in attempts of this kind, 
 see one published by Mr Wardrop in the Med. Chir. 
 Trans. Vol. IX. p. 206 ; and another detailed by 
 Breschet, in his translation of Mr Hodgson's work 
 On the Diseases of Arteries, T. II. p. 296. 
 
 The carotid artery was tied by Mr Goodlad of 
 Bury, in Lancashire, previously to the removal of a 
 large tumour from the side of the neck, involving the 
 parotid gland; this proceeding was adopted with the 
 view of diminishing the danger of hemorrhage. (See 
 Med. Chir. Trans. Vol; VII.) 
 
 There are two methods of operating for the cure 
 of axillary aneurisms ; in one, the axillary artery is 
 taken up by cutting below the clavicle ; in the 
 other, the necessary ^wound is made above that bone, 
 and the subclavian artery secured at the point where 
 it emerges from behind the anterior scalenus muscle. 
 
 Mr Hodgson recommends the first mode to be per- 
 formed in the following way : A semilunar incision 
 through the integuments, with its convexity down- 
 wards, is to begin about an inch from the sternal 
 4 F 
 
590 
 
 SURGERY. 
 
 Surgery, end of the clavicle, and to be continued towards the 
 •"■"^v"^^ acromion to the extent of three or four inches, so as 
 to terminate near the anterior margin of the delotid 
 muscle, without reaching into the space between the 
 deltoid and pectoral muscle, in order to avoid wound- 
 ing the cephalic vein. This incision will expose the 
 fibres of the pectoral muscle, which are now to be di- 
 vided in the direction and extent of the external 
 wound. The flap is then to be raised by dividing 
 the loose cellular membrane, which connects the pec- 
 toral muscle to the parts underneath it. The pec- 
 toralis minor will now be seen crossing the inferior 
 part of the wound, and the surgeon, by introducing 
 his finger between the upper edge of this muscle and 
 the clavicle, may feel the pulsations of the axillary 
 artery. Here one of the cervical nerves lies above, 
 but in contact with the artery ; the other nerves are 
 behind it. In the dead subject the axillar}^ vein is 
 situated below it, but in the living the vein is dis- 
 tended, and conceals the artery. The cellular mem- 
 brane connecting these parts is to be separated by 
 careful dissection, or by lacerating it with a blunt 
 instrument ; then a ligature having been drawn un- 
 der the artery with an aneurism-needle, the ends of 
 the cord are to be raised, and a finger passed down, 
 so as to compress the part surrounded by the liga- 
 ture. If the artery be included, the pulsation in the 
 aneurism will immediately cease. This precaution 
 is highly necessary, lest one of the cervical nerves 
 should be tied instead of the artery. The axillary 
 artery has been tied with success belovv the clavicle 
 by the late Mr Keate (see Med, Reviem, 1801), Mr 
 Chamberlaine {Med. Chir. Trans, Vol. VI. p. 128), 
 and others. 
 
 The subclavian artery may be tied at the place 
 where it comes from behind the anterior scalenus 
 muscle, and this plan indeed is necessary whenever 
 the aneurismal swelling extends beyond a certain dis- 
 tance towards the neck. It is observed by Mr 
 Hodgson, that, when the subclavian artery has 
 emerged from behind the anterior scalenus muscle, 
 it passes obliquely over the flat surface of the first 
 rib, with which it is in immediate contact. The 
 cervical nerves are situated above, and a little be- 
 hind, the artery ; the subclavian vein passes before 
 it, and underneath the clavicle. If the finger be 
 passed down the acromial margin of the anterior 
 scalenus muscle, the artery will be found in the 
 angle formed by the origin of that muscle from the 
 first rib. The shoulder being drawn down as much 
 as possible, the skin is to be divided immediately 
 above the clavicle, from the external margin of the 
 clavicular portion of the mastoid muscle, to the mar- 
 gin of the clavicular insertion of the trapezius. No 
 advantage whatever is gained by cutting the clavicu- 
 lar attachment of the mastoid ; the exposed fibres of 
 the platysma myoides are then to be divided, the ut- 
 most care being taken not to wound the external ju- 
 gular vein, which lies immediately under them, near 
 the middle of the incision ; the fibres should be de- 
 tached and drawn towards the shoulder with a blunt 
 liook. The cellular membrane in the middle of the 
 incision is then to be cut, or separated with the 
 finger, until the surgeon arrives at the acromial edge 
 of the anterior scalenus muscle. His finger is then 
 
 to be passed down its margin, until it reaches the Surge 
 part where it arises from the first rib ; and in the ^^^^ 
 angle formed by the origin of the muscle from the 
 rib, the artery will be felt. The ligature is now to 
 be conveyed under the vessel, either by means of an 
 instrument, constructed on the principle of Desault's 
 aiguille d. ressori (see his Works by Bichat) ; or of 
 the still better one lately invented by Mr Weiss, " 
 surgical instrument- maker, London. 
 
 As the difficulty of several operations for aneu- 
 risms chiefly consists in getting a ligature under the 
 deeply situated artery, in consequence of the very 
 little room afforded for turning the common aneu- 
 rismal-needle ; and even when the ligature is thus 
 far introduced, an equal difficulty presents itself when 
 the thread requires to be extricated from the eye of 
 the needle ; the ingenious instrument made by Weiss, 
 and found completely to answer in practice by Sir 
 Astley Cooper, Mr Travers, and Mr Brodie, de- 
 serves on every account to be made known to, and 
 procured by, all operating surgeons. A particular 
 description of it, illustrated by an engraving, may be 
 seen in the Edinburgh Medical and SurgicalJournal, 
 No. LXXVI. p. 492. 
 
 Though the operation of taking up the subclavian 
 artery at the point where it emerges from behind the 
 anterior scalenus muscle, has now been very fre- 
 quently performed, we believe only two successful 
 cases are upon record ; and these were operated up- 
 on by Dr Post of New York (see Med. Chir, Trans. 
 Vol. IX.) and by Mr Listen of Edinburgh. (See 
 Edinb. Med. and Surg. Journ., No. LXIV.) In 
 some instances, the want of contrivances calculated 
 to pass the ligature under the deeply seated artery, 
 when the clavicle was much raised by the swelling, 
 has prevented the completion of the operation ; which 
 unpleasant circumstance, it is to be hoped, will never 
 happen again ; the instrument constructed by Mr 
 Weiss removing every difficulty of this kind. It 
 should also be a maxim amongst surgeons always to 
 recommend the operation before the swelling has at- 
 tained a very large size, by which the operation is ren- 
 dered more complicated, and the chances of recovery 
 seriously lessened. 
 
 In America the arteria innominata has been lately 
 tied by Dr Mott of New York, and in Germany by 
 Professor Graefe of Berlin. The proposal was made 
 several years ago in this country, but was never put 
 in execution ; owing to the common belief that such 
 an operation would be almost necessarily fatal of it- 
 self, either from the inflammation likely to be excit- 
 ed by it in the neighbouring important organs ; or 
 from the danger of hemorrhage, in consequence of 
 the adhesion of the vessel being exposed to be broken 
 by the force of the circulation. In the case operat- 
 ed upon by Dr Mott, two incisions were made, one 
 in the direction of the clavicle, and the other along 
 the mastoid muscle. The carotid was laid bare, and 
 traced towards the subclavian, which was found so 
 diseased, that the only alternative left was to tie the 
 arteria innominata. The incisions were accordingly 
 carried more deeply, and Dr Mott having separated 
 the recurrent and phrenic nerves, arrived at the di- 
 vision of the artery, and with a curved needle, passed 
 the ligature above half an inch from this point. The 
 
SURGERY. 
 
 591 
 
 icty. wound was then closed with a suture. In the opera- 
 tion, a branch of the internal maromary artery, and 
 two of the inferior and superior thyroid, were divid- 
 ed, but not more than three ounces of blood were 
 lost, and the operation was completed in about an 
 hour. It is said, that the patient immediately after 
 it felt quite well ; his pulse was 69 ; the temperature 
 of the right ai'ra was nearly the same as that of the 
 left^ and the breathing was undisturbed. Until the 
 22d day after the operation, he continued to improve ; 
 the suppuration went on favourably, the ligatures 
 came away without accident, and the pulse, which, at 
 one time, had risen to 120, was reduced by vene- 
 section to its natural standard; the cough was disap- 
 pearing, cicatrization was going on properly, and the 
 swelling diminishing. He was now in high spirits, 
 and so far recovered, that he walked, daily in the 
 garden of the hospital. All on a sudden, however, 
 on the 24th day, hemorrhage from the wound took 
 place, and though it was soon stopped, and little 
 blood was lost, it recurred twice the next two days, 
 difficulty of breathing came on, and the patient died 
 on the 26th day. 
 
 Upon dissection, no mark of inflammation was 
 ti'aced in the arch of the aorta, the origin of the ar- 
 teria innominata, or the lungs- The inner coat of 
 tlie arleria innominata is described as being sound, 
 smooth, and soft, but the parietes of the vessel were 
 so thick, that it would scarcely admit a crovv- quill. 
 It is to be regretted that various interesting parti- 
 culars, relating to the state of the tied portion of the 
 arter)^ are omitted in the history. 
 
 A similar operation was performed by Graefe at 
 Berlin on the .5th of March 1822- The patient was 
 laid upon his back, with his head hanging down over 
 one side of the table. A longitudinal incision was 
 made near the front edge of the mastoid muscle, 
 down to the sternum. The carotid artery was thus 
 exposed, and its coarse followed to the point, at 
 which it unites with the subclavian, so as to form the 
 trunk of the arteria innominata. When the latter 
 vessel had been distinctly exposed, a ligature was 
 passed round it with a bent needle, and then tied. 
 No alarming symptoms followed the operation, and 
 tlie ligature came away in about a fortnight. Some 
 time afterwards, however, a considerable bleeding 
 arose, which was stopped by means of cold water 
 and pressure. The patient then complained of pain 
 in the tumour, and as a fluctuation could be plain- 
 ly felt, Graefe was led to make an incision into the 
 aneurismal sac. A large quantity of pus and gru- 
 mous blood was thus discharged, and matter conti- 
 nued to be discharged daily from this opening, while 
 the other granulated in the most favourable manner. 
 The patient became feverish, however, spit blood, 
 and died on the 68th day. Upon dissection, the 
 lungs were found diseased. In the arteria innomi- 
 nata, a clot had been formed, extending from the 
 origin of the vessel to the place where the ligature 
 had been applied. When an injection was thrown 
 into the aorta, the wax completely filled the arteries 
 of the right arm, and right side of the head, proving 
 that the circulation in these parts had been fully re- 
 established by means of the anastomosing vessels. 
 Asaconclusiontothe remarks here introduced upon 
 8 
 
 the subject of aneurism, we deem it right to notice the Surgery, 
 memorable case, in which Sir Astley Cooper tied the* 
 aorta itself. He had often placed ligatures round 
 the aorta in dogs, and found, that the blood was 
 readily conveyed by the anastomoses into their pos- 
 terior extremities. (Med. C/iir. Trans. Vol. II. p. 
 158.) The case, in which he judged it warrantable 
 to make the experiment of tying the aorta in the hu- 
 man subject, was one of inguinal aneurism, on the 
 left side, reaching so far upwards, that no operation 
 was practicable without opening the peritoneum; 
 and, at length, notwithstanding the trial of every 
 means that could be thought of to check the disease, 
 the tumour burst, and the patient was on the brink 
 of the grave. In short, he was so reduced by re- 
 peated hernorrhages, that his feces passed involunta- 
 rily, and immediate death was only prevented by 
 keeping up pressure upon the opening. In these 
 desperate circumstances. Sir Astley Cooper made a 
 small incision into the sac, above Poupart's ligament, 
 and introducing his finger, tried if it were practicable 
 to pass a ligature round the external iliac artery, 
 vi^ithin the cavity ; but the thing was found impos- 
 sible, as, instead of the vessel, "only a chaos of 
 broken coagula" could be perceived. At the moment 
 of withdrawing the finger, two students compressed 
 the aorta against the spine, and the incision was then 
 closed with a dossil of lint. It was now determined 
 to apply a ligature to the aorta itself. An incision, 
 three inches in length, -was made in the direction of 
 the linea alba, but slightly curved towards the left, 
 so that the navel, which was in the centre of it, might 
 be avoided. After the linea alba itself had been di- 
 vided, a small aperture was made in the peritonaevim, 
 and the end of a finger introduced. This opening 
 was now enlarged with a probe pointed bistoury to 
 nearly the same extent as the outer wound. Neither 
 the omentum nor the intestines protruded ; and du- 
 ring the progress of the operation, only one small 
 convolution projected beyond the wound. With his 
 finger-nail, the operator now scratched through the 
 peritonaeum on the left side of the aorta, and then 
 conducting it between the aorta and the spine, he 
 again penetrated the peritonaeum on the right side of 
 the aorta. A blunt aneurism-needle, armed with a 
 single ligature, was next conveyed under that vessel, 
 and tied, with the precaution of excluding the intes- 
 tines from the noose. The wound was then closed 
 by means of the quilled suture and adhesive plaster. 
 During the operation, the feces were discharged in- 
 voluntarily, and the pulse for an hour after the ope- 
 ration was 144. An opiate was given, and the in- 
 voluntary passage of feces soon ceased. The sensibi- 
 lity of the right leg was very imperfect. In the 
 night, the patient complained of heat in the abdo- 
 men ; but no pain was felt on pressure being made 
 upon it ; and the lower extremities, which had been 
 cold a little while after the operation, were now re- 
 gaining their warmth, though their sensibility was 
 very indistinct. At six o'clock, the following morn- 
 ing, the sensibility of the limb still continued iniw 
 perfect ; but, at eight o'clock, the right one was 
 wamner than the left, and its sensibility beginning 
 to return. At noon, the temperature of the. right 
 limb was ninety-four, and that of the left, or aneuris* 
 
592 S U R < 
 
 Surgery, mal one, eighty-seven and a half. At eight o'clock 
 """"^y"^ on the second morning after the operation, the aneu- 
 rismal limb appeared livid and cold, more particu- 
 larly round the aneurism; but the right leg was 
 warm ; and between one and two o'clock of the same 
 day, after a great deal of vomiting, involuntary dis- 
 charge of the urine and feces, pain in the abdomen 
 and loins, cold sweats, &c. the patient died. In the 
 examination of the body, not the least appearance of 
 peritonaeal inflammation was found, except at the 
 edges of the wound ; and the omentum and intestines 
 were of their natural colour. The ligature, which 
 included no portion of intestine or omentum, was 
 placed round the aorta, about three quarters of an 
 inch above its bifurcation. When the vessel was 
 opened, a clot, of more than an inch in extent, filled 
 it above the ligature ; and below the bifurcation, 
 another clot, an inch in extent, occupied the right 
 iliac artery, while the left contained a third, which 
 extended as far as the aneurism. As there were no 
 appearances of inflammation of the viscera. Sir 
 Astley Cooper refers the cause of death to the want 
 of circulation in the aneurismal limb, which never 
 recovered its natural heat, nor any degree of sensibi- 
 lity, though the right limb was not hindered from 
 doing so : and he believes, that, in order to have 
 any chance of success in a similar case, the ligature 
 must be applied before the swelling is very large. 
 Here, however, some doubts may be entertained con- 
 cerning the propriety and necessity of such an opera- 
 tion : indeed, even in the desperate circumstances of the 
 above mentioned patient, there are many good sur- 
 geons, who consider, that it would have been better 
 to have suffered him to meet his fate in tranquillity. 
 Be this as it may, the case is highly interesting, both 
 in a physiological and a surgical point of view, as 
 proving, by what took place in the limb of the sound 
 side, that where no other impediments exist, the 
 circulation will continue in the lower extremities, 
 though the abdominal norta be suddenly tied, or ob- 
 structed. Obliterations of portions of this vessel by 
 disease happen gradually, and though several in- 
 stances of this kind upon record, also prove the pos- 
 sibility of the continuance of the circulation, notwith- 
 standing the obstruction, they do not inform us, what 
 would be the result of a stoppage suddenly made to 
 the course of the blood, through such a vessel as the 
 aorta. The particulars to be gathered from the pre- 
 ceding case, respecting the effects of this kind of 
 change, cannot fail to interest the studious observer 
 of the phenomena of the animal economy. 
 Of Varicose Following the subjects in the order in which 
 Veins. they are arranged in the Article, in the Encyclo- 
 pcedia, we next find that of varicose veins ; a disease 
 sometimes very annoying and difficult to cure. The 
 practice of tying veins for the cure of varices was 
 well known to Pare and Dionis, who have correctly 
 described the operation of tying and dividing the 
 vein between the two ligatures. In modern times. 
 Sir Everard Home has related many cases of varicose 
 
 S E R Y. 
 
 veins of the leg ; some of them accompanied with Su 
 tedious ulcers, which, after the vena saphena major 
 had been tied, where it passes over the inside of the 
 knee, were readily healed, and the dilatations of the 
 veins relieved. There cannot be a doubt that such 
 practice frequently succeeded ; but it is quite as cer- 
 tain that it had many failures. Amongst other evils, 
 an inflammation of the tied vein has been observed, 
 extending very far in the vessel, and succeeded by great 
 constitutional disorder, symptoms very analogous to 
 those of typhus fever and rapid dissolution. In some 
 of these cases, previously to their termination, ab- 
 scesses form in the direction of the vessel below or 
 above the ligature ; while, in other examples, such 
 collections of matter are not observed.* In short, 
 the dangers arising from an inflammation of the in- 
 ternal coat of the veins form the most serious objec- 
 tion to the old manner of operating for the cure of 
 varices. The occasional subsequent attack of this 
 membrane by inflammation, followed by a fever of 
 a very serious nature, rendered several judicious sur- 
 geons doubtful of the propriety of continuing the 
 practice. Certain reflections, however, induced Mr 
 Brodie to suspect, that the same ill effects would not 
 follow a similar operation upon the branches them- 
 selves. He remarks, that " where the whole of the 
 veins of the leg are in a state of morbid dilatation, 
 and the distress produced by the disease is not re- 
 ferred to any particular part, there seem to be no 
 reasonable expectations of benefit, except from the 
 uniform pressure of a well-applied bandage. But, 
 not unfrequently, we find an ulcer which is irritable 
 and difficult to heal, on account of its connection with 
 some varicose vessels ; or, without being accom- 
 panied by an ulcer, there is a varix in one part of 
 the leg, painful, and perhaps liable to bleed, whUe 
 the veins in other parts are nearly in a natural state, 
 or, at any rate, are not the source of particular un- 
 easiness. In some of these cases (says this gentleman), 
 I formerly applied the caustic potash, so as to make 
 a slough of the skin and veins beneath it ; but I 
 found the relief, which the patient experienced from 
 the cure of the varix, afforded but an inadequate 
 compensation for the pain to which he was sub- 
 jected by the use of the caustic, and the incon- 
 venience arising from the tedious healing of the 
 ulcer, &c. 
 
 " In other cases, I made an incision with a scalpel 
 through the varix, and the skin over it. This de- 
 stroyed the varix as completely as it was destroyed 
 by the caustic ; and I found it to be preferable to the 
 use of the caustic, as the operation occasioned less 
 pain, and in consequence of there being no loss of 
 substance, the wound wascicatrized in a much shorter 
 space of time." Mr Brodie employed this method 
 with advantage in several instances ; but he after- 
 wards improved and simplified it as follows ; " It 
 is evident (says he) that the extensive division of the 
 skin over a varix can be attended with no advantage. 
 On the contrary, there must be a disadvantage in it. 
 
 • See Travers On Wounds and Ligatures of Veins, Surgical Essays, Part I. ; Oldknow, in Edin. Med. 
 and Surg. Jour. Vol. V. ; R. Carmichael, in Transactions of the King's and Queen's College of Physicians, 
 Vol. II. 
 
S U R 
 
 as a certain time will necessarily be required for the 
 cicatrization of the external wound. The improve- 
 ment consists in this : the varicose vessels are com- 
 pletely divided, while the skin over them is preserv- 
 ed entire, with the exception of a moderate puncture, 
 which is necessary for the introduction of the instru- 
 ment, with which the incision of the veins is effected." 
 For this operation, Mr Brodie has generally era- 
 ployed a narrow sharp-pointed bistoury, slightly 
 curved, with its cutting edge on the convex side. 
 Having ascertained the precise situation of the vein, 
 or cluster of veins, from which the distress of the 
 patient appears principally to arise, he introduces 
 the point of the bistoury through the skin, on one 
 side of the varix, and passes it on between the skin 
 and the vein, with one of the flat surfaces turned 
 forwards, and the other backwards, until it reaches 
 the opposite side. He then turns the cutting edge 
 of the bistoury backwards, and in withdrawing the 
 instrument the division of the varix is effected. The 
 patient is to be kept quiet in bed for four or five 
 days after the operation, and the bandage and other 
 dressings removed with the utmost care and gentle- 
 ness. In none of the cases in which Mr Brodie had 
 operated at the time, when he published an account 
 of the plan, had the operation been followed by in- 
 flammation of the coats of the divided veins. The 
 examples, for which the method is considered by him 
 advisable, are not those in which the veins of the 
 leg generally are varicose, or in which the patient 
 has little or no inconvenience from the complaint ; 
 but those in which there is considerable pain referred 
 to a particular varix ; or in which hemorrhage is liable 
 to take place from the giving way of the dilated ves- 
 sels ; or in which they occasion an irritable and obsti- 
 nate varicose ulcer. {Med. Chir. Trans. Vol. VH.) 
 mputa- Many useful additions might be made to what 
 is stated concerning amputation, in the former 
 Article ', but we must confine our remarks to a few of 
 the most interesting things, on which the genius and 
 industry of modern surgeons have been beneficially 
 exerted in this part of practice. Every person accus- 
 tomed to see much of surgery knows very well, that 
 it is frequently a matter of greater difficulty to under- 
 stand precisely when amputation ought, or ought 
 not to be performed, than how the operation is to be 
 done ; and certainly a more important question, with 
 reference to the patient's safety, and his future crip- 
 pled or unmutilated condition, cannot be imagined. 
 
 Compound fractures of the thigh from gunshot vio- 
 lence are injuries, in which the prompt performance 
 of amputation is frequently the only chance of pre- 
 serving life. However, in these examples, the ur- 
 gency for the operation varies. According to Schmuc- 
 ker, all gunshot fractures of the middle and up- 
 per part of the femur are attended with very great 
 danger. But, says he, if the fracture be situated at 
 the lowest part of the bone, the risk is considerably 
 less, the muscles here not being so powerful. In 
 such a case, therefore, amputation should not be per- 
 formed before every other means has been fairly 
 tried; and very frequently he treated fractures of 
 
 G E R Y. 593 
 
 this kind with success, though the limb sometimes Surgery, 
 continued stiff. Of course, these remarks imply, ^>-^/-"<»-^ 
 that, in addition to the mere solution of continui- 
 ty in the bone, the soft parts are not extensively con- 
 tused and lacerated, nor the bone very much smash- 
 ed ; circumstances which, as far as our experience 
 in military surgery extends, would form a just rea- 
 son against any attempt to save the limb ; as the de- 
 lay would neither be attended with success, nor leave 
 a second opportunity of amputating with an equal 
 chance of rescuing the patient from danger. When 
 the bone was completely fractured, or splintered by 
 a ball at its middle, or above that point, Schmucker, 
 very judiciously, never waited for the bad symp- 
 toms to commence, but amputated before they had 
 had time to originate ; and, when the operation was 
 done early enough, most of his patients were saved. 
 On the contrary, when the operation had been de- 
 layed some days, and inflammation, swelling, and 
 fever had come on, the issue was much less fortu- 
 nate. The correctness of the opinion of this expe- 
 rienced surgeon is confirmed by the valuable testi- 
 mony of our army surgeons, who had opportunities, 
 in the course of the late war, of seeing many of those 
 severe gunshot injuries of the thigh. In particular, 
 the following observations upon the point under 
 consideration, delivered by Mr Guthrie in his TreU' 
 Use on Gunshot Wounds, are entitled to the greatest 
 attention. " The danger and difficulty of cure, at- 
 tendant on fractures of the femur from gunshot 
 wounds," says he, " depend much on the part of 
 the bone injured, and, in the consideration of 
 these circumstances, it will be useful to divide it in- 
 to five parts. Of these, the head and neck, includ- 
 ed in the capsular ligament, may be considered the 
 first ; the body of the bone, which may be divided 
 into three parts ; and the spongy portion of the lower 
 end of the bone, exterior to the capsular ligament, 
 forming the fifth part. Of these, the fractures of 
 the first kind are, I believe, always ultimately fatal, 
 although life may be prolonged for some time. The 
 upper third of the body of the bone, if badly frac- 
 tured, generally causes death at the end of six or eight 
 weeks of acute suffering.* I have seen few escape, and 
 then not with an useful limb, that had been badly frac- 
 tured in the middle part Fractures of the lower or 
 fifth division are in the next degree dangerous, as 
 they generally affect the joint ; and the least dan- 
 gerous are fractures of the lower third of the body 
 of the bone." With respect even to these, Mr Guth- 
 rie also admits, that, when there is much shattered 
 bone, the danger is great ; so that a thigh fractured 
 by gunshot, even without particular injury of the 
 soft parts, is one of the most dangerous kinds of 
 wounds that ever occur 
 
 The very important maxim in military surgery is 
 now completely settled by the general assent of every 
 experienced army surgeon, namely, that, when a limb 
 is so injured as to leave no rational chance of ulti- 
 mately preserving it, amputation should be perform- 
 ed without delay, before inflammation, fever, and 
 other bad symptoms originate. This rule is parti- 
 
 * None of the cases of this kind which fell under our own observation lasted so long. 
 
S U R G E R Y. 
 
 cularly applicable to the cases of compoiind fracture 
 of the femur above specified as requiring the opera- 
 
 *^°Another kind of injury, urgently demanding the 
 immediate performance of arapxxtation, is that in 
 which a considerable portion of the whole thickness 
 of a limb has been carried away by a cannon-ball or 
 bomb. The necessity of this practice was inculcated 
 by M. Faure himself, in former days one of the cliiet 
 opponents of operating in the early stage of gunshot 
 injuries ; and it is strongly insisted upon m the va- 
 luable writings of Schmucker, Larrey, &c. 
 
 men a body, propelled by the explosion ot gun- 
 powder, strikes a limb so as to smash the bones, and 
 Violently contuse, lacerate, and deeply tear away the 
 soft parts, amputation ought not to be delayed. 1 
 the operation be put off, all the injured parts will 
 soon be attacked with gangrene, and the constitu- 
 tion be so generally and severely disordered, that a 
 second opportunity of removing the limb will hard- 
 ly be afforded. It is but justice to the memory ot 
 Mr Faure to mention, that this was a kind ot case, 
 which he particularly pointed out, as requiring the 
 operation without the least delay. 
 
 If a similar body were to carry away a great mass 
 of the soft parts, and the principal vessels of a limb, 
 without fracturing the bone, immediate amputation 
 is proper. Mr Guthrie also lays it down as a rule, 
 to operate without loss of time, when the artery and 
 vein on the inside of the thigh are injured, even 
 though there should be no fracture. This gentle- 
 man likewise approves of the same practice, when a 
 wound of the femoral artery accompanies a fracture 
 of the thigh-bone. 
 
 Another case, demanding the immediate pertorm- 
 ance of amputation, is where a grape-shot has struck 
 the thick part of a limb, broken the bone^ divided 
 and torn the muscles, and destroyed the prmcipal 
 nerves, without interfering, however, with the main 
 artery Mr Guthrie says, that if a cannon-shot 
 strike the back part of the thigh, and carry away 
 the muscular part behind, and with it the sciatic 
 nerve, amputation is necessary, even though the 
 bone be unhurt. In this case, he would not make 
 a circular incision, but save a flap from the fore part, 
 or sides, to cover the bone. 
 
 If a spent cannon-ball, or one that has been re- 
 flected, should strike a limb obliquely, without pro- 
 ducing a solution of continuity in the skin, as often 
 happens, the parts which resist its action, such as 
 the bones, muscles, tendons, aponeuroses, and ves- 
 sels, may be crushed and lacerated. Here, if the 
 bones should feel through the soft parts as if they 
 were smashed, and a kind of fluctuation indicate the 
 rupture of the large vessels, amputation should take 
 place without delay. The real state of the parts un- 
 der the skin, however, should first be examined by 
 means of an incision, which, when the prmcipal ves- 
 sels and the bones have escaped injury, will be ot it- 
 self adequate to aff-ord relief, by letting out the large 
 quantity of extravasated blood generally found in 
 such cases under the integuments. 
 
 When the articular heads of the bones are much 
 broken, especially those which form the joints of the 
 knee or foot, and the ligaments are lacerated, imme. 
 
 diate amputation is the right practice. Fractures of burg 
 the patella, without injury of the other bones, will 
 sometimes admit of delay. Even extensive sword 
 wounds of the elbow joint are alleged by Baron 
 Larrey to demand immediate amputation. 
 
 The common doctrine in the treatment of mortifi- 
 cation has always been, not to attempt amputation 
 until the stoppage of the disorder is denoted by the 
 appearance of a red line on the margin of the living 
 skin. However, the observations of Baron Larrey 
 tend to prove that this maxim, if acted upon in cases 
 of mortification from gunshot wounds and external 
 injuries, would be productive of the worst conse- 
 quences, and leave the patient hardly a possibility of 
 recovery. On the contrary, he strongly urges the 
 speedy performance of the operation, even though 
 the mortification be yet in a spreading state. It was 
 formerly imagined that the stump would always be 
 attacked with gangrene, if amputation were done 
 under these circumstances ; but modern experience 
 contradicts this opinion, and some observations, made 
 by Mr Lawrence on this point, will be found to cor- 
 roborate the view of the subject given by Larrey. 
 (Med. Chir. Trans. Vol. VI.) 
 
 The establishment of the propriety of the severe 
 operation of amputation at the hip-joint ; the deter- 
 mination of the circumstances under which this at- 
 tempt to save the patient should be made ; and the 
 settlement of the best manner of performing the ope- 
 ration, are also some of the useful results of the at- 
 tention and zeal, with which the practice of surgery 
 has been cultivated in modern times. As there are 
 unquestionably some descriptions of injury where 
 life must inevitably be lost if this proceeding be re- 
 jected, and experience proves that it sometimes an- 
 swers, an important consideration is, What cases 
 are most proper for it ? Here we fully agree 
 with Dr Thomson, that the examples in whicli it is 
 particularly called for, and Avhere no delay should 
 be suffered, are those in which the head or neck of 
 the thigh-bone has been fractured by a musket-ball, 
 grape-shot, or small piece of shell. Larrey thinks 
 the operation proper where the thigh has been shot 
 off high up, or where the femur and soft parts near 
 the hip have been broken and extensively lacerated 
 by a cannon-ball or shell. Under such circumstances, 
 however, the operation, though perhaps the only 
 chance, must almost always fail, because injuries of 
 this description occasion a shock to the constitution, 
 of which the patient mostly sinks either immediate- 
 ly or in a few hours. There have now been at least 
 three successful amputations at the hip-jomt; the 
 first was done by Larrey, the second by Mr Brown- 
 rigg, and the third by Mr Guthrie. All the examples 
 were gunshot injuries, the only cases, we believe, m 
 which the operation is ever justifiable. For further 
 observations on this subject, the reader may consult 
 Cooper's Dictionary of Surgery, where will be found 
 a description of the various methods of operating, 
 and a detail of the reasons for or against all the dif- 
 ferent modes which have been proposed. 
 
 Amputations, in general, have been of late years 
 much improved by the rejection of the large clumsy 
 ligatures, which were formerly used ; whereby con- 
 siderable irritation was kept up, union by the first 
 
intention materially {)revenled, the formation of 
 " large abscesses promoted, and secondary hemor- 
 rhage rendered much more frequent, than at the 
 present time. Mr Lawrence adopts the plan of 
 tying the vessels with fine silk ligatures, and cut- 
 ting off the ends as close to the knot as is consistent 
 with its security. Thus the extraneous matter in 
 the wound is reduced to the insignificant t[uantity> 
 which forms the noose actually surrounding the ves. 
 sel, and the knot by which that noose is fastened. 
 Of the silk which he commonly employs, a portion, 
 sufficient to tie a large artery, when the ends are 
 cut off, weighs between and -^^ of a grain ; a si- 
 milar portion of the thickest kind weighs 3*5 of a 
 gi^ain, and of the slenderest 
 
 Mr Lawrence observeSj that the kind of silk twist, 
 which is commonly known in the shops by the nam^ 
 of dentists' silk, and which is used in making fishing 
 lines, is the strongest material, in proportion to its 
 size, and, therefore, the best calculated for the pur- 
 pose, which requires considerable force in drawing 
 the thread tight enough to divide the fibrous and in- 
 tertial coats of the arteries. This twist is rendered 
 very hard and stiff by means of gum, which may be 
 removed by boiling it in soap and water ; but the 
 twist then loses a part of its strength. The stoutest 
 twist which Lawrence vises is a very small thread, 
 compared with ligatures made of inkle. The 
 quantity of such a thread necessary for the noose 
 and knot on the iliac artery weighs of a grain ; 
 or, if the gum has been removed, about j'^. This 
 gentleman's experience fully proves, that there 
 is no danger of these ligatures cutting complete- 
 ly through the vessel, as certain surgeons have 
 apprehended. Some objections have been urged 
 against the practice, on the ground of its giving 
 rise occasionally to little festerings, and even to 
 ill-looking abscesses ; but, it is justly remarked 
 by Mr LaAvrence, in reply to these objections, 
 that as they are not accompanied by any de- 
 scription of the materials, or size of the ligature, 
 nor by any details of the unfavourable cases, we 
 cannot judge whether the events alluded to are to 
 be attributed to the method itself, or to the way in 
 which it was executed. {Med. Chir. Trans. Vol. 
 VL) In a paper of later date, he says, his further 
 experience has confirmed the usefulness of the me- 
 thod ; that, by diminishing irritation and inflantima- 
 tion, and simplifying the process of dressing, it very 
 materially promotes the comfort of the patient and 
 tlie convenience of the surgeon ; while it has not pro- 
 duced ill consequences, or any unpleasant effect in 
 tlie cases which have come under his own observa- 
 tion. The small knots of silk generally separate 
 early, and come away with the discharge ; where 
 tlie integuments have united by the first intention, 
 the ligatures often come out rather later with 
 very trifling suppuration, and, in some instances, 
 they remain quietly in the part. {Op. cit. Vol. 
 VIIL) 
 
 In relation to syphilis, the judicious and impartial 
 investigations of modern surgeons have succeeded 
 in dispelling a considerable number of erroneous 
 doctrines formerly entertained respecting this intri- 
 cate and perplexing disease. Amongst other things, 
 Mr tlunter inculcated, that " the venereal matter, 
 
 S U H G E R V. 
 
 when taken into the constitution, produces an irrita- 
 
 595 
 
 Surgery. 
 
 tion, which is capable of being continued, independent 
 of the continuance of absorption, and the constitution 
 has no power of relief; therefore, a lues venerea con- 
 tinues to increase." The same criterion was proposed 
 by Mr Abernethy, who states, that the "constitutional 
 symptoms of the venereal disease are generally pro- 
 gressive, and never disappear, unless medicine be 
 employed." And, notwithstanding some dissent 
 may be traced in both old and recent writers, from 
 the belief that mercury was absolutely essential to 
 the cure of syphilis, and an opposite conclusion 
 might easily have been made from a review of the 
 whole history of the subject, including the practice 
 of former and present times ; still the contrary hypo- 
 thesis was what was always taught in all the great me- 
 dical schools of this country, even till within the last 
 few years. But this mistaken notion no longer pre- 
 vails ; and no facts are more completely established, 
 than that mercury, however useful it may frequent- 
 ly be in the treatment of this disease, is not abso- 
 lutely necessary for the cure either of the primary 
 or secondary symptoms ; and that the disease, so far 
 from always growing worse, unless mercury be ad- 
 ministered, ultimately gets well of itself, without the 
 aid of this or any other medicine- If any man yet 
 doubt the general truth of this statement, let him 
 impartially consider the many facts and arguments 
 brought forward in proof of it, in the writings of, 
 Dr Fergusson, Dr Hennen, Dr Thomson, Mr 
 Rose, Mr Guthrie, Mr Bacot, and others. In short, 
 if there be such a sceptic now living in this coun- 
 try, let him peruse the returns made by the sur- 
 geons of the whole British army ; let him consider 
 the evidence of the surgeons of other countries, 
 especially that of CuUerier, who annually demon- 
 strates to his class of pupils the cure of venereal 
 ulcers without mercury ; and the testimony and 
 practice of the German surgeons, who were attach- 
 ed, during the war, to regiments of their country- 
 men in the British service. The fact is* therefore,, 
 indisputable, that the venereal disease, in all its or- 
 dinary and diversified forms, is capable of a sponta- 
 neous cure ; and, consequently, that the question, 
 whether a disease is syphilitic or not, can never be 
 determined by the circumstance of the complaint 
 yielding, and being permanently cured, without the 
 aid of mercury. Yet, as Mr Rose has observed, the 
 supposition that syphilis did not admit of a natural 
 cure, and that mercury was the only remedy that 
 had the power of destroying its virus, was of late 
 so much relied upon, that, where a disease had been 
 cured without the use of that medicine, and did not 
 afterwards return, — such fact alone, whatever might 
 have been the symptoms, was regarded as sufficient 
 proof, that it was not a case of syphilis. And, as 
 the same writer very judiciously remai'ks, the refu- 
 tation of these notions is of considerable importance, 
 " not so much in reference to the treatment of 
 syphilis, under common circumstances (for the 
 strikingly good effects of mercury will probably not 
 render it advisable, in general, to give up the use of 
 that remedy"), as to the change it will produce in our 
 views of the diagnosis of the disease. The distinc- 
 tion, which has engaged such a share of attention of 
 late years, and which is evidently so important be* 
 
596 
 
 S U K G E R Y. 
 
 Surgery, tweeii Syphilis and syphiloid diseases, has been made 
 to depend so much on the former admitting of no 
 cure, except by mercury, that, if this principle 
 should be found to be erroneous, the difficulties 
 which have attended it will be in a great measure 
 explained. (Med. Chir. Trans. Vol. VIII.) 
 
 Dr Fergusson assures us that, in Portugal, the 
 disease, in its primary state amongst the natives, is 
 curable without mercury, by simple topical treat- 
 ment ; that the antisyphilitic woods, combined with 
 sudorifics, are an adequate remedy for constitutional 
 symptoms ; and that the virulence of the disease 
 has there been so much mitigated, that, after run- 
 ning a certain course (commonly a wild one) through 
 the respective orders of parts, according to the 
 known laws of its progress, it exhausts itself, and 
 ceases spontaneously. {Op. cit. Vol. IV.) The con- 
 clusion to which the writings of Mr Pearson led, 
 long before recent investigations began, was, that ve- 
 nereal sores might be benefited, and even healed, 
 under the use of several inert insignificant medi- 
 cines. But, amongst modern writers, we find Dr 
 Clutterbuck one of the earliest in distinctly asserting, 
 that the healing of a sore without mercury was no 
 test of its not being venereal. [Remarks on the Opi- 
 nions of the late J. Hunter, 1 7990 It is curious to re- 
 mark, that this important truth is rendered conspi- 
 cuous in the treatises of Mr Pearson and Dr Clut- 
 terbuck, though both these gentlemen were, at the 
 time of their publishing, as much advocates for full 
 mercurial courses as can well be conceived. But, 
 although the whole history of syphilis, and of the 
 effects of various articles of the materia medica, if 
 carefully reflected upon, must have led to the above- 
 mentioned inference ; the truth was never placed in 
 such a view as to command the general belief of all 
 the most experienced surgeons in this and other 
 countries of Europe. It is not meant, that the truth 
 was not seen and remarked by several of the older 
 writers ; for that it was so any man may convince 
 himself by referring to their works. But it is to be 
 understood, that a great deal of indecision could 
 never be renounced as long as prejudices interfered 
 with the only rational plan- of bringing the question 
 to a final settlement ; we mean that of instituting 
 experiments upon a large and impartial scale, open 
 to the observation of numerous judges, yet, under 
 such control, as insured the rigorous trial of the non- 
 mercurial treatment. Nor could such investigation 
 be so well made by any class of practitioners as the 
 army surgeons, whose patients are numerous, and 
 obliged to follow strictly the treatment prescribed, 
 without any power of going from hospital to hospi- 
 tal, or from one surgeon to another, as caprice may 
 dictate ; or of eluding the observation of the medical 
 attendants after a seeming recovery. To us it ap- 
 pears, that the most important and cautious docu- 
 ment yet extant, on the two questions of the possibi- 
 lity and expediency of curing the svenereal disease 
 without mercury, is the paper of Mr Rose. For, 
 let it not be assumed, that, because the army sur- 
 geons find the venereal disease curable without mer- 
 cury, they mean to recommend the total abandonment 
 of that remedy for the distemper, any more than 
 they would argue that possibility and expediency are 
 10 
 
 synonymous terms. At the time when Mr Kose Sur 
 published his observations, he had tried the non- '^«— ^ 
 mercurial treatment in the Coldstream Regiment of 
 Guards, during a year and three quarters, and had 
 thus succeeded in curing all the ulcers on the part& 
 of generation which he met with in that period, 
 together with the constitutional symptoms to which 
 they gave rise. I may not be warranted in as- 
 serting," says this gentleman, " that many of these 
 were venereal, but, undoubtedly, a considerable 
 number of them had all the appearances of primary 
 sores produced by the venereal virus, and arose 
 under circumstances where there had been at least a 
 possibility of that virus having been applied. Ad- 
 mitting that there is nothing so characteristic in a 
 chancre as to furnish incontrovertible proof of its 
 Mature, it will yet be allowed, that there are many 
 symptoms common to such sores, although not en- 
 tirely peculiar to them ; and whenever these are met 
 with, there are strong grounds to suspect, that they 
 are the eftects of the syphilitic virus. In a sore, 
 for instance, appearing shortly after a suspicious 
 connection, where there is loss of substance, a 
 want of disposition to granulate, and an indurated 
 margin and base, there is certainly a probability of 
 that poison being present. Amongst a number of 
 cases of such a description, taken indiscriminately, 
 the probability of some being venereal is materially 
 increased, and must at last approach nearly to a 
 certainty. On this principle, some of the sores here 
 referred to must have been venereal. They were 
 also seen by different surgeons, on whose judgment 
 I would rely, who agreed in considering many of 
 them as well-marked cases of true chancre." The 
 men thus treated were examined almost every 
 week for a considerable time after their apparent 
 cure, " both that the first approach of constitu- 
 tional symptoms might be observed, and that any 
 deception from an underhand use of mercury might 
 be guarded against.'* In Mr Rose's practice, all 
 idea of specific remedies was entirely laid aside. 
 The patients were usually confined to their beds, 
 and such local applications were employed as the 
 appearances of the sores seemed to indicate. Ape- 
 rient medicines, antimony, bark, vitriolic acid, and 
 occasionally sarsaparilla, were administered. Upon 
 an average, one out of every three of the sores, thus 
 treated, was followed by some form or another of 
 constitutional affection ; this was in most instances 
 mild, and sometimes so slight, that it would have 
 escaped notice, if it had not been carefully sought 
 for. The constitutional symptoms were evidently 
 not such as could be regarded as venereal, if we give 
 credit to the commonly received ideas on the sub- 
 ject. Caries of the bones, and some of the least 
 equivocal symptoms, did not occur. In no instance 
 was there that uniform progress, with unrelenting 
 fury, from one order of symptoms and parts affected 
 to another, which is considered as an essential cha- 
 racteristic of true syphilis. The constitutional symp- 
 toms also yielded without the aid of mercury ; and 
 frequently, primary sores, corresponding to what 
 has been called the true chancre with indurated 
 base, were cured in this manner ; yet without being 
 followed by any secondary symptoms. We are also 
 
SURGERY. 
 
 597 
 
 rgery. informed^ that several cases occurred of a cluster of 
 N''^ ill-conditioned sores over the whole inner surface of 
 the prepuce, and behind the corona glandis ; and 
 also of a circle of small irritable sores, situated on 
 the thickened and contracted ring at the extreme 
 margin of the prepuce. These occasionally produc- 
 ed buboes. None of the sores of this description 
 were followed by any constitutional affection. Mr 
 Rose bears testimony to the ill effects of mercury 
 and stimulants in cases of phagedenic ulcers, and 
 confii-ms an opinion, not uncommonly prevailing, 
 that they are seldom followed by secondary symp- 
 toms ; which opinion, perhaps, ought to be qualified 
 with the condition, mentioned by Mr Guthrie (Med. 
 Chir. Trans. Vol. VIII.), that no mercury be given; 
 for, in this circumstance, secondary symptoms are 
 more frequent. 
 
 But, although the fact of the possibility of curing 
 every kind of ulcer on the genitals without mercury 
 is now completely established, and it is of great im- 
 portance with regard to the removal of an erroneous 
 doctrine concerning the diagnosis, and also in en- 
 couraging practitioners even not to be frightened 
 into the use of mercury, when the patient's constitu- 
 tion is in an unfavourable state for its exhibition, or 
 the case is of a doubtful nature ; yet, the expediency 
 of the non-mercurial practice must evidently be de- 
 termined by other considerations ; the principal of 
 which are, the comparative quickness of the cures 
 effected with or without mercury ; the comparative 
 severity and frequency of secondary symptoms ; and 
 the generally acknowledged fact, that a syphilitic 
 sore is not indicated, with any degree of certainty, 
 by its mere external appearance, or, indeed, any 
 other criterion. For the consideration of the evi- 
 dence on these, and various other points connected 
 with the present subject, we must refer to the last 
 edition of Cooper's Surgical Dictionary, from which 
 many of the foregoing remarks are selected, 
 iia- In the former article, a short section will be 
 found upon inflammation of the iris ; a disease upon 
 which modern surgeons have bestowed all the at- 
 tention which its importance required, and the re- 
 sults, as might be expected, have been greater ac- 
 curacy in the discrimination of the complaint, and 
 much improvement in its treatment. The iris, next 
 to the conjunctiva, is found to be that texture of the 
 eye, which is most frequently affected with inflam- 
 mation. It often becomes inflamed in consequence 
 of surgical or accidental wounds of the eye-ball. A 
 peculiar and characteristic iritis is generally suppos- 
 ed to be one of the constitutional effects of syphilis. 
 Scarcely any disease, to which the eye is subject, 
 has a more immediate or rapid tendency to destroy 
 vision. 
 
 In the idiopathic iritis, as Professor Schmidt has 
 remarked, besides the common symptoms of oph- 
 thalmy, certain changes happen at the very com- 
 mencement of the case, indicating the seat of in- 
 flammation. ^ The pupil appears contracted, the mo- 
 tions of the iris are less free, and the pupil loses its 
 natural bright black colour. The brilliancy of the 
 colour of the iris fades, and the part becomes thick- 
 ened and puckered, with its inner margin turned 
 towards the crystalline lens. The change of colour 
 
 VOL. VI. PART II. 
 
 happens first in the lesser circle of the iris, which Surgery, 
 becomes of a darker hue ; and afterwards in the 
 greater circle, which turns green, if it had been 
 greyish or blue ; and reddish, if it had been brown 
 or black. The redness accompanying these changes 
 is by no means considerable, and is at first confined 
 to the sclerotic coat, in which a number of very mi- 
 nute rose-red vessels are seen, running in straight 
 lines towards the cornea. In the words of Mr 
 Saunders, the vascularity of the sclerotica is very 
 great, whilst that of the conjunctiva remains much 
 as usual, the plexus of vessels lying within the latter 
 tunic. The inosculations of these vessels are nume- 
 rous, and at the junction of the sclerotica with the 
 cornea, they form a kind of zone. Here the vessels 
 disappear, not being continued over the cornea, as 
 in a case of simple ophthalmy, but penetrating the 
 sclerotica in order to reach the inflamed iris. The 
 irritation of the light is distressing, and the patient 
 is much annoyed by any pressure on the globe of 
 the eye, or by the rapid or sudden motions of this 
 organ. Considerable vmeasiness is felt over the eye- 
 brow, and acute lancinating pains shoot through 
 the orbit towards the brain. The pupil loses its 
 circular form, becomes somewhat irregular, and pre- 
 sents a greyish appearance. When examined with 
 a magnifying glass, this appearance is found to be 
 produced by a substance very like a cobweb, occu- 
 pying the pupil, and which can soon afterwards be 
 distinguished, even without the aid of a glass, to be 
 a delicate flake of coagulable lymph, into which the 
 dentations of the irregular margin of the iris seem 
 to shoot, and at these points adhesions are apt to be 
 formed. In consequence of these adhesions, the 
 patient, whose vision has been all along indistinct, 
 now complains of being able to see only on one side, 
 or part of an object. Lymph is next deposited on 
 the anterior surface of the iris, and between the iris 
 and the capsule of the lens, and often in such quan- 
 tity, that it extends through the pupil, and hangs 
 down to the bottom of , the anterior chamber. If 
 this process is not checked, the pupil becomes en- 
 tirely obliterated, or the iris adheres to the capsule 
 of the lens ; a very small opening only being left, 
 which is usually occupied by an opaque portion of 
 the capsule, or of organized lymph, and the patient 
 is quite blind. 
 
 Schmidt, Beer, and many English surgeons, be- 
 lieve one form of iritis to be syphilitic. The affec- 
 tion of the iris may be accompanied with other 
 symptoms of lues venerea, or it may take place sing- 
 ly before any of these have appeared. A pale red- 
 ness, all round the cornea, is the first symptom per- 
 ceived in the syphilitic iritis : it is at first confined 
 to the sclerotic coat, but the conjunctiva very soon 
 participates in it, and afterwards is the reddest of 
 the two parts. However few the vessels may be 
 elsewhere, there is always a broad zone of them all 
 round the cornea. The redness is also described as 
 having a peculiar tint, being brownish, something 
 like the colour of cinnamon ; or, as Mr Travers ex- 
 presses himself, having a brick-dust, or dusky red, 
 instead of a bright scarlet hue. The lymph, he 
 says, is compact and brown, and intimately adhe- 
 rent to the iris, instead of being curd-like, loose, and 
 4 G 
 
598 SURG 
 
 Surgery, of a yellowish white colo'jr. {Surgical Essays, Part 
 W^,'""^ I.) The whole of the cornea now arrows hazy, with- 
 out being at any point actually opaque. The pupil 
 becomes contracted, and the iris limited in its mo- 
 tions, as in common iritis ; but the pupil, instead of 
 preserving its natural situation, is drawn in the di- 
 rection upwards and imvards, tp-wards the root of 
 the nose, and is irregular. The iris also loses its 
 natural colour, and projects forwards. An aggra- 
 vation of the symptoms always takes place towards 
 evening ; the intolerance of light, and painful sensi- 
 bility of the whole eye increasing, and a gush of 
 tears following every change of light and tempera- 
 ture. At length, a regular uightly pain begins, 
 which is extremely severe, and strictly limited to 
 that part of the cranium which is immediately over 
 the eye-brow. It reaches its greatest severity about 
 midnight, and then diminishes till about four or five 
 o'clock in the morning, when it ceases. Afterwards, 
 one or more reddish-brown tubercles, of a spongy 
 look, arise either on the pupillary or ciliary edge of 
 the iris, or on both of them, and grow rather fast. 
 Sometimes little ill-conditioned ulcers are produced 
 on the cornea, conjunctiva, or skin of the eye-lids. 
 Even when the case terminates in the most favoura- 
 ble manner, the eye remains, for a long time, pecu- 
 liarly sensible to the influence of cold and moisture. 
 In the iritis, which appears in conjunction with 
 eruptions, supposed to be connected with the abuse 
 of mercury, the inflammation is less active, than in 
 the other forms of iritis. The pupil is not much 
 contracted, and lymph is less apt to be effused. 
 
 The principal danger of iritis is ascertained to de- 
 pend upon the effusion of lymph, its quick organi- 
 zation, the rapid formation of adhesions between the 
 iris and other parts, and the closure and obstruction 
 of the pupil. Now, in modern practice, the manage- 
 ment of the disease is much more successfully effect- 
 ed than twenty years ago, when in truth the nature 
 of the case was but incorrectly known ; and the 
 great thing that has led to the improved treatment 
 is the discovery of the fact, that mercury is one of 
 the most effectual means of stopping the effusion, 
 and promoting the absorption of lymph in the ad- 
 hesive inflammation ; a fact Avhich was first particu- 
 larly insisted upon by Dr Fai-re. 
 
 In idiopathic iritis, before lymph is effused, the 
 means most likely to do good are copious bleeding 
 and cathartics, followed by nauseating doses of tar- 
 tarized antimony. This plan is to be assisted with 
 leeches applied near the eye, and repeated accord- 
 ing to the urgency of the case. When the inflam- 
 mation stops in this stage, Saunders states, that the 
 cure may be completed by covering the eye with 
 linen wet with a collyrium of acetite of lead, and 
 keepiog the patient for some time in a dark room. 
 Schmidt, however, condemns all cold applications in 
 iritis as quite useless ; and he asserts, that the only 
 admissible topical treatment consists in fomenting 
 ■ the eye with warm water. In the first stage of the 
 disease, he says, blisters on the temple, or behind 
 the ears, have little or no effect, though they are 
 sometimes useful when put on the nape of the neck. 
 But no sooner is lymph effused, than the principal 
 
 E R Y. 
 
 aim of the surgeon should be to bring about its Surg 
 absorption. Of all remedies for this purpose, none'^*^' 
 answer so well as mercury, which is to be freely ex- 
 hibited, so as to affect the constitution as quickly as 
 possible. The ointment, or pil. hydrargyri with 
 opium, may be employed, and, in very urgent cases, 
 the medicine may be used both externally and inter- 
 nally. In the second, or adhesive stage of iritis. 
 Beer prescribes calomel combined with opium ; ap- 
 plies to the eye itself a collyrium, containing oxy- 
 muriate of mercury, mucilage, and a considerable 
 proportion of vinum opii ; and, when this application 
 ceases to be effectual, he has recourse to a salve, 
 composed of two drachms of fresh butter, six grains 
 of red precipitate, and eight grains of the extract of 
 opium. Frictions over the eye-brow once a day, 
 with mercurial ointment, containing mercury, he 
 says, will also have great effect in producing the 
 absorption of the effused lymph. The late, Mr 
 Saunders used to resist the tendency of the pupil to 
 contract by means of the extract of belladonna; with 
 which he smeared the eye-lids and eye-brows, or 
 which he diluted with water, and then dropped be- 
 tween the eye and eye-lids. 
 
 In the syphilitic iritis, general bleeding is not 
 considered so necessary as in idiopathic cases. 
 When the pain in the eye and head is severe, 
 leeches may be applied, and the bowels emptied. 
 The nightly attacks of pain are to be prevented by 
 rubbing a small quantity of mercurial ointment, 
 with opium, just above the eye-brow, a short time 
 before the pain is expected to begin, and then cover- 
 ing the eye with a folded piece of warmed linen. 
 Mercury is to be employed so as to affect the sys- 
 tem, either in the form of ointment, or of calomel 
 pills joined with opium. 
 
 1'he form of iritis, conjectured to proceed from 
 the abuse of mercury, or accompanying ambiguous 
 eruptions of the papular sort, or such as are not 
 syphilitic, also requires a combination of the de- 
 pleting with the mercurial plan. This circumstance, 
 in relation to the first of these cases, seems extraor- 
 dinary, as involving the seemJng inconsistency of 
 mercury being both the exciting cause, and the anti- 
 dote of the disease. But, though iritis does present 
 itself, accompanied or connected with various sus- 
 picious symptoms, and in individuals who have used 
 considerable quantities of mercury, it cannot be said 
 that mercury alone, that is, without the agency of 
 some other additional causes, is really an exciting 
 cause of iritis; or, if such assertion be made, the 
 clear proof of the fact is yet wanting ; and here we 
 should also be disinclined to receive, as such proof, 
 any rare and solitary instance of an attack of iritis 
 after the free use of mercury in a case of a totally 
 difterent nature from syphilis, or syphiloid disease. 
 Mercury cannot be supposed to render a patient 
 insusceptible of iritis ; and, therefore, a few uncom- 
 mon attacks after its administration for liver com- 
 plaints,or other disorders quite unconnected with lues 
 venerea, or the many diseases resembling it and con- 
 founded with it, would prove little or nothing to the 
 point. In the meanwhile, the good effect of mercu- 
 ry in the examples of iritis, supposed to arise from the 
 
irgery 
 II 
 
 urry. 
 
 S U R 
 
 previous abuse of it, seems to be established ; which 
 is the information of most value to the practical 
 surgeon. 
 
 Lastly, we shall enumerate, amongst recent in- 
 ventions of great utility in practice, the bed, invent- 
 ed by Mr Earle, for patients with accidents and dis- 
 
 S U R 
 
 599 
 
 eases requiring a state of permanent rest ; also his Surgery 
 apparatus for more effectually securing the upper (I ■ 
 extremity ; an object of great consequence in frac- S^rry. 
 tures of the clavicle, and other injuries of the bones 
 about the shoulder. 
 
 (t. t. t.) 
 
 adaries 
 Extent. 
 
 pulation 
 1 Divi- 
 
 t of the 
 ntry. 
 
 iluctions 
 
 SURRY, an inland English county on the banks 
 of the Thames, by which, on its northern side, it is 
 separated from Middlesex. On the west it is bound- 
 ed by Berkshire and Hampshire ; on the south by 
 Sussex ; and on the east by Kent. Its shape is an 
 oblong, of moderate regularity, except on its north- 
 ern side, where considerable indentations are formed 
 by the curvatures of the Thames. Its length, from 
 east to west, is about thirty-seven miles ; and its 
 breadth, from north to south, about twenty-five. The 
 area is 758 square miles, or 485,120 statute acres. 
 
 By the census of 1821, the houses were found to 
 be 64,790, inhabited by 88,806 families ; of whom 
 14,944 were chiefly employed in agriculture ; 46,811 
 in trade, manufactures, or handicraft; and 27,051 
 were comprehended in neither of those classes. 
 The number of persons was 398,658 ; of whom 
 189,871 were males, and 208,787 females. From 
 its vicinity to the metropolis, more than two-thirds 
 of the inhabitants may be included in the numerical 
 population of London. Southwark, one of the 
 suburbs to the capital, and the hundred of Brixton, 
 adjoining to it, contain 267,994 inhabitants; and 
 the other portions of the county are more thinly 
 peopled than most parts of England. The divisions 
 arethirteenhundreds; and the boroughs of Southwark 
 and Guilford, comprising 146 parishes; all of which 
 are within the diocese of Winchester. 
 
 The face of the country exhibits great varieties. 
 On the north, by the banks of the Thames, from 
 Lambeth to Egham, the richness of the highly im- 
 proved country, the abundance of trees, the verdure 
 of the meadows, the undulation of the hills, with the 
 numerous elegant private houses, all display the 
 most pleasing marks of taste, wealth, and comfort. 
 The centre of the county is a range of chalk hills, 
 much covered with thick underwood, intermixed 
 with arable fields badly cultivated, and utterly des- 
 titute of water. The south part, at the foot of this 
 range of hills, is a flat clayey country, nearly impas- 
 sable in the winter ; but covered Avith some of the 
 best and largest oak trees that are to be found in 
 the island. The north-western part exhibits a con- 
 siderable tract of the most sterile black heaths that 
 can exist ; whilst, on the south-west, near Farnham, 
 is some of the most productive land in England. 
 
 The productions of agriculture are various ; and, 
 at a distance from the capital, scarcely differ from 
 those of other districts in similar circumstances. A 
 greater proportion of clover and of sanfoin is culti- 
 v&ted on the hills, where there are no natural mea- 
 dows, than in most other parts of the kingdom. 
 VVoad is also grown in the same districts very ex- 
 tensively. It is commonly sowed with turnips, 
 ^vhich are to be fed with sheep who will not touch 
 
 that plant. It is generally harvested before the 
 corn crops are ready for the sickle. Near London, 
 the garden ground extends over several thousand 
 acres. The growing of plants, for the use of the 
 druggists and perfumers, engages much attention ; 
 and those gardens supply peppermint, lavender, 
 wormwood, chamomile, anniseed, liquorice, poppy, 
 and other similar articles. Hops are extensively cul- 
 tivated near Farnham, and are sold for higher prices 
 than those of any other districts. 
 
 There are no minerals now raised in the county ; Minerals and 
 for, though iron is known to exist, and was former- Fossils, 
 ly worked with charcoal, the improvements in che- 
 mistry have fixed that operation to the coal districts. 
 The fossil riches are valuable, especially fuller's 
 earth, which is of the best quality, and in abund- 
 ance, and supplies the cloth manufacturers both in 
 the west and north of England. Limestone is 
 plentiful; and that, as well as chalk, is converted 
 into lime, upon a great scale, for the use of the 
 builders of the metropolis. The quarries of Mers- 
 tham produce an excellent firestone ; and the sand 
 near Dorking and Ryegate is in great request for 
 making glass, hour-glasses, writing, and other pur- 
 poses. 
 
 The manufactures are various and extensive ; but, Manufac. 
 being almost exclusively near the metropolis, may tares, 
 more properly be considered as belonging to London 
 than to the county of Surry. The principal of 
 those are breweries and distilleries on a magnificent 
 scale. The tanners, rope and sail makers, glass- , 
 makers, starch and hair-powder makers, and the 
 preparers of vinegar and raisin wines, carry on large 
 trades. A few miles farther from London, chiefly 
 on the banks of the river Wandle, the calico printers 
 and bleachers have large establishments. 
 
 All the rivers of this county empty themselves in- Rivers, Ca- 
 to the Thames; the only navigable river, besides nals, and 
 that fine stream which bounds it, is the Wey, on^^^^"^°^^^ 
 which barges pass above Guildford into the Basing- 
 stoke canal. The Mole is a beautiful small stream, 
 celebrated for sinking into the ground, and at some 
 few miles lower again emerging; it runs to the 
 Thames. The Wandle is of short course, but of 
 great value, from the vast quantity of mill machinery 
 which it keeps in motion, and the employment it 
 thus affords to several thousand persons. It rises in 
 one spring near Croydon, turns a large mill within a 
 few yards of its source, and runs nine miles before 
 it joins the Thames. The Medway rises in Surry; 
 but is a very small stream till it enters the county of 
 Kent. The Loddon, a small river on the western 
 border, is chiefly valuable for the supply of water it 
 affoi'ds to the Basingstoke canal. That canal was 
 one of the first executed in this part of the king. 
 
Antiquities 
 and Interest 
 ing Objects. 
 
 600 S U R 
 
 Surry. cloiYi, having been finished in 1796. The Croydon 
 -**V^ canal only reaches that town from the Thames ; and 
 the little success attending it has put a stop to its 
 being carried farther, as was originally intended. 
 The Surry canal runs parallel to the Thames ; but, 
 by avoiding the sinuosities of that river and the 
 whole of the metropolis, is expected to be beneficial 
 to the inhabitants on the upper banks, by conveying 
 coals and other heavy commodities to them, from 
 ships, at a cheap rate. Its entrance, from the 
 Thames below London Bridge, has a fine bason, ca- 
 pable of containing 100 sail of square-rigged vessete. 
 ilail-roads have been constructed from Merstham to 
 the Thames ; but the project has not repaid the 
 persons who have advanced the capital a sufficient 
 interest to induce any farther attempts. 
 
 Among the Roman antiquities of this county are 
 the Ermine way, which traversed it, and the remains 
 of which may still be traced near Dorking. The 
 piles are still standing in the river Thames at Wal- 
 ton, which were placed there by the ancient Britons, 
 to impede the passage of Julius Caesar. The vestiges 
 of the encampments of the Romans may be distinctly 
 traced at Bottlehill, at Waltonhill, and some other 
 spots. Among the antiquities of later date, are the 
 Palace of Lambeth, belonging to the see of Canter- 
 bury ; that of Farnham, belonging to the see of Win- 
 chester ; the remains of the Abbey at Croydon ; the 
 Castle of Guildford ; Waverley Abbey, and some other 
 Saxon edifices. The meadow of Runnymead, St 
 Anne's Hill, the seat of the late Mr Fox, the park of 
 Richmond, and the terrace there, with the palace and 
 gardens of Kew, are all objects that excite a high de- 
 gree of interest. 
 
 The titles derived from this county are, Duke 
 of Richmond, and Earls of Surry, Guildford, and 
 Onslow : Two members are returned to the House 
 of Commons from the covmty, and two each from 
 the boroughs of Southwark, Guildford, Gatton, Rye- 
 gate, and Haselmere. It is difficult to say which is 
 the county town. The elections are held at Guild- 
 ford, and the assizes once in the year ; the other 
 assizes are held alternately at Kingston and at Croy- 
 don. The gaol is in the borough of Southwark, and 
 county meetings are generally convened at Epsom. 
 Chief Seats. The number of seats belonging to noblemen and 
 gentlemen in this county is so great, as to forbid the 
 noticing of even all those which in any other coun- 
 ty would be deemed highly worthy of notice. The 
 most remarkable are, his Majesty's palace of Kew ; 
 Claremont, Prince Leopold ; Clandon Place, Earl of 
 Onslow; Pepper Harrow, Lord Middleton;Oatlands, 
 ' Duke of York; Painshill, LordCarhampton; Ockham 
 Park, Lord King; Busbridge, H.H. Townsend, Esq.; 
 Addington Palace, Archbishop of Canterbury; Rooks- 
 nist, C. H. Turner, Esq. ; Nonsuch Park, S. Farmer, 
 Esq. ; Gatton, Sir Mark W^ood ; Nork House, Lord 
 Arden ; Betchworth, Right Honourable H. Goul- 
 bourne ; Norbury Park, Joseph Dennison, Esq. 
 Chief The chief towns and their population are, South- 
 
 Towns, wark, 85,905; Croydon, 9254; Richmond, 599*; 
 
 Chertsey, 4279 ; Godalming, 4098 ; Kingston, 
 4908; Dorking, 3812; Farnham, 3132; Guildford, 
 3161 ; Ryeeate, 2961- 
 
 Titles and 
 Representa- 
 tion. 
 
 s u s 
 
 See Manning and Bray's History vf Surry ; Sal- 
 mon's Antiquities of Surry ; Stevenson's yievo of 
 the Agriculture of Surry, Lyson's Environs of Lon- 
 don, (w. w.) 
 
 SUSSEX, an English maritime county, bounded Boundai 
 on the east by Kent, on the north by that county ^?^^".*>| 
 and Surry, on the west by Hampshire, and on the^^^'^°! 
 south by the British Channel. It is of an oblong 
 shape, being about seventy miles in length from east 
 to west, and no where more than twenty-six miles 
 in breadth, from north to south. Its area is 1463 
 square miles, or 936,320 statute acres. It is divided 
 into six portions, called provincially Rapes, which are 
 again divided into sixty-five hundreds, and contain 
 313 parishes. The greater part of the county is 
 within the diocese of Chichester ; but the deanaries 
 of Pagham and South Mailing, and All Saints in 
 Chichester, form a part of the peculiar of the Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury. 
 
 The number of houses in 1821 was 36,283, inha- Populat 
 bited by ^3, 5Q5 families ; of whom 21,920 were 
 chiefly employed in agriculture; 15,463 in trade, 
 manufactures, or handicraft; and 6182 comprehend- 
 ed in neither of those classes. The number of inha- , 
 bitants was 233,019, of whom 116^705 were males, | 
 and 116,314 females. 
 
 The northern part of the county was formerly Face of 
 wholly a forest, and still is very thickly covered with Countrj 
 wood, and adorned with the finest oak trees in the 
 kingdom. The soil is generally of so tenacious a 
 clay, and so deep, that, until within a few years, in 
 which roads have been made, and the navigation of 
 the river Arun improved, the timber scarcely paid 
 the expence of carriage to districts where it was 
 needed. A range of chalk hills, known as the South 
 Downs, runs through the county parallel to the 
 coast, and in some points terminating in the sea. 
 On these, vast flocks of sheep are fed ; and in the 
 small vallies intervening, the heaviest crops of wheat 
 and other grain are raised. In the south-west part 
 of the county, there is a track of arable land of most 
 singular fecundity. On some parts of the coast, 
 where the chalk hills recede from the shore, there 
 are rich level plains, which feed some of the best 
 oxen that supply the markets of the metropolis. 
 
 The size of the estates vary much, but there are Landed ; 
 no very large proprietors. The farms in the weald Propertj 
 or eastern vales are generally small, those on the 
 South Downs as generally large. The average rent 
 of the land, according to the returns under the late 
 Property-tax, was 3s, 9d. per acre. More than 
 100,000 acres are not estimated at above Is. 6d. 
 per acre : 70,000 acres of down land are estimated 
 at 6s. per acre, and 170,000 of woodland at 8s. per 
 acre. The arable and woodland in the weald, amount- 
 ing to about 420,000, are estimated at 12s. The 
 marsh land and the arable land in the south-west 
 have been let as high as 50s. per acre. In the weald 
 about one-third is arable, one-third pasture, and one- 
 third wood and waste land. On the south side of the 
 Downs, the arable exceeds the pasture in the propor- 
 tion of thirty acres to one. 
 
 The agriculture of the county is as various as the Agricult 
 differences of the soil. In the stiff lands of the weald, 
 
Bsex. 
 
 s u s 
 
 the practice of fallowing is generally prevalent j but 
 to the south of the downs it is rarely resorted to. 
 The growing of turnips, potatoes, pease or beans, is 
 commonly found sufficient to prepare the land for 
 corn. Hops are very extensively cultivated in the 
 eastern part of the county ; and as nearly the whole 
 manure of the farms is applied to that plant, the 
 crops of wheat and other grain are usually scanty. 
 
 The cattle of Sussex are celebrated through the 
 whole kingdom. The cows are of a deep red colour, 
 with small heads, and horns, thin and transparent, 
 which run out horizontally, and turn up towards the 
 tips. The quality of their milk is not equal to that 
 of some other breeds ; hence, there are few dairies, 
 and the cattle are chiefly reared for the sake of the 
 meat, which is excellent. As much of the ploughing 
 is performed by oxen, they usually labour in harness 
 three or four years before they are fattened. They 
 are but lightly worked, that their growth may not 
 be impeded ; and it is not unusual to see eight and 
 sometimes even ten oxen to a plough. The sheep 
 of Sussex have spread gradually over most parts of 
 the island. The sheep, known by the name of South 
 Downs, have no horns, and their faces and legs are 
 black or dark coloured. The flesh is surpassed by 
 none in England. Their wool is as fine as that of 
 Hei'efordshire, and they require less food for their 
 support than sheep of any other breed. 
 
 There are no manufactures in the county. The mak- 
 ing of ironformerly gave employment to many persons 
 in the weald ; bvit the invention of making it with 
 coke instead of charcoal has removed it to those dis- 
 tricts where mines of iron and of coal are to be found. 
 The only branch of industry that gives any employ- 
 ment to the population, besides that of agriculture, 
 is the fishery, which, in the summer, especially when 
 the mackerel appear, is extensive. The prosperity of 
 many places on the coast has arisen from the crowds 
 of visitors who frequent them, for the pleasures of 
 sea air and bathing. Among those places Brighton, 
 as the favourite residence of his present Majesty, is 
 the most prominent ; besides which, much company 
 is annually collected at Hastings, East Bourne, 
 Rottendean, Worthing, and Bognor. 
 
 The rivers of Sussex are aU streams of short course. 
 The Lavant and Arun are navigable but a few miles 
 from their mouths. The other rivers are the Adur, 
 which, joining with the Ouse, runs by Lewes to New- 
 haven ; and the Rother, which forms an estuary near 
 Rye. The only canal is one that connects the towns 
 of Petworth and Midhurst with the river Arun. 
 
 There are several remains of Roman camps in dif- 
 ferent parts of the county, and the Stane Street road 
 may still be traced between Chichester and Dorking. 
 The Saxon remains are very numerous, among which 
 the most remarkable are Pevensey Castle, and Battle 
 Abbey. Arundel Castle is a most splendid modern- 
 ized edifice, upon the site of the ancient erection of 
 that name. Besides these, Bayham Abbey, Eridge 
 Castle, Bodiham Castle, and the buildings at Win- 
 chelsea, are worthy the attention of the antiqua- 
 rian. 
 
 The titles derived from this county are — Duke of 
 Sussex; Earls of Winchester, Ashburnham, and Chi- 
 
 S U T 
 
 601 
 
 Sussex 
 
 cheater ; Lords Arundel, Gage, Selsey, and Sheffield. 
 The county returns two members to Parliament, and 
 two for each of the following places, Chichester, 
 Arundel, Bramber, Horsham, East Grinstead, Lewes, 
 Midhurst, Shoreham, and Steyning. 
 
 The most remarkable seats are, the Pavilion at Chief Seats. 
 Brighton ; Goodwood, the Duke of Richmond ; Pet- 
 worth, Earl of Egremont; Arundel Castle, Duke 
 of Norfolk ; Sheffield Place, Earl Sheffield ; Eridge 
 Castle, Earl of Abergavenny; Ashburnham House, 
 Earl of Ashburnham; Stanstead, Reverend Lewis 
 Way ; Parham, Sir Cecil Bishop ; Kidbroke, Lord 
 Colchester ; Marisfield Park, Sir John Shelly ; 
 Firle, Lord Gage; Stanmer Park, Earl of Chichester; 
 Ovingdean, Nathaniel Kemp, Esq. ; Eartham, Right 
 Honourable William Huskisson ; Weshdean House, 
 Lord Selsey. 
 
 The most considerable towns and their population Chief 
 are, Chichester, 7362 ; Brighton, 24.,429 ; Lewes, Towns. 
 7083 ; Hastings, 6085 ; Horsham, 4575 ; Battle, 
 2852; East Grinstead, 3153 ; Arundel, 2511 ; Rye, 
 3599- 
 
 See Young's Agricultural Survey of Sussex; Rus- 
 sel's Description of Kent and Sussex ; Gilpin's Ob- 
 servations; Pennant's Journey from London to the Isle 
 of Wight ; Beauties of England and Wales, (w. w.) 
 
 SUTHERLAND, an extensive county in the Situation 
 north of Scotland, situated between 57° 53', and ^^o""^- 
 58° 36' north latitude, and between 3° 39', and"^^®* 
 5° 15' west longitude from Greenwich; having the 
 sea on the south-east, west, and north, Caithness on 
 the north-east, and Ross-shire on the south. From 
 north to south it extends from 35 to 50 miles, and 
 from west to east from 45 to 50, and contains, accord- 
 ing to the latest authorities, which cannot, however, 
 be depended on as accurate, about 1,800,000 Eng- 
 lish acres, divided into 13 parishes, which belong to 
 the synod of Sutherland and Caithness. Of the other 
 divisions, the principal are, Assynt and Edderachy- 
 lis on the west, and Strathnaver on the east ; names 
 recognized by the inhabitants, and which still serve 
 to designate the locality of the natural objects and 
 other circumstances of the country. 
 
 The coast of Sutherland, like that of the other Surface. 
 Highland counties of Scotland, presents a succession 
 of inlets of the sea, and bold promontories, with a 
 number of rocks and islets. The principal arms of 
 the sea are Lochs Assynt, Laxford, and Inchard, on 
 the west ; Durness Bay, Loch Eriboll, the Kyle of 
 Tongue, and the bays of Torrisdale and Strathy on 
 the north ; and Loch Fleet in the Frith of Dornoch, 
 on the south-east : and the more remarkable promon- 
 tories are, Ru Stoir, on the south side of Loch As- 
 synt; Cape Wrath on the north-west extremity of the 
 county ; Far-out Head, and W bitten Head, on the 
 north ; and Strathy Head on the north-east. The 
 interior consists of mountains, mosses, lakes, and 
 streams, presenting great variety in form, but 
 almost all having the same general character of 
 being barren, rugged, and dismal, more especially 
 on the western side ; and so closely thrown together, 
 that there is no valley of any extent, and seldom a 
 tree or a shrub to relieve the eye. The Assynt 
 mountains have not even heath to cover their naked- 
 
602 
 
 S U T 
 
 Sutherland- ness, except in patches among the rocks near their 
 shire. ijase. Some exceptions to this general character oc- 
 cur on the eastern coast, along the Dornoch Frith, 
 and on the banks of a few of the lakes and rivulets ; 
 but in a general view, these are so inconsiderable, 
 that, according to the writer of the Agricultural 
 Renort the cultivated land, green pastures, and 
 woods, do not much exceed 60,000 acres, or about 
 one-thirtieth part of its area; and the cultivated 
 land alone is little more than one acre in a hundred. 
 The climate of the east coast, however, is not 
 so severe as to prevent the growth of wheat, which 
 sometimes ripens as early here as m many parts ot 
 
 Rivers. "^"IhT principal streams are, Oickel, Fleet, Brora 
 and Helmsdale, which fall into the Dornoch Frith 
 on the south-east. The tide renders the Oickel na- 
 vigable by vessels of 50 tons, for about 12 miles, 
 and for boats for about eight miles farther ; and they 
 have all good salmon fisheries. These rivulets have 
 their source among the mountains, in the centre ot 
 the district, and flow south-east. In the same quar- 
 ter a number of streams take their rise, and flow 
 north: such as Strathy, the Naver, which gives its 
 name to the tract called Strathnaver, the Dinart, 
 &c., most of them containing salmon. The most 
 considerable lake is Loch Shin, about 20 miles long, 
 and one broad, situated on the southern side ot the 
 county, through which flows a stream of the same 
 name, which falls into the Oickel. There are seve- 
 ral others o'f considerable extent m difterent parts, 
 the whole occupying about 47 square miles, or up- 
 wards of 30,000 acres. On the north coast the sea 
 has formed some remarkable caves in the limestone 
 rock, particularly one at Smow, to the east of Balna- 
 keel of Durness, 32 yards wide, and 20 yards high ; 
 and another at FraisgiH, 50 feet high, and 20 feet 
 wide at its entrance, but contracting by degrees till 
 its termination, more than half a mile under ground. 
 
 Coal, limestone, marble, and sandstone, are found 
 in Sutherland ; and it is supposed to contain other 
 minerals, which either have not been explored, or 
 turned to any account. On the rivulet Brora coal is 
 now worked to some extent ; and connected with 
 these works, a railway has been recently formed 
 from them to the harbour at its mouth, with salt- 
 works, at which the small coal is consumed. Lime- 
 stone of a good quality abounds on the coast, and is 
 also found in some parts of the interior. At Lead- 
 more and Lead-beg, in Assynt, excellent marble, 
 some of it white and pure as alabaster, has been 
 wrought by Mr Jopling from Newcastle; and a black 
 kind, streaked with yellow veins, occurs in Eddera- 
 chylis. Clay fit for bricks, tiles, and the coarser 
 kinds of pottery, is also found on the east coast upon 
 the Sutherland estate. 
 Valuation This county, which is valued in the cess-books at 
 andRental. L. 26,193, 9s. 7d. Scots, is divided among 13 pro- 
 prietors. Of this valuation the Sutherland estate, 
 belonging to the Marchioness of Stafford, Countess 
 of Sutherland in her own right, is almost two-thirds, 
 and that of Lord Reay nearly a seventh part. The 
 former contains about 890,000 English acres. Ski- 
 bo, Bighouse, and Strathy, are each above L.500 
 
 Caves. 
 
 Minerals. 
 
 S U T 
 
 Scots, the others under that valuation. In 1812 the Sutherl 
 gross rental of the lands and houses, as returned un- 
 der the Property-tax Act, was L.28,458, 8s. 4d. in- 
 eluding about L. 1 700 as the rent of the salmon 
 and other fisheries. More than half the valuation 
 is held under entail. The principal seats are Dun- Seats, 
 robin Castle, the Marchioness of Stafford, on the 
 coast of the Dornoch Frith, in the parish of Gol- 
 spie ; Skibo, Dempster, on an inlet of the same 
 frith, near the south-eastern corner of the county ; 
 and Tongue Castle, Lord Reay, on the Kyle of 
 Tongue, on the north coast. Most of the other 
 proprietors have good modern houses, all of which 
 are situated near the coast. In no part of Britain 
 has a greater change been effected in so short a pe- 
 riod as in Sutherland, and this chiefly by the spirit 
 and liberality of its greatest proprietor, the Marquis 
 of Stafford. Within these twelve or fourteen years, 
 roads, bridges, harbours, and villages, have been 
 constructed wherever they seemed to be required ; 
 and both the natural and moral obstructions to the 
 improvement of this extensive territory have, as far 
 as it appears practicable, been in a great measure 
 overcome. 
 
 In this, and in some other parts of the Highlands, 
 there is still a class of landholders called wadsetters, 
 once numerous in the other counties of Scotland. 
 These men, having advanced money to the owner 
 of an estate, obtained from him a temporary right to 
 a certain portion of it as a pledge for their security, 
 corresponding in yearly value to the interest of the 
 money lent, and subject to redemption upon its re- 
 payment. The practice of granting securities of this 
 kind has long since fallen into disuse ; but several 
 of them still subsist, or subsisted very lately, upon 
 the Sutherland estate, especially upon the south-east 
 coast. Lands of L. 200 Scots valuation, histead of 
 L, 400 Scots, as in other counties, afford a vote in the 
 election of a member for Sutherland, whether held 
 of the Crown, or of the Earls of Sutherland. 
 
 The tenantry include nearly all the other inhabit- 'j'enai 
 ants ; and small as is the population of this county, 
 the number of these tenants is out of all propor- 
 tion to the extent of the productive land. Except- 
 ing along the south-east coast, where there is a 
 stripe of arable land, seldom so much as a mile in 
 breadth, there is nothing that deserves the name of 
 an arable farm ; and scarcely any where as much 
 and Iving contiguous as would form one ; the val- 
 leys in which the waters flow being very narrow, 
 and the soil often of an inferior description, besides 
 being exposed to inundations from the swelling 
 of the mountain torrents. Yet these valleys or 
 straths, in many instances, are tenanted at the rate 
 of one family for every acre of arable land; the people 
 living in miserable huts, without chimneys or win- 
 dows, under the same roof with their live stock, 
 which pasture on the higher grounds ; and cultivat- 
 ing the ground for oats, bear, and potatoes, with a 
 crooked spade, or cascrom, instead of the plough ; 
 their cattle perishing for want in hard winters, and 
 themselves sometimes reduced to the necessity of 
 livinp- upon their blood. Such is the system that 
 prevailed till lately over all the Highlands of Scot- 
 
S U T 
 
 ■ land, and which, though giving way, still prevails 
 over a great part of Sutherland. The change, where 
 it has occurred, has been owing to the introduction 
 of sheep ; of which there are now several considerable 
 flocks, chiefly of the Cheviot breed, which, under 
 proper management, are found to answer, notwith- 
 standing the severity of the climate. Much loss, 
 however, was sustained by the earliest adventurers 
 in this line, chiefly, it is alleged, from the hostility 
 of the natives ; and eagles and other birds of prey, 
 and foxes, still commit great ravages among the 
 
 ■ flocks. The number of sheep has been computed to 
 be about 140,000, producing about 18,000 stone of 
 wool, of 24 lbs. per stone. Of the rent paid by the 
 small tenants on the south-east coast the exact 
 amount cannot be ascertained ; the arable land not 
 being let by the acre, but by the quantity of grain ■ 
 that may be sown ; which is at the rate of from 15s. 
 to L. 1, Is. per boll, paid partly in money, and part- 
 ly in oatmeal and bear ; but to this we must add 
 personal services, customs and casualties, exacted by 
 the tacksman or the landlord. In other parts of the 
 county, where the proportion of arable land is still 
 much smaller than on the south-east, the tenants pay 
 in proportion to the number of black cattle they can 
 rear and maintain ; these affording the only surplus 
 for the landowners. It is the general practice to 
 make butter and cheese, and to rear a calf for 
 every two cows. The quantity of butter is from 
 24 to 48 lbs. avoirdupois, and of cheese, about twice 
 as much per cow. " The leases between, the pro- 
 prietor and principal tacksman," says Captain Hen- 
 derson, " are generally 19 or 21 years, but the 
 tacksman seldom gives a lease to his subtenants or 
 cottars, and when he does, it is generally for three, 
 five, or seven years. This is done with a view of 
 making them submissive in performing personal 
 services, &c." 
 
 Until the recent establishments of the Marquis of 
 Stafford, which are still in their infancy, there was no 
 manufacture in this county, if we except that of kelp, 
 of which the quantity used to be 250 tons. A cotton 
 mill had been erected at Spinningdale, on a branch 
 of the Dornoch Frith, by a Glasgow company, but 
 the building having been burnt down in 1806, the 
 undertaking was abandoned. A good many boats 
 are employed in the fisheries on the west and north 
 coast for cod, ling, haddock, and herring; and lob- 
 sters and muscles are got in considerable quantities. 
 At Helmsdale, on the east coast, many of those 
 small tenants who were removed by the introduction 
 of sheep farming have also embarked in the fisheries 
 with considerable success ; and large sums have been 
 expended within these few years by the noble pro- 
 prietor of the Sutherland estate in erecting the ne- 
 cessary buildings. The principal exports are cattle, 
 horses, sheep, wool, salmon, and cod ; their butter 
 and cheese are nearly all consumed at home ; and be- 
 sides the usual imports of cloths, groceries, &c., they 
 require some corn, chiefly oatmeal, especially on the 
 west and north sides of the county, where they have 
 very little corn land. Dornoch, a royal burgh, si- 
 tuated on the south-eastern extremity, on the Frith 
 of that name, is the only town, and contains little 
 
 S W E 
 
 603 
 
 more than 500 inhabitants. Golspie, Helmsdale, Sutherknd- 
 and Brora, are the principal villages. With these * 
 exceptions, the inhabitants are scattered along the Sweden and 
 coast, and, in some of the principal straths, passing Nor way. 
 much of their time in idleness ;ia healthj', robust, and 
 simple, though not ill informed race, who have con- 
 tributed largely to the public service. For the last 
 half century, the Earls of Sutherland have raised 
 among them, at the commencement of every war, a 
 corps of 1000 men, well known by the name of the 
 Sutherland Fencibles ; but this spirit, founded in at- 
 tachment to their chiefs, has now become much 
 weaker than formerly. 
 
 The county, in which the number of voters may Represeuta- 
 vary from 20 to 25, sends one member to Parliament ;^'°»- 
 and the town of Dornoch joins with Dingwall, Tain, 
 Wick, and Kirkwall, in electing one for the Scottish 
 burghs. 
 
 The population, according to the census of 1801, Population, 
 was 23,117; in 1811 it amounted to 23,629 ; and 
 in 1821 to 23,840, of which 11,088 were males, and 
 12,752 were females. The families employed in agri- 
 culture were 3362; in trade and manufactures b"42; 
 in all other occupations 818. The increase of popu- 
 lation from 1811 to 1821 was only 211. ^ 
 
 There are some remains of antiquity in various Antiquities, 
 parts along the coast. The most interesting are 
 two circular buildings, called Dun Dornadil, or 
 Dornadilla's Tower, and Castle Coll, both reared 
 of large stones, nicely fitted, but without cement, 
 and of which considerable portions are still entire, 
 after the lapse of probably lOOO years. Castle Coll, 
 which is situated on the east side of the county, 
 on a stream that falls into the Brora, has an exterior 
 circumference of 54 yards, with walls four and one- 
 half yards thick at the base, inclining inwards nine 
 inches in every three feet in height ; and two small 
 apartments on each side of the door-way, as if in- 
 tended for guard-rooms. The highest part of the 
 wall is now only eleven feet high, but old people re- 
 member it twice that height. Dun Dornadil is in 
 the parish of Durness, on the northern side of the 
 county. It is a building of the same character with 
 the former, but still more dilapidated, and is cele- 
 brated in the ancient Gaelic ballads as a place of re- 
 nown at a very early period. The ruins of Dornoch 
 Cathedral still display the original grandeur of that 
 edifice, which is said to have been built in the eleventh 
 century, and repaired and enlarged in the thirteenth. 
 Circular cairns with subterraneous passages, tumuli, 
 and some small forts, may yet be traced in various 
 situations along the coast. 
 
 See the general works quoted under the former 
 Scottish counties ; Henderson's General View of 
 the County of Sutherland; and Loch's Account 
 of the Improvements of the Marquis of Stafford in 
 tsutherland. (a.) 
 
 SWEDEN. The recent changes that have been Recent 
 produced in this monarchy consist of the loss of Changes. 
 Finland, conveyed by cession to Russia, as a condi- 
 tion of peace, with that of Pomerania, now subject 
 to Prussia ; and the acquisition of Norway, as the 
 price of the services of Sweden in the struggle 
 which terminated with the downfall of Buonaparte. 
 
604 
 
 SWEDEN. 
 
 Sweden and As the inhabitants of Norway discovered an aversion 
 Nowray. becoming subject to the kingdom of Sweden, 
 assurances were given that their ancient usages and 
 privileges should be preserved to them; and that, 
 though united with Sweden under the same mo- 
 narch, the legislative power, the finances, the na- 
 tional debts, the laws, the army, and other establish- 
 ments, should be maintained distinct, and almost 
 every purpose of an independent nation be preserved. 
 
 Bernadotte, one of the Generals of the French 
 army, had been chosen, by the senate and the king, 
 Charles XIV., as Crown Prince.j or successor to the 
 throne ; perhaps without any intrigues on his own 
 part, but certainly without any on the part of the 
 French Emperor, chiefly on account of the reputa- 
 tion he had acquired through the north of Europe, 
 by his wise and humane conduct whilst exercising 
 the military power in Hanover. On the demise of 
 Charles, after his co-operation with the allies in the 
 deliverance of Europe, Bernadotte mounted the 
 throne, and seems to have succeeded in uniting 
 Sweden and Norway under his government, and in 
 establishing in his family the succession to the 
 crown. 
 
 Divisions. The Swedish geographers divide the kingdom into 
 three portions, called by them the North, the Middle, 
 and the South Provinces. These are again divided 
 into districts, according to their political and fiscal 
 relations, denominated Laens or Stadtholderships ; 
 but the ancient distinction of provinces is still 
 kept up among the greater part of the inhabitants. 
 
 Laens. 
 
 Extent in 
 Square 
 Miles. 
 
 Popula- 
 tion. 
 
 Capitals. 
 
 
 'Stockholm city, 
 
 
 
 
 c 
 
 Drottingsholm, 
 
 
 
 
 <u 
 -a 
 
 Stockholm dis- 
 
 
 
 
 (U 
 
 trict 
 
 2,624 
 
 172,029 
 
 Stockholm 
 
 ^ 4. Upsal 
 
 2,261 
 
 84,128 
 
 Upsal 
 
 
 Westeras 
 
 2,793 
 
 84,808 
 
 Westeras 
 
 
 Nykoping 
 
 2,880 
 
 98,761 
 
 Nykoping 
 
 i 
 
 Orebro 
 
 3,670 
 
 100,428 
 
 Orebro 
 
 
 ^ Carlstad 
 
 6,550 
 
 140,100 
 
 Carlstad 
 
 
 ' Gottenburg 
 
 1,835 
 
 119,514 
 
 Gottenburg 
 
 
 Elfsborg 
 
 3,008 
 
 156,271 
 
 Menersborg 
 
 
 Slaraborg - 
 
 3,207 
 
 138,410 
 
 iMariestad 
 
 c 
 
 V 
 
 Linkoping 
 
 4,305 
 
 162,859 
 
 Linkoping 
 
 -a 
 
 (U 
 
 Calmar 
 
 4,181 
 
 136,296 
 
 Calmar 
 
 -a 
 
 Joenkoping 
 
 4,267 
 
 117,381 
 
 Joenkoping 
 
 Cronoberg 
 
 3,495 
 
 89,631 
 
 Merioe 
 
 *•* 
 
 3 
 
 Carlskrona - 
 
 1,088 
 
 63,824 
 
 Carlskron 
 
 o 
 GO 
 
 Gothland 
 
 1,045 
 
 32,988 
 
 Wisby 
 
 Halmstad 
 
 1,963 
 
 73,594 
 
 Halmstad 
 
 
 Christianstad 
 
 2,174 
 
 120,547 
 
 Christianstad 
 
 
 Malraoe 
 
 1,750 
 
 149,892 
 
 Malmoe 
 
 
 ' Falun or Storak- 
 
 
 c 
 a> 
 ■a 
 
 opparberg 
 
 12,587 
 
 124,816 
 
 Falun 
 
 <u , 
 
 Gefleboi'g 
 
 7,765 
 
 79,000 
 
 Gefleborg 
 
 
 Jaemtland 
 
 18,261 
 
 32,000 
 
 Oestersund 
 
 JS 
 
 Norrland 
 
 10,496 
 
 62,000 
 
 Hernoesand 
 
 o 
 
 Maester, and 
 
 
 
 
 Nordbottens 
 
 64,597 
 
 76,000 
 
 Umeae 
 
 The places containing more than 3000 inhabitants, Sweden 
 and their population, are as follows : 
 
 Stockholm, 65,474 ; Gottenburg, 17,760; Carls- 
 crona, 10,553; Norrkopping, 9428; Gefleborg, 5930; 
 Malmoe, 4932; Upsal, 4897 ; Falun, 4709; Udde- 
 walla, 3971; Wisby, 3819; Landskrona, 3776; 
 Carlsham, 3387 ; Orebro, 3242 ; Lund, 3224 ; 
 Christianstad, 3106 ; Calmar, 3058. 
 
 There are 88 places denominated cities, and four Popula 
 called market towns. They are mostly small, except 
 the few above enumerated. The inhabitants of these 
 cities and towns, according to the tables of 1815, 
 were 248,029, making about one-tenth of the whole 
 population ; and the other nine-tenths were living in 
 2214 parishes, containing 65,284 farms. At the 
 same period the classes of the people are thus indi- 
 cated. Learned, including clergy, professors, students, 
 and servants, employed in the churches, with their 
 wives and children, 25,986; civil officers, 24,652; mili- 
 tary of allranks, 113,465; sailors, 22,178; burgesses, 
 including manufacturers,merchants, tradesmen, handi- 
 craftraen, and their several apprentices, 160,922; 
 private persons, including retired officers and trades- 
 men, owners of estates, funded property, or mort- 
 gages, 79,814; peasants, 1,391, 606; domestic ser- 
 vants to the nobility and gentry, 43,659; poor, and 
 prisoners, 24,131 ; orphan, and foundling children, 
 13,757 ; and females who are either single or widows, 
 with their children, By a table, the data 
 
 for which were collected in 1810, it appeared that 
 the families were 451,116; that the learned classes 
 formed 1 in 110 of the males ; the civil officers, 1 ih 
 140 ; the military, including the militia, 1 in 27 ; the 
 tradesmen, 1 in 260 ; the farmers, 7 in 10 ; the domes- 
 tic servants, 1 in 44 ; the workmen in factories, 1 in 
 52 ; the sailors, 1 in 146 ; the poor, 1 in 60; and the 
 children one-eighth of the whole male population. 
 
 Not more than one-twentieth part of the surface of produ 
 Sweden is capable of cultivation, and of that only one- 
 half is actually cultivated. The harvests are by no 
 means productive, and estimated by Akrel to yield 
 not more than five times the seed that is sown in good 
 years. In a cycle of ten years, the same writer states, 
 that one of them fails, two are scanty, five are mode- 
 rate, and two are abundant. The deficiency of corn 
 for the support of the inhabitants compels them to 
 mix the rind of the Finns sihestris, and the roots of 
 some bog-plants, with their flour, to eke out their 
 scanty stock of food. The extensive cultivation of 
 potatoes, which has taken place of late years, has 
 been found to afibrd most valuable aid to the general 
 subsistence. Hemp, flax, and tobacco, are grown for 
 domestic use. Hops are cultivated and exported to 
 Denmark and Germany. The breeding of cattle is a 
 productive branch of industry, though the races of 
 horses, cows, and sheep, are generally small in size. 
 The stock of cattle was as follows, soon after the loss 
 of Finland : horses, 405,030 ; oxen, cows, and calves, 
 1,312,594; and sheep and lambs, 1,243,315: goats 
 and pigs are thinly scattered. In the north, the rein- * 
 deer is a valuable domestic animal : some proprietors 
 have herds of more than 1000, which are fed through 
 the winter on the moss, which instinct teaches them to 
 find under the deep snow. The fisheries yield em- 
 ployment, subsistence, and articles for export ; but, 
 S 
 
SWEDEN. 
 
 605 
 
 reden and of late years, the shoals of herrings have greatly di- 
 
 il^"^^ minished. The chief production of the soil is tim- 
 ber, as two-thirds of the surface is covered with 
 woods. The far greater part of the dwellings are 
 composed wholly of wood ; the demand for fuel is 
 very great; and yet the export of planks, masts, 
 pitch, tar, potashes, and charcoal, forms the chief 
 part of the foreign trade. The mines of Sweden have 
 long been worked, and have suffered little increase 
 
 iuctions. or diminution of late years. Their average products 
 have been 64- ounces of gold ; 12,900 ounces of sil- 
 ver ; 24,800 quintals of copper ; 431 quintals of lead ; 
 100,000 tons of iron; 22,000 quintals of alum; 
 35,000 tons of coal ; and 65,000 quintals of saltpetre. 
 The manufactures of Sweden are confined to the fev/ 
 articles required for the scanty supply of its needy 
 population. Cloths, cottons, silks, and linens, and 
 many smaller articles, are furnished from the different 
 fabrics within the kingdom, whose annual amount is 
 calculated to be about L. 280,000 Sterling. The 
 merchant ships, in 1816, were 1107; their burden 
 64,290 lasts, and their crews 9014 men and boys. 
 
 rnment. The government is a limited monarchy, hereditary 
 in the male line of Bernadotte ; but in case of the 
 failure of males in that family, a successor is to be 
 nominated by the King, and approved by the Legisla- 
 ture. The appointed civil list for the King is 320,000 
 rix dollars banco, or about L. 50,000 Sterling ; that 
 of the Crown Prince one-third of that sum. The 
 States are composed of 1100 Nobles, 50 to 80 Clergy, 
 from 100 to 200 Burgesses, and 100 Peasants, who 
 vote by classes, pot by the head. They necessarily 
 assemble every fifth year, and more frequently if 
 convened by the King. They make laws, grant, 
 taxes, regulate the coinage and the press, and su- 
 perintend the administration of justice. The laws 
 are contained in a volume of 480 pages, which is 
 looked up to with much veneration from its antiqui- 
 ty, having been adopted as early as the year 1442. 
 All new cases of differences that occur are referred 
 to the principles contained in this fundamental code. 
 There are courts of revision and courts of appeal, 
 \yhose judgment is final. 
 
 ion and The established religion is the Lutheran, but since 
 the year 1799 all other sects have been tolerated. 
 It s modified somewhat in a manner different from 
 what exists in Germany, and approaching in its go- 
 vernment more nearly to the English Church. There 
 are twelve Bishops and one Archbishop, that of Up- 
 sal. The benefices are endowed with the tithes, and 
 the condition of the clergy is respectable. The Uni- 
 versity of Upsal is the highest seminary, containing 
 twenty-four professors. The University of Lund has 
 twenty-two professors. In these establishments, the 
 system pursued differs from that of the German uni- 
 versities, both in the length of time required for a 
 degree, and the restrictions upon the conduct and 
 attention of the students. In most of the Episcopal 
 cities there are endowed classical schools. In all 
 the towns there are burgher schools, and in the 
 parish churches in the villages ; in which the Lan- 
 casterian method of teaching reading and writing 
 has been successfully introduced. 
 
 ly- The army, at present, is reduced, and consists of 
 
 3505 cavalry, 24,144 infantry and artillery, and an 
 
 VOL. VI, PART II. 
 
 extraordinary division of 3387 men of all arms. The Sweden and 
 army may be made up in war by the reserve and re- ^^^^7- 
 cruiting to 100,000 men. The navy, which, in 1806, ^^""V"*^ 
 had sunk from 20 sail of the line to 13, since 1799, 
 is now so much further reduced, that there are 
 scarcely six sail fit to be sent to sea, and eight or 
 nine frigates. There are a considerable number of 
 gun-boats and other flotilla, calculated to convey 
 land forces. 
 
 The expences of the government are very rigidly ^"inances. 
 watched, and have recently been considerably reduc- 
 ed ; at present they stand on the following scale : 
 
 Establishment of the Royal Households, L. 210,000 
 
 For the Senators and the Government, 180,000 
 
 For the Judicial and Police Branches, 50,000 
 
 For the Military Branch, 370,000 
 
 For the Marine Branch, 180,000 
 
 For Extraordinary Expences, including In- 
 terest on the Public Debt, 150,000 
 
 L, 1,140,000 
 
 The public income is nearly commensurate with 
 the expenditure on an average of years. It is de- 
 rived in a small degree from national domains, from 
 a land and capitation tax, from duties on imports 
 which are let to farm, from stamps, from taxes on 
 liquors, from the monopoly of saltpetre, from the 
 mines, and some smaller sources. The public debt, 
 on 16th April 1819, amounted to 6,371,862 Reichs- 
 thalern Banco, or about L.l, 387,500 Sterling ; hav- 
 ing been reduced L. 250,000 since the year 1813. It 
 is wholly owing to residents in Sweden ; and, on the 
 plan of a sinking fund now in progress, will be ex- 
 tinguished in fourteen years. The chief financial 
 evil under which the kingdom suffers, is from the 
 vast quantity of paper money which circulates, and 
 which has driven out the metallic money. Measures 
 are adopted by which this paper is gradually with- 
 drawn by the bank, for accomplishing which, cer- 
 tain extraordinary taxes are appropriated. 
 
 See Erdebesckreibung, von Gasparai, &c., Weimar, 
 1822; Swerige's Civil och Krigshalender for Aret, 
 Stockholm, 1819; Utkast til en Svensk statistic, 
 Forsta Afdelingen, Stockholm, 1818 ; Thomson's 
 Travels in Sweden, London, 1814. 
 
 Norway. 
 
 When the power over Norway was assumed by Norway, 
 the Swedish monarch, its independence of Sweden 
 was secured by resolutions of the States, or the Stor- 
 things guaranteed by the King on the 4th Novem- 
 ber 1814. These fundamental rules decree, 1st, 
 That only citizens of Norway, of the Lutheran re- 
 ligion, shall be nominated to fill any office. 2d, That 
 Norway shall be answerable for its own national debt 
 alone. 3d, That none shall be judged but by the 
 law, and that torture shall not be practised. 4th, 
 That no retrospective law shall be enacted. 5th, 
 That no one shall be arrested, or confined, but in 
 cases specified by the law. 6th, The liberty of the 
 press shall not be infringed. 7th, Landed property 
 shall not become forfeited. 8th, No nobles shall be 
 created. 9th, Each Norwegian, without regard to 
 
 4 H 
 
606 
 
 S W E 
 
 Sweden and rank or wealth, is bound to serve a certain time to 
 Norway. |jg fixed. 10th, Norway shall retain its own bank 
 and coins. 11th, Norwegian merchant ships may 
 carry their own national flag. 
 
 Under these stipulations, Norway is a limited he- 
 reditary monarchy, in which the executive power is 
 vested in the King, and the Legislature in the States, 
 or Storthing. The King exercises his power through 
 a Viceroy, who resides in the royal palace at Christ- 
 iana. The members of the Legislature are chosen 
 by electors, who are nominated for that purpose by 
 those who have a right to vote. In the cities, the 
 number of electors to be chosen is one to every fifty 
 voters ; in the country, one to every hundred votes. 
 These electors choose the deputies for the respective 
 districts; from five to fourteen electors choose one de- 
 puty; from fifteen to twenty-four, two deputies ; from 
 twenty- five to thirty-four, three deputies; and from 
 thirty-five upwards, four deputies, which is the greatest 
 number that any electoral assembly can nominate. 
 The deputies must be thirty years of age, and have 
 resided the last ten years within the kingdom. Who- 
 ever is chosen is bound to serve. They are free from 
 arrest, and are paid for their time and travelling ex- 
 pences. The number of the representatives of the 
 country are as two to one of those from the cities. 
 The whole number is from 75 to 100. The servants 
 of the Crown, the Members of the Council, and Pen- 
 sioners, are ineligible. The assembly meets every 
 third year on the first working day in February. 
 There are two chambers, or bodies, one called the 
 Lagthing, consisting of one-fourth the members, the 
 other called the Odelsthing, comprehending the other 
 three-fourths. All laws must originate in the Odels- 
 thing, from its own members, or from the suggestion 
 of the King ; but the assent of the other body is re- 
 quired for their enactment. The forms of passing 
 laws are complicated, but they insure great delibera- 
 tion. The assembly continues its session three 
 months, but the King may prolong it beyond that 
 period, or call it together in the intervals of the re- 
 gular assemblings. The Senate, appointed by the 
 King, is rather an executive than a legislative body, 
 but must consist of Norwegians. 
 
 The expences of the government are nearly equal 
 to the income, both being about L. 300,000 Sterling 
 per annum. The revenue arises principally from a 
 territorial impost, and from duties on importation and 
 consumption, which amount to three- fourths of the 
 whole. The national debt is in annuities, amounting 
 to nearly L. 10,000 ^er annum. It would be speedi- 
 ly redeemed but for the great mass of paper money 
 in circulation, which had depreciated it to such an ex- 
 tent, that, in 1817, one silver dollar was worth ten 
 paper dollars. Attempts have been made by the es- 
 tablishment of a national bank to remedy this evil, 
 but its success has been hitherto very slight. 
 
 The army consists of 12,000 men, of whom 2000 
 form the garrisons of the several fortified places. 
 
 S W 1 
 
 The militia amount to 7000. The navy of Norway Sweden ; 
 consists of six brigs, eight schooners, and about forty ^orwa 
 gun-boats, with some smaller flotilla. Swisserlai 
 
 The religion is Lutheran, and the ecclesiastical 
 affairs are under the superintendence of five bishops. 
 The provision for the clergy is scanty, and many of 
 the parochial churches are consequently destitute of 
 pastors. The University of Christiana has sixteen 
 professors, and somewhat more than 100 students; 
 and the seminaries of Tonsbe^g and of Tdten assist 
 in providing education for the gentry and clergy. In 
 each of the episcopal cities there are endowed 
 schools. 
 
 Norway is divided into four provinces, called 
 Stifts, viz. 
 
 Stifts. 
 
 Extent in 
 Square 
 Miles. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Capitals. 
 
 Aggerhaus 
 
 Christiansand ... 
 
 Nordland 
 
 32,789 
 10,304- 
 13,397 
 21,163 
 42,667 
 
 378,646 
 117,852 
 130,959 
 161,287 
 78,425 
 
 Christiana 
 
 Christiansand 
 
 Bergen 
 
 Drontheim 
 
 Alstahoug 
 
 The account published by the Storthing, in IBip, 
 makes the inhabitants 910,000, but in that number 
 is included the army and navy. The towns, propor- 
 tionally to the whole population, are well filled with 
 inhabitants; especially those where the iron-works or 
 the trade of sawing and shipping timber, which is the 
 chief commerce, is carried on. The names and po- 
 pulation of the places containing more than 4000 in- 
 habitants are, Bergen, 18,080; Christiana, 10,638; 
 Drontheim, 9000; Tbten, 7832; Kongsberg, 6810; 
 Ourdal, 6l69; Banger, 6149; H off", 6009; Dram- 
 nWn, 5412; Niiss, 5409; Oudalen, 5164; Land, 
 5119; Alstahoug, 4993; Christiansand, 4844; Ber- 
 gen, 4864 ; Grue, 4706 ; Homnay, 4561 ; Bronoe, 
 4386 ; and Oal, 4086. 
 
 See Thaarups danske Monarkies Statistik, etc. 
 Kiobenhaven, Vol. VIIL 1815; Reise durch Nor' 
 uoegen und Lappland, von Leopold von Buch, Berlin, 
 1810 ; Gemahlde von Norwegen von einem gehorenen 
 Normann, Hamburg, 1815; Gaspari's Erdehishrei- 
 hung, 10 vol. 1822, Weimar. (w. w.) 
 
 SWISSEULAND,or Switzerland. This league Swi^scrM 
 of independent states, whose constitutions, both local 
 and general, had been overturned in the course of 
 the French Revolution, and a part of whose terri- 
 tory had been added to France, has been reinstated 
 by the Congress of Vienna in its former independ- 
 ence, and has received additions of territory. This 
 settlement has led to new divisions, and the Swiss 
 Confederacy at present consists of twenty-two can- 
 tons, whose names, extent, population, and capitals, 
 are as follow: 
 
S W I 
 
 Cantons. 
 
 Zurick 
 
 Berne 
 
 Lucerne 
 
 Uri 
 
 Schwitz 
 
 Unterwalden 
 Glarus 
 
 Zug 
 
 Fry burg 
 
 Solothurn ... 
 
 Basle 
 
 SchafFbausen 
 
 Appenzell 
 
 St Gall 
 
 Grey League 
 
 Aargau 
 
 Thurgau 
 
 Tessino 
 
 Vaudj or Waadt . 
 Vallois, or Wallis 
 
 NTeufchatel 
 
 Geneva 
 
 Extent in Square 
 Miles. 
 
 960 
 3,690 
 768 
 512 
 470 
 260 
 453 
 125 
 490 
 277 
 266 
 170 
 
 223 
 
 853 
 2,986 
 
 768 
 
 357 
 1,183 
 1,493 
 1,962 
 
 320 
 95 
 
 18,681, or 
 11, 955,840 acres, 
 
 Population. 
 
 182,080 
 291,600 
 99,970 
 14,600 
 28,900 
 21,200 
 24,000 
 14,750 
 89,600 
 48,600 
 49,200 
 30,000 
 
 55,000 
 
 130,800 
 73,200 
 
 143,960 
 77,090 
 88,790 
 
 141,670 
 62,800 
 50,000 
 40,000 
 
 1,757,810 
 
 S W I 
 
 Capitals, and their Population. 
 
 607 
 
 Zurick 10,470 
 
 Berne 13,000 
 
 Lucerne 5,000 
 
 Altorf 3,000 
 
 Schwitz 4,640 
 
 Sarnen 3,000 
 
 Glarus 3,000 
 
 Zug 2,500 
 
 Fry burg 6,460 
 
 Solothurn 4,100 
 
 Basle 16,200 
 
 SchalFhausen ... 5,500 
 
 /Herisau 7,000 
 
 (Appenzell 3,000 
 
 St Gall 9,000 
 
 Chur 3,350 
 
 Aarau 3,000 
 
 Frauenfeld 1,800 
 
 Lugano 3,400 
 
 Lausanne 9,960 
 
 Sitten, or Sion... 2,500 
 
 Neufchatel 5,150 
 
 Geneva 22,000 
 
 The only other towns whose population exceeds 
 3000 inhabitants are in the canton of Zurick ; Hor- 
 gen, with 3700 ; Wiidenschwyl, 3460 ; Stiifa, 3360 ; 
 and Wald, 3200; in the canton of Vaud, Vevay, with 
 3780 ; and in the canton of Geneva, Carouge, with 
 3200 souls. 
 
 Each of the cantons has its own system of govern- 
 ment and laws ; but they all form a general commu- 
 nity, by means of representatives chosen from each 
 of them, who meet to i-egulate the external relations 
 of the union, and to provide the means, both in troops 
 and money, for the general defence. 
 
 The delegates from the different cantons assemble 
 yearly in July, or more frequently, on the requisition 
 of any five of them. Treaties of peace, or declara- 
 tions of war, require the assent of three-fourths of the 
 votes. All other matters are determined by majori- 
 ty. The place of meeting is in rotation, Zurick, 
 Berne, and Lucerne, each for two years, where the 
 supreme court is held, and the Chancellor and State- 
 Secretary hold their offices. 
 
 Although every man capable of bearing arms is a 
 soldier, and occasionally trained and exercised, yet 
 a more disposable force is arranged, to which each 
 of the cantons must furnish their proportion, at the 
 rate of two men out of every hundred of the appro- 
 priate age. These form an army, when required, as 
 follows : 
 
 Swisserland. 
 
 Artillery.. 32 companies 
 
 Sappers 2 do. 
 
 Pontoniers 1 do. 
 
 2,272 men. 
 142 
 71 
 
 Carry forward 2,485 
 
 Brought forward 2,485 
 
 Train 1,400 
 
 Light Cavalry... 17 troops 1,088 
 Sharpshooters... 10 companies 1,000 
 
 Infantry 204 do. 25,199 
 
 Yagars 20 do. 2,000 
 
 Staff Corps 586 
 
 33,758 
 
 The militia, mustered under the direction of each 
 individual canton, amount together to 67,516 men, 
 besides which is the landwehr, or levy en masse, 
 which comprehends the whole of the male popula- 
 tion. In order that the military spirit of the Swiss 
 may not become dormant, the cantons have permit- 
 ted great numbers of their young men to enter into 
 the service of foreign states. In the year 1816 the 
 numbers so engaged were estimated to be about 
 30,000; of whom 12,370 were in France; 10,000 in 
 the Netherlands ; 430 in Prussia ; and the others in 
 Spain and Sardinia. The expences of the general 
 government are defrayed by contributions from each 
 canton, according to their estimated wealth, which, 
 as well as the military contingent, is adjusted to 
 existing circumstances at the termination of every 
 period of twenty years. The revenues, expences, 
 and debts of the several cantons, ai'e generally kept 
 with much privacy, and the taxes are various, but 
 in general very light. 
 
 The cantons of Lucerne, Uri, Schwitz, Unterwal- Religion 
 den, Zug, Fryburg, Solothurn, Tessino, and a part 
 of Appenzell, adhere to the Roman Catholic church. 
 The reformed Protestant church is established in 
 
608 
 
 S W I 
 
 Taxation. 
 
 Swisserland Zurick, Berne, Basle, SchafFhausen, Vaud, Neufcha* 
 ^1 tel, Geneva, and a part of Appenzell. Both reli- 
 gions are established in Glarus, Thurgaw, Aargau, 
 St Gall, and the Grey League, but in them the majo- 
 rity of the people are Protestants. The number of 
 the Reformed or Calvinists are estimated to be 
 1,046,000; of the Catholics 682,000 ; and in the re- 
 mainder are comprised a few Lutherans, Anabaptists, 
 and Jews. 
 
 As Switzerland does not grow sufficient corn for 
 its own subsistence, though its harvests are eked out 
 by the recent extension of the culture of potatoes, 
 that necessary article is supplied to it from the 
 neighbouring states ; to which it makes returns in the 
 products of its soil, wine, live cattle, butter, and 
 cheese. Besides these it sells some manufactures, 
 the principal of which are various cotton goods. 
 These are chiefly produced in Zurick, St Gall, Berne, 
 and Appenzell, where extensive machinery is con- 
 structed both for spinning and weaving. Some of 
 the goods produced in Switzerland are the most suc- 
 
 Productions 
 and Trade. 
 
 TAX 
 
 cessful in rivalling the fabrics of Lancashire and Glas- Swisserl 
 gow at the great fairs of Frankfort and Leipsic. In II 
 the cantons of Thurgaw and St Gall there are many ^'^^^^ 
 manufactories both of fine and coarse linen. Silk ^ 
 goods of various descriptions are made in Basle, in 
 SchafFhausen, and Lucerne, but especially in Tessino, 
 where the raw material is produced ; but this de- 
 scription of productions has of late suffered a great 
 declension. Watchmaking gives employment to more 
 than 4000 workmen in Geneva, and to as many in 
 Neufchatel and other places. The number of 
 watches annually sent from Switzerland is estimated 
 to be about 250,000. These means of subsistence 
 and employment are found insufficient to check the 
 progress of poverty, which is making rapid strides, 
 and which has produced extensive emigrations to the 
 United States of America, to Canada, and to Brazil. 
 
 See Simond's Switzerland ; Korner kurze Erd- 
 heschreibung der Schtveiz ; Ehrmann neuste Kunde 
 der Schtveiz und Italien ; Uteri handbuch des Schxueiz 
 Staatsrects. (w. w.) 
 
 TAXATION. 
 
 Definition. ^ r^^^ jg jj portion of the produce of the capital 
 and labour of individuals, taken from them by au- 
 thority of Government, and placed at its disposal. 
 
 A tax may be either direct or indirect. It is said 
 to be direct when it is immediately taken from in- 
 come or capital ; and indirect when it is taken from 
 them by making their owners pay for liberty to use 
 certain articles, or to exercise certain privileges. 
 
 A tax may be either general or particular — that 
 is, it may be made either to affect all classes indis- 
 criminately, or to affect only one or more classes. 
 
 Ta^xation is the general term used to express 
 the aggregate of particular taxes. It is also the 
 name given to that branch of the science of Political 
 Economy which explains the mode in which the re- 
 venue required for the public service may be most 
 advantageously raised. 
 
 Part I. — General Observations on Taxation. 
 
 Necessity of Taxation — Present System of Taxation 
 originated in the declitie of the Feudal System — 
 Taxes estimated by Values, and not by Quantities— 
 Every Improvement in the Arts, a Means of ena- 
 bling a Country to bear Additional Taxes — Opposite 
 Effects of Moderate and Heavy Taxes — Fallacy of 
 the Doctrine of those who contend that Taxes are not 
 really lost to the Contribiitors, but that they are again 
 restored to them by the Expenditure of Govern- 
 ment or its Agents — Erroneous Opinion of Locke 
 and Quesnay ivith respect to the ultimate Incidence 
 of all Taxes on the Land — Maxims to be observed 
 in the Imposition of Taxes — Agreement or Disagree- 
 ment of certain Taxes with these Maxims — Excise 
 Scheme of Sir Robert Walpole — Expence and Mode 
 of collecting Taxes— -Corvees. 
 
 We conceive it would be quite superfluous to en-Necessii 
 ter into any lengthened argument to show the utili-ty, Taxatio 
 or rather necessity, of raising a revenue for the 
 use of the public. It is sufficient to observe, that 
 security from foreign invasion, the speedy and im- 
 partial administration of justice, and the mainte- 
 nance of good order and tranquillity, are absolutely 
 indispensable to the successful exertion of industry, 
 and to the advancement of society in the career of 
 civilization and refinement. And when such is the 
 case — when it is admitted on all hands, that security 
 and good order are productive of universal advan- 
 tage — and that, without them, there could be no 
 considerable accumulation of national wealth — it 
 is plain no individual can justly complain that he is 
 made to contribute, in the same proportion to his 
 means as others, for their attainment ; or, which is 
 the same thing, that he is made to pay his fair share 
 of the sum required to procure the services of the 
 soldiers and sailors necessary to repel hostile ag- 
 gression ; and to support the various institutions and 
 public functionaries necessary to maintain the in- 
 ternal peace of the country, to promote its prospe- 
 rity, and to protect every citizen in the undisturb- 
 ed enjoyment of his property and rights. It is cer- 
 tainly true, that the public are frequently made to 
 contribute larger sums than are necessary for tl;e 
 ends of good government. But, as this abuse must 
 obviously originate either in the misconduct of ad- 
 ministration, or in the defective political organization 
 of the State, it does not properly come within the 
 scope of our inquiries. In treating of taxation, the 
 object of the Political Economist is Hot to inquire whe- 
 ther the revenue raised by the State exceeds its neces- 
 sary wants, or whether it has been judiciously ex- 
 
TAXATION. 
 
 609 
 
 cation. 
 
 nt Sys- 
 
 b1 Sys- 
 
 ral Ob- pended ; but to point out the general effect of taxa- 
 tions on tion on individual and public wealth ; and, by analy- 
 zing the various methods in which a revenue may be 
 raised, and comparing them together, to show which 
 is most advantageous, or rather which is least injuri- 
 ous, to the State. 
 
 The scheme of taxation now in force in modern 
 ifTaxa- Europe had its origin in the decline of the feudal 
 •ose^out gygfgjjj^ According to the principles of that sys- 
 pftl^g tem, all the lands of a country were held by their 
 actual possessors as fiefs of the Crown, on con- 
 dition of their performing certain stipulated services ; 
 of which the obligation to support the sovereign 
 when he took the field, with a body of retainers, 
 armed and maintained at their own expence, was by 
 far the most important. The tenants in chief of the 
 great fiefs^ or those who held directly under the so- 
 vereign, were either originally invested with, or sub- 
 sequently usurped, the prerogative of distributing 
 justice in their respective lordships; and, in those 
 days, the administration of justice, instead of being a 
 source of expence, became, in consequence of the 
 corruption and abuses with which it was infected, a 
 considerable source not of influence only, but also of 
 emolument. The expence of the clergy was either 
 defrayed from the produce of their own estates, or by 
 a tithe levied from the estates of others. And the 
 labour of the peasantry, during a few days before and 
 after harvest, sufficed to put the roads and bridges in- 
 to that state of repair, which the depressed situation 
 of commerce, and the little intercourse between the 
 different parts of the country, seemed to require. 
 Nor was it even necessary to levy a tax for the sup- 
 port of the monarch and his court. The produce of 
 the Crown estates, or of the royal demesnes which 
 had not been feued to others, but which remained in 
 the immediate possession of the sovereign, were ge- 
 nerally sufficient to defray this part of the public ex- 
 penditure. When the feudal system was in its vi- 
 gour, the demesnes of the Crown were, in most 
 countries, very extensive ; and the alienations occa- 
 sioned by the profusion of some princes, and the 
 thoughtlessness of others, were compensated by the for- 
 feitures and escheats that were always taking place. 
 
 The vicious and defective nature of this system of 
 policy is too obvious to require to be pointed out; 
 and it had for a long series of years the most de- 
 structive influence on the peace and prosperity of 
 Europe. But the progressive, though slow, advance 
 of civilization, ultimately led to its overthrow. Mo- 
 ney payments were gradually substituted for per- 
 sonal services ; and the institution of standing 
 armies, in France, * by Charles VII., an institution 
 which was soon after introduced into other countries, 
 entirely broke the power and spirit of the feudal 
 aristocracy ; and enabled the different governments 
 to introduce a regular plan of government, and to 
 impose that system of pecuniary contribution now 
 universally established. 
 
 The amount of a tax is not to be estimated by theGeneral Ob- 
 hulk or species of the produce transferred from indivi-®^"^''*'°®on 
 duals to government, but exclusively by its value. '^.^^^^T'. 
 A heavy taxation consists in the abstraction of a tI^^^'C^ 
 large value, and a light taxation in the abstraction mated by'" 
 of a small value. When a fall takes place in the cost Values, and 
 of producing any particular commodity, its price ne-"°' ^y. . 
 cessarily declines in an equal degree; and, suppos- 
 ing the value of money, the medium in which taxes 
 are most commonly estimated, to continue invariable, 
 the producers will be obliged to dispose of a propor- 
 tionally larger quantity of that commodity whose 
 price has fallen, to obtain the means of paying the 
 same amount of taxes. It is plainly, however, an 
 error to suppose, as is very commonly done, that 
 the burden of taxation is thereby increased. The 
 mlue paid by the producers has remained the 
 same; and it is by values, and not by quantities, that 
 the weight of taxation is always to be measured. 
 If, owing to an improvement in agriculture, in ma- 
 chinery, or any other cause, we could produce 
 im quarters of wheat, or ttuo yards of cloth, with 
 the same expenditure of capital and labour it now 
 takes to produce one quarter or one yard, it could 
 not certainly be considered as any hardship to have 
 to give double the quantity of those commodities in 
 payment of our taxes. 
 
 The want of attention to the principle we have nowlmprcve- 
 stated, has led to much erroneous reasoning on thei^^^^sa 
 subject of taxation. Even Dr Smith made no suffi- 
 cient allowance for the effects of improvements, in country to 
 enabling a country to bear additional taxes. No- pay addi- 
 thing, however, can be more certain than that the^^'^^^l 
 amount of the produce of national industry taken by 
 the Government as revenue, may be regularly in- 
 creased, in every country in which the arts are pro- 
 gressive, without occasioning any additional burden 
 to the people. Every new invention and discovery, 
 by which the production of commodities can be faci- 
 litated, and their value reduced, enables individuals 
 to spare a larger quantity of them for the use of the 
 state. The sacrifice we make in paying taxes 
 really consists in the sacrifice of the labour and ex- 
 pence necessary to procure the money or commodi- 
 ties wherewith to pay them. But every increase in 
 the productive powers of industry, by diminishing the 
 labour and expence required in production, gives us 
 the means of transferring a proportionally greater 
 quantity of commodities to the state, without subject- 
 ing ourselves to any additional inconvenience. To 
 pay a given sum of money, or a given value, to Go- 
 vernment at this moment, will cost a cotton manufac- 
 turer not less, perhaps, than ten or twenty times the 
 quantity of cottons that would have been sufficient to 
 make the same payment in 1760: But as this reduc- 
 tion in the value of cottons has been the effect of an 
 equivalent diminution in the expences of their produc- 
 tion, the manufacturer is not thereby placed in any 
 respect in a worse situation ; nor is he really making 
 
 * It was on this occasion that the taille was first imposed in France. Hallam's History oj the Middle 
 Jges, I. p. 118. 
 
 11 
 
610 
 
 TAXATION. 
 
 General Ob- a greater sacrifice now than he did before. This 
 sorvationsoHgi^Q^g^ ^h^t Governments have precisely the sarce 
 Taxation, .^^^^^g^ as their subjects in facihtating production. 
 ^^""'^''''''^'^ Every increase of the powei-s of industry affords the 
 means of putting them in possession of a larger quan- 
 tity of useful and agreeable products ; while every 
 diminution of those powers must either diminish the 
 quantity of produce at their disposal, or force them 
 to lay heavier burdens on their subjects. A rich 
 people is the foundation of a rich treasury. Public 
 wealth is merely a portion of private wealth trans- 
 ferred from individuals to Government ; and the 
 greater the wealth of individuals, the greater will 
 be the magnitude of the portion they can convenient- 
 ly spare for public purposes. 
 Taxes fall Though taxation be necessary, it ought always to 
 either on Re. be kept within the narrowest limits possible. All 
 venue OT Ca- jg^^gg occasion inconvenience and privations. The 
 best are those which are lightest ; but there are none 
 80 light as not to be productive either of an increase 
 of toil, or of a diminution of enjoyments, or of fortune. 
 All taxes must ultimately fall either on the revenue 
 of a country, or on its capital or stock. Perhaps there 
 is no one tax whose produce has not been partly 
 derived from the one of these funds, and partly 
 from the other. There can be no doubt, however, 
 that by far the largest proportion of all taxes ju- 
 diciously imposed, and not carried to too great a 
 height, is paid out of revenue. The desire which 
 every one has to preserve his place in society, stimu- 
 lates most people to exert themselves to defray their 
 taxes, either by increased industry, or by making a 
 corresponding diminution in their expenditure, with- 
 out allowing them to encroach on their capitals. But 
 the power to make increased exertions, and to save 
 frorn expence, though not easily defined, is not illi- 
 mitable. Every fresh increase of taxation must ob- 
 viously contribute to its exhaustion : and whenever 
 this has been effected, whenever the burden of taxa- 
 tion is not fully compensated by increased production, 
 or increased saving, it must encroach on the means 
 of future production, and the country will begin to re- 
 trograde. Taxation, when carried to this extent, is 
 one of the severest scourg'es to which any people can 
 be subjected. By diminishing capital, or the funds 
 destined to support productive industry, it lessens the 
 revenue of the people, the only fund out of which taxes 
 can be permanently paid ; and thus lays the sure found- 
 ation of national poverty and disgrace, in the destruc- 
 tion of individual fortunes. Like falling bodies, which 
 are precipitated with a constantly and rapidly increas- 
 ing velocity, a system of taxation acting on capital 
 multiplies pauperism and distress in a geometrical pro- 
 portion, and destroys alike the desire and the means 
 to reproduce. 
 
 It would, however, be an error to suppose, that a 
 tax is necessarily a tax on capital, because it is laid 
 on capital, or a tax on income, because it is laid on 
 income. A moderate tax laid on capital may be, and 
 generally is, defrayed out of a savmg of income; 
 
 while an oppressive tax laid on indome has in most Genetai 
 cases to be paid from capital. But of all species of 
 taxes, those are plainly the most injurious which ne^ v_ 
 cessarily fall on capital, without giving the contri- 
 butors an opportunity to defray them from revenue^ 
 Every such tax, by diminishing the funds for the 
 maintenance of labour, must in so far diminish the 
 future taxable income of the country. The legacy- 
 duty is, as we shall afterwards show, chiefly censur- 
 able on this ground. 
 
 Most of the writers on finance, patronized by the^'ffere 
 Governments of the different European countries, 
 have laboured to show that taxation is never a cause and^iL 
 of diminished production ; but that, on the contrary. Taxes, 
 every new tax creates a new ability in the subject to 
 bear it, and that every increase of the public burdens 
 becomes the cause of a proportional increase in the 
 industry of the people. The fallacy and absurdity 
 of this opinion has been ably exposed by Mr Hume 
 in his Essay on Taxes. It is indeed true, as we have 
 already stated, that the desire to preserve their capi- 
 tals unimpaired, and to improve their condition, will 
 stimulate most men to endeavour to discharge the bur- 
 den of a moderate tax, by an increase of labour and 
 exertion, or by a saving in articles of unproductive ex- 
 penditure, without allowing it to encroach on their 
 capitals, or even to lessen the rate at which they 
 may have been previously increasing them. But 
 although this holds good in the case of moderate 
 taxes, we are not to conclude from thence that t 
 continues to hold good to whatever extent they may 
 be carried ! An individual might be able to defray 
 a tax of L.50, by increased exertion and economy, 
 while it might be utterly impossible for him to defray 
 a tax of twice or three times that amount without sa- 
 crificing a portion of his capital. The truth is, that the 
 effect of exorbitant taxes is not to stimulate indus- 
 try, but to destroy it. No man will ever be really 
 and perseveringly industrious, whose industry does 
 not yield him a visible increase of comforts and en- 
 joyments. If taxation be carried so high as to swal- 
 low the whole, or even the greater part, of the pro- 
 duce of industry above what is required to furnish us 
 with more necessaries, it must, by destroying the 
 hope and the means of rising in the world, take 
 away the most powerful motive to industry and fru- 
 gality, and, instead of producing increased exertion, 
 will produce only despair. The stimulus given by 
 excessive taxation to industry has been not unaptly 
 compared to the stimulus given by the lash to the 
 labour of the slave — a stimulus which the experience 
 of all ages and nations has proved to be as ineffec- 
 tive as it is inhuman, when compared to that which 
 the expectation of improving his condition, and of 
 enjoying the fruits of his industry without molesta- 
 tion, gives to the productive energies of the moder- 
 ately taxed citizen of a free state. 
 
 It would be easy to illustrate the effects of op- 
 pressive taxation in destroying industry, by refer- 
 ences to the History of most European nations.* In Spain, 
 
 * For aa instructive account of the effect of heavy taxes on the commerce and industry of Holland, see 
 the second volume of the excellent work of M. Luzac, De la Richesse de la Hollandc. 
 
 1 
 
TAXATION. 
 
 ral Ob* Spain they have been particularly fatal. The de- 
 lation"" country has been commonly ascribed to 
 ^ -xl expulsion of the Jews and Moors, and to the 
 emigrations to America. But had the policy of the 
 Spanish Government been otherwise sufficiently libe- 
 ral — had industry been properly protected, and mo- 
 derate and equal taxes levied, the losses occasioned 
 by the expulsion of so many of her most industrious 
 citizens would have been gradually repaired, and the 
 [■ emigration to America would have acted only as a 
 stimulus to population. But oppressive taxes have 
 not only prevented Spain from recovering from the 
 wounds inflicted on her by the bigotry of her rulers, 
 but have gone far to extinguish the very spirit of in- 
 s dustry. Of the taxes most instrumental in produ- 
 cing this effect, the aJcavala is justly entitled to the 
 pre-eminence. The alcavala is a tax originally oHen, 
 but subsequently of fourteen per cent., charged on all 
 commodities, whether raw or manufactured, as often 
 as they are sold, and rated always according to their 
 selling price. Such a monstrous impost was of itself 
 sufficient to annihilate all industry. The manufac- 
 tures of Castile and the other provinces subjected to 
 its destroying influence were irretrievably ruined. 
 And Ustariz, Ulloa, and Campomanes, Spanish au- 
 thors of the highest credit, agree in opinion with Mr 
 Townsend, that it is to their exemption from this 
 odious tax that the comparatively flourishing state of 
 industry in Catalonia and Valencia is entirely to be 
 ascribed. 
 
 do Besides contending that the effect of taxes is to 
 bntri!" ^'^^^^^ ^ ability in the people to bear them, the 
 s. Government financiers have also contended that the 
 value of the taxes is not really lost to the consumers, 
 but that it is again restored to them by the expendi- 
 ! ture of Government and its agents! And notwith- 
 standing the gross and almost obvious fallacy which 
 this statement involves, it still forms the substance 
 of the answers most commonly made to those who 
 complain of the injurious effects of heavy taxes. To 
 show its absurdity, let us suppose that a farmer is 
 taxed to the extent of L. 50, and let us endeavour 
 to ascertain whether the expenditure of this sum 
 by the public functionary, or individual to whom 
 it has been paid by the tax-gatherer, affords any 
 compensation to the farmer for its loss. If the re- 
 ceiver of the tax does not lay it out on commodities 
 j produced by the farmer, it is obvious it cannot again 
 return to him, and he can derive no advantage what- 
 ever from its expenditure. But let us suppose, which 
 is the most favourable hypothesis for the argument 
 we are combating, that the tax receiver comes to the 
 farmer to buy produce from him, and let us trace the 
 successive steps and effect of the whole transaction. 
 First of all, then, the farmer sold as much corn, or 
 other produce, as was worth L.50; he next paid away 
 these L. 50 to a tax-gatherer ; and the person who 
 received the L.50 from the tax-gatherer now comes to 
 the farmer and offers them back to him, on condition of 
 his receiving an equivalent in corn or other produce. 
 
 This is the way in which the money drawn from the 
 pockets of the public by taxation always reverts to 
 them J and if it enriches any one, it is obvious it 
 must do so by making him pay twice for the same 
 sum of money ! It is to no purpose to endeavour 
 to escape from this reductio ad absurdum, by telling 
 us that industry is always benefited by every exten- 
 sion of the market, and that the consumption of sol- 
 diers and sailors is advantageous, because it increases 
 demand ! To benefit industry a market must be a 
 real, not a nominal one— it must be one in which 
 the demanders have themselves produced the equiva- 
 lents they offer for commodities. It is plainly absurd 
 to suppose that either individuals or states can ever 
 receive the smallest benefit from the demand of those 
 whom they have been previously obliged to furnish 
 with the means of buying. Such, however, is al- 
 ways the case with the demand of those who live on 
 the produce of taxation ; and to keep up useless re- 
 giments and overgrown establishments, on pretence 
 of encouraging and stimulating industry by increas- 
 ing demand, is to the full as inconsequential and ir- 
 rational, as if a shopkeeper were to attempt to in- 
 crease his business and get rich, by furnishing his 
 customers with money to buy his goods. 
 
 The fallacy of the doctrine against which we have 
 been contending has been forcibly illustrated by Dr 
 Hamilton. To argue," says he, « that the money 
 raised in taxes being spent among those who pay it, 
 is, therefore, no loss to them, is no less absurd than 
 the defence of a housebreaker, who, being convicted 
 of carrying off a merchant's money, should plead that 
 he did him no injury, for the money would be return- 
 ed to him in the purchase of the commodities in 
 which he dealt." * 
 
 It is obvious, therefore, that the services rendered 
 by the public functionaries, or by those who receive 
 taxes, form the only compensation given by them to 
 those who pay them. And when neither the num- 
 ber nor the salary of those functionaries is too 
 great, these services are a sufficient return for the 
 sums they receive. But every shilling that is drawn 
 from the people by means of taxes, to be expended 
 in maintaining unnecessary functionaries, or in pay- 
 ing them higher salaries than would suffice to pro- 
 cure the services of others, is absolutely and totally 
 lost to them— as much so as if it were throxvn into 
 the sea or the Jire. 
 
 That security, protection, and good government, 
 which it is the object of taxation to procure, are 
 highly valuable, cannot be disputed. But they are 
 like all other values — the smaller the sacrifice for 
 which they can be obtained, so much the better. 
 Every means by which the expences of Government 
 can be diminished and taxation reduced, is an ad- 
 vantage to the public precisely of the same kind that 
 a diminution in the cost of procuring any useful or 
 agreeable commodity is to an individual. There is 
 really no mystery whatever in the manner in which 
 Government is supported and taxation operates. 
 
 611 
 
 General Ob- 
 servations on 
 Taxation. 
 
 This 
 
 published in 1768 
 
 sophism is equally well exposed m ihQ Lettrei d^un Citoyen sur les Vinstiemes, &c. (p. 113V 
 n 1768. & » vi- 
 
612 
 
 TAXATION. 
 
 General Ob- Government is not a producer: its expenditure is 
 seTvations on jjQ^ defrayed from the produce of its own labour, but 
 TjixatioD. ^^.^^ ^f^^ produce of the labour of its subjects. And 
 hence it is obvious, that the higher the expences of 
 the deeper must they en- 
 
 Erroueous 
 Opinion of 
 Locke and 
 Quesnay 
 
 Taxes on 
 the Land 
 
 Government become, the deeper 
 croach on the income or capital of its subjects, and 
 conversely. In other words, all countries are im- 
 poverished by an increase of taxation, and enrich- 
 ed by its reduction : and M. Say is perfectly cor- 
 rect when he says, that the best system of finance 
 is to sj)e7id little ; and the best of all taxes, the least. 
 Le meilleur de tons les plans de finance est de depenser 
 peu, et le meilleur de tons les impots est le plus petit. 
 
 Various and very discordant opinions have been 
 entertained respecting the ultimate incidence and 
 effect of particular taxes. Mr Locke in England, 
 with resDcctand M. Quesnay and his followers in France and 
 to the Inci- Italy, contended that all taxes, in whatever manner 
 dence of they might be imposed, fell ultimately on the land. 
 
 This erroneous opinion proceeded from their sup- 
 posing the industry employed in the cultivation of 
 the land to be the only really productive species of 
 industry ; whereas it is in no respect more produc- 
 tive than the rest. The truth is, that every burden, 
 directly or indirectly, affecting those engaged in the 
 production of any class of commodities, falls ulti- 
 mately on its consumers. A tax on hats, for ex- 
 ample, must raise the price of hats, as a tax upon 
 leather must raise the price of shoes; for, if this 
 were not the case, the profits of the hatter and shoe- 
 maker would be reduced below the general level; 
 and as there can be no reason why they should be 
 satisfied with a lower rate of profits than their neigh- 
 bours, they would begin to withdraw their capital 
 from such losing businesses, and would continue to 
 do so until the diminution of the supply of their 
 particular commodities had raised their prices to 
 their proper height, or to such a height as would 
 yield them the average profits of stock exclusive of 
 the tax. There are natural limits, however, to the 
 extent to which taxes on commodities can be car- 
 ried ; and their effects are widely different according 
 as they are laid on commodities required for the 
 consumption of the labouring class, or on those 
 which are exclusively consumed by the higher 
 classes. But before proceeding to examine the ef- 
 fects of particular taxes, we shall make a few ob- 
 servations on the following maxims laid down by 
 Dr Smith with regard to all taxes, and which are 
 drawn up with singular judgment and comprehen- 
 sion, viz : — 
 
 First maxim. " The subjects of every state ought 
 to contribute towards the support of the government, 
 as nearly as possible, in proportion to their respec- 
 tive abilities ; that is, in proportion to the revenue 
 which they respectively enjoy under the protection 
 of the state. The expence of Government to the in- 
 dividuals of a great nation is like the expence of 
 management to the joint tenants of a great estate. 
 In the observation or neglect of this maxim consists 
 what is called the equality or inequality of tax- 
 ation." 
 
 Second, " The tax which each individual is bound 
 to pay ought to be certain, and not arbitrary. The 
 time of payment, the manner of payment, the quan- 
 
 Dr Smith's 
 Maxims. 
 
 iity to be paid, ought all to be clear and plain to the General 
 contributor and to every other person. When it is 
 otherwise, every person subject to the tax is put, 
 more or less, in the power of the tax-gatherer, who 
 can either aggravate the tax upon any obnoxious 
 contributor, or extort, by the terror of such aggra- 
 vation, some present or perquisite to himself. The 
 uncertainty of taxation encourages the insolence and 
 favours the corruption of an order of men who are 
 naturally unpopular, even where they are neither in- 
 solent nor corrupt. The certainty of what each in- 
 dividual ought to pay is, in taxation, of so great im- 
 portance, that a very considerable degree of inequa- 
 lity, it appears, I believe, from the experience of all 
 nations, is not near so great an evil as a very small 
 degree of uncertainty." 
 
 Third, " Every tax ought to be levied at the time 
 and in the manner in which it is most likely to be 
 convenient for the contributor to pay it. A tax 
 upon the rent of land, or of houses, payable at the 
 same term at which rents are usually paid, is levied 
 at the time when it is most likely to be convenient 
 for the contributor to pay, or when he is most likely 
 to have wherewithal to pay. Taxes upon such con- 
 sumable goods as are articles of luxury are all finally 
 paid by the consumer, and generally in a manner 
 that is very convenient for him. He buys them by 
 little and little, as he has occasion to buy the goods ; 
 and as he is at liberty, too, either to buy or not to buy 
 as he pleases, it must be his own fault if he ever suffers 
 any considerable inconveniency from such taxes." 
 
 Fourth, " Every tax ought to be so contrived as 
 both to take out and to keep out of the pockets of 
 the people as little as possible, over and above what 
 it brings into the public treasury of the state." — 
 (iVeulth of Nations, 111. p. 255.) 
 
 A system of taxation maybe pronounced to be either Frenc 
 good or bad, according as it approaches to or recedes Taxai 
 from these maxims. For example, the great defect ^"^^ 
 in the system of taxation in France and Spain under ^irst 
 the old regime, consisted not so much in its magni- Maxini 
 tude, or in the oppressive manner in which it was 
 collected, as in its inequality. Instead of all the citi- 
 zens contributing to supply the wants of the state 
 in proportion to their respective abilities, those 
 who had the largest fortunes, and who, consequent- 
 ly, derived the greatest advantage from the securi- 
 ty and protection afforded by Government, were en- 
 tirely relieved from the burden of direct taxation. 
 The nobility and clergy, at the same time that they 
 engrossed every situation of power and emolument 
 to themselves, were, as far as possible, exempted 
 from contributing any thing to the support of Go- 
 vernment. And it is now no longer a question that 
 the disgust occasioned by this inequality of taxation, 
 the impatience of the feudal privileges of the nobili- 
 ty, and the desire of equal rights, were the leading 
 causes of those revolutions which have made so much 
 havoc amongst the ancient institutions of the Conti- 
 nent. 
 
 The system of taxation generally established inTaxat 
 
 Eastern countries has the defect of not correspond- ^^^'^^l 
 ing with the second maxim laid down by Dr Smith, jncons 
 The amount of the contribution is fluctuating and with tl 
 arbitrary, not fixed and certain. In despotic coun- Secon 
 
TAXATION. 
 
 613 
 
 >tion 
 
 il Ob- tries, al! the agents of Government are despots in their 
 ons on Q^jj peculiar sphere ; and although the sum demanded 
 by the Sultan should be defined and ascertained, 
 there are no limits to the extortion and rapacity of 
 his agents. An individual who has paid the tax im- 
 posed by the Sultan has no guarantee against being 
 called upon to pay three or four times as much to 
 tJie Pacha of the province. The security of proper- 
 ty is thus completely subverted ; and the arbitrary 
 nature of the public burdens is entirely destructive 
 of that spirit of industry which might have supported 
 and extended itself under a far greater weight of 
 ' equable and well defined taxes.* 
 ihous- The establishment of the warehousing system, or 
 lyst.m the granting of liberty to the merchant, on payment 
 B with (jf ^ moderate rent, to deposit his imported goods in 
 h^'^ public warehouses, under the King's lock and his own, 
 I without his being obliged to pay the duties until he 
 finds it convenient to withdraw them, has powerfully 
 contributed to make a large branch of our taxation 
 correspond very closely to the third maxim laid 
 down by Dr Smith ; or to cause a large class of du- 
 ties to be levied at the time and in the manner which 
 is most convenient for the contributor to pay them. 
 Previously to the act of the 43d of George III., es- 
 tablishing the warehousing system, the duties on all 
 goods imported, and which amount to a very large 
 proportion of the public revenue, had either to 
 be paid at the moment of their importation, or a 
 bond, with sufficient security for their future pay- 
 ment, had to be given to the revenue officers. The 
 hardship and inconvenience of such a system is ob- 
 vious. Sureties were very difficult to be obtained, 
 and the merchant, in order to raise funds to pay 
 the duties, was frequently reduced to the ruinous 
 necessity of selling his goods immediately on their 
 arrival, at a time when perhaps the market was al- 
 ready glutted. Neither was this the only injury en- 
 tailed on the country by this system ; for the duties 
 having to be paid all at once, and not by degrees, as 
 the goods were sold for consumption, their price 
 was raised by the amount of the profit on the capital 
 advanced in payment of the duties ; competition, too, 
 was diminished in consequence of the greater command 
 of funds required to carry on trade under such dis- 
 advantages; and a few rich individuals were thus, in 
 a great measure, enabled to monopolize the business 
 of importing those commodities on which heavy du- 
 ties were payable. The system had, besides, an ob- 
 vious tendency to discourage the carrying trade of 
 the country, and to endanger the security of the re- 
 venue. For the necessity of paying import duties 
 even on those commodities which were destined for 
 re-exportation, deprived us of all chance of ever be- 
 coming considerable as an entrepot; by preventing the 
 importation of almost all foreign commodities, except 
 those colonial products of which we had a monopoly, 
 that were not likely to be speedily required for home 
 consumption ; at the same time that the difficulties 
 attending the granting of a really equivalent draw- 
 
 back to the exporters of such as had paid the duty, General Ob- 
 
 opened a door for the commission of every species 
 
 of fraud. Jaxation. 
 
 Sir Robert Walpole appears to have had a very gj^'j^^''^^ 
 clear conception of the injurious consequences ofpole's Ex- * 
 this system ; and it was the object of the fa-cise Scheme, 
 mous Excise Scheme, proposed by him in 1733, to 
 allow the importers of tobacco and wine to deposit 
 them in public warehouses, and to relieve them from 
 the necessity of paying the duties chargeable on such 
 commodities until they chose to withdraw them for 
 home consumption. The celebrity of this scheme, 
 and the misconceptions that have been so very gene- 
 rally entertained respecting it, incline us to think 
 that we shall only be gratifying our readers by quot- 
 ing the following passages from the speech made by- 
 Sir Robert on submitting his plan to the consideration 
 of the House of Commons. 
 
 "The duties now payable upon tobacco, on importa- 
 tion," said Sir Robert, amount to 6d. and one-third 
 part of a penny per pound weight ; all which must be 
 paid down in ready money upon importation, with the 
 allowance of ten per cent, upon prompt payment ; 
 or otherwise there must be bonds given, with suffi- 
 cient sureties, for the payment thereof; which is 
 often a great loss to the public, and is always a 
 great inconvenience to the merchant importer. 
 Whereas, by what I am to propose, the whole duties 
 to be paid for the future will amount to no more 
 than 4-d. and three farthings per pound weight ; a7id 
 this duty not to he paid till the tobacco comes to be 
 sold for home consumption. So that, if' the mer- 
 chant exports his tobacco, he will be quite free from 
 all payment of duty, or giving bond therefor, or 
 finding out proper sureties for joining in such bond: 
 he will have nothing to do but unload his tobacco 
 on board a ship for exportation, without being at the 
 trouble to attend for having his bonds cancelled, or 
 for taking out debentures for the drawbacks ; all 
 wBich, I conceive, must be a great ease to the fair 
 trader ; and to every such trader, the preventing of 
 frauds must be a great advantage, because it will 
 put all the tobacco traders in Britain upon the same 
 footing ; which is but just and equal, and what 
 ought certainly to be accomplished, if it be possible. 
 
 '* Now, in order to make this ease effectual to 
 the fair trader, and to contribute to his advantage 
 by preventing as much as possible any frauds in 
 time to come, I propose, as I have said, to join the 
 laws of excise to those of the customs, and to leave 
 the one penny, or rather three farthings, per pound, 
 called the further subsidy, to be still charged at the 
 custom-house upon the importation of any tobacco ; 
 which three farthings shall be payable to his Ma- 
 jesty's civil list as heretofore. And I propose, that 
 all tobacco, for the future, after being weighed at 
 the custom-house, and charged with the said three 
 farthings per pound, shall be lodged in a warehouse 
 or warehouses, to be appointed by the commis- 
 sioners of the excise for that purpose, of which 
 
 * For an excellent account of the effects of the arbitrary nature of Eastern taxation, see Volney, Voyage 
 en Syrie, Tom. II. cap. 33, and cap. 37. 
 
 VOL. VI. PART II. 4 I 
 
614 
 
 TAXATION. 
 
 General Ob- warehouse the merchant importer shall have one 
 servations on Jq^Ij ^^id key, and the warehouse-keeper to be ap- 
 Taxation. p^j^jj-gd i\]q said commissioners shall have an- 
 other, in order that the tobacco may lie safe in that 
 warehouse till the merchant finds a market for it, 
 either for exportation or home-consumption. And 
 if his market be for exportation, he may apply to 
 his warehouse-keeper, and take out as much for that 
 •purpose as he has occasion for, which, when weighed 
 at the custom-house, shall be discharged of the three 
 farthings per pound with which it was charged upon 
 importation ; so that the merchant may then export 
 it without any farther trouble. But if his market be 
 for home-consumption, that he shall then pay the 
 three farthings charged upon it at the custom-house 
 upon importation; and that thert, upon calling his 
 warehouse-keeper, he may deliver it to the buyer, 
 on paying an inland duty of 4d. per pound weight 
 to the proper officer appointed to i-eceive the 
 same." 
 
 Sir Robert concluded his speech by saying, " I 
 look upon this as a most innocent scheme ; i'. can be 
 hurtful to none but smugglers and unfair traders. I 
 am certain it will be of great benefit to the revenue, 
 and will tend to make London a free port, and, 
 
 BY CONSEQUENCE, THE MARKET OF THE WORLD. 
 
 If I had thought otherwise of it, I should never have 
 ventured to propose it in this place." * 
 
 Nothing can be more clear and explicit than this 
 statement; and no doubt can now remain in the 
 rnind of any one, that the adoption of the scheme 
 would have been of the greatest advantage to the 
 commerce and revenue of the country. But such and 
 60 powerful was the delusion generated in the public 
 mind with respect to it, that its proposal had well nigh 
 •caused a rebellion. Most of the merchants of the 
 day had availed themselves of the facilities which the 
 existing system afforded of defrauding the revenue ; 
 and they dexterously endeavoured to thwart the suc- 
 cess of a scheme which would have given a seriSus 
 check to such practices, by making the public be- 
 lieve that it would be fatal to the commercial pro- 
 sperity of the country. The efforts of the mer- 
 chants were powerfully assisted by the spirit of 
 party, which then ran very high. The political 
 opponents of the ministry, anxious for an oppor- 
 tunity to prejudice them in the public estimation, 
 contended that the scheme was only the first step 
 towards the introduction of such an universal sys- 
 tem of excise, as would inevitably prove alike sub- 
 versive of the comfort and liberty of the subject! 
 In consequence of these artful misrepresentations, 
 the most violent clamours were everywhere excited 
 against the scheme. On one occasion the minister 
 narrowly escaped falling a sacrifice to the ungo- 
 vernable fury of the mob, which beset all the ave- 
 nues to the House of Commons : and after many 
 violent and lengthened debates, the scheme was ul- 
 timately abandoned. 
 
 The disadvantages of the old plan, and the benefits Gencrj 
 to be derived from the establishment of the warehous- 
 ing system, were very clearly and forcibly stated by 
 Dean Tucker in his Essay on the Comparative Advan- 
 tages and Disadvantages oj Great Britain and France 
 •with respect to Trade ; published in 1750. But so 
 powerful was the impression made by the violent 
 opposition to Sir Robert Walpole's scheme, and 
 such is the force of habit and ignorant prejudice, 
 that it was not until 1803 that this obvious and 
 signal improvement — the greatest, perhaps, that has 
 been made in the financial and commercial system 
 of the country — was adopted. 
 
 The comparative facility and cheapness with Expo] 
 which taxes can be collected, ought to be particu- ^o*'^'' 
 larly attended to in their imposition. Every tax ^^^^ 
 should, as Dr Smith has stated in his fourth maxim, 
 be contrived so as to take out, and keep out, of the 
 pockets of the people as little as possible above 
 what it puts into the public treasury. The princi- 
 ple of this maxim is obvious — it is the nett produce 
 of taxation, or the sum which it yields after the 
 expences of collection are deducted, that is alone 
 applicable to national purposes ; and to impose taxes 
 which it costs a great deal to collect, is to impose a 
 heavy burden on the people for the sake of a small 
 advantage to Government. It is stated by Sully, in 
 his Memoirs, as an unquestionable fact, that the 
 expence of collecting a nett revenue of thirty mil- 
 lions of livres in France in 1598, cost the enormous 
 sum of 120 millions ; or, in other words, that of a 
 sum of 150 millions taken from the people by means 
 of taxation, only thirty millions found their way into 
 the coffers of the treasury ! Under the administration 
 of M. Necker, a revenue of about 557 millions of 
 livres was collected at an expence of 58 millions ; 
 being about 10| per cent. 
 
 The expence of collecting the public revenue of 
 Great Britain, for the year ended the 5th January 
 1822, amounted to L. 6, 6s. 7d. per cent, on the 
 nett produce ; while in Ireland its expence for the 
 same year amounted to L. 22, 2s. gd. per cent, or to 
 more than three times as much as in England. A 
 good deal of this difference of expence must be as- 
 cribed to the different situation of the two coun- 
 tries ; but a good deal is also owing to the more de- 
 fective system of taxation established in Ireland, and 
 to the greater corruption of the officers. The dif- 
 ference in the cost of collecting the Post-office re- 
 venue of the two countries is the most extraordi- 
 nary. In Britain the nett produce for the year 
 ended 5th January 1822 was collected at an expence 
 of L. 38, 18s. lOd. per cent.; while in Ireland it 
 . cost L.148, 4s. lOA. per cent.! The adoption of the 
 plans and suggestions of the commissioners appoint- 
 ed to inquire into the state of Irish revenue, will 
 undoubtedly be productive of a great saving in the 
 expence of its collection. 
 
 Taxes may be collected by officers employed by 
 
 * Tindal's Continuation of Rap'm, VIII. p. 154, ed. 1769; Coxe's Sir R. Walpole, I. p. 372, 4to ed. 
 Had the resolutions with respect to tobacco been carried, those regarding wine, which were to have been 
 exactly similar, would have been proposed. 10 
 
TAXATION. 
 
 615 
 
 ral Ob- Government to receive them directly from the con- 
 ^°"^°"tributors ; or Government may let them in farm to 
 ^ mdividuals for a rent certam, givmg to such indivi- 
 duals or their servants the power of collecting them, 
 g The question. Which of these modes of collection 
 should be adopted ? depends on a variety of circum- 
 stances, and does not admit of any general solution. 
 Where a tax is very well defined, and its collec- 
 tion may be effected without requiring any very mi- 
 nute inspection of the private concerns of individuals, 
 it may be almost uniformly farmed with advantage. 
 In such a case the proceedings of the farmers could 
 not excite the prejudices of the contributors ; and 
 the greater skill and economy with which all busi- 
 nesses carried on by individuals on their own ac- 
 count are conducted, would enable the farmers to 
 pay, exclusive of the profits made by them, a larger 
 sum to Government on account of the tax, than it 
 would have any chance of receiving from its own 
 agents. But if a tax were not very well defined, or 
 if it required a close examination of the affairs of in- 
 dividuals to assess it fairly, there cannot, we think, 
 be a doubt that it ought to be directly collected by 
 the servants of Government. It is indeed extremely 
 probable that such a tax would be more productive 
 were it farmed; but this, though an important one, 
 is not the only consideration to be attended to. All 
 taxes which occasion any investigation into the pri- 
 vate concerns of individuals are necessarily unpopu- 
 lar ; and it is obvious that this unpopularity must be 
 immeasurably greater when these investigations are 
 conducted by those who have a direct personal inte- 
 rest in prosecuting them with the greatest strictness, 
 than when they are conducted by the agents of Go- 
 vernment — by persons who, in most cases, derive 
 none, and in all cases only a very slender benefit from 
 the increased productiveness of the tax. The mass 
 of the people virould most assuredly ascribe much of 
 the hardship of such taxes to the vigilance and keen- 
 ness of the farmers; and would be disposed to be- 
 lieve that a considerable portion of their produce 
 went into their pockets, and that they were not only 
 assessed to defray the charges of the State, but to 
 add to the fortunes of a class of persons who are 
 universally objects of popular indignation. We ad- 
 mit that these suspicions and complaints are in most 
 cases totally destitute of foundation. The farmers 
 can only enforce payment of a tax according to the 
 provisions in the law imposing it; and if its pres- 
 sure is either unequal or severe, or the mode of 
 its collection vexatious and troublesome, it is plain 
 the fault lies w^ith those who imposed it, and not 
 with the farmers. But however groundless the 
 public prejudice against the farmers of the revenue 
 may be supposed to be, it is one which will al- 
 ways exist, and ought to be respected. Perhaps 
 we overrate its influence ; but really we have very 
 little doubt that, had an income-tax of 5 or 6 per 
 cent., let in farm, been established in the place 
 of the late income-tax of 10 per cent,, it would 
 have been generally considered as the most oppres- 
 sive and vexatious of the two ! Although, therefore, 
 we cannot concur with Dr Smith, in his opinion, 
 that all taxes ought to be collected by the officers 
 of Government (III. p. 386), neither can we concur 
 
 with Mr Benthara, who has endeavoured to prove General Ob- 
 that farming is in every case the preferable mode of jax^'^on*"" 
 collection. {Tkeorie des Peines et des Recompenses, 
 Tome II. p. 203.) We certainly think that all taxes 
 laid on such articles as stamped paper, houses, win- 
 dows, horses^ carriages, &c., and perhaps also the du- 
 ties on exportation and importation, might be very ad- 
 vantageously collected by letting them to farmers; but 
 any attempt to farm taxes on income, or taxes which 
 require an examination of and interference with pri- 
 vate affairs, would excite the most violent clamour and 
 irritation, and could not be otherwise than pernicious. 
 
 The corvee system, or the compelling of indivi- Corvees. 
 duals to execute public works by requisitions of 
 labour, is one of the worst species of taxation. 
 Those who get no pay for their labour, and who are 
 made to work against their will, waste their time 
 and industry : and there is, besides, a very great 
 loss incurred by the interruption of the regular pur- 
 suits of the labourers. When Turgot entered on 
 his administration, he sent a circular letter to the 
 Road-surveyors and Engineers of the different pro- 
 vinces of France, ordering them to transmit -esti- 
 mates, framed on the most liberal scale, of the sums 
 of money for which the usual repairs might be 
 made on the old roads, and the ordinary number of 
 new ones constructed. The aggregate of the dif- 
 ferent estimates showed that a money contribution 
 of about ten millions of livres a-year would suffice 
 for the repair and construction of all the roads in 
 the kingdom ; whereas Turgot showed, that the exe- 
 cution of these repairs and constructions by contri- 
 butions of forced labour, or corvees, cost not less 
 than forty millions, or four times as much as the 
 other! (Say, Trait e d' Economie Politique, II. p. S45.) 
 
 The method of repairing roads, by contributions 
 of labour instead of money, was at one time general 
 throughout Europe, and is still acted on in many 
 countries. In Scotland the agricultural population 
 of the country were compelled, by an act passed in 
 1069, to work six days each year at the ^public 
 roads. This contribution was denominated statute- 
 labour, and was commuted, in the early part of the 
 reign of his late Majesty, for a tax on land, rated 
 according to its valuation in the cess-books. This 
 commutation has been productive of the greatest 
 advantage. Previously to its taking place, our 
 roads were, perhaps, the very worst, and they 
 have since become among the very best in Eu- 
 rope. 
 
 Part II. — Direct Taxes. 
 
 It is impossible, for the reasons we have stated In Direct 
 the previous section, to regard such taxes as really 
 fall on capital as a permanent source of public in- 
 come. Capital consists of that portion of the pro- 
 duce of industry which has been saved from imme- 
 diate consumption, and which is applied partly to 
 maintain those who are engaged in the great work of 
 production, and partly to facilitate their labours, It 
 is by its amount that the amount of the productive 
 industry of every country must always be regulated. 
 And such being the case, it is plain that whatever 
 has a tendency to diminish capital, or to convert it 
 into revenue, must, bj^ diminishing the means of em- 
 
616 
 
 TAXATION. 
 
 Taxes on ploying and facilitating labour, and consequently 
 the annual produce of the country, be a most fruit- 
 '^'^"v"^ ful source of pauperism and misery. This, however, 
 would be the precise effect of taxes on capital ; and 
 it is for this reason that they ought always to be re- 
 garded in the light cf an extraordinary resource, 
 and ought never to be imposed except in cases 
 of very urgent necessity. The misapplication and 
 destruction of the means of production which they 
 infallibly occasion, would not only defeat every at- 
 tempt to render them permanent, but would, by im- 
 poverishing and exhausting the country, render all 
 other taxes comparatively unproductive. 
 
 It is not from capital, therefore, but from revenue, 
 that all permanent taxes ought to be derived. And 
 the revenue of every individual in every country, 
 who does not subsist on the produce of taxation, be- 
 ing derived either from rent, profit, or wages, it is 
 plain that all taxes which do not fall on capital must, 
 howsoever imposed, ultimately fall on one or other 
 of these three sources. Without further preface, 
 therefore, we shall now proceed to trace the ultimate 
 incidence and effect of such taxes as are laid directly 
 on rent, profit, and wages ; and when we have as- 
 certained the way in which they operate, it will be 
 comparatively easy to investigate the effect of those 
 direct taxes which are meant to fall equally on all the 
 various sources of income. 
 
 Sect. I. — Taxes on Rent. 
 Taxes on !• Taxes on the Rent of Laiid.-^A tax on the 
 Rent. rent of land, properly so called, or on the sum 
 paid by a tenant to a landlord for the use of the wa- 
 tiiral and inherent powers of the soil, would fall 
 wholly on the landlord. Rent is entirely a conse- 
 quence of the decreasing productiveness of the capi- 
 tal and industry successively applied to the land. 
 If capital could have been always applied to the best 
 soils with equal advantage, it is plain no one would 
 ever have thought of resorting to those of an inferior 
 degree of fertility, and no such thing as rent would 
 ever have been heard of. But this is not the case. 
 The best lands in every improving country are speedi- 
 ly exhausted ; and it is always found to be more ad- 
 vantageous to lay out capital on the inferior soils, 
 which require a greater expenditure to make them 
 yield the same supplies, than to continue forcing the 
 best lands. Suppose, to illustrate the effect of this 
 constantly operating principle, that a series of soils 
 of various degrees of fertility are in cultivation, and 
 • that they respectively yield, in return for the same 
 expenditure of capital, 100, 90, 80, 70, 60, &c. 
 quarters, it is plain, as there cannot be two prices of 
 the same article, at the same time and in the same 
 market ; that, when two or more of these soils are 
 cultivated, their produce must all sell for the same 
 price ; and it is farther plain, that this price niust be 
 such as will sufficiently remunerate the cultivators 
 of the worst soil, for otherwise they would not con- 
 tinue to employ their capital in its cultivation. But 
 
 the price which will remunerate the cultivators of Taxe 
 the worst land, will more than remunerate the cul- 
 tivators of the more fertile lands, precisely in pro- ^ 
 portion to the greater quantity of produce obtained 
 from them. Now, as there cannot be tvoo rates of 
 profit in the same country, any more than two prices, 
 this excess of produce necessarily constitutes rent. 
 Thus, v/henjive qualities of land are cultivated, the 
 rent of the first quality would be 40 quarters ; for 
 such is the difference between its produce (lOO), 
 and the produce (60) of the fifth and last quality of 
 land cultivated. In like manner, the rent of the 
 second quality would be 30 quarters, or 90 — 60 ; the 
 rent of the third 9,0 quarters, or 80 — 60 ; and the rent 
 o( the fourth 10 quarters, or 70 — 60. But it is obvi- 
 ous no rent would be paid by the cultivators of the 
 soil of the ffth quality, and which was last taken in- 
 to cultivation ; nor is it really possible to conceive 
 a case in which rent could enter, for any consider- 
 able period, into the cost of that portion of the pro- j| 
 duce of a country which is raised by the agency of 
 the capital last applied to the soil, whether it be laid 
 out on new land or in the improvement of the old. i 
 For, if it did, it would be a proof that agriculture ' 
 was the best of all businesses, and, in consequence, 
 capital would be immediately attracted to the land, 
 and would most certainly continue flowing in that 
 direction until the produce raised by the portions j 
 last employed in cultivation would only yield the j 
 common and ordinary rate of profit. It may, there- 
 fore, be laid down as a general principle, and one ; 
 from which there are really no exceptions; that, | 
 wherever industry is free, raw produce is alrvays sold \ 
 at its necessary price — that is, at the price which is \ 
 just sufficient to yield the common and average rate | 
 of profit, and no more, to the producers of that por- j 
 tion of the necessary or required supply which is j 
 raised in the most unfavourable circumstances, or by 
 means of the capital last laid out on the soil.* 
 
 It results, from this principle, that a tax on rent A Tax 
 would have to be entirely defrayed by the landlords. 
 Such a tax would neither raise the price of raw pro- 
 duce, nor operate as a discouragement to cultiva- not rai 
 tion ; for, as we have just seen, that that portion of Prices 
 raw produce which regulates the price of all the rest would 
 pays no rent, it is impossible it could be affected by tj^^^j^j 
 its imposition. In fact, all sorts of farm produce lords, 
 would continue at precisely the same price after the 
 tax had been laid on as before, and there would be 
 just the same motives to extend cultivation. In so 
 far, therefore, as the income of the landlords really 
 consists of rent, it might be entirely taken from 
 them by means of direct taxes, without its being 
 possible for them to elude their pressure, and with- 
 out their occasioning any injury to the other classes 
 of the community. This arises from the circum- 
 stance of the landlords not being producers, but on- 
 ly receivers of income. Rent is altogether extrinsic 
 to the cost of production. It really consists of the 
 excess, or of the value of the excess, of the produce 
 
 * For a further account of the origin and nature of rent, see the Article Political Economy, Part III. 
 Sect- 3, in this Supplement. 
 
TAXATION. 
 
 617 
 
 which 
 its of 
 est of 
 [tal, _ 
 Id raise 
 ^s, and 
 on the 
 Burner. 
 
 xeson obtained from the best soils, or by the agency of the 
 lent, capital first laid out on the land, over that which is 
 obtained from the worst soils under tillage, or by 
 the agency of the capital last laid out on the land. 
 That the consumers must pay the value of this excess 
 to some one or other is certain ; for such payment 
 is one of the absolutely indispensable conditions to 
 their obtaining the necessary supplies of raw pro- 
 duce, and must be made the moment that the in- 
 crease of population has compelled recourse to be 
 had to inferior soils. But it is plainly of no conse- 
 quence whatever to them whether they have to 
 pay it to the proprietors of the land, or to a tax- 
 gatherer. 
 
 It must be observed, however, that a tax on rent, 
 ^or^tL in the common acceptation of the word, would not 
 i gross have quite the same effect that we have now stated, 
 of a and would not wholly fall on the landlord. By rent 
 is commonly meant the whole sum paid by a tenant 
 to a landlord, as well for the use of the buildmgs, 
 fences, &c. on a farm, as for the use of the natural 
 and inherent powers of the soil. But the sum paid 
 by a tenant for buildings and improvements is not 
 really rent, but interest on the capital expended on 
 them. To whatever extent, therefore, the gross or 
 nominal rent of a farm is made up of interest on capi- 
 tal, to the same extent would a tax on it operate to 
 raise the price of its produce. Suppose, for exam- 
 ple, that the gross rent of a farm is L.500, and that 
 L.250 are interest of capital laid out on its improve- 
 ment. If a tax of 10 per cenL were laid on rent, on- 
 ly L.25 would have to be permanent]y paid by the 
 landlord. The other L.25 might be paid by him for 
 a short period ; but, as it would form a deduction 
 from profits, Capital would, in consequence, be with- 
 drawn from the soil until the diminished supply of 
 produce had raised prices to their proper level- 
 that is, to such a level as would yield the common 
 and ordinary rate of profit on the capital still em- 
 ployed in cultivation. This part of a tax on gross 
 i-ent would not, therefore, fall on the landlord, or 
 the farmer, but on the consumer of raw produce. 
 , The circumstance of rent unavoidably arising m 
 
 WfSllthe progress of society, inclines us to think that it 
 Tgo would be good policy for the governments of coun- 
 imentre- tries such as the United States, who are possessed o{ 
 ingtoit-j jj.^j.jg of fertile and unappropriated land, to 
 retain the property of this land in their own hands, 
 and to let it by public auction, in such portions, and 
 for such a number of years, as might be deemed ad- 
 visable. Such a system might perhaps discourage 
 some of those expensive and ostentatious undertak- 
 ings entered into by individuals who have the abso- 
 lute property of the lands which they occupy ; but 
 there are no grounds whatever for thinking that it 
 tvould contribute in the smallest degree to prevent 
 any of those improvements which are really condu- 
 cive to the raising of raw produce. The leases 
 might be made of such a length as to encourage 
 every necessary outlay of capital ; and the tenants 
 who had the State for their landlord would certainly 
 run a less risk than those who occupy the estates of 
 individuals of being disturbed in their possession, or 
 of being harassed by vexatious prosecutions. But 
 
 id. 
 
 if no real disadvantage would arise from the adop- 
 tion of this system, it would be productive of many 
 very great advantages. According as population 
 increased, and as the expences of Government were 
 necessarily augmented, an increasing revenue would 
 be provided to meet them — a revenue, too, it must 
 be recollected — raised v^ithout hardship to any in- 
 dividual whatever — and which, even though the Go- 
 vernment should not take it, would notwithstanding 
 exist, and have to be paid by the consumers of raw 
 produce. " Under such a system the owners of ca- 
 pital would enjoy its profits ; the class of labourers 
 would enjoy their wages, without any deduction 
 whatsoever ; and every man would employ his capi- 
 tal in the way which was really most advantageous, 
 without receiving any inducement, by the mischie- 
 vous operation of a tax, to remove it from a channel 
 in which it was more, to one in which it would be 
 less productive to the nation." — (Mill's Elements of 
 Political Economy, p. 199-) 
 
 But after land has been appropriated and convert- 
 ed into private property, it would certainly be un- 
 just to lay the burden of supporting the State exclu- 
 sively on the landlords. Mr Mill is, however, of 
 opinion, that this exemption from exclusive taxation 
 ought only to extend to the present rent, and that 
 the State has a just right to enact that all future in- 
 crease of rent shall be applied to its use. We can- 
 not assent to this proposition. When an absolute 
 right of property has once been established in land, 
 the owners seem to us to be fairly entitled not only 
 to all the advantages now derivable from it, but to 
 all those of which it may hereafter be made produc- 
 tive. Mr Mill contends, that inasmuch as Govern- 
 ment may, by their own act, and without any effort 
 on the part of the landlords, raise rent, there can be 
 no good reason why they should not appropriate to 
 themselves all the excess they have created. But if 
 we establish this principle in one instance, it is diffi- 
 cult to see why it should not be established in 
 others. It is possible for the Government, by repeal- 
 ing the corn laws, and admitting the free importation 
 of raw produce, to raise the profits of stock. But 
 no one would, therefore, contend, that Government 
 would be justified in laying a tax on profits equiva- 
 lent to the rise that had thus been occasioned ; and 
 if not, why should they be justified in laying an ex- 
 clusive tax on rent when it rises in consequence of 
 any measure of theirs ? All classes should be made 
 to contribute, in the same proportion to their means, 
 to the support of the State. But it would certainly 
 be a departure from this just principle to tax those 
 who have acquired a properly in land to a greater 
 extent than others, or to give to the State all the ad- 
 vantages they would otherwise have derived from the 
 growing prosperity and improvement of the country. 
 
 The greater part of the revenues of the principal 
 monarchies of Asia seems, in all ages, to have been 
 derived from the soil. " The land has been held by 
 the immediate cultivators, generally in small por- 
 tions, with a perpetual and transferable title ; but 
 under an obligation of paying, annually, the govern- 
 ment demand, which might be increased at the plea- 
 sure of the sovereign, and seldom amounted to less 
 
618 
 
 TAXATION. 
 
 Taxes on than a full rent." (Mill's Elements of Political Ecorio- 
 my, p. 199.) * 
 
 The scuiages on knights' fees, the assessment of 
 in England, hydage on other lands, and the subsidies chargeable 
 on the proprietors of estates, so often referred to in 
 the history of England, were, to all intents and 
 purposes, land-taxes. (Blackstone, I. p. 312.) But 
 the existing land-tax has supplanted all those more 
 ancient assessments. This tax was first imposed 
 in 1693; a new valuation of all the lands in the 
 kingdom having been made in the previous year. 
 According to this valuation, it was found that a tax 
 of Is. on the pound of the ascertained rental, afford- 
 ed an annual clear revenue of L. 500, 000. No 
 change has ever been made in the valuation of 1692. 
 The tax, which was at first an annual one, has been 
 generally as high as 4s. a pound of the valued rent : 
 In 1798, it was made perpetual at that rate, leave 
 being, at the same time, given to the proprietors to 
 redeem it. 
 
 The land-tax was very unequal at its first imposi- 
 tion. For such proprietors as were friendly to the 
 Revolutionary establishment, generally returned their 
 estates at a much higher value than the proprietors 
 who were attached to the Stuarts. The different 
 degrees of improvement that have since taken place 
 in the various districts of the country, have, in some 
 instances, tended to correct the inequalities in the 
 original imposition of the land-tax, and, in others, to 
 increase them. 
 
 Taxes on 2. Taxes on the Rent of Houses^ — The principal 
 Hou^^"'*^ part of the rent of houses generally consists of the 
 ouses. profits of the capital laid out in their construction, or, 
 as it is more commonly termed, of building rent, a 
 comparatively small part only being ground rent, or 
 rent payable for the soil on which they are erected. 
 It is evident, therefore, from the principles already 
 established, that, if the supply of houses could be as 
 easily diminished and increased as the supply of raw 
 produce, a tax on their rents would fall entirely on 
 the occupiers and ground landlords, in the proportion 
 that the profits of the capital laid out on them bore 
 to the rent of the land on which they stood. But as 
 the supply of houses is not susceptible of speedy di- 
 minution, the builders would have no means of im- 
 mediately raising rents when a tax was laid on them ; 
 and, unless the capital of the country, and, conse- 
 quently, the population and demand for houses, were 
 rapidly increasing, a considerable number of years 
 would necessarily elapse before they would be able 
 to relieve themselves of the tax. Houses, however, 
 though slowly, are yet certainly perishable; and, as 
 no more of them would be built after they had been 
 taxed, until the increasing demand had raised their 
 rents so as to indemnify the builders for the tax, 
 and to elevate their profits to the common level, 
 there can be no question that, in the end, the tax 
 
 P 
 
 would be thrown wholly on the occupiers and ground Tax© 
 landlords in the proportions already mentioned. -^^^ 
 
 Sect. 11 — Taxes on Profits. 
 
 A tax proportioned to the nett profits derived from Taxes 4 
 the capital employed in every branch of industry Profits, 
 would fall wholly on profits. 
 
 Such a tax would affect all capitalists to precisely An cqui 
 the same extent. When 5 or 10 per cent, was laid on Tax on 
 the profits of the farmer or manufacturer, an equal ^^"^^j^^ 
 5 or 10 /Jer cent, would be laid on the profits of thcaii Ca 
 merchant, the ship-owner, and of all the other em»iststo 
 ployers of capital. It is evident no individual could ^^"'^ ^■ 
 hope to evade the burden of such a tax by changing 
 his business; and it could not, therefore, occasion ^fsgofg 
 any transference of capital from one employment to but woi 
 another. Neither would it occasion any variation in^all wh 
 the supply and demand of commodities, nor in their 
 money price. For, as the tax does not fall on capi- 
 tal, but on profits, the means of producing would 
 not be impaired by its imposition ; the means of pur- 
 chasing possessed by those who live on profits, pre- 
 viously to the imposition of the tax, would indeed 
 be diminished ; but, as the means of purchasing, 
 possessed by the Government and its agents who re- 
 ceive the tax, would be proportionally augmented, 
 the aggregate demand of the society would continue 
 the same. — and hence, as the tax could neither lessen 
 the quantity of capital in the country, nor the power 
 to purchase its produce, it is obvious it could not, 
 supposing the value of money to continue invariable, 
 occasion any variation in the money prices of com- 
 modities. 
 
 The immediate effect of an equal and universal tax 
 on profits would, therefore, be to sink them in the 
 same proportion. And as the power to accumulate 
 capital, and consequently to feed and employ an ad- 
 ditional number of people, must ever be in direct 
 proportion to the rate of profit, it follows that the ten- 
 dency, and, when they are carried to such a height 
 as to prevent them being balanced by increased ex- 
 ertion and economy, the ultimate and necessary ef- 
 fect of all such taxes is, to check the accumulation 
 of capital and the progress of population. 
 
 A tax laid only on the profits of the capital em-A Tax' 
 ployed in a particular business would have a differ- the Piofiij 
 ent effect: it would raise prices, and would not,°^^ P*^ 
 therefore, fall on the capitalists, except in so far ascgp^t^jS 
 they were themselves consumers of their own pro- would rj 
 duce. Suppose, for example, that a tax of 1 0 ;3^r P"ces, ■ 
 cent, is laid exclusively on the profits of the shoe-|f^^ °" 
 maker. The slightest consideration will show that 
 such a tax must make an equivalent addition to the 
 price of shoes ; for, if it did not, the shoemakers 
 would gain less profit than was gained by those en- 
 gaged in other businesses, and they would, in conse- 
 quence, have an immediate inducement to withdraw 
 
 * For a full and excellent account of the taxation of Eastern countries, see the same author's //w/ory of 
 India, Vol. I. chap. Taxes. Some curious and valuable details, with respect to the land-taxes of the 
 ancient Egyptians, may be found in the first volume; liv. i. § 4, of the admirable work of the President De 
 Ooguet, Sur I'Origine des Loix, &c. 
 
TAXATION. 
 
 nual 
 
 kould 
 ^ect 
 
 Kes on from their employment ; nor can there be a question 
 rofits. lY^^i j^hgy ^ould continue so to withdraw, until, by 
 diminishing the supply of shoes, their price had 
 reached such a height as would yield the common 
 and average rate of profits, exclusive of the tax. 
 For the same reason, an exclusive tax on the profits 
 of the hatter, the clothier, the farmer, &c. would 
 make a proportional addition to the price of hats, 
 cloth, and agricultural produce, &c. In these cases the 
 capitalists have the power to raise prices, and conse- 
 quently to throw the burden of the tax on the 
 consumers ; because they have the power to with- 
 draw from those businesses in which profits are tax- 
 ed^ and to employ their capital in those which are 
 not taxed. But, when the profits arising from the 
 capital employed in every different business are 
 equally taxed, the capitalists are deprived of this re- 
 source ; and have no means either of raising prices 
 or of evading the tax. 
 
 It is easy to see, from the principles we have al- 
 jeneral ready established, that a general and equal tax on 
 on Fro- the profits of agricultural and other capital could not 
 occasion any diminution of rent. When the farmers 
 are taxed equally with all other producers, there will 
 obviously be no motive to induce them to withdraw 
 capital from the land, and no variation will take place 
 in the price of corn ; nor, as rent consists in the ex. 
 cess of the produce obtained by the capital first ap- 
 plied to the land over that which is obtained by the 
 capital last applied, will it be affected by such a tax. 
 But if the tax, instead of being a general and equal 
 one, were laid exclusively on the profits of the far- 
 mer, it would really cause an immediate ijicrease of 
 rent. No rent, as we have shown in the preceding 
 
 f section, ever enters into the cost of producing that 
 
 ^rmer portion of the required supply of raw produce rais- 
 ™^ ed by the agency of the capital last laid out on the 
 land. It is plainly impossible, therefore, that its raisers 
 j could indemnify themselves for any burdens laid on 
 them by making an equivalent deduction from rent. 
 And hence, when a tax is laid exclusively on the 
 profits of agricultural capital, the price of raw pro- 
 duce must sustain a corresponding rise ; for in the 
 event of its not rising, the producers of that portion 
 which pays no rent would abandon their business, 
 and the necessary supplies would not be obtained. 
 Inasmuch, however, as the rise of price which is re- 
 quired to remunerate those who raise corn that pays no 
 rent, after a tax is imposed on profits, must be univer- 
 sal, it must raise rent. Thus, on our former sup- 
 position, that five equal capitals applied to soils of va- 
 rious degrees of fertility, respectively yield 100, QO, 
 80, 70, and 60 quarters, their corn rents would be 
 40, 30, 20, and 10 quarters ; and if the price requir- 
 ed to remunerate the cultivators of the and worst 
 quality of land which pays no rent were L. 4 a quar- 
 ter, the monei/ rent of the first quality would be 
 L. 160, of the second L. 120, of the third L. 80, and 
 so on. Suppose, now, that an exclusive tax is laid 
 on the profits of agricultural capital, and that, to re- 
 munerate the cultivators of the worst land, the price 
 rises from L. 4 to L. 4, 10s. a quarter, it is plain the 
 rent of the Jirst quality would be immediately raised 
 to L. 180, the second to L. 135, the third lo L. gO, 
 and so on j being an increase of L. 20 on the rent of 
 
 619 
 
 on 
 
 jlofits o 
 
 the Jrst, of L. 15 on the rent of the second, of L. IQ Taxes on 
 on the third, &c. Profits. 
 
 This is a principle of the highest importance. It'*■■■•^'^^ 
 shows the unfounded nature of the complaints made 
 by the landlords of the injuries Ihei/ suffer from the 
 operation of taxes on agricultural industry: It shows 
 that such taxes as fall equally on agriculture and on 
 other businesses neither affect rents nor prices, and ' 
 cannot, therefore,.be injurious to the landlords: And it 
 further shows that such taxes as fall exclusively 
 on agricultural profits must, by raising the relative 
 value of corn, raise rents, and materially improve 
 their condition ! " That the profits of the farmer," 
 says Mr Ricardo, who was the first to discover and 
 establish this important principle, " only should be 
 taxed, and not the profits of any other capitalist, 
 xvould be highly benrjicial to the landlords. It would, 
 in fact, be a tax on the consumers of raw produce, 
 partly for the benefit of the state, and partly for the 
 benefit of the landlords." {Principles of Political Eco- 
 nomy, 3d edit. p. 241.) 
 
 In estimating the profits of the farmers under the Modeofesti- 
 late income-tax act, it was assumed that in England the 
 they amounted, in all cases, to three-fourths, and pSSr^un'" 
 in Scotland to a half of the rent; and power was der the in-* 
 given to the commissioners to make a new valuation come-Tax 
 of the farm at the end of every seven years during 
 the currency of the lease, and if they found it was 
 then worth a higher rent than was paid by the ten- 
 ant, his income-tax was proportionally augmented. 
 Many complaints were made against this method of 
 assessing the profits of farmers ; and certainly nothing 
 could b^ more arbitrary and fallacious than the as- 
 sumed rule for estimating them. But, notwithstand- 
 ing the general opinion to the contrary, it is not very 
 difficult to discover that the inequalities it occasioned 
 in the collection of the tax were really advantageous 
 to the farmer. The reason is, that while the farmers 
 who occupied rich and well-situated lands, whose 
 rents were comparatively high, were taxed far above 
 their profits, those who occupied poorer lands, the 
 rents of which were comparatively low, were not 
 taxed to the extent of their profits. In these cir- 
 cumstances, the tax had necessarily a two-fold ope- 
 ration : In the first place, its effect was to lower the 
 profits of the capital employed in farming propor- 
 tionally to its pressure on those tenants who occupied 
 the worst lands — for it is by the profits Chat they 
 make that the profits of all other stock whatever 
 must be regulated: And, in the second place, it had 
 the effect of lowering the rent of the superior lands, by 
 burdening it with all the e*cmof tax falling on the pro- 
 fits of those by whom they were occupied, over that 
 which fell on the profits of the occupiers of the inferior 
 lands. Such was the only way in which, as the tax 
 was actually imposed, the indestructible level of pro- 
 fit among the farmers of the various descriptions of 
 land could be preserved. And it is plain, that if the 
 tax had pressed to its full extent on the occupiers of 
 the worst lands in cultivation, it would have made a 
 much greater deduction from the profits of all classes 
 of farmers, at the same time that it would have made 
 no deduction from rent. 
 
 The income-tax fell equally on the profits deriv- 
 able from the other branches of industry as on those 
 
620 
 
 TAXATION. 
 
 Account of 
 the Taille. 
 
 of the farmer : If his profits had been exclusively 
 taxed, the inequalities in the tax would have been 
 corrected, and the burden thrown off his shoulders 
 to those of the consumers, partly by a rise of prices, 
 and partly by a decline of the rents of the best lands. 
 
 The taille, such as it subsisted in France at the 
 epoch of the Revolution, was intended to be a tax on 
 the profits of the farmer. Instead, however, of at- 
 tempting to estimate these profits by the amount of 
 his rent, or by endeavouring to ascertain the value 
 of the produce remaining in his possession after his 
 rent and other outlays had been deducted, they were 
 commonly estimated by the amount of the capital em- 
 ployed by him in cultivation. In consequence of re- 
 sorting to this criterion for estimating profits, the 
 tax had the effect of inducing the farmer to employ 
 the smallest possible quantity of capital, and of de- 
 terring him from making any considerable or expen- 
 sive improvement. The taille was also injurious in 
 another respect ; for, as it did not affect the nobles 
 who farmed their own lands, but fell exclusively on 
 those who rented lands of another, or who possessed 
 lands held by a base tenure, it was considered as a 
 degrading tax, and as a mark of the ignoble, or ra- 
 ther servile condition of those by whom it was paid. 
 All who made any thing by farming were thus reri- 
 dered anxious to withdraw from so degraded a busi- 
 ness J while rich merchants and capitalists were pre- 
 vented from becoming tenants. Not only, there- 
 fore, did the taille hinder the greater part of the ca- 
 pital generated on the land from being laid out on it, 
 but it turned from it all the capital that had been 
 accumulated in other employments ! It is very diffi- 
 cult to suppose that any tax could have been devised 
 better calculated to retain agriculture in a rude and 
 infant state, and to extinguish all emulation and en- 
 terprise among the farmers. And considering the 
 long period to which France was subjected to this 
 tax, our wonder is, not that her agriculture was in a 
 very backward and depressed condition at the Revo- 
 lution, but that it was so far advanced as it really was.* 
 Contribution The present French land-tax— contribution fon- 
 foncierc. c?ere— equally affects all lands, by whomsoever they 
 may be occupied. It amounts, according to Garnier, 
 to about an eighth part of the net produce of the land 
 —that is, of its produce, exclusive of the expences 
 of cultivation, but inclusive of rent. Garnier says 
 that the tax is very fairly assessed, and that it is very 
 moderate compared with the various charges with 
 which landed property is burdened in most other 
 countries. It is certainly a very great improvement 
 on the old system. {Richesse des Nations, par Gar- 
 nier, Tome VI. p. 404'.) 
 
 Sect. III. — Taxes on Wages. 
 Taxes on The common and ordinary efi^ect of direct taxes 
 Wages. on wages, or on the commodities necessary for the 
 subsistence of the labourer, is to cause a proportion- 
 al increase of wages and fall of profits. 
 
 In every discussion respecting the effect of taxes '^^^^t 
 on wages, or on the necessaries consumed by the la- 
 bourer, it is of the greatest importance to distinguish ■'^ 
 between the natural or necessary rate of wages, or 
 the rate which is required to enable the labourers to 
 exist and continue their race, and the market rate, 
 or the rate which they really receive at any particu- 
 lar period. 
 
 The natural or necessary price of labour, like the Natural 
 natural price of every thing else which is bought and Price oi 
 sold, and which may be indefinitely increased or di-^'*"'' 
 minished, is determined by the cost of its production. 
 The capacity of the labourer to support himself, and 
 to rear as many children as may be required to keep 
 up the supply of labourers, does not, it is plain, de- 
 pend on the quantity of money he receives as wages, 
 but on the quantity of food, necessaries, and con<. 
 veniences essential to his support, for which that 
 money will exchange. The natural rate of wages 
 must, therefore, depend on the cost of producing the 
 food, and other necessaries, required for the main- 
 tenance of the labourer. A rise in the market rate 
 of wages does not always coincide with a rise in the 
 price of necessaries ; but they can never be very far 
 separated. However high the price of necessaries 
 may rise, the labourers, it is quite clear, must always 
 receive such a quantity as is sufficient to enable them ; 
 to support themselves and to continue their race. 1 
 For if wages were to fall below this necessary level, ! 
 the labourers would be left destitute ; there would, 
 in consequence, be a rapid diminution of their num- | 
 bers ; and this diminution would raise wages : and if, ? 
 on the other hand, they were to rise considerably [ 
 above it, a proportional stimulus would be given to 
 the principle of population, and the increase of la- 
 bourers would lower wages. 
 
 The opinion maintained by those who contend, Agreen 
 that the rate of wages does not depend on the cost ^J^^^J^ 
 of producing the articles consumed by the labourers, .^r^^^. 
 but on the demand for their exertions compared with the Na| 
 their numbers, has obviously originated in their con- rate, 
 founding the principles which govern the market 
 price of labour, at a particular period, with those 
 which govern its natural or necessary price. It is 
 undoubtedly true that the market price of labour at 
 any given moment depends on the state of the supply 
 as compared with the demand ; but it is easy to see 
 that the supply cannot be permanently brought to 
 market unless the rate of wages is such as- will suf- 
 fice to maintain and bring up labourers — that is, un- 
 less the cost of their production he paid. From what- 
 ever point of the political compass we may set out, 
 this is the grand principle to which we must always 
 come at last. Let us suppose, to illustrate this prin- 
 ciple, that, owing to a scarcity, the price of the 
 quartern loaf rises to 5s. : It is plain, inasmuch as the 
 same number of labourers would be seeking for em- 
 ployment after the rise as before, and as there is no 
 reason why a scarcity should increase the demand 
 
 * For a farther account of the taille the reader is referred to Forbonnais, Recherches sur les Finances dt 
 France, Tome I. p. 107; fVealth of Nations, III. p. 303; and to Storch, Cours d Economic Politique (ed. 
 de Say), III. p. 191, . 
 
TAXATION. 
 
 621 
 
 axes on for labour, that wages would not be advanced ; the 
 iVages. labourers would, in consequence, be forced to eco- 
 "V^^ nomise, and the rise of price would thus have the ef- 
 fect of lessening consumption, and of distributing the 
 pressure equally throughout the year. But suppose 
 that the rise, instead of being occasioned by a defi- 
 cient crop, has been occasioned by an increased diffi- 
 culty of production, and that it will be permanent, 
 the question is, Will wages continue at their for- 
 mer rate, or will they rise ? Now, in this case, 
 it is plain that wages must rise : For the comforts 
 of all classes of labourers would be greatly im- 
 paired by the rise of prices ; and those who, pre- 
 viously to its taking place, had only wherewithal 
 to subsist, would be reduced to a state of extreme 
 destitution, or rather, we should say, of absolute fa- 
 mine. In such circumstances, an increase of mor- 
 tality could hardly fail to take place ; while the 
 greater difficulty of providing subsistence would in- 
 terpose a powerful check to the formation of matri- 
 monial connections and the increase of population. 
 By these means, therefore, either the amount of the 
 population, or the ratio of its increase, or both, would 
 be diminished ; and this diminution would continue 
 until the smaller supply of labourers in the market 
 had enabled them to raise wages to their natural rate; 
 that is, as Dr Smith has defined it, to such a rate as 
 would enable them to obtain " not only the commo- 
 dities which are indispensably necessary for the sup- 
 port of life, but whatever the custom of the country 
 renders it indecent for creditable people, even of the 
 lowest order, to be without." 
 ations If a given specific quantity of certain articles were 
 Be natu- necessary to enable the labourers to exist, it would 
 clearly and directly follow that the rate of wages 
 could not be reduced, for any considerable period, 
 below what would procure them these articles. But 
 there is no such absolute standard of natural wages. 
 It depends essentially on custom and habit. The 
 articles considered as necessaries are perpetually 
 changing. The labourers of Hindostan principally 
 subsist on rice, those of Ireland on potatoes, and 
 those of England on wheaten bread and beef. In 
 one country it is discreditable for the lowest class of 
 labourers to be destitute of comfortable clothing, and 
 of shoes and stockings, while in others shoes and 
 stockings are looked upon as luxuries to be used 
 only by the rich. In many provinces of France and 
 Spain a certain allowance of wine is considered in- 
 dispensable to existence; and in England the la- 
 bouring class entertain nearly the same opinion with 
 respect to beer and porter. Nor have the habits of 
 the people, and the standard by which the natural 
 rate of wages has been regulated at different periods 
 in the same countries, been less fluctuating and va- 
 rious. The articles which custom and habit have 
 rendered necessary for the comfortable subsistence 
 of the English and Scottish labourers of the present 
 day are as widely different from those which were 
 judged necessaries by their ancestors, in the reigns 
 of Elizabeth, James I., and Charles I., as they are 
 from those which form the ordinary subsistence of 
 the labourers of France and Spain. The standard of 
 natural wages has been raised, and the poor have 
 been taught to form much more elevated notions re- 
 
 VOL. VI. PART II. 
 
 fees 
 
 specting the quantity and the species of the articles Taxes on 
 which it would be disgraceful for them to be with- Wages. 
 
 out. •^m-^^^-maJ 
 
 The natural rate of wages is not, therefore, a fixed Supply of 
 and unvarying quantity ; and though it be strictly l^abour not 
 true that the market rate of wages can never, when commoda^ted 
 reference is made to periods of average duration, be to variadons 
 sunk below its contemporary natural rate, it is no less in the rate of 
 true that the natural rate has a tendency to rise when Wages, 
 the market rate rises, and to fall when it falls. The 
 reason is, that the supply of labour in the market can 
 neither be speedily increased when wages rise, nor 
 speedily diminished when they fall ; and it is also on 
 this circumstance that the powerful influence which 
 fluctuations in the market rate of wages have on the 
 condition of the labouring classes principally de- 
 pends. If the supply of labour could be suddenly 
 increased when wages rise, that rise would be of no 
 advantage whatever to the existing labourers. It 
 would increase their number, but it would not enable 
 them to mount in the scale of society, or to obtain a 
 greater command of the necessaries and conveni- 
 ences of life. And, on the other hand, if the supply 
 of labour could be suddenly diminished when wages 
 fall, that fall would merely lessen the numbers of la- 
 bourers, without having any tendency to degrade 
 the habits or to lower the condition of those who 
 survived. But in the actual state of things no rise of 
 wages can ever be counteracted by an increased 
 supply of workmen coming into the market until 
 eighteen or twenty years after it has taken place; for 
 there are few or no branches of industry in which an 
 active and skilful labourer can be bred in a shorter 
 period. During all this interval, therefore, the la- Advantages 
 bourer is placed in a greatly improved situation. He of a Rise of 
 has a greater supply of wholesome and nutritious ^^^S^* 
 food ; he has better clothes and better habitations ; 
 he is rendered more attentive to personal cleanliness; 
 and as he rises higher in the scale of society, he na- 
 turally uses more providence and circumspection in 
 the forming of matrimonial connections. In short, 
 his opinions respecting what is necessary for his de- 
 cent and comfortable subsistence are raised, and the 
 natural rate of wages is in consequence proportion- 
 ally augmented. 
 
 But it is equally impossible suddenly to diminish Disadvan- 
 the number of the labourers when wages fall. Such a^^'^ges of a 
 diminution cannot, as we have already stated, be ef- 
 fected otherwise than by the operation of increased 
 mortality, or by a decrease in the number of births. 
 But unless the fall were very sudden and extensive, 
 it would require a considerable number of years to 
 render the effects of increased mortality very appa- 
 rent ; and it is so difficult to change the habits of a 
 people, that, though the demand for labour were to 
 decline, it would, notwithstanding, continue for a 
 while to flow into the market with nearly the same 
 rapidity as before. Nor would the ratio of the in- 
 crease of population be sufficiently diminished, until 
 the misery occasioned by the restricted demand on 
 
 the one hand, and the undiminished supply on the r»o^ ^ 
 
 1 111 11 . • 1 r^/i Danger of a 
 
 other, had been very generally and widely felt. degradation 
 
 In whatever way, therefore, wages may be restor- in the Ha- 
 
 ed to their natural level when the market rate de-^^*^ 
 
 clines — whether it be by an increase of mortality, or a'pall 
 
 4' K of Wages. 
 
622 
 
 TAXATION. 
 
 Taxes on a decrease in the number of births, or both — it can 
 Wages, never be the work of an instant. It must always re- 
 quire a considerable time before it can be effected ; 
 and there is in consequence an obvious risk lest the 
 habits of the labouring class should be degraded in 
 the interim. When wages are considerably reduced 
 the poor are obliged to economise ; and should the 
 coarse and scanty fare that is thus, in the first in- 
 stance, forced upon them by necessity, ultimately 
 become congenial from habit, no check would be 
 given to population, and the natural I'ate of wages 
 would be permanently reduced. In such a case the 
 cost of raising labourers would be diminished ; and it 
 - is by this cost that the natural rate of wages, with 
 which the market rate must generally correspond, is 
 always regulated. A fall of wages is, therefore, as 
 peculiarly injurious to the labourers as a rise of 
 wages is peculiarly beneficial to them. Its obvious 
 tendency is to sink the natural rate of wages, and to 
 degrade the condition of the largest and not least va- 
 luable class in society ; and wherever the labourers 
 can bear to retrench, or to descend from a higher to 
 a lower station, it will have this effect, unless their 
 desire to preserve their place in society should occa- 
 sion a greater prevalence of moral restraint, and a 
 slower increase of population. It is certain, indeed, 
 that to whatever extent wages may fall, the labour- 
 ers always possess the means of raising them to their 
 former, or to a higher level. If they understock the 
 market with labour, wages will continue high, not- 
 withstanding the means of employment should be 
 diminished ; while, if they overstock the mai'ket with 
 labour, wagfes will be low, notwithstanding these 
 means should be very considerably increased. The 
 labourers are thus really in a great measure the arbi- 
 ters of their own fortune. Nor is there any very 
 great reason to think that their condition will ever 
 be materially improved until they are made ac- 
 quainted with the circumstances which govern the 
 rate of wages, and are impressed with a full convic- 
 tion of the important truth, that they are themselves 
 the masters of the only means by which their com- 
 mand over the necessaries and luxuries of life can be 
 really extended. 
 Taxes on Dr Smith has said, that, while the demand for 
 Wages labour and the price of provisions remain the same, 
 would occa- (jirect tax on the wages of labour can have no 
 sionacorre- , , • i ^ u- u 
 
 sponding Other efiect than to raise them somewhat higher 
 
 Rise in the than the tax." (III. p. 323.) It is plain, however. 
 Rate. from the principles we have just laid down, that in 
 the event of the demand for labour continuing the 
 same after the tax had been imposed as before, the 
 rise of wages could only be gradually effected ; and 
 it would, in consequence, depend entirely on, the 
 circumstance of the opinions and habits of the peo- 
 ple undergoing no degradation during the period of 
 the rise taking place, whether wages would regain 
 their former elevation. But Mr Ricardo has shown 
 that, in the great majority of cases, the demand for 
 labour would not, as Dr Smith has supposed, conti- 
 nue the same after the imposition of the tax. Sup- 
 
 pose, for the sake of illustration, that Government Ta? 
 lays a direct tax on wages ; as no part of this tax is 
 taken from the capital of the masters, it is obvious 
 it cannot lessen their means of employing labour ; 
 and it is equally obvious that it must make an equi- 
 valent addition to the means- of employing labour, or 
 of purchasing the produce of labour, possessed by 
 the Government or its agents who have received the 
 tax. As soon, therefore, as these increased means 
 are brought into market, the greater competition 
 will infallibly raise wages, so as to place the la- 
 bourers in their previous condition. 
 
 This is the way in which taxes are generally ex- 
 pended. But if we suppose that the produce of the 
 tax, instead of being laid out at home, had been re- 
 mitted as a subsidy to a foreign state, the demand 
 for labour would not be increased in consequence 
 of the competition of Government, and wages could 
 only be raised by slow degrees in the way we have 
 previously described. In all those cases, however, 
 in which the produce either of direct or indirect 
 taxes on wages is laid out at home, they never fail 
 to occasion an equal and immediate rise of wages. 
 The agents of Government then enter the market 
 for labour with means of purchasing which have not 
 been derived from the capitalists, but from the la- 
 bourers themselves, and wages are thus necessarily 
 raised precisely in proportion to these additional 
 means ; or, in other words, to the amount of the 
 tax. Although, therefore, Dr Smith failed in de- 
 monstrating his proposition, that a direct tax on the 
 wages of labour is never defrayed by the labourer, 
 the proposition is, nevertheless, strictly true in all 
 those cases in which the tax is laid out at home ; 
 and it is also true in those cases in which it is sent 
 abroad as a subsidy, provided the habits of the peo- 
 ple and their opinions, respecting what is necessary 
 for their comfortable subsistence, undergo no change 
 after the tax is imposed. 
 
 We have already shown that every rise of Taxes 
 wages must necessarily occasion a corresponding Wages 
 fall in the rate of profit.* It is, therefore, really ^"■^ 
 the same to the capitalists whether a tax on labour, *" 
 which is to be spent at home, be laid directiy on 
 profits or on wages. The capitalists must defray it 
 either at first or second hand. And hence it is 
 that the real injury which such taxes inflict on the 
 labourer does not consist in their immediate but in 
 their remote effects. By falling on profits, their 
 direct tendency is to diminish the power to accumu- 
 late capital ; and when carried so far as to have this 
 effect, they must, unless the stimulus previously 
 given to population be at the same time diminished 
 by the more powerful operation of the principle of 
 moral restraint, depress the condition of the labour- 
 ers, and lower the natural rate of wages. 
 
 It must, however, be observed, that this is not an 
 effect peculiar to a tax laid directly on •profits or 
 wages, but to every tax which is not defrayed either 
 from rent or from a duty on exported goods. La- 
 bourers cannot, in any circumstances, be made to 
 
 * Art. Political Economy, Part III. § 5, in this Supplement. 
 
TAXATION. 
 
 6^3 
 
 kt of 
 
 bs on 
 
 ixes on contribute considerably to the wants of the state ; 
 *K^^«L> ^^^y ^^^^ sufficiently alive to their own inte- 
 
 rests, and made a proper use of the power which 
 they possess of regulating the quantity of labour in 
 the market, no tax, even though the produce were 
 remitted to a foreign country, could ever occasion 
 any permanent reduction of the natural rate of 
 wages. It is from profits and rent, therefore, that 
 almost all taxes must be derived. And it is not 
 really of much importance, provided the sum de- 
 manded of a capitalist be ascertained, whether he is 
 made to pay it by a direct tax or by taxes on ex- 
 penditure. If L. 500, for example, be his fair pro- 
 portion of the revenue required by the state, " the 
 virtue of taxation consists in making sure that he 
 shall pay this sum, neither more nor less." (Ricar- 
 do's Principles, &c, p. 183, 3d edit.) 
 
 It is alleged, however, and the allegation is un- 
 doubtedly true, that, when the rate of profit, in a par- 
 bendi"*^ ticular country, is as low, or but very little higher 
 \in fore- than the rate of profit among the countries in the 
 Capital vicinity, a heavy direct tax on profits or wages would, 
 Indivi- \yy reducing the rate of profit below the common le- 
 !ad ^^^^ * powerful tendency to cause the transfer 
 
 * ' of capital to other countries, whereas heavy taxes on 
 expenditure merely occasion the emigration of indi- 
 viduals or families, without prompting them to take 
 their stock along with them. But, although it can- 
 not be doubted that an efflux of capital is much 
 more injurious than an emigration of individuals, still, 
 as the emigrants would thereby avoid taxes laid on 
 expenditure, it is obvious, that if no taxes were laid 
 directly on profits and rents, they would escape taxa- 
 tion altogether, and a disproportionally heavy burden 
 would, in consequence, be thrown on those who conti- 
 nued to reside at home. The truth is, that it is quite 
 impossible to carry either direct or indirect taxes be- 
 yond moderate limits, without encountering difficul- 
 ties. Inasmuch, however, as equality of pressure is 
 one of the very highest recommendations of a system 
 of taxation, and inequality of pressure one of its great- 
 est defects, the objection to such direct taxes as 
 can be fairly assessed, that they tend to force capital 
 abroad, ought not to be held as conclusive. So 
 long as an individual derives a revenue from capital, 
 so long ought that revenue be made to contribute, in 
 the same proportion as the rest, to the supply' of the 
 wants of the country in which the capital is employed. 
 If you cannot draw the L. 500 of taxes, which a capi- 
 talist ought to pay, from him, by means of duties on 
 wines, horses, or coaches, or any other article of ex- 
 penditure, you ought certainly to resort to direct 
 taxation : For, if you do not, this capitalist will not 
 furnish his proper quota of the public revenue, and 
 other individuals will have to pay the portion not 
 paid by him. To prevent taxes on profits or expen- 
 diture from forcing either capital or individuals 
 abroad, the only way is to keep them as low as pos- 
 sible. In this respect, as in most others, there is no 
 difference between the expenditure of a state and 
 that of a famil}'. And in both it will be found, as 
 Cicero long ago observed, that Optimum, et in privatis 
 familiis, et in respublica vectigal est, parsimoniam. 
 
 Having thus endeavoured to trace and exhibit 
 the effects that would result from the imposition of 
 
 taxes separately affecting rent, profits, and wages ; Taxes on 
 we shall now proceed briefly to inquire into the ef- 
 fects that would result from the imposition of a tax 
 proportioned to the income of each individual. 
 
 Sect. IV. — Taxes on Income. 
 
 As all income must either be derived from rent, Taxes on 
 profit, or wages, the effects of a tax on income Income, 
 would necessarily vary according as the incomes of 
 the contributors were derived from one or other of 
 these sources. In so far as income is derived from 
 rent, a tax on it would be really a tax on rent, and 
 would fall wholly on the landlords ; and in so 
 far as income is derived from profits, a tax on it 
 would be really a tax on profits, and would fall 
 wholly on the capitalists : But such would not 
 be the case with a tax laid on that part of the 
 income of a country which consists of wages ; 
 for, we have already shown, that when the produce 
 of a tax on wages is laid out at home, it causes 
 them to rise to an equal extent ; and is, therefore, 
 really the same in its effects as if a tax calculated 
 to raise the same sum were laid directly on profits ; 
 and that, when the produce of the tax is remitted 
 abroad, the same rise is brought about, though not 
 so immediately, by the operation of increased mor- 
 tality, or by a diminished increase of population. 
 
 By tracing the effects of this principle, we discern j^q injustice 
 the fallacy of the objection to an income-tax, on ac- done to Pro- 
 count of its pressing with equal severity on all in- Sessional 
 comes, Jrom whatever sources they may be derived, i^^^hei^fn' 
 There is certainly a great appearance of truth in the J^mes^o th« 
 statement of those who affirm that it is a monstrous same extent 
 hardship and injustice to make the same deduction 'l^ose of 
 from the income of a lawyer or a physician, on ^m" cTltal- 
 whose exertions a numerous family may perhaps istg. 
 be dependent, as from the rent of a landlord or the 
 profit of a capitalist. But if it can be shown that 
 the condition of professional men must be affected 
 by every tax laid exclusively on the incomes of 
 landlords and capitalists, exactly to the same extent 
 as if it had been extended to them, these objections 
 must obviously fall to the ground, and there can be 
 neither hardship nor injustice in making the tax 
 universal. Now it is not very difficult to demon- 
 strate that this would really be the case ; and that, 
 in point of fact, it is altogether immaterial to pro- 
 fessional men whether, when a tax is laid on income, 
 they pay their full share, or obtain a total exemption. 
 
 The revenue or wages of professional men depends 
 partly on the expence necessarily incurred in their 
 education, and partly on the peculiar habits of the 
 society in which they live, and the station they 
 must support. If their wages amounted only to 
 a bare compensation for the expences of educa- 
 tion, it is easy to see they could not be perma- 
 nently affected by a tax on income ; for, as soon 
 as the tax was imposed, their wages would become 
 insufficient for their remuneration, and while young 
 men would thus be deterred from entering on pro- 
 fessional pursuits, those already engaged in them 
 would have a powerful temptation to withdraw ; nor 
 would this double operation cease, until it had, by 
 diminishing the supply, raised the wages of those 
 who remained to their proper level ; — that is, until it 
 
624 T A X i 
 
 Taxes on had increased them by the whole amount of the tax. 
 Income. It is clear, therefore, that no lasting or real injury 
 ^"^^ '"^ could be done to those professional men, whose earn- 
 ings are proportioned to the necessary expences of 
 their education, by subjecting them to a tax on in- 
 come. 
 
 It may be supposed, however, that the effect would 
 be different in the case of those whose incomes 
 are not regulated so much by the expence of their 
 education, as by the expence of maintaining them- 
 selves in the station in which custom and the ha- 
 bits of society require they should live. But this 
 circumstance does not really make the slightest dif- 
 ference on the result. The situation of professional 
 men must always bear some certain relation to the 
 situation of those among whom they reside. If you 
 either improve or depress the condition of the land- 
 lords and capitalists of a country, it will be found to 
 be utterly impossible to maintain professional men in 
 their previous situation. Their interests are insepar- 
 ably and indissolubly connected with those of the other 
 classes : they must rise when they rise, and they must 
 fall when they fall. Suppose, to illustrate this prin- 
 ciple, that a tax is laid on the incomes of landlords 
 and capitalists, from which the incomes of professional 
 men are exempted. It is plain, that the immediate 
 effect of such a tax would be to derange the pre- 
 viously subsisting relations among the different classes 
 and orders of society. The condition of professional 
 men, as compared with that of landlords, farmers, 
 manufacturers, and merchants, would be improved. 
 But this improvement would be of very short dura- 
 tion. For the greater inducements, which the ex- 
 emption from the tax would hold out to young men 
 to enter on professional pursuits, would not fail to 
 attract additional numbers, until, by the increase of 
 competition, their wages had declined so as to balance 
 the advantage of exemption from the tax, and to 
 place them in the same relative situation as before. 
 If we reverse this hypothesis, and suppose, that, in- 
 stead of professional incomes being exempted from 
 an income-tax, it is laid exclusively on them, the 
 result will be precisely similar. The situation of pro- 
 fessional men, as compared with that of the other 
 classes, would in this case be changed to the worse. 
 There would, in consequence, be a greater disinclina- 
 tion to engage in professional pursuits : and the usual 
 supply of entrants not being obtained, their numbers 
 would be progressively diminished, until the greater 
 competition for their services had again restored them 
 to their proper relative situation ; or to the situation 
 they would have occupied, had the tax been levied 
 equally on all classes. 
 
 Still, however, it may be said, that though no in- 
 justice is done to professional men by taxing them to 
 tlie same extent as capitalists, when an income-tax 
 forms a permanent source of revenue, an injustice 
 would be done them were they taxed to the full ex- 
 tent of the other classes, in the event of its only be- 
 ing imposed during the continuance of a war; because, 
 in such a case, sufficient time would not be afford- 
 ed to permit the natural principles of adjustment we 
 have described to operate their full effect. But this 
 objection is as untenable as the former. Wars are 
 calamities to which every people must always be 
 
 . T I O N. j 
 
 liable ; and if it were once known that the supplies Taxa 
 required to defray their expence were to be raised 
 within the year, by an equal income-tax, the chances of "^-"^ 
 being subjected to this tax would most certainly enter 
 into the calculations of all professional men, and the 
 rate of their natural or necessary wages would be re- 
 gulated accordingly. In every case, therefore, whe- 
 ther an income-tax is made one of the ordinary 
 sources of revenue, or is only resorted to on extraor- 
 dinary emergencies, professional incomes ought to be 
 taxed to the same extent as others. To give abate- 
 ments in their favour, serves only to introduce an 
 apparent inequality into the tax, and to render its 
 collection more difficult, without doing them any real 
 service. If you give them an abatement, their fees 
 will be diminished ; and if you do not give it, they 
 will be raised ; so that, in either case, they will pre* 
 serve the same relative situation with respect to the ^ 
 other classes of society. i 
 
 The only class in whose favour it would be just 
 and equitable to grant an abatement from the full 
 charge on account of an income-tax, are those who 
 derive their incomes from Jixed and terminable aiwnm-^ ; 
 ties. It is obvious, that such a tax would press with 
 greater severity on them than on landlords or capi- 
 talists, whose incomes are derived from what may be 
 considered as inexhaustible sources ; and it vrould 
 also press with greater severity on them than on pro- 
 fessional men, whose incomes would be augmented in 
 consequence of its imposition; and, therefore, it would 
 be necessary to avoid laying any greater burden on 
 the possessors of terminable annuities, than on the 
 other classes; or, to preserve them in the same rela- 
 tive situation, to make an abatement in their favour 
 in an inverse proportion to the duration of their an- 
 nuities. 
 
 If an income-tax were extended to the wages of 
 common labourers, it would not really fall upon them, 
 but on the capitalists who employ them. And it would, 
 therefore, be necessary, in the event of such a tax 
 being imposed, to increase the proportion affecting 
 the rents of the landlords; for otherwise they would 
 be less heavily taxed than the capitalists, who would 
 have to pay the portion which falls on wages. 
 
 It has been urged by M. Say, and other able eco- An In 
 nomists, that an income-tax ought not to bear the t^xouf 
 same relation to all incomes. A tax of L. 10, for ex- ^jti""^^ 
 ample, is said to be more severely felt by the pos- creased 
 sessor of an income of L. 100, than a tax of L. 100 comes, 
 or L. 1000, by the possessor of an income of L. 1000 
 or L. 10,000; and it is contended, that, in order fair- 
 ly to proportion the tax to the ability of the payers, 
 such SL graduated scale of duties should be adopted, 
 as would press lightly on the smaller incomes, and 
 increase according as they became larger, and more 
 able to bear taxation. We cannot, however, concur 
 with those who hold this opinion. It is surely no 
 part of the business of Government to impose taxes, 
 in the view of regulating the incomes of the con- 
 tributors, or for the purpose of depressing one class 
 and elevating another. Every just tax will leave 
 individuals in the same relative situation in which 
 it found them ; and it cannot do this otherwise, 
 than by taking the same proportion of their incomes 
 from each. That such a tax will be more acutely 
 
TAXATION. 
 
 625 
 
 felt by the poorer than by the wealthier classes is 
 undeniable ; but the same thing is true of taxes on com- 
 modities, and of every imposition which does not sub- 
 vert the already subsisting relations among the differ- 
 ent orders of society. The hardship in question is, in 
 fact, one of the evils of poverty, and not of equal taxa- 
 tion ; and to attempt to alleviate it, by adopting such 
 a graduated scale of duties as has been proposed, 
 would really be to impose taxes on the wealthier part 
 of the community, for the benefit of their less opulent 
 brethren, and not for the sake of the public revenue. 
 The establishment of such a principle would be most 
 mischievous; if carried to its full extent, it would 
 sanction the total exemption of limited incomes from 
 the burden of taxation, until those that were higher had 
 been reduced to the same level ; and would thus be sub- 
 versiveof almostevery motive to industry andeconomy. 
 The objections to an equal income-tax, on the 
 ,ht to ground of its making " no distinction between the 
 Ime ^ which has a numerous family to support, and 
 
 ; con- that of the retired bachelor or the unexpensive 
 the maiden," * are still more destitute of foundation, 
 of In fact, the peculiar excellence of an income-tax 
 consists in its making no such distinction, — in its 
 sweeping, with indiscriminating severity, its equal 
 demands from all. If taxes be not laid on income, 
 they must be laid on expenditure ; and it is obvious, 
 that while an individual who has an expensive sta- 
 tion or a large family to support, must contribute 
 largely to taxes on expenditure, misers atid those 
 who have no families may nearly escape them al- 
 together. It has been suggested, that this ine- 
 quality might be got rid of by making distinctions 
 in the duties on commodities, proportioned to the 
 relative condition of those who buy them ; or by en- 
 I acting, that those who have so many children shall 
 pay a certain duty, and those who have so many 
 more, a different duty. But the extreme complexity 
 of such a plan, and the facilities it would give to 
 every species of fraud and evasion, will always pre- 
 vent its adoption. Supposing, however, that it could 
 be adopted, it would be, in the highest degree, unjust 
 and inexpedient: — unjust, in as much as a reduction 
 of duties in favour of those who have small incomes, 
 would proportionally depress the wealthier classes, 
 and change the relative situation of individuals ; and 
 inexpedient, in as much as a reduction in favour 
 of those who have large families, would act as a sti- 
 mulus to marriage, which, if it ought not to be dis- 
 couraged, certainly stands in no need of encourage- 
 ment. So long, therefore, as taxes affect only ex- 
 penditure, those who are obliged to spend must un- 
 avoidably pay more than their just proportion of the 
 public revenue. But a fairly levied tax on income 
 would obviate this defect, and would make misers, 
 bachelors, and maidens, contribute equally with the 
 other classes to the demands of the state, 
 al ob- For these reasons, we have no hesitation in giving 
 to an it our decided opinion, that if a tax on income 
 s'in^ comW he fairly collected, it would be one of the most 
 Sculty impartial and least objectionable taxes that it is pos- 
 
 ising 
 
 sible to impose. It may, however, be laid down as Taxes on 
 an indisputable axiom, that every tax which affords Income, 
 a greSLtJacility of evasion is essentially defective; and ^"^"^'^^^ 
 there are very cogent reasons for thinking that this 
 must always be the case with an income-tax. The 
 income derived from lands, houses, and other fixed 
 property, may be learned without much diflSculty; but 
 it has hitlierto been found to be quite impossible to 
 ascertain the wages of professional persons, or the pro- 
 fits of the capital engaged in manufacturing and 
 commercial undertakings with any thing like toler- 
 able precision. It is this extreme difficulty of mak- 
 ing an equal and impartial assessment, that con- 
 stitutes the real and only good objection to an 
 income-tax. By setting the interests of the con- 
 tributors in direct opposition to their duties, and 
 tempting them to conceal and underrate their in- 
 comes, it obviously operates as a bounty on per- 
 jury and fraud; and, if carried to a very great 
 height, it would undoubtedly generate the most fla- 
 grant and barefaced prostitution of principle, and 
 would do much to obliterate that nice sense of ho- 
 nour which is the only sure foundation of national 
 probity and virtue. The discovery of means by 
 which these highly injurious effects might be ob- 
 viated, and incomes ascertained without the neces- 
 sity of instituting an odious and generally ineffectual 
 inquisition into the private affairs of individuals, 
 would be the greatest practical improvement which 
 it seems possible to make in the science of taxation. 
 But until such means are devised, — and we are not 
 certainly very sanguine in our expectations on the 
 subject, — an income-tax must, besides its injury to 
 public morals, be partial and unequal in its operation, 
 and ought not, therefore, to be imposed, except in 
 cases when a large revenue must be raised. 
 
 In order to furnish the means of defraying the Account of 
 enormous cost of the war begun in 1 793, Mr Pitt the late In- 
 proposed, in 1797, to triple the amount of the assess- come-Tax. 
 ed taxes, or duties on houses, windows, horses, car- 
 riages, &c. This plan, however, did not answer the 
 expectations of its projectors, and next year it was 
 abandoned, and a tax on income substituted in its 
 stead. According to the provisions of the act im- 
 posing this tax, all incomes of less than L. 60 a year 
 were exempted from assessment ; an income of from 
 L. 60 to L. 65 was taxed one one hundred and twen- 
 tieth part; and the rate of duty increased through a 
 variety of gradations, until the income reached L.200, 
 or upwards, when it amounted to a tenth part, which 
 was its utmost limit ; a variety of deductions being 
 at the same time granted, on account of children, &c. 
 The commissioners to whom the management of 
 this tax was entrusted were chosen by the freehold- 
 ers of counties, and the electors of burghs, in the 
 same way as their representatives in Parliament, on- 
 ly that a smaller qualification was suflicient to en- 
 able any one to be elected a commissioner. The 
 services of the commissioners were gratuitous ; and 
 they were sworn to preserve the most inviolable se- 
 crecy with respect to the aflPairs of individuals. They 
 
 * Glover On the Character and Tendency of the Property -Tax, Pamphleteer, Vol. VIII. p. 563. 
 
626 TAXATION. 
 
 Taxes on were authorized to call for returns from every per- Amiens, having produced, on an average, about^ 
 Income, gon whose income they supposed to exceed L. 60 a millions and a half annnaUy. 
 ^ ' ~ vear • and in the event of their being dissatisfied with In 1803 the mcome-tax, under the name of pro- 
 ?hese' returns, they were empowered to call for writ- perty-tax, was again revived. The assessment b^ 
 ten explanations/ and ultimately for the oath of gan, as before, on mcomes so low as L. 60 a year 
 the party. But ^his examination was rarely neces- and gradually increased until the income reached 
 'arv.except in the case of incomes derived from wages, L. 150 a year, when it amounted to 5 per ce«^ which 
 from capital employed in manufacturing and com- was its highest rate. An addition was made to this 
 mercial business,^r' from the interest of loans ; the tax in 1805 ; and in 1806, during the short-lived ad- 
 rental of landlords being, in most cases, learned from ministration of Mr Fox and Lord Grenville, the as- 
 the terms of the leases held by their tenants ; and sessment was raised to 10 percent, on all mcomes, 
 tlie profits of the tenants being, as we have already however small, arising from land or capital; profe^ 
 rf)served,estimated at a certain proportion of the rent, sional incomes under L 50 were exempted from th« 
 Thecommissionerswereassisted,orrather overlooked, tax ; and incomes of that sort exceedmg L.50, and 
 bv the tax.surveyors appointed by Government, who under L 150, the limit at which they became subject 
 wWe required to see the provisions of the act strictly to the full assessment of 10 ;.er ce«^, were allowed 
 enforced and whose duty it was to scrutinize all re- deductions, varymg inversely as their magnituds. 
 t^rns of income, to challenge such as they consider- A very great outcry was rnade against the mint- 
 ed fraudulent, to object to the deductions allowed by sters who proposed this addition to the income- 
 ^he ordinary commissioners, and to bring the matter tax ; but it may safely be affirmed that m the then 
 under the review of the commissioners of appeal, situation of the country, it was a highly necessary 
 whose sentence was final. Notwithstanding the ap- measure, and one for whi^h they really deserved 
 mrent complexity of these regulations, they worked the thanks of the public, The income-tax was final- 
 extremely well ; and though much fraud and evasion ly repealed in 1816. 
 
 were certainly practised, yet, on the whole, the tax We subjoin, from a Parliamentary paper present- 
 
 wa coUected^w^ith infinitely less difficulty, and with ed to the House of Comntions on the 26th February 
 
 greater fairness and equalitv, than could have been 1823, a return of the total gross and net assessments 
 
 Nationally anticipated. ^ ' ^ ^^^'^ P^P.rX ^-<^ome.t.x, for the year ending 
 
 This tax was repealed in 1802, after the peace of 5th of April 1815 
 
 Gross Net 
 
 Assessment. Assessment. 
 
 A. Lands, Tenements, Hereditaments, or Heritages L. 5,923,486 ... L. 5,923, 189 
 
 B. Houses, Lands, and Tenements 2,734,451... 2,176,228 
 
 C. Funded and Stock Properties 2,885,505 ... 2,885,505 
 
 D. Profits and Gains of Trade 3,831,088 ... 3,146,332 
 
 E. Salaries, Pensions, &c 1,174,456 ... 1, 167,618 
 
 Totals L. 16,548,985 L. 15,298,982 
 
 The following is the Return of the Value of the was made for the Years ending 1813 and 1814, end- 
 several species of Property on which the Assessment ing the 5th April 1814 and 1815, viz — 
 
 ^'^T L. 56,701,923 ... L.60,138,330 
 
 » *■* ' 36,336,883... 38,396,144 
 
 J)' 36,080,167 . . 38,310,935 
 
 E 11,380,748 ... 11,744,557 
 
 C* noVsVaVedVbut estimated at 30, 000,000 ... 30,000,000 
 
 Totals... L. 170,499,721 L. 178,589,966 
 
 try, we believe that a much larger proportion of the 
 
 Sect. V^Poor Rates. p^^j. ^ates falls on the farmer than on any one else ; 
 
 Poor Rates. The incidence and effect of poor rates depend on and they, consequently, contribute to raise the price 
 
 the mode in which they are imposed. If they were of his produce just as any other tax affectmg eite 
 
 laid exclusively on the' land, and levied proportion- his crop or the instruments used by h.m m cult va- 
 
 ally to its rent, they would be really a tax on rent, tion. Mr Ricardo has made an allowance for tins 
 
 and would be wholly defrayed by the landlords. If greater pressure of the poor rates on the farmer m 
 
 they were laid exclusively on the rent of houses, his estimate of the countervailing duty to be laid on 
 
 they would, in certain circumstances, fall wholly on foreign corn, to balance the excess of taxes affecting 
 
 the occupiers, in others on the builders, and in others that which is raised at home. 
 
 on the occupiers and ground landlords; and, if they Having thus endeavoured to exhibit the^oj^ra- 
 
 were laid on profits, they would fall equally on farm- tion, and to trace the ultimate incidence and eflFect 
 
 ers, manufacfurers, and merchants, or on capitalists of such taxes as fall directly on income, we come 
 
 in general. In the actual state of things in this coun- now to the second branch ot our subject, or to the 
 
TAXATION. 
 
 627 
 
 »ages consideration of those taxes which fall indirectly on 
 isad- income. 
 
 es of: 
 
 Part III Indirect Taxes. 
 
 SjEdT. I. — Advantages and Disadvantages of Indi- 
 rect Taxes. 
 
 he re- Though most governments have had recourse to 
 mding direct taxes, they have rarely formed the sole or 
 iposi- even principal source of their revenue. Indirect 
 taxes have almost invariably been the greatest favour- 
 ites both of princes and their subjects ; and there are 
 a variety of reasons why this should be the case. 
 The burden of direct taxation is palpable and ob- 
 vious. It admits of no species of disguise or con- 
 cealment, but makes every one fully sensible of 
 the exact value of the portion of his income taken 
 from him by government. There is, however, a 
 natural and inherent repugnance in the human 
 breast to part with the produce of industry, except 
 for the purpose of obtaining some more acceptable 
 equivalent in its stead. And as the benefits de- 
 rived from the institution of government are neither 
 so very obvious nor striking as to be easily and 
 readily felt and appreciated by the great body of the 
 people, there is, in the great majority of cases, an 
 extreme disinclination to pay a large amount of 
 direct taxes. It is for this reason that governments 
 have so generally had recourse to indirect taxes. 
 Instead of exciting the prejudices of their subjects 
 by openly demanding a certain specific portion 
 of their incomes, they have taxed the articles on 
 which these incomes are in general expended! 
 The effect of this ingenious plan is to conceal the 
 amount of taxation, and to make its payment ap- 
 pear in some measure voluntary. The tax be- 
 ing generally paid, in the first instance, by the 
 producers, the purchasers confound it with the na- 
 tural price of the commodity. No separate de- 
 mand being made upon them for the tax, it escapes 
 their recollection ; and the article they have re- 
 ceived seems a full equivalent for the sacrifice they 
 have made in acquiring it.* Such taxes have also 
 the advantage of being paid by degrees, in small por- 
 tions, and at the time when the commodities are 
 wanted for consumption, or when it is most coove- 
 ' nient for the consumers to pay them, 
 tete Besides their greater facility of imposition, indi- 
 rect taxes have been frequently supposed to have 
 the further and exclusive advantage of acting as a 
 ^' stimulus to industry. " Dans la perception, di- 
 recte," says the Marquis Gamier, *' I'impot se montre 
 sans nul deguisement; il vient sans etre attendu, a 
 cause de I'imprevoyance si ordinaire au commun des 
 hommes, et il apporte toujours avec lui de la gene 
 et du decouragement. Mais I'impfit indirect, en 
 ajoutant successivement un surcroit de prix aux 
 articles de consommation ggnerale et journaliere, 
 au moment ou tous les membres de la soci6t6 ont 
 
 contracte I'habitude des ses consommations, rend Advantage* 
 ses divers articles un pen plus couteux a acquerir, ^^^J^ JJ^^f 
 c'est-a-dire, qu'ii donne lieu a ce qu'il faille, pour indirect 
 se les procurer, un surcroit proportionne de travail Taxes, 
 et d'industrie. Or, si cet impot est mesure de maniere "^■^'^^'^'^^ 
 5 ne pas aller jusques d decouragcr la consommation, 
 ne semble-t-il pas, dans ce cas, agir comme un sti- 
 mulant universel sur la partie active et industrieuse 
 de la societe, qui I'excite a un redoublement d'ef- 
 forts, pour n'etre pas oblige de renoncer a des 
 jouissances que I'habitude lui a rendues presque ne- 
 cessaires, et qui, en consequence, donne un plus 
 grand developpement aux facultes productives du 
 travail et aux resources de I'industrie ? Ne doit-il 
 pas en resulter, qu'apres I'impot, il y a la merae 
 sorame de travail et d'industrie qu'auparavant pour 
 fournir aux besoins et aux jouissances habituelles 
 des hommes qui composent la classe laborieuse, plus 
 la somme de travail et d'industrie qui a du pourvoir 
 au surcroit de prix destine a I'impot ? Or, cet 
 impoi, ou ce surcroit de produit que se paye, etant 
 depense par le gouvernement qui le recueille, sert a 
 alimenter une nouvelle classe des consommateurs, 
 qui ferment des demandes qui I'impot les met a 
 port^ de payer." (^Preface d la Traduction de la 
 Richesse des Nations, Tome I. p. 66, ed. 2de.) 
 
 The truth of the greater part of this statement can- 
 not be disputed. It is, however, essential to ob- 
 serve, that the whole effect ascribed by M. Gar- 
 nier to indirect taxes, in stimulating industry, de- 
 pends on the circumstance of their being so mo- 
 derate as not to discourage consumption ; or, which 
 is really the same thing, that they are so moderate 
 as to give the contributors the povoer of defraying them 
 by increased exertion and economy. If this were not the 
 case, they would have a precisely opposite effect, and 
 instead of acting as a stimulus to production, they 
 would certainly occasion its decline. But we can per- 
 ceive no grounds for supposing that a moderate in- 
 come-tax would have a different effect on industry 
 from moderate taxes on expenditure. It would most 
 undoubtedly serve as a spur to excite every one to 
 make additional exertions, otherwise he would be 
 unable to preserve his capital unimpaired, and to re- 
 tain his former command over the necessaries and 
 luxuries of life. Increase of exertion is not an ex- 
 clusive consequence of indirect taxation; but it is an 
 exclusive consequence of moderate taxation, whether 
 it be direct or indirect. Just as a decay of indus- 
 try, and a general impoverishment, is not the exclu- 
 sive consequence of any particular species of taxa- 
 tion, but of all taxes whatever, when they are car- 
 ried to an excessive height. 
 
 We doubt, therefore, whether the generality of Disadvan- 
 taxes on expenditure possess any real advantage ^j^Taxes^" 
 over taxes on income, except in the facility of impo- 
 sition, while they certainly labour under many very 
 considerable disadvantages. In the frst place, taxes ^^^u^al* Die- 
 on commodities necessarily alter the natural distri- tribuiion of 
 
 Capital. 
 
 * Nero was supposed to have abolished the duty of 4 per cent, on the slaves sold in Rome, when he 
 really did no more than order it to be paid by the seller instead of the buyer. " Remissum" says Tacitus, 
 " specie mngis quam vi ; quia cum venditor penderejuberetur, in partem pretii emptoribus accrescebat." Annul. 
 lib. ] 3, cap. 32. 
 
 ^ 11 
 
628 
 
 TAXATION. 
 
 the Tax. 
 
 Advantages butlon of the capital and industry of the country, and 
 and Disad- force them into less advantageous channels. They 
 ^Tndfrect because, when a tax is laid on a particular 
 
 Taxes, class of commodities, the producers, in order to raise 
 v^*Y-^» the price proportionally to the tax, diminish the sup- 
 ply in the market, by transferring a portion of the 
 capital employed in the production of the taxed 
 commodities to some other business. But an equal 
 income-tax would operate as an equal tax on profits; 
 and when all profits are equally taxed, no advantage 
 veould be gained by transferring capital from one 
 business to another, and the producers would have 
 no means whatever of raising prices. Under the 
 operation of such a tax, every individual would con- 
 tinue, just as he would have done had he not been 
 taxed at all, to employ himself in those businesses 
 which are naturally most advantageous. Capital 
 and industry would not be forced into artificial chan- 
 nels. The pay of troops and of public functionaries 
 would not be raised, because of a rise of prices oc- 
 casioned by taxation ; at the end of a war, every 
 thing would be found in its proper position ; there 
 would be no revulsion ; and we should be immedi- 
 ately enabled to avail ourselves to the utmost of all 
 our natural and acquired resources. 
 Raise the In the second place, taxes on commodities are al- 
 priceof Com- most always paid by the producers before they are 
 ^ sold to the consumers, and are frequently, indeed, 
 tent than the advanced in an early stage of the manufacture, 
 amount of Their effect is, therefore, not only to increase the 
 price of the commodity, by the whole amount of the 
 duty, but also by the profit due to the manufacturer 
 for the time it has been advanced by him. But 
 it should be observed, that though this circum- 
 stance undoubtedly operates to increase prices, its 
 influence in this respect has been greatly over-rat- 
 ed by Sir Matthew Decker, M. Say, and M. Sii'- 
 mondi. The latter has calculated that a tax of 
 4000 francs, paid originally by a manufacturer, 
 whose profits were 10 per cent, would, if the com- 
 modity manufactured only passed through the hands 
 of Jive different persons, be raised to the consum- 
 er to the sum of 6734 francs ! This calculation 
 proceeds on the supposition, that he who first ad- 
 vanced the tax would receive from the next ma- 
 nufacturer 4400 francs, and he, again, from the 
 next 4840 francs ; so that at each step 10 per cent. 
 on its value should be added to it. " But this," 
 as Mr Ricardo has justly observed, " is to suppose 
 that the value of the tax would be accumulating at 
 compound interest; not at the rate of 10 per cent, 
 per annum, but at an absolute rate of 10 per cent. 
 at every step of its progress. M. Sismondi's state- 
 ment would be correct, if five years elapsed between 
 the first advance of the tax and the sale of the taxed 
 commodity to the consumer; but if one year only 
 elapsed, a remuneration of 400 francs, instead of 
 2734, would give a profit at the rate of 10 per cent, 
 per annum, to all who had contributed to the ad- 
 vance of the tax, whether the commodity had passed 
 through the hands of five manufacturers ovfifity." 
 (^Principles, &c. 3d edit. p. 459-) 
 
 In the third place, duties on commodities encour- 
 age smuggling. " They tempt,'' says Dr Smith, 
 " persons to violate the laws of their country, who 
 
 Encourage 
 Smuggling. 
 
 are frequently incapable of violating those of natural Advai 
 justice, and who would have been in every respect ^ 
 excellent citizens, had not the laws of their country "^i^^-^ 
 made that a crime which nature never meant to be Ta3 
 so." (III. p. 378.) In consequence of this tenden- .^^^ 
 cy, duties on commodities require the employment 
 of a great number of revenue officers ; and as they 
 expose the producers of the taxed articles to consi- 
 derable inconvenience and hardship from domiciliary 
 visits, they force them to indemnify themselves by 
 making a corresponding addition to the price of their 
 goods. 
 
 But the great objection to taxes on expenditure Uneqi 
 consists in their inequality. We have already shown 
 that such taxes cannot possibly be rendered equal 
 and impartial in their operation; that they do not af- 
 fect the different classes of society in proportion to 
 their ability to bear them ; and that, while they may 
 be almost wholly evaded by rich misers, and those in 
 unexpensive stations, they press with disproportion- 
 ate severity on those who have large families and ex- 
 pensive stations to support. At the same time it 
 should be remembered, that in taxation we have only a 
 choice of difficulties. And notwithstanding it does 
 not appear possible to free taxes on expenditure from 
 these very weighty objections, the greater readiness 
 with which they are paid, combined with the extreme 
 difficulty of laying an income-tax equally on rent, 
 profits, and professional wages, will always prevent 
 their abolition. Neither, perhaps, would it be really 
 desirable to take off those duties which affect only 
 luxuries. But without entering on the discussion of 
 this question, we are satisfied that if the difficulties, 
 in the way of a fair income-tax, could be removed, it 
 would be among the least objectionable of any ; and 
 if it were not exclusively adopted, it ought at all 
 events to be made one oi the principal s,o\xvcq& of the 
 public income. It is unnecessary, however, after 
 what we have previously stated, to insist farther on 
 this point ; and we shall, therefore, proceed to in- 
 quire into the effects on their price, of taxes on 
 commodities, and on whom they ultimately fall. 
 
 Sect. II. — Inquiry into the Incidence and Effect of 
 IfidirectfTaxes. 
 
 1. Taxes on a particular Commodity.— With re- Taxes 
 gard to the effect of taxes on the price of commodi- partic 
 ties, it is clear that if a duty be laid on a particular Comn 
 commodity, and not on others, its price will sustain 
 an equal rise ; for, if it did not rise to this extent, 
 the profits of the producers would be sunk below the 
 common level, and their business would be abandon- 
 ed. But it depends on the circumstance of the 
 commodity being of the class denominated luxuries, 
 whether a tax on it will fall wholly on the con- 
 sumers. In so far as tiecessaries are consumed by 
 landlords or capitalists, taxes on them are also de- „ 
 frayed by the consumers ; but, in so far as they are 
 required for the consumption of labourers, the effect 
 of taxes on them is in no respect different from the 
 effect of an equal amount of taxes laid directly on 
 wages : And we have already shown that there are 
 very few cases in which taxes affecting wages are 
 really defrayed by the labourers ; and that their 
 common and ordinary effect is to cause an immediate 
 1 
 
TAXATION. 
 
 629 
 
 £ on all 
 
 and equivalent rise In the rate Of wages, and a pro- 
 portional fall of profits. It appears, therefore, that 
 taxes on necessaries do not wholly fall on the con- 
 sumers ; but that t!iey are partly defrayed by them, 
 and partly also by the proprietors of stock, in conse- 
 quence of their reducing the rate of profits. Such, 
 however, is never the case with taxes on luxuries, or 
 an commodities used only by the rich. A duty on 
 velvets, on claret, and on coaches, for example, falls 
 immediately on the consumers, and cannot be thrown 
 on any one else. Such articles not being used by 
 labourers, a duty on them can neither raise wages 
 nor affect the rate of profit. 
 
 2. Ad valorem Taxes on all Commodities. — It is 
 not so easy to trace the effects, on their price, of an 
 equal ad valorem duty on all commodities. Such a 
 duty could not, it is obvious, at all affect their va- 
 lues relatively to each othtr; and supposing their 
 quantity and the quantity of money in the country 
 to continue the same, it has been contended that it 
 could occasion no rise of prices. Rut a i^ecy few 
 words will be sufficient to show the fallacy of this 
 statement. The Government must receive the tax 
 either in money or in goods. Now suppose, for 
 the sake of illustration, that the duty is ten per cent., 
 and that it is paid in kind ; in this case the supply of 
 produce remaining in the market after the tax is paid 
 being diminished one-tenlh, the purchasers will only 
 get nine-tenths of the commodities they previously got 
 in return for the same quantity of money, or, in 
 other words, prices will rise ten per cent. If the 
 Government receives the tax in money, the result 
 will be precisely similar. The purchasers will still 
 have to reimburse the producers for the tax, or to 
 pay them ten per cent, additional for their goods. 
 For if this were not really the case — if the purchas- 
 ers who do not directly pay the tax to Government, 
 continued to get the same quantity of produce for 
 the same sum of money, after its imposition as be- 
 fore, there would be no cause in operation to occasion 
 tlie smallest diminution of individual consumption ; and 
 it is plainly impossible that the tax could, in such 
 drcumstances, give the Government the means of 
 obtaining an increased share of the produce of the 
 country, which is absurd. Not only, therefore, is it 
 certain that a tax on a particular class of commodi- 
 ties will raise their price ; but it is also certain that 
 an equal ad valorem duty on all commodities will, 
 without any increase of money, occasion an equal 
 and universal rise of prices. The real effect of every 
 such tax is to transfer a portion of the produce of 
 the industry of the country into the hands of Go- 
 vernment, and consequently to cause a iess portion 
 of that produce to come into the hands of every in- 
 dividual whose means of purchasing are not increas- 
 ed. Such a rise of prices is widely different from 
 tJie rise which is occasioned by an increase in the 
 qtiantity of money. When it is increased prices rise, 
 because more money is given for the same quantity of 
 goods ; but when an ad valorem duty is levied, prices 
 rise, because the same sum of money is given for a less 
 quantity of goods, a portion of them having been 
 transferred to Government. 
 
 3. Taxes on Raw Produce. — It has been very ge- 
 nerally supposed that the taxes laid on the raw pro- 
 duce of the soil have a different incidence from taxes 
 
 VOL. VI. P.\RT II. 
 
 Taxes on 
 Raw Pro- 
 duce. 
 
 laid on manufactured commodities ; and that, instead 
 of raising prices, and falling on the consumer, they 
 have no influence on prices, and fall wholly on the 
 landlord. We believe, however, that we shall be ^ ~ 
 able to show that this opinion is entirely without 
 foundation ; and that the real effect of taxes on raw 
 produce is to cause a proportional rise of prices, and 
 to affect all classes equally in proportion to their re- 
 spective consumption of the taxed articles. 
 
 If land yielded no surplus to its possessors above Tithes, 
 the common and ordinary profit of the capital em- 
 ployed in its cultivation, it is plain that the imposi- 
 tion of a tax on its produce, a tithe, for example, 
 would occasion an equivalent increase of its price. 
 The level of profit may be temporarily, but it cannot 
 be permanently, elevated or depressed in any parti- 
 cular branch of industry. And as there can be no 
 reason why the agriculturists should content them- 
 selves with a reduced rate of profit, when all other 
 employments are yielding a higher rate, as soon as- 
 tithes were imposed they would set about transfers- 
 ring a portion of their stock to some more lucrative 
 business ; and this transference would be continued 
 until the diminution of supply had raised prices to 
 their proper level, and restored the equilibrium of 
 profit. In such a state of things, tithes would indis- 
 putably operate precisely as an equivalent addition 
 to the price of raw produce. But after various qua- 
 lities of soil have been brought under cultivation, and 
 rents have, in consequence, been pretty generally in- 
 troduced, it is not so easy to trace their ultimate in- 
 cidence and effect. They then appear to occasion 
 rather a diminution of the rent of the landlord than a 
 rise of prices. Farms which are tithe-free always 
 bring a proportionally higher rent than such as are 
 subject to that charge ; and it is naturally conclud- 
 ed, that, were tithes abolished, the depressed rents 
 would be raised to the same level as the others. For 
 this reason, in an advanced stage of society tithes . 
 have not been considered as increasing the jjrice ot 
 raw produce to the consumers, but as falling pn rent, 
 and as diverting a portion of it into the pockets of its 
 rightful owners, the clergymen and lay-impropria« 
 tors. Taxes on the produce of land," says Dr Dr Smith's 
 Smith, " are in reality taxes upon rent; and, though Opinion with 
 they may be originally advanced by the farmer, are Jj^^j^e^^^of 
 finally paid by the landlord. When a certain portion Tithes, 
 of the produce is to be paid away for a tax, the 
 farmer computes as well as he can what the value of 
 this portion, one year with another, is likely to 
 amount to, and makes a proportional abatement in the 
 rent tuhich he agrees to pay to the landlord. There 
 is no farmer who does not compute, beforehand, 
 what the church tithe, which is a land-tax of this 
 kind, is, one year with another, likely to amount 
 to." (III. p. 274.) 
 
 That this is the general opinion on the subject can- Error of this 
 not be doubted ; but notwithstanding the high autho- Opinion, 
 rity by which it is supported, it is most certainly JtiJ^gr Ta^ 
 without foundation* We have shown, in treating of on Raw Pro- 
 taxes on rent, that in every country that portion ofducedonot 
 the required supply of raw produce which is raised ^'^l °" ^'^^ 
 by the agency of the capital last applied to the soil, l^^^ioj.^ ^ 
 and which governs the price of all the rest, never but on the 
 yields any rent but merely the common and average Consumeis 
 rate of profit to the landlord or the occupier. Now°/^^* ^'*** 
 4.L 
 
630 
 
 TAXATION. 
 
 Taxes on j|j|g principle is decisive as to the effect of tithes and 
 ^Tu**™* other taxes on raw produce. If tithes were only levied 
 j-"'^ J from the superior soils, they would not, after inferior 
 » gjjjjg jj^jj ijggfj cultivated, occasion any rise of price, 
 but would fall entirely on the rent of the landlord. 
 But this is not the case with tithes. They affect every 
 quality of land indiscriminately, and being exacted 
 equally from the produce raised in the least favour- 
 able, as from that which is raised in the most favour- 
 able circumstances, occasion only an increase of prices. 
 Suppose no tithes are levied, and that the wheat 
 raised on the poorest lands, or with the capital last 
 applied to the soil, and which determines the price of 
 the whole crop, yields a sufficient profit to the culti- 
 vator, and no more, when it sells for 70s. a quarter— 
 the price must rise to 77s. before the same profit can 
 be obtained after tithes are imposed. In this case the 
 tithe cannot possibly occasion any diminution of 
 rent ; for this produce pays no rent ; so that if it 
 were not compensated to the cultivators by an increase 
 of prices, they would withdraw their capital from cul- 
 tivation, and the necessary supplies would no longer 
 be obtained. 
 
 wereaboHsh ^^'^ account of tithes is nowise inconsistent with 
 Xthe Rent the admitted fact, that farms which are free from this 
 of Tithe-free burden bring a proportionally higher rent. The ex- 
 Farmswouldpences attending their cultivation are not increased 
 by the levying a tithe from the produce of other 
 farms ; but, as there cannot be tivo prices, their occu- 
 piers obtain the same increased price for their produce 
 which is necessary to indemnify the cultivators of the 
 tithed lands. There must, however, be an equality 
 of profits, as well as of prices ; and hence, whatever 
 advantage the occupier of a tithe-free farm may gain 
 by being relieved from a burden to which his neigh- 
 bours are subjected, is compensated by a correspond- 
 iag increase of rent. 
 
 Thus it appears, that, if tithes were abolished, the 
 rent of such farms as pay tithe would not rise to a 
 level with the rent of those which are tithe-free, but 
 the rents of the latter would fall to the level of the 
 former. As raw produce is uniformly sold at its ne- 
 cessary price, or the price necessary to afford the 
 customary rate of profit to the cultivators o(the worst 
 land, it would fall the moment they had been relieved 
 from this heavy charge. And the advantage previous- 
 ly enjoyed by the proprietors of tithe-free lands, and 
 which was the only cause of their obtaining a higher 
 rent, being done away, their rents would decline to 
 the level of those around them. 
 
 If rents were uniformly paid in kind, the imposi- 
 Quantity tithes would undoubtedly diminish the share 
 
 but increase of the produce paid to the landlord ; but as its value 
 the Value of would be increased in the precise proportion that its 
 Corn Rents, quantity had been diminished, this reduced share 
 would continue to exchange for the same quantity of 
 all other commodities. Thus, if lands of the qualities 
 Nos. 1, 2, 3, &c. respectively produced, in return for 
 the same expenditure, 100, 90, 80, &c. quarters, the 
 rent of No. 1 would be twenty quarters, of No. 2, 
 ten, and so on. But they would no longer preserve 
 that proportion after the imposition of tithes ; for, 
 supposing a tenth to be deducted from their gross 
 produce, the remaining quantities would be 90, 81, 
 72, &c. ; and, therefore, the corn rent of No. 1 would 
 be reduced to 18, and of No. 2 to nine quarters. It 
 
 Tithes dimi- 
 nish the 
 
 is clear, however, that their money rents, ortheir rents Taxes 
 estimated in any other commodity except corn, would ^^^^^ 
 not be at all affected. If corn sold at L. 4 before 
 the imposition of the tithe, it would afterwards sell 
 at L. 4, 8s. 10-Jd. ; for, unless ninety quarters now 
 brought as much as one hundred quarters previously 
 brought, the cultivators of those soils, or the employ- 
 ers of those capitals which pay no rent, would not be 
 able to realize the common and average rate of profit. 
 Money rents would, therefore, continue unaltered; 
 on the land No. 1, they would still be L. 80, and on 
 No. 2, L. 40. 
 
 It appears, therefore, that in every state of society, 
 whether rents are high or low, and whether they are 
 paid in kind or in money, the charge of tithes is de- 
 frayed entirely by the consumers 0/ raw produce. They 
 do not consist of a portion of the rent of land belong- 
 ing to the clergy, or th* lay-impropriator ; but they 
 are a burden which falls equally on every individual 
 in the kingdom — on the poorest beggar as well aa 
 the richest lord — in proportion to their respective 
 consumption of the articles from which a tithe is 
 levied. 
 
 But, independently of these considerations, the fact Tlie Ti 
 that tithes and other taxes on raw produce do not ^^^^"j^ 
 form a deduction from rent, but go to increase the AmouE 
 price of produce, is obvious from the circumstance the Rei 
 that the tithe of expensive crops, and which require 
 a great expenditure in their cultivation, frequently 
 amounts to four or fve times the rent of the land. 
 The Rev> JMr Hewlett, by far the ablest advocate of 
 tithes, and whose authority cannot, therefore, be 
 questioned, informs us that the tithe of an acre of 
 hops, raised on land worth 40s. or 50s, an acre, is, 
 after deduction of drying and duty, generally worth 
 from L. 3 to L. 4 ; and he farther states, that he had 
 known L.7 or L.8 paid for the tithe of an acre of carrot- 
 seed where the land was not worth 20s. ! In such 
 cases, it is plainly as great an absurdity to affirm that 
 tithes fall exclusively on the rent of the landlord, as 
 it would be to affirm that a part is greater than a 
 uohole. Tithes cannot justly be objected to on the 
 ground of their being a partial tax. It is a mistake 
 to suppose that they are borne by any particular 
 class. They are not a local but a general burden ; 
 and fall equally on the consumers of the tithed articles. 
 Had the raiser of carrot-seed been relieved from the 
 burden of tithes, he would have obtained precisely 
 the same rate of profit by selling his produce for L. 7 
 or L. 8 less ; nor, had such been the case, would it 
 have been optional with him to have made this reduc- 
 tion ; the competition of his neighbours would infal- 
 libly have forced him, whether he were so disposed 
 or not, to make a corresponding diminution in his 
 prices. (Influence on Tithes on Agriculture, p. 4.) 
 
 An abolition of tithes is not, therefore^ a measure EfTect 
 in which landlords and farmers only are interested. T'*^ 
 It is obviously one of the greatest importance to the 
 public in general. If 80s. be a remunerating price 
 for wheat when tithes are levied, 72s. would be an 
 equally high remunerating price were they remitted. 
 When wheat sells at 80s., tithes, supposing them to 
 be rigorously exacted, are really equivalent to a tax 
 of Is. a bushel, or 8s. a quarter. And as the average 
 annual consumption of the different kinds of grain by 
 each individual, when reduced to the standard of 
 
TAXATION. 
 
 631 
 
 es on 
 Pro- 
 ice. 
 
 s in- 
 ac- 
 
 5 to 
 icrease 
 
 wheat, has been estimated, apparently on good 
 grounds, at a quarter, it follows, that when the medium 
 price of wheat is 80s., a tithe on. corn is really the 
 same thing as a capitation tax of 8s. ; and conse- 
 quently constitutes an item of 40s. in the expenditure 
 of every family of five persons. 
 
 But tithes are objectionable on other grounds. 
 They are not a permanent and fixed tax, but they 
 increase according as the difficulty of raising raw 
 >*ipro-P''oduce increases; and are infinitely more burden- 
 some and oppressive in a year of scarcity than in a 
 year of plenty. If the price necessary to afford a 
 sufficient supply of corn were 60s. a quarter, the 
 tithe would be equal to a direct tax of 6s. a quarter; 
 but if, in consequence of being forced to resort to 
 inferior lands, the increased difficulties of production 
 had raised the price to 80s., the tithe would be 8s.; 
 when prices rose to 100s., the tithe would be lOs., 
 and so on. Nor is this all. — The tithe is not only 
 increased in value, but it is also increased in amount, 
 according as cultivation is extended. When land 
 of the Jirst quality, and which we have supposed 
 would yield 100 quarters, was cultivated, the tithe 
 would be 10 quarters: But after land of the second 
 quality, and which only yields 90 quarters, had been 
 cultivated, the tithe would be levied on 190 quar- 
 ters : When land of the third quality had been cul- 
 tivated, it would be levied on 100 -f- 90 + 80, or 
 270 quarters, and would go on progressively increas- 
 ing, both in value and quantity, as fresh soils were 
 brought under tillage. 
 
 " Not only," says Mr Ricardo, " is the amount 
 of the tax increased from 100,000 quarters to 200,000 
 quarters, when the produce is increased from one to 
 two millions of quarters, but, owing to the increased 
 labour necessary to produce the second million, the 
 relative value of raw produce is so advanced, that the 
 200,000 may be, though only twice in quantity, yet 
 in value three or four times that of the 100,000 quar- 
 ters which were paid before. 
 
 *' If an equal value were raised for the Church by 
 any other means, increasing in the same manner as 
 tithes increase, proportionably with the difficulty of 
 cultivation, the effect would be the same. The 
 Church would be constantly obtaining an increased 
 portion of the net produce of the land and labour of 
 the country. In an improving state of society, the 
 net produce of the land is always diminishing in pro- 
 portion to its gross produce; but it is from the net 
 income of a country that all taxes are ultimately 
 paid, either in a progressive or in a stationary coun- 
 try. A tax increasing with the gross income, and ^ 
 falling on the net income, must necessarily be a very 
 burdensome and a very intolerable tax. Tithes are a 
 tenth of the gross, and not of the net produce of the 
 land; and, therefore, as society improves in wealth, 
 they must, though the same proportion of the gross 
 produce, become a larger and larger portion of the 
 net produce." * 
 
 Tithe is certainly in one respect the same as rent ; 
 both the one and the other are portions of the pro- 
 duce of the soil converted into a revenue, for the sup- 
 
 port of those who bear no share of the trouble and Taxes on 
 expence of its cultivation. But in every other re- 
 spect they are entirely dissimilar. Rent, when once, ^"^^* 
 fixed, must continue the same during the currency 
 of the lease. Though an industrious and enterprising 
 farmer should raise ten or twenty times the quantity 
 of produce raised by a sluggard, his rent would notj 
 therefore, be increased ; and he would reap, as he 
 ought, all the advantages of his greater industry and 
 intelligence. Such, however, is not the case with 
 tithes. To the sluggard they are invariable ; to the 
 industrious man they become more and more oppres- 
 sive, and increase with every fresh outlay of capital 
 and labour. It is indisputable, therefore, that in 
 their practical effect, tithes operate as a premium on 
 idleness, and as a heavy and constantly increasing tax 
 on industry ! By preventing the cultivator from de- 
 riving the full and entire advantage of superior skill 
 and increased exertion, they discourage his efforts, 
 and powerfully contribute to render him indolent, 
 careless, and indifferent. A farmer pays his rent 
 willingly to the landlord; but, he considers the 
 clergyman as an interloper, who, without having 
 contributed in any way to raise the crop, claims a 
 tenth part of its gross amount. The occupier of a 
 farm, subject to this galling and vexatious charge, 
 can never be brought to consider himself as realizing 
 the same rate of profit from the capital he employs, 
 as his neighbours in tithe-free farms ; and so strong is 
 this feeling, that we are told by Mr Stevenson, the 
 well-informed author of the Agricultural Survey of 
 the County of Surrey, that it is the common opinion 
 that a farm tithe- free is better worth 20s. an acre, than 
 a tithed farm equally favoured in soil and situation is 
 worth 1 3s. ! In this way, tithes contribute indirectly 
 as well as directly to raise prices — indirectly by gene- 
 rating an indisposition to apply fresh capital to tlie 
 improvement of the soil, and directly by the positive 
 addition they make to the expence of cultivating bad 
 land. 
 
 " Of all institutions," says Dr Paley, who cannot Tithes a 
 surely be reckoned unfriendly to the real interests of great discou. 
 the church, adverse to cultivation and improve- ''^S^"^^"* to 
 ment, none is so noxious as that of tithes. A claim- ^^P™^^* 
 ant here enters into the produce, who contributed 
 no assistance whatever to the production — when 
 years, perhaps, of care and toil have matured an im- 
 provement — when the husbandman sees new crops 
 ripening to his skill and industry — the moment he is 
 ready to put his sickle to the grain, he finds himself 
 compelled to divide the harvest with a stranger. 
 Tithes," Dr Paley continues, " are a tax not only 
 upon industry, but upon that industry which feeds 
 mankind — upon that species of exertion which it is 
 the object of all wise laws to cherish and promote." 
 (Paley 's Worh, II. p. 105, ed. 1819.) 
 
 " Tithe," says Dr Smith, " is always a great dis- 
 couragement both to the improvements of the land- 
 lord and to the cultivation of the farmer. The one 
 cannot venture to make the most important, which 
 are generally the most expensive, improvements ; 
 nor the other to rear the most valuable, which are 
 
 * Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, 1st edit. p. 228. 
 
6S2 
 
 TAXATION. 
 
 ferent Coun- 
 tries 
 
 generally, too, the most expensive crops, when the 
 church, which lays out no part of the expence, is to 
 share so largely in the profit. The cultivation of 
 madder was for a long time confined by the tithe to 
 the United Provinces, which, being Presbyterian 
 countries, and, upon that account, exempted from 
 this destructive tax, enjoyed a sort of monopoly of 
 that useful dyeing drug against the rest of Europe. 
 The late attempts to introduce the cultivation of this 
 plant into England have been made only in conse- 
 quence of the statute which enacted that 5s. an acre 
 should be received in lieu of all manner of tithe upon 
 madder." (111. p. 275.) As a farther illustration of 
 tlie principle here stated, we may mention, that the 
 cultivation of flax and hemp in Ireland never suc- 
 ceeded until a low modus had been fixed by law; since 
 then it has made a most rapid progress. 
 Inquiry into The effect of tithes and other taxes on the price 
 the effect of of raw produce has been urged as a reason why an 
 Taxes on equal duty should be imposed on all such produce 
 duceon the '"'hen imported from abroad. But all foreign corn 
 Freedom of imported must be paid either directly or indirectly 
 Intercourse by an exportation of some species of manufactured 
 commodities ; and it is, therefore, clear, that the 
 home producers of corn can have no claim whatever 
 to a protecting duty on the importation of foreign 
 corn, unless the tithes, and other taxes falling on raw 
 produce, exceed those which fall on manufactured 
 goods. A tax which equally affects every descrip- 
 tion of products, leaves their relative values exactly 
 where it found them. It does not render any parti- 
 cular class less able to withstand the unrestricted 
 competition of foreigners than the others, and can- 
 not, therefore, entitle them to a protecting duty. 
 But if higher duties be laid on a particular class of 
 commodities, the case is different. If, for example, 
 while the duty on commodities in general is only 10 
 per cent., a duty of 20 per cent, were laid on a par- 
 ticular class, their price must rise 10 per cent, higher 
 than the price of the rest, in order to maintain their 
 producers in the same relative situation as before. 
 It is plain, however, that in the event of the ports 
 being opened to the importation of every description 
 of foreign goods free of duty, the producers of the 
 heavily-taxed commodities will be deprived of the 
 means of limiting their supply, and consequently of 
 raising their price, so as to indemnify them for the 
 excess of the tax. The 10 per cent, excess of duty 
 would then really operate as a bounty on the im- 
 portation of the class of commodities on which it is 
 charged ; and if it were not defeated by a protecting 
 duty of 10 per cent., the home producers of that 
 class would be placed in a relatively disadvantageous 
 situation, and would abandon their business. 
 
 But this principle only holds in the case of duties 
 affecting manufactured products. If a direct tax of 
 10 per cent, were laid exclusively on the hats pro- 
 duced in England, and on no other commodity, the 
 hatters would most likely be ruined were foreigners 
 permitted to import hats duty free. Manufactured 
 goods are produced under the same, or, at all events, 
 under very similar circumstances ; so much so, that 
 foreign competition must either be injurious to all 
 the manufacturers of a particular description of 
 goods, or to none. But in agriculture the case is 
 otherwise. Corn is produced under very different 
 
 circumstances, or from soils of very different degrees 
 of fertility ; and though the cultivators of the worst 
 lands in tillage at any particular period might be in- 
 juriously affected by the unrestricted admission of 
 foreign corn, the other cultivators, instead of being 
 injured, would be really benefited by the rise of pro- 
 fit which must always follow every permanent reduc- 
 tion in the price of raw produce. Thus, suppose no 
 duties are imposed on manufactured commodities, 
 and that the ports are thrown open to the importa- 
 tion of foreign corn, without any protecting duty to 
 balance the tithe — the whole effect of such a mea- 
 sure would be to cause such a small additional quan- 
 tity of bad land to be thrown out of tillage as would 
 enable the cultivators to obtain eleven quarters for 
 the same outlay that had previously been required 
 to produce fen quarters. As soon as this contrac- 
 tion of tillage had been effected, the farmers would 
 have nothing to fear from foreign competition. 
 They would still obtain the same rate of profit that 
 was obtained by the undertakers of other businesses; 
 and the consumers would be able to purchase their 
 corn for ten per cent, less than if a protecting duty 
 had been imposed. 
 
 But notwithstanding it is thus most certainly true, 
 that the cultivators are always in a condition to re- 
 lieve themselves of such taxes as affect them to a 
 greater extent than they affect the other classes of 
 society ; yet, as they can only do this by contracting 
 tillage and withdrawing capital from the cultivation 
 of inferior soils, the effect of admitting foreign corn 
 without a protecting duty equivalent to the excess of 
 taxation affecting the home-growers, would be to 
 cause a diminution of rent. We have already shown 
 that rent consists of the difference between the pro- 
 duce obtained from the best and worst lands under 
 cultivation ; and if, by admitting foreign corn duty 
 free, bad land should be thrown out of cultivation, 
 the rent of the landlords would be reduced, and their 
 relative situation lowered. Although, therefore, it 
 is not necessary for the protection of the cultivators 
 that any countervailing duty should be laid on raw 
 produce imported from abroad ; still, if it be really 
 true that higher duties are laid on the raw produce 
 raised at home than on manufactured goods, justice 
 to the landlords requires that a duty should be laid 
 on all foreign raw produce equivalent to the excess 
 of duty affecting home produce. Such a duty, by fit- 
 ting all classes equally to withstand foreign competi- 
 tion, will preserve them in the same relative situation 
 after the opening of the ports as previously ; and 
 will treat all parties, as they ever ought to be treat- 
 ed, with the same equal and impartial justice. 
 
 To whatever extent a countervailing duty might 
 be laid on a foreign commodity, it would be proper 
 to give the home producers of the same commodity 
 an equal, or nearly equal drawback. If the home 
 producers were refused such a drawback, they might 
 say, '* Before your duty, and before the price of our 
 produce was raised in consequence of it, we could 
 compete with the foreign grower in foreign markets; 
 by making the remunerating price of our corn high- 
 er, you have deprived us of that advantage, therefore 
 give us a drawback equal to the duty, and you, in 
 every respect, restore us to the position, both as it 
 regards our own countrymen, as producers of other 
 
 Taxes 
 cliarge< 
 the Rat 
 duce rt 
 at Hot 
 
TAXATION. 
 
 633 
 
 on commodities less heavily taxed, and foreign growers 
 Pro- of raw produce, in which we were before placed." 
 On every principle of justice, says Mr Ricardo, and 
 consistently with the best interests of the country, 
 this demand should be acceded to. (On Protection 
 to Agriculture, p. 16.) 
 
 Mr Ricardo thinks that the tithes and other taxes 
 exclusively affecting raw produce, over those affect- 
 ing manufactured goods, may be taken at about 10s. 
 a quarter ; and he therefore proposes that foreign 
 corn should be freely admitted on paying this duty, 
 and that a drawback of 7s. should be allowed on ex- 
 portation. " The duty of 10s. a quarter is, I am 
 sure, rather too high as a countervailing duty for the 
 peculiar taxes which are imposed on the corn-grower, 
 over and above those which are imposed on the other 
 classes of producers in the country ; but I would 
 rather err on the side of a liberal allowance than of 
 a scanty one ; and it is for this reason that I do not 
 propose to allow a drawback quite equal to the duty."" 
 {Ibid. p. 80.) 
 
 The necessity of imposing this countervailing du- 
 ty, originating, as it almost entirely does, in the im- 
 position of tithes, affords another and a very power- 
 ful argument in favour of their abolition or commu- 
 tation. Were tithes abolished, the protecting duty 
 proposed by Mr Ricardo might be reduced to 3s. or 
 4s. a quarter, and the drawback to 2s. or 2s. 6d. 
 
 Taxes on raw produce, by raising the price of the 
 articles required for the food of the labourer, neces- 
 sarily raise wages and lower profits. Such taxes, 
 therefore, fall with double weight on the capitalists ; 
 affecting them both as employers of labour, and as 
 consumers. Indeed, the principal disadvantage of 
 taxes on raw produce consists in their tendency to 
 lower profits. " With a permanently high price of 
 corn," says Mr Ricardo, proportional wages would 
 be high ; and, as commodities would not rise on ac- 
 count of the rise of wages, profits would necessarily 
 fall. If goods, worth L.lOOO, require, at one time, 
 labour which cost L.800, and, at another time, the 
 price of the same quantity of labour is raised to 
 L.gOO, profits will fall from L.200 to L.IOO. They 
 will fall not in one trade only, but in all. High 
 wages equally affect the profits of the farmer, the 
 manufacturer, and the merchant ; nor is there any 
 other way of keeping profits up than by keeping 
 wages down. In this view of the law of profits, it is 
 at once seen how important it is that so essential a 
 necessary as corn, which so powerfully affects wages, 
 should be sold at a low price ; and how injurious it 
 must be to the community generally, that, by prohi- 
 bitions against importation, we should be driven to 
 the cultivation of our poorer lands to feed our in- 
 creasing population." 
 
 4. Custom Duties, or Duties on the Importation 
 and Exportation of Commodities. — These, like all 
 other duties, are paid by the consumers of the com- 
 
 modities on which they are laid. When a govern- 
 ment lays a duty on the foreign commodities which 
 enter its ports, the duty falls entirely on its own 
 subjects who purchase such commodities; for the fo- 
 reigners would ceasesupplying their markets with them, 
 if they did not get the full price of the commodities 
 exclusive of the tax ; and, for the same reason, when a 
 government lays a duty on the commodities which 
 its subjects are about to export, the duty does not fall 
 on them, but on the foreigners byuohom theyarebought. 
 If, therefore, it were possible for a country to raise a 
 sufficient revenue by laying duties on exported com- 
 modities, such revenue would be wholly derived from 
 others, and it would itself be entirely relieved from 
 the burden of taxation ; except in so far as duties 
 might have been imposed by foreigners on the com- 
 modities it imports from them ! Care, however, must 
 be taken in imposing duties on exportation, not to 
 lay them on such commodities as can be produced 
 at nearly the same cost by fbi-eigners, for the effect 
 of the duty would then be to put an entire stop to 
 their exportation, by causing the market to be sup- 
 plied by others. But when a country possesses any 
 exclusive, natural, or acquired advantage, in the 
 production of commodities, a duty on their exporta- 
 tion is really the most unexceptionable of all taxes. 
 Such a duty would not fall upon itself, but upon its 
 foreign customers ; and if it were not carried so high 
 as to balance the superior facilities of production, it 
 would have only a very slight tendency to diminish 
 the demand for the taxed articles. If the Chinese 
 chose to act on this principle, they might derive a 
 very considerable revenue from a duty on exported 
 teas, which would have to be entirely paid by the 
 English and other foreigners who buy them. And 
 there is perhaps no country which does not possess 
 some commodity demanded by foreigners that might 
 not be advantageously charged with a moderate duty 
 on exportation. The coal and tin, and probably also 
 some species of the manufactured goods of Great 
 Britain, seem to be in this predicament. 
 
 It was the great object of the professors of the 
 mercantile system of political economy to facilitate 
 the exportation of commodities of domestic growth, 
 and to fetter and restrict the importation of those 
 produced abroad ; and it is to the prevalence of 
 this system in modern Europe, and its influence on 
 financial legislation, that we are to ascribe the almost 
 total exemption of exported commodities from du- 
 ties, and the ruinous extent to which they have been 
 heaped on those that are imported. 
 
 Duties on imports and exports havebeen levied in al- 
 most every country which had any foreign commerce. 
 The Athenians lai-d a tax of a fifth on the corn and 
 other merchandise imported from foreign countries, 
 and also on several of the commodities exported 
 from Attica.* The portoTia,\ or customs payable 
 on the commodities imported into, and exported 
 
 * Anacharsis's Travels, IV. p. 375, Eng. Trans. The quantity of corn usually imported from the coun- 
 tries on the Euxine into Athens amounted to about 400,000 medimni. See Clarke On the Connection between 
 the Roman and English Coins, p. 58. 
 
 t Huic vero proprie vectigalis denominatio convenit quippe pro vehendis mercibus (unde vectigal^f so- 
 lute. Burraan, De Vectigalibus Pop. Rom. cap 5. 
 
CS4 
 
 TAXATION. 
 
 Custom 
 Duties. 
 
 Seignorage. 
 
 , Stamp 
 Duties. 
 
 Duties on 
 the Sale of 
 Land gene- 
 rally fall on 
 the Sellers. 
 
 from, the different ports in the Ronaan empire, formed 
 a very ancient and important part of the public reve- 
 nue. They were imposed, as Tacitus has observed, 
 when the spirit of liberty ran highest among the people. 
 A consulihus et tribunis plebis institiitcB, acri etiam pa- 
 pule Romani turn libertate. {Annul. \\b. 13, cap. 50.) 
 The rates at which they were charged were fluctuat- 
 ing and various, and httle is now known respecting 
 them. Cicero informs us (Cic. in II. Ver. cap. 75), 
 that the duties on corn exported from the ports of Si- 
 cily were, in his time, 5 per cent. Under the Imperial 
 Government the amount of the portoria depended as 
 much on the caprice of the Prince as on the real 
 exigencies of the state. Though sometimes diminish- 
 ed, they were never entirely remitted, and were 
 much more frequently enlarged. Under the By- 
 zantine Emperors they were as high as 12^ per 
 cent. (Burman, De Vecligalibus Pop. Rom. cap. 5, 
 passim.) 
 
 Customs seem to have existed in England before 
 the Conquest. But the King's first claim to them 
 was established by statute of the 3d Edward I. The 
 inconveniences arising from the multiplicity of the 
 various separate acts relative to the customs, caused 
 Mr Pitt to introduce a bill, in 1787, for their conso- 
 lidation. This bill was passed into a law, and several 
 similar consolidations have since been effected. The 
 last was by a statute passed in I8I9. To this statute 
 are subjoined tables, containing lists, ranged in alpha- 
 betical order, of the various articles of import and ex- 
 port, with the duties payable on each, and the draw- 
 backs and bounties allowed on the exportation of 
 particular sorts of British goods. 
 
 5. Duties on the Coinage of Gold and Silver For 
 
 an account of the incidence and effect of these duties, 
 the reader is referred to the article Money in this 
 Supplement, cap. Seignorage. 
 
 6. Stamp and Legacy Duties. — Stamp duties are 
 duties laid on the paper or parchment, on which 
 certain deeds, contracts, legal proceedings, receipts, 
 acquittances, &c. are written. They are called 
 stamp duties, from the paper being impressed with 
 a public stamp, stating the amount of the duty. 
 The ultimate incidence of these , duties varies ac- 
 coi'ding to the nature of the deed or writing, 
 for w^hich it is necessary to use stamped paper. 
 The duties payable on the sale of land, or on the 
 paper used in its conveyance from one party to ano- 
 ther, commonly fall on the seller. This arises, as 
 Dr Smith has observed, from the circumstance of 
 " the seller being almost always under the neces- 
 sity of selling, which forces him to take such a price 
 as he can get. The buyer is scarce ever under 
 the necessity of buying; he will, therefore, only 
 give such a price as he likes. He considers what 
 the land will cost him in tax and price together. 
 The more he is obliged to pay in the way of tax, the 
 less he will be disposed to give in the way of price. 
 Such taxes, therefore, fall almost always upon a ne- 
 cessitous person, and must, therefore, be frequently 
 very cruel and oppressive." (III. p. 318.) It is ob- 
 
 Dut 
 
 vious that the same reasoning must hold in the case Stamp 
 of the duties chargeable on the granting of mort- L'^S 
 gages ; and that they will commonly fall on the bor- 
 rower or poorer party. 
 
 This, however, is not the only objection to the Disad^ 
 imposition of duties on the transference of pro- tage oj 
 perty. Both M. Say and Mr Ricardo have ob- ^.*'*'^P 
 served, that the tendency of such duties is to pi'e-^}|g^ ^ 
 vent property from coming into the hands of those the tra 
 who would use it most advantageously; and conse-ofPro 
 quently to prevent the national capital from being 
 distributed in the best way for the community. 
 For the general prosperity, there cannot be too much 
 facility given to the conveyance and exchange of all 
 kinds of property, as it is by such means that capi- 
 tal of every species is likely to find its way into the 
 hands of those who will best employ it in increasing 
 the productions of the country. "Why," asks M. 
 Say, " does an individual wish to sell his land ? it is 
 because he has another employment in view in which 
 his funds will be more productive. Why does an- 
 other wish to purchase this same land ? it is to em- 
 ploy a capital which brings him too little, which 
 was unemployed, or the use of which he thinks sus- 
 ceptible of improvement. This exchange will in- 
 crease the general income, since it increases the in- 
 come of these parties. But if the charges are so 
 exorbitant as to prevent the exchange, they are an 
 obstacle to this increase of the general income." * 
 
 Taxes on law proceedings fall upon the suitors ; Taxes < 
 and consequently operate as a check to prevent an ^^^^ 
 injured party from seeking redress in a court of jus.'^^^ '"^ 
 tice. The impolicy, hardship, and injustice of such 
 taxes, have been admirably exposed by Mr Bentham, 
 in his Protest against Law Taxes. 
 
 Stamp duties, on the voluntary sale of all those 
 articles which are the produce of human industry, 
 fall, like all other taxes on such articles, wholly on 
 the consumer ; for, unless such were the case, the 
 articles would not be offered for sale, subsequently to 
 the imposition of the duties. Thus, the duties on 
 cards and dice, on advertisements, newspapers, &c. 
 are all paid by those who use them. Such, too, is 
 the case with the stamp duties, payable on licences 
 to retail any species of goods, or to exercise any pro- 
 fession. The taxed party invariably adds as much 
 to the price of the articles in which he deals, or of 
 the services which he performs, as is sufficient to 
 indemnify him for the tax. 
 
 Stamp duties were first levied in Holland. Most Stamp 
 of the accustomed methods of taxation having been^'.^s firsl 
 resorted to, the Kepublic, in order to provide addi- j^^^/" 
 tional funds for carrying on her contest with the 
 Spanish monarchy, offered a considerable reward 
 to any one who should devise the best new tax! 
 Among many other taxes, that of the vectigal char' 
 ice, or stamp duty, was suggested ; and having been 
 approved of, it was introduced by an Ordinance 
 issued in 1624<, setting forth its necessity, and the 
 benefits which it was supposed would result from its 
 imposition, t Since that period, stamp duties have 
 
 * Ricardo, Principles, &c. p. 167- 3d Ed. and Say, Traite d' Economic Politique, Tome II. p. 351. 
 f Beckman's History of Inventions, Vol. I. p. 379. Eng. Trans. , 10 
 
TAXATION. 
 
 d become almost universal, and now form a very pro- 
 minent branch of the revenue of almost every coun- 
 try ; affording a striking example of the justice of 
 Dr Smith's remark, that " There is no art which one 
 government sooner learns of another, than that of 
 draining money from the pockets of the people." 
 (III. p. 317.) 
 
 Stamp duties were introduced into England in 
 1671, by a statute entitled, " An act for laying 
 impositions on proceedings at law." The duties were 
 at first granted for only nine years, and were after- 
 wards continued for three years more, when they 
 were allowed to expire. They were again revived 
 in 1693, and have since been gradually and greatly 
 increased. 
 
 Legacy Duties, or duties on the transference of 
 property from the dead to the living, are now a very 
 common species of tax. The vioesima hereditatum, 
 or the twentieth penny of inheritances, imposed by 
 Augustus on the Romans, is the earliest example of 
 a tax on successions. Dion Cassius (lib. 55) in- 
 forms us, that this duty was laid on all successions, 
 legacies, and donations in case of death, except upon 
 those to the nearest relations and to the poor. Pliny 
 has given some of the reasons for this exception; 
 in speaking of the Vicesima, he calls it trihutum 
 tolerabile et facile hcsredibus duntaxat extraneis, do~ 
 mesticis grave. And a little after he adds, Itaque 
 illis (that is sti'angers) irrogatum, his (that is near rela- 
 tions) re niissuiriy videlicet, quod manifestum erat, quanta 
 cum dolors laturi, seic potius nan laturi homines essenf, 
 distringi aliquid et abradi bonis, qua sanguine, gen^ 
 tilitate, sacrorum denique societate meruissent, quceque 
 nunquam nt aliena et speranda, sed ut sua semper- 
 que possessa, ac deinceps proximo cuique t ran smitten da, 
 cepissent. ( Panegyricus, cap. 370 In addition to 
 these very cogent reasons for exempting the succes- 
 sions of near relations from the vicesima, it may be 
 observed, that the death of a father is seldom at- 
 tended with any increase, and frequently with a con- 
 siderable diminution, of revenue to such of his chil- 
 dren as live in the same house with him ; and when 
 this is the case, the burdening of his inheritance 
 with a tax must plainly be a very galling and cruel 
 aggravation of their loss. But, if taxes on succes- 
 sions are always paid with very great reluctance 
 by the children and immediate relations of the 
 deceased, it is quite otherwise when they fall to 
 distant relations or strangers. Those on whom 
 an unexpected or remote inheritance devolves, are 
 glad to accept it on any condition ; and uniform- 
 ly pay such moderate duties as may be laid on it 
 with greater good will than any other impost what- 
 ever ! 
 
 In Great Britain, a duty of one per cent, is laid 
 on all successions devolving either to the childi-en, 
 or to any lineal descendant of the children of the 
 deceased, or to his father or mother, or to any of 
 his lineal ancestors ; a duty of three per cent, is 
 charged on successions devolving to brothers and 
 sisters ; of four per cent, on those devolving to cou- 
 
 6SS 
 
 sins; and of ten per cent, on those devolving to Stamp and 
 strangers. Exclusive of this, a farther duty, vary- Legacy 
 ing according to the amount of the property left by 
 the deceased, is also charged on the probates of all "^^^'^^ 
 wills, without regard to the propinquity of the suc- 
 cessors. This duty anlounts, at present, to L. 1 1 on 
 a property worth from L. 450 to L. 600 ; to L. 22 
 on a property worth from L. 800 to L. ] 000 ; and 
 to L. 1 80 on a property worth from L. 8000 to 
 L. 10,000, increasing according to the farther in- 
 crease of the property. This tax presses more se- 
 verely on lineal successors, and is more objected to 
 by them than the legacy duty* 
 
 The great objection to taxes on successions, orObjecrioii 
 on transference of property from the dead to the *° legacy 
 hving, consists in the circumstance of their falling 
 wholly on capital, without occasioning any eifort to 
 replace it, either by increased exertion or economy. 
 If a legacy of L. 1000 be subject to a tax of L. 100,* 
 the legatee considers his legacy as only L. QOO, and 
 feels no particular inclination to save the L. ICQ 
 from his expenditure ; whereas, had he received tine 
 whole L. 1000, and been required to pay L. 100 in 
 taxes on income or commodities, the desire to pre- 
 serve his capital unimpaired would have prompted 
 him to endeavour to defray the tax by increased in- 
 dustry and economy. The real advantage of the 
 legacy duties consists in the facility with which 
 they are collected ; for by tending directly and ne- 
 cessarily to diminish capital, they are, in most other 
 respects, extremely injurious. 
 
 7. Post age ^ of Letters. — The conveyance of letters Postage of 
 by post has, in almost all countries, been conducted Letters, 
 by the agents of government ; and it is one of the few 
 industrious undertakings which appear to be better 
 managed by them, than they could be by private indi- 
 viduals. This speciesofconveyancewasoriginally esta- 
 blished, and kept up by the Roman Emperors, for the 
 safe, regular, and speedy transmissionofthepublicdis- 
 patches to the most remote parts of their dominions ; * 
 and such was also the purpose for which posts were 
 first established in modern Europe, by Louis XI. Sub- 
 sequently, however, private individuals were allowed 
 to avail themselves of this institution, for the con- 
 veyance of their letters; and governments, by impos- 
 ing higher duties, or rates of postage, on the letters 
 and packages sent through the post-office than are 
 sufficient to defray the expence of the establishment, 
 have rendered it productive of a considerable reve- 
 nue.* Nor, while the rates of postage are confined 
 within reasonable limits, is there perhaps a more 
 eligible species of tax. The English post-office was 
 placed on nearly its present footing in 164.9, by the 
 exertions of Mr Edmund Prideaux, Attorney- Gene- 
 ral to the Commonwealth. — (See Blackstone's Com., 
 menlaries, I. p. 321.) 
 
 The limits within which this article must be confin- 
 ed will not allow us to enter at greater length into 
 the inquiry concerning the incidence of taxes on com- 
 modities. We shall, therefore, proceed briefly to in- 
 vestigate their capacity to produce a revenue. 
 
 * Be'rgier, Histoire des Grands Cheminsxie F Empire Romain, I, p. I99, 
 
636 
 
 TAXATION. 
 
 Low Duties 
 most Pro- 
 ductive. 
 
 ]owL)'!ties Sect. Ill Circumstances >which delermine the ex- 
 
 --w' tent to which Taxes ought to he laid on Commodities 
 —Causes of Smuggling— Mentis by which it may be 
 prevented. 
 
 With regard to the capacity of a tax on a commo- 
 dity to raise a revenue, it depends, frst, on the na- 
 ture and extent of the demand for the commodity ; and, 
 second, on the means of preventing its being smug- 
 gled. Every tax, by raising the price of the commo- 
 dity on which it is laid, has a tendency to bring it 
 within the command of a smaller number of pur- 
 chasers, and to lessen its consumption. An individual 
 who might be able and disposed to pay Is. a bottle 
 of duty on wine, might neitlier have the means nor 
 the inclination to pay 2s. or 3s. ; and instead of 
 being augmented, the revenue might be diminished 
 by such an increase of duty. And hence, whenever 
 the duties on commodities are raised beyond a certain 
 limit— a limit, however, which it is impossible to de- 
 fine, and which must necessarily vary according to the 
 nature of the commodity on which the duties are 
 laid, and the varying tastes and circumstances of 
 society— their effect is to depress consumption to 
 such an extent, as to render them less productive 
 than if they had been lower. 
 
 Variations in the amount of the duties aftecting 
 commodities have exactly the same effect on their 
 price, and consequently on their consumption, as cor- 
 responding variations in the cost of their production. 
 But it is clear that any reduction in the price of 
 commodities, whose natural cost is very consider- 
 able, and which can, therefore, be used only by the 
 rich, could not have so powerful an effect, in in- 
 creasing consumption, as would follow the same pro- 
 portional reduction in the price of easily produced 
 commodities in general demand. A reduction of 
 50 per cent, from the price of coaches would not 
 add greatly to the demand for them; for, not- 
 withstanding this reduction, they would still be lux- 
 uries, for which none but the rich could afford to 
 pay / whereas, a reduction of 50 per cent, from the 
 price of whisky, gin, beer, tea, sugar, or any article 
 in general request, would extend the demand for it 
 in a much greater ratio. The reason is plain :— The 
 poorer classes form by far the most numerous por- 
 tipn of society ; and as such commodities are even 
 now partially used by them, a fall of 50 per cent, in 
 their price would bring them fully within their com- 
 mand, and would thereby add prodigiously to their 
 consumption. The truth of this observation may 
 be strikingly exemplified by a reference to the case 
 of cotton goods. At the Accession of. his late Ma- 
 jesty, in 1760, the price of cottons, awing to the 
 difficulty of producing them, was extremely high ; 
 and the value of the manufactured cottons annually 
 brought to market did not exceed L. 200,000. But 
 thanks to the genius and inventions of Hargreaves, 
 Watt, Arkwright, Crompton, and others, the price 
 of cottons has been so far sunk, as to bring them 
 within reach of the poorest individual; and yet, 
 such has been the vast increase of demand, that, not- 
 withstanding this reduction of price, the value of 
 the cottons annually manufactured in Great Britain, 
 and either disposed of at home, or sent abroad, a- 
 
 mounts, according to the very lowest estimate, to the Causes 
 amazing sum of forty millions ! It is obvious, ^^''ever 
 however, that if cottons had been loaded with high " J 
 duties ; and if the same reduction in them, which ^ 
 has been brought about by the improvement in ma- 
 chinery, had been brought about by a reduction of 
 the duties affecting them, precisely the same effects 
 would have followed. The demand would have 
 equally increased ; and the greater consumption of 
 the low taxed articles would have rendered the re- 
 duced duties more productive than the higher. Si- 
 milar effects have uniformly followed from similar 
 causes : low duties on commodities in general de- 
 mand being invariably found to be more productive 
 than when they are carried to a greater height — and 
 more productive than high duties on commodities 
 used only by the rich. 
 
 Besides diminishing the revenue by diminishing jjigj, ] 
 consumption, oppressively high duties tend to dimi-encour 
 nish it by encouraging and promoting the ruin-Smug{ 
 ously destructive trade of smuggling. The risk 
 of being detected in the smuggling of commodities, 
 under any system of fiscal regulations, may always 
 be valued at a certain average rate ; and whenever 
 the duties exceed this rate, smuggling will be im- 
 mediately practised. Now, there are plainly but 
 two ways of checking this nefarious practice — either 
 the temptation to smuggle must be diminished by 
 lowering the duties, or the difficulties in the way of 
 smuggling must be increased. The first is obvi- 
 ously the most natural and efficient method of effect- 
 ing the object in view; but the second has been 
 most generally resorted to. In the great majority 
 of cases, governments have attempted to put down 
 smuggling, without reducing the duties, by esta- 
 blishing a more vigilant system of collection, and by 
 increasing the number and severity of the penal- 
 ties affecting the smuggler. As might have been 
 expected, these attempts have, in the great majority 
 of cases, proved signally unsuccessful. And it has 
 been, almost invariably, found that no vigilance on 
 the part of the revenue officers, and no severity of 
 punishment, can prevent the smuggling of thoae 
 commodities which are loaded with oppressive du- 
 ties. The smuggler is generally a popular charac- 
 ter; and though we ha^e no desire to become the 
 apologists of those who endeavour to defraud tlie 
 revenue, and to injure the fair trader, it is idle to 
 expect that the bulk of society will ever be brought 
 to consider that those who furnish them with cheap 
 tea, gin, whisky, brandy, &c. are guilty of any very 
 heinous offence. 
 
 « To pretend," says Dr Smith, " to have any scru- 
 ple about buying smuggled goods, though a manifest 
 encouragement to the violation of the revenue laws, 
 and to the perjury which almost always attends it, 
 would, in most countries, be regarded as one of tbjase 
 pedantic pieces of hypocrisy, which, instead of gain- 
 ing credit with any body, seems only to expose the 
 person who affects to practise them, to the suspicion 
 of being a greater knave than most of his neighbours. 
 By this indulgence of the public, the smuggler is 
 often encouraged to continue a trade, which he is 
 thus taught to consider as in some measure innocent ; 
 and when the severity of the revenue laws is ready 
 
 •1 
 
TAXATION. 
 
 637 
 
 efFec 
 means 
 revent- 
 Smug- 
 
 es and to fall upon him, he is frequently disposed to defend 
 ention ^[^i^ violence what he has been accustomed to regard 
 as his just property : and from being at first, per- 
 ly-^ haps, rather imprudent than criminal, he at last too 
 often becomes one of the hardiest and most determined 
 violators of the laws of society." — (III. p. 378. See 
 also Montesquieu, Esprit des Loix, liv. 13, cap. 8.) 
 duction To create, by means of high duties, an overwhelm- 
 utiestheing temptation to indulge in crime, and then to 
 punish men for indulging in it, is a proceeding 
 completely subversive of every principle of justice. 
 It revolts the natural feelings of the people, and 
 teaches them to feel an interest in the worst cha- 
 racters — for such smugglers generally are — to espouse 
 their cause, and to avenge their wrongs. A punish- 
 ment which is not proportioned to the offence, and 
 which does not carry the sanction of opinion along 
 with it, can never be productive of any good effect. 
 The true way to put down smuggling is to render 
 it unprofitable — to diminish the temptation to engage 
 in it ; and this is to be done, not by surrounding the 
 coasts with cordons of troops, by the multiplication 
 of oaths and penalties, and making the country the 
 theatre of ferocious and bloody contests in the field, 
 and of perjury and chicanery in the courts of law, but 
 simply and exclusively by reducing the duties on the 
 smuggled commodities. It is in this, and in this only, 
 that we must seek for an effectual check to smug- 
 gling. Whenever the profits of the fair trader become 
 nearly equal to those of the smuggler, the latter is 
 forced to abandon his hazardous profession. But so 
 long as oppressively high duties are kept up, or, which 
 is really the same thing, so long as a high bounty is 
 held out to encourage the adventurous, the needy, 
 and the profligate, to enter on this career, we may be 
 assured, that an army of excise officers, backed by 
 the utmost severity of the revenue laws, will be 
 insufficient to hinder them. The truth is, that the 
 too great severity of these laws prevents their execu- 
 tion. " It stimulates the trader to corrupt the offi- 
 cer to conceal a fraud ; and it influences the officer 
 to overlook what he would otherwise discover." 
 (Hamilton Oh the Principles of Taxation, p. 244.) 
 Heavy duties on any description of commodities 
 lid vary ^j]^ occasion smuggling ; but, it is chiefly caused by 
 Price of their being laid on commodities in general demand, 
 Comino- whose natural or necessar y price is not very consider- 
 able. It is commonly said, when a proposal is made 
 for laying a heavy duty on a low priced article, 
 that its lowness of price fits it to bear such a duty, 
 and that, notwithstanding its imposition, it may still 
 be brought to market at a sufficiently moderate rate. 
 But the encouragement to smuggling depends more 
 on the proportion which the duty bears to the price 
 of the commodity, than on the circumstance of the 
 duty being absolutely high or low. To illustrate 
 this principle, let us suppose, that a taxed commo- 
 dity, as soap, costs, exclusive of duty, lOd. a pound. 
 If a duty of Id. per lib. were laid on it, the induce- 
 ment to smuggle would be equal to 1 0 per cent, of 
 the value of the article, and if the duty were 2d. the 
 inducement would be 20 per cent., and so on. Now, 
 let us suppose, that the cost of producing the soap, 
 or its natural price, falls to 5d. : a duty of id. per lib. 
 would then make an inducement to smuggle of 20 
 
 VOL. VI. PART II. 
 
 per cent, of its value, and a duty of 2d. would make Comparative 
 an inducement of no less than 40 per cent. ! And 
 hence, it is obvious, that, in order to prevent smug- ^nd Low 
 gling, a system should be adopted, precisely the re- Taxes, 
 verse of that which is generally followed in the im- 
 position of taxes. Instead of making duties to vary 
 inversely as the price of commodities, or of raising 
 them when the natural prices of the taxed articles 
 fall, and reducing them when they rise, they ought 
 to he made to vary directly as these prices — to rise 
 when they rise, and to fall when they fall. Dispro- 
 portionaUy heavy taxes are the great cause of smug- 
 gling; and they have the farther and most injurious 
 effect of preventing its being corrected by its natural 
 and proper punishment, the confiscation of the om- 
 modities. Recourse is, in consequence, had to ex- 
 traordinary pains and penalties, and all proportion 
 of punishment being done away, " men who," as 
 Montesquieu observes, " can hardly be considered as 
 culpable, must be punished as atrocious criminals." 
 {Esprit des Loix, liv. 13, cap. 8.) 
 
 Certain commodities, from their greater bulk, from 
 their susceptibility of being impressed with a per- 
 manent stamp, or from any other cause, are less 
 liable to be smuggled than others, and may, there- 
 fore, be loaded with comparatively higher duties. 
 But as a general rule, it cannot be doubted, that, in 
 order to prevent fraud, the duties should always be 
 proportioned to the cost of the articles on which they 
 are laid. 
 
 Sect. IV. — Comparative Productiveness of High and 
 Low Taxes. 
 
 The arguments adduced in the foregoing section 
 are sufficient to establish the superior productiveness 
 of moderate taxes. But the subject deserves to 
 be treated at greater length : and as the history of 
 taxation, both in this and other countries, furnishes 
 numerous direct, conclusive, and well established 
 proofs of the same principle, we shall take this op- 
 portunity to bring a few of them under the notice 
 of our readers. We shall class them under two dif- 
 ferent heads : the Jirst, consisting of instances where- 
 in a reduction of duty has been followed by an in- 
 crease of revenue; and the second, of instances where- 
 in an increase of duties has been followed by a di- 
 minution of revenue. 
 
 1. The effects produced by the reduction of the History of 
 tea duties, in 1745 and 1784, are among the most j^e Tea 
 striking examples of the superior productiveness of " * 
 low duties on articles in general demand. Pre- 
 viously to 174-5, the excise duty of 4s. a pound on 
 tea yielded, at an average, about L. 150,000 a year; 
 which, had there been no smuggling or adulteration, 
 would have shown that the consumption was equal 
 to about 750,000 lbs. But it was well known that 
 smuggling was then carried to a very great height, 
 and that the real consumption of tea was much 
 greater than the apparent consumption. To put a 
 slop to this clandestine importation, a bill was intro- 
 duced into Parliament in 1745, in pursuance of the 
 recommendation of a Committee of the House of 
 Commons, and passed into a law, by which the ex- 
 cise duty of 4s. was reduced to Is., and 25 per cent, 
 ad valorem. This measure was signally successfuK 
 4 m' 
 
638 
 
 TAXATION. 
 
 and Low 
 Taxes. 
 
 Comparative In 1746, the year immediately subsequent to the 
 Productive- gjm,jjp|^ the sales of tea for home consumption 
 ness of High i\ u c j • t 
 
 T.r.w amounted to above two millions or pounds weight, 
 
 and the revenue was increased to L. 243,309 • But 
 to set the effects of this wise and salutary measure 
 in a still clearer point of view, we shall subjoin an 
 account of the net produce of the tea duties from 
 1743 to 1748, both inclusive. 
 
 In 1743 it amounted to L. 151,959 
 1744- — — 147,065 
 
 1745 _ 145,630 
 
 1746 (Duties reduced) 243,309 
 
 1747 — — 257,937 
 
 1748 — — 303,545.* 
 
 But notwithstanding this unanswerable demonstra- 
 tion of the superior productiveness of low duties, they 
 were again increased in 1748 ; and fluctuated, between 
 that epoch and 1784, from 64 to 119 per cent, ad 
 valorem. The effects which followed this inordinate 
 extension of the duties are equally instructive with 
 those which followed their reduction. The revenue 
 was not increased in any thing like a corresponding 
 proportion ; and as the use of tea had become 
 general, smuggling was carried to an infinitely greater 
 extent than at any former period. In the nine years 
 preceding 178O, above 118 millions of pounds weight 
 of tea were exported from China to Europe, in ships 
 belonging to the Continent, and about 50 millions 
 of pounds in ships belonging to England. But from 
 the best information attainable, it appears that the 
 real consumption was almost exactly the reverse of 
 the quantities imported ; and that, while the con- 
 sumption of the British dominions amounted to above 
 13 millions of pounds, the consumption of the Con- 
 tinent did not exceed 5g millions ! If this statement 
 be nearly correct, it follows that an annual supply of 
 about eight millions of pounds must have been clan- 
 destinely imported into this country, in defiance of 
 the utmost vigilance on the part of the revenue offi- 
 cers. But this was not the worst effect of the high 
 duties ; for many of the retail merchants, who pur- 
 chased tea at the East India Company's sales, being 
 in a great measure beat out of the market, were, in 
 order to put themselves in a condition to stand the 
 competition of the smugglers, tempted to adulterate 
 their teas, by mixing them with sloe and ash leaves, f 
 At length, in 1784, ministers, after having in vain 
 tried every other resource for the suppression of 
 smuggling, resolved to follow the precedent of 1745, 
 and reduced the duty on tea from II9 to 12^ per 
 cent. This measure was as successful as the former. 
 Smuggling and the practice of adulteration were im- 
 mediately put an end to. The following official 
 statement shows, that the quantity of tea sold by the 
 East India Company was about tripled in the course 
 of the fuio years immediately following the reduc- 
 tion ! 
 
 In 1781, the quantity of tea sold 
 dia Company's sales amounted to 
 
 1782 — -— 
 
 1783 — — 
 
 1784 (Duties reduced) 
 
 1785 — — 
 
 1786 — — 
 
 1787 — — 
 
 at the East In- Compi 
 5,023,419 lbs. P^^'du 
 6,283,664 
 5,857,883 
 
 10,148,257 
 
 16,307,433 
 
 15,093,952 
 
 16,692,426 X 
 
 While the quantity of tea sold at the Company's 
 sales was thus rapidly augmenting in consequence of 
 the reduction of the duty, the quantity of tea im- 
 ported into the Continent from China, which had, in 
 the year 1784, amounted to 19,027,300 lbs., declined 
 with still greater rapidity, and, in 1791, was reduced 
 to only 2,291,500 lbs. ! § 
 
 The duties on tea, on an average of the five or six 
 years preceding 1784, produced about L. 700,000 a 
 year. And, at the same time that Parliament re- 
 duced them to 12^ ^jer cent., they laid an additional 
 duty on windows, estimated to produce L. 600,000, 
 as a commutation tax, to compensate the deficiency 
 which it was supposed would take place to that ex- 
 tent in the revenue formerly derived from tea. But 
 instead of the duties falling off in the proportion of 
 119 to 12|, or from L. 700,000 to L. 73,000, owing 
 to the increased consumption, they only fell off in the 
 proportion of about two to one, or from L. 700,000 
 to L. 340,000 ! The commutation act has been al- 
 ways regarded, and with justice, as one of the most 
 successful financial measures adopted in the course 
 of Mr Pitt's administration. The plan was generally 
 understood, at the time, to have been suggested by 
 Mr Richardson, Accountant-General of the East In- 
 dia Company. But the popularity of the measure 
 was so great as to induce several other individuals to 
 claim this honour, and even to occasion some hot dis- 
 putes on the subject in the House of Commons. In 
 point of fact, however, the merit of having first sug- 
 gested the plan did not really belong either to Mr 
 Richardson, or to any of those who then claimed it ; 
 and such of our readers as will take the trouble to 
 look into a pamphlet of Sir Matthew Decker's (^Se- 
 rious Considerations on the Present High Duties), pub- 
 lished in 1743, will find that the measure adopted in 
 1784 had been strenuously recommended forty years 
 before. 
 
 But the principle of the commutation act, and the 
 striking advantage that had resulted from the reduc- 
 tion of the duty, were soon lost sight of. In 1795, 
 the duty was increased to 25 per cent. ; and after suc- 
 cessive augmentations in 1797> 1798, 1800, and 
 1803, it was raised, in 18 06, to gGper cent, ad valorem, 
 at which it continued till 181 9, when it was raised to 
 looker cent. Now, although it cannot be disputed 
 that the duty on tea yields, at present, a vastly great- 
 er revenue than was derived from it in 1795, there 
 are the strongest possible reasons for believing that 
 the revenue would have been considerably greater. 
 
 * Hamilton's Principles of Taxalion, Appendix, No. 19; and Postlethwaite's History of the Revenue, 
 p. 293. 
 
 t Macpherson's Commerce tuith India, p. 208. Milburn's Oriental Commerce, Vol. II. p. 540. 
 X Macpherson's Commerce Huith India, p. 416. § Ibid. p. 210. 
 
TAXATION. 
 
 639 
 
 rative had the duty not been carried so high. The quantity 
 -of tea sold by the East India Company in 1795 and 
 ^High jygg amounted to very nearly 20 millions of pounds a 
 year, and in 1799, to very nearly 25 millions of pounds 
 (24,853,508). Since then, there has been no increase. 
 For, according to the account given in the Lords' Re 
 port on the East India Trade (p. 334), the average 
 quantity of tea sold at the Company's sales in 1818, 
 1819, and 1820, is rather under 25 millions of pounds 
 a year. But the population of Great Britain, which 
 is ascertained by the late census to amount to 
 14,379,000, amounted to only 10,817,000 in 1800; 
 and had there been no diminution of the individual 
 consumption of the Company's tea in the interval be- 
 tween these enumerations, their sales ought plainly 
 to have been increased in the proportion of 10,817 
 to li,379, 01' ffoin 25 to 33 millions of pounds. Nor 
 is this all. The sales made by the East India Com- 
 pany supply the markets of Ireland as well as Bri- 
 tain ; and, if we take into account the extraordinary 
 increase of population in that part of the empire, 
 the diminution of consumption will appear still more 
 striking. But, notwithstanding the Company's sales 
 have thus continued stationary since 1795, it is, we 
 believe, pretty generally admitted, that the indi- 
 vidual consumption of tea, or rather of the com- 
 pound sold under its name, has not been considerably 
 diminished in the towns, while it has increased 
 greatly in the country since that epoch. It is plain, 
 however, that this increased supply can have been 
 obtained only by clandestine importation, or adul- 
 teration ; and, as there was no opportunity of smug- 
 gling during the latter part of the war, and as the 
 powerful force that has been employed in the pre- 
 ventive service since the return of peace, must have 
 rendered it extremely difficult to import any consi- 
 derable quantity of foreign tea, we should be dispos- 
 ed to conclude, that the vacuum, caused by the high 
 duties, has been chiefly supplied by adulteration, — 
 and such, we find, is really the case. There is, in- 
 deed, every reason to think that the practice of 
 adulterating by the intermixture of ash and sloe 
 leaves, and by drying tea that has been already in- 
 fused, and mixing it with fresh tea, is carried to a 
 greater extent at this moment than in 1784. In 
 proofs, of this, we may mention, that, in London, 
 in 1818, upwards of twenty grocers were convicted 
 of having spurious tea in their possession. And 
 it is worthy of remark, that in the case of the 
 King D. Owen, the counsel for the defendant de- 
 clared, that the practice tuas so general, that his 
 client was not aware of the existence of any lata hy 
 which it was forbidden ! Since then, several addi- 
 tional convictions have taken place ; but it is not in 
 the nature of things that the evil can be materially 
 diminished by such means. If we are really de- 
 sirous of putting a stop to the practice of adulter- 
 ation, we must follow Mr Pitt's example, and take 
 50 or 60 per cent, from the present duties. The ex- 
 perience of the effects of the reductions in 1745 and 
 1784, enable us confidently to predict, that such 
 
 a reduction would not be followed by any correspond- Comparative 
 ing diminution of revenue ; while, besides putting Productive- 
 an instant stop to smuggling and adulteration, it and Low ^^'^ 
 would be a considerable boon to the lower classes. Taxes, 
 to whom tea is now become an article of prime ne- y . y-^- 
 cessity, and would powerfully contribute to extend 
 our commerce with China. 
 
 We have been thus particular in noticing the va- 
 riations in the tea duties, because the Company's 
 sales afford the means of ascertaining the precise 
 effect of their increase and diminution on consump- 
 tion. The results are both curious and instructive ; 
 and would of themselves be sufficient to establish the 
 truth of Dr Swift's observation, that, in the arithme- 
 tic of the Customs, two and two do not always make 
 four, but sometimes only one ! 
 
 The narrow and contracted policy on which niost Effects gf^jjg 
 ministers have generally acted, puts it out of our Reduction of 
 power to refer to many such conclusive instances *e Spirit 
 as the reduction of the tea duties in 1745 and^"**^^* 
 1784, to prove the superior productiveness of dimi- 
 nished taxation ; there are, however, one or two 
 others which deserve to be pointed out. In 1742, 
 the high prohibitory duties upon spirituous liquors, 
 and upon licences for retailing the same, were 
 abolished, and such moderate duties imposed, to 
 commence after Lady Day 17^3, as were ex- 
 pected to increase the revenue by increasing the 
 legal consumption of spirits. This measure was 
 vehemently opposed by the Bishops ; but their op- 
 position was ineffectual ; and the increase of the du- 
 ties, and diminution of smuggling which followed, 
 proved that the measure was alike advantageous to 
 the revenue and to the morals of the people. (His- 
 tory of our Debts and Taxes, Part IV. p. 110.) In 
 1787, Mr Pitt reduced the duty on wine and spirits 
 50 per cent, and the revenue was, notwithstanding, 
 considerably augmented. Perhaps, however, the 
 progress of the duties on coffee illustrates this prin- 
 ciple in a still more striking manner. In 1805, they Reduction of 
 were raised a third, and that year their produce f<^^l^^^ Coffee 
 o^an eighth instead of increasing a third ; in 1806, " ^' 
 they had increased only a sixteetith, so that the con- 
 sumption had diminished above a fourth. But it 
 was at length found that the tax had been overdone, 
 and it was lowered from 2s. to 7d. the cwt. Mark 
 the immediate effects of this step. The average an- 
 nual produce of the high duty for the three years, 
 previous to 1808, when it was lowered, was L.166,000; 
 and the average annual produce of the reduced duty 
 for the next three years was L.195,000 — a proof 
 that the consumption had been increased in a quad- 
 ruple proportion. * 
 
 The history of other countries abounds with equal- Reduction of 
 ly conclusive examples of the superior P*'0^"ctive-^^^^^.*^ 
 ness of moderate duties. In 1775, M. Turgot de- p^^jg 
 ducted a half from the customs and other duties 
 chargeable on the fish sold in the Paris market ; but, 
 notwithstanding this reduction, the amount of the 
 duties collected was not diminished. The demand 
 for fish must, therefore, have been doubled, in con- 
 
 Mr Brougham's Speech on the State of the Nation in 1817, p. 57. 
 
640 
 
 TAXATION. 
 
 on Provi- 
 sions in 
 Spain. 
 
 Comparative sequence of the inhabitants being enabled to supply 
 Productive- themselves, at a comparatively cheap rate, with a 
 
 Low'^^""tritious and agreeable food.* 
 Taxes. In 1813, all sugar imported into the French era- 
 v-»-v''^ pire paid a duty of one franc sixty cent, the livre or 
 lUduction of pound. The quantity imported that year amounted 
 the Duties (.^ ^bout fourteen millions of pounds, which, as 
 im^o'r^alin France, and the countries then incorporated with 
 tlTpianie!" her, contained about forty-two millions of inha- 
 bitants, gives the third part of a pound weight to 
 each. In 1814, this exorbitant duty was reduced to 
 about af/th part, or to thirty cent, the pound ; and, 
 though the population of France had now been redu- 
 ced from forty-two to about twenty-eight millions, 
 the average annual importations of 1814 and 1815 
 amounted to forty-four millions of pounds, being up- 
 wards of a pound and a half to each individual ; or 
 about FIVE times as much as the consumption had 
 amounted to under the high duty. In consequence of 
 this increase of consumption, the low duty yielded 
 very near as large a revenue as the high duties ; and, 
 since 1815, both consumption and revenue have con- 
 tinued to increase. {Richesse des Nations, par Gar- 
 nier, V. p. 304, 2de Ed.) 
 Reduction of Ustariz gives a variety of instructive details re- 
 the Duties specting the disastrous effects which the levying of 
 certain taxes have had on the industry of the Spa- 
 niards, and of the advantage which has resulted from 
 the repeal and modification of others. We shall give 
 a single example. Valencia, he tells us, though very 
 barren of grain and flocks, and not equal in extent 
 to two-thirds of Arragon, paid a much latger reve- 
 nue to the Royal Treasury. He says, that this was 
 owing to the comparatively flourishing state of com- 
 merce and manufactures in Valencia ; and he then 
 adds " This increase and improvement in manufac- 
 tures and commerce is ascribed to the equitable and 
 kind treatment the weavers receive in that province, 
 and to his Majesty's goodness in reducing the exces- 
 sive taxes which were charged upon Jlesh meat <ind 
 other provisions ; and his taking off wholly that which 
 was laid on bread in ancient times ; as also, the im- 
 posts known by the name of ancient duties and gene- 
 ralities. These duties were partly replaced by others, 
 but in such a manner that they were rendered much 
 lighter, the people in general eased, and the royal 
 revenue improved." t 
 
 2. But the superior productiveness of low duties on 
 the Increase articles in general request may be equally shown 
 JJJIJ^j^"^^'" from the consequences of the attempts to increase 
 them beyond their proper limits. The history of the 
 sugar duties is, in this respect, extremely important. 
 In the three years from 1803 to 1806, the former 
 duties were increased about 50 per cent. Now, the 
 average produce of the old duties, for the three years 
 before that rise, was L. 2,778,000. The produce of 
 1804, after they had been raised 20 per cent., was 
 not L. 3,333,000, as it ought to have been, had the 
 
 Effects of 
 
 consumption remained thesarae,butonlyL.2,S37,000:( Corafst 
 being L. 241,000 less than the produce of the low 
 duty; and the average produce of 1806 and 1807,"nJLol 
 after the whole 50 per cent, was added, was only Taxes. 
 L. 3,1 33,000, instead of L. 4,167,000; which it should ^^^.v^ 
 have been had there been no falling off since 1804. 
 Thus, both consumption and revenue declined, in 
 consequence of the increase of duty in 1804; and 
 the consumption has declined, in consequence of the 
 succeeding augmentations, while the revenue has 
 gained very little. J The duties on leather, after 
 being stationary for nearly a century, were doubled in 
 1813. In 1812, the low duties produced L. 394,000; 
 but, instead of being doubled, or of producing 
 L. 788,000, when the tax was doubled, the an- 
 nual revenue has scarcely ever since exceeded half 
 a million, and has frequently fallen short of that sum. 
 
 The duties on foreign wines have been tripled since Increase 
 1792. The last increase took place in 1815, whentheDuti 
 L. 30 per ton was added to the former duty on^^"*^^' 
 French, and L. 20 to that on Portuguese wine. Now, 
 observe what has been the effect of this increase of 
 duty. In the Second Report of the Lords' Com- 
 mittee on the Silk and Wine Trade (ordered by the 
 House of Commons to be printed, 28th June 1821), 
 a series of accounts are given, showing the quantity 
 of wine imported into Great Britain, and re-export- 
 ed, for a considerable number of years past, and the 
 amount of the duties. From these accounts, we have 
 drawn up the following Table of the number of tons 
 of wine imported into Britain from 1809 to 1820, 
 both inclusive ; the number of tons re-exported 
 during the same period ; and the quantity remaining 
 for home consumption. 
 
 
 Tons im- 
 
 Do. re-ex- 
 
 
 ported. 
 
 ported. 
 
 1809 
 
 4.9,762 
 
 14,501 
 
 1810 
 
 47,058 
 
 12,729 
 
 1811 
 
 20,787 
 
 5,928 
 
 1812 
 
 35,082 
 
 6,716 
 
 § 1813 
 
 
 
 1814 
 
 31,465 
 
 11,838 
 
 1815 
 
 30,874 
 
 5,855 
 
 1816 
 
 18,218 
 
 5,163 
 
 1817 
 
 27,073 
 
 4,457 
 
 1818 
 
 35,763 
 
 4,021 
 
 1819 
 
 23,408 
 
 3,843 
 
 1820 
 
 22,782 
 
 4,625 
 
 35,261 1 
 34,329 I 
 14,864 ! 
 28,366 ^ 
 
 29,627 
 25,019 
 13,055" 
 22,616 
 31,742 > 
 19,565 I 
 18,157 J 
 
 Average annual diminution of"] 
 the consumption of wine for j 
 the five years subsequent to \ 
 1815, as compared with the 
 five preceding years, J 
 
 Remains foi 
 Home Con 
 sumption. 
 
 Average annual Con- 
 sumption during the 
 live years previous to 
 1815. 
 
 Tons. 
 
 28,489 
 
 Do. for five year^sub. 
 sequent to 1815. 
 
 21,02Y 
 
 7,462 
 
 * Say, Traite d'Economie Politique, Tome II. p. 339. Lord Karnes, in his Sketches of the History of 
 Man, states, that these duties amounted to 48 per cent, ad valorem. Vol. II. p. 406. Edit. 1788. 
 t Theory and Practice of Commerce, Vol. II. p. 310. Eng. Trans. 
 X Mr Brougham's Speech on the Stale of the Nation in 1817, 54. 
 § The Records for the year 1813 were destroyed by fire. 
 
TAXATION. 
 
 641 
 
 ipatativa 
 luctive- 
 of High 
 Low 
 
 Thus, it appears, that the increase of the duties on 
 wine in 1815 has occasioned a diminution in the 
 consumption of 1^62 tons a year, or of one-fouuth 
 part of the total quantity annually consumed, on an 
 average of the Jive years preceding the increase. Let 
 us next see whether any augmentation of revenue has 
 taken place to balance this diminution of the comforts 
 of the people, and the loss of the market for the pro- 
 ducts which were previously exchanged for the wine. 
 
 From a Table in the same Report (p. 78), it ap- 
 pears that the produce of the duties of excise on the 
 wines consumed in England from 1810 to 1820, both 
 inclusive, has been as follows : 
 
 
 
 A.verage annual duty for the five years 
 
 
 
 previous to 18)5. 
 
 1810 
 
 L. 1,4-06,417^ 
 
 
 1811 
 
 1,215,507 1 
 
 
 1812 
 
 1,065,159 !> 
 
 L. 1,162,382 
 
 1813 
 
 1,061,604 1 
 
 
 1814 
 
 1,065,223 J 
 
 
 1815 
 
 1,277,481 
 
 
 1816 
 
 943,9871 
 
 Do. for the five years subsequent to 
 
 1817 
 
 928,473 1 
 
 1815. 
 
 1818 
 
 1,195,427 !> 
 
 L. 1,020,540 
 
 1819 
 
 1,085,500 1 
 
 
 1820 
 
 949,328 J 
 
 
 The average drawback, as given in the same Table, 
 for the five years previous to 1815, is L. 63,674; and 
 for the five years subsequent to 1815, L. 48,676; 
 and, deducting these sums from the above, we have 
 L. 1,098,708 for the amount of the average annual 
 excise duty on wine for the five years preceding 
 1815 ; and L. 971,867 for the average annual amount 
 of that duty for the five years after it had been in- 
 creased about 20 per cent. ; showing that the revenue, 
 instead of being augmented, has sustained a diminu- 
 tion qfh. 126,841 a year by this increase of duty. 
 
 The effect of the increase on the Custom duty has 
 been equally striking. The accounts laid before 
 Parliament do not go farther back than 1814; 
 but in that year the low Custom duties amounted to 
 L. 1,061, 416. In 1816, the ^zgA duties only amounted 
 to L. 780,238 ; and except in 1818, when they 
 amounted to L. 1,056,894, they have never since 
 reached one million. 
 
 It is unnecessary to make any commentary on this 
 decisive statement. The facts we have brought for- 
 ward prove, beyond all question, that the revenue, 
 the comforts of the people, and the commerce of the 
 country, have all been diminished by this inordinate 
 extension of the duties ; and entitle us to conclude, 
 that they would be all increased by their diminution. 
 
 There are, perhaps, no better objects of taxation 
 than spirituous and fermented liquors, and none in 
 which the injurious effects of over taxation are more 
 
 striking and obvious. They are essentially luxuries ; Comparative 
 and while moderate duties on them are, in conse- \ 
 quence of their being very generally used, exceed- l^,^ ^ 
 ingly productive, the increase of price which they Taxes, 
 occasion has a tendency to limit their consumption v ^ 
 by the poor, to whom, when taken in excess, they 
 are extremely pernicious. Few governments, how- 
 ever, have been satisfied with the impo-^ition of mo- 
 derate duties on spirits ; but, partly with the view of 
 increasing the revenue, and partly with the view of 
 placing them beyond the reach of the lower classes, 
 they have almost invariably loaded them with such 
 oppressively high duties as have entirely defeated both 
 objects. The imposition of such duties does not 
 take away the appetite for spirits ; and as no vigi- 
 lance of the officers, or severity of the laws, have 
 been sufficient to secure a monopoly of the market to 
 the legal distillers, the real effect of the high duties 
 has been to throw the supply of a large portion of 
 the demand into the hands of the illicit distiller, and 
 to superadd the crimes and vices of the smuggler to 
 those of the drunkard. 
 
 Nowhere,perhaps, have these injurious consequences Increase of 
 of the excessive increase of spirit duties been more dis- theDutieson 
 tinctly manifested than in Ireland. In proof of this, ^Pjj*^^"^'®' 
 we may mention, on the authority of the official state- 
 ments in the Fifth Report* of the Commissioners of 
 Inquiry into the State of Irish Revenue (p. I9), 
 that in 1811, when the duty on spirits was 2s. 6d. 
 per gallon, duty was paid in Ireland on 6,500,361 
 gallons; while in 1822, when the duty was 5s. 6d., 
 only 2,950,647 gallons were brought to the charge. 
 The commissioners estimate the annual consump- 
 tion of spirits in Ireland at about ten millions of gal- 
 lons; and as scarcely three millions pay duty, it follows 
 that upwards 0/ seven millions are illegally supplied ; 
 and " taking one million of gallons as the quantity 
 fraudulently furnished for consumption by the li- 
 censed distillers, the produce of the unlicensed stills 
 may be estimated at six millions of gallons !" (p. 8.) 
 It is material, too, to observe, that this extraordinary 
 increase of smuggling took place in defiance of the 
 utmost efforts of the revenue officers, police, and mi- 
 litary, to prevent it. The only result of these efforts 
 being the exasperation of the populace, and the com- 
 mittal of atrocities, both by them, and those employ- 
 ed in the collection of the revenue, that are hardly 
 to be matched in the annals of civil warfare. " In 
 Ireland," say the Commissioners, " it will appear, 
 from the evidence annexed to this Report, that parts 
 of the country have been absolutely disorganized, and 
 placed in opposition not only to the civil authority, but 
 to the military force of the Government. The profits 
 to be obtained from the evasion of the law have been 
 such as to encourage numerous individuals to per- 
 severe in these desperate pursuits, notwithstanding 
 the risk of property and hfe with which they have 
 been attended." (p. l.)f 
 
 * Printed, by order of the House of Commons, 30th May 1823. 
 
 t The revenue and morals of no country, perhaps, have suffered so much from the injudicious extent to 
 which taxes have been laid on commodities in general request as Ireland. This, however, is a subject on 
 which our limits will not permit us to enter more at large ; but our readers will find most of the necessary 
 information m an article on High and Low Taxes in No. LXXII. of the Edinburgh Revieto. 
 
642 
 
 Comparative The too great height to which the duties were 
 Produc^e- carried, and the injudicious mode in which they were 
 and Low charged and collected, produced similar effects in 
 Taxes. Scotland. The system of illicit distillation made 
 ^-^^ great progress of late years, and had the most inju- 
 Increase of rious influence on the morals and industry of the 
 Spirit Duties pgQpjg -^^ jijg mountainous districts, where it was 
 m Scotland. ^ . . ,, . j 
 
 principally carried on. 
 
 Reduction of Such having been the effects of their excessive in- 
 the Spirit crease, we have great satisfaction in stating, that 
 Duties in ^jjg duties on both Scotch and Irish spirits have been 
 sSdand^'^'^ reduced during the last session of Parliament (sess. 
 * 1822 — 23), from 53. 6d. per gallon to 2s. 9d. Leave 
 has also been given to use stills of a much smaller 
 size, a regulation which will have the effect of en- 
 abling minor capitalists to engage in the business of 
 distillation, and which, by increasing competition, 
 will tend both to improve the quality and to reduce 
 the cost of the spirits. The country is indebted for 
 this change of system to the recommendations in the 
 excellent Reports o{ the Commissioners on Irish Reve- 
 nue. It will certainly go far to suppress smuggling ; 
 and there is every reason to expect that the greatly in- 
 creased consumption of legally distilled spirits, which 
 the reduction of the duties will occasion, will make 
 it have the same beneficial effects on the revenue as 
 the reduction of duties in 1743 and 1787- 
 Duty onSpi- In England, the duty on spirits is as high as 10s. 6d. 
 rits in Eng- a gallon ; and the trade in spirits between it and the 
 land. other divisions of the empire is prohibited. This 
 system is liable to many objections ; but owing to 
 the decided preference given by the lower classes in 
 England to malt liquors over spirits, it has not given 
 so great a stimulus to smuggling and illicit distilla- 
 tion as might have been expected. 
 
 The revenue collected within the United Kingdom 
 on spirits distilled from grain, and the number of 
 gallons on which it was paid in the year 1822, were 
 respectively as follows : 
 
 TAXATION. 
 
 without occasioning any diminution of revenue ; while, Taxatioi 
 
 
 Revenue. 
 
 Gallons. 
 
 Totals... 
 
 L.2,749,372 
 687,467 
 811,428 
 
 L. 5,222,094 
 2,499,880 
 2,950,647 
 
 L.3,248,267 
 
 L. 10,672,621* 
 
 Salt Duty in I" France, previously to the Revolution, the ave- 
 France. rage annual consumption of salt, in the provinces 
 subjected to the grande gabelle, or high duty on salt, 
 was estimated by M. Necker, who had the best means 
 of coming to a correct conclusion, at 9^ lib. to each 
 individual; and at 18 libs, in the pays redimees, or 
 provinces that had purchased an exemption from the 
 greater part of this hateful tax. (^Administration des 
 Finances, Tom. II. p. 12.) It is evident, from this 
 well authenticated statement, that a very great re- 
 duction might have been made from the duty paid 
 on the salt consumed in the heavily taxed provinces, 
 
 besides directly increasing the comforts of the peo- 
 pie, it would have relieved Government from the ne- 
 cessity of surrounding particular provinces with cor- 
 dons of troops, and would have put an instant stop to 
 that smuggling of salt, which occasioned the sending 
 of between 3000 and 4000 persons every year either 
 to prison or to the gallies. (Arthur Young's Travels 
 171 France, Vol. I. p. 598.) 
 
 Sect. V. — Method of Comparing the Amount 0/ 
 Taxation in Different Countries — Circumstances 
 which Depress the Rate of Prqfit — Its Fall in this 
 Country rather a Consequence of the Corn Latus 
 and of Tithes, than of Taxation. 
 
 It has been usual to endeavour to ascertain theAmouni 
 relative weight of the public burdens of different ^°P"^** 
 countries by comparing them with their population. tg°t ^f^' 
 But this is obviously a most false and erroneous cri- bility of] 
 terion. In proof of this, we may observe, that, if Country 
 the amount of population in a country were a true ^'^^^ '^^ 
 test of its capacity to bear taxes, it would follow that 
 Ireland, which has a population of seven millions, 
 could afford to pay three times the amount of the 
 taxes paid by Scotland, which has only a population 
 of ttioo millions. So far, however, from this being 
 the case, the actual revenue of Scotland is very lit- 
 tle less than that of Ireland ; and yet there is no 
 reason whatever to think that the pressure of taxa- 
 tion is felt more severely here than amongst our 
 neighbours. 
 
 The amount of the capital belonging to different Amount 
 countries has been suggested as a test by which to Capital n 
 ascertain the relative weight of their burdens. But^P^P^'* 
 this would also lead to the most erroneous results ; 
 for, it is plain that a small capital in a country 
 where profits are high may be more productive than 
 a large one in a country where profits are low. The 
 market rate of interest, which is always proportional 
 to the customary rate of profit, is at this moment on- 
 ly about 4 or 5 per cent, in England, while it is not 
 less than 8 or 10 per cent, in the United States. 
 One million of capital laid out in America must, 
 therefore, be about as productive, that is, it must 
 yield about as large an annual income as two millions 
 laid out in this country. And, hence it is obvious, 
 that, if taxation, as compared with the amount of 
 capital, were the same in both countries, it would, as 
 compared with the profits on revenue derived from 
 that capital, be about twice as heavy in England as 
 in America. 
 
 It is not, therefore, by the amount either of the The relat 
 population or the capital of a country, that its capa- taxation 
 city to bear taxes is to be determined. Taxes, as we be learn^^ 
 have already shown, really consist of a portion of the by compa 
 incomes of individuals transferred from the public to ing their ] 
 the State; and hence, to determine whether they '^""^^ 
 are relatively higher or lower in one country than in oftheirhj 
 another, it is necessary to ascertain the respective in- bitants an 
 comes of the States to be compared together, the their Bur. 
 number of their inhabitants, and the amount of their ^^"s* 
 
 * Report on IHsiiUeries, p. 1 . 
 11 
 
TAXATION. 
 
 6' 
 
 rent 
 atries. 
 
 ation of burdens. Supposing, for example, that the income 
 of Great Britain, which has fourteen millions of inha- 
 bitamts, is three hundred millions of pounds Sterling, 
 which is believed to be very near its actual amount, 
 and that its taxes, including poor rates, tithes, and 
 public burdens of every description, amount to 
 seventy millions, this sum deducted from the former 
 would leave two hundred and thirty millions^, which 
 would give a free income of L. l6, Qs. a-year to 
 every individual in the empire : Suppose, now, that 
 the income of France is four hundred and fifty mil- 
 lions, and that the aggregate amount of her taxes, 
 and public burdens of every description, is fifty mil- 
 lions, the four hundred millions of remainder, when 
 divided among a population of thirty millions, 
 would only leave a free income of L. 13, 6"s. to each. 
 There is good reason to think, that these estimates 
 are not very wide of the mark : we do not, however, 
 give them as being correct, for in such matters it is 
 impossible to attain to any thing like accuracy; but 
 as illustrations of the method to be followed in com- 
 paring the burdens laid on different countries; and 
 as showing that, in proportion to her means of pay- 
 ing, a country with a small population, and a large 
 absolute amount of taxes, may be really less heavily 
 taxed than a country with a much larger population, 
 and a smaller absolute amount of taxes. 
 
 The depression in the rate of profit — a depression 
 which can only proceed either from heavy taxes on 
 the necessaries of life, or from the effects of mono- 
 .poly enhancing their price, or both — is by far the 
 most unfavourable symptom in the economical situa- 
 tion of this country. The common and ordinary 
 rate of profit is the sum which usually remains to 
 those capitalists who employ their stock in produc- 
 tive businesses, after all their outlays, including a 
 premium for the insurance of the capital itself, are 
 compensated. It is by its amount, therefore, that 
 the productive powers of industry are to be estimat- 
 ed. Wherever the rate of profit is relatively high, 
 as in the United States, there is a proportional 
 power of accumulation ; and, provided the right of 
 property be well secured, the capital, and, of course, 
 also the population of the country, increase with 
 comparative rapidity : But in countries such as Hol- 
 land, where the rate of profit is relatively low, there 
 is but little power of accumulation ; and not only is 
 their progress in wealth and population proportion- 
 ally slow, but there is, besides, a very powerful mo- 
 tive to transmit capital to those countries where it 
 is more productive. It is plainly, therefore, of the 
 utmost consequence that the rate of profit, in every 
 country, should be maintained at as high a level .as 
 possible. This, however, can only be effected by 
 allowing the labourer to purchase his food in the 
 cheapest market, and by exempting, as far as it 
 can possibly be done, the necessaries of life from 
 taxation : For we have shown, * that profits always 
 
 pmstan- 
 brhich 
 [ de- 
 Bed the 
 'i of Pro- 
 
 vary inversely as wages — that they fall when wages Taxation 
 rise, and rise when wages fall. Now, as the ^^''^u'''^'" c^ntries 
 must always have wherewithal to subsist and conti- , 
 nue his race, it is plainly impossible to go on con- ^ 
 stantly adding to the price of the articles necessary 
 for his subsistence, either by forcing him to pur- 
 chase in dearer markets, or by loading them with 
 taxes, without, at the same time, raising his wages 
 and depressing profits. It is undoubtedly very dif- 
 ficult to say how much of the decline of the rate of 
 profit in this country is to be ascribed to the effect 
 of taxes laid on the necessaries of life, and how 
 much to the corn-laws and other restrictive regula- 
 tions. But that these laws must have a powerful 
 influence in this respect is abundantly clear ; for, 
 in ordinary years, their effect is to maintain the price 
 of corn in this country at nearly double its elevation 
 in any other country! Tithes also contribute to 
 raise the price of corn; and as corn, though not 
 the sole, is the main regulator of wages, we are 
 inclined to think that it is to the combined opera- 
 tion of the corn-laws and tithes that the decline in 
 the rate of profit in this country is chiefly to be 
 ascribed. 
 
 The taxes on tea, sugar, soap, candles, and beer, 
 are those which, with the exception of tithes, fall 
 heaviest on necessaries, and consequently exercise 
 the greatest influence on profits. We think we are 
 entitled to conclude, from the preceding investiga- 
 tions, that a very considerable reduction might be 
 made in the amount of the duties affecting them, 
 without occasioning any decrease, and even with a 
 positive increase, of revenue. At all events, it is 
 clear that the public interests imperiously require 
 that every practical effort should be made to lighten 
 the pressure on the national resources, and to check 
 the efflux of capital to other countries, by adding to 
 the productive powers of industry, or, in other words, 
 by increasing the rate of profit. And this will be 
 most effectually done by making every possible de- 
 duction from the taxes affecting necessaries, and by 
 ceasing to bolster up and protect any single species 
 of industry at the expence of the rest. 
 
 Tables illustrative of the progress of the public re- 
 venue of Great Britain have been given in Postle- 
 thwaite'sand Sir John Sinclair's .ffw^o^/e* the Re- 
 venue, Chalmers's Comparative Estimate, Dr Col- 
 quhoun's Treatise on the Wealth and Resources of 
 the British Empire, and a variety of other publica- 
 tions. We subjoin a copy of the Parliamentary pa- 
 per (No. 157, Session 1822), which gives an ac- 
 count of the gross and net aggregate revenue of 
 the united kingdom for the year ending 5th of Janu- 
 ary 1822, at the same time that it exhibits the 
 amount of each separate branch of revenue in Eng- 
 land, Scotland, and Ireland, and the expences ef its 
 collection. (s. s.) 
 
 * Art. PoMTiCAL Economy in this Supplement, Part III. Sect. 5. 
 
644 
 
 TAXATION. 
 
 A Ueturnofthe Gross and Net Amount of the Revenue cfthe United Kingdom, in the year ending the 5th January 1822, /or 
 England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland ; distinguishing each Country, and stating the Amount of the Charges of Manage- 
 ment, and the Rate per cent, on the Gross and on the Nel Receipt under each distinct Head of Revenue. 
 
 HEADS OF REVENUE. 
 
 GROSS REVENUE 
 Accrued 
 within the Year. 
 
 ICUSTOMS, England and Wales 
 Scotland 
 Ireland 
 
 United Kingdom - 
 
 IeXCISE, England and Wales 
 Scotland 
 Ireland 
 
 United Kingdom 
 
 ISTAMPS, England and Wales 
 Scotland 
 Ireland - 
 
 United Kingdom - 
 
 LAND & AS- \ Eng. & Wales 
 ISESSED TAXES, J Scotland - 
 Ireland 
 
 United Kingdom 
 
 |pOST OFFICE, England & Wales 
 Scotland 
 Ireland 
 
 United Kingdom 
 
 00 Sa ;^ /'England and Wales 
 U Q >, c \ Scotland 
 
 IS , **^Oj3 fir 1 1 
 
 L. s. 
 
 11,845,789 19 
 759,796 7 
 2,184<,118 17 
 
 d. 
 
 8 
 9 
 81 
 
 NET REVENUE 
 Accrued 
 within the Year. 
 
 14,789,705 5 2; 
 
 L. s. d. 
 
 9,068 375 13 6 
 
 405,156 2 11 
 
 1,586,167 9 9 
 
 11,059,699 6 2 
 
 27,406,661 3 9 
 2,408,972 0 2f 
 1,997,452 9 9h 
 
 24,822,559 H & 
 2.035,401 11 7 
 1,668,004 7 5 
 
 31,812,985 13 9| 
 
 iqI^ Ireland 
 
 i Q. 13 § 
 
 rn ^ 
 
 United Kingdom 
 
 j Hackney Coaches 
 iHawkers and Pedlars 
 Poundage Fees - Ireland 
 
 Pells Fees - - Do 
 
 Casualties - - Do 
 
 Treasury Fees and Hospital Fees Do 
 'Alienation Fines 
 I Post Fines 
 
 Seizures, Compositions 
 
 Proffers, &c. &c. 
 Crown Lands 
 
 S a 13 (u 
 — - o i-j £ 
 
 IToTAL of Ordinary Revenues 
 Extraordinary Resources 
 
 Total Public Income 
 OF THE United Kingdom 
 (exclusive of Loans) 
 
 6,146,537 5 4 
 480,274 5 1 
 452,159 2 1 
 
 28,525,965 10 9 
 
 7,078,970 12 71 
 
 7,210,058 0 10 
 470,311 2 5| 
 361,935 1 9i 
 
 5,785,708 
 438,172 5 
 398,602 3 
 
 8 1 
 
 CHARGES 
 of 
 
 MANAGEMENT. 
 
 L. 
 
 921,238 
 148,042 
 410,307 
 
 s. d. 
 
 3 2 
 
 5 5 
 
 1 10 
 
 Rate per Centum 
 of Expence for 
 Collecting 
 
 the Gross 
 Revenue. 
 
 1,479,587 10 5. 
 
 964,515 
 169,403 
 287,048 
 
 19 4| 
 18 111 
 13 1 
 
 1,420,968 11 5\ 
 
 7i 
 
 6,622,482 17 4; 
 
 6,910,672 7 5l 
 432,223 13 6' 
 308,486 11 H 
 
 8,042,304 5 0 
 
 1,700,933 19 8 
 168,250 10 7 
 175,618 6 U 
 
 2,044,802 16 5 
 
 74,409 1 6^ 
 4,963 2 11 
 
 79,372 4 5 
 
 } 
 
 26,248 
 31,655 
 4,269 
 853 
 3,815 
 985 
 11,255 
 685 
 
 6 
 3 
 II 
 
 5f 
 9i 
 
 ^ 
 0 
 
 4,154 19 
 106,621 13 
 
 64,038,686 9 
 745,774 0 
 
 64,784,460 9 10 
 
 7,651,382 12 1 
 
 1,204,188 10 10 
 120,855 6 0| 
 68,187 18 9i 
 
 1,393,231 15 8 
 
 72,469 8 10 
 4,833 2 11 
 
 77,302 11 9 
 
 22,148 11 7 
 
 25,817 19 0 
 
 4,269 13 11: 
 
 853 18 5 
 
 3,815 15 9 
 
 985 4 4 
 
 10,108 2 0 
 
 610 2 8 
 
 4,154 19 9 
 
 102,773 8 11 
 
 55,505,602 iO 
 735,632 5 
 
 56,241,234 16 4 
 
 151,225 
 32,542 
 42,312 
 
 1 10 
 11 3 
 13 3 
 
 L. s. d. 
 
 7 15 6 
 
 19 9 8 
 
 18 15 9 
 
 10 0 1 
 
 L. s. d. 
 
 10 3 2 
 
 36 10 9 
 
 25 17 4 
 
 IS 7 7 
 
 3 10 5 
 7 0 
 14 7 5 
 
 494 
 
 292 
 6 15 6 
 972 
 
 226,080 6 5i 
 
 299,385 
 38,087 
 53,448 
 
 13 4| 
 8 11 
 10 8 
 
 390,921 12 llf 
 
 468,578 
 47,395 
 101,082 
 
 8 10 
 
 4 6i 
 8 91 
 
 3 3 10 
 
 4 3 1 
 8 2 0 
 14 15 4 
 
 4 17 S 
 
 617,056 2 2^ 
 
 1,939 12 8 
 130 0 G 
 
 2,069 12 8 
 
 4,099 10 11 
 5,837 4 3 
 
 1,147 8 0 
 75 7 4 
 
 3,848 4 Si 
 
 4,151,691 11 4| 
 10,141 14 7 
 
 4,161,833 5 1]J 
 
 27 11 0 
 
 28 3 
 57 11 
 
 the Net 
 Revenue. 
 
 3 17 
 8 6 
 17 4 
 
 4 19 8 
 
 2 12 
 7 8 6 
 10 12 3 
 
 3 8 3 
 
 4 6 
 8 16 
 17 6 7 
 
 5 2 2 
 
 38 18 
 
 39 4 4 
 148 4 10 
 
 30 3 6 
 
 2 12 2 
 2 12 5 
 
 2 12 2 
 
 15 12 5 
 18 8 9 
 
 4 2 8 
 
 6 9 8 
 
 44 5 9 
 
 2 13 6 
 2 13 10 
 
 2 13 
 
 18 10 
 22 12 
 
 4 6 2 
 
 797 
 
TAX T E 
 
 Abstract of the Preceding Account. 
 
 England and Wales - 
 
 Scotland 
 
 Ireland 
 
 Total Ordinary Revenues' 
 of the United Kingdom 
 Extraordinary Resources 
 
 Total Public Income 
 of the United Kingdom 
 (exclusive of Loans) 
 
 Accrued 
 within the Year. 
 
 NET REVENUE 
 Accrued 
 within the Year. 
 
 CHARGES 
 of 
 
 MANAGEMENT. 
 
 of exp 
 Coll 
 
 The Gross 
 Revenue. 
 
 r Centum 
 ence for 
 ecting 
 
 The Net , 
 Revenue. 
 
 L. s. d. 
 
 54,564,910 10 If 
 4,292,567 9 li 
 5,181,208 10 2\ 
 
 L. s. d. 
 
 48,029,587 4 6^ 
 3,436,642 2 7^ 
 4,039,373 3 4| 
 
 L. 8. d. 
 
 2,821,890 14 6f 
 435,601 9 1 
 894,199 7 8| 
 
 L. 6. d. 
 5 3 5 
 10 2 11 
 17 5 2 
 
 L. s. d. 
 
 -5 17 6 
 12 13 6 
 22 2 9 
 
 64,038,686 9 5\ 
 74.5,774 0 4f 
 
 55,505,602 10 6| 
 735,632 5 9| 
 
 4,151,691 11 4^ 
 10,141 14 7 
 
 6 9 8 
 
 797 
 
 64,784,460 9 10 
 
 56,241,234 16 4^ 
 
 4,161,833 5 Il| 
 
 
 
 TELEGRAPH. 
 
 JL ELEGRAPH, SO named from two Greek words, 
 TiXog, end or distance, and ygapw, to write^ is a ma- 
 chine so constructed as to enable two persons, to con- 
 verse with each other at a distance, either by sen- 
 tences, words, or letters, according to a convention 
 previously agreed upon by the parties. Such a mode 
 of communicating ideas beyond the reach of hearing 
 is not, however, confined to any particular machine ; 
 the fingers of the human hand are quite sufficient, as 
 every young boarding-school lady knows, for the pur- 
 pose ; and, when so applied, may be called a Tele- 
 graph. Thus also, the signal flags used on board 
 ships to communicate with each other, by making 
 them represent letters or numbers, or both, consti- 
 tute a Telegraph ; as may also the sending up of sky- 
 rockets, blue-Ughts, the suspension of lanterns, the 
 making of fires on beacons, high hills, &c. be consi- 
 dered as Telegraphic communications. 
 
 In imitation of the French, however, we have al- 
 most indiscriminately adopted the use of the word 
 Semaphore for the Telegraph, which is perhaps of 
 more extensive application, being derived from <!rif/^a, 
 a sign, and f sgw, to bear ; and may, consequently, be 
 applied universally to whatever means n,ay be used 
 to communicate intelligence by signs or signals. 
 Thus the firing of guns a certain number of times, 
 at certain intervals, — the notes of a trumpet, bugle, 
 French horn, or other wind instrument, — the strokes 
 on a drum, — may be used to convey information to 
 a limited extent. The troops and marines which 
 landed on the coast of America in the last war, when 
 scouring the woods in detached parties, were regu- 
 lated by the notes of the bugle, which were so clear- 
 ly understood, that no false movements were ever 
 
 VOL. VI. PART II. 
 
 made. The immense number of barges and boats 
 which crowd the Imperial Canal of China are direct- 
 ed in their movements, both by night and day, by 
 the sound of the gong. The Indians of America con- 
 vey intelligence from hill to hill, by throwing out their 
 arms with or without staves in them ; by spreading 
 their cloaks, holding up skins, &c. ; and even the sa- 
 vage Hottentots, called Bosjeismans, the lowest pro- 
 bably in -the scale of human beings, communicate 
 with each other by arranging fires on the sides of the 
 hills in certain positions. 
 
 It is rather surprising that an art so simple as that 
 of conveying ideas by means of signals, so well under- 
 stood in remote antiquity, and practised even by sa- 
 vages, should have made such little progress in its 
 improvement, that it may be said to have remained 
 in its original rude state nearly down to our own times, 
 when it has almost at once been brought to that state 
 of perfection, of which it appears to be capable. 
 
 One of the arguments usually adopted to prove 
 that the art of conveying intelligence by sigrials was 
 known in the very early ages of Greece, is deduced 
 from the opening of the Agamemnon of ^schylus, 
 where the man on the watch-tower, at the top of the 
 palace, announces the fire-signals having communi- 
 cated the fall of Troy, long before any of the Greeks 
 had returned from the siege ; and Clytemnestra 
 afterwards relates the stations ; but this event of the 
 burning of Troy, supposed thus to have been known 
 in Greece soon after it happened, proves nothing 
 more than that the use of signals was known to the 
 poet who wrote eight or nine hundred years after the 
 event. Mention, however, is made by Jeremiah 
 (Ch. vi. V. 1), who was at least 200 years before 
 4 N 
 
 1 
 
646 
 
 TELEGRAPH. 
 
 Telegraph, ^schvlas, of " setting up a sign of fire in Beth-hac- 
 --^■^^ cerem ;" and such signals are often alluded to by the 
 prophets, as notices of the approach of an enemy. 
 
 The earliest decisive proof of telegraphic communi- 
 cations, except those by fires (Trugtfs/a/), being in use 
 among the Greeks, is found in the methods describ- 
 ed by Polybius. (See Ency. Brit, under word Tele- 
 graph.) The Romans had their vexillarii, and used 
 flags and other contrivances for regulating the move- 
 ments of their armies ; and they had hollow tubes 
 constructed in the walls of their cities, by which 
 they could communicate with the several ports or 
 works by sound, as is done in our times in some 
 manufactories by means of pipes or trumpets. 
 Wherever the Romans pitched their camp, an ele- 
 vated spot was selected for the signal station, to convey 
 intelligence to the foraging parties or detachments, 
 but it is nowhere stated to what extent this was car- 
 ried. Vegetius alludes to something like a beam in the 
 air, on the same principle perhaps as our Semaphore. 
 
 In modern times, Kircher, who had more learning 
 and less sense than any man of his day, and who has 
 written on almost every subject, gives an idea of 
 telegraphic communication ; and so does the inge- 
 nious Marquis of Worcester, in his Century of In- 
 veniions; but so vague as to convey no notion of the 
 means he was to employ, except the use of colour; 
 for the " discourse'' to be held, is stated to be " as far 
 as eye can discover black from white." He also 
 throws out a hint for a night telegraph, by which the 
 same may be done, " though as dark as pitch is 
 black." But almost every modern invention js sup- 
 posed to exist in the mysterious " scantlings" of the 
 Marquis of Worcester. 
 
 The first telegraph on record in modern times, 
 applicable to universal purposes, is that of Dr Hooke, 
 described in the Philosophical Transaclions of the 
 year 1684. He minutely details the mode in which 
 the stations should be selected, their height and in- 
 termediate ground, so that the refraction of the air 
 may not disturb the clear appearance of the object ; 
 the telescopes to be used ; the characters to represent 
 the alphabet, which, he says, may be varied ten thou- 
 sand ways, and " none but the ivfo extreme corre- 
 spondents shall be able to discover the information 
 conveyed :" and so convinced is he cf the practical 
 efiiciency of his telegraph, as to leave no doubt on his 
 mind, " that the same character may be seen at Paris 
 within a minute after it hath been exposed in London," 
 His method consisted in exposing in succession as 
 many different shaped figures or signs, at least, as the 
 alphabet consists of letters. If used in theday-time, 
 they might be squares, circles, triangles, &c. made of 
 deals ; if at night, torches or other lights disposed in 
 a certain order. These characters or signs were to 
 be brought forth from behind a screen on rods, as 
 they might be wanted, and exposed to view. The 
 accompanying figure, where " " 
 
 A is the screen, and | j one of 
 
 the signs exhibited, will con- 
 vey an idea of Dr Hooke's 
 telegraph. 
 
 Monsieur Amantons, of 
 the Royal Academy of Paris, 
 made an experiment to convey intelligence, which 
 
 was highly approved of by the other members, and Teleg 
 several persons of distinction belonging to the Court. 
 By the description given of the machine, it seems to 
 have differed very little from that of Hooke already 
 published in the Philosophical Transactions ; the sig- 
 nals being either large letters of the alphabet, or fi- 
 gures of various shapes to represent them ; the latter 
 being the more valuable, as, by a change of key, the 
 nature of the communication might be kept a secret 
 from those actually employed in making the signals. 
 
 It has been supposed that electricity might be the 
 means of conveying intelligence, by passing given 
 numbers of sparks through an insulated wire in given 
 spaces of time. A gentleman of the name of Ro- 
 nalds has written a small treatise on the subject; and 
 several persons on the Continent and in England have 
 made experiments on Galvanic or Voltaic telegraphs, 
 by passing the stream at the two extremities or sta- 
 tions through phials of water ; but there is reason to 
 think that, ingenious as the experiments are, they 
 are not likely ever to become practically useful. 
 
 Necessity is said to be the mother of invention ; 
 she is also frequently the foster-mother, who calls 
 forth into action, and displays the utility of, inventions 
 abandoned by their natural parent. Both Hooke's 
 invention and Amantons' modification were published 
 all over Europe, the former as early as 1684 ; yet 
 they were not practically applied to any useful pur- 
 pose till the year 1794, when Citizen Barrere, in a 
 report made to the Convention, ascribed the inven- 
 tion then in use to Citizen Chappe. 
 
 Chappe's telegraph consists of a beam of wood, 
 moveable on a pivot at the summit of an ^upright 
 post ; at each of the extremities of this beam is 
 a moveable arm, as in the figure. 
 The different positions in which 
 both the beam and its two arms 
 may be placed at angles of 45° 
 give to this telegraph considerable 
 powers ; but it is a too complicated 
 machine not to be liable to many 
 mistakes, unless worked by long ex- 
 perienced operators. 
 
 In the year 1784, Mr Lovell Edgeworth produced 
 his plan of a numerical telegraph, claiming, at the same 
 time, the merit of having invented a mode of distant 
 communication as far, back as 1767, by employing a 
 common windmill, and arranging the various posi- 
 tions of its arms and sails so as to represent a certain 
 number of signals arranged in numerical order. 
 
 Mr Edgeworth's telegraph consisted of four wedges 
 or cones, moveable on four upright posts, as under, 
 which, by their different po- 
 sitions, might be used either 
 numerically or alphabetical- 
 
 In the year 1795, when 
 the advantages had been made evident which the 
 French derived from M. Chappe's telegraph, the in- 
 ventive faculties of our countrymen were called into 
 action. Among other proposals, the Rev. J. Gamble 
 produced two plans of a telegraph ; the one con- 
 sisting of five boards, one above the other, which, 
 by opening and shutting singly, or according to all 
 the combinations of which they were capable, gave 
 
 11 
 
TELEGRAPH. 
 
 legraph. a certain number of distinct signals, re- 
 /— presenting either numbers or letters, as 
 might be deemed most expedient. The 
 arrangement of the shutters was as in 
 this figure. The other plan was that of 
 five beamsofwood,turniog on thesummit 
 of a post, so as to form five radii of a 
 semicircle at equal angles of 45° with 
 each other, as under. 
 
 Second Polygrammatic Telegraph. 
 
 647 
 
 Telegraph. 
 
 Among other projects about this time was that of 
 dividing a large circle into twenty-four parts, to re- 
 present the letters of the alphabet, round which a 
 moveable radius was to traverse ; then, by placing 
 corresponding divisions, by means of wires, before the 
 object-glass of the telescope, the coincidence of the 
 two radii would mark out the letter meant to be de- 
 signated. Of this kind, a plan by Mr Garnet ap^ 
 proached nearest to efficiency ; but, at best, could 
 only be applied to very short distances. 
 
 In the same year (1795), Lord George Murray 
 presented his plan of a six-shutter telegraph to the 
 Admiralty, which was the one adopted and made use 
 of during the whole war, and until the year 1816, 
 when it was changed for a simplified Semaphore, 
 which will be noticed hereafter. The annexed figure 
 represents that of Lord George Murray. 
 
 On the same principle as the radiated telegraph of 
 Mr Gamble, but differently arranged, the French, on 
 the commencement of the second war in 1 803, erected 
 signal-posts along the coast, to which they gave the 
 name of Semaphores, being two or three beams of 
 wood on the same post, but turning on different pivots. 
 
 In 1807, Captain (now Colonel) Pasley published 
 his Poly^rammatic Telegraph, which differed only 
 from the French Semaphore in having two beams 
 turning on one pivot on the same post, and multiply- 
 ing the number of posts ; which he afterwards (in 
 1810) changed so far as to place three sets of beams 
 or arms, two in each set, on one post, and thus ap- 
 proaching still nearer to the French Semaphore. 
 
 First Polygrammaiic Telegraph 
 
 In the year 1816, Sir Home Popham, who had 
 already introduced a new code of signals into the 
 navy, which was admitted on all hands as a great im- 
 provement on the old system, both as regarding the 
 number, the arrangement, and the shape of the flags, 
 now turned his attention to the land Semaphore, and 
 proposed one on a construction of the same nature 
 with those of M. Chappe and Colonel Pasley, but 
 much simplified. It was, in fact, nothing more than 
 two moveable arms on separate pivots on the same 
 mast, as under. 
 
 This machine, on account of 
 its simplicity, had obviously the 
 advantage over all others that 
 had been proposed ; and being 
 found of sufficient power and 
 efficiency for all required pur- 
 poses, it was adopted by the Ad- 
 miralty, instead of the shutter 
 telegraph, which had been in use 
 since the year 1795. 
 
 Colonel Pasley, however, in 
 1822, still farther simplified this 
 useful machine, at the expence 
 of sacrificing a small portion of its powers, by making 
 the two arms revolve on the same pivot, as under, to 
 which he has given the name of the "Universal Tele- 
 graph." 
 
 The last, but by far the most persevering and vo- 
 luminous writer on telegraphs, is Lieut.- Colonel Mac- 
 donald, who, in 1808, published what he deems im- 
 provements in the system of telegraphic communica- 
 tions, both as they regard the machine itself, and the 
 dictionary to be used with it. He not only gives the 
 preference, but is so much attached, to the shutter 
 machine, that he is quite indignant at its being sup- 
 planted by the Semaphore ; and so far from being sa- 
 tisfied with the powers of which a six-shutter telegraph 
 is capable, he has extended his to no less than thir- 
 
648 
 
 TELEGRAPH. 
 
 Telegraph, teen different boards, as under, by which he certainly 
 gains power enough, but not without producing con- 
 fusion and perplexity. 
 
 XI 
 
 As the use of telegraphs is chiefly confined to pub- 
 lic purposes, and more especially to convey speedy in- 
 formation respecting naval and military armaments 
 and operations, the machine to be adopted, and the 
 system of working it, ought to possess — power— 
 certainty— nmplicity — celerity — and secrecy. The 
 poxuer of the machine, or the number of distinct 
 combinations of its moveable parts, should be equal 
 to the conveyance of every possible order or infor- 
 mation, either by numbers, representing the letters 
 of the alphabet, or words, or sentences. To ensure 
 certainty, the moveable parts or signs should be so 
 well and clearly defined, so wholly within the field of 
 the telescope, and so completely removed from all 
 ambiguity, as not to be liable to the mistaking of one 
 signal for another ; hence, the advantage of the simpli- 
 city of the machine. And as one of the main uses of the 
 telegraph is to convey instructions or intelligence 
 in a speedier way than the intermediate distance can 
 be travelled over, it is evident, that celerity is an im- 
 portant quality of telegraphic communication. It is 
 equally obvious that, if such instructions or intelli- 
 gence could not be conveyed in secrecy from him 
 who sent it, to him who was to receive it, such 
 a system would be highly defective and objection- 
 able. 
 
 Bearing these observations in mind, we shall not 
 have much difficulty in determining on the merits of 
 the several telegraphic machines above mentioned. 
 The choice, indeed, appears to lie between the six- 
 shutter telegraph, so long used at the Admiralty, to 
 communicate with the several ports, — the Semaphore 
 of Sir Home Popham, which superseded it, and is 
 now in use, — and the Universal Telegraph of Colonel 
 Pasley. Colonel Macdonald, who conceives the 
 shutter telegraph as the perfection of the art, boldly 
 asserts, that the Semaphore arm of proper dimen- 
 sions is not to be seen in clear weather so well as 
 the common sized boards, and in cloudy weather by 
 no means so well ;" and consequently that, " for this 
 climate, the boarded telegraph is, in all respects, 
 more advantageous." This would be important if 
 correct ; but it is evident, that the Colonel is not aware 
 of the discussion which took place on this very im- 
 portant part of the subject, on the first adoption of 
 the hoarded telegraph; had he read the clear and 
 decisive observations of Mr Gamble, he would scarcely 
 have ventured upon such an assertion. 
 
 " It is a theorem in optics," says Mr Gamble, 
 " that the apparent magnitude of an object varies 
 nearly in the inverse ratio of its distance. Hence, it 
 follows, that the larger its dimensions, to the greater 
 
 distance will it be visible. But the nature of our at> Te%ra 
 raosphere, even in its most transparent state, is such 
 as to render any calculation, grounded on this prin- 
 ciple, extremely erroneous ; and in general its density 
 so obstructs, and its refracting powers cause such 
 confusion in, the rays issuing from those surfaces 
 which are not placed sufficiently distant to be dis- 
 tinct, that their image falling upon the retina is fre- 
 quently so ill defined, as to render it difficult to de^ 
 termine either their figure or position ; for which 
 reasons, that which I shall term insidation, is gene- 
 rally a quality more requisite to give distinctness 
 to an object, than magnitude of superficial dimen- 
 sions." 
 
 Thi^ is unquestionably true ; but Mr Gamble ilw 
 lustrates his position thus: " An example of this 
 distinctness arising from insulation cannot be more 
 readily obtained than by taking a page of printed 
 paper, and fixing the eye on some particular letter 
 (as I) ; theri retiring from it, the letter will be so 
 confused with the surrounding ones, as not to be 
 easily distinguished; but if the same letter (I) be 
 printed on a plain sheet of paper, standing by itself 
 (or insulated), the eye will then not only discern it at 
 a much greater distance, but the image falling single 
 and unencumbered upon the retina, we shall be able 
 to determine whether it be inclined to the right or to 
 the left, or whether it be placed horizontally on the 
 paper." 
 
 The shutter telegraph is the printed page, and the 
 arm of the semaphore is the letter (I) on a plain sheet 
 of paper. 
 
 But actual experiment has completely proved the 
 fallacy of Colonel Macdonald's assertion, and the 
 justice of Mr Gamble's theory. Every officer serv- 
 ing on the line of telegraphs has stated, that at all 
 times, and more especially in cloudy weather, the 
 arms of the semaphore are seen much better than 
 the boards of the telegraph ever were. Lieutenant 
 Pace, who for many years superintended the Admi- 
 ralty station, declared that on the first day after the 
 West Square semaphore was erected, he could 
 clearly distinguish the positions of the arms wthout 
 a telescope, and accurately take down any signals 
 that could be made, which he had never been able 
 to do under any circumstance whatever with the 
 shutter telegraph. He also stated that he had fre- 
 quently an open communication with the semaphore 
 at West Square, whilst St Paul's was capt by a fog, 
 which was at all times considered by him and his aS' 
 sistant as the conclusive sign that the boarded tele- 
 graph could not be worked. But in order to set the 
 matter entirely at rest, the shutter telegraph on Nun- 
 head , near Nevvcross, was left standing on the same hilJ 
 with the new semaphore, in order to try their com- 
 parative distinctness, for a whole winter. The re- 
 sult was, that the semaphore was frequently distinct- 
 ly visible when the boarded telegraph was so much 
 enveloped in mist or fog, that the particular boards, 
 shut or thrown open, could not be distinguished: 
 and it appeared by a journal kept by this officer, 
 that in the course of the winter, the days on which 
 the semaphore was visible exceeded those on which 
 the shutters could be seen by fully one-third. If, 
 then, this bo the case with a six-boarded telegraph, 
 how much more objectionable must one of twelve 
 
TELEGRAPH. 
 
 649 
 
 graph, shutters be, which must necessarily be placed so 
 near to each other as to make it at all times a matter 
 of difficulty to discern at once how many, and which 
 of them, are closed, and which open ? Even in tlie 
 gix-shutter telegraph, one board has frequently 
 been mistaken for the other: for it may be remark- 
 ed, that such a mass of timber as is required for a 
 sliutter telegraph is seldom free from haze. 
 
 It will probably be urged, that the arms of the 
 semaphore, having to describe a larger circle, must 
 be slower in their operations; but this increased 
 slowness is so amply compensated by the ease and 
 certainty of reading off the signals as to render any 
 such objection of little or no weight : it may make the 
 difference of one second in each signal, whilst the ma- 
 chinery by which the semaphore is worked is as 
 simple and as little liable to be out of order as that 
 of the boarded telegraph. 
 
 The six-shutter telegraph, it is true, has greater 
 powers than the two-armed semaphore, and much 
 greater than the universal semaphore of Colonel Pas- 
 ley ; that is to sa)'^, the number of combinations of 
 which it is capable of making without using the slop- 
 signal (or signal which separates one word, or one 
 sentence, from another), is much greater than in 
 either of the other two ; but all of them have suf- 
 ficient powers, and a sufficient number of combina- 
 tions, to convey with facility and dispatch any com- 
 munication whatsoever, and in any language, either 
 by letters, words, or sentences. Their respective 
 powers may be seen by the following tables of their 
 " positions. 
 
 Admiralty Six-shuller Telegraph, 
 
 No. of Signal, 
 or of Shutters 
 closed. 
 
 Signi- 
 fica- 
 tion. 
 
 No. of Signal, 
 or of Shutters 
 closed. 
 
 Signi- 
 fica- 
 tion. 
 
 No. of Signal, 
 or of Shutters 
 closed. 
 
 Signi- 
 fica- 
 tion. 
 
 1 
 
 A 
 
 123 
 
 9 
 
 1235 
 
 
 2 
 
 Z 
 
 124 
 
 6 
 
 1236 
 
 
 3 
 
 X 
 
 125 
 
 5 
 
 1245 
 
 
 
 w 
 
 126 
 
 4 
 
 1246 
 
 
 5 
 
 B 
 
 134 
 
 0 
 
 1256 
 
 
 6' 
 
 F 
 
 135 
 
 1 
 
 1345 
 
 
 12 
 
 L 
 
 136 
 
 2 
 
 1346 
 
 
 13 
 
 0 
 
 145 
 
 6 
 
 1356 
 
 
 14 
 
 V 
 
 146 
 
 3 
 
 1456 
 
 
 15 
 
 U 
 
 156 
 
 8 
 
 2345 
 
 
 16 
 
 H 
 
 234 
 
 G 
 
 2346 
 
 
 '23 
 
 Qu 
 
 235 
 
 C 
 
 2356 
 
 
 24 
 
 R 
 
 236 
 
 D 
 
 2456 
 
 
 25 
 
 T 
 
 245 
 
 E 
 
 3156 
 
 
 26 
 
 S 
 
 246 
 
 Y 
 
 12345 
 
 
 34 
 
 P 
 
 256 
 
 
 12346 
 
 
 35 
 
 N 
 
 345 
 
 
 12356 
 
 
 36 
 
 I 
 
 346 
 
 
 12456 
 
 
 45 
 
 0 
 
 356 
 
 
 13456 
 
 
 46 
 
 K 
 
 456 
 
 
 23456 
 
 
 56 
 
 M 
 
 1234 
 
 
 123456 
 
 
 In all — 62 separate and distinct signals; which may 
 be made consecutively in any order, without requiring 
 any A/op-signal, when applied to spelling. The letters 
 of the alphabet opposite to the signals, and the num- 
 bers from 1 to 0, may be changed in every possible way. 
 When spelling is intended to be used, the number 
 
 of changes need not of course exceed that of the al- Telegraph, 
 phabet ; the rest, as in the table, may be applied to ' 
 numbers ; and what still remains may be made to 
 represent voords that are most commonly in use ; as, 
 for instance, admiral, captain, ship ojthe line, frigate, 
 arrived, sailed, harbour, &c. in the navy ; or, if mi- 
 litary, general, regiment, camp, &c. 
 
 Admiralty Semaphore notu in use. 
 
 No. of Signal 
 by 1 and 2 
 Arms. 
 
 Signi- 
 fica- 
 tion. 
 
 No. of Signal 
 by 1 and 2 
 Arms. 
 
 Signi- 
 fica- 
 tion. 
 
 No. of Signal 
 by 1 and 2 
 Arms. 
 
 Signi- 
 fica- 
 tion. 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 15 
 
 G 
 
 43 
 
 X 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 16 
 
 H 
 
 44 
 
 Y 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 21 
 
 I 
 
 45 
 
 Z 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 22 
 
 K 
 
 46 
 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 23 
 
 L 
 
 51 
 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 24 
 
 M 
 
 52 
 
 
 1 
 
 A 
 
 "25 
 
 N 
 
 53 
 
 
 2 
 
 B 
 
 26 
 
 0 
 
 54 
 
 
 3 
 
 C 
 
 31 
 
 P 
 
 55 
 
 
 4 
 
 D 
 
 32 
 
 Qu 
 
 56 
 
 
 5 
 
 E 
 
 33 
 
 R 
 
 61 
 
 
 6 
 
 F 
 
 34 
 
 S 
 
 62 
 
 
 11 
 
 7 
 
 35 
 
 T 
 
 63 
 
 
 12 
 
 8 
 
 36 
 
 U 
 
 64 
 
 
 13 
 
 9 
 
 41 
 
 V 
 
 65 
 
 
 14 
 
 0 
 
 42 
 
 w 
 
 66 
 
 
 In all — 48 separate and distinct signals ; being the 
 whole which the two arms are capable of making, as 
 under ; in which the two arms actually exhibited (in 
 black lines) represesent 
 
 the number 16 or H, ac- 
 cording to the table or 
 Icey, as above arranged. 
 
 We have here, in ad- 
 dition to the alphabet 
 and the numeral digits, 
 13 signs over, applicable 
 to the names of stations, 
 preparative, finish, stop- 
 signals, &c. 
 
 ^4 
 
 Colonel Pasley^s Universal Telegraph. 
 
 No. of 
 Signals. 
 
 Significa- 
 tion. 
 
 No. of 
 Signals. 
 
 Significa- 
 tion. 
 
 No. of 
 
 Signals. 
 
 Significa- 
 tion. 
 
 1 
 
 A 
 
 » 15 
 
 L 
 
 36 
 
 V 
 
 2 
 
 B 
 
 16 
 
 M 
 
 37 
 
 w 
 
 3 
 
 C 
 
 17 
 
 N 
 
 45 
 
 X 
 
 4 
 
 D 
 
 23 
 
 O 
 
 46 
 
 Y 
 
 5 
 
 E 
 
 24 
 
 P 
 
 47 
 
 Z 
 
 6 
 
 F 
 
 25 
 
 Qu 
 
 56 
 
 
 7 
 
 G 
 
 26 
 
 R 
 
 57 
 
 
 12 
 
 H 
 
 27 
 
 S 
 
 67 
 
 
 13 
 
 I 
 
 34 
 
 T 
 
 
 
 14 
 
 K 
 
 35 
 
 U 
 
 
 
650 
 
 TELEGRAPH. 
 
 Telegraph. In all — 28 separate and distinct signals ; containing 
 >i— ■ ^ a sufficient number for expresssing the letters of the 
 alphabet, and, consequently, for spelling any mes- 
 sage ; but liot a sufficient number left to express the 
 nuraeral digits by single signs. The signal. No. 4, 
 is besides, as Colonel Pasley is aware, liable to be 
 mistaken, it being a mere elongation of the mast, 
 which, at a great distance, and owing to the refrac- 
 tive power of the atmosphere, will always be ambi- 
 guous when^ exhibited as a single signal. But Co- 
 lonel Pasley has added a short arm which he calls 
 an indicator, as below at A ; and which, when made 
 moveable, more than compensates for this defect. 
 
 It was with a different view, ^ 
 however, that he has added 
 this indicator. It was sug- 
 gested to him by a Captain in 
 the navy, who had experien- 
 ced the greatest inconveni- 
 ence, in using Sir Home 
 Popham's ship Semaphores, 
 from the signal men con- 
 founding the positions of the 
 arms when seen In reverse. 
 We apprehend no experienced signal men could 
 possibly make any mistake in merely changing the 
 right hand for the left. 
 
 The respective powers of the three telegraphs, in 
 making single, or, what may be called, primary sig- 
 nals, are, as appears from the tables, 62, 42, and 
 28. In making iuoo changes, with a stop between 
 tliem (that is, three signals) to -represent a word or 
 sentence, their powers will be as 3844, 1764, 
 and 784. In making three changes (or, with the 
 stop, Jour signals), as 238,328 — 74,088 — 21,952. 
 Now, as the telegraphic dictionary of Sir Home 
 Popham, wliich has been, and still Is, used in the 
 navy, does not exceed 13,000 words and sentences, 
 and has never been found deficient in any of Its di- 
 visions of subjects, it is evident that even the lowest 
 power of the three is more than sufficient for all use- 
 ful purposes ; and that those compilers, who have 
 swelled out their telegraphic dictionaries to upwards 
 of 100,000 (one mentioned by Colonel Pasley has 
 extended his labours to 140,000), have made them 
 nearly useless, by the difficulty and loss of time, in 
 finding the required phrase or sentence. We 
 have actually seen In one telegraphic dictionary 126 
 pages, of 3 columns in each page, and 6o sentences 
 in each column, containing upwards of 20,000 sen- 
 tences (about one-third of the number of words In 
 Johnson's Dictionary), and each of these sentences 
 beginning with the personal pronoun HE ; 20 pages 
 with IF, &c. Compared with the use of such a dic- 
 tionary, spelling the sentences is Infinitely preferable 
 as to certainty, and In many cases as to celerity. 
 Indeed, we should say that the abbreviated nature 
 of communications made by telegfkph renders spel- 
 ling by far the most elegible mode. In clear wea- 
 ther, the rapidity of working single signals, the 
 short compass within which any message may be 
 condensed, the impossibility of committing any mis- 
 take that cannot be Immediately rectified, more than 
 compensates for the difference of a few minutes, 
 which the use of sentences may probably save. In 
 cloudy or fo^gy weather, the latter method will al- 
 
 ways be liable to mistake. If experience may be TeLo 
 assumed as a guide, the practice at the Admiralty, " 
 of spelling all sentences for the last thirty years, 
 must decide In favour of that system. 
 
 In making use of the alphabetical table, much 
 time may be saved, by condensing the message into 
 the briefest form possible, leaving out of the senten- 
 ces such words as may not alter the sense, and ge- 
 nerally the vowels of words. For instance, " Order 
 the Agamemnon out of harbour, and direct her to pro- 
 ceed to Spithead." To convey this message alphabe- 
 tically, it would be quite enough to say, " Agmemn 
 toSpthed." If from Spithead into harbour, "Agmemn 
 nto hrbr." In spelling, too, it Is very desirable, es- 
 pecially in our foggy climate, that the Intelligence 
 to be conveyed should be compressed as much as 
 possible into the early part of the message. By not 
 observing this rule, a curious mistake Is said to have 
 been made in the course of the Peninsular war. The 
 Admiral at Plymouth endeavoured to send up a mes- 
 sage, but a fog coming on, part of It only on that 
 day reached London. It began thus: " Wellington 
 defeated" — and the rest was stopped by the fog : 
 the anxiety for the remainder may readily be con- 
 ceived; It came, however, complete towards the 
 evening, and conveyed the intelligence, that " Wel- 
 lington defeated the French," &c. Had the mes- 
 sage been thus franied, " French defeated at," &c. 
 (the word Wellington being quite superfluous), the 
 anxiety for the particulars would have been of a very 
 different kind. Much, therefore, depends, as far as 
 celerity and certainty is concerned, on the construc- 
 tion of the sentence containing the intelligence to be 
 conveyed. 
 
 The methods suggested for making use of telegra- 
 phic communicatious by night have not been less nu- 
 merous than those for the day, though on land there 
 are very few occasions on which they can be of the 
 least possible use. A regiment might perhaps be 
 ordered to move, at a moment's notice, in order to 
 reach a particular point at a given time ; or, as an 
 extreme case, the enemy's fleet might be seen to- 
 wards the close of the day in a particular quarter, 
 which would make it desirable to have the intelli- 
 gence conveyed in various directions ; but no naval 
 movement could take place during the night at any 
 of the ports. So little useful, Indeed, does a night 
 telegraph, for the navy, appear to have been consi- 
 dered, that, with all the facility of applying lamps to 
 the shutter-telegraph at the Admiralty, no attempt 
 was ever made for carrying such a purpose into 
 execution. Colonel Pasley 's description of the ap- 
 plication of his Universal Telegraph to night signals 
 will suffice to show one method (as good as any other 
 perhaps) of adopting the machine to this purpose. 
 
 " For night signals, one 
 lantern, called the centre 
 light. Is fixed to the top of 
 the post J and one lantern 
 (I) as an indicator is fixed 
 to a light crane or derrick, 
 attached to the post, by night 
 only, as under. 
 
 These lanterns are sta- 
 tionary, and appear on the 
 same level. Two other Ian- 
 
TEL 
 
 TEN 
 
 651 
 
 (grapli terns are suspended to the ends of the arms^ upon 
 II fixing which a couple of weights are added to coun- 
 terpoise them. Each of the two arms by day, and 
 each of the two moveable lights by night, is capable 
 of exhibiting the seven positions, besides position 
 O pointing vertically downwards. The indicator 
 serves to distinguish the low numbers 1, 2, 3, from 
 the high numbers 7, 6, 5, in whatever direction the 
 telegraph may be viewed." 
 
 The use of telegraphic communication, import- 
 ant as it may be on land, is far more so in the ma- 
 nagement of a fleet at sea. On the unfortunate re- 
 sult of Admiral Keppel's engagement, Dr Beatson, in 
 his Memoirs, thus expresses himself: — " Thedefects or 
 impropriety of the signals having thus appeared clearly 
 to be the true and sole cause of the miscarriage v/hich 
 disappointed the reasonable hopes of Britain on this 
 critical and weighty occasion ; we may be justified 
 in observing, that if an admiral cannot command all 
 the necessaiy movements of his ships by signal on 
 the day of battle, he is not upon a footing with an 
 enemy who possesses that advantage ; and even with 
 better ships and better men, and more experienced 
 commanders, he may be foiled in his expectations of 
 victoi'y, if not defeated, from his want of the means to 
 direct and to perform the necessary evolutions of his 
 fleet." 
 
 In the Fighting and Sailing Instructions of the 
 Duke of York (afterwards James II.), a certain num- 
 ber of signals are established for certain movements 
 and manoeuvres of the fleet, each flag or flags having 
 their respective objects. The I'Art des Armees Na- 
 vales of le P. I'Hoste, publisheJ at Lyons in 1697, 
 contains something like a system of signals, but so 
 awkward and clumsy, as to be of a very limited use. 
 Indeed, the best signals made use ot^ down to the 
 American war, could only be considered as expedients; 
 the numerical plan having never once been attempted, 
 though Dr Hooke, De la Bourdonnois, and some 
 others, had long before suggested it. 
 
 In 1798 a new signal-book was issued by the Ad- Telegraph 
 miralty, containing about 400 sentences, for which . !' 
 flags were appropriated numerically, expressive of 
 certain operations of a fleet, which were sufficiently 
 useful as far as these sentences went ; but when it 
 became necessary to issue any order not to be found 
 among them, the communication was obliged to be 
 made by boats — and " a boat from each ship" was 
 ordered. The state of the weather did not always 
 render this practicable ; and when it was, men's lives 
 were frequently exposed to imminent risk. To re- 
 medy this inconvenience. Sir Honae Popham printed 
 at Calcutta a numerical code of naval signals, which 
 was reprinted in England in 1 803. He afterwards 
 extended the code very considerably, which, by a 
 recommendation of a committee of naval officers, has 
 been adopted, and is now in general use in the navy. 
 The only objection to this code, which more or less 
 applies to all that have subsequently been proposed, 
 is the great number of flags, &c. required for making 
 numerical signals to the extent as laid down in the 
 code in question ; and which consists of nine flags, 
 five cornettes, five triangles, and five pendants. 
 With such a number, it is next to impossible to 
 make out, in calm weather, the Jigure and the co- 
 lour of the flags ; and equally so when in situations 
 where, though expanded by the wind, they present 
 only an edge to the eye of the observer when the dis- 
 tance is not too great, so as to sink the hull of the 
 ship behind the curvature of the earth. The sema- 
 phore or sea telegraph of Sir Home Popham comes 
 in aid of, and indeed entirely removes, those difficul- 
 ties. It consists of two posts, with a moveable arm 
 to each (see the article Navy), and may be re- 
 moved to any part of the deck ; but we are not sure, 
 simple as it is, that the Universal Telegraph of Co- 
 lonel Pasley, consisting of one post and two arms, 
 might not be adopted with advantage as a sea tele- 
 graph. The former exhibits eight, the latter seven 
 positions. (k.) 
 
 TENNANT (Smithson), a distinguished Che- 
 mist, born at Selby, in Yorkshire, 30th November 
 1761 ; was the only child of the Rev. Calvert Ten- 
 nant, younger son of a respectable family in Wensley 
 Dale, near Richmond, and vicar of Selby ; his mo- 
 ther was Mary Daunt, daughter of a surgeon of 
 that town. 
 
 His father had been a fellow of St John's College, 
 Cmibridge, and began to teach his son Greek when 
 he was only five years old. He had the misfortune 
 to lose him four years after ; and before he grew 
 up, his mother also, while he was riding with her, 
 was thrown from her horse and killed on the spot. 
 He was sent, after his father's death, to different 
 schools, at Scerton, Tadcaster, and Beverley ; in 
 these he was remembered as a boy retired in his 
 manners, and somewhat melancholy, and indolent 
 with respect to puerile amusements. He learned 
 but little at school, and may be considered as in 
 great measure self-educated ; having been fond, al- 
 most as a child, of reading books of science, and of 
 amusing himself with little expei'iments which he 
 
 found described in them ; and while he was at 
 school at Tadcaster, he took great delight in attend- 
 ing a course of Walker's lectures on experimental 
 philosophy which were given there. At Beverley 
 he was under the care of Dr G. Croft, who had 
 made himself known to the public by some contro- 
 versial writings ; here he never entered much into 
 the pursuits of his contemporaries, but profited by 
 a good library belonging to the school ; and among 
 other books which he read with avidity was Sir 
 Isaac Newton's Treatise on Optics. 
 
 He had entertained a great desire to complete his 
 chemical studies under the immediate instruction of 
 Dr Priestley, who was then enjoying deserved re- 
 putation for his recent experimental discoveries; 
 but Dr Priestley's occupations did not permit him to 
 vmdertake the task of directinghis education, however 
 agreeable it might have been to him to have assisted 
 such a pupil. In the meantime he had not neglected 
 his classics, but had acquired a sufficient knowledge 
 of the learned languages to appreciate with correct 
 taste the beauties of the great writers of antiquity. 
 
652 TEN 
 
 Tennant. Notwithstanding his admiration for Dr Priestley, he 
 •-^f^^"^' -was an early convert to the antiphlogistic theory of 
 chemistry; which, with all its errors. Was still a 
 material step in the advancement of science. 
 
 In 1781 he went to Edinburgh, with the view of 
 qualifying himself for the profession of physic, and 
 he had the advantage of attending Dr Black's lec- 
 tures, which were then in great reputation. In Oc- 
 tober 1782, he entered as a pensioner of Christ's 
 College, Cambridge, where he became intimately ac- 
 quainted with the late Professor Harwood, who had 
 lieen first a surgeon in India, but having lost, by 
 the misconduct of an agent, the fortime that he had 
 there acquired, submitted cheerfully to the toil of 
 recommencing his career as a physician, though 
 already past the middle age : his talents for conver- 
 sation were such as were extremely likely to capti- 
 vate a young man of superior discernment ; and he 
 formed a friendship with Tennant which continued 
 uninterrupted throughout their lives. 
 
 At Cambridge he studied a little of the mathema- 
 tics, in the works of Newton, but much more of 
 chemistry and botany : he already began to exercise 
 liis inventive powers in an attempt to economize the 
 consumption of fuel in distillation, which he did not 
 make public imtil 20 years after, though he men- 
 tioned it at the time to some of his friends. He also 
 occupied himself incessantly in general, and espe- 
 cially in political reading, though he was far from 
 having the air of a student : but his rooms were 
 always in confusion from the mixture of heteroge- 
 neous materials that were accumulated in them. 
 His residence at Cambridge was perhaps the hap- 
 piest time of his life ; his spirits unwearied, his 
 health unbroken, his feelings acute, and his con- 
 versation brilliant, though simple and unaffected. 
 
 In the summer of 1784 he paid a visit to Den- 
 mark, to Sweden, and to Scheele, whose acquaint- 
 ance extremely delighted him, and most of all from 
 the simplicity of the apparatus that he employed in 
 his researches. A year or two afterwards he went 
 to France, and being taken ill at Paris, he was 
 joined there by his friend Harwood, with whom he 
 returned through Holland and the Netherlands ^ at 
 the time that the bigotted people of the Low Coun- 
 tries were in insurrection against a philosophical 
 despot, while Holland remained free and prosperous. 
 
 He was particularly intimate with Dr Milner, the 
 Master of Queen's College, and was recommended 
 by his signature, together with those of Waring, 
 Maskelyne, Jebb, and Watson, as a Fellow of the 
 Royal Society, into which he was admitted in Ja- 
 nuary 1785. He removed, together with his friend 
 Harwood, in December 1786, from Christ's College 
 to Emmanuel, and in 1788 he took a degree of Ba- 
 chelor of Physic. 
 
 In 1791 he communicated to the Royal Society 
 his very interesting discovery of a mode of obtain- 
 ing carbon from the carbonic acid. Having observ- 
 ed that charcoal did not decompose the phosphate of 
 lime, he concluded that phosphorus ought to decom- 
 pose the carbonate of lime, and the result fully jus- 
 tified his manner of reasoning. 
 
 He paid a third visit to the Continent in 1792, in- 
 tending to go on through France into Italy, and ar- 
 
 TEN . 
 
 rived at Paris not long before the 1 0th of August ; btft Tenm 
 he saw some indications of an impending convulsion, '*««>-n^ 
 and was fortunate enough to quit Paris on the 9th. 
 He visited Gibbon at Lausanne, and was much in- 
 terested in the sagacity that this eminent writer dis- 
 played in his conversation. He went on to Rome 
 and Florence, where he Was fully impressed with all 
 the admiration that he had been taught to anticipate 
 for the treasures of ancient and modern art possessed 
 by those cities ; and in his return through Germany, 
 he was greatly amused by the mixture of knowledge 
 and credulity that he observed among the studious 
 of that country. At Paris he found every thing en- 
 veloped in gloom and overwhelmed with terror, in 
 1793 ; his friend Lametherie was alarmed by the 
 visit which he paid him, but he had the inte- 
 grity to preserve for him entire some property of 
 considerable value, Avith which he had entrusted 
 him. 
 
 Upon his arrival in London, Mr Tennant took 
 chambers in the Temple, and was in the habit of liv- 
 ing much with some of his early acquaintance, who 
 had adopted the law as their profession ; to his own 
 he was in great measure indifferent, neither seek- 
 ing to practise it, nor being well calculated to suc- 
 ceed greatly in it with the public, though he studied 
 it with attention, and took pains to make himself 
 master of its history and its philosophy, being a par- 
 ticular admirer of Sydenham, when considered in re- 
 lation to the age in which he lived. He took hi? 
 degree of Doctor of Physic in 1796, and in the same 
 year he gave the Ptoyal Society a paper on the quan- 
 tity of carbonic acid afforded by the diamond, wiiich 
 he measured by heating it with nitre, and obtaining 
 a precipitate by the addition of muriate of lime ; and 
 he found that the diamond afforded no -more carbo- 
 nic acid than an equal weight of charcoal. A sub- 
 sequent communication contained the result of his 
 observations on the action of heated nitre on gold 
 and platina. 
 
 The love of travelling appeared to be his predo- 
 minant passion ; he studied in his travels, not only 
 the natural and political history of the countries that 
 he saw, but also their languages, and the philosophy 
 of their etymologies. He observed, too, the pecu- 
 liarities of their agriculture; and, in 1797, he deter- 
 mined, after visiting an agricultural friend in Lin- 
 colnshire, to devote his attention to practical farm- 
 ing as a serious pursuit. He purchased some allot- 
 ments of unenclosed land in that neighbourhood, but 
 he left the management of them chiefly to his friend, 
 and made afterwards considerable additions to the 
 property by further purchases. In 1798 or 1799,, 
 he bought a tract of newly enclosed land on the 
 Mendip hills, near Cheddei', where he built a house, 
 and resided for some months every summer through 
 the remainder of his life. These speculations, though 
 their results were at first doubtful, yet succeeded re- 
 markably well on the whole ; more especially con- 
 sidering the benefit that his health derived from the 
 travelling and the exercise that they rendered neces- 
 sary : but they occupied too much of his attention, 
 and of that time which might have been employed 
 so much more to the advantage of the public, and to 
 liis own ultimate satisfaction. 
 
TEN 
 
 In 1799 lie gave the Royal Society a paper on the 
 magnesian limestone, or dolomite^ which he considers 
 as rather a combination than an accidental mixture ; 
 and the forms of the crystals, as they have been de- 
 termined by later observers, together with the laws 
 oi" definite proportions, have tended to confirm this 
 conjecture : he found that grain will scarcely germi- 
 nate, and soon perishes, when sown in the neutral 
 carbonate of magnesia. In 1802 he published his 
 I?aper on emery, which he showed to be a substance 
 similar to the corundum or adamantine spar of Chi- 
 na, and not an ore of iron, as had been commonly 
 impposed. In the month of July he was making 
 gome experiments on crude platina, when he disco- 
 vered in it a singular dark powder, which was left 
 undissolved by the nitromuricitic acid, and which 
 was also observed the next year by Messrs Descotils 
 and Vauquelin. In Mr Tennant showed that 
 
 the povvder contained two new metals, which he 
 named Iridium and Osmium ; and he received the 
 Copleian medal from the Royal Society in Novem- 
 ber, as an acknowledgment of the merit of his va- 
 rious chemical discoveries. In 1805 and 1806 he 
 ptvid two successive visits to Ireland, by way of 
 Scotland, one of them in company with Browne the 
 ti'aveller, for whom he had' a high esteem, and to 
 whom he suggested the observation of the tempera- 
 ture of boiling water as a mode of determining the 
 heights of mountains; a method, however, which had 
 been long before recommended by Achard and 
 others. 
 
 He became latterly more fond of general society 
 than he had been in his earlier years, and he used to 
 receive miscellaneous parties at his chambers, and to 
 show them prints, and minerals, and novelties of va- 
 rious kinds. In 1812 he was persuaded to convert 
 these mixed exhibitions into a more regular course 
 of lectures, principally upon mineralogy, calculated 
 especially for the ladies of his acquaintance, and 
 which highly delighted all his audience : " Their at- 
 tention was perpetually kept alive by the spirit and 
 variety with which every topic was discussed, by 
 anecdotes and quotations happily introduced, by the 
 ornaments of a powerful but chastised imagination, 
 and, above all, by a peculiar vein of pleasantry, at 
 once original and delicate, with which he covild ani- 
 mate and embellish the most unpromising subjects;" 
 — a circumstance which, though not of much imme- 
 diate importance to the public, yet probably led him 
 the more readily to accept the Professorship at Cam- 
 bridge, and would thus, if he had survived longer, 
 have greatly extended the sphere of his utility. 
 
 He delivered, in 1813, a lecture on mineralogy to 
 the Geological Society, and gave them also an ac- 
 count of his analysis of a volcanic substance from 
 the Lipari Islands containing the boracic acid, which 
 has since been examined on the spot by Dr Holland. 
 In the month of May he was elected Professor of 
 Chemistry in the University of Cambridge, all op- 
 position having been withdrawn before the election. 
 Tlie following spring he gave his first and last course 
 of lectures there. His introductory lecture still ex- 
 ists in manuscript, and is saiil to contain a masterly 
 sketch of the history of the science. He communi- 
 
 VOL, VI. PART II. 
 
 TEN 6'53 
 
 cated to the Royal Society, in 1814, a paper on Ter.nan'. 
 the easiest mode of procuring potassium, and ano- ^— ^. ^ 
 ther on the economy of heat in distillation, propos- 
 ing to heat a second boiler by the condensation of 
 the steam of the first. In the spring and summer of 
 this year he was occupied in searching for the ori- 
 gin of iodine, and he succeeded in detecting this sub- 
 stance in sea- water, by the test of its tarnishing tlie 
 surface of leaf silver. One of the last services, that 
 he rendered the Royal Society, was in the capacity 
 of a member of a committee Avhich was formed in 
 order to investigate, at the request of the govern- 
 ment, the degree of danger that might attend ths 
 general introduction of gas lights into the metropo- 
 lis ; he undertook, together with his friend Dr Wol- 
 laston, to make some experiments upon the inflam- 
 mation of the gas, and they discovered conjointly 
 the very important fact, that the gas contained in a 
 small tube will not communicate the flame : a fact 
 which, in the hands of Sir Humphry Davy, has been 
 rendered productive, of consequences so important tx> 
 the public safety; although Sir Humphry having 
 been abroad at the time of this investigation, and 
 the report of the committee not having been then 
 published, he had to rediscover this truth, -and 
 many more, in his most ingenious and successful re- 
 searches. 
 
 It was early in the month of September that Mr Ten- 
 nant went for the last time to France, being impatient 
 to observe the changes that an eventful interval of 
 twenty years had produced in that highly interest- 
 ing country. He was greatly delighted with Lyons 
 and Marseilles, and, returning to Paris in November, 
 he lingered there till February 1815; on the 15t!i 
 of that month he arrived at Calais ; the 20th he went 
 to Boulogne with Baron Bulow, in order to embark 
 there ; they did embark on the 22d, but were forced 
 back by the wind, and meant to try again in the 
 evening; in the meantime, they took horses and 
 went to see Bonaparte's Pillar,about a league off, and 
 going off the road on their return, to look at a small 
 fort, of which the drawbridge wanted a bolt, they 
 were both thrown, with their horses, into the ditch. 
 Bulow was only stunned, but Tennant's skull was so 
 severely fractured, that he died an hour after. 
 
 His papers published in the Philosophical Trans- 
 actions were eight in number. 1. On the Decom- 
 position of Fixed Air, 1791, p. 182. 2. On the Na- 
 ture of the Diamond, 17.97, p. 123. 3. On the Action 
 of Nitre upon Gold and Platina, p. 219. 4. On the 
 different sorts of Lime used in Agriculture, 1799, p. 
 305. 5. On the Composition of Emery, 1802, p. 398. 
 6. On two Metals found in the Black Potoder remain- 
 ing after the Solution of Platina, 1804, p. 411. 7. On 
 an easier Mode of procuring Potassium than that 
 •which is now adopted, 1814, p. 578. 8. On the 
 Msans of producing a double Distillation hy the same 
 Heat, p. 587. 
 
 9. The analysis of A Vokanic Substance containing 
 the Boracic Jc/t/ appeared in the Transactions of the 
 Geological Society, Vol. I. 1811. 
 
 Mr Tennant was tall and slight in his person ; his 
 face was thin, and his complexion light ; he resem- 
 bled a little the portraits of Locke ; he was general^ 
 4 o 
 
TEN 
 
 T H O 
 
 ly negligent in his dress, but, on the whole, agree- 
 able in his appearance. He was distinguished for 
 good sense, for quickness of perception, and for pe- 
 netration; but, as his friend and biographer Mr 
 Whishaw observes, in the admirably energetic sketch 
 that he has given of his character, he was one of 
 those who, to use the words of Dr Johnson, " with- 
 out much labour, have obtained a high reputation, 
 and are mentioned with reverence rather for the 
 possession than the exertion of uncommon abilities.'* 
 '< His curiosity and activity were incessant; he had 
 a vigilance of observation which suffered nothing to 
 escape him, and was continually gaining new infor- 
 mation from a variety of interesting sources. But 
 although the knowledge thus acquired was remark- 
 able for its correctness, and complete for the pur- 
 poses of its possessor, yet the industry and perse- 
 verance, by which it ought to have been embodied 
 and made permanent for the benefit of others, were 
 too often altogether wanting. The ardour and en- 
 ergy of Mr Tennant's mind co-operated unfortunate- 
 ly, in this respect, with his want of method and of 
 systematic habits of application ; since he was con- 
 stantly pressing on to new discoveries, instead of ar- 
 ranging and bringmg to perfection those which he 
 had already made* His memory was a great store- 
 house of discoveries, and hints for discovery, of as- 
 certained facts, probable conjectures, and ingenious 
 trains of reasoning relative to the various important 
 subjects upon which he had at any time been en- 
 o-aged. These he was continually treasuring up, 
 with the intention of reducing them to order, and 
 preparing them for use at a more convenient season. 
 But that period rarely arrived. In the carelessness 
 of intellectual wealth, he neglected those stores of 
 knowledge which he had accumulated, and suffered 
 them to remain useless and unproductive, till his at- 
 tention was recalled to them, perhaps after a long 
 course of years, by some new fact or discovery, some 
 remark in conversation, or other accidental occur- 
 rence." 
 
 The effect of his peculiar cast of humour was 
 heightened by a perfect gravity of countenance, a 
 quiet famihar manner, and a characteristic simplicity 
 of language. He was firmly attached to the general 
 principles of freedom, being fully convinced " of 
 their influence in promoting the wealth and happi- 
 ness of nations; a due regard to these principles, he 
 considered as tlxe only solid foundation of the most 
 important blessings of social life, and as the peculiar 
 cause of that distinguished superiority, which our 
 own country so happily enjoys among the nations of 
 Europe." "The cheerful activity of a populous 
 town, the improvements in the steam-engine, the 
 great galvanic experiments, and above all the novelty 
 and extent of the prospects afforded by that re- 
 volution in chemical science which has illustrated 
 our own age and country ; these magnificent ob- 
 jects, when presented to Mr Tennant's mind, excited 
 in him the liveliest emotions, and called for the most 
 animated expressions of admiration and delight.'* 
 " He thought himself passionate and irascible ; and 
 certainly his feelings were quick ; but they were 
 transitory." He possessed a strong sense of high 
 honour, as well as of duty ; and his liberality and 
 
 humanity were evinced by some practical occurrences Tennant 
 in which he had occasion to exercise them : his H 
 steward had defrauded him, and when the day of ^ om pso 
 reckoning came, had destroyed himself : he not only 
 forgave tfie debt, but provided also for the widow 
 and her family. 
 
 " His amiable temper and vin affected desire of 
 giving pleasure, no less than his superior knowledge 
 and talents, had rendered him highly acceptable to 
 a numerous and distinguished circle of society, by 
 whom he was justly valued, and by whom his pre- 
 mature death was sincerely lamented. But the real 
 extent of his private worth, the genuine simplicity 
 and virtuous independence of his character, and tins 
 sincerity, warmth, and constancy of his friendship, 
 can only be felt and estimated by those to whom he 
 was long and intimately known, and to whom tloe 
 recollection of his talents and virtues must always 
 remain a pleasing though melancholy bond of 
 union." 
 
 [Whishaw in] l^omson's Annals, Yo\.Y\. 1815. 
 p. 1, 80. (a. l.) 
 
 THOMPSON (Sir Benjamin, Count RUM- 
 FORD), a well known Natural Philosopher and 
 Political Economist, was born in 1753, at a village in 
 New Hampshire, then called Rumford, and now 
 Concord. 
 
 His father died while he was very young, and hrs 
 mother married another man, who banished him from 
 her house almost in his infancy : he inherited only 
 a small pittance from an uncle, who died soon after 
 his father. A clergyman named Bernard shoAved 
 him great kindness, and taught him some of the 
 higher mathematics at an early age, so that at four- 
 teen he was able to calculate and delineate an eclipse 
 of the sun. He had been intended for some com- 
 mercial employment ; but he preferred the pursuit 
 of literature in any form : he attended the lectures 
 of Dr Williams, and afterwards those of Dr Win- 
 throp, the astronomer, at the College of " Havard ;" 
 and while he was still a stripling, he was established 
 in the temporary occupation of a village schoolmaster ; 
 hoping, however, for an early opportiuiity to engage 
 in some more agreeable employment : and at nine- 
 teen, he was fortimate enough to obtain the hand of 
 Mrs Rolfe, daughter of Mr Walker, a clergyman, 
 who had been employed with considei-able credit in 
 conducting some public business. For a year or 
 two he lived retired and happy : but having obtairt- 
 ed a commission of Major in the Militia from the 
 Governor of the province, together with some other 
 distinctions, of a civil nature, he was consequently 
 led to adhere to the party of the Royalists, and he 
 was soon obliged, by the success of the Independent 
 forces, to take refuge at Boston, then occupied by 
 the English troops. It was in November 1773 liat 
 he secretly quitted his residence, leaving his wife, 
 whom he never saw again, and his infant daughter, 
 who joined him twenty years after in Europe. 
 
 He was employed to raise a regiment for tfajB 
 King's service ; but when Boston was evacuated, in 
 1776, he was sent with some unportant dispatches 
 to England. Here he soon acquired the confidence 
 of Lord George Germaine, then Colonial Secretary 
 of State, and was appointed Secretary of the province 
 
T H O 
 
 T H 0 
 
 655 
 
 apson. of Georgia, though he never exercised the office: 
 but he remained attached to that department of the 
 public service. 
 
 In 1777 he commenced his career as an experi- 
 mental philosopher, by employing his leisure hours, 
 during a visit to Bath, in making some experiments 
 cQi the cohesive strength of different substances : and 
 upon his return to London, he communicated them 
 to Sir Joseph Banks, with whom he formed an inti- 
 mate acquaintance, which he kept up throughout 
 tlie remainder of his life. In 1778 he was admitted 
 a Fellow of the Royal Society, and he made in that 
 year his first experiments on gunpowder. In order 
 to pursue these experiments, he went, in 1779^ on 
 board of the Victory of 1 1 0 guns, commanded by 
 his friend Sir Charles Hardy. He passed the whole 
 of the campaign on board of the fleet ; and the re- 
 sults of the observations, that he then made, furnish- 
 ed the materials of a chapter which he contributed 
 to Stalkart's Treatise on Naval Architecture. He 
 added to it a code of signals for the Navy, which 
 was not published. In 1780 he was appointed 
 Under Secretary of State, and he was constantly 
 employed, for some little time, in the office on the 
 business of the war. He succeeded, by means of his 
 American friends and agents, in raising a regiment 
 of cavalry, called the King's American Dragoons, of 
 which he was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel Com- 
 mandant; and this success induced him to go to 
 America to serve with it. At Charlestown he was 
 entrusted with the command of the remains of the 
 cavalry of the British army ; — he speedily restored 
 the discipline of the corps, and gained its confidence 
 and attachment: he often led it on against the enemy, 
 and frequently with considerable success. He pro- 
 ceeded, in 1782, to New York, where he assumed 
 the command of his own regiment, having received 
 the colours from the hand of Prince William Henry, 
 now Duke of Clarence. In the autumn. General 
 Clinton was succeeded by Sir Guy Carlton, whose 
 friendship and confidence he speedily obtained : his 
 regiment was recruited from the fragments of several 
 others, and he was sent for the winter to Hunting- 
 don in Long Island. He was chosen, in 1783, to 
 conduct the defence of Jamaica, which was then 
 tlireatened by the enemy : but the general peace 
 superseded the necessity of the intended expedition. 
 
 After his return to England, he made great efforts 
 in the cause of the loyalist officers, and he was suc- 
 cessful in persuading the Ministry to make a proper 
 provision for them : he was himself made a full 
 Colonel, upon the recommendation of General Carl- 
 ton, only two years after his appointment as Lieu- 
 tenant-Colonel. He had acquired a strong predilec- 
 tion for a military life, and was desirous of being 
 sent with his regiment to the East Indies : and when 
 tlie regiment was reduced, he wished to serve with 
 the Austrians in a war which was then meditated 
 against the Turks. 
 
 With this view he left England in September 1783, 
 and on his passage to Boulogne, he had an agreeable 
 ship-mate in the person of Gibbon, the historian, 
 who did justice to his merits as a " soldier, philoso- 
 pher, and statesman." At Strasburg, his appearance 
 
 on the parade in his uniform excited the attention Thompson, 
 of the present King of Bavaria, then Prince Maxi- ^ — v^'^ 
 railian of Deux Ponts, who invited him to his table, 
 and being delighted with the accuracy and extent of 
 his military knowledge, gave him a strong recom- 
 mendation to his uncle, then Elector ; and instead 
 of a day or two, as he had intended, he staid a fort- 
 night at Munich. He was also very cordially re- 
 ceived at Vienna, and passed a part of the winter 
 there ; but the war against the Turks not taking 
 place, he went by Venice and the Tyrol again to 
 JMunich, where he arrived in the winter of 1784; 
 and being formally invited by the Elector to enter 
 his service, he went to London to ask leave to accept 
 the proposal ; and it was granted him, together with 
 the honour of Knighthood. On his return to Bava- 
 ria, he was made a Colonel of cavalry, and Aide-de- 
 Camp- General to the Elector. The first four years 
 of his residence at Mimich were principally employ- 
 ed in acquiring information, and in preparing his 
 plans of reform : and in the mean time he continued 
 his physical researches. He made his first experi- 
 ments on heat in 1786, during a journey to Man- 
 heim. In 1785 he was made Chamberlain to the 
 Elector, and member of the Academies of Munich 
 and of Manheim : in 1 786 he received from the 
 King of Poland the Order of St Stanislaus : in 1787 
 he took a journey to Berlin, and was made a mem- 
 ber of the Academy of Sciences of that city : in 1788 
 he was appointed Major-General of the Bavarian 
 cavalry, and Privy Counsellor of State ; and he was 
 placed at the head of the War Department, in or- 
 der to pursue his plans for the improvement of the 
 army. 
 
 It was in 1789 that he established the House of 
 Industry at Manheim : he founded also the MiHtary 
 Academy of Munich ; he improved the military Po- 
 lice of the country ; he formed Schools of Industry 
 for the wives and cliildren of the soldiers ; and he 
 embellished the city by a new arrangement of the 
 public gardens. The House of Industry at Munich, 
 which he has described at large in his Essays, was 
 founded in 1790 : and from this period may be dat- 
 ed the total abolition of mendicity in Bavaria. His 
 exertions were rewarded by the rank of Lieutenant- 
 General of the Bavarian armies, and by a regiment 
 of artillery. In 1791 he was created a Count of the 
 Holy Roman Empire, and obtained the Order of 
 the White Eagle. 
 
 His health having suffered from constant applica- 
 tion, he obtained permission to take a journey into 
 Switzerland and Italy, and he returned to Bavaria 
 in 1794?. He had a severe illness at Naples, and be 
 was not sufficiently recovered, upon his return, to re- 
 sume his active duties ; but he employed himself in 
 writing the first five of his Essays. In 1795, he 
 came to England in order to publish the Essays, and 
 in hopes of exciting the public attention to the im- 
 portance of attempting a similar reform among the 
 lowest orders in Great Britain. He went to Dublin 
 in 1796, to pay a visit to Lord Pelham, now Earl of 
 Chichester, then Secretary of State for Ireland ; and 
 he was of essential service in the arrangement of se- 
 veral of the public institutions of that country. He 
 
656 
 
 T H 0 
 
 T H 0 
 
 Thompson, was made a Member of the Royal Irish Academy, 
 > — ^-•^w g,,r^iX of the Society for the Encouriigement of Arts; 
 
 and he received, after having left the country, the 
 public thanks of the Grand Jury of the county of 
 jQublin, and of the Lord Mayor of that city, as well 
 as of the Lord Lieutenant at the head of the Go- 
 vernment. Upon his return to London, he super- 
 intended some improvements at the Foundling Hos- 
 pital, and presented several models of machines and 
 implemojits to the Board of Agriculture : and he 
 established two prizes, for discoveries relating to 
 Heat and Light, by placing two sums of L. 1000 in 
 the British and in the American funds, to be adjudg- 
 ed biennially, for Europe by the Royal Society of 
 London, and for America by the American Aca- 
 deaiy of Sciences. 
 
 He was recalled to Bavaria by the exigencies of 
 the moment, which vi^ere such as to cause the Elec- 
 tor to take refuge in Saxony ; General Moreau hav- 
 ing advanced with his army to the confines of Bava- 
 ria. After the battle of Friedberg, Count Rumford 
 was left in command of the Bavarian army, with in- 
 structions to act according to his discretion under 
 the circumstances that might occur ; and his firm- 
 ness was such, as to prevent either the Austrians or 
 the French from entering Munich. On the Elec- 
 tor's return, he was placed at the head of the de- 
 partment of the general police of Bavaria. His ex- 
 ertions in this office were such, as to impair the state 
 o£ his health, and by way of an honourable retire- 
 ment, he was sent to England in the capacity of 
 Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary: 
 but being a subject of the King of England, he was 
 judged incapable of being received as the diplomatic 
 «gent of a foreign court, and he, therefore, continu- 
 ed to live in England as a private individual. 
 
 He was very active about this time in projecting 
 and superintending the establishment of the Royal 
 Institution of Great Britain, which was more parti- 
 cularly intended for the application of science to the 
 conveniences and comforts of civil and domestic life, 
 but which has been no less successful in giving op- 
 portunity and facility to some of the most refined 
 researches in chemistry and natural philosophy that 
 have distinguished the age, than in serving as a me- 
 dium for making the treasures of science accessible 
 to the less srtadious part of the public, and as a mo- 
 del for a variety of other similar undertakings in dif- 
 ferent parts of the world. 
 
 Count Rumford was soon afterwards officially in- 
 vited to America by the government of the United 
 States, with an offer of an honourable establishment 
 in a public situation ; but he considered it as incon- 
 sistent with his engagements in Europe to accept the 
 proposal. In the autumn of 1 800, when he went to 
 Scotland, a visit of ceremony was paid him by the 
 magistrates of Edinburgh : he was consulted respect- 
 ing the abolition of mendicity, and the measures that 
 he recommended were speedily executed with com- 
 plete success. He was made an honorary member 
 of tlie Royal Society, and of the Royal College of 
 Physicians of Edinburgh ; and he received a gold 
 snutf box as a compliment for his assistance in re- 
 folding the culinary establishment of Heriot's Hos- 
 pital. 
 
 10 
 
 After so active and diversified a career^ it was not Thomps 
 to be expected that he would be satisfied v/ith the'' 
 monotony of a permanent residence in London: he 
 was so accustomed to labour for the attainment of 
 some object, that when the object itself was com- 
 pletely within his reach, and the labour was ended, 
 the prospect, which ought to have been uniformly 
 bright, became spontaneously clouded, or even the 
 serenity became unenjoyable for want of some clouds 
 to afford a contrast. He had fitted up a small house 
 at Brompton, with every contrivance lor comfort and 
 convenience that could render it fit for the abode of 
 hospitality and of luxury ; and the arrangements are 
 fully described in the BiUiolheque Britannique of 
 his friend. Professor Pictet; but after all he never 
 was known to give a single entertainment in it. The 
 enthusiasm excited by the novelty of some of his in- 
 ventions had subsided, and he was even mortified by 
 becoming, in common with the most elevated per- 
 sonages of the country, the object of the impertinent 
 attacks of a popular satirist. It was partly, however, 
 if not entirely, the superiority of the climate of 
 France, that determined him to rem.ove to Paris in 
 the spring of 1802: he went in the summer to Mu- 
 nich, and the following year he made a tour in Switzer- 
 land and in Bavaria, accompanied by Me. Lavoisier, 
 whom he married soon after their return: but their 
 habits were incompatible with matrimonial comfort, 
 and they separated soon after ; Count Rumford re- 
 tiring to Auteuil, about four miles from Paris, where 
 he occupied a house which had formerly belonged to 
 Helvetius and to Cabanis, v/hile his lady continued 
 to live in the metropolis. His latter years were pass- 
 ed almost wholly in solitude ; he saw only his neigh- 
 bour Mr Caneleux, Mr Underwood, and a Mr Par- 
 ker, an American : he did not even attend the sit- 
 tings of the Institute, though he had been made one 
 of its eight foreign associates some time before, and 
 always retained a high esteem for its secretary Cuvier, 
 and for some others of its members. His income 
 was abundantly sufficient for his own expenses, hav- 
 ing obtained from the gratitude of the King of Ba- 
 varia a pension of L. 1200 a year; and he was al- 
 lowed by Bonaparte to remain unmolested, though a 
 British subject, when it was found that he had no 
 intercourse with society, amusing himself principal- 
 ly in walking about his garden, and in a solitary 
 game of billiards. He had so completely persuad- 
 ed himself, in the latter part of his life, of the great 
 superiority of broad wheels above narrow ones, that 
 he drove about the streets of Paris in a broad wheel- 
 ed chariot ; and having rediscovered, after Professor 
 Leslie, that black bodies radiate more heat .than 
 others, he wore, in the winter, a white hat and a 
 white coat, in order to economize the heat of his 
 person. *' These peculiarities, and a peremptory un- 
 yielding disposition," says one of his biographers, 
 " were the causes that set him apart from social in- 
 tercourse, and in all his connexions in life, seem to 
 have rendered him less the object of personal attach- 
 ment than of esteem for his talents and activity." 
 He was about to return to England when he died, 
 the 21st August 1814', leaving only one daughter, 
 who still resides in his house at Brompton. 
 1. Count Ruraford's first publication appears to have 
 
T H O 
 
 pson. been tlie chapter on Marine Artilleri/ that he fur- 
 nished to Stalkarl's Treatise on Naval Ai-ckileclure, 
 1780. 
 
 2. New Experiments on Gunpowder, tvith the De- 
 scription of an Eprouvette, Phil. Trans. 1781. P. 
 230. The effect of the powder on the ball was 
 measured by the recoil of the piece, with a correc- 
 tion deduced from the recoil when the piece was 
 empty. It was observed to be sooner heated when 
 iired without ball than with it. The force of the 
 powder is made at least 1300 atmospheres, upon 
 Robins's principles, 
 
 3. Nexu Experiments upon Heat. Phil. Trans. 
 1786. P. 273. These experiments relate princi- 
 pally to the conducting powers of various mediums 
 lor heat; but the results are unavoidably compli- 
 cated with the effects of radiation, in consequence 
 of which a vacuum is supposed to possess a con- 
 ducting power more than half as great as that of 
 common air. 
 
 4. Experiments on the Production of Dephlogisii- 
 cated Air from Water ucilh various Substances. Phil. 
 Tra7is. ] 787. P. 84. These experiments tend to 
 show that the air obtained, by Priestley and Ingen- 
 housz, from plants under water, was derived rather 
 from the water itself than from the substances im- 
 mersed in it. 
 
 5. Experimeyits made to determine the Positive and 
 Relative Quantities of Moisture absorbed from the At- 
 mosphere by Various Substances, P. 240. He finds 
 that wool is more absorbent of moisture than any 
 other substance compared with it ; and hence ex- 
 plains the supposed advantage of woollen worn next 
 the skin. 
 
 Q. Experiments on Heat. Phil. Trans. 1792. P. 
 48. The author attributes the effect of loose sub- 
 stances in obstructing the passage of heat to their 
 attraction for air, and to their impeding itij circula- 
 tion ; and he supposes this to be the only manner 
 in which elastic fluids communicate heat. 
 
 7. Account of a Method of Measuring the Compa- 
 rative Intensity of Light emitted by Luminous Bo- 
 dies, Phil. Trans. 1794. P. 67- Placing them 
 at such distances, that the shadows cast by each 
 may appear equally dark. 
 
 8. Letter announcing a Donation for a Prize Me- 
 dal. Phil. Trans. 1797- P. 215. 
 
 9. Experiments to determine the Force of Fired 
 Gunpoivder. P. 272. This force he supposes to 
 amount to between 20,000 and 50,000 atmospheres, 
 instead of 10,000, as Bernoulli computed it; but he 
 makes a great mistake in supposing that the whole 
 of the water which can possibly be contained in the 
 gunpowder would be sufficient to furnish as much 
 steam as would be required, since steam, under a 
 pressure of 20,000 atmospheres, must be considera- 
 bly more dense than water itself. (See Steam 
 Engine, in this Supplement.) 
 
 10. Inquiry concerning the Source of the Heat ex- 
 cited by Friction. Phil. Trans. 1798. P. 80. The 
 capacity of the chips of iron afforded by friction in 
 boring a cannon, was found not to differ from that 
 of tlie iron in its original state : hence it is inferred 
 that the heat could not have been furnished by tbera, 
 
 T II O 657 
 
 and that it must probably have been generated. Mr Thompsou. 
 Haldalt afterwards repeated the experiment under ^^"''■'^v'''^ 
 circumstances still more decisive; and Sir Hum- 
 phry Davy showed that two pieces of ice rubbed 
 together, in a room below the freezing temperature, 
 would melt each other. 
 
 11. Inquiry concerning the Chemical Properties 
 that have been attributed to Light. P. 44g. He at- 
 tributes these properties to the effect of an intense 
 heat confined to a small space ; but the later expe- 
 riments on the chemical effects of the spectrum are 
 sufficient to supersede this opinion. 
 
 13. An Account of a Curious Phenomenon ob- 
 served on the Glaciers of Chamouny, with some Ob- 
 servations on the Propagation of Heat in Fluids. 
 Phil. Trans. 1804. P. 23. An effect depending 
 on the expansion of water in cooling near the freez- 
 ing point. 
 
 14. Concerning the Nature cf Heat, and the Mode 
 oj its Communication. P. 77. Pie conjectures that 
 cold is a positive quality, capable of being propagat- 
 ed by radiation. 
 
 Several of these memoirs were reprinted under 
 the title of Philosophical Papers. Vol. I. S. Lond 
 1802. 
 
 15. The Essays constitute 4 volumes Svo. Lond. 
 1795 . . 1800. Reprinted 1800. In French, 2 v. 
 8. Genev. 1799. Receuil de Rapports . . sur les 
 soupes. Par. 1801. They are 18 in number. 
 
 i. Account of an Establishment for the Poor at 
 Munich. In Ital. 8. Venice, 1798. 
 
 ii. On Establishments for the Poor in general. 
 
 iii. Of Food, and of Feeding the Poor. 
 
 iv. Of Chimney Fireplaces. 
 
 V. Account of several Public Institutions formed 
 in Bavaria. 
 
 vi. On the Managenoent of Fire, and the Economy 
 of Fuel. 
 
 vii. On the Propagation of Heat in Fluids, ex- 
 tending to Liquids the doctrine which he had before 
 advanced respecting Ekstic Fluids. 
 
 viii. On the Propagation of Heat in Various Sub- 
 stances. Phil. Trans^ 
 
 ix. Experimental Inquiry concerning the Source 
 of Heat excited by Friction. 
 
 X. On Kitchen Fireplaces and Kitchen Utensils. 
 
 xi. On Chimney Fireplaces. 
 
 xii. On the Salubrity of Warm Rooms in Cold 
 Weather. 
 
 xiii. On the Salubrity of Bathing, and the Con- 
 struction of Warm Baths. 
 
 xiv. Supplementary Observations on the Manage- 
 ment of Fires. 
 
 XV. On the Use of Steam for Transporting Heat. 
 
 xvi. On the Management of Light in Illumination, 
 with an Account of a New Portable Lamp. 
 
 xvii. On the Source of the Light manifested in the 
 Combustion of Inflammable Bodies. 
 
 xviii. On the Excellent Qualities of Coffee, and 
 the Art of Making it in Perfection. 
 
 16". There are several little papers on Steam Kitch- 
 ens, on the Strength of Soft Materials, and on some 
 other similar subjects, in the first numbers of the 
 Journals of the Koyal Institution. 8. Lond. 1 SOO. 
 
T H 0 
 
 17. The series of investigations relating to Heat 
 and Light, which Count Rumford began to commu- 
 nicate to the Royal Society, were continued, and ra- 
 ther more fully detailed, in several of the volumes of 
 the Memoirs of the Instituie, Mathematical Class; 
 into which they were, of course, admitted as the 
 productions of a Foreign Associate. The first of 
 tliese is in the sixth volume. 4. Par. 1806. P. 71, 
 containing a Descripiion of a Nerj Instrument ; a 
 thermoscope, or a differential thermometer, resem- 
 bling that of Leslie. (18.) The second, P. 74. Re- 
 searches on Heat ; showing the effect of the differ- 
 ence of surface on radiation. (IQ.) iii. P. 88. 
 Further Experiments, in the effect of blackening the 
 surface. (20.) iv. P. 97- Researches Continued; 
 on the different properties of bodies with respect to 
 radiation, and to conducting power. (21.) v. P. 106. 
 Further Researches ; some good experiments on the 
 passage of heat through solids. (22.) vi. P. 123. 
 Experiments on the Heat of the Solar Rays ; which 
 was found not to be affected by their convergence or 
 divergence, or by their having met in a focus and 
 crossed each other. (23.) vii. Vol. VJL i. 1806. 
 P. 78. Remarks on the Temperature of Water at the 
 Maximum of Density ; making it 41° of Fahrenheit, 
 or 5° centigrade. Phil, Trans. 1804. (24.) viii. 
 Vol. VIII. i. 1807. P. 223- On the Dispersion of 
 the Light of Lamps by Screens of Ground Glass, 
 Silkj and so forth, toith a Descripiion of a New 
 Lamp. (25.) ix. P. 249. On the Cooling of Li- 
 
 T I D 
 
 quids in Vases of Porcelain, gilt and not gilt; show- 
 ing the utility of gilding them externally, with some ^ 
 good reasoning on the nature of heat. 
 
 26. He was latterly engaged in composing a work 
 on T'he Nature and Effects of Order, which he never 
 completed, although no person was better qualified 
 to write on the subject. 
 
 Count Rumford certainly possessed considerable 
 facility of invention, and there was a very laudable 
 spirit of originality in his views and modes of rea- 
 soning, although he had never leisure to acquire pro- 
 found learning in any department of study. " In 
 person he was above the middle size, with a dignified 
 and pleasing expression of countenance, and a mild- 
 ness in his manner and his tone of voice. He was 
 ambitious of fame and distinction, and had too great a 
 propensity to dictate," without sufficiently regarding 
 the opinions of others who were of equal authority 
 with himself. His mode of life was abstemious, and 
 his health was even supposed to have suffered from 
 too great abstinence, though his regimen was much 
 more the result of medical opinions respecting his 
 health, than of his own peculiar taste for temper- 
 ance. 
 
 [Pictet, Bihliotheque Britanniqtie, and Baldwin's 
 Literary Journal. Gent. Mag. Vol. LXXXIV. Ai- 
 kin's General Biography, X. 4. Lond. 1805. Chal- 
 mers' Biographical Dictionary, XXIX. 8. Lond. 
 1816.] ' (a. l.) 
 
 TIDES. 
 
 The investigation of the phenomena of the tides 
 has been justly considered as uniting some of the 
 greatest difficulties that occur in the various depart- 
 ments of natural philosophy and astronomy. It im- 
 plies, first, a knowledge of the laws of gravitation, con- 
 cerned in the determination of the forces immediately 
 acting on the sea, and of the periods and distances of 
 the celestial bodies, which modify the magnitudes and 
 combinations of these forces ; and secondly, of the 
 hydraulic theories of the resistances of fluids, and of 
 the motions of waves and undulations of all kinds, 
 and of the theoretical determination of the form and 
 density of the earth, as well as of the geographical 
 observation of the breadth and depth of the seas and 
 lakes, which occupy a part of its surface ; so that 
 the whole subject aflfords abundant scope for the ex- 
 ercise of mathematical skill, and still more for the 
 employment of that invention and contrivance, which 
 enables its possessor to supersede the necessity of 
 prolix ccmputations, wherever they can be avoided. 
 
 The history of the theory of the tides is naturally 
 divided into several periods in which its different de- 
 partments have been progressively cultivated. The 
 ancients, from the times of Posidonius and Pytheas, 
 and the moderns before Newton, were contented 
 with observing the general dependence of the tides 
 
 on the moon, as following her transit at an interval 
 of about two hours, and their alternate increase and 
 decrease not only every fortnight, but also in the lu- 
 nar period of about eight years ; the second step 
 consisted in the determination of the magnitude 
 and direction of the solar and lunar forces, by which 
 the general effects of the tides were shown, in the 
 Principia, to be the necessary consequences of these 
 forces : the third great point was the demonstration 
 of Maclaurin, that the form of an elliptic spheroid 
 afibrds an equilibrium under the action of the dis- 
 turbing forces concerned ; while the further contem- 
 porary illustrations of the subject by Euler and Ber-^ 
 noulli, though they afforded some useful details, in- 
 volved no new principle that can be put in competi- 
 tion with Maclaurin's demonstration : the fourth im- 
 portant step was made by Laplace, who separated 
 the consideration of the form, affording mere equili- 
 brium, from that of the motion occasioned by the 
 continual change of that form, while former theo- 
 rists had taken it for granted, that the surface of the 
 sea very speedily assumed the figure of a fluid actu- 
 ated by similar forces, but remaining perfectly at 
 rest, or assuming instantly the form in question. 
 Laplace's computation is however limited to the case 
 of an imaginary ocean, of a certain variable depth, 
 
TIDES. 
 
 659 
 
 assumed for the convenience of calculation, rather 
 than for any other reason. Dr Thomas Young has 
 extended Laplace's mode of considering the pheno- 
 mena to the more general case of an ocean covermg 
 a part only of th& earth's surface, and more or less 
 irregular in its form; he has also attempted to 
 comprehend in his calculations the precise effects of 
 hydraulic friction on the times and magnitudes of 
 the tides. As far as the resistance may be supposed 
 to vary in the simple ratio of the velocity, Dr Young's 
 theory is sufficiently complete, and explains several 
 of the peculiarities which are otherwise paradoxical 
 in their appearance ; but there still remains a diffi- 
 culty to be combated with respect to the effects of a 
 resistance proportional to the square of the velocity, 
 and this, it is hoped, will be in great measure re- 
 moved in the present article, which, however, from 
 the space that is allotted to it, must be considered 
 rather as a supplementary fragment than as a com- 
 plete treatise. It will be divided into four sections : 
 The first relating to the contemporaneous progress of 
 the tides through the different seas and oceans, as 
 collected from observation only : the second to the 
 magnitude of the disturbing forces tending to change 
 the form of the surface of the earth and sea: the 
 third to the theory of compound vibrations with re- 
 sistance ; and the fourth to the application of this 
 theory to the progress and successive magnitudes of 
 the tides, as observable at any one port. 
 
 Sect. I Of the Progress of Contemporary Tides, 
 
 as inferred from the times of High Water in Difer- 
 ent Ports. 
 
 The least theoretical consideration, relating to the 
 tides, is that of their progress through the different 
 parts of the ocean, and of its dependent seas. The 
 analysis of these ought to be very completely attain- 
 able from direct observation, if the time of high wa- 
 ter had been accurately observed at a sufficient num- 
 ber of ports throughout the world ; and, on the other 
 hand, if the earth were covered in all parts with a fluid 
 of great and nearly uniform depth, the tides of this 
 fluid would be so regular, that a very few observa- 
 tions would be sufficient to enable us to deduce the 
 whole of the phenomena from theory, and to trace 
 the great waves, which would follow the sun and 
 moon round the globe, so as to make its circuit in a 
 day, without any material deviation from uniformity 
 of motion and succession. Having collected, for the 
 actual state of the sea and continents, an abundant 
 store of accurate observations of the precise time of 
 high water with regard to the sun and moon, for 
 every part of the surface, and having arranged them 
 in a table according to the order of their occurrence, 
 as expressed in the time of any one meridian, we might 
 then suppose lines to be drawn on a terrestrial globe, 
 through all the places of observation, in the same or- 
 der; and these lines would indicate, supposing the 
 places to be sufficiently numerous, so as to furnish a 
 series of tides very nearly contemporary, the direc- 
 tions of the great waves, to which that of the pro- 
 gress of the tides in succession must be perpendicu- 
 lar. If, however, we actually make such an attempt, 
 we shall soon find how utterly inadequate the obser- 
 
 vations that have been recorded are, for the purpose 
 of tracing the forms of the lines of contemporary 
 high water with accuracy or with certainty, although 
 they are abundantly sufficient to show the impossi- 
 bility of deducing the time of high water at any 
 given place from the Newtonian hypothesis, or even 
 from that of Laplace, without some direct observa- 
 tion. It might at least be supposed very easy to 
 enumerate the existing observations, scanty as they 
 may be, in a correct order; but there are a number 
 of instances in which it is wholly uncertain whether 
 the time observed at a given port relates to the tide 
 of the same morning in the open ocean, or to that 
 of the preceding evening ; this inconvenience may, 
 however, in some measure be remedied, by inserting 
 such places in two different parts of the table, at the 
 distance of hours from each other. The follow- 
 ing Table is the result of the best approximation that 
 could be obtained in this manner, the principal hour 
 lines having been partially traced on a map of the 
 world, in order to afford some little direction to the 
 correct insertion of the times of high water without 
 the material error of half a day. The three great 
 natural divisions of the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the 
 Indian Oceans, are distinguished into different co- 
 lumns, and some of the places, which seem to form 
 separate systems of tides, are still further subdivided 
 in a similar manner ; but this arrangement may easily 
 be neglected by those who are inclined to question 
 its propriety. The principal authorities are the Re- 
 quisite Tables ; Lalande's Treatise, in the fourth vo- 
 lume of his Astronomic ; a manuscript Hydrographi- 
 cal Memoir by Mr Henry Foster, Lieut. R. N. of 
 his Majesty's ship Conway, Capt. Basil Hall ; and 
 A Series of Observations made at the Island of As- 
 cension in 1820, by Captain Campbell, R, N., oblig- 
 ingly communicated by Captain Hall to the autkor 
 of this Article. 
 
 Table of the Time of High Water at the Full and 
 Change of the Moon ; reduced to the Meridian of 
 Greentvich. 
 
 Tides. 
 
 Atlantic. Pacific. 
 
 Indian. 
 
 S. Georgia 
 
 Cape of Good Hope 
 
 St Helena 
 
 Goree Island. (See below) 
 
 Cape Corse 
 
 Canaries. (See below) 
 
 Rio Janeiro 
 
 I. Martin Vaz 
 
 I. Ascension 
 
 Christmas Sound 
 
 St JasTO 
 
 Pt. Desirg 
 
 St Helena, S. A. 
 
 Quibo 
 
 Sierra Leone 
 
 Easter I 
 
 St Julian's 
 
 Longitude. 
 
 H. M. 
 
 I. 26W, 
 1.14 E, 
 0.23W. 
 
 0. 7 
 
 2.53 
 1.56 
 0.57 
 
 4;A6 
 
 1.34. 
 
 4.20 
 4.40 
 5.29 
 0.53 
 7.19 
 4.35 
 
 H. W. Gr. T. 
 
 a. M. 
 1. 0 
 1.30 
 
 2.38 
 
 3.35 
 
 4.58 
 
 5.41 
 
 5.42 C 
 
 7.10 
 ; 7.34or 
 12.34 Lai. 
 
 8.35 
 
 8.40 
 
 8.59 
 
 9- 8 
 
 9-^9 
 
 9-20 
 
660 
 
 TIDES. 
 
 Atlantic. 
 
 Pacific, Indian. 
 
 Long! ude. H. W. Gr. T. 
 
 Maragnon, Mouth... 
 St John's, Newf. ... 
 
 uadaloupe 
 
 Panama ... 
 
 Tortugas 
 
 Cape Blanco 
 
 Bermudas 
 
 Martinique 
 
 Guayaquil 
 
 Senegal 
 
 Callao ... 
 [lalifax 
 
 Marquesas , 
 
 Quebec , 
 
 Cape La Hogue , 
 
 Panama 
 
 Gibraltar , 
 
 Tahoga, Pan. Bay 
 
 Funchal 
 
 Portobello , 
 
 [S. Georgia , 
 
 Cape Bojador 
 
 Funchal 
 
 Churchill R. \ 
 P. of Wales's Fort/ 
 
 Tercera 
 
 New York 
 
 Cape Henlopen, Virg. 
 
 Cadiz 
 
 { 
 
 Karakakooa B. , 
 
 Virgin Cape, Pat , 
 
 Valparaiso 
 
 Cape Charles , 
 
 Goree Island , 
 
 York Fort , 
 
 Lisbon 
 
 Nantes, Rhe 
 
 Tanna 
 
 Brest 
 
 Bayonne. 
 
 C. St Vincent 
 
 Corunna 
 
 Bellisle 
 
 Palmiras Pi 
 
 Port Cornvvaliis, And 
 
 Rochelle 
 
 Vannes 
 
 St Paul de Leon I 
 Morlaix j ' 
 
 Rochfort „ 
 
 Bear Island , 
 
 Christmas Island , 
 
 Chiloe 
 
 Cape Clear 
 
 Annamocka 
 
 St Peter and Paul I 
 Awatsha J 
 Kinsale 
 
 3.20 
 3.30 
 4. 7 
 5.21 
 4.51 
 8.16 
 4-. 14. 
 
 4. 5 
 5.17 
 1. 6 
 
 5. 8 
 4.14 
 9.16 t( 
 9-17 
 4.44 
 0. 8 
 5.21 
 
 0. 2J 
 5.22 
 
 1. 8 
 5.19 
 2.26 
 
 0. 58 
 
 1. 8 
 
 6.17 
 
 1.49 
 
 4.57 
 
 5. 1 
 
 0.25 
 
 10.24 
 4.32 
 4.49 
 4.57 
 1.10 
 
 6. 9 
 0,37 
 0. 6 
 
 11.19 
 0.18 
 0. 6 
 
 0.36 
 
 0.37 
 
 0.12W 
 18.12 
 17.49 
 
 0. 5 
 
 0.11 
 
 0.16 
 
 0. 4 
 
 5.20 
 19.24 
 
 5. 0 
 
 0.38 
 11.39 
 
 13.25 
 
 0.3.4 
 
 9.20 
 
 9.20 
 10. 7 
 10.21 La! 
 10.51 
 10.54 
 11.14 
 11.35 
 11.17 
 11.36 
 11.38 
 n.44 
 11.46 
 12.16 
 12.14 
 12.38 
 12.41 
 12.50 
 13.10 F, 
 13.42 
 13.19 
 13.26?] 
 13 28 
 13.42 
 
 13.37 
 
 to) 
 j 
 
 F. 
 
 113.34 or 7 
 114. 4 J 
 
 13.34 or 
 14. 4 
 13.57 
 14. 1 
 ("14. 5 
 uncertain 
 14. 9 
 14.32 
 14.50 
 1457 
 15.10 
 15.19 
 15.22 
 15.36 
 15.41 
 16. 3 
 16. 6 
 16. 6 
 16. 7 
 16.12 Lai. 
 16.12 
 
 16.19 
 
 16.20 
 
 16.24 
 J 16.38 or 
 (18. 0 
 
 16.49 
 
 17.20 
 
 17.24 
 
 17.30 
 
 17.38 
 
 17.39 
 
 18. 1 
 18. 4 
 
 .Atlantic. Pacific. 
 
 Indian. 
 
 Eddistone , 
 
 Falmouth 
 
 Rotterdam 1 
 
 Drake's Island, Plymouth 
 
 Plymouth „, 
 
 Avranches .... 
 
 Eaoowe 
 
 St M aloes 
 
 Londonderry , 
 
 Tonga taboo 
 
 Granville. 
 
 Pudyona 
 
 St Francisco ,. 
 
 Cork 
 
 Bristol ,, 
 
 Barfleur , 
 
 Cherbourg , 
 
 Venus Pt. Otah 
 
 Mauritius..,, 
 
 Lizard , .... 
 
 Nootka Sound 
 
 Guernsey , 
 
 Pulo Condore .,, , 
 
 Calcutta 
 
 Seychelles Aim. . 
 
 Stromness , , 
 
 f Q. C. S. 
 
 { 
 
 New Zealand 
 
 Honfleur 
 Havre... 
 
 \ Dusky B. 
 
 Socotora and C. 
 Guardafui 
 
 Caen 
 
 Ulietea 
 
 Huaheine 
 
 Shoreham 
 
 Foul Pt. Mad. 
 
 Botany Bay 
 
 St Valery en Caux ... 
 
 Macao 
 
 St Valery sur Somme 
 
 Dunnose 
 
 Brighton 
 
 Dublin .. 
 
 Abbeville 
 
 Beacliy Head 
 
 Covves 
 
 Needles , 
 
 Anholt .,. 
 
 Boulogne 
 
 Hastings .. 
 
 Deal Castle , 
 
 Dover 
 
 Dengeness 
 
 Dieppe 
 
 Almirantes I 5*^^'^ ^ ^, 
 I Curreuse 21 
 
 Portsmouth 
 
 13.55 
 
 0. S E 
 16.26W 
 0. 6 E 
 0. 5W, 
 0, 1 
 0.25 W. 
 0. 7 E. 
 0. 1 E. 
 0. 6VV. 
 0. 6W, 
 0.47 E. 
 0. 6 
 0, 3 
 0. 6 
 0. 5 
 0. 4 
 0. 4 
 21.28W. 
 17 
 0. 4W. 
 
 Longitude. 
 
 
 H. W. C 
 
 H. M. 
 
 
 
 ir. M 
 
 0.1 8 
 
 18. IS 
 
 0.20 
 
 18.20 
 
 12.21 
 
 18.21 
 
 0.1 7 
 
 18.32 
 
 0.1 7 
 
 18.47 
 
 V. 5 
 
 18.35 
 
 1 1.38 
 
 18.38 
 
 0. 8 
 
 18.3S< 
 
 0.29 
 
 18.59 
 
 12.20 
 
 19-10 
 
 0. 6 
 
 19-21 
 
 IS. 1 
 
 1,9.3]| 
 
 8. 8 
 
 19-31 
 
 0.34 
 
 I9.3J 
 
 0.10 
 
 7-lOi 
 
 0. 5 
 
 20. 5 
 
 0. 6 
 
 20. 6 
 
 9-58 
 
 20.36 
 
 20.10 
 
 20.10 
 
 0.21 
 
 20.45 
 
 8.27 
 
 20.47. 
 
 0, 9 
 
 £0.54 
 
 18.53 
 
 21. 9 
 
 1 o. u 
 
 X L. L L 
 
 20.18 
 
 21.12 
 
 0.14 
 
 21.14 
 
 12.13 
 
 21.23 
 
 12.55 
 
 
 0. I E. 
 
 21.29 
 
 0. 0 
 
 21.30 
 
 20.S0W. 
 
 21.30 
 
 0. 1 
 
 21.31 
 
 10. 6 
 
 / 2 1.39 
 
 \ 21.42 
 
 10. 4 
 
 21. .55^ 
 
 0. 1 
 
 22. 1 
 
 20.41 
 
 22. 1 
 
TIDES, 
 
 Jantic Pacific. Indian. 
 
 Longitude^ 
 
 H. W. Gr. T. 
 
 
 H. M. 
 
 H. M. 
 
 
 0.12 E. 
 
 24. 3 
 
 
 0.11 
 
 24. 4 
 
 
 0. 8 E. 
 
 24.22 
 
 
 0. pw. 
 
 24.54 
 
 
 0. 9 
 
 25. 0? 
 
 
 0.21 E. 
 
 25. 9 
 
 
 22.45W. 
 
 25.16 
 
 
 0.4.1 E. 
 
 25.34 
 
 
 0. 4W. 
 
 25.41 
 
 
 0. 9 
 
 25.54 
 
 
 1.43 E. 
 
 26. 1 
 
 
 0.13W. 
 
 26.33 
 
 
 0.19 E. 
 
 27.11 
 
 
 0.18 
 
 27.12 
 
 
 0. 0 
 
 27.15 
 
 i.rchangel 
 
 2.36 E. 
 
 27.24 
 
 
 0. 2W. 
 
 27.32 
 
 
 0.40 E. 
 
 29.20 
 
 
 0.35 E. 
 
 29.25 
 
 
 0.18 E. 
 
 30.12 
 
 
 0. 3 
 
 30.17 
 
 
 0. 2 
 
 30.43 
 
 
 
 0.17 
 
 31.58 
 
 
 0. 7 
 
 34.23 
 
 
 0. 0 
 
 (39.45) 
 
 It may be immediately inferred frcmihis table, first, 
 That the line of contemporary tides'is seldom in the 
 exact direction of the meridian, as it is supposed to 
 be universally in the theory of Newton and of La- 
 place ; except, perhaps, the line for the 21st hour in 
 the Indian Ocean, which appears to extend from 
 Socotora to the Almirantes and the Isle of Bourbon, 
 lying nearly in the same longitude. Secondly, That 
 the southern extremity of the line advances as it 
 passes the Cape of Good Hope, so that it turns up 
 towards the Atlantic, which it enters obliquely, so as 
 to arrive, nearly at the same moment, at the Island 
 of Ascension, and at the Island of Martin Vaz, or 
 of the Trinity. Thirdly, After several irregularities 
 about the Cape Verd Islands, and in the West In- 
 dies, the line appears to run nearly east and west 
 from St Domingo to Cape Blanco, the tides pro- 
 ceeding due northwards ; and then, turning still 
 more to the right, the line seems to run N. W. and 
 S. E., till at last the tide runs almost due east up 
 the British Channel, and round the north of Scot- 
 land into the Northern Ocean, sending oS a branch 
 down the North Sea to meet the succeeding tide at 
 the mouth of the Thames. Fourthly, Towards Cape 
 Horn again there is a good deal of irregularity ; the 
 hour lines are much compressed between South 
 Georgia and Terra del Fuego, perhaps on account 
 of the shallower water about the Falkland Islands 
 and South Shetland. 
 
 In the fifth place. At the entrance of the Pacific 
 Ocean, the tides seem to advance very rapidly to 
 New Zealand and Easter Island ; but here it appears 
 to be uncertain whether the line of contemporary 
 tide should be drawn nearly N. and S. from the 
 
 VOL. VI. PART II. 
 
 Gallapagos to Terra del Fuego, or N. E. and S. W. 
 from Easter Island to New Zealand; or whether 
 both these partial directions are correct: but on 
 each side of this line there are great irregularities, 
 and many more observations are wanting before the 
 progress of the tide can be traced with any toler- 
 able accuracy, among the multitudinous islands of 
 the Pacific Ocean, where it might have been hoped 
 that the phenomena would have been observed in 
 their greatest simplicity, and in their most genuine 
 form. 
 
 Lastly, Of the Indian Ocean the northern parts 
 exhibit great irregularities, and among the rest they 
 afford the singular phenomenon observed by Halley 
 in the Port of Tonkin, and explained by Newton in 
 the Principia : the southern parts are only remark- 
 able for having the hour lines of contemporary tides 
 considerably crowded between New Holland and the 
 Cape of Good Hope, as if the seas of these parts 
 were shallower than elsewhere. 
 _ These inferences respecting the progress of the 
 tides are not advanced as the result of any particu- 
 lar theory, nor even as the only ones that might 
 possibly be deduced from the table : thus the suppo- 
 sition that the direction in which the tides advance 
 must be perpendicular to the hour lines of contem- 
 porary tides, is not by any means absolutely without 
 exception, since a quadrangular lake, with steep 
 shores in the direction of the meridian, would have 
 the times of high water the same for every point of 
 its eastern or western halves respectively, and there 
 could be no correctly defined direction of the hour 
 lines in such a case. But if any portion of the sea 
 could be considered as constituting such a lake, its 
 properties would be detected by a sufficient number 
 of observations of high water, and the existing table 
 does not appear to indicate any such cases that re- 
 quire to be otherwise distinguished than as partial 
 irregularities. There may also be some doubt re- 
 specting the propriety of the addition of 12| hours 
 that has been made to the time of high water in tlve 
 north eastern parts of the Atlantic: but it seems 
 extremely improbable that the same tide should 
 travel north easterly into the English Channel and 
 into the Northern Ocean, and at the same time 
 westerly across the Atlantic, as it must be supposed 
 to do, if it were considered as primarily originating 
 in the neighbourhood of the Bay of Biscay ; on the 
 other hand, the bending of the great wave round 
 the continents of Africa and Europe seems to be 
 very like the sort of refraction which takes place on 
 every shelving coast with respect to the common 
 waves, which, whatever may have been their primi- 
 tive origin, acquire always, as they spread, a direc- 
 tion more and more nearly parallel to that of the 
 coast which they are approaching: and the suppo- 
 sitions which have been here advanced respecting 
 the succession of the tides in different ports, allow- 
 ing for the effect of a multitude of irregularities 
 proceeding from partial causes, appear to be by far 
 the most probable that can be immediately infer- 
 red from the table, at least in its present state of im- 
 perfection. 
 
 4 p 
 
662 
 
 TIDES. 
 
 Tides. 
 
 Sect. II Of the 'Disturbing Forces that occasion 
 
 the Tides. 
 
 Since the phenomena of the tides, with regard to 
 theit progress through the different oceans and seas, 
 as they exist in the actual state of the earth's surface, 
 appear to be too complicated to allow us to hope to 
 reduce them to computation by means of any general 
 theory, we must, in the next place, confine our at- 
 tention to the order in which the successive changes 
 occur in any single port, and having determined the 
 exact magnitude of the forces, that tend to change 
 tlie form of the surface of the ocean at different 
 periods, and having also examined the nature of the 
 vibratory motions, of which the sea, or any given 
 portion of it, would be susceptible, in the simplest 
 cases, after the cessation of the disturbing forces ; 
 we must afterwards endeavour to combine these 
 causes, so as to adapt the result to the successive 
 phenomena, which are observed at different times in 
 any one port. 
 
 Theorem A. (« E."— Nich. Journ. Jul. 181S.) 
 The disturbing force of a distant attractive body, 
 urging a particle of a fluid in the direction of the 
 surface of a sphere, varies as the sine of twice the 
 altitude of the body,. 
 
 The mean attraction, exerted by the sun and moon 
 on all the separate particles composing the earth, is 
 exactly compensated by the centrifugal force derived 
 from the earth's annual revolution round the sun, and 
 from its monthly revolution round the common centre 
 of gravity of the earth and moon: but the difference of 
 the attractions, exerted at different points of the earth, 
 must necessarily produce a disturbing force, depend- 
 ing on the angular position of the point with regard 
 to the sun or moon, since the centrifugal force is the 
 same for them all ; the disturbing force being con- 
 stantly variable for any one point, and depending 
 partly on the difference of the distance of the point 
 from the mean distance, and partly on the difference 
 of the direction of the luminary, from its direction 
 with respect to the centre, or, in other words, on its 
 parallax- 
 It will be most convenient for computation to con- 
 sider both these forces, for a sphere covered with a 
 fluid, as referred to the direction of the circumference 
 of the sphere, which will differ but Httle from that of 
 the fluid ; and it will appear that both of them, when 
 reduced to this direction, will vary as the oroduct of 
 the sine and cosine of the distance from the diameter 
 pointing to the luminary, that is as half the sine of 
 ■twice the altitude : for the difference of gravitation, 
 which depends on the difference of the distance, will 
 always vary as the sine of the distance from the bi- 
 «ecting plane perpendicular to that diameter, and will 
 be reduced to the direction of the surface, by dimi- 
 nishing it in the ratio of the cosine to the radius : 
 and the effect of the difference of direction will be 
 originally proportional to the sine of the distance from 
 the diameter, and will in like manner be expressed, 
 when reduced, by the product of the sine and cosine ; 
 and each force, thus reduced, will be equal, where it 
 is greatest, to half of its primitive magnitude, since 
 sin cos 45°= J. " Thus, the gravitation towards the 
 1 
 
 moon at the earth's surface, is to the gravitation to- 
 wards the earth as 1 to 70 times the square of 60|, or 
 to 256 217 : and the former disturbing force is to the 
 whole of this as 2 to 60| at the point nearest the 
 moon, and the second as 1 to 60^ at the equatorial 
 plane, and the sum of both, reduced to the direction 
 of the circumference, where greatest, as 3 to 121 ; 
 that is, to the whole force of the earth's gravitation, 
 as 1 to 10 334) 000 ; and in a similar manner we find, 
 that the whole disturbing force of the sun is to the 
 weight of the particles as 1 to 25 736 000." Or, if we 
 call the moon's horizontal parallax p, and substitute 
 
 - for the distance, the whole of the lunar disturbing 
 P 
 
 3 
 
 force in the direction of the surface will be - • 
 
 2 70 
 
 3 
 
 = — j)^ : or, if z be the moon's zenith distance 
 140^ ' 
 
 3 
 
 from any point of the surface, /=—j3^ sin cos a. 
 
 Theorem B. [^F]. The inclination of the surface 
 of an oblong spheroid, slightly elliptical, to that of 
 the inscribed sphere, varies as the sine of twice the 
 distance from the circle of contact ; and a particle 
 resting on any part of it, without friction, may be 
 held in equilibrium by the attraction of a distant 
 body, [situated in the direction of the axis.] 
 
 If a sphere be inscribed in an oblong spheroid, the 
 elevation of the 'spheroid above the sphere must ob- 
 viously be proportional, when measured in a direction 
 parallel to the axis of the spheroid, to the ordinate 
 of the sphere, that is, to the sine of the distance from 
 its equator, and when reduced to a direction perpendi- 
 cular to the surface of the sphere, it must be propor- 
 tional to the square of that sine ; and the tangent of 
 the inclination to the surface of the sphere, which is 
 equal to the fluxion of the elevation divided by that 
 of the circumference, must be expressed by twice the 
 continual product of the sine, the cosine, and the 
 ellipticity, or rather the greater elevation, e, the radius 
 being considered as unity : so that the elevation e 
 will also express the tangent of the inclination where 
 it is greatest, since 2 sin cos 45°=1 ; and the incli- 
 nation will be every where as the pi-oduct of the sine 
 and cosine. 
 
 If, therefore, the density of the elevated parts be 
 considered as evanescent, and their attraction be 
 neglected, there will be an equilibrium, when the 
 ellipticity is to the radius as the disturbing force to 
 the whole force of gravitation : for each particle, 
 situated on the surface, will be actuated by a dis- 
 turbing force tending towards the pole of the spheroid, 
 precisely equal and contrary to that portion of the 
 force of gravitation which urges it in the opposite 
 direction down the inclined surface. Hence, if the 
 density of the sea were supposed inconsiderable, in 
 comparison with that of the earth, the radius being 
 20 839 000 feet,' the greatest height of a lunar tide in 
 equilibrium would be 2.0166 feet, and that of a solar 
 tide .8097 : that is, supposing the moon's horizontal 
 parallax about 57', and her mass of that of the 
 earth. 
 
Theorem C. tG"]. Tlie disturbing attraction of 
 the thin shell, contained between a spheroidical sur- 
 face and its inscribed sphere, varies in the same pro- 
 portion as the inclination of the surface, and is to the 
 relative force of gravity depending on that inclina- 
 tion, as three times the density of the shell, to five 
 times that of the sphere. 
 
 We may imagine the surface of the sphere to be 
 divided by an infinite number of parallel and equi- 
 distant circles, beginning from any point at which a 
 gravitating particle is situated, and we may suppose 
 all these circles to be divided by a plane perpendi- 
 cular to the meridian of the point, and consequently 
 bisecting the equatorial plane of the spheroid : it is 
 obvious, that, if the elevations on the opposite sides 
 of the plane be equal at the corresponding points of 
 each circle, no lateral force will be produced ; but 
 when they are unequal, the excess of the elevated 
 matter on one side above that of the other side will 
 produce a disturbing or lateral force. Now, the ele- 
 vation being everywhere as the square of the distance 
 « from the equatorial plane, we may call it ra^ and 
 the difference, corresponding to any point of that 
 semicircle, which is the nearer to the pole of the 
 spheroid, will be e{x'^^x"^)=e{x'+x"){x'—w"). But 
 x'-}-x" is always twice the distance of the centre of 
 the supposed circle from the equatorial plane ; and 
 the distance of this centre from that of the sphere 
 will be cos -4/, if 4 be the angular distance of the 
 circle from its pole ; and calling <p the distance of 
 this pole, from the equatorial plane of the spheroid, 
 the distance in question will be cos 4 sin <p, and 
 ar'+a;"=2 cos 4 sin (p : and the difference a' — x" 
 is twice the actual sine of the arc 6 in the supposed 
 circle, that is, twice the natural sine, reduced in the 
 ratio of unit to the radius of this circle, which is sin 
 4, reduced again to a direction perpendicular to the 
 equatorial plane ; whence x' — x"=2 sin 6 sin 4 cos ® : 
 and x'^—a/'^=4< sin J sin cos 4 sin cos f . Hence 
 it follows, that, in different positions of the gravitating 
 particle, the effective elevation at each point of the 
 surface, similarly situated with respect to it, is as the 
 product of the sine and cosine of its angular distance 
 <p from the equatorial plane, the other quantities con- 
 cerned remaining the same in all positions. But the 
 inclination of the surface of the spheroid, as well as 
 the original disturbing force, varies in the same pro- 
 portion of the product of the sine and cosine of the 
 distance (p : consequently, the sum of this disturbing 
 attraction and the original force will also vary as 
 the inclination of the surface, and may be in equili- 
 brium with the tendency to descend towards the 
 centre, provided that the ellipticity be duly commen- 
 surate to the density of the elevated parts. 
 
 Now, in order to find the actual magnitude of the 
 disturbing attraction for a shell of given density, we 
 must compute the fluent of 4 e sin 6dS sin cos 4'd4 
 sin cos <p, reduced first according to the distance 
 and direction of each particle from the given gravi- 
 tating particle ; and we must compare the fluent with 
 
 4 
 
 the attraction of the whole sphere at the distance 
 of the radius or unity. But for the angle 6, the por- 
 
 TIDES. 
 
 tion of the force acting in the common direction of 
 sin 6 is to the whole attraction at the same distance 
 as sin ^ to 1, so that the attractive force of any point 
 of the semicircle will be 4e sin ^9 sin cos 4 sin cos 
 (p, and its fluxion will be as sin ^ddd, of which the 
 fluent 
 
 663 
 
 IS Id 
 
 sin cos 9, or when ^^=180°, 4-'^, and 
 l-TT sin 4 will express the effect of the disturbing at- 
 traction of the semicircles, of which sin 4 is the ra- 
 dius, reduced to the direction of the middle point, 
 of which the distance is 2 sin ^4 - reduction for 
 this distance is as its square to 1 ; and for the direc- 
 tion, as the distance to sin 4> together making 
 sin 4 
 
 the ratio of 
 
 and the ultimate fluxion of 
 
 the force 
 
 sin 4 
 8 sin 314' 
 
 will be 2ecr sin 4 sin cos (p sin cos 4 
 sin ^4 *^°s 4 
 
 d4=2e'7'- 
 
 8 sin ^^4 
 
 ■ sin cos ^d4 ; but 
 
 sin 4=2 sin cos |4> fraction becomes 
 
 cos 4=cos ^|4cos 4 =:cos ^^4 (cos^ 
 
 8 sin ^ cos ^14 
 8 sin 314 
 
 ^4— sin 2i4)=cos 5i4_-cos 5|4+cos ^^4=2 cos^ 
 14 — cos ^^4. Now, taking the fluent from 4=0 
 
 8 4 
 
 to 4=180°, we have 2 cos 5|42d|4 =-.-. 
 4 
 
 and J' cos ^|4 X 2d|4— (Art. Fluents, n. 361, 
 
 859) : the difference being 
 
 4 4 
 
 - = whence the flu- 
 3 5* 
 
 4 1 
 
 ent of the force is found ^ar sin cos a x t X 
 
 5 u 
 
 ing the density of the fluid i ; or, where it is great- 
 
 , . , 4 ecr 
 est, sm cos f bemg - — , 
 
 while the attraction of 
 
 4? 4" C'iT 
 
 the sphere itself is - -jr, which is to - — 
 3 on 
 
 as 1 to 
 
 3e 
 5n » 
 
 and since the elevation e expresses also the maxi- 
 mum of the relative force of gravity depending on 
 the tangent of the inclination (Theorem B), it is ob- 
 
 3e 
 
 vious that the disturbing attraction — must be to 
 
 the relative force e, 
 
 as - to 5. 
 
 n 
 
 Corollary 1. If n=I, as in a homogeneous fluid 
 sphere or spheroid, the disturbing attraction be- 
 
 3 
 
 comes —6} 
 5 
 
 and this attraction, together with the pri- 
 
 mitive force f, must express the actual elevation e. 
 
 or +/=e, whence/: 
 
 and e = -/, giving 
 
 2.024 and 5-042 for the magnitude of the solar and 
 lunar tides, when /=.8097 and 2.0166 respectively. 
 But this is obviously far from the actual state of the 
 problem. 
 
 Tickf. 
 
 I 
 
TIDES. 
 
 Corollary 2. Supposing nz=:5A (See Journ, R. L 
 
 Se 27 9 
 
 Apr. 1820), we have —-{■/=€, and e=— /=^/j so that 
 
 the height of the primitive tides of an ocean of water, 
 covering the whole surface of the earth, such as it 
 actually is, ought to be .911 for the solar, and 2.27 
 for the lunar disturbing force: that is, supposing the 
 sea to be without inertia, so as to accommodate it- 
 self at once to the form of equilibrium. But, in the 
 actual state of the irregularities of the seas and con- 
 tinents, it is impossible to pay any regard to this se- 
 condary force, since the phenomena do not justify 
 us in supposing the general form of the surface of 
 the ocean such as to give rise to it. 
 
 Theorem D. QH]. When the horizontal surface 
 of a liquid is elevated or depressed a little at a given 
 point, the effect will be propagated in the manner of 
 a wave, with a velocity equal to that of a heavy body 
 which has fallen through a space equal to half the 
 depth of the fluid, the form of the wave remaining 
 similar to that of the original elevation or depression. 
 lUustr. Celest. Mech. 378. p. 318. 
 
 Scholium. The demonstration of this theorem im- 
 plies that water is incompressible, and that the pres- 
 sure of each particle placed on the surface is instan- 
 taneously communicated through the whole depth of 
 the fluid to the bottom. These suppositions are not 
 indeed strictly accurate in any case, but they intro- 
 duce no sensible error when the surface of the wave 
 similarly affected is large in comparison with the 
 depth of the fluid. A modern author, of celebrity, 
 seems to have taken it for granted, that the pressure 
 is propagated with the same velocity downwards and 
 laterally ; at least, if such is not his meaning, he has 
 been somewhat unfortunate in the choice of his expres- 
 sions ; but there seems no reason whatever, why 
 water should communicate force more slowly when 
 it is perfectly confined, than ice would do ; and the 
 divergence of the pressure of a certain portion of the 
 surface of water, elevated a little, for example, above 
 the rest, may be compared to the divergence of a 
 sound entering into a detached chamber by an aper- 
 ture of the same size with the given surface, which is 
 probably small in comparison with its direct motion, 
 but equally rapid, and in both cases depending on the 
 modulus of the elasticity of the medium. 
 
 Theorem E. \T]. A wave of a symmetrical form, 
 with a depression equal and similar to its elevation, 
 striking against a solid vertical obstacle, will be re- 
 flected, so as to cause a part of the surface, at the 
 distance of one fourth of its whole breadth, to 
 remain at rest; and if there be another opposite 
 obstacle at twice that distance, there may be a per- 
 petual vibration between the surfaces, the middle 
 point having no vertical motion. Nat. Phil. I. p. 
 289. 777. 
 
 Scholium 1. The elevation and depression of a 
 spheroid, compared with the surface of the sphere of 
 equal magnitude, exhibits a symmetrical wave in the 
 sense of the proposition ; and it is not necessary, that 
 the shores should be very rocky or perpendicular, in 
 order to produce a strong reflection ; for, even the 
 vibration of the water in the bottom of a common 
 hemispherical basin is considerably permanent. 
 
 Corollary 2. The vibrations of the water supposed 
 to be contained in a canal, following the direction of 
 the equator, and 90° in length, would be synchronous 
 with the passage of a wave 180° in breadth, over any 
 point of a canal of the same depth, and surrounding 
 the whole globe. 
 
 Scholium 2. It has been usual to consider the ele- 
 vation of the tides, as identical with that of an oblong 
 spheroid, measured at its vertex, and therefore as 
 amounting to twice as much ^ as the depression 
 of the same spheroid at the equator, considered 
 in relation to the mean height belonging to a 
 sphere of the same magnitude : but, the supposition 
 is by no means applicable to the case of a globe, 
 covered partially and irregularly with water, so that 
 in almost all cases of actual tides, the elevation must 
 be considered as little if at all greater than the de- 
 pression, as far as this cause only is concerned; 
 there are, however, some other reasons to expect, 
 that the elevation of the great wave might often ar- 
 rive at a distant port in somewhat greater force than 
 the depression. 
 
 Theorem F. C^]]. The oscillations of the sea 
 and of lakes, constituting the tides, are subject to 
 laws exactly similar to those of pendulums capable 
 of performing vibrations in the same time, and sus- 
 pended from points which are subjected to compound 
 regular vibrations, of which the constituent periods 
 are completed in half a lunar, and half a solar day 
 [or in some particular cases a whole day]. 
 
 Supposing the surface of the sea to remain at rest, 
 each point of it would become alternately elevated 
 and depressed, in comparison with the situation in 
 which it might remain in equilibrium ; its distance 
 from this situation varying according to the regular 
 law of the pendulum (see Theorem B) ; and like 
 all minute vibrations, it will be actuated by forces 
 indirectly dependent on, and proportional to, this 
 distance ; so that it may be compared to a pendulous 
 body remaining at rest in the vertical line, about 
 which its point of suspension vibrates, and will con- 
 sequently follow the motion of the temporary hori- 
 zon, in the same manner as the pendulum follows the 
 vibration of its point of suspension, either with a 
 direct or a retrograde motion, according to circum- 
 stances, which will be hereafter explained : the ope- 
 ration of the forces concerned being perfectly analo- 
 gous, whether we consider the simple hydrostatic 
 pressure depending on the elevation, or the horizon- 
 tal pressure, derived from the inclination of the sur- 
 face, or the differential force immediately producing 
 elevation and depression, depending on the variation 
 of the horizontal pressure, and proportional to the 
 curvature of the surface. It becomes therefore ne- 
 cessary for the theory of the tides, to investigate 
 minutely the laws of these compound and compulsory 
 vibrations; which, together with the resistances 
 affecting them, will be the subject of the next sec- 
 tion. 
 
 Sect. Ill Of the Effects of Resistance in Vibrating 
 
 Motions, ivhether Simple or Compound, 
 
 Theorem G. U diu-^-Ads+Bsds+DwdszzO; we 
 have e I fV'\--s-\ — pTfr- j=c ; hie being=l. 
 
TIDES. 
 
 ides. Scholium. For the better understanding of the 
 mode of investigation which will be employed in 
 these propositions, it will be proper to premise some 
 remarks on the investigation of fluxional equations, 
 by means of multipliers. A person, unacquainted 
 with the language of modern mathematicians, would 
 naturally understand, by a " criterion of integrabili- 
 ty," some mode of distinguishing an expression that 
 would be integrated, from one that was untractable : 
 while, in fact, this celebrated criterion relates only to 
 the accidental form in which the expression occurs, 
 and not to its essential nature. If we take, for in- 
 
 stance, the well known case of the fluxion of hl-=: 
 
 hl«— hly, we have^-^=^^^^=;^, and making 
 
 this=0, we have also ^dx — xdy=zO ; and this expres- 
 sion no longer fulfils the conditions of integrability, 
 
 until we multiply it again by — , and restore it to 
 
 its perfect form. The direct investigation of such a 
 multiplier is generally attended by insuperable diffi- 
 culties ; and the best expedient, in practical cases, 
 is to examine the results of the employment of such 
 multipliers, as are most likely to be concerned in the 
 problem, with indeterminate coefficients, and to com- 
 pare them with the equations proposed. In common 
 cases, the finding of fluents, when only one variable 
 quantity is concerned, requires little more than the 
 employment of a Table such as that of Meier Hirsch, 
 or that which constitutes the Article Fluents in this 
 Supplement ; and the demonstration of the truth of 
 the solution is in general furnished at once, for each 
 case, by taking the fluxion of the quantity inserted 
 in the Table as the fluent : but for the separation of 
 diflPerent variable quantities, where they are involved 
 with each other, the employment of proper multi- 
 pliers is one of the most effectual expedients ; and 
 it is still more essential to the solution of equations 
 between fluxions of different orders, or their coeffi- 
 cients. Such equations require in general to be 
 compared with some multiple of the exponential 
 
 quantity e"**, which affords fluxions of successive 
 orders, that have simple relations to each other, 
 especially when dt is considered as constant. The 
 multiples of sin Ct, and cos Ct, are also very useful 
 in such investigations, and for a similar reason ; but 
 the solutions that they afford are commonly less 
 comprehensive than the former; though they are 
 often simpler, and more easily obtained. It is not, 
 however, necessary that the exponent of the multi- 
 plier should flow uniformly, as will appear from the 
 first example of a problem which has been solved by 
 Euler in his Mechanics : the subsequent examples 
 will possess somewhat more of novelty. 
 
 Demonstration. The fluxion of e"* (w-f-jss+g) is 
 ^ "* (di«+pd*+(wto + nps-{-nq) ds)=:e^ dto+{p+nq) 
 
 dsi-ndsds-^nwds) ; and comparmg with this e (dro 
 J^Ads+Bsds-i-Dwds), we have »=A np=:B, and 
 
 J5 B A p 
 
 p=-~ =^ ; and, lastly, pH-ny= J, y=-^=: 
 
 665 
 
 Tides. 
 
 n D 
 AD—B 
 
 DD 
 AD—B 
 
 ~B\ 
 
 1-1 is equal to nothing, and that quantity 
 
 ^ DD 
 
 is constant, or equal to c. 
 
 Example. Let the given equation be that of a cy- 
 cloidal pendulum, moving with a resistance propor- 
 
 tional to the square of the velocity, or -f- ii 
 
 Scholium 2. The space s being supposed to begin 
 at the lowest point of the curve, the fluxion d* is ne- 
 gative during the descent on the positive side, and 
 the force dds is consequently negative, and equal, 
 when there is no resistance, to Bs, B being a posi- 
 tive coefficient, equivalent, in the case of gravitation, 
 
 to -^or-j-,l being the length of the pendulum, and 
 
 g the descent of a falling body in the first second. 
 The coefiicient — D is negative, because the resist- 
 ance acts in a contrary direction to that of the force 
 Bs, as long as s remains positive, and coincides with 
 it on the negative side. But in the return of the 
 pendulum the signs are changed ; so that the equa- 
 tion can only be applied to a single vibration : since 
 the two forces in question oppose each other in the 
 same points of the curve in which they before agreed, 
 
 djS ... 
 while the square must always remain positive. 
 
 Solution. If we multiply the given equation by ds, 
 
 dj2 
 
 and make the square of the velocity, or w=«;= 
 
 dd* ds^ 
 we have d* -^+55dA— 7)_d*=o=|dw)+J5*dJ^ 
 
 Dxjuds, and dtv-\-2Bsds — 2Dtud*=0; which, com- 
 pared with the theorem, gives us 0 for A, 2B for By 
 and 2D for D ; and the solution becomes 
 
 -2D^/ B B \ B , B , 
 
 e {^rv^s-—) = c, or to =^^4^+ 
 
 B B 
 
 ce * ; and if t«=0 when s=X, we ^^^^^^+2^^^ + 
 ce =0, or, puttmg -^X +^^=/3, ^+ce =0, 
 
 and c=— ^e'"^^''; /3 being also =^f^> if y=l + 
 2Z)X. We may also substitute tf for X — s, and 
 ce2D8^ ___j8e2-D(»-'^),will become — ^e""^^', and 
 
 - — 2D<r B ^2Dt 
 
 B^ B 
 
 "'^d'-^^dd' 
 
 Ws). Now e^^^' = 1 — 2D<r+ 2 | W + 
 
TIDES. 
 
 |D^ff* ; and (1 +2-DX) e = 1 + 2DX— 
 
 2Z)tf — 4D2Xcr + 2DV + 4Z)3Xff2— D|V . 
 
 whence w=7r^ (2D5 — 2D (X-«r) + ^D^Xtf — 
 
 2D2tf . . . ) = 
 
 2Z)Z) 
 
 J3 
 
 2DD 
 
 =B (2X<r— + ^Dyff^ — ^l^^^^'^" • • •)• 
 
 Corollary 1. From this solution we obtain the 
 point at which the velocity is greatest ; and, by re- 
 versing the equation, we may also find the extent of 
 the vibration. For when dto=:0, we have -Bjds= 
 Dvods, and Bs—Dvo, which is the obvious expression 
 of the equality of the resistance to the propelling 
 force. Putting the greatest value of w=:x, and the 
 
 B B 
 
 corresponding value of 5r=$, we have ^^'^'^'^^^^'^ 
 
 ce 
 
 2Dt B . ^ , B 2Ds 
 
 = T^c, smce Bs—Dk, and-yr^rr— ce = 
 
 2DD 
 
 By 2i)(c— X) , 1 2Z)(c— ^) , 
 ^=-1- e : whence -=e , and 7= 
 
 2DZ) 7 
 
 e 2^^'^-*> ; consequently hly = 2Z) (X— s) = hi (1 + 
 2m), and 2Ds = 2DX — hi (1 4- 2DX), and g = 
 
 _L^2D2x2_£d3x3+ . . . )=Z)X2-iD^x3 + . . . 
 
 J5 B 
 And since x— -^g, we have x —^ojo^^^^ — hl[l4- 
 
 2-DX]). 
 
 Lemma. For the reversion of a series, or of a finite 
 equation, if z=zax-{-bx^-{-cx^+ . . we have ^=^2 — 
 
 6 262_ac , Bb^—SahcJfi 
 
 IT t:5- ^ ::7 
 
 1 U*—21ab'^c+6a%d + 3aV— a% 
 
 The proof of this well known formula is the most 
 readily obtained by means of a series, with indeter- 
 minate coefficients, such as x=Az-\-Bz^-\- . . ., which, 
 by actual involution, and by comparison with the 
 proposed series, will give the required values of the 
 coefficients, as expressed in this Lemma. 
 
 Corollary 2. When rv=zo, we obtain from its value, 
 
 2 
 
 divided by Ba, the equation 2X = ytf — -Dyff^-f 
 -B^y^ — . . . ; and by reversing this series, we have 
 
 this diflPerence being also ^ ; so that the displacement 
 
 of the point of greatest velocity is - of the difference 
 
 8 
 
 of the successive vibrations. 
 
 Scholium 2. If K be the value of to when Drp 
 would be equal to the force of gravity, and BK=.Bl 
 
 22" 
 
 =2^, we have Dzz~, or H being the height from 
 
 which a body must fall to acquire the velocity ^K, 
 
 since K—^gH^ and 2D=i 
 
 2r/ H 
 
 Scholium 3. It is natural to imagine that we might 
 obtain the time from the equation expressing the ve- 
 locity in terms of the space, if we merely expanded 
 
 the value of ~ into a new series, by means of th6 
 
 Newtonian theorem : but the fluents thus obtained 
 for the expression of the time are deficient in conver- 
 gency ; and a similar difficulty would occur if we ex- 
 pressed <s in terms of rv by reversing the series, and 
 divided its fluxion by fjiu. The ingenuity of Euler 
 has, however, devised a method of avoiding these in- 
 conveniences, by supposing the time to begin at the 
 point where the velocity is a maximum ; and it wijl 
 be necessary, in this investigation, to follow his steps, 
 with some slight variations. 
 
 Corollary 3. In order to find the time of vibra^ 
 tion, we take s — 5— r, and x — 40=2, then srzr-f-s, <s 
 
 2£>Cj+r3), and X beingrr^s, 
 , By 2D(f— X) 2Dt , , , , 
 
 ,x 1 , ' B B 
 
 e (c — X) =-, and — z becomes -^r^ + -prr — 
 
 B 2Dt 
 
 2DD 
 8 
 
 D 2DD 
 
 12 
 = — JSr2 
 
 -BDr'—lBD'r'- 
 
 o o 
 
 ... , and ^ =T* 
 
 7 ^ Sy^ ^9/ 
 
 ., or (r=2X— gDX2-f 
 
 . . . ; the difference of the arcs of descent and ascent 
 
 being -DX^, and the difference of two successive vi- 
 
 3 
 
 g 
 
 brations ~D>?, when the resistance is very small ; 
 3 
 
 2 1 
 
 '\ — Di^-\~~D^T*-\- ... In order to reverse this se- 
 
 3 o 
 
 2 
 
 ries, we must put -^=y^, and r = + By'+c^ -f 
 . . . , and by substituting the powers of this series 
 for those of r in the value of ~=^^=t2+pt^.* Qr'* 
 
 4. . . . , we find A=:l, B=r — Jp, c=-p'-^^q . . . ; 
 
 0 
 
 and rzzy — ^Dy^-^~D'y^ — .... Hence drzrd^ — 
 a 9 
 
TIDES. 
 
 667 
 
 2 1 
 
 -Dydiy 4- -Oydy— . . . . ; and this fluxion, divided 
 
 by the veIocity'u=yy(x — z), will be the fluxion of 
 
 z clis 
 the tim€; or, since d— = 2yd^ and dj/=^j^ = 
 
 ds 
 
 Z) 
 
 my 
 
 dz 
 
 and the fluent becomes tz=. 
 
 2)2 
 
 arc u sin ^ — s!\j-^ — '^^^ • • • ; the value of 
 which, taken from zzzOiozzzx, is 2—^ — 
 
 5— — — (ixTr) ... If we now make r negative^ for 
 
 the ascent of the pendulum, the coeflScients p, r, 
 . . . , B, D, . . . , will change their signs, and the va- 
 
 lue of ^ will be — + — + j^^^-H- • • • , 
 
 the sum of both being — ^ + 
 
 + . . . , which 
 
 is the time of a complete vibration, and the diflPer- 
 4D 
 
 ence —=r ^« + • • • The eflFect of the resistance on 
 oH 
 
 the whole time involves, therefore, only the second 
 and the higher powers of the coefficient of the re- 
 sistance D ; and it also disappears with the arc, as 
 X, the square of the greatest velocity, becomes in- 
 considerable with respect to the velocity itself, and 
 
 to the time -r^. 
 
 Theorem H. If ^+^^4-Ss=0, df being 
 
 mt, 
 
 constant, we have e (ds+ajd^)=:c ; m beingrri^ 
 zbV(H^— 5), and a=^^qzV(|^'— B). 
 
 Demonstration. The fluxion of e^^dj+a^d?) 
 
 is e^\d.h+adisdit-\-{mAs-it-amsAt)At)z=e^\d?s+ (a+ 
 m)disdit-\-amsdit^) ; and, comparing this fluxion with 
 the proposed equation, we have, for the coefficients, 
 
 B 
 
 the equation is permanently applicable to the suc- 
 cessive vibrations. Thus, in the second descent, on 
 the negative side of the vertical line, Bs being nega- 
 tive, and — s becoming nearer to 0, the fluxion d* is 
 
 . . d* 
 positive, and A— is of a contrary character to Bs, 
 
 as it ought to be. 
 
 Solution. Since w2=J-(4zt\/(|-4^ — i5), and az=. 
 lA:=+z^(lA^ — B), it is obvious that the two radi- 
 cal quantities will be either possible or imaginary, 
 accordingly as ^A^ is greater or less than B. 
 
 Case i. If A^ is greater than the resistance 
 being very considerable, the solution becomes 
 
 _d£ 
 
 d^ 
 
 =c; and the velocity v— 
 
 c'e ^ * ' ; and if the velocity be sup- 
 
 posed to vanish when s=X, and t=:0, we have 0= 
 ^AX—^QA^—B)X—c=J,AX-{-^(iA^—B)X-c'. 
 
 Corollary 1. Hence it appears that such a pen- 
 dulum would require an infinite time to descend to 
 the lowest point, since the velocity cannot have a 
 finite value when s vanishes, the exponential quanti- 
 ty never beginning negative. 
 
 Scholium 2. The coefficient B may also be writ- 
 ten, for an actual pendulum, as measured in English 
 
 feet, 
 
 32 2fi" 
 
 y, or if we call g the descent of a fall- 
 
 ing body in the first second, which is, however, de- 
 noted, in the works of some authors, by jg or even by 
 dds 32 
 
 Ig. If we make ^+ -|-*=0; when s=/, the force 
 
 ds 
 
 becomes such that —d^s=32dt^, and— t-= 32, 
 
 d^ 
 
 which is the true velocity generated by such a force 
 in a second of time. Supposing k to be the velocity 
 with which the resistance would become equal to 
 
 the weight, we must have, for A in order 
 
 at k at 
 
 that the force represented by A may become equal 
 to that of gravity, and •* and if h be the 
 
 a-{-mz=A, and am=:B; whence — + m = A, m^— height from which a body must fall to gain the ve- 
 locity k, since k= ^2_^_|^ Hence it fol- 
 
 4'g kk k 
 
 lows, that when A'^=4!B, which is the time of the 
 
 possibility of alternate vibrations, f =-r-, and h-=}-l, 
 
 the resistance becoming equal to the weight when 
 the body has fallen freely through one eighth of the 
 length of the pendulum. 
 
 Case ii. Supposing now the resistance to be more 
 moderate, and to be less than B, and making 
 
 Am=—B, mz=^A±z^{lA^—B), and a^lAzil 
 ^(iA'-B). ^ 
 Example. Let the equation proposed be that of 
 a cycloidal pendulum, vibrating with a resistance 
 
 dd^ H 
 
 proportional to the velocity; that is, J^-j. 
 Bs=0. 
 
 Scholium 1. The resistance is here adequately 
 
 ds 
 
 expressed, in all cases, by the term A^, so that 
 
 Tides. 
 
668 
 
 TIDES. 
 
 Tides. B^lA^-C^; we shall have S)= ^(--^2)= ^j^^ ^^^^^^ vibration «=X, we have - = 
 
 fj — IC; the solution of the equation, ^+^^+ 
 5*=0, will then be d(ei^'— ^ ^"^1^+ H= 
 
 *jZIiCs J|^=0; whence, by taking the two differ- 
 ent values in succession, and adding together their 
 halves, we obtain d ( e I ^ ^ 
 
 AA 
 4CC 
 AA \ 
 
 g 8CC 88—2 A A 
 X — 8CC+AA~' SB—AA 
 
 (AA \ 
 ^ ; COS Ct being also, in this case, 
 
 AA \ 
 
 AA ,X AA . 
 
 AA 
 
 r, corr&- 
 
 2 
 
 (d^+ 
 
 2 
 
 since 
 
 = -2 Vd^ +^^V^ 
 
 C5=ce • Now the imaginary 
 
 2V— 1 
 
 exponential quantities, thus combined, are the well 
 known expressions for the sine and cosine of the arc 
 
 SB^AA' 
 j[ 
 
 spending to the verse sine of the time ^^qq) or to the 
 ^ 
 
 arc , in the circle represented by Ct. 
 
 Corollary 2. It follows that both v and * must 
 vanish continually at equal successive intervals, when- 
 
 
 ever ta Ct=—p, , and when cos CtzzO, respectively ; 
 2C 
 
 the descent, to the lowest point, will therefore occu- 
 py the time corresponding to ^+ ^'^d the sub- 
 A 
 
 known expressions lui a.wc v^^ox..^ v.. cpnnpnt asrpnt to -_ — • the extent of the vibra- 
 
 Ct, {Elem.Illustr. § 358) ; and the last equation may sequent ascent to ^—^^ . the extent or tne viora 
 
 be written thus, cos Ct ^^"1"^^*^ + ^'"^ ''^^"^ being always proportional to e~^'^^. 
 
 Corollary 3. The greatest velocity must take 
 
 ce 
 
 i4f di , ^ . sin Ct 
 
 -^^^ ; Whence + —jr,Cs- 
 
 ds 
 
 place at the point where A- — \-Bsz=:0, and-4Cta Ct 
 
 -. This fluent, if t were made to begin ^iA^=B, or ta. Ct=z 
 
 dt 
 
 B—^AA 
 
 ~~AC 
 
 , and cot Ci= 
 
 cos Ct 
 
 when v=:0, would only afford us such expres- jq ^ , ^ _ A 
 
 sions as have hitherto been found intractable ; ^ZZTJJ* " neglect A^, cot (^t—j^=cos Ct 
 but nothing obliges us to limit the problem « 
 to this condition, and it is equally allowable to 
 make the time t begin when v=^As, the corre- 
 sponding value of s being called g, then ^Ag=: 
 vzz^Ag—c ; consequently c=0. The equation will 
 
 then become —+C—Ct + ^Adt=0 ; whence his 
 s cos 
 
 -hi cos Ct=c'-hAt=h\- 
 
 and 
 
 'cos Ct* " cos Ct 
 /-kAt^ or s=cos a./~^^S and, when t=0, s : 
 / = 5 ; consequently j= cos Ct.e~'^'^^= cos Ct 
 
 (^l-lAt+lAn^^~AH^+ . . .)• But 
 
 — ds=:s^ 
 
 C^—Ct.dt+hAdt 
 cos * 
 
 it 
 
 =: -, very nearly. 
 
 Corollary 4. The diminution of the successive vi- 
 brations is expressed by the multiplier e ^"^^ which, 
 
 A 
 
 when C^=2«', the whole circumference, is 1 — — <r, 
 
 c* 
 
 and —vX, or is the diminution of the value of 
 C sJB 
 
 s when the pendulum returns to the place from 
 which it first set out, that is, the difference between 
 the lengths of two vibrations, each corresponding to 
 
 a seraicircumference, and this difference is to -j^c, 
 
 A 
 
 follows that V must or -r^, the displacement of the point of greatest 
 
 ;, smce t>= 
 
 vanish whenever C — C^+i^=0, or when taC<=r 
 cos 
 
 velocity, which measures the greatest resistance, as 
 to 1, or as 3.14)16 to 1. We have seen that, for a 
 resistance varying as the square of the velocity, this 
 — , that is, in the first instance, very nearly when proportion was as 8 to 3, or as 2.66? to 1. 
 2C Corollary 5. If the pendulum be supposed to vi- 
 
 ^ ^ J ^ ^, AA ^ ^At brate in a second, the unity of time, the diminution 
 
 a=-, and < =:^, and - ^At and e 
 
 , , AA , ^, . ^, . . the successive lengths will vary as e ^"2X, e "SX, 
 
 = ^ +iCC' ^"^y ""^^'^y ' '° ^"^^'"S P""^^- and so forth : and f fter the number N of vibrations; 
 
 of the arc 2X in each vibration will be |^ X 2X, and 
 
 11 
 
TIDES. 
 
 the extent of the arc will be 
 e~'^ 2X ; so that if we make e 
 2 1 
 
 h\M=—\NA, and ^=-^hl^. 
 
 reduced from 
 
 2X to 
 = M, we have 
 
 ThuSj if in aq hour 
 
 the vibrations were reduced to -of their extent^ which 
 
 3 
 
 is rather more than appears to have happened in any 
 
 of Captain Kater's experiments, we should have N 
 
 2 1 
 =3600, and -^=g. whence A = x .4054651 
 
 =.00022526, and J^—.ooO 000 050 75 ; and since 
 
 AA \ 
 
 = ' the fraction 
 
 being only=::.000 000 000 65 ; or about one second 
 in l600 millions ; that is in about 50 years. 
 
 Scholium 3. Although the isochronisra of a pen- 
 dulum, with a resistance proportional to the velocity, 
 was demonstrated by Newton, yet Euler appears to 
 have failed in his attempts to carry the theory of such 
 vibrations to perfection; for he observes (Mechan. 
 II. p. 312), Etsi ex his appareat, tempora tarn as- 
 censuum quam descensuum inter se esse cequalia, tamen 
 determinari non potest, quantum sit tempus sive de- 
 scensuum sive ascensuum : neque eiiam tempora de- 
 scensuum et ascensuum inter se possunt coinparari, 
 JEquatio enim rationem inter & et \x defifiiens ita est 
 
 complicata, ex ea elementum temporis—, per unl- 
 earn variahilem non possit exprimi. 
 
 Scholium 4. In confirmation of the solution that 
 has been here proposed, it may not be superfluous 
 to show the truth of the result in a different manner. 
 
 Taking *=$e cos Ct, 
 
 have 
 
 ds _ mt , 
 
 cos 
 
 dd* '"^^ 
 
 Ct — C sin Ct), and -^zzge {m^ cos Ct — Cm sin 
 Ct — Cm sin Ct — cos Ct) ; whence ^|-|-^^+ 
 
 d^ 
 
 mt, 
 
 Bsz=ie (?n^ cos Ct — 9,Cm sin Ct — cos Ct-\-Am 
 cos Ct—AC sin Ct-\-B cos Ct)=0, and {m^—C^-\- 
 Am -{-B) cos Ct—{2Cm-\-AC) sin Ct—Q: an equa- 
 tion which is obviously true when the coefficients of 
 both its terms vanish, and 2Cw2= — AC, or m=z^A ; 
 and again C^-m^+Am-{-B= iA^—lA^-{-B = B~ 
 \A~. The former mode of investigation is more gene- 
 ral, and more strictly analytical ; but this latter is of 
 readier application in more complicated cases, and 
 it will hereafter be further pursued. 
 
 Lemma. If a moveable body be actuated conti- 
 nually by a force equal to that which acts on a given 
 pendulum, the body being in a state of rest when 
 the pendulum is at the middle of its vibration, the 
 space described in the time of a vibration will be to 
 the length of the pendulum as the circumference of 
 a circle is to its diameter. For the force being re- 
 presented by cos Ct, or cos x, for the pendulum, it 
 will become sin x with regard to the beginning of 
 
 VOL. VI. 1>ART II. 
 
 the supposed motion, and the velocity, instead of 
 sin X, becomes — cos x, or 1 — cos x; so that the ' 
 space, instead of 1 — cos x, is x — sin x, which, at 
 
 669 
 
 Tides. 
 
 the end of the semivibration, is ar— instead of 1 
 
 2 
 
 cos a;=l, the space described by the simple pendu- 
 lum, which is equal to its length. 
 
 Scholium 5. There is a paradox in the relations 
 of the diminution of the vibration to the distance 
 measuring the greatest resistance, which it will be 
 worth while to consider, in order to guard ourselves 
 against the too hasty adoption of some methods of 
 approximation which appears at first sight unexcep- 
 tionable. The pendulum, if it set out from a state 
 of rest at the point of greatest resistance, would per- 
 form a vibration to the extent of double the distance 
 
 of that point, or the initial force being mea- 
 
 sured by that distance. Now, when the resistance is 
 very small, its magnitude may be obtained without 
 sensible error from the velocity of the pendulum vi- 
 brating without resistance at the corresponding part 
 of the arc ; and the velocity may be supposed to 
 vary as sin Ct, and the resistance, in the case of this 
 proposition, as sin Ct or sin x also. Hence it may 
 be inferred, by means of the Lemma, that the whole 
 
 diminution of the space will be to — as t to 1, or 
 
 fJB 
 
 A 
 
 that it will be equal to ^^"^K which has already 
 
 been found to be the actual difference of two suc- 
 cessive semivibrations. The accuracy of this resulf, 
 however, must depend on the mutual compensation 
 of its errors ; for the approximation supposes, that if 
 the resistance vanished at the lowest point, the sub- 
 sequent retardation would be such as to diminish the 
 space by the effect of the diminution of the velocity 
 acting uniformly through the remainder of the vibra- 
 tion, while in fact the diminution of the space from 
 this cause would be simply equal to apart of the 
 arc proportional to the diminution of the velocity ; 
 since the arc of ascent is simply as the velocity at 
 the lowest point. Hence it is obvious, that the ef- 
 fects of the resistance are too much complicated 
 with the progress of the vibration to allow us to cal- 
 culate them separately ; and, accordingly, when the 
 resistance is as the square of the velocity, or as s'ln^x, 
 the diminution of the velocity is expressed by Ix — ^ 
 sin cos X, and that of the space by ^x"^ — ^ sin% 
 which, at the end of a vibration, becomes l^r^ in- 
 stead of T, that is, since the distance of the point of 
 greatest velocity is here s=DX^, ^'j^Dl!^=2.4<67 
 DX^, while the more accurate mode of computation 
 has shown that the true diminution of the space is 
 2.667 DX^. (Theorem G.) If we chose to pursue 
 the mode of approximation here suggested, with ac- 
 curacy, it would be necessary to consider the resist- 
 ance as a periodical force acting on a pendulum ca- 
 pable of a synchronous vibration, as hereafter in 
 Theorem K, Schol. 1. 
 
 Theorem J. 
 
 If ^,^Bs+MsmFt-. 
 
 4 Q 
 
 :0,we may 
 
670 
 
 T I D ES. 
 
 Tides. 
 
 s = sin 
 
 satisfy the equation by taking 
 
 Demonstration. The value of^here assigned gives us^ 
 MF „ , dd5 
 
 d* 
 
 z=JB cos ^Bt-\- 
 
 FF—B 
 
 sjBt- 
 
 MFF 
 
 cos Ft, and 
 dd5 
 
 sin 
 
 + 
 
 FF^B 
 MB 
 
 sin Ft; so that —+5*=B sin jBt 
 at'' 
 
 FF—B 
 MB— MFF 
 
 sin Ft—B dn ^Bt- 
 
 MFF 
 'FF—B 
 
 sin Ftz 
 
 &\nFt=z—M sin 2^/. 
 
 Corollary 1. If, in order to generalise tViis solu- 
 tion, we make *=asin ^B/+/3cos sJBt-\-y sh\Ft-\- 
 5 cos Ft, we may take any quantities at pleasure for 
 a and /3, according to the conditions of the particu- 
 lar case to be investigated; but s must be =0 ; that 
 is, the motion will always be compounded of two vi- 
 brations, the one dependent on the length of the pen- 
 dulum, or on the time required for the free vibration, 
 indicated by s!Bt, the other synchronous with Ft, 
 the period of the force denoted by M; the latter only 
 being limited to the condition of beginning and end- 
 ing with the periodical force. 
 
 Corollary 2. la the same manner it may be shown 
 that the addition of any number of separate periodi- 
 cal forces, indicated by the terms M' sin F't, M"^ sin 
 F"t, . . ., will add to the solution the quantities 
 
 M' M" 
 
 sin F't, — sin F"t, and so forth. 
 
 F'F'—B F"F"—B 
 
 Example 1. Supposing a pendulum to be suspend- 
 ed on a vibrating centre, and to pass the vertical line 
 at the same moment with the centre, we may make a 
 M 
 
 and /S=0, and 5= 777; — ~ sin Ft only ; the vibration 
 
 being either direct or reversed accordingly as F is 
 
 32 
 
 less or greater than ^B, or than J— 
 
 mines the spontaneous vibration of the pendulum. 
 
 Example 2. But if the ball of the pendulum be 
 supposed to begin its motion at the moment that the 
 centre of suspension passes the vertical line, we must 
 
 M 
 
 make ,<>= — — - (sin Ft — cos .^Bt) ; and the subse- 
 
 quent motion of the pendulum will then be repre- 
 sijnted by the sum of the sines of two unequal arcs 
 in the same circle ; and if these arcs are commensu- 
 rate with each other, the vibration will ultimately ac- 
 quire a double extent, and nearly disappear, in a 
 continued succession of periods, provided that no re- 
 sistance interfere. And the consequences of any 
 other initial conditions may be investigated in a man- 
 ner nearly similar: thus, if the time of free vibration, 
 under these circumstances, were ^ of the periodical 
 time, the free vibration, in which the motion must be 
 supposed initially retrograde, in order to represent a 
 state of rest by its combination with the fixed vibra- 
 tion, would have arrived at its greatest excursion 
 
 which deter- 
 
 forwards, after three semivibratlons, at the same mo- 
 ment with the fixed vibration, and after three com-^ 
 plete vibrations more would be at its greatest dis- 
 tance in the opposite direction, so as to increase 
 every subsequent vibration equally on each side, and, 
 permanently to combine the whole extent of the se- 
 parate arcs of vibration. But in this and in every 
 other similar vibration, beginning from a state of rest 
 in the vertical line ; that is, at the point where the 
 periodical force is evanescent, the eflPect of the free 
 or subordinate vibration with respect to the place of 
 the body will obviously disappear whenever an entire 
 number of semivibratlons have been performed. 
 
 Corollary 3. The paradox stated in the fourth scho- 
 lium on the last theorem may be illustrated by means 
 of this proposition, and will serve in its turn to justify 
 the mode of computation here employed in a re- 
 markable manner. It has been observed, in Nichol- 
 son's Journal for July 1813, that the mode of inves- 
 tigating the effects of variable forces, by resolving 
 them into parts represented by the sines of multiple 
 arcs, and considering the vibrations derived from each 
 term as independent in their progress, but united in 
 their effects, may be applied to the problem of a pen- 
 dulum vibrating with a resistance proportional to the 
 square of the velocity; and that for this purpose the 
 square of the sine may be represented by the series 
 sin ^x=M'84> sin x — 1696 sin 3x — 0244 sin 5a: — 
 .00813 sin 7x — 0029 sin Qx — 0013 sin Ux — .... 
 Now, if we employ this series for resolving the resist- 
 ance supposed in theorem G into a number of inde- 
 pendent forces, the greatest resistance being mea- 
 
 A A 
 sured by — ^^X, we shall have .8484-r7iX for the part 
 ^B s/B 
 
 supposed to be simply proportional to the velocity, 
 whence, from theorem H, we have .8484^-^^^ for 
 the corresponding diminution of the vibration ; that 
 But it has been observed, in the 
 
 2.6653 ^X. 
 
 preceding corollary, that the ^j/ace of the pendulum 
 will not be at all affected by any subordinate vibration 
 after any entire number of complete semivibrations ; 
 and the slight effect of the velocity left in conse- 
 quence of these subordinate vibrations may here be 
 
 A 
 
 safely neglected, so that 2.6653 -yj^X may be consi- 
 dered as the whole effect of the resistance with respect 
 to the space described, which differs only by 20^°^ 
 
 the whole from ^.GQd^^'K, the result of the more di- 
 sJB 
 
 rect computation of theorem G. 
 
 Scholium. An experimental illustration of the ac- 
 curacy of the theorem may be found in the sympa- 
 thetic vibrations of clocks, and in that of the invert- 
 ed pendulum, invented by Mr Hardy, as a test of the 
 steadiness of a support; for since the extent of the 
 
 , , M 
 
 regular periodical vibration is measured by -j^ — ^> 
 10 
 
it is evident that, however small the quantity of M 
 maybe, it will become very considerable when di- 
 vided by FF — B, as F and approach to each 
 other ; and accordingly it is observed, that when the 
 inverted pendulum is well adjusted to the rate of a 
 dock, there is no pillar so steady as not to commu- 
 nicate to It a very perceptible motion by its regular, 
 though extremely minute, and otherwise impercepti- 
 ble change of place. 
 
 Theorem K. In order* to determine the effect of 
 a periodical force, with a resistance proportional to 
 
 , , . , . dd* d^ _ . 
 
 the velocity, the equation, + — ^ 
 
 G/c=0, may be satisfied by taking s=:as in Gt-{-(3 cos 
 GG—B 
 
 TIDES. 
 
 Gt, a being = 
 AGM 
 
 (GG- 
 
 -M, and |3= 
 
 Bf+AAGG 
 
 s being also =s/(a^+3^) sin 
 M 
 
 {GG—Bf+AAGG' 
 
 ( ^'''^^~^'=^~^{IGG-Br+AAGG) 
 AG 
 
 sin 
 
 (G^-arcta-gA__| 
 
 dj 
 
 Since szza sin G^+3 cos Gt, ^^aG cos Gt — 
 
 i3G sin Gt, and ^=—a.G^ sin Gt—^G^ cos G/=— 
 
 GH ; consequently the equation becomes (j5 — G^ 
 (a sin Gt-\-^ cos Gi)4-ct^Gcos Gt — ^AG sin Gt-\- 
 M sin Gt=0, and {B—G^) a—iiAG+M=0, and 
 
 (5-~G2)S+a^G=0; whence-: 
 
 AG 
 
 M—{GG—B)a_ aAG 
 
 AG 
 
 GG—B 
 
 GG—B' 
 and {G^^B)M- 
 
 also iS= 
 
 -(G2— 
 
 (GG—B)M 
 
 ByazzaA^G^; consequently ""- ^^QG—B f + A^G^* 
 AGM 
 
 and/3: 
 
 (GG— «)2+^SG2* 
 
 5=ta B, sin x-\-l} cos a;=^(l+6^) sin (oj+b) ; sin 
 (a:-|.B) being = sin x cos B-f. sin b cos xz=: cos b 
 (sin j;+ta b cos .r), and therefore sin a;+ta b cos x= 
 
 sin (t+b) . , , 
 
 - -= sm (x+b) sec b= sin (x-^s) ^ (l-{.b-} : 
 
 cos b 
 
 it follows that a sin Gi-\-^ cos Gt: 
 
 a/ \ aa/ ^ \ ' 06a/ 
 
 // . , , {GG—B)^+A^G^ „, 
 
 = ^ ilGG-BylA^Gr ''= 
 
 sin G^ 
 
 + arc ta 
 B 
 
 V(aH/3^) sin 
 
 arc ta 
 
 GG>^ 
 
 ^(lGG—By+A^G''y 
 
 Corollary. If we put M cos Gf instead of M sin 
 G^, we shall have s=a' sin G^+/3' cos G^; a' being 
 
 -^-(GG— 5)24-^^^0 ^ — -«= 
 
 ^G 
 
 Scholium 1. Supposing i? to approach very near 
 to G^, a case very likely to occur in nature, be- 
 cause the effects which are produced, where it is 
 found, will predominate over others, on account of 
 the minuteness of the divisor ; we may neglect the 
 part of the denominator (G^ — By,/m comparison 
 with A^G'^, and the coefficient determining s will 
 M 
 
 then become -j^, the extent of the vibrations be- 
 ing inversely as A the coefficient of the resistance ; 
 and,, indeed, when the whole force of the periodical 
 vibration is expended in overcoming a resistance 
 proportional to the velocity, it may naturally be 
 imagined that the velocity should be inversely as the 
 resistance. It follows also from the proposition, 
 
 AG 
 
 that in this case the arc ta — approaching, to 
 
 a quadrant, the greatest excursions of the periodical 
 motion and of the free vibration will differ nearly one 
 fourth of the time of a complete vibration from each 
 other. 
 
 Scholium 2. Since s is a line, and B its numeri- 
 cal coefficient, making it represent a force, and since 
 sin Gt is properly a number also, the coefficient M, 
 both here and in Theorem J, must be supposed to 
 include another linear coefficient, as ^, which con- 
 verts the sine into a line, to be added to s, the dis- 
 tance from the middle point : that is, M must be 
 considered as representing Bi/^, in which /x is the 
 true extent of the periodical change of the centre of 
 
 suspension, and B= as m other cases : so that 
 
 And since, in general, if M 
 
 IS = 
 
 I 
 
 ^«=324,and -ML 
 2g 32 
 
 Corollary. In order to obtain a more general so- 
 lution of the problem, we may combine the periodi- 
 cal motion thus determined with the free vibrations, 
 as computed in Theorem H, the different motions, 
 as well as the resistances, being totally independent 
 of each other ; but the most interesting cases are 
 those which are simply periodical, the free vibration 
 
 gradually diminishing, with the multiplier e"*"^, and 
 ultimately disappearing. 
 
 Theorem L. If there are several periodical 
 
 p .1 .• , .ds ^ 
 
 forces, the equation, ^ + A—-^Bs+M sin Gt-\- 
 
 N Bin Ft-\ =0, may be satisfied by taking j—a 
 
 sin Gf+/3 cos Gt+a' sin Ft+j^' cos FtJ^...=: 
 
 V([G^-^J+^^G^) (^^-^'•^ '^ B- 
 
 N 
 
 + 
 
 ^{IF —BJ^A^F') 
 
 (Gf-arcta^_) 
 .(pz-arcta^^)^ 
 
672 
 
 TIDES. 
 
 Tides. 
 
 For, the equations expressing the space described 
 being simply Iniear, the different motions and resist- 
 ances are added or subtracted without any altera- 
 tion of the respective relations and effects. 
 
 Scholium. A free vibration may also be combined 
 with this compound periodical vibration, by means of 
 Theorem H ; but it will gradually disappear by the 
 effect of the resistance. 
 
 Lemma. For the addition of the arcs a and b, be- 
 ginning with the well known equation sin {o.z±=.b)= sin 
 d cos fiitisin h cos a, we have, by addition, sin {a-^-b) 
 •f- sin (fl — 6)r=2 sin a cos b, and sin a cos 6=^ sin 
 {a-\-b) + \ sin («—&): then if c=b-\-90°, cos bzs. 
 sin c, whence sin a sin c—^ sin (a+c^90°) + | sin 
 (a — c-|-90°): but sin (a;+90°)= cos x and sin 
 
 (j)c 90°)= — cos X ; consequently sin a sin c—^ cos 
 
 {a — c)— I cos (fl+c) : again, if c=rt— 90°, cos c=i 
 sin c, and cos c cos sin (fl-f-6)+2 — 
 1 sin (c+90° + 6)+^ sin Cc+90°— ^>)=^ cos 
 4-^ cos (c — 6). Also, since cos a cos />i=^ cos 
 cos (a — 6), and sin a sin />::=|- cos (a — 6) 
 -f cos we have^ by subtraction, cos {a-\-b) 
 
 — cos a cos 6 — sin a sin 6, and, by addition, cos 
 (a — 6)=cos a cos sin a sin b. 
 
 Corollary. If a+6=cando — 6=c?, cos c+ cos 
 
 length of the sea in question, neglecting altogether 
 the actual breadth of the sea, which, if considerable, 
 may require to have its own distinct vibrations com- 
 pounded with those of the length, each being first 
 computed independently of the other. Now, sup- 
 posing the time required for the principal sponta- 
 neous oscillation of the sea or lake to be known, we 
 must find the length of the synchronous pendulum, 
 
 c-\-d c- 
 :2 cos ' cos — 
 
 -d 
 
 and cos d — cos ci=2 sin 
 
 c+d c-^d . . , ' 7 n • '^+^ 
 ^- - -cos -^r-; also sm a4- sm 6=2 sm — — cos 
 2 2 2 
 
 a — b 
 
 2 
 u — b 
 
 and sin a— sin b=z sin a-{- sin ( — b)=.^ sin 
 
 cos 
 
 Theorem M. The equation, 
 
 dd* ^ _ 
 
 R sin Ft sin Gt=zO may be solved by taking *=a 
 sin (IF^G^t+p)^^ sin ([-F-f ; a being 
 
 p— arc ta 
 
 A{F—G) 
 For since sin Ft sin Gtz 
 
 ^ 20- 32 
 and taking Bz=:-j- 
 
 AiF+G) 
 
 ^ cos (F__G)f— ^ cos 
 
 dd* .ds , 1 
 (,F+G)l, the equation becomes + — ? 
 
 cos{F-\-G)t-\-^R cos (F— G)^=0 ; whence we ob- 
 tain the solution by comparison with Theorem K and 
 its corollary. 
 
 Sect. IV Astronomical Determination of the Pe- 
 riodical Forces which Act on the Sea or on a 
 Lake. 
 
 In order to compute, by means of the theory 
 which has been laid down in the two preceding sec- 
 tions, the primitive tides of any sea or any portion 
 of the ocean, we must compare its spontaneous os- 
 cillations with those of a narrow prismatic canal, si- 
 tuated in a given direction with respect to the me- 
 ridian, which ia general must be that of the greatest 
 
 we must next find a series 
 
 for expressing the force in terms of the sine, or cosines 
 of multiple arcs, increasing uniformly with the time. 
 
 Now the force is measured, for the direction of the 
 meridian of the spheroid of equilibrium, by sin cos 
 z, (Theorem A), a being either the zenith distance or 
 the altitude ; and it is obvious that, when the canal 
 is situated obliquely with respect to the meridian of 
 the spheroid, the inclination of the surface, and with 
 it the force, will be diminished as the secant of the 
 obliquity increases, or as the cosine of the obliquity- 
 diminishes ; so that the force will vary as sin cos 
 Alt, sin A^, if the canal be in an easterly and west- 
 erly direction ; or if it deviate from that direction 
 in a given angle, as sin cos Alt, sin ( Az.-\-Dev-) : and 
 it is obvious that this force will vanish both when the 
 luminary is in the horizon, and when it is in the ver* 
 tical circle, perpendicular to the direction of the ca- 
 nal ; that is, if we consider the force as acting hori- 
 zontally on a particle at the middle of the length of 
 the given canal ; and the same force may be consi- 
 dered as acting vertically, with a proper reduction of 
 its magnitude, at the end of the canal ; for the ho- 
 rizontal oscillations at the middle must obviously fol- 
 low the same laws as the vertical motions at the end. 
 
 The case, however, of a canal running east and 
 west, admits a very remarkable simpliBcation ; and 
 since it approaches nearly to that of an open ocean, 
 which has been most commonly considered, it will 
 be amply sufficient for the illustration of the present 
 
 cos Deal, sin Hor. <* 
 theory. For, in general, sm Az.=.'-' — , 
 
 cos Alt. 
 
 and the expression, sin cos Alt. sin Az., becomes in 
 this case sin Ah. cos Decl. sin Hor. But sin Alt. 
 — sin (Lat.) sin Decl. -f cos {Lat.) cos Decl. cos Hor. 
 ><, and calling sin (Lot.) for the given canal, l, and 
 cos {Lat.), l', the force becomes L sin cos Decl. sin 
 Hor. <C+l' cos '-^ Decl. sin cos- Hor. <<. Now, sin 
 Decl. = cos Obi. Eel. sin Lat.-\- sin Obi. Eel. cos Lat. 
 
 3 
 
 sin Long. ; and since cos p= 1— | sin ^ (p -f - sin * p — 
 
 5_ . 
 l6 
 
 sin ^ p -|- . . . , the true value of cos Decl. might 
 
 be expressed, if required, by means of this series, 
 and its second and fourth powers would in general 
 be sufficient for the computation. 
 
 But it will be more convenient to suppose the sun 
 and moon to move in the ecliptic, and the ecliptic 
 to be at the same time so little inclined to the equa- 
 tor, that the longitude may be substituted for the 
 right ascension ; a substitution which will cause but 
 little alteration in the common phenomena of the tides. 
 Then if the sun's longitude be O, and the moon's 
 
TIDES. 
 
 ]) , the horary angles t and i', and the sine of the 
 obliquity of the ecliptic ce; we shall have sin Decl. 
 z=ce sin Q , or ce sin ]) ; and cos Dec^. = 1 — s'm^ Decl. 
 
 3 . , 
 4- - sin 
 ^ 8 
 
 3 
 
 •1 Decl. = l—^ce^ sin^ 0 + - o?" sin^ 0 . . 
 
 and sin cos Decl. = sin 0- 
 
 0 
 
 also cos2 7)ecZ. = 1— oe^sin^ 0 
 
 the sun's force becomes l sin t (ce sin 0— | ce 
 0 +1 a?5 sin^ 0 + 
 
 whence 
 
 0)=rL sin f 
 0)+8 
 
 ( 
 
 I sin 2 ^ (1 — ce' 
 1 
 
 ce sin © — I ce 
 
 ./3 . 1 
 
 sin 3 
 
 ]) 
 
 +1 l' sin 2 i (1-1 cos 2 0) = L sin i 
 
 (ce' sin Q+a?" sin 3 Q +ce"' sin 5 0) + (t i— 
 :! L' (£2) sin 2 i + I l' cb^ sin 2 ^ cos 2 0 ; «?' being 
 
 or about .3645; ce" =^ 
 
 3 
 
 = 0?—— oe 
 
 15 
 
 OS'' 
 
 = '""-lis 
 
 .00002, and cb^ — .1585. But sin t sin 0 = I cos 
 (^_Q)_i cos + 0). and sin 2t cos 2 0 = 
 1 sin 2 (<+©) + -2 sin 2 (i— 0). Hence the 
 
 sun's force becomes S ^ l cos («_0)— ^ cos 
 
 (^+ 0)] + i' ^" Q cos {t—SQ)—i cos (#+30)] 
 
 -f- L ce 
 
 [I cos (/_5 0)— J cos (t + 5e)2 + 
 
 square of S' [cos (2^+0 + cos (2/'+»i')]+(M'~5") 
 cos (2^'+m') : and when least, it will be D (iW — S'f 
 and when greatest, D (M' + S')^, the difference 
 being 4DiWS'; so that the difference may be suffi- 
 ciently represented by ^DM'S' [cos (2i + s') + cos 
 (2^' + 7w')j X .8484-, or rather x (.84.84')^ because the 
 
 8 value of cos / + cos t'—'i cos 
 
 (I— ce^) sin 2 # + ^ \_l sin 2 (^+0) +i sin 2 
 
 (f 0)]^ : and that of the moon may be express- 
 ed in the same manner, by substituting M, /' and D , 
 for S, t, and 0. 
 
 The effect of that part of the hydraulic resistance, 
 which is proportional to the square of the velocity, 
 must be expressed by an approximation deduced 
 from the periodical character of the force, as de- 
 pending on that of the primitive forces concerned ; 
 taking, however, the precaution to use such expres- 
 sions only, as will always represent this resistance in 
 its proper character as a retarding force: for if we 
 simply found for it an equivalent expression, denot- 
 ing accurately the square of the velocity, this square, 
 being always positive, would imply a force acting 
 always in the same direction. Now, we have already 
 seen (Theorem J. Cor. 3), that sin^ x may be con- 
 sidered, with respect to its principal effect, as equi- 
 valent to .S^S* sin X : and, if we neglect, in the de- 
 termination of the resistance, the effect of the smaller 
 forces, and compute only that of the principal terms 
 1 l' sin and | l' sin 21', we may call the veloci- 
 ties depending on these forces S' cos [2t^s') and 
 M' cos (2/'4-m'): S' and M' representing not ex- 
 actly the proportion of the primitive forces of the 
 sun and moon, but that of the tides depending on 
 their combinat'ion with the conditions of the given 
 sea or lake. The resistance will then be as the 
 
 2^+. ce' 
 4 
 
 (t'-^5 ]) )—l cos (i'+5 3) )3+2 
 
 673 
 
 Tides. 
 
 tA-V t—t' . . ^ 
 — ' — cos -;r—, which 
 2 2 
 
 is to be squared, requires the reduction from 1 to 
 .8484 for each of its factors ; and in this manner we 
 obtain a perfect representation of the period and 
 quality of the resistance, and a very near approxi- 
 mation to its magnitude. 
 
 It will, however, be still more accurate to considei' 
 the resistance thus determined as comprehended in 
 the value of the coefficient A, substituting for it, 
 in the case of the solar tide, A'=:A-\-2.88 DM', and 
 for the moon ^"=1^-1- 2.88 + . 8484 7) (M'—S'); 
 this latter part expressing that portion of the resist- 
 ance D which observes the period of the lunar tide, 
 and which may therefore be considered as added to 
 the resistance A for that tide only. 
 
 Hence, collecting all the forces concerned into a 
 
 .,, , dd* , 
 
 single equation, the expression will become -f 
 
 A'" ^^Bs-^S (h ce'll cos (i— 0)— | cos (^+ 
 0)-f-L ce" [| cos (t—3 0)— I cos (H3 ©)]+«'" 
 [I cos {t—5 Q)—i cos (f + 5 0)]+^ (1— a2)sin 
 
 [1 sin 2 (^+0)+| sin 2 (?— 0O) + 
 
 M (l ce' cos (f'— }) )— ^ cos (^'+ }) l ce" 
 cos {t—S }) )— I cos (/'+3 3) 0+ L ce"' H cos 
 
 sin 2 (i'+ D ) + \ sin 2 (f'— D O ; 
 
 and from each of these terms the value of the cor- 
 responding pair of terms in the value of s may be 
 obtained independently, by comparison with the M 
 sin Gt or N cos Gt of Theorem K, which gives us 
 
 (GG-B-) sin Gt+AGco^ Gt 
 (GG—B)^+AAGG 
 
 N, respectively. 
 
 {GG—B)^+AAGG ' ^ ^ 
 
 But without entering minutely into the effects of 
 all the terms of the equation of the forces, it may be 
 observed in general that their results, with regard to 
 the space described, will not differ much from the 
 proportion of the forces, except when their periods 
 approach nearly to that of the spontaneous oscilla- 
 tion, represented by B. Thus since ^ cos (^— -0) 
 
 1 cos (<+0) is the representative of sin t sin 0, 
 
 and since these terms will afford results in the form 
 1 a cos {t—QHl^ sin (t—Q), and of | a' cos 
 (f4.Q) + i3' sin (i+0); and if we neglected the 
 slight difference of a and a', which is that of 
 
C74> 
 
 TIDES. 
 
 being 
 
 365.254 
 
 only, we should have ia []cos (t — a) — cos 
 
 (^+0)3+^/3 [sin 0—0)— sin (/+0)=a sin / sin 
 04-/3 cos t sin 0= sin 0 (a sin if+/3 cos /); which 
 is the same as if we considered the effect of the force 
 sin i separately, and afterwards reduced it in the 
 proportion of sin 0. Hence it is obvious that for 
 all modifications of the forces greatly exceeding in 
 their periods the period of spontaneous oscillation, 
 the effects may be computed as if the forces were 
 exempt from those modifications, and then supposed 
 to be varied in the same proportion as the forces : 
 but we cannot be quite certain of the magnitude of 
 the error thus introduced, unless we know the exact 
 value of B, which determines the time of spontane- 
 ous oscillation. 
 
 Considering, therefore, in this simple point of 
 view, the correct expression of the force, l sin cos 
 Decl. sin Hor. < + l'^ cos ^ i)ec/. sin cos Hor. <, 
 or |l sin 2 Bed. sin Hor. <+|l' cos ^ Decl. sin 
 2 Hor. < : we may observe that the phenomena for 
 each luminary will be arranged in two principal di- 
 visions ; the most considerable being represented by 
 ^l' cos 2 Decl. sin 2 Hor. and giving a tide every 
 twelve hours, which varies in magnitude as the square 
 of the cosine of the declination varies, increasing and 
 diminishing twice a year, being also proportional to 
 the cosine of the latitude of the place, and disap- 
 pearing for a sea situated at the pole: the second 
 part is a diurnal tide, proportional to the sine of the 
 latitude of the given canal, being greatest when the 
 luminary is furthest from the equinox, and vanishing 
 when its declination vanishes. 
 
 From these general principles, an attentive student 
 may easily trace for himself the agreement of the 
 theory here explained with the various modifications 
 of the tides as they are actually observed, and as 
 they are recorded by Lalande and Laplace, and as 
 they are enunaerated in the Article Tides of the late 
 editions of this Encyclopcedia. It remains, however, 
 for us to inquire more particularly into the cause of 
 the hitherto unintelligible fact, that the maximum of 
 the spring tides in the most exposed situations is at 
 least half a day, if not a whole day, later than the 
 maximum of the moving forces.. 
 
 Now it is easy to perceive that since the resistance 
 observing the lunar period is more considerable than 
 that which affects the solar tide, the lunar tide will 
 be more retarded or accelerated than the solar ; re- 
 tarded when the oscillation is direct, or when G- B 
 
 is positive, and accelerated when it is inverted, or 
 when that quantity is negative : and that in order to 
 obtain the perfect coincidence of the respective high 
 waters, the moon must be further from the meridian 
 of the place than the sun ; so that the greatest di- 
 rect tides ought to happen a little before the syzy- 
 gies, and the greatest inverted tides a little after : 
 and from this consideration, as well as from some 
 others, it seems probable that the primitive tides, 
 which affect most of our harbours, are rather invert- 
 ed than direct. 
 
 If we wish to apply this theory with precision to 
 the actual state of the solar and lunar motions, we 
 
 must determine the value of the coefficients,, from 
 the tables of those luminaries : and first, making the 
 unit of time a whole solar day, in which the horary 
 angle t extends from 0° to 360^ the sun's mean longi- 
 tude 0 will be — added to the longitude at the 
 
 given epoch, and the moon's approximate horary 
 angle i' will be found from the variation, or the 
 moon's age in space. 
 
 Now, in Burckhardt's Tables, p. 87, we find tlie 
 variation for the midnight ending 1823, by adding 
 the constant quantity .9° to the epoch for 1824, and 
 (IP. 14°. 44'. 44")-l-9°=:lI*. 23«. 44' 44", or~(6^. 
 15'. 16"), according to the time of Paris: the move- 
 ment for 12 hours is 6°. 5'. 43"; consequently at noon, 
 or 1824 Jan. 1. Oh, astronomical time at Paris, the 
 variation is— (9'. 33"), corresponding to the move- 
 ment of 18™. 49 . in mean time, and the mean con- 
 junction will take place at Is"". 49\ Parisian time, 
 which may be more compendiously expressed by 
 calling it the true mean noon, in the time of the is- 
 land of Guernsey or of Dorchester: and the move- 
 ment in 24 hours being 12° 11' 26.5"= 12. 1 9°, we 
 shall have ^'=360°— 12.19''=347.81° when /=:360°, 
 
 or /'= 
 
 347.81 
 
 360 
 
 ^=.96614; ; and the moon's horary 
 
 angle, considered in relation to the circumference as 
 unity, will always be .96614^, if t be the number of 
 days elapsed, from the noon of 1st Jan. 1814 at 
 Guernsey. 
 
 The sun's mean longitude for the same epoch is 
 (279°. 35'. 23-1") -.77666, his longitude for any 
 other time will therefore be .77666+. 002738^=0, 
 and that of the moon, ]) =.77666+.03386^. 
 
 We may compute, with sufficient accuracy, the 
 effect of the modifications produced by the change 
 of the moon's distance, or the inequality of her mo- 
 tion in her orbit, or of the periodical change of the 
 inclination of her orbit to the equator, which takes 
 place from the revolution of the nodes, by simply 
 considering the changes which will be produced in 
 the forces concerned by these inequalities, and sup- 
 posing the effects simply proportional to their causes. 
 If, however, it were desired to determine these modi- 
 fications with still greater precision, we might de- 
 duce approximate formulas for expressing them from 
 the elements employed in the Tables. 
 
 Tlie epoch of the moon's mean anomaly for 1824 
 
 is (4^ 29^ 25'. 23.3^")+2°=l5l°. 25'. 23.3"; the 
 
 movement for 12^^. 18™. 49^* is (6°. 31'. 57")-j-(9'. 
 47.9")+27"=6°. 42'. 12", which gives 158°. 7'. 35" 
 for the mean anomaly at noon in the island of Guern- 
 sey. The daily movement being 13° 3.9'= 13.065°, 
 the mean anomaly will always be 158.127°-{-l3.o65°/, 
 reckoning i from the supposed epoch or day. The 
 principal part of the central equation will then be, 
 according to Burckhardt, 22692,4" sin An., or (6*=. 
 18.2') sin (158J-°+ 13.065°/), and its sine will be 
 very nearly .11 sin (13.065°<+] 58.127°), which will 
 represent the principal inequality of the longitude 
 and of the variation, so that the variation, instead of 
 12.19°/, will become l2.l9°/+6.3° sfn (13.065°/+ 
 158.127°), and this subtracted from 360°/, leaves 
 
T I D 
 
 S47.Sr^--6.3* sin (13.065°/+158.127°), the sine of 
 which is nearly sin 347.81°/ — cos 347. 81°/ .11 bin 
 (13.065H158.127°). 
 
 The equatorial parallax is nearly 57'+ 187" cos 
 Ail., or 57' + 3.1' cos (13.065°/ + 158.127°); and 
 the disturbing force, which varies as the cube of 
 the parallax, or of 57' [l-f.0544< cos (.13.065°^+ 
 158.127°)] may be expressed, with sufficient accu- 
 racy, by 1 +.1632 cos (13.065°/+158.127°). 
 
 The supplement of the node for 1824 is (2.10.56) 
 +2'=70" 58', to which we must add (3'.10.6") t for 
 tlie time elapsed : and the longitude ]) will be 
 279°. 35' 23.1"+(13°. 10'. 35") t. 
 
 Although the value of the coefficients is not directly 
 discoverable, we may still obtain a tolerable estimate 
 of its magnitude in particular cases, by inquiring into 
 the consequences of assigning to it several different 
 values, equal, for example, to the coefficient of the 
 solar or lunar tide, or greater or less than either ; 
 while we assume also, for the coefficient of the re- 
 sistance, A, a great and a smaller value, for instance 
 ^ and ^g, supposing D to be inconsiderable. We 
 then find, from the expression ^{a"-\-^^)M= 
 V(a2+82) B/M (Theorem J, Schol. 2)= 
 
 BiS,M) . , , „^ . 
 
 l,if 
 
 B= ^ , .93442 , 1 , or 4 ; 
 
 A—Jici' —.980, —7.550, 10, 1.3324, 
 ; —.832,-2.742, 3, 1.3252; 
 and for the lunar, G being .966I4, and 
 ._r-^; —1.122, 10,8.197, 1.3036, 
 - \ ^ ; — .913 , 3 , 2.942 , 1.2968 , 
 respectively. 
 
 Hence it appears, that the resistance tends greatly 
 to diminish the variation in the magnitude of the 
 tides, dependent on their near approach to the pe- 
 riod of spontaneous oscillation, and the more as the 
 resistance is the more considerable : and supposing, 
 with Laplace, that in the port of Brest, or elsewhere, 
 the comparative magnitude of the tides is altered 
 from the proportion of 5 to 2, which is that of the 
 forces, to the proportion of 3 to 1 ; the multipliers 
 of the solar and lunar tides being to each other as 5 to 
 ^ , 36BB 25BB 
 
 6, wehave theequation -j^ZlBf+A^ = (^B)^A^' 
 
 whence we find that B must be either .9380 or .6328 ; 
 and the former value making the lunar tide only in- 
 verse, we must suppose the latter nearer the truth ; 
 and the magnitude of the tides will become 1.663 
 and 1.998: and it appears from the same equations, 
 that, n remaining =: -93442, A cannot be greater 
 than .632 ; and B would then be .78540 : and if A 
 =0, the values of B would be .9617 or .6O9I. It 
 
 TIP 
 
 615 
 
 , .96614 . , 
 
 -^^T;^ respectively, 
 
 seems probable, however, that the primitive tides Tides 
 must be in a somewhat greater ratio than this of 2 to 1 II 
 and 5 to 3, when compared with the oscillations of Tipnerary. 
 the spheroid of equilibrium ; and if we supposed B '^"^■'^'^^ 
 =.9 and A stiil=yL, we should have 7-071 and 
 9.756 for their magnitude. Now if 5= -6328, the 
 tangents of the angular measures of the displacement, 
 
 ^ AG ^ 1 
 
 -=7— — ^, becomes r^r-^ . ^ - 
 
 a GG—B' .3672 .30160 
 
 giving us 69° 50' and 72° 40' for the angles them- 
 selves : and if Bz=.9, these angles become 45" and 
 70° 24' respectively; the difference in the former case 
 2" 50', and in the latter 25*" 24', which corresponds to 
 a motion of more than twenty four hours of the moon 
 in her orbit. 
 
 It appears then that, ybr (his simple reason only, 
 if the supposed data were correct, the highest spring- 
 tides ought to be A DAY LATER than the conjunction 
 and opposition of the luminaries; so that this consi- 
 deration requires to be combined with that of the 
 effect of a resistance proportional to the square of 
 the velocity, which has already been shown to afford 
 a more general explanation of the same phenomenon. 
 There is indeed little doubt, that if we were provid- 
 ed with a sufficiently correct series of minutely accu- 
 rate observations on the tides, made not merely with 
 a view to the times of low and high water only, but 
 rather to the heights at the intermediate times, we 
 might form, by degrees, with the assistance of the 
 theory contained in this article only, almost as per- 
 fect a set of tables for the motions of the ocean, as 
 we have already obtained for those of the celestial 
 bodies, which are the more immediate objects of the 
 attention of the practical astronomer. Tiiere is some 
 reason to hope, that a system of such observations 
 will speedily be set on foot, by a public authority : 
 and it will be necessary, in pursuing the calculation, 
 on the other hand, to extend the formula for the 
 forces to the case of a sea, performing its principal 
 oscillations in a direction oblique to the meridian, as 
 stated in the beginning of this section. 
 
 For such a sea, the calculations would be some- 
 what complicated, except in the case of its being situ- 
 ated at or near the equator : we should then obtain, 
 by proper reduction, for the volume of the force, 
 putting D the sine of the duration, or of the angle 
 formed by the length of the canal with the equator, 
 and d' its cosine, the expression d sin cos DecL cos 
 Hor. .<[ + b' cos^ Decl. sin cos Hor. : and the or- 
 der of the phenomena would be less affected by the 
 alteration of the situation of the canal than could 
 easily have been supposed, without entering into 
 the computation. This expression, when dzzo, be- 
 comes, as it ought to do, identical with the former, 
 making l=o. (a. l.) 
 
 TIPPERARY, an extensive county in the pro- 
 vince of Munster in Ireland, bounded by King's and 
 Queen's Counties on the north ; Kilkenny on the 
 east; Waterford and Cork on the south; and Gal- 
 way, Clare, and Limerick, on the west. From Gal- 
 ■Wiiy and Clare it is separated by the Shannon, which 
 forms the boundary on the south-west. It extends 
 
 about 74 miles from north to south, and 40 from 
 east to west, containing 1591 English square miles, 
 or 1,018,240 acres, 12 baronies, and 186 parishes. 
 More than half the parishes belong to the Archbishop- 
 ric of Cashel, and the rest to the sees of Emly, Lis- 
 more, and Killaloe. 
 
 The surface is considerably diversified with moun- i\ 
 
676 
 
 Tipperary. 
 
 Rivers. 
 
 Minerals. 
 
 Estates. 
 
 Farms. 
 
 Tithes. 
 
 Flax. 
 
 Towns. 
 
 Manufac- 
 tures. 
 
 TIP 
 
 tains, some of them covered with heath, and plains 
 of great fertility, of which, however, the latter occu- 
 py the larger portion, the former being chiefly con- 
 fined to the boundaries, or not stretching far into the 
 interior. Among these the Galties and Knockmele- 
 down are the most considerable. The rest of the coun- 
 ty is in general very productive ; and contains some 
 large tracts, particularly that which is called the 
 Golden Vale, and the quarter in which the town of 
 Tipperary is situated, naturally as rich as any land in 
 the United Kingdom. The rivers are the Shannon, 
 which here expands into the noble lake called Lough 
 Derg, and the Suir, which, rising on the borders of 
 King's County, takes its course first south and then 
 east by Clonmel and Carrick, and after joining the 
 Barrow and the Nore, falls into the sea upwards of 
 100 miles from its source. Many small streams tra- 
 verse the county, and are lost in these two rivers. 
 Among the minerals are excellent slate in several 
 parts, and lead wrought at Silver Mines on the west- 
 ern side of the county, among the ore of which some 
 virgin silver has been found. Coal is also worked 
 here, on the borders of Queen's County. The cli- 
 mate is so mild, that cattle remain out on their pas- 
 tures all the year round, the frosts of winter being 
 seldom so severe as greatly to check vegetation. 
 
 This county is divided into estates of various sizes, 
 some of them very large, but a greater number of a 
 medium extent, worth from L. 4-000 to L. 6000 a- 
 year. Of the proprietors, the influence of Lord Lan- 
 dafFis by far the most considerable, though several 
 others have estates worth from L. 10,000 to L. 15,000 
 a-year and upwards. The graziers here, as in Ros- 
 common, have leasehold properties frequently of 
 much greater value than the freeholds, of which also 
 they often become the purchasers. Properties of 
 this description, worth from L. 2000 to L. 4000 a- 
 year, are very common. Tillage farms, however, 
 are generally of small extent, one of ninety Irish acres 
 being thought large; yet the management is in many 
 instances more respectable than in most other parts 
 of Ireland. In some instances the rent of small 
 farms in 1808 was as high as fourteen guineas the Irish 
 acre. But the principal business is grazing, every va- 
 riety of this kind of land being found here. Leases are 
 commonly for twenty-one years and a life. The cattle, 
 which are long-horned, may be ranked with the best 
 in Ireland, and many of the fine flocks of long-wool- 
 ed sheep are not inferior, in Mr Wakefield's opinion, 
 to those of Leicestershire. " The charge for tithe," 
 says the author of the Statistical Account of the 
 Parish of Carrick, written in 1815, " is, for wheat 
 12s., oats 8s., barley 12s., potatoes 12s., meadow 8s., 
 sallows l2s., orchards ad valorem, which are always 
 compounded, and never taken in kind." The rich 
 lands produce a kind of flax very different from that 
 which is raised in the north ; it grows to a great 
 height, and appears to be exceedingly well adapted 
 for sail-cloth. 
 
 The principal towns are Clonmel, the county 
 town, and the birth-place of Sterne, and Carrick, 
 both upon the Suir, Cashel, Fethard, formerly a 
 walled town, but now in a state of decay, Cahir, 
 Thurles, Roscrea, Nenagh, and Tipperary, the last 
 now in a ruinous condition. 
 
 The manufacture of broad-cloth is carried on to 
 
 Tookt 
 
 TOO 
 
 some extent at Carrick ; and that of linen, worsted, Tlppera 
 and coarse woollens, as branches of domestic indus- 
 try. But the wealth of this extensive district chiefly 
 consists in its cattle and sheep, corn, and other land ' 
 produce. By means of the Suir, it has access to 
 Waterford and the sea on the south, and by the 
 Barrow and Nore, and a branch of the Grand Ca- 
 nal, to Dublin on the east. 
 
 Tipperary sends four members to Parliament; twoRepresen 
 for the county, in which there are about 1 2,000 
 freeholders, and one for each of the burghs of Clon- 
 mel and Cashel. Before the Union the number was 
 eight ; Cashel, Clonmel, and Fethard, having each 
 two representatives, and the county two. In 1791,Populat 
 the population was estimated at 169,000 ; by the 
 census of 1821 it was found to be 353.402. Ac- 
 cording to Mr Wakefield, the number of Protestants 
 is very small ; in some places not one in a hundred. 
 The Irish language is still spoken as well as the 
 English. From the want of bog in the low grounds, 
 turf for fuel is sometimes scarce and dear. The 
 wages of common labour, a few years ago, were 
 higher than in most other parts of Ireland ; yet the 
 lower classes have been but too ready to take an 
 active part in the disturbances which frequently 
 bring disgrace and misery on the south of Ireland. 
 
 See the general works quoted under the former 
 Irish counties, (a.) 
 
 TITHES. See Taxation, p. 629. 
 
 TOOKE (John Horne), an ingenious gramma- 
 rian and an active politician, born in Westminster, 
 June 1736, was the son of Mr John Horne, a trades- 
 man living in Newport Market. 
 
 He was the third of seven children ; but his father, 
 having acquired considerable affluence, sent him first 
 for a short time to Westminster School, and then to 
 Eton, where he remained five or six years without 
 particularly distinguishing himself, and was remov- 
 ed sooner than had been intended on account of the 
 accidental loss of an eye. He went, in 1755, to St 
 John's College, Cambridge, and took a degree of Ba- 
 chelor of Arts there. He then became an usher 
 in a school at Blackheath, kept by Mr Jennings ; 
 but he was soon after induced by his father to take 
 deacon's orders, and obtained a curacy in Kent. His 
 own preference, however, was so much in favour of 
 the law, that in 1756 he entered as a student of the 
 Middle Temple; but in I76O he was persuaded to 
 return to the church, and to receive ordination as a 
 priest ; and he officiated for three years in the cha- 
 pelry of New Brentford, which his father had pur- 
 chased for him ; performing his duties with decency, 
 and taking some pains to study the elements of me- 
 dicine for the sake of the poorer members of his con- 
 gregation. He then went as tutor to France with 
 the son of Mr Elwes, a gentleman of Berkshire, well 
 known for his riches and his economy. 
 
 In 1765, he commenced his political career by 
 writing an anonymous pamphlet in defence of Wilkes 
 and his party. He returned to the continent, and 
 made the tour of Italy in company with a Mr Taylor ; 
 and at Paris he formed an intimacy with Wilkes 
 himself, who then found it convenient to reside 
 there. He had altogether laid aside his clerical cha- 
 racter in these excursions, but he resumed it for a 
 short time after his return : soon, however, he relap- 
 
 4 
 
TOO 
 
 eed into 'his political amusements ; exerting himself, 
 ' with some success, in various elections, as a partisan 
 of his friend Wilkes, and taking up the cause of a 
 Mrs Bigby, in the pursuit of an " appeal of blood," 
 against the murderers of her husband, who were 
 supposed to have obtained a pardon through corrupt 
 interest with the court ; though the widow at last 
 disappointed him by accepting a pecuniary compen- 
 sation for her right of appeal. He was, however, 
 successful, on his own behalf, in repelling a prosecu- 
 tion for a libel on Mr Onslow ; and he gained some 
 credit with a party in the city by suggesting to Beck- 
 ford, then Lord Mayor of London, the reply which 
 he made to the King's answer to their remonstrance, 
 and which may still be seen, engraved on the pede- 
 stal of Beck ford's statue in Guildhall. He was soon 
 after very active in establishing the Society for sup- 
 porting the Bill of Rights, and in obtaining the liber- 
 ation of Bingley, the printer, who had been somewhat 
 hastily committed to prison by Lord Mansfield. 
 
 He had reason to be dissatisfied, in the year 1770, 
 with the conduct of Wilkes, in some pecuniary trans- 
 actions relating to the Society for the Bill of Rights : 
 both parties appeared to the public in a light some- 
 what ridiculous on the occasion, and neither of them 
 gained in respectability, though the Society did not 
 appear to value Wilkes the less for the exposures 
 that took place ; it was, however, shortly after dis- 
 solved, and most of its members, except the particu- 
 lar friends of Wilkes, were incorporated into the 
 Constitutional Society. The next year, Mr Tooke 
 completed his academical course at Cambridge, by 
 taking the degree of Master of Arts, though not 
 without some opposition. He exerted himself great- 
 ly about this time, in procuring the publication of 
 the debates of the House of Commons in the daily 
 papers, notwithstanding the well-known standing 
 Orders of the House ; and so far as he was instru- 
 mental in carrying this point, he appears to have 
 rendered at least one very essential service to his 
 country ; but Wilkes, and especially Almon, the 
 bookseller, are said to have a still stronger claim to 
 the merit of this transaction, whatever may have 
 been its character. 
 
 He had also a sharp contest with the anonymous 
 " Junius," against whose hasty attack he defended 
 himself with great spirit and energy, and with un- 
 exampled success. In 1773, he made a formal re- 
 signation of his living, and meant at the same time 
 completely to lay aside his clerical character, though 
 no person seems to have felt himself authorised 
 to accept this part of his resignation ; and he be- 
 gan to study the law very diligently, intending to 
 make it the occupation of his life. He adopted soon 
 after a singular method of forcing himself upon the 
 notice of the public, and of the House of Commons 
 in particular : an inclosure bill being about to be 
 hurried, as was reported, a little too rapidly through 
 the House, he wrote some paragraphs in a newspa- 
 per, which reflected very severely on the conduct of 
 tlie Speaker, on purpose that he might be summoned 
 to appear before the House ; and being placed at the 
 bar, he gave such reasons for his conduct as produ- 
 ced some animated discussions, and in the end was 
 supposed, though probably without foundation, to 
 
 VOL. VI. PART II. 
 
 TOO 677 
 
 have caused the bill to be modified in some oppres- Tooke. 
 sive clauses. By these means he obtained the favour ^•^^^^^"^-^ 
 of Mr Tooke of Purley, who thought himself ag- 
 grieved by the bill in its original state, and received 
 from him such assurances of testamentary favours as 
 induced his nephew. Colonel Harwood, to agree upon 
 a partition of their joint interest in the reversion of 
 his estate ; though Mr Home never I'eceived, first 
 and last, more than L. 8000 from the property, not- 
 withstanding the subsequent change of his name a- 
 bout the year 1782, in acknowledgment of his pa- 
 tron's kindness, and his long continued intimacy and 
 fi'equent residence at Purley ; the principal legatee, 
 after all, being a Mr Beaseley. 
 
 Mr Horne Tooke was, of course, a strenuous oppos- 
 er of the American war; and in 1777, he published 
 a very offensive advertisement, in which the sufferers 
 in the battle of Lexington were described as having 
 been murdered by the King's troops. For this attack 
 on the Government, he was tried at Guildhall, in July 
 1777 J he conducted his own defence, but he was found 
 guilty of the libel, and sentenced to a year's imprison- 
 ment in the King's Bench, and a fine of L. 200. It was 
 on this occasion that he first appeared before the public 
 as a grammarian, in the criticisms which constitute 
 his celebrated Letter to Mr Dun7iing. The next 
 year he suffered a still severer punishment, in the re- 
 fusal of the society of the Inner Temple to admit him 
 to the bar, on account of his having taken orders ; 
 so that his prospects of professional advancement 
 were utterly annihilated. This occurrence made him 
 still more bitter against the existing Government, and 
 in 1 780 he printed some severe remarks upon the 
 measures of Lord North. He attempted to establish 
 himself as a practical farmer in Huntingdonshire ; 
 but he caught an ague, and soon became disgusted 
 with an agricultural life ; he returned to London, and 
 occupied for some years a house near Soho Square. 
 His ideas of Parliamentary reform, contained in a 
 second letter addressed to Mr Dunning, were by no 
 means extravagant, and he continued to adhere, in 
 this respect, rather to the party of Mr Pitt than to 
 that of Mr Fox. 
 
 The publication of his grammatical dissertations, 
 under the title of the Diversions oj Purley, afforded 
 but a slight and imperfect intermission of his politi- 
 cal pursuits, for his etymological works are as replete 
 with the politics of the day as his speeches and his 
 pamphlets ; another of which appeared in 1788, un- 
 der the title of Two Pah\ of Portraits, being intended 
 to serve the cause of Pitt's party in their elections. 
 But in 1790 he became himself a candidate for the 
 representation of Westminster, in opposition to Mr 
 Fox and to Lord Hood ; and he distinguished himself 
 sufficiently as a popular orator, though he was not 
 successful in the contest. 
 
 He was tried, in 1794, for High Treason, together 
 with several other members of the Corresponding 
 Societies, who had been active in attempting to intro- 
 duce some imitations of the French Revolution in 
 the plans of reform which they brought forward. 
 He exhibited on the trial somewhat more of firmness 
 than of good taste: one of his associates had before 
 been acquitted, and the jury speedily returned a 
 similar verdict with respect to himself. He after- 
 4f R 
 
678 
 
 TOO 
 
 TOO 
 
 Tooke. wards dedicated the second volume of his Diversions 
 ''^^-.'^'^ of PurJey to his counsel, Gibbs and Erskine, and to 
 the juiy who tried him. 
 
 In 1796, he again became a candidate for the re- 
 presentation of Westminster ; but again without suc- 
 cess : and, notwithstanding his strong opinions re- 
 specting a reform in Parliament, he afterwards con- 
 descended to accept from Lord Camelford, in 1801, 
 a seat for the nominal burgh of Old Sarum. It was 
 then to be determined if a clergyman could sit in 
 the House of Commons ; but the ministry, instead 
 of contesting the point with respect to his particular 
 case, brought in a bill to decide the question in the 
 negative for the future, and he remained in the House 
 till the dissolution of the Parliament in the next year, 
 but without particularly distinguishing himself in its 
 proceedings. 
 
 His last public effort, as a party man, was made 
 in espousing for a short time the cause of Mr Paull, 
 as candidate for Westminster ; but, he abandoned 
 this gentleman in a subsequent contest. The later 
 years of his life were chiefly passed in the society of 
 a select circle of friends, who frequently partook of 
 his hospitality at Wimbledon. He died in March 
 1822, leaving his property to some natural daugh- 
 ters ; for he had never been married. He was buried 
 in Ealing church, and not in his garden, as he had 
 directed ; his executors thinking themselves the less 
 bound by these instructions, as a literal compliance 
 with them might have been unfavourable to the 
 "sale" of the property. 
 
 1 . ' His earliest publication was a pamphlet en- 
 titled The Petition of an Englishman, 1765. It con- 
 sisted principally of apologies, for the private con- 
 duct and immoral writings of Wilkes. 
 
 2. He also published A Sermon while he continued 
 in the church, that is, before the year 1773 : but it 
 attracted little notice. 
 
 3. A Letter to Mr Dunnivg, 1 778. The rudi- 
 ments of his grammatical system, arising out of re- 
 marks on the particles employed by the Attorney- 
 General in his indictment, and by the judges in his 
 sentence : it was afterwards incorporated into the 
 Diversions of Purley. 
 
 4. Facts, 1780 : consisting of remarks on the ad- 
 ministration of Lord North ; with some additions 
 relating to finance, by Dr Price. 
 
 5. A Letter on Parliamentary Reform, 1782: ad- 
 dressed to Mr Dunning, afterwards Lord Ash- 
 burton. 
 
 6. Epea Pteroenta, or Diversions of Purley, 8. 
 1786. Ed. 2. 4. Part I. 1798. Part 11. 1802. His 
 great and celebrated work ; rich indeed in etymo- 
 logy and in wit, but meagre in definition and in 
 metaphysics. 
 
 7. A Letter to the Prince of Wales, 1787 : relat- 
 ing to the supposed marriage with a Catholic. 
 
 8. Txuo Pair of Portraits, 8. 1788. The two 
 Pitts contrasted, in opposite columns, with the two 
 Foxes, in colours by no means favourable to the 
 latter. 
 
 9- Many of his Letters have been printed in 
 Stephens's Life ofToohe, 2 v. 8. Lond. 1813. 
 
 It is from the last mentioned publication, that this 
 historical sketch of Mr Tooke's life has principally 
 
 been extracted : it now becomes necessary to add Tcoki 
 some remarks on his literary and moral qualifications 
 and in both these points of view, the subject has 
 been treated in so masterly a manner by the author 
 of an article in the Qiuarterly JRevieiv, who is sup- 
 posed to be a near relation of Tooke's most intimate 
 friend, the late Colonel Bosville, that it would be 
 presumption in any man to go over the same groxmd, 
 without adopting very nearly the eloquent and ener- 
 getic expressions, which that noble and learned per- 
 son has employed. 
 
 " Mr Tooke," says the accomplished Reviewer of 
 the Memoirs of his Life (Q, R. Vol, VII. No. xiv. p. 
 325), " was possessed of considerable learning, as in- 
 deed his writings sufficiently show. To other more 
 casual acquirements, he imited a very extensive ac- 
 quaintance with the Gothic dialects, of which he has 
 so copiously and so judiciously availed himself in 
 his etymological researches." But it must be re- 
 marked, that a person more intimately acquainted 
 with the " Gothic dialects" as living languages will 
 easily discover, that his knowledge of them was in 
 truth but superficial, or that he was indebted for it 
 more to grammars and dictionaries, than to any ex- 
 tensive study of the authors who had written in those 
 languages, or to any habit of speaking them ; and 
 such a person will easily find a variety of instances, 
 in which a very different etymon to that which he 
 has assigned, will naturally suggest itself as the true 
 origin of the word in qtiestion. 
 
 (P. 320.) "Though Mr Tooke's philosophical 
 works are the results of no common talent and indus- 
 try, yet they are neither vtrritten in a truly philoso- 
 phical spirit, nor do they display traces of a mind, 
 which, even if it had been wholly dedicated to the 
 study of metaphysics, would have much enlarged 
 the bounds of our knowledge in that nice and intri- 
 cate branch of science. His object seems to have 
 been rather to retard, than to advance the progress 
 of philosophy, by recalling us from those sound 
 conclusions as to the nature and operations of the 
 human mind, which are built upon observation and 
 experience, to vague speculations, drawn from the 
 imperfect analogy existing between the moral and 
 the physical -world. There can be no doubt, that the 
 proposition, which he has succeeded in establishing, 
 is highly interesting and important ; and that, in the 
 illustration of it, he has shown great learning, inge- 
 nuity, and research. But then, on the other hand, 
 he has so monstrously exaggerated its importance, 
 and so widely mistaken its tendency, and has at- 
 tempted to raise so vast a superstructure upon such 
 a narrow, slippery, and inadequate foundation, that 
 we are quite lost in amazement, when we recollect 
 how completely the sagacity, which guided him so 
 well in the investigation of his principal fact, appears 
 to desert him, when he comes to apply that fact to 
 the purposes of a theory. The distance between 
 what he has proved, and what he wishes us to 
 believe that he has proved, is enormous. What 
 he has proved is, that all words, even those that 
 are expressive of the nicest operations of our minds, 
 were originally borrowed from the objects of ex- 
 ternal perception ; a circumstance highly curious 
 in the history of language, consequently in the 
 
TOO 
 
 TOO 
 
 679 
 
 e. history of the human mind itself, and the complete 
 demonstration of which, of course, reflects great cre- 
 dit upon its author. What he thinks he has proved 
 IS, that this etymological history of words is our true 
 guide, both as to the present import of the words 
 themselves, and as to the nature of those things, 
 which they are intended to signify : a proposition so 
 monstrous, that he has no where ventured to enun- 
 ciate it in its general form, but has rather left it to 
 be collected from the tenor of his remarks upon par- 
 ticular instances. In truth, the inferences at which 
 Mr Tooke arrived, far from being warranted by his 
 iacts, are directly the contrary of those to which he 
 ougiit naturally to have been led by the result of his 
 own studies, when they were most successful. In 
 tracing upwai'ds, through all the mazes of etymolo- 
 gy, the origin of words, he ought to have seen more 
 dearly, if possible, than any body else, that their 
 real present sense is not to be sought for in their pri- 
 mitive signification, or in the elements of which they 
 ^ere originally composed> but that, on the contrary, 
 their actual import, with which alone in reasoning 
 we have to do, hardly ever corresponds with their 
 etymological meaning, although the one always bears 
 to the other a certain resemblance, more or less ac- 
 curate, according to the greater or less effect of time 
 and accident. One could without difficulty under- 
 stand, how a person, unaccustomed to such consider- 
 ations, and misled by a few instances partially chosen, 
 ^ould adopt a theory like that which Mr Tooke 
 was desirous to establish; but how a philosopher, 
 minutely acquainted with the whole subject, and 
 proceeding upon a most copious induction of parti- 
 culars, should not have perceived that, in ninety -nine 
 instances out of a hundred, such a doctrine would 
 lead to absolute absurdity, is, to us at least, incon- 
 ceivable." 
 
 The Reviewer then follows Mr Dugald Stewart in 
 some very just criticisms, which this acute metaphy- 
 sician had already made on several of Mr Tooke's 
 examples, fully proving the complete fallacy of the 
 system which so completely confounds the definition 
 o€ a term with its etymology. Mr Tooke has, in- 
 deed, the merit of having demonstrated pretty clear- 
 ly that all the parts of speech, including those which 
 grammarians had often considered as expletives and 
 unmeaning particles, may be resolved more or less 
 completely into nouns and verbs : but on the one 
 hand it has been observed, that the very same doc- 
 trine may be clearly traced back to the works of A- 
 ristotle ; and on the other, it may be asserted with 
 equal truth, if we wish to carry the theory to its ut- 
 most extent, that language consists only of nouns and 
 one verb : since all verbs may in fact be resolved in- 
 to participles, or adjectives, compounded with auxi- 
 liary verbs, as well as those which exhibit this com- 
 plication in their exterior form. 
 
 " In the ordinary intercourse of life," Mr Tooke 
 was kind, friendly, and hospitable." — (P. 325.) 
 We doubt whether his temper was naturally good ; 
 but if it was not, he had a merit the more ; for he had 
 so completely subdued it by care and self-control, as 
 never to betray, under any provocation, the slightest 
 mark of that irritability which often accompanies 
 tal^t, and which gains so rapidly upon those who . 
 
 know not how to guard against its approaches. - In- Tooko. 
 deed, the aspect under which he appeared in private ' 
 was by no means such as the stern cynicism and fe- 
 rocious turbulence of his public conduct would have 
 led one to expect ; and those, whose opinion of him 
 has been formed exclusively upon his political cha- 
 racter and his writings, will have some difficulty in 
 believing that the curate of Brentford was one of the 
 best bred gentlemen of the age. In this respect be 
 was a sort of phenomenon. He was born in a low 
 station : at no period did he appear to have possess- 
 ed any remarkable advantages for the study of good 
 breeding ; on the contrary, the greater part of his 
 life was spent in constant intercourse with coarse, 
 vulgar, and uneducated men ; yet his natural taste 
 was so good, and he had profited so judiciously by 
 whatever opportunities he enjoyed, that courts and 
 high stations have seldom produced a better example 
 of polite and elegant behaviour, than was exhi- 
 bited by the associate of Messrs Hardy and Thel- 
 wall. Indeed, his manner had almost every excellence 
 that manner can display : grace, vivacity, franknessj, 
 dignity. Perhaps, indeed, in its outward forms, 
 and in that which is purely conventional, his courte- 
 sy wore the air of the ' vieille cour,' and was rather 
 more elaborate^ than is consistent with the practice 
 ofthis lounging unceremonious age ; but it was nevBr 
 forced or constrained, and it sat not ungracefully 
 upon an old man." It may, however, deserve to be 
 remarked, in contemplating this paradox, though ra- 
 ther as a collateral coincidence than as a satisfactory 
 explanation, that even from his infancy Tooke had 
 actually seen something of the very highest society, 
 having been admitted once or twice a week at Lei- 
 cester House as a play-fellow to the late King: and 
 though he may have learned but little from imitation 
 of the manners of the young Prince, yet the early 
 habit of self-restraint, imposed by such a presence, 
 may easily have imprinted some courtly traces on his 
 character, which were not easily effaced, and which 
 an association with the heirs of the first families of 
 the kingdom, throughout his boyhood, at Westmin- 
 ster and at Eton, must naturally have made still . 
 more distinct and permanent. 
 
 " He never appeared to -greater advantage than 
 in conversation." " He possessed an inexhaustible 
 fund, of anecdotes, which he introduced with great 
 skill, and related with neatness, grace, rapidity, and 
 pleasantry : he had a quick sense of the ridiculous, 
 and was a great master of the whole art of raillery, 
 a dangerous talent, though the exercise of it in his 
 hands was always tempered by politeness and good : 
 humour." 
 
 " In spite of labour and dissipation (p. 328), his 
 life was protracted to a period which indicated an 
 originally sound and vigorous frame. For the last 
 twenty years, however, he was subject to several se- 
 vere, distressing, and incurable infirmities. These 
 he bore with a patience and firmness which it was 
 impossible not to admire: to the very last he never 
 suffered himself to be beaten down by them, nor 
 ever for one moment indulged in complaint, or gave 
 Avay to despondency. In the intervals of pain, nay, 
 even when actually suffering under it, he preserved 
 a. self-command, which QJjal)ied \nni to converse, not 
 
680 TURKISH 
 
 Tooke only with spirit and vigour, but with all hia accus- 
 Turk' ! ^"^^"^ cheerfulness and pleasantry, never making 
 l^mpirV, demand upon the sympathy of his friends, or 
 v,^^!-v^^-.^ mentioning his own situation at all, except when 
 occasionally, and by a very pardonable exercise of his 
 sophistry, he amused himself in exalting its comforts, 
 find explaining away its disadvantages ; displaying, 
 in this respect, a manly spirit and a practical philo- 
 sophy, which, if they had been brought to bear upon 
 his moral, as well as upon his physical condition, if 
 they had been employed with as much effect in re- 
 conciling him to his political exclusion as to his bo- 
 dily sufferings, might have produced, not the very 
 imperfect character we have been attempting to de- 
 lineate, in which the unfavourable traits bear so large 
 a proportion to those of a nobler and more benign 
 cast, but the venerable portrait of a truly wise and 
 virtuous man." 
 
 Reid's Memoirs, 8. Lond. 1812 ; Quarterly Review, 
 June 1 812 ; A. Stephens's Life of Tooke, 2 v. 8. Lond. 
 1813 ; British Critic, N. S. Vol. I. p. 79. 193 j (Ai- 
 kin's General Biography, IX. 4. Lond. 1814; Chal- 
 mers's Biographical Dictionary , XXIX. 8. Lond. 
 1816.) (a. L.) 
 
 TURKISH EMPIRE. Ahhough this empire 
 has undergone but slight alterations since the ac- 
 count of it contained in the Encyclopaedia was writ- 
 ten, yet, as its statistics have had some new light 
 thrown on them by recent publications, we shall 
 give a brief sketch of its present state. 
 Extent. The extent of this empire has been variously esti- 
 mated by different writers ; and, after consulting 
 them, we rather concur in the calculations made by 
 Hassel, the latest of them, founded on the charts of 
 Reichart and Niedls, because they are corroborated 
 by the last map constructed by Arrowsmith, and by 
 that of Lapiess. In this account of the extent of 
 the empire we have included all those countries over 
 which Turkey claims the sovereignty, although in 
 many of them that sovereignty is either not acknow- 
 ledged or very feebly exercised. 
 
 Square Miles. 
 
 Turkey in Europe contains 180,074; 
 
 Turkey in Asia on the Continent... 436,629 
 
 Islands of Turkey in Asia 11,050 
 
 The African Dominions 276,480 
 
 904,233 
 
 Pop'ihaion. In countries where no censuses have been taken in 
 modern times, in which no registers of births ov 
 deaths are preserved, where no general conscription 
 has been introduced, and where even the number of 
 houses is not known, the accounts of population 
 must be mere estimates or rather conjectures ; and, 
 therefore, it is not extraordinary that different 
 writers should have presented results so distant 
 from each other as those we have examined. Two 
 censuses have, indeed, been instituted ; one in the 
 middle of the sixteenth, and the other at the begin- 
 ning of the seventeenth century. Their results are 
 not, however, now known ; and if they were, they 
 would scarcely be tolerable guides at this day, when 
 
 EMPIRE. 
 
 ■ 
 
 the whole state of affairs has undergone such great Turkisl 
 alterations. Hassel, in 1816, calculated the whole Empire 
 number of Turkish subjects^t 24,070,000 ; and, in "^'''V^ 
 1819, Lichtenstern estimated them at 24,880,000, 
 whilst Graberg reckoned them to be in round num- i 
 bers 23,000,000. Though these industrious writers ; 
 thus approached nearly to each other in their totals, | 
 they differ most widely in the component parts. \ 
 Thus, in Asia Minor, they disagree to the extent of \ 
 five or six millions ; and in Egypt and its depend- 
 ancies to the extent of three or four. 
 
 The financial affairs of the Turkish empire are in- Finances, 
 volved in still greater obscurity than the state of 
 the population. From the system, which uni* 
 formly prevails, by which every governor of a pro*. 
 vince collects imposts, and expends them on the 
 local objects under his management — that which is 
 received into the general treasury bears no propor- 
 tion to that which is extracted from the subjects 
 Many of the provinces are compelled to deliver con- ^ 
 tributions in their productions, which productions 
 are appropriated to some specific public department. 
 Thus Egypt was required to deliver to the arsenal 
 1000 quintals of hemp, 200 jars of oil, 2000 pieces | 
 of linen, and 1 40 quintals of linen yarn ; and to the 
 Seraglio 36,000 measures of rice, 4*5,000 okas of 
 sugar, 2000 measures of pease, besides stipulated 
 quantities of ginger, cinnamon, pepper, and other 
 smaller articles. The other provinces are required 
 in a similar manner to contribute to the demands of 
 the Imperial Government. The annual sum which 
 flows into the treasury has been estimated, by Con- 
 temir and Thornton, at about L.3,000,000 Sterling, 
 and by Eton at near L.4,000,000. Whatever may 
 be the amount of the public income, it is distinct 
 from the revenues which accrue to the Emperor per- 
 sonally, of which no account can be obtained ; but it 
 is imagined that they amount to much more than 
 the expenditure of the imperial establishment, and 
 that vast sums have been accumulated in the house- 
 hold treasury. These personal revenues arise from 
 domains, from confiscations, from presents, and 
 from the sale of governments and other offices. 
 Count Marcellus, in a work published at the Hague 
 in 1732 {Stalo Militare de Imperio Ottomanno), as- 
 serts, that, at the death of Ibrahim in 1639, his 
 successor, Conrad IV., found L.33,000,000 Sterling 
 in money; and that, as, by a religious law, every Em;, 
 peror is bound to increase this treasure, during his 
 reign, it bad been vastly augmented at the time he 
 wrote. 
 
 This accumulation of private treasure is deemed 
 an indispensable part of the state policy of Turkey> 
 where, as in every despotic government, the indi- 
 vidual filling the throne is exposed to sudden insur- 
 rections and interior revolutions. Meusel thinks 
 that this treasure was much reduced by the war with 
 Russia, which terminated in 1812, when the private 
 hoards were compelled to come forth in aid of the 
 national treasury to a very great, but unknown, ex- 
 tent ; as the army was then paid with coins of very 
 ancient dates. The expences of the government are 
 involved in as much obscurity as the income from 
 which they are defrayed. The greater part of the 
 military costs but little in time of peace ; being fur- 
 10 
 
TURKISH EMPIRE. 
 
 681 
 
 ipirc. 
 
 jr and 
 
 notions 
 Soil. 
 
 afac- 
 
 nished with necessai*ies by the several provinces in 
 which they are quartered, and which are collected 
 from their feudatories by the governors of them. 
 
 The debt of the state, which, in 1803, amounted 
 to only L.3,500,000 Sterling, has been increased by 
 the various unfortunate events that have occurred 
 since that period to upwards of L.70,000,000 ; and, 
 in spite of forced loans, to which the government has 
 had recourse, and of large contributions from the 
 religious establishments, the state-obhgations pay an 
 interest at the rate of 1 2 per cent. 
 
 Under a government, where all land is held 
 on the condition of military service, the number 
 of soldiers must be great in proportion to the po- 
 pulation; but in Turkey the numbers have been 
 kept down by the want of means to provide the 
 necessary arms and equipments. According to 
 the most recent accounts, the regular army amounts 
 to 125,000 infantry, artillery, artificers, sappers, 
 miners, and armom-ers, included; and 12,500 cavalry; 
 but to the latter may be added 100,000 feudal horse- 
 men, who may be made available for internal de- 
 fence. The Janisaries make 80,000 of the infantry ; 
 and these are rather garrison militia, for the most 
 part, than regular troops. The best corps consist 
 of those called the new regulars, amounting to 
 24',000 men, who, as well as the artillery, are armed 
 and disciplined after European models. The navy 
 of Turkey has of late declined. It now consists of 
 15 ships of the line, the same number of frigates, 
 and about 30 smaller vessels. Very few of these 
 ships are fit for service ; and the naval arsenal is so 
 destitute of stores that fewer still can be equipped. 
 At all times the best seamen in their fleet consisted 
 of Greeks ; and, since the insurrection of that na- 
 tion, greater difficulties than before have been found 
 in working and fighting their ships. This accounts 
 for the different disasters which the Turkish navy 
 has experienced during the course of the existing 
 contests with their Greek subjects. 
 
 As the greater part of the inhabitants of the 
 Turkish dominions are collected in and around the 
 towns for security, the intervals of land between 
 tliese towns are almost wholly uncultivated. Where 
 any cultivation is practised, the soil is highly grate- 
 ful, and produces abundant returns for the labour 
 bestowed on it in corn, wine, oil, fruits, flax, hemp, 
 cotton, wool, madder, and other dyeing materials. 
 The woods afford excellent timber in abundance. 
 Horses, cows, sheep, goats, and game, are plentifully 
 reared. The fisheries, both in the rivers and seas, 
 are much neglected, except by the Greeks, who have 
 occasion for them from the numerous fasts prescribed 
 by their religious tenets. Honey and wax are li- 
 berally supplied ; and silk is collected in all the pro- 
 vinces south of the Danube. The mineral products 
 are now almost wholly confined to iron, though 
 mines of gold and silver were formei-ly worked in 
 the mountains of Bosnia, and those of Moldavia and 
 Wallachia are rich in minerals. 
 
 The manufactures in Turkey are neither numerous 
 fior abundant. The best of them is leather of va- 
 rious colours and qualities. Dyes of several kinds, 
 but especially that made from madder, and univer- 
 
 Tnrkish 
 Empire. 
 
 sally known through Europe by the name of Turkey- 
 red, are supplied. Cottons are made in several places, 
 as are coarse woollen cloths and carpets. Silks and ^^'^^''^ 
 silk gauzes, of a very delicate texture, are made at 
 Constantinople, Salonica, and at Scio. Iron, and es- 
 pecially steel wares, are furnished from several parts 
 of the empire. Besides these, the smaller articles, 
 snufF, soap, sail-cloth, glass ware, porcelain, are pro- 
 duced, but not in quantities equal to the demand. 
 
 The commerce of Turkey is almost exclusively in Commerce, 
 the hands of the Greek and Armenian subjects, or 
 of Europeans established in the commercial cities, 
 who are collectively distinguished by the name of 
 Franks. The chief exports consist of cotton wool, 
 silk, tobacco, oil, currants, rosin, wine, horses, cows, 
 skins and hides, leather, linseed, corn, cheese, Turk- 
 ish yarn, and carpets. The chief imports are — cloths 
 of wool, silk, and cotton, colonial wares, glass, 
 watches, hardware, paper, paints, cabinet ware, Nu- 
 remburg wares, precious stones, jewellery, and mak 
 and female slaves from Africa, from Georgia, and 
 the Caucasian territory. The greatest traffic is with 
 Austria, partly by land. The next in amount is 
 with England, and then follows that with France, 
 Italy, and Russia. The internal trade of Turkey is 
 extensive, chiefly in the hands of Armenians, who 
 exchange the productions of Europe for those of 
 Asia, including India and China. Nearly the whole 
 mercantile shipping belongs to the Greek subjects 
 of the empire, whose resistance to its authority has 
 an injurious effect on its general commerce. The 
 chief trading cities in European Turkey are Con- 
 stantinople, Salonica, Gallipoli, and Galatz. 
 
 The Turkish divisions of the empire are purely 
 military, founded on feudal principles, and even re- 
 taining' the military names. The whole dominion is 
 divided into twenty-five districts, which are subdi- 
 vided into sandshaks {Standards) ; each sandshak 
 contains a number of tracts, called tiamars or siamete 
 (Sabres). Besides these, there are other divisions, 
 used purely for the civil and financial purposes of 
 the government. 
 
 The European part of Turkey comprehends the |jJ°Fafi 
 four provinces of Roumelia, Bosnia, the Islands, and " ^' 
 the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. 
 
 Roumelia is subdivided into sandshaksor standards, 
 and contains about 6,000,000 inhabitants. The 
 most populous cities, and their estimated inhabitants, 
 as calculated by Andreossy in the year 1815, accord- 
 ing to the consumption of bread, were the following : 
 
 Constantinople, 597,000; Adrianople, 100,000; 
 Salonica, 60,000 ; Sofia, 46,000 ; Ruschak, 30,000 ; 
 Philopopoli, 30,000; lonina, 80,000; Larissa, 25,000; 
 Sistove, 21,000; Varna, 16,000; Misetra, 16,000 ; 
 Scutori, 16,000; Tripoliza, 12,000; Sillistra, 10,000; 
 and Baba, Nicopoli, Stovi, or Uskub, and Pristina, 
 from 9000 to 10,000 each. 
 
 Bosnia contains about 850,000 inhabitants. The 
 cities are Bosna-Serai, with 65,000 ; Banjaluka, with 
 15,000; Zwornick, withl4',000; and Trebon, with 
 10,000 souls. 
 
 The Ejalet Dschesair, or Province of the Islands, 
 according to Lichtenstern, contained in 1819 abcut 
 
es2 
 
 TURKISH EMPIRE. 
 
 Turkish 
 Empire. 
 
 525^000 inhabitants, chiefly Greeks, and the follow- 
 ing cities : Galipoli, with 1 7,000 ; Castorea, with 
 18,000 ; Betaglea, with 15,000 ; Hydra, with 40,000; 
 Candia, with 15,000 ; Negroponte, with 16,000 ; 
 Canea, with 12,000; and Athens and Levadia, with 
 10,000 inhabitants each. 
 
 Wallachia and Moldavia are rather under the no- 
 minal than the real government of Turkey, though 
 the Waiwode is nominated by the Porte. He is al. 
 ways appointed from some of the noble Greek fa- 
 milies, generally for a short period, and uniformly 
 by means of bribery. Wallachia contains about 
 1,000,000 inhabitaiits, chiefly of the Greek church, 
 and they are governed by ancient feudal laws, which 
 are corruptly administered by magistrates who owe 
 their authority to barefaced corruption. Bucharest, 
 the capital, contains from 50,000 to 60,000 inhabit- 
 ants. 
 
 Moldavia has been contracted by cessions to Rus- 
 sia, and noAV contains about 500,000 inhabitants, 
 who are of the same religion, and under a govern- 
 ment similar to that of Wallachia. Jassy, the capi- 
 tal, contains 27,500 inhabitants. Galatz, a trading 
 city on the Danube, has about 8000 regular inhabit- 
 ants, and a vast number of strangers, who resort to 
 it for commercial purposes. 
 
 Turkey in Turkish Asia comprehends the fbUowing coun- 
 A"**- tries: Ist, The peninsula of Asia Minor, with the 
 island of Cyprus, and some smaller islands in the 
 Egean and the Mediterranean seas, and m the sea of 
 Marmora. 2f?, That part of Georgia which has re- 
 mained to Turkey since the last peace with Russia. 
 3d, A portion of Armenia. 4:th, The whole country 
 of Mesopotamia, that of the Curdo, and a part of 
 Irack. 5tJi, The whole of Soristan or Syria, with 
 which the Turks include the district of Yemen in 
 Arabia, over which they have no actual power, and 
 the cities of Mecca, Medina, and Jeddo, which have 
 been lately again taken by them from the Wahabees, 
 but which properly form a part of Arabia. These 
 natural or ancient divisions are now scarcely regard- 
 ed by the Turks. The whole dominion is, for pur- 
 poses of administration, divided into twenty-one go- 
 vernments, viz. 
 
 l5^, Anatolia, including that portion of Asia Mi- 
 nor which comprehends the provinces of Bithynia, 
 Paphlagonia, Galatia, Phrygia, Mysia, Lydia, Ly- 
 eia, Caria, and Pisidia. The chief cities are, Ku- 
 takia, or Cotyaum, with, according to Malte-Brun, 
 50,000 inhabitants ; Brussa, with, according to Kin- 
 neir, 50,000 ; Bergamo, the ancient Pergamos, Ana- 
 talia, with, according to Beaufort, 8000 ; Kara-hissa, 
 with 60,000 ; Angora, with 20,000 ; Kastimuni, 
 with 13,000; Sinope, with 10,000; Smyrna, with 
 100,000; Scalanuvo, with, according to Gait, 20,000; 
 Scio, in the island of that name, with 25,000, accord- 
 ing to Gait, 20,000; to Wittman, 25,000; and to 
 Olivier, 30,000 ; almost wholly Greeks, and lately 
 destroyed. 
 
 2c/, Kibris, or the island of Cyprus, with about 
 120,000 inhabitants, of whom 16,000 are in the city 
 of Nicosia. 
 
 3cl, Itschill, a part of Asia TMinor, comprehend- 
 
 ing the ancient Cillicia, Isauria, and Pamphylia. 
 Its chief cities are Adana, with 30,000 inhabitants ; ^ 
 and Tarsus, with 30,000. 
 
 4>lk, Caramania, comprehending a portion of Asia 
 Minor, which was formerly Cappadocia, and parts of. 
 Galatia, and Phrygia Major. Its chief cities are, 
 Konia, or Iconium, with 30,000 inhabitants; La- 
 renda, or Caraman, with, according to Kinneir, 
 1 5,000 ; and Acschier, or Antioch, with 60,000. 
 
 5lh, Merash, extending over part of Cappadocia, 
 of Armenia Minor, and of Cillicia Campestris. The 
 principal cities ai*e, Merash, with 9OOO or 10,000 
 souls; Aintab, with 20,000; and Melitene, with 8000. 
 
 6th, Sewas, including the greater portion of the. 
 ancient Pontus, whose principal cities are, Oskal, 
 with 16,000 inhabitants ; and Amasia, with 35,000. 
 
 7(h, Trebisond, comprehending, to the eastern of 
 the ancient Pontus, a portion of Armenia on the bor- 
 der of the Black Sea. The capital of the same name 
 contains, according to Kinneir, 15,000 inhabitants ; 
 and Rise, or Irisch, not lately visited, but in the mid- 1 
 die of the last century, a flourishing, manufacturing, 
 and commercial city, has 30,000 inhabitants. 
 
 8th, Tschalder, or Chaldea, a part of Armenia, 
 with which what remains to the Turks of Georgia 
 is comprehended. The only city is Akhirssa, or 
 Akalzike, on the great road to the passes through 
 the mountains, which lead to the ports on the Black 
 Sea, supposed to contain from 12,000 to 15,000 souls 
 of all descriptions and nations. 
 
 Qth, Kars, a part of Armenia. The chief city in 
 lat. 40° 56', and long. 43° 25', of the same name, as 
 well as the other towns, have not been recently vi- 
 sited, and their population is not ascertained. 
 
 loth, Erzerum, also a part of Armenia, supposed, 
 by Morier, to contain from 500,000 to 600,000 in- 
 habitants, and represented by him to be both fertile 
 and beautiful. The capital of the same name is va- 
 riously described by Tournefort, Morier, Gardanne, 
 Kinneir, and Von Hammer; the lowest estimation 
 making the inhabitants amount to 80,000 ; the high- 
 est (Morier) to 250,000. Karahissar contains 
 10,000, and Hamischkane 7OOO souls. 
 
 11th, Wan, a part of Armenia and of Kurdistan. 
 The capital, from which the province derives its 
 name, has not been recently visited ; Betlis is stated 
 by Kinneir to contain 12,000 inhabitants. 
 
 12th, Schersur, a part of Kurdistan. This pro- 
 vince is so called from its capital, in lat. 35° 46', and 
 long. 45° 21', which, with all the other places, are 
 of small consideration. 
 
 iSth, Bagdad, a part of Mesopotamia, and the 
 ancient Babylon, with a portion of Kurdistan. This 
 extensive province is very thinly peopled, and re- 
 cent travellers represent it as fast going to decay. 
 Bagdad, the city which gives its name to the pro- 
 vince, is stated by De Sacy to contain 95,000 in- 
 habitants, or more than one-fifth of the whole po- 
 pulation ; the other towns are small. 
 
 lA-th, Basra, or Bussora, a part of Chaldea, and 
 of Arabia. The capital of the same name contains 
 from 45,000 to 80,000 inhabitants, according to the 
 differing accounts of Neibuhr, De Sacy, and Von 
 Hammer, Karnaj at the junction of the Tigris with 
 4. 
 
T U U 
 
 ish the Frat, is a commercial city of some importance ; 
 but its population is not ascertained. 
 
 15ih, Mossul, a part of Mesopotamia, and of 
 Assyria. The capital which gives its name to the 
 province is on a fine plain, watered by the Tigris, 
 and contains, according to Kinneir, 35,000 ; accord- 
 ing to Olivier, 65,000 inhabitants. 
 
 l6th, Diarbekr, that pai't of Mesopotamia which 
 was called Bekr formerly. The capital from which 
 the province derives its name contains, according 
 to Kinneir, 38,000 inhabitants; but according to 
 Gardanne, 80,000. Siwerh, a trading city on the 
 river Frat, has a population of 10,000. The other 
 towns are very small. 
 
 l7 th, Racea, the western part of Mesopotamia, 
 and a part of Syria. The inhabitants live more in 
 tents than in towns. The capital of the same name, 
 though known in Europe more commonly by the 
 names of Nicephorium or Kallinicum, is represented, 
 by recent travellers, to contain from 30,000 to 
 40,000 inhabitants. Biredschik, a trading town on 
 the Frat, has about 6000, and no other place more 
 than 2000 inhabitants. 
 
 18^^, Haleb, the northern part of ancient Syria. 
 It is represented as a fertile, manufacturing, and 
 commercial province, with 500,000 industrious in- 
 habitants. Haleb, the capital, the ancient Beroe, 
 now called Aleppo, has a population of, according 
 to Volney, 100,000; to Setzen, 150,000; to Rosseau, 
 200,000; to Arvieuz, 280,000; and to Dr Russel, 
 235,000. It has a great trade carried on by the 
 numerous Franks established there. Killis contains 
 12,000; Antokia 15,000 inhabitants. The popula- 
 tion of Scanderoon and Latakia are not ascertained. 
 
 19^//, Tarablus, the middle part of Syria, west- 
 ward of Lebanon. The name of this province is 
 derived from that of its capital, known to Europeans 
 as Tripoli ; which, according to Browne, contains 
 about ] 6,000 souls. No other town is noticed by 
 travellers. 
 
 20th, Akka, the ancient Phoenicia, and a part of 
 Palestine. The capital of the province. Acre, or 
 St John's d'Acre, the ancient Ftolemais, contains 
 about 16,000 souls. The population of the other 
 cities, except Bairut, or Beritus, which has 7000 
 inhabitants, is not ascertained. 
 
 21 st, Damas, this includes the greater part of 
 ancient Syria, extends over 26,850 square miles, 
 and has a population of 1,250,000 souls. The pro- 
 vince takes the name of its capital, Damas, or Da- 
 mascus, which has about 200,000 inhabitants. Ha- 
 mah has, according to Ali Bey, J 00,000 ; Emessa, 
 30,000 ; Jerusalem, according to the same travel- 
 ler, 30,000 to 40,000; Razza, the ancient Gaza, 
 5000; Ramla, or Arimathea, 10,000; and Jaffa, 
 or Joppa, 5000 inhabitants. 
 
 The Txirkish government claims a kind of autho- 
 rity over some very large portions of Africa ; but 
 the local authorities can scarcely be considered as 
 gtibjects of the Porte. The most important of these, 
 Egypt, has been largely treated of in Part I. Vol. IV. 
 of this Supplement. The states of Barbary, Algiers, 
 Tunis, and Tripoli, pay, when it suits them, some 
 
 T Y R 683 
 
 tribute as acknowledgment of dependance. Nubia Turkish 
 has been recently subjected to the Pasha of Egypt; E*"P^ 
 but it is hard to define hoAV far that country can be Tyrone, 
 considered as a branch of the Turkish empire, when r— ^ -i^ ^ 
 the conqueror of it scarcely acknowledges his de- 
 pendance. The limits allotted to this article will not 
 allow us to draw up, even in a compressed form, 
 such particulars as have reached us respecting the 
 northern parts of Africa ; and, indeed, they more 
 properly belong to other articles. 
 
 See Present Stale of Turkey, &c. by William 
 Thornton, London, 18L5; Moeurs, Usages, Cos- 
 tumes, 8^c. de la Turque, Paris, 1812, par A. L. Cas- 
 tellon; Des Osmanischen Reichs Staatsverfassung und 
 Staatsverwaltung, von Jos von Flammer, Vienna, 
 1815; Clarke's, Hobhouse's, Holland's, Morier's, 
 Kinneir's, and Wittman's Travels j Karamania, by 
 Captain Beaufort, R. N.; Heude's Voyage to the 
 Persian Gulf, 1819 ; Hassel's Erdebeschreibung, 
 Wiemar, 1821. (w. w.) 
 
 TYRONE, a county in the province of Ulster, in 
 Ireland, having Londonderry on the north, Armagh Situation, 
 on the east, Monaghan and Fermanagh on the south, 
 and Donegal on the west ; extends about 42 miles 
 from north to south, 54 from east to west, and con- 
 tains 1271 square miles, or 813,440 English acres. Extent. 
 It is divided into the four baronies of Dungannon, 
 Strabane, Omagh, and Ciogher or Upper Dungan- 
 non, and 35 parishes which belong to the sees of Ar- 
 magh, Derry, and Ciogher. 
 
 The greater part of this district is mountainous, Surface, 
 particularly the baronies of Strabane and Omagh on 
 the west. In the former are two hills of great height, 
 called Bessy Bell and Mary Gray, — names celebrated 
 in Scottish song. Dungannon, on the east, is a rich 
 and fertile tract, and Ciogher, on the south, also con- 
 tains a considerable proportion of good land; but, ge- 
 nerally speaking; the territorial value of this inland and 
 northern district is much inferior to that of most of 
 the other Irish counties. Besides the usual varieties 
 of soil, clay fit for bricks of various colours, and par- 
 ticularly pale bricks, which are deemed the most 
 durable, occur in almost every parish and townland ; 
 and about Fintona, in the barony of Ciogher, other 
 sorts of clay are made into a great variety of earthen- 
 ware for country Hse. The best pottery, perhaps, I'ot'cnes. 
 in Ireland is in the barony of Dungannon, where all 
 sorts of coarse crockery-ware, fire-bricks, and tiles, 
 are made of as good a quality as any that are im- 
 ported. At Coal Island, in the same quarter, coal 
 is wrought to some extent, though, according to Mr 
 Wakefield, it is bituminous and of a bad quality. 
 This is one of the few districts of Ireland in which 
 there is little or no limestone. A great many small 
 streams, having their source in the high grounds, 
 traverse the county in every direction. The more Riv«»s. 
 considerable are the Blackwater, which, rising near 
 Ciogher, soon after forms the boundary on the south 
 and south-east, till it falls into Lough Neagh, and 
 the Mournc, which falls into the Foyle near Stra- 
 bane. The Foyle also washes its north-western ex- 
 tremity in its course from Lifford to Londonderry, 
 but does not properly belong to this county. Lough 
 
684 
 
 Tyrone. 
 
 Estates. 
 
 Leases. 
 
 T Y R 
 
 Neagh, which Tyrone touches on the east, is the 
 largest lake in Ireland, covering, according to Wake- 
 field, 173 square nailes, or upwards of 110,000 Eng- 
 lish acres ; but it is less celebrated for its scenery 
 than some of the other Irish lakes. 
 
 Tyrone is divided into estates of very great ex- 
 tent, many of them worth from L.5000 to L.7OOO 
 a-year, and its productive or arable land into very 
 small farms, not often exceeding 20 Irish acres. The 
 chief proprietors are the Marquis of Abercorn, Lords 
 Belmore, Northland, and Mountjoy. The leases are 
 for various periods, — thirty-one years and three 
 lives, three lives, and twenty-one years and a life. 
 On some estates the land passes through the hands 
 of middlemen, in portions of various sizes, till it 
 reaches the actual cultivator, for the most part, in 
 very minute subdivisions. It is customary for seve- 
 ral persons to be concerned in one townland, which 
 is held in what is called rundale, the cultivated land 
 being divided into shares, which are changed every 
 year, and the cattle pasturing in common, — a system 
 utterly inconsistent with profitable occupation, or the 
 amelioration of the soil and live stock. The cattle 
 and sheep are accordingly of a very inferior descrip- 
 tion ; and the latter, which are not numerous, xnay 
 frequently be seen tethered upon the small patches 
 of herbage which are interspersed among the shares 
 of these partnership concerns. The tillage land, 
 too, is more frequently stirred with the spade than 
 the plough ; and where a plough is used, the team, 
 consisting of horses, bullocks, and even milk cows, 
 must be supplied by the contributions of three or 
 
 Tyrt 
 
 T Y R 
 
 four neighbours, who unite their means for the pur- 
 pose, each attending its operation, lest his poor ani- 
 mal should have more than his proper share of the 
 lab our. Potatoes, oats, and flax, are the principal 
 crops. 
 
 The towns are Omagh, the county town, Newton- Towns 
 Stewart, Strabane, and Dungannon, the two latter 
 places of considerable extent and population; be- 
 sides a number of villages. Augher and Clogher, 
 though Parliamentary boroughs before the Union, 
 are very small places. The linen manufacture is 
 carried on to a great extent, and the potteries and 
 collieries before noticed also employ a considerable 
 number of hands; to which we may add illicit distilla- 
 tion, which prevails throughout all the north-western 
 counties of Ireland. The food of the lower classes 
 is oatmeal and potatoes, — wheaten bread and but- 
 cher meat never being used but on extraordinary oc- 
 casions. 
 
 The county, which has 20,000 freeholders, sends Repre 
 two members to Parliament, and the borough oftion. 
 Dungannon a third. Before the Union, Tyrone had 
 ten representatives in the Irish Parliament. 
 
 In 1791 the population was computed at 157,700 ; Popwla 
 and by the census of 1821 it was 259,691. According 
 to Mr Wakefield, the Catholics are to the Protestants 
 as 6 to 1 ; but property is chiefly in the hands of the 
 latter. „Many of the Protestants are of the Presby- 
 terian persuasion. 
 
 See the general works referred to under the for- 
 mer Irish counties, and M'Evoy's Statistical Survey 
 of Tyrone. (a.) 
 
UNITED STATES OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 No single event in modern history has been of so 
 much importance to mankind as .the discovery of 
 America. That great continent, which had been 
 hid from the eyes of civilized nations for so many 
 ageS;, comprises neai-ly one-third of the habitable 
 globe. In soil and climate, it rivals the best parts 
 of the old continent. It is not, like Asia and Afri- 
 ca, infested by the larger and more dangerous spe- 
 cies of wild animals, nor deformed by vast deserts, 
 which present insuperable obstacles to civilization. 
 But its great and peculiar advantage lies in the un- 
 rivalled magnitude and number of its navigable ri- 
 vers, Avhich enable its most remote inland parts to 
 hold commercial intercourse with each other, and 
 with foreign states, with unparalleled ease and ra- 
 pidity. The position of these great rivers, whose 
 estuaries all open to the east, points out the western 
 side of the old continent as the region with Avhich 
 it is destined by nature to be most closely connect- 
 ed. Two great classes of colonists, widely dissimi- 
 lar in character and circumstances, came from Eu- 
 rope to occupy this new world. The Spaniards, 
 who were first in order of time, took possession of 
 the most populous and fertile regions ; but their na- 
 tural advantages were rendered abortive by political 
 and moral evils, — a rapacious spirit, a corrupt reli- 
 gion, and a vicious system of government. The 
 English, the other great class of colonists, owed 
 their better fortunes in some measure to their ap- 
 parent disadvantages. Having neither gold mines 
 to work, nor wealthy Indians to rob, they cultivat- 
 ed with greater diligence the natural riches of the 
 soil, and laid the foundation of future prosperity in 
 habits of order and industry. Neglected by the go- 
 vernment as a band of destitute refugees, they en- 
 joyed what was then an unusual degree of civil and 
 religious liberty. Their industry flourished, because 
 it was unfettered and unburdened. They were well 
 governed, because they were left to govern them- 
 selves. And if they wanted the aid of the mother 
 country when that aid might sometimes have been 
 useful, they were, on the other hand, exempted from 
 those incessant exactions and vexations to Avhich the 
 Spanish colonists were exposed, from the ignorant, 
 meddling, grasping, bigoted spirit of their European 
 rulers. The troubles they experienced from the hos- 
 tility of the Indians diminished as their own num- 
 bers increased, and, except at first, were never ex- 
 tremely detrimental. Their common dangers serv- 
 ed in some measure as a bond of union among 
 themselves, and perhaps favoured their social im- 
 provement, by acting as a slightly compressing force 
 to prevent the indefinite diffusion of the population 
 over a large surface. To their free spirit, virtuous ha- 
 bits, intelligence, and industry, the English colonists 
 certainly owed much of their early success ; but we 
 must not forget that a series of fortunate changes, not 
 directly the consequence of their own exertions, have 
 greatly contributed to place them in the enviable situa- 
 
 VOL. VI. PART II. 
 
 tion they now occupy. Had the Dutch, French, United 
 Danish, and Swedish colonies planted in North ^^^es. 
 America spread as fast and as far as those of Eng- 
 land, and continued separate and independent, we 
 should have seen, in the space between the Missis- 
 sippi and the Atlantic, the same medley of nations 
 and languages, with the same diversity of manners, 
 religion, institutions, and clashing interests, which 
 foster everlasting feuds and jealousies in Europe, en- 
 gender desolating wars, load the people with oppres- 
 sive taxes and military tyrannies, and present a for- 
 midable barrier to the circulation of knowledge and 
 the progress of society. The conquests of England, 
 which blended all these colonies into one nation, 
 have secured to the United States an exemption 
 from half the evils which afflict civil society in Eu- 
 rope, and prepared for them a career of peaceful 
 grandeur and growing prosperity, which divided 
 Europe cannot hope to enjoy, and which has had no 
 parallel in the history of mankind. The people of 
 the United States find themselves in a condition to 
 devote their whole energies to the cultivation of 
 their vast natural resources, undistracted by wars, 
 unburdened by oppressive taxes, unfettered by old 
 prejudices and corruptions. Enjoying the united ad- 
 vantages of an infant and a mature society, they 
 are able to apply the highly refined science and art 
 of Europe to the improvement of the virgin soil and 
 unoccupied natural riches of America. They start 
 unincumbered by a thousand evils, political and mo- 
 ral, which weigh down the energies of the old world. 
 The volume of our history lies before them : they 
 may adopt our improvements, avoid our errors, take 
 warning from our sufferings, and with the combin- 
 ed lights of our experience and their own, build up a 
 more perfect form of society. Even already, they 
 have given some momentous and sonne salutary 
 truths to the world. It is their rapid growth which 
 has first developed the astonishing results of the 
 productive powers of population. We can now cal- 
 culate with considerable certainty, that America, 
 which yet presents to the eye, generally, the aspect 
 of an untrodden forest, will, in the short space of 
 one century, surpass Europe in the number of its 
 inhabitants. We even hazard little in predicting, 
 that, before the tide of civilization has rolled back to 
 its original seats, Assyria, Persia, and Palestine, an 
 intelligent population' of two or three hundred mil- 
 lions will have overspread the new world, and extend- 
 ed the empire of knowledge and the arts from Cape 
 Horn to Alayska. Among this vast mass of civiliz- 
 ed men, there will be but two languages spoken. 
 The effect of this single circumstance in accelerat- 
 ing the progress of society can scarcely be calculat- 
 ed. What a field will then be opened to the man of 
 science, the artist, the popular writer, who addresses 
 a hundred millions of educated persons ?_-what 9. 
 stimulus given to mental energy and social improve- 
 ment, when every new idea, and every useful dis- 
 4 s 
 
686 U N 1 T EDS T A T E S. 
 
 United eovery, will be communicated instantaneously to so 
 States. great a mass of intelligent beings^ by the electric 
 agency of the post and the press ? With the united 
 intellect and resources of a society framed on such 
 a gigantic scale, what mighty designs will then be 
 practicable ? Imagination is lost in attempting to 
 estimate the effects of such accumulated means and 
 powers. One result, however, may be anticipated. 
 America must then become the centre of knowledge, 
 civilization, and power; and the present leading states 
 of Europe ( Russia perhaps excepted), placed on the 
 arena amidst such colossal associates as the American 
 Rejiiiblics, will sink to a subordinate rank, and cease to 
 exert any greater influence on the fate of the Avorld 
 than the Swiss Cantons do at the present day. 
 Extent and The territory of the United States is, situated be- 
 Liams. tween the 25th and 49th degrees of north latitude, 
 and between the 67th and 124th degrees of west 
 longitude from Loiidon. Its extreme length east and 
 west is 2780 miles, its greatest breadth north and 
 south 1230 miles, and its area, according to Mr 
 Mellisli, 2,076,410 square English miles. It is 
 bounded on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, on the 
 north by the British possessions, on the west by the 
 Pacific Ocean, and on the south by Mexico and the 
 Mexican Gulf. The Mississippi divides it into two 
 parts nearly equal in extent. In the north-east angle of 
 this territory, there is a space of more than 1 00 miles 
 square, of very barren ground, interposed betw^een 
 New Brunswick and Lower Canada, the possession of 
 which has long been the subject of negotiation be- 
 tween the British and American Governments. On 
 the west coast the Americans have an unquestioned 
 claim to the country, between the 42d and 47th 
 parallels ; but Russia disputes the right of possession 
 ivith them to the tract of country between the 49th 
 and 60th parallel. As the admitted boundaries are 
 in general very distinctly marked on the common 
 maps, we shall not describe them in detail. 
 Xuturai Di- Two chains of mountains separate this extensive 
 visions. territory into three great natural divisions. 1. The 
 Atlantic region, or the country lying east of the 
 Alleghany mountains. 2. The valley of the Missis- 
 sippi, -or the country watered by the Mississippi, 
 Missouri, and their numerous branches. 3. The Paci- 
 fic region, or the country lying west of the Rocky 
 mountains. 
 
 The Alleghany mountains commence in Lower 
 Canada, below Quebec, and passing along the north- 
 ern boundary of Maine, and through New Hamp- 
 shire, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, 
 and the two Carolinas, they terminate in the upper 
 parts of Georgia and Alabama, preserving a south- 
 west direction throughout. They consist of three, 
 four, five, or more distinct ridges, with wide and 
 fertile vallies interposed. Their entire length is 1100 
 miles, their breadth varies from 110 to 150. In the 
 northern half their height is greatest, but most 
 
 unequal, detached peaks are numerous, and the V'"^ 
 ridges indistinctly marked. In the south, the 
 ridges are lower, but better defined, and their sum- 
 mits are often distinguished by a very uniform 
 continuous level. They attain their gi-eatest height 
 in New Hampshire, where Mount Washington has 
 an elevation of 6600 feet. Their greatest height in 
 New York is 3800, in Pennsylvania 2500, in Vir- 
 ginia S900, in South Carolina 4000. The mean 
 height is said by Mr Mellish to be from iOOO to 
 1800 feet, but his average is undoubtedly formed on 
 Avrong principles. That of the highest cliain cannot 
 be less than from 2000 to 2500 feet.* 
 
 The Rocky mountains, known but imperfectly, 
 are a continuation of the Mexican Cordilleras, and 
 extend to the Polar Ocean. They pass through the 
 territory of the United States, at the distance of 500 
 miles from the Pacific Ocean, and consist of several 
 elevated chains, occupying a breadth of 300 miles, 
 with deep vaUies between them. They rise abruptly 
 from their base, and are supposed to reach the eleva- 
 tion of 12,000 feet in their highest summits, many 
 of which are covered with perpetual snow. There 
 are, however, several passes through thern, which, 
 with a little improvement, might be traversed by- 
 loaded waggons, -j- 
 
 The Atlantic Region was the first settled, and is Atlanti 
 the most populous and improved portion of the^'''"" 
 United States, but not the most favoured as to soil 
 and climate. It may be considered as the eastern 
 slope of the Alleghanies. Including all the countries 
 watered by rivers flowing into the Atlantic and the 
 Gulf of Mexico, east of the Mississippi, it is about 
 1700 miles in length, with an average breadth of 
 250, and embraces an area of 400,000 square miles. 
 It mcludes three well marked varieties of soil and 
 surface. 1 . The alluvial district, consisting of sand, 
 gravel, and clay, comprising a stripe of level land, 
 extending along the coast from New York south- 
 ward, with a breadth varying from 20 miles to 1 00. 
 The surface is level or slightly undulating; and it em- 
 braces large tracts of marsh near the coast. The soil 
 is poor and sandy, producing almost nothing but 
 pines, except in the alluvial tracts which skirt the 
 rivers. About one-half of the surface of New Jersey, 
 Delaware, and Maryland, one-fifth of Virginia, one- 
 third of the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida, and Ala- 
 bama, fall under this description. 2. The upland 
 country, extending from the alluvial tract to the foot 
 of the mountains, with a breadth varying from 20 to 
 200 miles. The soil here is chiefly formed from the 
 detritus of the primitive rocks, and is generally fer- 
 tile, and well adapted for tillage. 3. The ridges of 
 the Alleghanies, and the vallies between them, which 
 bear a strong growth of natural wood, have generally 
 a rich soil capable of tillage, wherever the surface 
 is not rocky or too steep ; and are almost free from 
 marshes. In part of Pennsylvania, New York, and in 
 
 * Mellish's Geographical description of United States, Philadelphia, 1822, p. 20. Warden's Statistical^ 
 Political, and Historical Account of United States, 1819. Introduction. 
 
 t Mellish, p. 21. James's Account of an Expedition from Pittsburg to the Rocky Mountains in 1819. 
 1820, Vol. III. p. 238. Warden, III. 16L 
 
U N 1 T E D 
 
 itp'l the six N€w England States,* where the Alleghanies 
 spread out into an irregular broken surface, the soil 
 possesses a mixed chasacter. The northern parts of 
 New England are mountainous, the southern hilly 
 or uneven. The soil, compai'atively speaking, is 
 rocky, has little depth, and is better adapted for 
 pasture than tillage, and improves generally as we 
 advance ii>wards from the coast. The south-east 
 section of New York corresponds in character with 
 New England. But Pennsylvania contains the 
 largest portion of good soil on the east side of the 
 mountains, of all the old States. The woods origi- 
 nally covered all this Atlantic region, except some 
 tracts called by the Americans prairies, on which, 
 from causes not well explained, no natural growth 
 of timber exists. These are not meadows or wet 
 grounds, as the French term might be supposed to 
 indicate ; but lands bare of wood, whether wet or 
 dry, level or uneven. As the population thickens, the 
 forests disappear ; but even in the most densely peo- 
 pled parts, the woodlaiids occupy so large a propor- 
 tion of the surface, that the country generally pre- 
 sents, to the eye of a European, the aspect of a natu- 
 ral wilderness, but broken by patches of cultivation, 
 which are numerous round the great cities, but grow 
 less frequent as we recede from the shore, till they 
 terminate in the boundless forests of the Alleg- 
 hanies. 
 
 ey of The basin or Valleij of the Mississippi, which ex- 
 fsissippi. tends from the Alleghanies to the Rocky mountains, is 
 not so lai'ge as the basin of the Amazon by one-third, 
 but being situated in the best part of the temperate 
 zone, it may be pronounced the finest valley in the 
 world. Its breadth east and west is 1400 miles ; its 
 length in the opposite direction 1200, and its area 
 1,400,000 square miles. It comprehends a great 
 diversity of soil, surface, and climate. 1. The basin 
 of the Ohio, including the Cumberland, 700 miles 
 long and 300 broad, is a rich and beautiful country ; 
 the garden of the United States. The lower parts of 
 the surface are from 500 to 800 feet above the level 
 of the sea, and are finely diversified with round 
 topped arable hills, rising 400 or 500 feet above 
 their base. The rivers generally run in deep hollows, 
 rometimes mere ravines, but often spreading out 
 into rallies, which include lands of exuberant ferti- 
 lity. This district includes Kentucky, Tennessee, 
 with part of Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, 
 and Illinois. 2. The territory extending from the 
 basin of the Ohio north-westward to Lake Superior, 
 including the country between the Missouri and 
 Upper Mississippi. The surface is sometimes un- 
 dulating, sometimes so level that the waters stagnate 
 on it, till carried off by evaporation ; and it is not bro- 
 ken by any notable elevations, except one long ridge 
 extending between the Missouri and Mississippi, and 
 two low eminences called the Ocooch and Smoky 
 mountains. The soil is naturally rich, and covered 
 with luxuriant herbage ; but the climate is severe. 
 
 ST A T E S. 6S7 
 
 and the woods so thin, that the bare gvcund or Vmxf:d 
 prairies occupy three-fourths of the surface on 
 the east side of the Mississippi, and nineteen- 
 twentieths on the west. The absolute elevation 
 of the northern parts is probably not under 1 500 
 feet, for Cassina lake, 30 miles below the sources 
 of the Mississippi, is 1330 feet above the sea. 
 (Mellish, p. 32. James's Expedition, III. 204.) 3- 
 The last and largest division of this great valley, ex- 
 tendingfrom the Mississippi and Missouri to the Rocky 
 mountains, consists of two very different qualities of 
 soil, which graduate into each other, but, on the 
 great scale, may be conceived to form two parallel 
 tracts of nearly equal extent, parted by the 98th me- 
 ridian. In the middle of the eastern section, and, 
 a3 it were, in the very bottom of the great basin of 
 the Mississippi, lie the Ozark mountains, a chain like 
 the Alleghanies, of great length and breadth and smaU 
 height, rising only from 1 000 to 2000 feet above the 
 sea. (James's Expedition, III. p. 313.) Mr Mellish 
 erroneously calls the height 3500 feet. Their breadth 
 is from 100 to 150 rniles: their sides, which slope 
 with gentle declivities, are deeply furrowed with 
 streams, and partly covered with small timber. The 
 Arkansas and Red River are the only streams which 
 cut their way through this chain. On the east side 
 of the Oiiark chain is the Great Swamp, 200 miles 
 long and 20 broad, which is converted into a lake 
 by the annual overflow of "the Mississippi, but is dry 
 during the heats of summer, and rendered impene- 
 trable at all times by a thick growth of cypress. 
 The country round it is rich bottom or meadow land, 
 clothed with excellent timber. The country for one 
 or two hundred miles west of the Ozarks is also good, 
 but less wooded ; and in the eastern section, taken al- 
 together, the open ground occupies nineteen-twen- 
 tieths of the surface. The western section, extending 
 from the meridian of 98° to the Rocky mountains, is 
 comparatively dry and sterile, and much of it an ab- 
 solute desert, destitute of herbage, and unfit for hu- 
 man habitation. As we approach the mountains, 
 the ground, which is at first hilly, subsides into small- 
 er undulations, and these terminate in table lands, 
 nearly flat on the top, with steep, and sometimes 
 precipitous sides, and rising 600 or 800 feet above 
 the common level. These table lands, consisting of 
 alternate beds of sandstone and breccia, increase in 
 number and diminish in extent, as we approach the 
 base of the mountains, which is believed to have an 
 elevation of 3000 feet above the sea. The desert as- 
 pect of the country, however, is not the effect of its 
 elevation, but more probably of its aridity ; for val- 
 lies among the mountains, which are still higher, are 
 fertile. J'he rivers in this frightful solitude often 
 spread out to a breadth of one or two miles, and dry 
 up in the warm weather. Salt springs are numerous, 
 and salt incrustations cover many square miles. Trees 
 are only to be seen at some spots along the rivers, 
 and are rather more abundant in the south than in the 
 
 * As the name of New England occurs often in American books, it may be proper to mention, that the 
 appellation is applied to the six States east of the Hudson,— Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, 
 Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. 
 
688 
 
 UNITED STATES. 
 
 United 
 States. 
 
 Pacific Re- 
 gion. 
 
 Climate. 
 
 north ; but throughout the whole section^ the wood 
 does not cover the thousandth part of the surface. 
 Of the basin of the Mississippi altogether, it may be 
 observed, that the western side is a barren desert ; 
 the middle contains much good lands^ but abounds 
 in swamps ; the east side^ comprehending the basin 
 of the Ohio, is the richest, and the most eligible for 
 human habitation. The woods, in their natural state, 
 increase continually as we advance from the Rocky 
 mountains to the Atlantic, a proof, perhaps, that the 
 summer heat, and the quantity of atmospheric mois- 
 ture, follow a similar law.* 
 
 The Pacific Region extends from the Rocky moun- 
 tains to the ocean, and (exclusive of disputed ground) 
 from latitude 42° to 49°, embracing an area of 300,000 
 square miles. It consists almost entirely of the basin 
 of the Columbia river. A chain of mountains runs 
 through it from south to north, about 150 miles 
 from the coast, between which and the Rocky moun- 
 tains there is a high valley, 300 miles broad, inter- 
 sected by smaller chains, but well wooded and wa- 
 tered, and enjoying a pure air and a fruitful soil. 
 The land between the outer chain and the coast is 
 nearly of the same description, but much lower, and 
 overcharged with moisture from frequent and heavy 
 rains. The climate is remarkably mild and equable, 
 resembling that of France and Spain much more 
 than that of the Atlantic coast. Frost is rarely seen 
 in winter at the mouth of Columbia river, though 
 it is in the same latitude as Quebec, where the ice 
 lasts five or six months, f 
 
 The United States, whose territories almost touch 
 the tropic on the one side, and reach to districts 
 where frost lasts five or six months on the other, em- 
 brace greater varieties of climate than any other 
 single state in the world. Generally speaking, the 
 climate of the United States is distinguished from 
 that of Europe by three peculiarities. 1. It is ab- 
 solutely colder for the corresponding degrees of la- 
 titude, the mean temperature of the year, according 
 to Humboldt, being nine degrees of Fahrenheit 
 lower on the east coast of America than on the west 
 coast of Europe at the latitude of 40°, and 12^° lower 
 at the latitude of 50". 2. The thermometer has a 
 greater range, as the heat of summer and the cold of 
 winter reach greater extremes. 3. The climate 
 changes more rapidly as we proceed from soutli to 
 north, or. a greater variety of climates is comprised 
 within the same range of latitude. The mean tem- 
 perature of Quebec, at one extremity, is 42°, and of 
 Cape Sable, at the other, 72.7°. Between the pa- 
 rallels of 38 and 50, a degree of latitude which 
 make a change of 1.13° (Fahrenheit) in Europe, 
 makes a change of 1.57° in the United States ; and 
 the same annual temperature which is found at a 
 given degree of latitude in the United States, is 
 found seven degrees farther north in Europe. The 
 
 seasons are also very differently distributed, Phila- 
 delphia, for instance, has the summers of Rome and 
 the winters of Vienna. In Florida, at New Orleans, ^"^^ 
 and at St Mary's in Georgia, snow is never seen ; 
 but in Pennsylvania snow lasts three months, in 
 Massachusetts four, and in Maine five, j: In the 
 two latter states, the ice bears loaded waggons, and 
 the sea is sometimes frozen to a considerable distance 
 from the coast. In all the low country, from Flori- 
 da to the St Lawrence, the extreme summer heat is 
 nearly the same, from 90° to 98°, and the varieties 
 of climate are marked chiefly by the intensity and 
 duration of the winter's cold. The climate in the 
 basin of the Ohio, compared with that of the Atlan- 
 tic coast, possesses no very striking peculiarities, but 
 seems, on the whole, to have its mean annual heat a 
 little higher, to be rather more steady and equable, 
 to be less frequently visited by the frigorific north- 
 west winds, and to have fits of cold weather almost 
 equally severe, but more transitor3^ The great lakes 
 appear to mitigate the winter cold in the country im- 
 mediately around them, and probably in the basin of 
 the Ohio too, for on the west and north-west of this 
 district the climate is much more rigorous. At 
 Council Bluffs, on the Missouri, in latitude 41^°, the 
 thermometer descends to — 22° in winter, and risea 
 to 1 05° in summer. At St Peter's Fort, on the Missis- 
 sippi, in latitude 45°, it ranges from 92° to — 30^, 
 and the mean temperature of January is about Zero. 
 The absolute height of the fort, which cannot ex- 
 ceed 1000 feet, does not account for this excessive 
 cold. We have already mentioned the equable tem- 
 perature of the basin of the Columbia ; and, from 
 the observations made on the Missouri and Upper 
 Mississippi, we have reason to believe that the mild- 
 est and the most rigorous winters known in any si- 
 milar latitude are to be found at once on the opposite 
 sides of the great rampart of the Rocky mountains. 
 (On the subject of Climate, see Mellish, p. 59 — 77.) 
 
 So many local circumstances affect the annual Rain , 
 depth of rain, that little confidence can be put in ge- Windi. 
 neral estimates. We find that it was 42 inches at 
 Charlestown, on an average of some years, 40 at 
 Natchez, 30 at Philadelphia, 36 at Cincinnati. The 
 mean fall of i*ain for the inhabited part of the Unit- 
 ed States (latitude 41°) should be about 34 inches. 
 (See the Article Physical Geography.) Thefre- 
 quentfailure of the streams, and the scarcity of verdure 
 in the country near the Rocky mountains, indicates 
 a deficiency of atmospheric moisture in that region. 
 Snow falls to the greatest depth on the borders of 
 the great lakes. On the sea coast it is rarely seen 
 farther south than Northfolk, latitude 37° ; but in 
 the interior, it is found four or five degrees farther 
 south. Compared with the middle countries of 
 Europe, the United States, occupying a more south- 
 ern position, have rains more regular and heavy. 
 
 * This account of the basin of the Mississippi is entirely taken from Major Long's Memoir, published ia 
 the third volume of James's Account of the Expedition to the Rochy Mountains. 
 
 f Morse's American Universal Geography, 7th edition, I819j Vol. I. p. 671- Mellish, p. 417. 
 
 X Humboldt, Prolegomena de Distrib. Geog. Plant, 1817, p. 68—71. Warden, Vol. L p. 287, 353 
 Vol II. p. 60. 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 689 
 
 and gi-eater in absolute quantity, but a smaller num- 
 ber of wet days. Of the winds, the most remarkable 
 are, 1. A moist and warm south or south-west wind, 
 which is supposed to be a branch of the trade-wind, 
 and is felt all over the Atlantic States as far as the 
 Potowmac, and occasionally in New England. 2. 
 Another wind, possessing the same qualities, and 
 believed also to be a branch of the trade-wind ; it 
 blows from the Mexican Gulf up the course of the 
 Mississippi, and seems to send off subordinate 
 branches, which ascend the courses of the Ohio and 
 Missouri. In Louisiana and Arkansas, it is a south 
 wind; at Council Bluffs, on Missouri, it is a south- 
 east ; and in Ohio and Kentucky, a south-west wind. 
 It is the prevailing wind in all these districts. 3. 
 The north-west blows occasionally on the west side 
 of the Alleghanies, but more frequently on the east 
 side, and is most prevalent in New England. It 
 everywhere produces intense cold, depressing the 
 thermometer to — 7° or —8° in Ohio, and sometimes 
 
 to 20° in Massachusetts. 4. The north-east is a 
 
 cold wind, which, transporting the fogs of the New- 
 foundland bank, occasions showers of snow. Va- 
 rious facts observed in the United States seem to 
 show, what some meteorologists have doubted, that 
 clearing and cultivation improve the climate, at least 
 so far as regards the growth of the cerealia.* 
 
 If we draw a line from New York to the east end 
 of Lake Ontario, the peninsula lying north-eastward 
 between the St Lawrence and the sea consists of pri- 
 mitive rocks, interspersed with some patches of se- 
 condary. From this line southward, the country 
 has a different geological character. A belt of allu- 
 Tial soil, beginning at Long Island, extends along 
 the shore of all the southern states to Natchez on 
 the Mississippi, having an average breadth of a hun- 
 dred miles, and including, probably, all Florida, ex- 
 cept some high ground in the interior. It is every- 
 where penetrated by the tide water in the rivers. On 
 the west side of this is a region of primitive rocks, 
 from 100 to 200 miles broad, in which gneiss pre- 
 dominates. It embraces the eastern ridges of the 
 Alleghanies, with the rolling country at their foot. 
 On the west side of this, again, is a long narrow 
 zone of transition rocks, including the western ridges 
 of the Alleghanies, and extending from Lake Cham- 
 plain to the north- Avest angle of Georgia. From this 
 transition formation, which forms, as it were, the east- 
 ern edge of the basin of the Mississippi, immense beds 
 of secondary limestone, sandstone, and shale, cover 
 the country to the Rocky mountains, interrupted only 
 by the alluvial formations on the banks of the rivers, 
 and by the Ozark mountains. These mountains are 
 formed, like the Alleghanies, of the same formations, 
 disposed in the same order. The Rocky mountains, 
 so far as they have been explored, consist of primi- 
 tive rocks, granite, gneiss, quartz rock, &c., covered 
 
 United 
 States. 
 
 on the east side by an extensive formation of old red 
 sandstone, f 
 
 That important mineral, coal, is found on ^^^^^ jy^jngjl^jg" 
 sides of the Alleghanies. The two principal for- ' 
 mations on the east side are, 1. On the river Apo- 
 matox, above Richmond (Virginia), where a seam of 
 excellent coal, which occupies a basin 20 miles long 
 and 10 broad, has been long worked, and employs 
 5000 persons ; 2. At various spots along a narrow 
 tract of country, from the sources of the Juniata antl 
 western Susquehannah to Providence Bay. At 
 Lehigh, and other parts within this district, the coal 
 is worked. On the western side of the Alleghanies, 
 an immense formation of coal, probably the largest 
 in the world, extends from the head waters of the 
 Ohio southward to those of the Tombigbee, and 
 westward, with some interruptions, beyond the 
 Mississippi. A similar bed appears on the west 
 side of the Ozarks, which is also traced far up the 
 course of the Missouri ; and there is a third bed, of 
 unknown extent, on the east side of the Rocky 
 mountains. :j: 
 
 Salt, another mineral of primary importance, is 
 distributed in considerable abundance over the Unit- 
 ed States territwy, especially those parts that are 
 remote from the sea. A great formation of rock 
 salt (and gypsum), indicated by numerous salt springs, 
 is believed to accompany the coal formation over a 
 great part of the basin of the Mississippi. Salt springs 
 are numerous at the foot of the Rocky mountain*, 
 and extensive plains occur covered with salt, one of 
 which, the Grand Saline, is 30 miles in circumfer- 
 ence, and in hot weather is covered with a crust of 
 clear white salt, from two to six inches deep, and 
 superior in quality to manufactured salt. On the 
 east side of the Alleghanies, salt is generally obtain- 
 ed from the ocean, or imported. 
 
 Iron is found in nearly all the States, and is 
 worked to such an extent, that of 50,000 tons con- 
 sumed, according to computation, in the country, 
 only 10,000 are imported. (Morse, I. 236".) A bed 
 of magnetic iron ore, from eight to twelve feet thick 
 in gneiss, and another from two to twenty feet, ex- 
 tend, with some interruptions, from the White moun- 
 tains, on the one side, and from Lake Champlain, on 
 the other, to the northern limits of New Jersey. 
 Iron ore, of various kinds, is also met with in Mary- 
 land and Virginia. On the west side of the Alleg- 
 hanies it is abundant, and is extensively worked at 
 Pittsburgh, and in Kentucky and Tennessee. The 
 whole number of furnaces, forges, and bloomeries, 
 in 1810, was 530. Ores of copper are smelted in 
 New Jersey, and are found in various other parts of 
 the Union. Native copper is said to exist in great 
 quantities near the river St Croix, in the north-west 
 territory ; but at present, the United States are sup- 
 plied with this metal chiefly from Mexico. Lead is 
 
 4 
 
 • Warden. Vol. I. p. 28Q, 355. Birkheck's Letters from Illinois, p. 37. , ♦ 
 
 + Maclure's Observations on the Geology of United States, passim. Major Long s Memoir; and Engraved 
 
 ''fjr^sX^^^^^ p. 96, 298, and Engraved Sections, Maclure, p. 35. Warden, Intro, 
 
 cluction, p. 32. 
 
690 
 
 UNI T ED STATES. 
 
 United 
 States. 
 
 Lakes 
 
 found in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, but it 
 exists most abundantly in Missouri, at the north- 
 east angle of the Ozark mountains, where 45 mines 
 are worked, which yield three millions of pounds 
 annually. (Mellish, 366.) Gold and silver are met 
 with, but only in minute quantities. Mercury and 
 tin have not been found. Cobalt, antimony, raan- 
 jjanese, and ores of zinc, occur in some few spots. 
 Nitre is obtained in vast quantities from the lime- 
 stone caves in Kentucky. On a general view, it 
 may be said that the United States, so far as explored, 
 are nearly destitute of the precious metals, but have 
 a supply of coal, salt, iron, lead, and probably 
 copper, adequate to their own consumption. 
 
 The United States have no considerable lake, en- 
 tirely within their territory, except Michigan. But 
 a series of fresh water lakes, by far the largest in 
 the world (for the Caspian Sea is salt), and connect- 
 ed with one another by the St Lawrence, extend 
 along their northern frontier. The following is 
 their extent, and their elevation above the level of 
 the sea : 
 
 Lakes. 
 
 Length. 
 
 BTeadth. 
 
 Area. 
 
 Height 
 ia Feet. 
 
 
 350 
 
 l.'JO 
 
 35,000 
 
 642 
 
 
 220 
 
 150 
 
 17,000 
 
 589 
 
 Michigan, 
 
 310 
 
 70 
 
 18,000 
 
 
 St Clair, 
 
 30 
 
 30 
 
 900 
 
 570 
 
 
 230 
 
 55 
 
 10,300 
 
 560 
 
 Ontario, 
 
 170 
 
 50 
 
 7,200 
 
 110 
 
 
 
 
 88,400 
 
 
 Reckoning from Quebec to the W'estern extremity 
 of Superior, these lakes afford a line of 1550 miles 
 of inland navigation, which will be increased to 
 4500 miles if we include the whole extent of their 
 shores. Rut Quebec is far from the open sea, and 
 the shortest and best route to the Atlantic from 
 Lake Erie and the waters above will be by the 
 New York canal. Lake Erie is about twenty fa- 
 thoms in average depth, Ontario eighty, and Lakes 
 Huron, Michigan, and Superior, are said to be still 
 deeper. All these inland waters can be navigated 
 with advantage ; and will be crowded with vessels 
 at som.e future period, when an active population 
 covers the north-west territory. The principal inter- 
 ruptions at present are, 1 st, At the rapids between 
 Montreal and Kingston, where it is proposed to cut 
 a canal. 2d, At the rapids and the great fall of 
 Niagara, w^here a canal is also projected. 3d, In the 
 stream of the river between Lakes Huron and Erie, 
 where there are also rapids, and in Lake St Clair' 
 which is full of shallows. 4th, At the falls of St 
 Mary, between Huron and Superior, amounting to 
 twenty-three feet in half a mile. All these obstruc- 
 tions, it is believed, can be surmounted by art. These 
 various lakes evidently occupy the bottom of a raised 
 plateau, the outer sides of which are not very dis- 
 tant ; and hence they receive very few rivers of any 
 magnitude. Their shores are beset with ice for 
 two, three, or four months in the year. 
 
 Lake George, 36 miles long and 7 broad, pours 
 
 Unil 
 Stati 
 
 its waters into Lake Champlain, which is 1 60 miles 
 long and 18 broad, and communicates by the River 
 Sorelle with the St Lawrence. A canal, 22 miles 
 long, now nearly finished, connects Lake Cham- 
 plain with the Hudson. We pass over the other 
 lakes of smaller size. 
 
 The rivers of the United States belong to four Rfrew. 
 different systems; 1st, Those which water the Atlan- 
 tic region. 2d, The Mississippi and its branches, 
 ^yhlch water the great central valley of North Ame- 
 rica. 3d, Those which flow into the St Lawrence ; 
 and, 4th, The Columbia and its tributaries, which 
 flow into the Pacific Ocean. 
 
 The rivers which fall into the Atlantic, and the Eastcn 
 Gulf of Mexico, from Maine to the eastern boundary l<fver< 
 of Louisiana^ all rise in the Allegbanies, except the 
 Susquehannah and the Hudson, which pass entirely 
 through the principal chains. Their length varies 
 from 200 to 450 miles, increasing gradually with the 
 breadth of the level country, as we advance south- 
 ward. The tide-water ascends in all these rivers to 
 the outer boundary of the primitive formations, 
 where falls regularly occur, except on the Hudson! 
 In this river, the tide reaches to Albany, ICQ miles 
 from its mouth, to which point there is an uninter- 
 rupted navigation for sloops of 80 tons. This pecu- 
 liar advantage has made the Hudson the scene of a 
 more active inland trade than any river, perhaps, in 
 the world, of the same magnitude. Tide navigation 
 reaches a very short way up the great rivers in the 
 northern states generally ; but in those south of the 
 Susquehannah, it reaches generally from 100 to l3o 
 miles. Boats ply on these rivers much farther 
 up, but the navigation is seldom uninterrupted. The 
 following are the principal rivers on the Atlantic 
 side, with their approximate lengths. 
 
 Miles. 
 
 Connecticut,.. 29O 
 
 Hudson, 300 
 
 Delaware, 270 
 
 Susquehannah, 350 
 
 Potowmac, 260 
 
 James' River, 200 
 
 Miles. 
 
 Roanoke, 230 
 
 Pedee, 290 
 
 Santee, 300 
 
 Savannah, 280 
 
 Catahouche, 400 
 
 Alabama, 440 
 
 The rivers that fall into the St Lawrence, and its Northern 
 lakes, are comparatively small, and probably do not ^^^"^ 
 carry off one-tenth part of the water that falls on the 
 east side of the Mississippi. The most considerable 
 are the Fox River, which falls into Lake Michigan, 
 the Miamie of Lake Erie, the Genessee, and Seneca 
 of Lake Ontario, and the Saurelleor Richlieu, which 
 joins the St Lawrence below Montreal. 
 
 The majestic Mississippi drains a greater surface Mifsissip 
 than any river in the world, except the Amazon, and 
 in the magnitude of its stream is only surpassed by 
 the Amazon and the Plata. It has been computed 
 to convey to the Mexican Gulf ^\ of all the water 
 which the ocean receives from the dry land. (See 
 Physical Geography.) The exti-eme length of 
 the Mississippi Proper, including all its sinuosi- 
 ties, is generally computed to be 2500 miles, but 
 reckoning to the head of the Missouri, which is 
 the largest branch, it is i*early 4000. It has 
 three bars' at its mouth, the deepest of which 
 affords only 17 feet of water. (Wanlen, I. 114.) 
 
U N I T E D 
 
 Sloops of this draught can navigate to Natchez, 350 
 ''f • miles from its mouth. There is depth sufficient at 
 all times for slqops drawing six feet to the Ohioj and 
 for vessels drawing three feet to the junction with 
 the Missouri. (James's Expedition, III. 258.) But, 
 during the floods in May, June, and July, the waters 
 rise 50 feet, and are then navigable by vessels of 
 any size. The Mississippi, from its junction with the 
 . Ohio to the sea, is about 1000 yards, or two-thirds 
 of a mile in width, and below Red River it is aboiit 
 1 20 feet deep. From the junction of the Arkansas, 
 its banks form an elevated ridge or platform, which 
 support the stream at the height of ten or twenty 
 feet above the level of the adjacent lands. In its 
 floods, it sometimes bursts the barriers which confine 
 it, and inundates the flat country below. Of the two 
 great branches, the Missouri, and Mississippi Proper, 
 the former stream is the larger, and more rapid, and 
 also more turbid, from the quantity of travelled soil 
 it transports. But its waters, generally occupying a 
 wider channel, are more loaded with bars and sand- 
 banks, and the navigation is more intricate. (James's 
 Expedition, 111. 259.) The Platte, Kansas, and some 
 other tributaries of the Missouri, often spread out to 
 a breadth of one or two miles, and during the warm 
 season, dry up entirely. But these, and all the 
 branches of both rivers, generally admit of boat 
 navigation for nine-tenths of their course, during a 
 longer or shorter period every year. In the Ohio, 
 the boating season is from 20th February to the 
 middle of June. Before this period tlie waters are 
 ice-bound ; after it, they are too shallow, except for 
 very small craft. The length of the Mississippi, 
 from its mouth to the junction of the Ohio, is about 
 1200 miles, and to its junction with the Missouri, 
 1300. The length of the Missouri, above the junc- 
 tion to its remotest branch, is, by Lewis' and Clarke's 
 measurement, 2575 miles. The length of the Ohio, 
 above the point of confluence, is 1188 miles. 'I'he 
 other large branches of the Mississippi are the Red 
 River and Arkansas, in the lower part of its course. 
 The chief tributaries of the Missouri are the Osage, 
 Platte, Kansas, and Yellowstone ; of the Ohio, the 
 Tennessee, Cumberland, and Wabash. The whole 
 extent of the navigable waters above the confluence 
 of the Missouri and Mississippi has been estimated 
 at 23,000 miles, to which, if we add 12,000 for the 
 Ohio, Arkansas, Red River, &c. and their branches, 
 we shall have 35,000 miles of boat navigation in the 
 basin of the Mississippi. To this we may add 
 10,000 miles more for the eastern section of the 
 States, with 5000 for the lakes and their tributary 
 streams, and 2000 for the River Columbia, making 
 altogether 51,000 miles of river navigation, which 
 is probably three times greater than all the rivers 
 of Europe afford. Except in New England, Penn- 
 sylvania, and New York, the rivers of the Unit- 
 ed States flow over a surface which has . rather a 
 small declivity. Of the two sides of the great cen- 
 
 STATES. 691 
 
 tral valley, the westeini in the steepest. The base of {j'liiicd 
 the Rocky, mountains is computed to have an eleva- ^^'tytes. 
 tion of 3000 feet. That of the beds of the ri vers, where '*'*^ 
 they begin to be navigable, may be about 2000; 
 and estimating their average length of course to the 
 sea to be about 2500 miles, the mean fall v/ill be 
 about nine or ten inches per mile. The Mississippi 
 Proper, at 2500 miles from the sea, has a height of 
 1330 feet, or a mean fall of six or seven inches per 
 mile. The Ohio, at Pittsburgh, 2200 miles from 
 the sea, has a height of 600 feet, or a mean fall of 
 four inches. In the Amazon and the Ganges, from 
 the point where they leave the mountains, and in 
 the Wolga, from its source, the average rate of de- 
 scent is from four to five inches per mile. In the 
 middle and south of Europe, generally, the fall of * 
 the rivers is probably twice as great. * 
 
 The variety of cultivated plants in North Ameri- Cultivated 
 ca correspo.ids to the diversity of its climates. At Plants, 
 one extremity, the sugar cane of the tropical re- 
 gions thrives, and at the other, oats and barley, the 
 staple crops of the Arctic regions, are leading arti- 
 cles of cultivation. The high summer heat, how- 
 ever, in all parts of the United States, makes some 
 plants, which cannot be raised in England, succeed 
 in the. coldest districts of the north. Of this de- 
 scription is maize, or Indian corn, an indigenous 
 American plant, which is cultivated from Maine to 
 Louisiana. It is a vegetable in universal use in the 
 United States, yields generally double the produce 
 of wheat, and is adapted to a greater variety of si- 
 tuations. The maple tree, which grows in all the 
 States, yields a juice from which sugar is made. 
 Nearly ten millions of pounds of maple sugar were 
 made in 1810. Wheat is raised from one extremi- 
 ty of the Union to the other, but succeeds best in 
 the middle and western States, and in the uplands 
 of the southern. The cultivation of tobacco begins 
 in Maryland, about the parallel of 39° or 40°, and con- 
 tinues through all the southern States, and through 
 those in the west, south of the Ohio. The climate fa- 
 vourable for cotton is not found farther north than 
 about the latitude of 37°, though it can be raised as far 
 north as 39" on both sides of the mountains. The best 
 grows in South Carolina and Georgia, in dry situa- 
 tions upon the sea coast. The rice crops, which re- 
 quire a marshy soil, and a great heat, commence 
 about the same parallel with cotton, and have near- 
 ly the same geographical range. The sugar cane 
 grows in low and warm situations, as high as the 
 latitude of 33°, but the climate favourable for its cul- 
 tivation does not extend beyond 31 ^°. Oats, barley, 
 hemp, and flax, succeed well, except in the low 
 grounds of the southern States. The vine can be 
 advantageously raised as far north as Pennsylvania. 
 The olive, orange, lemon, and fig, are uijured by 
 the frost in South Carolina, but it is believed, that 
 these trees, as well as the banana, will succeed in 
 Florida.f The forest trees of the United States com- 
 
 • Physical Geog. in this Supplement. Warden, 1. 115. MeUish, 32. Major Long's Memoir in James's 
 Expedition, with the Sectional Maps, 
 f Warden's Introduction, 27. U- 399- III. 222. Humboldt, Proleg. 156. 
 
692 
 
 UNITED STATES. 
 
 United 
 States. 
 
 Animals. 
 
 prise almost all the valuable and useful species of 
 wood. 
 
 The United States contain about one-fourth of the 
 known species of quadrupeds. Some are common 
 to both continents, others are peculiar to the west- 
 ern. Comparing individuals of the same species, 
 some are perfectly similar ; between others there is 
 some difference in size, colour, or other circum- 
 stances. In a few instances, the animal of the east- 
 ern continent is larger than the American ; in most 
 the reverse is the case. The following is a catalogue 
 of the quadrupeds of the United States. 
 
 Unit 
 Stat( 
 
 Mammoth (an 
 
 extinct species). 
 Bison or Buffalo, 
 Moose Deer, 
 Caribou, 
 Red Deer, 
 Fallow Deer, 
 Koe, 
 Bear, 
 
 Wolverene, 
 
 Wolf, 
 
 Fox, 
 
 Catamount, 
 Spotted Tiger, 
 Sallow Cougar, 
 Gray Cougar, 
 Mountain Cat, 
 
 Lynx, 
 
 Kincagou, 
 
 Weasel, 
 
 Ermine, 
 
 Martin, 
 
 Mink, 
 
 Otter, 
 
 Fisher, 
 
 Skunk, 
 
 Opossum, 
 
 Wood-Chuck, 
 
 Urchin, 
 
 Hare, 
 
 Racoon, 
 
 Fox Squirrel, 
 
 Gray Squirrel, 
 
 Red Squirrel, 
 
 Flying Squirrel, 
 Field Mouse, 
 
 ^ Bat, 
 
 Ground Mouse, 
 
 Wood Cat, 
 
 American Rat, 
 
 Shrew Mouse, 
 
 Purple Mole, 
 
 Black Mole, 
 
 Water Rat, 
 
 Beaver, 
 
 Musquashj 
 
 Morse, 
 
 Seal, 
 
 Manati, 
 
 Sapajou, 
 
 Sagoin. 
 
 Nine-tenths of these animals yield a fur, which is 
 used for dress or in manufactures. The bison, or 
 wild ox (improperly called the buffalo), is, accord- 
 ing to some American naturalists, of the same spe- 
 cies with the common neat cattle of the United 
 States, the difference being the effect of the domes- 
 tication of the latter. Buffon, however, thinks other- 
 wise. The bison is larger than the domestic ox, has 
 a fleshy or grisly substance extending along his 
 shoulders and back, and has on his neck and shoul- 
 ders a woolly hair, which admits of being spun or 
 wrought into hats. The moose-deer, now rare, is a 
 gigantic animal, one variety sometimes reaching the 
 height of 12 feet. The caribou is probably the rein- 
 deer of Scandinavia. The bear is of two species. 
 The short-legged lives chiefly on vegetable food, and 
 is probably not carnivorous. He dozes away the 
 winter in a torpid state, sucking his paws, and 
 expending, the fat he had previously acquired. The 
 ranging bear is larger, but more lean. He de- 
 stroys calves, sheep, pigs, and sometimes children, 
 and in winter migrates southward. The wolf, like 
 the bear, is found in all the States. It is a voracious 
 animal, stealing into sheepfblds at night, attacking 
 deer, hogs, and small cattle, and sometimes hunting 
 in packs. The catamount is of the size of a large 
 dog, and extremely ferocious, but it *s rarely seen. 
 The spotted tiger is scarcely seen, except near 
 
 Louisiana. It is from five to six feet long. The 
 cougar or American panther is about the same size, 
 but more common. It destroys sheep, calves, and 
 hogs, and, when hungry, will attack large cattle. 
 The urchin differs in several respects from the Eu- 
 ropean hedgehog. The lion, leopard, striped or true 
 tiger, hyena, elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, 
 camelopard, are unknown in the New World. The 
 horse, the ass, the sheep, the goat, the hog, and the 
 camel, did not originally exist there, but have been 
 naturalized. The latter, however, are not numerous, 
 and have never been introduced into the United 
 States. Of the birds and reptiles our limits will not 
 allow us to speak in detail. The eagle, pheasant, 
 grouse, partridge, swan, Canadian goose, ptarmigan, 
 are less or more numerous. In general, the small 
 birds of America surpass those of Europe in the 
 beauty of their plumage ; but are much inferior to 
 them in the melody of their notes. Among the rep- 
 tiles, the most remarkable is the alligator or Ame- 
 rican crocodile, from 1 2 to 23 feet long, very strong 
 and active. Of serpents, the rattlesnake, from four 
 to six feet long, is the most formidable.* 
 
 Perhaps no single circumstance connected with Populal 
 the United States has attracted so much attention as 
 the rapid growth of their population. Philosophers 
 had shown, from the laws which govern propagation, 
 that the human species might double its numbers in 
 a short period. But this was only known as a spe- 
 culative truth, applicable, it was supposed, to small 
 tribes under extraordinary circumstances, but not to 
 a great nation of many millions. The Spanish co- 
 lonies, planted a hundred years earlier than the 
 United States, should have made this principle fa- 
 miliar to the world long ago, but ignorance and mis- 
 government, intercepting the bounty of nature, in- 
 flicted all the vices and evils of old societies upon 
 these colonies, and a jealous policy threw a veil of 
 secrecy over their condition. 
 
 The first European emigrants settled in the Unit- 
 ed States in 1607. From that period, colonists con- 
 tinued to flock to the country in small parties or 
 large bodies. The last new settlement on a consi- 
 derable scale was in 1733, when, by means of a 
 grant of L. 10,000 from Parliament, and various 
 sums raised by private contributions, 618 persons 
 were sent exit from England to Georgia, t The 
 growth of the colonies was rapid and obvious ; but 
 much more of it was probably attributed to the in- 
 flux of settlers from the mother country than was 
 consistent with the truth. No accurate enumeration 
 of the inhabitants was made till the first census was 
 taken in 1 79O. That for the year 1 753, in Mar- 
 shall's Life of Washington, is undoubtedly erroneous. 
 The ratio of increase being ascertained by the four se- 
 parate enumerations, and having continued remarka- 
 bly uniform for forty years, we can now, by calculat- 
 ing backwards, obtain results more deserving of con- 
 fidence than the rude guesses made from uncertain 
 
 * Morse, Vol. I. p. 263, Warden, Chap. 6. Buffon's Quadrupeds, Vol, II. London edit. 1775. 
 
 f For an account of this and the earlier settlements, the reader may consult the Hiitory of the Britis-h 
 Empire in America, 2 \o\s. Svo, hond. 17 i l. 
 
 10 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 693 
 
 data. The period of doubling at present is 24-^- 
 years ; butj taking it at 25 years, and reckoning 
 backwards from 1790, we find the population at the 
 under mentioned periods would be, — ■ 
 
 1790 3,921,000 1715 490,000 
 
 (by census) 1690 24.5,000 
 
 1765 1,960,000 1665 122,000 
 
 1740 980,000 1640 6l,000 
 
 Beyond the last mentioned period we cannot, for 
 
 ob^aous reasons, carry our calculation. If we sup- 
 pose 1000 settlers to have come from Europe an- 
 nually for the first 33 years, these, by natural mul- 
 tiplication, would amount to about 60,000 at the 
 time alluded to, that is, in 1640. The following 
 Table, constructed from documents afforded by Sey- 
 bert and Mellish, with several new calculations, 
 gives an interesting view of the progressive changes 
 in the different states, and in the two great classes of 
 the population. 
 
 United 
 States. 
 
 States or Territories, 
 
 Vermont, 
 
 New Hampshire,. 
 
 Maine, 
 
 Massachusetts, 
 
 Rhode Island, 
 
 Connecticut, 
 
 New York, 
 
 New Jersey, , 
 
 Pennsylvania, , 
 
 Delaware, , 
 
 Maryland, , 
 
 Virginia, 
 
 Kentucky, 
 
 North Carolina, 
 
 South Carolina, 
 
 Georgia, 
 
 Louisiana, 
 
 Tennessee, 
 
 Ohio, 
 
 Indiana, 
 
 Illinois, 
 
 Missouri, 
 
 Arkansas, 
 
 Michigan, 
 
 District of Columbia, 
 
 Mississippi, 
 
 Alabama, 
 
 Total, 
 
 Florida (supposed) 
 
 Slaves, 
 
 Free Persons, 
 
 Population including Slaves. 
 
 1790. 
 
 85,539 
 141,885 
 
 96,540 
 378,787 
 
 68,825 
 237,946 
 340,120 
 184.139 
 434,373 
 
 59,094 
 319,728 
 747,610 
 
 73,677 
 393,751 
 240,073 
 
 82,548 
 
 36,691 
 
 3,921,326 
 
 694,280 
 3,227,046 
 
 1800. 
 
 154,465 
 183,858 
 151,719 
 422,845 
 
 69,122 
 251,002 
 586,050 
 211,149 
 602,548 
 
 64,273 
 349,692 
 886,149 
 220,959 
 478,103 
 345,591 
 162,686 
 
 105,602 
 
 y 59,856 
 
 14,093 
 
 5,319,762 
 
 1810. 
 
 } 
 
 217^895 
 214,460 
 228,705 
 472,040 
 76,931 
 261,942 
 9^9,049 
 245,562 
 810,091 
 72,674 
 380,546 
 974,622 
 406,511 
 555,500 
 415,115 
 252,433 
 76,556 
 261,727 
 230,760 
 24,520 
 12,282 
 
 20,845 
 
 4,762 
 24,023 
 40,352 
 
 7,239,903 
 
 889,881 1,165,441 
 4,429,881 16,074,562 
 
 1820. 
 
 each 100 In- 
 labitants in- 
 reased to — 
 
 235,764 
 244,161 
 298,335 
 523,287 
 83,059 
 275,248 
 1,372,812 
 277,575 
 1,049,458 
 72,749 
 407.350 
 1,065,366 
 564,317 
 638,829 
 502,741 
 340,989 
 153,407 
 422,813 
 581,434 
 147,178 
 55,211 
 66,586 
 14,273 
 8,896 
 33,039 
 75,448 
 127.901 
 
 9,638,226 
 10,000 
 
 9,648,226 
 
 1,538,118 
 8,110,108 
 
 275 
 172 
 309 
 138 
 120 
 117 
 403 
 150 
 242 
 123 
 121 
 142 
 765 
 162 
 209 
 413 
 
 246 
 
 Slaves. 
 
 In 1790. 
 
 ... . 
 
 In 1820. 
 
 16 
 
 __ 
 
 158 
 
 — 
 
 948 
 
 48 
 
 2,764 
 
 97 
 
 
 10,088 
 
 11,423 
 
 7,557 
 
 3,737 
 
 211 
 
 8,887 
 
 4,509 
 
 103,036 
 
 107,398 
 
 292,627 
 
 425,153 
 
 12,430 
 
 126,732 
 
 100,572 
 
 205,017 
 
 107,094 
 
 258,475 
 
 29,264 
 
 149,656 
 
 
 69,064 
 
 
 80,097 
 
 
 190 
 
 
 917 
 
 
 10,222 
 
 
 1,617 
 
 
 6,377 
 
 
 32,814 
 
 
 41,879 
 
 694,280 
 
 1,538,118 
 
 In 1790. In 1820 
 
 For each 100 Free 
 
 Inhabitants the 
 number of Slaves 
 was — 
 
 0,01 
 0,11 
 
 1.39 
 1,17 
 
 6,68 
 6,62 
 0,86 
 10,77 
 47,54 
 82,40 
 10,29 
 34,30 
 80,60 
 54,92 
 
 0,06 
 0,03 
 0,74 
 
 2,79 
 0,02 
 6,61 
 35,79 
 66,43 
 28,97 
 47.28 
 105,80 
 78,23 
 82,90 
 23,37 
 
 0,13 
 1.69 
 18,15 
 12,83 
 
 23,95 
 77.02 
 48,74 
 
 21,51 
 
 18,99 
 
 It will be observed from tliis table, that the rate 
 of inci-ease is very unequal for the different sections 
 of the Union. The older states of Connecticut and 
 Massachusetts have only added one-fifth to their 
 population, in the same period in which the new 
 states of Kentucky and Ohio have quadrupled 
 theirs. The reason obviously is, that the more 
 densely peopled parts of the Union, and, in parti- 
 cular. New England^ serve as a nursery to the new 
 states, to which they are continually sending out 
 large draughts of emigrants. There is thus a con. 
 stant stream of population pouring across the Alle- 
 
 VOL. VI. PART ir. 
 
 ghanies, from the east side to the west, to occupy 
 the vast plain of the Mississippi ; and by this gradu- 
 al generation of a mighty people, as it were from a 
 central stock, a uniformity of language, manners, 
 and institutions, is diffused over the whole, which 
 will cement their union, in spite of local diversities 
 of interest, and which promises to make the count- 
 less millions, who will by and by c.over North Ameri- 
 ca, from sea to sea, more truly one people than the 
 inhabitants of Austria,-Prussia, France, Spain, or Brif 
 tain, are at this day. 
 
 If we calculate prospectively from the present rate 
 4 T 
 
694 
 
 UNITED STATES. 
 
 •United 
 States. 
 
 Slaves. 
 
 of increasBj assuming- that it will continue perma- 
 ^nent for some time, the population, at the under 
 mentioned periods, will be. 
 
 1845 
 1870 
 
 20,000,000, 
 40,000,000, 
 
 1895 
 1920 
 
 80,000,000, 
 160,000,000. 
 
 Before this last result is realized, some retardation 
 will probably take place in the rate of increase. But 
 even were the vast population alluded to in existence, 
 the avei'age density for the whole territory would not 
 be greater than it is at this day in Massachusetts, and 
 only half as great as in Italy, France, and the British 
 Isles.. 
 
 The rapid growth of the 'population in America 
 becomes much more striking when we contrast it 
 with the scarcely perceptible progress of commimi- 
 ties in the Old World. France, which had 19,094,000 
 inhabitants in 17OO, according to the enumeration 
 of Marshal Vauban, had 26,363,000 in I791. Now, 
 according to the rate of increase which this indicates, 
 that country would have doubled its population in 
 195 years; but the population of the United States 
 in the same period would have increased to 220 
 times its first amount. The following table, which 
 we have calculated from the best data to be obtain- 
 ed, shows the comparative rate of increase in different 
 countries. 
 
 
 Annual In- 
 crease on 
 
 each 10,000 
 Persons. 
 
 Period of 
 Doubling. 
 
 United States (according to 
 census of 1810 tod 1820), 
 France, from I7OO to 1791, 
 
 Ditto 1791 to 1821, 
 
 England 1801 to 1821, 
 Europe for the last 30 years, 
 
 1 291 
 
 34 
 48 
 137 
 76 1 
 
 24^ years 
 
 195 
 144 
 
 51 
 
 90 
 
 Slavery is nearly extinguished in all the New Eng- 
 land States, and is hastening to its extinction in Penn- 
 sylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware. In 
 Ohio it does not exist. In Indiana and Illinois it will 
 soon cease. In Maryland, though there has been a small 
 absolute increase in the slave population, 'their num. 
 ber, compared with that of the Avhites, has diminished. 
 In two important circumstances there is a wide differ- 
 ence between slavery as it exists in North America, 
 and in the West Indies. In the former, the number 
 of slaves no where equals that of the free inhabitants, 
 except in South Carolina, where there is a trifling 
 excess of the former, — and in the States where 
 slavery exists, taken altogether (excluding those 
 northward of Kentucky and Delaware), the blacks 
 form only one-third of the population. But in 
 the West India Islands, the blacks are ten, or 
 sometimes twenty times more numerous than the 
 whites.* In the second place, it is well known that the 
 slaves in the West Indies continually decrease, antf 
 would speedily die out, unless kept up by new im- 
 portations ; but, in the United States, they double 
 
 their numbers in 29| years, without any importation Unite 
 whatever. It may be safely said, that the superior ^^^^^ 
 humanity of the Americans in the treatment of the 
 blacks is the greatest obstacle to that abolition of 
 slavery which they so ardently wish to accomplish, 
 and that, were their slaves Avorked and fed like those 
 in the West Indies, the race of blacks, instead of 
 multiplying tenfold in the course of one century, 
 would be entirely extinguished; The existence of 
 slavery is a bequest from Britain ; it is not the crime 
 of the Americans, but their misfortune. It is an 
 evil which they deplore, and^ of which they would 
 gladly rid themselves if they knew how. The diffi- 
 culty is, how to dispose of the slaves, whom many 
 would be willing to manumit. The plan of carry- 
 ing them back to a colony on the African coast seems 
 absolutely chimerical ; and the strong distinction of 
 colour, with the rooted prejudices of the whites^, 
 form an insuperable bar to such an amalgamation of 
 the two races as took place when the serfs of Western 
 Europe were incorporated with the freemen in the fif- 
 teenth and sixteenth centuries. Time alone promises 
 a certain alleviation of the evil, though not an abso- 
 lute cure. If we separate the white and black races, 
 the fbrmer double their numbers in 23/^ years, and 
 the latter in 29 j^2, a difference apparently trifling, 
 but which produces important results, if we reckon 
 forwards. Supposing the ratio of increase to re- 
 main steady, in 118 years the slaves will have mul- 
 tiplied to 16 times, and the whites to 32 times their 
 present numbers. And in this period, the re- 
 lative proportions of the two races would be so 
 changed, that the slaves, who form at present ] of 
 the population, would then form only or J-j-th. If 
 we add the free blacks, indeed, the increase is more 
 rapid than here assumed, but we throw these out as 
 a compensation for the mulatto or mixed race, who 
 are the progeny, not of blacks alone, but of blacks 
 and whites, and a large part of whom must ulti- 
 mately melt into the mass of the white populatiwi. 
 
 In France and England, and probably in Europe Males 
 at. large, the females exceed the males by 2 or 3 per 
 cent. ; but, in the United States generally, the males 
 exceed the females by nearly 4 per cent. In the 
 newest States, the excess is as high as ] 9 per cent. 
 (Seybert, p. 42.) The difference is still more strik- 
 ing in what relates to ages. In the United States, 
 children form a much greater, and aged persons a 
 much smaller, proportion of the population than in 
 Europe. In Sweden, according to Wargentin's 
 Tables, the persons under the age of 16 form S6 per 
 cent, of the population ; in Britain, according to the 
 last census, 40, and in the United States 50 per cent. 
 The persons aged above 45 form 22 per cent, of the 
 whole population in Sweden, 18 jier cent, in Britain, 
 and 1 2 per cent, in the United States. This peculi- 
 arity arises from the rapidly progressive state of the 
 population. Since the inhabitants of the United 
 States quadruple their numbers in 50 years, a per. 
 son born half a century ago belongs by his birtli to 
 a society of two millions and a half of persons, but 
 now lives in a society of ten millions, which will fur- 
 
 Colquhoun's Wealth, Powevy and Resources of the British Empire, p. 40. 
 
 i 
 
UNITED 
 
 nish four times as many old men to a future and 
 ^ equidistant period. The annual amount of immigra- 
 tion (to borrow an American word) is very varia- 
 ble, and its effects have been greatly overrated. 
 The whole number of passengers who arrived, in 
 1817, at the ten principal ports, was 22,240, includ- 
 ing citizens and persons on business who did not 
 mean to remain in the country. In 1816, it was 
 estimated at 20,000; in 1818 and 1819, at 28,000 
 each, not more than one-half of whom, very proba- 
 bly, were strangers come to settle. In 1820, the 
 true number of immigrants, according to the Nalioji- 
 al Calendar, was 7001, of whom 50^2 were m.ales, 
 consisting of 997 agricultural persons, J4-6l com- 
 mercial, HO? manufacturers, artizans, &c. Dr Sey- 
 bert thinks the average number of foreigners who 
 come to settle in the United States does not exceed 
 6000 per an7tum ; but assuming it to be 8000 or 
 9000, this is only from ^ to ^\ of the whole an- 
 nual increment, which must amount to 290,000 per- 
 sons to make the population double in 24-^ years. * 
 
 This rapid increase does not greatly affect the 
 rate of the annual mortality, which is proportional- 
 ly rather greater among the persons under 25 than 
 among those of all ages. In the absence of proper 
 data for ascertaining the annual mortality of the 
 whole country, or of any single state, we can only 
 refer to a single fact. The average number of 
 deaths in Philadelphia, for eight years (1807 to 
 1814), was found to be about ^^^^ of the contempo- 
 raneous population. (Seybert, p. 50.) In Birming- 
 ham, in the ten years ending 1811, it was about 
 in London ^i^, and in all England, including the 
 army and navy, about or ^j. (Milne's Annuities, 
 p. 456.) This single fact, therefore, so far as it 
 goes, bears testimony to the salubrity of the climate, 
 and to the comfortable condition of the inhabitants 
 of the United States- 
 
 The active population in the United States is pro- 
 portionally greater, and the idle population less than 
 in any other country. They have few public func- 
 tionaries, preachers, or annuitants, and a very small 
 army and navy. According to a table Avhich will 
 be found farther on, the active population amounts 
 to 27 per cent, of the whole, or 2 per cent, more than 
 the number of males above the age of 16. The 
 proportions employed in agriculture, manufactures, 
 and commerce, according to the census of 1820 
 were, — 
 
 Agriculture, 83.7 per cent. 
 
 Manufactures, ] 3.5 
 
 Commerce, 2.8 
 
 100. 
 
 But the number assigned to commerce evidently 
 does not include mariners, or includes only those 
 who resided on shore at the time the census was 
 taken. For the sake of comparison, we give the 
 general result of the British returns for 1811, re- 
 
 STATES. 695 
 
 marking, however, that the two classifications are United 
 not constructed on the same plan, the second head States, 
 in our arrangement coi'responding to the second and 
 third in the American, 
 
 Agriculture (by families) 35 J per cent- 
 Trade, manufactures, and handicraft 
 
 (do.) 44^ 
 
 Other persons (the unproductive class, 
 
 military, placemen, clergy, &c.)...... 20-^ 
 
 100 
 
 The situation of the labouring classes in the Unit- Wages and 
 ed States is confessedly far superior to that of the I'auperism. 
 same description of persons in any other part of the 
 woi'ld. Wages are so high, compared with the price 
 of provisions, that an American labourer, who should 
 live exactly as labourers live in other countries, 
 might always save the half of his earnings. The 
 average wages of a labourer were estimated at 75 
 cents a day by Mr Blodget, and more recently at 
 80 cents by Mr Niles, wheat being 1| dollar per 
 bushel. (Warden, Introduction.) In such circum- 
 stances, a very moderate degree of industry suffices 
 to place a man above want, and pauperism can only 
 be the lot of those who are debilitated by old age 
 or disease. Accordingly, it is a proud distinction 
 for North America, that this moral deformity, ex- 
 cept so far as it is the consequence of natural and 
 unavoidable misfortunes, is almost unknown within 
 her borders. It is not there as in the old countries 
 of Europe, where a person, who is able to provide 
 comfortably for his own wants, has still his feelings 
 exposed to daily laceration from the sight of multi- 
 tudes of miserable beings, who exhibit human na- 
 ture in its most loathsome and degraded state, and 
 whose wretchedness it is beyond his power to re- 
 lieve. It is Rochefoucault, we think, who remai'ks, 
 that he had seen only one beggar in the United 
 States. Mendicity does exist, but except in the 
 large cities where foreigners are often found in a 
 state of destitution, it rarely obtrudes itself on the 
 eye, and may be said generally to be as rare in that 
 country as it is abundant every where else. In Eu- 
 rope, the paupers have been supposed, on a rough 
 calculation, to amount to one-twentieth part of the 
 population. In the United States, they were esti- 
 mated by Mr Niles, some years ago, at one person 
 in 250 on the Atlantic coast, and one in 350 in the 
 interior. But, in times of great public calamity, the 
 proportion is much higher. In the New England 
 States, and in some of the others, though not the 
 whole, each parish is obliged to provide for the sup- 
 port of its own poor, according to the humane spirit 
 of the English laws. (Morse, Vol. I. 293. Warden, 
 passim.) 
 
 The North American Union comprehends at pre- States, 
 sent ttventy-four distinct States, each governed by its 
 own constitution ; three territories, in which civil go- 
 vernments are established, without constitutions ;t and 
 
 " Seybert, p. 28. Carey's Essay on Political Economy, 1822, p. 453, 467. Nile's Register. 
 
 \ A territory becomes a state when its inhabitants, {imounting to not less than 60,000 persons, have met 
 and formed a constitution. Previous to this, they are placed under the civil authority of a governor, ap- 
 pointed by the President and Congress. 
 
696 U N I T E D S T A T E S, 
 
 The following Table gives a view of the extent, Unit 
 population, and representation of each State, and of ^^''^^^ 
 the proportion of its inhabitants engaged respective- 
 ly in agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, ac- 
 cording to the census of 1 820. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Population 
 
 CO 
 
 0 
 
 tatives 
 123. 
 
 AT •^ • 
 
 states &nQ J. 6rritori&Sa 
 
 square jMilt'S. 
 
 Population. 
 
 Agriculture. 
 
 Manufactures. 
 
 Commerce. 
 
 in each 
 Square 
 
 C 
 
 esen 
 r Ifi 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Mile. 
 
 CC 
 
 a> 
 OS 
 
 States. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Maine, 
 
 32,000 
 
 298,335 
 
 5'} 041 
 
 
 4,297 
 
 
 .2 
 
 7 
 
 New Hampshire, 
 
 9,280 
 
 244,161 
 
 52,384 
 
 8,699 
 
 1,068 
 
 26 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 
 10,200 
 
 235,764 
 
 50,951 
 
 8,484 
 
 776 
 
 23 
 
 2 
 
 5 
 
 Massachusetts, : 
 
 7,800 
 
 523,'287 
 
 63,460 
 
 466 
 
 13,301 
 
 67 
 
 2 
 
 IS 
 
 Rhode Island, 
 
 1,360 
 
 83,059 
 
 12,559 
 
 6,091 
 
 1,162 
 
 61 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 Connecticut, 
 
 4,670 
 
 275,248 
 
 50,518 
 
 1 7,541 
 
 3,581 
 
 59 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 New York, 
 
 46,200 
 
 1,372,812 
 
 247 648 
 
 fiO 0^8 
 
 9,1 13 
 
 SO 
 
 2 
 
 34 
 
 New Jersey, 
 
 6,900 
 
 277,575 
 
 40,811 
 
 15,941 
 
 1,830 
 
 40 
 
 2 
 
 6 
 
 Pennsylvania, 
 
 43,950 
 
 1,049,458 
 
 1 40 SOI 
 
 
 7,083 
 
 24 
 
 2 
 
 26 
 
 Delaware, 
 
 2,060 
 
 72.740 
 
 13 
 
 9 891 
 
 533 
 
 35 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 Maryland, ., ., , 
 
 10,800 
 
 407,350 
 
 79,1 35 
 
 1 fi 640 
 
 4.771 
 
 38 
 
 2 
 
 9 
 
 Virginia, 
 
 64,000 
 
 1,065,366 
 
 276,422 
 
 32,336 
 
 4,509 
 
 17 
 
 2 
 
 22 
 
 North Carolina, ..■ 
 
 43,800 
 
 638 filQ 
 
 1 74 1 q6 
 
 11 S4<4 
 J. 1 ,0 
 
 2,551 
 
 15 
 
 2 
 
 IJ 
 
 South Carolina, 
 
 30,080 
 
 502,741 
 
 166,707 
 
 747 
 
 2,684 
 
 17 
 
 2 
 
 9 
 
 Georgia, 
 
 58,200 
 
 340 QSQ 
 
 1 01 18^ 
 
 3,557 
 
 2.13Q 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 7 
 
 
 50,800 
 
 127,901 
 
 30,642 
 
 1,412 
 
 452 
 
 n 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 
 45,350 
 
 75,448 
 
 22,033 
 
 650 
 
 294 
 
 n 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 Louisiana, 
 
 48,000 
 
 153 407 
 
 K% Q41 
 
 
 6 261 
 
 s 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 l^ennessee, 
 
 41,300 
 
 422,813 
 
 101,919 
 
 7 860 
 
 882 
 
 10 
 
 2 
 
 Q 
 
 C7 
 
 
 39,000 
 
 564,317 
 
 132,161 
 
 11^779 
 
 1,617 
 
 14^ 
 
 2 
 
 12 
 
 Ohio, 
 
 38,500 
 
 581,434 
 
 110,991 
 
 18,956 
 
 1,495 
 
 15 
 
 2 
 
 14 
 
 
 36,250 
 
 147,178 
 
 61,315 
 
 3,229 
 
 429 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 
 59,000 
 
 55,211 
 
 12,395 
 
 1,007 
 
 233 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 
 60,300 
 
 66,586 
 
 14,247 
 
 1,952 
 
 495 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 Tekritories. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 33,750 
 
 8,896 
 
 1,468 
 
 196 
 
 392 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 121,000 
 
 14,273 
 
 3,613 
 
 179 
 
 79 
 
 
 
 
 
 57,750 
 
 
 
 
 JL 
 6 
 
 
 
 North-west Territory, 
 
 144,000 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Missouri Territory, ... 
 
 930,000 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Columbia Territory, ... 
 
 288,000 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 District of Columbia, 
 
 100 
 
 33,039 
 
 ' 853 
 
 2,184 
 
 512 
 
 30 
 
 
 
 
 2,364,400 
 
 9,638,226 
 
 2,170,646 
 
 349,506 
 
 72,493 
 
 
 48 
 
 212 
 
 67. It diminishes pretty regularly in every direc- 
 tion as we recede from Massachusetts, and in that 
 State, where it is greatest, it rather exceeds that of 
 Spain, or Poland, or Europe, taken altogether. The 
 mean density for all the States east of the Mississip- 
 pi, and including Louisiana, is 13 persons to the 
 square mile, which rather exceeds that of Sweden 
 and Norway. 
 
 Some writers, who derive their political ideas from ' 
 the old institutions of Europe, disapprove strongly of 
 the division into states, with distinct local govern- 
 ments. But this arrangement, though originally the 
 effect of accident, is admirably adapted to the cir- 
 cumstances of the country, and deserves to rank as 
 an improvement in the science of legislation. It is 
 10 
 
 United three other territories, which are yet unoccupied by 
 States. ^ civilized population. To these we must add the 
 district of Columbia, comprising a space of ten miles 
 square round Washington, which is placed under the 
 exclusive authority of that Federal Government. 
 
 The thirteen original States which concurred in 
 the declaration of independence on the 4th July 
 1776, were New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode 
 Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Penn- 
 sylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Caro- 
 lina, South Carolina, Georgia. Vermont was then 
 an appendage to New York, and Maine to Massa- 
 chusetts. The extent of the several States is very 
 unequal. Rhode Island and Delaware are specks in 
 the map, rather smaller than Devonshire or Perth- 
 shire. New York, Pennsylvania, and the New States 
 generally, are each larger than Ireland or Scotland; 
 while Virginia, Georgia, Missouri, and Illinois, seve- 
 rally exceed England in extent. The density of the 
 population varies froai one person per square mile to 
 
UNITED STATES. 697 
 
 nited the only system by which the great advantages of 
 tates. union could be combined, in such a gigantic empire, 
 with a due attention to the separate interests of all the 
 parts. The federal compact, by preserving peace 
 and friendship among states that would otherwise be 
 rivals and enemies, exempts them from the scourge 
 of frequent wars, gives unbounded freedom to their 
 internal trade, and, while it enables them to dispense 
 with that sort of strong government which is scarcely 
 compatible with liberty, it gives them an aggregate 
 strength, which secures them against external attacks. 
 On the other hand, each separate district, acting by 
 its own legislature, is invested with the entire regula- 
 tion of its local concerns, which can never be entrust- 
 ed to others without the certainty of mismanagement. 
 No single legislative body, even were its sessions per- 
 petual, could properly conduct the local business of 
 such an empire as that now forming in North Ame- 
 rica. In our own Parliament, it is notorious, that, 
 from the multiplicity of business transacted, the ge- 
 neral style of legislation is most slovenly, and bills of 
 all kinds, but especially local bills, are often grossly 
 mismanaged. How great an impediment is it felt to 
 be to the redress of grievances, or the promotion of 
 improvements, in the remote parts of Scotland and 
 Ireland, that witnesses, parties, and agents, must be 
 carried six or seven hundred miles at a vast expence, 
 and that, when at the seat of legisfation, their success 
 must greatly depend on the votes of persons who ei- 
 ther understand their business imperfectly or not at 
 all, and who are only prevailed upon to bestow a 
 slight attention upon it by private solicitation. The 
 division into states supplies the only remedy to this 
 great evil. It encourages local improvements by 
 uniting those whose situation gives them a communi- 
 ty of interest as to certain objects. It lessens cor- 
 ruption in the general government, by subdividing 
 patronage. In times of public frenzy, it multiplies 
 the securities against the persecution of individuals, 
 because such persons will always find protectors in 
 some one of the state governments. It has, indeed, 
 one disadvantage ; the state legislatures may become 
 the strong-holds of faction, as exemplified in Massa- 
 chusetts during the last war. But, as the number of 
 States increases, the weight of each in the confede- 
 racy, and its power to disturb the union is diminish- 
 ed. Even out of this danger a security arises against 
 another. The existence of the separate state govern- 
 ments forms a strong barrier against despotism, be- 
 cause it creates so many distinct centres of power, 
 from which resistance might be made, if a military 
 tyrant should master the general government, as 
 Cromwell mastered that of England, and Bonaparte 
 that of France. Some inconvenience, no doubt, 
 arises from the unavoidable diversity of laws in such 
 an aggregation of republics ; but the evil is not much 
 felt or complained of practically, and it is the neces- 
 sary concomitant of a union producing boundless ad- 
 vantages. An iron despotism may subject all its 
 slaves to the same laws without regard to the dis- 
 
 tinctions of climate, character, or situation ; but free- United 
 men will not associate voluntarily on such a principle, '^^ates. 
 Liberty consists, not in being governed by the laws ^^"^""^ 
 that are absolutely best, but by those which are 
 deemed best by the people who obey them. No 
 wise and liberal statesman will hold it necessary that 
 the fishermen of Massachusetts, the husbandmen of 
 Pennsylvania, and the sugar planters of Louisiana, 
 should live under one perfectly uniform system of ju- 
 risprudence. Such a uniformity could not be en- 
 forced without rending asunder the union. And let 
 it be recollected, that the diversity of laws, such as 
 it exists, is much less than it would be if the federal 
 compact were dissolved, and the several States en- 
 tirely independent. In short, if it is possible by any 
 device to reconcile freedom with extensive empire; 
 to unite all the parts of a vast continent together in 
 the bonds of peace and commercial intercourse; and 
 yet not to trench materially on the natural rights of 
 each part, or the free use of its natural powers and 
 advantages; it must be by a federative system similar 
 in its essential characters to that of the United States. 
 The experiment is by far the most interesting that 
 has ever been made in the science of legislation, and 
 the steadiness and success with which it has hitherto 
 proceeded opens up the most encouraging prospects 
 as to the future destiny of mankind. 
 
 The federal government, of which we shall speak 
 afterwards, possesses merely those specific powers 
 which are vested in it by the Constitution. All 
 other powers and rights remain with the state go- 
 vernments, in whom the sovereignty essentially re- 
 sides. The territory of each state is not the terri- 
 tory of the Union, but of that particular State. The 
 people and militia are the people and militia of the 
 several States, not of the Union. Lands are held un- 
 der the laws of the States ; descents, contracts, and 
 all the concerns of private property, the administra- 
 tion of justice, and the whole criminal code, except 
 in the case of breaches of the laws of the federal 
 body, are regulated by state laws. * All the twenty- State Con- 
 four States have written constitutions, formed subse- stitutions. 
 quently to the Revolution, except Rhode Island, which 
 is still governed by the charter granted by Charles 
 II. in 1663. These constitutions are purely repub- 
 lican, though the right of suffrage (for the term 
 franchise is inapplicable and odious where voting is a 
 general right, not a special privilege) is restricted ia 
 one or two States, and unequally divided in one or two 
 others. In every one of the States the legislature con- 
 sists of two chambers, both chosen by direct popular 
 election, except in Maryland, where the senators are 
 chosen by delegates. In nineteen States out of the 
 twenty-four, the representatives (or members of the 
 Lower House, according to our phraseology) are 
 elected annually, and in five triennially, viz. in South 
 Carolina, Tennessee, Louisiana, Illinois, and Mis- 
 souri, The period of service in the senates (or Up- 
 per Houses) varies from one to four years, except 
 in Maryland) where it is five : in some cases one-third 
 
 * Viefos of the President of the United States on the subject of Internal Improvements^ laid before Congress^ 
 ith May 1822. 
 
698 .UNITED 
 
 United or one-fourth, in others one-half of the members are 
 States, renewed every year ; in others, one-half every two 
 ^— ^^^-^ years. In some of the States the right of suffrage 
 was formerly limited to freeholders or corporations, 
 but by amendments in most of the old constitutions, 
 these odious and really impolitic restrictions have 
 been abolished ; and the right of suffrage, though 
 variously defined in the different States, is sub- 
 stantially universal in them all, except in New 
 Jersey and Virginia. In these two States, the 
 possession of a small amount of property still con- 
 stitutes the citizen's title to vote. In many of the 
 States there are certain qualifications prescribed for 
 the persons elected. A senator must, in general, be 
 a freeholder, and not under 30 years of age ; a ire- 
 presentative not under 25. The governors act, m 
 some cases with, in others without a council, and 
 hold their offices, some for one year, some for two, 
 some for three, but none for more than four years. 
 In all the constitutions recently framed an express 
 provision is introduced for adopting amendments. 
 The rule generally is, that if any alteration is judged 
 necessary and approved of by two successive legis- 
 latures, it may then be submitted to the people, who 
 appoint a special convention to decide upon it. In 
 some cases it is provided that a convention shall meet 
 periodically to revise the constitution. The existing 
 legislature is always considered as exercising a trust, 
 in the terms of which it has no power to make the 
 smallest change. By this principle, legislation is 
 founded on a clear and rational basis. It gives sta- 
 bility to institutions that might otherwise be the 
 foot-ball of domineering factions ; it checks the 
 growth of sinister interests, and, while it affords a 
 safe and easy remedy for grievances, it is so far from 
 being an inlet to rash innovations, that it is the best 
 guarantee against them ; as the history of the United 
 States demonstrates. To suffer those -who exercise 
 the supreme power of a country to change at plea- 
 sure the conditions by which they hold it, is equally 
 as absurd as to suffer the judge to make the laws he 
 administers, or the steward to fix the terms of the 
 engagement which invests him with the management 
 of an estate. Under such a system, the steward un- 
 avoidably becomes a peculator, the judge a tyrant, 
 and the legislature a junto of conspirators against the 
 public weal. 
 
 Agriculture. The agriculture of the United States varies ac- 
 cording to the climate, soil, and situation, of the seve- 
 ral divisions of the country; but, taken altogether, it 
 differs materially from that of Britain, — in the nature 
 of the productions cultivated, in the condition of 
 those who are engaged in it, and in the general prin- 
 ciples by which it is conducted. Besides our staple 
 productions, wheat, barley, oats, pease, beans, tur- 
 nips, and potatoes, the soil of the United States yields 
 rice, Indian corn, indigo, cotton, sugar, tobacco, the 
 vine ; and Florida will probably add to these the 
 olive and the banana, which scarcely succeed in the 
 other States. The staple produce of New England 
 is Indian corn ; that of the middle States, wheat and 
 tobacco ; that of the southern, cotton, rice, and, to a 
 limited extent, sugar. Dr Morse indicates the pro- 
 portional quantity of each species of produce raised, 
 by naming them in the following order, the greatest be- 
 
 STATES. 
 
 ing first : In New England, Indian corn, grass, rye, 
 oats, flax, wheat, buck-wheat, barley, and hemp ; in 
 the middle States, wheat, Indian corn, tobacco, grass, 
 oats, buck-wheat, flax, barley, potatoes, spelts, rye ; 
 in the southern States, cotton, wheat, tobacco, In- 
 dian corn, rice, indigo (formerly), barley, and hemp. 
 The western States, along the Ohio, correspond in 
 their productions to the middle States, on the At- 
 lantic. Good soils, carefully cultivated, in the Unit- 
 ed States, yield 100 bushels of Indian corn, or 50 of 
 wheat per acre. But the average produce of the cul- 
 tivated land in Ohio and Kentucky, districts not in- 
 ferior in soil to any in the Union, is estimated as fol- 
 lows : maize 40 bushels per acre, wheat 22, rye 26, 
 oats 35, barley 30, tobacco 12 to 15 cwt., cotton 5 
 tO'7 cwt. in the seed, or from 150 to 200 pounds 
 cleaned. (James, Vol. III. p. 199-) -^"^ acre sown 
 in rice yields from 1200 to 1500 pounds on what are 
 called tide lands, and from 609 to 1200 on inland 
 plantations. An acre planted in canes yields about 
 1000 or 1200 pounds of sugar, with an equal quan- 
 tity of molasses. The necessity of renewing the canes 
 annually by planting, in consequence of the winter's 
 frost, renders the cultivation less advantageous than 
 in the West Indies. In 1817j however, it was cal- 
 culated that 20,000,000 of pounds of sugar were made 
 in Louisiana alone, which was estimated to be about 
 |- of the whole annual consumption of the United 
 States. (Warden, II. p. 4-83, 541. Morse, I. p. 668.) 
 
 The rural population of the United States presents 
 an extraordinary contrast in its constituent parts to 
 thatof every country in Europe. The class of extensive 
 proprietors living on their rents, and the class of pea- 
 sants living merely by their labour, are almost equal- 
 ly unknown. The great bulk of the inhabitants con- 
 sists of farmers, who are the owners of the lands they 
 occupy, and the greater proportion of whom work 
 with their own hands. " The number of those who 
 are mere labourers," says Dwight, is almost no- 
 thing, except in a few populous towns, and almost 
 all these are collected from the shiftless, the idle, and 
 the vicious. A great part of them are foreigners. 
 Every young man hired to work upon a farm aims 
 steadily to acquire a farm for himself, and hardly 
 once fails of the acquisition." (Dwight's Travels, 
 Vol. IV. p. 335.) Except in some few spots near 
 large towns, there is scarcely any land rented. The 
 price is generally so low, that a small addition to the 
 sura necessary for stocking a farm suffices to pur- 
 chase it ; and even where the value is higher, an in- , 
 dividual who has money enough to stock a large 
 farm will prefer buying one of half the size. Of the 
 State of New York, only one-fifth, and of the whole 
 inhabited country east of the Mississippi (excluding 
 Michigan and Florida), only about one-tenth part is 
 yet cleared and cultivated. Of course, the best soils 
 are first used, and, tiU population thickens and pro- 
 duce rises, soils of the second and third quality will 
 not repay the expence of culture ; and as a necessary 
 consequence, those of the first quality yield no rent. 
 The farms occupied by the owners are seldom large, 
 because, where wages are high, agriculture cannot be 
 advantageously conducted on an extensive scalejand 
 the large property in land occasionally acquired by 
 an individual is soon broken up by division among 
 
UNITED 
 
 nited his children. Thus situated, the_ rural population 
 certainly enjoy a greater share of happiness in the 
 United States than in any other country in the world. 
 They are exempted from the fluctuations incident to 
 the commercial and manufacturing classes ; they feel 
 none of the evils of dependence, and are far above 
 want; without possessing that wealth which engen- 
 ders idleness and vanity, and often becomes a snare 
 to its possessor. They have the means of settling 
 their families well, without making great sacrifices ; 
 they live in the enjoyment of all the substantial com- 
 forts of life, and can look forward to old age with less 
 anxiety and apprehension than any class of men in 
 any other country. 
 
 The system of agriculture is necessarily less per- 
 fect in the United States than in Britain. Where 
 prime soils can be had for almost nothing, where the 
 price of labour is high, and that of produce low, the 
 elaborate and costly modes of cultivation adopted in 
 Britain cannot be advantageously applied. Some 
 English farmers, who have gone out to America with 
 an impression that large gains might be made by in- 
 troducing our improved system of husbandry, have 
 found themselves disappointed. Something the Ame- 
 ricans may learn from us ; but, till the country is 
 more densely peopled, it will b^ more profitable to 
 cultivate a large surface rudely than a small one la- 
 boriously. In the middle and eastern States, how- 
 ever, where produce brings a considerable price, 
 farming is carried on with care and skill. In Penn- 
 sylvania, which holds the first rank as an agricultural 
 state, in New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and 
 Jersey, agricultural societies exist, and much attention 
 is paid to the cultivation of the indigenous grasses 
 and to the use of manures. Grazing is well under- 
 fitood in New England, where it is considered the 
 most profitable species of farming. Much care has 
 been bestowed on the breeding of sheep, and Meri- 
 nos are now spread over all the northern, middle, and 
 western States. 
 
 Hutchins reckoned that f|ths of the land east of 
 the Mississippi was covered with a strong fertile soil. 
 The remaining -/^ths were occupied by lakes and 
 rivers, or consisted of land too poor or too steep for 
 cultivation. In 1811, Mr Blodget estimated the land 
 under " actual improvement" to be 40,950,000 acres, 
 or 5J acres for each inhabitant, a proportion which 
 is found to be near the truth. In 1798, when a cen- 
 sus was taken for the imposition of a tax, the quan- 
 tity of land valued and taxed in sixteen States was 
 one hundred and sixty-three millions of acres out of 
 three hundred and eight rnillions, the estimated va- 
 lue of which was four hundred and seventy-nine mil- 
 lions of dollars. The value joer acre varied widely. 
 In Connecticut it was fifteen dollars per acre, in 
 Pennsylvania six, in Georgia three-fourths; but the 
 average for the whole was about three dollars. The 
 value of the houses was estimated at a hundred and 
 forty millions of dollars, or two-sevenths of that of 
 the land. When new returns were procured in 1814, 
 the value of lands and houses conjointly had risen 
 from six hundred and twenty to one thousand six 
 hundred and thirty millions of dollars. From these 
 two documents, which afford a curious view of the 
 state and growth of property in the republic, we find 
 
 STATES. 699 
 
 that, in the sixteen States organized, in 1798, rather United 
 more than one-half of the surface was the property States, 
 of individuals. In the old States, such as Massa- "•^^"^ 
 chusetts and Connecticut, the appropriated land era- 
 braced nearly the whole surface ; in New York, it 
 embraced about four-sevenths, in Georgia one-third. 
 The number of acres appropriated for each individual 
 of the population was about thirty, of which five and 
 one-half or six acres were cleared or " improved," The 
 estimated value of the houses and lands was at the 
 rate of 125 dollars for each individual of the contem- 
 poraneous population in 1798, but had risen to 200 
 dollars in 1814. Supposing every other species of 
 property to have grown as rapidly, the rate of in- 
 crease would be about 6| per cent, per annum, and 
 the capital of the country must double itself in 11| 
 years, or it increases twice as rapidly as the popula- 
 tion. With a stationary population, the rate of in- 
 crease would be 5, 4 per cent., and the period of 
 doubling 13| years. We have no similar data for 
 other countries to found a comparison on, but we are 
 certain that such a velocity of accumulation is un- 
 known anywhere else. 
 
 The value of houses, lands, and slaves, in 1814, 
 was, according to the returns, 1902 millions of dol- 
 lars. If we add one-eighth for omissions and under 
 estimates, and for Louisiana, which was not includ- 
 ed, with 50 millions for state lands, and two-thirds 
 additional for all other species of property (this be- 
 ing nearly the proportion in Colquhoun's estimate 
 for Britain) ; namel}'^, agricultural stock, manufactur- 
 ed goods on hand or in progress, ships, harbours, 
 canals, roads, public buildings, &c. — the whole will be 
 3550 millions of dollars, equal to 780 millions Ster- 
 ling, or about L. 95 for each individual of the con- 
 temperaneous population. Colquhoun's estimate for 
 Britain was 2700 millions Sterling, or L.150 for each 
 inhabitant. This gross amount, increasing at the 
 rate of 6 per cent, would become 1400 millions Ster- 
 ling in 1824, and the annual increment, or the value 
 added to the national capital every year, should be 
 about 80 millions Sterling. The whole annual pro- 
 duce of the national industry, which affords a saving 
 of 80 millions, cannot be less than four times as 
 much, or 320 millions, that is, L. 32 per head on the 
 population. Colquhoun's estimate for the British 
 Isles in 1812, was 430 millions, or L. 24 per head on 
 the population. (Colquhoun, p. 55, 65.) These cal- 
 culations are founded on the returns taken as they 
 stand. It is probable, however, that the second cen- 
 sus would be more accurately taken than the first, 
 and that the growth of the national capital is not 
 quite so great as it appears. 
 
 The large profits which farming yields, and the Manufac- 
 high price of labour, are discouragements to manu- tures and 
 facturing industry in the United States. The arts 
 in which they have made the greatest progress, are'^'^*** 
 cabinet and coach making, shoemaking, steam-boat 
 and ship building, the construction of mill machi- 
 nery and wooden bridges, and bank-note engraving. 
 Piano-fortes are respectably made. The saw gin for 
 cleaning cotton from the husks, and the nail-making 
 machine, are American inventions. The woollen ma- 
 nufacture is almost entirely domestic, being carried on 
 in the houses of the farmers ; but the cotton manufac- 
 
roo - UNITED STATES. 
 
 United ture is partly conducted in large works. ,This last, as 
 States, ^ell as several other manufactures, received a great 
 •^^-"^^ stimulus during the late war with Britain, but they 
 have declined since the peace, though a few of the 
 works then established are still carried on with advan- 
 tage. It was computed by a Committee of Congress, 
 that the cotton manufactures, which consumed only 
 10,000 bales oi' the raw material in 1810, consumed 
 90,000 in 1815; employed 100,000 hands (10,000 
 men, 66,000 women and girls, 24,000 boys), and pro- 
 duced 81,000,000 yards of cloth, valued at 24 mil- 
 lions of dollars. The value of the woollen manufac- 
 ture was estimated at 19 millions of dollars, and was 
 supposed to employ 50,000 hands constantly, and 
 as many more occasionally. {Reports of 13th Fe- 
 bruary and 6th March I8I6.) According to the 
 returns made in the census of 1810, the whole an- 
 nual value of the manufactures of the United States 
 was 127,694.,602 dollars. But Mr Tenche Coxe cal- 
 culated, that, making allowance for articles omitted 
 or under-estimated, the true value would not be less 
 than 172,700,000 dollars (L. 37,500,000.) If the 
 increase in this branch of industry has kept pace 
 with the growth of the population, it should now 
 amount to 240 millions (L. 52,000,000.) But the 
 value of the manufactured goods imported in 1821 
 was only 32 miUions of dollars, and deducting five 
 millions re-exported, the quantity which remains for 
 home consumption is only 27 millions, or one-ninth 
 part of the whole. It is against this small fraction 
 of the annual consumption that such an outcry is 
 made ; and that the Americans, borrowing our ex- 
 ploded maxims, are fencing themselves by such an 
 apparatus of protecting duties, prohibitions, and re- 
 strictions. For the purpose of comparison we may 
 mention, that Cliaptal estimated the annual value of 
 the French manufactures, in 1820, at L. 72,800,000, 
 which is probably a good deal under the truth ; and 
 that Colquhoun estimated that of the British manu- 
 factures at L. 116,000,000 in 1812, exclusive of the 
 raw material. Of the manufactures returned in the 
 census of 1810, valued at 127,694,602 dollars, the 
 following were the most considerable : 
 
 Goods manufactured by the loom 39,500,000 dollars. 
 
 Machinery of various kinds 6,100,000 
 
 Hats 4,300,000 
 
 Iron manufactures 14,360,000 
 
 Leather 17,900,000 
 
 Distilled and fermented liquors... 16,530,000 
 Wooden articles 5,540,000 
 
 tucky. It may be remarked, that the effect of the 
 high price of labour in discouraging manufactures 
 is counteracted by three circumstances. 1. The 
 United States being far distant from Europe, the 
 expence of freight, and still more that of inland car- 
 riage, makes a material addition to the prime cost of 
 all bulky or heavy articles. 2. As the use of ma- 
 chinery comes to be substituted more and more for 
 manual labour, the disadvantage of high wages gra- 
 dually vanishes ; and the Americans, who possess 
 great mechanical genius, have the means of pro- 
 curing steam and water power to an unlimited ex- 
 tent. 3. The American women prefer working in 
 factories to domestic service, which they consider 
 degrading ; and hence female labourers are not 
 scarce, and may be procured at moderate wages. * 
 
 The commerce of the United States has madeComme 
 much greater progress than their manufactures. The 
 wars and convulsions of Europe, consequent on the 
 French Revolution, threw a great proportion of the 
 general carrying trade into their hands ; and in the 
 interval, from 1790 to 1807, their exports in- 
 creased from 20 millions to 108 millions of dollars. 
 But* the Berlin Decrees and the British Orders in 
 Council gave a sudden check to this growing pro- 
 sperity, and the foreign trade of the United States 
 has never since reached so great a height. The fol- 
 lowing table shows the amount of exports, distin- 
 tinguishing foreign from domestic produce, from 
 1800 to 1821 : 
 
 
 
 Domestic 
 
 
 Years. 
 
 Exports. 
 
 Growth, Pro- 
 duce, or Manu- 
 facture. 
 
 Foreign. 
 
 1800 
 
 70,971,780 
 
 31,840,903 
 
 39,120,877 
 
 1801 
 
 94,115,925 
 
 46,377,792 
 
 46,642,723 
 
 1802 
 
 72,483,160 
 
 26,182,173 
 42,205,961 
 
 35,774,971 
 
 1803 
 
 55,800,033 
 
 13,594,072 
 
 1804 
 
 77,699,074 
 
 41,467,477 
 
 36,231,597 
 
 1805 
 
 95,566,021 
 
 42,387,002 
 
 53,179,019 
 
 1806 
 
 101,536,963 
 
 41,253,727 
 
 60,283,236 
 
 1807 
 
 108,343,150 
 
 48,699,692 
 
 59,643,558 
 
 1808 
 
 22,430,960 
 
 9,433,546 
 
 12,997,414 
 
 1809 
 
 52,203,283 
 
 31,405,702 
 
 20,797,531 
 
 1810 
 
 66,757,970 
 
 42,366,675 
 
 24,391,295 
 
 1811 
 
 61,316,833 
 
 45,294,043 
 
 16,022,790 
 
 1812 
 
 38,527,236 
 
 30,032,109 
 
 8,495,127 
 
 1813 
 
 27,855,997 
 
 25,008,152 
 
 2,847,845 
 
 1814 
 
 6,927,441 
 
 6,782,273 
 
 145,169 
 
 1815 
 
 52,557,753 
 
 45,974,403 
 
 6,583,350 
 
 I8I6 
 
 81,920,452 
 
 64,781^896 
 
 17,138,556 
 
 1817 
 
 87,671,566 
 
 68,313,500 
 
 19,358,069 
 
 1818 
 
 93,281,133 
 
 73,854,437 
 
 19,426,696 
 
 1819 
 
 70,142,521 
 
 50,976,838 
 
 19,165,683 
 
 1820 
 
 69,691,669 
 
 51,683,640 
 
 18,008,029 
 
 1821 
 
 64,974.382 
 
 43,671,894 
 
 21,302,488 
 
 The imports have not been regularly published. 
 For 1821, they amounted to 62,585,724 dollars in 
 
 According to the returns, there were 153 iron 
 furnaces, 34 rolling and shtting mills, 325,392 looms, 
 122,647 spindles for yarn, 141,191 distilleries, pro- 
 ducing 22,977,167 gallons of spirits from grain, and 
 2,827,625 from molasses, 132 breweries, 208 gun- 
 powder mills. Nearly one-fourth of the manufac- 
 tures were in Pennsylvania ; Massachusetts ranks 
 next, then New York, Virginia, Maryland, Connec- 
 ticut, North Carolina, New Jersey, Vermont, Ken- 
 
 » Seybert, 6, 8. Mellish, 90. Warden, III. 262. Fearon, 389, &c. 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 701 
 
 value, from which deducting bullion and articles re- 
 exported, there remain for domestic consumption 
 43,696,405, of which the leading articles were, — 
 
 Woollens 6,959,000 
 
 Cottons 6,665,000 
 
 Silks 3,430,000 
 
 Linens 2,318,000 
 
 Iron and iron- 
 ware 2,969,000 
 
 Hemp, &c. ...1,271,000 
 
 The imports and exports were chiefly from the 
 
 following countries : 
 
 Wines 1,632,000 
 
 Spirits 1,640,000 
 
 Molasses 1,708,000 
 
 Teas 1,081,000 
 
 Coffee 2,403,000 
 
 Sugars 1,905,000 
 
 Russia 
 
 Holland , 
 
 British Isles 
 
 France 
 
 Spain 
 
 Portugal 
 
 Italy and Malta 
 
 Sweden 
 
 Cubk 
 
 Hayti 
 
 Spanish South Ame- I 
 
 rican Colonies ... j 
 Hanse Towns and I 
 
 Germany J 
 
 Brazil 
 
 China 
 
 British East Indies 
 
 British West Indies ... 
 
 Impoits from 
 
 Exports to 
 
 1,852,199 
 
 628,894 
 
 1,938,953 
 
 3,694,205 
 
 25.087,108 
 
 20,777,479 
 
 5,989,940 
 
 5,528,559 
 
 542,393 
 
 539,746 
 
 356,116 
 
 147,792 
 
 973,463 
 
 1,099,667 
 
 759,753 
 
 217,181 
 
 6,584,849 
 
 4,540,680 
 
 2,246,257 
 
 2,270,601 
 
 1,114,117 
 
 1,037,735 
 
 990,165 
 
 2,132,544 
 
 605,126 
 
 1,381,760 
 
 3,111,951 
 
 4,290,560 
 
 1,530,799 
 
 1,966,279 
 
 927,346 
 
 265,102 
 
 The following table (from Carey and Lea's Atlas) 
 shows the tonnage of each State, and of the whole 
 Union, in 1821 : 
 
 Maine ....122,856 
 
 New Hampshire 23,335 
 
 Massachusetts 316,069 
 
 Rhode Island 39,314 
 
 Connecticut 45,724 
 
 New York 244,338 
 
 New Jersey 34,533 
 
 Pennsylvania 83,575 
 
 Delaware 10,043 
 
 Maryland 125,149 
 
 District of Columbia 24,677 
 
 Virginia 63,326 
 
 North Carolina 38,864 
 
 South CaroUna 29,944 
 
 Georgia 14,662 
 
 Mississippi 6,131 
 
 Louisiana 38,815 
 
 Kentucky and Ohio 598 
 
 Michigan 665 
 
 1,262,618 
 
 Registered tonnage employed in foreign 
 
 trade 619,029 
 
 Enrolled and licensed tonnage employed 
 
 in coasting trade 588,014 
 
 Ditto ditto in fisheries 55,575 
 
 1,262,618 
 
 VOL. VI. PART II. 
 
 It will be seen from these tables, that since the 
 peace, foreign produce or manufactures constitute 
 about one-fourth, and domestic three-fourths of the^"^ 
 exports. The leading articles are raw produce. 
 Cotton forms about 46 per cent, of the domestic ex- 
 ports ; wheat, Indian corn, and other breadstuffs, 15 
 percent.; tobacco, 13 per cent.; lumber, bark, &c. 
 6 per cent. ; horses, beef, &c. 5 per cent. The lead- 
 ing imports are the fine products of the loOm in wool, 
 cotton, silk, linen, or articles not raised in the coun- 
 try, such as tea, coffee, sugar, wine. In hemp, iron, 
 and leather, the imports are small. About four 
 tenths of the whole imports come from Britain, and 
 only about one- tenth from France. 
 
 The internal and coasting trade of the United States 
 has increased more rapidly than their foreign com- 
 merce, and is undoubtedly far greater than that of 
 any other state with an equal population. The en- 
 rolled and licensed tonnage, which was only 184,000 
 tons in 1795, had risen to 588,000 in 1821. It is 
 now equal to the registered tonnage, of which it 
 formed only one-third in 1795, and it has more than 
 tripled in the period in which the population has 
 doubled. The Hudson, which is the great channel 
 of inland trade, for districts containing nearly two 
 millions of inhabitants, has, according to Palmer and 
 other recent travellers, 2000 sloops and schooners 
 plying upon it, — a greater number than belonged to 
 all Scotland in 1810. The Delaware, Susquehan- 
 nah, Potowmac, and other large rivers farther south, 
 are all the scene of an active and growing traffic. 
 The majestic Mississippi, though it does not yet ri- 
 val the Hudson, must in time far surpass it. The 
 invention of steam-vessels has done for the naviga- 
 tion of rivers what the invention of sails did for that 
 of the ocean. The United States had the honour of 
 introducing this admirable improvement ; and they 
 make a more extensive use of it than any other coun- 
 try in the vporld. In the evidence given by Mr Per- 
 kins of New York before a Committee of Parliament 
 in 1822, he stated there were about 300 steam-boats 
 employed in the United States, and of these about 
 one-half used high pressure engines. On the Mis- 
 sissippi alone, according to a recent American pa- 
 per, there were 78 in 1823, measuring 14,338 tons, 
 or about 184 tons on average. 
 
 The great facilities for inland navigation which Canalr. 
 nature has bestowed on the United States, have been 
 improved by art ; and considering the sparseness of 
 the population, the number of canals which have al- 
 ready been formed is truly surprising. The Middle- 
 sex Canal, in Massachusetts, completed many years 
 ago, is 31 miles long and four feet deep, and cost 
 700,000 dollars. The Lake Champlain Canal, which 
 joins the Hudson at Fort Edward, is 22 miles long, and 
 four feet deep, and was to be finished in 1823. A 
 canal, 22 miles long, connects Chesapeake Bay with 
 Albemarle Sound. Another of the same length 
 joins Santee and Cooper Rivers in South Carolina. 
 Besides these, ten or twelve canals, from one mile 
 long to seven or eight, either finished or in progress, 
 are enumerated by American writers. Many others 
 are projected, among which are one of 28 and another 
 of 22 miles in length, to connect the Rariton and 
 Delaware rivers with Chesapeake Bay. If these 
 were completed, an uninterrupted inland navigation 
 4 u 
 
 United 
 States. 
 
702 
 
 UNITED STATES. 
 
 United 
 States. 
 
 Banks. 
 
 Revenue. 
 
 would exist for nearly 500 miles, from New York to 
 Pamlico Sound. But the greatest work of the kind 
 in the United States, and perhaps in the world, is 
 the Great Canal which unites the Hudson with Lake 
 Erie. It begins in the neighbourhood of Albany, 
 passes along the course of the Mohawk River to 
 Rome, then proceeds westward, keeping at a varia- 
 ble distance of 10, 15, or 20 miles from Lake Onta- 
 rio, and terminates in Lake Erie at Black Rock, a 
 mile from BufFaloe. It is 362 miles long, 40 feet 
 wide at top, 28 at bottom, and four in depth. Its 
 termination in Lake Erie is 564 feet above its origin 
 in the Hudson ; but the aggregate rise and fall is 
 654 feet, and is effected by 81 locks. The canal, 
 which is the property of the State, was begun in 
 1817, and finished in 1823, except about 30 miles, 
 which will be completed in 1824. It is believed the 
 whole expence will rather fall short of the estimate, 
 which was five millions of dollars (L. 1, 100,000). 
 The freight is about a dollar per ton, each 100 miles, 
 to which is to be added tolls at the following rates : 
 for salt and gypsum 50 cents — grain, flour, &c. 150 
 cents — and merchandise, 300 cents per ton for each 
 100 miles. This great undertaking, almost equal- 
 ling in magnitude, and far surpassing in utility, the 
 most magnificent works of Imperial Rome, — execut- 
 ed by a State with a million and a quarter of inha- 
 bitants, affords a gratifying proof of the energy and 
 enterprise generated by free institutions. 
 
 No country has suffered so much from the ma- 
 nia for banking, or been so deluged with depreci- 
 ated and worthless paper money, as the United 
 States. There were 400 banks in existence in 1819, 
 three-fourths of which probablyhad only fictitious ca- 
 pital. They were got up generally by knots of specu- 
 lating tradesmen and lawyers, often without deposit- 
 ing a dollar beyond what was necessary to pay for pa- 
 per and engraving. Even the respectable banks is- 
 sue notes for a single dollar; but in the western coun- 
 try, where these establishments were on the worst 
 footing, notes were issued for a half, a quarter, an 
 eighth, and even a sixteenth of a dollar ! The im- 
 mense mass of worthless paper money they put in- 
 to circulation created a transient and hollow prospe- 
 rity, which was followed by a degree of embarrass- 
 ment and distress that had almost the character of 
 a general bankruptcy. The paper bubbles burst, one 
 after another, with extraordinary celerity, and in- 
 volved multitudes in ruin. Of a hundred banks in 
 Ohio, Kentucky, Tennesse, and Indiana, there were 
 only two whose notes were received at the land of- 
 fices. In some of these States acts were passed by 
 the legislature suspending legal proceedings to com- 
 pel payment of debts. It may be imagined what 
 an extraordinary derangement was produced in the 
 state of property, when the circulating medium was 
 reduced in three years (1815 to 1819) from 110 to 
 45 millions of dollars.* 
 
 The United States present the singular spectacle 
 of a government supported without internal taxes. 
 The public revenue is derived entirely from the cus- 
 toms and the sale of public lands ; for the post-office 
 
 merely defrays its oyvn expence, and the sums that 
 stand in their accounts as bank dividends, are but 
 the produce of money previously invested. Small ^ 
 imposts, indeed, are levied for the support of the 
 state governments, but these on an average probably 
 no not exceed one dollar for each inhabitant, or ten 
 million of dollars for the whole Union. The public 
 revenue of the federal government amounted to 
 14,264,000 dollars in 1821, and to 20,232,427 for 
 1822. For 1823 they were estimated at 20,444,035 
 dollars, and for 1824 at 18,550,000, composed of 
 the following items — 
 
 Customs 
 Public lands - 
 Bank dividends - 
 Arrears & repayments 
 
 Dollars. 
 16,500,000 
 1,600,000 
 350,000 
 100,000 
 
 18,550,000 
 
 In British Money. 
 L. 3,630,000 
 350,000 
 77,000 
 22,000 
 
 L. 4,079,000 
 
 The estimated expenditure for 1824 was — 
 
 122,268 
 
 Dollars. 
 
 Civil, Diplomatic, andl , 
 
 Miscellaneous, J 
 Military department, 
 
 including Fortifica- 
 tions, Ordnance, 
 
 Pensions, Army, 
 
 Militia, and Indian 
 
 department. 
 Naval service, includ-"i 
 
 ing gradual increase >- 2,973,927 
 
 of the Navy, ) 
 Public debt, - 5,314,000 
 
 In British Money. 
 L. 399,000 
 
 1,127,000 
 
 654,000 
 1,169,000 
 
 15,224,252 L. 3,349,000 
 
 The public debt, which amounted to 123,630,000 
 of dollars in 1816, was reduced to 90,177,962 dol- 
 lars (L. 19,800,000 Sterling) at the 1st January 
 1824; one-fourth of the whole having been paid off 
 in the intervening eight years. A farther reduction of 
 ten millions will, it is supposed, take place at the 
 1st January 1825, from an accumulating balance or 
 surplus in the Treasury. The Democratic party, 
 however, would have acted more wisely, had they 
 availed themselves of the existence of this debt to re- 
 pair their great error — the abolition of internal tax- 
 es — by keeping up some of the duties imposed dur- 
 ing the late war, till the whole amount was dis- 
 charged. When peace brings an entire exemption 
 from taxes, the bui dens, which even a just and ne- 
 cessary war imposes, will be borne very impatiently, 
 and the government will not receive the support 
 necessary to carry it through an arduous struggle. 
 During the last short war in 1813 and 1814, the 
 clamours of the people, in consequence of burdens 
 and embarrassments not half so serious as are pa- 
 tiently borne in Europe, had almost compelled the 
 government to sacrifice the national honour by ac- 
 cepting peace on shameful terms. 
 
 The free spirit of the Americans, and still more, Army. 
 
 ♦ Report of Secretary of Treasury on Currenci/, 1820. Flint's Letters Jrom America, Nos. 16 and 17- 
 
UNITED 
 
 their parsimonious habits in public matters, make 
 them averse to the existence of a large standing ar- 
 my. In this, as in some other things, they, perhaps, 
 carry their opposition to the practice of the Eu- 
 ropean States too far. Regular troops can be ef- 
 fectually opposed only by regular troops ; and, in the 
 present condition of the world, the state which de- 
 nudes itself of efficient defensive weapons, may be 
 said to court disaster and disgrace. To supply the 
 want of a small number of regular troops by masses 
 of raw militia six times as numerous, who leave 
 their homes under great personal and pecuniary 
 sacrifices, is not economy, but the reverse, — to say 
 nothing of the certain losses it occasions, and the 
 humiliations these produce to natural feeling. After 
 the close of the late war, the Congress, by act of 3d 
 March 1815, fixed the strength of the regular ar- 
 my at 9980 men, but it has since been reduced, and 
 its actual strength, as reported to Congress in March 
 1822, was— 
 
 Engineers 23 
 
 4 Regiments of Artillery 1977 
 
 7 Do. of Infantry 3367 
 
 Ordnance men 53 
 
 5420 
 
 The army is distributed at about fifty posts and 
 places along the sea-coast and inland frontier. The 
 pay of a colonel of infantry is seventy-five dollars 
 (L. 16, lOs.) j^er month, and six rations a ^ay — of a 
 captain, forty dollars and three rations — of a first 
 lieutenant, thirty dollars and three rations — of a 
 sergeant, eight dollars and one ration — of a private, 
 five dollars and one ration. The aggregate expence 
 of the army in 1822 was 1,929,179 dollars, and the 
 average charge for each man 299 dollars (L.66). 
 The Americans have a well conducted military aca- 
 demy at West Point, on the Hudson, where 230 
 cadets, between the ages of fourteen and twenty-one, 
 are instructed in the branches of knowledge neces- 
 sary to form engineers. The period of service is five 
 years, and the expence for each pupil is about 500 
 dollars per annum. But the chief military force of 
 the United States is the militia, consisting properly 
 of all the males between eighteen and forty-five, but 
 always less or more deficient. A return at the close 
 of 1823 makes the number amount to 993,281, 
 When called out to the field they have the same al- 
 lowances as the regular army, and their period of 
 service is limited to six months. The American 
 militia are under the charge of the State governments. 
 They generally, if not universally, elect their own 
 officers, and are said to be very indifferently disci- 
 plined. * 
 
 The exploits performed by the American ships 
 in the last war have made the navy extremely 
 popular. The United States had not a single ship 
 of the line ready for sea till near the close of the 
 contest, and they have now twelve built, or building. 
 In 1816, Congress appropriated a million of dollars 
 per annum for eight years to increase the navy. In 
 
 STATES. 
 
 1821, the grant was reduced to 500,000 dollars, and 
 continued till 1825. A small number of vessels are 
 kept always in commission, and stationed partly in 
 the West Indies, and partly in the Mediterranean. 
 According to an American journal, the strength of 
 the navy in November 1823 was as follows : — 
 
 703 
 
 United 
 States. 
 
 
 In Com- 
 mission. 
 
 In Ordi- 
 nary. 
 
 Building. 
 
 Ships of the Line ... 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 5 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 12 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 To these must be added vessels on the lakes, viz. 
 two of 74 guns on the stocks, one of 44, one of 36, 
 one of 32, one of 26, two of 24, with eleven smaller 
 vessels, and fourteen gun-boats, some of which are 
 much decayed. The American vessels are built 
 larger than ours of the same class, and carry heavier 
 guns. Their steam frigates are an improvement 
 yet untried in actual service, but which may proba- 
 bly lead to an imporant change in maritime war. 
 The navy is managed by a Board of three commis- 
 sioners, and a secretary. A small tax of twenty cents 
 per month is paid by all officers and seamen, both in 
 the navy and merchant service, for the relief of sick 
 and disabled mariners, part of whom are lodged in 
 hospitals. 
 
 The American Federal Government is a genuine Government, 
 democracy, admirable for the simplicity and bar- 
 mony of its principles, and supposed by many to pro- 
 duce a greater amount of public good and private 
 happiness than any political institution that ever ex- 
 isted. Its establishment was an experiment which 
 was deemed doubtful and hazardous, even by the 
 enlightened men who were its founders ; but, to use 
 the words of Mr Monroe, " it has succeeded beyond 
 any calculation that could have been formed of any 
 human institution ;" and it now exhibits a model in 
 the science of government, which approaches more 
 nearly to ideal perfection than statesmen or sages 
 had dreamed of. 
 
 The legislative power is vested in a Congress, con- 
 sisting of a Senate and House of Representatives. 
 The senate is composed of two members from each 
 State, chosen for six years, by the respective State 
 legislatures, and the seats of one- third are vacated 
 every two years. A Senator must be thirty years of 
 age, an inhabitant of the State for which he is chosen, 
 and he must have been a citizen of the United States 
 for nine years. The members of the House of Re- 
 presentatives are chosen every second year by the 
 people, in the proportion of 1 for every 40,000 in- 
 habitants, excluding the Indians, and two-fifths of 
 the people of colour. The electors being the same 
 as for the most numerous branch of the State legisla- 
 ture, the right of suffrage may be described as uni- 
 versal. A representative must be an inhabitant of" 
 the State for which he is chosen, of twenty-five years 
 of age, and he must have been seven years a citizen 
 
 * Warden, III. 402, &c. Nile's Register, 16th and 30th March 1822, and American Papers. 
 
704 UNITED 
 
 United of the United States. No law can be passed without 
 States, |.j^g concurrence of both Houses. When that is ob- 
 ^^^^/"^ tained, it is presented to the President, who, if he 
 approves, signs it; if not, he returns ii, with his ob- 
 jections, for the reconsideration of Congress, and it 
 cannot in that case become a law without the con- 
 currence of two-thirds of the members. The execu- 
 tive power is vested in a President, who is elected 
 for four years, by a number of electors chosen for 
 the purpose by the people, distinct from the senators 
 and representatives each State sends to Congress, 
 but equal to them in number. The President must 
 be a native born citizen of the United States, and 
 not under thirty-five years of age. His salary is 
 25,000 dollars (L,5500) per annum. 
 
 The Congress has power to impose taxes and 
 duties to pay the deb'^s and provide for the de- 
 fence of the republic; to borrow money; to regulate 
 commerce ; to establish uniform laws of bankruptcy 
 and naturalization; to coin money, and fix the stand- 
 ard of weights and measures ; to establish post offices ; 
 to constitute tribunals ; to declare war, raise and 
 support an army and navy ; to call forth the militia ; 
 and to provide for organizing, arming, and disciplin- 
 ing it. The President is commander-in-chief of the 
 array, navy, and the militia, when in active service. 
 By and with the advice of the Senate (two-thirds 
 concurring), he makes treaties, and nominates am- 
 bassadors, ministers, consuls, and judges. 
 
 The Federal Judiciary consists of the Supreme 
 
 STATES. 
 
 Court (formed of a chief judge and six associate Uni 
 judges), which sits at Washington, and a District Sta 
 Court in each State, in which one judge sits. The ^"'^ 
 chief judge has 4000 dollars a year, an associate 
 judge 3500, and a district judge from 800 to 2000. 
 The Supreme Court, deriving its authority from 
 the Constitution, is not bound by the proceedings of 
 the legislature farther than they are consistent with 
 that charter. It has, accordingly, set aside several 
 acts of the State legislatures, and even of Congress 
 itself, on the ground that they contravened an ex- 
 press provision of the Constitution, by annulling or 
 impairing the validity of contracts. The laws of the 
 United States are substantially the same with the 
 laws of England, but differently modified in each 
 State by causes springing out of the physical, moral, 
 and political situation of the people. 
 
 Tliere is no national church in the United States ; 
 each congregation pays its own minister, and 
 each sect regulates its own concerns. Notwithstand- 
 ing this, wherever the population is dense, the means 
 of religious instruction are as ample as in any coun- 
 try in Europe. It is computed that there are above 
 8000 churches, or religious societies, of which about 
 3000 belong to the Baptists, 2000 to the Methodists, 
 1200 to the Congregationalists, 900 to the Presby- 
 terians, 600 to the Episcopalians, and a small num-. 
 ber to the Catholics, Dutch Lutherans, Universal- 
 ists, and other sects. 
 
 (b. b. b.) 
 
70S 
 
 V A C C I N 
 
 T^iiEEncj/clopcBdia contains no separate article on the 
 subject of Vaccination ; but Small-pox, in the article 
 Medicine (224-), is concluded, with a notice of its in- 
 troduction. We now propose to give a condensed 
 view of the subject, and of the present state of medi- 
 cal opinion on the merits of Vaccinationo 
 
 On the 14th of May 1796, Edward Jenner, a phy- 
 sician in Berkeley, near Gloucester, first applied to 
 the arm of a healthy boy of eight years^ by means of 
 two superficial incisions, the morbid fluid secreted by 
 a sore on the hand of a dairy-maid, who had contract- 
 ed Cow-pockfrom the udders ofher master's cows. The 
 seventh day after the operation he had uneasiness in 
 the arm-pit; on the ninth, became chill, had headache, 
 lost appetite, was otherwise indisposed, and spent a 
 restless night ; but the following day, was free from 
 complaint. Of the appearances of the local sore, we 
 have no particular information, but that it resembled 
 a bluish pustule, was surrounded by an erysipelat- 
 ous or red circle, and afterwards formed scabs and 
 eschars without producing other inconvenience. The 
 object of this operation, which was chiefly experi- 
 mental, was to ascertain the degree of immunity 
 from small-pox contagion thus obtained ; and on the 
 1st of July, therefore, variolous matter was inserted 
 by inoculation, but without being attended with the 
 usual disease ; and when this was repeated some 
 months after, the same effect was observed. Fur- 
 ther inquiry was prevented, in consequence of the 
 disease disappearing till the spring of 1798, when 
 it once more made its appearance among the dai- 
 ries of Gloucestershire. On the 16th of March, a 
 child of five and a half years was inoculated with 
 matter taken from the teat of an infected cow. On 
 the 6th day after the operation, he was unwell, and 
 vomited ; but on the 8th appeared to be in his usual 
 health. The progress of the local vesicle was similar 
 to that of the former case, except in the absence of 
 the livid or bluish tint observed. On the 28th of 
 March, the disease was transferred from the arm 
 of this patient to that of William Pead, a boy 
 of eight, with the usual appearances, and especial, 
 ly the red circle, quite similar to that which is ob- 
 served after variolous inoculation. To this redness 
 Dr Jenner first applied the term areola. From the 
 fluid produced in this case, several patients, both 
 young and adult, were infected, and in all, the phe- 
 nomena appear to have been pretty uniform ; or, at 
 least, with deviations so trifling, that they do not re- 
 quire particular notice. From the previous conclu- 
 sions derived from persons who had been affected 
 with cow-pox, and who resisted the variolous action, 
 it might be presumed to be unnecessary to try 
 how far those who had been artificially subjected 
 to cow-pock could resist small-pox. To render his 
 conclusions more certain, however, Dr Jenner tried 
 it without effect on his first vaccinated patient; and 
 with the second and last cases, his nephew was equally 
 unsuccessful. 
 
 A T I O N. 
 
 Such were the first trials of the effect of vaccine Vaccination, 
 fluid on the human subject ; and so far as they were ^"^n/'^-' 
 carried by Dr Jenner, the results appeared to war- 
 rant the main conclusion, that the process of vaccina- 
 tion renders the human body unsusceptible of being 
 acted on by the infection of small-pox. We must 
 not omit to remark, however, that the Inquiry of Dr 
 Jenner shows that he had formed, in the year 1798, 
 no very distinct idea of the nature and phenomena 
 of the vaccine disease, or, at most, that he imagined 
 it to be identical with small-pox. It is evident, that, 
 in his early researches, Dr Jenner believed that the 
 origin of small-pox could be traced to the heel of the 
 horse; and that though cow-pox was a disease trans- 
 mitted from the horse, and modified by the system of 
 the cow, it was specially identical with, or allied to 
 variola, and differed in variety only. On this prin- 
 ciple, he applied to it the denomination of variola 
 vaccincB ; and it is obvious that he was confirmed in 
 this opinion by observing, that a person who had suf- 
 fered the vaccine disease is not liable to be affected 
 with small-pox contagion. 
 
 The singular facts announced in the Inquiry, 
 and their more extraordinary application, recom- 
 mended by Dr Jenner, attracted much attention ; 
 and shortly after its publication, Dr Pearson of St 
 George's Hospital commenced an investigation, ia 
 which he collected many facts tending to render 
 its history more complete, and to demonstrate its 
 power in enabling the human body to resist the 
 contagion of small-pox. In one point only did he 
 disagree with Dr Jenner, — the origin of the cow- 
 pox from the heel of the horse ; in denying which, 
 he was supported by the arguments of Dr Parr, and 
 the experiments of Mr Simmons of Manchester. 
 
 Dr Pearson's examination of this subject was fol- 
 lowed at no long time with Further Observations by 
 Dr Jenner, the chief purpose of which was to con- 
 firm the conclusions delivered in the Inquiry, and to 
 establish the leading fact, that vaccination renders 
 the human system unsusceptible of small-pox. As 
 some cases had come to light of this disease occur- 
 ring in the persons of those who had undergone the 
 vaccine disease, Dr Jenner, by ascribing these to a 
 spurious form of cow-pock, conceived he had remov- 
 ed any exception to the truth or general accuracy of 
 his doctrine. Of the spurious form, he conceived there 
 were four sources : The 1st, From pustules on the 
 nipples or udder of the cow, without specific virus. 
 2d, From matter, which, though originally specific, 
 had undergone decomposition. 3d, From an ulcer 
 proceeding from the genuine disease, but at an ad- 
 vanced stage, ^th. From matter generated by the hu- 
 man skin, after contact with peculiar morbid matter, 
 formed in the system of a horse. These various po- 
 sitions Dr Jenner illustrated or proved by arguments, 
 either direct or analogical, derived chiefly from si- 
 milar phenomena, exhibited in the progress of vario- 
 lous poison. Of these arguments, the most import* 
 
706 
 
 VACCINATION. 
 
 Vaccination, ant are those which relate to differences or variations 
 induced in the genuine poison by elementary decom- 
 position, or by the process of ulceration, after the 
 period of the proper lymph was passed. The pro- 
 priety of admitting the 4th cause as a source of inef- 
 fectual vaccination is intimately connected with the 
 origin assigned to cow-pox by Dr Jenner; for if a 
 modifying effect on equine matter be assigned to 
 the udder, it is impossible to suppose that the former 
 can have a genuine influence on the human consti- 
 tution, or on the small-pox. 
 
 The interest excited by the singular facts dis- 
 closed in Dr Jenner's writings, with the confir- 
 mation which they derived from Dr Pearson's in- 
 quiry, quickly gave rise to the wish of bringing the 
 truth of the doctrines thus advanced to the test of ex- 
 periment; and men were eager to ascertain what prac- 
 tical advantage was likely to result from the introduc- 
 tion of cow-pox artificially excited, and the substi- 
 tution of a mild disease, derived from a brute ani- 
 mal, for a human malady, which, even in the most 
 favourable circumstances, was liable to be attended 
 with much danger. The merit of this practical ap- 
 plication was reserved for Dr Woodville, who, in Ja- 
 nuary 1799^ introduced into the Small-pox Hospital 
 of which he had the charge, vaccine matter derived 
 from the milk-cows in Gray's Inn Lane. On the 21st 
 January 1799, Dr Woodvilleapplied,by a single punc- 
 ture, to the arms of seven persons, matter in a puru- 
 lent slate, obtained from the teats of a cow labouring 
 under the disease ; and on the 24th he infected three 
 persons with vaccine matter taken from the sores of 
 SarahRice,ayoungwomanwhohad contracted thedis- 
 ease in the course of milking. From these two sources, 
 this physician affected 600 persons, of various ages, 
 with the vaccine disease ; of whom the circumstances 
 of 200 are recorded in the Reports of his practice. 
 In most of these patients, inoculation of small-pox 
 matter was performed at various periods after the 
 application of the vaccine disease, with a view to 
 ascertain the genuine power of the latter, and 
 to discover what influence it could exercise in 
 deranging or modifj'ing the progress of the vario- 
 lous disease. The general result of these expe- 
 rimental cases may be given in the following terms : 
 1st, In about three-fifths of the whole number, the ope- 
 ration was followed, at intervals of various length, by 
 an eruption of pustules, more or less numerous, over 
 the cutaneous surface. (P. 151.) In one case, in which 
 these pustular eruptions appeared about the seventh 
 day, and was attended with convulsive motions, death 
 took place on the eleventh day after insertion of matter. 
 (P. 149.) 2d, In persons on whom vaccine matter and 
 variolous matter are inserted at different arms, but 
 at the same time, the local affections resulting from 
 each application preserved their characteristic ap- 
 pearances through the whole course of the disease. 
 (P. 139.) 3d, When the two fluids (variolous and vac- 
 cine) are rubbed together, and inserted by a lancet 
 dipped into the mixture, sometimes the vaccine pock, 
 sometimes a variolous pustule, has been produced, the 
 
 respective characteristics being in either case retained v. 
 throughout; and in some rare instances, both dis- 
 eases are thus produced. (P.104.) 4th, If inoculation 
 be performed alternately with variolous and with vac- 
 cine matter every day till fever take place, both ino- 
 culations make progress; and as soon as the whole 
 system is disordered, they appear to be all equally 
 advanced in maturation. (P. 145.) 
 
 It cannot now be doubted, that, though the expe- 
 riments of Dr Woodville have thrown much light on 
 the nature of the vaccine disease, and on its true in- 
 fluence over the poison of Small-pox, yet they were 
 conducted without due regard to the legitimate mode 
 of ascertaining the truth, ist. The patients on whom 
 Dr Woodville operated were exposed to the atmo- 
 sphere ofasmall-pox hospital, where, of all other places, 
 the air was most likely to be thoroughly impregnated 
 with variolous effluvia. 2d, In the greater number 
 of the patients vaccinated by this physician, inocula- 
 tion with variolous matter was performed at a period 
 a great deal too early to ascertain the counteract- 
 ing force of the vaccine disease. 3d, It is doubt- 
 ful whether, in his selection of vaccine matter, he 
 chose the proper period ; for he informs us that 
 the matter was taken from the animal in a purulent 
 state, which we now know is very unfavourable to 
 the success of the vaccinating process, (Jenner, p. 
 113.) 4th, Dr Woodville formed a very erroneous 
 notion of the nature and distinctive characters of 
 the vaccine and variolous diseases ; not only in con- 
 sidering, like Dr Jenner, " the vaccine mriolce, and 
 the human variolce, to be only varieties of the same 
 disease, rather than distinct species" (p. 152, 153); 
 but in the further error of supposing Cow-pock ca- 
 pable of exciting a general affection of the skin. Our 
 more perfect knowledge of Cow- pock has shown, that 
 its action oh the skin is confined to those spots only to 
 which it is applied, and that it never hitherto has 
 been known to produce general eruptions similar to 
 itself. This error is intimately connected with ano- 
 ther committed by Dr Woodville, in believing cow- 
 pox capable of communication by effluvia, or by any 
 other manner than that of absolute contact.* 
 
 The results of Dr Woodville's experiments, so differ- 
 ent from those obtained by Dr Jenner, were com- 
 municated to this gentleman at first apparently in a 
 private manner (p. 129); and, in order -to submit the 
 mattert o a fair trial, London vaccine fluid was trans- 
 mitted to Dr Jenner, who inoculated several persons, 
 (twenty, — eighteen at the manufactory, two previous- 
 ly, p. 133), without any other difference of efl'ect 
 than a greater degree of local inflammation, and 
 with an eruption of a few red spots, which quickly 
 disappeared without maturating. 
 
 It was in a subsequent publication, however, that 
 Dr Jenner undertook the task of examining the ex- 
 periments of Dr Woodville, and showing the circum- 
 stances from which the different results proceeded. 
 The anomalous appearances he here ascribed to the 
 action of variolous matter which had crept into the 
 constitution with the vaccine; 1st, Because a great 
 
 * Jenner, p. 86. Further Observations. Pearson, p. 50, Proposition VI. 
 
 12 
 
VACCINATION. 
 
 707 
 
 ition. number of the persons vaccinated by Dr Woodville 
 were inoculated on the 3d or 5th day with vario- 
 lous matter; 2d, Because, in the Gloucestershire 
 dairies, where cow-pox had been known time out of 
 mind, no pustular eruptions had ever been known to 
 appear on the general cutaneous surface ; and 3d, Be- 
 cause, though the proportion of pustular cases was at 
 first 3 out of 5, they afterwards diminished so much, 
 that of the last 100 persons inoculated, only seven had 
 pustular eruptions. 
 
 To bring this matter to a more satisfactory 
 determination, Dr Jenner procured fluid from an 
 affected cow belonging to a farmer in Kentish Town, 
 and transmitted it to Dr Marshall, who was then ex- 
 tensively engaged in vaccination in Gloucestershire. 
 Under his care 423 persons had undergone, in the 
 course of some weeks, the process of vaccination ; 
 and of this number it appears that 127 were in- 
 fected with the matter sent by Dr Jenner from 
 London ; yet Dr Marshall positively states, that 
 neither in the first set of cases, nor in those thus 
 vaccinated, had any pustular eruption occurred, or 
 been observed. (P. 158, 159.) I" one case only 
 did a pustule appear in the elbow of the inocu- 
 lated arm, and it maturated. The same result 
 was obtained in the vaccinations conducted by Dr 
 Jenner personally, and in those by his relation, Mr 
 Henry Jenner. (P. 162.) From these facts, there- 
 fore, Dr Jenner concluded, that the vaccine matter 
 obtained from an animal reared in the neighbourhood 
 of London was not different, at least in its eflFects, 
 from that which was obtained from animals affected 
 with the disease in Gloucestershire. It is proper 
 to notice, however, that Dr Jenner acknowledged 
 that some of his correspondents had mentioned the 
 appearance of eruptions at the commencement of 
 their vaccinating operations ; but '* in these cases," 
 he remarks, " the matter was derived from the ori- 
 I ginal stock at the small-pox Hospital." 
 , Another point in this inquiry, viz. the immunity from 
 
 subsequent small-pox afforded by vaccination,came un- 
 der the investigation of Dr Jenner at this period. Al- 
 though the evidence upon this point had been already 
 conclusive, yet, as various facts were constantly 
 coming to the knowledge of Dr Jenner to prove the 
 protecting power of vaccination, and its influence in 
 counteracting small-pox, even when the system 
 is under variolous action, he published several of 
 these proofs, in order to show the true power of 
 the vaccine disease. These cases are in every re- 
 spect similar to many others which have since occur- 
 red, and it is unnecessary to bestow further notice on 
 them. Shortly after, a second Tract appeared from 
 Dr Woodville; and though his object was to refute 
 the assertion of Dr Jenner regarding the adulte- 
 ration of the vaccine matter of the Small-pox 
 Hospital in London, his testimony was of the ut- 
 most advantage to the anti-variolous power of vac- 
 cination. It will be remembered, that, towards the 
 conclusion of Dr Woodville's vaccinations, the vario- 
 loid or pustular eruptions which had been so fre- 
 quent at the beginning, began gradually to diminish, 
 and finally almost to disappear ; and in the further 
 prosecution of this physiciaa's experimental investi- 
 gation, we find that these eruptions were found al' 
 
 most never to succeed the process of vaccination. Vaccination. 
 In his Observations oti the Cotv-pox, which appear- 
 ed in July 1800, many important facts were disclos- 
 ed, which tended directly to unfold the true proper- 
 ties of the vaccine disease, and the relation which 
 subsists between its action and that of small-pox. It 
 is unnecessary, at this distance of time, to enter into 
 the merits of the charge which Dr Woodville con- 
 ceived Dr Jenner brought against the vaccine mat- 
 ter of the Small-pox Hospital, and of the mode in 
 which Dr Woodville attempted to repel it ; and as 
 we do not conceive it tended, in the slightest degree, 
 to illustrate the question, of the cause of the pustular 
 appearances after vaccination in that Hospital, it may 
 be passed over in silence. The more important and 
 not less interesting subjects of Dr Woodville's pam- 
 phlet were the fact of the disappearance of these 
 pustular eruptions, and the circumstances under 
 which they disappeared. 1. The vaccine matter 
 of the Small-pox Hospital, after which pustular 
 eruptions had so generally appeared, was employed in 
 two situations in the country, in vaccinating more than 
 1000 persons, in two of whom only did any pustules, 
 resembling those of small-pox, appear. 2. Though 
 Dr Woodville denied adulteration of the vaccine 
 matter with matter of small-pox, he was, however, . 
 obliged to admit, that the cases of vaccination in the 
 Hospital " had been, and still continued to be, in- 
 fluenced by some adventitious cause, independent of 
 cow-pox." This was proved by the results of vac- 
 cination practised in the hospital by matter obtain- 
 ed from many different animals : by the results of 
 vaccination practised on persons at their own houses, 
 in various districts of London, by Dr Woodville 
 and other medical gentlemen who employed the 
 matter from the same stock ; and more decidedly 
 by the result of vaccination practised on three 
 patients at Hospital, with matter obtained from the 
 same cow, from which Dr Jenner took the matter 
 employed in the vaccinations of Dr Marshall. In 
 one of these patients no fewer than 100 varioloid 
 pustules appeared ; and other instances, equally 
 conclusive, appear to have taken place. 3. Among 
 many children residing in various parts of Lon- 
 don, to whom Dr Woodville transferred the dis- 
 ease, through the medium of the Hospital matter, no 
 instance of maturated pustules had occurred during the 
 twelve months succeeding to the introduction of the 
 practice. 4. The pustular eruptions which had been 
 so common after vaccination, at the early period of 
 the practice, became much less frequent. Of 310 
 cases of vaccination, after the publication of the 
 first Reports, 39 were attended with pustular erup- 
 tions in the following order: — In the first 100, 19; 
 in the second 100, 13; and in the last 110, only 7 ; 
 and at a later period they appeared in the propor- 
 tion of 3 or 4 only in the 100. 
 
 From these various facts, Dr Woodville very justly 
 drew the inference, that the cases vaccinated at the 
 hospital differed from those vaccinated elsewhere, in 
 being placed in the centre of a variolated atmosphere, 
 to the operation of which the pustular eruptions were 
 to be ascribed. In forming this conclusion, however, 
 he committed the singular paralogism of supposing 
 that the cow-pock excited these pustules, or was, in. 
 
708 V A C C I N 
 
 Vaccination. other words, the direct cause of the varioloid dis- 
 ^-'"N''"^ ease; and he, therefore, imagined that the variol- 
 ated atmosphere of the Hospital, the existence of 
 which he willingly admitted, was only a co-ope- 
 rating cause. It is obvious that this extraordi- 
 nary doctrine owed its birth to the previous opi- 
 nion which, we have already remarked, he formed of 
 the nature of the vaccine disease, — that it was not 
 confined to the spot to which lymph is applied, but 
 was capable of extending its action over the whole 
 cutaneous surface. Had Dr Woodville not allowed 
 himself to be misled by this erroneous principle, 
 there is a strong presumption, from the language in 
 which he expresses himself, that he would have ar- 
 rived at the true conclusion which recent and accu- 
 rate observation have at length succeeded in establish- 
 ing. 
 
 When the facts above noticed are considered, we 
 conceive it will not be difficult for our readers^ if 
 - they keep in mind the points originally ascertained 
 by Dr Jenner, respecting the local action of the 
 vaccine disease, and the necessity of its being com- 
 municated by application of its proper fluid, to com- 
 prehend, that the pustular eruptions over the cu- 
 taneous surface of the vaccinated were not excit- 
 ed, as Dr V/oodville concluded, by cow-pock, nor 
 arose, as Dr Jenner suspected, from mixture of vario- 
 lous matter with vaccine, but were the immediate 
 results of the variolous atmosphere in which the indi- 
 viduals were placed. The ditFerent degree in which 
 they appeared in the early and more recent period 
 of Dr Woodville's vaccinations, will form no valid 
 objection to this conclusion, when it is remembered, 
 that the frequency of pustular eruptions in the 
 first vaccinations, depended on the abundance of 
 variolous effluvia necessarily existing in a small-pox 
 Hospital, or the saturation of its air with this mat- 
 ter ; — while their subsequent rarity was the effect of 
 its gradual diminution by the division or diminution 
 of its cause, and of its final extinction by the substitu- 
 tion of another disease. That admixture of variolous 
 matter had not taken place, there is every reason 
 to conclude ; as we know, from the experiments 
 of Dr Woodville, that it is impossible to produce 
 in this manner a mixed or neutral disease, but 
 that each preserves its distinctive and appropri- 
 ate characters. The post-vaccine pustular erup- 
 tions should have suggested another conclusion, — 
 that the vaccine disease does not entirely extinguish 
 the variolous, or prevent its appearance, but renders it 
 milder, less tedious, and, to a certainty, destroys the 
 chance of its fatality. That this conclusion escaped 
 Dr Woodville is by no means wonderful, especially 
 when it is remembered, that the general belief of the 
 profession was, that a second attack of small-pox was 
 an occurrence so rare, as to be considered next to 
 impossible. " Happy is it for mankind," says Dr Jen- 
 ner, that the appearance of the small-pox a second 
 time on the same person beyond a trivial extent, is so 
 extremely rare, that itis looked upon as a phenomenon. 
 Indeed, since the publication of Dr Heberden's paper 
 on the VariceUcB or chicken-pox, the idea of such an 
 occurrence, in deference to authority so truly respect- 
 able, has been generally relinquished." It is worthy of 
 
 A T I 0 N. ' 
 
 remark, also, that Dr Woodville not only admitted this V 
 inference in its fullest extent, but applied it, in the 
 same unlimited construction, to the immunity afforded 
 by vaccination against the variolous disease, "This cir- 
 cumstance, then," says he, (that is, the immunity af- 
 forded by cow-pox), "appears to be as much a general 
 law of the system, as that a person having had the 
 small-pox, is thereby rendered unsusceptible of re- 
 ceiving the disease a second time." {Reports, 155.) 
 On this subject it is only necessary to remark, that 
 Dr Thomson of Edinburgh has shown, in the most 
 convincing manner, that the non-recurrence of small- 
 pox has been admitted on far too slender groundis; and 
 that the writings of physicians contain sufficient evi- 
 dence, that small-pox may occur at least twice, if not 
 three times, in the person of the same individual. Had 
 this important proposition been known, or admitted to 
 its just extent, at the period when vaccination was in- 
 troduced, there is reason to believe, that the appearance 
 of pustules on the persons of those who had been 
 vaccinated, would not have occasioned so much per- 
 plexity to the friends of the practice, or triumph to 
 its enemies, and that its true merit would have been 
 more justly, and not less quickly appreciated. 
 
 During the progress of Dr Woodville's experimen- 
 tal inquiries, the merits of vaccination began to be 
 understood, and the practice had been coming into ge- 
 neral and extensive use, both in London and in the 
 more remote counties of England. The publication 
 of Dr Woodville's second Tract may be regarded as 
 marking the epoch of its general admission, and an- 
 nouncing the adoption of it in Public Charities, and 
 in the practice of the most eminent surgeons. The 
 united eflForts of Drs Pearson, Lettsom, MM. Moore, 
 King, &c. and other philanthropic or professional indi- 
 viduals, contributed powerfully toits general introduc- 
 tion ; and though opposition wasatfirstshovvn,tbemore 
 candid and intelligent part of the profession at length 
 ■admitted the advantages of vaccination over artificial 
 variolation. It is unnecessary to bestow any notice on 
 the objections which were urged by writers of a certain 
 class, and which, as they were founded on prejudice 
 have now sunk into a well merited oblivion. The effi- 
 cacy of vaccination, as an anti-variolous agent, was, in- 
 deed, so generally admitted, and the practice was so 
 widely introduced, that its benefits were extended, 
 in the course of a few months, to many thousand 
 persons, in different towns of the kingdom ; and 
 were conveyed by different channels to Paris, to Vi- 
 enna, to most of our colonies, and to the United States 
 of America. In the meantime, the impression creat- 
 ed at first by the appearance of pustules in the vacci- 
 nations of Pearson, Woodville, Ring, Dunning, Gold- 
 son, and others,seemed to have worn off completely, or 
 to have been forgotten ; and the great bulk both of the 
 profession and of the public considered the occur- 
 rence of sraall-pox eruptions, after vaccination, ei- 
 ther impossible or so rare as to be regarded as a 
 physiological anomaly. The general credence of this 
 maxim did not arise from the complete absence of 
 pustular eruptions after vaccination, as we shall see, 
 but evidently depended on the idea of the distinctive 
 nature of chicken-pox, or the inaccurate notions of 
 small-pox itself then prevalent ; and also on the great 
 
VACCINATION. 
 
 709 
 
 ation. expectations formed of the powers of the vaccine 
 disease in counteracting or extinguishing the poison 
 of small-pox. 
 
 The truth of these assertions is abundantly con- 
 firmed by the subsequent history of vaccination, and 
 of small-pox eruptions occurring either sporadically 
 or epidemically in various parts of the country. We 
 have already seen, that Dr Jenner was led to infer 
 the absolute immunity from small-pox conferred by 
 the process of vaccination, and to consider the vac* 
 cine disease so similar to small-pox, that when the 
 human body had undergone the former, it was no 
 longer liable to attacks of the latter. This doctrine 
 was admitted by many professional persons in terms 
 much more unlimited, if possible, than those in which 
 it had been understood, even by its first promulgator. 
 Dr Jenner was, indeed, inclined to qualify it in some 
 degree ; but the professed partizans of vaccination, 
 from a well-meant idea, perhaps, that it would weak- 
 en public confidence, and render the adoption of 
 vaccination less easy than was consistent with public 
 safety, opposed every approach to such an opinion, 
 and defended strenuously the anti-variolous pro- 
 perties of the vaccine disease. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to mention here, that, since 
 the time of Dr Heberden, a vesicular, or vesiculo- 
 pustular disease, not unlike small-pox in its local ap- 
 pearances and constitutional symptoms, had been 
 distinguished from it as a separate affection under 
 the name of Chicken-pox. Almost all the instances 
 of pustular or small-pox-like eruptions which were ob- 
 served after vaccination, were referred to the head of 
 chicken-pox; or if they were not sufficiently similar 
 to this disease, to be referred to it, they were admit- 
 ted to be small-pox, but occurring only in persons 
 on whom vaccination had been imperfect in action, 
 or improperly performed. In other instances, the 
 appearances of the eruption were so fallacious, or 
 the ideas of the observers so little precise, that of 
 those who saw them some contended that they were 
 chicken-pox, and others small-pox. 
 
 Although cases were not unfrequent in which prac- 
 titioners of experience and knowledge were obliged 
 to admit the occurrence of small-pox, in the persons 
 of those who had undergone vaccination, Dr Willan 
 appears to have been the first who had courage and 
 patience sufficient to examine the matter coolly, 
 and to show the exact weight of evidence by which 
 it was supported. In the fourth section of his in- 
 teresting treatise on Vaccine Inoculation^ this phy- 
 sician has collected sevei'al cases which occurred to 
 himself, or within his own personal observation, and 
 referred to those collected by authors since the intro- 
 duction of the practice of vaccination. As many of 
 these were thought by several physicians and sur- 
 geons to have been chicken-pox, and as this indicated 
 want of precision in the characteristics of the disease, 
 Dr Willan, in his seventh section, gave an account of 
 those marks by which he conceived chicken-pox in 
 three difFeftent forms could be recognised. And it 
 is by no means unimportant to observe, that the 
 distinctions which Dr Willan established among the 
 various forms of cutaneous inflammation, and the pre- 
 cision with which he expected the eruptive diseases 
 to observe those characters, prevented him from tak- 
 
 VOL. VI. PARff II. 
 
 ing those general and more just views of post-vac- Vaccination, 
 cine small-pox in which physicians have since coin- ' 
 cided. Little change, therefore, appears to have taken 
 place in the opinions of professional men, farther than 
 to admit the occurrence of chicken-pox, and of a mo- 
 dified small-pox after vaccination; or, if the appear- 
 ances were too strong for this construction, to consider 
 the vaccination as imperfect and ineffectual. Such, 
 in general, was the tenor of the Reports of the Vac- 
 cine Institutions, of our various public charities, and 
 in some instances of scientific Colleges ; and so unani- 
 mous and decided was the language of those bodies, 
 that individuals were unable to form their own opinions 
 on objects of daily observation, or were prevented 
 from expressing them by the fear of being regarded as 
 either incapable of observing, or unable to communi- 
 cate the genuine and perfect form of the vaccine dis- 
 ease; or, in short, as enemies to a practice, the pious 
 object of which was to counteract a foul and fatal 
 disease, and to increase the probable chances of hu- 
 rnan life. 
 
 The publication of these Reports did not, how- 
 ever, cause the complete extinction of post-vaccine 
 small-pox, or prevent the appearance of the dis- 
 ease ; and cases continued to occur even after 
 the process of vaccination was admitted to be satis- 
 factory, and in the observations of physicians, whose 
 knowledge and experience gave no ground for doubt- 
 ing the fact. It cannot be expected, that all these 
 cases have been published, or that their full extent 
 can now be ascertained ; for it is eaty to see, that 
 they would be often disregarded, and sometimes 
 studiously concealed. To understand, however, the 
 merits of vaccination, and its influence in controlling 
 small-pox, sporadic or epidemic, it is indispensably 
 necessary, for the unbiassed inquirer, to be aware of 
 the evidence which may be obtained from the cases of 
 variolous or varioloid eruptions in the persons of the 
 vaccinated already recorded. It was to Dr Thom- 
 son of Edinburgh that was reserved the merit of 
 ascertaining the true powers of vaccination, and 
 of placing in a just point of view the benefits 
 conferred on mankind by the introduction of the 
 practice. The cases of pustular eruption, in the 
 persons of the vaccinated, were scattered in various 
 works, their evidence was neglected and overlooked, 
 and the inferences which they tended to estabHsh 
 were not understood, or they were disregarded. It 
 was only by comparison with those afforded by sub- 
 sequent observation, that real advantage could be de- 
 rived from them. An opportunity for this investiga- 
 tion occurred in 1816, when small pox began to ap- 
 pear in one or two points of the country, and eventual- 
 ly spread over a considerable extent. Had the ap- 
 pearance of small-pox been confined to one or 
 two towns or villages, it is not unlikely that they 
 might have been viewed in the same indifferent 
 light in which they had been since 1 800, and that 
 they would have continued to give rise to the same 
 doubts, and similar imperfect explanations, which 
 they had previously done. Appearing, however, as 
 they did in many different points of the Island, suc- 
 cessively or simultaneously, and, as was afterwards 
 learnt, in several countries of Europe, the public 
 mind became alarmed, professional curiosity was 
 4 X 
 
710 
 
 VACCINATION. 
 
 Vaccination, awakened, and physicians resumed the task of inves- 
 ^^-^--•^ tigating a disease which, it had been fondly but pre- 
 maturely hoped, vaccination would render practical- 
 ly unknown. In the year 1816, accounts of small- 
 pox, — occurring in persons of all kinds, those ex- 
 posed to contagion and those not exposed, — th» vac- 
 cinated, the unvaccinated, the imperfectly vaccinat- 
 ed, — and even in those who had previously undergone 
 the disease, began to be transmitted to the various pe- 
 I'iodical publications; and during the four subsequent 
 years, the epidemic continued to appear or subside 
 at intervals, and to furnish matter for the observa- 
 tion and reasoning of physicians, whether vaccina- 
 tors or inoculators. In Edinburgh, and_various parts 
 of Scotland, they prevailed to a very considerable ex- 
 tent, attended with a mortality of 1 in 4 to the un- 
 vaccinated and unvariolated, and affecting the vac- 
 cinated in the rate of 1 to 2 nearly. Though the 
 individual cases have been observed and collected 
 by many different professional gentlemen, it is to Dr 
 Thomson almost entirely that we owe the thorough 
 investigation which the subject has at length under- 
 gone, and from whose researches have been derived 
 the certain and satisfactory results which we now 
 possess. This physician, equally distinguised by 
 acuteness of reasoning, sound judgment, and habits 
 of accurate observation, examined personally the 
 whole of the cases almost that occurred in Edin- 
 burgh and its vicinity ; and where the distance ren- 
 dered personal examination inconvenient, procured, 
 from intelligent correspondents, correct accounts of 
 the phenomena. It was in a letter addressed to the 
 Editor of the Medical and Surgical Journal in Sep- 
 tember 1818, that Dr Thomson first expressed his 
 opinion of the incorrectness of the prevalent doctrines 
 on the effects of the vaccine disease, and of the 
 common doctrines on small-pox, chicken-pox, and 
 modified small-pox, with which these opinions were 
 intimately connected. 
 
 In consequence of the publication of this letter, 
 and a subsequent one containing a series of queries 
 tending to illustrate or ascertain the doubtful points 
 of the subject, a great body of evidence was in a 
 short time collected, and in various forms laid before 
 the profession. The results, with those of Dr Thom- 
 son's very extended observation of the disease, may- 
 be found in the two works which he has recently 
 published ; and in which he has canvassed, with the 
 greatest judgment, and in the most liberal manner, 
 all the problematical and assumed points of the 
 subject. 
 
 The circumstances, however, which merit particu- 
 lar attention, in this recent epidemic, are the strong 
 confirmation of the truth of many of the earliest 
 observationssince the introduction of vaccination; and 
 especially of those views which we have already shown, 
 the experimental inquiry of Dr Woodville, if pro- 
 perly understood, would have suggested. The va- 
 rioloid disease, at least in Edinburgh and its vicinity, 
 and so far as can be discovered, throughout Scotland, 
 occurred in three classes of persons; those who had 
 undergone neither small-pox nor cow-pox, those who 
 passed through small-pox, and those who had under- 
 gone, in a satisfactory manner, the process of vacci- 
 nation. 
 
 In these several classes of patients, it was found V 
 that the different forms of varioloid eruptions de- 
 scribed as pure small-pox, modified small-pox, and 
 chicken-pox, co-existed during the epidemic, and 
 were capable of producing each other. It was ob- 
 served, for example, that individuals who, after vac- 
 cination, presented eruptions, termed modified small- 
 pox or chicken-pox, were capable of communicating 
 to those who bad neither undergone vaccination, 
 nor had been affected with small-pox, an eruptivo 
 disease which could not be distinguished by compe- 
 tent judges from small- pox. (Thomson, Varioloid 
 Disease, p. 45, and p. 207.) It was also found, that 
 the same contagion or the same infecting source, pro.- 
 duced cases of coherent or confluent small-pox in 
 the unprotected ; and cases of chicken-pox, or mo- 
 dified small-pox in the vaccinated, or even in persona 
 who had many years before passed through small- 
 pox. The obvious conclusion from these facts is, 
 that if small-pox and its modifications, and chicken- 
 pox be admitted to derive their origin frooj a contar 
 gious source, that contagion must be one and the 
 same for all ; and that whatever opinion be formed 
 as to the nosological differences of small-pox and 
 chicken-pox, as pustular or vesicular eruptions, i% 
 must be granted, that they spring from the same ge- 
 nerating cause ; and that the variations in appearance 
 depend on something totally unconnected with th^ 
 contagious agent which causes their formation. 
 There is no means of accounting for tliis relation of 
 diseases, Dr Thomson has justly remarked, unless in 
 supposing two contagious causes, specifically distinct, 
 existing at the same time, and in the same place, 
 and producing their respective effects on the persons 
 of those exposed. But, independent of the general 
 improbability of this doctrine, it might be easily 
 shown, that of two such distinct contagious causes as 
 we have supposed, not only would one or other have 
 produced its characteristic effects on a much greater 
 proportion of the community; but these effects 
 could not possibly have been so frequently inter- 
 changed, or so uniformly have appeared in place of 
 each other, as the experience of the recent epide- 
 mic has shown. To render this point, which is liable 
 to be misunderstood, especially by our general read- 
 ers, more obvious and intelligible, Jet it be supposed, 
 as was done after the time of the elder Heberden, 
 that chicken-pox arose from one morbid cause, and 
 small-pox from another, utterly different ; and let it 
 also be admitted, that both contagions are occasion- 
 ally found to appear in a community epidemically ; 
 then it must follow, that the disease which depends 
 on chicken-pox contagion ought at ail times, and 
 in all cases, to preserve distinctive characters, and 
 that small-pox should likewise preserve the same 
 unvarying peculiarity of appearance. No approach 
 of characteristic features, much less complete in- 
 terchange, ought to take place ; and the pheno- 
 mena of chicken-pox ought to be as distinct from 
 those of small-pox, as they are from those of 
 plague, of itch, or of leprosy. These results, how- 
 ever, which unquestionably flow directly frj3m the 
 admission which we have made of distinct conta- 
 gious agents, were completely contradicted by every 
 thing observed in the variolous epidemic of 1817- 
 10 
 
VACCINATION. 
 
 711 
 
 latlon. 18, and the subsequent years; and it is impossible 
 to resist or deny the conclusion, that small-pox, 
 chicken-pox, and modified small-pox, owe their 
 birth to the same source, are children of the same 
 parent, and members of the same family. 
 
 It may be expected, since we adopt the conclusions 
 to which the modesty and good sense of Dr Thom- 
 son induce him to apply the name of hypothesis only, 
 that we ought to prove, by direct arguments, the no- 
 sological error committed by Dr Heberden, in sepa- 
 rating chicken-pox as a distinct genus from small-pox. 
 To this we reply, that it is not by direct arguments 
 that the point can be proved; for, without subjecting 
 to strict scrutiny the characters on which Dr Heber- 
 den assigned a separate place to chicken-pox, it is 
 now agreed that the minute distinctions of Dr Wil- 
 ]an completely failed in establishing a satisfactory 
 difference in the generating causes of chicken-pox 
 and small-pox. Had Dr Willan indeed given a due 
 degree of weight to the fact which he stales in the 
 very outset of his 7tli section, that he had seen since 
 1800 no fewer than 74; cases of varicella, which were 
 by many persons deemed small-pox after vaccina- 
 tion, and the remarkable counterpart of this fact, that 
 the eruptions described in his 4th section were at 
 first regarded as chicken-pox by several physicians 
 and surgeons, he must have been convinced of the 
 iwipossibility of establishing a difference between 
 these diseases on no other ground than that of their 
 vesicular or pustular character. We adhere in this 
 case to the acknowledged maxim in philosophical 
 inquiry, to admit no more causes than are adequate 
 to account for the effect ; and while we allow the ex- 
 cellence of the distinctions introduced by Dr Willan 
 as mere terms for characteristic appearances, we 
 deny the inference that has been drawn, that these 
 are adequate to establish a nosological difference. 
 It is, indeed, with those who contend for the speci- 
 fic or generic difference of small-pox and chicken- 
 pox, that the task of proving this rests; and it is in- 
 cumbent on them to bring forward more substantial 
 proofs and arguments than those on which the dis- 
 tinction has been admitted, and which are undoubt- 
 edly inconclusive. 
 
 Though the hypothesis to which we have here ad- 
 verted, evidently does not require to be supported by 
 ..different arguments derived from other quarters, yet 
 it is equally due to the merit of Dr Thomson, and to 
 that of other physicians, whose observations have 
 led them to similar researches, to remark, that the 
 identical origin of small-pox and chicken-pox is an 
 opinion at length adopted by others, both in this 
 country and on the Continent. Our limits prevent 
 us from entering largely or particularly into this di- 
 vision of our subject; but we must not leave it, 
 without adverting to the opinions expressed by 
 MM. Berard and De Lavit of Montpellier, and Dr 
 Hodenpyl of Rotterdam. Small-pox prevailed epi- 
 demically in the former city in 1816, and in the lat- 
 ter, and various parts of Holland, in 181? and 1818 ; 
 and in both situations, not only were chicken-pox 
 at the same time extensively prevalent, but the phe- 
 nomena of both diseases were found to be frequently 
 and generally interchanged ; and they were, in other 
 respects, sO similar to those observed in Edinburgh 
 
 and various parts of Scotland, that the conclusions Vaccination, 
 which we have above noticed were irresistible. It 
 is interesting to observe, not only as a confirmation 
 of the accuracy of Dr Thomson'o views, but as an 
 example of different observers, unconsciously and 
 unk-nown to each other, forming the same conclu- 
 sions from similar researches, that MM. Berard and 
 De Lavit were led to announce, in 1818, at Mont- 
 pellier, an opinion which Dr Thomson first publish- 
 ed in September 1818, at Edinburgh; and that Dr 
 Hodenpyl of Rotterdam, in the course of the same 
 year, was led to express his opinion, that chicken- 
 pox was the primitive form of small-pox, and could 
 be shown to originate from the same parent stock. 
 
 The view which the hypothesis of Dr Thomson en- 
 ables us to take of varioloid and varicellous eruptions, 
 and of the relation in which they stand to the vaccine 
 disease, suggests a more satisfactory explanation of the 
 phenomena which these eruptions present, and of the 
 sequc?ices, as we may name them, which they ob- 
 serve, than either denying the anti-variolous effica- 
 cy of vaccination, or supposing it imperfect, or im- 
 properly performed; or, indeed, than any other expla- 
 nation hitherto adopted by physicians. It has been 
 a prevalent error with medical observers to attach a 
 degree of mathematical precision to the phenomena 
 of eruptive diseases, and especially to those of the 
 several forms of variolous or varicellous eruptions ; 
 and to imagine that their appearance and effects in 
 the human body were regulated by laws of the ut- 
 most precision. The mixture of truth and of error 
 exhibited in this doctrine is the reason of its ad- 
 mission without question, and its propagation with- 
 out resistance. For while it is certain that ex- 
 tended observation proves that small-pox may af- 
 fect the same individual more frequently than once, 
 and that its first occurrence by no means se- 
 cures the individual from a second attack, it is un- 
 deniable that the maxim is so far correct in ge- 
 neral terms, that the disease is rarely known to ap- 
 pear twice v/ith the very same characters, or with 
 the same severity in the same individual. While, 
 therelore, the first appearance of the disease does 
 effect some change in the susceptibility of the frame 
 to a second attack, it is obvious that this change is 
 neither so marked nor so uniform, nor so absolute as 
 the opinions of physicians had hitherto represented it 
 to be. (Thomson's Varioloid Epidemic, i). 201.) It is 
 precisely this error which has given rise to mistakes 
 so general on the anti-variolous power of vaccination. 
 It was the same mode of thinking that led the more 
 zealous partizans of vaccination to expect a form of 
 action more absolute and determinate, and an im- 
 munity more complete than the laws of organic mo- 
 tions ever sanctioned. It may be urged, indeed, 
 that to predicate what the laws of organic motions 
 are, or what they sanction, is a mere j)etitio principii, 
 a sort of assumed principle, unless we adduce facts 
 or arguments to prove what we advance ; but is it 
 to be doubted, that the actions of living bodies, and 
 the influence exercised on living objects by exte- 
 rior agents, are not regulated by laws mathemati- 
 cally exact ? Has the most sedulous observer ever 
 been able to trace or to demonstrate that certain- 
 ty of action, or regularity of effect, which Is exem- 
 
712 
 
 VACCINATION. 
 
 Vaccination, plified in matter endowed with properties merely 
 -^'"^y^^ physical ? Has attentive observation of the pheno- 
 mena of living bodies, and, above all, of those of the 
 human frame, not shown, that the results- of every 
 process are influenced by numerous circumstances, 
 and modified by causes too complicated to allow their 
 operation to be appreciated ? Such, we may nov^r 
 conclude, has it been with the practical application 
 of the vaccine disease, and such will it be with every 
 measure which is adopted in medicine, with too little 
 regard to the character of those objects on which the 
 physician has to operate. 
 
 It must now be obvious, that vaccination is not the 
 positive and exact action, which it was thought to be 
 at the moment of its introduction ; and, that it does 
 not effect on the human body that absolute change 
 which it was originally represented to do. That it does 
 effect a change of some kind must be inferred, not 
 only from the phenomena of those forms of small- 
 pox which occur in the persons of the vaccinated, 
 but also, in a more conspicuous and forcible manner, 
 from the phenomena of vaccination performed a se- 
 cond time on the same individual. The vesicle pro- 
 duced in Mr Bryce's test- vaccination, or even any vesicle 
 thus produced at a period subsequent to the first one is 
 evidently a modified cow-pock (vaccinella), and bears 
 the same relation to the first cow-pock, that modified 
 small-pox or chicken-pox bear to the first attack of 
 small-pox.* But the occurrence of this vaccinelline 
 vesicle must be regarded as a direct proof that the 
 changeisnot absolute, but limited; and the occurrence 
 ofpustular eruptions,whether variolous or varicellous, 
 in the vaccinated, must be admitted in evidence to 
 establish the same conclusion. It may, indeed, be 
 regarded as the genuine result of extensive observa- 
 tion, conducted in the most accurate manner, that 
 the process of vaccination is not exempted from those 
 uncertainties which have long formed the impedi- 
 ments to exact principles and positive rules in medi- 
 cine ; and that it does not render the human body 
 universally or absolutely unsusceptible of subsequent 
 attacks of small-pox in various degrees of severity. 
 
 Nor will the results to which we have cursorily ad- 
 verted, admit of more easy explanation by the objec- 
 tion which has so often been sought in the interrup- 
 tion or imperfection of the process of vaccination. 
 It is not to be denied that vaccination has been some- 
 times rendered imperfect by one or other of the 
 ordinary causes, and that it is reasonable to think 
 that persons thus vaccinated are more likely to be 
 subsequently affected with small-pox than those in 
 whom the vaccine process has been regular and com- 
 plete ; but no proof has been aflForded that post- 
 vaccine small-pox was confined to those in whom vac- 
 cination was imperfect ; and in innumerable instances 
 in which small-pox succeeded raccination, the latter 
 process was ascertained to be as perfect as in those 
 who were not subsequently the subjects of varioloid 
 eruptions. Had there been any force in the circum- 
 
 stance, it was reasonably to be expected that the de- V 
 gree of modification should be in the inverse ratio of 
 the perfection of the vaccine process, and in the di- 
 rect ratio of the interval between the period of vac- 
 cination and the appearance of varioloid disease. No 
 result of this kind has been observed either in the 
 Edinburgh epidemic, or in those described by Mr 
 Cross and MM. Berard and De Lavit, or that of 
 Holland, as described by Hodenpyl ; nor has it ap- 
 peared, that those affected with modified small-pox 
 had been vaccinated with fluid taken at an improper 
 time, or had cutaneous eruptions, or other disturbing 
 causes, to a greater extent than those in whom vario- 
 loid eruptions never took place. 
 
 The experience of the recent epidemic has amply 
 confirmed the conclusion, that vaccination, though 
 quite regular, and performed in the most satisfactory 
 manner, does not preclude a subsequent attack of 
 small-pox, in one or other of its forms, and does not 
 furnish a positive immunity any more than natural 
 small-pox, or artificial variolation. And it is satis- 
 factory to think that this inference has been sub- 
 stantially admitted by the unbiassed declaration of 
 the Board of the National Vaccine Establishment. 
 
 But while we are obliged to qualify the doctrines 
 of the original vaccinators with these limitations, it 
 cannot fail to be gratifying, not only to the lovers of 
 truth, but also to the sincere and temperate friends 
 of vaccination, to find that the great practical results 
 are not materially affected; and to know that our ex- 
 perience has shown the benefits of the practice in as 
 strong a point of view as its most sanguine advocates 
 could wish. Though theprocess of vaccination does not 
 positively prevent a subsequent attack of small-pox, 
 it has been incontestibly proved, that it not only 
 mitigates the severity of such future attacks, but 
 diminishes the chance of their fatality almost 
 to a fraction, or an infinitely small quantity. The 
 clearest method of showing the truth of this proposi- 
 tion is, by contrasting the mortality of cases of se- 
 condary small-pox, that is, occurring either after 
 the natural or artificial disease, with the mortali- 
 ty of cases of small-pox occurring after vaccina- 
 tion. According to the observations of Dr Thom- 
 son, the proportion of deaths in secondary small- 
 pox, if two infections be admitted, is 1 in 25, 
 and if one infecting source be admitted, 1 in 75 
 only [Varioloid Epidemic^ p. 202); but death has 
 taken place in small-pox after vaccination in one 
 only of above 330 cases, which is between \ and 
 f, or, in exact terms, less frequently than it 
 occurs in iterated small-pox. If to this statement 
 be added the allowance that must be made for tlie 
 numbers of the vaccinated who were not at all affect- 
 ed with subsequent varioloid eruptions, the rate of 
 post-vaccine eruptions terminating fatally will be re- 
 duced to an infinitely small quantity. In the vario- 
 loid epidemic described by Mr Cross, at Norwich, of 
 10,000 vaccinated persons, 329|| were affected with 
 
 * See Dr Thomson's remarks at the conclusion of Dr Stoker's Letter in No. 77 of Edin. Med. and 
 Surg. Journal. 4 
 
VACCINATION. 
 
 713 
 
 natiin. rariolous eruptions,* of whom only one case appears to 
 have terniinated fatally. The coincidence of this 
 proportion with that given by Dr Thomson induces 
 us to place the greatest confidence in its accuracy; 
 and we feel certain, that if observations be made 
 on future cases, even this proportion will diminish. 
 At present, in estimating the decided superiority 
 of vaccination, in diminishing the chance both of 
 danger and of death from small-pox, two elements 
 must be kept in mind: — 1st, That all the vaccinat- 
 ed are not affected with small-pox or varioloid erup- 
 tions, and even the proportion of these appears 
 to be smaller than in instances of inoculation, or 
 any other method except natural small-pox ; — and, 
 2dly, That of those so affected, not above one case 
 in 330 terminates unfavourably. These results esta- 
 blish, in the most convincing manner, the povs^ers of 
 Uie vaccine disease as an antidote to the ravages of 
 small-pox ; and cannot fail to prove, to the satisfac- 
 tion of its mostsceptical opponents, that the strong and 
 plausible objections to which the recent epidemic 
 was at first calculated to give rise, have been of no 
 other use than to place the merits of vaccination in a 
 clearer and more forcible point of view. 
 
 It is in its power of diminishing the mortality of 
 wnall-pox, therefore, that the superiority of vaccina- 
 tion consists; and it is on this strong ground only, 
 that its partisans and true friends should defend its 
 general adoption. Let the governors of charitable 
 institutions, the guardians of the poor, the parents of 
 families, and the public at large, be convinced of the 
 facts which we have now stated, and the inferences 
 derived from them, and it cannot be doubted that the 
 practice of vaccination, instead of being opposed, or 
 apprehended as a source of new and disastrous ma- 
 ladies, or ridiculed as a useless and inefficient cere- 
 mony, will be dispassionately estimated, and raised 
 to that rank among the benefits of science, to 
 which its happy effects unquestionably entitle it. 
 It is surely superfluous to show the duty incumbent 
 on all ranks to extend vaccination as widely as pos- 
 sible, if for no other reason than to preserve the 
 lives of their relatives during the prevalence of epi- 
 demic small-pox, — and to say that, in proportion as 
 ▼accination is general, the infection of small-pox must 
 be gradually limited and confined, until it is almost 
 entirely expelled from the habitations of men. There 
 cannot be a doubt, that every variolous epidemic, es- 
 pecially in 'large cities, is developed much more rea- 
 dily in consequence of the practice of variolous ino- 
 culation, or suffering children to be exposed to the 
 infection of natural small-pox ; and it is equally cer- 
 tain, that where vaccination is general, the introduc- 
 tion of variolous infection is either difficult, or when 
 introduced, it is disarmed of its gigantic strength. 
 
 Two points connected with tliis subject have 
 
 given rise to so much speculation, that we must not Vaecination. 
 omit to notice them, however briefly. The intro- "■-«*^-^"'^ 
 duction of vaccination, and its effects in diminishing 
 the mortality of small-pox, have been naturally sup- 
 posed by many writers to have a great influence on 
 population, and to increase the numbers of the living 
 at different periods of life. Some have gone so far as 
 to imagine, that in this respect it would operate to an 
 injurious extent, and increase the population of most 
 countries beyond the limits of subsistence ; while 
 others have conceived, that an increase of different 
 diseases would be necessarily occasioned by the extir- 
 pation of small-pox ; and that this would be one of 
 the great means employed by Providence, to keep 
 the rate of population in due proportion to the means 
 of procuring food. 
 
 There cannot be a doubt that one of the most salu- 
 tary effects of the practice of vaccination is to dimi- 
 nish very much the mortality occasioned by small- 
 pox, and consequently to augment, in a considerable 
 degree, the numbers of the community in which it is 
 practised. To understand distinctly, however, in 
 what manner this diminution is operated, it is requi- 
 site to show the effect which unresisted small-pox 
 exercises on the population of a community, and for 
 this purpose we employ a familiar example derived 
 from estimates formed in this country. In the year 
 1795, when the population of Great Britain and Ire- 
 land was estimated, according to the returns, at 
 14,724,000, it was calculated that the numbers an- 
 nually destroyed by small-pox, according to one esti- 
 mate, amounted to 34,260, and according to another, 
 to 36,000. If we state it in round numbers at 
 35,000 as a medium, this mortality amounts to the 
 enormous proportion of 1 in every 420 ; or, in 
 other words, small-pox destroys annually 1 -420th 
 part of the whole population of the country. As it 
 is obvious, that the population can be increased by 
 tlie number of births only, as it is diminished by the 
 number of deaths, it follows, that to obtain a just 
 notion of the effect of small-pox in diminishing the 
 population, we must deduct this 1 -420th part from 
 the numbers which are annually added by births. 
 According to the most correct observations and cal- 
 culations, it appears, that at the period which we 
 have selected, the proportion of births to the whole 
 population of the country was as 1 to 30, or for 
 every 30 persons in the whole nation, only one is 
 annually added by births. (Malthus, Book II. chap. 
 9, and Additions.) It therefore follows, that as the 
 proportion destroyed by small-pox must be taken 
 out of this annual addition to the numbers of the 
 country, the fraction of ^'^"o t\ annually, will 
 represent the exact rate at which small-pox re- 
 tards the increasing numbers of a countryj or acts as 
 a positive check on population. It is to be remarked, 
 that the elements on which these calculations are 
 
 • Mr Cross nowhere gives this proportion exactly ; but it is correctly deduced from the average of his 
 data in the following manner :— Dr Yellowly, from inquiries similar to those of Mr Cross, estimates tlie 
 vaccinated in Norwich at I of the whole population, or 10,000 ; and of 603 persons under the personal ob- 
 servation of Mr Cross, 200 had small-pox, 91 had been vaccinated, 2 of whom had modified small-pox, and 
 I chicken-pox ; the remaining 312, who had small-pox formerly, had no subsequent eruption durmg the 
 epidemic ; consequently, we have the following proportional numbers, 91 : 3 : : 10,000 : 329gt- 
 
714 
 
 VACCINATION. 
 
 Vaccination, founded, are derived from that period at which it is 
 generally admitted that smail-pox inoculation was 
 most favourably conducted, and at which the smallest 
 number of deaths is supposed to have taken place 
 from small- pox, since it first began to prevail as a de- 
 structive epidemic among the habitations of men. 
 
 Vve have given this familiar, and we trust quite 
 intelligible view of the influence of small-pox on po- 
 pulation, because we fear, if we had attempted to 
 follow the circuitous, but very beautiful and accu- 
 rate train of analytic calculation, by which Duvil- 
 lard has investigated the subject, we should have 
 added much to the length of this article, with- 
 out interesting our general readers, or affording in- 
 formation universally intelligible. This author, who 
 has investigated the matter in the soundest manner, 
 and with the most profound applications of modern 
 analysis, has given formulae and tables for almost 
 evei'y possible question which the inquiry can sug- 
 gest. He appears, on the principles which he has 
 adopted, to have made the destru^ctive or depopulat- 
 ing power of small-pox greater even than we have 
 shown it to be. He gives the following results of 
 his analytic investigations, as applied to the popula- 
 tion of France. According to ihe law of mortality, in 
 the natural state, the 
 
 Both sexes and all ages. 
 
 Entire population of 
 
 France is - - 28,763,192 
 Those already passed 
 
 through small-pox, 23,212,998 
 Those not passed 
 
 through it are - 5,450,194 
 Th ose that die without 
 
 passing through it, 667^749 
 Those who must have 
 
 it at some period, 4,782,4^45 
 Those that 4;alie it and 
 
 escape, - - 4,445,041 
 Those that die of it, 337.404 that is, 85,685 in 
 
 the current year. 
 
 Now, in the natural state, 85,685 children, add to 
 tlie population of 28,763,194, only 337.404 indivi- 
 duals, and by immunity from small-pox, they furnish 
 farther 3,492,583, which raises the population to the 
 mnnber of 32,255,776. If such be the influence of 
 vaccination, in increasing the numbers of mankind, 
 it might appear, a conclusion sufficiently natural to 
 imagine, that the population of many nations would 
 increase so rapidly, as to exceed the means of sub- 
 sistence, and overcrowd the space allotted for occu- 
 pation. In point of fact, however, notwithstanding 
 the operation of this cause, for at least twenty years, 
 in several countries of Europe and America, the re- 
 sult has not been realized ; and, though the nations 
 of EiU'ope were perhaps never so populous as at the 
 present moment, this evidently depends on other 
 causes than that which prevents tlie mortality of 
 small-pox. 
 
 It is a fact which has been said to be ascertained 
 by many respectable observers, that while the de- 
 struction occasiwied by small-pox has been much di- 
 
 minished, other diseases, equally fatal, have been Vac 
 found to be more prevalent. We will not question^ 
 the correctne?s of this observation, or deny it ab- 
 solutely, but we must have it established on more 
 certain and unquestionable facts and documents be- 
 fore it be admitted. But whether this be the case 
 or not, it is not difficult to see that vaccination can- 
 not possibly render the human race immortal ; that 
 children, and adults also, must die of other diseases 
 besides small-pox ; and that, as the nvimbers of a 
 young community are increased by being snatched 
 from one disease, a greater number must be preserv- 
 ed to become a prey to others. 
 
 We by no means, however, countenance the opi- 
 nion that the mortality of other diseases will increase 
 exactly in the ratio in which that of small-pox has 
 been diminished; nor do we believe that this mor- 
 tality is a necessary result of vaccination. It is fbund, 
 on the best authority, l^iat a perceptible diminution 
 of mortality in children under ten years has taken 
 place in every situation in which vaccination ha« 
 been general ; and it must therefore be concluded, 
 that the number of individuals living at that age is 
 augmented. It is obvious, however, that, unless w« 
 lose sight of the most fixed principles in the theory 
 of population, this will have but a trifling effect in in- 
 creasing the numbers of mankind, when it is remem- 
 bered that it is ready to be counteracted by the jx)- 
 sitive checks to which we already alluded, but es- 
 pecially by the preventive check on which the 
 number of marriages and of births depends. 
 
 (See various papers in the 6th, 7th, 8th, 13th, 14th, 
 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th Vols, of the Edinburgh 
 Medical and Surgical Journal; sevei'al articles in 
 the London Medical and PhysicalJ our nal ; Observa- 
 tions on Small-pox, 8^c. by Dr Monro, Edinburgh, 
 1818 ; AccouJit of the Varioloid Epidemic which has 
 lately prevailed in Edinburgh, and other parts of 
 Scotland, S^c. by Dr Thomson, Lond. 1820; Histo- 
 rical Sketch of the Opinions entertained by Medical 
 men respecting the varieties and secondary occurrence 
 of Small-pox, by Dr Thomson, Lond. 1822 ; A His- 
 tory of the Variolous Epidemic which occurred in Nor- 
 wich, 1819j and destroyed 500 individuals, Sj-c. by Mr 
 Cross, Lond. 1820; Essai sur les Anomalies de la 
 Variole et de la Varicelle, par MM. Berard et De La- 
 vit, Montpellier, 1818 ; Select Dissertations on several 
 Subjects in Medical Science, by Sir Gilbert Blane, 
 Dissert. 10th, p. 334; History of Vaccination, by Mr 
 Moore, Lond. 1817 ; Correspondence of the Dublin 
 Cow-pock Institution, published in 1818 ; Observations 
 on ihe Varioloid Disease, by Dr Stoker, Dublin, 
 1821.) (u. u. u.) 
 
 VAN DIEMAN'S LAND. See the Article 
 AusTKALAsiA, in this Supplement. It appears, 
 from a Statement of the Receipt and Income raised 
 in this colony, and of the Disbursement thereof, for 
 the last seven years, printed, by Order of the House 
 of Commons, in June 1823, that the former was 
 L.23,915, and the latter L.20,,055. 
 
715 
 
 VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY. 
 
 etable In the Article Anatomy, Vegetable, of this Sicp- 
 'dology. plement, we exhibited a view of the structure and 
 - forms of vegetables through their several gradations 
 from the seed to the perfect plant. We then observed, 
 that, to accomplish these changes of form, the opera- 
 tion of certain external agents was required, by the 
 aid of which alone the several functions of vegetables 
 could be instituted and maintained. It is to these 
 functions that we have now to direct our attention, 
 —the description of which properly constitutes what 
 is termed the Physiology of plants. 
 
 In a subject of such great extent and difficulty, 
 and concerning which so much diversity of opinion 
 prevails, we must bespeak the indulgence of our 
 readers, not only for the imperfections, but for the 
 errors into which we may fall. From the narrow li- 
 mits, too, within which we are necessarily circum- 
 gcribed, we are constrained to give rather the results 
 than details of experiments ; to avoid all discussion 
 of disputable points ; and to reject many practical 
 illustrations and much historical narration. Neither 
 have we room to enlarge on the general distinctions 
 between plants and animals ; on the importance of 
 vegetables in the scale of being; their geographical 
 distribution; the nature of their living power or vi- 
 tality; their sensibility, perceptivity, and many other 
 properties which have been ascribed to them. Our 
 aim will be solely confined to give, as concisely and 
 perspicuously as we are able, such a general view of 
 the leading and more important functions of the move 
 perfect vegetables as the present state of our know- 
 ledge will permit. To the article above mentioned we 
 shall continually refer for such anatomical details as 
 our physiological explanations may require: and, 
 proceeding on the views of structure there delivered 
 with regard to the lilementary Systems of plants, we 
 shall follow nearly the order observed when treating 
 of their individual members and organs, and com- 
 mence our discussions with a description of the ger- 
 mination of seeds. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 Of the General Functions oe Vegetables, 
 Sect. I. 
 Of the Germination of Seeds. 
 In the article referred to we have detailed pretty 
 fully the anatomy of seeds (§ 173), and described 
 particularly their tunics and the nucleus contained 
 within them. This nucleus consists of the organiz- 
 ed parts, or embryo, and the inorganic matter des- 
 tined to afford it* nourishment. In size and figure 
 the organized parts vary much in diiferent seeds, 
 and thereby constitute an embryo more or less de- 
 veloped or perfect. In its more complete forms, 
 this embryo consists of the radicle, the stem, and 
 ihe plume. The stem, however, is often not distin- 
 guishable. When present, it connects the radicle 
 with the plume, and the place of its junction with 
 the radicle is denominated the iieclc of the embryo. 
 In the progress of evolution, the radicle descends to 
 
 form the root, and the plume rises and constitutes Vegetiible 
 the first bud of the new plant. ; Physiology. 
 
 Beside the organized parts just mentioned, there 
 are others called cotyledons, which derive their ori- 
 gin from the embryo. Many seeds have two coty- 
 ledons, and some more than two ; others have only 
 one, and some seeds have no cotyledon. When pre- 
 sent, the cotyledons exhibit different forms ; and be- 
 tween them and the embryo, a vascular communica- 
 tion is established, as may be seen in the dissection 
 of a bean, represented in Plate XV. fig. 26, of Vol. I. 
 Beside vessels, the cotyledons are partly made up of 
 cells, within which the nutrient matter of the seed is 
 contained. In some seeds, however, this matter is 
 only partially contained in the cotyledons ; in others, 
 as that of wheat, it is wholly contained in a cellular 
 tissue produced from the inner tunic. Lastly, the 
 cotyledons of some seeds rise above the ground du- 
 ring germination, and perform the function of leaves : 
 in others they continue beneath the soil. In all seeds 
 their existence is temporary, for they perish after 
 having yielded their nutrient matter to the embryo. 
 
 This matter, called albumen by Grew and Gaert- 
 ner, is a secretion made by the vessels into the cells 
 during the formation of the seed ; and, though it- 
 self inorganic, is contained in an organized tissue- 
 It is of various colour and consistence in different 
 seeds. Its bulk, compared with that of the organiz- 
 ed parts, is, in some seeds, very small ; in others 
 very large. Its appearance in the cells of the coty- 
 ledon of the bean, and of the inner tunic of wheat, 
 is represented in Plate XV. figs. 24 and 25 ; and de- 
 scribed in § 203, 204, 205, of our former article. 
 
 Such is a brief notice of the more important parts 
 which construct the seed, and which it is necessary 
 clearly to understand before we can properly ap- 
 preciate the nature and effects of the actions that ga 
 on during its germination. In considering these 
 actions, we have to inquire into the circumstances 
 or conditions in which the seed requires to be placed 
 —the agents which then act upon it— the change of 
 quality and condition which these agents themselves 
 suffer, and the effects which, in consequence, they 
 produce in the seed— and, lastly, the physiological 
 phenomena which thence arise, and terminate in those 
 alterations of form and structure which constitute 
 the evolution of the seed. 
 
 In general, seeds, when placed to grow, are buried 
 more or less deeply in the earth, but this condition 
 is not essential ; for they readily shoot forth and 
 display their forms, when confined in vessels of air. 
 In whatever situation their germination is attempt- 
 ed, a certain temperature, and a certain portion of 
 moisture, are necessary to its commencement; ancf 
 the access of air is afterwards required to carry on 
 the process. We have, therefore, to inquire into 
 the operation of water, heat, and air, in commencing 
 and carrying on the germination of the seed. 
 
 Water, in the first instance, penetrates the tunics 
 of the seed apparently by simple attraction or imbi- 
 
716 VEGETABLE 
 
 Vegetable bition ; and the force with which this attraction is 
 Ptiysi ology. exerted is well illustrated in the experiments of 
 ~ ^'-^^ Boyle and Hales. They filled strong bottles with 
 dry beans or pease, over which water was poured, 
 and the bottles were then closely stopped. As the 
 seeds imbibed the water, they readily burst the bot- 
 tles asunder ; or, if small iron cylinders, closed by 
 a plug, were employed, the plug was gradually rais- 
 ed by the expanding seeds, though pressed by a 
 weight of nearly 200 lbs. It is by the exertion of 
 such a force, that certain seeds, as those of the 
 peach and apricot, are able, says Du Hamel.to burst 
 open their stony envelope. This expansion from 
 the imbibition of water occurs not only in seeds 
 which retain the faculty of germinating, but in 
 those also which have lost it. We must, therefore, 
 regard this first step in germination as similar to the 
 attraction of water by inanimate bodies. Accord- 
 ingly, if, after water has been thus imbibed, air be 
 excluded, the radicle never increases beyond a cer- 
 tain size ; and, if the seed be kept wholly immersed 
 in water at a temperature of 60°, decomposition of 
 its substance ensues. 
 
 To this imbibition of water, a temperature above 
 that of freezing is necessarily required ; and, within 
 a certain range, the rate of expansion will be more 
 or less inflnenced by that of temperature. Cold, 
 however, does not destroy, but only suspends, the 
 germinating faculty in seeds. 
 
 When, by the combined operation of heat and 
 moisture, the seed is brought into a condition fit for 
 germination, then the presence of air is required. 
 Many experiments were made by Boyle and others, 
 to prove the necessity of air to germination ; and, 
 since the composition of the atmosphere was made 
 known, many more have been instituted to ascertain 
 vi'hy the air is thus necessary, the nature of the 
 changes it undergoes, the extent to which they pro- 
 ceed, and the manner in which they are accomplish- 
 ed. On all these points much information has been 
 gained, and the re^sults obtained are, in general, so 
 precise, as to leave little doubt as to the nature and 
 extent of the facts, whatever difference of opinion 
 may exist as to the mode of their occurrence. We 
 must refer those who desire full details on these sub- 
 jects to the writings of Scheele, Cruickshank, Gough, 
 De Saussure, Huber, and Senebier, &c. The results 
 of their labours are given, more or less completely, 
 in most of our chemical works, and are more fully 
 detailed in Mr Ellis's Inquiries into the Changes in- 
 duced on the Air by the Vegetation of Plants^ 8^c. 
 Parts I. and II. 
 
 From these results we learn, that atmospheric air 
 is useful to germination, from containing oxygen gas : 
 that, by the germinating process, the oxygen gas of 
 the air is changed into an equal bulk of carbonic 
 acid gas ; and that the azotic portion of the air re- 
 mains unchanged in composition, and in volume un- 
 altered. 
 
 The nature and extent of the change induced on 
 the air being thus ascertained, we have next to in- 
 quire into the mode in which it is brought about, 
 
 that is, how the carbonic acid is formed ? Now, 
 when the experiment is conducted in close vessels, 
 no other substance, but the seed, is preeent that can 
 
 PHYSIOLOGY. 
 
 afford carbon: and this fact, taken in connection Vegeta 
 with the circumstance that the seed actually contains Physiol 
 carbon, and yields it, like other organized substances, 
 to the atmosphere that surrounds it, authorizes the 
 conclusion, that, while the air supplies the oxygen, 
 the seed yields the carbon by which the carbonic 
 acid of germination is formed. 
 
 Graniing, however, that carbon is afforded by the 
 
 seed, and combines with the oxygen of the air, 
 
 where, it may be asked, and in what manner, is this 
 combination effected I A certain degree of mois- 
 ture in the seed is necessary to enable it to yield its 
 carbon ; for, when perfectly dry, little or no reci- 
 procal action goes on between the seed and the air. 
 Neither does the living faculty of the seed seem neces- 
 sary to this combination ; for carbon is afforded by- 
 seeds when they are confined in vessels of azote or 
 hydrogen gas, and even under actual decomposition. 
 We may therefore regard the formation of carbonic 
 acid, in the first stages of germination, as purely che- 
 mical ; and as taking place either on the surface, or 
 within the substance of the seed. Now, from the 
 dense structure of the investing tunics, and the cir- 
 cumstance of the vessels of the seed being already- 
 filled with fluid, we see no Way in which air can en- 
 ter the seed, so as to act either on its organized or 
 inorganic matter ; and, consequently, we incline to 
 the opinion, that the formation of carbonic acid 
 takes place exterior to the tunics of the seed. Such, 
 then, are the changes in composition which the air, 
 employed in germination, suffers, and such appears 
 to be the mode in which they are accomplished. 
 
 While these changes are produced in the air, 
 others not less remarkable occur in the form and 
 qualities of the seed itself; for not only are its or- 
 ganized parts gradually evolved, but its inorganic 
 matter, besides being softened by the imbibed water, 
 acquires, in many seeds, a sweetish taste. These 
 facts, which had long been observed in the process 
 of malting, were more distinctly ascertained by 
 Cruickshank. He found that seeds of barley, when 
 placed to grow in vessels, either of atmospheric air 
 or of pure oxygen gas, acquired, in a few days, a 
 sweetish taste, and were more or less completely- 
 converted into malt. 
 
 In what manner then, or by what agency, must 
 we suppose this change in the inorganic matter of 
 the seed to be accomplished ? This matter, though 
 denominated albumen, does not resemble the albu- 
 men of chemists. In vegetable physiology, the term 
 comprehends the whole inorganic matter of the seed, 
 although that matter may contain no real albumen, but 
 consist of several distinct substances, or " proximate 
 principles," as they have been called. The principal 
 ingredients of seeds, which afford nutrient matter to 
 the embryo, are mucilage, starch, and sugar. For 
 a full account of the chemical properties of these sub- 
 stances, we must refer to the writings of chemists : 
 our limits permit only a very slight notice of them. 
 
 Mucilage — the soft and liquid state of gum is 
 
 inodorous and insipid ; soluble in hot or cold water, 
 but insoluble in alcohol. Starch (feculaj is obtain- 
 ed from the flour (farina) of the more nutritive 
 seeds. It is also insipid and inodorous: insoluble 
 in alcohol, and even in water, unless raised to the 
 
VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY. 
 
 717 
 
 getable temperature of 160^ If heated to 180°, the solution 
 siology. ti^en jellies, and, by evaporation, may be reduced to 
 a substance closely resembling gum. Sugar exists 
 abundantly in the juice and fruits of plants ; but in 
 seeds, it is formed chiefly during their germination. 
 It is soluble both in hot and cold water, and also in 
 alcohol. Other ingredients, as gluten, albumen, and 
 oil, are found in particular seeds. 
 
 Of the " proximate principles" which contribute 
 to vegetable nutrition, chemists have attempted to 
 ascertain not only the elements, but the proportions 
 in which they enter into the several compounds. All 
 
 agree in making these elements to consist chiefly of ^^8?*^' 
 carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, and a few find also ^^ysiQ^^y- 
 a minute quantity of azote ; but the proportions as- ' 
 signed by different analysts for the same substance 
 differ scarcely less than those allotted for the compo- 
 sition of the different substances. In the tabular view 
 below, we have given the results obtained by differ- 
 ent chemists, in analyses of mucilage, starch, and 
 sugar — the three substances more immediately con- 
 nected with our present purpose ; and also of woody 
 fibre, which they con);ribute to form. 
 
 Substance. 
 
 Mucilage, or Gum,.. 
 
 Starch, 
 
 Sugar, 
 
 Oak-wood.... 
 Beech-wood. 
 Flax 
 
 Carbon. 
 
 Hydrogen. 
 
 Oxygen. 
 
 Azote. 
 
 Analyst. 
 
 42-23 
 
 6-93 
 
 50-84 
 
 
 Gay Lussac and Thenard. 
 
 41-906 
 
 6-788 
 
 51-306 
 
 
 Berzelius. 
 
 45-84 
 
 5-46 
 
 48-26 
 
 0.44 
 
 De Saussure. 
 
 35-13 
 
 6-08 
 
 55-79 
 
 3-? 
 
 Ure. 
 
 43-55 
 
 6-77 
 
 49-68 
 
 
 Gay Lussac and Thenard. 
 
 43-481 
 
 7-064 
 
 49-455 
 
 
 Berzelius. 
 
 45-39 
 
 5-90 
 
 48-31 
 
 0-40 
 
 De Saussure, 
 
 38-55 
 
 6-13 
 
 55-32 
 
 
 Ure. 
 
 42-47 
 
 6-90 
 
 50-63 
 
 
 Gay Lussac. 
 
 42-704 
 
 6-891 
 
 50-405 
 
 
 Berzelius. 
 
 37-29 
 
 6-84 
 
 55-87 
 
 
 De Saussure. 
 
 43-38 
 
 6-29 
 
 50-33 
 
 
 Ure. 
 
 52-53 
 
 5-69 
 
 41-78 
 
 
 Gay Lussac and Thenard. 
 
 51-45 
 
 5-82 
 
 42-73 
 
 
 Do. do. 
 
 42-81 
 
 5-05 
 
 51-07 
 
 
 Ure. 
 
 From this view, it is clear that no conclusion, with 
 regard to the sensible properties of these substances, 
 can, in the present state of chemical analysis, be in- 
 ferred from their elementary composition. 
 
 Deriving, from the ultimate analysis of these sub- 
 stances, but little aid in explaining the chemical 
 changes they undergo, we must recur to other modes 
 of accounting for those alterations in their sensible 
 qualities which germinating seeds exhibit. In the 
 germination then of many seeds, the hard and insi- 
 pid albumen is gradually reduced to a milky form, 
 and acquires a sweetish taste ; while the organized 
 parts become, at the same time, softened and ex- 
 panded, and prepared to take on those actions, and 
 exhibit those specific forms, which constitute the 
 developement of the embryo. Now, the only agents 
 which act simultaneously on the several parts of the 
 seed, when this developement occurs, are water, heat, 
 and air ,- and, as far as we have been able to trace 
 their operation, the changes produced in the seed 
 must therefore arise, more or less, from the action 
 of heat and moisture; or from the loss of carbon; 
 or from some specific agency exerted directly by the 
 oxygen gas of the air ; or arising indirectly out of 
 its conversion into carbonic gas ; or from the com- 
 bined operation of these several agents. Let us 
 then examine their operation, both separately and 
 conjointly, and try to discover the share which each 
 exerts in the production of these changes. 
 
 It has been shown that neither heat alone, nor 
 moisture alone, nor both united, are able to produce 
 
 VOL. VI. PART li- 
 
 the developement of the seed ; but that these agents 
 contribute to bring it into a proper state for being 
 acted on by the air. In what manner, then, does the 
 air act on the germinating seed ? No direct effect 
 can be ascribed to its azotic portion : for that gas 
 neither guffers nor produces change in germination, 
 and the process goes on perfectly well either in pure 
 oxygen gas, or in gaseous mixtures which contain 
 no portion of azote. 
 
 But oxygen gas is essential to germination, and 
 by that process is uniformly converted into carbonic 
 acid gas. This disappearance of oxygen has led to 
 the belief, that while a part of it was converted into 
 carbonic gas, another portion actually combined with 
 the seed, and contributed to its developement. But 
 it is well ascertained, that oxygen gas, by its conver- 
 sion into carbonic acid, suffers no change of volume; 
 and as the bulk of that acid gas, produced in germi- 
 nation, equals exactly that of the oxygen which has 
 disappeared, it follows, that no portion of the oxygen, 
 lost by the air, combines with the seed, but really 
 exists exterior to it in the form of carbonic acid gas. 
 The only other source from which the seed, in the 
 experiments referred to, could derive oxygen, is 
 from the decomposition of water ; but germinating 
 seeds, says M. De Saussure, emit neither hydro- 
 gen nor oxygen, but only convert the oxygen 
 gas of the air into an equal bulk of carbonic acid 
 gas. It seems, therefore, to be quite certain that 
 the changes produced in the germinating seed can- 
 not arise from the combination of oxygen. 
 4 Y 
 
718 VEGETABLE 
 
 Vegetable Neither, in conformity to the opinion held by 
 Fhystology. ^^q^ th^t the mucilage of the seed becomes sugar 
 by losing a part of its carbon, can we ascribe the 
 change of quality in the seed to the loss of that sub- 
 stance : for the portion of carbon given off by the 
 germinating seed is exceedingly small, and we have 
 no evidence that it is afforded by its mucilaginous 
 matter. Were it even granted that the albumen of 
 the seed yielded the carbon, this would not prove 
 that it is thereby converted into sugar : for we have 
 no evidence that the sensible qualities of bodies de- 
 pend so immediately on their elementary composi- 
 tion; and a reference to the tabular view before 
 given, will show that, while one chemist makes the 
 carbon in mucilage to be less than in sugar, another 
 makes it to be more, and a third makes it, in both 
 substances, to be almost precisely the same. "We 
 shall presently see, too, that the chemical change, 
 by which mucilage is converted into sugar, takes 
 place in circumstances where there is no reason to 
 ascribe it to the loss of carbon. 
 
 Since, then, neither the operation of heat and 
 moisture, nor the loss of carbon, will account for the 
 changes that occur in the germinating seed, and 
 since all the oxygen lost by the air exists in the car- 
 bonic gas that is formed, we must look for an ex- 
 planation of the uses of the air, not to its ponderiable 
 elements, but to the action of that caloric which is 
 extricated whensoever its oxygenous portion is con- 
 yerted into carbonic acid gas. We shall not at pre- 
 sent speculate on the state or condition in which 
 this caloric, at the moment of its extrication, exists, 
 nor on the mode of its action upon the seed ; but 
 we may observe, that ignorance of the mode in which 
 an agent may act is no valid argument against the 
 fact of its operation. If the agent employed be ac- 
 tually present, and every other assumed agent be ex- 
 cluded, we are entitled to decide in favour of its 
 agency, although we may not know the mode of its 
 operation. Those who formerly believed that oxy- 
 gen produced these changes, or who may still believe 
 so, never explained the mode of its operation. Their 
 belief rested on the supposition that a part of the 
 oxygen that disappeared really combined with the 
 seed ; but as no such loss of oxygen occurs, no such 
 combination can be allowed to follow. 
 
 Beside the caloric derived from the air, a portion 
 of heat may be afforded by the imbibed water ; for 
 Mr Leslie has shown that very small portions of wa- 
 ter, when imbibed by dry vegetable substance, give 
 out heat ; and M. De Saussure has rendered it pro- 
 bable that a portion of water loses its fluidity in vege- 
 tation, and that its elements combine with the vege- 
 table substance, — an opinion which would agree well 
 with the analysis of Gay Lussac and Thenard, should 
 future experience confirm their views, that oxygen 
 and hydrogen, in the proportion necessary to form 
 water, constitute a large portion of vegetable mat- 
 ter. 
 
 That the combined action of heat and moisture 
 will produce on the fecula of seeds changes analogous 
 to those which occur in germination, has been long 
 known. Dr Irvine long since remarked, that the 
 farinaceous matter of seeds could thus be rendered 
 sweet. Hence distillers, says he, often mix not only 
 
 PHYSIOLOGY. 
 
 grain imperfectly malted, bat raw meal, with their Vege 
 malt; and the whole being then mixed with water, ^^y* 
 and submitted to distillation, becomes sweet, and 
 forms wine and spirits. MM. Fourcroy and Vau- 
 quelin obtained sugar and alcohol from bruised un- 
 malted barley, by the combined use of water and 
 heat ; and Dr Thomson has remarked, that the wort 
 made from raw grain is nearly as sweet as frcrm that 
 which has been malted. In the experiments of M. 
 Kirchoff and others, starch was converted into su- 
 gar by 36 hours boiling in four times its weight of 
 water ; and, from some later trials, it would seem 
 that saw-dust and other vegetable matters, as linen 
 rags, may, by a similar process, be made to expe- 
 rience a like conversion. From these experiments 
 we learn, that the conversion of the fecula of seeds 
 into sugar is an operation purely chemical, effected 
 by the combined and continued action of heat and 
 water ; and since, in germination, the albumen of the 
 seed is made to undergo a similar chemical change, 
 under the varied operation of the same agents, may 
 we not presume that it is accomplished in a manner 
 somewhat similar i 
 
 When, by germination, the albumen of the seed 
 has been thus changed from a solid and tasteless, to 
 a fluid and sweetish substance, it is brought into a 
 condition fit for the nutrition of the embryo. For this 
 purpose, it is taken up, or absorbed from the cells 
 in which it had been deposited, and conveyed, in the 
 course of the mammary vessels, to the neck of the 
 embryo, where a part of it is carried downward to 
 feed the radicle, and another part upward to nourish 
 the plume. We have elsewhere {§ 79) given reasons 
 for believing that the same vessels, which, during 
 the formation of the seed, secreted the nutrient 
 matter into the cells, are employed, at the period of 
 its evolution, in absorbing it from them, and con- 
 sequently possess the power, by thus acting at dif- 
 ferent times, and under different circumstances, of 
 executing opposite functions. 
 
 Connected with the structure that determrines the 
 course which the nutrient matter takes on reaching 
 the neck of the embryo, appears to be that tendency in 
 the plume and radicle to pursue opposite directions, 
 in whatever position or circumstances the seed be 
 placed to grow. These tendencies have been ascrib- 
 ed to the action of light on the plume, and of earth 
 on the radicle ; but the radicle equally descends, al- 
 though no earth be present, and the plume rises, al- 
 though light be excluded. Others have attributed 
 the descent of the radicle to the greater weight of its 
 sap, and the ascent of the plume to the lighter con- 
 dition of that fluid : but there is no evidence that, in 
 these parts respectively, any such difference of sap 
 exists. More lately, it has been supposed that gravi- 
 tation acted in causing the descent of the radicle ; 
 and attempts have been made to counteract this 
 force, by keeping seeds, during their evolution, in 
 continued motion on vertical or horizontal wheels : 
 but the results obtained seem only to prove, that, in 
 such circumstances, the radicle and plume pursue, 
 as usual, opposite directions, without affording any 
 reason, why, in natural growth, the one always rises 
 and the other descends. It is worthy of remark, 
 that this tendency to descend exists only in the 
 
VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY. 
 
 719 
 
 table primary radicle or tap-root : for the lateral shoots it 
 ^^sy- puts forth extend themselves, says Du Hamel, near- 
 ly horizontally. In like manner, the rootlets that 
 spring from the extremity of a cutting descend per- 
 pendicularly, while those that issue from its sides 
 proceed horizontally. We may observe, too, a cor- 
 responding peculiarity in the plume and its produc- 
 tions. It is very singular, continues Du Hamel, that 
 ft tree which springs from a seed raises its stem very 
 straight: it is the same with a cutting taken from a 
 straight stem: but a cutting taken from a lateral branch, 
 or the bent shoot of a tree, bends much in its growth, 
 especially if its wood be of a hard nature. Some 
 trees, we know, have branches so feeble as to be 
 unable to support themselves, and are therefore al- 
 ways pendent : and Du Hamel once saw a branch of 
 a walnut tree, which, contrary to all the other 
 branches of the same tree, descended straight to the 
 earth, and all its leaves followed the same direction. 
 These facts seem to show, that the directions pur- 
 sued by these several parts in their ordinary growth, 
 depend rather on conditions of internal structure, 
 than on the operation of external agents. 
 
 Both the radicle and plume, as they receive nutri- 
 ment, increase in all their dimensions ; that is, both 
 in length and breadth. The elongation of the radi- 
 cle, according to Du Hamel, is produced only by 
 the addition of new matter to its extremity, an opi- 
 nion which the observations of Mr Knight confirm. 
 In the more succulent plume, Du Hamel has shown, 
 by satisfactory experiments, that elongation is pro- 
 duced by an extension of parts already formed, as well 
 as by the addition of new particles ; but this exten- 
 sion is not observed when the new parts have acquir- 
 ed a certain degree of hardness. In their diametral 
 growth, it is probable that both the radicle and 
 plume experience, in their tender state, some de- 
 gree of expansion from the motion of their contained 
 fluids, as well as from the addition of new matter to 
 their exterior surface. 
 
 In this brief account of germination, we have sup- 
 posed the process to be carried on in closed glass 
 vessels, in which the progress of evolution can be ob- 
 served, the agents concerned in carrying it on made 
 known, and their action, to a certain extent, be ap- 
 preciated. In such vessels the developement of the 
 seed can be continued until all the nutrient matter is 
 exhausted, and the organized parts assume their pe- 
 culiar forms, and execute their appropriate functions. 
 If, indeed, water and air be duly supplied, the seeds 
 of various herbs will grow and produce flowers and 
 fruits without coming in contact with earth, as M. 
 Bonnet ascertained ; and in other experiments of Du 
 Hamel, the seeds of different trees, which had been 
 made to germinate on wet sponges, and their roots 
 afterwards set in bottles so as to be in contact with 
 water, continued to vegetate for several years, and 
 produced annually new leaves, bark, and wood, by 
 the aid of water alone ; so that, " without attempting 
 to explain how the parts of this fluid become solid, 
 it is certain," says this excellent writer, " that water 
 the most pure is able to furnish the nourishment ne- 
 cessary to plants." For a description of the daily 
 appearances exhibited in the evolution of several 
 kinds of seeds, we must refer to § 209, &c, of our 
 
 former article, and to Plates XV. and XVI., for ac- Vegetable 
 curate representations of them. _ ^ 
 
 In ordinary germination, however, by the time the 
 nutrient matter of the seed is exhausted, the radicle 
 has sent forth rootlets through the soil, which at 
 once serve to fix the plant in its place, and to draw 
 from the earth fresh materials to sustain its growth. 
 These materials, as will afterwards be shown, under- 
 go certain changes in the young leaves, which have 
 now sprung forth from the plume, and in part exe- 
 cute the function of cotyledons. The cotyledons, if 
 they have risen above the surface, now fade and fall ; 
 if they have remained beneath it, they decay and pe- 
 rish. In addition to water, heat, and air, the only 
 agents required to carry on the germination of the 
 seed, light now becomes necessary to give perfection 
 to the plant ; and its operation in bestowing colour 
 and other peculiar properties on plants will be more 
 particularly noticed hereafter. In this account of 
 germination, we havp given attention chiefly to the 
 physical phenomena it exhibits, reserving what we 
 have to say of the seed, as a living body, to another 
 occasion. 
 
 Sect. II. 
 
 Of the Vegetation of Plants. 
 
 Art. I Of Soils and of the Food oj Plants. 
 
 The plant, like the seed from which it sprang, is 
 constructed of two elementary systems, denominated 
 vessels and cells. For a detailed account of these, and 
 of the opinions held concerning them, we must refer 
 to our former article. By these systems, variously 
 blended and combined, the several Textures, deno- 
 minated Cuticle, Bark, Wood, and Pith, are compos- 
 ed. The structure of these textures, as they occur 
 in different varieties of herbs and trees, has likewise 
 been described in § 104., &c. of that article. 
 
 Though the vessels of plants differ in form and 
 structure, yet, with regard to use, they appear to be 
 but of two kinds those, namely, which receive 
 and convey the common sap or lymph, and are nam- 
 ed, therefore. Sap or Lymphatic Vessels,— and those 
 which contain and convey the juices proper to each 
 species of plant, and are therefore denominated "Pro- 
 per Vessels." In trees, the sap-vessels are found 
 chiefly in the wood, and the " proper vessels" in the 
 bark ; but in many herbs and in palms, both kinds of 
 vessels are associated together through the entire 
 stem. Whether they occupy distinct places in the 
 vegetable, or are associated together, their functions 
 are respectively the same—the sap-vessels being em- 
 ployed always in raising the sap upward, and the pro- 
 per vessels in conducting its descent. 
 
 In all parts of plants, the vessels are in contact 
 with cells, which serve sometimes the purpose of a 
 connecting medium ; sometimes to fill up vacuities or 
 augment the bulk of parts ; and sometimes as recep- 
 tacles for various secretions. Between the vessels 
 and cells a vascular communication exists (§ 132); 
 so that matter deposited at one time in the cells of 
 the plant may, at another, be taken up and again 
 mixed with the fluids, as occurs in the germinating 
 seed : and these functions of internal secretion and 
 absorption seem to be performed in plants, as well as 
 in seeds, by the alternate exercise of the same vessels^ 
 
720 
 
 VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY. 
 
 Vegetable acting at different times and under different circum- 
 Pbysiology. stances. 
 
 Although, as we have seen, plants not only grow, 
 but produce flowers and fruits without the aid of soil ; 
 yet, in ordinary circumstances, they draw the mate- 
 rials of their food from the earth. In an inquiry, 
 therefore, into the nutrition and growth of plants, we 
 have to consider the nature and properties of soils, 
 which afford them habitation and nutriment — the ab- 
 sorption of this nutriment and its conveyance through 
 the vessels — the changes of quality it experiences in 
 its course, so as to fit it for nutrition — the agents re- 
 quired to effect these changes, and the mode in which 
 they act — and lastly, the manner in which this nutri- 
 ent matter, after having undergone its destined 
 changes, is applied to nourish and augment the plant. 
 
 The soils in which plants grow are composed of 
 orgatiized and inorganic matters in various propor- 
 tions. Of inorganic substances, the earths which pre- 
 vail most are silica, alumina, and lime. With these 
 earths, magnesia and certain metallic oxides, parti- 
 cularly that of iron, are often met with. To these 
 we may add alkaline matter, and animal and vegetable 
 substances in different stages of decomposition and 
 mixture. According to the proportions in which these 
 mineral and organized remains are present and blend- 
 ed together, the soil will vary greatly in texture, in 
 its property of retaining heat and moisture, and in its 
 degree of fertility. To say, however, what mixture 
 of substances constitutes the most perfect soil would 
 be very difficult: for not only does climate greatly 
 modify the natural condition of soils, but plants them- 
 selves exhibit the greatest diversity of choice or lik- 
 ing in this respect. Hence it is, that the soil and 
 climate best suited to one plant, are ill adapted or 
 unsuited to another ; and that every part of the earth's 
 surface, in which heat and moisture sufficient to sus- 
 tain vegetation are present, is more or less clothed 
 with its appropriate species of plants. 
 
 In considering physiologically the uses which the 
 different ingredients of soils serve in vegetation, we 
 must bear in mind that certain chemical elements 
 seem essential to the constitution of vegetable mat- 
 ter ; while others, though present and highly useful, 
 are not so indispensably necessary. Thus we have 
 seen, that the vegetable substances, gum, starch, and 
 sugar, are composed essentially of oxygen, hydrogen, 
 and carbon ; and that woody fibre, when freed from 
 all adventitious matter, is found to be composed of 
 the same elements, united nearly in the same propor- 
 tions. Now, considering woody fibre as the basis of 
 the vegetable organs, and as formed, in germination, 
 directly from i\\e fecula of the seed, and probably 
 the water in which it is dissolved, we may presume, 
 that the elements which thus compose fecula, water 
 and woody fibre, are the true constituents of vegeta- 
 ble matter. 
 
 In certain kinds of vegetable matter, which ap- 
 proximate to animal substance, azote, however, is a 
 necessary ingredient. In other kinds, the vegetable 
 substance partakes largely of the earthy materials 
 of the soil. Hence lime and silica are abundant in 
 certain plants; but as such substances can enter 
 plants only in a state of solution, the earths met with 
 in vegetables may not, says De Saussure, depend so 
 
 much on those which constitute the basis of the soil, Vegefe 
 as on those held in solution by the water it contains. t*hysio: 
 Some have even supposed that the earths may be ^ 
 formed or generated in plants by the vegetative pro- 
 cess ; but the facts alleged in support of this opinion 
 are not sufficiently precise. While, therefore, it is 
 admitted, that earths are carried into plants, and, in 
 certain tribes, enter , largely into the composition of 
 some of their textures, we have no evidence that 
 they contribute directly to nutrition, or form an es- 
 sential element in the composition of vegetable mat- 
 ter. Their use in affording station or habitation to 
 vegetables is sufficiently obvious ; and the tempera- 
 ture and moisture of the soil will also depend much 
 on their kinds, proportions, and intermixture. 
 
 Together with the earths, chemical analysis shows, 
 that sulphur, phosphorus, some metallic oxides, and 
 particularly alkaline matter, exist in plants. Cer- 
 tain saline substances seem, indeed, necessary to ve- 
 getation. Marine plants languish in a soil destitute 
 of common salt : and it is well known, that potash 
 forms a large portion of the incombustiljle matter of 
 land vegetables, and is especially abundant in the 
 leaves. De Saussure found phosphate of lime in 
 every plant he analysed. Certain plants throve well 
 only in soils containing nitrates of lime or potash ; 
 and sulphate of lime or gypsum accelerated much 
 the growth of lucerne and trefoil. These saline in- 
 gredients are highly useful, and the alkalis, in parti- 
 cular, seem necessary to the due perfection of the 
 vegetative process ; but, as the elements of these 
 substances do not form a necessary constituent of 
 the vegetable fibre, they cannot be considered as an 
 essential part of the food of plants. Perhaps they 
 may be regarded as condiments which aid in the 
 process of assimilation ; and, as will appear, they are 
 otherwise highly useful in the vegetable economy. 
 
 With regard to the organized remains, which form 
 so large a portion of the most fertile soils, they are 
 not only soluble in water, like the other ingredients, 
 but are composed of the same elements as vegetable 
 substance. M. De Saussure found pure vegetable 
 mould to yield, by distillation, products similar to 
 those of the undecayed wood from which it had been 
 formed, differing chiefly from it by containing a 
 larger proportion of charcoal and some azote. Wa- 
 ter dissolved a portion of this mould, and when de- 
 prived of this soluble portion, the residue, though 
 unaltered in appearance, did not support the growth 
 of plants so well as before. The part thus dissolv- 
 ed by water exhibited the properties of extractive, 
 — a principle found in the sap, and especially in the 
 bark of plants. Hence it appears, that decayed ve- 
 getable matter, and the same may be said of animal 
 remains, is not only conveyed into plants, but, being 
 formed of the same elements as the living plant, may 
 be conceived to furnish materials necessary to its 
 growth. 
 
 But in all soils adapted to vegetaition, water is a 
 necessary ingredient, whether it be regarded merely 
 as a vehicle for the conveyance of other substances, 
 or as forming itself a portion of the food of plants. 
 To the experiments of Van Helmont, Boyle, Bon- 
 net, Du Hamel, and Braconnot, tending to prove 
 that water alone affords nutriment to plants, it has 
 11 
 
VEGETA BLE 
 
 table been objected, that the water they employed, though 
 ology- apparently pure, held in solution both earthy and sa- 
 line matters ; but, unless we suppose these matters 
 convertible into oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon — the 
 only essential elements of vegetables — the presence 
 of these earths and salts in the water could not sup- 
 ply the elements required for the production of ve- 
 getable matter. If, on the other hand, with Du Ha- 
 mel and De Saussure, we suppose water, though not 
 decomposed, to lose its fluidity, and become fixed in 
 vegetables, then we havd at once two of the elements 
 of woody fibre, combined, too, in that proportion 
 which the experiments of Gay Lussac and Thenard 
 exhibit them as holding in the composition of vege- 
 table substance. 
 
 Of the source of the other element, carbon, it is 
 not less difficult to speak. It is an ingredient of ve- 
 getable mould, and of the carbonic acid carried into 
 plants with the sap, either in a free state, or in com- 
 bination with alkalinw' matter ; so that, by these 
 means, it is pretty largely supplied to plants. On the 
 other hand, M. Hassenfratz endeavoured to show 
 that plants which vegetated in the open air by the 
 aid of pure water, yielded, on analysis, less carbon 
 than the seeds or bulbs from which they had sprung. 
 M. De Saussure obtained similar results when he 
 analysed plants that had grown in pure water, and in 
 a place weakly illuminated ; but when they grew un- 
 der the direct influence of light, then the proportion 
 of carbon in the plant nearly doubled that in the 
 seed. This carbon M. De Saussure supposes to be 
 derived from that decomposition of carbonic acid 
 which is carried on by the leaves of plants growing 
 in sunshine. Admitting this to be the fact, we may 
 perhaps regard the carbon thus deposited in the leaf 
 as contributing rather to the formation of the inflam- 
 mable products of the plant, than as undergoing assi- 
 milation, and being applied to the production of new 
 vegetable substance. And hence, as will afterwards 
 be shown, plants which grow in darkness not only 
 contain less carbon than i.hose which grow in light, 
 but are at the same time destitute of those imflam- 
 raable ingredients which plants growing in light 
 possess. 
 
 Beside the earth and water, the air also has been 
 supposed to furnish food to plants. That plants ob- 
 tain moisture from the air will not be denied ; and in 
 as far as water is concerned in vegetable nutrition, 
 the moisture thus obtained may contribute to vege- 
 table growth. But they have also been supposed to 
 derive carbon from the atmosphere, by decomposing 
 its carbonic acid. Since, however, the atmosphere 
 contains less than ^^th part of carbonic acid gas, 
 the portion of that gas decomposed by plants in the 
 open air must, even in sunshine, be necessarily very 
 small, and the quantity of carbon thus obtained is 
 probably much exceeded by that continually given off 
 by plants to unite with the oxygen gas of the atmo- 
 sphere, through every period of active vegetation. 
 M. De Crell, indeed, deeming the carbon that could 
 be afforded by the atmosphere insufficient to account 
 for the addition of that substance which plants, dur- 
 ing their growth, receive, was led to suppose they 
 possessed the power of forming carbon by the aid of 
 water, air, and light ; and M. Braconnot has main* 
 
 721 
 
 tained that vegetables find in pure water every thing Vegetable 
 necessary for them to assimilate ; that mould and ma- Physiol^-, 
 nures yield no nutriment; and that earths, alkalis, me- ""^"^ ""^ 
 tals, sulphur, phosphorus, and charcoal, are developed 
 from water, by the organic powers of plants assisted 
 by solar light. 
 
 But the experiments," says Sir Humphry Davy, 
 
 in which it is said that alkalies, metallic oxides, 
 and earths, may be formed from air and water alone 
 in processes of vegetation, have been always made 
 in an inconclusive manner : for distilled water may 
 contain both saline and metallic impregnations; and 
 the free atmosphere almost constantly holds in mecha- 
 nical suspension solid substances of various kinds. 
 The conclusions of M. Braconnot," he adds, " are 
 rendered of little avail in consequence of these cir- 
 cumstances. In the only case of vegetation in which 
 the free atmosphere, in his experiments, was exclud- 
 ed, the seeds grew in white sand, which is stated to 
 have been purified by washing in muriatic acid : but 
 such a process was insufficient to deprive it of sub - 
 stances which might afford carbon, or various inflam* 
 mable matters. 
 
 " In the common processes of nature," continues 
 this illustrious chemist, " all the products of living 
 beings may be easily conceived to be elicited from 
 known combinations of matter. The compounds of 
 iron, of the alkalies and earths with mineral acids, 
 generally abound in soils. From the decomposition 
 of basaltic, porphyritic, and granitic rocks, there is 
 a constant supply of earthy, alkaline, and ferrugi- 
 nous materials to the surface of the earth. In the 
 sap of all plants that have been examined, certain 
 neutro-saline compounds, containing potash, soda, or 
 iron, have been found. From plants they may be 
 supplied to animals; and the chemical tendency of 
 organization seems to be rather to combine sub- 
 stances into more complicated and diversified ar- 
 rangements, than to reduce them into simple ele- 
 ments." (Phil. Trans. 1808.) To these views of 
 the economy of living beings, we yield our cordial 
 assent, and hold them to be not less consistent with 
 the most advanced state of chemical science, than 
 with the justest conceptions we can form of the va- 
 rying structure and powers of organic beings. 
 
 Art. II. — Of the Course of the Sap, and the Causes 
 of its Motion, 
 
 In the warmer regions of the earth, the sap flows, 
 in certain plants, through the whole year; but in 
 more temperate climes the functions of vegetables are 
 suspended during tne winter season. Early in spring, 
 however, it begins to rise in trees, and continues daily 
 to ascend till it reaches the extremities of the branches. 
 This sap is absorbed from the soil by the extremi- 
 ties of the capillary rootlets, and conveyed upwards 
 through the vessels of the root to the trunk. In its 
 ascent it rises only through the wood ; for, at this 
 early period, no sap is found in the bark, nor be- 
 tween it and the wood, nor in the pith. (§ 12.) This 
 rise of the sap occurs before the buds have shot forth 
 into leaves ; and as no outlet for its escape by tran- 
 spiration then exists, it rises or falls in the vessels 
 in which it is contained according to the tempera- 
 ture of the atmosphere. If at this period of its flow, 
 
 PHYSIOLOGY. 
 
VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY. 
 
 722 
 
 Vegetable its course, in certain trees, be intercepted, by pierc- 
 Physiology. jjjg ^.j^g vessels of the trunk in any part/ it issues 
 
 -"^■'^'^^ forth, and may be collected for examination. In 
 this way the vine, the birch, and sugar-maple, yield 
 sap, or bleed, as it is called, very abundantly. 
 They bleed also from the extremity of a cut branch, 
 if the experiment be made sufficiently late in the 
 season, but still before the appearance of the leaves. 
 
 Early in'' February, before the sap began to flow, 
 Dr Walker made several incisions, at different 
 heights, in a birch tree, in order to observe its mo- 
 tion. No sap was visible at the lowest incision in 
 the trunk till the temperature of the atmosphere 
 rose to 46° in the shade : after which, as the tempe- 
 rature augmented, the sap continued daily to rise. 
 When the highest incision in the trunk, at the height 
 of thirty feet, bled, the thermometer was at 52°; 
 and when the tree bled, not only from the incisions 
 in its trunk, but from every cut extremity of its 
 branches, it was at 56". During the whole experi- 
 ment, when the temperature was nearly the same, 
 the sap continued nearly stationary, — rising again, 
 as the temperatui*e rose, just like the fluid in a ther- 
 mometer. To the cut extremity of a vine branch, 
 Dr Hales, in the bleeding season, cemented long 
 glass tubes, so that he could readily observe the 
 movements of the sap. Into these tubes it would 
 rise many feet through the morning after the sun 
 was up ; but while in this rising state, if there was a 
 cold wind, or the sun was clouded, the sap would 
 immediately subside, at the rate of an inch in a mi- 
 nute, for several inches : but as soon as the sun- 
 beams broke out again, the sap would immediately 
 return to its rising state, just as any liquor in a ther- 
 mometer rises and falls, says Dr Hales, with the al- 
 ternations of heat and cold. 
 
 To ascertain the force and velocity of the sap's 
 motion at this season, Dr Hales made many expe- 
 riments. He found it to rise in glass tubes at the 
 rate, sometimes, of an inch in three minutes, and to 
 attain the height of more than 20 feet. In other ex- 
 periments, it exerted a force sufficient to sustain a 
 column of mercury at the height of 38 inches — a 
 force, says he, five times greater than that of the 
 blood in the crural artery of a horse. In the chief 
 bleeding season, the sap continued to rise by night 
 and by day, but more in the day, and most of all in 
 the greatest heat of the day : and when the sun 
 shone hot upon the vine, a continued series of air-bub- 
 bles rose through the sap, so as to make a large froth 
 on its top. 
 
 Such are the phenomena exhibited by the rising 
 sap before the appearance of the leaves : when they 
 have shot forth, a great change is observed in its 
 movements. It still, however, continues to rise 
 through the trunk; but if the wood be now pierced, 
 none of it flows out, as it did in the bleeding season. 
 In the excellent experiment of Dr Walker, already 
 referred to, the birch tree continued to bleed from 
 the 5th of March to the 24th of April, on which 
 day it bled from every incision in its trunk, and 
 every cut extremity of its branches. On the SOth 
 of April, vernation or budding began, and the young 
 leaves shot forth. As they advanced, the bleeding 
 gradually lessened, till at length, on the 10th of 
 May, when the leaves were fully expanded, all the 
 
 incisions, says Dr Walker, which had yielded sap so Veget 
 freely were every where dry; and this, not from ^^y"* 
 evaporation by the leaves, but from a general diffu-''*"^ 
 sion of the sap from the wood through the bark at 
 that season. In conformity with these observations, 
 Dr Hales remarks, that, af ter the appearance of the 
 leaves, the bark, which was before dry and adhered 
 to the wood, becomes lubricated w^ith sap, and sepa- 
 rates easily. Even after the bark has thus been 
 brought to separate from the wood in a young tree 
 full of sap, if all the leaves, says Du Hamel, be 
 stripped off, the bark, in two days, will again adhere 
 to the wood, and continue to do so through the win- 
 ter. These facts distinctly prove that, after the 
 leaves have sprung forth, the sap of plants is no 
 longer confined to the wood, but finds its way into 
 the bark ; and we have next to trace its route into 
 that texture. 
 
 MM. De la Baisse and Bonnet traced the sap of ; 
 plants from the extremities of the roots into the 
 leaves and flowers ; and when the plants were set in 
 coloured liquors, the fluid was seen to pass from 
 the vessels of the leaf into its cellular tissue, and 
 the bark of the petiole afterwards to become tinged. 
 The communication thus established between the 
 wood and the bark, M. Bonnet considered to occur 
 in the extreme ramifications of the leaf, where, as 
 he supposed, the ligneous and cortical vessels mu- 
 tually anastomose. In a plant of Euphorbia, set in 
 a coloured liquor, Dr Darwin observed the fluid to 
 run along the inner ring of vessels in the petiole to 
 the upper surface of the leaf ; while on its under 
 side, a white fluid was seen to return from the ex- 
 tremities of the same leaf, and to descend, by the 
 exterior ring of vessels in the petiole, into the bark. 
 In similar experiments on the apple branch, Mr 
 Knight followed the returning fluid through the 
 bark, by the vessels of which it seemed to be con- 
 veyed to the roots. These facts show that the sap, 
 which is observed in the bark, after the leaves have 
 sprung forth,gets into that texture by passing through 
 those organs. 
 
 The leaves, which thus form the organs of com- 
 munication between the wood and the bark, not only 
 vary the course of the sap, but greatly influence its 
 motion. Before their appearance, no natural outlet 
 for its escape existed, and it therefore rose, continu- 
 ed stationary, or fell in the same vessels, chiefly ac- 
 cording to variations of temperature. But when the 
 leaves are developed, a large portion of the sap, in 
 its passage through them, is thrown off by transpira- 
 tion, and the remainder is conveyed into the bark ; 
 so that, by these means, the vessels of the tree are 
 emptied, and put into a condition to attract fresh 
 portions of fluid. Hales found, accordingly, that 
 amputated branches of trees, which were furnished 
 with leaves, and set in glass tubes of water, attracted 
 from fifteen to thirty ounces of water in the course 
 of the day ; while similar branches, from which the 
 leaves had been stripped off", imbibed, in the same 
 time and circumstances, not more than one ounce. 
 In like manner, a growing vine, which was perspir- 
 ing abundantly by its leaves, ceased at once to yield 
 sap from its stem, when cut over beloiJo the leaves. 
 He found also that amputated branches, when plung- 
 ed in water, imbibed from the small end to the great 
 
VEG ETA B LE 
 
 table end as well as in the opposite direction ; that they 
 ology- imbibed also when deprived of their bark, but not 
 when stripped of their leaves ; and that they would 
 imbibe water from their small cut extremity, while 
 Still attached to the trunk. Hence it appears, that, 
 after the period of vernation, the flow of the sap 
 is promoted chiefly by perspiration from the leaves ; 
 and, therefore, if the leaves be removed, or their 
 perspiration counteracted by a cold and humid at- 
 mosphere, then, as Hales found by experiment, the 
 attraction of fluid by the sap-vessels is proportionally 
 diminished. 
 
 To find the force and velocity with which the sap 
 moved in this more advanced stage of vegetation, Dr 
 Hales cemented branches of trees, furnished with 
 leaves, in glass tubes filled with water, and then set the 
 lower end of the tube in a vessel of mercury. As the 
 water was attracted by the branch, the mercury rose 
 into the tube, in one instance to the height of twelve 
 inches in seven minutes. When the mercury had 
 reached its greatest height, it would hold to that 
 height for several hours in a warm sunshine, which 
 favoured perspiration from the leaves ; but as the 
 sun declined or set, perspiration decreased, and the 
 mercury ceased to rise. So great at this season is 
 the attractive force of the leaves, that if a notch be 
 cut in the trunk of a tree through which the sap is 
 rapidly flowing, yet will the notch remain dry ; " be- 
 cause," says Hales, " the attraction of the perspir- 
 ing leaves is much greater than the force of trusion 
 from the column of water." By other experiments 
 he ascertained, that, when once the motions of the 
 sap have been brought under the dominion of the 
 leaves, the sap-vessels of the root no longer possess 
 the same power of forcing the sap upward, as they 
 did in the bleeding season ; but so long as the leaves 
 throw off the sap, the roots more or less abundantly 
 attract fresh supplies of it from the earth. 
 
 In these various motions of the sap, both before 
 and after the bleeding season, Dr Hales ascertained 
 that the tree underwent no variation in its dimen- 
 sions ; yet, whenever it rained, the stem very sensi- 
 bly dilated, and when the v,^eather again became dry, 
 it subsided as much. " This shows," he adds, that 
 , the sap, in all stages of vegetation, is confined in its 
 proper vessels, and does not confusedly pervade 
 every interstice of the stem, as the rain does, and 
 thereby dilate it." Du Hamel also noticed this al- 
 ternate augmentation and diminution in the size of 
 [ trees, under the different states of a humid and dry 
 atmosphere. 
 
 Beside this perpendicular ascent, there is also, in 
 certain circumstances, a lateral motion of the sap. 
 Dr Hales cut four large gaps in the branches of 
 different trees, at several inches distance from each 
 other. The cuts were carried down to the pith, and 
 opposed, in position, to the four points of the com- 
 pass. If the cut branches were then amputated and 
 immersed in water, they imbibed that fluid by their 
 extremities ; but not so abundantly as before, and 
 continued to give it off" freely by their leaves ; if 
 they remained attached to the tree, after such gaps 
 were made in them, both the leaves and fruit of the 
 branch flourished as well as those on other branches 
 of the same tree— proving, says Hales, a very free 
 
 PHYSIOLOGY. 723 
 
 lateral passage of the sap, where the direct passage Vegetable 
 had been several times intercepted. In these gaps, Physiology, 
 no moisture could, at any time, be either seen or felt, * ~ ^ 
 notwithstanding much fluid was passing by, because 
 the stem, above the gaps, was in a strongly attract- 
 ing state to supply the great perspiration of the 
 leaves. Mr Knight made similar incisions on the 
 opposite sides of apple branches during the winter 
 season ; yet, through these branches, the sap flow- 
 ed in spring, and pushed forth the buds as usual. 
 
 From the facts stated above, it appears, that, 
 fore the period of vernation, temperature is the 
 chief agent in promoting the flow of the sap ; and 
 that, after that period, its progress is aided princi- 
 pally by perspiration from the leaves. There must, 
 however, exist in the plant itself some condition or 
 structure which favours the operation of these 
 agents. At different periods, different causes have 
 been assigned for the ascent of the sap. It has been 
 supposed to exist in the state of vapour, and its 
 ascent been ascribed to its levity ; others have attri- 
 buted its rise to some imagined action of the spiral 
 vessels ; others to fermentation, or to the mechanism 
 of valves ; and others to a power of contraction and 
 dilatation in the vessels, or to capillary attraction. 
 Of these alleged causes, the two last alone deserve 
 particular notice. That a contractile power, deriv- 
 ed from a vital source, is not necessary to the motion 
 of the sap in plants, seems certain from the fact of 
 the ready transmission of fluids through dead vege- 
 tables. Even the dissevered particles of vegetables, 
 as the ashes of wood, were found by Hales capable 
 of attracting water with a force nearly equal to living 
 organized structures. From these and other facts, 
 he considered the rise of the sap to be produced by 
 capillary attraction, aided by temperature, and es- 
 pecially by perspiration from the leaves. " For, with- 
 out perspiration, the sap," says he, " must necessari- 
 ly stagnate, notwithstanding the vessels are so curi- 
 ously adapted, by their exceeding fineness, to raise 
 the sap to great heights in a reciprocal proportion 
 to their very minute diameters." 
 
 The force of capillary attraction, when thus aided 
 by evaporation, is strikingly illustrated by an experi- 
 ment of Professor Leslie : he found that the attrac- 
 tive force, exerted by the very fine pores of a thin 
 hollow ball of earthenware, from which water was 
 continually evaporating, was more than sufficient to 
 support a load of mercury, in a tube attached to the 
 ball, equal to that of 400 inches of water, or a co- 
 lumn of 34< feet of that fluid. He estimates the dia- 
 meters of the pores in the ball at the 10,000dth 
 part of an inch, and supposes the pores in the leaves 
 of plants to possess nearly the same dimensions. 
 
 As fast, therefore," says he, " as their humidity is 
 exhaled into the atmosphere, it is constantly supplied 
 by the ascent of sap from the roots." — {Elem. Nat. 
 Phil I. p. 328, 329.) 
 
 Still, however, though capillary attraction, when 
 aided by perspiration from the leaves, may exert 
 great influence over the motion of the sap, it is yet 
 probable that some power or property, inherent in 
 the vessel as a living organ, assists its action. The 
 direct effect of heat in promoting the flow of the sap 
 in the bleeding season, and of cold in retarding itj 
 
7U VEGETABLE 
 
 Vegetable seems to be more connected with some living pro- 
 perty in the vessels, than with their powers as simple 
 capillary tubes. If this heat be supposed to dilate 
 the vessels, it ought to check capillary action, and 
 cold, by diminishing their diameters, ought to in- 
 crease it : but the results afforded are exactly the 
 reverse of these. " If a capillary tube," sajs Dr 
 Thomson, " be taken of such a bore that a fluid will 
 rise in it six inches ; and if, after the fluid has risen 
 to its greatest height, the tube be broken short three 
 inches from the bottom, none of the liquid in the 
 under half flows over." — *' But if we cut a plant, the 
 Euphorbia peplis, for instance, in two places, so as to 
 separate a portion of the stem from the rest, the 
 milky juice of that plant flows out at both ends so 
 completely, that if afterwards we cut the portion of 
 the stem in the middle, no juice whatever appears. 
 Now. the diameter of these, vessels is so small, that, 
 if it were to continue unaltered, the capillary attrac- 
 tion would be more than sufficient to retain their 
 contents, and consequently not a drop would flow 
 out. Since, however, the whole liquid escapes, it 
 must be driven out forcibly, and consequently the 
 vessels must contract." — (System of Chemistry, Vol. 
 IV.) From similar experiments, Du Hamel inferred 
 that the "proper juice" is forced out by a contrac- 
 tion of the vessels that contain it. 
 
 Art. Ill — Of the Qualities of the Sap, and the Chaiiges 
 it undergoes in the Leaves from the Agency of the 
 Air. 
 
 Having said so much of the motion of the sap, and 
 of the powers by which it is accomplished, let us 
 next direct our attention to its qualities. If collect- 
 ed during the bleeding season, it is almost without 
 taste, but sometimes a little sweet. It ordinarily 
 yields, by evaporation, only a little mucilage, but 
 that of the maple of Canada is said, by Du Hamel, 
 to afford nearly 5 per cent, of sugar. The sap of the 
 elm ( TJlmus campestris) was examined by M. Vau- 
 quelin at successive periods of vegetation. In his first 
 analysis he found 1039 parts of it to consist of 
 1027-904; water and volatile matter; 
 
 9*240 acetate of potass ; 
 
 1.060 vegetable matter; 
 
 .0*796 carbonate of lime. 
 At a later period, the vegetable matter was in greater 
 quantity, and the saline ingredients had diminished ; 
 and, at a period still later, these changes were still 
 more evident. Other saps were analj'sed, and found 
 to possess similar ingredients ; and some others in 
 addition. The sap of the beech contained gallic 
 acid and tannin ; and that of the birch, sugar, and 
 acetites of alum and lime. The sap of the vine, 
 examined by Dr Prout, resembled river water in ap- 
 pearance and specific gravity, .but was sweetish to 
 the taste. It yielded, by evaporation, a minute 
 portion oi residuum, consisting of a peculiar vegetable 
 matter and carbonate of lime. 
 
 The increase of vegetable matter observed in the 
 sap as the season advances, suggests the idea that it 
 becomes mixed with matter previously deposited in 
 the tree. This idea occurred to Malpighi, who con- 
 sidered the sap, as it rose through the vessels, to be 
 partly deposited in the cells, where it underwent 
 
 PHYSIOLOGY. 
 
 changes which fitted it for supplying the first nutri- Vegetn 
 ment to the young buds and tender leaves. A simi- PhysioL 
 lar opinion was held by Darwin, who also regarded 
 the sweet juices found in certain roots, and in the 
 knots and stems of some of the grasses, to serve 
 the same purpose. From finding the specific gravity 
 of the sap to increase as it rose higher in the tree, 
 and the alburnum of a tree, felled in winter, to be 
 heavier than in other seasons, Mr Knight also sup- 
 posed a deposition of nutrient matter to be made in 
 the alburnum, through the latter part of summer and 
 autumn ; so as to be ready to mix with the sap in the 
 following spring, and afford nourishment to the buds 
 and leaves. Hence, we may consider the young 
 bud, like the embryo of the seed, to draw its first 
 nutriment from matter previously secreted, and in 
 part deposited in cells, and afterwards reabsorbed 
 and applied to its destined use. 
 
 The bud, thus nourished in its early growth by 
 the ascending sap, is more or less rapidly developed, 
 and the tree soon becomes clothed with leaves. Of 
 the changes in the motion of the sap when vernation 
 occurs, we have already spoken, and have now to ; 
 describe others which are effected in the qualities of i 
 that fluid. The first action of the leaves upon the 
 sap is to throw off a large portion of it. The insen- 
 sible perspiration of plants has been particularly in- 
 vestigated by Drs Woodward and Hales, and by 
 MM. Bonnet and Guettard. Woodward found that a 
 sprig of mint, weighing only 27 grains, imbibed, in 
 seventy-seven days, 2558 grains of water: yet its 
 weight was increased only 15 grains; and it must 
 therefore have given off in that time 2543 grains of 
 fluid. Hales calculated that a sun-flower, the area 
 of the surface of which above ground was equal to 
 56l6 square inches, gave off, by perspiration, in a 
 warm dry day, about 20 ounces of fluid. In a warm 
 dry night, without dew, it exhaled only three ounces. 
 When the dew was sensible, there was no perspira- 
 tion ; and when the dew was abundant, or the night 
 wet, then the weight of the plant was increased. 
 The more succulent leaves perspired more than those 
 of firmer texture, and deciduous leaves more than 
 those of evergreens. In plants of the same species, 
 and placed in similar circumstances, perspiration is 
 proportional to the extent of perspiring surface : but 
 in all plants, cold and humidity, more or less dimi- 
 nish or entirely suspend this function. 
 
 The fluid thus perspired was collected by Hales 
 as it issued from the leaves of various herbs and 
 trees. The liquor in all was very clear, nor could 
 he distinguish any difference in its taste. It had | 
 nearly the specific gravity of water, but when ex- • 
 posed to a hot sun it began sooner to putrify. M. 
 Senebier evaporated the perspired fluid of a vine : 
 the residuum consisted of minute portions of resi- 
 nous and gummy matter, and of carbonate and sul- 
 phate of lime, which ingredients seemed to augment 
 as vegetation proceeded. 
 
 By the loss of its more aqueous parts, the propor- 
 tions of the remaining ingredients of the sap must 
 be much changed. Grew, Malpighi, Du Hamel, and 
 others, have pointed out the great differences pro- 
 duced in the consistence, colour, odour, and taste 
 of the sap during its transmission through the leaves, 
 
VEGETABLE 
 
 'egetable w-difFerences peculiar to each species of plants, and 
 "''I'c'^ have obtained for the sap, at this stage of its 
 " movement, the appellation of '* Proper Juice." It 
 is in this " proper juice," says Du Hamel, that the 
 narcotic power of the poppy, the corrosive quality 
 of the fig, the diuretic virtue of the fir, and the pur- 
 gative property of jalap, resides: and even the pe- 
 culiar products obtained from the sugar-cane and 
 maple arise probably from the intermixture of the 
 proper juice with the common sap : whence we may 
 infer that the virtue of plants resides principally in 
 their " proper juice." 
 
 It is difficult to collect these juices in a pure state. 
 Those which have been examined differ much in 
 their chemical properties. In some of them, mucus 
 is the predominant ingredient, and such juices are 
 generally mild and nutritious. Of the milky juices 
 some are mild, others hot and acrid. From the 
 " proper juice" of Euphorbia, M. Chaptal obtain- 
 qd, by the agency of chlorine, a white precipitate, 
 consisting of two parts resinous matter and one part 
 woody fibre. The juice of the Carica papaya, a tree 
 that grows in Peru, yielded M. Vauquelin a sub- 
 stance very like the fibrine of animal matter. From 
 Other juices, gums, resins, turpentines, balsams, tan- 
 nin, sugar, and various other products, have been 
 obtained : so that, in their sensible qualities, these 
 juices differ as much from eacli other as they do from 
 the common sap ; but all of them appear to contain 
 a substance resembling in character the woody fibre. 
 
 That the difference of quality observed in the 
 common sap and proper juices is eflected chiefly in 
 the leaves, seems now to be generally admitted. 
 Some part of this difference is doubtless attributable 
 to the concentration these juices experience from 
 the exhalation of so much water ; but a much larger 
 part is to be ascribed to the effects which result 
 from the combined agency of light and air. That 
 air is essential to the vegetative process, and that 
 the leaves of plants more especially act on the air, 
 are positions long since established by decisive evi- 
 dence ; but physiologists are not yet agreed as to 
 the nature and extent of this action; nor, conse- 
 quently, as to the mode and degree in which it af- 
 fects the vegetable fluids. This discordance appears 
 to us to have arisen partly from imperfect experi- 
 ment ; and in part also from blending together two 
 actions performed by the leaves, which, in their na- 
 ture, are quite distinct ; and which, though they 
 commonly go on together, may be easily separated, 
 and the peculiar and specific results of each better 
 observed and estimated. 
 
 In the ordinary circumstances of growth, plants 
 are exposed, at the same time, both to light and 
 air ; and -each agent exerts on them peculiar and spe- 
 cific effects. If deprived of air, when in a state of 
 active vegetation, plants not only cease to grow, but 
 soon die; but the ej^clusion of light is not follow- 
 ed by suspension of growth, and still less by death. 
 Hence, in favourable circumstances as to heat and 
 moisture, plants continue to vegetate even through 
 the night ; and are frequently seen to grow in situa- 
 tions from which light is wholly excluded. They 
 then lose, however, many of their peculiar and more 
 active properties ; but they augment in size, and disv 
 
 VOL. VI. PART II. 
 
 PHYSIOLOGY. n5 
 
 play their specific forms. Air, therefore, is essential Vegetable 
 to vegetation ; but light, though necessary to the de-^'^y^^*'^'*gy- 
 velopement of certain properties, is not essential to 
 the growth of plants. It will be convenient, there- 
 fore, to consider the functions of the leaves, first, in 
 relation to air ; and, secondly, in relation to light. 
 
 Tlie late Dr Priestley led the way in pointing out 
 the nature of the changes which the air suffers in 
 vegetation ; but from not clearly ascertaining, at 
 th^t early period, the composition of the air he em- 
 ployed, nor the extent of change it suffered, nor 
 being fully aware of all the circumstances which 
 might vary his results, he arrived at contradictory 
 conclusions as to the effects which vegetation ulti- 
 mately produces in the air. On the whole, however, 
 he considered the atmosphere, when vitiated by 
 other processes, to be purified by the growth of 
 plants. His illustrious contemporary, Scheele, by 
 previously removing the carbonic acid from the foul 
 air he employed, found that plants, by their vegeta- 
 tion, either in sunshine or in shade, constantly de- 
 teriorated the air. Similar results, as to the deteri- 
 oration of the air, in ordinary vegetation, were ob- 
 tained in many of the experiments of Ingenhousz, 
 Senebier, Woodhouse, and De Saussure; and they 
 have since been extended and confirmed by Mr 
 Ellis in the work already referred to. By these ex- 
 periments, it is proved, that plants, like the seeds 
 from which they have sprung, require, in the atmo- 
 sphere in which they are set to grow, the presence of 
 oxygen gas ; that, by their vegetation, they convert 
 this gas into an equal bulk of carbonic acid gas; arid 
 that the azotic portion of the air, as well in volume 
 as in composition, remains unaltered. 
 
 As the seed, in its germination, supplied carbon to 
 unite with the oxygen of the atmosphere, so does the 
 plant yield that element for the same purpose, dur- 
 ing its vegetation. Most vegetable substances, either 
 dead or living, solid or fluid, when placed in suitable 
 circumstances as to heat and moisture, deteriorate 
 the atmosphere by forming carbonic acid gas : and 
 the experiments of MM. Huber, Senebier, and De 
 Saussure, show, also, that, when all the oxygen of 
 the air has been consumed, they still yield carbon to 
 unite with its other ingredient, so as to form car- 
 buretted azotic gas ; or, if hydrogen gas has been 
 employed instead of azote, then carburetted hydro- 
 gen is formed. Neither, therefore, the living state 
 of a plant, nor the presence of oxygen gas, is essen- 
 tial to the separation of carbon from vegetable mat- 
 ter ; and we may, therefore, presume that its separa- 
 tion is owing not so much to any attractive force 
 excited by the gas employed, as to some sponta- 
 neous change in the vegetable compound itself, 
 whereby its carbon is enabled to combine with the 
 gases that surround it, in the order of its affinity 
 for them. In low temperatures^ or when the plant 
 is very dry, its functions are more or less complete- 
 ly suspended, and the formation of carbonic acid is 
 then proportionately reduced ; while, on the con- 
 trary, a vigorous exercise of the vegetative powers 
 gives rise to a corresponding production of that gas. 
 In what state or form the carbon exists, at the mo- 
 ment of its combination with elastic fluids, is not yet 
 known ; but it is probably held in solution by water, 
 
726 
 
 VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY. 
 
 Vegetable and acquires and retains its elastic state, only while 
 Physiology. i„ union with a permanently elastic body. It may 
 farther be asked, in what part of the plant does this 
 union of its carbon with the oxygen gas of the air 
 take place ? and in what manner is it accomplished ? 
 In the living plant, it is chiefly by the leaf that car- 
 bonic acid is formed. To discover the mode and 
 place in which it occurs, we must take into view not 
 merely the change produced in the air, but the 
 structure of the living organ by which that change 
 is effected ; for it is only by combining a strict re- 
 gard to anatomy with our chemical knowledge, that 
 we can ever hope to arrive at true physiological con- 
 clusions, and avoid the crude and fanciful notions 
 that have too often usurped their name. 
 
 The leaf, then, is formed of a vascular system, of 
 cellular tissue, and of a cuticular covering that invests 
 it on all sides. To this organ the sap is brought by 
 vessels which spring from the alburnum or wood, 
 and which, after forming several fasciculi in the pe- 
 tiole, proceed to the base of the leaf, and there, by 
 their expansion and distribution, produce a minutely 
 reticulated structure. With these sap-vessels, " pro- 
 per vessels" are every where associated (§ 361), 
 which appear to communicate with the sap-vessels, 
 and to convey the sap they receive into the inner 
 bark. Grew considered the vessels, which form 
 the reticulations of the leaf, to be of the same 
 size in every part, and never to inosculate or anas- 
 tomose, except end to end, or mouth to mouth, after 
 they have come to their final distribution. Mal- 
 pighi, on the other hand, believed them to anasto- 
 mose in every part {§ 8 and 9) : and, in regard to 
 the minuter transverse fasciculi, given off from the 
 longitudinal bundles, he has been followed by Mr 
 Todd Thomson, who, however, though he considers 
 them as " distinct vessels, uniting with the longitu- 
 dinal bundles in a singular manner," has never been 
 able to determine " whether there is any opening 
 directly into the longitudinal vessel on which the ex- 
 tremity of the transverse vessel is applied." It is 
 during the course of the sap, through the two orders 
 of vessels in the leaf, that it undergoes those changes 
 in its properties which fit it for nutrition ; but whe- 
 ther these changes are effected in the sap-vessels, or 
 the " proper" vessels, or partly in both, has not yet 
 been determined. 
 
 The minute network formed by the vessels^ is 
 everywhere filled up with cellular tissue, constituting 
 the parenchyme of the leaf. The cells of this tissue 
 contain fluids derived from the neighbouring vessels, 
 and are likewise the seat of the green colouring mat- 
 ter. There must, therefore, be a ready communica- 
 tion between the vessels and cells ; and this many 
 have supposed to be accomplished by the medium of 
 pores in the sides both of the cells and vessels. But 
 the best observers represent the cells as close cavi- 
 ties (§ 87 and 88), having no visible communication 
 with each other. Were we even to admit the exist- 
 ence of pores, we should find it difficult to conceive 
 how the contents of the cells could be set in motion 
 and transmitted through their own sides, and those of 
 the vessels also, so as to be conveyed and deposited 
 in the several parts where growth takes place, with 
 all the regularity we actually observe. To us no 
 10 
 
 other means occur of accomplishing these operations, Veget 
 consistently with the integrity of the cellular struc- P^^y^'" 
 ture, than the exercise of those alternate functions of 
 secretion and absorption, which, from so many other 
 considerations, we have supposed to be carried on in 
 every vegetating part of the plant. 
 
 The cuticular covering of the leaf is the organ 
 through which, under different circumstances, the 
 fluids that are exhaled and absorbed must pass ; and 
 through which also both light and air exert their 
 peculiar action on the vegetable juices. The struc- 
 ture of this organ has excited particular attention, 
 and the opinions held concerning it have been de- 
 tailed in § 138, &c. of our former article. It is 
 there described as being composed of a proper cuti- 
 cle, beneath which is a vascular network, the vessels 
 of which, springing from the larger fasciculi, form at 
 various points an oval ring, § 148, from whence go off 
 two or more radiating filaments, which terminate at 
 the cuticle in an oval pore, more or less elongated. It 
 is by the vascular filaments, which thus terminate at 
 the pores of the cuticle, that the exhalation of fluids 
 is held to be performed ; and hence it is, that, in dif- 
 ferent plants, this function is more or less abundant- 
 ly carried on, in proportion to the number of cuti- 
 cular pores (§ 77) : and that plants, and parts of 
 plants, which have but few pores, perspire little, and 
 those that are destitute of pores not at all. Precise- 
 ly the same coincidence between the number of pores 
 in leaves, and their power of absorbing fluids, has 
 also been remarked (§ 71 and 72) : and we have else- 
 where (§ 77 and 78) given reasons for coinciding in 
 opinion with M. DecandoUe, that the vascular pores, 
 on the surfaces of the leaves and of porous stems, are 
 the organs by which the functions both of exhalation 
 and absorption are alternately carried on, according 
 to the existing condition of dryness or humidity in 
 the surrounding atmosphere. 
 
 Beside the function of exhalation, it has lately 
 been maintained by Mr Todd Thomson, who has be- 
 stowed great attention on the structure of the leaf, 
 that the pores are the organs by which the function 
 of respiration in plants is performed. According to 
 him, the pore is not a superficial aperture, but "a 
 short cylindrical tube, penetrating completely through 
 the cutis and terminating in a cul de sac, which is 
 impressed into a vesicle that appears to communicate 
 with the oblong cells immediately beneath the cutis. 
 But although the aperture penetrates the cutis, 
 there is no opening through the epidermis, which, 
 on the contrary, enters into the tubular part of the 
 pore, and lines it throughout." {Elements of Botany, 
 Vol. I. p. 614.) In different leaves, the form of the 
 pore, of its short tube, and of the vesicle beneath, 
 are said to vary : but the cuticle or epidermis dips 
 down and lines the cavity in all. By the funnel- 
 shaped pore above described, the air is said to be ad- 
 mitted into the vesicle situated beneath it : and as 
 this vesicle probably communicates with the cuticular 
 cells, which are in general filled with air, the aqueous 
 contents of the cells that form the parenchyme of 
 the leaf, are thus brought into immediate contact 
 with the atmosphere. {Ibid., p. 622 and 623.) 
 
 If this account of the respiratory organs be re- 
 ceived, then we must suppose, that, in herbs, respi- 
 
VEGETABLE 
 
 stable ration is carried on by both surfaces of the leaves, but 
 ology- in trees, only by the under surface; for it is on 
 ^^^^ those surfaces respectively that pores are found. 
 It can hardly, however, be admitted that the exist- 
 ence of pores is indispensable to the production of 
 that chemical change in the air which constitutes 
 respiration ; for, according to MM. Decandolle 'and 
 Rudolphi, § 151, &c., the petals of flowers, the cuticle 
 of fleshy fruits, the tunics of seeds, the stems and leaves 
 of etiolated plants, most of the lower tribes of vegeta- 
 bles, and all roots and bulbs that grow beneath the 
 soil, are alike destitute of pores ; and yet the united 
 experience of Priestley, Scheele, Ingenhousz, and 
 De Saussure, bears testimony that all these parts 
 are capable of acting on the air like porous leaves. 
 Mr Thomson, indeed, states that some of the lower 
 ' tribes of vegetables, and certain etiolated leaves, are 
 really furnished with pores ; but even granting this 
 to be the case, there still remain other parts of 
 plants, which grow beneath the soil, and yet act 
 upon the air, like porous parts that vegetate on the 
 surface. Without denying, therefore, the probabi- 
 lity that porous surfaces, such as Mr Thomson de- 
 scribes, may favour the exercise of the respiratory 
 function, we are compelled to admit that surfaces, 
 not yet discovered to be porous, are capable of pro- 
 ducing similar changes in the air. There is also an 
 anatomical difficulty in Mr Thomson's view of this 
 part of the respiratory function which we cannot 
 readily get over ; for while he describes the epider- 
 mis that lines the pore as having " no opening" in 
 any part, he seems to think that the air passes to and 
 fro, not only through this epidermis, but also through 
 the cells of the parenchyma, which Hooke and others, 
 from actual experience, declare to be impervious to 
 air. 
 
 But whether, in porous leaves, the air enter the 
 j pores in order to be changed, or in leaves and parts 
 not porous it be changed at their surface; or bo- 
 ther, by some unknown means, it permeate the cu- 
 ticle, cells, and vessels, so as to act directly on the 
 fluids they contain — it seems certain that these fluids 
 acquire the properties, which fit them for nutrition 
 and growth, directly through the agency of the air. 
 How then does the air act in producing such effects ? 
 No specific action can be ascribed to its azotic por- 
 tion, since that gas is not essential in vegetable re- 
 spiration; and when present, it neither suffers nor pro- 
 duces any known change. Neither can we suppose 
 1 the effects produced to arise from the loss of carbon, 
 
 for were it proved that this carbon is extracted di- 
 i rectly from the juices contained in the vessels, ra- 
 ther than afforded by the fluids they exhale, still the 
 quantity given off is too minute to be considered as 
 the cause of such remarkable changes ; and it is 
 more reasonable to believe that they proceed rather 
 from something derived from the air, than from any- 
 thing given off from the plant. They have accord- 
 ingly been very generally ascribed to the combination 
 of oxygen with the juices of the plant. Setting aside, 
 however, the difficulty of conceiving how the oxygen 
 can permeate the several textures of the leaf, so as to 
 combine with these juices, it so happens, that the 
 whole of that gas that disappears in vegetation ex^ 
 
 PHYSIOLOGY. 727 
 
 ists, not in the plant, but exterior to it, and in union Vegetable 
 with the carbon afforded by the plant to form the P|^oJ»gy- 
 carbonic acid gas produced in that process. Con- 
 sequently, no part of the oxygen of the air can have 
 combined with the juices of the plant; and, there- 
 fore, as far as the air is concerned, nothing re- 
 mains but the caloric, extricated by the conversion 
 of its oxygen gas into carbonic acid, to which these 
 changes in the properties of the vegetable juices can 
 be truly ascribed. How this caloric acts in the pro- 
 duction of these effects, we do not, at present, under- 
 take to explain. 
 
 Art. IV. — Of the Mode in •which the P?-oper Juice is 
 applied to the Purposes of Growth. 
 
 It is only after the common sap has been duly 
 changed in the leaf by the agency of the air that it 
 is rendered fit for the formation of vegetable matter. 
 For this purpose, it descends in the " proper vessels," 
 which in trees are commonly situate in the bark. If at 
 this period, therefore, a circular portion of that texture 
 be cut away, the proper juice is seen to issue from the 
 upper lip of the wound ; but this soon ceases, and its 
 accumulation in the vessels then forms an enlarge- 
 ment around that part. Sometimes the proper juices 
 exude, and form concretions of a gummy, saccharine, 
 or resinous nature on the surface of the bark, and 
 sometimes they are effused into the sap-vessels or 
 cells. Where the bark is young and succulent, the 
 juices receive probably some farther change in their 
 descent; for such stems act on the air like leaves, 
 and, in some species of plants, which are destitute of 
 leaves, the functions of the leaves are performed by 
 the stem alone. In ordinary trees, however, the 
 bark is unable to form nutrient matter without the 
 aid of the leaves, as an experiment of Hales dis- 
 tinctly shows. He removed circular portions of bark, 
 half an inch in breadth, from a thriving branch of 
 pear tree, so as to leave several ringlets of bark, three 
 quarters of an inch distant from each other. All 
 these ringlets, except one, had a leaf-bearing bud on 
 them, and all but this one swelled at their bottoms 
 .and grew ; and the more leaves the bud produced, so 
 much more did the bark on which it grew swell at 
 the bottom, while the leafless ringlet did not swell or 
 increase at all. From facts before stated, it also ap- 
 pears, that a portion of the nutrient matter that de- 
 scends from the leaves is found in the alburnum, as 
 well as in the bark ; and this will be still more clear- 
 ly shown when we come to treat of the regenerating 
 powers of the alburnum. 
 
 In discoursing on the trunk of trees (§ 274, 275), 
 it was stated that a layer of bark, called liber, and 
 a circle of wood, named alburnum, are annually 
 formed ; and that between this liber and alburnum 
 the new rnatter that adds to the bulk of the tree is 
 deposited, and becomes organised. Malpighi be- 
 lieved the liber to form the new parts, and that these 
 parts were afterwards converted into wood. Grevr 
 also considered the new wood to be formed by the 
 bark, but not that the liber was converted into wood. 
 Hales, on the other hand, supposed the new wood to 
 be formed by the old ; while others have held that 
 both bark and wood contribute to form new matter. 
 
728 VEGETABLE I 
 
 Vegetable Are, then, the new layers which are annually added 
 Physiology. ^Yie tree formed by the bark, by the wood, or by 
 
 ""^^'^^^ both ? By very satisfactory experiments, which we 
 have not room to detail, M. Du Hamel ascertained, 
 first, that the bark is able to form new wood, and 
 that this power resides not in its outer layers, but in 
 the part called liber. Secondly, By another series of 
 experiments, he ascertained that the alburnum is also 
 able to produce new wood and bark, but that this 
 power is not possessed by the older and more hard- 
 ened vessels of the wood. 
 
 Ths process by which new vegetable matter is 
 formed in trees is thus described by the same excel- 
 lent writer. When a portion of bark has been re- 
 moved from a tree, a glairy mucilaginous fluid is first 
 seen to flow from beneath the remaining bark, or, in 
 certain circumstances, from the alburnum. It dif- 
 fers in appearance from the proper juice, and was 
 named cambium by Grew. To observe the process 
 more completely, Du Hamel enclosed the stems of 
 young elms and cherry trees, from which portions of 
 bark had been removed, in glass tubes, closed at each 
 ejid by cement. For a few days, the glass was ob- 
 scured by vapour, which gradually disappeared ; so 
 that it was then easy to see what passed within. At 
 first, a small tubercle appeared beneath the upper lip 
 of the wound, and one still smaller at the lower lip. 
 After this, granules of gelatinous matter issued from 
 the alburnum : they were isolated, and had no con- 
 nection with the tubercles just mentioned ; their co- 
 lour was at first greyish, but, in about twelve days, 
 passed to a greenish tint. All these new parts con- 
 tinued to extend through the summer ; the tuber- 
 cle from the upper lip of the wound enlarged greatly, 
 but that below, very little ; so that it was principally 
 by the growth from above that the wound was heal- 
 ed. The bark of the cicatrice having been formed 
 by the union of new productions from the upper and 
 middlepart of the wound, was very rough, and in some 
 places entirely wanting ; but ail the reg-enerated parts 
 ■duly performed their appropriate functions, and the 
 stems augmented so much as, in some instances, to 
 burst asunder the glass tubes that enclosed them. 
 
 That the gelatinous matter or cambium that issued 
 from the alburnum was not an extravasated mucil- 
 age, but a substance resembling the granulating mat- 
 -ter by which wounds are healed in animals, Du Ha- 
 mel inferred from observing that the process of rege- 
 neration went on, though more slowly, when the glass 
 tubes were filled with water, which, as he supposed, 
 would have dissolved simple mucilage. He likewise 
 found, by other experiments, that the bark may be 
 made to reproduce new parts from the sides or lower 
 lip of the wound, as well as from the upper lip ; that 
 the new layer, annually produced, is made up of ma- 
 ny others extremely thin, which envelope each other, 
 and appear to be formed in succession so long as the 
 sap flows ; that, while roots extend only by the addi- 
 tion of new matter to their extremities, the young and 
 succulent shoots of trees are elongated not only by 
 the a'ddition of new parts, but the extension of those 
 already formed ; but that this elongation, by exten- 
 «ion, ceases as soon as the new ligneous parts become 
 ■ Jiardened. For a description of the mode in which, 
 according to Du Hamel, trees augment, both in length 
 
 H Y S I O L 0 G Y. 
 
 and bi'eadth, through all the successive years of their Vege 
 growth, we must refer to § 301 and 351 of our for- Thysio 
 mer article, and to the diagrams fig. 10, Plate XVII. 
 and fig. 10, Plate XVIII. there given in illustration of 
 it. Du Hamel farther ascertained, that the diametral 
 growth continues in trees after that in length has 
 ceased. Most of these facts have been confirmed by 
 the experiments of Mr Knight, who found that the 
 alburnum not only formed new wood and bark, as 
 stated by Du Hamel ; but that, when both the bark 
 and alburnum were cut away, the more interior vessels 
 of the wood were alike capable of yielding an organiz- 
 able fluid ; so that a vascular bark, capable of exe- 
 cuting the ordinary functions of that texture, could 
 be produced, in certain circumstances, by vessels 
 lying deeper than the alburnum. Whether, in the 
 ordinary growth of trees, the new matter is formed 
 by the bark or the wood singly, or by both united, it 
 is not easy to say ; but it seems certain that, under 
 favourable circumstances, each texture is capable ei- 
 ther of adding to itself, or of reproducing the otheR 
 We have before remarked (§ 68) that, when the parts 
 of plants have been once formed, they continue perma- 
 nent, unless removed by accident or disease: that vege- 
 tables possess no power of removing decayed organs 
 by internal absorption, as occurs in the animal sys- 
 tem ; but that their powers of regeneration are con- 
 fined to the reproduction of parts or organs that have 
 been removed by decay, by accident, or disease. 
 
 Art. V. — Of' the Changes the Sap imdergoes in ihg 
 Leaves from the Agency of Light. 
 
 In what has hitherto been said, we have supposed 
 the functions of nutrition and growth in plants to be 
 carried on, as in seeds, by the combined agency of 
 water, heat, and air, without the access of light. 
 Light is injurious to the growth of seeds, by imped- 
 ing that change of fecula into sugar, which is so fa- 
 vourable to germination : and that it also retards the 
 formation of saccharine matter in plants, is proved by 
 many facts familiar to every one in the cultivation of 
 celery and other plants, which, when secluded from 
 light, not only lose their colour, but acquire a mild, 
 and even sweetish taste. If a plant, says M. Achard, 
 be covered with a glass vessel, it is observed some- 
 times to change from a sweet to a bitter taste ; but 
 if the vessel be opake, the same plant, in its subse- 
 quent growth, will retain its sweetness. In the year 
 1774, the late Professor Robison observed, that 
 tansey, mint, and other plants, which had grown in 
 a dark coal mine, although they throve well in dark- 
 ness, lost their colour, their odour, and their taste: 
 But when they were brought up and set to grow in 
 day-light, their white parts died down, and the stocks 
 then produced the proper plants in their usual dress, 
 and having all their distinguishing properties. When 
 deprived of light, says Dr Irvine, all plants nearly 
 agree in the qualities of their juices. The most pun- 
 gent vegetables then grow insipid; the highest fla- 
 voured, inodorous ; and those of the most variegated 
 colours are of an uniform "whiteness. Vegetables 
 which grow in a natural situation, he adds, readily 
 burn when dry ; but a vegetable, bred in a dark box, 
 contains nothing inflammable. The results of analysis 
 accord perfectly with these observations: for etiolated 
 
VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY. 729 
 
 stable plants are found to yield more saccharine matter, 
 "Sy- carbonic acid and water, and less inflammable matter 
 "^'than those which are green. 
 
 From the facts above stated, it appears, that, when 
 deprived of light, plants continue to grow : that ^he 
 juices, vvliieh support this growth, are then nearly 
 alike in all : and that they acquire their peculiar 
 properties as to colour, odour, taste, and inflamma- 
 bility, only when vegetation proceeds under the direct 
 iniluence of light. To the agency of the air, there- 
 fore, we may ascribe those changes in the vegetable 
 juices, which render them fit for nutrition and 
 growth : while light bestows on them those more ob- 
 vious and active qualities, on which their colour, 
 odour, savour, and combustibility more immediately 
 depend. The first series of effects resembles those 
 which are exhibited in the germination of seeds, from 
 which process light is excluded; the second series is 
 superadded to the former, and is directly attributable 
 to light. It is on the leaves and succulent stems of 
 plants that light chiefly acts; and it is in those parts 
 that the " proper juices," which give colour and pe- 
 culiar character to plants, more especially reside. 
 Are we then able to trace out the mode in which it 
 produces any of these singular effects ? 
 
 In all periods of active vegetation, plants uniform- 
 ly convert the oxygen gas of the atmosphere into an 
 equal bulk of carbonic acid gas ; and if, at the same 
 time, they grow in obscurity, they soon lose their 
 green colour and become white. On the other hand, 
 if they be made to grow in impure air under expo- 
 sure to sunshine, they not only resume their green 
 colour, but occasion a production of oxygen gas. 
 This curious discovery was first made by Priestley. 
 It has since been extended and confirmed by the ex- 
 periments of Ingenhousz, Senebier, Woodhouse, and 
 Davy ; and more lately the subject has been treated 
 with still greater precision by M.De Saussure. From 
 the united labours of these writers we learn, that 
 air, which has been depraved by animal respiration 
 or combustion, is again, in certain circumstances, 
 rendered pure by the aid of plants : that the air, 
 which experiences this purification, must contain a 
 portion of carbonic acid, either in an elastic form, or 
 held in solution by water, and that it must be ex- 
 posed, with the plant confined in it, to the influence of 
 the solar rays : that neither the plant alone, nor light 
 alone, will effect the decomposition of carbonic acid gas, 
 which is accomplished only by their united agency : 
 that only the leaves and other green parts of plants 
 are able, by this- decomposition of carbonic acid, to 
 produce oxygen gas : and that the bulk of oxygen 
 produced io these circumstances is exactly equal to 
 that of carbonic gas which has disappeared. Hence, 
 if plants be made to vegetate in a given bulk of at- 
 mospheric air, and placed alternately in obscurity 
 and sunshine, carbonic acid is successively formed 
 and decomposed ; so that, as M. De Saussure ascer- 
 tained, the air suffers no permanent change either in 
 its bulk or composition. 
 
 This operation of plants in purifying air was 
 deemed by Priestley a vegetative function carried on 
 by the aid of light; and by Ingenhousz it was as- 
 cribed not to vegetation, but to the influence of 
 light combined with a certain state of vegetable 
 
 structure. As plants grow in obscurity, where they Vegetable 
 produce no oxygen gas, this operation cannot be I'l'J'S'o^ogy. 
 deemed essential to vegetation : and, on the other '""'"^•'"^ 
 hand, the decomposition of carbonic acid is effected 
 by the combined agency of plants and solar light, in 
 situations and under circumstances where vegetation 
 cannot exist. Thus, if plants be placed in sunshine, 
 they produce oxygen gas either when immersed in 
 vessels of water saturated with carbonic acid, or 
 when confined in pure carbonic gas. So likewise a 
 similar decomposition of this gas is accomplished by 
 plants, with the aid of light, in temperatures many 
 degrees below freezing, and in such a state of muti- 
 lation as is incompatible with the proper exercise of 
 their vegetative powers. Hence, in these different 
 instances, the decomposition of carbonic acid is ef- 
 fected by plants without the aid of that oxygen gag, 
 or that degree of heat, or that condition of structure, 
 which are essential to vegetation ; while, on the con- 
 trary, it occurs only under exposure to light, which, 
 as we have seen, is not necessary to vegetable nutri- 
 tion and growth. 
 
 But the operation of light, which is thus necessa- 
 ry to the decomposition of carbonic acid, is required 
 also to produce the green colour in plants ; and ex- 
 clusion of light, which prevents this decomposition, 
 prevents also the appearance of that colour. The 
 two effects, indeed, are not only accomplished by 
 the same agents, acting in the same circumstance?,, 
 but, as far as observation extends, are simultaneous- 
 ly performed: whence it may be inferred, that some 
 necessary connection subsists between them ; and, 
 could we discover this, it might lead us to an expla- 
 nation of the green colour of plants. 
 
 M. Senebier observed, with great care, the opera- 
 tion of light in rendering white leaves green. At 
 first, yellow spots are seen, in different places, which 
 gradually become deeper, and at length green. 
 These spots multiply, extend, and meet on thu face 
 of the leaf, till at last it is rendered entirely green. 
 If part of a white leaf be secluded from light, by co- 
 vering it with tinfoil, that portion continues white, 
 while the other parts become green: or, if a green 
 portion be similarly covered, so as to exclude the » 
 light, it gradually loses its green colour, while the 
 neighbouring parts retain it. From these and simi- 
 lar facts, M. Senebier considered the green colour in 
 plants to be effected by the direct agency of light, in- 
 dependently of vegetation. He remarked, too, that a 
 singular relation subsists between the parts of green 
 leaves that furnish most oxygen, and those parts of 
 white leaves which first become green : and from the 
 circumstance of carbonic acid being decomposed and 
 its oxygen expelled only when these parts became 
 green, he was led to ascribe the green colour to the 
 retention of the carbon of the decomposed gas, and 
 its deposition in the cellular tissue of the leaf. 
 
 Granting, however, tliis deposition of carbon in 
 the manner above stated, we know of no fact or ana- 
 logy that lends probability to the idea that it is able 
 to change the colourless juices of the leaf to a green 
 hue. These juices are of a resinous nature, and may 
 be extracted by alcohol without loss of colour; hut 
 this colour is then readily discharged by acids, and 
 restored by alkalis ; so that the action of these re- 
 
730 
 
 VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY. 
 
 Vegetable agents on the green colouring matter of the leaf re- 
 Physiology, gembles that which they exert on ordinary vegetable 
 infusions. Acids also discharge, more or less com- 
 pletely, the green colour of entire leaves, and alkalis 
 more or less perfectly restore it. Since, then, the 
 colouring matter of leaves, when extracted by water 
 or alcohol, and even entire leaves themselves, are 
 thus variously affected by acids and alkalis, may we 
 not presume that the same reagents will exert a si- 
 milar action on the juices of the living leaf, if acid 
 or alkaline matter be made to predominate in them ? 
 
 Now, that alkaline matter is an abundant ingre- 
 dient in leaves is familiar to every one; and the ob- 
 servations of Hales, Du Hamel, Coulomb, Knight, and 
 others, show also, that, in the ordinary growth' of 
 plants, carbonic acid is largely carried in with the sap, 
 either in solution or in combination with alkaline mat- 
 ter. With the alkali already present in the leaf, the 
 excess of acid carried in with the sap will readily 
 combine, and according- to the proportion in which 
 acid and alkali are present, the leaf will be variously 
 coloured. If the acid abound, as in etiolated leaves, 
 the leaf will be white ; but if means can be found to 
 withdraw this acid, and render the alkali predomi- 
 nant, then the green colour will appear. Now, the 
 decomposition of carbonic acid in plants, by the 
 agency of solar light, seems to be the mean employ- 
 ed by nature to accomplish this purpose ; for by this 
 mean," says Mr Ellis,. " the acid is not only with- 
 drawn from its combination, and its oxygen expel- 
 led, but the alkali at the same instant becomes pre- 
 dominant, and exists, therefore, in a state fitted to 
 exert its specific action on the colourless juices of 
 the plant, which, in consequence, are rendered green. 
 The coloration of the leaf, therefore, is not owing 
 immediately to the decomposition of carbonic acid 
 and expulsion of oxygen, but to the predominance of 
 alkali which that decomposition occasions. Hence, 
 in the earlier stages of the process, we cannot so pro- 
 perly say that the green leaf affords oxygen, as that 
 it becomes green when that gas is expelled ; and 
 thus it is that the decomposition of carbonic acid in 
 leaves, by the agency of solar light, gives rise at 
 once to the production of oxygen gas, and the for- 
 mation of the green colour in plants." 
 
 But though light thus appear to be the active 
 cause of colour in plants, yet, as it acts only by ren- 
 dering alkali predominant in their juices, it follows 
 that if, from the soil, or in any other manner^ a simi- 
 ' lar predominance of alkali arise, these juices will be 
 
 rendered green. Hence certain buds and the germs 
 of some seeds, and parts which lie within the bark of 
 certain herbs, exhibit a greenish hue, though per- 
 fectly secluded from light ; so that it is not to be 
 doubted, as Senebier remarks, that plants, and parts 
 of plants, may become green, although light should 
 not act immediately upon them. 
 
 If thus the predominance of alkali occasion a green 
 colour, then deficiency of it, and still more, excess 
 of acid, should have a contrary effect. According- 
 ly, when light is excluded from plants, no carbonic 
 acid is decomposed in the leaf, and then its retention 
 and accumulation, by saturating the alkali, subdue 
 the green colour, and give rise to the white appear- 
 ance observed in etiolated plants. So, likewise, the 
 
 changes of colour which leaves exhibit in autumn Veaetai 
 seem to arise from the abundance of acid matter, Fliysioli 
 not, however, occasioned by the absence of light, ''^"V^ 
 but developed under the various conditions of decay 
 and decomposition in which they are then placed. 
 
 From the facts stated above, with regard to the 
 alternate consumption and production of oxygen gas 
 by growing plants, a question has arisen, whether, on 
 the whole, vegetables purify or deteriorate the at- 
 mosphere. We cannot enter farther into this ques- 
 tion than to observe, that it is not to be decided 
 altogether by experiments made in close vessels of 
 artificial mixtures of air ; but demands a compre- 
 hensive survey of vegetation in different climes, and 
 a knowledge of the times and circumstances in which 
 the one or other process prevails, or is variously ac- 
 celerated or retarded. Since, too, the production of 
 oxygen arises solely from the decomposition of car- 
 bonic acid in the plant, we must also know the 
 modes and quantities in which that gas is supplied 
 to plants : for the power of plants to produce a large 
 excess of oxygen, when confined in artificial atmo- 
 spheres that contain from 7 to 10 per cent, of carbo- 
 nic acid, does not at all apply to the natural condi- 
 tion of the atmosphere, which contains less thai> 
 a thousandth part of that gas. We have already re- 
 marked, that carbonic acid is largely carried into 
 plants with the rising sap ; and various facts seem 
 also to prove, that, when plants are confined in close 
 vessels containing carbonic acid, that gas enters the 
 leaf in an elastic form. Other gases, as oxygen,, 
 hydrogen, and azote, under similar circumstances, 
 obtain admission also ; and fleshy leaves, in particu- 
 lar, take up, through the night, a volume of oxygen 
 greater in bulk than themselves, which, according to 
 De Saussure, they again give out when exposed to a 
 bright sunshine. It is not yet determined in what 
 way elastic fluids thus obtain admission into leaves, 
 and are again expelled from them ; but the indiscri- 
 minate mode of their entrance and expulsion, at 
 times, too, and under circumstances, in which vege- 
 tation is completely suspended ; their long reten- 
 tion in a bulk greater than the containing body, 
 and other circumstances, which we have not room 
 to detail, lead to the belief that the phenomena are 
 quite distinct from those which properly constitute 
 vegetation, and are attributable to the conjoined 
 operation of mechanical and chemical causes, aided 
 by a certain condition of structure in the vegetable 
 organs. 
 
 When, in the experiments of M. De Saussure, 
 plants were made to vegetate in atmospheric air, 
 and placed alternately in sunshine and in darkness, the 
 decomposition of carbonic acid in the former case so 
 exactly balanced its previous formation in the latter, 
 that the air suffered no permanent change either in 
 purity or in volume. Even in sunshme, continues 
 the same author, plants, growing in close vessels, 
 continue to produce carbonic acid, and it is only 
 because they then also decompose it, that they do 
 not permanently vitiate the air : hence, if a sub- 
 stance that attracts the carbonic acid as fast as it is 
 formed be placed in the vessel, the air of the vessel 
 no longer preserves its volume, nor its proportion of 
 oxygen gas. Whether, in the free atmosphere, plants 
 
 I 
 
VEGETABLE P 
 
 table also decompose the carbonic acid which they have 
 'oology, previously formed, r\iay well be doubted ; but if they 
 ■'"^ do, this adds nothing to its purity, but only restores 
 what before had been taken away. And certainly, 
 as the atmosphere at no time> whether vegetation 
 proceeds or stands still, contains more than a thou- 
 sandth part of carbonic acid, plants cannot, from 
 that source, afford to it more than an equal portion 
 of oxygen gas. As far, therefore, as the atmosphere 
 is concerned, we believe that growing plants de- 
 prave rather than purify the air : but whether the 
 decomposition of the acid gas, carried in with the 
 sap, may not compensate, or more than compensate, 
 for this depravation, we do not, at present, venture 
 to decide. 
 
 Beside contributing to their colour, light, as we 
 have seen, exerts a direct action on the substances 
 that impart odour, taste, and combustibility to vege- 
 tables. These several qualities depend immediately 
 on the oils, volatile and fixed — the resins, gum-re- 
 sins, balsams, and turpentines — the alkalis and acids 
 —the earthy and saline compounds — and the tannin, 
 extractive, and other principles met with in the pro- 
 per juices. It is probable that these substances are 
 formed in the leaves and other corresponding struc- 
 tures, chiefly by peculiar secreting organs ; but either 
 the functions of the organs, or the products they yield, 
 appear to experience great modifications and changes 
 from the direct action of light ; and hence, if this 
 agent be wholly excluded, these vegetable products 
 are either sparingly formed, or not at all produced. 
 When formed, they become mixed with the sap in 
 its course through the leaves, and variously change 
 its sensible properties, so as to constitute juices proper 
 to each species of plant. Thus blended with the sap, 
 they are conveyed, more or less abundantly, through 
 the organized parts, and impart to them those pro- 
 perties of colour, odour, taste, &c. observed in the 
 several textures. Sometimes the gummy and resinous 
 matters exude on the surface of the tree, or stagnate 
 in the vessels or cells of the bark and wood — form- 
 ing those collections and concretions met with in dif- 
 ferent parts of those textures, as described in § 63, 
 6.5, of our former article. All these ingredients of 
 the proper juice serve, in vegetation, purposes dif- 
 ferent from those of the mucilage, starch, and sugar, 
 from which the secretion called cambium is derived, 
 and which is more immediately employed in the pro- 
 duction of new vegetable matter. 
 
 In these operations of light on plants, it is proba- 
 ble that the several species of rays that compose the 
 solar beam exert specific but varied actions. The 
 violet rays, or rather the invisible rays associated 
 with them, were observed by M. Senebier to act 
 most powerfully in producing the green colour of 
 plants ; and he likewise ascertained that they act 
 by their own peculiar quality, and not by their 
 heating or illuminating power. This agrees with 
 the acknowledged power of this portion of the 
 solar beam in producing decomposition, since it is 
 through the decomposition of carbonic acid in plants 
 that their green colour is obtained. The experi- 
 ments of De Saussure show also that by this decom- 
 position of that acid gas, not only is oxygen gas ex- 
 pelled from the plant, but the proportion of its carbon 
 
 HYSIOLOGY. ' 731 
 
 increased ; but whether this carbon contributes to the Vegetable 
 formation of any of the more active ingredients of the Physiolo^. 
 " proper" juices, or of those which impart colour; or ^-^^^^ 
 whether the calorific power of the solar beam acts in 
 their production, nothing yet known enables us to de- 
 termine. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 Of the Functions of the Individual Members 
 AND Organs of Vegetables. 
 
 Sect. I. 
 
 Of Buds, and of the Members and Organs produced 
 from them. 
 
 Art. 1 — -Of Buds* 
 
 Having thus exhibited a brief outline of the lead- 
 ing facts which constitute vegetation, as exemplified 
 in the nutrition and growth of plants, we have now 
 to notice, in a manner still more brief, the functions 
 of certain parts and organs which serve different 
 uses, and afford various products ; and more espe- 
 cially those by which the continuance of their race is 
 maintained. Some plants pass rapidly through the 
 several stages of their existence, and having pro- 
 duced their seeds, fade and die ; others continue for 
 one or more years ; and many prolong their exist-' 
 ence to very distant periods. Even in these latter, 
 the more active organs of vegetation, after produc- 
 ing their fruits and seeds, fade and fall like plants of 
 shorter duration ; and when the season adapted to 
 the growth of annuals returns, then also perennials 
 reproduce all the organs necessary to growth and 
 fructification. In ordinary cases, reproduction in an- 
 nuals is continued only by seeds ; in perennials, both 
 by seeds and buds. For an account of the species 
 of buds, and of their formation and structure, we 
 must refer to § 324 of our former article : at present 
 we can afford space only for a few observations on 
 those varieties of buds which produce branches, 
 leaves, and flowers. 
 
 During summer and autumn, when perennial plants 
 add to their bulk by the formation of new layers, 
 they also form new buds on the sides and at the ex- 
 tremities of their branches. These buds continue to 
 enlarge through the autumn, and in part through the 
 winter ; so as to be ready, on the return of spring, to 
 shoot forth, and supply the place of those that annu- 
 ally decay. Some buds chiefly produce wood ; others, 
 leaves ; others, flowers ; and others, both leaves and 
 flowers ; and this variety of production may be so 
 modified by culture as to enable us often to substi- 
 tute one species of bud for another. The wood and 
 leaf buds are the result of vigorous growth, and are 
 primarily of the same structure. As the plant ap- 
 proaches to maturity, or when the vigour of its growth 
 abates, then flower buds augment in number. 
 
 Buds naturally remain attached to the parent tree, 
 and there execute their allotted functions : but they 
 may also be made to grow as individuals, or be trans- 
 ferred, in various modes, to another stock, and per* 
 form the same functions on it, as on their proper pa- 
 rent. Though supplied then with sap from a differ* 
 ent tree, they retain the power of effecting in that 
 fluid the same changes, and forming with it the same 
 
YEGEl^ABLE PHYSIOLOGY. 
 
 732 
 
 Vegetable products as they would have produced on their na- 
 Physiolo;Ty. stock. The bud of the tree, therefore, hke the 
 embryo of the seed, must be held to possess indivi- 
 duality of character, and to be capable of producing 
 new individuals perfectly similar to itself. To the 
 embryo of the seed, however, as to every organized 
 body, is assigned certain periods of infancy, maturity, 
 and decay, which may be varied in duration from ac- 
 cidental causes, but can never, beyond certain limits, 
 be changed. What is true of the primary embryo 
 of the seed, is true also of all the buds propagated 
 from it, whether they remain on the parent stock, 
 or are transferred to another. Hence, when the peri- 
 od arrives in which the function of reproduction natu- 
 rally ceases in the buds of the parent tree, all the buds, 
 growing on foreign stocks, indicate the same charac- 
 ter of age, and cease to bear fruit ; and for the per- 
 manent continuance of the species recourse must then 
 be had to a seminal progeny. Mr Knight has very 
 ingeniously applied these principles to account for 
 tliat failure in bearing fruit which the oldest and best 
 varieties of trees in the cyder districts exhibit. Al- 
 though grafts from these trees still grow on foreign 
 stocks, yet they do not now yield fruit as formerly, 
 because the trees, from which tjiey have been taken, 
 have outlived the fruit-bearing period. 
 
 Art. II. — Funclions of Branches, Thorns, and Ten- 
 drils. 
 
 In its progressive growth, the bud, under its vari- 
 ous forms, gives origin to Branches, with their vari- 
 ous appendages of thorns and tendrils ; of leaves and 
 flowers. Of the structure of these several members 
 and organs, an account has been given in § 292, 302, 
 and 305, of our former article. The functions of the 
 branch may be considered as similar to those alrea- 
 dy delivered of the trunk ; which, indeed, it so nearly 
 resembles in structure and growth, that, if cut off 
 and planted, it readily, in many species, puts forth 
 rootlets and buds, and becomes a perfect tree. Of 
 the origin of branches from successive layers of wood, 
 as explained by Du Hamel, a description has like- 
 wise been given in § 301. 
 
 The Thorns of trees may be regarded generally as 
 abortive branches, which take on the form tliey bear 
 chiefly from defective nutrition ; and hence, as Mal- 
 , pighi observed, they often disappear under higher 
 culture. Sometimes, however, they derive their ori- 
 gin from the degeneration of other organs, as from 
 the stalks of leaves and flow^ers ; they serve as a de- 
 fence to plants, and protect them from the ravages 
 of animals. 
 
 The several varieties fulcra called Claspers and 
 Tendrils have the same structure as branches; and 
 originate sometimes, like thorns, from abortive leaves 
 and flowers. Their obvious use is to connect the 
 different parts of a plant with one another for mutual 
 support, or to attach themselves, for the same pur- 
 pose, to the bodies near them. Sometimes this pur- 
 pose is assisted by means of a viscous secretion which 
 they yield, and which glues them to neighbouring 
 bodies with much force. 
 
 Art. \1L— •'Functions of Leaves. 
 The Leaves spring from the buds chiefly of young 
 
 branches, and by their number, forms, and colour, Veg 
 constitute the chief ornament of trees. If they ex- ^^^3'^^ 
 hibit less splendour than flowers, they enjoy a longer 
 existence. They furnish to animals a large part of 
 their subsistence, afford them shade and shelter, and 
 spread everywhere beneath and around us, that " all 
 refreshing green," on which the eye, fatigued and 
 distracted by the glare of other colours, always loves 
 to repose. 
 
 We have already discoursed largely of the func- 
 tions of the leaves as organs of respiration and of 
 transpiration. Besides this transpiring power, the 
 leaves exercise also an absorbent function. From 
 the experiments of M. Bonnet, it appears, that the 
 leaves of many herbs, when laid upon water, absorb 
 equally well by both surfaces, but those of trees only 
 by the under surface : and these facts correspond 
 with the observations of Decandolle and Rudolphi,^ 
 as to the existence of pores on these surfaces re- 
 spectively (§ 151). The power of the leaves to ab- 
 sorb moisture from the air was also abundantly 
 proved in many of the experiments of Hales and 
 Du Hamel, and more recently by those of Knight. 
 This absorption appears to be carried on by the mi- 
 nute vascular terminations which open at the pores 
 (§ 72); and is performed apparently by the same 
 vessels, which, at a different time, and under different 
 circumstances of temperature and humidity, execute 
 the function of exhalation (§ 77). In thus ascrib- 
 ing to the terminations of these vessels the double 
 capacity of exhalation and absorption, we do no 
 more than what is allowed by all to be performed 
 by the vessels of the branch from which they origi- 
 nate ; for, when a branch has been separated from the 
 trunks and set to grow in an inverted position, the 
 functions of its vessels, in relation to exhalation and 
 absorption, become inverted also. 
 
 Beside the aqueous fluids given off" by leaves, 
 others are sometimes afforded, which seem to be se- 
 creted by peculiar organs. On the leaves of differ- 
 ent plants, mucilaginous, saccharine, resinous, or 
 oily fluids are sometimes seen ; or if invisible by the 
 eye, they are often sensible to taste and smell. In 
 some leaves, these secretions appear to proceed 
 from minute glandular organs, seated in the cellular 
 tissue : in others, small follicles in the cuticular tex- 
 ture seem to afford them. Of the structure of these 
 minute organs little is known, and still less of the 
 mode in which they execute their functions. Of 
 the influence of light on the secreted fluids of the 
 leaf we have already spoken ; and also of the mode 
 in which it contributes to the production of its 
 green colour. M, Bonnet has likewise shown that 
 light exerts a great power over the motion or direc- 
 tion of leaves, of which some notice vi^ill be taken 
 hereafter* 
 
 Art. IV. — Functions of Roots. 
 
 So nearly does the root agree in structure with 
 the trunk, that, as Malpighi observes, we may con- 
 sider it as a production of the trunk beneath the 
 soil. From the principal root or stock proceed the 
 buds that give origin to the primary rootlets ; and 
 these give off finer raraificationg, which are the true 
 absorbents of the root. These fine absorbents take 
 
VEGETABLE 
 
 egetable up the nutrient niatter from the earth, and convey 
 ysiology. the root, from whence it is sent to the trunk. 
 
 Where these absorbents extend, the earth is ex- 
 hausted of its nutrient matter, and not in the neigh- 
 bourhood of the larger roots. In a severe winter, 
 Du Hamel found these fine rootlets to die, and to 
 be abundantly replaced by others, when the tempe- 
 rature became milder. Not only the root, but the 
 branch of a tree, readily produces rootlets, if it be 
 amputated, and set to grow in water or in soil. The 
 form of the root is much influenced by the texture 
 of the soil. If the soil be easily penetrable, the root 
 descends in the form of a long tap-root ; but if it be 
 hard and resisting, then the root remains shorter, 
 and divides into lateral branches. Du Hamel remarks 
 too, that roots extend into that portion of soil which 
 is richest, while the barren parts are nearly destitute 
 of them ; so that the qualities of the soil, as well 
 as its texture, exert the greatest influence on their 
 direction and growth : in regard, however, both to 
 composition and texture, different soils are best suit- 
 ed to different kinds of roots. We have before re- 
 marked, that the elongation of roots and rootlets is 
 made by the addition of new matter to their extre- 
 mities, not, as in succulent branches, by the simple 
 extension of parts already formed. The diametral 
 growth of roots is effected, like that of the trunk, 
 by the formation of new layers between the bark and 
 wood. 
 
 Art. v.— Functions of Flowers. 
 Flowers may be regarded not only as the last, but 
 the most elaborated organs of the vegetable sys- 
 tem. Whether we contemplate the beauty of their 
 forms, the splendour of their colours, or the delicious 
 fragrance they everywhere breathe around us ; or 
 whether, with a physiological eje, we survey the 
 delicacy of their structure, and investigate the pecu- 
 liar functions they perform, we cannot but feel the 
 greatest admiration of the skill with which, in a com- 
 pass so small, and by means apparently so simple, 
 such a series of actions, terminating in results so 
 varied and important, can at once be combined and 
 regulated. 
 
 The flower is attached to the plant that bears it 
 by the peduncle, on the extremity of which is placed 
 the cup or calix, which, in its turn, supports the 
 corolla, and the organs of reproduction. Of these 
 organs, the male parts consist of one or more stamens, 
 formed by the filament, bearing on its top the anther, 
 which contains the fecundating particles, named 
 pollen. The female organs consist of one or more 
 pistils, the style o? which bears on its top the stigma, 
 and terminates below in the ovary, that contains the 
 rudiments of the seeds. For an account of the struc- 
 ture of these several parts, see § 366 of our former 
 article. 
 
 Various as are the forms, colours, and functions of 
 the several parts of the flower, yet, in structure, they 
 are so similar, that, under a change of circumstances, 
 almost any one part or organ can be made to assume 
 the character of any other. Thus, not only are the 
 petals of the corolla, or the stamens and pistils, some- 
 times abortive ; but, at other times, the stamens be- 
 come simple filaments or petals, or the petals take 
 
 TQL. VI. PART II. 
 
 P H Y S 1 0 L O G Y. 7st 
 
 the form of stamens. Sometimes, again, the style of Vegetabl* 
 the pistil changes into a petal : in other instances, Physiology, 
 the petal becomes a floral leaf, or the calix is changed ^-*"V*^ 
 into real leaves. In like manner, too, as leaves, or 
 their petioles, are sometimes transformed into clasp- 
 ers and tendrils, so the peduncles and petals of the 
 flower now and then exhibit similar transformations. 
 Nor are these transformations confined to the leaves 
 and flowers : they extend to the more solid and per- 
 manent members of the plant. Thorns, we before 
 remarked, were but abortive branches: and as a 
 branch, by surrounding it with earth, may be made 
 to throw out rootlets instead of buds, so a root, when 
 brought into light and air, will, on the contrary, put 
 forth buds. Even an entire tree may be inverted, 
 and the roots and branches, by being placed in cir- 
 cumstances respectively opposite to their nature, 
 may be made graduaJly to assume each other's cha- 
 racter, and execute each other's functions. These 
 facts demonstrate a great uniformity of structure in 
 all parts of vegetables, and show with what facility 
 modifications of form and of function are induced, 
 by varying the application of those external agents 
 and conditions, concerned in the developement of 
 vegetable organization. 
 
 1. Colours of Flowers — The colours of flowers are 
 not less diversified than their forms. They present 
 every variety of tint and every shade of intermixture ; 
 and not unfrequently the same flower, at different 
 times, or even at the same time, exhibits great diver- 
 sity of colour. Grew remarked that no flower has 
 its proper colour in the bud ; that many of them are 
 then pale or white ; and that the full and proper co- 
 lour is formed only when they expand. Even after 
 their expansion, the colour of some flowers, as that 
 of the rose, may be made to disappear by secluding 
 it from light, as Sir Humphry Davy remarked ; and 
 the flower of honeysuckle, which continues white 
 while the light is excluded, acquires its red hue on 
 exposure to light and air. In what manner, then, do 
 light and air contribute to the coloration of flowers ? 
 
 It has been long known that the colourless infu- 
 sions obtained from flowers are variously affected by 
 chemical re-agents. Grew, Becker, Geoffrey, Lewis, 
 and Delaval, extracted from various flowers, both by 
 water and alcohol, a colourable matter, which, on 
 the addition of an acid, became red ; and then by an 
 alkali was made to pass into violet, blue, or green. 
 The changes of colour thus produced in the infu- 
 sions of flowers were also exhibited by the petals 
 themselves, when immersed in acid and alkaline li- 
 quors ; so that the existence of a colourable matter 
 in flowers, capable of exhibiting a great diversity of 
 tint, according as acid or alkaline matter is made to 
 predominate, cannot be doubted ; and in this respect 
 the facts which regard the coloration of flowers 
 coincide with what has been delivered concerning 
 the colours of leaves. Many leaves, indeed, possess 
 naturally a red tint, others yield to water different 
 shades of yellow and red ; and in autumn, almost all 
 leaves commonly exhibit some variety or combina- 
 tion of those colours; so that, as Grew observes, 
 " the colours of most flowers are begun in the leave%, 
 only green being therein the predominant colour, as 
 a veil spread over them, conceals all the rest." 
 
 5 A 
 
;.34 VEGETABLE 
 
 Vegetable In leaves which yield oxygen gas in sunshine, we 
 Vhysiology. hgyg seen that alkaline matter is rendered predorai- 
 ^— nant by the decomposition of the carbonic acid pre- 
 viously combined with it ; but the united experience 
 of Priestley, Scheele, Ingenhousz, and De Saussure, 
 goes to prove that flowers never, under any circum- 
 stances, afFord oxygen gas by the agency of light. 
 In flowers, therefore, no carbonic acid is decompos- 
 ed. Consequently, no predominance of alkali can be 
 looked for ; and, therefore, although flowers contain 
 juices which are readily rendered green by alkalis, yet 
 in them no green colour is produced. 
 
 Although flowers, which bloom in the shade, are 
 paler than those which grow in light, yet, says Du 
 Hamel, as their different parts are commonly colour- 
 ed in the interior of the bud, light is not so necessary 
 to their coloration as to that of leaves. From an ex- 
 periment of M. Senebier, it would seem that, in some 
 flowers, air contributes to the production of their 
 colours ; for he found that the petals of the rose, 
 which had been whitened by digestion in alcohol, 
 recovered their red hue when confined in vessels of 
 common air, but not in those of azotic gas. Now, 
 experience shows, that flowers, both in sunshine and 
 in shade, uniformly convert the oxygen gas of the 
 air into carbonic acid : and if this acid gas was re- 
 tained in the vessel, it is probable that it contribut- 
 ed to restore the red colour of the petals, which re- 
 storation did not take place in azotic gas, because 
 no carbonic acid was then formed. Perhaps, in the 
 ordinary circumstances of growth, less alkali is car- 
 ried into the flower than the leaf, and, therefore, the 
 acid, that enters with the sap, will more readily con- 
 tribute to its coloration ; for as none of it is decom- 
 posed by light, it must be considered to abound in 
 the juices of the flower. Hence, while in leaves, 
 the green colour proceeds directly from the predo- 
 minance of alkali, occasioned, as we suppose, by the 
 decomposition of their carbonic acid ; in flowers, 
 where no such decomposition occurs, the retained 
 acid acts either in destroying colour, as in etiolated 
 plants, or exists variously in excess, and gives rise 
 to those several grades of colour, from whiteness up 
 to perfect redness, which different flowers exhibit. 
 How far light may act in modifying the composition 
 of those juices, on which the colours of flowers seem 
 to depend, has not been sufficiently ascertained. 
 
 It is, however, probable that the chemical condi- 
 tion of these juices themselves, or the textures by 
 or through which their colours are reflected or trans- 
 mitted, are modified by variations of structure in the 
 organs, which altogether escape detection, and be- 
 come known only in their effects. Du Hamel con- 
 sidered many varieties of colour in the flower to arise 
 from the intermixture of different species and varie- 
 ties of plants, at the period of fecundation. Poppies 
 and primroses, which grow wild in our fields, are re- 
 spectively red and yellow ; but the same plants, trans- 
 ferred to our gardens, furnish a prodigious number 
 of varieties. If the wild variety of primrose be re- 
 moved from its natural place, and set to grow among 
 cultivated varieties of the same kind which possess 
 different colours, the seeds obtained will produce 
 many yellow flowers, because the parent plant will 
 have been fecundated by some of its own stamens ; 
 
 PHYSIOLOGY. 
 
 but it will also afFord other varieties, because some V^etab 
 of the seeds will have been produced by fecundation Physiolo 
 of neighbouring plants. Many of the fine varieties ''^"^^^ 
 of flowers which Florists procure by means of seeds, 
 seem to be thus obtained. They, indeed, attribute 
 them to some particular infusion with which they 
 have watered their seeds, or to some colouring mat- 
 ter they have mixed with their soil ; or even to some 
 differently coloured bodies they have presented to 
 their plants, or to a singular good fortune peculiar 
 to themselves. " I have tried without success," says 
 Du Hamel, " these infusions and these mixtures of co- 
 lours ; and I deem it unnecessary to resort to ex- 
 periment to destroy the two other means." In the 
 ultimate production of colour, modifications may al- 
 so proceed not only from the texture of the parts, 
 but the configuration of their external surface, as 
 exemplified in the prismatic tints of " mother of 
 pearl," which, according to the beautiful observa- 
 tions of Dr Brewster, owe their existence to the con- 
 figuration of the surface alone. 
 
 2. Odour of Floivers. — Next to colour, the pro- 
 perty in flowers that most strikes our senses is 
 their odour. Other parts of plants, indeed, pos- 
 sess odour ; but the finer and more diffusible fra- 
 grance that emanates from them proceeds com- I 
 monly from the flower. Of the peculiar organs 
 in flowers which form and emit odorous par- 
 ticles but little is known. Their ordinary seat is 
 probably in the corolla, since many flowers, which 
 are wholly destitute of sexual organs, emit their pe- 
 culiar odours. Of the nature of the odorous matter, 
 all we at present know is, that it is inflammable : 
 and this property, M. De Saussure considers to de- 
 pend rather on the presence of an essential oil, than 
 on any variety of hydrogen gas. That light is more 
 especially concerned in its production seems pro- 
 bable from the fact, already stated, that the most 
 pungent odours cease to be formed in plants which 
 are kept secluded from light ; but are speedily pro- 
 duced in them when restored to its presence. In 
 climates, too, and situations where the sun exerts 
 the greatest influence, plants possess the most exalt- 
 ed odours and the most active inflammable ingre- 
 dients: but of the mode in which the solar rays act 
 in thus contributing to produce odour and inflamma- 
 bility in plants, little is at present known. 
 
 3. Savour of Flowers — Connected with the odour 
 of plants, at least in the mode of its production, is 
 the property they possess of imparting sensations 
 of taste. This property is more generally dis- 
 tributed through the vegetable, and is of a much 
 less fleeting and diffusive nature than that of odour. 
 Tastes have been regarded either as simple or 
 compound; and of each a great, diversity is to 
 be found in plants. Tastes differ also in quality, 
 degree, and duration ; are more or less fixed or 
 diffusible; and, in some instances, affect variously 
 the different parts of the organ which receives the 
 impression. Of all these, and some other varieties, 
 examples are given by Grew, taken from the savours 
 of the juices found in the wood, bark, and root ; or in 
 the leaves, flowers, and fruits of various plants. 
 
 In general, however, the roots, and all those parts 
 that are secluded from light, have a taste milder and 
 
VEGETABLE? 
 
 ^Btable less intense than others : and, as we before reraark- 
 siology. gjj^ plants, possessing naturally a hot or bitter taste, 
 become mild, or even sweet, by the exclusion of 
 light, and resume again their pungent and acrid 
 qualities if brought into day. Light, therefore, ex- 
 erts a direct action in the formation of the savours 
 as well as of the odours and colours of plants. The 
 odour and savour are commonly more concentrated 
 in some parts than in others ; and when formed in 
 the leaves, they are frequently mixed with the " pro- 
 per juices," and more or less pervade every part of 
 the plant. Although, therefore, the action of light, 
 in the production of colour, odour, and savour, be, 
 in the first instance, local, or confined to those plants, 
 and parts of plants, exposed directly to its influence, 
 yet these properties may afterwards be diffused, by 
 the motions of the fluids, through all parts of the ve- 
 getable, including even those buried beneath the 
 soil, and thereby protected from the action of light. 
 From the whole it appears probable, that all the ef- 
 fects, simultaneously produced in plants by the di- 
 rect agency of light, are, in position, local ; in ope- 
 ration, chemical ; and in nature entirely distinct 
 from that series of actions accomplished by the air, 
 and which contribute to their evolution, nutrition, 
 and growth. 
 
 4. Fecundation of Flotvers — Although in appear- 
 ance the flower differs so much from the leaf, yet, in 
 . structure, it is very similar; and, for the due per- 
 formance of its proper functions, not only requires 
 the presence of the same agents, but acts in the 
 same manner upon them. The necessity of air to 
 the growth of pJants, and the conversion of its pure 
 part into carbonic acid by the leaves, in every stage 
 of that growth, have been already noticed ; and 
 Priestley, Scheele, and Ingenhousz, showed that 
 flowery, in like manner, require air, and convert its 
 oxygen into carbonic acid. M. De Saussure has 
 since ascertained that flowers do not develope in 
 atmospheres destitute of oxygen gas ; that, in pro- 
 portion to their bulk, they consume more oxygen 
 than leaves ; and that the oxygen that disappears is 
 replaced by an equal volume of carbonic acid gas ; 
 so that little or no variation of bulk occurs in the 
 air employed. Unlike leaves, however, flowers do 
 not produce oxygen gas in sunshine. Under such 
 an increase of temperature, they consume even 
 more oxygen than before ; but no trace of the pro- 
 duction, either of hydrogen or azote, is discoverable 
 in the atmosphere in which flowers have been made 
 to grow. 
 
 Connected immediately with the great consump- 
 tion of oxygen by flowers is the high temperature, 
 which some of them manifest at the period of fecun- 
 dation. MM. Lamarck and Senebier observed the 
 flower of Arum cordifolium to impart the sensation 
 of heat to the touch ; and to possess, a little after 
 mid-day, a temperature 12° higher than that of the 
 surrounding atmosphere. In the Isle of Madagascar, 
 M. Hubert found the same plant to raise the ther- 
 mometer still higher; that the male parts of the 
 flower possessed, in this respect, greater power than 
 the female, so that twelve stamens, placed round 
 the bulb of a thermometer, raised it, at the moment 
 of bursting, from 70° to 121°; that this power resid- 
 
 HYSIOLOGY. 735 
 
 ed in the exterior surface, not within the substance Vegetable 
 of the organs ; and, lastly, that air was necessary to P^P'o'ogy' 
 this elevation of temperature, and was rapidly de- '"•"^z'**^ 
 praved in the process. In confirmation of these 
 facts, M. De Saussure has since found that double 
 or imperfect flowers consume less oxygen than 
 those which are simple and perfect ; that the greatest 
 portion of this gas is consumed at the period of fe- 
 cundation ; and that the stamens, adhering by their 
 base to the recep'acle, consumed more than other 
 parts. He farther ascertained that the temperature 
 of many flowers rises in proportion to the quantity of 
 oxygen consumed ; and, to the rapid combination of 
 oxygen gas with the carbon of the flower, he as- 
 cribes, with M. Senebier, the great rise of tempe- 
 rature that occurs, in certain flowers, at the period 
 of fecundation. 
 
 This necessity of air to thedevelopement of flowers, 
 taken in connection with the chemical changes it 
 suffers, and the high temperature thence arising at 
 the period of fecundation, points to some peculiar 
 action which it exerts in the exercise of the gene- 
 rative function. Not long after the true nature and 
 use of the sexual organs had been made known by 
 Grew, Dr Blair, in a learned essay on the Generation 
 of P/«/zf5,maintained, that, while the greater part of the 
 ascending sap passed on to the leaf, a portion was also 
 carried to the petals of the flower, and, in its course 
 through them, underwent that change and elabora- 
 tion which fitted it for forming the pollen, and ren- 
 dering that matter the proper means of fecundation. 
 A similar opinion of the use of the corolla was held 
 by Du Hamel. The petals, says he, are organs ne- 
 cessary to fructification. They not only protect the 
 stamens and pistils, but perform the office of leaves, 
 in acting on the fluids of the sexual organs, and per- 
 haps effect in them some important preparation. Dr 
 Darwin, too, considered the petals to act, by the 
 agency of the air, in elaborating the juices destined 
 to nourish and develope the sexual organs. These 
 views assign to the less important parts of the 
 flower functions essential to the perfection of the 
 whole, and corresponding in nature with those exe- 
 cuted by the leaves, only that " Nature," as Grew 
 observes, hath lapped up the virtue in leaves as in 
 brown paper, but in the flowers as in leaf-gold." 
 
 When the organs of reproduction have attained 
 their perfect state, and a suitable condition of the 
 atmosphere prevails, the process «f fecundation is ac- 
 complished by various modes in different plants. By 
 the agency of the solar rays, aided probably by that 
 high temperature which, at this period, they derive 
 from the decomposition of the air, the anthers burst 
 and discharge the pollen in the form of a fine dust. 
 This dust, in some instances, falls directly on the 
 stigma of the pistil, previously prepared, by the se- 
 cretion of a viscid matter on its surface, to receive 
 and detain it. In other instances, the pollen is con- 
 veyed to the stigma by insects, or by the wind ; and 
 in others, its conveyance is accomplished in different 
 modes. When the pollen has been shed, the sta- 
 mens and petals soon begin to fade and fall ; the fila- 
 ment of the pistil likewise fades ; but the ovary at 
 its base augments in size, and the pulpy globules, or 
 vesicles, previously formed within it, enlarge, and as* 
 
736 V E G ET A BL E 
 
 Vegetable sutne gradually the form and character of the perfect 
 Physiology, fj-yif or seed. For an account of the successive ap- 
 " /""^ pearances exhibited in the formation of the seed, as 
 observed by Malpighi and Grew, we must refer to 
 § 383, 384, &c. of our former article. 
 
 The pollen, which occasions these extraordinary 
 changes in the ovarian vesicles, is composed of small 
 particles, which possess a ditferent colour, size, and 
 figure, in different plants. These particles are or- 
 ganized, and, when observed in a bright sunshine 
 with a microscope, may, in some plants, be seen to 
 burst ; and then a liquor like saliva escapes, in which,, 
 says Du Hamel, small particles are obscurely visible. 
 Of the chemical nature of the pollen little farther is 
 known, than that it yields a peculiar matter, called 
 pollenin, which is described as being of a yellow co- 
 lour, without taste or smell, insoluble in water and 
 alcohol, but highly inflammable, and yielding, by dis- 
 tillation, a good deal of ammonia, which approxi- 
 mates it, in composition, to animal matter j but this 
 knowledge gives us no insight into the nature of its 
 peculiar action. 
 
 It is also difficult to determine whether the pollen, 
 after being received on the stigma, is conveyed so 
 as to act directly on the ovarian vesicles, or whe- 
 ther it excites in them its specific action, without 
 being brought into actual contact. In many plants, 
 indeed, the number of pistils corresponds with the 
 number of seeds produced; but in other plants, 
 many seeds are produced, where there is only one 
 pistil. Whatever be the form of the pistil, its open- 
 ing, says Du Hamel, is often continued to its base, 
 or even into the ovary : in other instances again, 
 this opening is not visible. In the open pistils, a 
 fasciculus of vessels extends probably from each di- 
 vision of the stigma, to each cell of the ovary. In 
 the apple and pear, whose fruits contain five cells, 
 and in which there are as many pistils terminated 
 by their proper stigmata, each style, if dissected, is 
 seen to divide into two below, so that a portion is 
 continued to each seed : and in like manner, he 
 continues, a single style, after entering the ovary, 
 may divide into as many parts as there are cells for 
 seeds. But whether the pollen act directly or indi- 
 rectly on the ovarian vesicle, there is little doubt 
 but its influence is necessary to the perfection of the 
 seed : for though, as Ray observed, some fruits may 
 be produced without the concurrence of the male 
 parts of the plant, just as some birds will produce 
 eggs without the concurrence of the cock, yet such 
 fruits, like such eggs, are altogether barren and un- 
 productive. 
 
 To the impregnation of one species of flower by 
 another of a kindred nature, through the agency of 
 winds and insects, Du Hamel ascribed most of the 
 varieties of fruits denominated new. In some fruits, 
 the species, in the hybrid production, are kept so 
 distinct, that we are able to distinguish one part 
 from another, with which it had been associated at 
 the period of fecundation. Thus, there is a species 
 of orange, vvhich, on the same tree, says he, produces 
 *'des bigarades, des citrons, and des balotins separes, 
 ou meme rassembles par quartiers dans le meme 
 fruit." In like manner, a certain species of vine 
 produces, on the same shoot, bunches both of red 
 
 PHYSIOLOGY. 
 
 and white varieties; or" on the same bunch both red Vegetal 
 and white grapes ; or bunches on which the grapes P^ysioloj 
 are red and white by halves, or even by quarters. ^*'*"V^ 
 These diversities in fruits he attributed to the im- 
 pregnation of one species by the pollen of another ; 
 and to a similar cause, as we before stated, he as- 
 cribed many of those diversities in the colours of 
 flowers, where different varieties grow and blossom 
 together. Others have made many direct experiments 
 on the reproductive function in plants by crossing 
 different species with each other ; and, by a judici- 
 ous extension of the same methods, Mr Knight has 
 been able to present us with several new and im- 
 proved varieties both of seeds and fruits. 
 
 Art. VI. — Maturation of Fruits. 
 
 The period that intervenes between fecundation 
 and that in which the ripening of the fruit or seed is 
 completed, varies in different plants, and even in the 
 same plant, is much modified by climate, season, ha- 
 bit, &c. Whatever, to a certain extent, diminishes 
 the vigour of vegetation, favours the production and 
 accelerates the maturation of the fruit. So long as 
 trees continue to shoot and abound in sap, says Du 
 Hamel, their fruits do not arrive at maturity. By 
 stripping them of their leaves, we hasten this period, 
 not so much, however, by exposing the fruit to the 
 sun, as by weakening the flow of the sap. But if 
 the tree be stripped before the fruit has reached 
 its proper size, both its size and quality are bad. 
 As the powers of vegetation decline, the fruit ad- 
 vances towards maturity ; and then exposure to the 
 sun, by promoting transpiration and concentrating 
 the juices of the fruit, hastens the ripening process. 
 At an earlier period, however, the same degree of 
 exposure, by exciting too great transpiration, might 
 cause the fruit to languish and wither. When fruits 
 are enclosed in bags to protect them from wasps, 
 transpiration is checked, and the fruit enlarges ; but 
 has not so good a flavour as usual. The present 
 taste for what are called " fine fruits,'' seems direct- 
 ed chiefly to size, and is content to resign the rich 
 and racy flavour, found only in fruits of a moderate 
 bulk, for the pampered and bloated produce of a too 
 luxuriant vegetation. 
 
 M. Ingenhousz formerly maintained that fleshy 
 fruits, whether ripe or unripe, and whether growing 
 in sunshine or in shade, always vitiated the air in 
 which they were confined : and in a late Memoir on 
 the Maturation of Fruits, M. Berard has adopted the 
 same opinion, and maintained, that green fruits do 
 not decompose carbonic acid and disengage oxygen 
 gas in sunshine, but that, through every period of 
 their growth, they uniformly convert the oxygen of 
 the air into carbonic acid gas. To this Memoir, M. 
 De Saussure, who had formerly combated the opinion 
 of Ingenhousz, has replied by new experiments ; and 
 has satisfactorily proved, that although, during the 
 night, green fruits convert the oxygen gas of the air 
 into carbonic acid gas, yet that, when exposed to 
 sunshine, they again reconvert this carbonic acid into 
 oxygen gas ; so that, if they be placed alternately iri 
 sunshine and in obscurity, for two entire days, the 
 air of the vessel undergoes successive changes which 
 nearly counterbalance each other, and at the close of 
 
VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY. 
 
 737 
 
 getable the experiment no other degree of change exists in 
 (rsuilogy. than may be attributed to errors of observation. 
 Hence it is inferred, that, both in the shade and in 
 sunshine, green fruits act upon the air Hke green 
 leaves ; but this action is carried on to a smaller ex- 
 tent, and diminishes as they approach maturity. 
 
 As thus the air, under similar circumstances, 
 suffers the same changes from green fruits as from 
 leaves, it may be presumed that the fruit owes its 
 green colour to the same action of light upon it. 
 Light seems also to act in the production of the other 
 colours which fruits exhibit. M. Bonnet shut up, in 
 cases of white tin, grapes of a black colour, which 
 did not then acquire their natural hue. Pears, says 
 Du Hamel, which grow in the shade are often green, 
 while others, exposed to the sun, are beautifully 
 coloured : and the same things are observed in peaches. 
 Neither peaches, pears, nor cherries, assume their 
 proper colours, if, at the period of ripening, says M. 
 Senebier, they are secluded from light; and if a por- 
 tion of fruit be covered with tin-foil, that part will 
 continue pale or yellow, while the uncovered portions 
 of the same fruit become perfectly red. If the red 
 juices of fruits be extracted by water or alcohol, they 
 are affected by acids and alkalis like those of flowers ; 
 and similar changes are produced by these agents on 
 the coloured infusions obtained from their skins. 
 These facts show that the same chemical actions, 
 which occasion the colour of leaves and flowers, are 
 employed in the coloration of fruits : but in these 
 latter, they are probably much modified by the che- 
 mical changes that go on in the fruit itself during the 
 process of maturation. 
 
 To discover the chemical changes that take place 
 in the fruit during its maturation, M. Berard analyzed 
 several fleshy fruits at different periods of their 
 growth. With this view, three apricots of the same 
 size were selected, and being plucked in succession, 
 one of them was analyzed at three different stages of 
 growth, — viz. in its green state, in a state more ad- 
 vanced, and in a ripe state. 
 
 The several results are given in the following 
 table : 
 
 Apricot very Green. 
 
 Advanced. 
 
 Ripe. 
 
 Animal matter.,. 
 
 0,76 
 
 0,34 
 
 
 0,17 
 
 Green colouring 
 
 
 
 Yellow 
 
 
 matter 
 
 0,03 
 
 0,10 
 
 
 3,61 
 
 2,53 
 
 
 1,86 
 
 
 4,10 
 
 4,47 
 
 
 5,12 
 
 Sugar 
 
 traces of 
 
 6,64 
 
 
 16,48 
 
 
 . 2,70 
 
 2,30 
 
 
 1,80 
 
 
 . a very small portion in the 
 
 three. 
 
 Water 
 
 89,39 
 
 84,49 
 
 
 74,87 
 
 In the interval between the first and last analysis, 
 the fruit had so much increased in size, as nearly to 
 double its weight. It will be seen that, with the ex- 
 ception of the green colouring matter, which had be- 
 come yellow, all the ingredients, found in the unripe 
 fruit, were present in the ripe one, but some were in 
 greater proportion. Sugar in particular had greatly 
 increased, and water had diminished. From these 
 
 results it is inferred, that the different flavours of Vegetable 
 green and ripe fruits are not owing so much to the ^^^'^^'''^sy- 
 disappearance of any primary ingredient, or its trans- ""^^'^-"^^ 
 formation into another substance, as to the produc- 
 tion of new substances, and especially of sugar, made 
 m the progressive stages of growth. Similar analyses 
 of cherries, gooseberries, plums, and peaches, afford- 
 ed the same results. 
 
 There are some fruits, however, as those of apple 
 and pear, which ripen very well after they are de- 
 tached from the tree ; and in these, sugar seems to 
 be formed out of the other ingredients, as it is form- 
 ed from fecula in the germination of the seed. 
 Berard plucked a pear from the tree when firm and 
 green, and shut it up in a close vessel of atmo- 
 spheric air from the 12th to the 29th of August. 
 Its colour had then become yellow, and it was per- 
 fectly ripe. During this period, its total weight had 
 diminished very little, and this was due to the loss 
 of a little water, and a minute portion of carbon ; 
 but the proportions of its ingredients were much 
 changed, for the quantity of sugar was nearly doub- 
 led, and that of gum, of water, and of woody fibre, 
 had decreased. The united loss of the gum and 
 woody fibre were not, however, equal to more than 
 half the gain of sugar ; and, therefore, M. Berard 
 supposes that water may have become fixed, and 
 augmented the proportion of this latter substance. 
 If water be thus held to have contributed to the 
 production of sugar in the pear, we may suppose it 
 to have served a similar purpose in the ripening of 
 the apricot ; for the loss of water in the ripe apricot, 
 as compared with the green one, comes near to the 
 gain of sugar ; and no change in the relative propor- 
 tions of the other ingredients can be deemed suffi- 
 cient to account for the great increase of saccharine 
 matter. 
 
 The external agents required to effect these che- 
 mical changes in the maturating fruit appear to be 
 heat and air. In the above experiment with the 
 pear, the vessel was kept in a temperature of about 
 82° Fahrenheit ; and the air, as well as the fruit, un- 
 derwent a change of composition. It remained, in- 
 deed, unchanged in volume; but 100 parts of it 
 yielded, on analysis, 13*52 carbonic acid, 7-51 oxy- 
 gen, and 78-97 azote: so that, as in other cases, the 
 loss of oxygen was supplied by an equal bulk of car- 
 bonic acid, since the united volumes of the acid gas 
 and oxygen made together almost exactly the ^^J^ of 
 oxygen gas which the air at first contained. Hence 
 no oxygen can have combined with the fruit; nor 
 can the azote of the air be deemed to have under- 
 gone any necessary change, since the very minute 
 portion of that gas unaccounted for may fairly be 
 set down to error in experiment. 
 
 That this conversion of oxygen gas into carbonic 
 acid is necessary to the maturation of fruits, M. Be- 
 rard inferred from the fact that the process is arrest- 
 ed if fruits be kept in an atmosphere destitute of 
 oxygen; yet, after being kept for some weeks in 
 such an atmosphere, the process recommences if 
 oxygen be supplied. In this production of saccha- 
 rine matter through the entire substance of the pear, 
 nothing can be attributed to the mere loss of the 
 carbon and water which it gives off, and which to- 
 
738 VEGETABLE 
 
 Vegetable gether caused in it only a minute loss of weight ; 
 Physiology, f^gjfijgr pan we ascribe it to any combination of oxy- 
 '■'^^^''"^ ggjj^ since all the oxygen that disappears exists, ex- 
 terior to the fruit, in the form of carbonic gas. No- 
 thing, therefore, remains to explain tlie use of the 
 air in this process but the liberation of caloric which 
 takes place when its oxygen is converted into car- 
 bonic acid gas. To the action, therefore, of this 
 calorific power on the gum or mucilage of the fruit, 
 and perhaps on its water, must we chiefly attribute 
 the change that constitutes maturation. 
 
 That caloric, in combination with moisture, will 
 produce saccharine matter in fruits, as well as in 
 seeds, is familiarly known in the ordinary process of 
 baking pears, and was more precisely ascertained by 
 Dr Darwin. He placed some pears, of a very au- 
 stere taste, in an earthen vessel, and covered them 
 with a few inches of water. The vessel was then 
 placed in an oven. In nine hours, the pears had ac- 
 quired a sweetish taste, and in twelve more had be- 
 come nearly as sweet as syrup or treacle. 
 
 To this process of maturation, light, though 
 ordinarily present, and acting on the colours of 
 fruits, does not seem necessary ; for fruits will ripen 
 in dark places ; and, to hasten maturation, it is not 
 uncommon to enclose bunches of grapes in black 
 bags, which must, at the same time, exclude light 
 and accumulate heat. Whether light be actually un- 
 favourable to the formation of sugar in fruits, as it 
 appears to be in seeds, remains to be ascertained ; 
 but certainly, though it should retard, it does not 
 prevent maturation; and its presence is ordinarily 
 accompanied with such an increase of temperature as 
 may more than compensate for its supposed injuri- 
 ous operation. Since, also, the vegetating process 
 gradually diminishes as the fruit approaches maturi- 
 ty, and ceases to act upon it when its growth is com- 
 pleted, we cannot ascribe the changes that constitute 
 maturation to vegetation, but must regard it as a 
 chemical change, effected by the reaction of the se- 
 veral-ingredients of the fruit on each other, under 
 the operation of those external agents necessary to 
 its occurrence. 
 
 Art. VII. — Fecundity of Vegetables. 
 
 The period required for the accomplishment of 
 those clianges in the ovarian vesicles, which termi- 
 nate in the formation of perfect seeds, varies much 
 in different species of plants, and also in the same 
 species, under different circumstances of climate, 
 soil, habit, &c. When they are completed, the ovary 
 or pericarp, in which the seeds were contained, is 
 opened, in various modes, for their discharge : or 
 the fleshy pulp that invested them decays ; or the 
 stony covering in which they were imprisoned is 
 rent asunder; so that, in one way or other, they are 
 set free, and by various means are disseminated over 
 the surface of the earth, destined either to reproduce 
 new beings similar to themselves, or to minister to 
 the gratification and sustenance of animal life. 
 
 Of the seeds thus produced, the number, size, 
 figure, texture, and other properties, are infinitely 
 diversified. With respect to their number, we have 
 already, in our former article (§ 235), given ex- 
 amples of the productiveness of wheat and barley, 
 
 'HYSIOLOGY. 
 
 and described the peculiar structure (§ 233) by "VegetaW 
 which, in the family of the grasses, this productive P^ysiolog 
 power may be almost indefinitely augmented. M. "^"^^ 
 Dodart prosecuted the same inquiry on trees. He 
 selected an elm, which, in the fifteenth year of its 
 growth, he calculated to produce, in one season, 
 329,000 seeds. Supposing this tree to live lOO 
 years, and its mean fecundity, for its whole life, to 
 be taken at b29,000, this number, multiplied by 100, 
 will give 32,900,000 as the number of seeds pro- 
 duced, through its whole life, by the single seed of 
 an elm. But suppose farther, says Du Hamel, all 
 these seeds to be planted, and each to produce a 
 tree as fruitful as its parent, and so on from genera- 
 tion to generation, — then, calculating the produce 
 of each of these trees during 100 years, we shall 
 have an increasing geometrical progression, of which 
 the first term will be one — the second, thirty-three 
 millions — the third, the square of that number — the 
 fourth, its cube ; and so on to infinity — a fecundity, 
 which, in the revolution of ages, would be sufficient 
 to cover the whole surface of the earth with one 
 species of plant. 
 
 But propagation by seeds is not the only mode by 
 which plants are multiplied. With the exception of 
 some trees, as the pine and fir, which do not shoot 
 afresh when they have been lopped, except when 
 very young, most vegetables, continues the same 
 author, contain in all parts of their branches, their 
 trunk, and even roots, germs which do not develope 
 unless rendered necessary by the retrenchment of 
 their boughs. Thus, if an elm be headed, and its 
 smaller branches removed, its trunk and larger 
 branches will, in the following spring, be covered 
 with new productions, which never would have ap- 
 peared if the first branches had not been removed. \ 
 At whatever part or height the tree is headed, new 
 shoots spring forth. The whole tree, therefore, 
 from the root to the extremities of the branches, is 
 filled with germs (or rather, we would say, endow- 
 ed with a capacity of producing them), when the 
 parts, previously existing, receive such injury as to 
 render these new productions necessary to supply 
 the place of the former. 
 
 Roots also possess this capacity of producing shoots 
 as well as the branches. If the root of the elm be 
 exposed, with certain precautions, to the air, it puts 
 forth young branches ; and many creeping roots, 
 when they come into light and air, produce branches, 
 which, by transplantation, form individual trees. A 
 sprig of willow, when both its ends are thrust into 
 the earth, yields rootlets from both, while the inter- 
 mediate portion pushes forth leaves into the air ; and 
 the leaves of certain vegetables, as those of cotyledon 
 calycinim, are capable, in proper circumstances, of 
 producing entire plants. We may therefore say, adds 
 Du Hamel, that there is perhaps no point of the sur- 
 face either of the branches, the stem, or the root, 
 which does not contain a germ, ready to develope it- 
 self when circumstances shall arise wherein this de- 
 velopement may be useful to the parent tree. 
 
 Nay, more, continues the same author, there is 
 not perhaps any point on the branches, the stem, or 
 the root, from which rootlets may not spring, when 
 the conditions required for their developement shall 
 
VEGETABLE 
 
 etable be present. If the root of a species of campanula be 
 liology. cut into pieces, and these pieces be put into the 
 earth, each piece will produce both roots and stems. 
 Of these concealed germs, dissection indicates no 
 trace, until they become sensible in the progress of 
 thfeir developement. From whence do they pro- 
 ceed i From the vessels or the cells ? Or are they 
 formed by the sap ? Do they exist in a form in- 
 visible to us before the tree was headed ? This, 
 says he, is pure conjecture, although it is true that, 
 if this operation had not been performed, the sap 
 would have continued its course in the parts already 
 formed, and would not have aided in developing the 
 germs of which we speak. But, not to abandon our- 
 selves to imagination, it is sufficient, he adds, to have 
 shown the immense fertility of vegetables, first, by 
 seeds; and, secondly, by invisible germs, of which 
 but a small number of analog^ous facts are to be 
 found in the animal kingdom. In these remarks, 
 Du Harael, the Haller of vegetable physiology, evi- 
 dently leans to the doctrine of pre-existing germs, 
 which at one time so much occupied the attention of 
 naturalists; but of which he ultimately disposes, with 
 tliat good sense and real candour, which are not less 
 admirable in all his writings than the talent and in- 
 formation which they every where display. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 Of THE Vital PovifERs, Secretions, Spontane- 
 ous Motions, Sleep, Decay, and Death of 
 Plants. 
 
 Art. I. — Of the Vital Powers. 
 
 Such is a brief outline of those vegetable functions 
 which comprehend the evolution, growth, and repro- 
 duction of plants. In the description of these func- 
 tions, we have endeavoured to keep within the limits 
 of observation and experiment ; and, in reasoning 
 from the facts derived from these sources, we have 
 adhered strictly to explanations, which apply only to 
 the physical constitution of plants. But we are a- 
 ware, that, to accomplish these physical changes, not 
 only is a particularstructure required, but that struc- 
 ture must be endowed with the property or principle 
 that distinguishes living organized beings from dead 
 and inorganic matter. Without embarrassing our- 
 selves with inquiries into the nature and origin of life, 
 we are content, on the present occasion, to seek it 
 only in its effects ; to regard it as a power or proper- 
 ty not less essential to the constitution of living mat- 
 ter, than gravitation is to that of dead matter ; and, 
 rejecting all speculation about its nature, to study 
 only the physical conditions required for the dis- 
 play of its operations, and, as far as we are able, 
 trace the laws by which those operations are regulat- 
 ed. *' It is not," says Dr Franklin, " of much im- 
 portance to us to know the manner in which Nature 
 executes her laws ; it is enough, if we know the laws 
 themselves. It is of real'use to us to know that chi- 
 na, left in the air unsupported, will fall and break ; 
 but how it comes to fall, and why it breaks, are mat- 
 ters of speculation. It is a pleasure, indeed, to know 
 them, but we can preserve our china without it." 
 
 Beside the evidences of a living power in plants 
 derived from the ordinary phenomena of growth 
 
 PHYSIOLOGY. 7SC 
 
 and reproduction, the function of secretion by which Vegetable 
 growth is sustained, and various new products form- Physiology, 
 ed, deserves more particular notice. Other eviden- ^-^V^ 
 ces of this power have been drawn from the various 
 motions exhibited by the roots, leaves, flowers, and 
 fruits of plants ; and also from the phenomena of in- 
 fancy, maturity, and old age, which they exhibit in 
 the successive periods of their existence. To enable 
 them to execute these different functions, and exhibit 
 these phenomena, some physiologists iiave pushed the 
 analogies between plants and animals to an unwar- 
 rantable extent ; and, in addition to all the attributes 
 connected with growth and reproduction, have en- 
 dowed plants not only with irritability but with sen- 
 sibility, instinct, perception, and volition. In ascrib- 
 ing to them these attributes, more attention seems to 
 have been given to a supposed correspondence in ef- 
 fects, than to a real agreement in the structure and 
 functions of organs. Neither has any very nice dis- 
 tinction been taken between what may be due to 
 physical agents, acting on vegetable organization ; 
 and what, from our present inability to explain on 
 physical principles, we are too apt at once to attri- 
 bute to what are called vital principles or causes. It 
 is only, however, where physical explanations alto- 
 gether fail, that it is allowable to resort to the mys- 
 terious aid of vital causes ; And as the Natural 
 Philosopher, in treating of inanimate matter, assumes 
 gravitation as a fact, and, without investigating its na- 
 ture, proceeds to describe the laws of its action 
 
 so the Physiologist, in studying living bodies, may 
 regard life, and direct his inquiries rather to the 
 laws by which it acts, than to the nature or principle 
 of its action. 
 
 Art. II — Of Secretion. 
 
 By secretion is understood the separation of a pe- 
 culiar matter from the general mass of fluids by some 
 particular structure, and which may either retain its 
 primary condition, or pass into a solid-state. Though 
 the mass of fluid from which secretions are produced 
 be one and the same, and the secreting organ, as to 
 external conditions, be often in the same circum- 
 stances, yet the matters secreted differ greatly from 
 each other, which difference arises, probably, from 
 variety of structure in the secreting organs. Thus, 
 an essential oil is found only in the rind of the orange, 
 a fat oil only in the kernel of the almond, and so 
 with regard to other secretions which exist only in 
 particular parts. Besides the acids, alkalis, earths, 
 and metals, which, though of a mineral nature, are 
 more or less constantly found in plants, chemists 
 enumerate about forty products of vegetation, which 
 possess distinct chemical characters; and of many 
 of these products numerous varieties exist. As 
 none of these substances can be detected in the com- 
 mon sap, they must have been elaborated by the spe- 
 cific organs of vegetables, under a process of secre- 
 tion. By what peculiarity of structure, or of func- 
 tion, these organs are enabled to produce such re- 
 markable chemical chan ges in the common sap, is 
 quite unknown ; neither do we know how much is 
 to be attributed to the action of the organ itself, or 
 to the reaction of the several ingredients on each 
 other, or to the influence of external agents. 
 
 Of these secretions, the most important is the cam- 
 
VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY. 
 
 740 
 
 Vegetable bium, the fluid employed directly in vegetable nutri- 
 Physiology. ^i^^ and growth. By the changes which the com- 
 
 men sap undergoes in the leaves, the «' proper juices' 
 
 of plants are formed. These juices differ greatly 
 from each other both in their sensible and chemical 
 qualities. It is from them that the cambium is di- 
 rectly formed by a process of secretion, and in all 
 plants is said to possess nearly the same characters. 
 It is a mucilaginous fluid, without colour, odour, or 
 taste ; while the " proper juices" themselves exhibit 
 all those properties. The " proper juices" also are 
 contained in the vessels, and flow out when they are 
 divided ; but the cambium transudes rather than 
 flows, and that only in places where new parts are 
 to be formed. Thus, in the pine, says Mirbel, while 
 the " proper" or resinous juice flows in the large 
 vessels, the cambium transudes beneath the liOer ; 
 and similar observations on the fig show that the 
 cambium is entirely distinct from the proper juice. 
 The cambium, then, we must regard as a secretion, 
 separated from the " proper juice" by the vascular 
 structure of the liber or alburnum, when and where- 
 soever it is required to support nutrition and growth. 
 Hence, in an experiment of Du Hamel, when apiece 
 of the bark of a peach tree was engrafted on the wood 
 of the plum, the new wood, formed beneath the 
 bark, was white like that of the peach, not red like 
 that of the plum. Of the other secretions of plants, 
 which, for reasons already assigned (§ 169), are 
 found chiefly on the external parts, as the leaves, 
 flowers, fruits, &c., the number and diversity are 
 very great ; they are formed, probably, in each in- 
 stance, by peculiar and appropriate organs, but in 
 what manner is quite unknown. 
 
 Art. III. 0/ the Spontaneous Motions of Plants. 
 
 Although plants, as is well known, possess no loco- 
 motive power, yet, in different parts, they often ex- 
 hibit what are deemed spontaneovis movements. In 
 cloudy weather through the day, and always towards 
 evening, many plants, at certain hours, close their 
 leaves and flowt^rs. Bonnet remarked, that the 
 leaves of certain plants approached by their superior 
 surface when the sun shone ; but as he declined or 
 set, they fell down, and, even in some instances, ap- 
 proached by their inferior surface. If heat was ap- 
 plied to leaves thus closed, they would open and fold 
 back in a contrary direction: and, on the other hand, 
 if moisture was applied to leaves that had been folded 
 by the sun's heat, they also would open and fold back 
 as from dew. In these examples, the different con- 
 ditions of heat and moisture seem very much to in- 
 fluence the movements of the leaves. In like manner, 
 the stalks of many fruits change their office under 
 the different conditions, with respect to moisture, 
 ' that accompany the ripening process : for under the 
 desiccation which then occurs, many of them, says 
 Du Hamel, exercise movements not unlike those of 
 muscular action, and are thereby enabled, in some 
 instances, to scatter their seeds. 
 
 We have already described many important effects 
 produced in plants by the direct action of light, and 
 have now to notice the influence it exerts on their 
 movements. If plants be confined in a chamber, 
 where there is but one window, all the younger shoots 
 
 will forsake their perpendicular direction and make Veget 
 towards the light. In like manner, a young tree, Piiy-"iO' 
 when growing in the midst of older ones, pushes 
 rapidly upwards, till it reaches the height of those 
 that surround it, when it ceases to grow in height, 
 but augments in size : or, if a young plant be made 
 to grow in an opake vessel pierced with holes which 
 admit the light, the shoots it puts forth will be 
 directed towards the holes. The sun-flower, and, ac- 
 cording to Bonnet, the mallow, clover, and others, 
 follow the sun more or less distinctly in his course 
 from east to west. This motion in the sun flower is 
 not produced by a twisting of the stem, but by a real 
 nutation, caused, says Du Hamel, by a shortening of 
 the fibres. The smooth upper surfaces of leaves look 
 naturally to the heavens ; the lower surfaces regard 
 the earth. M, Bonnet contrived experiments in which 
 these natural positions of the surfaces should be re- 
 versed : and nevertheless, under the influence of the 
 solar rays, they soon resumed their ordinary aspects. 
 In these movements, the petiole is turned about so 
 as to bring the reverted face of the leaf to its natural 
 position ; and this operation may be repeated many 
 times on the same leaves, but at length the petiole^ 
 at the place of torsion, seems to suffer. In these 
 movements, M. Bonnet ascertained that neither heat, 
 nor humidity, nor air, had much influence ; so that 
 the sun, says Du Hamel, in causing these motions, 
 acts more by his light than by his heat. 
 
 But there are other movements, proper to certain 
 plants, or to particular parts of them, over which 
 light exerts little or no power. Many observations 
 have been made on the motions of the sensitive plant 
 by Hooke, Du Hamel, and others. The latter author 
 remarks, that the movements of this plant do not de- 
 pend essentially on light or heat : for if kept in a 
 green-house, it closes its leaves early in the evening, 
 before the sun has withdrawn, and while the tempe- 
 rature is yet high ; or if placed in perfect obscurity, 
 it still continues to open in the morning, and close 
 in the evening as before. If, during its expansion in 
 the early part of the day, it be gently touched, its 
 leaves partially close, but soon recover their former 
 state. Mere touch, however, without agitation, does 
 not produce motion : for the leaves may be pressed 
 between the fingers, without causing motion, if no 
 agitation be given. With proper address, it is pos- 
 sible, says Du Hamel, to divide the mid-rib of a leaf- 
 let, without exciting motion in the other leaflets, or 
 even in its own folioles ; nor does motion follow the 
 puncture of a needle, if all agitation be avoided. The 
 time required for a branch, that has been touched, to 
 resume its former state depends on the vigour of the 
 plant, the hour of the day, the season, &c : and the 
 order in which the parts re-establish themselves like- 
 wise varies. 
 
 The motions of this plant seem to depend much 
 on peculiarity of structure. From a branch proceed 
 the branchlets that bear the leaves. These leaves 
 are formed of a common petiole, which at its extre- 
 mity terminates in four conjugate leaflets, each of 
 which has a mid-rib, furnished with a certain number 
 of folioles. In the movements of this plant, the 
 branchlets are so articulated with the branch, that 
 they move on it in the manner of a hinge. The 
 
 11 
 
VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY. 
 
 741 
 
 ^getable common petiole of the leaves has a like movement; 
 rsiology. and lastly, each foliole moves on its proper stalk to 
 apply itself to the opposite foliole. This peculiarity 
 of structure explains why agitation is so necessary 
 to the movements of this plant; and why it bears 
 such great violence without moving, if no agitation 
 be employed to excite motion in its several articula- 
 tions ; so that it is principally in the articulations, 
 says Du Hamel, that the sensibility of this plant re- 
 sides. He adds, that, when this plant closes^ it is 
 not through weakness, but by a sensible contraction, 
 which resists any attempt to replace it in its former 
 state. 
 
 In certain flowers also, spontaneous movements 
 take place at the period of fecundation. The sta- 
 mens of the barberry approach towards the pistil on 
 the slightest irritation, as do those of the sun-flower 
 and other plants. During the night, the petals of 
 many flowers close, and thereby protect the stamens 
 and pistils ; but they cease to do so after fecundation 
 is effected. The water-lily is said to bear its flowers 
 on a footstalk under water ; and when the flowering 
 season arrives, the stalk rises through the water, till 
 the flowers reach above the surface. The flowers 
 then expand, and the anthers burst and discharge 
 their pollen on the stigma in the usual way. About 
 four o'clock in the afternoon, the expanded flowers 
 close, and the stalk then lies down either upon or 
 under the water. The next day, it rises as before, 
 and continues to do so daily until fecundation is 
 completed, when it sinks beneath the surface, and 
 there remains to ripen its seeds. Other spontaneous 
 movements are exhibited by claspers and tendrils in 
 seeking support from neighbouring bodies, and by 
 roots in the directions they take in search of food. 
 
 Unable to assign physical reasons for these and 
 similar phenomena, some naturalists, guided by 
 vague analogies drawn from the animal kingdom, 
 ascribe these movements in vegetables to sensation 
 and perception, by which they not only feel their 
 wants, but perceive the best mode of gratifying 
 them ; and in the performance of the actions ne- 
 cessary to accomplish their objects, they are, ac- 
 cording to some, directed by Instinct, and, accord- 
 ing to others, by Volition. Such modes of rea- 
 soning not only afford no explanation of the pheno- 
 mena described, but supersede all necessity for it ; 
 and are apt, therefore, to beget a conceit of know- 
 ledge where ignorance alone prevails. In reference 
 to such attempts at explanation, Du Hamel well ob- 
 serves, that "every peasant has remarked the fact, 
 that the radicle of the seed tends always towards the 
 earth, and that the plume rises in the air. If we ask of 
 them why one part thus strikes into the earth, and 
 the other seeks the air, they give the fact for a rea- 
 son, by replying that the one part strikes down because 
 it is the root,'and the other ascends because it is 
 the stem. And let not us, he adds, smile too com- 
 placently at these modes of expression ; for we our- 
 selves use them every day when we raise questions 
 about things which are unknown to us. Do we not 
 say that a stone falls because of its gravity ? And 
 those who give for a reason that it is attracted by 
 the earth do not satisfy the real philosopher, who 
 never is content with simple terms void of meaning. 
 
 VOL. VI. PART lu 
 
 To me it seems both more simple and more honest to Vegetable 
 make at once a confession of our ignorance." I^ysiology. 
 
 Art. IV. — Of the supposed Sleep of Plants. 
 
 Some writers, deeming plants to possess voluntary 
 power, have from thence inferred that they require 
 sleep. We have no proof, however, that they pos- 
 sess any such power ; nor that, in the exercise of 
 their ordinary functions, they experience that fatigue 
 and exhaustion which renders sleep necessary to 
 their restoration. All the spontaneous movements 
 of vegetables previously described, seem to arise 
 from the operation of physical agents, conjoined with 
 those inherent properties which belong to them as 
 living beings. These agents act variously on differ- 
 ent plants ; and hence some close their leaves and 
 flowers from the abstraction of heat or moisture, and 
 others from the exclusion of light ; and this at va- 
 rious periods of the day, as well as through the 
 night. Other plants exhibit spontaneous movements 
 only in the flower, and at the season of fecundation, 
 when suitable conditions of the atmosphere prevail : 
 and though, in some instances, these motions conti- 
 nue for a time after the conditions required for their 
 display may have been withdrawn, yet we must as- 
 cribe such motions rather to habit than to any thing 
 that partakes of the nature of volition. 
 
 The diminution or suspension of action that oc- 
 curs, through the night, to plants that inhabit tempe- 
 rate climes, cannot be received as a proof of sleep, 
 induced by exhaustion of the vegetative powers ; for 
 even in such climes, vegetation, in favourable sea- 
 sons, proceeds often by night as well as by day. In 
 climates still more favourable, the same plants which 
 produce fruits only once a-year with us, yield two or 
 more crops; and in Norway and Lapland, where 
 the sun, at certain periods, continues almost con- 
 stantly above the horizon, the whole period between 
 seed-time and harvest sometimes occupies only about 
 fifty days. In such cases, little or no suspension of 
 the vegetative functions can have taken place ; nor 
 have we the smallest reason to believe that the continu- 
 ed exercise of them is followed by fatigue or exhaus- 
 tion sufficient to require sleep. What, therefore, has 
 commonly been denominated the " sleep of plants," 
 we can regard only as a diminution or suspension of 
 the vegetative functions, arising from the ■abstrac- 
 tion, more or less complete, of those external agents, 
 whose presence is essential to their full operation 
 and display. 
 
 Art. Y.— Of. the Decay and Death of Plants. 
 
 But whether the functions of vegetables unceas- 
 ingly continue, or be occasionally suspended^ by the 
 abstraction of the conditions necessary to their exer- 
 cise, all plants submit at length to the same general 
 law, and die, either in whole or in part, when the 
 great purposes of their existence — those, namely, of 
 growth and reproduction— have been accomplished. 
 Some plants speedily arrive at maturity, and, having 
 produced their seeds, die altogether : others flourish 
 for one or two seasons, and then decay and perish ; 
 and others again die only in part, atter having produ- 
 ced their seeds, and also a new series of buds to carry 
 5 B 
 
VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY. 
 
 74g 
 
 Vegetable on their continued growth and fructification. In the 
 Pliysiology. progress of our inquiry, we have seen that, in every 
 ' ^ ■^^'^ stage of vegetation, certain organs fall into decay af- 
 ter having fulfilled their allotted functions. Thus 
 the tunics of the seed perish beneath the soil, after 
 having yielded their nutrient matter to carry on the 
 evolution of the embryo; and those cotyledons, 
 which rise into the air, decay also, when the radicle 
 has taken its proper hold of the soil, and the leaves 
 are sufficiently developed to execute their appropri- 
 ate functions. So likewise the petals, the stamens, 
 and pistils of the flower, rapidly fade and fall as soon 
 as the important function of fecundation is effected; 
 the fruits next drop when they have reached matu- 
 rity ; and lastly, the leaves, even of perennials, when 
 their allotted functions have ceased, decay and fall 
 like those of annual plants. 
 
 To account for this fall of the leaves, many hypo- 
 theses have been proposed. Some have ascribed it 
 to defective transpiration, and consequent accumula- 
 tion of juices in the vessels ; others to an inequality 
 of growth between the stem and petiole of the leaf, 
 during the progress of vegetation ; others to the de- 
 siccation of cellular tissue, supposed to exist at the 
 insertion of the petiole with the stem ; others to a 
 simple sloughing of worn-out parts ; and by others, 
 the fall of the old leaf has been attributed to the 
 growth of the new bud. In all the examples enume- 
 rated above, of the decay and fall of cotyledons, flow- 
 ers, and fruits, the organs ceased to execute their 
 functions, when the purposes of their existence 
 were accomplished; and such we must regard as 
 the general law that determines the death of the 
 leaves. In some instances, the death of parts seems 
 to be hastened by the diversion of nutrient matter 
 from the older organs to the new parts which are 
 subsequently developed, as is exemplified in the de- 
 cline and fall of the stamens and pistils from the 
 growth of the ovary after fecundation ; but, in other 
 instances, as in the death of annual plants, no such 
 acting cause is apparent ; and nothing remains to ac- 
 count for the event that occurs, save the character 
 of duration, more or less extended, which was im- 
 pressed on the plant at the era of its formation. 
 
 But from whatever cause the deciduous organs of 
 plants cease to perform their functions, the imme- 
 diate cause of their fall seems to vary in different 
 vegetables ; and to depend often on accidental cir- 
 cumstances of climate, &c. In some instances, the 
 growth of the young bud seems to occasion the fall 
 of the leaf. Thus, though the leaves of the oak die 
 and become dry in autumn, they do not, says Du 
 Hamel, fall till spring, when the buds begin to open, 
 and the new leaves to appear. In other instances, 
 the fall of the leaf seems to be connected with the 
 exercise of the transpiratory function ; for plants 
 which transpire largely soonest lose their leaves, and 
 hence evergreens, which transpire little, retain their 
 leaves longest. Even if an evergreen be engrafted 
 on a deciduous tree, it still retains its leaves after 
 those of the stock have fallen. Sudden changes of 
 temperature and humidity in the atmosphere, fre- 
 
 quently promote the fall of leaves; thus, in autumn. Vegetal 
 when rain succeeds to a white frost, the leaves Physi^>loi 
 sometimes rapidly fall. So, likewise, it sometimes ^^"^.-^ 
 happens, that the too great heats of summer dry 
 up the leaves ; and then also, if warm rains fol- 
 low, the dried leaves fall and new ones succeed, 
 which continue longer than those of spring. On the 
 other hand, leaves equally fall, though not so speedi- 
 ly, when the winter is mild ; and in conservatories, 
 where a regular temperature is kept up, deciduous 
 plants lose their leaves in spring, when the new ones I 
 shoot forth. Certain accidents or diseases, however, 
 as lightning, or the eruption of the proper juice 
 from its vessels, or a peculiar disease which se- 
 parates the bark from the wood, sometimes kill a 
 tree suddenly ; and then, says Du Hamel, though 
 the leaves become dry, they adhere strongly to 
 the branches. These facts show, that, while the 
 natural death of the leaf is to be sought in the spe- 
 cific nature and constitution of the plant to which 
 it belongs, its fall depends sometimes on the growth 
 of new buds ; or on variations in the motion of 
 its fluids ; or on sudden changes in the temperature 
 and humidity of the atmosphere; and sometimes, 
 probably, the period of the fall is determined by 
 a difference of texture in the fibre of the plant 
 itself. 
 
 The duration of the stem or trunk, after the leaves 
 have fallen, is very different in different plants. In 
 many herbs the stem dies at the same time, or 
 shortly after the leaf; but in some trees, the life of 
 the trunk is prolonged through many ages. The Gentle- 
 man's Magazine for 1762 contains an account of the 
 age of a chesnut tree, then growing at Tamworth in 
 Staffordshire. This tree, it is said, was, at that 
 period, probably the oldest, if not the largest, in 
 England, being 52 feet in circumference. Its period 
 of rising from the nut may be fixed at the year 800, 
 in the reign of King Egbert. From that date to the 
 reign of Stephen is 335 years, at which time it was 
 fixed on as a boundary or landmark, and called, by 
 way of distinction, the Great Chesnut Tree of Tam- 
 worth. From the first year of Stephen, anno 1135, 
 to 1762, is 627 years ; so that its entire age, at that 
 period, was 962 years. It bore nuts in 1759, from 
 which young trees were raised. In this tree, there- 
 fore, the faculty of producing seeds remained at the 
 age of more than 950 years ; but whether this faculty 
 continues through the entire life of such trees is not 
 known. In annuals, we know that hfe ceases in the 
 whole plant soon after reproduction has been accom- 
 plished ; but the observations of Mr Knight seem to 
 show that, in certain trees, as those of the apple and 
 pear, the reproductive powers cease before those of 
 vegetation terminate. The death of plants at such 
 various ages, yet occurring at the same age in plants 
 of the same species, suggests the belief that a pe- 
 riod, beyond which hfe cannot extend, was assigned 
 to each species at the era of its creation, and that 
 this character of duration, like the others peculiar to 
 the species, is transmitted through all succeeding 
 generations. (q.) 
 
743 
 
 w 
 
 akefielcl. WAGES. See Taxation, page 620. 
 
 WAKEFIELD (Gilbert), a commentator and 
 critic of some celebrity, born at Nottingham, 22d 
 February 1756, was the son of the Reverend George 
 Wakefield, Rector of the parish of St Nicolas. 
 
 He was observed in his earliest infancy to be of a 
 serious turn of mind, and he made a rapid progress 
 in the first elements of literature. At the age of se- 
 ven, he was sent to a free school at Nottingham, and 
 remained there two years, chiefly under the tuition 
 of Mr Beardmore, afterwards master of the Charter- 
 house : he was then sent to a school kept by the 
 Reverend S. Pickthall, at Wilford, an institution 
 which seems to have been only distinguished by the 
 regular imprisonment of the boys for no less than 
 eleven hours a day. After this, when his father ob- 
 tained the vicarage of Kingston in Surry, with the 
 chapelry of Richmond, he was placed under the care 
 of his curate, who kept a school at Richmond ; he 
 was, however, removed in I769 to a better conduct- 
 ed establishment in the same neighbourhood, kept 
 by the Reverend R. Wooddeson, of whom he speaks 
 in his Memoirs with high approbation. 
 
 At sixteen he went to Jesus College, Cambridge, 
 where his classical studies still continued to be the 
 principal object of his attention, although he was so 
 fortunate as to obtain the rank of second wrangler 
 at the termination of his academical studies in 1776. 
 He has, indeed, the candour to observe, that the 
 year was below mediocrity, with regard to the per- 
 formances of the candidates in general; and that, 
 when he obtained the second classical medal, on the 
 Duke of Newcastle's foundation, he had only one 
 competitor ; still, it must not be denied, that to be 
 both second wrangler and second medallist, in any 
 year, implies no ordinary portion of application, as 
 well as some considerable talent. Mr Wakefield 
 was however distinguished, throughout his life, by 
 a singular mixture of opposite habits ; and, in the 
 midst of his studies, he confesses, that " he some- 
 times felt himself almost incapable of reading a sin- 
 gle page for months together," and in summer espe- 
 cially, he could only wander about the fields in a 
 state of perfect inactivity. On the other hand, he 
 says, that, " for five years, he rose, almost without ex- 
 ception, by five o'clock, winter and summer, but 
 never breakfasted, drank tea, or supt ^supped]," or 
 of course dined, " alone, half a dozen times during 
 all that space, enjoying society, from the first, be- 
 yond measure.'* 
 
 He became a Fellow of Jesus College in 1776, 
 and he gained, in two successive years, the second 
 Bachelor's prizes given by the Chancellor : in 1778, 
 he was ordained, by the Bishop of Peterborough, 
 though he did not subscribe the Articles without 
 great reluctance. He obtained a curacy first at 
 Stockport in Cheshire, and then at Liverpool. The 
 year after, he married Miss Watson, a niece of the 
 Rector of Stockport, and thus vacated his fellowship : 
 
 A K 
 
 his domestic life appears to have been happy and Wakefield, 
 harmonious, though the only merit of his wife, that - j ^ - 
 he has left upon record, is the singular hereditaiy 
 qualification, that her great grandfather and great 
 grandmother had lived together as man and wife for 
 seventy five years. 
 
 Soon after his marriage, he became classical tutor 
 in the dissenting Academy at Warrington, though 
 he did not professedly unite with any specific com- 
 munity of dissenters as adopting all their opinions ; 
 but he soon began openly to attack those of the es- 
 tablished church in a multitude of controversial writ- 
 ings, and especially in the noteu accompanying his 
 new translations of some parts of the Scriptures ; a 
 work for which he had diligently laboured to pre- 
 pare himself by the study of various dialects of the 
 Oriental languages. 
 
 After the dissolution of the Academy of Warring- 
 ton, he lived at Bramcote in Nottinghamshire, at 
 Richmond, and at Nottingham ; partly occupied in 
 the instruction of a few pupils, and partly in pursu- 
 ing his own studies and illustrations of antiquity. 
 In 1 786, and for two or three years after, he suffered 
 greatly from an acute pain in his shoulder, which 
 interfered materially with the prosecution of his 
 theological investigations. 
 
 In the year 17.90, he accepted the classical profes- 
 sorship at Hackney; here his lectures and instructions 
 were generally approved and admired, but he carried 
 his dissent from the articles of faith of any establish- 
 ed society of Christians so much further than any of 
 his colleagues, that he was thought too independent 
 to continue in his situation, and he consequently left 
 the institution in 1791 ; and for a similar reason he 
 failed of obtaining the charge of two private pupils 
 whom he expected to have been placed with him. 
 
 He continued to reside at Hackney, employing 
 himself partly as an author and editor, and partly 
 in the education of his own children. Among his 
 original productions were several polemical and po- 
 litical pamphlets, relating to the war with France, 
 and to the various controversies of the day ; of these, 
 the most remarkable for its consequences to him, elf 
 was his Reply to the Bishop of Landaff's Address, 
 which occasioned a prosecution to be brought by 
 the Attorney General against his publisher first, and 
 then against himself ; and he was sentenced to be 
 confined for two years in Dorchester jail ; a punish- 
 ment which was probably intended to be somewhat 
 severe, but which was most fortunate in its opera- 
 tion on his subsequent comfort, since it was the 
 cause of his obtaining, by the exertions of his friends 
 and his partisans at large, a subscription of about 
 L. 5000; a sum which not only alleviated the rigour 
 of his imprisonment, but also enabled him to leave 
 his family in a state of comparative affluence. 
 
 He was principally occupied during his confine- 
 ment in continuing his literary labours for the press, 
 and in preparing a series of classical lectures, begin- 
 
744 W A K 
 
 Wakefield, ning with the illustration of the second book of Vir- 
 gil's Eneid, the first course of which he delivered in 
 London immediately after his liberation in May 1 801 . 
 The effect of unusual exertions of body and mind, 
 after so long a cessation of exercise, and in hot sum- 
 mer weather, appears to have predisposed his con- 
 stitution to a typhous fever, of which he died, after 
 a fortnight's illness, the 9th of September 1801, leav- 
 ing a widow and six children, four sons and two 
 daughters. His brother, the Rev. Thomas Wake- 
 field of Richmond, also survived him, and died in 
 1806. The catalogue of his literary offspring is so 
 multitudinous, that it partly tells its own story by its 
 length, and admits of very few particular remarks. 
 
 1. Poemata ; qiiibus accedunt qucedam in Horatium 
 Observationes. 4. Cambr. 1776. 
 
 2. A Plain and Short Account of the Nature of 
 Baptism. 12. Warr. I78I. 
 
 3. An Essay on Inspiration. 8. Warr. 1781. 
 
 4. A new Translation of the First Epistle to the 
 Thessalonians. 8. Warr. I78I. 
 
 5. A neu Translation oj the Gospel oj" St Matiheuo. 
 4>. Warr. 1782. 
 
 6. Directions for the Student in Theology. 12. 
 Lond. 1784. 
 
 ?• A Sermon Preached at Richmond on the Peace. 
 8. Lond. 1784. 
 
 8. An Inquiry concerning the Person of Jesus 
 Christ. 8. Lond. 1784. 
 
 9. O71 the Origin of Alphabetical Characters. 
 Manch. Mem. I. 1785. Life, II. Attempting to 
 cut the knot of their invention by referring it to in- 
 spiration. 
 
 10. Several Letters signed Nepiodidascalos, in the 
 Theological Repository. Lond. 1785. 
 
 11. The Poems of Mr Gray, with Notes. 8. 
 Lond. 1786. 
 
 12. Firgilii Georgica. 8. Cambr. 1788. 
 
 13. Remarks on Dr Horsleys Ordination Sermon. 
 12. Lond. 1788. 
 
 14. Four Marks of Antichrist. 8. Lond. 1788. 
 
 15. A neuo Translation of Parts of the New Testa- 
 ment rvrongly translated. 8. Lond. 1 789. 
 
 16. An Address to the Inhabitants of Nottingham. 
 ^8. Lond. 1780. 
 
 17. Remarks on the Internal Evidence of the Chris- 
 tian Religion. 8. Lond. 1789- 
 
 18. Silva Critica. L 8. Cambr. 1789- IL I79O. 
 III. 1792. IV. Lond. 1793. V. 1795. Intended 
 for the illustration of the Scriptures from the Greek 
 and Roman writers. The last two parts were print- 
 ed at the expense of the Rev. R. Tyrrwhitt. 
 
 19- An Address to the Bishop of St David's. 8. 
 Birm. 1790. On the Liturgy. 
 
 20. Cursory Refections. 8. Birm. 1790. On 
 the Corporation and Test Acts. 
 
 21. An Inquiry into the Expediency and Propriety 
 of Public or Social Worship. 8. Lond. 1 791. Ed. 
 3. 1792. 
 
 22. Memoirs of his Life. 8. Lond. 1 792. 2 Ed. 
 2 V. 8. 1804. Continued by Mr Rutt and Mr 
 Wainewright. 
 
 23. A Translation of the New Testament. 3 v. 8. 
 Lond. 1792. 2d ed. 2 v. 8. 1795. 
 
 W A K 
 
 24. Strictures on Dr Priestley's Letter concerning Wakenel 
 Public Worship. 8. Lond. 1792. 
 
 25. Reply to the Arguments against the Inauirv. 
 8. Lond. 1792. - ^ ^ 
 
 '2.6. Evidences of Christianity . 8. Lond. 1793. 
 
 27. The Spirit of Christianity compared with the 
 Spirit of the Times. 8. Lond. 1 794. 2 editions. 
 
 28. An Examination of the Age of Reason. 8. 
 Lond. 1794. 2 editions. 
 
 29. Remarks on the General Orders of the Duke of 
 York. 8. Lond. 1794. 
 
 30. Horatii quce supersunt. 12. Lond. 1794. 
 
 31. Tragcediarum Grcecarum delectus. 2 v. 8. 
 Lond. 1794. The Eumenides, TrachinicB, Philoctetes, 
 Hercules, Alcestes, and Ion. 
 
 32. Pope's Works, with Remarks and Illustrations. 
 Vol. I. 8. Warr. 1794. 
 
 33. A Reply to Paine's Second Part of the Age of 
 Reason. 8. Lond. 1795. 
 
 34. Poetical Translations. 12. Lond. 1795. Es- 
 pecially from Horace and Juvenal. 
 
 35. Bionis et Moschi quce supersunt. 12. Lond. 
 1795. 
 
 36. Virgilii Opera. 12. Lond. 1796. 
 
 37. Observations on Pope. 8. Lond. 1796. 
 
 38. A Reply to the Letter of Edmund Burke, Esq. 
 8. Lond. 1 796. Twice reprinted. 
 
 39. Homer's Iliad by Pope, with Notes. 1 1 v. 8. 
 Lond. 1796. 
 
 40. Lucretius de Rerum Natura. 3 v. 4. and 8. 
 Lond. 1796, 1797. A splendid book, with some 
 collations of manuscripts, and some notes of Bent- 
 ley. But the collations are said to be inaccurate, 
 and the commentary more prolix than judicious. See 
 Porson in Br. Critic, 1801, XVII. p. 452, and Elms- 
 ley in the Classical Journal. He received, however, 
 many grateful and panegyrical acknowledgments from 
 his German correspondents. The edition is dedi- 
 cated to Mr Fox, with whom he commenced an ac- 
 quaintance on the occasion. 
 
 41. In Euripidis Hecuba7n Diatribe. Lond. 1794. 
 On Person's Hecuba. 
 
 42. A Letter to Jacob Bryant, Esq. on the War of 
 Troy. 4 Lond. 1797. 
 
 43. A Letter to William Wilberforce, Esq. 8. 
 Lond, 1797. Reprinted. 
 
 44. A Reply to some parts of the Bishop of Lan- 
 daff's Address to the People of Great Britain. 8. 
 Lond. 1798. Twice reprinted. 
 
 45. A Letter to Sir John Scott, his Majesl^*s At- 
 torney General, on the subject of a lute Trial. 8. 
 Lond. 1798. 
 
 46. Defence delivered in the Court of King's 
 Bench. 47. Address to the Judges in April. 48. 
 Address to the Judges in May. Printed, but not 
 published. 
 
 49. The First Satire of Juvenal Imitated. 12. 
 1800. Life, Vol. II. 
 
 50. Correspondence with the late Right Hon. C. J. 
 Fox. 8 . Lond. 1813. Chiefly on subjects of Clas- 
 sical Literature. 
 
 But few of the characters that have ever employ- 
 ed the pen of a biographer, have exhibited more re- 
 markable contrasts, either in a moral or in a literary 
 
W A K 
 
 [efield. point of view, than that of Gilbert Wakefield : and 
 .^-^-^ he has accordingly been depicted, by critics and his- 
 torians of various sentiments, in colours the most 
 opposite and the most discordant. " Of his parti- 
 cular modes of thinking on religious and political 
 subjects," says Mr Lindsay, " different men will 
 form different opinions : concerning the integrity of 
 his heart, and the consistency of his character, there 
 can be but one opinion amongst those who enjoyed 
 the happiness of his acquaintance." It Avould, in- 
 deed, be difficult to find out a more splendid ex- 
 ample of high honour and self denial, and of magnifi- 
 cent liberality, even under actual pecuniary embarrass- 
 ment, than Mr Wakefield displayed, at a time when 
 he had to support himself, with a wife and six or 
 seven children, on about L. 150 a year, in voluntari- 
 ly paying the expenses of Mr Cuthell on his prose- 
 cution for publishing the Reply to the Bishop of 
 Landaff's Address, which exceeded the whole yearly 
 amount of his income. " His devotedness to study," 
 says his friend Dr Aikin, " was by no means attend- 
 ed with a reserved or unsocial disposition ; for no 
 one could delight more in free conversation, or bear 
 his part in it with a more truly social spirit : and if, 
 in controversial and critical writings, he was apt to 
 indulge in the contemptuous and severe expressions 
 which he found too much sanctioned by polemical 
 use, in disputation by word of mouth he was singu- 
 larly calm and gentle, patient in hearing, and placid 
 in replying. To conclude the topic of jThis] moral 
 character, it was marked by an openness, a simpli- 
 city, a good faith, an affectionate ardour, a noble 
 elevation of soul, which made way to the hearts of 
 all who nearly approached him, and rendered him 
 the object of their warmest attachment." But " he 
 wanted time or patience," says Dr Parr very justly, 
 " for that discrimination which would have made 
 his conjectures fewer indeed, but more probable, 
 and his principles more exact: [yet] I shall ever 
 think of him as one of the best scholars produced 
 by my own country in my own age." The compli- 
 ments of Heyne, and of his pupil Jacobs, are still 
 more elaborate: but it is well known that when 
 Porson was one day asked for a toast, with a senti- 
 ment from Shakespear, he gave " Gilbert Wake- 
 field, What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba?" and 
 there was quite as much of truth as there was of 
 neatness in the application. A reviewer of his Life 
 in the British Critic, by no means favourably dis- 
 posed towards him, readily admits, that " he was 
 strictly and enthusiastically honest, and seems to 
 have acquired even a passion for privations : these 
 feelings, added to his pride of independent thinking, 
 led him, we doubt not," he says, " to abstain from 
 wine ; to have relinquished in part, and to be tend- 
 ing entirely to give up the use of animal food, with 
 various other instances of peculiarity. Knowing his 
 own assiduity, and giving himself ample credit for 
 sagacity, he thought that he was equal to the deci- 
 sion of every possible question : and thus he became 
 bigotted to almost every paradox which had once 
 possessed his very eccentric understanding. He was 
 as violent against Greek accents as he was against 
 the Trinity, and anathematized the final n as strongly 
 Si& Episcopacy. Whatever coincided not with his 
 
 W A K 745 
 
 ideas of rectitude, justice, elegance, or whatever else Wakefield, 
 it might be, was to give way at once, and to be re- 
 scinded at his pleasure, on pain of the most violent 
 reprehension to all opponents ; whether it were an 
 article of faith, a principle of policy, a doctrine of 
 morality, or a reading in an ancient author, away 
 it must go, xbvimv ojuvoM rs iraCi, to the dogs and the 
 vultures. These exterminating sentences were also 
 given with such precipitancy, as not to allow even 
 a minute for consideration. To the paper, to the 
 press, to the [public], all was given at once, fre- 
 quently to the incurring of the most palpable absur- 
 dity. Thus the simple elegance of 0 beate Sexti, in 
 Horace, was proposed, in an edition of that authoVf 
 to be changed to O bea Te Sexti, though the altera- 
 tion, besides being most bald and tasteless, produced 
 a blunder in quantity so gross, that no boy, even in 
 the middle part of a public school, would have been 
 thought pardonable in committing it. By faults • 
 [either] original or habitual, his sincerity became 
 offensive, his honesty haughty and uncharitable, his 
 intrepidity factious, his acuteness delusive, and his 
 memory, assisted by much diligence, a vast weapon 
 which his judgment was totally unable to wield." 
 
 It is not impossible that Mr Wakefield might have 
 been more successful in his studies, if he could have 
 found sufficient motives for directing them rather to 
 scientific than to philological pursuits : for he seems 
 to have been fully impressed with the superior dig- 
 nity of science to that of any department of philo- 
 logy. " Compared with the noble theories of mathe- 
 matical philosophy," he says, " our classical lucubra- 
 tions are as the glimmering of a taper to the meri- 
 dian splendour of an equatorial sun." He would, 
 however, scarcely have had perseverance enough to 
 distinguish himself in that solitary labour which is 
 required for the minute investigation of natural phe- 
 nomena: and it is seldom that any collateral encou- 
 ragement is held out, in this country, for the conti- 
 nued cultivation of abstract science ; while the clas- 
 sical scholar, though he is supposed to be principal- 
 ly occupied with nouns, and verbs, and particles, is, 
 in fact, unconsciously, and, therefore, most effectual- 
 ly, learning the arts of poetry, and rhetoric, and lo- 
 gic, which have furnished, in all ages, the spur and 
 the reins for urging on and directing the mighty 
 bulk of the body politic, in church and in state, at 
 the will of its leaders. The young man, on the other 
 hand, who commences the pursuit of science with 
 ardour, obtains, if he is most successful, and untor- 
 mented by unnecessary scruples, a quiet fellowship, 
 a comfortable apartment, and an excellent plain din- 
 ner for the remainder of his life : and if he fails of 
 these, he may chance to be made an exciseman ; or, 
 in the improved arrangements of the present auspi- 
 cious days, a computer or an assistant astrono- 
 mer : but with respect to any influence that his pur- 
 suits might be supposed to have on the elevation of 
 his rank in life, or in the independent provision for 
 a family, he must lay no such flattering unctions to 
 his soul, but must at all times place his pride and 
 his happiness in the reflection that at mi hi plaudo 
 IPSE DOMi, which is, in truth, the best sublunary 
 support of the wise and the good in every circum- 
 stanpe of human life. (a. l.) 
 
746 W A L 
 
 New South WALES (New South). In the Encyclopcedia, 
 ^^J2^^J^ under the head Holland, New, is given an 
 account of this colony, including a history of its first 
 settlement by a party of convicts conducted there by 
 Governor Philip ; a description of the country, and 
 of the natives, and such few slight notices on its in- 
 ternal geography, and aninial and vegetable produc- 
 tions, as the narrow limits which then bounded the 
 excursions of the settlers had enabled them to make. 
 In this Supplement, under the Article Australasia, 
 the accounts of the settlement are brought down to 
 the year 1814, and copious details given of the re- 
 sults of several expeditions undertaken for the pur- 
 pose of internal discovery. Considerable discus- 
 sions having been excited in Parliament, and carried 
 on in the diurnal and other periodical publications, 
 respecting the government of the distant settle- 
 ments in the southern hemisphere, it was resolved 
 by the Government to send a Commissioner with 
 powers to examine every part of the administra- 
 tion ; to report on the condition of the inhabitants 
 in general, on their pursuits, their habits, their 
 property, and their conduct; and to suggest, for 
 the consideration of his Majesty's Ministers, such 
 laws and regulations as might tend to make those 
 settlements less burdensome to Great Britain, and 
 more conducive to the improvement of those per- 
 sons whose violations of law had created a neces- 
 sity for their removal from Europe. 
 
 From the Reports of Commissioner Bigge, whose 
 labours were closed in 1821, and from other papers 
 laid before Parliament, the following accounts of the 
 present state of New South Wales are chiefly ex- 
 tracted, and presented to our readers in a condensed 
 
 Present state 
 
 of the Popu- "^^^^ increase of inhabitants by births, owing to the 
 lation. great disproportion between the males and females, 
 has been very small since the commencement of the 
 settlement, and must continue to be so till the sexes 
 approach nearer to an equality than they do at pre- 
 sent. The whole number of convicts exported to 
 New South Wales and to Van Dieman's Land, from 
 the year 1787 to 1820, was 22,217 males, and 3661 
 females ; and the present population of all the settle- 
 ments in the latter year amounted only to 29,407 
 persons. The inhabitants of New South Wales, 
 amounting to 23,939, are classed in the following 
 manner, viz. 1307 are persons who came to the co- 
 lony as free settlers ; 1409 are persons born in the 
 settlement ; 3255 were become free by the expiry of 
 the terms for which they had been sentenced; 159 
 had received absolute pardons ; 962 had received 
 conditional pardons ; 1422 were convicts, but with 
 tickets of leave, which enabled them to work on their 
 own account ; 220 were serving on board colonial 
 vessels; 9451 were convicts in a state of servitude; 
 and the remainder, 5668, consisted of children of 
 both sexes. The whole number of females, of all 
 classes and ages, in 1820, were 6310, viz. 3707 wo- 
 men, and 2603 female children. It appears that in 
 thirty-three years, from 1787 to 1820, during which 
 the whole numbers transported have been 25,878 per- 
 sons, the number of the convicts who have died, who 
 have lawfully returned to Great Britain, or who have 
 made their escape, amounts together to 7080. The 
 
 W A L 
 
 greater part of the inhabitants reside either in the town New 
 of Sidney (the capital), or in its immediate vicinity, ^''^^t 
 The returns from that place make the inhabitants to "^"^ 
 be 12,079j of whom 4457 are convicts. 
 
 Whilst this colony has been increasing in numbers. Moral ( 
 there is reason to hope it has been instrumental in dition. 
 somewhat improving the moral character of the per- 
 sons transported to it, or, at least, that their progeny 
 is placed in circumstances less exposed to tempta- 
 tion than it would have been under the tuition of 
 such parents in Europe. There has been a gradual, 
 but general improvement in the moral condition of 
 the society, by the children of convicts arriving at 
 maturity; thus forming, with the free settlers, a nearer 
 proportion to the convicts than was the case at the 
 more early periods of the settlement. The remitted 
 convicts, and those whose time has expired, seem, 
 in some instances, to become useful members of 
 society. Mr Bigge relates, that out of 4376 remit- 
 ted convicts, including those whose time has expir- 
 ed, 369 may be considered as respectable in con- 
 duct and character. 
 
 The proportion of landed property acquired by Adjust! 
 those classes of inhabitants, maybe considered as of Prop 
 evidence of some improvement in their condition among 
 and character. The whole quantity of land grant- Classes, 
 ed was, in 1820, 389.288 acres. Of this portion, 
 20,317 belonged to remitted convicts, and 54,693 
 to convicts whose time has expired. Thus those 
 classes seem to have a fair proportion of the land- 
 ed property of the settlement; and we think it 
 may be inferred from the Commissioner's Reports, 
 that they possess a large share of the moveable 
 property likewise, as they seem to be the prin- 
 cipal persons who own vessels and carry on distant 
 trade. Mr Bigge remarks, that " though the free 
 settlers have not, as a body, been the most successful 
 improvers, either of their own condition or that of 
 the colony, yet the best cultivated estates, and the 
 greatest quantity of cattle, belong to them, though 
 they have not lately engaged in mercantile opera- 
 tions." The large grants that have been recently 
 made have rendered the quantity of land, held by 
 classes of individuals, a less accurate criterion of 
 property than it was before those grants were made. 
 In the year 1810, the land cleared was to the land 
 granted as l| to 4 ; but in the year 1820, when the 
 land granted was 389,000 acres, the portions return- 
 ed as cleared were 54,898 acres, or as 1 to 7. 
 Of the cleared land, in 1820, 16,706 acres were cul- 
 tivated to yield wheat, 11,270 maize, 1230 barley, 
 379 rye and oats, 213 pease and beans, 504 pota- 
 toes, and 1094 in orchards and garden ground. 
 
 The future progress of this colony must depend Agriculi 
 mainly on the productions raised from the soil, and 
 hence the condition of its agriculture, including the 
 breeding of cattle, becomes a most interesting sub- 
 ject. The first land settled near Sydney, though 
 then moderately fertile, has been exhausted by over- 
 cropping, so that a considerable expenditure in ma- 
 nure, or in labour for fallowing, or in both, is indis- 
 pensable to renew its productive powers. It has 
 hence become necessary to pay attention to the pro- 
 duction and proper application of manure, as well as 
 to the cultivation of artificial food for the cattle. 
 
W A L 
 
 W A L 
 
 747 
 
 South Lucerne, sanfoin, and burnet, as well as rye-grass 
 and meadow fescue, have been introduced and gra- 
 
 ''"^ dually assimulated to the climate^ It has been re- 
 marked of the grass seeds imported from Europe, 
 that their first and second flowering is in conformity 
 with the season in Europe, but that the next time 
 they flower according to the season of New South 
 Wales. The cost of reclaiming an acre of forest 
 land, of converting it into tillage, and of sowing it 
 with wheat, is calculated to amount to L. 6, 10s. 
 The cost of the same operation to fit it for maize 
 would be L. 5, 8s. 6d. Mr Cox, the surveyor, has 
 estimated, that on a farm of 50 acres, when the go- 
 vernment supplied subsistence for six months, the 
 expence would exceed the produce L.5, 19s. the 
 first year ; that in the second year the produce would 
 exceed the expenditure L.^Q, 10s., and in the third 
 year L.36, lOs. ; after which, recourse must be had 
 to the renovating power of manure. Maize and 
 wheat are grown on the same land in one year ; the 
 former when hoed well, and twice hilled up, being 
 found a good preparation for the latter. Wheat is 
 sowed in March or April, and harvested in November. 
 Maize is sowed in November and gathered in April. 
 The produce of wheat on the Hawksbury settlement, 
 from 1804 to 1814, was from 21 to 25 bushels to the 
 acre, and since the last of those periods from 15 to 
 20 bushels. The land on the rising ground is inferior 
 to that on the borders of the river, but the wheat 
 grown on it, though yielding less in quantity, is of a 
 superior quality. Mr Oxley, the Surveyor-General, 
 thinks the average produce of wheat on the colony 
 does not exceed 10 bushels to the acre ; whilst, on 
 land of similar quality, the produce of maize is from 
 30 to 60 bushels. The price of wheat has been from 
 lis. to 12s. 6d. ; of maize from 3s. to 7s. fer bushel. 
 
 Besides the grains, attempts have been directed to 
 several articles whose cultivation appears suitable to 
 the climate. Flax has been grown with success, but 
 has not been extended from the very limited demand 
 for it in the settlement. Tobacco has been well pro- 
 duced, but from want of sufficient practice in curing 
 the leaves, the tobacco of Brazil has been so gene- 
 rally preferred, as to leave but little inducement to 
 grow it in the colony ; though of late, some improve- 
 ments in drying offer a prospect of more success. 
 Vines have not yet been prosperous, owing to blights 
 which probably have arisen from improper exposure 
 to prevailing winds. As this is an object of great 
 importance, Mr J. Macarthur has paid much atten- 
 tion to rectify any errors, and hopes are entertained 
 of more favourable results in future, than have hither- 
 to been produced. The same gentleman, one of the 
 earliest settlers, with his characteristic spirit, has 
 been at pains to introduce the olive, and as far as 
 can be judged from the trees, which are yet but in 
 their infancy, with the greatest earnest of success. 
 All the finer fruits of Europe are most profusely 
 brought forth, and in some gardens, the choicer kinds 
 of the tropics are successfully cultivated. 
 
 ! and The breeding of cattle must, however, be the most 
 sure road to the prosperity of the colony for some 
 years to come. The numbers of horned cattle have 
 quintupled between the years 1810 and 1820. In 
 the latter year they amounted to 54,103; besides 
 
 those tame cattle, a race have grown up wild in the New South 
 vi^oods, derived from some stock which early strayed ^ Wales, 
 from the settlement, and which were supposed to 
 have perished, till their offspring were discovered in 
 large herds in the interior. The sheep have been 
 tripled in ten years. In 1820,, they amounted to 99,487. 
 Mr Macarthur has a flock of 6800, of which about 
 300 are pure Merinos, and yield wool of excellent 
 fineness. As the duty on wool from New South Wales 
 has been reduced to 3d. -per lib. in Great Britain, 
 eager hopes are entertained of success, which will 
 naturally tend to increase the numbers, and to im- 
 prove the quality of the wool. The average weight 
 of the fleeces of the New South Wales Merinos is 
 about 2 lb. 7 oz. Some few bales of that wool have 
 been sold in England at 5s. 6d. per lb., and one at 
 1 Os. 4d. ; but the far greater part have hitherto sold at 
 aboutSs. The importation into Great Britain has been, 
 in 1819, 71,299 lbs,; 1820, 112,616 lbs.; 1821, 
 175,433 lbs. The increase of horses has been in 
 nearly the same ratio as the sheep. In 1810, they 
 were 1114, and in 1820, 3639. They are generally 
 of the European breed, with a mixture of the Arabian 
 brought from India. Pigs and poultry have increased 
 in nearly the same proportion as other stock. The 
 mineral productions of this settlement are yet but 
 slightly ascertained. Iron has been found about 
 eight miles from Port-Dalrymple, which is said 
 to be equal in quality to that of Sweden. The 
 mines have not yet been worked. There is abund- 
 ance of coal at Hunter's River, about 50 miles north 
 of Port- Jackson. The vein is three feet thick, 
 was worked by a passage from the river, but is now 
 by a shaft 112 feet deep, and the labour of twenty- 
 seven men can extract twenty tons 'per day. In this 
 labour, the criminals from Sydney are destined to be 
 employed. Lime, for building, has hitherto been 
 burnt from oyster-shells, as no limestone has been 
 discovered near the settled ports. Cornmon salt has 
 been extracted from sea-water, but from the bitter 
 not being accurately separated, the culinary salt 
 of England, notwithstanding its price, is generally 
 preferred. 
 
 The circumstances of the colony are not favour- Manufac- 
 able to manufactories ; but some hats, blankets, wool- t""s. 
 len stockings, and coarse cloths, have been made 
 from the native wool. Pottery wares, of different 
 kinds, have also been made, but they have not yet 
 acquired the art of glazing them. The most advan- 
 tageous operation of manufacture is tanning ; but, 
 from want of sufficient practical knowledge, it has 
 been hitherto badly performed. The bark of the 
 mimosa, a tree that abounds in the interior, is found 
 to contain the requisite properties for tanning hides. 
 With a little more experience, and with some regu- 
 lations to prevent damage to the hides on flaying 
 them, the colony might supply itself with leather 
 from the cattle bred and slaughtered at home. 
 
 The foreign trade of the colony consists of the im- Commerce, 
 portations of sugar, spirits, soap, and cotton goods, 
 from Bengal ; of tea, sugar-candy, silks, and some 
 clothing, made of English cloth, from China ; of iron 
 and hardware, cottons, millinery, wines, porter, cheese, 
 and salted provisions, from England ; and of sugar, 
 tobacco, and spirits, from Brazil, The exportatione 
 
748 W A L 
 
 New South have hitherto been but trifling. Wool has been 
 Wales already noticed : seal skins and fish oil might have 
 Yv'^j. formed returns but for their being charged with high- 
 y^^^-^y^ er duty in England, if taken by a colonial than by a 
 British vessel. Exportations to China have been 
 made of sandal-wood, and pearl shells, previously 
 collected at the Islands. Som-^ attempts have been 
 made to export flour to the Cape of Good Hope, 
 and horses to Batavia; some coals have also been 
 shipped for Bengal and for Batavia. The shipping 
 of the colony consists of twenty seven vessels, from 
 15 to 184) tons burden. This branch of industry is 
 much retarded in its growth by the restrictions 
 which are found necessary to prevent the escape of 
 convicts by sea. 
 
 The external trade has been assisted by the esta- 
 blishment of a bank ; but the institution has been in- 
 jured by having suifered its cashier to defraud it of 
 nearly L. 10,000, being half the capital. The princi- 
 pal circulating medium is the bills of the Govern- 
 ment, or receipts for stores received by the Commis- 
 sary, which amount to about L. 40,000. The smaller 
 operations are performed by means of the notes of 
 the bank, which are issued for 2s. 6d., 5s., 10s., 20s., 
 and five pounds. The legal interest of money in the 
 colony was 8, and is now raised to 10 per cent. 
 
 By the accounts of the treasurer for seven years. 
 
 WAR . 
 
 ending September 1821, it appears that the taxes New S 
 collected in that period amounted to L. 174,310, 
 10s. and the expenditure to L. 163,790, 8s. The wa 
 income is derived chiefly from port dues, import j ^ 
 duties, licences, and tolls. The chief expenditure 
 has been on the establishments for male and female 
 orphans, and for public schools — for public buildings 
 and works — for salaries to officers — and for public 
 and judicial charges. 
 
 In all the grants, reservations of land have been 
 made for the support of the clergy, and for the main- 
 tenance of schools. The clergy are under the in- 
 spection of one of their number, denominated senior 
 chaplain. Some Roman Catholic chapels are build- 
 ing, and one for the Wesleyan Methodists. The 
 public services of religion are reported to be atten- 
 tively observed. The administration of justice is ex- 
 ecuted in a court established by special act of Par- 
 liament, in which the Chief is an English Barrister ; 
 and recently an Attorney-General has been appoint- 
 ed, who is to be the general prosecutor of all offen- 
 ces. 
 
 See Wentworth's Nexu South Wales ; Parliamenta- 
 ry Papers ordered, by the House, to be printed at the 
 followmg dates — Ipth June 1822, 19th April 1821, 
 13th March 1823, 9th March 1821. {yi. w.) 
 
 WAR. 
 
 1 HE present state of military science presents an 
 inquiry of very considerable extent. To take a lu- 
 minous view of every branch, would require a com- 
 pass of theoretical knowledge and practical experi- 
 ence, possessed by very few in any service. Even to 
 attempt a satisfactory essay on any one of the prin- 
 cipal branches would be a task of considerable diffi- 
 culty ; if recent authors, of known ability and experi- 
 ence, had not discussed many of the most important 
 questions, and demonstrated the mutual dependence 
 between theory and practice, in all their essential 
 bearings. 
 
 Objects of In the body of the work, the science is considered un- 
 this Article, der the articles Fortification, Gunnery, and War. 
 
 The two former take a sufficient view of their respec- 
 tive subjects ; but the latter, including likewise naval 
 war, is contracted to the mechanism of columns of 
 movement and formation in armies ; the operations 
 of detachments ; and a short account of strategy, 
 position, and field service. But, as no particular 
 notice is taken of the great principles of war, the 
 knowledge of which is of primary importance to the 
 soldier and the politician, and indeed to the general 
 observer, as the only safe guides in the judgment of 
 operations ; and as the improvements in this essential 
 branch constitute the most valuable feature in the 
 late eventful wars, we shall endeavour to give as 
 complete a view of its principal combinations as our 
 limits will allow ; and b}' referring to the most signal 
 events in modern times, afford them that illustration. 
 
 which the reader, if not previously acquainted with 
 the details of the subject, will immediately obtain 
 by referring to any authentic author, in which they 
 are more circumstantially described : reserving for 
 the conclusion, a few observations on minor subjects, 
 of present or future applicability, and a list of the 
 authorities consulted, or whose works are of acknow- 
 ledged utility in the study of the theory, or in judg- 
 ing the practice of war in military history. 
 
 Jomini has demonstrated that the art of war re- Thew 
 poses upon one governing principle, or what may be War. 
 termed the Fundamental Maxim; by the applica- 
 tion of which all the combinations are good, and , 
 without which they are all faulty. This maxim con- 
 sists in 
 
 Effecting, with the greatest mass of forces, a com- 
 bined operation upon the decisive point. 
 
 To illustrate the subject, it may be observed, that 
 the decisive point in war, or what has been termed 
 the primitive objective point, is obviously that in 
 which resides the principle of strength in an enemy ; 
 and it follows, that to be able to destroy it in the 
 shortest and most effectual manner, must be the fun- 
 damental principle adopted by his antagonist. The 
 mode of effecting this purpose is, however, the diffi- 
 cult part of the question, because of the infinite va- 
 riety of circumstances to which it is subjected. But 
 the theory of war may nevertheless be divided into 
 three primitive combinations; because the practice 
 is composed of as many branches, each of which de- 
 
WAR. 
 
 'ar. pend upon particular principles : therefore, a great 
 operation, to be perfect, ought to combine the 
 three primitive combinations; because, then, they 
 produce the complete application of the fundamental 
 maxim. . 
 
 The first of these relates to what is commonly 
 termed forming the plan of a campaign, and consists, 
 either in an offensive or defensive view, in ihe art of 
 embracing the lines of operations in the most advari' 
 tageous manner. 
 
 The second is the art of moving the mass of forces, 
 in ihe most rapid manner possible, upon the objective 
 point of the primitive or accidental line of operations. 
 This is the method of execution, or strategy. 
 
 The third is the art of combining the simultaneous 
 application of the mass of forces on the most important 
 point of a field of battle. This branch is usually de- 
 signated by the term Tactics.* 
 
 I. — Plan of Campaign. 
 
 A plan of a campaign depends upon six essen- 
 tial considerations : 1st, The political situation of 
 both parties ; 2d, The situation of the moment ; 3d, 
 The relative force and military means j 4th, The lo- 
 cation and distribution of the armies ; 5th, The na- 
 tural line of operations ; 6th, The most advantage- 
 ous line of operations. In forming the plan, it is not 
 necessary to have regard solely to the exact balance 
 of the relative means of war between the parties, but 
 to view them only as they are important. Terri- 
 torial and manoeuvring lines of operations are the 
 principal object; and though they are subject to 
 many accessory considerations, the rules of the art 
 must nevertheless form their basis. Originality and 
 great boldness are not incompatible with their appli- 
 cation : such, for instance, as the plan which Napo- 
 leon, in 1800, executed in Italy. No enterprise 
 could be more daring, none more rich in great and 
 decisive combinations, or more prudent and cautious; 
 since, while it menaced the enemy with ruin, no 
 greater misfortune could occur, in case of check, 
 than the sacrifice of the extreme rear-guard. 
 
 Before we proceed, it may be useful to fix, by de- 
 finitions, several terms, upon the comprehension of 
 which the most important militaryreasoning depends. 
 
 By a base or basis of operations is meant a frontier, 
 the course of a river, a coast, a range of mountains 
 or fortresses, or any topographical or political extent 
 of country, upon the imaginary line of which the 
 corps of an army assemble, offensively,— to take their 
 departure from thence into the enemy's country, 
 and towards which, in case of failure, it is intended 
 to retreat ; defensively,— to counteract all the mea- 
 sures which an invading force may pursue. _ 
 
 Li7ies of Operations are divided into territorial and 
 manoeuvring lines. By Territorial Lines are under- 
 stood those which nature or art has traced for the 
 defence or invasion of states. Frontiers covered by 
 fortresses, or defended by nature, with chains ot 
 
 mountains, great rivers, or other obstacles, form their 
 constituents. Manoeuvring Lines are the_ disposi- 
 tions of the general to traverse them offensively, or 
 cover them defensively. Both these lines of opera- 
 tions are intimately connected. In offensive war, 
 the line is an imaginary perpendicular upon the base, 
 along which an army operates against the enemy; 
 in defensive war, it is often the same, but still oftener 
 parallel to the territorial line. A Line of Commu^ 
 nication is either the same as that of operations, or 
 any other by which the array receives its supplies, 
 and communicates with the base. 
 
 Some examples will render the definitions more 
 evident. France and Austria have three great lines 
 of operations against each other— by Italy on one 
 side ; Switzerland and Tyrol in the centre ; and by 
 Germany on the other. In these the Po, the Meyn, 
 the Danube, or a principal road, constitute the mate^ 
 riel of lines ; which are amenable to only a few rules 
 prescribed by their nature. Between Prussia and Aus- 
 tria again are three lines— through Moravia, Lusatia, 
 and Saxony. Lines of operations are divisible into 
 collateral or separate points. Frederick entered 
 Bohemia by his central line, upon four points. The 
 French invaded Germany in 1796 and 1799 upon 
 two subdivided lines. Napoleon always operated 
 upon one principal line, as did the Duke of Welling- 
 ton in Spain. , . ^ 
 
 Thus far no great variety of combinations seem to 
 perplex the view; but in the selection of the parti- 
 cular line, the problem becomes difficult ; because a 
 great multiplicity of circumstances, many of them, 
 not purely military, interpose. The political situa- 
 tion of the belligerents ; their relative resources ; cha- 
 racter and situation of the fortresses; accidental 
 strength of their forces ; distance by sea ; course of 
 a considerable river ; direction of a chain of moun- 
 tains ; nature of the country ; political state of either 
 party ; jealousy of a neutral, or apprehensions of an 
 ally ; all in their turn claim consideration. In gene- 
 ral, however, the initial application of military masses 
 should be, when the belligerents are neighbours, 
 upon some part of the frontier, which projects into 
 the hostile state ; such as Bohemia with regard to 
 Prussia, or vice versa, Silesia with regard to Austria. 
 But it is a maxim that lines of operations have their 
 key as well as fields of battle : in the former, the 
 great strategical points are decisive ; as in the latter, 
 the points which command the weak part of a posi- 
 tion constitute the key. Where there exists a vast 
 superiority of force on one side, the key, or great 
 strategical point, may be sought at a considerable 
 depth in the line of operations ; but where the masses 
 are nearly balanced, it is necessarily reduced to a 
 relative proportion with the breadth of the base. 
 Thus, for instance, the destruction of a French army 
 on the frontier of the Netherlands, would not imme- 
 diately produce the consequence of the victors 
 marching to the capital, unless they had sufficient 
 
 749 
 
 War. 
 
 . For .he sake of perspicuity, when this ■^S"'Vhufa1so r phra" et IcS 'l^^X 
 Us elements ; and by the art of war, the skilful application of that knowledge. ^ ^ 
 
 VOL. VI. PART II. 
 
W A R. 
 
 750 
 
 War. superiority to mask the principal fortresses which 
 ^■^^'-^w cover her line of defence in that quarter, or some 
 other accidental circumstance rendered such a mea- 
 sure practicable. As farther proofs of the relative 
 proportion betsveen the depth and base of a line of 
 operations, that of Napoleon in Russia failed on 
 both its pivots, before the summit was defeated ; and 
 those in Spain, although they were supported by in- 
 termediate fortresses, immediately contracted, when 
 tlie battle of Salamanca produced consequences 
 which endangered the western communication with 
 the base. 
 
 Although it is absolutely necessary to move with 
 a mass of force near the enemy, it is more advan- 
 tageous to march in separate corps while still at a 
 distance from him, if he has not a concentrated mass 
 ready to act, and there be several roads leading con- 
 centrically towards the point intended to be occu- 
 pied. It is evident, that five corps, of twenty thou- 
 sand men each, will move forward more rapidly to- 
 wards any point, than a hundred thousand men, 
 "ttnarching on the same road, who can only advance 
 with the tardiness inherent in large bodies, and be- 
 sides are encumbered with the immense train of 
 their subsistence. Celerity of movement, multiply- 
 ing the force of an army by enabling the mass to be 
 carried alternately upon every point of the line, is 
 an advaistage of invaluable consequence ; but this is 
 not the only reason for recommending this method. 
 There are two others, viz. the increased facility of 
 subsistence, and the uncertainty into which it throws 
 the enemy. 
 
 An army of 20,000 men can find subsistence, in 
 central Europe, on every part of their march, by 
 merely causing the country, within some leagues, to 
 contribute to their wants ; and if they convey with 
 them biscuit for eight or ten days, that is, during 
 the first period while corps are in position, or ma- 
 noeuvring in a contracted area with other columns, 
 they will be enabled to subsist till the magazines 
 are formed. Thus, military operations are, in a great 
 degree, emancipated from the necessity of pre-ar- 
 ranged magazines, and the regular encumbrance of 
 field ovens. 
 
 The army which commences offensive operations 
 takes the lead in all the movements, and those of the 
 enemy are necessarily subordinate to them. If, there- 
 fore, it occupies with a corps^ each of the great avenues 
 leadingto the enemy, he will be in astate of uncertainty 
 along his whole line of defence or operations, and 
 remain in suspense as to the point upon which he 
 ought to collect his masses to oppose them. Upon 
 these facts, the following series of maxims are 
 founded : 
 
 1. When an army undertakes an invasion, or acts 
 offensively, it takes the lead (or, as the French term 
 it, rinitiative) in the movements. 
 
 2. This advantage precludes the necessity of 
 marching in mass, until near the point where the ene- 
 my is to be found and attacked ; until then, it is pre- 
 ferable to move in several strong corps, in proportion 
 to the collective strength of the army, and to direct 
 them upon the communications which lead concen- 
 trically to the point. 
 
 3. The general direction can only be upon the 
 
 4i 
 
 centre, one of the extremities, or the rear of the hos- War. 
 tile line. An extremity will usually be found most 
 eligible, because, from that point, the rear is easily 
 attained ; the centre, only in the case where the 
 enemy's line is scattered, and his corps separated by 
 great intervals. 
 
 4. In this case, the greater number of the corps 
 should advance upon one of the isolated parts, and 
 endeavour to surround it, while the remainder should 
 occupy a central point to keep the rest of the hostile 
 army in check. 
 
 5. When the principal mass of these corps is di- 
 rected into the rear of an enemy, by passing one of 
 the extremities of his line, one corps should remain 
 upon that extremity, in order to keep open the com- 
 munication with the line of operations, while the op- 
 ponent is cut off from his. This corps serves like- 
 wise to attack him in flank, and to prevent him from 
 withdrawing out of a faulty position by a secret 
 movement. 
 
 6. These operations are most advantageous when 
 the enemy is at a great distance from his own base. 
 The principle may, however, be applied to positions 
 less distant (two or three marches) ; provided the 
 different corps have no greater distance to traverse 
 to the point of reunion, than that which separates them 
 from those of their own advanced posts who face the 
 enemy. But this rule should not be understood as 
 applying to isolated divisions upon an extended front 
 of ninety or a hundred miles, unable to unite on a 
 day of action, and whose movements cannot be si- 
 multaneous upon the decisive point. The difference 
 is easily perceived between such operations and those 
 of several corps concentrated in a position, the depth 
 of which equals the extent of front, and whose simul- 
 taneous co-operation is certain before the enemy can 
 make an attempt upon their line. 
 
 7. By means of this system, the army occupying 
 a greater space marches more rapidly, and is ena- 
 bled to subsist on the roads. Cattle and biscuit 
 alone will be required to follow each corps, in suffi- 
 cient quantity to subsist it when in the vicinity of tli^e 
 enemy, where the other corps having likewise arriv- 
 ed, they are obliged to live within a smaller periphe- 
 ry. The stock of provision will be sufficient, if 
 equal to the time required for collecting another. 
 
 8. Magazines are then formed in the rear as the 
 army advances. They are collected by means of re- 
 gular requisitions made on the neighbouring provin- 
 ces, and enforced by a few troops ; contracts are en- 
 tered into with the local administrations, and precau- 
 tionary convoys follow from the frontiers. Cattle, 
 rice, and biscuit, are the most useful provisions ; the 
 easiest to be transported. 
 
 In this view of the theory of initial operations, sueh 
 as Jomini, and other authorities, consider them, no 
 great regard is paid to the waste of human life, by 
 the frequent want or irregularity of the issue of pro- 
 visions, or notice taken of the indiscipline which na- 
 turally arises when famine drives the soldier to ma- 
 rauding. A relentless conscription system may, in- 
 deed, supply recruits ; but they are a very inadequate 
 instrument when compared to formed soldiers. 
 
 It remains to examine the art of forming a plan 
 of campaign or operations in reference to insular 
 
WAR. 
 
 751 
 
 expeditions. In the application of masses on the base 
 line of operations by sea, or by an insular force, 
 much difficulty occurs ; especially if that base is to 
 be obtained by force on an hostile coast ; because 
 the line of communication from the port whence an 
 expeditionary army proceeds to the point where de- 
 barkation takes place is lengthened, uncertain, and 
 broken. The point of debarkation becomes a se- 
 condary base; and unless a friendly fortress, or 
 a naturally advantageous point, left unguarded by 
 the enemy, can be occupied, the difficulties are 
 nearly insurmountable. It is again difficult to des- 
 patch a large force in one fleet; it is dangerous 
 t-o keep it together, and dangerous to allow great 
 intervals; the elements affect the time, connection, 
 and order of the convoy ; an independent and sepa- 
 rate service (the navy) influences the primary organ- 
 ization and execution ; debarkation absorbs much in- 
 valuable time, particularly that of the artillery, horses, 
 and stores. From these causes, a practice has arisen 
 of fitting out expeditions not sufficiently formidable, 
 with a view of ascertaining the practicability of an 
 object, but which, by that very system, is often ren- 
 dered impossible ; for the first landing having been 
 efi:ected, the enemy's attention is no longer divided; 
 he assembles his means of defence, while the second 
 convoy is expected, and the delay becomes decisive 
 ctf the event. Yet if, in any military operation, the 
 effect of masses simultaneously employed be of con- 
 sequence, it is in those which commence on the sea 
 shore ; for the troops have not only to debark and 
 act offensively, but also to construct their means of 
 security and retreat, in case of failure. If we exa- 
 mine the primary operations of this class from the 
 wars of King William to the present period, we shall 
 find that, with the exception of such as were favour- 
 ed by chance or particular circumstances, the suc- 
 cess or failure was dependent upon one or more of 
 the following maxims, especially as applied to conti- 
 nental expeditions : 
 
 1. When an army is directed to make a descent 
 upon an enemy's coast, with the object of penetrating 
 into the country, a point of debarkation should be 
 selected, where the enemy possesses no local means 
 to arrest the progress, such as a fortified city or a 
 defensible peninsula. If, however, circumstances 
 compel the descent near or upon such a spot, imme- 
 diate measures should be taken to mask or capture 
 it, and secure the success of ulterior operations. 
 
 2. If the expedition is intended to be confined 
 solely to the coast, the point of debarkation should 
 possess the indispensable qualifications of facility of 
 communication with the fleet ; security of retreat ; 
 and reirabarkation. A point possessed of these ad- 
 vantages is a fit spot for a temporary base of opera- 
 tions. 
 
 3. An expedition intended to operate ulteriorly, 
 should be ab initio superior to the probable imme- 
 diate force of the enemy, so that the success of the 
 landing and march into the country be not proble- 
 matical. 
 
 4. No combinations of invasion should be made 
 depending on the co-operation of corps expected 
 from distant or opposite quarters. It is important 
 to have them collected, as much as possible, on or 
 
 near one point of embarkation, to proceed from "War. 
 thence in mass to execute the enterprise. ^ ^"^^i^ 
 
 5. In the plan of an expedition, no combinations 
 should be admitted which include two or more lines 
 of operations from separate bases. Armies trans- 
 ported by sea are, from that circumstance, not nu- 
 merous ; division renders them still weaker, and if 
 on one point a misfortune occurs, the other must 
 reimbark. 
 
 6. In colonial and insular expeditions, it is only 
 necessary to combine the means in proportion to the 
 strength of the object, and with attention to the sea- 
 son and climate. But on all occasions where the 
 reduction of a fortress is in contemplation, the engi- 
 neer department should possess an adequate materiel 
 as well as the artillery. 
 
 All these maxims are in unison with the leading 
 principles of the art of war, or constitute mere mo- 
 difications to adapt them to maritime affairs. As 
 examples of the importance of the first rule may be 
 quoted, the landing of the Emigrants at Quiberon : 
 being confined to a narrow peninsula, they were ii^ 
 mediately blocked in by the enemy. The Helder 
 expedition, though victorious in two battles, could 
 not penetrate beyond the neck of the Haerlemmer 
 Meer, which makes a peninsula of North Holland. 
 At Aboukir, again, a peninsula, similar results 
 would have ensued, but for the circumstance, that a 
 communication ceuld be opened on the side of Ro- 
 setta, which rendered the position central against 
 the two exterior lines of the enemy ; namely, those 
 of Cairo and Alexandria ; and enabled the British to 
 carry their mass alternately upon each, and ultimate- 
 ly with inferior numbers to reconquer that province. 
 
 In the second maxim, the causes are pointed out 
 which allowed the expedition to Cherbourg, in 
 1758, to reimbark in safety, although no regular pre- 
 cautions insured the measure ; and those which pro- 
 duced the disaster at St Cast under General Bligh, 
 notwithstanding every precaution. The Ostend ex- 
 pedition had the same defects, though, perhaps, on 
 this occasion the object was considered of sufficient 
 magnitude to allow a disregard of the consequences. 
 
 Inattention to the third, had a preponderating influ- 
 ence at the Helder. The first division having land- 
 ed, was obliged to wait behind the intrenchments of 
 the Zyp for the arrival of the main bod)'. Meantime 
 the enemy, now certain of the point in danger, col- 
 lected his means, and arranged the plan of defence. 
 After three battles, he was only thrown back upon 
 stronger ground, in a position where he could neither 
 be turned nor attacked in front with probability of 
 success. In Egypt, the expeditionary force was 
 likewise inferior to the enemy, and if the hostile 
 commander had sacrificed the establishments and 
 Institut at Cairo, to collect his forces on one line, he 
 could have resisted the invasion with success. The 
 Walcheren expedition, considered in its primary 
 combinations and preparatory measures, was a model; 
 as also that of the French for the invasion of Egypt. 
 Both were wrong in the choice of the point of de- 
 barkation ; but the results were different, and, from 
 an unconquerable propensity in man, by the results 
 they have been judged. 
 
 The expedition to the Helder again furnishes the 
 
W AR. 
 
 War. proofs of the fourth maxim. Had the two British 
 ""V^ and the Russian divisions arrived in time to act in 
 mass, within a few hours after the first landing, the 
 enemy could not have matured an effectual plan of 
 defence. But the combinations required easterly 
 winds for the Russians and westerly for the British 
 reinforcements, and both were, nevertheless, to ar- 
 rive, if possible, simultaneously on the same spot. 
 The Egyptian expedition was to be sustained by a 
 corps from India and the Cape, by the Red Sea, 
 which could scarcely, by any chance, arrive in pro- 
 per time. At Copenhagen, indeed, the two divisions 
 from Rugen (an island in the Baltic, where a British 
 corps lay in transports) and from England did arrive 
 without accident ; but the successive divisions sent to 
 the river Plate, to be successively defeated, are a far- 
 ther corroboration. 
 
 The fifth maxim is sufficiently obvious. Sir John 
 Moore*s division was off the coast of Portugal when 
 the battle of Vimiera was fought; had it sailed con- 
 jointly with Sir Arthur Wellesley's, the result of that 
 battle would have brought the British into Lisbon 
 tvitkout a convention. If the division engaged had 
 been defeated, a corps on board of ships could not 
 have rendered the least assistance. In the next cam- 
 paign, Sir John operated on several lines from Portu- 
 gal, and Sir David Baird from a different base (Co- 
 runna), with the view of uniting at the distance of 
 more than 200 miles on a point in possession of a 
 formidable enemy. Such combinations produced 
 their natural consequences, the hard pressed re- 
 treat of the army to Corunna ensued ; and, as if an- 
 other proof were wanting, no sooner were the troops 
 compelled to fight an action, than another division 
 appeared to witness the conflict from the ships, and 
 return to England. 
 
 To the deficiency of a proper establishment of 
 sappers and miners, with the materiel required to 
 enable the engineers to act with effect, many delays 
 and failures may be ascribed. It has necessitated the 
 severe system of bombardment, and repeatedly ren- 
 dered the British arms odious, without thereby insur- 
 ing success. Carcasses and rockets ruin the defence- 
 less inhabitants, but have no decisive influence upon 
 the defence of a regular fortress. 
 
 If we examine the wars in America by the rules 
 of art, we find Lord Amherst operating by the line 
 of Lake Champlain upon Montreal, and Wolfe by the 
 St Laurence upon Quebec, both successful, and vet 
 two years without connection. Next appear isolat- 
 ed expeditions traversing a vast continent, deficient 
 in numbers, and therefore always inferior to the local 
 militias on the spot, terminating their career in defeat 
 or capture ; or else dispersed along the coast, occu- 
 pied in landings for trivial purposes, and when re- 
 imbarked, leaving the enemy to boast of successful 
 resistance. In the Canadas we behold the key of de- 
 fensive operations left without a fortress ; true, in- 
 deed, that a fortress does not defend a state — that 
 an army must be looked to for that purpose ; but 
 an army is a fr^il instrument, and if armies defend 
 nations, fortresses defend armies. 
 
 Reflecting on the miscarriages produced by dis- 
 persing the forces, it appears, that in British mili- 
 tary combinations it should be a maxim, never to act 
 
 offensively on more than one point at a time. This 
 rule, a fundamental principle of the Roman policy in 
 her best days, should have been acted upon in the 
 wars of the Spanish succession, when that question 
 ought to have been decided in the Netherlands. 
 The consequence of pursuing a multiplicity of offen- 
 sive combinations at the same time, was never better 
 exemplified than in the failures of the simultaneous 
 expeditions. to Buenos Ayres, Constantinople, Alex- 
 andria, and Rugen. It follows that small expeditions, 
 hovering along hostile coasts, produce no beneficial 
 effects. The local garrisons and militia of the country 
 are generally superior, and a momentary debarkation 
 produces in the mind of the enemy not only national 
 union, but also the ideas of victory. The debarka- 
 tions at St Malo and St Cast ; that under Sir James 
 Pulteney at Corunna; most of those in America, 
 were fraught with risks, not counterbalanced by any 
 prospects of real advantage. Those on the east of 
 Spain were of a diflFerent character ; they had a poli- 
 tical object of importance, and served as a diversion 
 which fixed a whole hostile army in that quarter. 
 
 It is a general rule, liable, indeed, to occasional 
 exceptions, that the operations oj the land forces 
 should he confined to fixed important points, tvhere 
 the object is not only to land, but to conquer and 
 maintain themselves. There is no instance in the 
 history of the nation where a British mass of 
 forces met with disaster, when that mass acted by 
 itself, or with sufficient preponderance among its al- 
 lies. From the nature of the sea line of operations, 
 expeditions, like other military enterprises, must be 
 liable to miscarriage ; but a right use of the forces 
 will at least increase the chances of success. In the 
 selection of the points, much must be left to the cir- 
 cumstances of the case, but their importance should 
 always be in relation to the risk, expence, and time. 
 
 As these observations apply to great operations 
 only, it is unnecessary to advert to flying corps, or 
 such expeditions as are merely intended to alarm a 
 coast or distract an enemy ; because these, in niost 
 cases of problematical utility, should be very sparing- 
 ly resorted to ; and, at all events, never consist of 
 more than a few frigates, with troops on board. 
 The geographical extent and insular position of Great 
 Britain afford equal facilities for defence and attack. 
 Defence, however, when passive, is allowed to be 
 the very worst that can be adopted in the military 
 policy of a state ; but when the national superiority 
 at sea is considered, it becomes evident that British 
 operations ought to be offensive. With a great num- 
 ber of garrisons stationed in every quarter of the 
 world, the land forces form no where a considerable 
 body ; those in England being scarcely adequate to 
 the local duties, and the relief of such as return from 
 abroad. At the commencement of a war, although 
 the militia is called out, the reinforcements requir- 
 ed to place distant garrisons, on the war establish- 
 ment, absorb nearly all the infantry, and leave not 
 only no disposable force, but even no sufficient 
 elements to create new corps in an efficient man- 
 ner. Hence, three or four years of war pass by 
 in preparations on one side, and in conquests on 
 the other. Millions are spent, and vast sacrifices 
 made, to arrest the progress of the enemy ; humiliat- 
 
 10 
 
WAR. 
 
 753 
 
 ing-offers are made, which the opponent, blinded by 
 success, has the imprudence to reject. Then, forced 
 to still greater expence, other campaigns follow, to re- 
 cover what wa&lost in the first. By a rational system of 
 preparation w'frs might be terminated in a short pe- 
 riod, or altogether prevented ; and yet long wars, the 
 real cause of the prodigious national debt, are brought 
 about by an ill-judged prejudice against a standing 
 army, backed by still weaker ideas of economy. 
 Since regular armies have been maintained in Europe, 
 the obvious utility of having at least some disposable 
 force to give weight to negotiations, requires scarce- 
 ly an argument. Instead of three battalions, the 
 only applicable troops in 1792-3, which were sent to 
 Willerastadt, had Great Britain possessed 25,000 dis- 
 posable troops, the National Convention would have 
 paused before it declared war ; or this force would 
 immediately have influenced the reconquest of Bel- 
 gium. Even a year later, such a national force could 
 have averted the consequences of the action of 
 Hooghlede, the retreat from Dunkirk, and the final 
 evacuation of the Netherlands. In the late war, 
 the inability of Great Britain to act from the first 
 with vigour compelled her to fight twenty-one years, 
 with incalculable waste of blood and treasure, merely 
 to restore the balance of power ; and the nation, 
 which at first had only three battalions for service, 
 ended, in ISl-i, with a mass of more than a million 
 of men in arms.* 
 
 In a military point of view, the economical system 
 has been productive of immense losses to the nation ; 
 but if, under given circumstances, in time of peace, 
 the army must be very generally reduced, care should 
 be taken not to destroy the elements of regeneration. 
 On a war breaking out, all the troops in the king- 
 dom should be brigaded, with their generals, staff, 
 field train of artillery, commissariat, and medical 
 officers, and concentrated as much as possible, for 
 the purpose of rapidity of execution, and creating 
 habits of duty in large bodies, which the staff and 
 commissariat generally begin to learn when before 
 the enemy, — at a period when all parties should 
 be fully acquainted with them, and when mistakes 
 may be fatal. The orders of Government are thus 
 executed as soon as issued, and that species of con- 
 fusion is obviated which all who served in the begin- 
 ning of the late war must have witnessed. 
 
 Till the beginning of the present centur}^ plans of 
 operations were usually arranged in the Cabinet, by 
 superannuated officers, on obsolete principles ; or by 
 Ministers without professional.knowledge, upon com- 
 binations entirely political. The Austrian Govern- 
 ment was particularly unfortunate in this system. 
 Plans, calculated with the precision of summer 
 manoeuvres, where every march, battalion, and de- 
 tachment were prescribed, without adverting to the 
 measures of the enemy, tied the bands of the ge- 
 nerals, who were never successful against a for- 
 midable enemy but when they disobeyed their in- 
 structions, as Eugene did at Zenta. But when Fre- 
 
 derick traced his own plans of campaign, although War. 
 even he was not fully sensible of the laws which 
 should regulate territorial and manoeuvring lines of 
 operations, still circumstances and superior tact soon 
 led him into the true system. Jomini blames, with sa- 
 gacity, some of his initial operations ; but he does not 
 sufficiently consider his circumstances and his era; 
 he compares the operations of Napoleon, with all the 
 resources, fortresses, population, and revolutionary 
 excitation of France, together with the adventurous 
 gambling of his hero, to the conduct of a sovereign 
 who had his native throne to defend ; without a mili- 
 tary frontier, with a scanty population, a barren soil, 
 and no pecuniary means but such as arose from his 
 economy j and yet he rose superior to all the difficul- 
 ties of his situation, though under circumstances more 
 unpromising than those which ultimately hurled Na- 
 poleon from his throne. 
 
 II. — Manceunring Lines qf Operations, 
 
 The connection between manoeuvring lines and 
 those which nature has marked out, and the views of 
 the general-in- chief, form separate classes, each 
 named after the nature of that connection. 
 
 1. Simple lines of operations are those when an ar- 
 my operates in a single direction from a frontier, 
 without forming detached corps. 
 
 2. Double and multiplied lines, when an army acts 
 upon the same frontier with two or three isolated 
 corps, towards one or several objects. 
 
 3. Interior lines of operations are formed to oppose 
 several hostile lines, and are so directed as to possess 
 internal connection, and enabled to move and ap- 
 proach each other, without allowing the enemy to 
 oppose a superior mass to them. 
 
 4. Exterior lines, on the contrary, possess the op- 
 posite qualities ; they are such as an army may form, 
 at the same time, upon the two extremities of one or 
 several hostile lines. 
 
 5. Lines upon an extended front are those which 
 are arranged upon a great contiguous developement 
 by isolated divisions ; but still belonging to the same 
 
 mass of forces, and operating upon the same object. ^ 
 Under this head are comprehended, likewise, lines 
 formed by two separate corps upon one given extent ; 
 they are then double lines upon a great front. 
 
 6. Deep or lengthened lines are those which, com- 
 mencing at their base, pass over a great extent of 
 country before they can attain their object. 
 
 7. Concentric lines of operations are either several 
 or a single line subdivided, moving from distant 
 points in order to arrive at the same object, in front 
 or in rear of their base. 
 
 8. Eccentric lines designate a single mass starting 
 from one point, and dividing itself in order to form 
 several diverging lines upon isolated objects. 
 
 9. Secondary lines are those in the great combina- 
 tions of two armies, which designate their relative 
 connection while operating upon the developement 
 of the same frontier. 
 
 * According to authentic documents, this mass amounted to 1,116,813, including navy. East India, and 
 local militia force, but exclusive of yeomanry and volunteers. 
 
754 
 
 WAR. 
 
 War. 10. Accidental lines are produced in the original 
 ^'"''^^^ plan of campaign, when unexpected events necessi- 
 tate a new direction for the operations. They are of 
 the highest importance, and rarely adopted but by 
 generals of the first abilities. 
 
 Formerly, lines of operations were considered only 
 as they effected the materiel of armies ; it was even 
 advanced, that armies encamped near their maga- 
 zines had no lines of operations ; but an example will 
 prove the fallacy of this opinion. Supposing two French 
 armies encamped, one on the Upper Rhine in front 
 of Brisac, and the other on the Lower Rhine in front 
 of Dusseldorf, with both their magazines in the safest 
 place, that is, behind the river. These armies must 
 have either an offensive or defensive object, and there- 
 fore have territorial, as well as manoeuvring lines of 
 operations. 1st, The territorial defensive line will 
 extend from the point of their position to the point 
 M^hich they are to cover; therefore they would both 
 be cut off if the enemy occupied that point before 
 them. If Melas, with his army, could have subsist- 
 ed near Alexandria in Lombardy, after the battle of 
 Marengo, he was no less cut off from his line of ope- 
 rations as long as his victorious opponents occupied 
 the line of the Po. 2d, Their manceuvring lines 
 would be a double against a simple one, if the enemy 
 concentrated his masses to crush one of the armies ; 
 it would be a double external line against a double 
 internal, if the enemy formed also two corps, but so 
 directed that they could be united most readily. 
 
 The article in the Edinburgh Review, on the work 
 etf Jomini, makes the following able remarks on lines 
 ef operations : " Among all these lines, the simple and 
 interior are the best, particularly when combined, as 
 being most congenial to the great principle of carry- 
 ing a mass of troops upon the decisive point. A few 
 remarks will make the truth of this apparent. If an 
 army advances from its base of operations upon one 
 line, it is clear that the general commanding will have 
 but two important dangers to provide against; first, 
 that of his troops being attacked unawares ; and, se- 
 condly, that of being turned and cut off from his 
 communications with his base. The most effectual 
 method of guarding against either is, to attack the 
 opposing enemy first, or, as the author calls it, pretidre 
 I'initiative ; and if, in so doing,^ the assailants can 
 place themselves in such a position, that a victory 
 will give them the means of utterly destroying their 
 adversary, while a defeat will not be of material de- 
 triment to themselves, the manoeuvre must be con- 
 sidered as a perfect one. >3ow, a single and interior 
 line has a manifest advantage over every other in aid- 
 ing such an operation. An army which moves upon 
 double, exterior, or multiplied lines, must be weak- 
 ened in proportion to the number of its divisions. 
 The general has many combinations to attend, and 
 naany dangers to guard against; his columns being 
 on many roads and unconnected, must also be de- 
 pendant upon many persons and many orders. Ob- 
 stacles will be multiplied at every step ; and errors 
 cannot be known or corrected without much loss of 
 time. The success of his plan must depend upon 
 tlie exactness and concert between the different di- 
 visions ; a misfortune attending any one vitiates or 
 destroys the whole project, and yet each column, se- 
 
 parately, will be too weak to strike an important 
 blow, if a favourable opportunity should occur. They? 
 will suffer severely from mishaps, and they cannot 
 well take advantage of misfortunes. ^ 
 
 " An army that manoeuvres upon simple and in- 
 terior lines gets rid of all these incumbrances ; tlie 
 troops will be together and well in hand, with the 
 general upon the spot, ready to rectify errors, and 
 to superintend every movement; and upon which- 
 ever road he marches against an enemy acting upon 
 double or multiplied lines, his combinations must be 
 more simple, and his numbers must be superior; he 
 vvill have the power of overwhelming whatever divi- 
 sion of his adversary he may meet with, and, by thus 
 disorganizing his opponent's plan of campaign, en- 
 able himself to cut off their communications, or to 
 attack their columns in detail. We will suppose, 
 however, that, finding their line penetrated, they 
 might, by great exertions, unite the remainder of 
 their scattered corps by a retrograde movement ; but 
 they will hardly be able to cover their communica- 
 tions, which must be nearly as numerous as their di» 
 visions, and the attacking army will give battle in 
 the execution of a preconcerted plan, while they 
 vvill be in the confusion of a baffled one. If the 
 great principle, however, of carrying a mass upon the 
 decisive point has governed the general who advances 
 upon the simple line, he will, by a victory, deprive 
 his foe of retreat, and utterly destroy him ; while, if 
 he fail, his communications are still open, and, from 
 want of a plan, the pursuit cannot be very vigorous." 
 
 These remarks upon manoeuvring lines are well 
 illustrated in modern military history. In the Seven 
 Years' War, Frederick had the choice of attacking 
 Austria, on his left, by Silesia into Moravia, in the 
 centre through Lusatia, and on the right by Sax- 
 ony, both into Bohemia. His natural territorial 
 line was, undoubtedly, the first of these three ; be- 
 cause, while his own flank was covered by the fois- 
 tresses of Silesia, he could penetrate at once into 
 the vitals of the Austrian dominions, and masking 
 Olmutz, threaten Vienna. He did not feel the ad- 
 vantage of this line until the third campaign, when 
 he was every where outnumbered by the enemy, and 
 yet even then he might have had signal success, if 
 his besieging train, &c. had been in more efficient 
 order and better applied. From this period he be- 
 came sensible of the superior utility of central lines, 
 and from 1758 he operated successively with his 
 principal mass in Saxony, Silesia, and Brandeburg: 
 the same troops were victorious in all these quar- 
 ters, by alternately reinforcing each corps so as 
 to attain a superiority. Having missed the op- 
 portunity in 1757 of deciding the war by a suc- 
 cessful invasion, he at last gloriously saved his 
 kingdom by this new system. All these suc- 
 cesses belong to the three first classes of simple, 
 double, and interior lines of operations. Those of 
 his adversaries, on the contrary, were always of the 
 fourth and fifth, exterior lines, and lines upon an 
 extended front. For, on looking at the map of the 
 seat of war, it will be readily observed, that he ope- 
 rated within the triangle formed by Dresden, Bre^ 
 law, and Custrin, while the enemy manoeuvred out- 
 side of that figure. After the battle of Hochkirch, 
 
WAR. 
 
 indeed, when this area was broken in, he made a 
 master stroke, by uniting his three armies m Saxony, 
 and thus wresting from Daun the advantages ot hia 
 victory. The operations of that crisis belong to the 
 tenth/or accidental lines, in which Frederick has 
 never been surpassed. To this class belong, like- 
 wise, his invasion of Bohemia, after raising the siege 
 of Olmutz ; his march into Silesia and manoeuvres 
 before and after the battle of Liegnitz, m I76O ; and 
 his central position at Buntzelwitz, by which he kept 
 the enemy divided, in 1762. 
 
 The French operations in Hanover were not more 
 successful. In 1758, they formed two lines of oper- 
 ations, in Hessia and on the Wezer, upon a deve- 
 lopement of 300 miles. Prince Ferdinand mancEU- 
 vring upon their extreme left, had only isolated corps 
 to cSntend with, and drove them across the Rhine. 
 Marshal Contades, after the battle of Crevelt, felt 
 the advantage of the line of the Rhine, all the for- 
 tresses being in his hands; but while he acted with- 
 out vivacity on his right, Prince Ferdinand took a 
 central direction, and broke the concert between the 
 two hostile armies, who, at the end of the campaign, 
 lost nearly all they had gained, having spent their 
 time in disjointed marches, and in writing projets 
 and counter projets. After the battle of Bergen, m 
 1759, the French, grown wiser, united all their torces 
 in Hessia ; they made conquests, which even the de- 
 feat of Minden did not wholly repair. In 17bO, 
 Marshal Broglie persisting in operations in mass, 
 made a respectable campaign, but the next two, 
 armies were again formed at a great distance ; f rmce 
 Ferdinand again was beforehand with them every 
 Where; at length they approached each other to at- 
 tack, but, for want of concert, were defeated at tei- 
 
 linghausen. ,. 
 
 In comparing the constant difference of the lines 
 of operations which the Austrians, Russians, and 
 French adopted, with those of the Prussians and 
 Hanoverians, their opposite results are at once dis- 
 covered. , 1 C 
 
 During the wars of the Revolution, the Duke ot 
 Brunswick's march into Champaign was a simple line, 
 but wanted corps to cover the flanks and activity in 
 the execution. The recovery of Belgium by the 
 Austrians was also effected by operating in mass; 
 but on the French frontier they wasted their time in 
 deges, and acted upon exterior and eccentric lines. 
 The French operated in a similar manner, but hav- 
 icg a line of fortresses and numerical superiority, 
 they were at last successful, and expelled the allies 
 from Belgium. This worthless system was then cried 
 up, and denominated Carnots. Accordingly, in 1795, 
 the French persisted in acting on double lines. 1 hey 
 manoeuvred on the Rhine, by Dusseldorf and Man- 
 heim : Clerfait operating centrally, carried his masses 
 alternately from right to left; gained the decisive 
 victories of Manheim and the lines of Mayence, and 
 threw the French army of the Sambre and Meuse 
 back across the Rhine to cover the Mozelle, and 
 Pichegru under the cannon of Landau. 
 
 In 1796, the French in theirlines of operations on the 
 Rhine, still copying Frederick's faulty system of 1757, 
 and their own of 1794- and 1795, were not more suc- 
 cessful than the preceding campaign. The armies ot 
 
 the Rhine, and of the Sambre and Meuse, moved from 
 the extremities of their base to take a concentric di- 
 rection on the Danube. As in 1194!, they formed two 
 exterior lines. The Archduke Charles opposed his 
 own in an interior direction to be more readily con- 
 centrated, and seized the critical moment, while the 
 corps of Count Latour was covered by the Danube, 
 to steal some marches unperceived by Moreau, and 
 to throw his mass upon Jourdan, who was routed at 
 Wurtzburg. This decided the fortune of the cam- 
 paign in Germany, and compelled Moreau's deep 
 lines to retreat into France. 
 
 Meanwhile Napoleon commenced his extraordi- 
 nary career in Italj, as Frederick had recommend- 
 ed half a century before : his system was to divide the 
 enemy, and force the Austrians and Piedmontese to 
 take two exterior lines. They fell into the snare, 
 and he defeated them separately at Mondovi and Lo- 
 di. An army had assembled in the Tyrol to relieve 
 Mantua ; it was led on in two lines separated by a 
 lake (Guarda). The French general raising the siege, 
 hurried with the mass of his forces to meet the first 
 column at Brescia, and routed it; the second column 
 arrived soon after on the same ground, and was like- 
 wise driven back upon the Tyrol. Wurmser deter- 
 mined to cover the two lines of Roveredo and Vi- 
 cenza ; Napoleon, after defeating the first and driv- 
 ing it into the Lawis, changed his direction to the 
 right, passed through the gorges of the Brenta, upon 
 the left line of the enemy, and forced the wrecks of 
 this fine army into Mantua, where it ultimately ca- 
 pitulated. 
 
 In 1799, the system of Carnot again prevailed. 
 France, twice punished for operating with two ex- 
 terior lines, now adopted three. An army on the left 
 observed the Lower Rhine, one in the centre was on 
 the Danube, and a third occupied Switzerland. These 
 armies could not unite till they reached the valley of 
 the Inn, eighty leagues from their base. The Arch- 
 duke uniting his forces in the centre, gained the vic- 
 tory of Stockach, and the Helvetian army was con- 
 strained to evacuate the Grisons and Eastern Swit- 
 zerland. In their turn the allies committed the saim 
 fault ; instead of pursuing the conquest of this ceo- 
 tral bulwark of Europe, they formed a double Ime m 
 Switzerland and on the Lower Rhine. The army m 
 the former country was ruined at Zurich, while that 
 in the latter was trifling about Manheim. In Italy a 
 double line was formed by the French ; one towards 
 Naples, where 32,000 men were employed to no pur- 
 pose; while the other, on the Adige, was too weak, and 
 suffered severe loss. At length, when the army of 
 Naples returned towards the north, it committed thft 
 fault of taking a direction from that of Moreau. 
 Suworow took an able central position, marched 
 against the first of these armies, and defeatedit with- 
 in a few leagues of the other. ^ 
 
 In 1800 the scene changed agam. Napoleon, 
 having returned from Egypt, displayed a new combi- 
 nation of the lines of operations: 150,000 men filed 
 off on the flanks of Switzerland, opening, on one 
 side, on the Danube, and on the other upon the Po. 
 This masterly combination secured immense advan- 
 taees. Modern Europe had not as yet presented 
 such operations. The French armies, fprmmg tyfo 
 
W A E. 
 
 interior lines, which reciprocally sustained each other, 
 forced the Austrians to take a contrary or exterior 
 direction, which disabled them from communicating 
 together. By this arrangement, the reserve army 
 cut off the communications of Melas with the base, 
 while it preserved all its own, with the army of 
 'the Rhine,* which constituted its secondary line. 
 A reference to the map of that seat of war will show 
 Moreau posted at Stockach and Zurich, and Kray 
 facing him on the north side of the Danube, la 
 Italy, Napoleon on the Po, at Pavia, and Tortona, 
 with a corps at Verceil, completely insulating Me- 
 las at Alexandria; while the French command- 
 er, in case of check, had all the gorges of Swit- 
 zerland, the St Bernard, Simplon, St Gothard, and 
 Splugen open. The events of that period offer con- 
 vincing proofs of the decisive effect of a proper choice 
 of lines of operations. 
 
 In a subsequent campaign, Napoleon, breaking up 
 from Boulogne, and directing several corps through 
 central Germany to approach the Danube, suddenly 
 turned the position of Mack at Ulm, and, placing him- 
 self upon his communication, forced him to surrender. 
 But in this campaign his fortune began to blind him. 
 Forgetting that he had no base of operations nearer 
 than the Rhine, he hurried forward to Vienna, and 
 thence to meet the Russians in Moravia, Prussia 
 was in arras ; an English corps had reached the west 
 of Germany; Bohemia had risen in mass; the Ty- 
 roleans made a successful resistance ; and the Arch- 
 duke Charles, after crippling the French army of 
 Italy, had advanced to the vicinity of Vienna. At 
 this moment, with only a small reserve at Frankfort, 
 the Austro-Russians, who had every interest to tem- 
 porize, hazarded the battle of Austerlitz ; and his good 
 fortune, and the imprudence of the allies, saved him 
 from a dilemma from which that victory would not 
 have relieved him, but for the pusillanimous feelings 
 which signed the peace. 
 
 Similar manoeuvres towards the sources of the 
 Saala produced the disasters of the Prussians at Jena 
 and Auerstadt. But in this war. Napoleon became 
 still more enamoured of deep and baseless lines of 
 operations ; the baneful effect of which he was not 
 destined to feel till the campaign of 1812, when he 
 invaded Russia without a true base nearer than the 
 Rhine. His secondary base on the Vistula bore no 
 relation to the depth of his line of operations, inter- 
 sected by the Niemen^ the Dwina, and a solitary 
 waste of endless woods and heaths. Although he 
 operated on a simple line, the immense distance from 
 his base left him without communications. The ex- 
 tremes or pivots of the secondary base were already 
 turned and broken, when Kutusoff moved to the rear 
 of his flank upon Kaluga, towards the Berezina, and 
 destroyed the greatest army recorded in modern his- 
 tory. The next year, though his lines were shorter, 
 circumstances were totally altered ; he operated with 
 ability in mass ; but being greatly inferior in horse, 
 and the allies manoeuvring likewise in mass, the first 
 
 battles were indecisive, till his adversaries, operating 
 upon double exterior lines, — on this occasion apjpli- 
 cable from their great superiority in numbers and in 
 cavalry, — moved again round the flank, and decided 
 the question at Leipsig. 
 
 Meantime, the Duke of Wellington, in the Penin- 
 sula, cunctando restiluit rem. Opposing a single line 
 against a single line, he saved Portugal by his mas- 
 terly position of Torres Vedras, without a battle. 
 Next, he drove the enemy from the frontier for- 
 tresses, by alternately carrying his masses across the 
 Tagus. His line was shorter from north to south 
 than that of the enemy, and he caused them to in- 
 crease theirs by the destruction of the bridge of Al- 
 meras. Thus he forced his opponents to operate 
 exteriorly. After the victory of Salamanca, his 
 march into Spain" was by two interior lines; and 
 though this operation has been blamed, because it 
 ended in a retreat, we forget that the enemy was 
 obliged to abandon the south, or one half of Spain, 
 to produce it. The next operation was upon a single 
 and decisive line. The enemy was encountered at 
 Vittoria before he could concentrate his forces, cut 
 off from his base, and driven headlong into Pampe- 
 luna. 
 
 This comparison of the combinations and results 
 of the most celebrated campaigns shows, that all the 
 lines of operations that have been crowned with suc- 
 cess depended on general principles, of which the 
 following are the principal heads. 
 
 1. A double line of operations is advantageous, if 
 the enemy has, likewise, a double line ; provided 
 theirs be exterior, and at a greater distance than 
 
 . yours, and unable to unite without first risking a 
 battle. 
 
 2. An army possessing interior lines, more con- 
 nected than those of the enemy, can, by strategical 
 movements, destroy them successively, by carrying 
 the mass of forces alternately upon each point, as 
 exemplified in the campaign of 1758, and subse- 
 quently at Manheim and the lines of Mayence ; at 
 Wurtsburg and Emmendingen ; at Lonato and Cas- 
 tiglione; Trente and Bassano; at Stockach and Zu- 
 rich ; Abendsberg and Eckmuhl, &c. 
 
 3. In order to effect this movement, a corps should 
 be left before the army which it is intended to keep 
 in check, with orders not to engage, but mei'ely to 
 retard the march, by taking posts behind defiles or 
 rivers, and retreating towards the army. 
 
 4. From the above premises, it follows that a 
 double line of operations against an enemy, whose 
 corps are in closer connection, will always be unfor- 
 tunate with equal numbers, if the enemy profits by 
 the advantages of his situation, and manoeuvres with 
 rapidity within it. 
 
 5. A double line of operations becomes still more 
 dangerous, when its parts are separated by several 
 days' march. 
 
 6. Simple and interior lines, on the contrary, are 
 always most safe ; because they admit the action of 
 
 Wa 
 
 Advant 
 ous and 
 advanta 
 ous Lie 
 
 * Army of the Rhine, of the Sambre and Meuse, were names given to French armies, although 
 were not always on these rivers. 
 
WAR. 
 
 757 
 
 the mass of forces against the isolated divisions of 
 the enemy, if he be so imprudent as to venture an 
 action. 
 
 7. A double line of operations, however, may be 
 adopted with success, if the forces employed are so 
 much greater, that superior masses can be presented 
 to the opponents on both its parts. 
 
 8. Two interior lines, mutually sustaining ench 
 other, and facing two exterior lines at a certain dis- 
 tance, must avoid being compressed into a small 
 area ; for the exterior hostile lines might thereby act 
 simultaneously. 
 
 9- Again, they should not operate at too great in- 
 tervals ; for the enemy might have time to crush one 
 of these divisions, while it is weakened by detaching 
 to the other, and thus gain a decisive advantage. 
 
 10. It being the interest of a commander to di- 
 vide and isolate the opponent's forces, his manoeuv- 
 ring lines should never have the object of drawing 
 the whole hostile forces upon him ; as TempelhofF 
 boasts Frederick to have done in the campaign of 
 1760. 
 
 By reference to th e pr eced ing sketch of the operations 
 in late wars, the value of these rules is everywhere ob- 
 servable. When the details in history are examined, 
 such as they are presented by authors acquainted with 
 the art of war, they form a key, which opens an uner- 
 ring way into all the causes of success and misfor- 
 tune. Thus, in what has been said on accidental 
 lines of operation, it might have been added, that 
 Napoleon did not know how to avail himself of them, 
 Avhen he was advised to operate by the right bank of 
 the Elbe, and change his direction upon the pivot 
 of Magdeburg, instead of risking the battle of Leip- 
 sig, and suffering, in violation of the eighth rule, 
 the enemy to place him between two fires. Nor, 
 in Champaign, in 1814, when he operated at too 
 great a distance, overlooking the. ninth rule, which 
 gave the allies time to force the gates of Paris, thus 
 employing the just system of throwing the mass of 
 their forces upon the most important point. The 
 Duke of Wellington's defensive campaign in Portu- 
 gal hinged upon a prudent application of the second 
 rule ; and Napoleon, in 1814, could not have resisted 
 so long as he did in France, but by the same sys- 
 tem ; although the allies, at that moment, conducted 
 their operations on the seventh rule, perfectly appli- 
 cable under the then existing circumstances, yet the 
 vast superiority of internal lines remained evident. 
 But when his eccentric movement placed him out of 
 the sphere of real operations, the allies applied the 
 third rule with perfect success, and effected his 
 fall. 
 
 In order to complete the view of territorial and 
 manoeuvring lines, it is requisite to consider them 
 as they are affected by the configuration of fron- 
 tiers. 
 
 1. In order to operate with advantage, there 
 should not be two different armies upon the same 
 frontier: because, 
 
 2. Double lines will always fail, with equal 
 chances, against a single line, as has already been 
 shown. 
 
 3. Interior lines resist with advantage against ex- 
 terior lines, either upon the same, or upon two dif- 
 
 VOL. VI. PART II. 
 
 ferent frontiers. The objection that Pichegru proved War. 
 successful in 1794 is not valid; because Prince "^""V^ 
 Coburg did not avail himself of his interior line, but 
 acted by detachments, while he remained inactive 
 with his mass, inferior in strength, and unsupported 
 by fortresses on the flanks. 
 
 4. When the hostile fortresses are scattered upon 
 a line of great extent, the most advantageous ma- 
 noeuvring line is upon their centre ; as the Russians 
 experienced to their cost, in the beginning of the 
 campaign of 1812 : but on all other occasions, the ' 
 best direction is upon one of the extremities, and 
 from thence on the rear; as exemplified in 1800, 
 in Italy ; in 1805, in Bavaria, and the next year at 
 the sources of the Mein and Saala, &c. When central 
 masses are moved with ability against scattered corps, 
 all other things being equal, they must always be 
 successful, often even without a battle : as when 
 Moreau making demonstrations against the left of 
 Kray, near Huningen, moved rapidly into Switzer- 
 land, whereby the greater part of Swabia fell into his 
 hands without an action. The march of the Duke 
 of Wellington upon Madrid and Burgos produced 
 the immediate evacuation of the south of Spain ; and 
 the movement of Kutusoff upon Kaluga, forced the 
 French from Moscow and out of Russia. 
 
 5. The configuration of a frontier may have im- 
 portant influence on the direction of lines of opera- 
 tion. Central positions, forming salient angles to- 
 wards the enemy, such as before observed, Bohemia 
 forms towards Prussia, Switzerland towards Austria 
 or Saxony, as it was circumstanced in 1813, are the 
 most advantageous ; because they are naturally inte- 
 rior, and lead to the flanks and rear of the opponent's 
 defensive line. The sides of these salient angles are 
 therefore so important, that all the resources of art 
 should be added to those of nature to render them 
 impregnable. Switzerland and Bohemia are suffi- 
 ciently proved to possess these natural advantages ; 
 but Saxony appears more doubtful, because Napo- 
 leon was at length defeated at Leipsig. Yet, it was 
 his conviction of these central advantages that made 
 him neglect to change the line of his operations upon 
 the pivot of Magdeburg: and if we examine the 
 character of the operations, though the allies were 
 numerically, and especially in excellent cavalry, supe- 
 rior, we discover that when his defensive manoeuvres 
 were confined to a moderate distance from the 
 Elbe, and the ridge of the mountains of Bohemia, 
 no impression could be made upon him ; but his sys- 
 tem was solely that of attack, and his impatience 
 sought the Prussians deep in Silesia, the grand army 
 beyond the defiles of Bohemia, and the northern 
 army in the sands of Berlin ; not successively, but all 
 at the same moment. He was thus on all sides in- 
 ferior, but not dislodged, till, by his own indecision, 
 he allowed the enemy to turn both his flanks simul- 
 taneously, and to bring him to action between two 
 fires at Leipsig. We may take occasion to revert 
 once more to the double exterior lines of the allies, 
 here, and in 1814, in Champagne. When each of the 
 armies operating exteriorly amounts to 120,000 or 
 150,000 men, they possess a consistency which ob- 
 viates all need of co-operation : for, admitting the 
 enemy to be even stronger, there is not a great dis- 
 
 5 D 
 
758 
 
 W A R. 
 
 War. parity of force between the parties, which can be de- 
 "V"**^ ployed and brought into action on the same field of 
 battle : hence the weaker army can decline a battle, 
 and in both these cases, where the allies had great 
 superiority of cavalry, they could begin and break 
 off a battle at their pleasure ; as they proved at the 
 first battle of Leipsig or Lutzen, and at Bautsen. 
 
 6. Where no such central position or territorial 
 projection exists, the same effect may be produced 
 by the relative direction of the manoeuvring lines, 
 as exemplified in Plate CXXI. fig. 1. C D, manoeuv- 
 ring on the right flank of the army A B, and H I, 
 moving upon the left flank of F G, form two interior 
 lines, C K and I K, upon the extremities of each of 
 the exterior lines, A B and F G ; both of which may 
 be destroyed by carrying the mass of forces alter- 
 nately upon them. This combination presents the 
 effect of the French campaigns of 1800 and I8O9. 
 It is also the spirit of the Duke of Wellington's de- 
 fence of Portugal ; for by his bridges on the Tagus, 
 he had a direct and interior communication on both 
 his lines north and south of the river, while the 
 enemy, being placed on the segment of a circle, had 
 only the precarious connection by the bridge of 
 Almeras, which being destroyed, he could not ad- 
 vance from either Andalusia or Salamanca, without 
 immediately placing himself in the disadvantageous 
 position here described. 
 
 7. The configuration of the theatre of war may 
 possess the same importance as that of a frontier ; 
 for, in fact, every theatre of war may be considered 
 as a quadrilateral figure. To elucidate this idea, the 
 scene of operations of the French army from 1757 
 to 1762, and the operations of Napoleon in 1 8O6, may 
 be cited. In Plate CXXI. fig. 2, the side A B being 
 inclosed by the North Sea ; the side B D by the 
 river Wezer, — base of the army of Prince Ferdinand ; 
 C D representing the river Mein, — base of the French, 
 and A C the Rhine, likewise in possession of the 
 French ; their armies operating offensively on the 
 sides A C and C D, had the third A B or North 
 Sea in their favour, and therefore B D was the only 
 side, which they were to gain by their manoeuvres, 
 to have possession of the four sides, and consequent- 
 ly of the base of all the communications of their ad- 
 versary. 
 
 This is more clearly exemplified in fig. 3. 
 The French army E, proceeding from the base 
 C D, to gain the position F G H, cuts off the 
 allied army J, from the side B D, its only com- 
 munication and base. It would thus be driven into 
 the angle LAM, which is formed near Embden 
 by the line of the Rhine, the Ems, and the Sea ; 
 while the army E could always communicate with 
 C D or the Mein. 
 
 The manoeuvre of Napoleon, on the Saala, in 
 1806, was combined oh the same principles. He 
 moved upon Jena and Naumburg in the position 
 F G II ; and then advancing by Halle and Dessau, 
 he threw the Prussian army J upon the side A B, 
 formed by the sea. The fate Avhich attended that 
 army at Erfurth, Magdeburg, Lubeck, and Prentz- 
 low, is well known. The great art, therefore, con- 
 sists in combining the marches, so as to arrive upon 
 the communications of the enemy, without sacrificing 
 
 one's own. Now the lines F G H, by means of the War 
 prolonged position, and the angle formed towards "*««^/-' 
 the extremity of the enemy, always preserves the 
 communication with the base C D. This constitutes 
 the application of the manoeuvres of Marengo and 
 Jena. 
 
 When the theatre of hostilities is not near the sea, 
 it will be still circumscribed by some great neutral 
 power which guards the frontier, and incloses one 
 side of the quadrangle. No doubt this barrier is in- 
 ferior to the sea, but, in a general view, it must ne- 
 vertheless be considered as an obstacle, upon which 
 it is dangerous to be driven after a defeat, and ad- 
 vantageous to push an enemy. A state with 200,000 
 men will not suffer its neutrality to be violated with 
 impunity ; and if a beaten army ventured so to do, 
 still it would be cut off from its base. But if an in- 
 ferior power forms the limit of the theatre of war, the 
 square of operations may then be considered as extend- 
 ing over it to the next great neutral power, or the 
 sea. 
 
 To give a still more convincing proof of the just- 
 ness of the preceding ideas, let us examine the scene of 
 the campaign of 1806-7, in Poland. The Baltic and 
 the frontier of Austrian Gallicia formed the two sides 
 A B and C D of the above square. It was of great 
 consequence to both parties to avoid being driven 
 upon either of these obstacles. The configuration 
 of the frontiers may modify the sides of the square, 
 and convert them into a parallelogram, or a trape- 
 sius, as in the 4?th figure, Plate CXXI. 
 
 In this case, the army G H being in possession of 
 the sides A C and C D, would be still more favour- 
 ably situated, because the base of the opponent be- 
 ing contracted at B D, would be more difficult to keep 
 open. The front of the base B D having less extent, 
 offers fewer resources for manoeuvring, and affords 
 to the army G H the means of operating with more 
 success ; because the direction of the line C D natu- 
 rally leads upon the communications of the enemy, 
 and because the space to be occupied in order to cut 
 him off, is shorter, and therefore more easily held 
 with concentrated forces. 
 
 The theatre of war in Prussia and Poland, previous- 
 ly mentioned, was precisely of this figure. The fron- 
 tiers of Austrian Galliciaextendingtothe Narew, form- 
 ed by the line of the Vistula, the contracted side B D ; 
 and the manner in which Napoleon embraced that 
 line at Pultusk and Eylau was similar to the figure 
 here shown. This operation had, however, its unfa- 
 vourable chances. The first depending upon the 
 doubtful trust to be reposed in the neutrality of Aus- 
 tria, and the second upon the great distance from the 
 base of operations, which exposed the communica- 
 tions of the armies with the Oder to the mercy of 
 the Cabinet of Vienna. It depended even then upon 
 Austria (as, indeed, it had the year before depend- 
 ed on Prussia) to put a stop to these endless inva- 
 sions. The manoeuvre of the French general was 
 good, but the operation of the statesman was only 
 daring. These examples are sufficient to demonstrate, 
 that the manner of embracing a theatre of war is 
 amenable to the two following principles. 
 
 1 . To direct the masses upon the decisive points 
 of the line of operations, that is, upon the centre, if 
 
WAR. 
 
 759 
 
 the enemy has been so imprudent as to scatter his 
 forces, or upon an extremity, if he is in a contiguous 
 line. 
 
 2. To make the great effort in the latter case upon 
 that extremity, which has its back against an insur- 
 mountable obstacle, or which leads upon the com- 
 munications of the enemy without sacrificing our 
 own. 
 
 Defensive operations, in a great measure already 
 examined in the preceding discussions, require, ne- 
 vertheless, some further remarks. Passive defence 
 offers no security to a state, nor fortresses without 
 an army ; it is confiding in a shield without a sword. 
 Reason and experience alike prove, that defensive 
 system to be the best, which embraces the greatest 
 number of offensive facilities ; for these we refer, in 
 particular, to interior and simple lines ; and those di- 
 fections of lines which best anticipate or counteract 
 the most effectual offensive ones. But as defensive 
 measures imply inferiority of forces, they must in a 
 considerable degree depend upon local means to coun- 
 terbalance the superiority of the enemy. Rivers and 
 chains of mountains are the natural obstacles ; for- 
 tresses, intrenched camps, and well selected positions 
 upon the most advantageous lines of defence, the 
 artificial means in a territorial front. Fortresses, 
 with teles de pont upon a river parallel to the fron- 
 tier, are very advantageous ; but upon a river perpen- 
 dicular to the frontier, they are still more useful ; par- 
 ticularly if fortified upon both banks, as Prague on the 
 Mulda, or Maestricht on the Meuse. In the former 
 case, an offensive army must cross the river only 
 once ; but in the latter, it must cross as often as the 
 adversary thinks proper : for, placing his camp un- 
 der protection of one of these fortresses, the enemy 
 cannot pass him, without being taken in flank or 
 rear ; nor besiege the place without dislodging the 
 enemy. Hence, intrenched camps, covering and 
 covered by a fortress, add considerably to the defence 
 of a state. The Austrians felt severely the want of 
 these precautions on the Danube in the late wars. 
 Thus the operation of Mack upon Ulm would have 
 been good had he moved in time to attack from 
 thence either on the right or left of the river ; but to 
 have rendered it secure, there should have been for- 
 tified positions on the Schellenberg at Donauwerth, 
 Ingolstadt, and Ratisbon : for then he could al- 
 ways place the river between him and the enemy ; 
 and if the latter operated on both banks, he could 
 attack, with his whole mass, that part which was most 
 convenient, before the other could cross to assist it. 
 Fortifications are also eminently useful in the defence 
 of passes in chains of mountains. The insignificant 
 fort of Bard, with 600 men, arrested the progress 
 of the principal column of Napoleon, when de- 
 scending the Great St Bernard into the valley of 
 Aoste, in 1800 ; and if the fort had been better se- 
 cured, the whole plan of campaign would have fail- 
 ed ; for Melas would have had time to arrive and de- 
 feat the enemy in detail. Again, the French Em- 
 peror having constructed the fine roads into Italy, 
 neglected to secure them by any fortifications, and 
 the first military use that was made of them was 
 by the Austrians, in the two successful invasions of 
 France, where the old fort of L'Ecluse, near Gene- 
 
 va, was the only point that could, and actually did, 
 retard them some days. " 
 
 Fortresses likewise secure the magazines, stores, 
 and hospitals of an army, and save the materiel and 
 broken troops after a defeat. Pampeluna saved what 
 did escape of the French after the battle of Vittoria, 
 as Prague did the Austrians in 1757. But, in order 
 to make them capable of producing the share of se- 
 curity to a state which reason can expect from them ! 
 fortresses should not be too numerous, because they 
 absoi'b too great a proportion of troops for garrisons, 
 and cost immense sums ; nor small, for then they are 
 easily embraced and overpowered by artillery ; nor 
 all on the frontiers, for if the enemy penetrate beyond 
 them, the great arsenals, depots, founderies, &c. of the 
 nation are no longer within reach of the defensive 
 army, which is also deprived of the nppui for a po- 
 sition to cover the capital, and turn the flank of the 
 invader. In the last campaigns, France'felt the want 
 of intermediate fortresses. If such had existed about 
 Soissons, on the Marne, and about the junction of 
 the Seine and Aube, the avenues to Paris would 
 have been more easily defended. Intrenched positions 
 are often eminently useful, provided they intersect 
 or flank the most direct lines of operations ; but as 
 they do not contain arsenals, &c. they are less so 
 than fortresses, and the selection of their site is ex- 
 tremely difficult. Those of the Russians at Drissa, 
 upon the line of Moscow, were abandoned. The in- 
 trenchments of the French on the frontiers of Spain, 
 and at Toulouse, were forced ; but those on the 
 Isla near Cadiz, and at Torres Vedras, both saved 
 kingdoms. A position ably chosen has sometimes 
 the same effect. That of Dumouriez, near the vrood 
 of Argonne, arrested the advance of the Duke of 
 Brunswick in 1792 ; and that of Kutusoff at Maloja- 
 roslaf near Tula, forced the French to retire by the 
 road they came. Both were on the flank, and me- 
 naced the rear of the enemy. Dumouriez, in the 
 north-east corner of the French frontier, present- 
 ed a salient angle, upon a simple line of operations 
 towards the German and the Netherland fronts 
 of defence, and was near the fortresses of Lorrain. 
 Napoleon, in 1814, endeavoured to recover a similar 
 line after the battle of Brienne ; but it was then be- 
 yond the sphere of operations, and his march cost 
 him the loss of his empire. To conclude, defensive 
 war does not consist in covering every part of a 
 state, but in preventing an enemy from obtaining any 
 advantage, ivhich may enable him to accomplish his 
 main object. 
 
 Ill Battles. 
 
 Between a battle won and a battle lost there is an 
 immense distance, said Napoleon, the day before 
 the conflict at Leipsig — empires lie between them ; 
 and, indeed, the plan of campaign, and the strategi- 
 cal movements, are only so many preparatory dispo- 
 sitions to arrive at the great crisis of a battle. The 
 rules applicable to battles, therefore, form the most 
 important branch of the science of war ; because, 
 unless they are well understood, all other know- 
 ledge will be comparatively useless. In many re- 
 spects, this branch is less capable of being reduced 
 to fixed principles than the others. There are. 
 
760 
 
 WAR. 
 
 War. 
 
 however, certain general rules, which should govern 
 ' the dispositions, and the chance of success will be 
 increased or diminished in the ratio of their due ap- 
 plication. Among these, the first is that of operat- 
 ing with a superior mass upon the decisive point, be- 
 cause the physical force of organized numbers in arms 
 furnishes the unerring means of victory, when the 
 moral qualities in both armies are equal. The means 
 of bringing this force to bear in the most advantage- 
 ous manner is the art of fighting; consequently, 
 courage and fortune being nearly balanced, that 
 general who can operate with the largest mass upon 
 the most decisive point must be successful. But to 
 effect this purpose, the combinations must be such 
 as to produce a unity of mcJvements, conducing si- 
 multaneously to the «ame object. 
 
 The following maxims are of general application : 
 
 1. No opportunity should be left till the morrow. 
 
 2. No battle should be given, but for an important 
 object, unless the position should render it unavoid- 
 able. 3. After a victory, the enemy should not 
 be allowed to recover — the pursuit should be in- 
 cessant. 
 
 As in lines of operations, so on fields of battle, it 
 is necessary to avoid dispositions, which have gene- 
 rally proved fatal; such as, 1st, forming isolated 
 divisions ; 2d, ordering extended movements, which 
 deprive the army of a part of its strength, and 
 enable the enemy to ruin either the main body 
 or the detachment ; 3d, positions with too great 
 an extent of front ; 4th, allowing obstacles to 
 separate the wings, or obstacles which prevent the 
 connection of columns, and expose them to separate 
 defeats. 
 
 The finest combinations are those which produce 
 an oblique order of battle ; those with a wing rein- 
 forced ; those which out-flank the enemy ; and 
 those which form a perpendicular upon a hostile ex- 
 tremity, or upon a scattered centre. These are al- 
 most always successful, because they present a whole 
 line to an extremity ; and, therefore, a greater mass 
 than the enemy. Thus the fundamental principle 
 of all military combinations ; namely, to effect voith 
 the greatest mass of forces, a combined attack upon the 
 decisive point, is applied ; and it is easy to understand 
 how a general of ability, with 60,000 men, may be 
 able to defeat 100,000, if he can bring 50,000 into 
 action, upon a single part of his enemy's line. For 
 battles are decided, not by troops upon the muster 
 rolls, nor even by those present, but by those alone 
 who are simultaneously engaged. Numerical supe- 
 riority of troops not engaged, so far from being use- 
 ful, only increases the disorder, as was fully exem- 
 plified at Leuthen. 
 
 There are not a great variety of measures appli- 
 cable to this maxim. 
 
 I. The first is evidently that of taking the lead in 
 the movements. The general who is enabled to 
 hav6 this advantage, can employ his forces wher- 
 ever he thinks them applicable; while, on the contrary, 
 he who is obliged to await the enemy, is no longer 
 master of a single combination ; because his move- 
 ments must be subordinate to those of his adversary, 
 and it is too late to arrest them, when they are al- 
 ready executing. The general who takes the lead 
 H 
 
 knows what he intends to perform; he conceals his 
 march, surprises or overpowers an extremity or a*^ 
 weak part of the hostile line ; while the waiting army 
 is defeated on one of its points, before the know- 
 ledge of the attack has reached its commander. 
 Hence the following are corollaries. 
 
 1. An army taking the lead in a movement can 
 conceal it until in full execution ; therefore, when 
 the manoeuvre takes place in the interior of its own 
 line of operations, the commander may gain several 
 marches of the enemy. 
 
 2. To judge soundly of military operations, it is 
 highly important to banish all calculations which 
 suppose that the hostile general will be informed of 
 a movement, and will oppose it by the best possible 
 manoeuvre, from the instant that the movement is 
 begun. 
 
 3. When two armies combine to place the enemy 
 between two fires, from the distance of several 
 marches, they must ground the disposition upon a 
 double line of operations against a simple one, and 
 expose themselves to be defeated separately, if the 
 enemy takes advantage of his central position. Such 
 a manoeuvre is similar to a movement made at a dis- 
 tance against the flanks ; and should be ranged 
 among those which cannot produce a simultaneous 
 effect at the moment required. 
 
 II. The second consists in directing the move- 
 ments against a weak point of the enemy, when that 
 point offers the greatest advantages. 
 
 An attack to the front is always to be avoided, 
 if a concentrated effort can possibly be made upon 
 the extremity of an enemy's line, for which simple 
 demonstrations on the front are sufficient. 
 
 Against double and scattered lines of operations, 
 it is preferable to direct the attacks upon tihe central 
 points ; for the mass offerees having ruined a central 
 division, the corps to the right and left can no longer 
 operate in unison, and are forced to retreat eccen- 
 trically ; as was proved in the disasters of Wurmser, 
 Mack, and the Duke of Brunswick. Against sim- 
 ple lines of operations and contiguous lines of battle, 
 the weak points are the flanks, because they are lia- 
 ble to be crushed before they can be sustained. 
 Albuera offers, perhaps, the only positive example 
 to the contrary in modern history. For here, the 
 right wing of the allies was turned and routed, and 
 yet the battle gained, by the centre forming an echel- 
 lon to the rear. 
 
 A deep column being attacked on the head, is in 
 a similar condition as an extremity of a line ; both 
 the one and the other are engaged in succession and 
 defeated, or what is termed rolled up. This was 
 proved at Rosbach and Auerstadt. It is, however, 
 more practicable to make a fresh disposition from a 
 column, than with the extremity of a line, when at- 
 tacked by the enemy. 
 
 In executing a general strategical movement 
 against an extremity of an enemy's line of operations 
 or of position, a mass is not only brought to bear 
 against a weak point, but also, from that extremity, 
 it becomes easy to gain the rear and communica- 
 tions, either of the base or of the secondary line of 
 the opponent. Napoleon's manoeuvre in 1805 by 
 Donauwerth and the line of the Lech, turned the 
 
W A R. 
 
 761 
 
 line of communication of Mack with "V ienna, which 
 was his base ; and it intercepted his connection with 
 Bohemia, which was his most important secondary 
 line, by which he expected the assistance of the Rus- 
 sians. Such were also the views of Soult when he 
 turned the allies at Albuera, and of Junot in his at- 
 tack upon the flank and rear of the British at Vimi- 
 era. Napoleon performed the same manoeuvre against 
 the Prussians in 1 806 by Saalfeld and Gera ; Kutu- 
 soff in 1812, by Kaluga and Krasnoi ; the grand al- 
 lied army in 1813, when it debouched from Bohemia 
 upon Dresden and Leipsig ; and Napoleon finally 
 attempted it in 1815 by Wavre. 
 
 1 . But if it be intended to remedy the deficiency 
 of numbers by acting with all the forces upon a sin- 
 gle point of the enemy's line ; that line being conti- 
 guous, the point selected should be as far as possible 
 from the centre, because the centre can be sustained 
 immediately from both the wings ; while, on the con- 
 trary, an extremity can only receive succours by de- 
 grees from the divisions nearest at hand. 
 
 2. An attack upon the centre is never advisable 
 excepting when the hostile line is very extensive, 
 and scattered into separate divisions ; then, indeed, 
 the result must be successful from the same causes, 
 and the consequences even more brilliant, because 
 the enemy's corps will thereby be totally separated 
 and disabled from re-uniting ; whereas an attack 
 upon the flank can produce similar success only un- 
 der particular circumstances. 
 
 III. The result of the preceding truths leads to 
 the maxim, that as it is better to attack the extre- 
 mity of a line, yet that both the extremities should 
 not be attacked at the same time, unless there be a 
 very great superiority on the part of the assailant. 
 An army of 60,000 men forming two corps of 
 30,000 each, for the purpose of attacking an 
 enemy equally nunnerous, is deprived of the power 
 of striking a decisive blow ; because it enables 
 the adversary to take equal measures, or even, if the 
 movement be extended and unconnected, to assemble 
 his mass against one of the divisions, and destroy 
 it, by his momentary superiority. Multiplied 
 attacks by means of a greater number of columns 
 are still more dangerous, — more repugnant to 
 the best principles of war ; particularly when they 
 cannot commence acting at the same moment, and 
 upon the same point. But when there is a very 
 g'reat superiority of force on the side of the assail- 
 ant, then indeed both the extremities of the hostile 
 line should be attacked, because thus a greater num- 
 ber of troops is brought into action on both his 
 wings ; whereas if this great superiority were kept in 
 one mass upon a single point, the adversary might 
 deploy as many as the other party could bring into 
 action, and thus engage with equal numbers. In 
 this case it is only requisite to collect the greatest 
 mass upon that wing where the greatest success is ex- 
 pected. Daun manoeuvred in this way at Hochkirch, 
 and the whole allied forces at Leipsig. 
 
 To illustrate this maxim more fully, it is necessary 
 to enter into some detail, and fix a few particular prin- 
 ciples. If 50,000 men, intending to attack 60,000, 
 should form two corps of nearly equal force, and with 
 a view to embrace both the extremities of their line, 
 
 should extend and isolate the attacks, it is clear 
 that the 60,000 will have the facility of moving more 
 rapidly within the interior of their line, than the assail- 
 ant's corps with such a mass between them ; as Plate 
 CXXI. fig. 5, demonstrates. The two corps B and C 
 might gain momentarily some ground, but the enemy 
 A, leaving a corps to check C upon the most advan- 
 tageous ground for defence which its position might 
 offer, could throw the remaining mass of forces on 
 the front, flank, and rear of B, which must conse- 
 quently be destroyed. If B and C should have a 
 third detachment on the centre, the result would be 
 still more disastrous, for then separate corps would 
 attack without union, a force everywhere imposing, 
 which could not fail to overpower them. This took 
 place at KoUin, from inattention to the orders of the 
 King; at Neerwinden in 1793 ; and at Stockach in 
 1799, where Dumouriez and Jourdan were de- 
 feated by Prince Coburg and Archduke Charles. At 
 Krevelt, a similar result would have occurred if the 
 French army had been ably commanded, and exer- 
 cised in great manoeuvres. At Blenheim all Eu- 
 gene's efforts were unavailing, even when he had 
 gained the flank, until Marlborough's success decid- 
 ed the victory. 
 
 The truth of these observations is so manifest, 
 that it may be applied to an army superior in num- 
 bers : 50,000 attacking in this manner an army of 
 40,000, would still incur all the same risks ; and if 
 the inferior force, after leaving a coi-ps to mask one 
 attack, should take a rapid offensive measure, and 
 overtake the enemy in his preparatory dispositions, 
 which would necessarily be calculated upon the prin- 
 ciple of finding the opponent in his position, the 
 heads of his columns might be turned, and com- 
 pletely routed. But if the two hostile attacks should 
 have between them some difficult object, a wood or 
 river, they might each in their turn be destroyed. 
 Examples of this kind occurred at Lonato, Castig- 
 lione, Abendsberg, Eckmuhl, and Ratisbonne. 
 
 When, however, the attacking army is double the 
 force of the enemy, the principle no longer holds 
 as stated in the cases of Hochkirch and Leipsig ; 
 but, to avoid the danger of divided forces, it is 
 requisite to have the lead, and to conceal it in such 
 a manner that both attacks may commence nearly at 
 the same moment. Thus tAvo maxims, in appear- 
 ance contradictory, are derived from the same prin- 
 ciple. 
 
 J . An army intending to attack another of equal 
 or superior force, cannot insure success but by a 
 concentrated effort upon a single point of a weaken- 
 ed line, which is not in a condition to be timely sup- 
 ported. 
 
 2. But when a superior army attacks one much 
 weaker, two or three divisions should be formed, in 
 order to bring all its masses into action against the 
 inferior masses opposed ; for if the attack were con- 
 fined to a single point, the whole of the forces could 
 not be brought into line, and the enemy might de- 
 ploy an equal number ; but it is necessary that the 
 whole combinations centre on the same ground, and 
 at the same instant, to produce unity of execution, 
 and avoid partial and successive defeat. 
 
 3, As every front of operations and each position 
 
W AE. 
 
 of battle contains a decisive pointy it is important 
 that the repai'tition of forces insure not only a ge- 
 neral superiority over the enemy, but also that a 
 strong reserve be appropriated to support the attack 
 upon that principal point. 
 
 These maxims are more especially applicable to 
 battles than to strategical operations ; for^ with 
 these, no necessity demands that corps, acting at the 
 distance of several marches from each other, should 
 engage exactly at the same hour — and it would be 
 impossible so to do on the same ground. But if 
 the principle is to be enforced differently, it is 
 still of full efficacy. It may appear that in these 
 ideas, the main stress of the argument rests upon the 
 local superiority of numbers ; but it is nevertheless 
 true, that their combination is the chief object ; for 
 30,000 men may be defeated by half their numbers, 
 if, in the disposition, and in the choice of the ground, 
 some vicious arrangement take place, which pro- 
 duces a real disadvantage ; — such as La Motte experi- 
 enced from Webb, at Wynendael and Chevert, from 
 Imholf, at Meer; and the Austrians from Moreau, 
 in the defiles of Hohenlinden. 
 
 IV. In the sti-ategical movement of a great mass 
 in a combined effort upon one point, it is advisable 
 to keep the forces concentrated, within a space ap- 
 proaching to square, so as to have them perfectly 
 disposable ; or, in other words, that the depth of the 
 disposition be nearly equal to the front, enabling the 
 battalions to arrive with promptitude from all quar- 
 ters towards the point attacked. Extensive fronts 
 xnilitate as much against good principles, as great 
 detachments and isolated divisions deprived of the 
 means of being sustained. The inattention of Na- 
 poleon and Ney to this maxim gave Benningsen the 
 advantage at Eylau ; and the care of the allies in 
 1815, notwithstanding the difficulty of guarding an 
 open frontier, enabled them to concentrate their 
 masses at Waterloo. 
 
 V. One of the most efficacious means of applying 
 the above general principles, is to induce the enemy 
 to take contrary measures. By means of srhall corps 
 of light troops, jealousies may be created for some 
 important points of his communications. If he can 
 be persuaded that they are formidable, he will be 
 tempted to detach strong divisions against them, 
 and scattering his forces, be disabled from acting 
 with vigour himself, and be exposed to an attack 
 from superior forces. Operations by detachments 
 have, nevertheless, been in fashion. To divide and 
 subdivide, till the main army was reduced to the 
 secondary character of mere observing, was consi- 
 dered as the very summit of strategical science. In 
 the Hanoverian campaigns, the French, with two 
 great armies, acted upon this system ; nor could they 
 ever be undeceived, although Prince Ferdinand, with 
 less than half their force, contrived not only to re- 
 conquer the country, but afterwards to keep them 
 constantly at bay, and even to attack them with su- 
 perior numbers. The Austrians, and the army of 
 the empire, operated similarly in Saxony, and reaped 
 similar fruits. But Mack, trained in the Turkish 
 wars, was the great patron of cordons and scattered 
 posts, with inert positions to sustain them. The 
 Austrians have, however, little reason to exult in 
 
 the success of their system. The least mischief 
 which they have derived from it was, that they 
 fought on accessary points, while the main armies, 
 reduced in strength, Avere unable to do more than 
 menace the principal objects of the campaign, wast- 
 ing their time until they were attacked by superior 
 forces. 
 
 Nor are hostile armies destroyed by merely taking 
 positions upon their communications, and remaining 
 inactive within them. Had Napoleon halted upon 
 the Lech in 1805, or on the Saala in 1806, he could 
 neither have prevented the escape of Mack, by Do- 
 nauwerth, nor the retreat of the Duke of Brunswick 
 to the Elbe. The art of war does not consist in in- 
 cursions upon communications, but in placing the 
 mass upon them, in order to attack the enemy with 
 decided advantage. Detachments upon the commu- 
 nications of the adversary are only accessories of 
 secondary utility. 
 
 VI. When the lead is taken in a decisive move- 
 ment against the enemy, great importance is attach- 
 ed to an exact knowledge of the positions and move- 
 ments which he may undertake. Spies are then of 
 the utmost consequence ; but the use of partisans, 
 thoroughly versed in watching the enemy, is of still 
 greater utility. For this purpose, the general should 
 scatter small parties in all directions, and multiply 
 them with as much care as he would show to restrain 
 them in great operations. Some divisions of light 
 cavalry, expressly organized for this service, and not 
 included in the order of battle, are the most efficient. 
 To operate without such precautions is to walk in 
 the dark, and to be exposed to the disastrous conse- 
 quences which may be produced by a secret march 
 of the enemy. Generally speaking, these measures 
 are too much neglected. The Espionnage is not 
 sufficiently organized beforehand ; and the officers 
 of light troops have not always the requisite experi- 
 ence to conduct their detachments. 
 
 The Cossacks under Platoff, ChernichefF, Tetten- 
 born, &c. in Russia and Poland ; these, with the 
 Prussians under Lutzow in Germany and France ; 
 and the Guerillas of Mina, the Empecinado, and 
 others in Spain and Portugal, have shown the im- 
 mense advantages to be derived from their services. 
 While they were few in number, their real import- 
 ance was not fully understood ; but when 1 5,000 
 or 20,000 of them appeared in the field, especially 
 in a friendly country, they became the most formi- 
 dable enemy, with respect to the combinations, which 
 a general could encounter ; because those were al- 
 ways liable to be disjointed, by the uncertainty of 
 the timely arrival of orders. Every convoy de- 
 manded a numerous and well-conducted escort, and 
 every march was endangered by the want of real in- 
 formation, relative to the hostile positions. The 
 duties, greatly multiplied, exhausted a great part of 
 the army ; and the regular cavalry was soon render- 
 ed unserviceable by their excessive fatigue. 
 
 VII. It is not sufficient for a good operation of 
 war to convey with ability the mass of forces upon the 
 most important points ; they require, moveover, to be 
 brought into action. If they remain inactive when 
 arrived upon those points, the principle is forgot- 
 ten ; for the enemy may make counter-movements 
 
WAR. 
 
 763 
 
 ar. to defeat the project ; and it is therefore indispensa- 
 ble that, from the moment his communications or 
 his flank are gained, the mass of forces must march 
 up to him and attack. This is the moment when a 
 simultaneous employment of the troops must take 
 place. Masses of troops present do not decide bat- 
 tles, but the acting masses alone have effect ; the 
 former, indeed, produce that consequence in strate- 
 gical movements, but the latter determine the suc- 
 cess of the action. 
 
 To insure this result, a general of ability will 
 seize the proper moment to force the decisive point 
 of the field of battle, and combine the attack in such 
 a manner that all his forces will be brought into ac- 
 tion, with the exception always of the reserve. But 
 if the efforts emanating from this principle fail of 
 the desired success, no other combination remains 
 than a simultaneous general onset, in which the re- 
 serve is then to be brought forward, to make a last 
 and decisive effort. 
 
 VIII. We now come to battles proper, all the 
 combinations of which are reducible to three sys- 
 tems. 
 
 The first includes defensive battles, where the 
 enemy is expected in a strong position, with the 
 simple object of maintaining the ground. Such were 
 the positions of Tallard at Blenheim, Villeroy at Ra- 
 millies, Marsin at Turin, Daun at Torgau ; and the 
 events are sufficient to show their general disadvan- 
 tage. 
 
 The second is the opposite system, wholly offen- 
 sive. It consists in manoeuvres of attack wherever 
 the enemy may be found, such as those of Marl- 
 borough at Blenheim, Ramillies, and Oudenaerde ; 
 Frederick at Leuthen, Zorndorff, and Torgau ; Na- 
 poleon at Jena and Ratisbonne ; Wellington at Vit- 
 toria, and the Allies at Leipsig. 
 
 The third offers, in some measure, the middle 
 term between the other two. It consists in select- 
 ing a field of battle, carefully reconnoitred before- 
 hand in its strategical applicabilities and advantages 
 of ground ; then to wait the enemy's attack, and to 
 fix upon the proper moment of passing from the de- 
 fensive into offensive measures with the best chances 
 of success. In this class must be reckoned the com- 
 binations of Napoleon at Rivoli and Austerlitz ; of 
 Blucher at the Katsbach and Laon ; and of Welling- 
 ton at Salamanca and Waterloo. 
 
 It is difficult to prescribe fixed rules by which the 
 choice of any of these systems should be guided. 
 The circumstances of the moment, the moral cha- 
 racter of the troops, considered as affecting their 
 courage, discipline, and inclinations, their national 
 temper, and the conformation of the ground, must 
 be taken into account. 
 
 1 . Under these general considerations, it may be 
 fixed, that the best mode is to act offensively on all 
 occasions, when the troops are inured to war, and 
 the ground presents no extraordinary features. 
 
 2. Where the topography of the field of battle is 
 difficult of access, either from natural or artificial 
 causes, and the troops of different nations not having 
 the same unity of feeling and of discipline, it will be 
 preferable to receive the attack in a position previ- 
 ously selected, with the determination of assuming 
 the offensive when the enemy shall be exhausted by 
 the first efforts. 
 
 3. When the strategical circumstances of the par- 
 ties are such, that one is obliged to attack the other 
 without considering localities ; as, for instance, to 
 prevent the junction of two hostile armies, or to crush 
 an isolated corps, &c. 
 
 4. When particular circumstances, as extreme in- 
 feriority of numbers, forbid any other than strictly 
 defensive measures ; such as Eugene took at Chiari, 
 Abercromby on the Zyp, and Moore at Coruinia. 
 
 Battles in general, whether offensive or defensive, 
 notwithstanding all the varieties of ground and 
 changes of position, may be classed into three sys- 
 tems of disposition, or what are termed orders, each 
 subject to some modifications. 
 
 First, the simple parallel order, or that in which 
 hostile armies are drawn up in parallel lines, to ad- 
 vance or receive the attack. Jomini justly observes, 
 that accident or superior valour alone decide the con- 
 test in this class of orders, and that the soldier is en- 
 titled to all the credit ; because such a disposition 
 being the fruit of ignorance and incapacity, the ge- 
 neral can have no part in it. Notwithstanding this 
 censure, it is somewhat singular that the only battle 
 in which a considerable British corps was severely 
 handled was of this description, when Berwick de- 
 feated Lord Galway at Almanza.* 
 
 The second order is the parallel, reinforced upon 
 one or several parts of the line. In this class, espe- 
 cially if dispositions with an angle to the front or 
 rear are included, most of the great victories of an- 
 cient and modern times may be reckoned. For 
 although it is not the most perfect in theory, it is the 
 most constantly applicable in practice ; under almost 
 every possible character of ground, or counter dis- 
 position of the enemy. 
 
 The oblique order of battle is the third and the 
 best class of tactical dispositions ; but in the applica- 
 tion, great simplicity of combination is necessary, and 
 great prudence in the execution. Against a ma- 
 noeuvring array ably commanded, it will always be 
 very difficult to apply it ; but when produced, the ef- 
 fect is instantaneous and decisive : it is the triumph 
 of discipline and of grand manoeuvre. 
 
 IX. Orders of battle, or the most appropriate dis- 
 position for leading troops into action, should pos- 
 sess the inherent qualities of mobility and solidity. 
 To attain these two objects, troops which are to re- 
 main on the defensive should be partly deployed and 
 partly in columns, as the allied army was at Water- 
 loo, or the Russians at Eylau ; but the corps destin- 
 ed to attack a decisive point should be disposed into 
 
 * Accident, it must be owned, had a great share in this battle ; for it is asserted that the statue of St An- 
 tonio, the nominal commander-in-chief, was shattered by a cannon ball, which instantly caused the Portu=*- 
 guese to retreat, and leave the British and Dutch to their fate. 
 
764 
 
 WAR. 
 
 War. 
 
 two lines of battalions, formed into columns of more 
 or less density. Joraini proposes columns of grand 
 divisions (according to the French formation of a 
 battalion of six companies, making three grand di- 
 visions) : 
 
 6 5 4-3 2 1 
 
 Battalion. 
 
 12 
 
 11 
 
 10 
 
 Battalion. 
 
 Three grand divisions would thus form three lines, 
 and the second line three more. This order, accord- 
 ing to his view, offers much more solidity than a de- 
 ployed line, which waves too much, retards the im- 
 pulse necessary for attack, and prevents the officers 
 from managing their men. In order to facilitate the 
 march, obviate the great density of the mass, and 
 procure a greater front, the divisions should be form- 
 ed only two deep ; for thus the battalions will be 
 more moveable. The march in front, three deep, is 
 always fatiguing to the centre rank, which, being 
 pressed between the first and third, produces fluctu- 
 ation, and consequent faintness in the onset. In this 
 manner, all the desired strength will be produced ; 
 the three grand divisions giving a depth of six ranks, 
 which is more than sufficient ; and the front being one- 
 third longer, augments the quantity of fire, if it should 
 become necessary to use it. The enemy, likewise, 
 will be awed by a display of greater numbers, and 
 the artillery will have less effisct than upon more so- 
 lid masses. 
 
 If the proposal of Joraini were applied to the Bri- 
 tish system of battalion, the same effisct would be ob- 
 tained by fronts of wings of battalion, each three deep. 
 What is said of fluctuation in the march is, indeed, 
 true; but the lock-step is never, and cannot be, observ- 
 ed in a charge or rapid advance to the front in action. 
 The ranks open in those cases sufficiently to allow 
 freedom of step. Firing three deep, though practis- 
 ed at drill, is, in truth, when applied in battle, not 
 more efficient, perhaps less than in two ranks. If, 
 therefore, the expedient of forming battalions only 
 on two ranks be resorted to, still the fronts of wings 
 covering each other, and producing only a depth of 
 four men, would be sufficient for troops so eminently 
 qualified for battle as the British. This proposal of J o- 
 mini is an avowal of the inefficiency of dense columns, 
 as they are usually formed by the French and other 
 continental armies, in attacks and charges. If that Ge- 
 neral had been engaged against the British, he would 
 have been still more convinced of this. During the 
 
 late wars, not an instance occurred where a hostile War, 
 column, au pas de charge, broke through a British '-^'^ 
 line. And the charge at Maida, by a brigade of 
 light- infantry ; at Barossa, by the 87th, and three 
 companies of the guards ; at Vimiera, by the 50th ; 
 and at Waterloo, by the whole line — all in deployed 
 order, two deep only, against lines or columns, de- 
 monstrate the error of supposing, that a mass of hu- 
 man beings, possessed of individual will and feelings, 
 can be subjected to the laws of mechanical action. 
 
 Rogniat, General of Engineers, in the dispositions 
 of the legion which he proposes, instead of batta- 
 lions, contends for three ranks deployed, and the 
 second line in columns, at quarter distance, ready 
 to form squares when required : but both he and 
 Jomini agree in the unprofitableness of fire from a 
 third rank ; in which they only maintain opinions 
 that were long ago held by Folard, Saxe, and Lloyd. 
 
 Another system may be suggested, which would 
 obviate many inconveniences under which the present 
 labours. The present system of the infantry might 
 be left, such as habit, founded on experience, has 
 framed it ; with the exception of arming a third 
 rank with rifled fusils and spears, about ten feet 
 six inches in length. The fusil, when not used, 
 to be slung on the shoulder in the manner of 
 riflemen; and the spear, with a spike, to fix in 
 the ground; and a hook, about four and a half 
 feet from the bottom, to serve for a rest in firing.* 
 As light infantry now form nearly one-third of the 
 foot in armies, this species of troops should perform 
 all their duties, and be exercised accordingly. When 
 scattered in front, their fire from a rest would be 
 more destructive ; the spear would give them more 
 confidence and security against light cavalry. When 
 called back into line, they would give it solidity ; 
 and in a charge, their spears, reaching beyond the 
 bayonets of the first rank, would render it doubly 
 formidable. Being drilled to form in front or rear, 
 they would be the first rank, when the battalion 
 forms square, to resist cavalry. In pursuits, they alone 
 should be let loose upon the enemy. By their insti- 
 tution, every battalion, every detachment, would 
 have its proportion of light infantry ; intrenchments 
 would be more obstinately defended, and breaches 
 more easily stormed. If a rivulet were to be forded, 
 their spears would sound for a passage on a whole line 
 in a moment. On the outposts, three spears and two 
 great-coats would form a tent. The idea is not new, 
 for the Austrian militia in Hungary have a corps 
 (Granitzer Schutzen) thus armed. Should the cuiras- 
 siers in the armies again resume the lance, — an event 
 of some probability, since it is asserted that the Po- 
 lish lancers of the guard of Napoleon, now in the 
 Russian service, changed their small Ukrain horses 
 for a lai'ger breed about two years ago, with the in- 
 
 * As these troops would have no bayonet, they might be furnished with Pontoneer swords, and saws 
 and hatchets ; both instruments of great utility in securing posts, clearing obstacles, and opening roads, and 
 a thousand other daily wants. It is not meant, that they should not have a drill of their own, and modes 
 of formation independent of the battalion ; but merely that, in giving or receiving charges in line or square, 
 they should then constitute a third rank. 
 
WAR. 
 
 tention of being converted intd cuirassier lancers, — 
 it may be foreseen, that the spear will again be re- 
 sumed in the infantry. 
 
 X. On the extensive subject of position, we can 
 only give sonle particulars. 
 
 1. The best military positions cannot cover a state 
 merely by being occupied and maintained. 
 
 2. Every position has its key or decisive point, 
 as before observed : but this point is not difficult to 
 find. In a scattered line, it is in the centre ; in a 
 contiguous line, it will be found on that point where 
 the nearest connection lies with the base of _,opera- 
 tions. 
 
 3. When an army occupies a position upon a 
 height, or any other ground fit for a field of battle, 
 it is important to have the front and flanks most 
 carefully reconnoitred and watched, to prevent the 
 enemy gaining either extremity of the line by a se- 
 ci'et movement. 
 
 4. But as it is admitted, that to employ strong 
 corps for that purpose, causes a useless waste of 
 force, attracts the attention of the enemy, and does 
 not, after all, secure the army from surprise, it is 
 preferable to place small posts of observation in all 
 the sinuosities of the ground, with orders to com- 
 municate with each other and with the army, or the 
 nearest intermediate corps. These two latter rules 
 were demonstrated by the surprise and attack of the 
 Prussian army at Hochkirchen, of Korsakoff at Zu- 
 rich, and Murat at Tarutina ; but especially on the 
 first-mentioned occasion ; for, next to the battle of 
 Leuthen, no instance produces more ample proof of 
 the terrible effects of an army being surprised and 
 taken in flank. The whole mass of Daun's forces 
 was actually upon both flanks before they were dis- 
 Qovered. 
 
 5. On ground of difficult access, such as vine- 
 yards, inclosures, gardens, steep heights, &c. the 
 defensive order of battle should be in lines deployed 
 two deep, covered by swarms of skirmishers. But 
 the corps destined for attacks, and the reserves, are 
 best in columns, formed on their centres, in the man- 
 ner above described ( IX.) ; for the reserves, being 
 destined to fall upon the enemy at the critical mo- 
 ment, must advance with resolution and rapidity, 
 that is, in column. If, however, it be desired to 
 ffwe the enemy by a greater display of forces, the 
 reserve may be deployed until the moment of at- 
 tack. 
 
 6. A superior army should never wait to be at- 
 tacked, still less wholly deploy into line, if compel- 
 led by circumstances to remain in its post. In this 
 case, no more troops should form line than are ne- 
 cessary to check the enemy. The remainder, form- 
 ed into three or four heavy columns, should be 
 placed ready to strike a decisive blow upon the most 
 important point. A great army wholly deployed 
 can no longer manoeuvre with the same facility as 
 columns; and to render troops not engaged im- 
 moveable, is repugnant to the best principles of tac- 
 tics. 
 
 7. An army posted behind villages should cover 
 the front with them, by occupying the inclosures, 
 ^c. with some battalions of infantry, and the outlets 
 with cannon. The first line should be sufficiently 
 
 VOL. VI. PART II. 
 
 near to sustain and be sustained by them, and also to 
 provide the means of securing the evacuation of the 
 place, in case the enemy should have gained so 
 much ground on other points as to be able to mask 
 them. Villages, being liable to be turned, should 
 not be held by considerable corps of infantry, unless 
 their topographical situation should constitute them 
 the key of the position, as was the case at Vimiera. 
 The battle of Blenheim deserves attention on account 
 of the consequences produced by the neglect of the 
 principles applicable to villages. 
 
 8. When an army occupies a position perpendicu- 
 larly to a river, with a wing resting on the border, 
 that wing should not be attacked, because, if the 
 enemy changed front in mass towards the river, the 
 attacking corps might be driven into it. On the 
 contrary, if the onset is directed against the other 
 wing with the principal mass of forces, that chance 
 is in favour of the assailants ; because the wing being 
 turned, the whole line will be pressed towards the 
 stream, and incur the risk of being destroyed. This 
 would have been the case with Killer's corps at 
 Wagram, if a prompt retreat had not saved it. Si- 
 milar would have been the fate of the united French 
 armies at Talavera de la Reyna, had they persisted 
 in an attack upon the Spaniards ; and they acted with 
 great judgment in directing their efforts solely to- 
 wards Lord Wellington's left. 
 
 g. In the successful defence of a position, a re- 
 pulsed attack should not be pursued, unless that at- 
 tack had been decisive ; because it might have been 
 combined by the enemy for the purpose of drawing 
 the defensive force out of its advantageous ground. 
 An untimely pursuit by the Austrian right lost the 
 battle of Prague ; and by the Saxons that of Kessels-^ 
 dorff; and again by the Austrian centre that of Je- 
 mappes. 
 
 10. Positions may, sometimes, be so arranged, > 
 that although they be scattered, they still possess the^ 
 faculty of timely re-union. Several are indicated in 
 Frederick's secret strategical instructions, and one 
 occurs when he besieged Olmutz. Being greatly 
 inferior to the enemy, who menaced him from seve- 
 ral quarters, he posted a corps at Littau, while he 
 remained in person with the covering army at Pros- 
 nitz ; and in order to connect the two masses at will, 
 
 a small corps occupied the hill of Hrad, between 
 Namiest and Laskow, to serve as an intermediate 
 point. Orders were given to the corps at Littau, 
 in case of attack, to retreat towards him, and if a 
 superior attack were made upon the covering army^ 
 he would retire towards the other ; but if timely in- 
 formation were received, all were to unite in the po- 
 sition of Gross Jenitz. 
 
 11. As it is a maxim to operate against a weak 
 part of the enemy's line, no position should be at- 
 tacked upon its strongest point, as the Austrians did 
 at Breslaw ; but if the hostile position be prolongetl 
 by a detached corps, the principal effort should be 
 directed against it ; because, if that be defeated, the 
 main body is turned, and thereby worsted. 
 
 12. Armies may sometimes be posted behind a 
 ridge of hills with defensive points upon their sum- 
 mits. These should not be attacked without an ex- 
 act knowledge of the position behind, and precau-* 
 
 5 
 
I 
 
 766 
 
 W A R. 
 
 War. 
 
 --tions to resist a counter movement. The events of 
 Austerlitz and on the Katsbach prove the necessity 
 of this precaution. 
 
 13. No position or disposition of attack should be 
 made where the line is intersected perpendicularly 
 by a difficult obstacle, such as a river or morass ; 
 because the enemy may act defensively on one side, 
 and throw his whole mass on the other ; as happened 
 at Dresden, where the left wing of the allies was se- 
 parated from the main body by the ravine of Plauen, 
 and severely handled. 
 
 14. When an army remains immoveable in its po- 
 sition, both its flanks are liable to be turned. To 
 obviate such manoeuvres, others of a similar charac- 
 ter should be opposed to them ; as was done at Al- 
 buera. These counter manoeuvres are not difficult to 
 execute, because the army turning a flank moves 
 upon the arc, while the opponent takes the chord ; 
 consequently he is enabled to move a greater mass 
 in less time, even when both parties are equal in 
 forces. Rosbach, Vimiera, and Salamanca, are de- 
 cisive examples, where the enemy moved in open 
 day (which it is both difficult and dangerous to 
 do in the night), and thereby rendered the counter 
 offensive both prompt and decisive. 
 
 1 5. There are positions which cannot be turned 
 nor attacked obliquely. If the stratagem to draw 
 the enemy out of them does not take effect, a pai*al- 
 lel attack with the centre reinforced is likely to be 
 the best adapted to such circumstances. The dis- 
 positions of Marlborough at Blenheim were of this 
 class, and deserve the study of military men. 
 
 On Angles 1. Between two armies equally capable of ma- 
 tionTti^p'o ^^^^^'^^S> defensive one may form an angle with 
 teiice. ' advantage to secure a flank from attack ; but to ren- 
 der this precaution efficacious, the angle alone is not 
 sufficient^ because its utility is only momentary ; the 
 mass, therefore, should change front in the same di- 
 rection, and present a whole line to the enemy. 
 
 2. If the army be sufficiently strong to assume the 
 offensive against the assailant, a change of front, 
 which is merely defensive, should be followed as 
 soon as the angle is formed and the enemy checked ; 
 by placing the line in columns of divisions to the 
 flank, and prolonging the direction from the posi- 
 tion first occupied to gain the hostile flank. Thus 
 taken in front by the angle, and in flank and rear by 
 the new direction, the enemy will be defeated. See 
 Plate CXXI. fig. 6. A the army endeavouring to turn 
 the left flank of B, which forms the angle C, and un- 
 der the protection of this corps, prolongs its line in 
 the direction EE, by means of which the extremity 
 of the hostile flank is gained. A cannot well oppose 
 the execution of this movement in the presence of 
 the angle C, and of the line E, which, though it be 
 in column, can form in an instant ; hence A must 
 fall back and change front also. 
 
 3. An angle to the front of the line or potence, 
 such as the Austrians formed at Prague and Kollin, 
 is not so serviceable as one thrown back to the rear ; 
 because the enemy can readily outflank its extremity 
 from his position, Avhile that extremity can be sus- 
 tained but by sloAv degrees. Thus at Kollin, the Prus- 
 sian cavalry turned it at the beginning of the action ; 
 
 and at Eylau, Benningsen repulsed the corps of \^ 
 Davoust on his left, and Ney on his right. 
 
 4. If a defensive position has an angle to the rear, 
 the front will be weaiiened in proportion as that 
 angle becomes more acute : but, if there be a con- 
 siderable interval on the summit, where the two lines 
 should meet, the danger will be still greater ; for if 
 the enemy can establish himself on the point A, it is 
 clear that the two wings, A C and A B, will be en- 
 filaded and forced to retreat ; if not rolled up in con- 
 fusion by an actual charge on either or both of these 
 extremities : this caused the defeat of the Austrians 
 at Prague, and of the Prussians at Breslaw. ( Plate 
 CXXI. fig. 7.) 
 
 5. If two allied armies or great corps take up posi- 
 tions, forming a re-entering angle with a space be- 
 tween them, and some considerable obstacle masks 
 that space, they expose themselves to be attacked and 
 defeated separately : this danger increases with the 
 increase of the distance between them. The corps 
 A D being separated from BE, by a wood, lake, or 
 other considerable obstacle, at G ; the enemy F H, 
 being covered by that obstacle, may attack and defeat 
 one before the other can arrive to sustain it. (Fig. 8.) 
 This principle results from the maxims of interior 
 against exterior lines of operations. Such positions 
 as these were occupied by Prince Henry and Hulsen, 
 at Freyberg and Katzenhausern, with the Tharand 
 forest, and what was worse (at the distance of more 
 than six leagues), with the Mulde between them. Yet 
 the army of the empire, superior in force, remained 
 three months before them, until Prince Henry moved 
 and defeated it at Freyberg. 
 
 1. To insure the success of an attack, properly Oblique; 
 combined and reinforced on the essential point, it is ^"jfg'r^; 
 necessary to refuse the weaker wing. This precaution observ 
 is obvious, not only for the purpose of keeping a tions. 
 weaker part out of reach, but also because reinforce- 
 ments are readily drawn from it, to the point where 
 
 the effort is making. Thus, instead of exposing it to 
 be repulsed by superior forces, there is a real advan- 
 tage in keeping it reserved to secure the victory. 
 Leuthen affords a proof of the wisdom of such a 
 disposition; Kollin and Jcegerndorff of the conse- 
 quence, when disregarded. 
 
 2. If it be admitted, that the most advantageous 
 attacks are those which emanate from a concentrated 
 effort, upon an extremity of the hostile line ; it be- 
 comes indispensable to gain that extremity, by mea- 
 sures which mask the movement. For, by neglect- 
 ing this precaution, the enemy may follow the march 
 of the columns in their endeavours to turn him ; pre- 
 sent constantly a front, or even anticipate, and take 
 them in flank, as happened at Rosbach. 
 
 3. The march may be concealed by the darkness 
 of the night, by the conformation of the ground, or 
 by means of a false attack on the front of the enemy. 
 The two last mentioned are to be preferred ; because 
 night marches are uncertain and even dangerous, 
 slower, and always more irregular than those by day. 
 For this pui-pose, it is not necessary to march by lines, 
 if the movement be masked by an attack of the ad- 
 vanced guard, while the mass advances towards the 
 extremity desired, in columns of battalions at half 
 
WAR. 
 
 767 
 
 distances. This will render it difficult to be dis- 
 covered by the enemy, in time to be counteracted. 
 
 4. In order to molest a greater space of front, in- 
 stead of an advanced guard making a regular attack, 
 it is pi-eferable to employ a corps of light troops, 
 formed in parties ; having points for re-assembling 
 light cavalry and some artillery to sustain them. 
 This method is sure to distract the enemy's atten- 
 tion, and keep his whole line in check. 
 
 An oblique attack, according to Guibert and the 
 Journal Topographique, is a disposition by lyhich a 
 part, or the choice of the forces, are advanced towards 
 the enemy, and the other kept out of his reach. This 
 definition is not quite correct, as Plate CXXI. 
 figs. 9, 10, 11, and 12 demonstrate. An army 
 may be out of reach of the enemy, and therefore re- 
 fused in a line nearly parallel, and strongly rein- 
 forced on a wing, without being oblique. (Fig. 9.) It 
 may also be in an inclined line on the head of the 
 attacks, and form a positive diagonal, without being 
 reinforced (fig. 10); or perpendicular upon a flank, 
 as at KunersdorfF, with a wing reinforced (fig. H) ; 
 or horizontal upon the head of the columns without 
 being oblique. (Fig. 12.) There are several mo- 
 difications of these four orders (among others fig. 
 11); as, for example, a perpendicular angle to the 
 front, as formed by the Austrians at Prague, Kollin, 
 and Hochkirchen'( Plate CXXI. fig. 13) ; the angle 
 A C being perpendicular to the army D E, rein- 
 forces the right wing of the line A B without being 
 oblique : so also an angle to the rear would reinforce 
 the line without obliquity. 
 
 A parallel line, considerably reinforced upon the 
 most important point, is no doubt good, and even 
 very generally applicable ; for it is conformable to 
 the principle which forms the basis of all operations : 
 but it has several inconveniences. The weak part 
 of the line being near the enemy, may be engaged 
 contrary to the intention, and be defeated; which 
 event would balance and arrest the advantages gain, 
 ed on the other wing ; as happened to both armies 
 at Wagram. The reinforced wing having defeated 
 its opponent, cannot take it in flank and rear with- 
 out a considerable movement, which would separate 
 it from the other, if already engaged. But admit- 
 ting the weaker wing not to be engaged, the other 
 cannot even then turn the flank without drawing 
 it circularly along the hostile front, which the ene- 
 my must necessarily anticipate by being on the 
 chord of the movement ; and consequently give him 
 the advantage of the offensive by reaching the de- 
 cisive point first with the mass of his forces. 
 
 With the oblique order of Frederick, as applied 
 at Leuthen, the effect is quite different ; the extre- 
 mity of the wing attacked is not only overpowered 
 by a whole line, but the end of that wing is con- 
 stantly outflanked, and the line turned, without 
 manoeuvre, or prolongation of direction, simply by 
 a direct advance of the oblique line. The distance 
 of the divisions which are not intended for the prin- 
 cipal attack, places them out of the danger of being 
 engaged by a superior force, and yet sustains the 
 wing in action. These effects of the open oblique 
 attack, although known, cannot be too often present- 
 ed to the reflections of military men. They offer, 
 
 besides, another advantage still more decisive, in War. 
 bringing the half of the army constantly into action '-"^^^ 
 against the extremity, probably of only two. brigades, 
 of the hostile army, which has no counter manoeu- 
 vre to stop its progress. What troops can stand 
 against such odds, when besides they are constantly 
 outflanked and taken in reverse } Is it possible that 
 confusion and dismay should not follow in a whole 
 line, whose flank is overthrown, and menaced with 
 total destruction, by the progressive advance in a 
 direction upon the rear > 
 
 Yet such must be the infallible result of an oblique 
 attack when once it has reached the flank of the op- 
 ponent undiscovered ; as indicated in the preceding 
 maxims ; and when the lines are rapidly formed, ac- 
 cording to the method of Frederick ; as will be seen 
 in the observations on marches. Plate CXXI. 
 fig. 14-, demonstrates the mechanism more clearly. 
 The left wing, B C, of the army, A C, will receive 
 the fire of the second brigade of the army, D K L, 
 whilst the first brigade, or extreme right, formed in 
 column of divisions, will turn it and decide the first 
 attack with rapidity. The second brigade, in the 
 oblique direction of its march, will soon be second- 
 ed by the third ; and when that has passed the ex- 
 tremity, which must constantly recoil before a conti- 
 guous front, the fourth brigade opens its fire ; and 
 in this manner, supposing the army, D F, K L, ar- 
 rived at the dotted line, H I, the whole will have 
 been engaged in succession with a fourth or a third 
 of the enemy's line, the battalions of which, being 
 crushed one after another, will be nearly surround- 
 ed. 
 
 This demonstration is sufficient to show the great 
 advantage of an open oblique order of attack. It 
 is called open, because the disposition, such as that 
 of Leuthen, was nearly at right angles with the line 
 of the Austrians, and different in eveiy respect from 
 a parallel order. All these advantages are equally ' 
 applicable to masses concentrated upon the extremi- 
 ty, which it is intended to crush. The army A B, 
 fig. 15, instead of forming two lines, as in the 
 former figure, may draw up the first line only, 
 and keep the second in columns at half distances 
 behind the right, centre, and left, prepared to ma- 
 noeuvre or strike the decisive blow. These columns 
 will be more moveable, and not being intended for 
 the first attack, they will nevertheless cover it against 
 counter-movements of the enemy. The battle of Sa- 
 lamanca offers a memorable lesson of this descrip- 
 tion, where the troops were concealed by the grovind, 
 and then suddenly brought in mass upon the ene- 
 my's left wing. That of the Katsbach, almost the 
 counter part, was equally grounded upon these prin- 
 ciples ; both, however, with the difference, that the 
 lead of the manoeuvres was on the side of the ad- 
 versary. Jomini, habituated to the lively national 
 character of France, lays too much stress on the va- 
 lue of the lead in manoeuvres, and therefore does 
 not fully appreciate the powers of well conducted 
 counter-manoeuvres, which the cool iirmness of Bri- 
 tish and German soldiers can develope. 
 
 The battle of Leuthen furnishes another maxim 
 equally important ; namely, that an army with the 
 flank resting upon an obstacle, such as the great 
 
768 
 
 WAR. 
 
 War. 
 
 pond of Gohlau, which covered the angle of Na- 
 ^^'^^ dasti, may still be outflanked by an oblique attack. 
 For this purpose, it is only necessary to mask the 
 first brigade of the enemy by the nearest of the at- 
 tacking corps, and move obliquely with the next, so 
 as to press the principal effort upon the second. 
 For the line being broken, the obstacle is no longer 
 of any use ; and the masked brigade is even in dan- 
 ger of being taken if not promptly withdrawn. But 
 tlie manoeuvre is not so advantageous as when the 
 flank is ill supported and easily turned. 
 
 Of Marches. Marches in columns to the front, flank, or rear, 
 which must be followed by deployment or echellon 
 formations, are useful as parts of elementary tactics; 
 but never safely applicable near the enemy on a 
 great scale, if they are at all complicated in the con- 
 struction of the columns, or in the nature of the 
 ground. Guibert devoted several volumes to their 
 mechanism ; but Tempelhoff alone has described the 
 nature of Frederick's columns, by means of which 
 his dispositions were executed with so much sirqpli- 
 city and precision. Although the present system of 
 moving by corps has, in a great measure, superseded 
 tiie old method of organization by lines, and conse- 
 quently rendered the march manoeuvres, which 
 ti'iumphed at Rosbach, Leuthen, and ZorndorfF, less 
 applicable ; they are still the best for such corps as 
 are obliged to manoeuvre in the presence of the ene- 
 my, whether it be to engage in front or to turn his 
 flank. 
 
 On examining the mechanism of his columns at 
 Kollin, Leuthen, &c., it will be perceived, that his 
 army having broken into open columns, each line 
 forming one by a mere wheel of divisions, right or 
 left in front, by this method the army could, 
 
 1 . Execute all the movements united without dan- 
 ger of being attacked in detail ; because the columns 
 of lines were at no further distance than was re- 
 quired for actual engagement. 
 
 2. The enemy could neither cut them off, nor pe- 
 netrate between them. 
 
 3. In taking the direction of the intended line, 
 the army, when moved to the ground, is formed in 
 a few minntes, — that is, in the space of time requir- 
 ed for the word of command to pass down the co- 
 lumn to wheel into line. In this method, the only 
 precaution required was to send an advanced guard 
 to protect the march, and at the same time to keep 
 the enemy in suspense. 
 
 4. As the army requires only two or three hun- 
 dred paces between the columns, and the divisions no 
 more than their respective distances to form into 
 two lines, the manoeuvre is easily executed with 
 precision. 
 
 5. The army having reached the flank of the ene- 
 my by concealing the movement, as before noticed, 
 and wheeling into line, will not allow the enemy 
 time to form an angle, or to change front ; conse- 
 quently, he will be overpowered in succession along 
 his line. 
 
 6. To conclude, if two columns, of the length of 
 the line of battle, are not immediately desired, or 
 the ground requires a modification, four columns 
 may be formed, by doubling up the lines, or by 
 
 4 
 
 niarchmg by wings, without increasing the difficulty 
 of formmg. The four columns being constructed of^ 
 the two lines doubled, when arrived near the point 
 where they are to form, the second and fourth halt 
 until the first and third have proceeded so far as to 
 disengage from each other. While halted, they pro- 
 tect the march of the others, and when cleared by 
 them, they follow in their rear, and thus are prepar. 
 ed to wheel into line with them. 
 
 If the columns are formed by wings, they will 
 agam fall into two lines by a simple change of di- 
 rection, executed by all the heads of columns of each 
 line at the same time to the right or left, and then 
 leading into the rear of the preceding. But this 
 transition of columns of wings into columns of line 
 should take place at some distance from the enemy. 
 At Leuthen, this manoeuvre introduced the battle : 
 Plate CXXII. fig. 16, A, the advanced guard masking 
 the march of the army in four columns ; B B B B, 
 the heads of the four columns forming the first line ; 
 and C C C C, the heads of the second line (now in 
 rear of the first), all changing direction by a wheel 
 to the right at the same instant, and consequentty 
 forming two open columns ready to wheel into line. 
 The advance meantime either halts in position t» 
 alarm the enemy on another point, or continues to 
 openlhe march by preceding and covering ii. 
 
 It is, however, evident that these kinds of marches 
 must be made on open ground ; for in countries 
 deeply intersected, great movements are impracti- 
 cable; and it thus becomes necessary to arrive 
 by the openings which are known, and engage more 
 or less in columns. By Guibert's and the regulation 
 systems the army being broken into several columns, 
 they move with their heads often out of sight of each 
 other at the distance of more than a mile, and yet 
 they are expected to keep their alignments and rela- 
 tive distances. When ordered to form, they either 
 close and deploy, or march by echellons to fit into 
 an exact alignment. All this is evidently impossible 
 before the enemy, who must discover the tedious 
 manoeuvre, and have time to act as he pleases, while 
 the numerous errors are rectifying; and if the centre 
 divisions should be chosen for the points of deploy- 
 ment, half the columns must turn their backs upon 
 his fire to perform it! Frederick, during the 
 whole Seven Years' War, attempted these move- 
 ments only twice ; first in a combination with Se- 
 vern to attack Loudohn, which failed by the prema- 
 ture arrival of one column ; and, secondly, at Torgau, 
 which, as far as that manoeuvre was concerned, failed 
 also ; for Zieteft's column came too late, and was isolat- 
 ed. At Minden the French manoeuvred in the same 
 manner, and were a great part of the night and the 
 next morning employed in rectifying the errors, 
 which gave Prince Ferdinand time to arrive. It is 
 true, he moved likewise in columns, but he had pre- 
 viously sent all the generals to reconnoitre their 
 routes and points of formation, and cut openings and 
 fixed marks to insure the exact direction. Such pre- 
 cautions surpass even the underhand tricks to help 
 the manoeuvres m a camp of instruction ; and the 
 very precautions prove the impossibility of applying 
 them in ordinary cases. During the Revolutionary 
 wars of France, all the Belligerents met with faif. 
 
WAR. 
 
 769 
 
 ures from vain endeavours to apply them ; notwith- 
 standing that the new organization of corps and the 
 use of swarms of skirmishers greatly facihtated their 
 
 execution. i «. • c 
 
 Lehwald's manoeuvre at JoegerndorfT is woi'thy ot 
 notice, as particularly applicable in intersected 
 ground. His infantry advanced in a double column 
 from the centre, and formed to right and left with- 
 out risk of confusion ; the cavalry moving at some 
 distance, easily took up the alignment. 
 
 The order of march on Frederick's system must, 
 however, be considered only as a manoeuvre, and 
 not be applied to marches in great operations. 
 
 As this order of march is best calculated for at- 
 tacks against lines, so is it also upon columns in 
 march. An attack upon an army while on the 
 march is advantageous, for the same reasons as an 
 attack upon an extremity of a line ; because the 
 army attacked on the heads of its columns is pre- 
 ciselv in the same situation, relatively to the enemy, 
 as one assailed in flank. The battle of Rosbach fur- 
 iTishes an illustration. AB, Plate CXXII. fig. 17, re- 
 presents the army of the Khig, CD that of the 
 French. Supposing them both in line, CD would 
 still be attacked perpendicularly, and outflanked on 
 one of its wings, exactly as it was on the head of its 
 columns. The advantage of both these manoeuvres 
 lies in the necessity to which the enemy is reduced 
 of bringing his battalions in succession to the front, 
 while the opponent, acting with vigour, defeats them, 
 one after another, by the superior pressure of his 
 mass, provided its march be onward in an appropri- 
 ate direction. Horizontally, if the column moves 
 perpendicularly, and perpendicularly, if the march is 
 horizontal. The object for producing, as nearly as 
 possible, an opposite direction, is to present a whole 
 line to a head of a column, or to an extremity of a 
 line; because, if both moved in a direction to meet 
 with the heads of their columns, both would be 
 obliged to deploy, and a parallel order would be the 
 consequence, without tactical advantage to either 
 army. Fig. 18, the columns AB meeting those of 
 the enemy CD in the same order, both fearing to be 
 attacked, will immediately deploy; AB will there- 
 fore form the line FG, and CD the line HI, which 
 gives no advantage to either party. 
 
 The battle of Rosbach offers a further illustration. 
 As an angle must necessarily be formed when the 
 heads of columns are attacked, to check the first ef- 
 forts of the enemy, the advanced guard or leading 
 brigade should deploy, while the rest of the army 
 should take a new direction of march clear of tlie 
 enemy's flank, in order to protect the retreat of the 
 advance already engaged, and to gain a station for 
 acting off"ensively. See fig. 19. If the advanced guard 
 or leading brigades AB of the columns HI be at- 
 tacked, a deployment must take place according to 
 the direction of the attack CD. This manoeuvre 
 having checked the enemy FG, the army in the rear 
 being thus momentarily protected, should immedi- 
 ately change direction exteriorly, by filing the divi- 
 sions into a new alignment, IL ; or by altering the 
 direction of the columns in a similar manner, so as 
 to produce a prolongation beyond the enemy's flank, 
 KK. It is, however, clear, that if the columns are 
 
 War. 
 
 left in front, the operation is according to rule ; but 
 if the right be in front, a direction to the left would 
 present the reverse flanks to the enemy. There 
 would be no time for a countermarch, and still less 
 for wheeling up in succession. It therefore appears 
 that the columns should change the pivots of divi- 
 sions, and wheel to the right into line ; for though 
 this manoeuvre would be against the letter of the re- 
 gulations, no disorder would ensue, and it is actually 
 practised, at least by cavalry, in some of the conti- 
 nental armies. There is no want of proofs of the 
 occasional necessity of this manoeuvre in every cam- 
 paign ; but the battle of Laswaree will suffice for an 
 illustration. The British infantry advanced in a sin- 
 gle column by the right, and after crossing the 
 Mahnus Nye, a deep sunken rivulet, found itself op- 
 posite the enemy's right. To have prolonged the 
 movement, was to produce a parallel order of battle ; 
 advantage was therefore taken of a ravine which led 
 to the hostile right flank, and could conceal the 
 movement. The head of the column, therefore, 
 turned to the left, and gained the flank ; but when 
 ordered to wheel into line, the pivots being reversed, 
 some of the Sepoy troops adhering to the letter of 
 the rules and regulations, wheeled with their backs 
 to the enemy. 
 
 This method of converting a |)robab]e defeat into 
 an offensive movement and oblique attack, will pro- 
 bably intimidate the enemy, and check his pursuit 
 of AB, from the moment he perceives the menaced 
 attack against his own flank. As a manoeuvre it is 
 also more rapid and simple than a change of front 
 which would only tend to a parallel formation. Al- 
 though the existing modifications in the structure of 
 armies, as already observed, renders this kind of at- 
 tack more rare, and the organization by corps and 
 divisions is advantageous to prevent them, it is ne- 
 vertheless true, that the Prussians lost the battle of 
 Auerstadt, and the French were placed in the most 
 critical situations at Marengo, Eylau, and Lutzen, 
 because they were attacked on the march before they 
 expected a general action. 
 
 The battle of Waterloo, unquestionably the most Principles of 
 decisive event of the late awful contest, offers so ma- '-'^^^"'^g "^"j' 
 ny instructive circumstances, and so much matter for ^rg^^rioot 
 deep meditation, in the position and manoeuvres, and 
 in the exhibition of the soundest maxims of war, that 
 it may be considered as a general illustration of 
 the advanced state of the art of war at the present 
 period. Without entering into details, the minutiae 
 of which are apt to confuse, we shall content our- 
 selves with merely pointing out the principal dis- 
 positive features which it displays. As there are 
 many plans more or less correct, and the ground 
 is generally known, the remarks we ai"e about to 
 offer will be readily understood by those who 
 have any elementary knowledge of war. After Blu- 
 cher's retreat from Ligny, and the Duke of Welling- 
 ton had fallen back from Quatre Bras, he occupied 
 the position of Mont St Jean, determined to risk a 
 battle with the forces he could collect on that point. 
 Exclusive of the Prussians, whose severe loss in kill- 
 ed, wounded, and stragglers, could not immediate- 
 ly be reorganized or replaced, but by the expected 
 
W A R. 
 
 arrival of the corps of Bulow, the Anglo-Nether- 
 land army consisted of about 81 battalions and 87 squa- 
 drons ; whichj with the artillery, may have amounted 
 to 66,700 men. Of these, upwards of 30 battalions 
 and as many squadrons had never been in action. 
 This mass of forces was posted with the centre dia- 
 gonally across and in front of the forking of the two 
 causeways from Brussels to Charlcroy and to Nivelles ; 
 the right centre behind the chateau of Goumont, and 
 the left considerably refused, passed in rear of La 
 Haie Sain te, along the cross road in the direction of 
 Ohain. Behind the right centre. Lord Hill placed 
 his corps, eti 'polence, in columns, prepared to ma- 
 noeuvre to his right, on the small p],ain of Braine la 
 Leud ; or to his left, to sustain the centre. In and 
 about Braine la Leud was a Netherland division, 
 with the right thrown forward, and covered by the 
 rivulet Hain, and leaving the small plain open; a 
 . kind of gorge to tempt the enemy between the two 
 •sides of the re-entering angle of the right wing. The 
 Prussians were expected to debouche through the 
 woods of Lasne towards Planchenois, which would 
 form the left into another gorge, or re-entering angle. 
 Thus the position formed a kind of open W (BB, Plate 
 CXXIL AAA. BB), with the chateau of Goumont 
 at the summit of the salient angle, covered by a planta- 
 tion of wood and inclosures, occupied by six or eight 
 battalions ; so that the enemy could not enfilade from 
 behind that plantation, either of the faces of the cen- 
 tre, nor approach on either of the causeways which 
 passed through the centre, without presenting his 
 flank. Besides this point. La Haie Sainte, a stone 
 farm close to .the chausse of Charleroy, and further 
 on the left, the farm of Papelotte and chateau of Fri- 
 chermont were occupied ; the whole front offered a 
 gentle slope towards the enemy, and in the rear the 
 cavalry was distributed in brigades, each in two lines, 
 covered by the rising ground ; and the artillery, all 
 the field-pieces of which were nine-pounders or 
 twelves, formed a line of almost contiguous batteries 
 along the front, interspersed with howitzers and 
 rockets. 
 
 By the returns found after the battle, it appears 
 that the enemy had debouched from Charleroy with 
 122,000 men,* exclusive of the reinforcements that 
 joined after the 15th of June. Of these he produ- 
 ced on the field of battle, about 80,000 men, formed 
 in concentrated masses on both sides of the chausse of 
 Charleroy, and gradually advancing the right parallel 
 to the British left (CCCC); but as he was jealous of the 
 woods on the right, he formed an angle to the rear, 
 and kept his reserves far back. He had made a de- 
 monstration with a corps of cavalry beyond the Bri- 
 tish right towards Hal, where he found the corps of 
 General Colville, and Prince Frederick of Orange, 
 with two divisions posted at Tubise, Clabbeck, and 
 Braine le Chateau, to cover that avenue to Brussels : 
 another corps, 42,000 strong, under Grouchy, was 
 detached to his right upon Wavre, to turn the allies, 
 pursue, or arrest the Prussians, and prevent the timely 
 
 j unction of Bulow. Thus the dispositions of both the 
 commanders were combined with consummate ability; 
 Napoleon operating on the system of throwing two- 
 thirds of his masses alternately on either side, and 
 the allies, in combining manoeuvres, to bring a supe- 
 rior mass on the decisive point. On the field, how- 
 ever, the problem was difficult to solve. The com- 
 munication with France was open only by the roads 
 of Charleroy and Nivelles; hence the enemy coukl 
 not quit them in the attack ; nor could he gain Brus- 
 sels by any other avenue than that of Waterloo : 
 therefore, to possess the chateau of Goumont, without 
 which he could not arrive at the position, was the 
 natural object of the attack. As this was sustained 
 by the mass of the allied army, and could not be ert- 
 filaded, his attacks failed. All those directed on the 
 road of Charleroy to the left centre, were necessari- 
 ly oblique, and exposed to the fire in flank before 
 they could reach their opponents. To have risked 
 a general onset of all his masses, before the British 
 were thinned and exhausted, he knevv^, under the 
 circumstances of the moment, to be too hazardous. 
 The plain of Braine la Leud appeared open. He 
 could arrive by it ; but that very circumstance prov- 
 ed that the enemy was prepared on that side. To 
 have turned the force thither would, in the first place, 
 have caused the loss of the communication by Char- 
 leroy ; and next, facilitated the junction of the Prus- 
 sians ; and, besides, the corps on the other side of 
 the Hain flanked the advance, and could, in a 
 short time, be sustained by the two divisions in its 
 rear, and which he knew to be at hand. He would, 
 therefore, have been placed between two fires, and 
 have lost his point of retreat upon Charleroy ; and 
 the road by Nivelles might, meantime, be cut off by 
 the troops left behind at Mons. Again, if he threw 
 his masses towards the left, he only went to meet the 
 Prussians, and left the British masters of the road of 
 Nivelles ; and possibly, if he advanced far, of that of 
 Charleroy. He entangled himself in woods and de- 
 files, where his superior cavalry could not act. The 
 character of his opponent bespoke immediate offen- 
 sive movements from the moment his right would be 
 at liberty ; therefore the chances were again in fa- 
 vour of the enemy ; yet this was the only advantage- 
 ous side, because it brought him nearer Grouchy ; 
 and in case of defeat, he could take a new line of re- 
 treat by Namur. He, however, preferred the expe-. 
 riment which the enthusiastic valour of his troops 
 might enable him to make ; and this committed him 
 so deeply, that, when at length the Prussians appear- 
 ed, a retreat was no longer possible. 
 
 These observations disprove the ignorant asser- 
 tion, that little skill was displayed on either side. 
 The Generals and the soldiers equally did their 
 duty : the veteran Blucher behaved with just pru- 
 dence, in keeping so long back from the dangerous 
 manoeuvre winch was assigned him ; and when he 
 saw the hostile cavalry destroyed, he acted with vi- 
 gour and skill. As for Grouchy, who wasted his time 
 
 * The return was dated the 13th, according to the assertion of a Prussian officer of the staff. The whole 
 force brought over the frontier must, therefore, have amounted to nearly 150,000 men. 
 
 10 
 
WAR. 
 
 771 
 
 in forcing the position of Wavre across the Dyle, every- 
 where fordable, his manceuvres show, that he felt the 
 danger of his movement, and he wisely remained on 
 the banks. Much might be added upon the judgment 
 which posted the corps at Wavre and another at 
 Hal; on the several lines of retreat which the allies 
 could take in case of defeat; on the dispositions of 
 the artillery ; the squares and lines formed and redu- 
 ced repeatedly ; the disposition and effect of the char- 
 ges of cavalry ; the counter offensive of the Prussians ; 
 the general charge to the front, and fate of the enemy's 
 squares: butsufficientis advanced toexciteto the study 
 of a battle, where three of the greatest commanders, 
 and the best manoeuvring armies in Europe, glo- 
 riously struggled for victory ; and, let it be added, 
 notwithstanding the assertions to the contrary, — 
 where none committed a positive fault; and where 
 Napoleon, in particular, who has been condemned 
 by some of his own partisans, operated with all the 
 skill and vigour which the circumstances of the mo- 
 ment allowed. 
 
 This unpleasant operation in war requires as great 
 a display of skill and firmness as any. The Austri- 
 ans have often conducted their's with sagacity, and 
 it is perhaps owing to the preserving spirit of their 
 retreats, that after twenty unfortunate campaigns, 
 the monarchy was as formidable as in the commence- 
 ment. Their Generals are not then controlled by 
 cabinet orders, and, therefore, always operate with 
 precision. Amongthe retreats which deserve the study 
 of the soldier, are that of Schulemburgh, with the 
 Saxons ; the Duke of York's out of Belgium ; the two 
 retreats of the Archduke Charles ; that of Moreau 
 from Bavaria to the Rhine ; the Russian retreat upon 
 Moscow and Tula ; and, lastly, the fine movement of 
 Prince Eugene Beauharnois, in Italy. 
 
 In the choice of a position, it is not sufficient to 
 have a strong front and secure flanks ; the means of 
 retreating must also be considered in case of defeat. 
 Lloyd, in his Reflections on the buttle of Kollin, ob- 
 serves, that a defeated army retires with greater fa- 
 cility by dividing itself into as many corps as the na- 
 ture of the country will allow; because, 1st, if the 
 enemy forms an equal number of divisions, he can- 
 not operate vigorously upon any, and the retiring 
 army having the facility of reuniting, may totally de- 
 feat one of the hostile corps ; 2d, if the enemy ope- 
 rates en masse, it can be only towards one, and the 
 others fall back unmolested : that division, however, 
 covered by a strong rear guard, avoids serious actions, 
 and having the faculty of moving more rapidly, because 
 it is less numerous, can escape likewise without great 
 loss. Bulow, taking up this question mathematically, 
 advances the opinion that the columns should move 
 outwards, or eccentrically, from a point towards the 
 periphery ; but Jomini combats both so far victori- 
 ously. He observes, that Lloyd admits that the 
 division of the pursuing forces exposes them to 
 defeat; why, then, recommend such a manoeuvre 
 to a retreating army, which must be already in- 
 ferior to the enemy ? He quotes the fine concen- 
 trie retreat of the Archduke Charles, and might have 
 added the Russian, and both Lord Wellington's. But 
 in examining the mechanism of these movements, it 
 
 appears that none of them were the consequence of War. 
 a defeat, and especially such defeats as the modern ^*<^*V^ 
 system of attack inflicts ; they were merely armies 
 manoeuvring back towards their base upon their own 
 lines of operations, watching a favourable opportu- 
 nity to resume the offensive ; or retreats after bat- 
 tles where both parties had claims to the victory, as 
 Benningsen's after Eylau, and Kutusoff's after Bo- 
 rodino. The difference between Lloyd and Jomini 
 is merely in words ; for the former points out the fa- 
 cility of uniting two corps, which, if he meant the 
 eccenti-icity applied by Bulow, would be impossible. 
 
 But an array completely defeated is no longer in 
 the hands of the general, whether he be the Duke of 
 Brunswick or Napoleon. A check, such as the Aus- 
 trians suffered at Fleurus, and the Allies at Lutzen, 
 Bautzen, and Dresden, does not prevent the com- 
 mander from executing the best measures that cir- 
 cumstances will allow. Thus, in the three former, 
 the armies retired in mass ; in the latter, they divid- 
 ed into several columns, and thereby not only cover- 
 ed themselves by the mountains of Bohemia, but al- 
 so applied Lloyd's maxim, in uniting two corps to de- 
 stroy one of the pursuers at Kulm. Hence, circum- 
 stances must govern the measure ; and if, after a real 
 defeat, a broad river, chain of mountains, or range 
 of fortresses, can be gained in two or three marches, 
 the division of a routed army may be applied as a 
 safe rule. 
 
 A retiring army is not always obliged to fall back 
 upon its own frontier ; it may sometimes change the 
 direction of its operations, as Frederick did after the 
 siege of Olmutz in 1758 ; when, instead of returning 
 into Silesia, lie changed his line, and marched into 
 Bohemia. This measure was also proposed to Na- 
 poleon before the battle of Leipsig. He was ad- 
 vised to approach the Elbe, call in the corps of St 
 Cyr from Dresden, cross the river about Wittenberg, 
 and descend by the right bank towards Magdeburg. 
 The Prussian and Northern armies, being on the left 
 of the Elbe, could not have prevented the destruc- 
 tion of Berlin, Potsdam, and Brandenburg. And 
 from Magdeburg, reinforced with its vast garrison, 
 and connected with the Danes and the corps of Da- 
 voust at Hamburg, he could have operated by a new 
 line, having his communications open by Wesel, 
 Cassel, and all the fortresses of Holland ; the sterile 
 country to which the allies must have followed him 
 could not have subsisted their vast cavalry ; and the 
 sandy roads would hardly have allowed sufficient 
 transport of provision to maintain the troops. There 
 were, however, many, and probably superior reasons, 
 which made him reject the proposal. 
 
 If the art of war consists in applying the superior Pursuits, 
 force of a mass upon a weak point of the enemy, it 
 follows that a defeated army should be pursued with 
 the utmost vivacity. Never delay till to-morrow, is 
 an ancient military maxim, applicable especially in 
 pursuit ; for the strength of an army consists in its 
 organization, in the unity resulting from the con- 
 nection of all its parts with the main-spring which 
 makes it move. After a defeat, this unity no long- 
 er exists. The harmony between the head, which 
 combines, and the body, which executes, is broken ; 
 their connection is suspended, often destroyed. To 
 
772 
 
 W A R. 
 
 War. 
 
 pursue and attack is to march to a certain triumph. 
 All the late campaigns offer signal examples of this 
 truth. Generals of mediocrity often neglect this 
 maxim, and their victories are scarcely more than a 
 forcible removal of troops. The direction of the 
 pursuit, though guided by circumstances, should al- 
 ways, however, aim at gaining the hostile line of 
 communications, and cutting off the enemy from his 
 base ; because, by so doing, he may be thrown upon 
 such obstacles as to force him to surrender. 
 
 Sieges. Sieges, according to Lloyd, should never be un- 
 dertaken but with the following views : 1st, When 
 fortresses are situate upon the passages which lead 
 to the enemy, so as to render it impossible to pene- 
 trate without capturing them. 2d, When they in- 
 tercept the communications, and the country is un- 
 able to furnish the necessary subsistence. 3d, When 
 they are wanted to cover magazines formed in the 
 country, and thereby to facilitate the operations. 4th, 
 When the enemy has considerable depots within the 
 fortress, of which he is absolutely in want. 5th, 
 When the capture of a fortress produces the conquest 
 of a considersble tract of country, and enables the 
 besieger to winter in that vicinity. To these may 
 be added, eth. The recapture of a fortress essential in 
 the defence of a frontier, 
 Covtring 1. As victory is best secured by taking the lead in 
 Sieges. operation, an army covering a siege should never 
 
 wait to be attacked by the enemy, but endeavour to 
 anticipate him ; for, by defeating the forces which 
 aim at raising the siege, the place is sure to fall. 
 
 2. If the enemy approach the covering array with 
 an imposing mass, the siege should be raised, all the 
 forces united, and an attack in force directed against 
 him. 
 
 3. When the relieving army is defeated, the siege 
 should be resumed, while the pursuit continues, and 
 the enemy is not in a condition to return before the 
 capture of the place. 
 
 4. When an army besieges a place, in consequence 
 of offensive movements and anterior success, the cover- 
 ing army should not remain in a position near the 
 place, but drive the enemy as far as possible forward ; 
 for the relieving army will find the difficulty of rais- 
 ing the siege, increased with the distance it is re- 
 moved from the place : but, if at length that army 
 should arrive so near as to furnish a probability of 
 raising the siege, the besieging corps should then 
 rapidly join the covering army, and make a united 
 effort to defeat it. 
 
 Concluding Among the late innovations in war three are of 
 Innovarion" ^'"^^'^^^ influence ; but before they can be consider- 
 and im- permanent improvements, they will require to 
 
 provements, be subjected to some regulations. The first of these 
 is the Conscription System ; a salutary measure under 
 proper restrictions ; but a scourge, if carried beyond 
 tJie principle of defence. The next is that of Requi- 
 sitions ; which requires to be placed under the con- 
 
 trol of public law. The third is the formation of a 
 Militia, or Landwehr. This measure, incontestibly 
 proved to be efficient, will always be resorted to 
 in moments of real danger: and it is one calculated 
 to bridle the projects of ambition, because it makes 
 every state strong in defence, but not therefore strong 
 in aggression. 
 
 In examining the new inventions which may be- 
 come instruments of moment in the science of war, 
 that of Vessels impelled by Steam will probably figure 
 as the most important among maritime nations; whose 
 coasts, rivers, and harbours, will probably be assail- 
 ed and defended by them. The terrific Rockets may in 
 time acquire a precision of direction equal to that 
 of shells and carcasses. They are, in their present 
 state, an excellent substitute for horse artillery, par- 
 ticularly in pursuits, vanguards, and false attacks. At 
 the battle of Leipsig, a British battery of rockets com- 
 pelled a column of four battalions to surrender on 
 the first fire.* 
 
 The present method of forming divisions with 
 artillery, a proportion of light cavalry, and light 
 infantry, commissariat and staff, approaches so near- 
 ly to the Roman Legion, and is, in reahty, so ad- 
 vantageous, that it may be foreseen, should one 
 great continental state permanently model its army 
 upon that principle, the others will immediately adopt 
 it. Should the heavy-armed cavalry or cuirassiers 
 resume the Lance, the infantry would soon be obliged, 
 as before observed, to be partly armed with a si- 
 milar weapon. Field Fortification has been too much 
 neglected, and the troops are not sufficiently provid- 
 ed with implements for that purpose ; but as the in- 
 fluence of militia systems will bring large bodies of 
 troops together, in a state of inferior discipline to 
 veterans, field works will recover their proper esti- 
 mation. 
 
 It is not the solid immoveable system of Daun 
 that is here in view, but merely such works 
 as can be completed in a few hours ; provided a 
 greater quantityof light implements, ashatchets, hand- 
 saws, pick-axes, and shovels, be furnished the troops, 
 and the proportion of battalion pioneers be augmented 
 and rendered more respectable. Rogniat extols the 
 advantages which the French army derived from this 
 practice being introduced among the artillery sappers 
 and miners under his orders ; each of whom carried 
 an implement of this kind during the campaign 
 of 1813. It was by their means that the Palankasf 
 were so speedily constructed before Dresden, upon 
 which the formidable artillery of the allies scarce made 
 an impression. This sort of field work is unquestion- 
 ably of great importance where the materials can be 
 procured; as appeared again in 1814 at Tournay, in 
 the fruitless attack which, owing to its application by 
 the Saxon engineers, the French, under Maison, 
 made upon that place. The Spanish Redoubts, 
 which the same ingenious officer recommends, ap- 
 pear likewise to possess great advantages; because 
 they can be raised in a few hours, and are there- 
 
 * Of this fact, the author was assured, by the late General Bulow, who stated that he rode up alone to 
 receive their submission. 
 
 f So named from their Turkish origin — Redoubts fenced with trunks of trees closely planted and pierced 
 for musketry. 
 
WAR 
 
 PLATE CXXL 
 
WA R 
 
 PL A run. 
 
 /'/ >/. /6 \ 
 
W A R 
 
 fore applicable in a defensive position, if a single 
 night intervenes before the attack. It is some- 
 what singular, that in the systems of permanent de- 
 fence, it should not have occurred that positions, 
 intended for intrenched camp?, might be pitched up- 
 on; and that by planting, along the lines of the trace, 
 rows of such trees as will thrive close together, a 
 cheap, simple, and strong preparatory defence might 
 be rai«ed ; which, on the breaking out of a war, might 
 easily be completed by the neighbouring militia. 
 
 See Guibert, (Euvres de. — Jomini, Traite de 
 Grande Tadique. Guerres de la Revolution. — Lloyd, 
 History of the Seven Years' War. — Tempelhoff, Ges~ 
 chichte des Sieben Jarigen Kriegs,—^Te&enc, His- 
 toire de Mon Temps. Instructions d ses Generaux. 
 
 WAR 773 
 
 Instructions Secrettes. Art de la Guerre de Main War 
 de Maitre. — Rogniat, Considerations sur I' Art de la -^^^l^-^^]. 
 Guerre. — (Euvres du General Warnery. — Venturini, gYiire. 
 Angevaante TaUik. Die Bellona. Die Minerva.—. 
 Scharnhorst, Militairisckes Taschenhuch. Militairis- 
 ches Journal. Ndhere Beleuchtung des Mack ZugeS' 
 chriebenen Operations Plan. — Bulow, Belrachtung 
 uber Die Kriegs Kiinst. Geist des nuern Kriegs 
 System. — Charles (le Prince), Principes de la Slra- 
 tegie, traduit par Jomini. Campagne de 1799«— 
 Vaudoncourt, Campagnes d' Italic en 1813 et 1814. 
 —Dumas, Precis des Evenemens Militaires — Coxe's 
 Life of Marlborough. — Pasley, Essay on the Military 
 Policy and Institutions of the British Empire.-— 
 Jones' Journals of Sieges. 
 
 (v. V. V.) 
 
 WARWICKSHIRE, an inland county of Eng. 
 land, and nearly in the centre of the kingdom. It 
 is bounded on the western side, from north to south, 
 by Staffordshire, Worcestershire, and Gloucester- 
 s"hire ; and on the eastern side by Leicestershire, 
 Northamptonshire, and Oxfordshire. Its greatest 
 length, from north to south, is about forty-eight, 
 and its breadth across the middle thirty-two miles. 
 It contains 902 square miles, or 577,280 statute 
 acres. It is divided into four hundreds, besides the 
 city of Coventry, which, with its liberties, extends 
 over about 18,000 acres. These hundreds are sub- 
 divided into eighteen portions, for convenience in 
 the execution of the laws. 
 
 By the census of 1821, it appeared that the num- 
 ber of inhabited houses was 55,082, occupied by 
 60,123 families: of these 16,779 were chiefly em- 
 ployed in agriculture; 39,189 in trade, manufac- 
 tures, or handicraft ; and 4155 were comprised in 
 neither of those classes. The whole number of per- 
 sons was 274,392 ; of whom 133,827 were males, and 
 140,565 females. The increase of population be- 
 tween the years 1811 and 1821 appears to be about 
 20 per cent. 
 
 Although Warwickshire is an elevated district, it 
 is in general level ; the rivers are of languid course, 
 and the undulations of the surface are rare and gentle. 
 It is generally inclosed, and the fields are of moderate 
 extent. The fences are for the most part high and 
 umbrageous, being thickly planted with forest trees, 
 so that, though woods are rare, the face of the coun- 
 try seems, at a distance, to be one continued track 
 of woodland. There are but few common fields, 
 and very little waste or barren land. The extent of 
 pasture land is greater than in most parts of Eng- 
 land, and is estimated to be more than half of the 
 whole. The pasture land, calculated at 300,000 acres, 
 may be said wholly to be appropriated to the sus- 
 tenance of the different species of animals. 100,000 
 acres are annually mowed for hay, and the other 
 two-thirds are used for feeding. The agriculture of 
 the county is well conducted. The cultivation of 
 turnips is practised to a great extent, with much 
 skill, and with very productive effects. The crops 
 of wheat, barley, oats, pease, beans, and tares, are 
 
 VOL. VI. PART II. 
 
 quite as luxuriant as in any portion of England. 
 The cows are generally of the long-horned kind, but 
 there are amongst them many varieties. The an- 
 cient race of Warwickshire sheep has been crossed 
 with the Leicester breed, and this mixture has pro- 
 duced a kind adapted to the land, and equal to any 
 race in the kingdom. 
 
 The streams of this county are numerous, but; Rivers and 
 with the exception of the Avon, are inconsiderable ; Canals, 
 though, by the means of irrigation which they fur- 
 nish, they are of great value to its rural economy. 
 The whole of them run directly or indirectly to the 
 Severn. The Avon alone is navigable for barges 
 from Stratford to its junction with that river near 
 Tewkesbury. The intercourse of the county is 
 much facilitated by the numerous canals that inter- 
 sect and connect it with every part of England ; sup- 
 ply every part with cheap fuel ; Snd serve to con- 
 vey its heavy productions to the exporting towns, 
 London, Liverpool, and Bristol. These canals are 
 the Birmingham Old Canal, the Birmingham and 
 Fazeley, the Warwick and Birmingham, the Wor- 
 cester and Birmingham, the Coventry, the Warwick 
 and Napton, the Stratford, the Ashby de la Zouch, 
 and, above all, the Grand junction. 
 
 The minerals and fossils of this county are coal, Minerals 
 iron, limestone, and freestone. At Leamington and Mme- 
 Priors are mineral springs, whose celebrity have""^ P""^* 
 made that place one of the resorts of fashionable 
 company as well as invalids. The waters contain 
 neutral and sulphureous salts, with carbonate of 
 iron. At Newham Regis is a chalybeate bath, whose 
 renown was formerly much greater than it is at pre- 
 sent. 
 
 This county possesses considerable manufactories ; Manufac 
 of these, the greatest are those in metals of all kinds, tures. 
 conducted upon a stupendous scale at Birmingham, 
 and the towns and villages in its vicinity. The mi- 
 nute divisions and subdivisions of labour, the various 
 mechanical inventions, the discoveries in chemistry, 
 and the industrious and economical habits of the peo- 
 ple, have rendered this part of the country the prin- 
 cipal reservoir from whence the world is supplied with 
 domestic utensils, ornaments, and a thousand minute 
 articles which add much to the comfort of civilized life. 
 5 F 
 
774 WAR 
 
 Warwick- The city of Coventry has long been celebrated for its 
 manufactures of ribbons, and other goods of silk, 
 
 Waterford. which now give occupation, in that place and its vici- 
 ^/'^^ nity» to more than 15,000 persons. There are also at 
 Coventry large undertakings for making watches ; a 
 trade that has of late been much extended. Mills 
 for spinning cotton and wool have been erected at 
 Warwick, and to them is attributed a great increase, 
 which has lately taken place in the population of 
 that town. At Tamworth, very large works are con- 
 structed for printing calicoes. At Alcester, several 
 hundred persons are employed in making needles. 
 In several parts of the county much linen yarn is 
 spun. 
 
 The most remarkable objects in the county are 
 Kenilworth Castle, now in a dilapidated state; Max- 
 stoke Castle, a most extensive pile ; Comb Abbey, 
 a Cistertian Convent ; the school-house at Rugby ; 
 and the house at Stratford in which Shakespeare 
 was born. 
 
 The titles derived from this county are, — Earls of 
 Coventry and Warwick, and Baron Arden. Two 
 members are returned to Parliament for the county, 
 and two each for Coventry and Warwick. Two are 
 also returned for Tamworth, a part only of which 
 borough is in this county. 
 
 The largest places and their population are as 
 follows: — Birmingham, 106,722; Coventry, 29,380; 
 Warwick, 8235; Nuneaton, 6610; Sutton Cold- 
 field, 3466 ; Atherstone, 3434 ; and Stratford, 3069. 
 
 The most remarkable, among a great number of 
 noblemen and gentlemen's seats, are Warwick Cas- 
 tle, Earl of Warwick ; Ragley Hall, Marquis of 
 Hertford ; Walton Hall, Sir C. Mordaunt ; Corap- 
 ton Verney, Lord Willoughby; Guys ClilF, B. Great- 
 head ; Great Packington, Lord Aylesford : Comp- 
 ton Wyngate, Marquis of Northampton ; Astley 
 Castle ; Newdigate ; Hewill Grange, Earl of Ply- 
 mouth ; and Merevale, D. S. Dugdale. 
 
 See Dugdale's Antiquities of JVarmchhire ; Mar- 
 shall's Rural Economy ; Hutton's History of Bir- 
 mingham ; Beauties oj' England and Wales, (w. w.) 
 
 WATERFORD, a maritime county in the pro- 
 Boundaries, vince of Munster in Ireland, bounded by the river 
 Suir, which separates it from Kilkenny and Tipper- 
 ary, on the north ; by the harbour of its own name, 
 an arm of the sea running up between this county 
 and Wexford, on the east ; by the sea on the south ; 
 and by the county of Cork on the west, the river 
 Biackwater here flowing along part of its boundary. 
 Extent. It is about 51 miles in length, and 29 in breadth, 
 and contains 710 English square miles, or 454,400 
 English acres, divided into the liberties of the city 
 of Waterford, and 7 baronies, and including 74 pa- 
 rishes belonging to the Sees of Waterford and Lis- 
 niore. 
 
 Surface. Very little of this district is level, the far greater 
 part being hilly, and much of it mountainous. It 
 is only on the south and east that it is rich and 
 productive j on the west and north, which are occu- 
 pied 'oy the high grounds, the proportion of fertile 
 land is inconsiderable. Yet the wooded banks of 
 "the Suir and the Biackwater, and of the streams that 
 join them, present many delightful and romantic 
 views, diversified by ancient castles and the modern 
 
 Rivers. seats of the proprietors. The Suir, which has its 
 
 WAT 
 
 source in Tipperary, on the north, after entering this Waterf 
 county, flows almost due east, till'it joins the Barrow 
 and the Noi-e, beyond the city of Waterford, and 
 then, taking a southern direction, these united 
 streams enter the sea at the harbour of Waterford ; 
 forming an estuary nine , Irish miles long and two 
 broad. At the city of Waterford, the Suir is about 
 a mile broad, with a depth sufficient for vessels of 
 considerable burden. The Biackwater rises on the 
 confines of Kerry, and, after traversing the county of 
 Cork, comes into Waterford a little to the east of 
 Fermoy. At Cappoquin, beyond Lismore, where it 
 suddenly bends to the south, it becomes navigable 
 for small vessels, and pursuing its course southwards, 
 falls into the sea at Youghall Bay. The climate of 
 this and the other districts on the south coast of Ire- 
 land is exceedingly mild. Frost and Snow are never 
 of any duration, and cattle continue to graze all the 
 year round. 
 
 In this county there are some very large estates. Estates, 
 of which the most extensive belongs to the Duke of 
 Devonshire. Leases are commonly for twenty-one 
 years and a life ; and on the banks of the rivers, where 
 the land is most valuable, farms are small. Accord- Farms, 
 ing to Mr W^akefield's information, " in this county, 
 when the eldest daughter of a farmer marries, the fa- 
 ther, instead of giving her a portion, divides his farm 
 between himself and son-in-law ; the next daughter 
 gets one-half of the remainder, and this division and 
 subdivision continues as long as there are daughters 
 to be disposed of. In regard to the male children, 
 they are turned out into the world, and left to shift 
 for themselves the best way they can." (Wakefield, 
 Vol. I. p. 280.) Mountain land included, the rent 
 in 1 808 was computed to be about a guinea and a half 
 the Irish acre, and this is chiefly paid from the pro- 
 duce of the dairy, which is conducted on a greater 
 or smaller scale over all the county, and from the 
 pigs, which are partly fed upon its offals. Some 
 of the dairy farmers, most of whom are in easy cir- 
 cumstances, at that time paid L. 1000 a-year of rent; 
 and a great deal of butter is made even among the 
 mountains, where small cows, suited to the nature of 
 the pastures, form the principal stock. In the neigh- 
 bourhood of Waterford, cows were let for L.16, L.18, 
 and even L.20 for the season. There are very few 
 sheep, and those of a bad description ; and compara- 
 tively but a small portion is in tillage. Where lime 
 is used as a manure, it must be brought from a dis- 
 tance, as there is no limestone to the east of the 
 Biackwater, and it costs upwards of L. 5 for an acre. 
 Orchards are numerous on the banks of this river, 
 and extensive plantations of timber trees have been 
 formed in various parts. Furze is so much used as 
 fuel, that whole fields are kept under this shrub for 
 the purpose. 
 
 The towns are Waterford, Dungarvon, Tallagh, Towns, 
 and Lismore, all except the first, places of no great 
 importance. Waterford, situated on the south bank 
 of the Suir, near the harbour which bears its name, 
 and having an inland water communication north- 
 wards by the Barrow and Nore, and westward to 
 Clonmell by the Suir, has a population of 26,787, and 
 carries on a considerable trade with the interior and 
 with England, and other countries ; and within these 
 few years, it employed 70 vessels in the Newfound- 
 10 
 
c%enta- 
 
 iulation. 
 
 W A T 
 
 land trade. Packet boats are established between 
 this port and Milford-haven. It has a noble quay a 
 mile long, with a wooden bridge across the Suir, 
 which aftbrds an easy connmunication with the coun- 
 ties of Wexford and Kilkenny. Hogs form so im- 
 portant a branch of trade, that the number brought 
 to this town in 1809 was estimated to be worth 
 about L. 1,000,000 Sterling. They are cut up for 
 bacon and hams, which are salted and sent to Lon- 
 don, where they are cured by fires made from diiFer- 
 ent kinds of wood, which communicate a corre- 
 sponding difference of flavour. The principal manu- 
 factures are glass and salt ; with linen, cotton, and 
 coarse woollens, in other parts of the county. Beef, 
 pork, butter, grain, and linen, are the principal ex- 
 ports : of agricultural produce alone, the export has 
 been estimated at L. 3,000,000 Sterling yearly. By 
 means of the Suir, a great part of the goods imported 
 by Waterford harbour are carried forward to Clonmell 
 for the supply of the interior of Ireland. Part of the 
 provision trade is also carried on at Youghall, situat- 
 ed at the mouth of the Blackwater ; the country 
 around it furnishing abundance of pork and grain, 
 but it is not so considerable as formerly. Dungarvon, 
 on 'the bay of that name, is a fishing town, and this 
 place, and the village of Tramore, a few miles south 
 from Waterford, particularly the htter, are noted for 
 being the residence of the gentry during the bathing 
 season. 
 
 The county, and the city of Waterford, which is a 
 county within itself, "with the boroughs of Lismore, 
 Tallagh, and Dungarvon, returned ten members to 
 the Irish Parliament ; the number of its representatives 
 is now four, two for the county, one for the city, and 
 one for the borough of Dungarvon. In 1791, the 
 population was computed to be 110,000, and by the 
 census of 1821, it was found to be 127,679- The 
 Protestants, according to Mr Wakefield, bear a very 
 small proportion to the Catholics over the county ; 
 and even in the city of Waterford, where the dispro- 
 portion is not so great as in the country, the latter 
 are increasing in a greater proportion than the former. 
 Most of the landed and personal property is in the 
 hands of the Catholics. The celebrated philosopher 
 Bovle was born in the Castle of Lismore, and also 
 Congreve, the dramatic writer, whose father was 
 agent to the Boyle family, the maternal ancestors of 
 the Duke of Devonshire. 
 
 See the works of Young, Beaufort, Newenham, 
 and Wakefield, quoted under the other Irish coun- 
 ties ; Curwen's Observations on the State of Ireland 
 (1818), and the Statistical Accounts of Ireland, (a.) 
 
 WATSON (Richard, Bishop of Landaff), 
 celebrated as an able Theologian, and a Professor of 
 Chemistry, was born in August 1737, at Heversham 
 near Kendal, in Westmorland. His ancestors had 
 been farmers of their own estates for several genera- 
 tions ; and his father had for forty years been mas- 
 ter of the free school at Heversham, but was be- 
 come infirm, and had resigned it a little before his 
 birth. He was, however, educated at this school, 
 and continued there till 1754, when he was sent as 
 a sizer to Trinity College, Cambridge. He applied 
 without intermission to his studies, and in 1757 he 
 obtained a scholarship, with particular expressions 
 of approbation from Dr Smith, who was then noas- 
 
 W A T 
 
 ter. He had mtide it a constant practice in his ma- 
 thematical pursuits, to think over the demonstration 
 of every proposition that he studied, in his solitary 
 walks ; a habit which must certainly have been very 
 conducive to the improvement of geometrical talent, 
 though it could scarcely be adopted without great 
 labour by those who follow the algebraical mode of 
 analysis in all their investigations. After this period 
 he passed many hours daily, for a considerable por- 
 tion of his life, in the occupation of instructing 
 othersj without much enlarging the scale of his own 
 information, though certainly not without adding to 
 the solidity and precision of his knowledge of the 
 most important elementary truths of science; and 
 when he graduated in 1759, he was classed as the 
 second wrangler, which he seems to have considered, 
 not without reason, as the place of honour for the 
 year, the senior wrangler, who was a Johnian, hav- 
 ing, as it was generally believed, been unfairly pre- 
 ferred to him. In October 1760, he became a fel- 
 low of Trinity, and in November, assistant tutor of 
 the college. Having taken his degree of M. A. in 
 1762, he was soon afterwards made moderator of the 
 scholastic exercises of the university, an arduous 
 and honourable office, which he also filled in several 
 subsequent years. 
 
 In 1764, he undertook a journey to Paris, though 
 without being able to speak the language, in order 
 to take charge of his young friend and pupil, Mr 
 Luther, who returned to England with him soon af- 
 ter. He was elected in the same year Professor of 
 Chemistry, though he had never devoted any portion 
 of his attention to that science ; but he soon rendered 
 himself sufficiently master of all that was then known 
 of the science, to give a very popular course of lec- 
 tures on the subject about a year after his election, 
 with the assistance of an operator whom he had 
 brought from Paris, and to become the author of a 
 series of essays, which served for many years as the 
 most agreeable introduction to the elementary doc- 
 trines and the ordinary processes of chemistry. He 
 obtained from the Government, by proper represen- 
 tations, a salary of L. 100 a year for himself, and for 
 all future professors : he paid also some attention to 
 theoretical and practical anatomy, as having some 
 relation to the science of chemistry. In 1767, he 
 became one of the principal tutors of Trinity Col- 
 lege; in 1769, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal 
 Society, and in October 177 1 , he unexpectedly obtain- 
 ed the important and lucrative appointment of Regius 
 Professor of Divinity, upon the premature death of Dr 
 Rutherford, and in that capacity he held the rectory 
 of Somersham in Huntingdonshire. He had been 
 little accustomed to the study of the divinity of the 
 schools, or even of the fathers ; but his eloquence 
 and ingenuity supplied the want of theological learn- 
 ing, though he gave some offence to his more ortho- 
 dox colleagues, by confining his arguments more 
 strictly to the text of the scripture than they thought 
 perfectly consistent with the duty of a champion of 
 the Church of England, which they considered to 
 be the description of a professor of divinity in an 
 English university. He attracted, however, as long 
 as he officiated in person, audiences as numerous, to 
 the exercises in the schools at which he presided, as 
 had attended his chemical lectures* 
 
 775 
 
 Watson. 
 
776 WAT 
 
 Watson. He married, in December 1773, Miss Wilson, of 
 Dallam Tower in Westmorland; their union conti- 
 nued uninterrupted for more than forty years. In 
 1774' he obtained a prebend of Ely, in exchange for 
 a rectory in Wales, which the Duke of Grafton had 
 procured for him : and he became Archdeacon of 
 Ely in January 1780; in the same year Bishop Keene 
 presented him with the rectory of Northwold in Nor- 
 folk ; and, in 1782, his pupil, the Duke of Rutland, 
 gave him the rectory of Knaptoft in Leicestershire : 
 the same interest obtained him also from Lord Shel- 
 ' burne the Bishoprick of LandafF. Here his episco- 
 
 pal preferment rested : he generally joined the poli- 
 tics of the Opposition, and especially on the question 
 of the unlimited regency : but he was too inde- 
 pendent in his sentiments to become a very useful 
 member of any administration ; and he retired, before 
 the end of the year 1789, without books, and with 
 somewhat more of disgust than he ought in justice to 
 have felt, to an estate which he had bought, at Cal- 
 garth, on the banks of Winandermere, and occupied 
 himself entirely, besides the education of his family, 
 in agricultural improvements, especially in planting, 
 for which he received a medal from the Society of 
 Arts in 1789- His pupil Mr Luther, of Ongar in Es^ 
 sex, had died in 1786, and left him an estate, which 
 he afterwards sold for something more than L. 20,000. 
 
 He considered as one of the best practical results 
 of his chemical studies the suggestion which he made 
 to the Duke of Richmond, then Master of the Ord- 
 nance, respecting the preparation of charcoal for 
 gunpowder, by burning the wood in close vessels, 
 which, it seems, very materially improved the quality 
 of the powder. 
 
 He had the liberality to confer, in 1804, a small 
 living, as a reward for literary merit only, on Mr 
 Davies, the author of the Celtic Researches. The next 
 year, he applied with success to the Duke of York 
 for the promotion of his son, who had then the rank 
 of a Major, and his Royal Highness speedily com- 
 plied with his solicitation, as a personal favour only, 
 ■ without waiting for any Ministerial influence. 
 
 His health had been seriously impaired by an ill- 
 ness which attacked him in 1781, and which his 
 friends attributed, though perhaps without sufficient 
 reason, to excessive stu^y : in October 1809, he had 
 a slight paralytic affection, and another in 1811 ; but 
 it was in 1813, that his last illness might be said to 
 begin, and he sunk gradually till the 4th of July 
 1816. The elder of his two sons was in the army, 
 the younger in the church : he left also several 
 daughters. His writings are as miscellaneous as they 
 are numerous ; but none of thera are bulky. 
 
 1. Institutionum Chemicarum "pars Metallurgica, 
 8. Cambr. 1768. Repr. Ess. Vol. V. 
 
 2. Experiments and Observations on the Solution 
 of Salts, Phil. Trans. 1770. P. 325. Ess. V. 
 Especially on the specific gravities of salts and 
 their solutions. 3. Remarks on the Effects of 
 Cold in February I77I. Phil. Trans. 1771. P. 
 213. Ess. V. With some experiments on congela- 
 tion. 4. Experiment tvith a Thermometer having its 
 bulb blackened. Phil. Trans. 1773. P. 40. Ess. 
 V. Raised 10°. 5. Chemical Experiments and Ob- 
 servations on Lead Ore. Phil. Trans. 1778. P. 
 863. Ess. V. 6. Observations on the Sulphur Wells 
 
 WAT 
 
 ai Harrotvgate. Phil. Trans. 1786. P. I7I. Ess. Watsoif. 
 
 7* Essay on the Subjects of Chemistry, and their 
 General Division. 
 
 S. Assize Sermon, preached at Cambridge. 4. 
 1769. 
 
 9. Letters to the Members of the House of Commons 
 by a Christian Whig, 1772. 
 
 10, 11. Ttvo Sermons. 4. Cambr. 1776. On 
 the Revolution, and on the King's Accession. 
 
 12. A Brief State of the Principles of Church 
 Authority, 1773. Reprinted in 1813 as a charge. • 
 
 13. ^ Fast Sermon, Feb. 1780. 
 
 14. A Sermon addressed to the Clergy of Ely, 
 1780. Recommending Oriental Literature. 
 
 15. Apology for Christianity, in a Series of Letters 
 addressed to Edvoard Gibbon, Esq. 12. 1776. Often 
 reprinted, and considered as very satisfactory, though 
 the author confesses, with more of the courtier than 
 of the orthodox divine, in a letter to Mr Gibbon, that 
 the Essay " derives its chief merit from the elegance 
 and importance of the work it attempts to oppose." 
 
 16. Chemical Essays, 5 \. 12. 1781-7. Addressed 
 to his pupil the Duke of Rutland. The work was 
 intended for general information, and became ex- 
 tremely popular as a first introduction. The first 
 volume relates to salts, sulphurs, vitriols, and gun- 
 powder ; the second to common salt, distillation, 
 lime, clay, and pit coal ; the third to bitumens, char- 
 coal, evaporation, lead, and lead ores ; and the fourth 
 to zinc, gum, metal, tin, copper, iron, and stones ; 
 the fifth is a republication of the author's earlier che- 
 mical tracts. After the completion of these volumes, 
 he had the resolution to burn all his chemical 
 papers. 
 
 17. A Letter to Archbishop Corntwallis on the 
 Church Revenues, 1782. A plan for equalising the 
 bishoprics. 
 
 18. ^ Sermon preached the SOth Jan. before the 
 Lords. 4. 1784. 
 
 19' Visitation Articles, for the Diocese of Landaff. 
 
 20. Theologica f Tracts. 6 v. 8. 1785. Collected 
 from various authors, not excluding many works of 
 dissenters from the church. 
 
 21. A Sermon on the Wisdom and Goodness of 
 God, in having made Rich and Poor, 1785, 1793. 
 Adapted to allay the discontents which were then 
 prevalent among the lower classes. 
 
 22. Sermons and Tracts. 8. 1788. Chiefly re- 
 publications. 
 
 23. An Address to Young Persons after Confirma- 
 tion. 12. 1789. 
 
 24. Considerations on the Expediency qf Revising 
 the Liturgy. 8. 1790. Anonymous. 
 
 25. A Sermon preached for the Westminster Dis- 
 pensary in 1785, txith an Appendix. 1792. 
 
 26. A Charge to the Clergy of his Diocese. 4. 1792. 
 
 27. Trvo Sermons and a Charge. 4. 1795. The 
 first sermon is entitled Atheism Refuted ^ the second. 
 The Christian Religion no Imposture. 
 
 28. Apology for the Bible, in a series qf Letters 
 addressed to Thomas Paine. 12. 1796. An able 
 and judicious answer to the contemptible work of a 
 mischievous incendiary : it seems to have been sin- 
 gularly successful in producing clear and rapid con- 
 viction: thanks were returned to the author from 
 
WAT 
 
 Ireland and from America, and he gained L. 1060 by 
 the sale of the book, besides allowing it to be often 
 reprinted gratuitously. 
 
 29. An Address to the People of Great Britain. 8. 
 1798. Enforcing the necessity of submission to the 
 exigencies of the times. It went through fourteen 
 editions, besides several piracies; and it was reprint- 
 ed in Ireland by order of Lord Camden^ then Lord 
 Lieutenant. Mr Wakefield answered it somewhat 
 intemperately> and the Bishop attempted ineffectually, 
 out of respect for his classical acquirements, to 
 lighten the punishment which was allotted to him. 
 
 30. Charge to the Clergy of Landaff. 31. Second 
 Charge, 1802. On similar subjects. 
 
 32. A Charge relating to Ecclesiastical Reform, 
 1802. 
 
 33. A Sermon preached at the London Hospital, 
 1802. Against the principles of Paine. 
 
 34?. Thoughts on the intended Invasion. 8. 
 
 35. Substance of a Speech intended to have been 
 delivered, 1804'. In favour of Catholic Emancipa- 
 tion. 
 
 36. Sermon preached before the Society for the 
 Suppression of Vice, 1 804. 
 
 37. A Charge to the Clergy, 1805. 38. Another 
 Charge, on the Catholic Question, 1808. 
 
 39. Two Apologies, Two Sermons, and a Charge^ 
 8. 1806. Reprinted. 
 
 40. A Second Defence of Revealed Religion, 1807. 
 In two sermons, preached in the Chapel Royal. 
 
 41. A Paper on Planting and on Waste Land. 
 Coramunicaitions to the Board of Agriculture, Vol. 
 VII. 4. 1808. 42. He had also written some 
 Preliminary Observations in the Agricultural Report 
 of Westmorland. 
 
 Miscellaneous Tracts. 2 v. 8. 1815. Re- 
 ligious, political, and agricultural. His discourse 
 on the first and second Adam, and the nature of 
 death as aifected by each, is almost unequalled in 
 origiflality of thought, and vigour of expression." 
 Quarterly Revietv. 
 
 (44). Ii has been said that he published some 
 papers in the Manchester Memoirs ; but they do not 
 appear in the Indices. 
 
 45. Anecdotes of his Life j revised in 1814, and 
 published by his son Richard Watson, LL. B, Pre- 
 bendary of Landaff and Wells. 4. Lend. 1817- 
 Quarterly Review, XVIII. P. 229. Treated with 
 great ability, but with too much severity. His chief 
 mistake, indeed, seems to have been, that he ex- 
 pected his literary merits alone to secure him political 
 advancement ; further than this, there is nothing dis- 
 gusting, to a candid reader, in the sincerity with which 
 he displays the consciousness of his own merits. The 
 praises of the reviewer himself are at least as ener- 
 getic as those of the friends whose language he has 
 occasionally copied ; his censures are not less im- 
 pressive ; but for an author's censure of himself, it 
 would be idle to look in a work of autobiography. 
 
 Though somewhat reserved, Dr Watson is said to 
 have been remarkable for the simplicity of his man- 
 ners and the equality of his temper. With respect 
 to his conduct in the school of divinity, the Reviewer 
 confesses that " he ascended the chair with many 
 eminent qualifications for his difficult and distinguish- 
 ed functions. The' exercise of four years, as moder-* 
 
 W A T 777 
 
 ator of the philosophical schools, had rendered his Watson, 
 faculty of speaking Latin perfectly easy; by great 
 assiduity the vices nf his early education had been so 
 far corrected, that ^false quantity was never heard 
 to escape him ; all the tricks and shifts of school lo- 
 gic were familiar to his mind ; in addition to which, 
 his acuteness and ingenuity were admirable. His 
 majestic and commanding figure, his terrific counte- 
 nance, his deep sonorous voice, the uninteijrup^ed 
 tenor of his sentences, which, though far from clas- 
 sical, were never either barbarous or soloecistic, and 
 above all, the boldness and originality of his senti- 
 ments seldom left the under graduates' places unoc« 
 copied in the theological school. It was sport to 
 see how the grave professor would glide over the 
 surface of the subject with every appearance of pro- 
 fundity, or vfhen pinned, as his opponent hoped, into 
 a corner, would wind himself out with all the lubri- 
 city of an eel. Still he had a large mind ; he endur- 
 ed, he encouraged, he delighted in the opposition of 
 able men ; he never flinched from the strokes of those 
 tvho had more information than himself secure in the 
 consciousness of his own ability to encounter learn- 
 ing by invention. The same tolerance of contradic- 
 tion, the same dexterity in parrying attacks, he 
 brought with him into private conversation, which 
 rendered him, when the poison of politics did not 
 operate on his constitution, a most agreeable and 
 amusing debater. In these happier hours, and they 
 were not few, he v^^ould even smile at the pomp and 
 magnificence of his own manner, and relax into all 
 the playfulness and pleasantry which are almost in- 
 separable from real genius.^' 
 
 Our critic appears, however, to have exceeded 
 the limits of candour and of charity, when he asserts ^ 
 that "he was governed through life by the two lead* 
 ing principles of interest and ambition, both of 
 which were thwarted, in his political conduct, by a 
 temper so wayward, and a presumption so overween- 
 ing, tliat the disappointment produced by their col- 
 lision embittered his mind, and exasperated his lat- 
 ter days to a very high degree of malignity. Ac- 
 complished as he was in academical learning, he had 
 no ingenuous or disinterested love of knowledge : he 
 read only that he might leach, and he taught only 
 that be might rise." _ 
 
 " When he felt himself neglected, he avowedly and 
 pvofessedly abandoned all study, because, says he, 
 " eagerness in the pursuit of knowledge was a part 
 of my temper till," and only till, *' the acquisition of 
 knowledge was attended with nothing but the neglect 
 of the King and his Ministers." Disgusted, there- 
 fore, and disappointed, as much as broken in consti- 
 tution, he withdrew into the wilds of Westmorland 
 without a library, and to this privation he voluntari- 
 ly submitted almost thirty years. From taste he de- 
 rived neither amusement nor occupation, for of taste 
 he never had a tincture : placed amidst the most de- 
 licious scenes of England, he thought of nothing but 
 turning his own portion of them to emolument !" 
 Thus " this violent declaimer against sinecures and 
 nonresidence was the first who converted the regius 
 professorship of divinity into a sinecure : this enemy 
 of pluralities held at least fourteen places of prefer- 
 ment ; this man of moderation in his wishes, and calm 
 contentment, under the shade of retirement, spent 
 
778 WAT 
 
 Watson the last twenty nine years of his life in ' execrating' 
 Watt C^^omplaining oQ those, who, for his factious obsti- 
 nacy, had left him to that retirement, while he was 
 occupied in nursing up a fortisae, till, according to 
 his own boast, with the poorest bishopric in the king- 
 dom, he became the richest bishop upon the bench.". 
 
 With respect to the merits of the question be- 
 tween him and the administration of his early friend 
 Mr Pitt, there will probably be as many different 
 ^ opinions as there are readers of different political 
 parties ; but he had surely no right to expect that a 
 ministry determined to support every minute article 
 of the established constitution of the country, both 
 in church and in state, should voluntarily add to the 
 power and authority of a person who had repeatedly 
 declared himself rather hostile than indifferent to 
 many points which they thought essential to both; 
 or even of one who felt so decided a conviction of 
 the importance of every single opinion which he had 
 himself adopted, as to refuse his concurrence in such 
 measures of legislation, as they might deem of vital 
 importance to the good of the country, and such as 
 had been sanctioned by the concurrent determina- 
 tion of the majority of a cabinet taking on them- 
 selves the whole responsibility of their proceedings. 
 He must have been aware that a house divided 
 against itself cannot stand, and that the members of 
 every administration, in a country not despotic, must 
 consent to give up something to each other's feel- 
 ings, and to make a small sacrifice of private con- 
 viction for the great objects of public energy and 
 unanimity. Ca. l.) 
 
 WATT (James), a philosopher, mechanician, and 
 civil engineer, whose inventive talents, extensive 
 knowledge of the sciences and arts, and practical 
 application of them to the purposes of life, place him 
 in the foremost rank of those illustrious men, whose 
 discoveries have influenced the state of society, and 
 conferred distinction upon their country and age. 
 
 His great-grandfather farmed his own small estate 
 in the county of Aberdeen, but engaging in the civil 
 wars, was killed in one of Montrose's battles, and his 
 property lost to his family. His son, Thomas Watt, 
 left an infant, was brought up by relations, and hav- 
 ing a turn for the mathematical sciences, made such 
 proficiency by his own exertions, under very unto- 
 ward circumstances, occasioned by the persecutions 
 of the times, as to enable him at a later and quieter 
 period to establish himself at Greenock, as a teacher 
 of these sciences, and of the dependent arts of survey- 
 ing and navigation. There he acquired reputation, 
 and dying in 1734, at the advanced age of 9I, left 
 a brief record of his partiality to his profession in 
 the inscription upon his tomb in the West Church- 
 yard.* ' 
 
 He had two sons, John and James; the former 
 brought up as a mathematician, settled first at Ayr, 
 and afterwards at Glasgow, where he was much era- 
 ployed in surveying and directing the improvement 
 of estates ; was an able man, and drew neatly and 
 accurately, which was not very common in those 
 days. He died in 1737, at an early age, leaving a 
 Survey of the River Clyde, from Glasgoiv to the Point 
 
 WAT 
 
 of Totvard, which was published by his brother several Wat: 
 years afterwards. Jamps, his younger brother, of an ""^"v" 
 active, ingenious, and enterprising mind, became a 
 merchant in Greenock, and was for upwards of twenty 
 years a member of the Town-Council, a magistrate, 
 and a zealous promoter of the improvements of the 
 town. By his wife, Agnes Muirheid, he had two 
 sons, James, the subject of the present article, and 
 John, a youth of promising abilities, who was lost at 
 sea soon after he became of age. Misfortunes in 
 trade, and the decay of the faculties of his mind, oc- 
 casioned his retirement from business some years be- 
 fore his death, which happened in 1782, in his eighty- 
 fourth year. 
 
 James Watt, his eldest son, and only surviving 
 child, was born at Greenock, the ipth January 1736. 
 He received the rudiments of his education in tliB 
 public schools of his native town ; but from the ex- 
 treme delicacy of his constitution, was vv^ith difficulty 
 enabled to attend the classes, and owed much of his 
 acquirements to his studious habits at home. Little 
 more is known of his early years, than that, from the 
 first, he manifested a partiality for mechanical con- 
 trivances and operations, and frequently employed 
 himself in that way. The desire of improvement in 
 an art then little practised in Scotland, induced him 
 to go to London in his eighteenth year, and there to 
 place himself under the tuition of a mathematical ii>- . 
 strument-maker ; but he remained little more than 
 a twelvemonth, the infirm state of his health com- 
 pelling his return to the paternal roof. 
 
 In that short period, he appears to have made great 
 proficiency, andcontinued, after his return to Scotland, 
 to perfect himself in this art, both at home and on his 
 visits to his mother's relations at Glasgow, where it 
 was his wish to establish himself. But some opposi- 
 tion being made by the corporations, who considered 
 him as an intruder upon their privileges, the Professors 
 of tlie College took him under their protection, and 
 accommodated him with an apartment and premises 
 for carrying on his business within their precincts, 
 with the title and office of Mathematical Instrument-' 
 maker to the University. This took place in 1757, 
 when he was twenty-one years of age, and it must 
 be inferred, that he had already given satisfactory 
 proofs of talent to the eminent men who then adorn- 
 ed that seat of learning ; of whom it is sufficient 
 to mention the names of Robert Simpson, Adam 
 Smith, Dr Black, and of Dr Dick, the Professor of 
 Natural Philosophy. There Mr Watt applied sedu- 
 lously to business, and in the few intervals which its 
 concerns, and ill health allowed, cultivated tli ose various 
 talents which distinguished him in after life; and there 
 a lasting friendship was formed with the kindred 
 minds of Dr Black, and of Mr, afterwards Dr John, 
 Robison, then a student at the University, and nearly 
 of his own age. 
 
 He remained in tlie College until some time in the 
 year 1763, when he removed into the town previous 
 to his marriage with his cousin. Miss Miller, which 
 took place in the summer of the following year. 
 
 The Steam- Engine had been a frequent subject of 
 conversation between Mr Robison and himself, and 
 
 He is there styled, Professor of the Mathematics. 
 
W A T 
 
 the former had suggested the possibility of its appli- 
 cation to the moving of wheel carriages. About the 
 year 1761 or 1762, Mr Watt had tried some experi- 
 ments on the force of stea^ in a Papin's digester, 
 and had constructed and worked with strong steam 
 a small model, consisting of an inverted syringe ; the 
 bottom of the rod of which was loaded with a weight, 
 alternately admitting the steam below the piston, and 
 letting it off to the atmosphere. Observing the imper- 
 fections of this construction, ha soon abandoned it ; 
 but the attention necessary to be bestowed upon 
 his business prevented his reconsidering it, until the 
 winter of 1763-4?, when he was employed by the Pro- 
 fessor of Natural Philosophy to put in order a work- 
 ing model of a steam-engine upon Newcomen's con- 
 struction. When he had repaired it and set it to 
 work, he fouPj^l that the boiler, though large in 
 proportion to the cylinder, was barely able to supply 
 it with steam for a few strokes per minute, and that 
 a great quantity of injection water was required, 
 though it was but lightly loaded by the pump attach- 
 ed to it. It soon occurred, that the cause lay in the 
 little cylinder (two inches diameter, six inches stroke), 
 exposing a greater surface to condense the steam 
 than the cylinders of larger engines did, in proportion 
 to their respective contents. By shortening the co- 
 lumn of water in the pump, less steam and less injec- 
 tion water were required, and the model worked at a 
 proper speed. Thus the purpose for which it was 
 put into his hands was accomplished ; and with this 
 mode of accounting for the defect and this result, 
 most artists would have been satisfied. Not so 
 Mr Watt. He had now become aware of a great 
 consumption of steam, and his curiosity was excited 
 to a more accurate investigation of the causes, 
 in which he proceeded in a truly philosophical man- 
 ner. The cylinder of his small model being of brass, 
 he conceived that less steam would be condensed by 
 substituting cylinders of some material which would 
 transmit heat more slowly. He made a larger model 
 with a cylinder (six inches diameter, and one foot 
 stroke) of wood, soaked in oil, aijd baked to dryness. 
 He ascertained, from experiments made with boilers 
 of various constructions, that the evaporation of boil- 
 ing water is neither in proportion to the evaporating 
 surface, nor to the quantity of water, as had been 
 supposed, but to the heat that enters it ; and that the 
 latter depended chiefly on the quantity of surface 
 exposed to the action of the fire. He likewise deter- 
 mined the weight of coal required for the evapora- 
 tion of any given quantity of water. Being convin- 
 ced that there existed a great error in the statement 
 which had been previously given of the bulk of water 
 when converted into steam, he proceeded to examine 
 that point by experiment; and discovered, that water, 
 converted into steam of the heat of boiling water, 
 was expanded to 1800 times its bulk: or, as a rule 
 for ready calculation, that a cubic inch of water pro- 
 duced a cubic foot of steam. He constructed a 
 boiler to be applied to his model, which should show, 
 by inspection, the quantity of water evaporated, and, 
 consequently, would enable him to calculate the' 
 quantity of steam used in every stroke of the engine. 
 This he now proved to be several times the full of 
 the cylinder. He also observed, that all attempts to 
 improve the vacuum, by throwing in more injection 
 
 WAT 7'79 
 
 water, caused a disproportionate waste of steam : and Watt, 
 it occurred to him, that the cause of this was the '^■^^V^^ 
 boiling of water in vacuo at very low heats (recently 
 determined, by Dr Cullen, to be under 100°) ; con- 
 sequently, at greater heats, the injection water was 
 converted into steam in the cylini^er, and resisted 
 the descent of the piston. He now perceived clear- 
 ly, that the great waste of steam proceeded from its 
 being chilled, and condensed by the coldness of the 
 cylinder before it was sufficiently heated to retain 
 it in an elastic state ; and that, to derive the greatest 
 advantage, the cylinder should always be kept as hot 
 as the steam that entered it, and that, when the steam 
 was condensed, it should be cooled down to 100°, of 
 lower, in order to make the vacuum complete. Ear- 
 ly in 1765, the fortunate thought occurred to him of 
 accomplishing this, by condensing the steam in a se- 
 parate vessel, exhausted of air, and kept cool by in- 
 jection, between which and the cylinder a communi- 
 cation was to be opened every time steam was to 
 be condensed, while the cylinder itself was to be 
 kept constantly hot. No sooner had this occurred to 
 him, than the means of effecting it presented them- 
 selves in rapid succession. These have been in a 
 great measure already described in the Encyclo- 
 pcedia. A model was constructed, and the expe- 
 riments made with it, placed the correctness of the 
 theory, and the advantages of the invention, beyond 
 the reach of doubt. 
 
 In the course of these trials, he was much struck 
 by the great heat communicated to the injection wa- 
 ter by a, small quantity of steam, and proceeded by 
 a very simple experiment to satisfy himself upon that 
 subject, when he discovered that water converted 
 into steam will heat about six times its own weight of 
 water at 47° or 48° to 212°. He mentioned this ex- 
 traordinary fact to Dr Black, who then explained 
 to him his doctrine of latent heat, to the support of 
 which, Mr Watt had afterwards the satisfaction of 
 contributing his experiments. From some of these 
 he was led to suppose the latent heat of steam to be 
 above 1000°, but he afterwards considered 960° a 
 more accurate determination. From others, he de- 
 duced the important conclusion, that the sum of the 
 latent and sensible heat of steam, at different temper- 
 atures, is a constant quantity, the latent heat increas- 
 ing as the sensible heat diminishes ; or, in other 
 words, that a given weight of water in the state of 
 steam contains nearly the samequantity of heat, what- 
 ever may be the bulk or density of the steam. 
 
 He also, at this time, made experiments upon the 
 capacities of different bodies for heat, and upon the 
 heats at which water boils under various pressures ; 
 from which he ascertained, that where the heats 
 proceeded in an arithmetical, the elasticities proceed- 
 ed in a geometrical ratio, the curve of which he 
 laid down. These he repeated some years after-with 
 more accuracy. 
 
 We have been thus minute in our details of the 
 successive steps by which Mr Watt proceeded to his 
 great improvement upon the principle of the steam- 
 engine, in order to convey some idea of the sagacity, 
 ingenuity, and science, with which he conducted the 
 investigation. Our limits will oblige us to be more brief 
 in our narrative of his subsequent improvements. 
 
 From this period (the early part of 1765), his mind 
 
7R0 WAT 
 
 Watt, became very much engaged in contriving the machi- 
 ^-'•"V^ nery for executing his improvement upon a large 
 scale ; but the want of funds prevented his attempt- 
 ing it, until he was induced to address himself to Dr 
 Roebuck, who had a short time before completed his 
 establishment of the Carron Ironworks, and who, in ad- 
 dition to hisknownqualitiesof ingenuityandenterprise, 
 wasconsideredto be possessed of ample means of intro- 
 ducing the invention to the public. He agreed to enter 
 into the plan, upon having the proceeds of two- 
 thirds of the invention assigned to him; and an engine 
 upon a large scale was then constructed by Mr Watt, 
 at Kinneil, near Borrowstounness, where the Doctor 
 then resided ; the trials made with which gave satis- 
 faction. But the introduction of the invention to the 
 public was retarded, on the one hand, by the pecu- 
 niary difficulties in which the Doctor became involv- 
 ed, by the failure of several of his multifarious undei*- 
 takings ; and on the other, by the employment, which 
 the rising reputation of Mr Watt, for knowledge and 
 skill in the line of a civil engineer, procured him. 
 
 He was employed, in 1767, to make a survey for a 
 canal of junction between the rivers Forth and Clyde, 
 by what was called the Lomond passage, and attend- 
 ed Parliament on the part of the subscribers, where 
 the bill was lost. . An offer was then made to him of 
 undertaking the survey and estimate of an intended 
 canal from the Monkland Collerics to Glasgow; and 
 these proving satisfactory, the superintendence of 
 the execution was confided to him. This was 
 quickly followed by his being employed by the TruS' 
 tees for Fisheries and Manufactures in Scotland, to 
 make a survey of a canal from Perth to Forfar, through 
 Strathmore ; and soon afterwards, by the Commis- 
 sioners of the Annexed Estates, to furnish a report 
 and estimate of the relative advantages of opening a 
 communication between the Firth of Clyde and the 
 Western Ocean, by means of a navigable canal across 
 the isthmus of Crinan,* or that ofTarbert. Business 
 of this description now crowded upon him ; and sur- 
 veys, plans, and estimates, were successively under- 
 taken by him for the harbours of Ayr, Port-Glasgow, 
 and Gi-eenock; the deepening of the river Clyde ; the 
 rendering navigable the rivers Forth and Devon, and 
 the water of Leven ; the making of a canal from 
 Machrihanish bay to Campbelltown, and of another 
 between the Grand Canal and the harbour of Bor- 
 rowstounness; the building of bridges at Hamilton 
 and at Rutherglen, &c. &c. Tn these surveys he 
 made use of a new micrometer, and a machine for 
 drawing in perspective, which he had invented to fa- 
 cilitate his operations. Our limits do not allow us 
 to go into the details of his Reports, which are re- 
 , markable for their perspicuity and accuracy, although 
 the work of a self-taught engineer. The last and 
 greatest work upon which he was employed was the 
 survey and estimate of the line of a canal between 
 Fort- William and Inverness, since executed by Mr 
 Telford, upon a larger scale than was at that time 
 proposed, under the name of the Caledonian Canal. 
 
 WAT 
 
 Whilst engaged upon this survey, in the latter part 
 of the year 1773, Mr Watt received the account of 
 the death of his affectionate wife, leaving him a daugh- 
 ter and a son. He appears soon after to have made 
 up his mind to adopt the advice of his friend Dr 
 Small of Birmingham, and the invitation of Mr Boul- 
 ton, to settle in England. He had secured his title 
 to his Improvements for saving Steam aftd Fuel in 
 Fire Engines, by patent, in the year 1769; but all 
 hopes of carrying them into effect, by the assistance 
 of Dr Roebuck, being at an end, he had induced 
 that gentleman to agree, for certain considerations, 
 to transfer his share of the patent to Mr Boulton of 
 Soho, near Birmingham — a gentleman equally distin- 
 guished by his knowledge of the arts, and his enter- 
 prising spirit, who had some years before established 
 his manufactory upon a scale as unrivalled for extent 
 and elegance^ as for the variety and perfection of the 
 processes carried on. 
 
 In conjunction with him an application was made 
 to Parliament for an extension of the term of the pa- 
 tent, and an act prolonging it for twenty-five years was 
 obtained in the year 1775, when the business of mak- 
 ing steam-engines was commenced by the firm of 
 Boulton and Watt. 
 
 Mr Watt now married for his second wife Miss 
 Macgrigor, the daughter of an old friend, at Glas- 
 gow, and devoted himself to the improvement of the 
 details of the engine with a degree of application 
 and exertion not to be expected from his delicate 
 and infirm state of health; and he found in his part- 
 ner a zealous and able coadjutor. 
 
 Some engines for pumping water were soon made 
 upon a large scale, and the savings in fue? were de- 
 monstrated by repeated comparative trials to amount 
 to three-fourths of the quantity consumed by those 
 of the best construction before in use. A deputa- 
 tion from the mining interest of Cornwall was sent 
 to ascertain the fact, and their report led to the intro- 
 duction of the improved engines into that county, to 
 which they have proved of such vast utility. 
 
 The immediate application of the powers of steam 
 to giving a rotary motion to mills had formed an ear- 
 ly object of Mr Watt's attention, and he had deeply 
 considered the various means of effecting thTs. One 
 method of producing a continued movement in one 
 direction was by a steam wheel, described in his 
 patent of 1769' Various others of a similar kind 
 suggested themselves to him, of some of which draw- 
 ings and models were made ; but the difficulty of 
 rendering them steam and air-tight, and the loss of 
 power by friction, induced him to turn his thoughts 
 to the adaptation of the reciprocating motion to the 
 production of a continued regular rotary one. This 
 he accomplished by a series of improvements, the 
 exclusive property of which he secured by successive 
 patents in the years 1781, 1782, 1784, and 1785 ; in- 
 cluding, among other inventions, the rotary motion 
 of the sun and planet wheels, + the expansive princi- 
 ple, the double engine, the parallel motion, and the 
 
 * The Crinan Canal was executed several years afterwards, under the direction of his friend Mr Rennie, 
 with some variations. 
 
 + Mr Watt had originally intended to derive the rotary motion from the working beam by means of a 
 connecting rod and crank; but the workman employed to make' the model communicated it to a neighbour- 
 
 4! 
 
WAT 
 
 smokeless furnace. The application of the centrifu- 
 gal regulating force of the governer gave the finish- 
 ing stroke to the machine. 
 
 The invention of the separate condenser, and the 
 contrivances necessary to give it full effect, would 
 alone have established the fame of Mr Watt; but 
 when to these are added the various inventions call- 
 ed forth to perfect his rotative engines, we are im- 
 pressed by a union of philosophical research, of phy- 
 sical skill, and of mechanical ingenuity, which has, 
 we believe, no parallel in modern times. 
 
 The perfection thus given to the rotative engine 
 soon led to its general application for imparting mo- 
 tion to almost every species of mill-work and machi- 
 nery ; and gave an impulse, unexampled in the histo- 
 ry of inventions, to the extension of our manufactures, 
 population^ and wealth. 
 
 Nor were Mr Watt's inventive powers confined to 
 the steam-engine. The necessity of preserving accu- 
 rate copies of his various drawings and of his letters, 
 containing long and important calculations ; and the 
 desire of avoiding that labour himself, which he did 
 not think it right to entrust to others, led him, in the 
 year 1780, to contrive a copying apparatus, the ex- 
 clusive property in which he secured by Letters Pa- 
 tent, and commenced the manufactory of them in 
 partnership with Mr Boulton, and his friend, Mr 
 Keir, under the firm of James Watt and Company ; 
 — !,a contrivance of great simplicity, and of which he 
 reaped an ample benefit in the time, labour, and ex- 
 pence it saved to himself, to say nothing of its advan- 
 tages to the public. 
 
 In the winter of l784!-5, he put up an appara- 
 tus for heating the room in which he drew and wrote 
 by means of steam. The possibility of doing this 
 we find suggested by Colonel Cooke in the Philoso- 
 phical Transactions for 174'5; but we know not whe- 
 ther this was known to Mr Watt when he made this 
 first practical attempt, from which he deduced pro- 
 portions of surface, &c., which afterwards served to 
 guide his firm in the introduction of the process in 
 larger buildings. 
 
 Chemical studies engaged much of his attention 
 during his busiest time, and at the very period when 
 he was most engaged in perfecting his rotative en- 
 gines, and in managing a business become consider- 
 able, and, from its novelty, requiring close atten- 
 tion, he entered deeply into the investigations then 
 in progress relative to the constitution and properties 
 of the different gases. Early in 1783, he was led, by 
 the experiments of his friend and neighbour, Dr 
 Priestley, to the important conclusion, that water is 
 a compound of dephlogisticated and inflammable airs 
 (as they were then called) deprived of their latent or 
 elementary heat, and he was the first to make known 
 
 WAT 781 
 
 this theory. This was done in a letter to Dr Priest- Watt, 
 ley, dated the 28th April 1783, in which he states 
 the Doctor's experiments to have come in aid of 
 some prior notions of his own, and supports his 
 conclusions by original experiments. That letter 
 Dr Priestley received in London ; and, after show- 
 ing it to several members of the Royal Society, 
 he delivered it to Sir Joseph Banks, with a request 
 that it might be read at some of the public meetings 
 of the Society ; but before that could be complied 
 with, Mr Watt, having heard of some new experi- 
 ments made by Dr Priestley, begged that the read- 
 ing might be delayed. Those new experiments 
 soon afterwards proved to have been delusive, and 
 Mr Watt sent a revised edition of his letter to Mr De 
 Luc on the 26th November of the same year, which 
 was not read to the Society until the 29th April 
 1784, and appears in the Philosophical Transactions 
 for that year, under the title of Thoughts on the Con- 
 stituent Parts of Water and of Dephlogisticated Air, 
 withan Account of some Experiments upon that Subject. 
 In the interim, on the 15th January 1784, a paper 
 by Mr Cavendish had been read, containing his kx- 
 perimenls on the Combustion of the Dephlogisticated 
 and Inflammable Airs, and drawing the same infer- 
 ence as Mr Watt; with this difference only, that 
 he did not admit elementary heat into his explana- 
 tion. He refers in it to his knowledge of Mr Watt's 
 paper, and states his own experiments to have been 
 made in 1781, and mentioned to Dr Priestley; but 
 he does not say at what period he formed his con- 
 clusions ; he only mentions that a friend of his had 
 given some account of his experiments in the sum- 
 mer of 1783 to Mr Lavoisier, as well as of the 
 conclusion drawn from them. It is quite certain, 
 that Mr Watt had never heard of them; and Dr 
 Blagden has stated, that he mentioned at Paris the 
 opinions of both the English philosophers, which 
 were not admitted without hesitation, nor until the 
 French chemists had satisfied themselves by experi- 
 ments of their own. * 
 
 Mr Watt also has the merit of being the first per- 
 son to introduce into this country, and to carry into 
 effect, on a practical scale, in any country, the 
 bleaching of linens and cottons by oxymuriatic acid, 
 the invention of his friend, Mr Berthollet. That 
 gentleman had communicated his invention to Mr 
 Watt at Paris in the winter of 1786-7, whither he 
 had proceeded with Mr Boulton at the instance of 
 the French government, to suggest improvements in 
 the mode of raising water at Marly, and his mind 
 was instantly alive to the extensive application of 
 which it admitted. He advised Mr Berthollet to se- 
 cure the property by an English patent; but that he 
 declined, and left his friend to make such use of it 
 
 .ing manufacturer, who took out a patent for it. This stimulated Mr Watt to the invention of other means 
 of efifecting the same object, of which five are described in his patent of 1781. He afterwards used the 
 crank, which was indeed his own, when he saw occasion, in defiance of the patentee, who never troubled him. 
 
 * There is a confusion of dates in the accounts of this affair. Mr Watt's letter to Mr De Luc in the 
 Philosophical Transactions appears dated 26th November 1784, which is evidently an error of the press. 
 Mr Cavendish, in his letter, read 15th January 1784, speaks of Mr Watt's paper " as lately read before the 
 Society," whereas the paper itself purports to have been read on the 29th April 1784. This we cannot ex- 
 plain. 
 
 VOL. VI . PART II. 5 G 
 
782 WAT 
 
 Watt, as he thought proper. He, in consequence^ commu- 
 •^^/"^ nicated it to his i'ather-in-law, Mr Macgrigor, and 
 gave directions for the construction of the proper 
 vessels and machinery ; and soon after himself su- 
 perintended the first trials at his bleachfield near 
 Glasgow, which proved eminently successful. 
 
 Some years after this, Mr Watt was led, by the ill- 
 ness of the daughter, and some apprehensions enter- 
 tained for the son, who were the issue of his second 
 marriage, to consider the subject of the medical ap- 
 plication of the factitious airs, and to contrive va- 
 rious apparatuses for that purpose, which were de- 
 scribed by himself, in his friend Dr Beddoes's publi- 
 cations on Pneumatic Medicine. 
 
 We have not space to particularize other improve- 
 ments introduced by Mr Watt, or at his suggestion, 
 into various arts ; for there were few arts with the 
 details of which he was not intimately acquainted, 
 and to the practical professors of which he was not 
 able and willing to impart information. We shall 
 only mention, that, before he left Glasgow to settle 
 in England, he had assisted some of his friends in 
 the establishment of a pottery there, to the success 
 of which his experiments and advice had greatly con- 
 tributed, and in which he afterwards continued a 
 partner. At a later period, he occupied himself 
 much upon a composition, having the transparency, 
 and nearly the hardness of marble, from which he 
 made many casts. This promoted, if it did not 
 create a taste for sculpture and statuary, and led to 
 his employing himself, during the last years of his 
 life, in the contrivance of a machine for multiplying 
 busts and other carved work, which he left in a very 
 forward state. 
 
 Mr Watt did not escape the common lot of emi- 
 nent men, that of meeting with pirates of his inven- 
 tions, and detractors from his merit. The latter, 
 indeed, were but few, and their efforts transitory ; 
 but the former were numerous, and in proportion to 
 the benefits expected to arise from an evasion of the 
 patent dues claimed by Boulton and Watt ; though 
 these were established upon the liberal footing of re- 
 ceiving only one-third of the savings of fuel com- 
 pared with the best steam-engines previously in use. 
 In consequence, the attention both of Mr Watt and 
 of Mr Boulton was greatly occupied, from the year 
 1792 to the year I799, in defending their patent 
 rights against numerous invaders, the principal of 
 whom were supported by a portion of the mining in- 
 terest of Cornwall, although the respectable part of 
 it refused to concur in their measures. The admis- 
 sion of their respective sons into the partnership, in 
 1794', infused vigour into their proceedings ; and, af- 
 ter repeated verdicts, establishing the novelty and 
 utility of Mr Watt's inventions, the validity of his 
 claim was finally confirmed in the year 1799 by the 
 unanimous decision of all the Judges of the Court of 
 King's Bench. 
 
 In 1800, upon the expiration of the act of Parlia- 
 ment passed in his favour, he withdrew from busi- 
 ness, resigning his shares to his two sons ; of whom 
 the youngest, Mr Gregory Watt, died soon after, 
 haying given splendid pro ofs of literary and philoso- 
 phical talents, and left a durable record of the latter, 
 in his paper On Basalt in the Philosophical Trans- 
 uclioiis. Mr Watt continued to the close of life 
 
 WAT 
 
 to interest himself in the pursuits of his formetr Watt 
 associates, and to maintain an uninterrupted friend - """^^^n 
 ship with Mr Boulton, whom he survived several years. 
 
 On two occasions afterwards, in 1811 and 1812-, 
 he gave proofs of the undiminished powers of hiss 
 mind in his former profession. In the one instance, 
 he was induced, by his grateful recollections of hia 
 residence in Glasgow, to assist the proprietors oif 
 the water-works there with a plan for supplying the 
 town with better water, by means of a suction pipe, 
 with flexible joints, laid across the bottom of the 
 Clyde, accompanied with instructions for insuring 
 the supply of water on the opposite side ; a plan 
 which answered completely, and for which the pro- 
 prietors presented him with a handsome memorial of 
 their gratitude. In the other instance, he was pre- 
 vailed upon by the earnest solicitation of the Lords 
 Commissioners of the Admiralty, to attend a deputa- 
 tion of the Navy Board, and to give with his friend. 
 Captain Huddart, and Mr J. Jessop, an opinion up- 
 on the works then carrying on at Sheerness Dock- 
 yard, and the farther ones projected by Messrs Ren- 
 nie and Whidby ; on which occasion, he no less gra- 
 tified the gentlemen associated with him, by the 
 clearness of his general views, than by his knowledge 
 of the details, and received the thanks of the Admi- 
 ralty. 
 
 Mr Watt, also, at a still later period, in 1814, 
 yielded- to the wishes of his friends in undertaking a 
 revision of Professor Robison's articles on Steam 
 and Steam-Engines in i\\Q Encyclopcedia Britanni- 
 ca; and enriched them with valuable notes, containing 
 his own experiments upon steam, and a short his- 
 tory of his principal improvements upon the engine 
 itself. 
 
 His originally infirm health had been subjected to 
 severe trials by the great exertions of his mind, dur- 
 ing the period of carrying into execution his im- 
 provements on the steam-engine, and had with diffi- 
 culty resisted the cares and anxieties attending up- 
 on business, and those created by the subtleties of 
 the law, during the protracted proceedings of seven 
 long years. There appears to have been an organic 
 defect in his digestion, and its effects were intensely 
 severe sick headachs ; but, by continual temperance 
 and good management of his constitution, which he 
 treated with much medical skill, it improved as 
 he advanced in years ; and with faculties little im- 
 paired he reached his 84th year, when, after a short 
 illness, rather of debility than of pain, he expired 
 in the bosom of his family at his house at Heathfield, 
 in the county of Stafford, on the 25th August 1819. 
 
 His remains are deposited in the chancel of the ad- 
 joining parochial church of Handsworth, near those 
 of Mr Boulton. An excellent bust had been made 
 of him, some years before his death, by Mr Chan- 
 try, and a statue is now nearly finished by the same 
 great artist ; intended by filial piety to be placed up-: 
 on his tomb, and to convey to distant ages a faithful 
 representation of those features in which the lines of 
 intense thought were blended with the mild expres- 
 sion of benevolence. 
 
 Mr Watt was elected a member of the Royal So- 
 ciety of Edinburgh in 1784; of the Royal Society of 
 London in 1785; and a corresponding member of 
 the Batavian Society in 1787. In 1806, the bono- 
 
WAT 
 
 'att. rary degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred 
 V^*^ upon him by the spontaneous and unanimous vote 
 of the Senate of the University of Glasgow ; and 
 in 1808, he was elected first a corresponding, and 
 afterwards a foreign member of the Institute of 
 
 France. , r i 
 
 In this brief narrative of his long, busy, and usetul 
 life, we have endeavoured to confine ourselves to a 
 statement of the principal facts, and shall now add 
 the Character drawn up, soon after his death, by a 
 ^ distinguished writer, who knew him well, and enjoy- 
 ed a large portion of his esteem. 
 
 « It is with pain that we find ourselves called upon, 
 so soon after the loss of Mr Playfair, to record 
 the decease of another of our illustrious country- 
 men, and one to whom mankind has been still 
 more largely indebted— Mr James Watt, the great 
 improver of the steam-engine. 
 
 " This name fortunately needs no commemoration 
 of ours ; for he that bore it survived to see it crown- 
 ed with undisputed and unenvied honours ; and many 
 generations will probably pass away before it shall 
 have ' gathered all its fame.' We have said that 
 Mr Watt was the great improver of the steam-engine ; 
 but, in truth, as to all that is admirable in its struc- 
 ture, or vast in its utility, he should rather be de- 
 scribed as its inventor. It was by his inventions 
 that its action was so regulated as to make it capa- 
 ble of being applied to the finest and most delicate 
 manufactures, and its power so increased as to set 
 weight and solidity at defiance. By his admirable 
 contrivances, it has become a thing stupendous alike 
 for its force and its flexibility,— for the prodigious 
 power which it can exert, and the ease, and preci- 
 sion, and ductility, with which it can be varied, dis- 
 tributed, and applied. The trunk of an elephant 
 that can pick up a pin or rend an oak is as nothing 
 to it. It can engrave a seal, and crush masses of 
 obdurate metal like wax before it, — draw out, with- 
 out breaking, a thread as fine as gossamer, and lift a 
 ship of war like a bauble in the air. It can em- 
 broider muslin and forge anchors, — cut steel into 
 ribbands, and impel loaded vessels against the fury 
 of the winds and waves. 
 
 " It would be difficult to estimate the value of the 
 benefits which these inventions have conferred upon 
 the country. There is no branch of industry that 
 has not been indebted to them ; and in all the most 
 material, they have not only widened most magnifi- 
 cently the field of its exertions, but multiplied a 
 thousandfold the amount of its productions. It is 
 our improved steam-engine that has fought the bat- 
 tles of Europe, and exalted and sustained, through 
 the late tremendous contest, the political greatness of 
 our land. It is the same great power which now 
 enables us to pay the interest of our debt, and to 
 maintain the arduous struggle in which we are still 
 engaged, with the skill and capital of countries less 
 oppressed with taxation. But these are poor and 
 narrow views of its importance. It has increased in- 
 definitely the mass of human comforts and enjoy- 
 ments, and rendered cheap and accessible all over 
 the world the materials of wealth and prosperity. It 
 has armed the feeble hand of man, in short, with a 
 
 WAT 783 
 
 power to which no limits can be assigned, completed Watt, 
 the dominion of mind over the most refractory qua- 
 lities of matter, and laid a sure foundation for all 
 those future miracles of mechanic power which are 
 to aid and reward the labours of after generations. 
 It is to the genius of one man, too, that all this is 
 mainly owing ; and certainly no man ever before be- 
 stowed such a gift on his kind. The blessing is not 
 only universal, but unbounded ; and the fabled 
 inventors of the plough and the loom, who were 
 deified by the erring gratitude of their rude con- 
 temporaries, conferred less important benefits on 
 mankind than the inventor of our present steam- 
 engine. 
 
 *' This will be the fame of Watt with future genera- 
 tions ; and it is sufficient for his race and his country. 
 But to those to whom he more immediately belonged, 
 who lived in his society, and enjoyed his conversa- 
 tion, it is not perhaps the character in which he will 
 be most frequently recalled — most deeply lamented 
 — or even most highly admired. Independently of 
 his great attainments in mechanics, Mr Watt was an 
 extraordinary, and in many respects a wonderful man. 
 Perhaps no individual in his age possessed so much 
 and such varied and exact information, — had read so 
 much, or remembered what he had read so accurate- 
 ly and well. He had infinite quickness of apprehen- 
 sion, a prodigious memory, and a certain rectifying 
 and methodising power of understanding, which ex- 
 tracted something precious out of all that was pre- 
 sented to it. His stores of miscellaneous knowledge 
 were immense, — and yet less astonishing than the 
 command he had at all times over them. It seemed 
 as if every subject that was casually started in con- 
 versation with him, had been that which he had been 
 last occupied in studying and exhausting ; — such was 
 the copiousness, the precision, and the admirable 
 clearness of the information which he poured out up- 
 on it without efibrt or hesitation. Nor was this 
 promptitude and compass of knowledge confined in 
 any degree to the studies connected with his ordinary 
 pursuits. That he should have been minutely and 
 extensively skilled in chemistry and the arts, and in 
 most of the branches of physical science, might per- 
 haps have been conjectured; but it could not have 
 been inferred from his usual occupations, and proba- 
 bly is not generally known, that he was curiously 
 learned in many branches of antiquity, metaphysics, 
 medicine, and etymology, and perfectly at home in 
 all the details of architecture, music, and law. He 
 was well acquainted, too, with most of the mo- 
 dern languages — and familiar with their most re- 
 cent literature. Nor was it at all extraordinary 
 to hear the great mechanician and engineer de- 
 tailing and expounding, for hours together, the me- 
 taphysical theories of the German logicians, or cri- 
 ticising the measures or the matter of the German 
 poetry. 
 
 " His astonishing memory was aided, no doubt, in a 
 great measure, by a still higher and rarer faculty — 
 by his power of digesting and arranging in its proper 
 place all the information he received, and of casting 
 aside and rejecting, as it were instinctively, whatever 
 was worthless or immaterial. Every conception that 
 was suggested to his mind seemed instantly to take 
 
784 WAT 
 
 Watt, its place among its other rich furniture, and to be 
 "■^"v'^^ condensed into the smallest and most convenient 
 form. He never appeared, therefore, to be at all en- 
 cumbered or perplexed with the verbiage of the dull 
 books he perused, or the idle talk to which he listen- 
 ed ; bub to have at once extracted, by a kind of in- 
 tellectual alchemy, all that was worthy of attention, 
 and to have reduced it tor his own use, to its true 
 value and to its simplest form. And thus it often 
 happened that a great deal more was learned from 
 his brief and vigorous account of the theories and 
 arguments of tedious writers, than an ordinary stu- 
 dent could ever have derived from the most faithful 
 study of the originals, — and that errors and absurdi- 
 ties became manifest from the mere clearness and 
 plainness of his statement of them, which might have 
 deluded and perplexed most of his hearers without 
 that invaluable assistance. 
 
 " It is needless to say, that, with those vast resour- 
 ces, his conversation was at all times rich and instruc- 
 tive in no ordinary degree ; but it was, if possible, 
 still more pleasing than wise, and had all the charms 
 of familiarity, with all the substantial treasures of 
 knowledge. No man could be more social in his 
 spirit, less assuming or fastidious in his manners, or 
 more kind and indulgent towards all who approach- 
 ed him. He rather liked to talk, — at least in his 
 later years; but though he took a considerable share 
 of the conversation, he rarely suggested the topics on 
 which it was to turn, but readily and quietly took up 
 whatever was presented by those around him, and 
 astonished the idle and barren propounders of an or- 
 dinary theme, by the treasures which he drew from 
 the mine they had unconsciously opened. He ge- 
 nerally seemed, indeed, to have no choice or predi- 
 lection for one subject of discourse rather than 
 another ; but allowed his mind, like a great cyclo- 
 paedia, to be opened at any letter his associates 
 might choose to turn up, and only endeavoured to 
 select from his inexhaustible stores what might be 
 best adapted to the taste of his present hearers. As 
 to their capacity he gave himself no trouble ; and, 
 indeed, such was his singular talent for making all 
 things plain, clear, and intelligible, that scarcely any 
 one could be aware of such a deficiency in his pre- 
 sence. His talk, too, though overflowing with infor- 
 mation, had no resemblance to lecturing or solemn 
 discoursing, but, on the contrary, was full of collo- 
 quial spirit and pleasantry. He had a certain quiet 
 and grave humour, which ran through most of his 
 conversation, and a vein of temperate jocularity, 
 which gave infinite zest and effect to the condensed 
 and inexhaustible information, which formed its main 
 staple and characteristic. There was a little air of 
 affected testines,s, and a tone of pretended rebuke 
 and contradiction, with which he used to address his 
 younger friends, that was always felt by them as an 
 endearing mark of his kindness and familiarity, — 
 and prized accordingly, far beyond all the solemn 
 compliments that ever proceeded from the lips of au- 
 thority. His voice was deep and powerful, — though 
 he commonly spoke in a lon^ and somewhat monoto- 
 nous tone, which harmonised admirably with the 
 weight and brevity of his observations, and set off to 
 the greatest advantage the pleasant anecdotes which 
 
 WAT 
 
 he delivered with the same grave brow and the same Wat 
 calm smile playing soberly on his lips. There was 
 nothing of effort, indeed, or impatience, any more 
 than of pride or levity, in his demeanour ; and there 
 was a finer expression of reposing strength, and mild 
 self-possession in his manner, than we ever recollect 
 to have met with in any other person. He had in 
 his character the utmost abhorrence for all sorts of 
 forwardness, parade, and pretension ; and, indeed, 
 never failed to put all such impostors out of counte- 
 nance, by the manly plainness and honest intrepidi- 
 ty of his language and deportment. 
 
 " In his temper and dispositions he was not only 
 kind and affectionate, but generous, and considerate 
 of the feelings of all around him, and gave the most 
 liberal assistance and encouragement to all young 
 persons who showed any indications of talent, or ap- 
 plied to him for patronage or advice. His health, 
 which was delics^te from his youth upwards, seemed 
 to become firmet as he advanced in years ; and he 
 preserved, up almost to the last moment of his exist- 
 ence, not only the full command of his extraordi- 
 nary intellect, but all the alacrity of spirit, and the 
 social gaiety which had illuminated his happiest 
 days. His friends in this part of the country never 
 saw him more full of intellectual vigour and collo- 
 quial animation,— never more delightful or more in- 
 structive than in his last visit to Scotland in autumn 
 1817. Indeed, it was after that time that he applied 
 himself, with all the ardour of early life, to the in- 
 vention of a machine for mechanically copying all 
 sorts of sculpture and statuary, — and distributed 
 among his friends some of its earliest performances, 
 as the productions of a young artist just entering on 
 his 83d year. 
 
 " This happy and useful life came at last to a gentle 
 close. He had suffered some inconvenience through 
 the summer; but was not seriously indisposed till 
 within a few weeks from his death. He then became 
 perfectly aware of the event which was approaching ; 
 and with his usual tranquillity and benevolence of 
 nature, seemed only anxious to point out to the 
 friends around him the many sources of consolation 
 which were afforded by the circumstances under 
 which it was about to take place. He expressed his 
 sincere gratitude to Providence for the length of days 
 with which he had been blessed, and his exemption 
 from most of the infirmities of age, as well as for the 
 calm and cheerful evening of life that he had been 
 permitted to enjoy, after the honourable labours of 
 the day had been concluded. And thus, full of years 
 and honours, in all calmness and tranquillity, he 
 yielded up his soul, without pang or struggle, — and 
 passed from the bosom of his family to that of his 
 God! 
 
 " He was twice married, but has left no issue but 
 one son, long associated with him in his business and 
 studies, and two grandchildren by a daughter who 
 predeceased him. He was a Fellow of the Royal So- 
 cieties both of London and Edinburgh, and one of 
 the few Englishmen who were elected members of 
 the National Institute of France. All men of learn- 
 ing and science were his cordial friends ; and such 
 was the influence of his mild character and perfect 
 fairness and liberality, even upon the pretenders to 
 
WAT WEI 785 
 
 iWatt these accomplishments, that he lived to disarm even WEAVING BY POWER. See the Article Weights and 
 envy itself and died, we verily believe, without a Cotton-Manufacture, in this Swp/j/^ween/, Vol. III. ^^easures. 
 ' D. 400. 
 
 ights and single enerayZ'* 
 easures. 
 
 WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 
 
 The bill for ascertaining and establishing Unifor- 
 mity of Weights and Measures, which passed the 
 imperial House of Commons in the Session of 1823, 
 not having been carried through the House of Lords, 
 the subject has less immediate interest at the present 
 moment than there has been every reason to suppose, 
 for a few years past, that it would by this time have ac- 
 quired. But there is little doubt that the discussion 
 will be revived either in the Upper or the Lower House 
 of Parliament before many more months have elapsed; 
 and it seems to be highly improbable that any insu- 
 perable difficulties should stand in the way of its ul- 
 timate success. This presumption is founded on no 
 hasty view of the subject in question, but upon a la- 
 borious and somewhat painful examination of the 
 historical progress of the measures which have been 
 taken respecting it, and especially of the laws of 
 England respecting uniformity of practice in differ- 
 ent parts of the country ; a uniformity which, though 
 generally esteemed by all governments a thing to be 
 encouraged and enforced, has often proved to be no 
 more subjected to the controul of legislative enact- 
 ment, than the introduction of a uniformity of lan- 
 guage and a grammatical accuracy of speech would 
 be found in every part of an extensive empire. 
 
 Augustus is said to have endeavoured in vain 
 to force a new Latin word into the language of 
 ancient Rome ; the French, on the other hand, after 
 all their labours to recommend a uniform system of 
 measures, have ended in such a complication, that 
 for the most simple purposes of practical mechanics 
 and civil life, it is become usual to carry in the 
 pocket a little ruler, in the form of a triangular 
 prism, one of the sides containing the old establish- 
 ed lines and inches of the royal foot, a second the 
 millimetres, centimetres, and decimetres of the revo- 
 lutionary school, and the third the new ultraroyal 
 combination of the Jacobin measure, with the royal 
 division, the inches consisting each of the 36th 
 part of a metre, or the four millionth of a degree of 
 the meridian of the earth. If such occurrences as 
 these be calmly considered, they will make us more 
 disposed to diminish than to increase the number of 
 penal statutes intended to compel the inhabitants of 
 the different parts of a country to study their own 
 convenience conjointly with that of their neighbours, 
 and to spare themselves the necessity of a few arith- 
 metical operations in the course of every market 
 day ; and we shall feel that it is more incumbent on 
 a wise government to endeavour to facilitate both 
 the attainment of correct and uniform standards of 
 legal existing measures of all kinds, and the ready 
 understanding of all the provincial and local terms 
 
 applied to measures, either regular or irregular, by 
 the multiplication of glossaries and tables for the 
 correct definition and comparison of such terms. 
 
 Measures have apparently always been derived, in 
 the first instance, from some part of the human per- 
 son ; a foot, a pace, a fathom, the orgyia or stretch 
 of the arms, a cubit, a palm, and a finger ; these 
 have probably all been used in the earlier states of 
 society by each individual from the magnitude of his 
 own person ; and afterwards a standard measure has 
 been established by authority from the real or sup- 
 posed magnitude of the person of some king or hero, 
 in order for the attainment of more perfect uniformi- 
 ty in practice ; though it is said, that in some parts 
 of the East the Arabs still measure the cubits of their 
 cloth by the fore arm, with the addition of the 
 breadth of the other band, which serves to mark the 
 end of the measure, as the thumb which was former- 
 ly added at the end of the yard by the English 
 clothiers. It ought not, however, to be forgotten, 
 that any one of these terms possesses an advantage, 
 for popular use and for the convenience of future 
 ages and of t-emote countries, which would be lost 
 by the introduction of any more arbitrary measure- 
 ment; thus a hand's breadth, or a foot, is always 
 sufficiently understood, without any definition, to en- 
 able us to form to ourselves a tolerable accurate pic- 
 ture of the magnitude intended to be described ; and 
 there is scarcely an instance of the caprice of deno- 
 mination having ever extended so far as to make the 
 measure called a foot in any country so small as half 
 a natural -foot, or so great as two feet of an ordinary 
 person, and certainly not of its amounting to three 
 ordinary feet; while a metre, even to those who 
 know that the word implies a measure, might as well 
 have meant a mile, or an inch, or a quart, as a length 
 somewhat greater than a yard. 
 
 The idea of accurately verifying the standard of a 
 country by any other means, than that of a compa- 
 rison with some actually existing original, can scarce- 
 ly have occurred, except in a very advanced period 
 of the progress of civilisation. It was indeed enact- 
 ed, in the time of our Henry the Third, that an 
 ounce should be the weight of 640 dry grains of 
 wheat taken from the middle of the ear, that a pound 
 should be twelve ounces, a gallon of wine eight 
 pounds, and eight gallons of wine a bushel of Lon- 
 don ; but this seems rather a direction for making a 
 single standard than a mode intended for the conti- 
 nual verification of the standard in case of any mi- 
 nute uncertainty. Again, in a statute of Henry the 
 Seventh, a gallon of corn was mentioned as contain- 
 ing eight pounds of wheat : and this may, perhaps. 
 
 * The Editor has received this article from a quarter which entitles him to state, with the utmost con- 
 fidence, that it contains an accurate and faithful account of Mr Watt. The brilliant eulogiura with which 
 it BO properly concludes is known to have been written by Mr Jeffrey. 
 
786 W E I G H T S A N 
 
 Weigbts and serve to explain the origin of the two different gal- 
 Measures. ]ons. But the substitution of an original standard, 
 
 ^-^'"^^■^'^ derived from an object of definite magnitude, exte- 
 rior to the human person, seems to have been reserv- 
 ed for the days of the French Revolution, though it 
 has since been adopted, in an improved form, by the 
 introduction of a foot equal to |f of the pendulum 
 vibrating seconds as a representative of the custom- 
 ary foot of the kingdom of Denmark. (Journal R. I. 
 1821, Astr. Coll. N. V.) 
 
 The Royal Society, under the presidency of Mr 
 Folkes, made some very accurate comparisons of the 
 English, and French, and old Roman standards, 
 which are recorded in the Philosophical Transactions 
 for 1736, 1742, and IT-tS ; and George Graham, the 
 watchmaker, determined, at the same time, the cor- 
 rect length of the pendulum vibrating seconds to be 
 Sp.lSO inches, but the standard, with which he com- 
 pared it, requiring some reduction, it was afterwards 
 ascertained, that the length, as derived from these 
 experiments, ought to have been more nearly 39.14 
 inches. 
 
 A Committee of the House of Commons was ap- 
 pointed in 1758, of which Lord Carysfort was chair- 
 man ; their Report contains some important informa- 
 tion respecting the standards then in use. They 
 found that the customary ale and beer gallon of the 
 Excise was estimated at 282 cubical inches, while 
 the legal wine gallon of the Exchequer was comput- 
 ed at only 231, though the only existing standard of 
 the wine gallon, in 1688, which was kept at Guild- 
 hall, contained no more than 224 cubical inches ; 
 they suggested the adoption of this smaller gallon for 
 the legal standard, perhaps as being more favourable 
 to the revenue, though the gallon of 231 inches had 
 been previously legalised by the act of the fifth of 
 Queen Anne ; and they employed the well known 
 Mr Bird to prepare two standards, which were to be 
 exact copies of that which \vas made by Graham for 
 the Royal Society in 1742, from a very careful com- 
 parison of the various yards and ells of Henry the 
 Seventh and Elizabeth, which were kept in the Ex- 
 chequer. One of these copies was marked " Stand- 
 ard Yard, 1758," and was presented.by the Commit- 
 tee to the House with the intention that it should 
 be adopted as the legal standard ; the other was 
 made " with cheeks," for common use, and proposed 
 to be kept in the Exchequer. 
 
 A subsequent Report of a Committee, appointed in 
 1759, consists principally of proposals for some le- 
 gislative regulations, tending to facilitate the equal- 
 isation of weights and measures by the establish- 
 ment of proper methods of checking and authorising 
 the standards to be employed. In 1765, two bills 
 were brought into the House of Commons by Lord 
 Carysfort, in conformity with the reports of the Com- 
 mittees ; but, from some accidental circumstances, 
 they were not passed into laws. 
 
 Another Committee was appointed in 1790; but 
 no minutes of their proceedings have been recorded. 
 In 1814, however, a very important Report was pre- 
 sented to the House by a new Committee, who had 
 called upon Dr W. Hyde Wollaston and Professor 
 Playfair for their opinions on the subject ; and it was 
 principally in consequence of these examinations 
 jthat the Committee stated that the length of the pen^ 
 
 D MEASURES. 
 
 dulum vibrating seconds had been ascertained to be Weights ar 
 39.13047 inches, and that the metre of platina mea- Measures, 
 sured, at the temperature of 56°, 39.3828 English "-^^^ 
 inches, representing, at 32°, the ten millionth part of 
 the quadrant of the meridian ; they remarked, with 
 great truth, that, although in theory, the original 
 standard of weight is best derived from the measure 
 of capacity, yet, in common practice, it will general- 
 ly be found more convenient to reverse this order ; 
 and they recommended, upon the suggestion of Dr 
 Wollaston, that a gallon, containing ten pounds of 
 pure water, should be adopted as a substitute for thi^ 
 ale and corn gallons, which had become different ra- 
 ther from accident than from any direct legislative 
 authority, containing the one a little more than ten 
 pounds, the other a little less, though the standards 
 of the latter were extremely discordant among them- 
 selves. It seems to have been intended to abolish the 
 wine gallon, which is also that of the apothecaries ; 
 though it was recommended to retain the use of the 
 Troy Weight of the goldsmiths employed also by the 
 apothecaries. It had before been observed, that 
 twelve wine gallons of distilled water weighed exact- 
 ly 100 pounds Avoirdupois ; but Dr Wollaston's 
 proposal, to make an ale gallon of exactly ten pounds, 
 afforded a greater facility in the operation of adjust- 
 ing the measure, since it is not very easy to divide 
 100 pounds into twelve equal parts, with the weights 
 in common use. 
 
 Some very important experiments on weights and 
 measures had been made, a little before the date of 
 this Committee, by Sir George Shuckburgh Evelyn, 
 who had published an elaborate paper on the subject 
 in the Philosophical Transactions for 1798; and by 
 the ingenious Mr Whitehurst, who obtained the 
 length of the pendulum by measuring the difference 
 of two lengths affording vibrations of different fre- 
 quency. There were still some minute discordan- 
 cies between the various measurements which appear- 
 ed to be of the highest authority ; and some particu- 
 lars in the Report of the Committee of 1814? are ma- 
 nifestly erroneous ; thus the weight of a cubic foot 
 of water is stated, from a mistake in computation, to 
 be 1000 ounces at 5Q\° of Fahrenheit, while, in 
 fact, it is less than this even at 39°, the maximum of 
 density ; and again, the customary length of the 
 English foot, which has always been adjusted at the 
 ordinary temperature of the atmosphere, and rather 
 at that of the summer than of the winter, as, for ex- 
 ample, in' the great trigonometrical operations of Ge- 
 neral Roy and his successors, at 62° of Fahrenheit, 
 was, in the experiments, copied by the Committee 
 from Pictet, compared with the French standard^ 
 which was intended to be employed at the freezing 
 point of water, without any correction for this diver- 
 sity ; though Dr Young had long before pointed 
 out the omission both in the Journals of the Royal 
 Institution and elsewhere, and had computed the true 
 length of the metre according to these operations of 
 Professor Pictet, confirmed by some earlier ones of 
 Bird, Maskelyne, and Lalande, to be 39,3710 Eng- 
 lish inches, instead of 39-3828. 
 
 In order, therefore, to remove any doubt which 
 might still be reasonably entertained on the subject, 
 Mr Davies Gilbert moved the House of Commons, 
 in the year 1816, to present an humble address to 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 
 
 igbtsanathe Prince Regent, praying that he would give di- 
 ensures. rection, that proper measures should be taken for 
 ~ ' ascertaining the length of the pendulum vibratiing 
 seconds, and for comparing the French and Engl ish 
 standards with each other. In consequence of this ad- 
 dress, the Astronomer Royal was in the first instarace 
 directed to perform the necessary operations ; amd, 
 upon his asking for some further assistance, the Pre- 
 sident and Council of the Royal Society were re- 
 quested to appoint a Committee to cooperate with 
 him. This Committee consisted, besides the Presi- 
 dent and Secretaries, of the late Sir Charles Blagdten, 
 Mr Gilbert, Dr WoUaston, Dr Young, Captain K.at- 
 er, General Mudge, Mr Brown, Mr Rennie, and Mr 
 Troughton. They began by discussing the several 
 modes of making the requisite experiments which (oc- 
 curred to the different members, and it was resolv(ed, 
 that as many of these methods, as were preferred by 
 each of them, should be separately carried into exe- 
 cution, in order to obtain collateral determinations 
 of the required length. Mr Pond pursued the me- 
 thod of the French astronomers, and obtained soime 
 very satisfactory results, with an apparatus such as 
 they had employed ; Dr Young proposed a method 
 derived from that of Whitehurst, and very perfect; in 
 theory, btit somewhat complicated, and which has ne- 
 ver yet been practically executed ; Captain Kaiter 
 invented, with great ingenuity, and employed, vnith 
 great mechanical skill, an apparatus which does as 
 much credit to his talents in the arrangement as to 
 his perseverance in the experiments which he per- 
 formed with it, and the accuracy of his determiina- 
 tions has been fully appreciated by raathematiciians 
 and practical astronomers throughout the world ; :and 
 his operations have been and are still about to be re- 
 peated by many observers in different countries. 
 Captain Kater's apparatus has been fully described 
 in the Article Pendulum of this Supplement j it 
 owes no inconsiderable part of its advantage to the 
 property subsequently demonstrated by Laplace, 
 that, even if the opposite knife edges were considler- 
 ably blunted and rounded off, supposing them toi be 
 equally affected, the distance between them wo»uld 
 still afford the true measure of the length of the pen* 
 dulum, without any further correction for the chamge 
 of the axis of motion. It has also been demonstirat- 
 ed in this country, by means of the experimentis of 
 Chladni on the elasticity of metals, that the temipo- 
 rary change of form, depending on the compression 
 of the steel edge, would be too inconsiderable: to 
 produce any sensible alteration of the length: in 
 question. 
 
 The object of Dr Young's apparatus was, to ob- 
 tain two or more tine lines, traced at different patts 
 of a scale, which should exhibit between them a cer- 
 tain determinate portion of the length of a penduUum 
 vibrating seconds. He apprehended that the accu- 
 rate determination of the form and direction of the 
 knife edges, and the measurement of the distance 
 between any such edges, which was necessary in the 
 method proposed by Prony, as well as in that which 
 was subsequently invented by Captain Kater, wcould 
 require more skill and delicacy in the execution and 
 the observation, than could be expected from any 
 common workman or experimenter ; , and though 
 
 787 
 
 Captain Kater, by his extreme care in combatingW^ights^and 
 every source of error, has, in point of fact, apparent- 
 ly obviated all these difficulties, yet it cannot be ex- 
 pected that so rare a combination of quah'fications 
 should again be found, in case of a repetition of the 
 experiments, and Dr Young s apparatus may still, at 
 some future time, be employed with advantage, at 
 least for a collateral check upon the results. 
 
 The obstacles which prevented the completion of 
 the observations which were made for sonie time 
 with this apparatus at Greenwich, was the difBculty 
 of obtaining a scapement so delicate as to count the 
 number of vibrations, without sensibly interfering 
 with their frequency. A very ingenious clockmaker 
 was employed to furnish a scapement, of which the 
 intention was to strike the pendulum slightly and m- 
 stantaneously at the lowest point of its vibration, and 
 then to recoil from it, so that even a considerable 
 impulse might have little or no effect in altering the 
 rate of the pendulum ; but it was in fact observed, 
 upon comparison with the clocks of the observatory, 
 that the vibrations in larger arcs were more frequent 
 than those which were performed in smaller ; so that 
 the scapement must have exerted a very consider- 
 able influence on the time of every vibration. It 
 was therefore found necessary to abandon this me- 
 thod of making the experiment ; but there would be 
 no difficulty in conducting it very satisfactorily by 
 means of a journeyman clock, with a wooden or brass 
 pendulum, capable of having its length altered, so 
 as to become comparable with the vibrations of Dr 
 Young's pendulum in its different states ; and it 
 might even be found sufficient to observe the pendu- 
 lum, with the same scapement, so altered as not to 
 give any impulse whatever, but merely to reckon the 
 vibrations by means of the detent, during the spon- 
 taneous vibrations of the pendulum, which, on ac- 
 count of its great weight, would be continued for a 
 considerable time in consequence of the first impulse, 
 taking care that the detent should be struck exactly 
 at the middle of the vibration, and that it should re- 
 bound in some measure from the pendulum at the 
 moment of contact. 
 
 Before any attempt was made to introduce any le- 
 gislative regulations upon the foundation of the va- 
 rious scientific experiments, which had been so accu- 
 rately and satisfactorily conducted, it was thought 
 advisable by his Majesty's Ministers that the subject 
 at large should be submitted to the deliberate con- 
 sideration of some competent persons, who might 
 discuss it more minutely than could be done with 
 convenience before a Committee of either House of 
 Parliament; and that a commission should be ap- 
 pointed for this purpose by a writ of the Privy Seal. 
 The commissioners thus nominated in 1818 were 
 the late Sir Joseph Banks, Sir George Clerk, Mr 
 Davies Gilbert, Dr W. Hyde Wollaston, Dr Tho- 
 mas Young, and Captain Henry Kater. Some fur- 
 ther operations for the comparison of the existing 
 standards of length were undertaken by Captain 
 Kater ; Dr Wollaston examined some of the autho- 
 rised measures of capacity, and Dr Young offered 
 his services as secretary to the committee, with the 
 assistance of a clerk who had studied the law, while 
 Sir George Clerk and Mr Gilbert were employed in 
 
788 
 
 WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 
 
 Weights and preparations for carrying into effect, in their le- 
 Measures. gigjative capacity, such regulations as the commis- 
 sioners at large might agree to propose. The first 
 occupation of the clerk was to make copious extracts 
 from the statutes at large, by means of which Dr 
 Young drew up an abstract of the present state of 
 the laws relating to weights and measures, and after- 
 wards to select from the Agricultural Reports of the 
 different counties such materials, as afforded a glos- 
 sary of all the terms employed in any part of Great 
 Britain for denominating the irregular weights or 
 measures, which have acquired a local currency in 
 agricultural or other commercial transactions. 
 
 After this sketch of the previous history of the sub- 
 ject, we may now proceed to extract from the Re- 
 ports of the Commissioners, and from the bills found- 
 ed on them^ such statements as may either serve in 
 the place of canons for the regulation of weights and 
 measures in general, or as documents respecting the 
 actual value of the various standards possessing the 
 highest degree of authenticity ; and this article can- 
 not be more properly concluded than by subjoining 
 some further comparative tables of the standards of 
 measures and weights adopted by different countries 
 and at different periods. 
 
 First Report. — " I. Upon a deliberate considera- 
 tion of the whole of the system at present existing, 
 we are impressed with a sense of the great, difficulty 
 of effecting any radical changes, to so considerable 
 an extent as might in some respects be desirable ; 
 and we, therefore, wish to proceed with great cau- 
 tion, in the suggestions which we shall venture to 
 propose. 
 
 " II. With respect to the actual magnitude of the 
 standards of length, it does not appear to us, that 
 there can be any sufficient reason for altering those 
 which are at present generally employed. There is 
 no practical advantage in having a quantity commen- 
 surable to any original quantity existing, or which may 
 be imagined to exist, in nature, except as affording 
 some little encouragement to its common adoption by 
 neighbouring nations. But it is scarcely possible 
 that the departure from a standard, once universally 
 established in a great country, should not produce 
 much more labour and inconvenience in its internal 
 relations, than it could ever be expected to save in 
 the operations of foreign commerce and correspond- 
 ence, which always are, and always must be, con- 
 ducted by persons to whom the difficulty of calcula- 
 tion is comparatively inconsi»Jerable, and who are 
 also remunerated for their trouble, either by the pro- 
 fits of their commercial concerns, or by the credit of 
 their scientific acquirements. 
 
 " III. The subdivisions of weights and measures 
 at present employed in this country, appear to be far 
 more convenient for practical purposes than the de- 
 cimal scale, which might perhaps be preferred by 
 some persons for making calculations with quantities 
 already determined. But the power of expressing a 
 third, a fourth, and a sixth of a foot in inches, with- 
 out a fraction, is a peculiar advantage in the duode- 
 cimal scale ; and, for the operation of weighing and 
 measuring capacities, the continual division by two 
 renders it practicable to make up any given quantity, 
 
 with the smallest possible number of standard weights Weights i 
 or measures, and is far preferable in this respect to 
 any decimal scale. We would therefore recommend, 
 that all the multiples and subdivisions of the stand- 
 ard to be adopted should retain the same relative 
 proportions to each other as are at present in gene- 
 ral use. 
 
 " IV. The most authentic standards of length 
 which are now in existence being found, upon a mi- 
 nute examination, to vary in a very slight degree 
 from each other, although either of them might be 
 preferred, without any difference that would become 
 sensible in common cases ; we beg leave to recom- 
 mend, for the legal determination of the standard 
 yard, that * which was employed by General Roy, in 
 the measurement of a base on Hounslow Heath, as a 
 foundation for the trigonometrical operations that 
 have been carried on by the Ordnance throughout 
 the country, and a duplicate of which will probably 
 be laid down on a standard scale, by the Committee 
 of the Royal Society appointed for assisting the As- 
 tronomer Royal in the determination of the length 
 of the pendulum ;' the temperature being supposed 
 to be 62 degrees of Fahrenheit, when the scale is 
 employed. 
 
 " y. We propose also, upon the authoi^y of the 
 experiments made by the Committee of the Royal 
 Society, that it should be declared, for the purpose 
 of identifying or recovering'the length of this stand- 
 ard, in case that it should ever be lost or impaired, 
 that the length of a pendulum vibrating seconds of 
 mean solar time in London, on the level of the sea, 
 and in a vacuum, is ' 39.1372' inches of this scale; 
 and that the length of the metre employed in France, 
 as the 10,000,000th part of the quadrantal arc of the 
 meridian, has been found equal to ' 39-3694' inches. 
 
 " VI. The definitions of measures of capacity are 
 obviously capable of being immediately deduced from 
 their relations to measures of length ; but since the 
 readiest practical method of ascertaining the magni- 
 tude of any measure of capacity is to weigh the quan- 
 tity of water which it is capable of containing, it 
 would, in our opinion, be advisable in this instance 
 to invert the more natural order of proceeding, and 
 to define the measures of capacity rather from the 
 weight of the water they are capable of containing, 
 than from their solid content in space. It will 
 therefore be convenient to begin with the definition 
 of the standard of weight, by declaring that ' nine- 
 teen cubic inches of distilled water, at the tempera- 
 ture of 50V "lust weigh exactly ten ounces Troy^ or 
 4.800 grains ; and that 7000 such grains make a 
 pound avoirdupois ; supposing, however, the cubic 
 inches to relate to the measure of a portion of brass, 
 adjusted by a standard scale of brass. This defini- 
 tion is deduced from some very accurate experi- 
 ments of the late Sir George Shuckburgh on the 
 weights and measures of Great Britain ; but we pro- 
 pose at a future period to repeat such of them as ap- 
 pear to be the most important. 
 
 " VII. The definitions thus established are not 
 calculated to introduce any variation from the exist- 
 ing standards of length and of weight, which may be 
 considered as already sufficiently well ascertained. 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 
 
 789 
 
 and But, with respect to the measure of capacity, it ap- 
 pears, from the Report contained in the Appendix 
 ^ (A), that the legal standards of the highest autho- 
 rity are considerably at variance with each other : 
 the standard gallon, quart, and pint of Queen Eliza- 
 beth, which are kept in the Exchequer, having been 
 also apparently employed, almost indiscriminately, 
 for adjusting the measures both of corn and of beer ; 
 between which, however, a difference has gradually, 
 and, as it may be supposed, unintentionally crept in- 
 to the practice of the Escise ; the ale gallon being 
 understood to contain about four and a half per cent. 
 more than the corn gallon, though we do not find 
 any particular act of Parliament in which this excess 
 is expressly recognised. We think it right to pro- 
 pose, that these measures should again be reduced 
 to their original equality ; and at the same time, on 
 account of the great convenience which would be de- 
 rived from the facility of determining a gallon and 
 its parts, by the operation of weighing a certain 
 quantity of water, amounting to an entire number of 
 pounds and ounces without fractions, we venture 
 strongly to recommend, that the standard ale and 
 corn gallon should contain exactly ten pounds avoir- 
 dupois of distilled water, at 62° of Fahrenheit, being 
 nearly equal to ' 277.2' cubic inches, and agreeing 
 with the standard pint in the Exchequer, which is 
 found to contain exactly twenty ounces of water. 
 
 " VIII. We presume that very little inconvenience 
 would be felt by the public from the introduction of 
 this gallon, in the place of the customary ale gallon of 
 282 cubic inches, and of the Winchester corn gallon, 
 directed by a statute of King William to contain 269, 
 and by some latisr statutes estimated at 272| cubic 
 inches ; especially when it is considered that the 
 standards, by which the quart and pint beer measures 
 used in London are habitually adjusted, do not at 
 present differ in a sensible degree from the standard 
 proposed to be rendered general. We apprehend, 
 also, that the slight excess of the new bushel above 
 the common corn measure would be of the less ira- 
 portanee, as the customary measures, employed in 
 different parts of Great Britain are almost universal- 
 ly larger than the legal Winchester bushel. 
 
 IX. Upon the question of the propriety of abolish- 
 ing altogether the use of the wine gallon, and establish- 
 ing the new gallon of ten pounds, as the only standard 
 for all purposes, we have not yet been able to obtain 
 sufficient groundsforcomingto a conclusive determina- 
 tion ; we can only suggest, that there would be a mani- 
 fest advantage in the identification of all measures of the 
 same name, provided that the change could be made 
 without practical inconvenience ; but how far the in- 
 convenience might be more felt than the advantage, 
 we must leave to the wisdom of his Majesty's Govern- 
 ment to decide.'' . . . 
 
 Dated " 24th June 1819." 
 
 ^' Appendix (A). 
 The standards kept at the Exchequer, for the ad- 
 justment both of CORN and beer measures, are a 
 bushel, a gallon, and a quart, dated 1601, and a pint, 
 dated 1602, all marked with an E and a Crown. They 
 were examined by Sir George Clerk and Dr Wol- 
 laston, and the weight of Thames water which they 
 held, at the temperature of 52°, was found as in the 
 
 VOL. VI. PART II. 
 
 subjoined table. Now, since, according to Sir George Weigbu and 
 Shuckburgh's experiments, a cubic inch of distilled Measures, 
 water, at 60", weighs 252^ grains, the specific gra- 
 vity of the water being to that of distilled water as 
 1.00060 to 1, and the apparent specific gravity of 
 distilled water, in a vessel of brass at 52°, being to 
 that of water at 62° as 1.00046 to 1, it follows that 
 the apparent specific gravity of the water employed 
 was 1.00106, and that an ounce avoirdupois corre- 
 sponded to 1.731 cubic inches. Hence we obtain 
 the contents of the measures in cubic inches, which 
 are compared, in the table, with the more direct 
 measurement of Mr Bird and Mr Harris, reported 
 to the House of Commons in 1758. 
 
 Oz. Avoir. Cub. In. GaUon. Rep. 1758. 
 
 Pint 20.00 34.6 (x8=) 276.9 34.8 
 
 Quart 40.35 69.8 (x4=) 279.3 70.0 
 
 Gallon 156.25 270.4 ( = ) 270.4 271.0 
 
 Bushel 1229.85 2128.9 (X^=; 266.1 2124.0 
 
 The Exchequer standard wine gallon is dated 
 1707, and was found to contain 133-4 ounces, an- 
 swering to 230.9 cubic inches. An experiment of 
 Dr WoUaston and Mr Carr, in 1814, gave 230.8, the 
 mean being 230.85 ; while the measurement of 1758 
 made it 231.2. A duplicate of this measure, and of 
 the same date, is kept at Guildhall. 
 
 " Dr Wollaston and Mr Carr examined also the 
 three other wine gallons at Guildhall. The oldest 
 of these seems to be the same that was measured by 
 Halley and Flamsteed in 1688, and was said to con- 
 tain 224 cubic inches ; its actual capacity is 224.4. 
 The wine gallon of 1773, which is in daily use for 
 adjusting other measures, was probably in the first 
 instance a correct copy of the Exchequer gallon, 
 but has been reduced by a bruise, and by the wear 
 of the brim, to 230.0 cubic inches, having lost ^ of 
 a cubic inch, or gi^- of its whole capacity. The wine 
 gallon of 1798 contains 230.8 cubic inches. 
 
 " The Excise wine gallon was found, by a similar 
 experiment, to contain 230.1 cubic inches, having 
 p*artaken of the progressive deficiency of the Guild- 
 hall gallon, from which it was derived." 
 
 Second Report, " We have examined, since our 
 last Report, the relation of the best authenticated 
 standards of length at present in existence, to the in- 
 struments employed for measuring the base on Houn- 
 slow Heath, and in the late trigonometrical opera- 
 tions. But we have very unexpectedly discovered 
 that an error has been committed in the construction 
 of some of those instruments : We are therefore 
 obliged to recur to the originals which they were 
 intended to represent, and we have found reason to 
 prefer the Parliamentary standard executed by Bird 
 in 1760, which we had not before received, both as 
 being laid down in the most accurate manner, and as 
 the best agreeing with the most extensive compari- 
 sons which have been hitherto executed by various 
 observers, and circulated throughout Europe ; and, 
 in particular, with the scale employed by the late Sir 
 George Shuckburgh. ' 
 
 *' We have therefore now to propose, that this 
 standard be considered as the foundation of all legal 
 weights and measures, and that it be declared, that 
 5 H 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 
 
 790 
 
 Weights and the length of a pendulum vibrating seconds in a va- 
 Measures. caum, on the level of the sea, in London^ is 39.13929 
 ^^■^^ inches, and that of the French metre 39.37079 
 inches, the English standard being employed at 62" 
 of Fahrenheit." 
 
 Dated " 13th July 1820." 
 
 Third Report. " The measurements which we 
 have lately performed, upon the apparatus employed 
 by the late Sir George Shuckburgh Evelyn, have en- 
 abled us to determine, with sufficient precision, the 
 weight of a given bulk of water, with a view to the 
 fixing the magnitude of the standard of weight ; that 
 of length being already determined by the experi- 
 ments related in our former Reports : and we have 
 found by the computations, which will be detailed in 
 the Appendix, that the weight of a cubic inch of 
 distilled water, at 62° of Fahrenheit, is ' 252.72' 
 grains of the Parliamentary standard pound of 1758, 
 supposing it to be weighed in a vacuum." 
 
 Appendix. The Commissioners having been fur- 
 nished, by the kindness of the Honourable C. C. C. 
 Jenkinson, with the apparatus employed by the late 
 » Sir George Shuckburgh Evelyn in the determination 
 of the magnitude of the standard weights, and there 
 being some doubt of the perfect accuracy of his me- 
 thod of measuring the capacity of the bodies em- 
 ployed, it was judged necessary to repeat that mea- 
 surement with greater precautions ; and the results 
 of Captain Kater's experiments^ have afforded some 
 slight corrections of the capacities in question. 
 
 " The sides of Sir George Shuckburgh's cube were 
 found by Captain Kater equal to ^-9^911, 4.98934, 
 and 4.98935 inches, the diameter of the cylinder 
 3.99713, and its length 5.99600 inches; and the 
 diameter of the sphere 6.00759 inches. Hence the 
 content of the cube appears to be 124.1969 inches; 
 that of the cylinder 75.2398 ; and that of the sphere 
 113.5264 inches of Bird's Parliamentai-y standard of 
 1760, recommended in the last Report of the Com- 
 missioners, or of the standard made by Troughton 
 for Sir George Shuckburgh. 
 
 " The difference of the weight of the cube in the 
 air at 62°, with the barometer at 29.0, and in water at 
 60.2°, was 31381.79 grains; and adding to this the 
 weight of an equal bulk of the air at 62°, which is 
 
 _i_ . of that of the water, or 36.26 grains, and 
 834 30 
 
 subtracting from it of this, or 4.26 grains, the 
 
 buoyancy of the brass weights, we obtain 31413.79 
 grains for the weight of the cube of water in a va- 
 cuum at 60.2°. Now this cube is less than the sup- 
 posed measure, at the standard temperature of 62°, 
 in the ratio of 1 to 1.0000567, on account of the con- 
 traction of the brass, and the water is denser than at 
 the standard temperature, according to Mr Gilpin's 
 experiments, in the ratio of .99998 to .99981, or of 
 1.00017 to 1 ; the whole correction, for the difference 
 of 1.8°, being .0001133, or 3.55 grains, making 
 
 31410-24 for the weight of the cube of water in a Weights 
 vacuum at 62°; which, divided by 124.1969, gives Measurj 
 252.907 for the weight of a cubic inch, in Sir George '■^^^ 
 Shuckburgh's grains. 
 
 " In the same manner, we obtain for the cylinder, 
 which was weighed in air under the same circum- 
 stances, and in water at 60.5°, the difference being 
 
 1 29 7.5 
 
 19006.83 grains, the correction ^ • §5 * ^^"^ 
 
 effect of buoyancy, amounting to 19.43 grains ; and 
 for the difference of temperature of the water and 
 brass conjointly, the densities being .999955 and 
 .999810, the correction .000145 — 000047=. 000095, 
 or 1.80 grains, leaving +17.63 grains for the whole 
 correction of the weight, as reduced to a vacuum at 
 62°, and making it 19024.46, which, divided by 
 75.2398, the content of the cylinder, affords us 
 252.851 for the cubic inch in a vacuum at 62°. 
 
 *' The sphere was weighed in air at 67°^ the baro- 
 meter standing at 29.74; the correction for the buoy- 
 
 ancy is here 
 
 7.5 
 
 ^^""^^ . or, for 28673.51 grains, 
 
 '8.5 ' 30 843 
 29.72 ; while the temperature of 66° requires, for 
 the difference between the expansion of brass and 
 water, the addition of .00042— .000126, or .000294 
 of the whole, that is +8.43 grains, making the whole 
 correction 38.15, and the weight in a vacuum 
 28711.66; which, divided by 113.5264, gives us 
 252.907, for the cubic inch in a vacuum. 
 
 " The mean of these three measures is 252.888, 
 giving for the three errors, +.019, — 037, and +.OI9 ; 
 and this mean, reduced to the Parliamentary stand- 
 ard, makes ' 252.722' grains, for the cubic inch of 
 distilled water at 62°, weighed in a vacuum, or 252.456 
 in air, under the common circumstances of the atmo- 
 sphere, when weights of brass are employed. In a 
 vacuum, at the maximum of density, that is, at 39**, 
 the weight of a true cubic inch will be 253 grains, 
 and of a cubic decimetre 15440.* The proposed 
 imperial gallon, of ten pounds, or 70000 grains of 
 water, will contain very nearly 277.3 cubic inches, 
 under common circumstances." 
 
 In conformity with these Reports, sl hill was brought 
 into the House of Commons, in 1822, by Sir George 
 Clerk, and again, with a few alterations, in 1823, 
 which appears to be drawn up with great care and 
 judgment, and which comprehends a statement of the 
 true ground of the proposed measures, and of the de- 
 terminations which are intended for their bases. 
 
 " Whereas notwithstanding it is provided by the 
 Great Charter, that there shall be but one Measure 
 and one Weight throughout the realm, and by the 
 Treaty of Union between England and Scotland, that 
 the same weights and measures should be used 
 throughout Great Britain as were then established 
 in England, yet different weights and measures, some 
 larger and some less, are still in use in various places 
 throughout the United Kingdom of Great Britain 
 and Ireland, and the true measure of the present 
 
 * It appears, however, from an official Report obligingly communicated to us by Dr Kelly, that the ac- 
 tual standard chiliogramrae has been found to contain only 15433 English grains. 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 
 
 791 
 
 ghts and standards Is not verily known, which is the cause of 
 iasures. great confusion and of manifest frauds : Be it there- 
 -^fore enacted, That from and after the 1st January 
 1824;, the straight line or distance between the cen- 
 tre of the two points in the gold studs in the straight 
 brass rod, now in the custody of the Clerk of the 
 House of Commons, whereon the words and figures 
 ' Standard Yard, 1760,' are engraved, shall be, and 
 the same is hereby declared to be, the original and 
 genuine standard of that measure of length or linear 
 extension called a yard ; and that the same straight 
 line or distance between the centres of the said two 
 points in the said gold studs in the said brass rod, 
 the brass being at the temperature of sixty two de- 
 grees by Fahrenheit's thermometer, shall be, and is 
 hereby denominated the ' Imperial Standard Yard/ 
 and shall be, and is hereby declared to be, the unit 
 or only standard measure of extension where- 
 from or whereby all other measures of extension 
 whatsoever, whether the same be linear, superficial 
 or solid, shall be derived, computed, and ascertained ; 
 and that all measures of length shall be taken in parts 
 or multiples, or certain proportions of the said stand- 
 ard yard ; and that one third part of the said stand- 
 ard yard shall be a -foot, and the twelfth part of such 
 foot shall be an inch ; and that the pole or perch shall 
 contain five such yards and a half, the furlong 220 
 such yards, and the mile l760 such yards. . . 
 
 " And whereas it is expedient that the said stand- 
 ard yard, if lost, destroyed, defaced, or otherwise in- 
 jured, should be restored of the same length by refer- 
 ence to some invariable natural standard : and where- 
 as it has been ascertained, by the Commissioners ap- 
 pointed by his Majesty to inquire into the subject of 
 weights and measures, that the said yard hereby de- 
 clared to be the imperial standard yard, when com- 
 pared with a pendulum vibrating seconds of mean 
 time in the latitude of London, in a vacuum at the 
 levgl of the sea, . . is in the proportion of thirty six 
 inches to 39.1393 ; Be it therefore enacted and de- 
 clared. That if at any time hereafter the said impe- 
 rial standard yard shall be lost, or shall be in any 
 manner destroyed, defaced, or otherwise injured, it 
 shall and may be restored by making, under the di- 
 rection of the Lord High Treasurer , . for the time 
 being, a new standard yard, bearing the same pro- 
 portion to such pendulum as aforesaid, as the said 
 imperial standard yard bears to such pendulum. 
 
 " And ' whereas the Commissioners appointed by 
 his Majesty to inquire into the subject of weights and 
 measures have recommended that the standard brass 
 weight of two pounds troy weight, made in the year 
 1758, and now in the custody of the Clerk of the 
 House of Commons, shall be considered as authen- 
 tic ; be it enacted. That a brass weight equal to one 
 half of the said brass weight of two pounds, gravitat- 
 ing in air (the barometer being at thirty inches, and 
 the thermometer being at 62° by Fahrenheit's scale') 
 1822 Q823, be it further enacted, That from and after 
 the 1st January 1824, the standard brass weight of 
 one pound troy weight, made in the year \75h, now 
 in the custody of the Clerk of the House of Com- 
 mons], shall be, and the same is hereby declared to 
 be, the original and genuine standard measure of 
 weight ; and that such brass weight . . shall be and 
 
 is hereby denominated the Imperial Standard Troy Weightsand 
 Pound, and shall be, and the same is hereby declared Measures, 
 to be, the unit or only standard measure of weight, 
 from which all other weights shall be derived, com- 
 puted, and ascertained ; and that of the said troy 
 pound shall be an ounce ; and that of such ounce 
 shall be a penny weight; and that of such penny 
 weight shall be a grain ; so that 5760 such grains 
 shall be a troy pound ; and that 7000 such grains 
 shall be, and are hereby declared to be, a pound a- 
 voirdupois ; and that of the said pound avoirdu- 
 pois shall be an ounce avoirdupois ; and that of 
 such ounce shall be a dram. 
 
 *' And whereas it is expedient, that the said stand- 
 ard troy pound, if lost, destroyed, defaced, or other- 
 wise injured, should be restored of the same weight, 
 by reference to some invariable natural standard ; 
 and whereas it has been ascertained, by the Commis- 
 sioners appointed by his Majesty to inquire into the 
 subject of weights and measures, that a cubic inch 
 of distilled water in a vacuum, weighed by brass 
 weights, also in a vacuum, at the temperature of 62° 
 of Fahrenheit's thermometer, is equal to * 252.72,' 
 1822 [1823, 252.724], grains, of which as afore- 
 said, the imperial standard troy pound contains 5760; 
 Be it therefore enacted. That if at any time hereafter 
 the said imperial standard troy pound shall be lost . . 
 it shall and may be restored, . . by making, under 
 the directions of the Lord High Treasurer . . a new 
 standard . determined according to this proportion. 
 
 " And be it further enacted, That the standard 
 measure of capacity, as well for liquids as for dry 
 goods not measured by heaped measure, shall be the 
 gallon, containing ten pounds avoirdupois weight of 
 distilled water, weighed in air, at the temperature of 
 sixty two degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer, the 
 barometer being at thirty inches ; and that a measure 
 shall be forthwith made of brass, of such contents as 
 aforesaid,., andsuchbrassmeasureshallbe, andishere- 
 by declared to be, the imperial standard gallon, and 
 shall be, and is hereby declared to be, the unit and only 
 standard measure of capacity, from which all other mea- 
 sures of capacity to be used, as well for wine, beer, ale, 
 spirits, and all sorts of liquids, as for dry goods not 
 measured by heaped measure, shall be derived, com- 
 puted, and ascertained ; and that all measures shall 
 be taken in parts or multiples, or certain proportions 
 of the said imperial standard gallon ; and that the 
 quart shall be the fourth part of such standard gallon, 
 and the pint shall be one eighth of such standard gal- 
 lon ; and that two such gallons shall be a peck, and 
 eight such gallons shall be a bushel, and eight such 
 bushels a quarter of corn or other dry goods, not 
 measured by heaped measure. 
 
 And be it further enacted. That the standard 
 measure of capacity for coals, culm, lime, fish, pota- 
 toes, or fruit, and all other goods and things com- 
 monly sold by heaped measure, shall be the aforesaid 
 bushel, containing eighty pounds avoirdupois of wa- 
 ter as aforesaid, the same being made round with a 
 plain and even bottom, and being 19^ inches from out- 
 side to outside of such standard measure as aforesaid. 
 
 " And be it further enacted. That in making use 
 of such bushel, all coals, and other goods and things 
 commonly sold by heaped measure, shall be duly 
 
792 
 
 WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 
 
 Wcaghte and heaped up in such bushel in the form of a cone, such 
 Measures. ^^^^ ^j^^ height of at least six inches, and 
 
 the outside of the bushel to be the extremity of the 
 base of such cone ; and that three such bushels shall 
 be a sack, and that twelve such sacks shall be a chal- 
 dron." . . 
 
 " Provided always, and be it enacted, That in all 
 cases of dispute respecting the correctness of any 
 measure of capacity, arising in a place where recourse 
 cannot conveniently be had to any of the aforesaid 
 verified copies or models of the standard measures of 
 capacity, it shall and may be lawful to and for any 
 Justice of the Peace or Magistrate having jurisdiction 
 in such place, to ascertain the content of such measure 
 of capacity by direct reference to the weight of pure 
 or rain water which such measure is capable of con- 
 taining ; ten pounds avoirdupois weight of such wa- 
 ter, at the temperature of 62° by Fahrenheit's ther- 
 mometer, being the standard gallon ascertained by 
 this act, the same being in bulk equal to ' 277.276' 
 1822 [1823, 277.2743 cubic inches, and so in pro- 
 portion for all parts or multiples of a gallon." 
 
 The slight discordance between the numbers of 
 the two successive years depends merely on the a- 
 doption of a standard troy pound, better authenticat- 
 ed than the two pound weight particularly employed 
 by Sir George Shuckburgh, which was finally pre- 
 ferred both as representing a unit, and as being more 
 simple in its form than the two pound weight. 
 
 Table of Various Measures. 
 
 From Folkes, Raper, Shuckburgh, Vega, Hutton's 
 Ozanum, Cavallo, and others. Young's Nat. PhiL 
 II. 152, 150. 
 
 Ancient Measures, 
 
 Arabian foot 
 
 Babylonian foot 
 
 Drusian foot 
 Egyptian " foot" 
 stadium 
 Greek foot 
 
 phyleterian f. 
 Hebrew foot 
 cubit 
 
 sacred cubit 
 great cubit =6 common 
 cubits 
 
 Macedonian foot . 
 Natural foot 
 Ptolemaic=Greek foot 
 Roman foot 
 
 E. F. 
 
 1.095 H. 
 
 1.090 H. 
 1.421 
 730.8 H. 
 1.009 H. 
 
 1.006'\Folkes.= l5'j 
 1.007 j Roman f. 
 1.007 C. 
 1.167 H. 
 1.212 H. 
 I.8I7 H. 
 2.002 H. 
 
 H. 
 
 1.160 H. 
 .814 H. 
 H. 
 
 .970 Bernard. 
 nRrr S Picard and 
 I Greaves, H. 
 
 |,«?}Folkes. 
 
 S before Titus, 
 1 Raper. 
 
 .965 {^^^^'gpjj"'' 
 
 Roman, foot 
 
 Roman mile of Pliny 
 of Strabo 
 
 Sicilian foot of Archimedes .73O H. 
 
 Modern Measures. 
 
 Altdorf, foot 
 Amsterdam, foot 
 
 F' Weights i 
 
 »9672 from rules, Sh. Mt ^ 
 /from build- V- 
 mgs, Sh. 
 .9696 from a stone, Sh. 
 4840.5 C. 
 4903. C. 
 
 .931 
 
 ell 
 
 Ancona, foot . . 
 Antwerp, foot 
 Aquileia, foot 
 Aries, foot 
 Augsburg, foot 
 Austria. See Vienna. 
 AvignonzrArles. 
 Barcelona, foot 
 Basle, foot 
 
 Bavarian foot 
 
 Bergamo, foot 
 Berlin, foot 
 Bern, foot 
 Besan^on, foot 
 
 Bologna, foot 
 
 Bourg en Bresse, foot 
 Brabant ell, in Germany 
 Bremen, foot 
 Brescia, foot 
 
 braccio 
 Breslau, foot 
 Bruges, foot 
 
 Brussels, foot 
 
 greater ell 
 
 lesser ell 
 Castilian vara 
 Chambery, foot 
 China, mathematical foot 
 
 imperial foot 
 li 
 
 .775 H. 
 .927 H. 
 
 .930 C. 
 
 r Howard on 
 \ Lazarettos. 
 2.233 C. 
 1.282 H. 
 .940 H. 
 1.128 H- 
 .888 H. 
 .972 H. 
 
 >992 H. 
 .944 H. 
 
 .968 /^^'S®'- 
 
 Munich. 
 
 fl.S 
 tl.^ 
 
 1.431 H. 
 .992 H. 
 .962 Howard. 
 1.015 H. 
 .244 H. 
 .250 C. 
 1.030 H. 
 2.268 V. 
 .955 H. 
 1.560 H. 
 2.092 C. 
 1.125 H. 
 .749 H. . 
 .902 H. 
 .954 V. 
 1.278 V. 
 2.245 V. 
 2.746 C. 
 1.107 H, 
 1.127 H- 
 J 1.051 H. 
 1 1.050 C. 
 606. C. 
 
 Q. Rev. vi. 
 
 Cologne, foot 
 
 .903 
 
 H. 
 
 Constantinople, foot 
 
 / 2.195 
 \l.l65 
 
 H. 
 H. 
 
 Copenhagen, foot. See 
 
 Denmark 1.049 
 
 H. 
 
 Cracau, foot 
 
 I.I69 
 
 H. V. 
 
 greater ell 
 
 2.024 
 
 V. 
 
 smaller ell 
 
 1.855 
 
 V. 
 
 Dantzic, foot 
 
 .923 
 
 H. 
 
 Dauphin^, foot 
 
 1.1.19 
 
 H. 
 
 Delft, foot 
 
 .547 
 
 H. 
 
 Denmark, old foot 
 
 1.047 
 
 H. 
 
 new foot 
 
 1.036 
 
 
 Dijon, foot 
 
 1.030 
 
 H. 
 
 Dordrecht, foot 
 
 .771 
 
 H. 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 
 
 fg,g|W„1fe, Ph. 
 
 1.857 V. 
 
 1.317 H. 
 .995 H. 
 j 1.9001 p 
 
 Tr, 1769. V. 
 
 Ekesden, foot 
 
 ell=2 feet 
 Edinburgh. See Scotland. 
 Ferrara, foot 
 Florence, foot 
 
 braccio 
 
 barilo of wine weighs 140 Fl. pounds= 
 
 20 fiaschi. 
 cognorrlO barili. 
 
 rubbio of wheat 640 Roman pounds. 
 Franche Comte, foot -• 1 ►lo ur 
 
 Frankfort^: Hamburg 
 Genoa, palm 
 
 E. F. 
 
 Naples, barilo of wine =60 carafe. 
 carafa=§ Parisian pint. 
 botto=12 barilli. 
 carro=:2 botti. 
 
 tumulo of wheat 3 cubic palms, or 40 roteli. 
 
 r.996 H. 
 
 793 
 
 Weights and 
 Measures. 
 
 carna 
 Geneva, foot 
 
 German, mile=-,V degree. 
 Grenoble=:Dauphin6 
 Halle, foot 
 Hamburg, foot 
 Heidelberg, foot 
 Inspruck, foot 
 Ireland, perch 7 yards. 
 
 acre, 7840 sq. y. E. 
 Italy, old common mile 
 Leghorn, foot 
 Leipzig, foot 
 
 ell 
 
 Leyden, foot 
 Liege, foot 
 Lisbon, foot 
 
 Lombardy, mile=-j^ degree 
 Lucca, braccio 
 Lyons=:Dauphin6. 
 Madrid, foot 
 
 vara 
 
 Maestricht, foot 
 
 Malta, palm 
 
 Mantua, brasso 
 
 Mantuan braccio=Brescian 
 
 Marseilles, foot 
 
 Mechlin, foot 
 
 Mentz, foot 
 
 Milan, decimal foot 
 
 aliprand foot 
 
 braccio 
 Modena, foot 
 Monaco, foot 
 Montpellier, pan 
 Moravian foot 
 
 ell . 
 Moscow, foot 
 Munich, foot 
 
 Naples, palm 
 
 1.172 H. 
 H. 
 .812 H. 
 .8007 p 
 .8171^- 
 7.300 C. 
 1.919 H. 
 
 H. 
 
 .977 H. 
 .933 H. 
 .903 H. 
 1.101 H. 
 
 5299. 
 
 .992 H. 
 1.034 H. 
 1.833 H. 
 1,023 H. 
 
 .944 H. 
 
 .952 H. 
 
 1.958 C. 
 
 .915 H. 
 .918 Howard. 
 3.263 C. 
 
 C Laconda* 
 3.285 <mine, from 
 
 f Juan. 
 .916 H. 
 .915 H. 
 1.521 H. 
 C. 
 
 .814 H. 
 .753 H. 
 .988 H. 
 
 Nuremberg, town foot 
 
 country foot 
 artillery foot 
 ell 
 
 Padua, foot 
 Palermo, foot 
 
 Paris, old foot 
 
 canna 
 
 im\Q-"ix5 <legree,' 
 
 ,861 H. 
 859 C. 
 6.908 C. 
 rather 
 
 {: 
 
 1.997 V. 
 .907 H. 
 .961 V. 
 2.166 V. 
 1.406 H 
 .747 H. 
 / 1.066 H. 
 \ 1.06578=1^ Y. 
 point . .0l4a E. i. 
 
 line . .0888, or ■^■^ E. i. 
 
 ell=44 Fr. i. or=r:43.9 V. 
 sonde 5 Fr. feet=|- E. fathom, 
 toise 6 Fr. feet=76.736 E. i. 
 perche 18 Fr. feet, 
 perche royale 22 Fr. feet 
 league 2282 toises=^ij°. 
 square foot or inch 1.13581 E. 
 cubic foot or inch 1.21061 E. 
 arpent, 100 square perches, about f E. acre : 
 
 mesure royale, about |. 
 pint, 48 cubic inches Diet. Acad.=58.11 Eng- 
 lish. 
 
 litron 74.375 c. i. E. 
 
 boisseau 11 90,=! 6 litrons. 
 
 minot=2 boisseaux, nearly a bushel English 
 
 =2380 c i. E. 
 mine= 2 minotss=4760 c. i. E. 
 septier=2 mines=9520 c. i.,E.= l. 56 hecatol. 
 
 Annuaire : for oats double. 
 isuids=12 septiers. 
 ton of shipping, 42 cubic feet, 
 metre 3.07844 f. Fr.=3.28l f. E.=39.3708 i. 
 E. Kater. Hence, correcting the unclassi- 
 cal orthography of the new school : 
 millimetre . .03937 E. i. 
 
 centimetre . .39371 
 
 decimetre . 3.93708 
 
 metre . 39.37079 
 
 decametre . 393-70790 
 
 hecatometre . 3937-07900 
 .chiliometre . 39370.79000 
 myriometre . 393707.90000 
 8 chiliometres are nearly 5 miles. 
 1 inch is .0254"^ ; 1000 f. nearly 305™. 
 
 .855 H. 
 
 1 centimetre= 
 
 .39371 E. i. 
 
 1.426 H, 
 
 2 
 
 .78742 
 
 1.725 C. 
 
 3 
 
 1.18113 
 
 2.081 H. 
 
 4 
 
 1.57483 
 
 .771 H. 
 
 5 
 
 1.96854 
 
 .777 H. 
 
 6 
 
 2.36225 
 
 971 V. 
 
 7 
 
 2.75596 
 
 2.594 V. 
 
 8 
 
 3.14966 
 
 .928 H. 
 
 9 
 
 3.54337 
 
 .947 H. 
 
 10 
 
 3.93708 
 
 1 square centimetre=. 155006 sq. i. 
 are, or square decametre 3.95 E. perches, 
 hecatare 2 acres, 1 r. 35.4 p. 
 
 millilitre .06103 c. i. E. 
 
794 
 
 Weights and Paris, centilitre 
 Measures. decilitre 
 
 WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 
 
 .61028 
 6.10279 
 
 litre, or cubic decimetre 61.02790 
 decalitre 610.27900 
 hecatolitre 6102.79000 
 chiliolitre 61027-90000 
 myriolitre 610279-00000 
 
 a litre is nearly 2^ wine pints; a chiliolitre 
 1 tun 12| wine gallons, 
 decistere, of fire wood 3.5317 c. f. E. 
 stere, or cubic metre 35.3171 
 
 Parma, foot 
 
 braccio 
 Pavia, foot 
 Piemont, old mile= 
 Placentia= Parma. 
 
 E. F. 
 1.869 
 
 2.242 
 1.540 
 
 ;Um. E. 
 
 Prague, foot 
 
 ell _ . 
 
 Provence=Marseilles. 
 Rhinland foot 
 Riga=Hamburg. 
 Rome, palm . 
 foot 
 
 {: 
 
 987 
 972 
 1.948 
 
 E. f. 
 
 C. 
 
 H. 
 
 C. 
 H. 
 V. 
 V. 
 
 H. 
 
 1.030 V. Eytelwein. 
 
 H. 
 
 Folkes. 
 
 oncia -^^ f. 
 
 deto 
 
 16 
 
 f. 
 
 pal mo 
 palrao di architettura 
 canna di architettura 
 staiolo 
 
 .733 
 .966 
 .0805 F. 
 .0604 F. 
 .2515 F. 
 .7325 F. 
 7.325 F. 
 4.212 F. 
 
 . , . / 2.7876 F. " 4 palms." 
 
 braccio dei mercanti < ^ ^ * 
 
 canna dei mercanti 6.5365 F. ** 8 palms." 
 braccio di tessitor di 
 tela 
 
 braccio di architettura 2.561 
 mile degree 
 Rouen =:Paris. 
 
 I 2.0868 F. 
 
 C 
 
 Russian arschin 
 
 rerschock ^-^ a. 
 werst 
 Savoy rrChambery. 
 
 C. 
 
 "2.3333 Ph, 
 2.3625 C. 
 .1458 
 3508. 
 
 H. 
 
 M. XIX. 
 
 Scotland, ell, S7 Sc. i.=37.2 E. i.=3.100 
 fall, 6 e. 223.2 
 furlong 
 mile 
 link 
 chain 
 long rood 
 acre 
 gill 
 
 mutchkin 
 choppin 
 pint 
 quart 
 gallon 
 
 hogshead 1 3235.7 
 gallon of 
 
 the Union 799.= E. barrel. 
 Jippie, or 
 
 feed 200.345 
 pint jug of 
 Stirling 103.72 c. i. E. 
 
 18.600 
 744. 
 5952. 
 
 8.93 
 892.8 
 1339.2 
 
 55Z5S.6 sq. f. E.= 1.27 acre E. 
 6.462 c. i. E. 
 25.85 
 51.7 
 103.4 
 206.8 
 827.23 
 
 16 g. 
 
 3205.5=31 pints. 
 
 Scotland, pint jug of 
 
 Aberdeen 105.30 
 
 firlot of 
 Linlith- 
 gow, for 
 bear 
 
 for / 2150. 
 
 wheat i 2197.3 
 
 of Edinburgh, 'i^per cent* greater. 
 
 E. F. 
 
 Sevine= Barcelona. H. ' 
 
 vara . 2.760 C. 
 
 Sienna, foot 
 
 Spain, league=4 miles E. 
 Stettin, foot 
 Stockholm, foot 
 
 canne 106 c. i. Sw. 
 Strasburg, town foot 
 
 Weights anu 
 Measures. 
 
 1.239 H. 
 
 1.224 H. 
 1.073 H. 
 
 country foot 
 Toledo— Madrid. 
 Trent, foot 
 
 Trieste, ell for woollens 
 silk 
 
 Turin, foot 
 ras 
 
 trabuco 
 Tuscany, mile 
 
 See Florence. 
 Tyrol, foot 
 
 ell 
 
 Valadolid, foot 
 
 Venice, foot 
 
 braccio of silk 
 ell 
 
 braccio of cloth 
 
 .956 H. 
 .969 H. 
 H. 
 
 1.201 H. 
 
 2.220 H. 
 
 2.107 H. 
 f 1.676 H. 
 1 1.681 C. 
 
 1.958 C. 
 
 10.085 C. 
 5329. 
 
 1.096 V. 
 
 2.639 V. 
 .908 H. 
 1.137 H. 
 140 Bernard, How- 
 Card, V. 
 
 (1.1 
 
 67 C. 
 2.108 C. 
 2.O89 V. 
 2.250 C. 
 
 m\]e=-^\ or degree, 
 moggio of wheat weighs 528 V. pounds, 
 Verona, foot . 1.117 H. 
 
 Vicenza, foot • 1.136 H. 
 
 Vienna, foot . 1.036 H. 
 
 1.037 Howard, C V. 
 ell . 2.557 V. 
 
 post mile 24888. V. 
 
 yoke of land, I6OO square fathoms, 
 metz, or bushel, 1.9471 c. f. of Vienna. 
 eimer=40 kannen= 1.792 c f. V. 
 fass=:10 eimer. Vega. 
 
 Vienne, Dauphin6, foot 
 Ulm, foot 
 Urbiuo, foot 
 Utrecht, foot 
 Warsaw, foot 
 Wesel=Dordrecht 
 
 Zurich, foot 
 
 { 
 
 1.058 E. f. H. 
 .826 H. 
 1.162 H. 
 .741 H. 
 1.169 H. 
 H. 
 ,979 H. 
 
 ,989 Ph. M. vni. 
 
 Table of Various Weights. 
 
 Ancient Weights, H. 
 
 E. Gr. 
 
 Attic obolus 
 
 r 8.2 
 I 9.1 
 
 Christiani. 
 Arbuthnot. 
 
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 
 
 795 
 
 K/^eights and 
 Measures. 
 
 Attic drachma 
 
 lesser mina 
 
 greater mina 
 
 medical mina 
 talent=60 rainae=| 
 
 Old Greek drachm 
 
 Old Greek mina 
 Egyptian mina 
 Ptolemaic mina of Cleopatra 
 Alexandrian mina of Diosco- 
 rides 
 
 Roman denarius 
 ounce 
 
 E. Gr. 
 51.9 Chr. 
 54.6 Arb. 
 3892. 75 dr. Chr. 
 SSlSg. 100 dr. Chr. 
 1 54-64. Arb. 
 6994. Arb. 
 cwt. E. 
 
 f 146.5 E. gr. Arb. 
 \ 62.5= Roman de- 
 narius, Arb. 
 6425. Arb. 
 8326. 
 8985. 
 
 9992. 
 51.9 Chr. 
 
 62.5 Arb. 4 oz. 
 
 pound of 10 oz. 
 
 12oz. 
 
 { , 
 
 / 415.1 Chr. 
 \ 437.2 Arh.— 
 
 av. oz. 
 
 4150. 
 j 4981. 
 \5246. 
 
 Chr. 
 Chr. 
 Arb. 
 
 Modern Weights, 
 
 From Hutton, Cavallo, Vega, and others. 
 Pounds. E. grains. 
 
 Aleppo, rotolo . 30985. H. 
 
 Alexandria . . 6l59. H. 
 
 Alicant . . 6909. H. 
 
 Amsterdam . . 7461. H. 
 
 Amsterdam, commercial pound, 7636.= 
 
 10280 asesi=494.048 grammes. 
 
 Coquebert, =493.93 grm. Vega. 
 
 Troy pound, 7602. E. gr. 
 
 adjusted at Brussels, 1553,= 
 
 10240 ases,=491. 96 grm. Coq. 
 
 =492.0044 grm. V. 
 
 stone 1 6 pounds, 
 
 ounce 3^5^ pound, 
 
 drop ^-^ ounce. 
 
 Apothecaries' pound 369 g^^' V. 
 See Brabant. 
 
 7048 E. gr. H. 
 6217 H. 
 7713 H. 
 7461 H. 
 4664 H. 
 11660 H. 
 7833 H. 
 7232 Eytelw. 
 A cubic foot Fr. of water weighing 65.9368. 
 Bern . . 6722. 
 
 Bilboa=:Bayonne . . H. 
 
 Bois le Due . 1705. H. 
 
 Bourdeaux = Bay onne. 
 Bourg 
 
 Brabant pound of Amsterdam 
 
 Antwerp 
 
 Avignon 
 
 Basle 
 
 Bayonne 
 
 Bergamo 
 
 Bergen 
 Berlin 
 
 Brescia 
 
 Brussels heavy pound=Troys 
 light pound 
 
 7074. H. 
 7249.=:469.12 
 
 grm. Coq. 
 4497. H. 
 V. 
 
 7201. =466.3 grm. 
 V. 
 
 Pounds. 
 
 Cadiz 
 China, kin 
 
 Cologne 
 
 leang=:Y^^ kin 
 tsien=T^'5 leang 
 
 E. grains. 
 
 7038. H. 
 J 9223. H. 
 t5802.=:375.708 
 grm. Coq. 
 
 Weights ftnd 
 Measures. 
 
 Damascus 
 Dantzic 
 Dresden 
 Dublin 
 Florence 
 
 7220. H. 
 7218. Eytelwein, 
 a c. f. Fr. of water weighing 66.0656. 
 
 7223.= 467.74 grm. 
 
 V. 
 
 grain, of the weight of a cubic inch 
 Fr. of water, at 57°. Studer. in Gilb. XI. 
 
 7578. H. 
 6941. H. 
 6252. H. 
 
 404.85 grm. V. 
 3071. 198.82 grm. V. 
 25613. H. 
 6574. H. 
 
 Constantinople 
 Copenhagen 
 
 Cracau, commercial pound 
 
 mint mark 
 
 ounce ,\ pound 
 =24 denari of 24 
 See Paris. 
 
 France. 
 Geneva 
 
 Genoa 
 
 =12 ounces. 
 
 rotolo=18 ounces. 
 
 rubo=25 pounds. 
 
 cantaro=6 r. 
 
 peso=5 cantari. 
 Germany, apothecaries 
 Hamburg 
 
 Ireland. See Dublin. 
 Konigsberg 
 
 Leghorn . . 
 
 Leyden 
 
 Liege 
 
 Lille 
 
 Lisbon 
 
 London, Avoirdupois 
 Troy 
 
 Lucca 
 Lyons, silk 
 
 town weight 
 
 Madrid 
 
 Marseilles 
 
 Melun 
 
 Messina 
 
 Montpellier 
 
 Namur 
 
 Nancy 
 
 Naples 
 
 =12 oncie 
 
 7210. 468.83grm.V. 
 7774. H. 
 5287. H. 
 (440.6) 
 
 grains each. 
 
 8407. H. 
 / 4426. H. 
 \6638. H. 
 
 5523. 357.66 grm. V. 
 7315. H. 
 
 5968. H. 
 5146. H. 
 7038. H. 
 7O89. H. 
 6544. H. 
 7005. H. 
 
 7000. 453.61. grm. V. 
 
 5760. 373.14grm.V. 
 
 5273. H. 
 
 6946. H. 
 
 6432. H. 
 
 6544. H. 
 
 6041. H. 
 
 4441. H. 
 
 4844. H. 
 
 6218. H. 
 
 7174. H. 
 
 7038. H. 
 
 4952. H. 
 
 rotolo: 
 staro= 
 
 =23} 0. 
 104 r. 
 
 cantarorrlOO r. 
 oncia=30 trapesi. 
 trapeso=20 acini. 
 Nuremberg 
 
 7871.509.78grm.V. 
 
796 
 
 W E I 
 
 WES 
 
 Waghts and Pounds. 
 Measures Paris 
 
 Westnieath. 
 
 E. grains. 
 
 7561 H. or 7560= 
 1.08 lb. av. 
 
 marc | a pound 
 ounce -J- marc 
 gros ^ ounce 
 denier ^ gros 
 
 grain denier^: 
 milligramme 
 centigramme 
 decigramme 
 gramme 
 decagramme 
 hecatogramme 
 chiliogramme 
 
 myriogramme 
 
 .8203 gr. E. 
 .0154^ gr. E. 
 .1543 
 1.5433 
 15.4330, 18.827 gr.Fr. 
 154.3300 5.65 dr. av. 
 1543.3000 
 15433.0000 2 lb. 3 J oz. av. 
 
 2.0429 lb. Fr. 
 154330.0000 ; according to 
 Dr Kelly's experiments on the actual 
 weights in use, but according to the Eng- 
 lish experiments, the gramme ought to 
 weigh 15.4400 grains E. 
 quintalz=10 myriogrammes 
 millier=::1000 chiliogrammes ; about a ton. 
 sous=5 grammes of copper 
 franc=5 grammes of silver, with of copper. 
 Prague, commercial pound, 7947- E. gr. S14.35 
 grm. V. 
 
 Revel . • 6574. H. 
 
 Riga . . 6149. H. 
 
 Rome . • .5257. H. 
 
 = 12 oncie 
 
 oncia=8 drarame 
 
 dramma=3 scrupoli 
 
 scrupolo=2 oboli 
 
 obolo=4 silique 
 
 siliqua=]2 grani. 
 Rouen . • 7772. H. 
 
 Saragossa . . 4707- H. 
 
 Scotland, Troy pound, Dutch 7621.8 
 
 Trone pound | Troy 9527.25 
 ounce 476.3 
 
 Seville=Cadiz. 
 
 Smyrna • • 6544. H. 
 
 Pounds. 
 Stettin 
 Stockholm 
 Strasburg 
 Toulouse 
 
 E. grains. 
 6782. H. 
 9211. H. 
 7277. H. 
 6323. H. 
 
 Weights and 
 Measures 
 
 W estnieatli. 
 
 Troyf. 
 Turin 
 Tunis 
 Tyrol 
 
 Venice 
 
 See Amsterdam, Scotland. 
 
 4940. H, 
 7140. H. 
 
 8693. 562.92 grm. V. 
 j 4215. H. 
 \6827. H. 
 libra sottile of 12 ounces, 302.03 grm. V. 
 common pound of 12 ounces, 358.1 grm. V. 
 pound of 12 ounces, peso grosso, 468.17 
 
 grm. V. 
 libra srossa, 477.49 grra. V. 
 
 : ~ . 5374 V. 
 
 Verona 
 Vicenza 
 
 Vienna, commercial pound 
 
 Apothecaries pound 
 Mint mark 
 carat of the jewellers 
 
 f 4676 H. 
 16879 H. 
 8648. 560.01 grm. 
 
 V. 
 
 420.01 grm- V. 
 280.64. grm. V. 
 206085 grra. V. 
 
 Apothecaries Grains of different Countries. 
 
 
 
 From Vega. 
 
 Austria 
 
 
 1.125=§ 
 
 Bern 
 
 
 .956 
 
 France 
 
 
 . .981 
 
 Genoa 
 
 
 .850 
 
 Germany ^ 
 
 
 f.958 
 
 \.959 Gilb. 
 
 Hanover 
 
 
 .978 
 
 Holland 
 
 
 .989 
 
 Naples 
 
 
 .860 
 
 Piemont 
 
 
 .824 
 
 Portugal 
 
 
 .864 
 
 Rome 
 
 
 .909 
 
 Spain 
 
 
 .925 
 
 Sweden 
 
 
 .955 
 
 Venice 
 
 
 .809. 
 
 (A. L.) 
 
 Boundaries. WESTMEATH, an inland county in the pro- 
 vince of Leinster in Ireland, bounded on the north 
 by Cavan, on the east by Meath or Eastmeath, on 
 the south by King's County, on the north-west by 
 Longford, and on the west by the river Shannon, 
 which separates it from Roscommon. It extends from 
 north to south 25 miles, and from east to west 24, 
 and contains 592 English square miles, or 378,880 
 Extent. English acres. It is divided into 12 baronies and 
 62 parishes, the latter belonging to the Sees of Meath 
 and Ardagh. 
 
 Surface. The surface of this district is exceedingly diversi- 
 fied with wood, lakes, and streams, bogs, and rich 
 grazing lands ; in no part mountainous nor flat, but 
 gently undulating or rising into hills of no great ele- 
 vation, some of which are cultivated to their summits, 
 and others covered with wood, presenting in several 
 parts some of the finest scenery in Ireland. The 
 11 
 
 rivers are the Shannon on the western boundary, 
 which here expands into the noble lake called Lough 
 Ree, full of wooded islands; the Inny, which has its 
 source among some lakes on the north, and flowing 
 south and south-west joins the Shannon, at Lough 
 Ree, is a considerable stream which also spreads out 
 into lakes in its course ; and the Brosna, which rising 
 in Lough Owell, passes into King's County. From 
 this lake another stream also takes it rise, and flows 
 in a direction opposite to that of the Brosna. The 
 principal lakes are Loughs Leign, Iron, Derveragh, 
 Hoyle or Owell, and Ennel, some of them surround- 
 ed by low wooded hills, and others by fertile and 
 well cultivated fields. Most of the soil, lying upon 
 limestone, yields very fine pastures. 
 
 Westmeath contains few large estates, but it 
 abounds with gentlemen of moderate fortunes from 
 L. 2000 to L. 3000 a year, most of whom are resi- 
 
 Lakes. 
 
estmore 
 land. 
 
 WES 
 
 Mtmeath dent. The leases are commonly for 21 years and a 
 life, though in some instances for 31 years and three 
 lives. A great many fine long-horned cattle and 
 ^ long-woolled sheep occupy the grazing grounds, 
 which extend over much of the best part of the dis- 
 trict. Tillage is accordingly upon a limited scale, 
 though more corn is raised than the inhabitants con- 
 sume ; and besides the crops common in other places,, 
 flax, hemp, and rape, are cultivated, with clove* and 
 turnips, the two latter, however, not generally. 
 
 There are few towns here, and none of them large. 
 The most considerable is Athlone, seated on both 
 sides of the Shannon ; so that part of it is in the 
 county of Roscommon. Mullingar, the county town, 
 is noted for its great fairs for horses and for wool. 
 Mool-grenoguer, Kilbiggan and a few others, are 
 very small places. Before the Union, the county, 
 with the boroughs of Mullingar,. Athlone, Kilbiggan, 
 and the now miserable village of Fowre, sent ten mem- 
 bers to Parliament; the number now is two for the 
 county, and one for the town of Athlone. Notwith- 
 standing its inland and central situation, West- 
 raeath enjoys the benefit of extensive water com- 
 munication by the Shannon on the west, and the 
 Royal Canal from Dublin, which crosses it from east 
 to west by Mullingar ; the Grand Canal also passes 
 near its northern boundary. Yet, as the linen manu- 
 facture is the only one which affords a surplus for 
 exportation, its trade consists chieflly in the exchange 
 of live stock and the raw produce of the land, for the 
 commodities required for the consumption of its in- 
 habitants. The land-owners here are almost all Pro- 
 testants, but the rest of the population is chiefly Ca- 
 ilatiou. tholic. In 1791, the number of inhabitants was com- 
 puted to be 69,000 ; by the census of 1821, it was 
 128,042. The condition of the lower classes is better 
 than in Meath, and some of the contiguous counties ; 
 they are not addicted to drinking, but industrious and 
 provident. The women, who work a good deal out 
 of doors, are singularly hardy. Mr Wakefieldsawthera 
 four days after they had lain in, carrying into the 
 fields their husbands' dinner. The people are never- 
 theless very superstitious, and under great subjection 
 to their priests, who sometimes Ijeat them, which 
 they submit to without grumbling. The same author 
 was informed that indulgences were sold in 1809, at 
 a friary at Multifarnham in this county, 
 j See the general works quoted under the former 
 
 Irish counties. (a.) 
 ndaries WESTMORELAND, one of the most northern 
 Extent. English counties. It is separated from the sea shore 
 by a narrow strip of the county of Lancaster, which 
 bolmds it on the south and south-west, as do Cum- 
 berland on the north and north-west, and Yorkshire 
 on the east. It is of a very irregular shape. Its 
 greatest length is 40, and its greatest breadth 
 35 miles ; containing, by the best estimate, 763 
 square miles, or 490,320 British statute acres. It is 
 divided into four wards, distinguished by the prefixes 
 of East, Kendal, Lonsdale, and West, which are 
 again divided into thirty parishes, 
 ilation. The population, according to the returns of 1821, 
 amounted to 51,359, of whom 25,513 were males, 
 and 25,846 females. The families were 10,438; of 
 whom 5096 were chiefly employed in agriculture, 
 
 VOL. VI. PART II. 
 
 WES 
 
 797 
 
 3801 in trade, manufactures, or handicraft, and 1541 Westmore- 
 were comprised in neither of those classes. The 
 increase of inhabitants in the preceding ten years "*-""v-*-^ 
 had been only 12 per cent. The density of popula- 
 tion is much less than in any other county, being 
 but one individual to nine acres and a half of land. 
 
 The greater part of the county consists of bleak Face of the 
 and barren moors, and groups of lofty and naked Country, 
 mountains. The vallies between these mountains 
 through which the rivers wind are of moderate fer- 
 tility, and when well cultivated yield good crops of 
 oats, and in some few instances of wheat and barley. 
 The better parts of these vallies are appropriated to 
 feed cattle or produce hay. The acreable value of 
 the land, in the whole of this county, is much lower 
 than that in any other part of England. According 
 to the returns under the income-tax, the average an- 
 nual rent and tithes together did not exceed 8s. 7d. 
 per acre, being about half the average value of the 
 rest of the kingdom. The romantic prospects, how- 
 ever, which are afforded by the contrast between 
 the mountains and the lakes, more than repay the 
 traveller for rambling at his leisure through the 
 fine scenery. The lakes of Winandermere and 
 Ulleswater are partly in this county, and those of 
 Grasmere and Hause Water, with several smaller 
 lakes, provincially called Tarns, wholly so. Besides 
 the char (a fish almost peculiar to those lakes), trouts, 
 pikes, perch, and eels, are taken abundantly in these 
 waters. 
 
 The cattle of Westmoreland are of the long-horn- Productions 
 ed kind, and attain a large size when well fed ; the 
 butter they afford is highly valued, and supplies to 
 some extent the markets of the metropolis. Large 
 flocks of sheep are fed on the mountains, which yield 
 a coarse wool j but by crossing the breed, the wool 
 of late years has been much improved. Numbers of 
 geese are fed on the moors, and these, with hams, 
 form a part of the exports of the county. West- 
 moreland is nearly destitute of coals, and the metallic 
 ores lie so deep, or are in such remote situations, 
 that they are none of them worked. Slates, of the 
 finest quality, are abundant, and large quantities of 
 them are exported. Limestone is also very plenti- 
 ful. 
 
 The principal manufactures of the county areManufac- 
 chiefly carried on at Kendal, a place early celebrat- t^res. 
 ed for woollen cloth, which bore its name. This 
 manufacture, and that of linsey woolsey, as well as of 
 coarse worsted stockings, is still continued, and re- 
 cently considerable progress has been made in intro- 
 ducing the making of cotton goods. 
 
 The principal rivers are the Eden, the Lune, the Rivers. 
 Ken or Kent, and the Lowther, which are more re- 
 markable for the beauties displayed on their borders, 
 and for the abundance of fish they contain, than for 
 any facilities they afford to intercourse. None of 
 them are navigable, nor are there any artificial ca- 
 nals. 
 
 This county gives titles to two noble families, the Representa- 
 Earls of Westmoreland and Lonsdale. Two mem- Jf**** 
 hers are returned to the House of Comn^ons by the ' 
 county, and two by the borough of Appleby, which, 
 though small, is the capital of the county, and the 
 place where the assizes and elections are held. 
 5 I 
 
798 
 
 Westmore- 
 land 
 
 'II 
 Wexford. 
 
 Boundaries. 
 
 Divisions. 
 
 Surface. 
 
 Estates and 
 Farms. 
 
 WES 
 
 The most remarkable seats of noblemen and gen- 
 tlemen are the following: Lowthcr Castle, Lord 
 Lonsdale ; Appleby Castle, Lord Thanet ; Abbot 
 Hall, Christopher Wilson, JEsq. j Mint House, J. H. 
 Long, Esq. ; Netherdale Hall, John Mounsey, Esq. ; 
 Brougham Hall, Henry Brougham, Esq.; Carlton 
 Hall, Right Hon. Thomas Wallace. 
 
 The town of Kendal contains 8984- inhabitants, 
 and Kirby Lonsdale 1643 ; no other town in the 
 county has a population of 1500. 
 
 See Britten's Beauties of England } England De- 
 lineated ; Parliamentary Population Returns. 
 
 (w. w.) 
 
 WEXFORD, a county in the province of Lein- 
 ster in Ireland, having the county of Wicklow on the 
 north, the sea on the east and south, and Waterford, 
 Kilkenny, and Carlow, on the south-west and west; 
 extends about 56 miles from north to south, and 32 
 from east to west, and contains 934 English square 
 miles, or 597,760 English acres. It is divided into 
 eight baronies, exclusive of the liberties of the town of 
 Wexford, and 142 parishes, 140 of which belong to 
 the diocese of Ferns, and two to that of Dublin. 
 There are some inconsiderable islets on the south 
 coast belonging to the county ; the two Salters are 
 the largest, neither of them having an area of a square 
 mile. 
 
 On the north and north-west, on the confines of 
 Wicklow and Carlow, this district is mountainous, 
 and the same character applies generally to its west- 
 ern side. On the east, in the baronies of Forth 
 and Bargie, it becomes less elevated, and here 
 the soil, though light, is well cultivated and produc- 
 tive. In the other parts a cold stiff clay prevails, 
 which, from the want of limestone, there being none 
 in this county, has made little advance towards im- 
 provement. The Slaney, which flows through the 
 middle of the district, from Newton Barry to Wex- 
 ford, affords a perpetual variety of picturesque and 
 romantic views among its wooded and winding 
 banks ; the stream here struggling through rocks, by 
 which its channel is greatly contracted, and there 
 expanding into broad and still lakes. I he scenery 
 around the bay of Wexford has been also much 
 celebrated. Besides the Slaney, which is navigable 
 to Enniscorthy, near the middle of the county, it has 
 the Barrow, which separates it from Kilkenny on the 
 west, by which large vessels reach the town of New 
 Ross, situated near the junction of that river with the 
 Nore. A great variety of fine timber trees, and 
 some large myrtles, are found here, and the wood- 
 lands altogether are of considerable extent and 
 value. 
 
 Wexford is divided into estates worth from L. 2000 
 to L. 10,000 a-year, and into farms of various sizes ; 
 but there is little of that minute division which is 
 coraman in other parts of Ireland ; nor are there any 
 rich grazing farms. The rent, in 1808, was estimated 
 at from 20s. to 25s. an Irish acre over all the county. 
 Dairies, at which the principal article is butter, are 
 numerous, but generally under bad management. 
 The cows themselves are of a very inferior descrip- 
 tion ; and the same character belongs to their sheep, 
 which form a very inconsiderable part of the live 
 Stock. In their modes of cultivation, however, the 
 
 W E X 
 
 farmers here are more advanced than in many other Wexford 
 parts of the island. The baronies of Forth and 
 Bargie have been long noted for their great crops of 
 barley ; beans too are cultivated with success, as well 
 as clover and turnips ; the drill system is common 
 for potatoes, and preferred to every other method ; 
 and lime, though brought from a distance at a great 
 expence, and also marl, are very extensively em- 
 ployed as manure. The tenantry, even including the 
 cottars, are accordingly in a much better condition, 
 industrious, provident, and many of them compara- 
 tively wealthy. Here, as in Cork and Waterford, 
 »'hole fields are kept under furze, which, in this mild 
 climate, is pretty much used as fuel. The bakers 
 employ it for heating their ovens, of which a con- 
 siderable number are employed, as a good deal of 
 wheaten bread is consumed in these counties. 
 
 The towns are Wexford, the county town ; En- Towns, 
 niscorthy on the Slaney ; New Ross on the Barrow ; 
 Gorey ; and Newton Barry, the latter one of the 
 pleasantest villages in Ireland. Wexford is a con- 
 siderable town, situated on the large and beautiful 
 harbour of the same name, but which is too shallow 
 to admit vessels of great burden, and the passage 
 into it is continually changing, owing to the sand 
 brought down by the Slaney, which flows into it. 
 Here there is a wooden bridge over an arm of the 
 sea 2100 feet broad. The trade of this town, how- 
 ever, is not inconsiderable. It exports corn, chiefly 
 to Liverpool ; provisions which are brought down the 
 Slaney from Enniscorthy ; and also live stock. En- 
 niscorthy and New Ross are also places of some 
 trade, supplying the consumption of the surrounding 
 country with their imports, and affording outlets for 
 its raw produce. The linen manufacture, so general 
 in Ireland, is almost unknown in Wexford ; but that 
 of cotton is carried on at Enniscorthy, where a good 
 deal of coarse woollens are also made. Before the Represer 
 Union no fewer than eighteen members were return- 
 ed to Parliament for this district ; the county and the 
 boroughs of Wexford, Enniscorthy, Gorey, New 
 Ross, Fetherd, Bannow, Clonmines, and Taghmore, 
 sending two each. Wexford and New Ross have 
 now each one representative, and the county two. 
 " This county," says Mr Wakefield, is the only 
 one in Ireland where the tenants have displayed the 
 courage to act in opposition to their landlords" in 
 voting for candidates ; " but it is merely from a re- 
 ligious principle, as they have no other political sys- 
 tem to support, than that which promotes the inte- 
 rest and success of the Catholic faith." The Catho- Populat 
 lie population, according to the same writer, is to 
 the Protestant as ten to one, and most of the per- 
 sonal property, and part of the landed, is in the 
 hands of the former. In 1791 the whole was com- 
 puted to amount to 115,000, and by the census of 
 1821 it was 169,304. The baronies of Bargie and 
 Forth are peopled by a distinct race, who are said to 
 be descended from the adventurers who accompa- 
 nied Strongbow to Ireland, and their manners and 
 habits, which are different from those of the Irish 
 around them, bear a strong resemblance to those of 
 their Saxon forefathers. 
 
 There are friaries of the order of St Augustine at Friariei 
 New Ross, Clonmines, and Wexford, the members 
 10 
 
 r 
 
W E X 
 
 [exford of which are supported by contributions levied upon 
 ' I the tenantry. This county took an active part in 
 • the Rebellion ofl79.8, and was the scene of some 
 acts of savage cruelty perpetrated by both parties. 
 
 See the general works quoted under the Irish coun- 
 ties, and Frazer's Statistical Survey of Wexford. ^ 
 
 (a.) 
 
 WHITAKER (John), was born at Manchester 
 about the year 1735. Of his parentage, and of his 
 first steps in learning, we find no memorials ; but he 
 was sent at an early age to the University of Oxford, 
 and in due time was elected a fellow of Corpus 
 Christi College. He took the degree of M. A. in 
 1759, and that of B. D. in 1767. Here, we are in- 
 formed, " his uncommon vigour of intellect at once 
 displayed itself among his acquaintance ; but, whilst 
 his animated conversation drew many around him, a 
 few were repelled from the circle by his impatience 
 of contradiction (a failing which almost ever ac- 
 companies powers like his), and by the consciousness, 
 it should seem, of their own inferiority." That his 
 conversation must have displayed sufficient vivacity, 
 and his temper sufficient warmth, may very easily be 
 conceived ; but through these lines of panegyric, it 
 is impossible not to discern a strong ray of truth ; 
 namely, that, from the earliest period of his literary 
 career, he was distinguished by a bold and dogmatical 
 spirit, which could ill endure dissent or opposition. 
 This may indeed be considered as his first and last 
 characteristic; and although the zeal of a friend has, 
 with some degree of dexterity, endeavoured to con- 
 vert it into a topic of praise, by representing it as the 
 ordinary mark of a superior mind, we are not very 
 much inclined to regard it in the same light. The 
 doctrine seems, indeed, to be of a somewhat danger- 
 ous tendency ; to be calculated for misleading young 
 candidates for literary honours, who may thus be in- 
 duced to supply, by arrogance and dogmatism, what 
 is wanting in sound learning and solid judgment. It 
 may be asserted without much hazard of confutation, 
 that this overweening and dogmatical spirit is at 
 least as frequently the characteristic of those who 
 possess but a very moderate stock of real merit; 
 who have perhaps made no uncommon progress in 
 any branch of science or literature, and yet con- 
 sider themselves as entitled to decide all controver- 
 sies, and to adjust all claims to intellectual distinc- 
 tion. 
 
 . While Mr Whitaker was still a fellow of his col- 
 lege, he gave the first conspicuous proof of his abili- 
 ties by the publication of The History of Manchester. 
 Lond. 1771, 4to. The second volume followed in 
 the year 1775 ; but although four books were origi- 
 nally promised, only two are thus completed ; they 
 embrace the Roman, British, and Saxon periods of 
 the history. This work, which is perhaps the most 
 remarkable of his publications, was immediately re- 
 garded as the production of no ordinary writer, but 
 as more conspicuous for bold and ingenious specula- 
 tion, than for cool and judicious discussion. Lilce 
 the other works of the same author, it is written in a 
 lively and rambling manner. His impatience and 
 vivacity rendered him incapable of selecting his to- 
 pics, and condensing his thoughts ; and by adhering 
 
 W H I 799 
 
 to his usual method of writing, .a large book may be Whitaker. 
 produced on almost any subject. v""*"^ 
 
 Before he had brought this work to a close, he 
 published The Genuine History of the Britons as- 
 serted. Lond. 1772, 8vo. This volume is chiefly 
 directed against the historical work of Mr Macpher- 
 son, better known as the foster-father of Ossian ; and 
 both publications have been considered by compe- 
 tent judges as adding very little to the real stock of 
 information. 
 
 In the course of the following year we find him re- 
 siding in the metropolis, and officiating as the morn- 
 ing preacher of Berkeley Chapel. For this appoint- 
 ment he was indebted to a Mr Hughes ; but their 
 connection was of a very short duration, for he was 
 removed from his situation in less than two months. 
 He thought proper to communicate his grievances to 
 the public, in The State of the Case between Mr 
 Whitaker and Mr Hughes, relative to the Morning 
 Preachership of Berkeley Chapel. Lond. 1774, 4to. 
 His resentment was so strong, and his discretion so 
 weak, that he thus subjected himself to the vexation 
 of a lawsuit, and the Court of King's Bench held his 
 printed Case to be a libel. 
 
 About the year 1778 he resigned his fellowship, 
 on being presented by his college to the rectory of 
 Ruan-Lanyhorne, one of the most valuable livings in 
 the gift of that society. He now withdrew into 
 Cornwall, and took possession of his benefice ; and 
 he afterwards married Miss Tregenna, a lady of an 
 ancient Cornish family. For a long time his retire- 
 ment was not attended with peace and studious ease. 
 His restless and domineering disposition soon involv- 
 ed him in a long train of contentions with his pa- 
 rishioners : he proposed a tithe-composition, which 
 his friends represent as by no means unreasonable, 
 but of which his parishioners appear to have enter- 
 tained a different opinion ; they refused to accede to 
 his proposal, and he demanded the tithes in kind. 
 
 Disputes," we are informed, " arose upon disputes; 
 animosities were kindled ; and litigations took place. * 
 That Mr Whitaker was finally victorious, afforded 
 pleasure to the friends of the rector, and to the friends 
 of justice and truth ; yet it was long before harmony 
 was restored to Ruan-Lanyhorne." Let us here re- 
 mark in passing, that this mode of confounding the 
 cause of religion with the cause of tithes is a pretty 
 ancient device. It is not certainly to be considered as 
 wonderful, if, after all these contentions and litiga- 
 tions, Mr Whitaker was subjected to the mortifica- 
 tion of observing that his parishioners manifested an 
 aversion to his preaching, an indifference to his ad- 
 monitions, and a repugnance to his authority. This 
 is indeed the natural consequence of the measures to 
 which he resorted ; they have an obvious tendency 
 to excite or continue animosities, and to circumscribe 
 the utility of a clergyman, by rendering him obnoxi- 
 ous to almost every man in his parish who has pro- 
 perty enough to bring him within the circle of such 
 litigations. It may perhaps be regarded as extreme- 
 ly doubtful whether any clergyman, possessing a 
 portion of the primitive spirit of Christianity, would 
 be tempted to engage, more especially with his own 
 fl.ock, in quarrels, disputes, and lawsuits, which there 
 
800 W H I 
 
 Whitaker. might be any decent means of avoiding. We are 
 ""■^^^"^ informed, that after the lapse of a few years, Mr 
 Whitaker had the satisfaction of perceiving a visible 
 alteration in the behaviour of his principal parishion- 
 ers, and that a good understanding was at length es- 
 tablished between the pastor and his flock. His 
 manner was hearty and familiar ; and notwithstand- 
 ing the rabid spirit that sometimes animates his writ- 
 ings, he was possessed of many virtues, though meek- 
 ness and humility were certainly not of their num- 
 ber. 
 
 His next publication was of a professional kind, 
 namely, Sermons upon Death, Judgment, Heaven, 
 and Hell. Lond. 1783, 12mo. He afterwards en- 
 gaged in the famous controversy respecting the cha- 
 racter of Queen Mary, and produced an immense 
 work under the title of Mary Queen of Scots vindi- 
 cated. Lond. 1787, 3 vols. 8vo. He published an 
 enlarged edition in the year 1790 ; and he seems to 
 have been not a little mortified that neither Lord 
 Hailes nor Dr Robertson could be induced to print 
 a single page against him. This production, which 
 is by no means eminent for coolness of reasoning, or 
 sobriety of manner, has probably convinced very 
 few competent judges of historical evidence, who 
 have submitted to the labour of a patient investiga- 
 tion. If Mary's innocence is so apparent as some 
 of her advocates aver, is it not remarkable that so 
 many bulky volumes should be required to display 
 that innocence ? Besides, if we suppose her to be 
 innocent, we must at the same time suppose all the 
 most distinguished of those who opposed her after 
 the murder of her husband, to be covered with an 
 enormous load of infamy. And we will only venture 
 to add, that the uncontroverted history of her pro- 
 ceedings, from a short period preceding the murder, 
 till her indecent nuptials with Bothwell, furnishes a 
 degree of moral evidence which seems to be ineffec- 
 tually opposed by all the persevering sophistry of 
 her defenders- 
 Having again recurred to his theological studies, 
 Mr Whitaker published a large volume, entitled The 
 Origin of Arianism disclosed. Lond. 179l> 8vo. 
 Whatever might be the opinion of others, it is clear 
 that the author himself entertained a favourable 
 enough opinion of this production ; which he repre- 
 sents as " a train of historical argumentation, at once 
 novel in its direction, comprehensive in its scope, 
 and decisive in its efficacy." If he could not discuss 
 a point of history without heat and violence, it is 
 easy to conceive how he would be disposed to dis- 
 cuss a point of heresy. As a proof of his zeal for 
 orthodoxy, an anonymous friend presents us with 
 the following anecdote : " That the feeble Deist 
 should have shrunk from his indignant eye, may well 
 be conceived, when we see his Christian principle 
 and his manly spirit uniting in the rejection of a liv- 
 ing of considerable value, which was at this time 
 offered him by an Unitarian patron. He spurned at 
 the temptation, and pitied the seducer." But in 
 order to render this anecdote altogether intelligible, 
 some further information seems to be required. 
 Were his principles so pure and rigid that he could 
 only accept of preferment from a patron of confirm- 
 ed and approved orthodoxy ? Or did this nameless 
 
 W H I 
 
 patron offer him the living under the condition, ex- Whitakc 
 press or implied, that he should become a convert to 
 the Unitarian creed? With respect to the first 
 question, it is quite evident that many pious divines 
 have accepted of preferment from patrons who, to 
 all human appearance, had no religion whatsoever ; 
 and with respect to the second, it is equally evident, 
 that no patron, if he possessed common sense, could 
 expect a beneficed clergyman to make an open 
 avowal of opinions which the church has formally 
 condemned as heretical. 
 
 Mr Whitaker had contributed to the English Re- 
 vievo a series of articles on Gibbon's history, which 
 were now reprinted in a separate form, under the 
 title of Gibbon s History of the Decline and Fall of 
 the Roman Empire, in Vols. IV. V. and VI. quarto^ 
 revietved. Lond. 1791, 8vo. This work, which ex- 
 tends to a considerable volume, is written in his 
 usual vein — with sufficient acuteness and animation, 
 but with little suavity of manner, or elegance of 
 style. He certainly detects errors and exposes in- 
 consistencies ; but it may readily be supposed that a 
 writer of his cast of mind was not very likely to form 
 an impartial estimate of Gibbon's real merits, which, 
 after all the fair and necessary deductions are made, 
 must still be allowed to be very great. Mr Whita- 
 ker is always an intrepid writer ; he is never afraid 
 to deliver a decided opinion ; and whether the sub- 
 ject is very familiar or quite new to him, his tone of 
 decision is commonly the same. Thus, for example, 
 in his animadversions on Gibbon's admirable chap- 
 ter relating to the Roman jurisprudence, he is pleas- 
 ed to declare, that " nothing can subdue the native 
 barrenness of such a field as this." His censure re- 
 fers to a subject of which he may be considered as 
 in a state of almost total ignorance : he seems to 
 have been alike unacquainted with this science, and 
 incapable of appreciating the masterly manner in 
 which it is here discussed. It may, indeed, be af- 
 firmed that there is no portion of Gibbon's work 
 more remarkable than this very chapter : although 
 his early studies had not prepared him for such a 
 task, he has yet exhibited a rapid and powerful 
 sketch of the Roman jurisprudence, to which it might 
 be difficult to find a parallel in the writings of the 
 professed civilians. And it has accordingly been 
 stamped with the approbation of some of the most 
 distinguished civilians of the present age. It has 
 been illustrated by Hugo and Warnkoenig, the former 
 having published it in German, and the latter in 
 French. 
 
 After an interval of three years, Mr Whitaker pro- 
 duced a copious work on a subject which is certain- 
 ly curious and interesting. This work he entitles, 
 in his usual form, The Course of Hannibal over the 
 Alps ascertained. Lond. 1794<, 2 vols. 8vo. Like 
 some of his former publications, it attracted a con- 
 siderable degree of attention, and, like them, was 
 thought to contain many hasty and erroneous opi- 
 nions. On this ground he was encountered by the 
 late Lord Woodhouselee, who published, but with- 
 out his name, A Critical Examination of Mr Whit' 
 aker's Course of Hannibal over the Alps ascertained. 
 Lond. 1795, 8vo. 
 
 In the year 1795, he endeavoured to enlighten 
 
 4 
 
W H I 
 
 the public by an octavo tract on The real Origin of 
 Government, which we have never had the pleasure 
 of seeing, but which his friend, formerly quoted, de- 
 scribes as a very singular pamphlet. This informa- 
 tion may, without scruple, be received as authentic ; 
 for it is not difficult to conjecture how the subject of 
 civil government would be treated by such a writer 
 at such a period. 
 
 The last work which Mr Whitaker lived to com- 
 municate to the public is The Ancient Cathedral of 
 Cornwall historically surveyed. Lond. 1804, 2 vols. 
 4to. His vigour was still undiminished, and he had 
 formed the plan of many other works, particularly a 
 history of Oxford, and a history of London : the 
 former he intended to comprise in an octavo volume, 
 the latter he contemplated as ** quite new and ori- 
 ginal, and fit to make a quarto." While he was pro- 
 secuting his ardent researches into the antiquities of 
 the metropolis, his friends remarked the first indica- 
 tions of declining health. He had originally pos- 
 sessed a robust constitution, but his mind was rest- 
 less, and his temper ardent ; and during his last visit 
 to London, his great exertions in procuring mate- 
 rials for his work, and his great efforts in supporting 
 his usual tone of conversation in the literary circles, 
 left him in a state of debility which was not at first 
 considered as alarming. It was, however, followed 
 by a stroke of palsy, from which his recovery was 
 never so complete as to allow him to resume his oc- 
 cupations with his former vigour. During the last 
 year of his life, he lingered in a state of gradual de- 
 cay ; and he is said to have contemplated his ap- 
 proaching dissolution with the cheerful resignation 
 of a Christian. On Sunday the 30th of October 
 1808, he sank as into a quiet slumber, without any 
 indication of suffering, and with a smile on his coun- 
 tenance. He died at Ruan-Lanyhorne, at the age 
 of about seventy-three, and left a widow and two 
 daughters. 
 
 He had recently sent to the press an antiquarian 
 volume, which was soon afterwards published under 
 the title of The Life of Saint Neot, the oldest of all 
 the Brothers of King Alfred. Lond. 1809, 8vo. 
 The preface is written by his publisher, Mr Stock- 
 dale. All his principal works have now been enu- 
 merated, but a few supplementary notices are still 
 necessary. He wrote an introduction to Flindell's 
 Bible, and a supplement to Polwhele's Antiquities of 
 Cornrvall, and was a contributor to The] Cornwall 
 and Devon Poets. His connection with the English 
 Review has already been mentioned ; but he likewise 
 appears to have lent his aid to the British Critic and 
 the Antijacobin Review ; and his eulogist informs us, 
 in a very solemn style, that "the strength of his 
 principles is no where more apparent than in those 
 articles where he comes forward, armed with the 
 panoply of truth, in defence of our civil and ecclesi- 
 astical constitution. It was there he struck his ad- 
 versaries with consternation, and we beheld the host 
 of Jacobins shrinking away from before his face, and 
 creeping into their caverns of darkness." The same 
 tasteful and judicious writer avers, that at Whitaker's 
 lucubrations " a Gibbon trembled but this pane- 
 gyric is somewhat abated by another piece of infor- 
 mation, namely, that Gibbon was a «' feeble Deist." 
 
 W I C 801 
 
 '^ith what torrents of fiery indignation this worthy Whitake» 
 divine must, in his fugitive and anonymous writings, II 
 have overwhelmed Jacobins and heretics, may very Wicklow. 
 easily be imagined by those who have inspected his 
 more elaborate works, bearing his name and addi- 
 tion, and intended for the benefit of posterity. Some 
 persons of cooler tempers, and of more habitual can- 
 dour, when they are fairly ^enveloped in the cover of 
 a review, may now and then be tempted to speak in 
 a very high and arrogant tone to men greatly elevat- 
 ed above their own standard, and of subjects of 
 which they only possess a very casual and superfi- 
 cial knowledge. 
 
 This anonymous writer, whom we strongly suspect 
 to be Mr Polwhele, has, in the following passage, 
 discussed the character of Mr Whitaker with more 
 sobriety and discrimination. " It is true, to the same 
 warmth of temper, together with a sense of good 
 intentions, we must attribute an irritability at times 
 destructive of social comfort, an impetuousness that 
 brooked not oppositidn, and bore down all before it. 
 This precipitation was in part also to be traced to his 
 ignorance of the world ; to his simplicity in believing 
 others like himself—precisely what they seemed to 
 be ; and, on the detection of his error, his anger 
 at dissimulation or hypocrisy. But his general good 
 humour, his hospitality, and his convivial pleasantry, 
 were surely enough to atone for those sudden bursts 
 of passion, those flashes which betrayed his * human 
 frailty,' but still argued genius. And they who knew 
 how * fearfully and wonderfully he was made,' could 
 bear from a Whitaker what they could not so well 
 have tolerated in another. In his family, Mr Whit- 
 aker was uniformly regular; nor did he suffer at any 
 time his literary cares to trench on his domestic 
 duties. The loss of such a man must be deemed, as 
 it were, a chasm both in public and private life. But, 
 for the latter, we may truly say, that if ever wife 
 had cause to lament the kind and faithful husband, 
 or children the affectionate parent, or servants the 
 indulgent master, the family at Ruan-Lanyhorne 
 must feel their loss irreparable." {Gentleman's Ma- 
 gazine, vol. Ixxviii. p. 1037. See likewise Nichols's 
 Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century, vol. 
 iii. p. 105.) (w. w. w.) 
 
 WICKLOW is a county in the province of Lein- Boundaries, 
 ster in Ireland, bounded by Dublin and Kildare on 
 the north ; by Wexford on the south ; by St George's 
 Channel on the east; and by Kildare, Dublin, and 
 Carlow on the west. It extends about 40 English Extent, 
 miles from north to south, and 33 from east to west, 
 containing 781 square miles, or nearly 500,000 Eng- 
 lish acres, and is divided into six baronies and half Divisions, 
 baronies, and 58 parishes. Of these parishes, 49 
 are situated in the archbishopric of Dublin, six in 
 the diocese of Leighlin, and three in that of Ferns. 
 
 The outline of this county is rendered very irregu- Surface, 
 lar by a district on the south-west, the barony of 
 Shillelagh, being almost detached from the rest of it, 
 projecting between the counties of Carlow and Wex- 
 ford. On the east, the sea- coast stretches almost in 
 an unbroken line, except a little to the south of the 
 town of Wicklow, where there is a promontory call- 
 ed Wicklow Head. Bray Head, another point, is 
 on the northern extremity. Mountains and bogs oc- 
 
802 W I C 
 
 wicklow. cupy a great part of the interior, from the north 
 
 — along the centre of the district, to the barony of 
 Shillelagh. Much of this tract is without inhabit- 
 ants. To the north and west these mountains are 
 bold and abrupt ; but on the east they are penetrated 
 by several beautiful glens, of which the Dargle, the 
 glen of the Downs, the vale of Imalee, and Glendal- 
 logh, are the most celebrated. Some of these are of 
 considerable extent, finely wooded and watered, and, 
 with the mountains which inclose them, exhibit a 
 great variety of romantic scenery. In these glens 
 much of the wood is oak, but not of a large size. 
 Detached hills also abound on either side of this 
 range, though on the east, south, and west, the coun- 
 try is in general low and fertile. It has been com- 
 pared, not inaptly, to a frieze cloak with a laced bor- 
 der. In the central range, the prevailing rock is 
 granite, and argillaceous schist in the less elevated 
 hills on the east and south. On the north, near the 
 confines of Dublin county, is a remarkable chasm, 
 called the Scalp, in a ridge of granite. Calcareous 
 strata occur on the west, and also on the east, from 
 Wicklow to Bray ; but no limestone has been found 
 in continuous rocks. In these quarters, it is in the 
 form of pebbles or gravel. 
 
 Minerals. Wicklow is thought to be rich in metallic sub- 
 stances, particularly on the south, from the Crough- 
 an Mountain to the hill of Cronebane, about ten 
 miles to the north-east. In this tract copper has 
 been wrought at Cronebane and Ballymurtagh to a 
 considerable extent. In 1809, the Cronebane mines 
 produced about 3000 tons of ore annually, at an ex- 
 pence of L. 8000 ; but at both places the works were 
 
 Gold xMines. soon after discontinued. Native gold has been found 
 on the north-east side of the mountains Croughan 
 Kinshela, on the summit of which this county meets 
 with that of Wexford, in a stream which falls into 
 the Ovoca, and also on the south side of these moun- 
 tains. In 1796, gold was obtained to the value of 
 L. 10,000, sometimes in pieces of considerable weight; 
 one of them weighed nine, a second eighteen, and a 
 third even twenty-two ounces. The search was then un- 
 dertaken by Government, both in the mountains them- 
 selves and the streams which flow from them ; but no 
 veins were discovered, and the works have been long 
 since abandoned. Lead has been worked at Glenmaher 
 and in Glendallogh, or the Seven Churches. At the 
 Jatter place, in 1809, there were three smelting 
 houses, and about 180 bars, weighing one hundred 
 weight each, were made per week. 
 
 Rivers. The rivers are the Liffey, which has its rise on the 
 
 north-west quarter of this county, and passes into 
 that of Dublin ; the Ovoca, which flows into the sea 
 at Arklow; and the Slaney, which, rising in the 
 south west, proceed^ southward into the county of 
 Carlow. None of these rivers are navigable in their 
 course through this district. There are no extensive 
 lakes ; the most considerable are Lough Bray, Lough 
 Tay, Lough Dan, and the loughs of the Seven 
 Churches. Some of the streams precipitate them- 
 selves from considerable heights, forming beautiful 
 cascades; the most remarkable one is at Powers- 
 court, where the water falls from a height of 860 
 feet. 
 
 Climate. -Xh<e climate of this county is remarkably mild, 
 
 W I c 
 
 Myrtle flourishes in such profusion as to have been Wicklow. 
 sometimes used for making stable-brooms. The ^-^v-""^ 
 common laurel, Portugal laurel, and arbutus, attain 
 a great size, and can scarcely be recognized to be 
 the same shrubs. Dublin is supplied with early po- 
 tatoes and house-lamb from the sea-coast of Wick- 
 low, the climate of which, according to Mr Wake- 
 field, is decidedly different from that of the rest of 
 Ireland. This, is the only part of that country where 
 he ever saw grapes growing out of doors. 
 
 There are several large estates in Wicklow. Estates and 
 That of Earl FitzwiUiam extends to 66,000 Irish Farms, 
 acres. The centre of the county, which consists of 
 bogs and mountains, and is uninhabited, belongs 
 chiefly to the see of Dublin. The district of the sea- 
 coast, however, is much dividedi and abounds with 
 villas, the temporary residence of the wealthy citi- 
 zens of Dublin. " It appears to me," says Mr Wake- 
 field, to contain more gentlemen's seats than the 
 same space in the vicinity of London." The com- 
 mon period of leases is twenty-one years and a Hfe. 
 On the sea-coast, land lets at from L. 3 to L. 5 per 
 Irish acre, or about 47s. the English acre, and on 
 the north-east, near Dublin, it is considerably higher. 
 Potatoes, and all the usual kinds of corn, are culti- 
 vated ; but turnips, clover, and other ameliorating 
 crops, only partially. Marl and limestone gravel 
 are the principal manures. Irrigation is practised 
 according to the method common in England. A 
 breed of fine-woolled sheep, peculiar to the moun- 
 tains of this county, exhibit the only traces of a dis- 
 tinct race of short- wooUed sheep in Ireland. 
 
 Besides the manufacture of coarse woollens forManufac- 
 domestic use, flannel is made to a considerable tures. 
 amount for sale ; there is a Flannel Hall at Rath- 
 drum, at which, before 1808, from 5000 to 7000 
 pieces were sold annually. The cotton trade was, 
 at that period, in a flourishing condition at Stratford 
 on the western side of the county. But the linen 
 manufacture, so general in other parts of Ireland, is 
 carried on here only to a small extent. There are 
 no good harbours, nor any canal or navigable river, 
 in this district. Wicklow harbour has only from se- 
 ven to eight feet of water on its bar at high tides. 
 Wicklow, the county town, with Baltinglass, Bless- 
 ington, and Carysfort, were Parliamentary boroughs 
 before the Union, though, excepting the first, none 
 of them contained, at that time, 1000 inhabitants, 
 and Wicklow itself not many more. The villages 
 are Bray, Rathdrum, Arklow, Stratford-upon-Sla- 
 ney, and a few others. Of these Arklow, the most 
 considerable, contained about 2600 inhabitants. A 
 battle was fought there 9th June 1798, in which the 
 rebels, computed to be about 31,000, were defeated, 
 by General Needham, with a mixed force, said not 
 to have exceeded 1500. The herring-fishery, in the Herring- 
 bay of Arklow, which, next to that of Galway, is Fishery, 
 considered the best in Ireland, employed, in 1816, 
 from 100 to 150 boats, and has sometimes produced 
 about L.25,000 yearly. 
 
 The population of this county, in 1790, was Population 
 about 58,000. According to the census taken in 
 1821, it was 115/1C2. Mr Wakefield computes the 
 proportion of the Catholics to the Protestants to be 
 as ten to one. In the parish of Arklow, according 
 
B'icklow 
 
 . il 
 fVigtown- 
 shire. 
 
 epresenta. 
 »n. 
 
 W I c 
 
 to the writer of that Article in the Parochial Survey, 
 the proportion is only as three to one. The county 
 sends two members to Parliament, both of whom 
 may be returned by the influence of Earl Fitzwil- 
 liam. The wages of labour and the prices of provi- 
 sions being affected by the vicinity of Dublin, are 
 higher than in most parts of Ireland, and the con- 
 dition of the lower classes is said to be more com- 
 fortable. 
 
 1 See Frazer's General View of the Agriculture, 
 
 I Sfc. of the County of WicMoxv, and the works of 
 
 I Beaufort and Wakefield, as quoted under the for- 
 
 mer Irish counties. (a.) 
 [tuation WIGTOWNSHIRE,^ a maritime county on the 
 id Bounda- south-west extremity of Scotland, situated between 
 54=" 38' and 55° 4' north latitude, and between 4* l6' 
 and 5° 6' west longitude. This, with the stewartry 
 of Kirkcudbright, now forms the province of Gallo- 
 way, which was once more extensive. It is bound- 
 ed by the stewartry of Kirkcudbright on the east; 
 by the Irish Sea on the south and west, and by Ayr- 
 shire on the north, containing 485 square miles;, or 
 about 310,000 English acres, and is divided into se- 
 venteen parishes. About a third of the land is pro- 
 ductive or cultivated, and the rest is in its natural 
 state, and comparatively of little value. 
 
 The district is of a very irregular form,, the west- 
 ern side being almost cut off from the rest by two 
 arms of the sea, Luce Bay on the south, and Loch- 
 ryan on the north ; while Wigtown Bay, which sepa- 
 rates it from Kirkcudbright, penetrates it on the 
 east. It is popularly divided into the Rhinns, the 
 Machers, and the Moors. The Rhinns, which sig- 
 nifies points or promontories, consists principally of 
 the peninsula lying west of Lochryan and the bay of 
 Luce, being the nearest land in Britain to Ireland, 
 and terminating on the south in the JMuU of Galloway, 
 the most southerly land in Scotland ; from whence 
 may be seen, in a fine day, the Isle of Man and the 
 shores of England and Ireland. It is connected 
 with the rest of Wigtownshire by an isthmus about 
 six miles broad, which seems to have been at one 
 time overflowed by the sea. The Machers is a 
 large promontory, none of it much elevated, which 
 runs out to the south-east between the bays of Wig- 
 town and Luce ; and the Moors are spread over the 
 rest of the county, but chiefly on its northern side, 
 where it is bounded by Ayrshire. 
 
 The surface of this county, except in the northern 
 quarter, where the hills rise to 1000 feet and upwards, 
 is very little elevated above the sea ; but, exclusive 
 of a narrow tract of alluvial land near the bottom of 
 the bay of Wigtown, there is very little that is flat or 
 level. It consists, for the most part, of a great ma- 
 ny low hills and gently undulating grounds, often 
 broken by detached rocks which rise a few feet above 
 the surface, and interspersed with considerable tracts 
 of mossy and moorish soils, even in the lower and 
 more cultivated parts ; being similar in this respect to 
 the stewartry of Kirkcudbright, the other division of 
 Galloway. (See Kirkcudbright in this Supplement.) 
 
 Theclimate, though moist, is mildand salubrious, es- 
 pecially in the low grounds, the prevailing winds being 
 from the south-west. In the Rhinns rains are more 
 frequent than in the Machers on the south-east j but 
 
 W I G 
 
 SOS 
 
 the winters on this coast are every where milder than Wigtown- 
 on the eastern coast of Scotland ; and no part of the ^''"^^^ 
 county is more than ten or twelve miles from the sea. " ' 
 In summer, however, there is also less sunshine, and, 
 for this reason, the crops of wheat and barley, parti- 
 cularly the former, are commonly inferior in quality 
 to those raised on the eastern side of the island. 
 
 The soil of tlie arable land is, for the most part, Soil, 
 of a hazel colour and shallow, but dry and not unfer- 
 tile, and well adapted to turnip husbandry. On the 
 bay of Wigtown, there is a tract of rich alluvial land, 
 fit for the growth of wheat and beans, similar to the 
 Carse lands of Gowrie, and other tracts on the Forth 
 and Tay ; but this and every other description of 
 clay land forms but a very small proportion of the 
 whole. On the western side, between the bay of 
 Luce and Lochryan, the soil is chiefly a deposition 
 of sea sand, interspersed with considerable tracts of 
 flow moss. In this quarter, near Glenluce, there is an 
 extensive rabbit-warren, said to yield about L.400 a- 
 year. Much of the higher grounds^ or the Moors, 
 is wet, spongy, and sterile, producing herbage very 
 inferior to that of the bills on the south-east of 
 Scotland, and depastured by a smgll kind of coarse- 
 woolled heath-sheep, and an inferior variety of the 
 native cattle. 
 
 The rivers are, the Cree, the Bladenoch, and the Rivers, 
 Luce, with a number of smaller streams. The Cree, 
 which rises among the mountains of Carrick in Ayr- 
 shire, enters this county from the north, and, flow- 
 ing along the boundary with Kirkcudbright, falls in- 
 to the bay of Wigtown a little above the town of that 
 name ; and it is navigable upwards to the Carty a 
 little below Newton-Stewart. The Bladenoch, after 
 a circuitous course of about twenty-four miles, alsa 
 enters the bay of Wigtown, and, by means of the 
 tide, admits small vessels a little above its mouth- 
 The Luce, the only other stream of any size, after a 
 northern course, falls into Luce Bay at the town of 
 Glenluce. These streams are frequented by salmon, 
 of which there are one or two considerable fisheries 
 on the bay of Wigtown. There are several lakes, 
 but none of them worthy of particular notice. Loch- 
 ryan, though it has all the appearance of a lake, is 
 an arm of the sea, and is of great importance as af- 
 fording a safe and commodious harbour, with an in- 
 land navigation for eight or ten miles, and occasion- 
 ally a productive herring-fishery. 
 
 The valued rent of Wigtownshire, as taken in Viiluation 
 1642, is L. 67,641, 17s. Scots, and the real rent ofantl Rental, 
 the lands and houses, in 1812, was L. 131,778, 12s. 
 lOd. Sterling ; the land rent being about 8s. an Eng- 
 lish acre. This is divided among a few great proprie- 
 tors, one of whom has a rental of upwards of L.30,000> 
 and several others have from L. 5000 to L. 10,000 
 and upwards. More than half the county is held un- 
 d^r entail. The territory is further divided into farms Farms, 
 of a moderate size, on the arable lands seldom ex- 
 ceeding 200 or 300 acres, which are held on leases 
 for 19 or 21 years, as in other parts of Scotland. It 
 was formerly the practice to add the life of the tenant; 
 and some of these leases still subsist, but few are now 
 granted but for a term of years certain. In no part Rents and 
 of Scotland, perhaps, have rents risen more than in Asriculture. 
 this quarter. A variety of instances," says the 
 
804 
 
 WIG 
 
 Wigtown 
 shire. 
 
 Dairies, 
 
 author of the Agricultural Survey,'^ mightbe adduced 
 where the present rents of farms are equal to the 
 prices paid foj- them in the memory of persons still 
 living." Yet an improved system of agriculture has 
 not kept pace with this advance of rent, which has 
 been chiefly occasioned by the increased demand of 
 the English markets for their cattle, which are much 
 esteemed in every part of the island. (See Agricul- 
 ture in this Supplement.') The management of the 
 arable land, though improved within these few years, 
 is still very much inferior to that which prevails in 
 the eastern and other lowland counties of Scotland. 
 The principal corn crops are oats and barley, or 
 rather bear ; the potatoe, which occupies a consider- 
 able portion of every farm, is still a much greater 
 favourite than the turnip ; and where turnips are 
 raised they are, with few exceptions, carried oflF the 
 ground, instead of being consumed on it by sheep, 
 according to the practice of the eastern counties. 
 It is, therefore, to their cattle principally that the 
 farmers trust for payment of their rents, and a great 
 portion of even the best arable land is still appro- 
 priated to grazing. On the western side, the dairy 
 has been introduced within these few years by farm- 
 ers from Ayrshire, and found to answer better, it is 
 said, than the system common in other parts of the 
 county. One of the largest dairies in Scotland is in 
 this quarter. Almost all the land, even the higher 
 grounds, is enclosed chiefly with stone fences, well 
 known by the name of Galloiuay dykes j and of late, 
 a considerable improvement has taken place in the 
 farm-houses and offices, many of which have been 
 constructed in a substantial manner. There is very 
 little natural wood ; but considerable plantations 
 have been formed by some of the principal proprie- 
 tors. Among the trees found most able to endure 
 the sea spray, and resist the westerly winds, are the 
 pinaster and the Huntington willow, which thrive 
 almost on the sea beach. On many parts of the 
 coast large banks of shells have been formed, which 
 are used as manure, in place of lime, and in others 
 sea-weeds are used for the same purpose ; lime as well 
 as coal must be imported from Cumberland and the 
 west of Scotland, there being none of either in the 
 county. From the want of coal, the p-rincipal article 
 of fuel used in the interior is peat and turf. 
 
 Wigtownshire has three royal burghs ; Wigtown, 
 the county town, situated at the bottom of the bay of 
 that name; Whithorn, near the south-eastern point of 
 the Machers division ; and Stranraer, at the bottom of 
 Representa- Lochryan. In the elections for the Scottish burghs, 
 these, vs^ith New Galloway in the stewartry of Kirkcud- 
 bright, send one member to Parliament; the county, 
 in which there are about sixty freeholders, being also 
 represented by one. None of these towns, however, 
 are extensive or populous. The villages are Newton 
 Stewart on the Cree, Garlieston, a small sea port on 
 the bay of Wigtown, New Luce, an inland village a 
 few miles east from Stranraer, Glenluce, at the bottom 
 of Luce Bay, and Portpatrick, on the west side of 
 the Rhinns division, on the great thoroughfare be- 
 tween Britain and Ireland; the Channel, between 
 Portpatrick and Donaghadee on the Irish coast, 
 being only about twenty miles broad. There are no 
 manufactures of any consequence, and no other 
 
 Towns. 
 
 tion 
 
 W I L 
 
 trade but what is carried on in small vessels with W^town- 
 the nearest ports of England and Ireland and the ^^"^ 
 west of Scotland, for the export of thtir raw pro- .,'1 
 duce, and the import of coal, lime, and other 
 articles required for consumption. In the weights rpj.^^^ 
 and measures used here, there is now less variety weights anc 
 than in most other parts of Scotland, the Win- Measures. 
 Chester bushel and the avoirdupois weight being 
 in general use. By the former, all the corn, pota> 
 toes, &c. are measured, and the prices stated ; the 
 weight of the corn, however, being attended to, in 
 estimating its value, as well as the measure. Thus, 
 a bushel of wheat weighing 60 lbs. is worth more 
 than the same measure, of which the weight is only 
 56 lbs. It is to be wished that this practice were 
 general in other parts of Scotland, where the great 
 diversity of weights and measures, sometimes even 
 in the same county, occasions so much inconveni- 
 ence. 
 
 Wigtownshire is not rich in antiquities. The most Antiquities 
 noted ruins are those of Dunskey Castle, situated on 
 the verge of a precipice, a little to the south of Port- 
 patrick ; Castle Kennedy, the ancient seat of the fa- 
 mily of Cassillis, in the parish of Insch ; and the ab- 
 bey of Glenluce. But the most interesting remains 
 of this kind, perhaps, are what are called the Stand- 
 ing Stones of Torrhouse, in the parish of Wigtown ; 
 consisting of 19 erect pieces of granite, within a 
 circle of 218 feet, and several large stones standing 
 singly at a little distance to the south and east. There 
 are also two cairns or barrows in the same quarter. 
 
 The population, according to the census of 1801, Populatioii 
 was 22,918; in 1811 it had increased to 26,891 ; and 
 in 1821 to 33,240; of which 15,837 were males, and 
 17,403 were females. The families employed in 
 agriculture were 3525 ; in trade and manufactures 
 2089, in all other occupations 1160. The increase 
 of population from 1811 to 1821 was 6349. 
 
 See Smith's Survey of Galloway, and the general 
 works quoted under the former Scottish counties. 
 
 (a.) 
 
 WILTSHIRE, an inland county of England, in Boundariei 
 the western judicial circuit. It is bounded on the Extent, an( 
 north-west and west by the county of Gloucester- Divisions, 
 shire ; on the west by Somersetshire ; on the south 
 by Dorset and Hants ; and on the east and north- 
 east by the latter county and Berkshire. The length 
 is about 50 miles, and the breadth about 34. It 
 is of an elliptical form, with very irregular indenta- 
 tions on the borders. The area is 1379 square miles, 
 or 882,560 statute acres. The county is divided 
 into twenty-nine hundreds, comprising one city, 
 23 market towns, and 295 parishes. The whole of 
 the county, with the exception ef the parish of 
 Kingswood, is in the diocese of Salisbury, and is ec- 
 clesiastically divided into two archdeaconries, which 
 are subdivided into ten deaneries. 
 
 By the census of 1821, Wiltshire appeared to con- Population 
 tain 43,125 houses, inhabited by 47,684 families j 
 of whom 24,972 were employed chiefly in agricul- 
 ture; 16,982 in trade, manufactures, or handicraft; 
 and 5730 were not comprised in either of these 
 classes. The whole number of persons was 222,157, 
 of whom 108,213 were males, and 113,944 females. 
 The increase of population between the census of 
 11 
 
W I L 
 
 ire. 1811 and that of 1821 was at the rate of l5 per 
 cent. 
 
 ■the The southern division of Wiltshire is chiefly that 
 y and extensive tract of unwooded land usually denomi- 
 Dated Salisbury Plain. It is an uninclosed country, 
 and from thence has an appearance of desolateness ; 
 but bottoms are frequent, and having generally 
 streams of water running through them, the houses 
 and villages are, for the most part, erected in them, 
 and the district is much more populous than a tra- 
 veller passing over the plain would suspect. The 
 land, though chiefly used for feeding sheep, is, when 
 brought under the plough, highly productive in tur- 
 nips, barley, and wheat. There is a tract of rich land 
 between Salisbury Plain and Marlborough Downs ; 
 and to the north of these downs the country is well 
 inclosed, and abounds in rich pasture, on which are 
 fed the cows that produce the excellent cheese 
 known by the name of North Wiltshire. The pecu- 
 liar breed of sheep of this county, and which are 
 universally called by its name, are all horned, afford 
 heavy fleeces of moderately fine wool, and are very 
 numerous ; on Salisbury Plain they are said to be 
 more than 500,000. The produce of wheat and other 
 grain is estimated to be less per acre than the gene- 
 ral average of the contiguous counties. There were 
 anciently several extensive forests in this county, 
 and, though the districts still retain the name either 
 of Forest or Chace, they are, with the exception of 
 Savernake or Marlborough Forest, and Cranbourn 
 Chace, almost wholly now either in pasture or under 
 the plough. 
 
 and Wiltshire being an elevated district, many rivers 
 have their sources in it, or water the lands of it soon 
 after their rise. The most important of these are the 
 Thames, the Lower Avon, and the Kennet, all of 
 which are navigable. Besides these are the tributary 
 streams, the Upper Avon, the Willey, the Nadder, 
 the Bourne, the Stour, and the Brue. The canals 
 which pass from or through this county are the 
 Thames and Severn, connecting those two rivers with 
 each other; the Kennet and Avon, which also unites 
 those rivers. Both of these canals have been most 
 expensive, and, hitherto, unproductive undertakings, 
 designed to facilitate the intercourse between Lon- 
 don and Bristol. The Wilts and Berks Canal, de- 
 signed to connect the Severn with the Thames, has 
 been especially an unfortunate concern. The Salis- 
 bury and Southampton Canal has been found of some 
 benefit, by supplying the former place with coals, 
 but has been little productive to the proprietors. ^ 
 
 fac This county has long been one of the chief districts 
 for the manufacture of fine cloths. That branch of 
 industry is now, however, confined to the western 
 part of it. The populous towns of Bradford, Trow- 
 bridge, Devizes, Warminster, Chippenham, West- 
 bury, Melksham, Calne, and the villages surrounding 
 th^m, are chiefly maintained by making cloths and 
 casimeres of fine quality, the wool for which used to 
 be imported from Spain to Bristol, but of late years 
 the fine wools of Saxony have in a great measure 
 supplanted those of Spain in this country. Salis- 
 bury is distinguished by its manufactory of fine Han- 
 nels, and by cutlery and steel articles of superior 
 quality. Wilton makes carpets and fine cloths. At 
 Mere and in its vicinity linen goods, chiefly dowlass 
 
 VOL. VI. PART II. 
 
 W I L 
 
 805 
 
 and bed licks, are made. At Swindon are many Wiltshire, 
 manufacturers of gloves. v*^^r-«w 
 Few counties present so many objects of antiqua- Antiquiti'=s. 
 rian research as Wiltshire. Among those of British 
 origin are the Wansdike, a fortification of earth tra- 
 versing the whole county ; the druidical masses of 
 stone at Stonehenge and Avebury ; the numerous 
 barrows, or tumuli, which are to be seen on a great 
 number of spots on the Downs; and the earthen 
 ramparts supposed to have formerly inclosed the 
 towns of the ancient Britons. Among the Roman 
 antiquities are many of the roads constructed by 
 that people, their fortified encampments, and t.ie 
 ruins of several of their castles, especially ih-^^^ of 
 Marlborough, Devizes, Malmesbury, and O"-* Sarum. 
 The monastic remains, especially at Malp»esbury, pre- 
 sent very interesting subjects of sti"^y to the anti- 
 quarian. Besides these vestiges of antiquity, tesse- 
 lated pavements, coins, urns, fi agments of sculpture, 
 daggers, shields and '>"iaments of British, Roman, 
 Saxon, and Norman fashion, have been discovered. 
 The cjjt'i'^dral of Salisbury, though not of such an 
 age as to be classed among antiquities, is an object 
 of great admiration on account of the elegant design 
 and scientific execution of the structure. The beau- ' 
 tiful spire is much admired for its height and its pro- 
 portions, and though in a valley, may be seen at a 
 great distance rising above the surrounding hills. 
 It is said to be the loftiest in England, rising from 
 the floor of the church to the height of 400 feet. 
 
 The following Peers derive their titles from this rpj^j^^ 
 county : Duke of Marlborough, Marquises of Lans- Representa- 
 downe and Salisbury, Earl of Malmesbury, Viscount tion. 
 Bolingbroke, Baron Arundel. Two members are 
 returned to the House of Commons by the county, 
 and two each from Salisbury, Chippenham, Calne, 
 Cricklade, Downton, Devizes, Heytesbury, Hindon, 
 Great Bedwin, Marlborough, Malmesbury, Ludgers- 
 hall, Westbury, Wilton, Wotton Basset, and Old 
 Sarura. 
 
 The chief places and their population are as fol- Towns, 
 low: Salisbury, 8763; Trowbridge, 9545; War- 
 minster, 5612; Melksham, 4765; Calne, 4549; 
 Devizes, 4208 ; Bradford, 3760 ; Chippenham, 3201 ; 
 Downton, 3114; and JMarlboiough, 3038. 
 
 Among a great number of seats belonging to no- ^hief Scats, 
 blemen and gentlemen, the most remarkable are 
 Longleat, the Marquis of Bath; Bowood, Marquis 
 of Laasdowne ; Tottenham Park, Lord Aylesbury ; . 
 Wardour Castle, Lord Arundel ; Fonthill Abbey, 
 late . Mr Beckford ; Wilton, Earl of Pembroke ; 
 Stourhead, Sjr R. C, Hoare ; Longford Castle, Earl 
 of Radnor; New Park, Thomas Estcourt, Esq.; 
 Dinton House, William Wyndham, Esq. ; Corsham 
 House, P. C. Methuen ; Wilbury House, Sir C. W. 
 Malet ; Charlton Park, Earl of Suffolk ; Stoke Park, 
 Joshua Smith, Esq.; Bradley, Duke of Somerset; 
 and Ramsbury, Sir Francis Burdett. 
 
 See Davis's Viexio of the Agriculture of the Counttf. 
 of Wilts. — The Ancient Histqry of South WiUsh 'r'e, . 
 by Sir Richard Colt Hoare, Bart — Aubrey's Intro^ 
 duclion to the Survey and Natural History, of NorlJi, 
 Wiltshire, — The Beauties of Wiltshire displayed in 
 Statistical, Historical^ and Descriptive Sketches, by 
 John Britton. 
 
 (w. w.) 
 
 5 k; 
 
806 
 
 WINE-M AKIN G. 
 
 Wipe- The history of wines is both curious and amusing ; 
 ^^J^^^il^ and their topography is not lesssOj if we may apply this 
 term to the several kinds, to their enumeration, and 
 to that of the countries where they grow, and to the 
 variations followed in their manufacture. This is a 
 subject which would occupy a volume ; and we must 
 ^'-^refore pass it over, that we may dwell on what is 
 of m^re moment, the general mode of making this 
 iraportai> article, and the several chemical circum- 
 stances concocted with it. France is the only nation 
 which has bes\.a,ved much attention on the philosophy 
 of this subject, as h. is that which excels all others in 
 the variety and the goodness of its produce. 
 
 Fruits, their Vinous liquors, resembling wine, may be made 
 Nature. from every fruit, as well as from every vegetable 
 which contains acids united to its extractive matter. 
 The term wine is thus applied to the produce of cur- 
 rants, gooseberries, and many others ; while that of 
 cyder is especially reserved for the liquor to be ob- 
 tained from apples. That term would be a fittei'one 
 for many of the vinous liquors in question, and we 
 shall here restrict the term ivine to the produce of 
 the vine. 
 
 All fruits consist of the following principles : wa- 
 ter, sugar, a peculiar combination of sugar and ex- 
 tract, called the sweet principle by the French, su- 
 pertartrite of potash, malat of potash, and malic acid, 
 superoxalate of potash, extractive matter analogous 
 to mucilage, and vegetable gelatin, tannin, a princi- 
 ple of flavour, and a colouring principle. These, 
 however, are not all found in any one fruit, and they 
 also vary in their proportion in different ones. The 
 essential ones to the making of wine are the tartarous 
 acid, sugar, or the sweet principle, extract, and wa- 
 ter; and those which are useful, without being indis- 
 pensable, are flavour, tannin, or astringency, and co- 
 lour. And it is by possessing these in right propor- 
 tions that the grape excels all other fruits for the 
 purpose of making wine. 
 Effects of Tartarous acid, or its combinations, is especially 
 the Princi- indispensable : and hence it is that the grape, which 
 pies of contains it in large quantity, produces wine ; when 
 the apple, and other fruits which contain the malic 
 acid, produce cyder. It is essential to the fermenta- 
 tion, as well as to the quality of the produce ; and it 
 is decomposed in the process so as to increase the 
 quantity of alcohol, which the sugar would otherwise 
 yield. Where malic acid is also present, the quality 
 of the wine is bad. Sugar must be considered the 
 fundamental element, and as that from which the al- 
 cohol is chiefly derived. Thus the most saccharine 
 grapes produce the strongest wine. But it seldom 
 exists in a pure state in the grape, or in any other 
 vegetable. It appears to be most pure in the sugar 
 cane ; but even there it is combined with the extrac- 
 tive matter, and also with some acid, forming the 
 sweet principle of the French. Pure sugar does not 
 ferment in water, it crystallizes ; and whenever fer- 
 
 Fruits. 
 
 mentation occurs, some other vegetable matter is 
 present. When sugar, again, has crystallized from a 
 solution of the sweet principle, what remains runs 
 still more readily into fermentation. In the produce 
 of the cane, this is molasses. It is very important to 
 keep this distinction in view, because the fabrication 
 of sweet wines depends materially upon it. It ex- 
 plains many circumstances in the process of fermenta- 
 tion, and some that are often overlooked. It ex- 
 plains, among other things, why wine ferments in a 
 cask when it will not ferment in bottles ; because the 
 sugar derives the necessary extractive matter from 
 the wood. The chemical nature of the extractive 
 matter is not known ; but it is supposed to contain 
 azote, as this is the produce of fermentation. Yeast, 
 or leaven, contains the extractive principle in great 
 abundance, and hence its power in inducing ferment- 
 ation in a solution of pure sugar. All vegetables 
 contain it; and it is most abundant in those juices 
 which gelatinate in boiling. It is found in the grape, 
 and it is thus the natural leaven of wine, whether ex- 
 isting in a separate state or united to sugar in the 
 form of the sweet principle. Water is a much more 
 essential ingredient than would at first be suspected. 
 If over abundant, it is difficult to prevent the pro- 
 duce from running to the acetous stage. Hence 
 weak wines become sour. If deficient, it is difficult 
 to establish the fermentation; and hence sweet wines. 
 Thus, also, sweet wines are insured by drying the 
 grapes, or evaporating their juice, both common 
 practices in the wine countries. Colour must be 
 looked on in the light of ai'i ornament, and is found 
 in the husk of the grape. So is the tannin principle, 
 which occasions astringency in Port wine. Of the 
 principle of flavour chemistry knows nothing; it 
 seems often the produce of fermentation, as in Claret 
 and Burgundy wines; in those of Frontignan and 
 Muscat it is the natural flavour of the fruit. , 
 
 When the process is complete, the wine is dry, or on Fer- 
 contains no sugar, so that sweet wines, which arementatio 
 compounds of wine and sugar, are the produce of an 
 incomplete fermentation. When all the elements 
 above described are in due proportion, the product 
 is perfect, a dry wine ; and the elements that require 
 particularly to be balanced for this result are the ex- 
 tract, or leaven, and the sugar. If the former is in 
 excess, the wine tends to vinegar, unless means are 
 used to stop the fermentation by abstracting the 
 leaven ; if in defect, the process is imperfect, a sweet 
 wine. Hence the perfection and management of the 
 leaven are among the most important circumstances 
 in the manufacture. It is coagulable partially by 
 heat ; and hence also it is, as well as by evaporating 
 the water, that boiled must produces sweet wine. It 
 is also abstracted by precipitation, and by the action 
 of sulphurous acids ; whence other processes in use 
 in wine-making. 
 
 In fermentation, the superfluous extract or leaven 
 is separated in two forms, that of yeast and lees ; 
 
WINE-MAKING. 
 
 807 
 
 - and these will excite that process in fresh solutions 
 • of sugar, or renew it, or continue it, in the mixture 
 whence it was separated ; whence racking and fining. 
 There is, however, one important difference between 
 the natural or original, and this artificial or second- 
 ary leaven. The latter is soluble in hot water, and 
 not in cold ; and hence it is separated in fermenta- 
 tion. By restoring this separated matter to wine in 
 the course of fabrication, the fermenting process is 
 prolonged, or the wine rendered drier ; by skimming, 
 and fining, and racking, the process is checked : and 
 hence the application of these practices to sweet 
 wines. The rolling of wine, or returning on its lees 
 to feed, is hence understood ; and hence also the im- 
 provement which certain wines experience in long 
 voyages. But the same principle and process which 
 improves Madeira destroys Burgundy, and the rea- 
 son must now be obvious. The theory of racking, 
 fining, and sulphuring, is hence also apparent ; and, 
 of the sulphurous acid, it is a property to combine 
 with the leaven, and form an insoluble separable 
 compound. It is thus that it checks fermentation. 
 Hence, also, it is that sweet wines do not turn 
 sour : their leaven has been expended. Thus also 
 we may see that the process of fermentation is not 
 an unmanageable and a precarious one ; but that the 
 essential ingredients are in our power, and that we 
 can modify them to the desired result. If it has 
 been stopped prematurely, it may be renewed by 
 fresh leaven ; if in excess, it may be checked or sus- 
 pended. And thus it is loo, that dry wines, and 
 fined wines, and wines in bottles, are durable, when 
 they would perish in the cask. 
 
 The acid was shown to be also essential to the 
 produce of wine. Mere extract, or leaven, and su- 
 gar, produce beer, not wine. Tartarous acid cannot 
 well be in excess in that compound in which it exists, 
 viz. the supertartrite of potash ; because it is a salt 
 of difficult solution, and the superfluity is precipitat- 
 ed ; hence the tartar of wine-casks ; hence, also, 
 the crystals which are seen, in cold weather, to float 
 in Madeira wine. We noticed that it was decom- 
 posed in the fermentation, and was thought to con- 
 tribute to the quantity of alcohol. The French che- 
 mists also assert that a part of it is converted into 
 the malic ; hence the peculiar properties of some 
 wines ; hence also the, practice of liming the vats, or 
 of sprinkHng the grapes with lime in the manufac- 
 ture of Sherry wines ; whence they acquire that pecu- 
 liar dry and hard taste which distinguishes them 
 from the wines of Madeira. As the tartarous salt 
 adds to the fermenting power of the fluid, hence we 
 explain the facility with which the juice of green 
 grapes runs into fermentation when compared with 
 ripe ones; the immature fruit containing a much 
 larger proportion of this salt than the mature. Thus 
 also those wines continue to ferment longer, or to 
 retain the power of fermenting ; and hence the viva- 
 city of Champagne wines, the most effervescent kinds 
 of which are made from half ripened fruit. 
 
 The temperature of 54° Fahrenheit is considered the 
 ° . most favourable to this process. In extreme heat it 
 fails, as in extreme cold. Hence the difficulty of 
 making wine in India, and the West Indian islands. 
 Hence also, in the temperate climates, we have it in 
 our power to regulate fermentation by the use of 
 
 Wine- 
 Making. 
 
 heat or of cold. Hence, also, it is that wines which 
 had ceased to ferment, recommence in spring ; and , 
 hence, one of the processes essential to the manufac- 
 tures of Champagne wines ; namely, that of watching 
 the spring fermentation, and bottling the wines in 
 this stage. 
 
 Air is necessary to fermentation, rather than essen- 
 tial. The operation does notecase in closed vessels, but 
 is retarded. Air is notabsorbed in the vinous fermenta- 
 tion ; although its oxygen is in the acetous. The wine 
 is stronger in close vessels, if the process is slower, be- 
 cause a portion of the alcohol escapes from the vats : 
 and this is now understood in our malt distilleries. 
 That alcohol is held in solution in the carbonic acid 
 which is generated ; and thus, it appears, to intoxi- 
 cate more rapidly ; as is well known in Champagne 
 wines. Under pressure, this compound is united to 
 the fluid ; and, being disengaged, produces the well 
 known effervescence. The practice of fermentation 
 is partly regulated by this consideration. The violent 
 stage of that process in wine-making is allowed to 
 take place in an open vat: the next is partially 
 checked by an occasional bung, and, in the last of 
 all, the vessel is completely closed. In strong still 
 wines, the whole process may be conducted in open 
 vessels : but, in light and brisk ones, it is absolutely 
 necessary that the last part should take place in 
 closed ones. Champagne wines are managed so as to 
 ferment even in their bottles. 
 
 The volume of the fermenting fluid has a consider- 
 able effect on the process ; a few days are sufficient 
 to complete it when the quantity is large. When 
 small, it is difficult to establish, and tedious in the 
 progress, and the results are also different: wines 
 of different qualities being thus produced from the 
 very same materials. It is the same in the ultimate 
 fermentation or ripening of wines. Champagne would 
 be destroyed in a large cask: porter, an extreme 
 case, is ripened in enormous masses, as are many of 
 the stronger wines. Bulk is peculiarly required for 
 the strong and sweet wines; Champagne may be made 
 in a gallon measure. 
 
 The first appearance is the production of air Phenomena 
 bubbles, terminating at length in a general ebullition. o/Fe™entR- 
 The liquor then becomes turbid, a variety of solid 
 matters are disengaged, some falling to the bottom, 
 and others rising to the top of the fluid. The leaven, 
 before mentioned, is thus separated among other 
 mattei's, while the bulk of the fluid is materially in- 
 creased. It is in this stage that we have the power 
 of regulating the extent of the fermentation ; by 
 separating the floating leaven, or allowing it to re- 
 turn into the liquor. Hence, the process of ferment- 
 ing in a full cask, ejecting that substance by the bung- 
 hole. 
 
 The disengaged gas is carbonic acid chiefly : but 
 holding, as first remarked, some alcohol in solution. 
 It appears, by analysis, that this is the produce of 
 part of the carbon of the sugar and of its oxygen ; 
 and this is the great change which leads to the pro- 
 duction of the alcohol. But it also contains some 
 obscure vegetable matter in suspension ; because, if 
 passed through water, it not only converts it into 
 vinegar, but deposits that mucilage, which, in vine- 
 gar, is called the mother. It is possible, however, 
 that this may itself be a new compound : and it is 
 
SOS 
 
 W I N E-M A K I N G. 
 
 Maldii'r 
 
 one which, In certain cases, contains azote. That 
 substance, which exists in yeast, has also been found 
 in the disengaged gas, partly, it is said, in the form 
 of ammonia: and hence, possibly a nauseous ammo- 
 niacal taste, well known in bad wines, and very re- 
 markable in those of the Cape of Good Hope. 
 
 The generation of heat is one of the most remark- 
 able phenomena in fermentation, and it bears a pro- 
 portion to the bulk of the fluid. It is sometimes so 
 great as to render it necessary to reduce it by art; 
 its cause is obscure. The colour of wines is also 
 produced during the fermentation ; the red appears to 
 be a substance analogous to resin, soluble in alcohol ; 
 and thus its production is accounted for. Hence, 
 white wines may be made from red grapes, by ex- 
 cluding the husks ; hence also, red wines are often 
 astringent ; because the tannin also lies in the husk. 
 Thus also, in Champagne wines, the red are gene- 
 rally inferior ; because, the species of fermentation 
 required to extract the colour dissipates part of the 
 flavour. 
 
 The formation of alcohol is the last, and the essen- 
 tial phenomenon ; and it is now plain, how this must 
 depend on the quantity of sugar, on the goodness 
 of the fruit, on the due apportioning of the leaven, 
 and on the management of the process. 
 
 Thus, when all the necessary circumstances are 
 present, the process goes on till the produce is pure 
 wine, or a compound of alcohol, water, acid, colour, 
 vegetable extract, and sugar. For although the two 
 latter are said to be destroyed, there is almost al- 
 ways a minute portion of both remaining ; the for- 
 mer rendered very sensible, in some wines, by the 
 skinny matter which they deposit on the sides of the 
 bottles. In a similar manner, it happens, that a por- 
 tion of sugar continues attached to the wine for a 
 long time, though it is not always sensible except to 
 a. fine taste. Thus, it is perceptible in Claret, and 
 even in Madeira, which are among the driest of our 
 wines. It is often very sensible in Port ; and, when 
 in excess, is commonly the mark of a bad wine. In 
 the first stages of the fermentation, the sugar is 
 never thoroughly decomposed. If that were the case, 
 indeed, the process would stop, or it would proceed 
 to vinegar. Farther fermentation, that slower species 
 which takes place in the casks, tends farther to di- 
 minish it ; but, still a portion remains, even when it 
 has been bottled. 
 
 It is the gradual conversion of this sugar, the 
 chief operation that goes on in bottled wines, 
 which is the cause of the change which these 
 undergo. This process often requires many years 
 for its completion : that is the case in the Clarets of 
 Chateau Margaux, r.nd other Bourdeaux wines ; and 
 the same process indeed takes place, to a greater or 
 less degree, in Madeira and the other strong wines. 
 In these cases, it is a cause of improvement; the 
 wine becoming more perfect under this last tedious 
 fermentation ; in others, however, it is mischievous : 
 and hence the destruction of many wines. Thus, 
 Champagne is destroyed, and often very quickly : 
 thus. Burgundy also is easily ruined ; ^nd thus, even 
 our Port is not a very durable wine, though the 
 destruction is here accelerated by the intermixture 
 .^)f brandy used in this particular manufacture. Age, 
 
 which thus meliorates one wine, destroys another, 
 independently of that loss of flavour which occurs in 
 some of the more delicate; though this also is the' 
 result of the slow fermentation under review. In the 
 sweet wines, the same process tends constantly to 
 diminish that sweetness : and hence, the comparative- 
 ly dry qualities of ancient Malmsey and of Paxaret 
 under the same circumstances. In this class of wines 
 also, the flavour is injured by the same process, or 
 by age : and hence, though age may confer merit as 
 well as honour on Malmsey and Malaga, and gene- 
 rally on the sweet Spanish and Greek wines which 
 have little flavour, by diminishing their luscious- 
 ness : it destroys or injures the highly perfumed 
 wines of Frontignan, which can scarcely be drunk 
 too new. 
 
 By the same considerations we can account for the 
 benefit which Madeira wines receive in a hot climate, 
 or in a hot cellar. The effect of the heat, and, in 
 the case of a sea voyage, united to the agitation, 
 whose action was considered before, is that of acce- 
 lerating the imperceptible fermentation, and thus 
 ripening the wine sooner than would have happened 
 in a low temperature and at rest. But it is a mistake 
 to imagine, that this is peculiar to Madeira, or that 
 it is the only wine which can be benefited by this 
 treatment. It is the same for all the Spanish wines, 
 for Sherry and for Port, and it is also true of the 
 better and safer wines of France, of those of Her- 
 mitage and the Bordelais. Claret becomes drink- 
 able in a mucli shorter time in a warm than in a cold' 
 cellar ; and that is equally true of many more of these 
 wines. But that which some will bear, others will not ; 
 and thus many of the wines of France, so far from ad- 
 mitting a high temperature, can scarcely be preserved 
 even in a low one. As to Port, it is a useful piece 
 of knowledge to be aware, that it may speedily be 
 rendered aged by heat. And in this case it deposits 
 its colour, and assumes the marks of old wine to the 
 eye as well as to the palate. One year will thus do 
 that for Port which might have required five or six; 
 but the period of its entire duration is consequently 
 shortened, as might be expected. The effect of heat 
 is indeed such in this case as is suspected by few. 
 In America it is a well known practice to boil Ma- 
 deira, or to heat it to (he boiling temperature, and 
 the effect is that of rendering it good and old wine, 
 when previously harsh and new. The same practice 
 is applicable to Port, If newly bottled wine be ex- 
 posed to the sun, it begins shortly to deposit, and 
 improves in flavour; and even the rawest wine of 
 this kind may, by heating it in hot water, be caused, 
 in the course of a day, to assume the quality which 
 it would have had after many years of keeping. It 
 is so far from being injurious, as might be imagined, 
 that it is a valuable secret; and, as we believe, one 
 that is but little known to those whose interest it is 
 to give the complexion of old wine to new, and who 
 generally effect this purpose in a fraudulent manner, 
 by putting it into foul and crusted bottles. 
 
 It is irapcitant, in another view, to consider the 
 effects which follow from a portion of undecomposed 
 sugar remaining in wine. It is supposed to be a 
 means and a test of the security of wine ; and the 
 French chemists assert, that as long as any portion 
 4 
 
W I N E - M A K I N G. 
 
 809 
 
 remains undecomposed, such wine cannot run into 
 the acetous fermentation. This appears true only in a 
 Umited sense. In Hock, it would seem as if every 
 atom of sugar had vanished, and yet the durability of 
 that wine appears to be endless. If that is not abso- 
 lutely the case in Claret and Madeira, still these are 
 very durable wines ; the most so, after Hock, at least 
 of the dry class. None of these, when of a good qua- 
 lity, ever run into the acetous fermentation. Perhaps 
 this may depend on some peculiar balance of princi- 
 ples which chemistry has not yet found the means of 
 discovering. For, in other cases, it is certain that 
 the chemists in question are under an error; and that 
 the acetous fermentation will come on, though sugar 
 should still be present. This happens in many of 
 the French wines of the lighter kinds. If, in the 
 S7/eet wines from the grape, that effect does not take 
 place, it is very certain that- it happens in the wines 
 made in this country in imitation of them from va- 
 rious substances. In these cases, even sweet wines 
 are found to be occasionally pricked, as the techni- 
 cal term is, or vinegar and sugar are coexistent in 
 the fluid 'at the same time. Nor are even all the 
 foreign sweet wines of the grape exempt from this 
 disease ; as must be well known to those who have an 
 extensive knowledge of wines, or of the wine mar- 
 ket. 
 
 There is reason to believe that the cause of this 
 must be sought as a circumstance which these che- 
 niists seem to have overlooked. If the balance of 
 principles in a sweet wine has been perfect, and the 
 process of fermentation has also been complete, and 
 if, in addition to this, these wines have been so care- 
 fully racked and fined, that no lee or leaven re- 
 mains in them, they may be safe, because there is 
 nothing left in them to re-excite a fermentation, or 
 to bring on the acetous stage. But if that is not the 
 case, if any impurity, any leaven in any form re- 
 main, the sweetness offers no security against the 
 change into vinegar, or at least against that partial 
 change which constitutes a pricked wine. The ace- 
 tous fermentation may commence and proceed as far 
 as the circumstances allow ; and thus vinegar and 
 sweet wine may exist together in the fluid. The na- 
 ture of the acetous fermentation is indeed very ill 
 understood ; as little as that of the vinous ; and we 
 are at present incompetent to reason much about it. 
 It is a common opinion that it must be preceded by 
 the vinous; yet this does not appear to be true. 
 Certain mixtures of sugar, leaven, and water, will 
 immediately tend to vinegar, without our being able 
 to detect a previous vinous stage ; and this seems al- 
 ways the case when the solution is very weak, or the 
 water in large quantity, provided, of course, there be 
 access of air. It is indeed unquestionable, that in 
 the common process of making vinegar, the acetous 
 fermentation is going on in a saccharine fluid ; so that 
 the mixed taste of vinegar and sugar is perceptible 
 until that process is completed. Vinegar can also 
 be produced by passing alcoholized carbonic acid 
 through water, another obscure operation ; and in 
 the human stomach it is produced in a very few mi- 
 nutes, when we can scarcely imagine that any pre- 
 vious vinous stage can have taken place. 
 
 When all the favourable circumstances above stat- 
 
 ed are present, the fermentation begins and passes 
 through its regular stages till there is produced 
 wine, perfect and dry, if the sugar has been tho- 
 roughly and accurately proportioned to the other in- 
 gredients ; sweet, if it has been in excess ; and acid, 
 as in Hock, when this substance has been in undue 
 proportion to the other ingredients, The unfavour- 
 able circumstances must be sought in the tempera- 
 ture, or in the quality of the fluid. The juice of the 
 grape rarely labours under any defect but the want 
 of sugar, arising from a bad variety of this fruit, from 
 a bad season, or from imperfect ripening. In the 
 latter case, however, there may be added to defect 
 of sugar or excess of water, an excess of acid and an 
 excess of extractive matter. 
 
 In -the wine countries the defect of sugar is reme- 
 died by different expedients. In some, sugar or honey 
 is added to the juice, or must ; in others, a portion 
 of the juice is evaporated and added to the rest; and, 
 sometimes, all the juice is boiled before it is sub- 
 mitted to fermentation. These seem to have been 
 the vina coda of the ancients, which, from other cir- 
 cumstances, we know to have been thick and sweet 
 wines, requiring dilution. They could not have been 
 boiled to any consistence after they had become 
 wine, without losing all their properties ; and as to 
 wines that were to be cut by a knife, it is plain that 
 we must have misapprehended the meaning of the 
 term vinum in this case, as no wine could exist un- 
 der such a form. To gain the same ends, it is a 
 practice in many countries to dry the grapes par- 
 tially, by suffering them to remain on the vine ; but 
 this is chiefly resorted to for sweet wines, as in the 
 case of Cyprus, Tokay, Lipari, and others. The other 
 expedient for increasing the properties of sugar in the 
 juice is by plaster of Paris, or gypsum, notan uncommon 
 ingredient ; and this effect, as well as that of absorb- 
 ing and destroying superfluous acid, is also partially 
 attained by the use of lime. 
 
 The management of the fermentation, supposing 
 the fluid to be perfect, is regulated by the intended 
 nature of the wine. If sweet wine is desired, not 
 only must the proportion of the water be diminished 
 by one or other of the means above mentioned, if 
 necessary, but the proportion of extractive matter or 
 leaven must be reduced, to prevent it from running 
 to the ultimate stage, and producing a dry and 
 strong wine. In this case, the j'east is separated as 
 fast as it rises by mechanical means ; as by ferment- 
 ing in full casks in such a manner that it may be 
 continuously ejected at the bung-hole as fast as it is 
 ' formed. Should the reverse be desired, or a dry 
 wine be the manufacturer's object, the yeast is suf- 
 fered to remain on the surface in the vat, that it may 
 be continually returned into the liquor by the inter- 
 •nal agitation, or else it is stirred, or rolled in a cask, 
 or in the vat, so as to protract the fermentation. 
 Lastly, If the wine is to be brisk, to retain carbonic 
 acid, as in the wines of Champagne, not only must 
 the proportions of water and leaven be increased, 
 but the fermentation must be conducted in vessels 
 partially closed, and these also must be fully closed 
 before the fermentation is completed. The manage- 
 ment of the temperature is easily deduced from the 
 principles already laid down. A deficiency of heat is 
 
 Wi-ie- 
 
810 
 
 WI NE-M A K I NG. 
 
 Wine- easily remedied by artificial means, by a fire, or by 
 Making, exposure to the sun ; and this is sometimes done by 
 •V"^* heating a portion of the fluid, and then mixing it 
 with the mass. An equal temperature in the vat is 
 also procured by agitation, and when it is necessary 
 carefully to maintain a mean heat, this is frequently 
 done in the wine countries, by surrounding it with 
 straw or other bad conductors, or by other obvious 
 artifices. 
 
 On apparently minute attentions of this nature, 
 far more depends than would, on a superficial view, 
 be imagined ; and the great superiority of the wines 
 of France above those of Spain, Italy, and Greece, 
 depend often much more on delicacies of this nature 
 than on any diiference in the quality of the grape. 
 In wine-making, indeed, more seems to depend on 
 art often than on nature ; and it is both to the praise 
 and advantage of the French, that, by these minute 
 attentions, they have contrived to excel all Europe 
 in this art. Italy, Spain, and Greece, with better 
 climates, and every natural advantage, are thus the 
 manufacturers of a thousand detestable wines, which, 
 in the hands of Frenchmen, might rival the produce 
 of that country. The recent improvements made 
 in the Sicilian wines in new hands, are a proof how 
 much depends on these attentions ; and those who 
 have drank the nauseous, putrid, acid, and disgusting 
 common wines of Italy and Spain, where nothing is 
 wanting but management and care, will know how 
 to appretiate the value of these. 
 
 In conducting the fermentation, some other con- 
 siderations are necessary, on which some remarks 
 are also required. The first of these is the flavour. 
 That evanescent and delicate property, the bouquet, 
 as it is called, depends on attentions no less minute. 
 The flavour is very apt to be dissipated by a violent 
 or a long fermentation, or by an open one ; and 
 hence, for the finer wines, great care is required 
 through every stage of that process. It is the same 
 for the brisker wines ; as, if this be neglected, this 
 volatile substance, on which their peculiar property 
 depends, may be irrecoverably dissipated. A con- 
 sideration of the general divisions of the quality of 
 wines will render these remarks more intelligible. 
 
 They may be divided into four classes : the sweet 
 and strong ; the dry and strong ; the delicate and 
 light, which are generally weak compared to the 
 former ; and the effervescent or brisk. Malmsey, 
 Tokay, Frontignan, are examples of the first, and 
 the second are peculiarly familiar to England. Her- 
 mitage holds an intermediate rank, as does Claret, 
 between these and the third class ; of which the 
 lighter Burgundy wines, the white wines of Greece, 
 and those of the Rhine and the Moselle, may be con- 
 sidered pure examples ; and, of the last, Champagne 
 is almost the only one that deserves to be named. 
 
 If, therefore, the intention is to make either a 
 strong sweet wine or a strong dry one, the fermenta- 
 tion is commenced in an open vat. But, in the 
 former case, it is not sufiered to remain there long, 
 as it is in the latter. For the driest wines, or for 
 those which are manufactured for distillation, the 
 fermentation is allowed to expend itself in the vat, 
 and the wine is not tunned till it is made ; the com- 
 pletion of the process merely, or the final solar fer- 
 
 mentation, being reserved for the cask. In the sweet Wine- 
 wines, on the contrary, it is soon removed from the j^^kingJ 
 vat to the casks, that it may be more in the opera- ^^^"''^ 
 tor's power to suspend the process, and thus to pre- 
 vent the annihilation, or total conversion, of the 
 saccharine matter. In the third class again, in the ! 
 highly flavoured wines, of which Burgundy may be j 
 selected as an example, the fluid is only suffered to I 
 remain a few hours in the vat j from six perhaps to 
 twenty, that period varying according to the state of 
 the temperature, the particular quality of the juice 
 as to goodness or strength, and the other views of 
 the manufacturer. This is done to prevent the dis- 
 sipation of the flavour, which would be injured if not 
 destroyed by an open fermentation. The same prac- 
 tice is followed for the wines of Champagne, though 
 there is here little flavour to preserve ; the purpose 
 being, in this case, to secure the power of checking 
 the fermentation by pressure, so as to retain the 
 wine in a low stage of this process, and thus to se- 
 cure a supply of mixed, or combined carbonic acid, 
 at the period of use or drinking. 
 
 There is nothing which more strongly distinguishes Further 
 the bad, or inferior wines of Spain and Italy from Precaution 
 those of France, even from those which, from their ^"j^^"""''" 
 cheapness, must be considered as belonging to the 
 same class, than the various disgusting flavours which 
 they commonly present. Wines may have bad qua- 
 lities from other causes, — from the nature of the soil 
 or the grape ; but there is far less difference in this 
 fruit in different countries than there is in the care 
 bestowed on the manufacture. To use a short and 
 intelligible term, it is Jilth which is the cause of the 
 bad quality of these wines; filth and neglect in every 
 stage of the process, from the gathering to the press- 
 ing, the fermentation and the tunning. In the fermen- 
 tation, no precaution too great can be used to have all 
 the vessels clean and entirely free from every odour. 
 There is no substance more delicate than wine, nor 
 any one which is so easily contaminated and destroy- 
 ed by bad flavours, even in the minutest quantity. 
 
 The same rules apply to the casks as the vats. 
 New casks communicate the well known flavjour 
 of oak, often found in wines, and that, fortunately, 
 is so agreeable a one, that it is often given designed- 
 ly by means of oak shavings. But in the finer wines, 
 where it would be injurious, it is extracted from the 
 wood by washing, and by hot water and by salt. 
 The more destructive evil of musty vats or casks, so 
 often a cause of the nauseous flavour of the common 
 wines above mentioned, is remedied by scraping, by 
 washing with boiling water, and, most effectually, 
 by firing or charring the insides ; while staves which 
 are injured deeply are replaced by new ones. Hot 
 lime and water are also used for the same purposes. 
 
 Another precaution is that of removing all the in- 
 soluble matter, of whatever nature, during every 
 stage of the process ; and from this neglect it is also 
 that the great mass of bad wines is produced in those 
 countries where this art is neglected. Thus the 
 seeds are always to be removed as fast as they rise 
 to the surface, as they both render the wine harsh 
 and communicate a bad flavour. The same is done 
 with the husks when they have performed their duty 
 in giving out their colour. It is most peculiarly ne- 
 
WIN E-M AEING. 
 
 811 
 
 cessary to be watchful over these, lest they should 
 become moulded or musty ; whence often arises that 
 ^ taste which resembles that of what is called corked 
 wine ; a disease also arising from a bad cask, and 
 often attributed wrongfully to careless bottling. In 
 the finer wines, a single musty seed or husk will ruin 
 a whole tun. In transferring the wine from the vat 
 to the cask, or from one cask to another, whether 
 by drawing off or pumping, care must be taken not 
 to disturb the sediment ; and more especially still, to 
 separate any of the scum which may be on the sur- 
 face, as this is always in danger of becoming musty, 
 more particularly where it is most injurious, that is 
 in the lighter and finer wines. 
 
 When the quantity of the fermented fluid is con- 
 siderable, the remaining wine, which adheres to the 
 solid matter, is separated by the press, and made in- 
 to wine of an inferior quality, either for use or dis- 
 tillation. That refuse is also subjected to distillation 
 with water, in some cases ; sometimes, by means of 
 water, it is converted into vinegar, or used for the 
 manufacture of white-lead or of verdegris ; or, lastly, 
 formed into cakes with the other refuse of the first 
 pressing of the grapes, and used for feeding cattle. 
 
 If, after the wine is made and tunned, it were suf- 
 fered to go on fermenting, it would, in many cases, 
 be destroyed. This, it has already been seen, does 
 not easily happen in the sweet wines, where a large 
 portion of the saccharine matter remains unchanged, 
 though even these are not absolutely exempt. Nor 
 does it very easily happen in the stronger dry wines. 
 Yet it does happen to all, and is almost inevitable in 
 the light still wines, and in the brisk ones, whatever 
 the strength or sweetness of the latter may be. Cham- 
 pagne would quickly become vapid, Burgundy would 
 become stale and sour, and Claret would become vine- 
 gar. For though the natural progress is supposed to be 
 from the vinous to the acetous stage of fermentation, 
 there are phenomena in practice which show us that 
 we are yet imperfectly acquainted with the exact 
 nature and varieties of fermentation. Champagne, 
 for example, becomes mucilaginous and flat ; while, 
 though Burgundy becomes acid, it is scarcely possi- 
 ble to make it pass to the exact state of vinegar. 
 
 Yet the tendency to the acetous stage must be 
 considered as general, — for want of a better expres- 
 sion; and, on this view, the management after the 
 great fermentation is regulated. If it is suspected 
 that even intended sweet wine has been over wrought, 
 boiled must or sugar is added to it ; and thus, in 
 the tedious fermentation of the cask, it is secured or 
 restored. But it must be remarked, that if the ace- 
 tous stage should have commenced, that addition 
 would only serve to accelerate and determine it. 
 The remainder of the general management consists 
 in regulating the fermentation of the cask by the ge- 
 neral principles before laid down ; that is, if the 
 wine is incompleted, it is not suffered to rise to the 
 bung-hole, so that the new leaven, which is disen- 
 gaged, may fall back again and protract the fermen- 
 tation ; while this is also aided by heat, by stirring 
 up the lees, and by agitation. If the reverse be the 
 case, and that it is necessary to check the secondary 
 fermentation, then a cool temperature and rest are 
 adopted ; while, as fast as the wine wastes, it is kept 
 
 "Wine- 
 Making. 
 
 close to the bung by fresh additions, that so the 
 
 disengaged leaven may escape. Some of the other 
 
 requisites to the completion of wine will fall better "* ''"^^ 
 into another section of this little essay ; but the pro- 
 cess of sulphuring belongs to the second stage of 
 management, as well as to the final operations of the 
 manufacture. 
 
 However vulgar and mechanical the process of Fining, Sul- 
 sulphuring may appear, it is a refined chemical ope- E!^"'!."?' 
 ration, the practice of which was long known before \v^"eJ,^°^ 
 the theory, however discovered ; and the theory of 
 which, in a scientific and rigid view, is not very well 
 understood even now. It has been already shown, 
 that the process of fermentation has a perpetual 
 tendency to continue as long as all the requisites are 
 present, and, more particularly, as long as there is 
 present that peculiar and obscure substance, the ex- 
 tractive matter, or leaven, on which it mainly de- 
 pends. If, also, this substance has been entirely se- 
 parated in the two forms of yeast and lee, the pro- 
 cess terminates naturally ; the produce being dry or 
 sweet, according to other circumstances now under- 
 stood. But if any portion of leaven remains in the 
 liquor, then the acetous, or some similar stage, may 
 come on, and the wine will be destroyed. 
 
 The processes of racking and mechanical separa- 
 tion just described, are all intended to separate this 
 matter : and whenever the wine remains turbid, 
 it is always in danger, because the fermentation 
 may at any time be renewed. But often these ope- 
 rations are insufficient to disengage all the leaven 
 or lee ; as much of it not only continues mixed, so as 
 to produce the turbid state, but the extractive mat- 
 ter itself, which has not been brought to this insolu- 
 ble form, remains combined with the fluid. 
 
 The merely turbid state is remedied by the pro- 
 cess called fining, which precipitates all the insolu- 
 ble or disengaged lee and leaven that will neither 
 subside nor rise ; thus removing one part of the ha- 
 zard, besides communicating that brightness and 
 beauty which is demanded in all wines. That 
 brightness, therefore, is more than a beauty, since, 
 without it, there is no security, — at least in the finer 
 and lighter wines. Various substances are used for 
 this purpose, and the action of many of them is very 
 obscure. They are either chemical or mechanical. 
 The mechanical substances are sand and gypsum, 
 both of which have the property of precipitating the 
 insoluble matter ; while the latter also absorbs wa- 
 ter. Beechwood. chips are sometimes used for the 
 same purpose ; but the mode in which these act is 
 not known. But the matters chiefly in use are che- 
 mical ones, gluten and albumen. Of the latter, 
 eggs and milk are both used ; but the former are 
 preferred. Of gluten, isinglass alone is used; for, 
 from some causes hitherto undiscovered, the gluten 
 of terrestrial animals, or common glue, does not pro- 
 duce this effect to the same extent that it is ob- 
 tained by the glue of fishes. It is also usual to a- 
 dopt albumen for the white wines, and gluten for the 
 red ; as the former is found to precipitate much of 
 the colour from these last. The proportion used 
 is very small, an ounce of isinglass being sufficient 
 for a hundred gallons. To these chemical matters 
 we might have added starch, gum, rice, and blood, 
 
W I N E - M A K I N G. 
 
 81^ 
 
 Wine- but they 31*6 very little used. The action of the al- 
 Ajakir;^. 5m;iigi;, appears more mechanical than chemical; be- 
 ""^"^"V^ coming coagulated, and then entangling the dust, 
 if it may so be called, which is suspended in the 
 fluid, in the same manner as it would purify muddy 
 water. In the case of the gluten, however, a new 
 chemical combination is formed with the tannin of 
 the wine; and the produce is that well known sub- 
 stance resembling bird-lime, which is the basis of 
 leather. Hence, also, fining diminishes the astrin- 
 gency of red wines. 
 
 Presumifig that one of these substances has been 
 introduced, the fluid is strongly agitated and suffer- 
 ed to repose till clear, when it is again racked into a 
 fi-esh cask. It is found very important to select for 
 this purpose dry cold weather, and, as is particular- 
 ly remarked, north-east winds. From some myste- 
 rious cause, in close weather, and fogs, and souther- 
 ly winds, the precipitated matters rise again, and de- 
 feat the objects of the operation. The other pre- 
 cautions are those of using a syphon instead of a 
 cock, as affording greater security ; or, what is now 
 used in all the best French manufactories, blowing 
 off. This is performed by a condensing engine, as 
 in the drawing of porter, and thus access of air is 
 prevented. This is very important where fine fla- 
 voured wines are concerned, as it is in brisk wines ; 
 because the carbonic acid which would thus be lost, 
 carrying away also a porti-on of the alcohol or strengtli 
 of tha wine, is thus preserved. 
 
 5iit the leaven held in solution cannot be separat- 
 ed in this mariner ; and for that purpose recourse is 
 had to the process of sulphuring. The most com- 
 mon and the simplest practice in this case, is to fill 
 the proposed cask into which the wine is to be rack- 
 ed, with sulphurous gas, by burning matches in it 
 till full. The wine, being then introduced, becomes 
 turbid, and, after the necessary time, it is found as 
 before. Should the fermentation still be renewed or 
 dreaded, this operation is repeated as often as it may 
 be necessary. If, as in the case of some of the Bour- 
 deaux wines, the quantity of leaven in the wine is so 
 great, that it cannot be overcome in this manner, 
 the combustion of the sulphur within the cask is re- 
 peated at intervals during the process of filling it. 
 But it is also a practice in that country to impreg- 
 nate with sulphurous acid a quantity of wme, and 
 this substance or mixed fluid, called Muet, is reserved 
 for adding to those which may require it ; by which 
 means the efiicacy of the operation is better en- 
 sured. 
 
 The theory of this practice seems, to a certain ex- 
 tent, simple. The sulphurous acid, or possibly its 
 oxygen, unites to the extractive matter, or the solu- 
 ble leaven, and renders it insoluble, as happens in 
 the act of fermentation itself ; and thus it becomes 
 capable of being separated by the mechanical pro- 
 cesses of racking and fining. It is for this reason 
 also, that sulphuring is largely used for the sweet 
 wines, to ensure their preservation in that state. It 
 has been said that manganese, and other substances, 
 containing much oxygen, will produce the same ef- 
 fect ; but the cheapness and simplicity of the com- 
 mon process renders other expedients unnecessary. 
 
 Supposing wines of any class tb have thus been wine- 
 obtained, there is yet much more to be done before ^l^^^'"? 
 they become the wines which we know in our mar-^^J*^ 'T 
 ket. The processes in use for this end, to make tj,"; p^.^" 
 marketable wines, are badly distinguished by the cesses in" 
 term medication, as they are of various natures. }Vine-Mi 
 There is a great deal of wine, indeed, which can^"^- 
 scarcely be considered as strictly natural; though 
 it is a common prejudice that all wines are so, ex- 
 cept when fraudulently mended, or altered, or mix- 
 ed. It is difiicult, indeed, to draw the line between 
 what may bs considered fraud and what is legiti- 
 mate ; and certainly by those who expect that ail 
 wine is to be what it is commonly thought, the mere 
 produce of the grape, and of one process on one 
 grape, every subsequent process may be esteemed a 
 fraud. ^ We must here limit ourselves to some of the 
 most important and remarkable operations, as the . 
 whole would run into a yery long detail. 
 
 The simplest process is that of mixing different 
 wines together, whether of the same quality or coun- 
 try, or of different ones. In either case, this prac- 
 tice may sometimes be considered fraudulent, and, 
 in the latter, especially so. But, in a degree, it is 
 inseparable from the nature of the manufacture, and 
 the mode in which it is conducted. The larger 
 makers, or the capitalist on the spot, buying in small 
 lots from the petty manufacturers, is obliged to a- 
 dopt this practice, partly to ensure a certain quality, 
 and partly for the purpose of remedying those that 
 are defective, by the addition of better ones. He 
 must often also have recourse to the same expedient, 
 and for the same reasons, when he is himself the 
 manufacturer. 
 
 The mode of performing this operation, which re- 
 quires great experience and judgment, is to select, 
 first, that period of the year in which the wines 
 show a disposition to renew their fermentation, which 
 is in the spring. They are then said, in English, to 
 bear the Jr-et ; and hence the operation is called 
 fretting-in. It is only thus that a new and fine wine 
 can be produced. The operation of mixing differ- 
 ent wines, in all cases, disturbs both, so that they 
 become foul. They also tend to ferment again, till 
 a new balance of all their principles is produced ; 
 and thus it is expedient to accelerate and determine 
 this fermentation, so as to form a proper compound, 
 without which the new wine would be perishable. 
 After this, also, it becomes necessary once more to 
 have recourse to sulphuring, fining, and racking ; 
 and not till all this has been gone through is the 
 wine completed. In the Bourdeaux practice of mix- 
 ing Clarets, the Muet or sulphured wine is sometimes 
 added at the same time, where the wines, being of 
 very discordant qualities, a dangerous fermentation 
 might be excited. 
 
 In the wine countries, it is usual to cultivate par- 
 ticular grapes or wines, rough, or coloured, or as- 
 tringent, or high flavoured, for the mere purpose of 
 mixing with others ; so far is this art from being so 
 simple as is commonly imagined. In many also it is 
 a practice to import the wines of one country to mix 
 with those of another, and thus to suit the ta^te of 
 purchasers, or obiaiq other ends. This practice is 
 
WINE-MAKING. 
 
 813 
 
 'ine- pursued even by the importers into Britain ; and, as 
 aking. need not say, opens a door to endless frauds, 
 while it may also be innocent. Thus, in this coun- 
 try, as well as in Portugal, the wines of Spain, Ali- 
 cant, Barcelona, and so forth, are mixed with Port 
 wines ; as are the cheaper Clarets of the south of 
 France, and some other of the strong flavoured wines 
 of that country. In a similar manner, the wines of 
 Fayal and the Canaries are manufactured into Ma- 
 deira, as are those of Sicily ; and thus, too, Sherry is 
 largely compounded out of many of the wines of 
 Spain and Portugal, and of the islands of the Afri- 
 can coast. 
 
 But the most extensive operations of this nature 
 are carried on at Bourdeaux with the wines which we 
 call Claret ; not one-thousandth part of which are of 
 a good quality, or unmixed in some way, and the one- 
 ,half of some of which, perhaps, are not French but 
 Spanish wine. The following statement, while it is 
 curious in itself, will illustrate this. In the year 
 1814, the total quantity of the Clarets, or Bourdeaux 
 of the first class, was as follows : — 
 
 Tons. 
 
 Chateau Margaux - 80 
 
 Latour - - - 70 
 
 Chateau Lafite - - 80 
 
 In the second class it was thus : 
 
 Tons. 
 
 Margaux de Madame Derauzan - 60 
 
 M. Chevalier - - 25 
 
 M. Monterison - 25 
 
 M. Montalambert - 25 
 
 St Juliam Leoville - - 80 
 
 Lanoze - - 70 
 
 Pauillac M. Depichon - - 60 
 
 Brame Mouton 80 
 
 We canniOt afford room for the remainder of this 
 statement, ciomprising the produce of the fourth and 
 the fifth quialities ; but it is plain, that very few of 
 those persons who imagine that they are drinking 
 the first gr(0wth of Bourdeaux wines, can even be 
 drinking the second. 
 
 The first growth of Claret, it is thus seen, amounts 
 only to 230 tons for an average ; and that, even df 
 the second, is only 425 : a fraction, indeed, in the 
 consumption of Europe. But, in the third class, of 
 which we cannot afford to give the details, there are 
 1061 tons, and in the fourth, 825, making a general 
 total of 254 1 tons. Besides this, there are other in- 
 ferior wines which do not enter into the enumera- 
 tion; and iit is by mixing the greater number of 
 these in var ious proportions that the market is sup- 
 plied ; it beitng necessary to reserve many of the bet- 
 ter wines to» render the others saleable. 
 
 We must however remark, that, among the dis- 
 tricts which produce the inferior wines, such as those 
 of the Bas and the Petit Medoc, a few farms produce 
 small quantities, of a quality equal nearly to the good 
 St Julian or Lafite wines ; and these add to the bulk 
 of the better kinds, being generally I'eserved, and 
 sold at high prices. In the district Medoc, the 
 seat of the better wines already mentioned, there are 
 
 VOL. VI. PART II. 
 
 besides the third and fourth classes, six or eight Wine- 
 kinds of wine known by the names of Gros Bourgeois, Makings, 
 Petit Bourgeois, Artisan, and Paysan; and these are 
 manufactured, with others, for the English and Irish 
 markets chiefly, by means of Spanish wines, — by mix- 
 ing with the strong wines of Benecasto and Alicant. 
 The same is true of the Grave wines. 
 
 This is the great mixture, in fact, by which the 
 market is filled to almost any extent with Claret 
 wines, so called ; and these mixed wines are almost 
 the only ones we drink in this country. If that be a 
 fraud, it must be remembered also that such is Bri- 
 tish taste in wine ; and that Claret is in general es- 
 teemed here only in proportion to its strength. Of 
 the stronger and finer wines there is not enough for 
 even our consumption ; and, as we must have them 
 strong, they are thus made such by this process. 
 That effect is also obtained, however, by some of the 
 south of France wines also ; by those of Cote, which 
 are used for mixing with the weak Medoc and Grave 
 wines, for the British market. This is the case with 
 those of Queyries, such as Monferrant and Bassens ; 
 and those of Palu, such as Macaw, St Romain, Co- 
 dillac, St Andre, Lugon, and many more. 
 
 The French wines of which we have been speak- Mixture of 
 ing, will not endure to be rendered stronger by means ^^^^^^y- 
 of brandy. The property of this substance, thus 
 mixed, is to decompose the wine in process of time ; 
 causing the extractive matter or mucilage to be de- 
 posited, as well as the colour, as is daily seen in Port 
 wines, and thus diminishing their powers of duration. 
 At the same time, it destroys their lightness and fla- 
 vour ; that peculiar indefinable delicacy well known 
 to drinkers of good wine, but quite imperceptible to 
 British drinkers of Port. In a certain sense, we may 
 consider that it is only the bad wines which will bear 
 this medicine ; those which have no flavour of their 
 own, and whose whole merit already is their strength. 
 What sort of a compound is made of a weak wine 
 with brandy ought to be known to those who drink 
 what is called Lisbon wine. But a depraved taste 
 has rendered it necessary to our nation ; and thus it 
 is largely used, even in those wines of Portugal and 
 Spain, of which the chief fault is that of being too 
 strong already. We may thank the Methuen Treaty 
 for being condemned to drink what Mr Pinkerton 
 calls wine fit for hogs only. This mixture is per- 
 formed in the same manner, at the period of fretting ; 
 and the proportion is regulated, partly by the taste 
 of the consumers, and partly by the badness of the 
 wine. As it must have a certain strength, the worst 
 wines require most ; and hence, whenever we taste 
 the brandy in wine, we may be sure it is bad. It is 
 a taste sufficiently perceptible to those who know 
 what real wine is. 
 
 Many wines have so little flavour naturally, that Flavouiing 
 they can scarcely be considered to possess any. 
 There are few, indeed, that possess this quality in any 
 great degree ; and, of these flavours, a large propor- 
 tion is bad. Wines so highly perfumed by nature as 
 Hermitage and Burgundy, are rare ; indeed, thwe are 
 almost the only examples ; and, after them, we may 
 consider the finest Clarets, and then the finest of the 
 Rhine wines. The sweet wines which possess it are 
 well known ; and these also are but a small part of 
 5 L 
 
814 
 
 WINE- MAKING. 
 
 Wine- the total number in this class ; being almost limited 
 Making. Paxaret and the Muscat wines, among which Ri- 
 vesaltcs stands first. Constantia has rather a taste 
 than a flavour ; and what the ordinary sweet Spanish 
 wines possess is rather bad than good ; though, like 
 the taste of Sherry, and Porter, and Olives, they may 
 become agreeable by habit. 
 
 Excepting these cases, and a few among the 
 Italian wines, which we cannot afford room to detail, 
 many of the flavours found in wines are communicat- 
 ed by art ; and this forms part of the business of the 
 manufacturer and merchant. Much of this is a se- 
 cret, but some of the substances used for this pur- 
 pose are known. The taste of Greece is now, 
 as it was in ancient times, to perfume its wines with 
 turpentine — the vina plcata of the ancients ; and 
 this is effected by putting turpentine or rosin into 
 the casks. In Britain, our Chivalrous and Ba- 
 ronial ancestors perfumed their wines with every 
 strange ingredient that can be imagined; but that 
 was the age of spicery and perfumels ; and he who eat 
 cinnamon with his pork, might drink ambergrease 
 in his wine. 
 
 The flavour of Madeira is nothing ; but that which 
 we know is given by means of bitter almonds, and, 
 we believe, of sweet almonds also ; and the same 
 practice is followed for the wines of Saint Lucar. 
 That which is called the borrachio taste in wine is 
 for the most part that of the tar with which the 
 seams are secured. In Sherry, the flavour seems 
 produced by the destruction of the acid, the conse- 
 quence of the lime used, and possibly by some other 
 action of that substance on the fruit. One of the 
 . - most common ingredients used for flavouring wines 
 
 is oak chips ; and from this the wretched Lisbon 
 wines acquire the little taste they have. Orris root 
 is also a common ingredient : and the high flavoured 
 wine of Johannesberg is imitated by a proportion of 
 Tose water. The orris root gives a very agreeable 
 'flavour, and is used in France; and there, also, it is 
 the custom to use raspberries and other highly per- 
 fumed fruits. A very agreeable flavour is also said 
 to be produced by wormwood. The flowers of the 
 vine itself are also used for the same purpose, their 
 ^mell much resembling that of our mignonette. 
 This last is an ancient practice in Egypt. 
 
 The method of gaining this end requires some de- 
 licacy and attention. In particular, care is taken 
 that it be not overdone*. As the full fermentation 
 would destroy the more volatile flavours, these sub- 
 stances are only introduced towards its decline. In 
 Madeira the nut cake is put into the cask. Flowers 
 are suspended in a net or cloth, either in the fluid or 
 the vacant part of the cask, and thus a small quantity 
 of raspberries communicate a very considerable fla- 
 vour. 
 
 Coloimng of The colouring of wine is also part of the business 
 Wine. of the maker ; because colour is, in a good measure, 
 a matter of fashion and fancy. Some grapes contain 
 naturally very little colour, while that of the Claret 
 vine, and many of the grapes of Spain, are highly 
 charged with the colouring principle. We already 
 explained that the colour was contained exclusively 
 in the husk. These latter wines are often, there- 
 fore, selected and reserved for this particular pur- 
 
 pose ; and it is also a practice to use the dyeing woods, '^^ 'ii 
 logwood and Brazil wood, for obtaining the same ^^^^'^ 
 end. The elder berry, which is full of colour, is ^""^^^ 
 also resorted to ; and in Portugal it used to be ex- 
 tensively cultivated for the purpose of dyeing Port 
 wines. When white wines are thought too pale 
 for the market, they are coloured browner by 
 means of the well-known ingredient burnt sugar ; 1. 
 and the chips of oak also produce the same effect. 
 By some means also iron finds its way into some of * 
 the French wines, and thus, on exposure to air, they 
 become black. This unpleasant effect is not unusual 
 in the sweet wines from the south of France. 
 
 This property relates almost exclusively to theBrisktw 
 wines of Champagne, and it is one that may err in Wines, 
 excess or defect. It is already apparent, that it is the 
 produce of an unfinished fermentation, and, there- 
 fore, a due degree of it must depend mainly on the 
 proper management of this process. It is secured 
 by bottling at the proper season, March, and before 
 the fermentation is exhausted ; and, if in danger of 
 excess, it is restrained or diminished by racking, or 
 decanting, and sulphuring. But it happens not un- 
 frequently that it fails altogether ; either from acci- | 
 dent in ihje management, or a bad season ; from 
 faults in the fruit, or fermentation carried too far, 
 or a weak wine exhausting itself unexpectedly. In 
 this case the remedy is to introduce sugar, not only 
 into the casks but into the bottles. In the first case, 
 the fermentation is renewed, and the wine may thus 
 become legitimate and good. In the other, the ef- 
 fect is far different, and not good ; and hence it is 
 that all the very sweet Champagne wines are bad or in- 
 different. These are, in fact, a mixture of wine and 
 sugar, rather than proper wine. And, in this case, 
 the effect of the sugar is, not to produce a new fer- 
 mentation, but to disengage the carbonic acid of the 
 wine ; as a salt or any other soluble substance would 
 do, by a superior affinity. To gain this end, the so- 
 lid sugar is corked up in the bottle ; so that the dis- 
 engaged gas is retained under the pressure of the 
 cork, ready to fly out whenever that is removed. 
 Thus Champagne, which has been destroyed by age, 
 is rendered, at once, both sweet and effervescent ; 
 and this, however convenient a secret it may be to 
 the possessor, is but a fraud, and a very common one 
 too. 
 
 The acidity, or the pricked taste of wines, is aAciditj 
 fault which, perhaps, ought never to be corrected. Wines 
 as, in this case, the wine is generally spoiled. This 
 nevertheless is done, and sometimes to a considerable 
 extent. Acidity arising from tartarous acid, or even 
 from malic acid, if that really be the acid in wines 
 which is not tartarous, may be a virtue and a quality ; 
 as it is very remarkably in Hock. But it is often 
 thought otherwise, even when it is the natural pro- 
 perty of the wine, arising from its own native acid, 
 and after a correct fermentation. In this case, 
 means are applied to remedy it, as a disease iti the 
 wine. In the manufacture of Sherry, it was already re- 
 marked, that lime was used to prevent it, and this is 
 also applied in other cases, where tartar is in ex- 
 cess, as the tartrite of lime is insoluble, and can be 
 fined down and separated by racking. It has been 
 the fashion to use lead, metallic lead, for this pur- 
 10 
 
WINE-MAKING. 
 
 ig and 
 •rage of 
 es. 
 
 pose; and, in France, it -was formerly used largely 
 in the wines consumed in Paris. It was then disco- 
 vered, and the act made penal ; and, if not abandon- 
 ed entirely, it is less used at present every where. 
 That this is a poisonous substance is too well known. 
 But that has been overrated in this particular case. 
 The tartrite of lead, like that of lime, is insoluble ; 
 RO that, after the lead had done its duty, it was dis- 
 charged by racking and fining. Had this not been 
 the case, all Paris, at the time we speak of, must 
 have been poisoned. Yet it is a substance that 
 ought not to be used; because, in an acid wine, as- 
 cescent from fermentation, it might produce either 
 white lead, or subcarbonate of lead, or else sugar of 
 lead, acetite ; both of them poisons, if in different 
 degrees. 
 
 For the acidity of wine from the commencement 
 of the acetous fermentation, there is no proper reme- 
 dy. It may be checked, if taken in time, as it 
 would be prevented, by careful sulphuring. Here 
 lead is highly pernicious; and it need scarcely be 
 said, that to add sugar of lead, as has been done 
 from ignorance and fraud united, is to add a poison 
 without even obtaining a remedy. Chalk and lime 
 may be used with impunity. ' Yet neither can these, 
 and tar less alkalies, be used to such an extent as to 
 cure the disease ; as they unite to the other acids, 
 and also decompose and destroy the wine. To pre- 
 vent it as far as possible, when commenced, a low 
 temperature, and careful exclusion from the air, are 
 necessary. But it must be remembered that air will 
 find access, not merely through cork, but through 
 sealing-wax, and, indeed, through all rosins also; 
 and thus there can be no complete security; the 
 best being that of placing the bottles on their sides, 
 so that the fluid itself becomes its own cork. The 
 Italian practice of using oil is thus far safer ; but it 
 is balanced by its various inconveniences. 
 
 Ropiness is a disease almost peculiar to the wines of 
 Champagne, and its chemistry is very obscure. It" 
 is not a destruction of the wine, although it mate- 
 rially injures its flavour and other qualities. It oc- 
 curs in this wine, from the quantity of extractive 
 matter which it still contains, and which is that by 
 which the fermentation is maintained. It is conceiv- 
 ed to arise from the action of oxygen on this sufa« 
 stance, converting it into a matter analogous to fi- 
 brine, instead of changing the whole into vinegar. 
 Thus it resembles the mucilaginous deposit of vine- 
 gar called the mother. In the bottles, it may be 
 often cured merely by heat ; by exposure to the sun. 
 or by immersion in hot water. When obstinate, it 
 is remedied by uncasking, and by agitation ; by ex- 
 posing the fluid to the air. It is said also to be re- 
 moved by a small quantity of any vegetable acid, as 
 it also is by sugar; but when on a large scale, it re- 
 quires the process of fining. 
 
 It is held essential by the French, who are our 
 chief teachers in every thing that relates to wine, 
 that a wine cellar should not only be dry, but pre- 
 served in a very uniform state of temperature, as near 
 to the mean annual heat of the cotmtry as possible. 
 We have already shown, however, when this rule 
 may be usefully departed from, for the purpose of 
 accelerating the ripening of wines. In the delicate 
 
 815 
 
 wines of that country, however, the rule still holds Wine. % 
 good ; and very conspicuously too with regard to the flaking, 
 wines of Burgundy and Champagne. It is equally '■^V'^ 
 true of the finer and lighter Italian wines. The 
 wines of Spain and Portugal seem to defy every 
 thing. It is also held by the French most essential, 
 that a cellar should not be subject to the agitation of 
 carriages ; the reason of which is plain enough ; and 
 that it should be free of bad smells. As to moisture, 
 however, we must remark,, that, like heat, it seems to 
 accelerate the deposition and consequent ripening 
 of Port wines. On bottling, we need say nothing ; 
 only let it be remembered that corks cannot be too 
 good, but that no precaution will absolutely prevent 
 all communication through a cork, however secured 
 and sealed. 
 
 The rules which we have thus given are all of a Making of 
 general nature ; and though some of the particular particular 
 distinctions in the modes of making the several clas- Wines, 
 ses of wine might be understood from them, there 
 are yet a few niceties to be explained ; while an ex- 
 ample from each of the four classes into which we 
 divided wines, will render the subject more intelligible. 
 
 The attentions required in Champagne wines are champagne 
 perhaps the most minute, and the most complicated. Wines, 
 and they therefore stand most in need of being de- 
 tailed. Champagne is a late country, and it fre- 
 quently happens that the frosts have arrived before 
 the grapes are ripe. Of course, it is an imperfect 
 vintage. Yet, in a certain sense, this is an advan- 
 tage ; while it has also condemned that country, in a 
 great measure, to limit itself to this particular class 
 of wine. A very brisk wine is not easily secured 
 from grapes absolutely ripe ; and thus the half-ripen- 
 ed fruit of this district is brought into use. Yet 
 the best of these wines, the finest class of Sillery, 
 rarely seen in this country, is made from the ripened 
 grapes. And hence it is, that the best of the Cham- 
 pagne wines are those which are least brisk or 
 violent, and that great violence is a characteristic of 
 the inferior kinds. When there is violence and 
 sweetness both, we may easily conjecture what the 
 wine is ; and in those, as might be expected, there 
 is no flavour. 
 
 The finest wine is thus produce^here by a very 
 light pressure of the grapes ; in which case only the 
 ripest give out their juice. 
 
 It is held necessary to gather them when the mora-, 
 ing dew is off, to prevent water being added to the 
 juice. The next pressure, and the least ripe grapes, 
 are reserved for the inferior classes. When the juice 
 is poured into the vat, it remains one night only, the 
 seeds being carefully separated. In all cases also, 
 the greatest care is taken to separate damaged grapes 
 or rotten ones; and it is as much from this neglect 
 as any thing, that the common Italian wines are so 
 bad. If the Champagne is to be red, the fermenta- 
 tion is suffered to proceed on the husks a little long- 
 er, for the purpose of extracting the colour ; and 
 according to the length of this process, we have the 
 oeil de perdrix, and the pink and red wines. But as 
 we remarked before, this injures the flavour, as all 
 good judges of Champagne know. 
 
 When the liquor is transferred to the cask, the 
 discharge of yeast at the bung-hole is encouraged for 
 
816 
 
 Wine- 
 Making. 
 
 WINE-MAKING. 
 
 Burgundy 
 and Bour- 
 deaux 
 Wines. 
 
 Italian 
 Wines. 
 
 Sweet 
 Wines. 
 
 ten or twelve days ; and when the fermentation has 
 become moderate, the bung is put down, and a 
 ' hole is made by its side. This hole is occasionally 
 opened to give vent to the air, for a space of eight 
 or ten days ; when no more air is discharged, fresh 
 wine is introduced, so as to keep the cask constantly 
 full to the bung-hole. This operation is continued 
 when necessary, till the end of December, when the 
 wine generally becomes clear. It is then racked m- 
 to a fresh cask, and fined. After this, it begins to 
 ferment again, losing a portion of its sweetness, and 
 improving in quality. If too sweet, it is not decant- 
 ed and fined till the fermentation has been renewed 
 by agitation. As the fineness of this wine is one of its 
 essential qualities, and one difficult to obtain, on ac- 
 count of its perpetual fermentation, it is racked and 
 fined a second time, and thus it remains till March. 
 In March it is bottled ; yet still it ferments, though 
 corked, and again it begins to deposit. In the best 
 wines, it thus remains from fifteen to eighteen months 
 in the cellar, when it is bottled over again, and is 
 then marketable. The inferior kinds are seldom bot- 
 tled twice ; but an expedient is used instead, to get 
 rid of the sediment. For this purpose, the bottles 
 are ranged in frames with their necks downwards ; 
 and when the sediment has been collected in the 
 neck, the cork is dexterously drawn, and again repla- 
 ced, after which the bottles are filled and completed 
 for the market. There are varieties also in this ge- 
 neral process, such as that of suffering the wine to 
 remain in the cask for a year or more on its lees ; but 
 we need not enter into these collateral details. 
 
 There is little difference in the practice of Burgun- 
 dy, except what refers to the retention of the carbo- 
 nic acid. All else is the same ; but great care is 
 taken to clear these wines of their lees, as, from their 
 extreme delicacy, they would soon lose their flavour, 
 and also become sour. In the practice of Bourdeaux 
 also, the first stages of the process are the same, ex- 
 cepting in as far as a longer fermentation in the 
 husks is used to extract the colour from the red 
 wines. But there is a difference as to the process 
 of sulphuring, which is largely used in these, in the 
 manner as already described. The red wines of 
 Bourdeaux are^acked about the end of March or 
 the beginning of April, but the white in December ; 
 and in all these wines, great care is taken in all those 
 circumstances which relate to cleanliness, however 
 rude the people, and the operations may appear on a 
 superficial view. 
 
 In the drier Italian wines, the must is allowed to 
 ferment completely in the vat. In some vineyards, 
 a quantity of selected and half-dried grapes is thrown 
 into each tun when the wine is finished, so as to give 
 it sweetness, and prevent the hazard of its running 
 to the acetous stage ; a rude and a bad process. In 
 the manufacture of Florence wine, the must is with- 
 drawn from the vat as soon as the head is raised, and 
 the wine is transferred to a cask, where it is only suf- 
 fered to remain thirty-six hours, when it is again de- 
 canted into a fresh cask at the end of a few hours, 
 and so on, until it is clear and mark«table. Thus it 
 is completed in a short time, by little more than the 
 process of racking. 
 
 In different countries, the practices used for pro- 
 
 Wine- 
 Makinj 
 
 curing the sweet wines vary ; but they will be found 
 to depend on one or other of the principles already 
 laid down. In Italy, as in the making of Florence 
 wine, the fermentation is quelled by repeated rack- 
 ing and shifting. Thus the other processes are part- 
 ly or entirely saved. But it is necessary that very 
 sweet and rich grapes should be used if this process is 
 to be followed. To ensure sweetness, on the principles 
 formerly laid down, the grapes of Tokay are partial- 
 ly dried before they are used ; and this is also done for 
 the wines of Cyprus, and for some of those of France 
 and Spain. The remaining processes, consisting in 
 sulphuring, &c. need not be detailed again, as they 
 are nearly the same in all countries. 
 
 In Oporto, for the dry wines, the practice is to Port, M; 
 carry on the complete fermentation of the must in deira, &< 
 the vats. The wine is then introduced into large 
 tuns, capable of holding twenty-five pipes each, and 
 at this stage, the brandy is added at the discretion 
 of the maker. In Madeira, the second or insensible 
 fermentation is effected in pipes, and, at the end of 
 three months, the wine is racked, when a certain 
 portion of brandy is added. In both these practices, 
 it would seem as if the union of the brandy with the 
 wine was less perfect than it might be rendered by 
 a different management of this part of the process. 
 Hence, probably, it arises, in a great measure, that 
 the taste of brandy is so sensible in many of these 
 wines. In the best, the quantity is said to be about 
 a twentieth part; but, in the worst class of Port 
 wines, it seems sometimes to amount to a fifth or 
 more. The process followed in making Sherry is ra- 
 ther more complicated. The grapes, in this case, 
 are first slightly dried, and then sprinkled with quick- 
 lime. They are then wetted with brandy when in- 
 troduced into the press, and a farther portion is 
 again added to the must before fermentation. It is 
 highly probable that, by this practice, the brandy is 
 more perfectly combined in the wine, and the fluid 
 rendered more uniform ; and hence also, probably, it 
 arises, that the taste of brandy is not to be perceived 
 in genuine Sherry, though often found in those baser 
 imitations which are manufactured from the tasteless 
 wines of the Canary Islands, and of other parts of 
 Spain. The remainder of the process for Sherry 
 consists in racking repeatedly at intervals of a month 
 or two ; fresh brandy in small quantities being added 
 at each stage of this process. 
 
 We may, in conclusion, remark, that in the attempts 
 to make wines in our own country from native fruits, 
 the same rules are of universal application, and that an 
 attention to them would render these domestic pro- 
 cesses more complete than they now are, and the re- 
 sults more valuable. In Britain, also, it is easy to 
 make very good wine from immature grapes, by the 
 addition of sugar in the necessary proportions ; and 
 these can be procured in almost any season, so that 
 this might even become an object of a petty domes- 
 tic commerce. Nor is the manufacture limited to 
 the fruit alone, since the leaves and tendrils, by in- 
 fusion, admit of the same treatment, and with the 
 same results. Very tolerable wine, perfectly resem- 
 bling the wines of France, can thus be made, and 
 at an expence of little more than the very moderate 
 cost of the sugar. (p. p. p.) 
 
W O R 
 
 lorcester. WORCESTERSHIRE, an inland English coun- 
 shire. ty in the Oxford circuit, and nearly in the centre of 
 r^"-^ the kingdom. It is bounded on the north by Staf- 
 mdaries fordshire and Shropshire ; on the south by Glouces- 
 Extent. jgj.gjjirg. on the gast by Warwickshire. Its fi- 
 gure is very irregular ; and it is remarkable for hav- 
 ing several detached portions scattered about the 
 neighbouring counties, which make it difficult to be 
 accurate in its dimensions. It may be stated as 
 about thirty miles in length, and twenty-four in 
 breadth, and to be 736 square miles, or 502,040 
 acres in extent, 
 ulation. According to the census taken in 1821, it appear- 
 ed that the number of houses in the county were 
 35,950, inhabited by 39,006 families ; of whom 
 14',926 were chiefly employed in agriculture, 18,566 
 in trade, manufactures, or handicraft, and 5514 
 were comprised in neither of those classes. The 
 whole number of persons was 184,424; of whom 
 90,259 were males, and 94,165 females. The rate 
 of increase between 1811 and 1821 was 15 per cent. 
 Be of the There is a soft beauty on the face of this county 
 untry and when viewed from any elevation, such as the Mal- 
 ;riculture. ^^^^ Abberley Hills, which is highly gratifying. 
 ^ From such spots the state of its cultivation appears 
 
 to great advantage, as there are no parts of any con- 
 siderable extent so barren or neglected as to be des- 
 titute of an agreeable and profitable verdure. With 
 -the exception of those hills, the former of which rise 
 to the height of 1440 feet, the whole county con- 
 sists of gentle undulations, wholly inclosed, well 
 wooded, and intersected by the great rivers Severn 
 and Avon, and their several tributary streams. The 
 abundance of orchards of pear-trees and the scatter- 
 ed hop plantations give a peculiar richness to the 
 autumnal scenery. Even the poorer parts of the 
 county, between the towns of Droitwich and Broms- 
 grove, have of late been cultivated ; and, though they 
 do not rival in beauty the vale of Evesham, they are 
 far from the aspect of sterility which they exhibited 
 twenty years ago. The farms are generally of small 
 extent, from forty to three hundred acres, and the 
 cultivation is generally well conducted. The arable 
 land, which, in the rotation of crops, produces artifi- 
 cial grasses, is estimated to be 360,000 acres ; the 
 permanent grass land 100,000 acres, and the woods, 
 wastes, rivers, roads, sites of towns, and gardens, 
 40,000. The crops of wheat, barley, and especially 
 of beans, are more productive than the average of 
 England. Hops are extensively cultivated, and the 
 pear-trees are so abundant and so productive as to af- 
 ford perry for the common drink of the labourers in 
 agriculture. There is no breed of cattle peculiar to 
 Worcestershire, as it is found more profitable to buy 
 oxen and sheep in a lean condition from poorer dis- 
 tricts, and to fatten them in Worcestershire, than to 
 breed them on its rich soil, 
 and The great rivers Severn and Avon are both navi- 
 gable, the former to an extent of near two hundred 
 miles from its mouth, and the latter to Stratford 
 from its junction with the former. The Severn 
 abounds with salmon, shad, and lampreys, though 
 none of those delicious fish are ever known to ascend 
 the Avon. The other rivers are, the Stour, the Sal- 
 warpe, the Ledden, and the Rea. This county has 
 
 W O R 
 
 817 
 
 partaken largely of the benefit communicated by in- 
 ternal navigation. The canals are, the Trent and, 
 Severn, the Droitwich, the Worcester and Birming- 
 ham, the Dudley and the Leominster. The town of 
 Stourport has risen into importance since the exten- . 
 sion of canals, and exhibits a large maritime town in 
 the centre of the kingdom, connecting its various 
 productions in a focus, and distributing them where 
 needed. 
 
 The manufactures of the county are various and Manufac- 
 extensive. Worcester produces great quantities of tures. 
 gloves and some of the most beautiful porcelain. 
 At Stourbridge are many glass-houses. Dudley is 
 employed in the iron-trade,' especially in making 
 nails. At Bromsgrove some table-linen is made, 
 and small articles of iron, such as needles, nails, 
 and tenter-hooks. Kidderminster has attained much 
 opulence by its manufactures of carpets and of goods 
 composed of silk and worsted, and of silk and mo- 
 hair. At Evesham there is much oil and oil-cake 
 made from linseed. The productions of the county 
 are easily conveyed to London, Liverpool, Bristol, 
 or Hull, by inland navigation ; and, from this state 
 of things, its commerce is very extensive. 
 
 The salt made at Droitwich supplies nearly one- Salt Springs, 
 half of England with that indispensable article. The 
 duty collected there before the abatement of the tax 
 amounted to more than L.IOOO per day. The water, 
 from which the salt is made by evaporation, is more 
 highly saturated than any other that has been disco- 
 vered. Researches in the bowels of the earth have 
 shown that a river of salt water, about twenty-two 
 inches in depth, runs about 250 feet below the sur- 
 face. Immediately above this subterranean stream 
 is a bed of gypsum 130 feet thick. When this stra- 
 tum is penetrated by the borer, the spring rises to 
 the surface, and yields a never-failing supply of wa- 
 ter, so fully saturated, that no more salt can be dis- 
 solved in it. The springs at Droitwich hold in so- 
 lution about one-fourth of their weight in salt ; no 
 other in England holds more than a ninth. The 
 subterraneous river runs over a bed of rock salt, 
 whose thickness has not yet been ascertained. Be- 
 sides the springs at Droitwich, other mineral springs 
 are found at Malvern, which are resorted to for 
 their healing properties, as well as for the pure air of 
 the district. The combinations of the wells are car- 
 bonase of soda, carbonate of lime, carbonate of mag- 
 nesia^ carbonate of iron, sulphate of soda, and mu- 
 riate of soda. 
 
 The titles derived from this county are. Marquis -pjfjgg ^j^^ 
 of Worcester ; Earl of Beauchamp ; Viscount Dud- Bepresenta^ 
 ley and Ward ; and Barons Foley, Lyttleton, and tion. 
 Northwick. Two members are returned te the House 
 of Commons by the county ; two each from Worces- 
 ter, Droitwich, and Evesham, and one from Bewd- 
 ley. 
 
 The most considerable places and their population 
 are, Worcester, 17,023; Dudley, 18,211; Kidder- 
 minster, 15,296; Bromsgrove, 7519; Stourbridge, 
 5090 ; Bewdley, 3725 ; Evesham, 3487. 
 
 Among numerous seats of noblemen and gentle- 
 men in this county the most distinguished are, Ma- 
 dresfield. Lord Beauchamp ; Hagley, Lord Lyttle- 
 ton ; Croome Court, Earl of Coventry ; Northwick, 
 
 Towns. 
 
818 
 
 WURTEMBURG. 
 
 Worcester- 
 shire 
 
 II 
 
 Wurtem- 
 burg. 
 
 Progress of 
 tiiis State. 
 
 Boundaries 
 Mid Extent. 
 
 Lord Northwick; Hartlebury Castle, Bishop of Wor- 
 cester ; Dailsford, Warren Hastings ; Ombersley 
 Court, Marquis of Downshire ; Hewell Grange, Earl 
 of Plymouth ; Hanbury Hall, John Phillips ; Over- 
 bury, James Martin; Winterdyne House, William 
 Moselay ; Westwood House, Sir Herbert Packing- 
 ton; and Whitely Court, Lord Foley. 
 
 See Nashe's Survey of Worcestershire. — Pitt's 
 Agricultural Survey. — Brewer's Worcestershire. 
 
 (w. w.) 
 
 WURTEMBURG, a kingdom in the interior of 
 Germany, formed within the few last years out of 
 the ancient duchy of the same name, with the addi- 
 tion of several smaller territories progressively com- 
 bined with it, in the reigns of the two last Sovereigns, 
 by an accommodating policy, and a sedulous regard 
 to their own interest during the progress and con- 
 clusion of the French Revolution. By an armistice 
 made with France in 1796, all the territories on the 
 left bank of the Rhine were ceded to that power ; 
 but by the opportune peace of Luneville in 1801, 
 and a separate treaty which followed as a consequence 
 of it, Wurtemburg was raised to the dignity of a 
 grand duchy, and obtained several districts which 
 had been either portions of small independent states 
 or ecclesiastical dominions. Among these were the 
 cities of Heilbron, Gmiind, Hall, Rothweil, and some 
 others, with the districts around them. The whole 
 of these acquisitions extended over 633 square miles, 
 and contained 115,000 inhabitants. The former 
 territory on the left of the Rhine being only 165 
 square miles, with 50,000 inhabitants, Wurtemburg 
 was considerably augmented. In December 1805, 
 in consequence of the part taken in the war between 
 France and Austria, the kingly dignity was assumed, 
 and the possession of several other portions guaranteed 
 by the former power. These acquisitions compre- 
 hended several districts on the Danube, whose inha- 
 bitants were estimated to be 158,000. In 1806, 
 when the Confederation of the Rhine was formed, 
 Wurtemburg joined it, and stipulated to contribute 
 to its support 12,000 men ; in consequence of which, 
 other considerable additions to its territory were 
 made. Several exchanges of dominion took place 
 with Baden and Bavaria ; but rather for the sake of 
 rendering the limits more distinct than to increase 
 possessions. The part taken by Wurtemburg in the 
 wars declared by France against Prussia in 1806, 
 and against Austria in I8O9, led to a further aug- 
 mentation; and by choosing the precise moment 
 for deserting the cause of Buonaparte in 1813, the 
 King was enabled, at the subsequent Congress of 
 Vienna, to obtain the sanction of all the great Euro- 
 pean powers to the title he had assumed, and to the 
 territory that had been acquired. The kingdom of 
 Wurtemburg was thus fixed in the condition describ- 
 ed in the following pages. 
 
 The wliole is nearly inclosed between Baden and 
 Bavaria, the former bounding it on the western and 
 northern sides, and the latter on the eastern and 
 southern ; except that on one part of its southern 
 frontier, the Lake of Constance separates it from 
 Switzerland. It is of an irregular form, extending 
 from 47° 35' to 49° 35' north latitude. On a very 
 ^mall portion of its northern boundary, it comes in 
 
 contact with the grand duchy of Hesse Darmstadt. WurMsm- 
 Its whole extent is 7573 square miles, or 4,846,720 ba^g- 
 English statute acres. s.i»v-^ 
 
 The ancient divisions of the duchy of Wurtem- Divieions 
 burg were various, according to their position andandPopuI 
 feudal claims ; and the additional territories, that had 
 been recently acquired, were in very irregular and 
 unequal allotments. Of late, a new division has 
 taken place into circles, which are again subdivided 
 in Oberamts or Baillewicks ; besides these circles, 
 the capital, the city of Stuttgart, forms by itself a 
 separate division, though its inhabitants are included 
 in the population returns of the Neckar circle. 
 
 The circles, their extent and population, are, 
 
 
 Extent in 
 Statute 
 Acres* 
 
 Popula- 
 tion. 
 
 Circle of the Black Forest,,.. 
 
 904,320 
 1,318,400 
 1,204,480 
 1,468,160 
 
 384,599 
 318,999 
 360,951 
 S60,84t 
 
 t,895,360 
 
 1,425,794 
 
 This population is found in 130 cities (having or 
 formerly having had walls), 128 market towns, 1115 
 parishes, 558 hamlets, 2591 farms, and 269 castles 
 or seats of the nobility. The increase of popula- 
 tion, calculated-by the excess of births over deaths, 
 has been about 10,000 on an average of several 
 years. 
 
 The inhabitants are partly of Swabian, and partly Dialed 
 of Franconian origin, and retain the peculiar pro- 
 nunciation of the races from which they are de- 
 scended. With these are also some settlements of 
 the Waldenses. The Swabians make use of many 
 words very different from the other German people, 
 and adopt many variations in the idioms not known 
 elsewhere. These may be observed to alter at 
 every ten or twelve miles in travelling through the 
 country. 
 
 The prevailing religion in Old Wurtemburg was Religion, 
 the Lutheran, for which it suffered most severely 
 during the Thirty Years' War. No toleration was 
 granted to any other sect except to the Waldenses, 
 and they were confined within prescribed limits, 
 and even in those spots were under some strict regu- 
 lations, and excluded from the rights of citizenship. 
 Since 1806, the three religious parties have enjoyed 
 the free exercise of their modes of worship, and a 
 participation in all civic rights, with eligibility to all 
 public offices. The Lutherans in the whole king- 
 dom are 950,000, the Catholics about 430,000. 
 There are many sectaries, such as Separatists, Bap- 
 tists, Ilernh utters, and others, who are neither favour- 
 ed nor persecuted by the government. Through 
 the whole of Protestant Wurtemburg, there are a 
 great number of persons distinguished by the appel- 
 lation of Pietists, who hold their private meetings for 
 devotion, but do not in other respects separate from 
 their churches. The Lutheran church is under the 
 direction of six superintendents, whose dioceses are 
 divided into fifty deaconries, and supplied with 81 S 
 
WURTEMBURG. 
 
 819 
 
 pastors. The Catholics are governed by a Vicar 
 General, who is assisted by a council consisting of 
 ' clerical and lay members, the priests under them are 
 about 64<0. Tiie Lutheran clergy are in general 
 better supported, and taken from a somewhat higher 
 class of people, than in most of the other parts of 
 Protestant Germany. The Jews who have establish- 
 ed themselves chiefly in the new provinces of Wur- 
 temburg amount to about 8000 persons. 
 
 Few parts of Germany have exhibited more or bet- 
 ter specimens of knowledge and talent than have 
 been produced from the institutions for education in 
 Wurtemburg- The state has, for its population, more 
 means for acquiring learning. The classical en- 
 dowed schools are fifty-five, from which the theolo- 
 gical pupils are transferred to the University of Tu- 
 bingen, where they are maintained from the funds 
 of the institution. In these establishments the pu- 
 pils are not confined to mere professional pursuits, 
 but have their attention directed to general know- 
 ledge. The University of Tubingen has long been 
 considered one of the best in Germany. There are, 
 besides, the Gymnasium at Stuttgart, and seminaries 
 for the Protestant clergy at Maulbroun, Schoenthal, 
 Ulm, Heilbron, and Ochriengen, and for Catholics 
 at Rothenburg, Rothweil, and EUwang. Schools 
 for instructing the poorer classes of the people are 
 amply provided in every part of the kingdom, so 
 that the knowledge of reading, writing, and arithme- 
 tic, is almost universal. No village is without its 
 school, and scarcely a market town without a classi- 
 cal instructor. 
 
 The kingdom may be considered as hilly, if not 
 mountainous. On the eastern part is the group of 
 the Swabian Alps, and on the western the Black 
 Forest, a continuation of the Swiss Alps. The high- 
 est points of these two groups of elevations .are from 
 2500 to 2800 feet. The eastern are not so lofty as 
 the western ranges of hills, but they are more bleak, 
 raw, and unhealthy. There are no plains, but some 
 extensive and beautiful valleys, highly fruitful, of 
 which that of the Neckar, with its branches, and that 
 of the Danube from Tutlingen to Ulm, are the most 
 celebrated. The various smaller valleys, running up 
 between the hills, and terminating on the banks of 
 the several rivers, present rich and beautiful pro- 
 spects. The woods are extensive, and contain al- 
 most every kind of forest tree ; but the absence of 
 hedge-rows is a great drawback to the beauty of the 
 country in most parts of the kingdom. The scenery 
 is much indebted to the rivers and the several tribu- 
 tary streams, which run through all the valleys. The 
 Neckar rises in the southern extremity of Wurtem- 
 burg, and, with many windings, leaves the kingdom 
 on its northern frontier, in its course to join the 
 Rhine. It collects the waters of the Kocker, the 
 Jaxt, the Rems, the Ens, the Erms, and the Zaber. 
 The Danube rises in this kingdom, from the moun- 
 tains of the Black Forest, and leaves it at Ulm, on 
 the frontiers of Bavaria- It is increased by the se- 
 veral streams of the Iller and the Brentz. The Tau- 
 ber, in the north, is one of those streams which con- 
 tribute to the waters of the Main. The Schussen and 
 the Argen are two small rivers that empty them- 
 selves into the Lake of Constance. That lake bor- 
 ders a small part of the kingdom. The Feder Lake, 
 
 about three miles in length and breadth, and those of Wurtem- 
 Laufen and PfafFen, which are smaller, lie within its .^^^^^^^^^ 
 boundaries. 
 
 The land of Wurtemburg has been recently thus Agriculture, 
 classed: meadows 640,0*00, arable 1,620,000, woods an^Jt'J"^**- 
 and forests 1,520,000, and vineyards 61,000 acres; the 
 remainder is either waste or occupied by the lakes, 
 rivers, cities, and towns. In no part of Germany is 
 so much attention directed to agriculture as in this 
 kingdom, and in no part of it are the practices so ge- 
 nerally good. The cultivation of green crops is much 
 diffused ; turnips, but more especially mangel wurzel, 
 are grown to clear the land from weeds, and to a great 
 extent have superseded the former mode of fallowing. 
 Potatoes are very extensively cultivated, and not only 
 form the chief food of the working classes, but are 
 used for the purpose of making brandy, as well as 
 feeding cattle. - The rape and poppy plants are 
 grown for making oil ; and that which is expressed 
 from the latter is found to be equal, if not superior, 
 for the use of the table, to the oil of olives. Hemp 
 and flax are raised in abundance, the former chiefly 
 in the middle provinces, and the latter most exten- 
 sively in the district of the Black Forest. The har- 
 vests of corn are tolerably productive of wheat, rye, 
 oats, and, in some of the warmer districts, of maize. 
 The supply of grain is estimated for the whole king- 
 dom at about 23,000,000 bushels, from which, as po- 
 tatoes are extensively used for food, some is every 
 year sent to supply the wants of the neighbouring 
 states. The woods afford more fuel and building 
 materials than is demanded for domestic consump- 
 tion,- and the surplus, by means of the rivers, is con- 
 veyed to the countries lower down the several 
 streams. The vineyards produce abundance of wine, 
 and, though generally not of a good quality, and 
 much of it very bad, its culture is found very bene- 
 ficial. The best wines usually comprehended in the 
 general class of Neckar wine are those made on the 
 hills near the old castle of Wiirtemburg, at Uhlbacb, 
 Fehlbach, Upper and Lower Turkheiro, Lichtenberg, 
 Rosswag, Maulbroun, and Tauberlhal. The most 
 productive vineyards are those on the western bor- 
 ders of the eastern Alps, where a single acre has 
 been known to yield more than 2000 gallons ; but it 
 more resembles vinegar than wine. It is generally 
 remarked that the Neckar wines have much deterio- 
 rated of late years ; which is attributed to negligence 
 in the choice of the most proper plants, and to atten- 
 tion being principally paid to such as yield much, 
 rather than to such as yield the best wine. The 
 wine made in the year 1811, as was the case on the 
 banks of the Rhine, and in most parts of Germany, 
 was of an unusually good quality; and such of 
 it as now remains sells for 300 florins the emir, 
 whilst the wines of later years are not worth more 
 than 130 florins. The whole value of the wines 
 made in the kingdom on an average is L.4sOO,000 
 Sterling. 
 
 The cattle in Wurtemburg have been carefully at- Cattle, 
 tended to, and the cows especially are of a very good 
 description ; which is attributed to the. care in im- 
 proving the breed, and to their being generally stall- 
 fed, or soiled with green food. The butter is excel- 
 lent, and in many districts good cheese is made ; but 
 the last less extensively than, with due pains, it might 
 
820 
 
 WURTEMBCTRG. 
 
 Wurtem- be. The sheep have been much improved by con- 
 ^"'S- stant crossings between the old races of the country 
 """•"^^^^ and those of the Rousillon and Merino breeds, and 
 now the greater part of the flocks are of the fine- 
 ' woolled kind. The breed of horses was at one time 
 much improved by the introduction of Holstein and 
 English stallions ; of late years they have been retro- 
 grading, but the government has now been induced 
 to take steps, by introducing studs of the best horses, 
 for improving them again. The number of cattle, in 
 the year 1820, was thus enumerated : horses 80,870, 
 cows 599,490, sheep 488,940, swine 114,200, goats 
 16,620, asses 1008. 
 
 Fisheries. The fisheries are very productive both in the lakes 
 and the rivers. The Lake of Constance, especially, 
 affords abundance of salmon-trout, perch, carp, and 
 barbel ; the other lakes and the rivers yield trout, 
 eels, barbel, pike, and several other kinds of fish; 
 and in the Feder Lake, the shad is found of a very 
 lai'ge size. 
 
 Minerals. xhe only mines that are extensively worked are 
 those of iron, at Neuh^usen, Fluorn, Neuenberg, 
 Aalen, and Wasseralfingen. The ore from these mines 
 is prepared both by smelting and the hammer, and 
 supply the manufacturers of Fredicksthal, Christophs- 
 thal, Ludwigsthal Harras, and Heidenheim, with 
 minerals for their cutlery and ironmongery. There 
 are saline springs at Hall, Sultz, Oftenau, and Weis- 
 bach, from whence is annually made about 8000 tons 
 of culinary salt ; and a new spring, lately opened at 
 Kochendorf, promises to afford a more copious sup- 
 ply, so as to dispense with the quantity of that com- 
 modity now purchased from the kingdom of Bavaria. 
 
 Manufac- The chief manufactory of Wurtemburg is that of 
 
 tures. linen. The inhabitants of the eastern Alps and of 
 the Black Forest are employed in this branch of in- 
 dustry. In those districts, almost every female is oc- 
 cupied, in the winter, in spinning ; and every peasant 
 is a weaver. Both fine and coarse linen is produced, 
 -and also diaper and sail-cloth. In Miinsengen, there 
 is a manufactory for damask table linen, which pro- 
 duces most excellent goods. In some parts of the 
 kingdom, the females find employment in making a 
 coarse kind of bone lace. The cloth manufactures 
 are inconsiderable, and seem to be far from flourish- 
 ing ; and much of the wool clipped within the king- 
 dom is either exported in the raw state, or, after be- 
 ing spun, to the neighbouring countries. Cotton 
 spinning and weaving have been introduced at seve- 
 ral places, but those establishments are in a languish- 
 ing state. Leather, glass, paper, snuff, beer, hard- 
 ware, cutlery, with oil, pitch, tar, and potash, are all 
 made in different parts of the kingdom. The brew- 
 eries, and especially the distilleries, are numerous. 
 In the large village of Mossingen are no less than 
 280 stills for making brandy and whisky. This is 
 the country for making wooden clocks, and those 
 works produced in Wurtemburg, or from natives of 
 it, who have transferred their labour to other coun- 
 tries, are to be seen in almost every part of Europe. 
 
 Commerce. The chief commerce of Wurtemburg consists in 
 the exchange of its commodities with the adjoining 
 states. It sells to them 18,000 oxen, 12,000 cows, 
 75,000 sheep and lambs, and 550,000 lbs. of wool 
 more than it buys. The usual export of corn be- 
 
 yond the import is 80,000 quarters. The other sales Wurtem- 
 consist of linens, leather, snuff, pitch, tar, potash, oil, ^^^B 
 and wood, and wooden toys of various descriptions. 
 The imports are silk, cotton wool. East and West 
 India productions, flax, hemp, hides, and salt. The 
 balance of payments is usually in favour of Wurtem- 
 burg. 
 
 The government of Wurtemburg is at present an Constitutioi 
 hereditary limited monarchy. The King is the sole 
 sovereign, and acts without control, by his ministers, 
 in every executive department. He appoints to all 
 offices, makes war and peace, commands the forces, 
 distributes rewards, confers dignities and honours, 
 executes justice, and dispenses pardons. Under the 
 ancient Dukes, within the original territories of Wur- 
 temburg, there existed a feudal constitution. The 
 States, consisting of fourteen prelates and seventy- 
 one deputies from the cities, exercised some legisla- 
 tive authority ; but on the assumption of the kingly 
 dignity, and the addition of the acquired provinces 
 in 1806, the monarch assumed unlimited power; un- 
 til the termination of the war, and the end of the 
 Congress of Vienna, when a new constitution was 
 promulgated. Two legislative chambers were insti- 
 tuted. The upper was composed of the mediatised 
 princes, the high nobility, and the prelates of the Pro- 
 testant and Catholic churches ; the lower consisted of 
 the deputies from the cities of Stuttgart, Tubingen, 
 Ludwigsburg, Ellwang, Ulm, Heilbron, and Reut- 
 lingen, from the learned institutions, and from the 
 several baillewicks. The privileges of the nobles 
 were thought by themselves to be invaded, and they 
 did not concur in this constitution. Difficulties arose 
 in reducing to practice the project, and how far it ; 
 may be realized, or how it may ever work, is at pre- 
 sent a doubtful matter. In the opinion of some, too 
 much regard has been had to ancient rights and cus- 
 toms, whilst others think that such rights and cus- 
 toms have not been sufficiently respected. The no- 
 bility are dissatisfied with the constitution, though 
 it secures to them some exclusive privileges, and ex- 
 empts them from some descriptions of taxation, and 
 from military conscriptions. The citizens and the 
 peasants have equal rights, and the feudal slavery 
 of the latter, called Leibeigenshaft, is universally 
 abolished. All have equal pretensions to public em- 
 ployments, and all the Christian sects enjoy the same 
 rights. The feudal tenures are destroyed, and the 
 estates formerly subject to them are converted into 
 freehold properties. 
 
 The administration is executed by six ministers, Administri 
 whose departments are thus denominated, — Justice, tion- 
 Foreign Affairs, Domestic Affairs, War, Finance, 
 and Police. Each of these ministers are at the head 
 of the several Boards which regulate their branch of 
 the executive government. The law is founded up- 
 on the ancient feudal principles which prevailed in 
 Wurtemburg at the earliest period, but in some in- 
 stances tempered by the addition or intermixture of 
 the Roman civil law. The administration of justice in 
 smaller matters, not exceeding five pounds, is exe- 
 cuted by provincial judges. There are four superior 
 courts for the four circles ; and a supreme tribunal of 
 appeal and revision is established at Stuttgart. 
 
 The national income, derived partly from the do- 
 ll 
 
W U R 
 
 mains of the king, and from direct and indirect tax- 
 ation, amounts to about 11,000,000 gulden annual- 
 ly. The taxes of late years have been lessened^ and 
 the whole administration of the finances- much sim- 
 ' plified and improved. The amount of the national 
 debt, in 1817, was 30,000,000 gulden, or about 
 L. 3,000,000 Sterling, at which period a sinking fund 
 was established, calculated to liquidate the whole in 
 forty-five years by the application of the surplus re- 
 venue. The whole, expenditure, as appears by the 
 accounts of 1817^ was somewhat under 10,000,000 
 gulden. Of this, 1,000,000 was appropriated by the 
 king for his civil list, and 650,000 for the other 
 members of the royal family. The State paper, a 
 species of certificate somewhat resembling our Ex- 
 chequer bills, is nearly equal to metallic money. 
 
 The army is recruited by an annual ballot, to 
 which almost all are subject on attaining their twen- 
 ty-first year ; but from which those are exempt who 
 pay a certain sum into the treasury, or who, on be- 
 ing duawn, provide a substitute. The term of ser- 
 vice is six years. The army consists of 12,284 in- 
 fantry, 3614' cavalry, and 2452 artillery, including 
 officers, the staff, artificers, and the invalids. Besides 
 the regular army, there is a corps of gens d'armes 
 under the direction of the police. 
 
 The most considerable cities and their population 
 are the following : Stuttgart, 30,000, including mili- 
 tary; Ulm, 11,027; Reutlingen, 8831; Heilbroun, 
 
 Y O R 
 
 821 
 
 6885; Tubingen, 65540 ; Hall, 6250; Esslingen, Wurtem^ 
 5591 ; Gmund, 557; Ludwigsburg, 5226; Rothen- 
 burg, 5147; Biberach, 4451; Goppengen, 4423; „ 
 Kirkheim,43ll. ' 5 , 'Yorkshire. 
 
 A new system of weights and measures was intro- wdgh^T" 
 duced in 1807, which is generally adopted now through and Mea- 
 the whole kingdom. It is founded on the old deno-sures. 
 minations, but adjusted to decimal divisions. The 
 stund or hour is 1300 roods, or 13,000 feet. Two 
 stunden make a mile, equal to the 15th part of a de- 
 gree of latitude. The rood is 10 feet 100 inches, or 
 1000 lines. The foot of Wurtemburg is equal to 
 127 Parisian lines. Square measure is reckoned in 
 Jaucherten (day's work, or man's mowing), which is 
 1 1 morgen, or 384 square roods, each rood being 
 100 square feet. For measuring corn the schefFel is 
 used. The schefFel is 8 simri, the simri 4 fierlings, 
 the fierling 4 achtel, the achtel 4 ecklein; the simri 
 contains 942 cubic inches. Liquid measure is the 
 eimer, making 16 ini, 160 mass, or 640 schoppen. 
 The mass is 78 cubic inches. The weights are of 
 two kinds, one according to the practice of Nuren- 
 burg, the other that of Cologne. The pound of 
 Nurenburg is equal to 32 loths of Cologne. 
 
 See Neuesle Kunde von den Konigreiche Wurtem- 
 burg, von J. D. G. Memminger, 1820; Erdehes- 
 chreibung, von Gaspari ; Hassd and Cannabich vier- 
 ter band erster abtheilung. 
 
 fw. w.) 
 
 Y O R 
 
 YORKSHIRE, an English county of more than 
 double the extent of any other of the divisions of the 
 united kingdom that are so denominated. It is not 
 more distinguished by its extent than by the nume- 
 rous and extensive sources of national wealth which, 
 with the various branches of commerce and manu- 
 factures conducted by its inhabitants, contribute to 
 the general prosperity of the empire, 
 t and Yorkshire is in its greatest length from north to 
 daries. south about 86, and its extreme breadth from east 
 to west about 95 miles. Its surface is calculated to 
 be 5960 square miles, or 3,814,400 statute acres. 
 According to the returns under the late Property- 
 tax, the average rent of the land, including 
 the tithes, was 16s. lOd. per acre. This county is 
 bounded on the east by the German Ocean ; on the 
 north by the counties of Durham and Westmore- 
 land ; on the west by the latter county and Lanca- 
 shire; and on the south by Cheshire, Derbyshire, 
 Nottinghamshire, and Lincolnshire. The river Tees 
 on the north, and the Humbor on the south, are 
 boundaries marked by the hand of nature, and so, in 
 some degree, are the ranges of hills on the western 
 sides ; but these last are indefinite, and, like most 
 other divisions of countries, those of Yorkshire are 
 mostly imaginary lines, whose position is chiefly as- 
 certained by local tradition. 
 1 Divi- This county is divided into three portions called 
 ' Ridings, denominated ft'ora their position East, 
 
 VOL. VI. PART II. 
 
 North, and West. The southern part of the county 
 is comprehended within the limits of the East Rid- 
 ing. Each of these Ridings is again divided into 
 •wapentakes (a name, in the northern equivalent to 
 that of hundred in the southern counties), and 
 into a city and several towns, with their contiguous 
 liberties or dependencies, as will be noticed in the 
 account of the separate Ridings. 
 
 In elections for the county the freeholders of Members of 
 the Ridings vote indiscriminately. Hitherto they ^^^^ ^'^8'*la* 
 have returned two members only, but from this time,*"'*' 
 in consequence of the disfranchisement of the bo- 
 rough of Grampound in Cornwall, and the transfer 
 of tlie choice of the two members that were return* 
 ed by it to Yorkshire, the county will return four 
 members to the House of Commons. These, with 
 two each from the city of York, and the boroughs of 
 Aldborough, Beverley, Boroughbridge, Hedon, Hull, 
 Knaresborough, Malton, Northallerton, Pontefract, 
 Richmond, Ripon, Scarborough, and Thirsk, make 
 thirty-two members from Yorkshire. The titles of 
 Peers derived from this county are — Dukes, York, 
 Richmond, and Leeds ; Earls, Doncaster (Duke 
 of Buccleuch in Scotland), Scarborough, Pomfret, 
 Beverley, Craven, Mulgrave, and Harewood; and 
 Barons, Hawke, Bolton, Ribblesdale, and Prudhoe. 
 
 The whole population of Yorkshire, according to Population, 
 the census of 1821, consisted of 1,173,187 persons, 
 of whom 580,456 were males, and 592,731 females. 
 5 M 
 
822 Y O R 
 
 Yorkshire. The number families were 240,696 ; of whom 
 ^ V 63,830 were chiefly employed in agriculture, 137,011 
 in trade, manufactures, or handicraft, and 39,818 
 were hot comprised in either of the preceding classes. 
 The West Riding exceeds in population both the 
 others together. Between the years 1811 and 1821, 
 the increase in the population in the East Riding 
 was 14 per cent., in the North Riding 20 per cent., 
 and in the West Riding 23 per cent. 
 Rivers and The wealth and fertility of Yorkshire is much pro- 
 Canals, moted by the rivers that in various directions pass 
 through it; and by the several navigable canals, 
 which either unite the different branches of those ri- 
 vers, or draw from them a supply of water for their 
 immediate use. The Tees forms a boundary to 
 Yorkshire on the side of Durham ; but a very small 
 portion of its waters is collected from the former 
 county. In the West Riding, the rivers Ribble and 
 Wenning run to the Irish Sea ; they are inconsider- 
 able streams till they enter Lancashire.^ All the 
 others that have their sources in Yorkshire empty 
 themselves into the German Ocean, in a united river, 
 then denominated the Ouse, through the great estu- 
 ary, the H umber. The Ouse is composed of the 
 two small rivers, the Swale and the Ure, which unite 
 below Boroughbridge, and soon after receiving the 
 waters of the Nidd, passes by the city of York, to 
 which place it is navigable. It soon after is increas- 
 ed by the reception of the Wharfe on its right bank, 
 and of the Derwent on its left. It then receives the 
 river Aine, whose waters near Snaith have been in- 
 creased by those of the Calder, and its numerous 
 tributary rivulets ; and soon after, on the same bank, 
 the river Don, when its breadth is nearly equal to 
 that of the Thames. The most important canal is 
 the Leeds and Liverpool, which connects together, 
 by internal navigation, the two important ports of 
 Hull and Liverpool; and affords to the manufac- 
 turers facilities of exporting their productions from 
 either of those places, as may be most suitable for 
 the various markets to which they are destined. 
 There are several shorter canals which connect the 
 towns with the navigable rivers, or convey from the 
 coal mines their important produce. 
 
 North Rid- The North Riding of Yorkshire is divided into ten 
 '"g- wapentakes, two liberties, and the towns of Richmond, 
 
 Scarborough, and Whitby. The population, in 1821, 
 amounted to 183,381 ; of whom 90,153 were males, 
 and 93,228 females : the whole number of families 
 were 38,731 : of whom 16,737 were chiefly employ- 
 ed in agriculture, 11,570 in trade or manufactures, 
 and 10,424 were included in neither of those classes. 
 The largest places, and their population, are the fol- 
 lowing : Whitby, 12,331 ; Scarborough, 8533 ; North- 
 allerton, 4431; Malton, 4005; Pickering, 3555; 
 Richmond, 3546, and Thirsk, 2533. The extent of 
 the Riding has been estimated by Mr Tuke to be 
 2048 square miles, or 1,311,187 acres, of which 
 442,565 are uncultivated ; the remainder comprises 
 the inclosed lands, open fields, woods, and roads. 
 It is believed, that of the part returned as unculti- 
 vated, more than one half might be converted into 
 arable or pasture land. 
 Face of the The land on the sea shore is generally lofty, and 
 Country. ^.jj^pg precipitous, varying in height from one 
 
 Y 0 R 
 
 hundred and fifty to nine hundred feet. Within Yorkshiw 
 this narrow sea boundary is a tract called the East- ""'^'^ 
 em Moorlands, about thirty miles from east to west, | 
 and fifteen from north to south. It is apparently a 
 barren country, penetrated with some beautiful and ^ 
 fertile vallies, which are, indeed, narrow, but the 
 hills that rise on both sides of them are cultivated 
 nearly to the top. Rosebury-Topping, a mountain, 
 whose summit is 1480 feet above the level of the sea, [ 
 overlooks the beautiful vale of Cleveland, and the ^ 
 other parts of the western division of this riding, * 
 especially the rich and picturesque districts in the 
 vicinity of Boroughbridge and Richmond. The | 
 western moorlands are superior in fertility to the i 
 eastern. Some of the dales in this district are cele- ! 
 brated for their beauty and fertility, particularly ' 
 Wensley Dale, Swale Dale, and some of the smaller 
 sheltered spots. 
 
 The cultivation varies so much, that it is difficult ■'^S'^*"^^ 
 to give even an outline of the different practices. 
 The greater portion of the land is in pasture. In 
 Cleveland and Rye Dale the best wheats are grown ; 
 the average produce is somewhat more than twenty- 
 three bushels to an acre. Barley is not much grown, 
 nor rye, except on poor and sandy soils. Oats are 
 extensively cultivated, and great crops are produced 
 in Rye Dale, and some other of the vales; they are 
 chiefly consumed in the manufacturing districts, 
 where they form the food of the greater part of the 
 labourers. In many parts of this riding, a mixture 
 of wheat and rye is sown ; this corn is commonly 
 known by the name of meslin, and is made into 
 flour, from which the bread of almost the whole dis- 
 trict is composed. The breeding and fattening cat- 
 tle, and the operations of the dairy, are of more im- 
 portance to this riding than the growth of corn. 
 The cows are generally of the short- horned kind, 
 and they are of small size, but clean made, and fine 
 in the bone. The average weight of the oxen, when 
 fat, is about forty stone. The sheep are still mostly 
 of the old large coarse-boned race, but improvements 
 are proceeding by the gradual mixture of the Dish- 
 ley and Northumberland breeds. The fine wool 
 clipped in this district is mostly consumed in the 
 domestic manufactures of hosiery, in the knit- 
 ting of which the females are very generally occu- 
 pied. 
 
 The whole of Yorkshire has been long celebrated 
 for its attention to the breeds of horses, but the chief 
 seat for rearing them is in the North Riding. The 
 horses of Cleveland, being clean made, strong, and 
 active, are well calculated for draft; those of the 
 vale of York, by the introduction of the racing blood, 
 are fitter for the saddle. The vales of the eastern 
 moorlands rear many horses of a smaller but useful 
 breed. 
 
 The mineral productions of this division of York- Mineral! 
 shire are not of great account. To the west of 
 Richmond some lead mines are advantageously work- 
 ed. Iron and copper have been formerly raised ; the 
 former metal is still produced near Whitby and 
 Scarborough, but the mines of the latter are aban- 
 doned. Coal is found in various parts of the riding, 
 but the quantity is small and the quality bad ; and 
 hence the chief supply of fuel is obtained from Dur- 
 ham. The most valuable mineral production is alum> 
 
imeree. 
 
 iquities. 
 
 itlemen'i 
 ts. 
 
 Y O R 
 
 which is collected and prepared in large quantities 
 at different works on the northern shore of the 
 riding. 
 
 The manufacturing industry of the district is pro- 
 ductive of some very good linens, of rather a coarse 
 quality, of some knit hosier)', and of gloves, made in 
 and around York. The building of ships is an ex- 
 tensive branch of industry, and is carried on upon a 
 large scale at Whitby, and in a smaller degree at 
 other places. On the same part of the coast, the 
 herring fishery gives employment to some thousands 
 of the inhabitants. The town of Scarborough is much 
 frequented in the summer months for the sake of sea- 
 bathing, as well as for some mineral springs which have 
 been discovered in the neighbourhood. Redcar, a 
 small town in the north-east corner of the county, 
 has lately become a place for sea-bathing, and has 
 considerably increased in consequence of it. 
 
 The most striking remains of antiquity in the rid- 
 ing are Scarborough Castle, and those of the abbeys 
 of Rievaulx, Byland, and Whitby. 
 , Among a vast number of seats of noblemen and 
 gentlemen, some of the most conspicuous and cele- 
 brated are — Bishopsthorpe, Archbishop of York ; 
 Castle Howard, Lord Carlisle; Buncombe Park, C. S. 
 Duncombe, Esq.; Hornby Castle, Duke of Leeds; 
 Kirkleatham Hall, Sir Charles Turner, Bart, j Marske 
 Hall, Honourable L. Dundas ; Mulgrave Castle, Earl 
 Mulgrave ; Newby Park, Lord Grantham ; Bromp- 
 ton, Sir George Cayley, Bart.; Rokeby, J. B. S. 
 Morritt, Esq.; Gersham, Earl of Darlington; and 
 Aske, Lord Dundas. 
 
 I Riding. The East Riding of Yorkshire is divided into six 
 wapentakes, city of York, Liberty of York, and a dis- 
 trict called the Ainsty of York, the borough of Be- 
 verley, and the town and county of Kingston-upon- 
 Hull. The population in 1821 amounted to 190,449 
 persons, of whom 92,761 were males, and 97,688 fe- 
 males. The whole number of families was 40,499 ; 
 of whom 15,480 were chiefly employed in agricul- 
 ture, 16,637 in trade, manufactures, or handicraft, 
 and 8382 not comprised in either of the preceding 
 classes. The largest places, and their population, 
 was as follows : York city, 20,787 ; Kingston-upon- 
 Hull, the borough, 28,591, the country part, 2834, 
 and the adjacent parish of Sulcoates, 10,449 ; making 
 together 41,874. Beverley has, in the town and li- 
 berties, 7503 inhabitants, and Howden 4443 ; none 
 of the other places contain so many as 3000 persons. 
 
 This division of Yorkshire is not marked with any 
 strong or peculiarly striking features, though, in 
 some few parts, the scenery is good, and, including 
 the sea views, the prospects near the coast rather 
 pleasing. The whole extent of this riding is esti- 
 mated to be about 920,000 acres, being the smallest 
 bdPre-of the three. The riding may be divided into three 
 iona. parts, as far as regards its productive powers. The 
 first is a tract of level land, extending from the river 
 Humber to nearly the northern boundary of the dis- 
 trict. This is in part a rich soil, and, including Hol- 
 derness, contains some of the best feeding land in 
 this island. The next division is the Wolds, run- 
 ning from north to south, parallel to the former. 
 Tbey are a range of chalky hills, elevated above the 
 
 Y 0 R 
 
 823 
 
 of the 
 
 level country about 600 feet. The soil is rather a Yorkshire, 
 light and chalky loam, in some places mixed with '"""V^^ 
 gravel, in others with clay. The extent is from 
 300,000 to 400,000 acres. Thirty years ago, a very 
 small portion of these wolds was cultivated ; but of 
 late years much of it has been inclosed and converted 
 into corn land. The want of good roads is still felt 
 in this part of the country, though the materials for 
 making such roads are abundant and near at hand. 
 The third natural division of the East Riding extends 
 from the western foot of the wolds to the boundaries 
 of the North and West Ridings. This tract, common- 
 ly called the Levels, is every where flat and unpictur- 
 esque. The soil is various, but, in general, of a 
 clayey nature ; from Gilberdyke to Howden it is very 
 heavy, and though the country is well covered with 
 villages and hamlets, it is extremely dirty, disagree- 
 able, and difficult to travel over. 
 
 No part of England shows more proofs of recent Agriculture, 
 agricultural improvements than this riding of York- 
 shire ; the wolds have been, by paring and burning, 
 changed from sheep pasture into corn-bearing land. 
 In the low lands, also, great improvements have been 
 made ; extensive tracts, formerly flooded a great part 
 of the year, and scarcely producing any thing but 
 rushes, have been drained, and are covered with 
 such crops of grain, that the value of the land has 
 been increased in a most extraordinary degree. The 
 wolds, in their former state, were very well adapted for 
 breeding horses; but in their present improved state, 
 are more profitable as affording pasture for sheep, and 
 as growing corn. The warrens for rabbits were for- 
 merly very numerous and extensive, but are now, 
 for the most part, more productive by being cover- 
 ed with herbage of a better quality. The farms, es- 
 pecially on the >volds, and in the southern parts of 
 Holderness, are generally large, renting from L.200 
 to L.2000 per annum. The climate of the East Rid- 
 ing varies considerably. Near the coast, the air is 
 cold, and frequently charged with dense fogs. On 
 the wolds, the cold is more. seA^re, and the snow 
 lies longer j but to the westward of the hills, the air 
 is warm, moist, and tends to produce agues. There 
 are no mines in this riding, nor any manufactures, 
 except it be the spinning of flax, which is perform- 
 ed by the ancient method, and is carried on by all 
 the females in the farming houses at their leisure 
 time. The foreign and internal commerce of the 
 riding is wholly carried on through the port of Hull, 
 a place which has thriven during the last forty years 
 as much as any portion of the kingdom. During 
 that period, its population has been more than 
 doubled, and its mercantile shipping and other pro- 
 perty been increased far beyond that ratio. 
 
 Extensive docks have been constructed for the re- Commerce, 
 ception of vessels, and for affording facilities in the 
 landing and storing their cargoes. Around these 
 docks a new town has arisen, on what was formerly 
 a swamp, which surpasses the ancient part in cheer- 
 fulness and beauty. The foreign trade of Hull con- 
 sists in the importation from Russia, Sweden, and 
 Denmark, of naval stores, and the other productions 
 of those countries, and in the exportation to them of 
 the manufactured goods produced in the counties of 
 York, Lancaster, Derby, Cheshire, and Nottinghamj 
 
824 Y O R 
 
 Yorkshire, with which the town is connected by means of ca- 
 "^-^v^"*-' nal and river navigation. The same description of 
 trade is carried on betwixt Hull and the ports of 
 Holland and Germany, as exists betwixt it and the 
 towns on the Baltic Sea. Although these are the 
 most ancient and the most natural sources of the 
 commerce of Hull, yet it is by no means confined to 
 them. Considerable trade is carried on with the 
 United States of /America, with the West Indies, 
 with the ports of the Mediterranean, with Spain 
 and Portugal, and recently witli South Ame- 
 rica. The building and equipping of ships is a 
 source of great employment, and some ships as large 
 as of 74 guns have been built here during the war. 
 Many vessels belonging to H ull ship-owners are to 
 be hired for freight, and may be found in almost 
 every part of the globe. The whale-fishery has, 
 from the first years of the discovery of Greenland, 
 been pursued by the inhabitants of Hull ; but with 
 pre-eminent success ever since the year 1766, when 
 an individual merchant of that town gave an impulse 
 to that branch of industry by which its prosperity 
 has been much promoted. The internal trade 
 through Hull is of great extent ; the calculation of 
 the amount of the goods passed through it to and 
 from the interior, by means of the rivers and canals, 
 makes it upwards of L. 15,000,000 Sterling annually. 
 
 The fishing for herrings is carried on, though to 
 a small extent, in some of the coast towns of this 
 riding. 
 
 Interesting The most interesting objects in this division of 
 Objects. Yorkshire are, the natural caves at Flamborough 
 Head ; York Minster ; Howden Church ; Kirkham 
 Priory ; Bridlington Priory, and Trinity Church in 
 Hull. 
 
 The most distinguished seats of noblemen and 
 gentlemen are, Wressle Castle, Lord Egremont ; 
 Birdsal, Lord Middleton ; Boynton, Sir William 
 Strickland ; Cave Castle, H. B. Barnard, Esq. ; 
 Burton Constable, Francis Constable, Esq- ; Ferri- 
 by. Sir H. Etheruigton ; Hotham, R. C. Burton, 
 Esq.; Bagwell, D. Sykes, Esq.; Sledmere, Sir M. 
 M. Sykes, Bart. ; Woodhouse, Robert Denison, Esq. ; 
 Melburn, Sir Henry Vavasour, Bart., and Scampson, 
 Sir WilUam St Quintin, Bart. 
 
 West The West Riding of Yorkshire is by far the most 
 Kiding. important, whether as regards its extent, population, 
 activity, or wealth. It is divided into nine wapen- 
 takes, and into a small district denominated the 
 Ainsty of York. The population in 1821 amount- 
 ed to 799;357 persons; of whom 397,54'2 were males, 
 and 401,815 females. The whole number fami- 
 lies was l6l,466; of whom 31,613 were chiefly em- 
 ployed in agriculture, 108,841 in trade, manufac- 
 tures, or handicraft, and 21,012 were not comprised 
 in either of the preceding classes. The great in- 
 crease of inhabitants in the West Riding of York- 
 shire has chiefly arisen from the various manufac- 
 tures which have been established there in conse- 
 quence of the cheapness of fuel, and of the nume- 
 rous rivers, whose streams are calculated to turn 
 powerful machinery. It has hence followed, that 
 the greater numbers of the people are in townships 
 and parishes rather than in what can properly be 
 called towns. Many of these parishes are continued 
 
 Y 0 R 
 
 streets of buildings, but moi'e of them are scattered Ycrksh 
 clumps of houses, each known by some desig- "w*'. ^ 
 nating name. 'I he population of the towns and 
 parishes of more than 5000 souls are as follows : — 
 Halifax town, 12,628; the whole parish which, in [ 
 1811, contained 73,415 persons, had increased, in ' 
 1821, to 92,850 ; Leeds town and liberty, 83,796 ; 
 Sheffield town, 42,157 J but the parish, 52,105 ; 
 Bradford town, 13,064 ; but the parish, 62,954, 
 though, in 1811, only 36,358 ; Huddersfield parish, i 
 24,220 ; Almondbury, 23,979 ; Wakefield, 22,307 ; 
 Kirk-Heaton, 21,870; Birstall, 21,2l7 ; Dewesbu- 
 ry, 16,261; Calverley, 14,134 ; Kirk- Burton, 13,f)95; 
 Ripon, 13,096; Ecclesfield, 12,496; Rotherham, 
 9633 ; Otley, 9358 ; Keighley, 9223 ; Doncaster, 
 9117; Pontefract, 8824 ; Guisley, 8409 ; Barnsley, 
 8284 ; Bingley, 7375 ; Rothwell, 6253 ; Thornhill, 
 5458 ; Skipton, 5479 ; Knaresborough, 5283, and 
 Mirfield, 504-1. 
 
 The West Riding is about 95 miles in length Face of 
 from east to west, and about 48 in its greatest Country* 
 breadth from north to south. The square extent 
 is estimated at 2500 miles, or 1,568,000 statute 
 acres. The face of the country furnishes scenes 
 strikingly contrasted. The eastern portion stretched 
 along the banks of the Ouse is generally a flat, 
 moist, and marshy district, in some parts fruitful, 
 but in all uninteresting to the tourist. The middle 
 part, as far as Sheffield, Bradford, and Otley, is an 
 undulating country, finely varied, and rising gra- 
 dually till it reaches the most western portion,which is 
 very rugged and mountainous. Beyond SheflSeld 
 black moors are the only objects, till Blackstone 
 Ledge is reached, on the confines of Lancashire. The 
 western part of Craven presents heaps of rocks and 
 mountains in the most picturesque forms and situa- 
 tions. Among these Penny gant, Wharnside, and 
 Ingleborough, the most conspicuous, may be consi- 
 dered some of the loftiest mountains in England, j 
 According to the l^rigonometrical Survey of Colonel 
 Mudge, the height of Wharnside is 2263 feet, of 
 Pennygant, 2270, and of Ingleborough, 2361. 
 Amidst the hilly and mountainous tracts of this rid- 
 ing are many romantic and some sequestered val- 
 lies, presenting the most beautiful scenery. The 
 most extensive of these are Netherdaie, watered by 
 the Nid ; Wharfdale, and the vale of Aire ; but ma^^ 
 ny of the smaller vales vie with them in picturesque 
 beauty ; and, being generally inclosed, well wooded, 
 and thickly studded with villages and bouses, pre- 
 sent, from the sui*rounding eminences, most en- 
 chanting prospects ; combining often in the same 
 view the most sublime and the most lively of rural 
 scenery. The roads from Knaresborough or Ripon 
 to Pateley Bridge ; from Tadcaster to Otley and 
 Skipton ; from Leeds, by Bradford and Keighley, 
 to Skipton ; from Bradford to Halifax, and from Ha- 
 lifax, by Dewesbury, to Wakefield, unfold some of 
 the finest scenery that can be seen in this island. 
 The climate of this riding is very much varied ; in 
 the eastern part near the Ouse it is warm and moist ; 
 in the middle district the air is sharp, clear, and ge- 
 nerally considered healthy ; in the western parts the 
 climate is cold, tempestuous, and rainy. The moun- 
 tains of Craven and the moors near Blackstone 
 Ledge are the most foggy, rainy, and stormy dis- 
 
ricuUure 
 its Fro. 
 'ons. 
 
 Y 0 R 
 
 kshire, tricts in England, though the climate is considered 
 to be salubrious to those of sound constitutions, and 
 the inhabitants have a robust and healthy appearance. 
 
 A very great portion of tlie land of this riding is 
 possessed by small proprietors, altliough some few no- 
 blemen have extensive tractsof land. Mostof the occu- 
 pancies are rather small ; none are large ; the great- 
 er part are less than fifty acres. A great part is 
 kept exclusively in grass, and used for the dairy, or 
 for fattening cattle. On the arable lands a greater 
 quantity of wheat is raised than of any other grain. 
 It is mostly of the red kind, and is sown after fallow 
 or turnips, but sometimes on a clover ley. Rye is 
 not cultivated to any great extent. Barley is raised 
 in much less quantities than wheat. Oats are culti- 
 vated to a great extent, but little attention is paid to 
 procuring the best seed, though oatmeal forms the 
 chief part of the food of the inhabitants, especially 
 in the more western parts of the riding. Pease are 
 not much raised, nor beans, except on the moorish 
 soils near the Ouse. The turnip husbandry is not 
 so extensively practised as good farming requires, 
 and where it is pursued, it is generally executed in 
 a slovenly and imperfect manner. Great crops of 
 potatoes are raised in the pai-t of the riding below 
 the junction of the river Aire with the Ouse. In 
 the same part of the country much flax is grown, the 
 preparation of the land for which employs the labour 
 of many hands, as does the dressing and preparing 
 the article for market. Rape for making oil, and 
 woad for the dyers, are both cultivated in this rid- 
 ing, but not to any great extent. The waste lands 
 in the West Riding were estimated about twenty- five 
 years ago at 400,000 acres, of which 250,000 were 
 considered capable of profitable improvement, and 
 the rest fit for no other purpose but that of planting. 
 Since that period much marsh land has been drain- 
 ed, many commons inclosed, and some bleak hills 
 planted with Scotch firs and larches. Vast im- 
 provement has been made on some large tracts of 
 land by the operation locally called warping. It is 
 performed by permitting the river, at the highest of 
 the tide, to overflow the land. The rich mud with 
 which the turbid rivers abound is deposited on the 
 surface, and each return of tide increases the earth 
 thus deposited, so that a depth of alluvial soil of 
 fourteen inches has been raised by this means on a 
 field which previously was scarcely of any value. 
 The lands thus improved are so enriched, that they 
 ■will yield abundant crops for several successive 
 years without any manure. The horned cattle, sheep, 
 and horses of the West Riding have no distinguish- 
 ing characteristics, but vary in kind as in the other 
 two ridings. There is not here the same care exer- 
 cised in improving the breed of horses as in the 
 other two divisions of Yorkshire. 
 
 In this division of Yorkshii-e the mines produce 
 great quantities of coal, ironstone, and lead, and vast 
 quarries of limestone. The coal and limestone, in- 
 deed, appear to be almost inexhaustible. The lime- 
 stone district commences on the tract between Don- 
 •caster and Tadcaster, and extends to the western li- 
 mits of the county. The coal mines are most nume- 
 rous between Leeds and Wakefield, and in the 
 jaeighbourhood of Bradford, Barnsley, and Sheffield, 
 
 Y 0 R 
 
 825 
 
 although there are many in other parts of the riding. Yorkshire. 
 Iron is found in the greatest quantities near Brad- 
 ford, and often in the same mine with coal. The 
 best strata of coals are those found under the seams 
 of iron, at a depth of from ^i20 to 240 feet below 
 the surface. The chief mines of lead are at Grassing- 
 ton, a manor belonging to the Duke of Devonshire, 
 about ten miles to the westward of Pateley Bridge. 
 
 The great branches of industry which have soManufae- 
 rapidly peopled, and so vastly enriched the W^esttures- 
 Riding of Yorkshire, are the several manufactures 
 that have been established in every part of it. 
 Scarcely a hamlet or even a house is to be found 
 wherein some part of one or other of the occupations 
 of manufacture, or of those subservient to it, are not 
 seen in different stages of progress. The iron and 
 other hardware goods are produced at Sheffield, Ro- 
 therham, and all the villages in the vicinity of those 
 towns. A little to the northward the large towns of 
 Leeds, Halifax, Bradford, Huddersfield, Wakefield, 
 and the overflowing villages of Almondbury, Kirk- 
 Heaton, Birstall, Dewesbury, with many other 
 places, are devoted to the production of woollen, 
 worsted, cotton, and some linen goods. To name 
 every description of these goods which are perfected 
 in this district, would be to enumerate the whole 
 catalogue of British manufacture. The manufactures 
 have enriched, to an almost incredible extent, the 
 soil in the vicinity of the towns in which they have 
 • been expanding, and increased the population in a 
 corresponding ratio. Whilst in the period from ] 8 I I 
 to 1821 the population in the East Riding of York- 
 shire, which is an agricultural country, has increased 
 14 per cent. ; in the West Riding, as has been before 
 noticed, in the same period it has increased 23 per 
 cent. 
 
 The most remarkable remains of antiquity in this Antiquitiei^. 
 riding are Selby Abbey, Knaresborough Castle, Foun- 
 tain's Abbey, Skipton Castle, Bolton Priory, Kirkstall 
 Abbey, Conisbrough Castle, and Roche Abbey. 
 
 In proportion to the great extent of the West Rid- Gentlemen's 
 ing of Yorkshire, it contains more seats of noblemen ^^**'* 
 and gentlemen of distinguished beauty than any 
 other part of Great Britain. Our limits do not al- 
 low of our even noticing one tenth part of them, but 
 the most remarkable are the following : Wentworth 
 House, Lord Fitzwilliam; Harewood, Lord Hare- 
 wood; Farnley Hall, Walter Fawkes, Esq, ; Ripley 
 Castle, Sir William Ingilby ; Thundercliffe Grange, 
 Lord Effingham; Metheley Park, Lord Mexborough ; 
 Gisborne Park, Lord Ribblesdale; Brodsworth, 
 Lord Rendlesham ; Sandbeck, Earl Scarborough ; 
 Studley Royal, Miss Lawrence ; Ribstone Hall, Sir 
 Henry Goodricke, Bart, ; Copgrove, Henry Dun- 
 combe, Esq. ; Bramham Park, James Lane Fox, 
 Esq, ; Ledstone Lodge, M, Angelo Taylor, Esq. ; 
 Wentworth Castle, Henry Vernon, Esq, ; Cusworth 
 Hall, William Wrightson, Esq. ; and Campsall, Ba- 
 con Frank, Esq. 
 
 See Tuke's Agriculture of the North Riding; Ren- 
 nie, Brown, and Sheriff's West Riding; and La- 
 tham's East Riding : Yorkshire Gazetteer by Har- 
 grove ; Topographical Dictionary of Yorkshire by 
 Langdale ; Parliamentary Population Returns; Big- 
 land's Beauties of England and Wales. (w. w.) 
 
826 
 
 Z A I 
 
 Zaire. ZAIRE, a very considerable river of Southern 
 mm^.-mmm^ AfricB, somctimes called Congo, from the district of 
 that name in the possession of the Portuguese, 
 through which it flows and discharges a large vo- 
 lume of water into the Southern Atlantic, in lati- 
 tude 5° 50' south, longitude 12° 40' east. 
 
 It may be noticed, however, that the word Zaire, 
 like those of Nile or Ganges, is a general appellation 
 for any great river, and that the proper name of the 
 one in question is Moienzie Enzaddi, the Great 
 River, or the river which absorbs all other rivers. 
 
 There are some peculiarities in the lower part of 
 the Zaire which had long attracted the attention of 
 . English traders ; but owing to tke combined effects 
 ojf Portuguese jealousy, ignorance, and total indiffer- 
 ence to all research which had for its object the ex- 
 tension of human knowledge, the baneful influence 
 of which is felt in all their foreign establishments, 
 nothing whatever was known of its source, or even 
 of the general direction of its course through the 
 continent, beyond some 80 or 90 miles from its 
 mouth. 
 
 The accounts that had been given by early writ- 
 ers of the violence and impetuosity of its current, 
 which was said to carry its waters perfectly fresh 
 for twenty leagues into the sea, and the unfathomable 
 depth of its channel, drew from Purchas, the quaint 
 compiler of the Pilgrimage, the following amusing de- 
 scription, in his usual and best style : " The Zaire is 
 of such force, that no ship can get in against the 
 current but neer to the shore ; yea, it prevails 
 against the ocean's saltness threescore, and as some 
 say, fourscore miles within the sea, before his proud 
 waves yield their full homage, and receive that salt 
 temper in token of subjection. Such is the haughty 
 spirit of that stream, overrunning the low countries 
 as it passeth, and swollen with conceit of daily con- 
 quests and daily supplies, which in armies of showers 
 are, by the clouds, sent to his succour, runnes now 
 in a furious rage, thinking even to swallow the 
 ocean, which before he never saw, with his mouth 
 wide gaping eight and twentee miles, as Lopez af- 
 firmeth, in the opening ; but meeting with a more 
 giant-like enemie, which lies lurking under the cliffes 
 to receive his assault, is presentlie swallowed in that 
 wider wombe, yet so, as always being conquered, he 
 never gives over, but in an eternall quarrell, with 
 deepe and indented frownes in his angry face, foam- 
 ing with disdaine, and filling the aire with noise 
 (with freshe help), supplies those forces which the 
 salt sea hath consumed." 
 
 The first correct account of its real magnitude and 
 velocity was given by Mr Maxwell, who, in the ca- 
 pacity of an African trader, resided in the country, 
 and surveyed the lower part of it. The tendency of 
 its channel to a northerly direction, the times of its 
 flooding, and the great body of water which it dis- 
 charged, induced him to think that it might be a 
 prolongation of the Niger, — an idea which the late 
 Mungo Park caught up and warmly adopted in the 
 progress of his last unfortunate attempt to solve the 
 problem of the course and termination of this mys- 
 
 terious river. Park had learned from a native of Zaire 
 Kashna, that the Joliba, near that city, took a direc- 
 tion towards the right hand ; and if so, it was not 
 unnatural to conclude, that, if one great river ran to 
 the southward without any known termination, and 
 another great river came from the northward, whose 
 source was equally unknown, there was at least a 
 probability that they might be one and the same 
 river. And as there was not the shadow of any in- 
 formation which tended to refute this supposition, 
 and as the hypothesis involved no physical impossi- 
 bility, while many plausible arguments were offered 
 in favour of it, the Board of Admiralty, with that 
 readiness which it has always shown, since the con- 
 clusion of the war, to afford opportunities for cor- 
 recting and extending our geographical knowledge, 
 sent out a small vessel, together with a transport, 
 under the command of Captain Tuckey, with the 
 view of tracing the course of the Zaire as far as it 
 might be practicable. On the arrival of the vessels, 
 destined for the examination, opposite to the mouth 
 of the Zaire, they experienced no little difficulty in 
 getting within it against the stream of a rapid cur- 
 rent ; and they found that the accounts given of the 
 turbid water, the floating islands covered with trees 
 and bushes, which had been torn from its banks and 
 washed down into the sea, had not been greatly ex- 
 aggerated. The rapidity of the current between the 
 two headlands which form its mouth, being ge- 
 nerally at the rate of five or six miles an hour, ren- 
 ders it impossible to obtain soundings. In the chart 
 of Mr Maxwell, the mid channel is marked at 100 
 fathoms ; but Mr Fitzmaurice, the master of the 
 Congo, employed on the expedition, could get no 
 bottom with iGO fathoms, at the distance of 25 miles 
 above the mouth : where the river is contracted to 
 something less than three miles, the depth was still 
 found to be about 100 fathoms. At 50 miles, the 
 stream is broken and interrupted by rocks and islets, 
 and divided into a number of branches ; but at 90 
 miles, it was again found to be one channel of a mile 
 to a mile and a half in width, and of various depths, 
 from 50 to 30 fathoms ; and this depth and width it 
 maintains as high up as Point Sondie, 140 miles from 
 its mouth. Here it suddenly contracts its stream 
 to the width only of 400 or 500 yards, and con- 
 tinues so to a place called Inga, about 40 miles 
 above &ondie ; being bristled all the way with rocks, 
 so as to be unnavigable except by boats, and that 
 not without difficulty and considerable danger. 
 
 The banks by which the river is thus contracted 
 are composed of slate, and every where precipitous. 
 In numerous places, ledges of slate cross the river 
 from bank to bank, forming rapids or cataracts, 
 known to the natives by the name of Yellala. That 
 which first occurs is the highest and the most for- 
 midable of these barriers ; being a sloping bed of 
 mica slate, over which the river falls from a height of 
 about 30 feet perpendicular, in a slope of 300 yards. 
 In the low state of the river when Captain Tuckey 
 visited it, this Yellala soarcely deserved the name of 
 cataract ; but it was said by the natives to make a 
 
Z A I 
 
 5»ire. tremendous noise when swelled by the rains. Com- 
 rV"**^ pared with Niagara (says Captain Tuckey), it was a 
 mere brook bubbling over its stony bed. One 
 thing, however, surprised the party ; it was, that 
 the quantity of water which fell over the ledge was 
 but a small portion of the volume below ; and the 
 only explanation which offered itself to them was, 
 that a subterranean communication existed between 
 the upper and lower part of the cataract beneath 
 the sloping bed of slate. 
 
 At Inga, where the narrows terminate, the river 
 once more became navigable, and stretched out into 
 a magnificent sheet of water, expanding to the width 
 of two, three, and even more than four miles, flow- 
 ing with a gentle current of two to three miles an 
 hour. Thus it continued to the distance of about 
 100 miles beyond Inga, or 280 miles from Cape Pa- 
 drou. Here, however, the whole party were com- 
 pelled to stop, partly from sickness, but chiefly be- 
 cause the natives refused to accompany them far- 
 ther. At this place it is said the river had " a 
 most majestic appearance ; that the scenery was 
 beautiful, and not inferior to any on the banks of 
 tie Thames ; that the natives of this part all agreed 
 in stating, that they knew of no impediment to an 
 uninterrupted navigation of the river upwards ; that 
 at no great distance it divided into two branches ; 
 and that there was only one obstruction in the north- 
 eastern branch, occasioned by a single ledge of rocks, 
 forming a kind of rapid, over which, however, ca- 
 noes were able to pass." 
 
 All this, under more prosperous circumstances, 
 would have held out the strongest inducement to 
 proceed ; but it was found impossible, and, there- 
 fore, the question of the identity of the Niger and 
 the Zaire was left pretty much in the same state 
 of uncertainty as it was before the expedition. Lit- 
 tle doubt, however, seemed to remain on Captain 
 Tuckey's mind, that the north-eastern branch had 
 its source in Northern Africa; for he observes, that, 
 " Combining his observations with the information 
 which he had been able to collect from the natives, 
 vague and trifling as it was, he could not help think- 
 ing that the Zaire would be found to issue from 
 some large lake, or chain of lakes, considerably to 
 the northward of the line." He was the more in- 
 clined to this opinion, from the low state of the 
 river, even so late as August ; and he adds, " Should 
 it begin to swell in the early part of September, an 
 event I am taught to expect, I shall conclude that 
 my hypothesis is correct." It did begin to swell at 
 the period anticipated, and he notes down in his 
 journal, in two words, *' Hypothesis confirmed." 
 The idea of its flowing out of a lake seems to have 
 arisen from its " extraordinary quiet rise," which 
 was only from three to six inches in twenty-four 
 hours ; whereas, had the swelling of the river been 
 occasioned by rains falling to the southward of the 
 line, and by the pouring into its channel of moun- 
 tain torrents, the rise must have been sudden and 
 the stream impetuous ; but coming on, as it did, 
 in a quiet and gradual manner, it was concluded 
 that it could proceed only from the gradual over- 
 flowing of a lake. 
 
 Thus, the course of the Niger still remained 
 
 Z A I 8^7 
 
 as a matter of speculation, and the swamps of Zaire. 
 Wangara (a name no longer known in Africa), the " v''*^^ 
 Bahr el Abiad, the Zaire, and the Rio Formosa 
 and other sluggish waters which are discharged into 
 the Bight of Benin and Biafra, continued each to 
 have their advocates. The two latter hypotheses 
 must, however, now be for ever abandoned. The 
 accounts which have recently been received from 
 the African travellers, Oudney, Clapperton, and 
 Denham, set the question completely at rest, as 
 far as the Zaire and the Rio Formosa are con- 
 cerned. We may now safely say, that these 
 waters are completely divided from those of the 
 Niger by a barrier of lofty primitive mountains, 
 from the southern side of which they undoubtedly 
 receive their supply of waters, as the Niger and the 
 lake of Bornou receive theirs from the northern 
 side. 
 
 Having disposed of the Atlantic rivers, it re- 
 mains only to be shown what progress has been 
 made in determining the course and termination oC 
 the Niger beyond Timbuctoo ; indeed, we may say, 
 beyond -Houssa, for to that extent it has unquestion- 
 ably been traced in its easterly course, by every 
 modern authority, written and verbal. By Houssa 
 must be understood, a considerable tract of country 
 to the northward of the Niger, interjacent between 
 Timbuctoo and Bornou ; of which Kashna or Kas- 
 sina is the capital. Considerable light has been thrown 
 on this part of Northern Africa by a native of the 
 above mentioned city, who has recently left Cape 
 Coast Castle with Belzoni on his journey home. 
 This man had served many years in the British navy, 
 under the name of William Pasco, but his real jiame 
 is Abou Beker. By his own account, he travelled 
 with a party of merchants from Kashna, or, as he 
 calls it, Birnie-Kashna, to the Bight of Benin. To 
 the southward of this city, and at the distance of four 
 long days' journey, or about 100 miles from it, they 
 crossed the Quarra-luan-dadi, or river of fresh water, 
 which he describes to be as wide as the Gambia at 
 St Mary's, running to the eastward. Five days fur- 
 ther, still travelling south, they crossed a deeper and 
 broader stream, also running east, called the Gulbi, 
 which passes through the countries named Guari 
 and Noqffi ; and he has been told, and believes, that 
 these two rivers unite at Zugum near Kaha, and 
 proceed towards the rising sun to Birnie-Bornou. 
 Several days after this, they reached a high range of 
 mountains, one part of which had the top white like ' 
 marble, and in its appearance resembled Fogo, one 
 of the Cape de Verd Islands. Having crossed the 
 mountains, and a small river called Echoo running 
 at their feet, they saw the sea ; and continuing their 
 route towards the setting sun, having the sea in 
 sight at intervals oi:i the left hand, in ten days he 
 reached Annamaboo on the coast, and entered on 
 board his Majesty's ship the Lille Belt. 
 
 Abou Beker is represented as an intelligent man, 
 and the account he gives of his journey is con- 
 sidered by the writer of a late article in the 
 Quarterly Review, on the progress made by our 
 African travellers, as worthy of credit. No other 
 river than the two branches he mentions intervened 
 in his route to the southward ; and this corresponds 
 
828 
 
 Z A I 
 
 Z A I 
 
 Zaire, with the account given by Major Denham of his 
 route in the same direction, but on a more easterly 
 meridian, who met with nothing like a stream in 
 travelling directly south between the rivor Yaou, 
 in latitude 13° 30', and a part of the chain of 
 mountains crossed by Abou Beker, in latitude about 
 10° N. 
 
 This Yaou is, in fact, the only stream of water 
 that occurred to our travellers between Mourzouk 
 and the mountains above mentioned, and cannot pos- 
 sibly therefore be any other than the Niger or Joliba ; 
 unless we are to suppose this river to have sunk or 
 been evaporated before it reaches thus far to the east- 
 ward. Indeed, it appears, from the latest letters re- 
 ceived from Dr Oudney, dated in July last (1823), 
 that they had followed up the Yaou 200 miles to the 
 westward, and found it sometimes a stream between 
 deep banks, and at other times swelling out into 
 small lakes. As Noofi, or the lake of Soudan, into 
 which the Niger is known to fall, covild not be more 
 ^lan 100 miles from the spot to which the party pro- 
 ceeded westerly, there can scarcely be a doubt that 
 the Yaou and the Niger are identical. Beker states, 
 he has often heard his grandfather say, that Birnie- 
 Bornou was about fifteen days' journey from Birnie- 
 Kashna towards the rising sun, which accords pretty' 
 well with the accounts given by Horneraann and 
 others. I'his traveller (Hornemann) names the 
 river in that part of its course where it enters Bor- 
 nou the Zad ; and says (what is now confirmed) that 
 it falls into a large lake, which Burkhardt states to be 
 in Bornou, and that it is a fresh water lake. 
 
 It will be seen that under the Article Africa 
 it is stated, as a' speculation grounded upon the 
 reports of various travellers, that a great lake or 
 inland sea would one day be found in some part of 
 Northern Africa, as a common receptacle of the 
 several rivers, of the course of which so many contra- 
 dictory statements have been given. It was not pre- 
 tended to assign the precise situation of this lake, 
 but it was conceived it miglit be somewhere " in an 
 extensive tract of desert, immediately to the east of 
 the modern position of Houssa;" meaning thereby 
 to the eastward of Kashna. That lake is no longer 
 a matter of speculation but of fact. Dr Oudney 
 and his companions fell in with it at a place called 
 Lari, the frontier town of Bornou, in latitude 14° 
 40' north, longitude 13^, being very nearly in the 
 same meridian with Mourzouk. Its name is the 
 Tsaad, being the same as that given to the river 
 which falls into it about sixty miles farther south, by 
 
 Hornemann and Burkhardt ; but which, as already Zaire, 
 mentioned, is called by the present travellers the Yaoiu 
 The western shore of the lake was traversed not less 
 than 220 miles, in a direction almost due south; and at 
 the southern extremity a large river of the name of 
 Skari, a full mile in width, was found to flow into 
 the lake in latitude about 11° 30'. It came from the 
 south, and undoubtedly had its rise in the great chain 
 of mountains visited by Major Denham, and crossed 
 by Abou Beker. How far the lake 2\aad may ex- 
 tend to the eastward is yet uncertain ; but it is to be 
 hoped, that the next accounts from the travellers 
 will settle this interesting point, and determine the 
 question whether, on that side, a river flows out of 
 it in an easterly direction towards the Nile of Egypt, 
 or that it is the great sink of Africa, receiving its 
 waters from all directions. It is said that no mention 
 is made whether the waters of the Tsaad be fresh or 
 salt ; the very omission of which we think is decisive 
 of its being fresh ; and if so, there is certainly a 
 strong probability of its having an eastern outlet ; a 
 circumstance whiclj would afford an equal probabi- 
 lity of the identity of the Niger and the Nile, their 
 union being effected through the channel of the 
 Bahr el Abiad : for, in such a climate, and such a 
 soil as those of central Africa, every lake without an 
 outlet must be more or less salt, like the lake 
 Asphaltites, and the numerous salt lakes of Per- 
 sia. As the country all around, for many hundred 
 (perhaps thousand) miles, is a dead flat, stated 
 to be from 1200 to 1500 feet above the level of 
 the sea, we want only to ascertain the level of the 
 plain of Sennaar, where the Bahr el Abiad joins the 
 Nile, to determine at least the possibility of the 
 waters of the Tsaad emptying themselves into the 
 Mediterranean. 
 
 We shall here only add, that the Tsaad must be of 
 very considerable extent to the eastward, as a set of 
 ferocious people, of the name of Buddooma, inhabit- 
 ing some of its islands, come on rafts from that quax*- 
 ter, and carry off women, children, and cattle, from 
 the western shores of the lake, beyond the possibility 
 of their ever being recovered ; at least, hitherto, the 
 people of Bornou, who have boats seAved together 
 from forty to fifty feet in length, have never ventured 
 far enough to discover their haunts. Beautiful little 
 islands, covered with the Papyrus, are seen floating 
 about the lake in variovis directions, according to the 
 quarter from which the breeze blows. (k.) 
 
 ZEALAND, New. See the Article Australa- 
 sia in this Supplement. 
 
ADDENDA ET CORRIGENDA. 
 
 FLUENTS, Vol. IV. No. 5. For J]/dz readJzAy 
 
 No. 203. For -^^^ read^ 
 5o 00 
 
 After No. 5m, for YdZ, read J'zdY : in the next 
 line read . . . {n.5), taking the d Y of this theo- 
 rem = hi Z=zi/x, we have 
 
 y^dy = x.dx = h\ xjlx^ 
 
 « /* ^ m 
 
 — hi xlydx . ; thus, if y—x 
 
 After No. b55.forjYdZ ... , readjzdYz=z^^JzdX 
 
 — .., we may put dX=dx, and either ydxzz 
 
 d y, and a*=Z, or a^dj;=dy, and y=Z ; and 
 After No. b^^.for JyAZ readJzdY . . . dY z= 
 
 €~~^''xdiX, dX = d( — jra:)= — 9.xdx, and Z=:\ Fluents 
 
 we 
 
 have, 510-Je'~^^dx = + 
 
 3 3.5^ 
 
 4(hll)2 8(hli^ 
 
 See M6c. Cel. X. p. 253. 
 No. 572. r.arf/^.^"dx=.-"x_.-"-^ ^^^^ 
 
 w+1 
 
 Add — Some other similar fluents of logarithmic 
 quantities may be found in the Journal of the Royal 
 Institution for October 1823. 
 
 Interpola- 
 tion. 
 
 No. 571. A similar correction is required for C^^ 
 
 Vhl-' 
 
 y 
 
 which becomes rz;^^—^^ — f\. ^ 
 Chl-^V 
 
 INTERPOLATION. Few disquisitions in mo- 
 dern mathematics have greater practical utility than 
 those concerning the extension and interpolation of 
 the terms of numerical progressions. But the modes 
 of solution generally proposed, however ingenious 
 and refined, are often too complex for ordinary pur- 
 poses. We therefore avail ourselves of this oppor- 
 tunity to point out a procedure of extreme simplicity 
 and most ready application. It will embrace any 
 system of numbers, but seems peculiarly fitted for 
 the computation of logarithms. 
 
 Napier first published, in 1614, his canon Mirifi- 
 cus Logarithmorum, comprised in a very thin and small 
 quarto volume, exhibiting, as far as seven places, the 
 logarithms only of the sines and tangents to every 
 minute of the quadrant; those of the ordinary num- 
 bers being left to be deduced from the nearest sines 
 or tangents. In the summer following, Briggs, then 
 Professor of Geometry in Gresham College at Loa^ 
 
 VOL. VI. PART II. 
 
 don, who was enchanted by that noble discovery, paid 
 a visit to its illustrious author at Merchiston, in the 
 vicinity of Edinburgh. During an agreeable stay of a 
 month, it was concerted between them, to change the 
 natural system of logarithms into another of a more 
 artificial form, but adapted to our denary scale of 
 notation, the labour of the calculation, however, be- 
 ing devolved upon Briggs, as younger and enjoying 
 robust health. Next season, Briggs performed a se- 
 cond journey to Edinburgh, and showed to Napier a 
 table which he had computed of the new logarithms 
 for the first chiliad or thousand of the series of natural 
 numbers. But the great inventor was now fast de- 
 clining in years, and expired on the 3d of April 1618. 
 Briggs employing most skilfully all the abbreviations 
 which ingenuity could devise, prosecuted his most 
 arduous task with such vigour and active persever- 
 ance, as to compute, in the space of seven years, to 
 fourteen places of figures, not only the logarithms of 
 5n 
 
830 
 
 I N T E R P O L A T I O N. 
 
 Interpola- the sines and tangents of every degree and centesi- 
 tion. rnal minute of the quadrant, but also the logarithais of 
 
 ""-^^--^ thirty chiliads of numbers. These tables were print- 
 ed, in 1624', in b. folio volume, entitled Arithmetica 
 Logarithmica. In his anxiety, however, to bring 
 out^'this stupendous work, Briggs contented himself 
 with calculating the logarithms from unit to 20,000, 
 and from 90,000 to 100,000, leaving the computa- 
 tion of the seventy intervening chiliads to be after- 
 wards supplied. The very ingenious author annex- 
 ed a full explanation of his mode of framing the 
 tables, grounded chiefly on the consideration of dif- 
 ferences, and he thus traced the first steps of that 
 important theory. But he likewise gave instructions for 
 the readier filling up of the intermediate logarithms, 
 abridging the toil of calculation no doubt, yet detail- 
 ing a°procedure sufficiently irksome and complicated. 
 
 To encourage some skilful persons to perform this 
 task, he offered to furnish them with paper he had 
 by him, ready prepared, and divided into columns 
 proper for that purpose, as likewise to inform them 
 at what part to begin, that they might not interfere 
 one with another ; and promised, when the whole was 
 finished, td endeavour to procure a new edition of 
 the work so completed." This slender boon seems 
 not to have tempted the mathematicians in England. 
 In Holland, however, Adrian Vlacq, chancing to meet 
 two years afterwards with a copy of the work, and 
 prompted only by his patriotic zeal, had the resolu- 
 tion to revise and compute the whole canon, reducing 
 it to ten places of figures, which he printed in folio at 
 Gouda, as early as 1628. The same able calculator, 
 only five years afterwards, published, likewise in folio, 
 at Gouda, a very extensive system of logarithmic sines 
 and tangents, to every ten seconds of the quadrant, 
 having restored the sexagesimal subdivision, which 
 Briggs had partly changed into a centesimal one. 
 These two volumes may be deemed a precious the- 
 saurus of logarithms, from which succeeding com- 
 pilers have drawn very liberally. They form the 
 basis of the Tables published by Vega at Leipsic in 
 ] 794-, which are esteemed the best and completest 
 now extant. 
 
 But though the Tables of Vlacq, carried only ta 
 ten places of figures, are sufficiently accurate for 
 every ordinary purpose, and even for the most deli- 
 cate calculations in astronomy, yet many persons 
 have often regretted that the original system of 
 Briggs was never completed. The celebrated Le- 
 gendre has employed that table, imperfect as it is, in 
 some of his most refined numerical investigations. It 
 is well known that Mr Baron Maseres devoted a con- 
 siderat>le portion of his time, and of his fortune, to 
 the republication of the works of the early writers on 
 logarithms. In the course of this extensive undertak- 
 ing, he entertained some thoughts of giving a new 
 edition of the Ariilmelicd Logarithmica,^ and ex- 
 pressed an earnest wish that the vacant chiliads were 
 filled up. To promote the liberal designs of the Ba- 
 ron, the Author of this Article was induced to be- 
 stow some reflection on the subject, and a very simple 
 mode occurred to him, which would have reduced 
 the labour of computing those logarithms to little 
 more than the trouble of mere transcription. But 
 11 
 
 the project of completing the canon was deferred for Interpolt 
 a time, and afterwards gradually forgotten. The 
 method of interpolation then proposed seems, how-^**^'^ 
 ever, to deserve notice on account of its great sim- 
 plicity, and its ready application, not only to the im- 
 mediate object, but to other questions of a similar 
 nature. We shall, therefore, now state the principle, 
 and illustrate its application by a few examples. 
 
 The square root of the quantity a^-f-l is evidently 
 expressed by the continued fraction a-f 1 
 
 2a-fl_ 
 
 2a -f &c. 
 
 If two terms only of the fractional part be taken, the 
 expression will become iJa^-\-\zJ^^-^~^t a'^d con- 
 
 sequently^^^-^^ or J 
 a very near approximation. Put b—^a^, and by sub- 
 stitution = ^T-^; wherefore 
 ^ \ b J 26-fI 
 
 1 losr. log. Hence half the alternate 
 
 ^ ^ b ^ 2^4-1 
 
 differences of the logarithms of the series i, b-\-\, 
 64-2, &c. added to the logarithm of 26-^1, must 
 give the logarithm of 26-|-3. By this simple process 
 then, any table of logarithms is carried to double its 
 actual extent through all the odd numbers, those of 
 the even ones being found by the mere addition of the 
 logarithm of 2, 
 
 To find the limits of approximation, let three terras 
 
 of the fractional series be taken, and 
 
 ±1 //6 4-2\ 26H^&+1 
 
 8aH4«' ' V V b )- 2b''+2b 
 
 26+3 / 45^ + 1 O&H 6^ + 1 \ _ 
 26+1 V 4.6^+1 06'-^ +66 /~ 
 
 26+3 
 
 ( 
 
 1+: 
 
 1 
 
 1)6)" 
 
 Whence 
 
 26+1 V' ' (26 + 3)(26+l)6, 
 n /*+2\_i26+3 , 1 \. 
 
 2 log. ^-^ ^ _ i.^^^j + i. ^ 1 + (26+3)C26+l)6/' 
 
 and, therefore, since this last quantity exceeds unit 
 
 6+2 
 
 only by a very minute difference, \ log.— =: 
 
 where M denotes the 
 
 26+3 M 
 
 26+1 + (26+3X26+1)6' 
 modulus of the system. If the number 2^+3 or 26+1 
 be expressed by N, this small correction will amount 
 
 M 2M ^ , 26+3 
 
 but to pv3°'iV^- Consequently ^og.^^z=z 
 
 I log. — ^j. It may hence ba computed, that 
 
 the correction on the first approximation will only 
 reach unit in the last figure for the numbers un- 
 
INTERPOLATION. 
 
 iterpola- der 206 in tables of seven phice«, for ihbse under Whence are derivetl. 
 
 831 
 
 f-jn. 
 
 2055 in the tables of ten places, and for the numbers 
 under 44.'2S6 in tables extending to fourteen places. 
 
 The corrections needed in Briggs's Tables will 
 therefore correspond to these limits, 
 
 35150 
 
 — 2 
 
 23151 
 
 — 7 
 
 30706 
 
 — 3 
 
 22143 
 
 — 8 
 
 27899 
 
 — 4 
 
 21290 
 
 — 9 
 
 25898 
 
 — 5 
 
 20557 
 
 — 10 
 
 24372 
 
 — 6 
 
 19913 
 
 — , 11 
 
 Suppose it were required to find the logarithms of 
 the odd numbers above 300, to seven places of deci- 
 mals. Assuming the logarithms of the series of half 
 those numbers, let their alternate differences be taken, 
 and these again bisected. 
 
 Numbers, 
 
 Logarithn.s. 
 
 Alternate 
 Difrerences. 
 
 Their Halves. 
 
 150 
 
 2.176'0013 
 
 
 
 151 
 
 2.1789769 
 
 
 
 152 
 
 2.1818436 
 
 57523 
 
 28761 
 
 153 
 
 2.1846914 
 
 57145 
 
 28572 
 
 154 
 
 2.1875207 
 
 56771 
 
 28386 
 
 155 
 
 2.1903317 
 
 56403 
 
 28201 
 
 Hence the logarithms of the doubles are formed 
 by the mere addition of these halves; 
 
 Numbers. 
 
 Logarithms. 
 
 301 
 
 2.4785665 
 28761 
 
 303 
 
 2.4814426 
 28572 
 
 305 
 
 2.4842998 
 28386 
 
 307 
 
 2.4871384 
 28201 
 
 S09 
 
 2.4899585 
 
 To extend the process 
 logarithms be computed 
 4000. 
 
 In this manner, the 
 operation may be con- 
 tinued ; but, to prevent 
 any accumulation of er- 
 rors, the logarithms of 
 the composite numbers 
 should serve as standards, 
 being formed by the ad- 
 dition of the logarithms 
 of their several factors. 
 The logarithms of the ia- 
 termediate even numbers, 
 302, 304, 306, 308, and 
 310, are easily determin- 
 ed by adding .3010300 
 to the logarithms of 151, 
 152, 153, 154, and 155. 
 a little farther, let Vlacq's 
 fox the numbers above 
 
 Numbers. 
 
 Logarithms. 
 
 Alternate 
 Difterences. 
 
 Their Halves 
 
 2000 
 
 3.3010299957 
 
 
 
 2001 
 
 3.3012470886 
 
 
 
 2002 
 
 3.3014640731 
 
 4340774 
 
 2170387 
 
 2003 
 
 3.3016809493 
 
 4338607 
 
 2169303 
 
 2004 
 
 3.3018977172 
 
 4336441 
 
 2168220 
 
 2005 
 
 3.3021143770 
 
 4334277 
 
 2167139 
 
 
 
 Numbers. 
 
 Logarithms. 
 
 4001 
 
 3.8021885514 
 21703S7 
 
 4003 
 
 3.6023855901 
 2169303 
 
 4005 
 
 3.6026025204 
 2168220 
 
 4007 
 
 3.6028193424 
 2167139 
 
 4009 
 
 3.6030360563 
 
 Again, to compute the logarithms in Briggs's 
 Canon. 
 
 Num- 
 bers. 
 
 Logarithms. 
 
 Alternate 
 Differences. 
 
 8689365404 
 8688496217 
 8687627 19s 
 8686758342 
 
 Their Halves. 
 
 9995 
 9996 
 9997 
 9998 
 9999 
 10000 
 
 3.99978279845413 
 3.99982624745441 
 3.99986969210827 
 3.99991313241658 
 3-99995656838020 
 4.00000000000000 
 
 4344682707 
 4344248 lOc^ 
 43438 1359( 
 4343379171 
 
 19991 
 19993 
 19995 
 19997 
 W999 
 
 4.30083451916161 
 4344682696 
 
 The additive parts 
 here consist of those 
 differences diminish- 
 ed by 1 1 and the last 
 one by 10, since the 
 numbers now ap- 
 proach to the limit 
 20557. 
 
 4.30087796598857 
 4344248097 
 
 4.30092140846954 
 4343813585 
 
 4.30096484660539 
 4343379161 
 
 4.30100828039700 
 
 The first mode of interpolating, thus derived from 
 the nature of logarithms, and so commodious for their 
 computation, might likewise be deduced from general 
 considerations. Let A, B, C, D, E, &c. represent any 
 series of numbers. If they advance regularly and 
 slowly, their first diflPerences, B — A, C — B, D — C, 
 E — D, &c. may be viewed as constituting an arithme- 
 tical progression. Wherefore the sura of the extremes 
 will be equal to that of the mean terras, or {E — D) 
 + {B—A) = (D—C) -f (C—B), that is, E—A= 
 
 2D— 2^,and therefore D—B= 
 E—A 
 
 E—A 
 
 whence jDz=: 
 
 B 
 
 2 
 
 Applying this to the logarithms of eight 
 
 places of figures, let A, B, C, D, E, &c. represent 
 
832 
 
 Interpola- 
 tion. 
 
 INTERPOLATION. 
 
 the logarithms of 500, 501, 502, 503, 504, &c., then 
 
 , « log. 504 — log. 500 
 log. 503=log. 501 H — ^ — 5 = log. 501 
 
 + 
 
 log. 252-log. 250 ^ 2.69983773 -fi(2.40140054 
 
 2 
 
 —2.39794001)=2.791 56799 ; the halves of the alter- 
 nate differences of the logarithms of 250, 251, 252, 
 253, &c. being thus taken, as before, to compose by 
 their additions the logarithms of the odd numbers 
 503, 505, 507, &c. 
 
 But since E — A—2D—2B, it follows that E= 
 A-\-2{D — B). Wherefore, in any series, the fifth term 
 will be found nearly, by adding to the first term the 
 double the difference between the second and fourth 
 terms. In this way the tables of natural sines, tan- 
 gents, and secants, could easily be framed. Thus, 
 the logarithmic sines of the successive arcs, 50°, 50° 
 r, 50° 2', and 50° 3' being from Vlacq's Tables, to 
 find the logarithmic sine of 50° 4'- 
 
 Arcs. 
 
 Logatitbmic Sines. 
 
 
 50° 0' 
 
 9.8842539665 
 
 
 1' 
 
 9.8843599396 
 
 ) 2117585 
 
 2' 
 
 9. 8 84465 S 502 
 
 
 3' 
 
 9.88457 IC98I 
 
 ) 42235170 
 
 4' 
 
 9-8846774835 
 
 Here, passing over the middle term, the difference 
 between the logarithmic sities of 50° 1' and of 50° 3' is 
 doubled, and added to that of 50°, to form the loga- 
 rithmic sine of 50° 4'. 
 
 But a nearer approximation may be obtained, by 
 supposing the second differences of any series to form 
 the arithmetical progression. The sum of the ex- 
 treme terms C — 2B-\-A and F—2E + D would, 
 therefore, be equal to the sum of the mean terms 
 D—2C+B and E—2D + C; whence F—A—SB+ 
 3E—2C—2D,orF=A-\-S{B-{-E)—2{C+D). Thus, 
 the natural sines of the successive arcs 30, 31, 32, 
 34, and 35 degrees may be easily computed to seven 
 places of figures. 
 
 Arcs. 
 
 Sines. 
 
 
 30° 
 
 .5000000 
 
 
 31 
 
 .5150381 
 
 ~> 1.0742310x3=3.2226930 
 
 32 
 
 .5299193 
 
 |i 1.0745583 X 2=2.1491166 
 
 33 
 
 .5446390 
 
 
 34 
 
 .5592929 
 
 J DiffeYence 1.07535764 
 
 35 
 
 .5735764 
 
 
 The sines of 31° and of 34° are here added together, Interpol 
 and the sum tripled, and from this amount is taken the 
 double of the sum of the sines of 31° and of 33° ; the 
 sine of 30° being subtracted from that remainder, 
 leaves finally the sine of 35°. 
 
 Employing the same number of terms of the series, 
 a still closer approximation may be discovered, by 
 considering the third differences only as uniformly 
 progressive. Wherefore the extreme differences 
 D—3C+SB—A and F—SE-{-3D—C will be to- 
 gether equal to double the middle one, E — 3-D-f. 
 SC — B, and consequently F — A—5E — 10jD + 
 10C—5B, or F=A-j-5iE—B)—lO{D—C). 
 
 Hence the logarithms even of low numbers may 
 be computed exact to eight decimal places. Thus, 
 the logarithms of 150, 1^51, 152, 153, and 154, be- 
 ing given, that of 155 is found by this process: 
 
 Numbers. 
 
 Logarithms. 
 
 2.17609)26 
 2.17897695 
 2. 181 89359 
 2.18469143 
 2.18752072 
 2.19033170 
 
 854377 X 5=4271885 
 284784 X 10=2847840 
 
 Difference 1424045 
 Add 2.17609126 
 
 2.19033171 
 
 The difference between the logarithms of 151 and 
 154 is here multiplied by 5, and the difference of the 
 logarithms of 152 and 153 is multiplied by 10; and 
 the excess of the former product above the latter be- 
 ing added to the logarithm of 150, gives the lo- 
 garithm of 155. 
 
 It would obviously be preferable, however, to em.- 
 ploy the formula in a modified form for interpolation 
 merely. Hence Z)= C+ }{E—B) f A—F. 
 
 If six terms of t!ie series were given, the seventh 
 could be found to a high degree of accuracy. The 
 sum of the extremes of the progressive third differ- 
 ences being now assumed equal to that of the means, 
 we have 3 C+3 B—A-]-G—3 F+3 E—D= 
 E—3 Z)+3 C—B-\-F—3 E + 3 D~C, and by re- 
 duction G — J=4 F — 5 jE— 5 C — 4 B, whence G= 
 .4 + 4 (F — B) — 5 {E — C). It seems unnecessary to 
 subjoin any farther illustrations; but the very simple 
 methods of interpolation now proposed, might be 
 applied with great facility and advantage in various 
 physical researches. In this way, much light may 
 be thrown upon the resistance of fluids, and upon 
 the force, the density, and the component heat of 
 steam, at different temperatures. 
 
 (D.) 
 
833 
 
 POPULATION. 
 
 • The Returns of the Census of 1821, as given in the Abstract printed by order of the House of Commons, Kngkud. 
 not having been published tilt this work was nearly finished, it appeared to be proper to insert here such ^"■•^'"^ 
 parts of the information contained in that Abstract, as are necessary to bring into one point of view, all 
 the material facts connected with the progress and present state of the Population of the British Empire. 
 
 Counties of England and Wales, their Extent, Population, Sfc. (See Population Abstract, p. 32, and Returns 
 
 at the end of each County.) 
 
 Counties of England 
 
 Square 
 Statute 
 Miles. 
 
 1801. 
 
 Increase 
 per Cent 
 
 i opula-tioiij 
 1811. 
 
 Increase 
 pev Cent 
 
 Population, 
 1821. 
 
 Males, as 
 enumerated in 
 1821. 
 
 Females, as 
 enumerated in 
 1821. 
 
 
 463 
 
 65,500 
 
 1 1 
 
 72,600 
 
 lo 
 
 85,400 
 
 40,385 
 
 43,331 
 
 
 75o 
 
 112,800 
 
 8 
 
 122,300 
 
 lU 
 
 134,700 
 
 65,54^6 
 
 66,431 
 
 Buckingham 
 
 740 
 
 111 ,000 
 
 10 
 
 121,600 
 
 13 
 
 136,800 
 
 64,867 
 
 69,201 
 
 
 o 
 
 92,300 
 
 13 
 
 104,500 
 
 ly 
 
 124,400 
 
 60,301 
 
 61,608 
 
 
 1 ,Uoz 
 
 T /~\ o 1 f\r\ 
 
 198,100 
 
 18 
 
 234,600 
 
 17 
 
 ^1 *T r" r\r\ 
 
 275,500 
 
 132,952 
 
 137,146 
 
 
 1,327 
 
 194,500 
 
 1 5 
 
 223,900 
 
 17 
 
 262,600 
 
 124,817 
 
 132,630 
 
 
 l,47o 
 
 121 ,100 
 
 1 A 
 
 14 
 
 138,300 
 
 1 O 
 
 T r r\ o f\r\ 
 
 159,300 
 
 75,600 
 
 80,524 
 
 
 J,Uzo 
 
 1dd,500 
 
 15 
 
 191,700 
 
 J O 
 
 £517,600 
 
 105,873 
 
 107,460 
 
 
 2,579 
 
 OTA A r\f\ 
 
 354,400 
 
 12 
 
 396,100 
 
 
 A A ^ r\^/\ 
 
 447,900 
 
 208,229 
 
 230,811 
 
 
 1,005 
 
 1 1 9, IOC 
 
 8 
 
 128,900 
 
 1 A 
 
 147,400 
 
 68,934 
 
 75,565 
 
 
 1 ,Ud 1 
 
 165,700 
 
 1 1 
 
 183,600 
 
 1 K 
 
 21 1,900 
 
 99,100 
 
 108,573 
 
 
 \.,b6l 
 
 
 1 1 
 
 260,900 
 
 1 3 
 
 Of\ V Ci r\{\ 
 
 295,300 
 
 144,909 
 
 144,515 
 
 
 
 zolr/j 1 uO 
 
 1 A 
 
 ^95,100 
 
 X U 
 
 Ci A Ci c r\r\ 
 
 160,451 
 
 175,392 
 
 
 oOV 
 
 
 0 
 
 97,300 
 
 o 
 o 
 
 J U5,J0() 
 
 51,552 
 
 51,691 
 
 
 COQ 
 
 oZo 
 
 
 14 
 
 1 15,400 
 
 1 0 
 
 132,400 
 
 64,121 
 
 65,593 
 
 
 OjV 
 
 
 1 3 
 
 43,700 
 
 1 A, 
 1 1 
 
 •i'y,o00 
 
 24,020 
 
 24,75 1 
 
 
 
 
 zl 
 
 385,600 
 
 1 5? 
 1 O 
 
 434,600 
 
 209,833 
 
 216,183 
 
 
 1,831 
 
 695,100 
 
 23 
 
 856,000 
 
 
 1,074,000 
 
 512,476 
 
 540,383 
 
 
 804 
 
 134,400 
 
 15 
 
 155,100 
 
 15 
 
 178,100 
 
 86,390 
 
 88,181 
 
 
 O '7/1 Q 
 
 Zto,oVv 
 
 1 A 
 
 OA c Cirif\ 
 
 1 7 
 1 / 
 
 
 141,570 
 
 141,488 
 
 
 
 
 ■I 7 
 
 yo5, 100 
 
 ly 
 
 1, 167,501) 
 
 533,573 
 
 610,958 
 
 
 498 
 
 47,100 
 
 36 
 
 64,200 
 
 13 
 
 72,300 
 
 37,278 
 
 34,555 
 
 Norfolk 
 
 2,092 
 
 282,400 
 
 7 
 
 301,800 
 
 16 
 
 351,300 
 
 166,892 
 
 177,476 
 
 Northampton ... 
 
 1,017 
 
 136,100 
 
 7 
 
 146,100 
 
 13 
 
 165,800 
 
 79,575 
 
 82,908 
 
 Northumberland 
 
 1,871 
 
 162,300 
 
 10 
 
 177,900 
 
 14 
 
 203,000 
 
 95,354 
 
 103,611 
 
 
 837 
 
 145,000 
 
 16 
 
 168,400 
 
 13 
 
 190,700 
 
 91,491 
 
 9.5,382 
 
 
 752 
 
 1 1 3,200 
 
 9 
 
 123,'-^00 
 
 13 
 
 139,800 
 
 68,817 
 
 68,154 
 
 
 149 
 
 16,900 
 
 1 
 
 17,000 
 
 11 
 
 18,900 
 
 9,223 
 
 9,264 
 
 
 1,341 
 
 172,200 
 
 17 
 
 200,800 
 
 5 
 
 210,300 
 
 102,056 
 
 104,097 
 
 
 1,642 
 
 282,800 
 
 11 
 
 313,300 
 
 16 
 
 362,500 
 
 170,199 
 
 185,115 
 
 Southampton ... 
 
 1,628 
 
 226,900 
 
 12 
 
 253,300 
 
 14 
 
 289,000 
 
 138,373 
 
 144,925 
 
 
 1,148 
 
 247,100 
 
 23 
 
 304,000 
 
 14 
 
 347,900 
 
 171,668 
 
 169,372 
 
 Suffolk 
 
 1,512 
 
 217,400 
 
 12 
 
 242,900 
 
 14 
 
 276,000 
 
 132,410 
 
 138,132 
 
 
 758 
 
 278,000 
 
 20 
 
 334,700 
 
 22 
 
 406,700 
 
 189,871 
 
 208.787 
 
 Sussex 
 
 1,463 
 
 164,600 
 
 19 
 
 196,500 
 
 21 
 
 237,700 
 
 116,705 
 
 116,314 
 
 Warwick 
 
 902 
 
 215,100 
 
 10 
 
 236,400 
 
 18 
 
 280,000 
 
 133,827 
 
 140,565 
 
 Westmoreland... 
 
 763 
 
 43,000 
 
 10 
 
 47,500 
 
 10 
 
 52,400 
 
 25,513 
 
 25,846 
 
 Wilts 
 
 1,379 
 
 191,200 
 
 5 
 
 200,300 
 
 13 
 
 226,600 
 
 108,213 
 
 113,944 
 
 Worcester 
 
 729 
 
 143,900 
 
 15 
 
 165,900 
 
 13 
 
 188,200 
 
 90,259 
 
 94,165 
 
 York 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 East Riding T 
 
 
 144,000 
 
 20 
 
 173,000 
 
 12 
 
 194,300 
 
 92,761 
 
 97,688 
 
 North Riding > 
 
 5,961 
 
 160,500 
 
 7 
 
 171,100 
 
 10 
 
 187,400 
 
 90,153 
 
 93,228 
 
 West Riding J 
 
 
 582,700 
 
 16 
 
 675,100 
 
 21 
 
 815,400 
 
 397,542 
 
 , 401,815 
 
 [England | 
 
 50,535 
 
 8,609,000 
 
 141- 
 
 9,870,300 
 
 m 
 
 11,486,700 
 
 5,483,679 
 
 5,777,758 
 
834 P O P IJ I. A T ION, 
 
 ■ Wales. 
 
 Counties of JVales. (See Population Abstract, p. 3i, and County Returns.) 
 
 Counties of Wales. 
 
 Area in 
 Square 
 Miles 
 English. 
 
 Population, 
 1801. 
 
 Increase 
 per Cent. 
 
 Population, 
 1811. 
 
 Increase 
 per Cent. 
 
 Population, 
 1821. 
 
 Males, as 
 enumerated 
 in 1821. 
 
 Females, as 
 enumerated 
 in 1821. 
 
 Anglesey 
 
 Cardigan 
 
 Carmarthen 
 
 Carnarvon 
 
 Flint 
 
 271 
 754 
 675 
 Q74 
 544 
 6SS 
 244 
 792 
 663 
 839 
 610 
 426 
 
 35,000 
 32,700 
 44,100 
 69,600 
 43,000 
 62,400 
 41,000 
 
 10 
 
 19 
 18 
 15 
 
 19 
 
 6 
 
 38,300 
 39,000 
 52,000 
 7Q 800 
 51,000 
 66,400 
 48,100 
 88,000 
 32,000 
 53,700 
 62,700 
 21,600 
 
 20 
 14 
 13 
 15 
 16 
 18 
 14 
 18 
 
 9 
 14 
 
 20 
 8 
 
 46.000 
 44.500 
 59,000 
 92,000 
 59,100 
 78,000 
 54 900 
 103,800 
 35,100 
 61,100 
 75 500 
 23.500 
 
 21,784 
 21,853 
 • 27,898 
 43,577 
 28,412 
 37,785 
 26,733 
 50,427 
 16,479 
 29,743 
 34,530 
 11,266 
 
 23,279 
 21,760 
 29,886 
 46,662 
 29,546 
 38 726 
 27,051 
 51,310 
 17903 
 30,156 
 39,479 
 11,193 
 
 Merioneth 
 
 Montgomery ... 
 
 Wales 
 
 74,000 
 30,500 
 49,300 
 58,200 
 19,700 
 
 17 
 19 
 5 
 9 
 8 
 10 
 
 7,425 
 
 559,000 
 
 13 
 
 632,600 
 
 16 
 
 731,800 
 
 350,487 
 
 366,951 
 
 Note. — These numbers include the estimated proportions of the Army and Navy belonging to each 
 county, at the respective periods of taking the Census; but the Actual Total in England, in 1821, was 
 11,261,437; in Wales it was 717,438 ; and in Scotland it was 2,093,456 ; as then enumerated, and as is 
 shown in these Summaries, by the numbers of Males and Females. 
 
 THE METROPOLIS. 
 
 The rapid increase of the population in the suburbs, since the beginning of the last century, shows how 
 rapidly the metropolis increases in extent, although its population has not increased so fast as that of the 
 nation at large. In 1700, the metropolis contained almost an eighth part of the inhabitants of England and 
 Wales ; in 1750 and in 1801, about a tenth part ; but in 1811 and at present, only about a twelfth part. 
 
 Objections might be made to the propriety of the limits of the metropolis as herein assumed, and it may 
 therefore be right to add, that the population of all the parishes, of which the churches are situate within 
 eight miles rectilinear around St Paul's Cathedral (including the before mentioned addition of one twenty- 
 fifth part), would, in ISOl, have amounted to 1,031,500; — in 1811, to 1,220,200; — and in 1821, to no less 
 than 1,481,500; without including the parish of Woolwich, which contains 17,008 additional. 
 
 N. B. The population ascribed to the city of Paris is comprised within a district of full such an extent. 
 
 The arrivals of coasting vessels in the port of London may be estimated to have been about 5500, in the 
 year 1700 ;— 6400, in the year 1750;— 10,400, in 1801 ;— 13,500, in 1811; and at about 17,000 per 
 annum, since the year I8I7. This produces a constant, though fluctuating accession to the population, to 
 a larger amount than elsewhere, and consequently, a twenty-fifth, instead of a fiftieth part, is to be added to 
 form a comparison with the Parish Register Returns in the General Abstract. With this addition, the me- 
 tropolis, in the year 1801, contained about 900,000; — in 1811, about 1,050,000; — and in 1821, about 
 1,274,800 inhabitants. The totals would then be, in 
 
 1700. 1750. 1801. 1811. 1821. 
 
 674,350 I 676,250 I 900,000 I 1,050,000 I 1,274,800 
 The actual totals, as enumerated, were | 864,845 | 1,009,546 | 1,225,694 
 
P 0 P U L A T I 0 N. 
 
 Comparison of the Population of ike Shires of Scotland. (See Population Abstract, p. S4, and Returns 
 
 at the end of each County.) 
 
 835 
 
 SeoUaad. 
 
 Shires of Scotland. 
 
 Aberdeen , 
 
 Argyle 
 
 Ayr 
 
 Banff 
 
 Berwick 
 
 Bute 
 
 Caithness 
 
 Clackmannan .., 
 
 Dumbarton 
 
 Dumfries 
 
 Edinburgh 
 
 Elgin 
 
 Fife 
 
 Forfar 
 
 Haddington 
 
 Inverness 
 
 Kincardine 
 
 Kinross 
 
 Kirkcudbright ... 
 
 Lanark 
 
 Linlithgow 
 
 Nairn 
 
 Orkney & Shetland 
 
 Peebles 
 
 Perth 
 
 Renfrew 
 
 Ross & Cromarty 
 
 Roxburgh 
 
 Selkirk 
 
 Stirling 
 
 Sutherland 
 
 Wigtown 
 
 Scotland. 
 
 Population, 
 1801. 
 
 Increase 
 per Cent 
 
 Population, 
 
 1 HI 1 
 loll. 
 
 Increase 
 pev CJcfit 
 
 Population, 
 
 Males, as 
 enumerated 
 in 1821. 
 
 Females, as 
 enumerated 
 in 1821. 
 
 127,200 
 
 10 
 
 139,600 
 
 14 
 
 158,500 
 
 72,383 
 
 83,004 
 
 74,300 
 
 19 
 
 88,400 
 
 12 
 
 99,300 
 
 47.775 
 
 49,541 
 
 87,100 
 
 23 
 
 107,400 
 
 21 
 
 129,800 
 
 61,077 
 
 66,222 
 
 37,000 
 
 2 
 
 37,900 
 
 17 
 
 44,400 
 
 20,193 
 15,976 
 
 23,368 
 
 31,600 
 
 1 
 
 31,800 
 
 7 
 
 34,100 
 
 17,409 
 
 12,200 
 
 2 
 
 12,400 
 
 13 
 
 14,100 
 
 6,474 
 
 7,323 
 
 23,400 
 
 4 
 
 24,200 
 
 27 
 
 30,800 
 
 14,196 
 
 16,042 
 
 11,200 
 
 11 
 
 12,400 
 
 9 
 
 13,500 
 
 6,S56 
 
 6,907 
 
 21,400 
 56,400 
 
 17 
 
 25,000 
 
 11 
 
 27,900 
 
 13,046 
 
 14,271 
 
 15 
 
 65,100 
 
 11 
 
 72,300 
 
 33,572 
 
 37,306 
 
 127,100 
 
 21 
 
 153,600 
 
 27 
 
 195,300 
 
 87,759 
 
 9S,155 
 
 27,600 
 
 5 
 
 29,000 
 
 9 
 
 31,800 
 
 14,292 
 
 16,870 
 
 96,900 
 
 8 
 
 104,600 
 
 12 
 
 116,800 
 
 53,540 
 
 61,016 
 
 102,400 
 
 8 
 
 110,800 
 
 4 
 
 115,700 
 
 52,071 
 
 61,359 
 
 31,000 
 
 4 
 
 32,200 
 
 11 
 
 35,800 
 
 16,828 
 
 18,299 
 
 76,800 
 
 5 
 
 80,900 
 
 14 
 
 92,000 
 
 42,304 
 
 47,853 
 
 27,200 
 
 4 
 
 28,400 
 
 5 
 
 29,700 
 
 13,540 
 
 15.578 
 
 6,900 
 
 8 
 
 7,500 
 
 6 
 
 7,900 
 
 3,660 
 
 4,102 
 
 30,200 
 151,600 
 
 15 
 
 34,800 
 
 14 
 
 39,700 
 
 18,506 
 
 20,397 
 
 31 
 
 198,100 
 
 26 
 
 249.300 
 
 115,385 
 
 129,002 
 
 18,400 
 
 9 
 
 20,100 
 
 J5 
 
 23,100 
 
 10,703 
 
 1 1,982 
 
 8,500 
 
 
 8,500 
 
 8 
 
 Q 200 
 
 4,082 
 
 4,924 
 
 48,400 
 
 
 47,700 
 
 14 
 
 54,200 
 
 24,070 
 
 29,054 
 
 9,000 
 
 14 
 
 10,300 
 
 
 10,200 
 
 4,973 
 
 5,073 
 
 130,600 
 
 7 
 
 139,600 
 
 2 
 
 141,800 
 
 66,033 
 
 73,017 
 
 80,700 
 
 19 
 
 96,100 
 
 19 
 
 1 14,400 
 
 51,178 
 
 60,997 
 
 57,200 
 
 10 
 
 62,900 
 
 12 
 
 70,200 
 
 32,324 
 
 36,504 
 
 34,800 
 
 11 
 
 38,500 
 
 8 
 
 41,700 
 
 19,408 
 
 21,484 
 
 5,200 
 
 16 
 
 6,100 
 
 11 
 
 6,800 
 
 3,205 
 
 3,432 
 
 52,500 
 
 15 
 
 60,200 
 
 11 
 
 66,700 
 
 31,718 
 
 33,658 
 
 23,900 
 
 2 
 
 24,400 
 
 
 24,300 
 
 11,088 
 
 12,752 
 
 23,700 
 
 17 
 
 27,800 
 
 22 
 
 33,900 
 
 15,837 
 
 17,403 
 
 1,652,400 
 
 13 
 
 1,865,900 
 
 I4i 
 
 2,135,300 
 
 983,552 
 
 1,109,904 
 
836 POP U L A T I O N. 
 
 Ireland. Ireiano 
 
 ^ Comparative Abstract of the Population, S^c. of Ireland, according to the Two Censuses made in 1815 and 
 
 1821. {Parliamentary Paper.) 
 
 rotintifiS. &r. in Tre1an(L 
 
 ^0. 01 riOllS6S 
 
 No. of Houses 
 
 No. of Inhabitants 
 
 No. of Inhabitant. 
 
 Increase since 
 
 
 
 
 in 181.3. 
 
 in 1821. 
 
 in 1813. 
 
 in 1821. 
 
 1813. 
 
 
 
 
 191,267 
 
 
 1,053,918 
 
 
 
 
 21,122 
 
 51,484 
 
 140,995 
 
 286,921 
 
 145.926 
 
 
 
 3,35S 
 
 4,185 
 
 24,684 
 
 27.827 
 
 3.143 
 
 
 
 17,899 
 
 19423 
 
 94,095 
 
 105,976 
 
 11,881 
 
 
 
 43,702 
 
 - 53,940 
 
 237,371 
 
 297.538 
 
 60,167 
 
 
 
 30,254 
 
 38,289 
 
 158,110 
 
 207,777 
 
 49,667 
 
 
 
 no return. 
 
 24,246 
 
 no return. 
 
 127,879 
 
 
 Leinster 
 
 
 
 284,673 
 
 
 1,785,702 
 
 
 
 
 12,090 
 
 13,854 
 
 69,566 
 
 81,287 
 
 11.721 
 
 Drogheda, Town .. 
 
 
 3,086 
 
 3,463 
 
 16,123 
 
 18,118 
 
 1>995 
 
 Dublin 
 
 
 16,633 
 
 21,987 
 
 1 10,437 
 
 160,274 
 
 49,837 
 
 
 
 15,104< 
 
 1 6,005 
 
 176,610 
 
 186,276 
 
 9.666 
 
 
 
 14,561< 
 
 15,875 
 
 85,133 
 
 101,715 
 
 16,582 
 
 
 
 23,414 
 
 26,479 
 
 134,664 
 
 157,096 
 
 22,432 
 
 
 
 no return. 
 
 4,321 
 
 no return. 
 
 23,230 
 
 
 King's County 
 
 
 19.. 705 
 
 23,032 
 
 113,226 
 
 132,319 
 
 19,093 
 
 
 
 16,348 
 
 17,320 
 
 95,917 
 
 107.702 
 
 11,785 
 
 Louth 
 
 
 no return. 
 
 17,428 
 
 no return. 
 
 101,070 
 
 
 Meath 
 
 
 25,921 
 
 30,432 
 
 142,479 
 
 174,716 
 
 32,237 
 
 
 
 19,932 
 
 23,067 
 
 113,857 
 
 129,391 
 
 15,534 
 
 
 
 no retdrn. 
 
 23,478 
 
 no return. 
 
 128,042 
 
 
 
 
 no return. 
 
 29.513 
 
 no return. 
 
 169,304 
 
 
 
 
 13,445 
 
 18,419 
 
 83,109 
 
 115,162 
 
 32,053 
 
 Munster 
 
 i J 7 
 
 .total 
 
 
 
 
 2,005,363 
 
 Clare 
 
 
 29,301 
 
 36,312 
 
 160,603 
 
 209,595 
 
 48,992 
 
 Cork 
 
 
 91,447 
 
 
 523,936 
 
 702,000 
 
 
 
 
 7,652 
 
 12,175 
 
 64,394 
 
 100,535 
 
 36^141 
 
 
 
 31,749 
 
 34,612 
 
 178,622 
 
 205,037 
 
 26,415 
 
 
 
 17,897 
 
 36,089 
 
 103,865 
 
 214,286 
 
 110,421 
 
 
 
 no return. 
 
 8,268 
 
 no return. 
 
 66,042 
 
 
 
 
 50,224 
 
 60,200 
 
 290,531 
 
 353,402 
 
 62,871 
 
 
 
 19,342 
 
 21,493 
 
 119,457 
 
 127,679 
 
 8,222 
 
 Waterford, City 
 
 
 3,581 
 
 4,052 
 
 25,467 
 
 26,787 
 
 1,320 
 
 Ulster 
 
 .total 
 
 
 2,001,900 
 
 
 Antrim 
 
 
 42,258 
 
 
 231,548 
 
 261,601 
 
 30,053 
 
 
 
 21,944 
 
 37,714 
 
 121,449 
 
 196,577 
 
 75,128 
 
 Carrickfergus, Town ... 
 
 1,166 
 
 1,444 
 
 6,136 
 
 8,255 
 
 2.119 
 
 Cavan 
 
 
 no return. 
 
 34,744 
 
 no return. 
 
 194,330 
 
 
 Donegal 
 
 
 no return. 
 
 4o,000 
 
 no return. 
 
 
 ■ • • 
 
 Down 
 
 
 53,310 
 
 62,425 
 
 287,290 
 
 329.348 
 
 42.058 
 
 
 
 19,291 
 
 22,912 
 
 111,250 
 
 130,399 
 
 19.149 
 
 
 
 31,287 
 
 33,913 
 
 186,181 
 
 194,099 
 
 7,918 
 
 
 
 27.066 
 
 33,197 
 
 140,433 
 
 178,183 
 
 37.750 
 
 Tyrone 
 
 
 46,213 
 
 250,746 
 
 259,691 
 
 8,945 
 
 
 
 
 
 191,267 
 
 
 1,053,918 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 284,673 
 
 
 1,785,702 
 
 
 < 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2,005,363 
 
 
 
 Ulster 
 
 
 
 
 
 2,001,966 
 
 
 D 
 
 Ireland 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 CO 
 
 
 
 
 
 6,846.949 
 
 
POPULATION. 
 
 SHI 
 
 ation. Xhe Numbers of Marriages, Baptisms, and Burials, 
 recorded, in England and Wales, have been as fol- 
 low, for the last Txventy Years. (From Parish 
 Register Abstract, p. 154.) 
 
 Years. 
 
 Marriages. 
 
 Baptisms. 
 
 Burials. 
 
 1801 
 
 67,228 
 
 237,029 
 
 204,434 
 
 1802 
 
 90,396 
 
 273,837 
 
 199,889 
 
 1803 
 
 94,379 
 
 294,108 
 
 203,728 
 
 1804 
 
 85,738 
 
 294,592 
 
 181,177 
 
 1805 
 
 79,586 
 
 292,201 
 
 181,240 
 
 1806 
 
 80,754 
 
 291,929 
 
 183,452 
 
 1807 
 
 83,923 
 
 300,294 
 
 195,851 
 
 1808 
 
 82,248 
 
 296,074 
 
 200,763 
 
 1809 
 
 83,369 
 
 299,989 
 
 191,471 
 
 1810 
 
 84,470 
 
 298,853 
 
 208,184 
 
 1811 
 
 86,389 
 
 304,857 
 
 188,543 
 
 1812 
 
 82,066 
 
 301,954 
 
 190,402 
 
 1813 
 
 83,860 
 
 3 1 4,432 
 
 186,477 
 
 1814 
 
 92,804 
 
 318,806 
 
 206,403 
 
 1815 
 
 99,944 
 
 344,93 1 
 
 197,408 
 
 1816 
 
 91,946 
 
 330,199 
 
 205,959 
 
 1817 
 
 88,234 
 
 331,583 
 
 199,269 
 
 1818 
 
 92,779 
 
 331,384 
 
 213,624 
 
 1819 
 
 95,571 
 
 333,261 
 
 213,564 
 
 1820 
 
 96,833 
 
 343,660 
 
 208,349 
 
 The Numbers of Marriages as estimated for Five and Populfttio* 
 Ten Years, have been as follorv. (Abstract, p. 25.) "^^^""^ 
 
 Periods. 
 
 1755 to 1760 inclusive 
 
 1760 — 1765 
 
 1765 — 1770 
 
 1770—1775 
 
 1775 _ 1780 
 
 1780 — 1785 
 
 1785 — 1790 
 
 1790 — 1795 
 
 1795— 1800 
 
 1800 — 1805 
 
 1805 — 1810 
 
 1810 — 1815 
 
 1815 — 1820 
 
 Medium Ave- 
 rage of P'ive 
 Years. 
 
 52,666 
 59,883 
 59,043 
 60,741 
 64,238 
 66,722 
 71,363 
 72,205 
 74,998 
 83,465 
 82,953 
 89,012 
 93,073 
 
 Medium Ave- 
 rage of Ten 
 Years. 
 
 } 
 
 56,275 
 j> 59,892 
 65,479 
 71,784 
 79,231 
 85,985 
 
 General Summary of Houses, Families, and Persons, in 1821, in Great Britain, Sfc, 
 
 
 England. 
 
 Wales. 
 
 Scotland. 
 
 Army, Navy, 
 and Seamen. 
 
 Great Britain. 
 
 
 2,036,317 
 
 140,820 
 
 356,536 
 
 
 2,533,673 
 
 Number of Families ... 
 
 2,346,717 
 
 146,706 
 
 447,960 
 
 
 2,941,383 
 
 Total of Persons... 
 
 Tnf.al nC Pprsnna in Trpla 
 
 5,483,679 
 5,777,758 
 
 350,487 
 366,951 
 
 983,552 
 1,109,904 
 
 319,300 
 
 7,137,018 
 7,254,613 
 
 11,261,437 
 
 717,438 
 
 2,093,456 
 
 319,300 
 
 14,391,631 
 6,846,949 
 92,122 
 
 21,330,802 , 
 
 Grand Total of the Population of the British Islands, in 1821.. 
 
 Summary and Comparative Statement of the Enumerations of 1801, 181 1, and 1821. (Abstract, p. 8.) 
 
 
 Population, 
 1801. 
 
 Increase 
 per Cent. 
 
 Diminution 
 per Cent. 
 
 Population, 
 1811. 
 
 Increase 
 per Cent. 
 
 Diminution 
 per Cent. 
 
 Population, 
 1821. 
 
 Totals 
 
 8,331,434 
 541,546 
 1,599,068 
 
 14^ 
 
 13 
 
 13 
 
 
 9,538,827 
 611,788 
 1,805,688 
 
 18 
 
 174- 
 
 15f- 
 
 
 11,261,437 
 717,438 
 2,093,456 
 
 10,472,048 
 470,598 
 
 14 
 
 36 
 
 
 11,956,303 
 640,500 
 
 17| 
 
 SO 
 
 14,072,331 
 319,300 
 
 10,942,646 
 
 15 
 
 
 12,596,803 
 
 14i 
 
 
 14,391,631 
 
 The Censuses were taken as directed by the respective Acts on the 10th of March, in the year 180! 
 on the 27th of May, in the year 1811 ; and on the 28th of May, in the year 1821. 
 
 VOL. VI. PART II. 5 6 
 
838 
 
 EEFRACTION, DOUBLE, AND POLARISATION OF LIGHT * 
 
 Polarisation U ntil a very few years since, the greater num- • 
 oflight. jjgj, natural philosophers, and almost all mathema- 
 '^'^^ tical opticians, were agreed in considering the rays of 
 light as composed of extremely minute molecules, 
 darted, in every possible direction, by a luminous 
 body, with very great velocities. The form of these 
 molecules remained undetermined ; but as it was in- 
 ferred from some observations, made long ago, that 
 certain rays had not the same properties in every part 
 of their circumference, it was natural to compare 
 them to little magnets, and to suppose them possess- 
 ed of poles. Hence the appellation of a polarised 
 ray was applied to every ray of light, so modified, as 
 to exhibit the polar properties of its molecules. We 
 shall begin this article by describing the different 
 methods that have been discovered for obtaining 
 polarised rays. 
 
 Sect. I. — Of Double Refraction, considered as 
 a Mode oj polarising Light. 
 
 Supposing a pencil of natural light, that is to say 
 of light coming directly from a luminous body, with- 
 out having undergone any change by refraction or 
 by reflection, to fall upon a crystal of carbonate of 
 lime, perpendicularly to one of its surfaces, either 
 natural or artificial : this pencil will in general un- 
 dergo a bifurcation as it enters the crystal ; one half 
 of the incident light continuing its course in a right 
 line, according to the ordinary laws of refraction, 
 and the other exhibiting a very remarkable pheno- 
 menon, and assuming an oblique direction, notwith- 
 standing its original perpendicularity. The former 
 half is called the ordinary pencil or ray, the latter 
 the extraordinary pencil or ray. Tiie plane passing 
 through these two pencils must obviously be per- 
 pendicular to the surface of the crystal ; this plane is 
 of great importance in the phenomena of polarisation, 
 and it is denominated the principal section of the 
 crystal. 
 
 According to this definition, it appears that every 
 ray of light, at each point of incidence on a given 
 crystal, will have a principal section corresponding 
 to it ; and we have only to observe that all these sec- 
 tions will be parallel to each other. In a rhomboid 
 of Iceland spar, the principal section cuts the natural 
 faces of the crystal in a line parallel to the diagonal 
 joining the obtuse angles of the parallelogram, and 
 dividing it into two equal parts. 
 
 Now, the ordinary and extraordinary rays both 
 acquire within the crystal new properties, not inherent 
 in the direct light. 
 
 In order to show this, it will be sufficient to re- 
 mark what happens to these rays vfhen they fall on 
 a second crystal which has the properties of double re- 
 fraction : and, first, with respect to the ordinary ray. 
 
 which has preserved its rectilinear direction without Polarisa 
 deviation. of Ligh 
 
 If the principal section of the second crystal is 
 parallel to the principal section of the first, the ray 
 will undergo no double refraction in the second, but 
 will continue its course without any subdivision. 
 But if the principal sections of the two crystals are 
 perpendicular to each other, the ray which was or- 
 dinarily refracted in the Jirst crystal, will become an 
 extraordinary ray in the second; and will be refracted 
 obliquely when its incidence is perpendicular. But 
 when the principal sections are neither perpendicu- 
 lar nor parallel to each other, this same ordinary 
 ray will be subdivided in the second crystal, but its 
 portions will be of different intensities, except when 
 the sections form an angle of 45° with each other. 
 
 The extraordinary pencil exhibits phenomena of 
 a similar nature. It remains an extraordinary pencil 
 in every crystal of which the principal section is pa- 
 rallel to that of the crystal which has transmitted it, 
 and becomes an ordinary pencil when the principal 
 sections are at right angles to each other; it is 
 subdivided into two pencils of equal intensity, if the 
 two sections make an angle of 45° with each other, 
 and in every other position, into two pencils of un- 
 equal intensities. 
 
 It is very easy to verify these propositions by ex- 
 periment. We place on a horizontal table a piece of 
 black paper, and draw two very fine lines at right 
 angles to each other, with a white spot of a certain 
 magnitude at their intersection ; and we lay on the 
 paper a rhomboid of calcaneus spar, and with our 
 eye immediately above the spot we see two images 
 of it, situated in a line parallel to the shorter diago- 
 nal of the upper face of the rhomboid. One of these 
 images is seen in the true place of the spot, as is 
 easily ascertained by two lines which cross in it, and 
 of which the portions not covered by the crystal 
 point at it; these rays have therefore undergone no 
 deviation, and have been ordinarily refracted. The 
 other rays have been bent, since they do not pass 
 through the true place of the spot, and therefore af- 
 ford the extraordinary image. 
 
 We now place a second crystal on the first, in such 
 a manner that the shorter diagonals of the faces in con- 
 tact may be parallel : we still find only two images of 
 the white spot, but they are more remote from each 
 other. The one retains its natural situation, whence 
 it foil ows, that the rays which afford it are no more 
 deflected from their course in the second crystal 
 than they are in the first, and that they have always 
 remained ordinary rays. With regard to the second 
 image, since it is more remote from the true place 
 of the object than when seen through the first crys- 
 tal only, it is obvious that the rays, which have al- 
 
 * This article has been obligingly furnished by M. Arago, and has been translated, with some additions, 
 by a distinguished friend, already well known to our readers. The state of the author's health will, it is 
 hoped, be received as an ap'ology for the very great and unexpected delay which has taken place in the 
 completion of his undertaking Ed. 
 
POLARISATION OF LIGHT. 
 
 irisaiion ready been extraordinarily refracted in the lower 
 Light, rhomboid, have undergone the same kind of refrac- 
 "^y^ tion in passing through the upper. 
 
 If we only turn the upper rhomboid round the 
 vertical line, so as to remove its principal section 
 from its parallel position, each of the two images will 
 be subdivided into two others. The new images will 
 at first be very weak ; their intensity will augment by 
 degrees -at the expense of the original images, in 
 proportion as the angle formed by the two sections 
 becomes greater ; and at last, when it is a right angle, 
 the two primitive images will have disappeared, and 
 the new images alone will remain. One of them 
 will be at a distance from the true place of the spot, 
 in the direction of the shorter diagonal of the upper 
 rhomboid, about equal to the result of the double re- 
 fraction of the second crystal if it were separate from 
 the first. This image is therefore formed by rays 
 which have been refracted ordinarily in the first 
 crystal, and extraordinarily in the second. And it 
 will be equally manifest that the other image is de- 
 rived, on the contrary, from rays refracted at first 
 extraordinarily and then ordinarily, in the respective 
 crystals. 
 
 As it is difficult to procure very thick rhomboids 
 of carbonate of lime that are quite transparent, the 
 same experiments may be performed by means of 
 two prisms, cut out of doubly refracting crystals, and 
 rendered achromatic by combining them with prisms 
 of common glass, placed with their bases in opposite 
 directions. Through two such achromatic prisms, 
 placed on each other, the image of a candle appears 
 quadruple or double, according to the relative posi- 
 tions of the principal sections : we thus see very dis- 
 tinctly that the images which disappear are not con- 
 founded with the other two, but that they become 
 fainter gradually, while the others increase in in- 
 tensity by the same degrees. 
 
 It appears then, first, that the direct light is al- 
 toays divided into two pencils in its passage through 
 the natural faces of a crystal of carbonate of lime : 
 and on the contrary that the light of which either 
 of the two pencils is composed, when submitted to 
 the action of such a crystal, in some -particular posi- 
 lions of the principal section, is not divided, and gives 
 but a single pencil. 
 
 Secondly, the two images furnished by the direct 
 light have always an equal degree of brightness ; but 
 the light of the ordinary or extraordinary pencils, 
 when it undergoes a further double refraction, gives 
 almost always images of unequal intensities. 
 
 Hence it follows that in the act of double refrac- 
 tion, this last light has received some new properties, 
 by which it may always be distinguished from na- 
 tural light. 
 
 But are these properties necessarily of such a na- 
 ture as to be inexplicable without supposing the ele- 
 mentary molecules of the rays to possess certain 
 poles ? This is a question which we are now to ex- 
 amine. 
 
 We will suppose that a rhomboid of carbonate of 
 lime is placed horizontally : that the incident light 
 falls perpendicularly on its upper surface, and that 
 the principal section, which will be vertical, is in the 
 plane of the meridian, or that it runs north and south : 
 
 8S9 
 
 observing, however, that these directions are only Po^^is^tioM 
 chosen to facilitate our comprehension of the facts, of Light^ 
 
 The ordinary pencil afforded by this crystal, when 
 it is submitted to the action of a new rhomboid si- 
 milarly placed, that is to say, having also its princi- 
 pal section in the plane of the meridian, passes 
 through it, as we have seen, without lateral refrac- 
 tion, and continues its course in a right line, re- 
 maining as an ordinary ray. 
 
 But when the principal section of the second crys- 
 tal, being still vertical, is directed from east to west, 
 the ordinary ray, transmitted by the first crystal, will 
 be refracted laterally in it, although it falls perpen- 
 dicularly on the surface, and will become an extra- 
 ordinary ray. 
 
 In the first case, the principal section of the se- 
 cond rhomboid intersected the ray, or the luminous 
 molecules supposed to compose it, from north to 
 south : in the second, these molecules were intersect- 
 ed from east to west. It may be remarked, that 
 this is the only circumstance in which the cases 
 differ from each other, the ray falling in both cases 
 on the same point of the crystal, and in the same 
 angular direction. It must therefore be concluded, 
 that in the ray of light, or in the elements of which 
 it is formed, the north and south sides must have 
 different properties from those of the east and west. 
 
 When we analyse the extraordinary pencil with the 
 second crystal, if the principal section intersects this 
 pencil from north to south, it undergoes the extra- 
 ordinary refraction, but it follows the ordinary course 
 when this same plane intersects it from east to west ; 
 which is exactly the contrary of what occurs with 
 the ordinary pencil. The north and south sides of 
 this pencil have therefore the properties of the east 
 and west sides of the extraordinary pencil, and the 
 reverse : nor is there any other difference between 
 the pencils: the sides possessed of similar properties 
 are only differently directed: so that if we could 
 cause an extraordinary ray transmitted by any crys- 
 tal to make a quarter of a revolution on itself, it 
 would be impossible to distinguish it from the ordi- 
 nary ray that has been separated from it. 
 
 When natural philosophers say of a loadstone or a 
 magnet that it has poles, they merely understand, by 
 this expression, that certain points about the circum- 
 ference of the magnet possess properties which do 
 not belong, either at all, or in the same degree, to the 
 other parts of the circumference. It was then equal- 
 ly correct to say of the ordinary and extraordinary 
 rays derived from the subdivision of natural light, in 
 the crystals of carbonate of lime, that they had poles, 
 or were polarised. It is only necessary to remark, 
 in order to avoid extending the analogy between the 
 rays of light and the magnet, beyond its proper 
 bounds, that for every element of the ray, the sides 
 or poles diametrically opposite to each other, that is, 
 in the position here supposed for illustration, the north 
 and south poles of the ordinary ray, appear both to 
 possess exactly the same properties ; and it is at the 
 angular distance of 90° from these points, that is, on 
 a perpendicular to the line that joins them, that we 
 find in the same ray poles possessed of different pro- 
 perties : and if we compare with each other the two 
 pencils transmitted by a given crystal, the poles pos- 
 
840 
 
 P O L A R i S A T I O N OF LIGHT. 
 
 Polarisation sessed of the same properties will be situated in di- 
 of Light. ,-ections perpendicular to each other. 
 
 ^"■^^^^ Let us once more consider the two rays transmit- 
 ted by a crystal of which the principal section is sup- 
 posed to be in the plane of the meridian. There is 
 no reason whatever for assigning the denomination of 
 poles to the north and south sides of the ordinary 
 ray rather than to the east and west ; but as it is ne- 
 cessary to make some distinction, it has been gene- 
 rally agreed to apply the name of poles to the north 
 and south sides. Hence it has been usual to say, that 
 the ordinary ray is polarised in the plane of the prin- 
 cipal section : which is as much as to say that the 
 different elements of the ray have the faces, which 
 we have called poles, situated in that plane. The 
 extraordinary ray is polarised perpendicularly to the 
 principal section : its poles are situated perpendicu- 
 larly to that plane, since it becomes perfectly similar 
 to the ordinary ray, when it is made to describe a 
 fourth of a revolution round itself. 
 
 When we have arrived thus far, it becomes natural 
 to ask whether we are to suppose that the separation 
 of the light within the crystal has given poles to the 
 molecules, or that the poles, already preexisting, have 
 merely been turned towards the same points of space. 
 This question is a very difficult one : but we shall 
 find hereafter, if not a demonstration of the second 
 hypothesis, at least some plausible reason for adopt- 
 ing it. It will here be sufficient to remark, that the 
 modification, undergone by the rays, is entirely inde- 
 pendent of the nature of the crystal, provided that it 
 only produce a double image; and that the pheno- 
 mena presented by two rhomboids of calcarious spar, 
 placed on each other, would be reproduced, with their 
 minutest details, if we combined, for example, one of 
 these rhomboids with a crystal of carbonate of lead : 
 or if the first crystal were of sulphur and the second 
 of quartz, or of sulphate of barita. 
 
 But it is not only in the phenomena of double re- 
 fraction that the particular properties of polarised 
 rays are exhibited : the reflection of these rays, at the 
 surfaces of transparent bodies, affords also a method 
 of distinguishing them from common light. 
 
 When a pencil of natural light falls on a transpa- 
 rent mirror with any inclination whatever, it is divid- 
 ed into two parts ; the one passes through the sub- 
 stance of the mirror, the other is reflected. This 
 latter portion is always found in the plane, passing 
 through the primitive pencil, and the line perpendi- 
 cular to the surface ; which is called the plane of re- 
 flection, and which must be carefully distinguished 
 from the reflecting surface. 
 
 Jf we now place the principal section of a doubly 
 refracting crystal in a vertical position, and throw a 
 pencil of common light perpendicularly on its sur- 
 face, receiving the two emerging pencils on the 
 horizontal surface of some water : and let us sup- 
 pose the ordinary pencil to make with the surface 
 of the liquid an angle of 37° 15'; [the crystal being 
 held in a position inclined to the horizon] : this 
 pencil will undergo a partial reflection like the di- 
 rect light, while the extraordinary pencil, when its 
 angle of incidence is also 37° 15', will enter the li- 
 quid completely, without the rejlection of any of its 
 molecules : a character which constitutes a marked 
 distinction between this pencil and the natural light. 
 
 All other circumstances of the experiment remain- Polarisa 
 ing the same, let us now cause the crystal to make ^'S' 
 one fourth of a revolution round the incident pencil, 
 so as to bring the principal section into a position 
 perpendicular to its first situation : we shall then find 
 that the ordinary pencil alone will be entirely trans- 
 mitted by the liquid ; the other will undergo a par- 
 tial reflection, exactly equal to that which we had 
 first observed in the ordinary ray : the experiment 
 affording a new proof, that the two rays only differ in 
 the direction, which is assumed by their correspond- 
 ing sides. 
 
 We find also that in all positions of the principal 
 section, intermediate between these two, the two 
 pencils will both undergo a partial reflection so much 
 the stronger, for the ordinary pencil, as the principal 
 section is the nearer to a coincidence with the plane of 
 reflection, and for the extraordinary pencil, as these 
 planes are more nearly perpendicular to each other. 
 
 We shall finish this section with an account of the 
 mathematical law which appears to determine the 
 comparative intensities of the ordinary and extraor- 
 dinary pencils into which polarised light is separated, 
 when it is analysed with a doubly refracting crystal. 
 Let be the intensity of the ordinary pencil trans- 
 mitted by any crystal, and F and F the intensi- 
 J J J ' 00 oe 
 
 ties of the ordinary and extraordinary pencil deriv- 
 ed from it in passing through the second crystal: let i 
 be the angle formed by the two principal sections : 
 then we shall have F zzF cos^i; F —F sin-i. 
 
 00 0 oe e 
 
 In particular cases we .shall have from these for- 
 
 mulas, if i=:0, F = jF 
 
 F ~0 ; if i=90° 
 oe ' 
 
 00 ' 
 
 F =F', andifi=45°, F-^F-, F=IF . 
 oe 0 ^ 00 ^ 0 oe 0 
 
 These three consequences of the formula, as we 
 have seen, are conformable to observation. It will 
 not however be proved to be mathematically exact, 
 until we have also verified it for some values of i, in- 
 termediate between these limits. 
 
 The formulas belonging to the extraordinary ray 
 are equally simple: F^ being the intensity of this ray, 
 
 and F and F those of the two ordinary and extra- 
 eo et •'. 
 
 ordinary pencils into which it is divided by the crys- 
 tal, i preserving its former signification, we shall 
 
 have jF —F and F =:cos^i. If?=0, F =0, 
 
 eo e ' ee eo 
 
 and F^^ ; and in fact there is no ordinary ray in 
 
 this case, the whole light following the extraordinary 
 
 path: ifi=90°, F =F , and F =0: which is 
 
 *^ eo e ee 
 
 again confirmed by observation, since the extraordi- 
 nary ray, coming from a certain crystal, follows only 
 the ordinary course in passing through another, of 
 which the principal section is perpendicular to that 
 of the first. The same agreement between the cal- 
 culation and the experiment will be found when 
 i=:4!5° ; which, however, does not supersede the ne- 
 cessity of verifying these formulas, as well as the for- 
 mer, by direct experiments at intermediate angles. 
 
 Sect. II. — 0/" Reflection, considered as a mode of 
 Polarising Light. 
 
 Reflection, at the surface of a transparent body, 
 
POLAR IS ATI 
 
 isation affords, as we have seen, a criterion for the distinc- 
 ^S^*' tion of polarised from ordinary rays ; we must also 
 add, that such a reflection is also capable of polar- 
 ising ordinary light. 
 
 Throwing, for example, a pencil of natural rays on 
 a mirror of common glass in a horizontal position, 
 in such a manner that the inclination of the ray to 
 the surface may be about 35° : we shall find that a 
 part of the pencil will pass through the glass ; the 
 other part will be reflected ; and Uie reflected por- 
 tion will be polarised in the same manner as the or- 
 dinary pencil transmitted by a crystal, of which the 
 principal section coincides with the plane of reflec- 
 tion. 
 
 In fact, if we analyse the light, thus partially re- 
 flected, by the assistance of a crystal, of which the 
 principal section coincides with the plane of reflec- 
 tion, it is not subdivided, and affords only a single 
 ordinary image. Nor is it again subdivided in pass- 
 ing through the crystal, when the principal section 
 is perpendicular to the plane of reflection ; but in 
 this case it only affords an extraordinary image. 
 In every other position we have both an extraordi- 
 nary and an ordinary image, the intensity of the lat- 
 ter being expressed by the formula, F co%H: in 
 which is the total intensity of the pencil subjected 
 to the experiment, and i the angle formed by the 
 principal section of the crystal with the plane of re- 
 flection. This formula obviously coincides with that 
 which we have given for the orStinary pencil in the 
 case of two crystals combined. The plane of re^ 
 flection here performs the office of the principal sec- 
 tion of the first crystal ; it is therefore in this plane 
 that the ray has become polarised by the reflection. 
 
 Before we assert, however, that there is an iden- 
 tity in the species of polarisation effected by partial 
 reflection with given inclinations, at the surface of a 
 transparent body, and that which results from double 
 refraction, we must submit the ray polarised by a 
 first reflection to the test of new reflections. 
 
 These second reflections will obviously throw the 
 light downwards if the mirror is above the ray, or 
 upwards if below ; from right to left, if the mirror 
 receives the ray on its Qlelt hand^ surface, and the 
 reverse if on the [fright] surface. 
 
 Now, if the second mirror is above or below the 
 ray, so that the new plane of reflection coincides 
 with the old, there is a partial reflection at all inci- 
 dences. But when, on the contrary, this mirror is 
 presented to the ray on the left or the right side, 
 apd in such a manner that the new plane of reflec- 
 tion may be perpendicular to the old one, all reflec- 
 tion ceases at the inclination of about 35°, already 
 mentioned. In the intermediate positions of the 
 mirror, and with the constant inclination of 35°, the 
 intensity of the reflection varies in proportion to the 
 square of the cosine of the angle formed by the two 
 planes of reflection with each other. 
 
 The least attention will show how much analogy 
 this experiment has with those which have been 
 made with a rhomboidal crystal. In those experi- 
 ments, in order to see if the ordinary ray had the 
 same properties with respect to each point of its cir- 
 cumference, we caused the crystal to revolve round 
 the ray as an axis, so as to bring in succession its 
 principal section, and consequently the poles con- 
 
 0 N O F L I G H T. 841 
 
 tained in it, into a vertical direction, from right Polarisation 
 to left, and so forth ; in these different positions we ''^^'gl**- 
 threw the ray on a transparent substance. Here, ""'•"•^v*"*-' 
 we left the first plane of reflection immovetible, and 
 the second turned round the ray, which was thrown 
 on its different sides. This trial is evidently similar 
 to the former, and the result is identical. 
 
 We may therefore now affirm, that the ray which 
 is reflected at the upper surface of the glass, with an 
 inclination of about 35°, possesses in all respects the 
 same properties as a ray transmitted by a crystal, 
 of which the principal section coincides with the 
 plane of reflection. 
 
 We have supposed the substance employed in this 
 experiment to be transparent ; but we must add, 
 that some opaque bodies, such as black marble, 
 ebony, and some varnishes, possess in an equal de- 
 gree the property of polarising rays which are re- 
 flected at their surface. These substances, when 
 made to revolve round a polarised ray, exhibit the 
 same effect, with regard to the reflected light, as the 
 transparent substances which have been considered. 
 
 Sect. III. — Of Rays partially Polarised. 
 
 Rays partially polarised are those which possess 
 properties that may be called intermediate between 
 the properties of ordinary light and of light com- 
 pletely polarised. They are distinguished from po- 
 larised light by affording always two pencils, in their 
 passage through a crystal possessed of the property 
 of double refraction : they differ from natural light 
 in not affording always two pencils of the same in- 
 tensity, in all positions of the principal section of 
 the same crystal. 
 
 It may be asked, if a ray partially polarised may 
 not be considered as consisting of a portion, A, of 
 polarised and a portion, of natural light. This 
 latter portion would always be equally divided into 
 an ordinary and an extraordinary pencil, in its pass- 
 age through a crystal possessing the properties of 
 double refraction; the other would pass sometimes 
 entirely as an ordinary or an extraordinary pencil. 
 In a certain position of the principal section, there- 
 fore, the comparative intensities of the two pencils 
 would be ^B-\-A, and \B ; and after one fourth of a 
 revolution, they would become \B, and ^B-\-A re- 
 spectively. In all other positions, A would be divid- 
 ed between the two images : the portion belonging 
 to the ordinary image being expressed by A cos% 
 i betng the angle contained by the plane of polarisa- 
 tion of A and the principal section of the crystal : 
 and when i=45°, the two images would be of equal 
 intensity. * 
 
 AH these consequences of the hypothesis, that we 
 have assumed, are conformable to experiment : and 
 we may therefore suppose that a ray partially pola- 
 rised is composed of two separate portions, the one, 
 B, in its natural state, the other, A, totally polaris- 
 ed- QDr Brewster's experiments on partial .polari- 
 sation will be mentioned hereafter.] 
 
 In every pencil reflected perpendicularly by a 
 transparent substance, the portion A vanishes : it ac- 
 quires greater and greater values in proportion as 
 the angle of incidence increases ; but at the angular 
 situation of complete polarisation B vanishes, and 
 
POLARISATION OF LIGHT. 
 
 842 
 
 Polarisation A comprehends the whole pencil. Still farther from 
 of Light, the perpendicular, we find again in the pencil natu- 
 ral light, B, and polarised light, A. Lastly, when 
 the incident and reflected light sweeps, as it were, 
 the surface of the mirror, A is again very inconsi- 
 derable with respect to B. 
 
 Metallic mirrors do not completely polarise the 
 rays that they reflect at any angle of incidence. As 
 in the case of transparent substances, A is evanes- 
 cent for perpendicular rays ; but it becomes sensible 
 in every other case, and the light becomes partially 
 polarised. The angle of polarisation of a metal is 
 
 A 
 
 that which makes the quotient — a maximum. 
 
 There exist also some transparent bodies, such 
 as the diamond and sulfur, which never produce 
 complete polarisation of the light that is reflected at 
 
 A 
 
 their surfaces ; but the quotient — acquires, atleast, 
 
 much greater values for their substances than for 
 the metals. 
 
 The mathematical law, which connects the value 
 of A with that of the angle of incidence, and of the 
 refractive form of the mirror, has not yet been 
 discovered. It is only k nown, that at regular angu- 
 lar distances above and below the angle of complete 
 polarisation, the proportion of A to A-^B is nearly 
 the same, although the absolute value of A and B 
 may have changed very considerably. 
 
 Thus, in the case of the glass of St Gobin, for ex- 
 ample, in which the complete polarisation takes place 
 when the inclination of the ray to the surface is 
 about 35°, we find that the reflected pencils con- 
 tain the same proportion of polarised light at the fol- 
 lowing angles : 
 
 65° 42' 
 and 7 12 
 
 mean 36 27 
 
 63° 54' 
 7 55 
 
 35 55 
 
 60° 
 11 
 
 18' 
 40 
 
 35 59 
 
 For water, the relation of A to ^4.^ is nearly 
 the same at the angles 3° 29' and 73° 48': the 
 mean of these, 38° 36', exceeds by only the true 
 inclination of complete polarisation, though it is de- 
 duced from angles which diff^er from it more than 
 30°. 
 
 In the same manner, therefore, as astronomers de- 
 termine the instant of the passage of a luminary over 
 the meridian, by corresponding altitudes, observed 
 before and after that passage, we may obtain, with 
 tolerable precision, the angle of complete polarisa- 
 tion, by taking the half sum of the inclinations cor- 
 responding to equivalent partial polarisations, espe- 
 cially if we take care not to deviate too far from the 
 angle required : and this method has its advantages, 
 when we make the experiment on bodies which do 
 not polarise the rays of light completely at any in- 
 cidence. 
 
 Sect. IV — Of the Lam tvMch connect the re- 
 fractive DENSITIES of Bodies ivith the Angles of 
 Polarisation. 
 
 It is sufficient to look over the tables which have 
 been published, of the angles of complete polarisa- 
 tion for rays reflected by substances of various kinds, 
 
 in order to observe that these angles, reckoned from i Polarisa 
 the perpendicular, approach so much the more tO) o^^ig 
 right angles, as the refractive densities of the sub-- '"^'^ 
 stances are greater ; but it was not so easy to detectt 
 the remarkable connexion which exists betweeni 
 these two elements, and which we shall now proceedl 
 to examine. 
 
 When a ray of 
 light, 10, passes from 
 a vacuum into a cer- 
 tain medium, SS', it 
 is refracted at the 
 point of incidence 
 O, approaches to the 
 perpendicular PQ, 
 and follows, for ex- 
 ample, the direction 
 OR; the angles POX 
 and QOR being for 
 
 each medium connected by the proportion sin POI:: 
 sin QOR=m: 1, in which the quantity w is constants 
 for all values of the angles. This quantity, which isj 
 always greater than unity, has been called the in-- 
 dex of refraction, appropriate to the medium. It isi 
 necessary to distinguish it carefully from the refrac-- 
 tive power, a numerical expression depending on m,, 
 and on the density, and chiefly relating to the: 
 particular properties attributed to refractive sub-- 
 stances in the theory of emission. 
 
 This being understood, if the angle of incidence; 
 be supposed such, that the reflected ray OF may be ; 
 completely polarised, it is found, that th<; tangent qf^ 
 the angle of incidence mil be equal to the index of 
 refraction. 
 
 In the following table, the angles of polarisation,, 
 determined by experiment, are compared with those; 
 which result from the general law ; and the errors; 
 are not greater than may be attributed to the una- 
 voidable error of observation. 
 
 Substances. 
 
 Air, 
 
 Water, 
 
 Fluor spar, 
 
 Obsidian, 
 
 Sulfate of lime, 
 
 Rock crystal. 
 
 Topaz, 
 
 Iceland crystal, 
 Ruby spind. 
 Zircon, 
 
 Glass of antimony, 
 Sulfur, 
 Diamond, 
 Chromate of lead, 
 
 Observed 
 
 Computed 
 
 Differ- 
 
 Angle. 
 
 Angle. 
 
 ence. 
 
 45° to 47° 
 
 45" 
 
 
 [1°] 
 
 52° 45' 
 
 53 
 
 ir 
 
 —26' 
 
 54 50 
 
 55 
 
 9 
 
 — 19 
 
 56 3 
 
 56 
 
 6 
 
 —3 
 
 56 28 
 
 56 
 
 45 
 
 —17 
 
 57 22 
 
 56 
 
 58 
 
 + 24 
 
 58 40 
 
 58 
 
 34 
 
 +6 
 
 58 23 
 
 58 
 
 51 
 
 —^8 
 
 60 16 
 
 60 
 
 25 
 
 —9 
 
 63 8 
 
 63 
 
 0 
 
 +8 
 
 64 45 
 
 64 
 
 30 
 
 + 15 
 
 64 10 
 
 63 
 
 45 
 
 +25 
 
 68 2 
 
 68 
 
 1 
 
 + 1 
 
 67 42 
 
 68 
 
 3 
 
 —21 
 
 This law is capable of being expressed in two 
 other remarkable forms. 
 
 Since in all cases sin POI : sin QOR=:m: 1, we 
 have universally sin POI=?n sin QOR : but for the 
 angle of complete polarisation tang P0I=»7, and 
 sin POI 
 
 smce tangzz: 
 
 cos cos 
 
 yQj=m, and sin VOlzzm cos 
 
POLARISATION OV LIGHT. 
 
 risation POI=J« sin QOR, and sin QOR=:COS POI, conse- 
 -ig^^t- quently, QOR + POI=:90°; hence, toAera the polari- 
 sation is complete, the inclination of the incident ray 
 io the surface is equal to the angle of refraction ; 
 and the refected and refracted rays are perpendicular 
 to each other. 
 
 It is of consequence to examine some objections 
 which have been made to the accuracy of the law in 
 question. If it were matheraalically accurate, the 
 rays of different colours, it has been observed, would 
 not be polarised exactly at the same time ; since 
 they enter the refractive medium in different direc- 
 tions. Hence it would follow, that in the usual 
 mode of investigating this angle of complete polari- 
 sation by analysing the reflected light with the as- 
 sistance of a doubly refractive crystal, we ought not, 
 in any case, to lose sight of one of the images : that 
 when we arrived, for instance, at the angle which 
 causes all the red light of the mixed pencil to be po- 
 larised, and to pass into the ordinary pencil, the ob- 
 server ought to see an extraordinary image formed 
 of the while wanting the red, that is, green ; and the 
 same for the other colours. Notwithstanding this, 
 it has been added, in the greater number of cases, 
 the crystal being properly arranged, one of the images 
 is weakened by little and little, as we approach to 
 the appropriate inclination, and at last disappears 
 entirely without presenting any visible traces of co- 
 lour. 
 
 It may be answered, in the first place, that there 
 actually are substances in which this appearance of 
 colour is manifest : and which, therefore, do not po- 
 larise the rays of different kinds at the same angle, 
 but accord with the law of the tangent. Among 
 others may be adduced the instance of specular iron 
 ore, in ^hich the phenomenon is very striking ; and 
 the oil of cassia, of which the great dispersive power 
 renders it also perfectly distinct. It may be added, 
 too, that there is every reason to hope, that more 
 accurate observations made with homogeneous light 
 from different parts of the spectrum, and more precise 
 measurements of the quantities of light that escape po- 
 larisation, at inclinations approaching to that of com- 
 plete polarisation, will hereafter remove the slight ap- 
 pearance of disagreement between experiments and 
 a law too nearly approaching to the whole mass of 
 the phenomena, to be considered as otherwise than 
 rigorously accurate. 
 
 The table already inserted contains the names of 
 several mediums, such as the diamond, and sulfur, 
 which do not completely polarise light: the law of 
 the tangent seems therefore applicable to such me- 
 diums as these, provided that we understand, by the 
 angle of polarisation, that in which the reflected pen- 
 cil contains the greatest proportion of polarised light. 
 In this case, the observation of this angle for metals 
 would be the more important, as their refractive 
 density has not been hitherto determined. 
 
 The angles of greatest polarisation, measured from 
 the perpendicular, appear to be, for mercury 76-1° ; 
 for steel, above 71° : hence the index of refraction for 
 mercury and for steel ought to be 4.16 and 2.85. [The 
 oxid colouring the surface of heated steel has been 
 found to give about 2.1 for its index, which agrees 
 suflBiciently well with this experiment.] 
 
 843 
 
 We have hitherto only spoken of the polarisation Polarisation 
 which takes place at the first surface of transparent Light, 
 surfaces, entered by the light; the second surfaces* 
 possess analogous properties with respect to light 
 passing out of them. 
 
 The angle, measured from the perpendicular, at 
 which light is polarised when it is on its passage 
 from a vacuum into a refractive medium, is greater 
 than that in which the same phenomenon is observ- 
 ed when the light coming from the medium tends to 
 pass into the vacuum ; it is also shown by experi- 
 ment that the sine of the former angle is to the sine 
 of the latter as the index of refraction is to unity. 
 We might express the same fact by saying that at 
 the second surface, as well as at the first, the ray 
 completely polarised by reflection is perpendicular 
 to the refracted ray. It follows, also, that if a me- 
 dium is contained between two parallel surfaces, and 
 if we throw a pencil of rays on the first surface, in 
 the angle which affords complete polarisation, the 
 transmitted portion of the pencil will also fall on the 
 second surface in the angle which again produces 
 complete polarisation. 
 
 Thus, if MN, 
 RS, be the pa- 
 rallel surfaces, 
 OR the inci- 
 dent ray ; n ^ Z \l/ 
 the index of 
 refraction; and 
 OV the refract- 
 
 ed ray ; the an- -L< -/vZ — I — - -* S 
 
 gle of refrac- 
 tion VOF will 
 always be equal 
 to the angle 
 OVZ, formed 
 
 by the refracted ray with VZ the perpendicular 
 to the second surface. Now, according to the as- 
 signed law, when PGR is the angle of complete 
 polarisation for the first surface, sin POR : sin 
 angle of polarisation at the second surface =:« : 1, 
 whence sin POR=« sin angle of polarisation at the 
 second surface. But from the law of the sines, as in 
 the other cases, we have sin POR : sin yOP'=n : 1, 
 therefore sin POR =n sin VOP' =n sin ZVO; an 
 equation which, combined with the former, gives 
 the angle of complete polarisation at the second sur- 
 face=ZVO. 
 
 Hence it follows that if the incident ray, being 
 previously polarised, is such as to escape all partial 
 reflection at its entrance into a substance terminated 
 by parallel surfaces, it will also escape reflection 
 upon its passage out of the substance. 
 
 If ROP has the appropriate value, OF becomes 
 completely polarised, and VK likewise ; the subse- 
 quent refraction in K makes no alteration in this 
 ray : so that when we wish to procure polarised light 
 by reflection from a transparent plate, there is no 
 occasion to blacken the second surface of the plate, 
 supposing it parallel to the first, the polarisation will 
 be equally complete, and the reflected pencil will be 
 brighter. It will only be proper to take care, by plac- 
 ing at a distance from the plate a black substance, as a 
 piece of velvet, for example, to intercept the rays 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 /; 
 
 / V/ 
 
 0 
 
 
 V 
 
 
 / 1 
 
 
 t 
 
844 
 
 POLARISATION OF LIGHT. 
 
 Poiajisation which might be transmitted by the plate from other 
 ^'tlj hejond it. 
 
 The law from which these consequences have been 
 deduced is only a particular case of a more general 
 law, which may be thus enunciated. 
 
 The sine of the angle dt 'which a pencil must he re- 
 jiected at the first surface of a refractive medium, in 
 order that it may contain a certain proportion of 
 polarised light, is to the sine of the angle at which a re- 
 jiection at the second face only would cause an equiva- 
 lent polarisation in the same pencil, as the sine of 
 incidence to the sine of refraction- 
 
 It has been found by experiment, that the sine of 
 the angle, at which a certain proportion of a natural 
 pencil is reflected at the first surface of a transpa- 
 rent substance, is to the sine of the angle at which an 
 equal proportion of the same pencil would be reflect* 
 ed at the second surface, if it arrived there immedi- 
 ately, as the sine of incidence to the sine of refrac- 
 tion. This law of photometry, combined with the 
 former, leads to a very simple enunciation. 
 
 The first and second surface of a transparent sub- 
 stance polarise light in an equal degree, at the same 
 angles "which enable them to reflect light in an equal 
 degree. 
 
 We have now seen in what manner light is po- 
 larised either in passing from a vacuum into a given 
 substance, or in returning out of the substance into 
 the vacuum. We must next examine the laws re- 
 lating to the polarisation which occurs at the surface 
 separating two mediums possessed of unequal re- 
 fractive powers. 
 
 Let m and m' be the indices of refraction for the 
 two mediums : suppose m to be greater than m' : it 
 is proved by experiment that the tangent of the angle 
 of complete polarisation at the common surface is 
 7n 
 
 equal to — , Qwhich in fact is the index of refraction 
 
 for that surface.] 
 
 Hence it follows that the reflected and refracted 
 rays are perpendicular to each other, as in other 
 cases of complete polarisation. 
 
 Sect. V. — Of refraction considered as a Mode of 
 Polarising Light. 
 
 It was believed, for some time, that the rays of 
 light were only polarised by transparent substances 
 in the act of reflection, and that the refracted pencil 
 always retained the properties of ordinary light. But 
 this opinion was erroneous. It is true that the sim- 
 ple transmission of light through one or even two 
 surfaces of any known substance is not sufficient for 
 completely polarising a pencil of light ; but at cer- 
 tain obliquities it occasions at least a partial polari- 
 sation ; for in examining the rays transmitted oblique- 
 ly by a plate of glass with parallel surfaces, by means 
 of a crystal possessed of the property of double re- 
 fraction, it is found that the two images differ sensi- 
 bly in intensity. 
 
 Let A' be the part of the transmitted pencil which 
 is polarised, B' the portion of the same pencil not so 
 modified ; and A and B the analogous portions of 
 the pencil reflected at the same incidence. 
 
 We have already said that A is polarised as an or- Polansati 
 dinary ray would be, transmitted by a crystal having ^'8^' 
 its principal section coinciding with the plane of re- ''^^^^''^ 
 flection ; the poles of A', on the contrary, are placed 
 like those of the extraordinary ray of the same crys- 
 tal. If we analyse with a rhomboid the light reflect- 
 ed by a plate of glass, we find, for example, when 
 in a certain position of the principal section, the 
 image on the right hand is the more brilliant: and 
 the relative position of the plate, the crystal, and the 
 eye, remaining unaltered, it will be the opposite 
 image, on the left hand, that will become the most 
 conspicuous when we examine the transmitted light. 
 All these results may be thus enumerated. 
 
 The plane 'which contains the poles of the transmit- 
 ted light is perpendicular to that "which contains the 
 poles of the reflected light. 
 
 These different pencils are therefore polarised in 
 directions at right angles to each other. 
 
 If we submit the reflected light A-{-B io the ac- 
 tion of a crystal of carbonate of lime, of which the 
 principal section coincides with the plane of reflec- 
 tion, the intensities of the ordinary and extraordi- 
 nary pencil will become A-\-^B and ^B. 
 
 In the same position of the plate and of the crys- 
 tal, the intensities of the same images, furnished by 
 the transmitted peticil, will be ^B' and A'-\-^B\ 
 
 A will therefore be the quantity by which the or- 
 dinary image, furnished by the reflected pencil, sur- 
 passes the extraordinary image, while A' will express, 
 for the transmitted pencil, the quantity by which the 
 extraordinary image will surpass the ordinary. With 
 respect to this phenomenon, a remarkable result of ex- 
 periment may here be noticed : that is, that in every 
 possible inclination A-=zA', or, in other terms, that 
 the intensities of the two images afforded by the 
 crystal differ in the same degree, whether we con- 
 sider the reflected or the transmitted pencil. 
 
 Let us sup- 
 pose that a plate 
 of glass ED is 
 placed in the po- 
 sition that the 
 figure repre- 
 sents, before a 
 medium AB of 
 a Uniform tint, 
 
 for instance a sheet of fine white paper. The eye 
 placed at O will receive simultaneously the ray IO, 
 reflected at I, and the ray BIO transmitted at the 
 same pomt. Place at mn an opaque diaphragm, 
 blackened, and perforated by a small hole at S. 
 Lastly, let the eye be furnished with a doubly 
 refracting crystal, C, which affords two images of the 
 aperture. 
 
 If now, by means of a little black screen, placed be- 
 tween B and I, we stop the ray BI, which would have 
 been transmitted, the crystal, properly placed, will 
 give an ordinary image =^+15, and an extraordi- 
 nary image — But if the screen were placed be- 
 tween A and I, and the ray AI were intercepted, we 
 should still have two images of the hole, and their in- 
 tensities would be IB' and A'-{-lB' respectively. 
 Consequently, without any screen, if the whole of the 
 reflected light AIO and the transmitted BIO are al- 
 ii 
 
POLARISATION OF LIGHT. 
 
 ■larisation lowed to arrive at the eye, we shall have for the or- 
 W Light, dinary image, A+lB-\-lB', and for the extraordi- 
 -^^^nary, }B+A'+IB'. 
 
 Now it appears, from actually making the experi- 
 ment, that the two images are perfectly equal, what- 
 ever may be the angle formed by the ray AI with 
 the plate of glass, which can only be because A is al- 
 ways equal to A'. Consequently, 
 
 The quantity of polarised light contained in the 
 pencil transmitted hy a traiisparent plale, is exactly 
 equal to the quantity of light polarised at right an~ 
 gles, tohich isjbund in ihepencil reflected hy the same 
 plate. 
 
 Hence it follows, that at the angle of complete po- 
 larisation by reflection, the two images of the trans- 
 mitted pencil given by a crystal properly placed, dif- 
 fer in intensity by a quantity equal to the whole of 
 the reflected pencil. So that if ever a body should 
 be discovered, that could reflect half of the light in- 
 cident at this angle, the pencil transmitted, at the 
 same inclination, would also be completely polarised. 
 
 In order to simplify this reasoning, we have sup- 
 posed throughout that there was only one efficient 
 surface in the plate ED ; it would be entering into 
 too much detail if we proceeded to demonstrate in 
 what manner this supposition might be justified: 
 and it will be sufficient to remark, that the experi- 
 ment in question succeeds equally well when ED is 
 a simple plate of glass with parallel surfaces, which 
 implies that the second surface polarises also equal 
 quantities of light by reflection and by refraction. 
 But, lastly, in order to remove every doubt respect- 
 ing the accuracy of these results, it may be added, 
 that when some natural light, and some light that had 
 passed through a rhomboid of carbonate of lime was 
 thrown on a plate of glass reflecting at one of its 
 surfaces, or at both, it was found that the reflected 
 light contained the same quantity of polarised rays in 
 both cases. Now the reflecting plate exercises no 
 particular action on the two equal pencils of light 
 transmitted by the rhomboid, and polarised in direc- 
 tions perpendicular to each other ; it only divides 
 them unequally : and if the reflected pencil contains 
 an excess of rays polarised in one direction, there 
 will be found in the transmitted pencil an excess 
 precisely equal of rays polarised in the direction per- 
 pendicular to it. In this case, the law here laid 
 down must necessarily be true : and in order to ex- 
 tend it to natural light, it is sufficient to have assur- 
 ed ourselves, as we have done, that it is affected in 
 the act of reflection and in that of refraction precise- 
 ly in the same manner as the combination of two 
 equal pencils, polarised at right angles to each other. 
 
 One of the best modes of verifying the accuracy 
 of physical laws is, to inquire what their results are 
 in extreme cases. The law now in question, sup- 
 posing it universally truej leads us, for example, to 
 this conclusion, that where there is no transmission 
 of light, there can be no polarisation : and in fact, if 
 we cause a pencil of light to fall on the interior sur- 
 face of a prism, at an inclination which produces 
 complete reflection, we shall find no trace of polar- 
 isation in the reflected pencil, although at incidences 
 but little different, a considerable part of the light, 
 and even the whole may have been polarised. 
 
 VOL. VI. PART II. 
 
 845 
 
 Let us represent by A the part of the pencil / Pokrhation 
 which is polarised by reflection, at the angle of 35^ Light, 
 from the two surfaces of a plate of glass ; the pencil "^^'^ 
 transmitted will be Z — A; now in this quantity of 
 light there will be, according to the law laid down, 
 A rays of which the plane of polarisation is perpen- 
 dicular to that of the reflected rays, so that the quan- 
 tity of natural light remaining will be / — 2 A, which 
 we may call =1'. Then the pencil I' A falling on 
 a second plate, parallel to the first, and consequent- 
 ly at the same angle as before, ^.will entirely es- 
 cape the partial reflection, and abating what may be 
 lost by absorption, will be found entire in the pencil 
 transmitted by the second plate ; /' will be divided 
 in the same manner as / was at first; a portion A^ 
 of r is polarised by reflection, the remaining portion 
 P — A' is transmitted, and will contain A' of polar- 
 ised rays, so that the natural light, after passing 
 through the second plate, will be reduced to I' — 2A\ 
 and the quantity polarised by refraction will be 
 A + A'. Making I'-^2A'=1", the light r'-^A+A" 
 will furnish, in its passage through a tliird plate, pa- 
 rallel to the two former, a new quantity A" of light 
 polarised by refraction, which will be added to 
 A-\-A'\ and so forth. 
 
 The pencils 7, I', I", and so forth, consisting of 
 natural light, are polarised in equal proportions, by 
 
 A A' A" 
 
 the respective plates: the quotients y, -jj, -j^, will 
 
 constantly have the same value. If, for instance, 
 one sixth part of the pencil / is polarised by reflec- 
 tion at the surfaces of the first plate, \ of 1' will be 
 polarised at the surfaces of the second; -i of i" 
 by the third, and so forth ; and the pencils trans- 
 mitted by these same plates will contain respectively 
 of natural light, or of light possessing the same pro- 
 perties, ^ of /, ^- of ^ of /", and so forth. Hence, 
 whatever may be the number of plates employed, the 
 pencil ultimately transmitted will contain, mathema- 
 tically speaking, a certain quantity of natural light ; 
 but this quantity will be rapidly diminished, and will 
 finally become completely insensible. QDr Brewster, 
 on the contrary,, maintains, that it wholly disappears 
 after transmission through a finite, and even a mode- 
 rate number of plates.] 
 
 It may be said, in this sense, that a pile of parallel 
 plates polarises the light which passes through them, 
 in a direction perpendicular to the plane in which 
 the rays would be polarised, by reflection at the 
 same surfaces. 
 
 We have here supposed the incident light to meet 
 the plate of glass at the inclination capable of polar- 
 ising it completely by reflection ; but the same re- 
 sult is obtained whatever the inclination may be : it 
 is only necessary that it should be composed of a 
 number of elements, so much the greater as the di- 
 rection of the rays is nearer to the perpendicular. 
 
 With a given inclination, the number of plates, ne- 
 cessary to produce by transmission a polarisation 
 nearly complete, depends also on their reflective 
 power : we have already observed, for example, that 
 a single plate, capable of reflecting half the incident 
 light at the angle of polarisation, would, of itself, be 
 sufficient to constitute a pile. 
 
 5 p 
 
846 
 
 Polarisation 
 of Light. 
 
 POLARISATION OF LIGHT. 
 
 parallel to the axis of a column of tourmaline trans- PPolarisatic 
 mits rays which are polarised in a plane perpendicu- " '8'^ 
 lar to the axis, and totally stops, on the other hand. 
 
 There are certain natural bodies, the agate, for 
 example, which modify the transmitted light pre- 
 cisely as a pile of plates would do. If we cut a plate 
 of agate sufficiently thick, in a direction perpendicu- 
 lar to that of its laminae, the light which passes 
 through it acquires a polarity in the direction of the 
 plates. A similar property is observed in the tour- 
 maline, and it is here the more remarkable, as this 
 mineral, when pure, exhibits no lamellar structure 
 wliatever. If the two opposite faces of a prism of 
 tourmaline are polished so as to form it into a plate 
 with parallel surfaces, about of an inch in thick- 
 ness, the light transmitted by it, whatever its angle 
 of incidence may be, will be polarised in a direction 
 perpendicular to the axis of the column. 
 
 It will be proper to mention here the phenomena 
 exhibited by piles of plates when they are exposed 
 to rays that have been previously polarised: suppos- 
 ing always that the pile is formed of parallel plates 
 of°glass; and besides, that the angle of inclination to 
 the first surface is about 35°, reckoning from the 
 surface itself. 
 
 If the primitive plane of polarisation of the inci- 
 dent ray coincides with the plane drawn through this 
 ray and the perpendicular to the first plate at the 
 point of incidence, a part of this ray more consider- 
 able than if we employed natural light, will be re- 
 flected ; at the point of incidence on the second 
 plate, the luminous pencil transmitted by the first 
 will undergo reflection in the same proportion as the 
 former pencil : the same effect will take place in the 
 third plate and so forth. The transmitted ray, how- 
 ever intense it may have been in the first instance, 
 will thus be gradually weakened in a geometrical pro- 
 gression, and at last will become insensible ; so that 
 if we look at the pile on the opposite end it will ap- 
 pear to be an opaque body, perfectly impervious to 
 light. 
 
 Every thing else remaining in the same state, jf 
 we turn the pile round the ray as an axis through an 
 angle of 90° ; the new plane of reflection will be per- 
 pendicular to the former, and the plate will have 
 reached the situation which has been already men- 
 tioned, in which the reflective property wholly dis- 
 appears, and the whole of the light will pass through 
 it. But the second plate, the third, and all the fol- 
 lowing plates, which are parallel to the first, will be 
 found in the same circumstances possessing the same 
 properties, and will not reflect any of the incident 
 light ; so that setting aside the effect of absorption, 
 the apparatus actually transmits light without weak- 
 ening it. 
 
 The pile of plates possesses therefore, with respect 
 to polarised light, the singular property of being 
 either completely opaque or perfectly transparent 
 according to the side which it presents to the light, 
 notwithstanding that the inclination of the light to 
 the first surface remains constantly 35°. In the in- 
 termediate positions the quantity of transmitted light 
 increases gradually as we proceed from that in which 
 nothing is transmitted, to the other extreme in which 
 the light is only weakened by absorption. 
 
 Tourmalines and agates appear to be true piles of 
 plates, so that they must produce similar effects: 
 and in fact, a plate cut, for example, in a direction 
 
 rays of which the primitive plane of polarisation is 
 parallel to that axis. 
 
 When we place such a plate between the eye and 
 a reflecting surface of water or glass situated in the 
 open air, and look at it with an inclination producing 
 complete polarisation, it appears either fully enlight* 
 ened or quite dark, or in intermediate states accord- 
 ing to the situation of the plate in its own plane. A 
 circumstance, which adds to the singularity of this 
 experiment, is that it succeeds completely even when 
 the incidence on the plate is perpendicular ; while 
 for a pile properly so called, unless it be composed 
 of an immense number of plates, it is necessary that 
 the distance of the ray from the perpendicular should 
 be very considerable. 
 
 Whatever may be the cause of these phenomena, 
 it results evidently from what has been mentioned, 
 that two planes of tourmaline placed so that their 
 axes form a right angle, must compose a system per- 
 fectly opaque with respect to light of all kinds. If, 
 for example, the incident light is in its natural state, 
 it is obvious that the portion transmitted will be 
 polarised in the direction of the axis of the plate, 
 and that the second plate, situated in a perpendicu- 
 lar direction will consequently stop the whole of the 
 light so polarised. 
 
 Sect. VI. — Of l7ie depolarisation of Light. 
 
 After having examined in what manner ordinary 
 light is converted into polarised light, we must now 
 proceed to study the modifications which this latter 
 undergoes in its turn when it is subjected to reflec- 
 tion or refraction at surfaces of different nature?, 
 and differently situated with respect to its poles. 
 
 When a polarised pencil falls on the surface of a 
 well polished mirror, in such a manner that its plane 
 of polarisation coincides with the plane of reflection, 
 or is perpendicular to it, the light regularly reflected 
 at this surface is completely polarised, like the inci- 
 dent pencil, in a direction parallel or perpendicular 
 to the plane of reflection ; and this happens whatever 
 the nature of the mirror may be. 
 
 But whenever the primitive plane of polarisation 
 of the incident pencil is any otherwise situated, it 
 will be found that the reflected pencil is modified, 
 and the modification will depend on the nature of 
 the mirror. 
 
 When we employ for these experiments a mirror 
 either transparent or opaque, which is capable of 
 completely polarising natural light ; the rays previous- 
 ly polarised which fall on this surface will again be 
 compldely polarised after their reflection ; but not in 
 the plane of their primitive polarisation. _ This devio' 
 tion of the plane of polarisation of a luminous pencil, 
 produced by its reflection at the first surface of a 
 transparent mirror, depends both on the angle of in- 
 cidence and on the direction of the plane of reflec- 
 tion with regard to the poles of the ray. 
 
 For given inclination, the deviation is so much 
 more considerable as the plane of reflection makes 
 with the plane of primitive polarisation an angle 
 more nearly approaching to 45*". 
 
 8 
 
POLARISATION OF LIGHT. 
 
 tiarisation 
 jf Light. 
 
 Let us first suppose, in order to assist the imagina- 
 tion, that the reflecting surface is horizontal ; that 
 'the eye of the observer, and the rhomboid which is 
 to furnish the polarised pencil remain constantly si- 
 tuated the one to the north, the other to the south 
 of the point of reflection, so that the plane of re- 
 flection may always coincide with the meridian : and 
 that lastly the principal section of the crystal, which 
 contains in its plane the poles of the ordinary pencil, 
 makes an angle of 4-5° with the meridian. 
 
 When this ordinary pencil falls perpendicularly on 
 the mirror, it will be reflected without any deviation 
 of its plane of polarisation : so that this plane, having 
 at first formed, by the suppositions, an angle of 45° 
 with the meridian, the inclination to the meridian 
 will remain the same after the reflection. 
 
 If we cause the direction of the incident light to 
 vary more and more from the perpendicular, we shall 
 first remark that the plane of polarisation of the re- 
 flected light approaches by degrees to the plane of 
 reflection ; and that it coincides exactly with it 
 when we have arrived at the angle of complete pola- 
 risation ; that afterwards the reflected ray is po- 
 larised in a plane which is more remote from the 
 plane of reflection in proportion as it forms a smaller 
 angle with the surface of the mirror; and that at 
 last when the ray is nearly parallel to the surface, 
 its plane of polarisation coincides with that of the 
 incident light, as it did when the incidence was per- 
 pendicular. 
 
 Let us call the angle of incidence, reckoned from 
 the perpendicular, i, the corresponding angle of re- 
 fraction for the substance concerned, i' : the tangent 
 of the angle, formed by the plane of polarisation of 
 the reflected light with the plane of reflection, will 
 
 be expressed by ^"g 
 
 This formula may be illustrated by applying it to 
 
 ... cos 0'+*') 
 
 particular cases. Ui=:0, i' bemg also=0, ^;^■_^p^ 
 
 =1 : but the angle of which the tangent is unity is 
 an angle of 45°. Consequently, if the formula is 
 correct, the plane of polarisation for the reflected 
 ray, when the incidence is perpendicular, must coin- 
 cide with the primitive plane of polarisation of the 
 light employed ; and this is conformable to observa- 
 tion. 
 
 COS (i ' I 
 
 The angle of which the tangent is 7. — 7^ be- 
 
 ° cos [t — t ) 
 
 comes also 45'' whenz=90°: that is to say, when 
 the rays are parallel to the surface concerned, since 
 then cos (2+2')=— cos z', and cos (J — i') = -\-cos i'. 
 The light preserves, therefore, in this case also, its 
 primitive plane of polarisation, as the experiment 
 had shown. 
 
 If 2_j_2'_90° the angle i, as it has already been 
 observed, (Sect. III.) is that of complete polarisa- 
 
 COS (z I ' 
 
 tion, and 7-— -rr is=0 : so that the plane of po- 
 
 cos {i — I ) 
 
 larisation of the reflected ray coincides with the 
 plane of reflection; which has already been shown by 
 experiment. 
 
 The following table will show that, for interme- 
 
 847 
 
 diate angles of incidence, the agreement between Polarisation 
 this mode of calculation and the observation is as of Light, 
 satisfactory as it was possible to expect. 
 
 On Glass. 
 
 
 Observed De- 
 
 
 
 
 Angles of 
 
 viation of the 
 
 Computed De- 
 
 Difference. 
 
 Incidence. 
 
 Plane of Po- 
 
 viation. 
 
 
 
 larisation. 
 
 
 
 
 24<=' 
 
 38° 
 
 55' 
 
 37° 
 
 54' 
 
 -1-1° 1' 
 
 39 
 
 24 
 
 35 
 
 24 
 
 38 
 
 —0 3 
 
 49 
 
 11 
 
 45 
 
 10 
 
 52 
 
 -f 0 53 
 
 56i 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 0 
 
 60 
 
 5 
 
 15 
 
 5 
 
 29 
 
 —0 14 
 
 70 
 
 19 
 
 52 
 
 20 
 
 24 
 
 — 0 32 
 
 80 
 
 32 
 
 45 
 
 33 
 
 25 
 
 , 0 40 
 
 0 'J 
 
 38 
 
 55 
 
 39 
 
 19 
 
 —0 24 
 
 87 
 
 40 
 
 55 
 
 41 
 
 36 
 
 0 41 
 
 88 
 
 41 
 
 15 
 
 42 
 
 44 
 
 1 29 
 
 89 
 
 44 
 
 35 
 
 43 
 
 52 
 
 + 0 43 
 
 
 
 On 
 
 Water. 
 
 
 Angle of 
 
 Observed De- 
 
 Computed De- 
 
 Difference, 
 
 Incidence. 
 
 viation. 
 
 viation. 
 
 
 53° 
 
 O'' 
 
 0' 
 
 O'^ 
 
 0' 
 
 0° 0' 
 
 60 
 
 10 
 
 20 
 
 10 
 
 51 
 
 —0 31 
 
 70 
 
 25 
 
 20 
 
 24 
 
 48 
 
 —0 32 
 
 80 
 
 36 
 
 20 
 
 35 
 
 49 
 
 + 0 31 
 
 85 
 
 40 
 
 50 
 
 40 
 
 32 
 
 -fO 18 
 
 The formula, thus compared with experiment, 
 supposes, that the primitive plane of polarisation of 
 the light employed makes an angle of 45*^ txiith 
 the plane of reflection : but a slight addition is suffi- 
 cient to accommodate it to all other cases. If we 
 make a the angle of which the particular value is 
 here assumed 45°, i and i' retaining their value?, the 
 tangent of the angle expressing the deviation of the 
 plane of polarisation of the incident pencil, after re- 
 cos (i -4~ 2'^ 
 
 flection, will in general be represented by (; "-{-t^) 
 tang a. 
 
 It is easy to observe, that in the most material 
 cases, this formula correctly corresponds with the 
 experiments : but we are still in want of an experi- 
 mental demonstration of its truth for any very diver- 
 sified combinations of the values of a and i. 
 
 The deviations of the planes of polarisation follow 
 the same gradations when the reflection takes place 
 at the second surface of transparent mirrors, from 
 the position of perpendicular incidence to that of the 
 beginning of total reflection. But beyond that in- 
 clination, the phenomenon acquires a character to- 
 tally different: we have then na longer a simple 
 change of the direction of the primitive poles of the 
 ray ; for unless the plane which contains the poles 
 either coincide with the plane of reflection or be 
 perpendicular to it, the ray will undergo a true de- 
 polarisation, so that however we place the rhomboid 
 through which we cause it to pass, we shall always 
 
84B 
 
 POLARISATION OF LIGHT. 
 
 Polarisation observe, that two images are formed. The same 
 ' ^-^^ happens also when the mirror is metallic: The par- 
 "" '-^"^^ ticular and very remarkable modifications which the 
 light undergoes in these two cases will shortly be 
 mentioned. 
 
 Sect. Vll.— -Of the Phenomena of interference, so 
 far as they are modified hy a previous Polarisa- 
 tion of Light. 
 
 It has long been known, [^havingj however, first oc- 
 curred to the translator ot this article in the room 
 and at the table on which he is now writing,] that if, 
 after having cut in a thin plate of metal, two very 
 fine slits very near to each other, we cause them to 
 be enlightened by a pencil proceeding from the same 
 radiating point, we may observe behind the plate 
 a formation of iridescent fringes, derived from the 
 action exerted by the rays scattered from the left 
 hand slit on the rays scattered from the right hand 
 slit, in the points where these two parcels of rays are 
 intermixed. 
 
 This experiment, when studied in all its details, 
 has led to the simple law, which may be thus enun- 
 ciated : Two rays of homogeneous light, proceed- 
 ing from the same source, and arriving from a given 
 point of space by two different routes, a little un- 
 equal in length, co-operate with each other, or are 
 destroyed, and form, on a screen which receives them, 
 either a bright or a dark spot, according to the mag- 
 nitude of the difference of their routes. 
 
 The two rays always co-operate completely, when 
 they are united after passing through a route of 
 equal length. If the smallest difference of routes, 
 which will cause them again to co-operate, be called 
 d, they will co-operate wherever the distance is any 
 member of the series 2d, 3d, 4-d... ; and the inter- 
 mediate values d-\-ld, 2d-^^d..., will show 
 the cases in which the two rays, when combined, 
 produce darkness. The magnitude of the quantit)'^ 
 d varies with the species of light concerned, and with 
 the nature of the medium which transmits it. 
 
 If two rays destroy each other after having passed 
 through routes differing, for example, by the quan- 
 tity d', they will also destroy each other after having 
 passed through, either perpendicularly, or with the 
 same obliquity, two plates of the same nature, and of 
 the same thickness. 
 
 A difference of thickness or of refractive density, 
 in the two plates interposed, may produce the effect 
 of an inequality in the routes described : the differ- 
 ence will give rise, in certain cases, to a displace- 
 ment only of the fringes : but in others they will 
 entirely disappear. 
 
 These laws relate to the rays of light in their na- 
 tural state ; if we employ polarised light, we obtain 
 results, which, independently of the numerous appli- 
 cations of which they are susceptible, deserve for 
 their singularity to arrest our attention. 
 
 Let us first suppose that instead of enlightening 
 tJie itoo slits of the plate of metal with natural rays, 
 we employ polarised light, the fringes will be formed 
 equally in both cases. 
 
 If we then try the effect of the light polarised in 
 one direction and transmitted by one of the slits on 
 
 the light polarised in a perpendicular direction, and Polarisad< 
 transmitted by the other ; an arrangement which may °^ Light 
 be obtained by placing two piles properly directed '^"^^^ 
 in the passage of the different rays : we shall find that 
 when the directions are correctly perpendicular, there 
 is no trace of fringes behind the perforated plate. 
 
 It has been remarked that any material difference 
 in the mediums through which the two rays pass, is 
 sufficient to annihilate the effects of interference 
 which would otherwise be observable. The experi- 
 ment now mentioned would therefore be wholly in- 
 conclusive, if we had not previously assured ourselves 
 that the piles, which are supposed to be of the same 
 nature, are also exactly of the same thickness. The 
 best mode of ascertaining this is evidently to render 
 the two planes of polarisation parallel : if in this 
 case we perceive fringes, and if after having turned 
 one of the piles one fourth of a revolution round its 
 axis without changing their mutual inclination, we 
 find that they disappear, we may fairly conclude that 
 this disappearance must be attributed to the direc- 
 tion of the polarisation of the rays of light con- 
 cerned. 
 
 This experiment would be a very difficult one to 
 make with success if the piles had any considerable 
 thickness : but they may be made very thin by means 
 of plates of mica, or of bits of glass blown in a lamp : 
 and then by dividing them in the middle, we may ob- 
 tain a pair of piles of thicknesses perfectly equal. Be- 
 sides, nothing prevents our varying gradually the in- 
 clination of one of the piles, so as to compensate in 
 this manner for the effect of a slight difference of 
 thickness, if it exists. 
 
 But there is another mode of observation which is 
 more convenient. We take a crystal of tourmaline 
 cut in a direction parallel to its axis, so as to form 
 a plate with parallel surfaces ; we divide it into two 
 parts, and apply the two portions, one to the slit on 
 the right hand of the plate, and the other to that on 
 the left. We then find that fringes are produced 
 when the two axes of the fragments are parallel ; and 
 that no traces of them are left when they are per- 
 pendicular to each other ; and that in changing the 
 positions of the portions of tourmaline from one of 
 these relations to the other, the intensity of the fringes 
 gradually disappear. 
 
 Supposing now the piles to remain fixed to the 
 slits in perpendicular directions, so that no fringe 
 may be visible ; and placing a third pile before 
 the eye of the observer, in a plane that forms an 
 angle of 45° with the planes of incidence of the two 
 former : this last plane must reduce to a similar po- 
 larisation the rays coming from the two slits, which 
 before they met were polarised at right angles ; so 
 that there seems to be no reason why the rays should 
 not again interfere ; and yet whatever pains we take 
 in the experiment, we shall discover no trace of 
 fringes. Might there not, however, be fringes if 
 the rays met behind the third pile rather than before 
 it? Tr.] 
 
 It is unnecessary to remark, that a tourmaline of 
 any kind may be substituted for the third pile, as the 
 two former may be exchanged for the two halves of 
 a piece of tourmaline with parallel surfaces : the re- 
 sult will be precisely the same. 
 
POLARISATION OF LIGHT. 
 
 849 
 
 (larisation Let US lastly suppose, in order to exhaust all pos- 
 f Light. sJi)]e combinations, that the plate of metal is illumi- 
 nated with polarised light, and that two piles or two 
 tourmalines are so placed, as to transform the rays 
 passing through the two slits from rays polarised in 
 the same direction, into rays polarised in directions 
 at right angles to each other : and that before the 
 interference of the rays we bring them back to a si- 
 milar polarisation, either by the assistance of a third 
 pile, or by that of a tourmaline, as in the former ex- 
 periment : the observer will then find, and, no doubt, 
 with great surprise, that the rays are again suscep- 
 tible of interference; or that in mixing together they 
 produce a very visible group of iridescent fringes. 
 
 The series of experiments here related leads us to 
 the following conclusions. 
 
 1. Two pencils converted from natural light into 
 light polarised in the same direction, retain, after this 
 modification, the property of interfering with each 
 other. 
 
 2. Two pencils, which are made to pass directly 
 from the state of natural light to that of light pola- 
 rised in two perpendicular directions, are no longer 
 Capable of interference, either while they remain in 
 this state, or after they have been restored to a simi- 
 lar polarisation. 
 
 S. Two pencils polarised in contrary directions, 
 do not interfere, whatever may have been the modi- 
 fications that they have undergone before they arrive 
 at this state from that of natural light : but w.hen re- 
 stored to a similar state of polarisation, they 'become 
 capable of interfering, provided that in their passage 
 from the natural state to that of polarised light the 
 FIRST planes of polarisation of the two pencils were 
 parallel. 
 
 Thus it appears that in these phenomena the mode 
 of action of the rays does not depend on voliat they 
 are only when they meet, but also on iKliat they have 
 previously been. 
 
 Sect. VIII. — Of the kind of Polarisation tvhich is 
 exhibited in the appearance of Colours, and which 
 has therefore been called coloured polarisa- 
 tion. 
 
 We may first examine the nature of the new mo- 
 dification of light that is concerned in these appear- 
 ances; and secondly, the means of producing it. 
 
 Supposing a ray of direct light to be polarised in 
 any of the ways that have been described, and then 
 to pass through a plate of rock crystal, cut perpendi- 
 cularly to the edges of the hexaedral prism, about a 
 quarter of an inch in thickness, and having both its 
 surfaces perpendicular to the ray : when it emerges 
 from the surface, it will no longer possess the pro- 
 perties of common polarised light ; and yet it will not 
 have reassumed the characters of direct light : for if 
 we submit it to the action of a rhomboid of carbo- 
 nate of lime, instead of affording one image only in 
 a particular position with respect to the principal 
 section of the crystal, it will be constantly subdivid- 
 ed into two pencils: so that it cannot be identical 
 with common polarised light. 
 
 Neither is it simply natural light : for a white pen- 
 cil of natural light is always divided by a doubly re- 
 fracting crystal, into two white pencils of equal in- 
 
 tensity : the white pencil which has passed through Polarisation 
 the plate of quartz, on the contrary, gives always. 
 two images, but they are distinguished by the most 
 vivid colours. If the ordinary image is red, the ex- 
 traordinary is green, and the reverse ; and the case is 
 the same with regard to the other prismatic colours ; 
 that of the ordinary pencil is complementary to tbe 
 tint of the extraordinary pencil, and they both vary 
 according to the position of the principal section of 
 the rhomboid which causes the separation. 
 
 The prismatic telescope of Mr liochon affords an 
 apparatus perfectly adapted to the performance of 
 these experiments, and which requires to be men- 
 tioned first, because it exhibits the tints with great 
 brilliancy ; secondly, because it gives us the means 
 of assuring ourselves, that the images viewed lose no- 
 thing of their distinctness by the interposition of the 
 plate, and that its efiect is not owing to any irregu- 
 lar dissipation of the light concerned; and thirdly, 
 on account of the facility with which it allows us to 
 show that the tints are complementary to each other. 
 
 This instrument is nothing more than an ordinary 
 telescope, furnished, between the object glass and the 
 eye glass, with a prism of rock crystal or of carbonate 
 of lime, rendered achromatic. This prism being 
 moveable at pleasure along the axis of the telescope, 
 the observer is enabled to separate more or less, at 
 his pleasure, the two images of the object which he is 
 viewing. 
 
 Having then before the object glass of this teles- 
 cope the plate of quartz in question, and adapting 
 besides to the eye glass a greenish dark glass of a 
 particular kind, which is much employed by astrono- 
 mers because of its property of absorbing a good deal 
 of light, without sensibly colouring the transmitted 
 pencil : if we observe the sun directly with this in- 
 strument, we shall see two images of the sun, both 
 white, and of equal brighttiess ; vi^hferice ;it follows 
 that the plate produces no particular effect on natu- 
 ral light: but if on the contrary we look at the sun's 
 image as reflected by a plate of glass not silvered, 
 we shall perceive two more suns, each of them co- 
 loured; and while the telescope performs half a revo- 
 lution on its axis, they will both run through nearly 
 the whole series of the prismatic colours. Thus, the 
 image, that was red, will become successively orange, 
 yellow, greenish yellow, bluish green, and violet : 
 and at this period the telescope will have made half 
 a turn ; its movement being continued, the violet 
 image will become first red, then orange, and so 
 forth. The second image will always give us the 
 complementary colour: for if, instead of completely 
 separating the images, we allow them to overlap 
 each other, the part common to both the discs will 
 remain constantly white: while the remaining lunu- 
 lar portions vfill exhibit the most vivid colours. 
 
 The reflection of a transparent plate may also be 
 employed for more directly exhibiting the distinctive 
 properties of the light transmitted by the plate of 
 quartz. 
 
 If we cause a plate of glass to turn round a pencil 
 of natural light forming with its surface an angle of 
 about 35^° ; the reflected pencil will be di rected in 
 succession to all the points of the horizon, but it will 
 constantly preserve the same intensity. 
 
S50 POLARISATIO 
 
 Polarisation But if the incident pencil is polarised, we shall 
 of Light, gjjj^ jj^g contrary, two positions diametrically op- 
 ^^''"'■^^'"'"^^posite to each other, in which the mirror will not 
 reflect a single ray. 
 
 Making, now, a similar experiment with the light 
 that has been transmitted by a plate of rock crystal, 
 we shall see that it becomes coloured by reflection, 
 though it falls white on the plate, and that the na- 
 ture of the colour depends on the side of the ray that 
 is presented to the reflecting surface. These reflect- 
 ed colours succeed each other during the revolution 
 of the plate, in the same order as in the prismatic 
 spectrum : they are also observed in the transmitted 
 light, being always complementary to those of the 
 light reflected at the same time. 
 
 If the properties of polarised rays depend, as is 
 supposed by the partisans of the system of emission, 
 on the particular arrangements assumed by the mole- 
 cules of which they are formed, it will be easy to de- 
 scribe the intimate composition of the ordinary po- 
 larised ray ; and that of the same ray after it has 
 passed through the plate of rock crystal : in the for- 
 mer, the axes of all the molecules of the different co- 
 lours, must be parallel ; in the latter, the molecules of 
 different tints must have their poles turned towards 
 different parts of space. 
 
 It now becomes necessary to examine according 
 to what law the direction of these poles is varied, 
 both as they depend on the particular tint of each 
 molecule, and On the greater or less thickness of the 
 crystal that they have passed through. 
 
 If we employ homogeneous polarised light, we 
 shall readily find, that, supposing a given plate of 
 quartz to turn the poles of a certain ray of light 
 through an arc of 20° from their primitive direction, 
 a plate of the same crystal twice as thick will cause 
 a double deviation, and will turn the pole through an 
 arc of 40°; a plate of thrice the thickness will cause 
 a triple deviation, amounting to 60°, and so forth 
 without limit. 
 
 With regard to the simple rays of different colours, 
 in passing through a given plate, they undergo devi- 
 ations so much the more considerable as they are 
 more refrangible, and this in the inverse proportion 
 of the numbers which Newton calls the lengths of 
 the fits ; or, what comes to the same result, in the 
 inverse proportion of the quantities which have been 
 designated in this article by the letter d. (Sect. 
 VII.) 
 
 When, therefore, we know the deviation for a 
 given plate, we may find the effect of a thicker or 
 thinner plate of the same substance by a simple pro- 
 portion. 
 
 Table of the Deviations of the Planes of Polarisation 
 of the different " Homogeneous" Rays in passing 
 through a Plale of Rock Crystal perpendicular to the 
 Axis of the Prism, of vohich the thickness is a milli- 
 metre, or .03937 E. I. ; \_according to the Nevo' 
 tonian division of the spectrum.'^ 
 
 Extreme red - 17 50** 
 
 Limit of red and orange - 20.48 
 
 orange and yellow 22.31 
 
 yellow and green 25.68 
 
 green and blue - 30.05 
 
 N OF LIGHT. 
 
 blue and indigo 34.57 PoMrisat 
 
 indigo and violet 37.68 Light 
 Extreme violet - 4f4.08 
 
 There is no reason to suppose that the angular de- 
 viations will undergo any alteration in their values 
 when all the molecules pass through tiie crystal at 
 the same time. Consequently, in the white pencil 
 transmitted by a plate of a millimetre, the axes of 
 the elementary red rays will form an angle of 8° with 
 the axes of the first orange rays ; of about 5° with 
 those of the fir^t yellow rays, and of 26.5° with the 
 axes of the extreme violet rays : and if we analyse 
 this white pencil by means of a rhomboid, the differ- 
 ently coloured rays will not be divided in the same 
 proportions between the two images : hence there 
 will necessarily be appearances of colour. It is ob- 
 vious, for example, that when the rhomboid is sa 
 placed that its principal section shall coincide with 
 the poles of the red ray, this ray will remain alto- 
 gether in the ordinary pencil, and the red tint will 
 be wholly wanting in the extraordinary image. 
 
 We may obtain an exact idea of the modification 
 which a plate of quartz produces in a white pencil of 
 polarised light, by conceiving a combination of red 
 rays polarised by reflection at the surface of a cer- 
 tain transparent substance, of orange rays polarised 
 by a second surface placed in a different angular si- 
 tuation, of yellow rays polarised by a third surface, 
 and so forth. The necessity of the intimate mixture 
 of all these kinds of molecules in each line of white 
 light, and some other obstacles, would render it im- 
 possible to realise this fiction without a very compli- 
 cated apparatus : while a simple plate of quartz is 
 sufficient, on the other hand, to give to the different 
 constituent parts of the white pencil these individual 
 polarisations situated in different azimuths. 
 
 The phenomena which have been described ari^ 
 produced by plates of quartz with parallel surfaces 
 cut perpendicularly to the axis of the hexaedral 
 prism. Now in a direction perpendicular to these 
 surfaces quartz exhibits no double refraction : so 
 that the causes, which in this case produce the de- 
 viation of the planes of polarisation of the luminous 
 molecules, are different from the causes which occa- 
 sion the separation of the two pencils in other sec- 
 tions of the crystal. And it is remarkable that 
 the properties of these plates have been found in 
 bodies not possessed of regular crystallization, as 
 flint glass, and even in perfect fluids, such as the es- 
 sential oils of turpentine and of lemons, or the solu- 
 tion of camphor in alcohol, the simple syrup of sugar, 
 and so forth. The only difference is in the absolute 
 value of the thicknesses which afford the same tints: 
 the other laws remaining the same. Thus the thick- 
 ness of oil of turpentine must be 69 times as great as 
 that of a plate of rock crystal to produce the same 
 effect : and the action of the oil of lemons is to that 
 of the oil of turpentine as 17 to 10 Q or to that of 
 crystal as 1 to 41]. 
 
 We have seen that a plate of quartz a millimetre 
 in thickness causes the poles of the red molecules to 
 describe an arc of 17.5°. We may suppose this mo- 
 tion to have taken place from right to left : then 
 every other plate, of whatever thickness, cut out of 
 
POLARISATION OF LIGHT. 
 
 arisatlon the same crystal, will cause the poles to deviate still 
 I^igh*^- farther in the same direction, that is to turn still 
 from right to left : while other plates, on the con- 
 trary, cut out of a difterent crystal, may turn them 
 from left to right. This phenomenon, at first sight, 
 must appear very singular ; but if we reflect that the 
 rays pass through the plates in a direction which af- 
 fords no double refraction, we shall be aware that a 
 deviation of the poles directed constantly the same 
 way in every specimen of the crystal would be not at 
 all less astonishing. 
 
 It has not hitherto been possible to point out any 
 exterior signs which shall indicate the direction of 
 the deviation that will be produced by a given cry- 
 stal, except in one very remarkable case. In some 
 varieties of quartz, the solid angles, situated at the 
 base of the pyramid by which the prism is terminat- 
 ed, are replaced by as many facets placed obliquely 
 with respect to the edges. Now the direction of the 
 deviation, which these plagiedral crystals give to the 
 poles of the luminous molecules, is constantly that of 
 the obliquity of these little facets. 
 
 When a polarised ray passes successively through 
 two plates producing contrary rotations, the ultimate 
 deviation of the poles is the difference of the effects 
 which each plate would have produced separately. 
 The ray exhibits exactly the same tints as if it had 
 passed through a single plate, of a thickness equal to 
 the difference of the thicknesses of the two plates. 
 
 If the plates thus combined are equal in thickness, 
 the pencil transmitted, having been turned first in 
 one direction, and then turned back in the contrary 
 direction, seems not to have its polarisation ultimate- 
 ly changed. 
 
 The essential oil of turpentine causes the axes of 
 the molecules of the polarised ray to turn from the 
 right to the left of the observer receiving the ray : 
 the essential oil of lemons from left to right. These 
 fluids do not lose their peculiar properties, when 
 they are mixed ; so that if their proportions in the 
 mixture are inversely as their rotatory forces, the ray 
 which has passed through them retains its primitive 
 polarisation. 
 
 Sect. IX On the Phenomena o/'depolarisation, 
 
 attd of COLOURS produced by crystallized 
 PLATES not cut perpendicularly to the Axis of 
 Double Refraction. 
 
 We are next to inquire how a white pencil, polar- 
 ised in a single direction, is modified in passing 
 through a crystalline plate possessed of double re- 
 fraction. 
 
 For this purpose we may place the principal sec- 
 tion of a rhomboid of calcarious spar in the plane of 
 polarisation of a white pencil, which of course will 
 be subjected to the ordinary refraction only : we 
 may then place the plate in question before the 
 rhomboid, so that the rays may pass through it per- 
 pendicularly. If now the principal section of this 
 plate is parallel to that of the rhomboid, we shall still 
 see but one white image ; and the same will happen 
 if the principal sections are perpendicular to each 
 other : but in every other situation of the plate, the 
 
 851 
 
 rhomboid will furnish two pencils, and they will be Polarisation 
 distinguished by complementary tints. ofL i ght. 
 
 The motion of the plate in its own plane does not^'^'^ 
 alter the nature of the tints : their brightness only 
 varies, and becomes greatest when the angle formed 
 by the two sections is equal to 45°. 
 
 These tints vary with the thickness of the plate, 
 and degenerate into perfect whiteness when the 
 thickness becomes considerable. In the sulphate of 
 lime, the appearances are no longer observable when 
 the thickness is about half a millimetre, or one fiftieth 
 of an inch. 
 
 Supposing 0 to be the tint of the ordinary pencil, 
 and E that of the extraordinary : the experiment 
 shows that the tint E is nearly that of one of the co- 
 loured rings seen in the light reflected from two ob- 
 ject glasses touching each other, as in the celebrated 
 experiments of Newton ; and that the tint 0 is that 
 of the corresponding transmitted ring. This rule, 
 however, is not perfectly general ; for in many cry- 
 stals the tints E by no means resemble those of the 
 rings. 
 
 When the regular sequence of the Newtonian rings 
 is observable, the successive thicknesses of the same 
 crystal, which afford the respective colours E, are 
 proportional to those which Newton has assigned for 
 substances not crystallized : it is only found that, for 
 any given density, the absolute values of these thick- 
 nesses greatly surpass the thicknesses shown in the 
 Newtonian tables. 
 
 We find also a remarkable relation between the 
 tint E, the thickness of the plate, and the elements 
 of its double refraction, which it is important to point 
 out. The image E only appears when the principal 
 section of the plate is neither parallel nor perpendi- 
 cular to the primitive plane of polarisation of the ray 
 which passes through it. If we suppose this plate 
 to possess only the ordinary properties of double re- 
 fraction, the ray will in general be divided by it into 
 two pencils, one of which will be refracted ordinari- 
 ly, the other extraordinarily : so that two pencils 
 from the same origin meet, after having passed 
 through difterent routes, and interfere. There is a 
 certain inequality of the lengths of these paths at 
 which the red I'ays destroy each other ; at another 
 interval, the yellow rays, the green, the blue, and so 
 forth. If we determine, from these principles, the 
 tint resulting from the interference of the different 
 rays, taking into account the thickness, and the in- 
 tensity of the double refraction of the plate, we shall 
 always find a very satisfactory agreement between 
 the calculation and the experiment. QSee the Ar- 
 ticle Chromatics, in this Supplement.!^ 
 
 The singular deviation which these thin plates 
 seem to produce in the poles of the molecules of dif- 
 ferent colours which constitute while light, was ex- 
 tremely difficult to be discovered : and nothing shows 
 this difficulty better than the general assent of natu- 
 ral philosophers to the laws which have been the 
 foundation of the theory of moveable polarisation. It 
 is not therefore sufficient to explain here the true 
 principles on which these phenomena are founded: 
 the confutation of an erroneous theory becomes ab- 
 solutely necessary in this stage of the investigation ; 
 
852 
 
 POLARISATION OF LIGHT. 
 
 Polarisation especially when it is plausible in appearance, and 
 of Light. .„K^„ I ut. c ....•i.u ca :„ 
 
 when it is brought forwards with confidence in the 
 latest works, notwithstanding the decisive objections 
 which had been opposed to it. 
 
 The fundamental theorem of this moveable polari- 
 sation has been thus enunciated. " When a ray of 
 natural light, polarised in a certain fixed direction, 
 passes perpendicularly through a crystallized plate, 
 which is parallel to the axis of double refraction, the 
 molecules of light penetrate at first to a certain dis- 
 tance without losing their primitive polarisation : after 
 this they begin to perform periodical oscillations 
 round their own centres, so that their axis of polari- 
 sation is carried alternately on each side of the prin- 
 cipal section of the crystal, or of the line perpendi- 
 cular to it, like a pendulum passing from one side to 
 the other of the vertical line which is its quiescent 
 position. Each of these oscillations is performed in 
 a given thickness 2e, twice as great as that in which 
 the molecule had made its excursion in one direc- 
 tion. Thus, from the iiiiclcness zero to a certain 
 Jxindamental thickness e' the hojnogeneous molecules 
 of tchich the ray passing through the crystal is com- 
 posed, are affected, after their emergence, as if they 
 had not quitted their primitive polarisation ; from e 
 to 2e, they are affected as f they had assumed a new 
 polarisation, differing from the former by the azimuth 
 2i ; i being the angle which the principal section of 
 the plate forms with the original plane of their polari- 
 sation : and they appear in short alternatively polar- 
 ised in their former azimuth, and in an azimuth at 
 the distance 2j from it." 
 
 To this law it may be objected, first, that when- 
 ever the light emerging from a crystal with one axis, 
 whether thin or thick, is composed of two distinct 
 pencils, we find that they are polarised in directions 
 at right angles to each other, whether the incident 
 light may have been natural or polarised : and no ex- 
 ception to this rule has yet been discovered. Now it 
 is difficult if not impossible to conceive, in the sys- 
 tem of moveable polarisation, how the transition can 
 be made from that state into the state of polarisation 
 in two directions at right angles, which, for the sake 
 of distinction, has been called the fixed polarisation. 
 
 But there is a still more direct objection to this 
 theory. If we place a plate of sulphate of lime in 
 such a manner that its principal section may make 
 an angle of 45*^ with the primitive plane of polarisa- 
 tion of homogeneous light that is to pass through it ; 
 the angle 2i being then equal to 90°, the transmitted 
 pencil, according to the doctrine of moveable polari- 
 sation, woidd be entirely polarised either in the pri- 
 mitive plane, or in the plane perpendicular to it, and 
 when analysed by means of a rhomboid, it would ex- 
 hibit, in two positions of the principal section of this 
 crystal, only a single image. But this is so far from 
 being true, that if the plate is of a proper thickness, 
 the pencil will be constantly divided into two images 
 of equal intensities, whatever the direction of the prin- 
 cipal section of the rhomboid may be. 
 
 When two pencils, derived from the same origin, 
 and possessing the same velo^city, are made to inter- 
 sect each other at a very small angle, after having 
 travelled by different paths, of which the lengths are 
 slightly different, they may destroy each other com- 
 10 
 
 pletely, as we have already seen : and this destruc- Polarisation 
 tion would as readily take place if jhey came by the of Light, 
 same path with different velocities. Let d be the 
 difference of the paths which determines, in the first 
 case, the periodical series of the points of space in 
 which two rays of a certain homogeneous light pro* 
 duce complete darkness by their interference : the 
 same letter d will express, in the second case, the 
 quantity by which one of the rays will require to be 
 more advanced than the other by the excess of its 
 velocity, in order that the light may again be de- 
 stroyed. When, in a crystallized plate, the difference 
 of the tracks described by the ordinary and extra- 
 ordinary rays of a given kind of light, or when the 
 effect of the difference of velocity is 0, nd, or (n-f- 1)£/, 
 n being a whole number, a pencil previously polar- 
 ised, and transmitted by the plate, will appear en- 
 tirely polarised in the primitive plane, or in the azi- 
 muth 2i, as the principles of the doctrine of move* 
 able polarisation require. 
 
 When the plate has such a thickness, that the di% 
 ference of the paths described by the ordinary and 
 extraordinary pencils is included in the general for- 
 mula (n-\--^) d, the transmitted light will appear to 
 have become coinmon light, if the principal section of 
 the plate makes, an angle of 45° with the primitive 
 plane of polarisation of the incident light : which, 
 as we have already seen, by no means agrees with 
 the doctrine of moveable polarisation. 
 , Lastly, when the thickness of the plate employed 
 is not comprehended in any of the preceding ex- 
 pressions, the completely polarised rays, which pass 
 through it, emerge ivith the characters of a partial po- 
 larisation. This result is no less inconsistent than 
 the former with the laws of moveable polarisation ; 
 since, according to these laws, the polarised incident 
 ray ought always to emerge completely polarised, 
 with a simple change of the azimuth of its poles. 
 
 It is not, therefore, generally true, that a pencil 
 of polarised homogeneous light, which passes through 
 thin crystallized plates, either preserves its primitive 
 polarisation, or assumes a new one at the angular 
 distance of 2i : and with this falls the whole fabric of 
 the oscillatory motions attributed to the molecules of 
 light. With respect to the objection already made 
 to this theory, regarding the connexion to be esta* 
 blished between the phenomena of thin plates and 
 those of thick crystals, it seems to retain its fuli 
 force, since it has not been established by experi- 
 ment that the rays concerned in the phenomena oS 
 thin plates are polarised in two rectangular direc- 
 tions. 
 
 Supposing, however, for a moment, that this were 
 the case, and that a luminous pencil, passing through 
 a thin plate of sulphate of lime, is divided into two 
 rays, the one ordinary and the other extraordinary, 
 polarised at right angles : let us examine what would! 
 be the consequence. Mathematically speaking, these 
 two rays follow in general different routes within the 
 crystal ; but it is not possible to separate thenn phy- 
 sically, because the imperfection of our organs forces 
 us to contemplate objects of a certain extent. The 
 advocates of a moveable polarisation will examine 
 this light in a mass. They will find in certain cases 
 that it appears to have preserved its primitive polari- 
 
POLARISATION OF LIGHT. 
 
 L'^"" ' Others that it seems to be polarised in 
 
 an azimuth differing by 2i ; and they will hence con- 
 elude that thin plates act very differently from a thick 
 crystal. 
 
 This conclusion, however, may be disputed. When 
 we make use of a thick crystal, the ordinary and ex- 
 traordinary images are separated ; we study the pro- 
 perties of each apart. In the case of the thin plates 
 the observer has to do with light which is mixed 
 and complicated. Now who can affirm, without hav- 
 ing made the experiment, that two rays really polar- 
 ised at right angles, will not seem, in cases of inter- 
 ference, to have lost their primitive polarisations, 
 and will not exhibit an intermediate polarisation the 
 result of the others, which might be considered as 
 composing it ? 
 
 The reader will now have conjectured, that, in or- 
 der to elucidate these mysterious phenomena, it will 
 require to be proved, first, that two pencils are ac- 
 tually formed in the thin plates of crystallized sub- 
 stances, as well as in thicker crystals, polarised at 
 right angles to each other ; and secondly, that these 
 pencils, when they are mixed, may exhibit the ap- 
 pearance of a polarisation intermediate between the 
 two separate directions. Such then is the object of 
 the very delicate experiments which are now to be 
 related. 
 
 A pencil of homogeneous solar light being con- 
 centrated into a very small point, by the aid of a 
 lens of a short focus, fixed in the shutter'of a dark 
 room, the pencil of diverging rays is to be received 
 on two plates of glass slightly inclined to each other, 
 and making an angle with the ray of about 35° : the 
 pencils reflected by the two plates will then be com- 
 pletely polarised, and where they intersect each other, 
 they will form light and dark stripes ; and whatever 
 the position of the plates may be, the stripes will be 
 polarised in the same direction as the two pencils 
 vchich afford them. 
 
 If we now take a very transparent plate of sul- 
 phate of lime, and divide it in the middle, so as to 
 have two plates of exactly the same thickness : if we 
 fix one of the halves of this plate before the mirror, 
 in such a situation that it may transmit that pencil 
 only which is reflected by the first mirror, and so 
 that the principal section may make an angle of 
 45° with the primitive plane of polarisation : and 
 then the other half of the plate in the way of 
 the polarised light reflected by the other mirror, 
 but with its principal section at right angles to that 
 of the other plate, and making an angle of 45" with 
 the primitive plane in a contrary direction : then, 
 if these plates act in the same manner as thick plates, 
 however small the measure of their double refraction 
 may be, they must divide the reflected rays which 
 pass through them into two pencils of the same in- 
 tensity, and polarised at right angles to each other : 
 but in the positions here assigned to them, it will 
 evidently happen that the plane of polarisation of the 
 ordinary pencil coming, for example, from the right 
 hand plate, will be parallel to the plane of polarisa- 
 tion of the extraordinary pencil of the left hand 
 plate : and the same will be true of the two remain- 
 ing pencils of the respective plates. 
 
 This being admitted, it is easy to see v\rhat will 
 
 VOL. VI. PART II. 
 
 853 
 
 happen at the points in which the two pencils inter- Polarisatioa 
 sect each other. The ordinary rays of the right Light, 
 hand plate will at once interfere with the extraor- 
 dinary rays of the left hand plate, since they are po- 
 larised in the same direction, and will form a group 
 of light and dark stripes : and a second group will be 
 afforded by the extraordinary rays of the right hand 
 plate and the ordinary of its companion. The two 
 groups will be the further separated from each other 
 as the plates are thicker, and as their double refrac- 
 tion is more strongly marked. In the intermediate 
 space we shall find the rays of the same description 
 furnished by the two plates ; but as they have now- 
 received contrary polarities, they intersect each other 
 without exhibiting any of the phenomena of inter- 
 ference, and the eye has the sensation of a uniform 
 light only. 
 
 A fact which is no less evident than the existence 
 of the two systems of stripes, is, that when we em. 
 ploy the sulphate of lime, each of the systems is com- 
 pletely polarised, in a plane perpendicular to the 
 principal section of the plate which is nearest to it. 
 
 Now there is no one of the consequences of the 
 supposition with which we set out, that is, the sup- 
 position that every plate divides polarised light pass- 
 ing through it into two pencils polarised at right 
 angles, that is not fully confirmed by this experi- 
 ment. The truth of the hypothesis is therefore de- 
 monstrated, for every other mode of separation or of 
 polarisation of the rays, that for example which is 
 deduced from the principles of moveable polarisa- 
 tion, would lead to phenomena totally different from 
 those which have been described. 
 
 A little attention to the passages (Sect. VII.) con- 
 taining an account of the circumstances under which 
 polarised rays are capable of occasioning appreciable 
 effects of interference, will be sufficient to convince 
 the reader, that the two systems of stripes which 
 have been the subjects of these experiments can only 
 have been the result of the interference of the ordi- 
 nary rays of one plate with tlie extraordinary rays of 
 the other. But if any doubts were entertained on 
 this subject, they might be removed in the following 
 manner. 
 
 We might substitute for the two thin plates, which 
 have been employed, two thick crystals, for example 
 two rhomboids of carbonate of lime, in which the 
 double refraction would be manifest. As we might 
 then follow separately the course of each pencil, and 
 intercept them in turn by screens, it might thus be 
 proved by the most direct evidence, that for the for- 
 mation of the two groups of stripes, it is necessary 
 and sufficient that the ordinary pencil of one of the 
 crystals should meet the extraordinary pencil of the 
 other, and the reverse. The direction of the polarisa- 
 tion of these fringes, determined by the aid of a 
 rhomboid, would also be exactly the same as in the 
 case of the employment of thin plates. The only re- 
 markable difference between the two experiments 
 would be in the degree of separation of the two 
 groups of fringes. This distance, depending on the 
 difference of the paths described by the ordinary and 
 extraordinary rays, would be " greater" [or rather 
 smaller] with the crystals than with the plates. It 
 might even happen, if the crystals were very thick, 
 5 Q 
 
POLARISATION OF LIGHT. 
 
 854 
 
 Polarisation that in order to <' bring the stripes within the field 
 of Light, of view/' [or to render them visible], it would be ne- 
 
 ^»-«^>--« cessary to compensate for a part of the difference of 
 the lengths of the paths, or of the velocities, by the 
 assistance of a plane glass, fixed in the way of one of 
 the pencils ; but in every case the results of the ex- 
 periment would be equally clear and decisive. 
 
 It may also be added, in the last place, as a full 
 answer to every objection that might be raised against 
 this explanation of the formation of the two groups 
 of stripes, in the thin plates, that the interval which 
 separates the two systems is always so dependent on 
 the double refraction of the plates, that its exact 
 numerical value may always be deduced from the 
 elements of the double refraction, as obtained by 
 experiments on other portions of the same sub- 
 stance. [See Chromatics.] 
 
 We must now consider how it will be possible to 
 reconcile the experiment which has been related, 
 and which proves the subdivision of the light into 
 two pencils, polarised at right angles to each other, 
 with the other fact, which seems to be opposed to it, 
 that when the plate is of a proper thickness, the 
 whole group of polarised rays, that pass through it, 
 shall appear to be polarised either in the primitive 
 plane, or in another making with it an angle of 2i. 
 
 We make, in a dark room, a very small radiant 
 point of homogeneous light, by means of a lens, as 
 already mentioned. We receive the diverging pen- 
 oil, on a plate of glass, having its posterior surface 
 covered with a black varnish : supposmg the plate 
 to be in a vertical position, and the diverging pencil 
 to be nearly horizontal, and to make an angle with 
 the surface not much differing from that of complete 
 polarisation: when this arrangement is completed, 
 we place in the way of the reflected light a rhom- 
 boid of calcarious spar, its principal section making 
 with the horizon, or with the plane of reflection, an 
 angle of 4'5°. In this position of the rhomboid, the 
 light passing through it is divided into two pencils, 
 the one ordinary and the other extraordinary, polar- 
 ised at right angles, and of equal intensity. After 
 having passed through the first rhomboid,, the two 
 pencils fall on another rhomboid of the same thick- 
 ness, but having its principal section perpendicular 
 to that of the former. The ordinary pencil will then 
 be subjected to the extraordinary refraction in it, and 
 the reverse : and the two pencils will emerge from 
 the second rhomboid, one polarised in the plane of 
 its principal section, and the other perpendicularly 
 to it. 
 
 Let us now follow the course of each of the pen- 
 cils : in the first place it is evident that on account 
 of their divergence, they will intersect each other in 
 a space so much the wider as they become more re- 
 mote from the rhomboid : their points of emergence 
 being distinct, and sensibly separated, the observer 
 may intercept in turn with a screen either the ordi- 
 nary or the extraordinary pencil, and enlighten at 
 pleasure any other object either with the one or the 
 other separately, or with both at once. 
 
 This delicate and complicated experiment being 
 so far advanced, let us place a glass slightly rough- 
 ened, in a part of the field of view common to the 
 two pencils : marking, by a very fine opening in an 
 
 opaque plate covering the glass, the precise 8pot on Polarisatio 
 which we fix our attention ; and employing, as usual, of Light 
 a doubly refracting crystal to analyse the different 
 kinds of light, which, after passing through the slit 
 in the diaphragm, depict an image within the eye. 
 
 It will now easily be observed that the ordinary 
 ray, when it arrives alone at the aperture, wherever 
 it may be placed, undergoes no modification, and re- 
 mains polarised as it was before : and the same is true 
 of the extraordinary ray : but if both these rays inter- 
 sect each other in the slit, and enter the eye togethei^, 
 the phenomenon is by no means so simple, and it* 
 nature changes according to the place occupied by 
 the slit : so that moving this slit gradually by means 
 of a screw, we soon find the point where the light, 
 composed of the two pencils that pass through it, 
 seems to be wholly polarised in the same manner 
 as the pencil was at its first reflection from the plate 
 of glass : further on, the plane of polarisation seem* 
 to be perpendicular to the primitive plane : and in a 
 position intermediate between these, the rays trans- 
 mitted afford no material traces of polarisation at 
 all. , - 
 
 This experiment therefore offers us the singular 
 phenomenon of two pencils, polarised at right angles, 
 which, after having intersected each other in the 
 ground glass, unite within the eye, and form together, 
 as the test of the rhomboid shows, a pencil polarised 
 sometimes in one direction, and sometimes in an op- 
 posite one, or sometimes without any sensible trace 
 of polarisation, according to the magnitude of the 
 difference of the paths described by the two pencils. 
 
 It is only to assist the imagination that the piece 
 of ground glass has been supposed to be employed : 
 for its presence is not necessary to the success of 
 the experiment. A lens alone may be used for ob- 
 serving the stripes formed in the air by the interfer- 
 ence of the luminous pencils. If, however, we mere- 
 ly placed ourselves with this lens before the two rhom- 
 boids, the eye would only receive a uniform and con- 
 tinued light : but as soon as a doubling crystal is per- 
 fectly interposed between the lens and the rhom- 
 boids, or between the lens and the eye, we shall ob- 
 serve two systems of dark and bright stripes, the 
 bright stripes of one of the images corresponding al- 
 ways with the dark stripes of the other. The middle 
 stripes, for example, will be bright in the ordinary 
 image, if the principal section of the interposed crystal 
 is parallel to the primitive polarisation of the rays oa 
 the blackened glass ; and in the same case the middle 
 stripe will be dark in the extraordinary image. The 
 point of space, occupied by the middle of the image, 
 seems therefore to transmit to the eye, through the 
 crystal, only such light as is polarised in the primi- 
 tive plane, because it affords only an ordinary image 
 of the light: and this circumstance shows also that 
 the effects of interference in the extraordinary image 
 require, for their computation, the addition of Id to 
 the difference of the paths described. 
 
 When the principal section of the crystal interpos- 
 ed between the eye and the rhomboid is perpendicu- 
 lar to the original plane of polarisation, the two kinds 
 of pencils interchange their effects : and in this case 
 the central stripe of the extraordinary image is bright, 
 and that of the extraordinary image is completely 
 
POLARISATION OF LIGHT. 
 
 855 
 
 arisation dark, as if the difference of the paths of the rays form- 
 Light, ing it were ^d. 
 
 It has been hitherto supposed that the original 
 pencil contained only homogeneous light; so that it 
 produced only bright and dark stripes. But if we 
 employ white light, the stripes will be coloured; be- 
 cause d has different values for the rays of different 
 tints; and these tints are precisely the same as are 
 developed by polarised light in their passage through 
 crystallized plates of all possible thiclcnesses. 
 
 A few words will now be sufficient to show the 
 i»ode of action of these plates in the phenomena of 
 the colours first described. 
 
 A polarised ray, passing through a crystallized 
 plate, which possesses the power of double refraction, 
 is divided by it, mathematically speaking, into two 
 pencils polarised at right angles: but two pencils of 
 this description do not interfere : the plate will there- 
 fore not exhibit colours to the naked eye, whatever 
 its thickness may be, even when it is only exposed 
 to polarised light: and this result is confirmed by ex- 
 periment. 
 
 Each of the ordinary and extraordinary pencils, 
 transmitted by the plate, will again be divided into 
 two, when it passes through an achromatic prism of 
 crystal, or a rhomboid of calcarious spar. Of these 
 four emergent pencils, the two, which follow the or- 
 dinary path, will be no more separated than they 
 were at their emergence from the plate : and the 
 same is true of the two extraordinary pencils, so 
 that the eye will ultimately perceive but two distinct 
 images. 
 
 Of the two pencils which thus concur in the for- 
 mation of the ordinary image, the one was ordinary 
 in its passage through the plate, and has remained 
 ordinary in the rhomboid placed near the eye, while 
 the action of this rhomboid has been required for 
 bringing the other pencil from the extraordinary to 
 the ordinary refraction. The different kinds of rays 
 have different velocities in crystals capable of doiable 
 refraction ; and an inequality of velocity gives rise to 
 the phenomena of interference, as well as an inequa- 
 lity of distance described. If, in the plate employed, 
 the difference between the velocities of the ordinary 
 and extraordinary ray corresponds, either on account 
 of its thickness or of the diversity of the two refrac- 
 tions, to a certain quantity, d, or its multiple, the 
 kind of rays of which the interval 7id determines the 
 destruction, n being a whole number, will be wanting 
 in the ordinary image transmitted by the rhomboid. 
 And this effect, it must again be repeated, depends 
 on the interference of the two pencils of which this 
 image is really formed, and which, in the plate, pos- 
 sessed different velocities. 
 
 If the experiment with the two rhomboids had not 
 taught us that in order to calculate the mutual ac- 
 tions of the luminous rays, which in passing through 
 different crystals possessed of doubly refractive 
 powers, have several times changed their planes of 
 polarisation, the ordinary laws of interference require 
 some modification, we should have found ourselves 
 arrested by a considerable difficulty. 
 
 The difference of the velocities being the same for 
 the two pencils, of which the extraordinary image 
 afforded by the rhomboid consists, and for the two 
 
 which concur in the formation of the ordinary image, Polaris 
 it would seem that the rays of the same colour ought ^"'^ 
 to be destroyed at once in both the images, and tliat 
 they ought to exhibit the same tint: but if we recol- 
 lect that after having calculated for one of the 
 images the effect of interference corresponding to 
 the difference in the path, we are obliged, when we 
 proceed to the other image, in order to obtain re- 
 sults conformable to experiment, to add ^d to the 
 difference of the paths or to the eflect of the differ- 
 ence of the velocities, this difficulty will disappear. 
 Supposing " d"\jid2 in the ordinary image to occa- 
 sion the destruction of the red rays, " d-\-^d" [|nc?-f* 
 ^of] will correspond on the contrary to their most 
 complete agreement in the extraordinary image, and 
 these two images will exhibit tints rigorously com- 
 plementary to each other, as the experiment shows. 
 
 The colours developed by polarised light, in pass- 
 ing through crystallized plates, being only, to speak 
 correctly, portions of stripes produced by interfer- 
 ence, we must expect to find in them, by varying 
 the thicknesses of the plates, the same apparent de- 
 viations of the planes of polarisation, as we found in 
 the experiment on the narrow stripes produced by 
 means of the rays transmitted by two plates of sul- 
 phate of lime, of which the principal sections were 
 perpendicular to each other : and it has already been 
 remarked that this analogy is supported by observa- 
 tion. 
 
 It can scarcely be doubted that this explanation 
 will readily be adopted as fully satisfactory, by all 
 those who will give themselves the trouble to exa- 
 mine it with sufficient attention : and the subject may 
 now be concluded with the formulas which express 
 the intensities of the ordinary and extraordinary 
 images, for the case of a polarised ray which has 
 passed through one or two crystallized plates, with a 
 perpendicular incidence, whatever may be the situa- 
 tion of their principal sections. 
 
 For a single plate, making unity the intensity of 
 the primitive homogeneous pencil; i the angle made 
 by the principal section of the plate with the primi- 
 tive plane of polarisation ; s the angle made by this 
 same plane v/ith the principal section of the rhom- 
 boid or of the achromatic prism, by means of which 
 we analyse the emergent light : o — e the difference of 
 the paths of the ordinary and extraordinary rays at 
 their emergence : d the interval already explained, 
 and T the circumference of the circle of which the 
 diameter is unity: we shall then have, 
 For the ordinary image, cos — sin 2i sin 2 {i — s) 
 . 5 0—e 
 d 
 
 For the extraordinary image, sin %-|-sin Sisin 2(f — s) 
 
 sin^-x — — . 
 d 
 
 When the polarised pencil has passed through two 
 plates, there must be an additional element in the 
 formula, that is, the angle formed by the principal 
 section of this second plate with the primitive plane 
 of polarisation : let this angle be t, all the others re- 
 taining the same symbols, and let o'^ — e' be the dif- 
 ference of the paths belonging to the second plate : 
 the intensity of the ordinary image afforded by a pen- 
 
 tion 
 ght. 
 
POLARISATION OF LIGHT. 
 
 856 
 
 l>olarisation cil of homogeneous light will then be represented by 
 
 of Light. r J 
 
 '"•^•''^008^5+ sin 2t sin 2i cos Q(t-{-i — s) sin^^r^^^ — 
 
 sin 2t cos 2i sin 2(^ + z — s) sinV- 
 
 cos^^ sin22 
 
 sin 2(/+^ — sinV. 
 sin 2{t-{-i — s) sin^or, 
 
 0 — e -\- o' — e' 
 
 0 — e — ( o' — e') 
 
 sin 2i 
 
 and the inten- 
 
 sity of the extraordinary image is found by subtract- 
 ing this expression from unity. 
 
 If we calculate separately, according to these for- 
 mulas, the intensities of the rays of the different co- 
 lours which compose white light, we obtain the tint 
 of the ordinary or of the extraordinary pencil, whe- 
 ther the light, previously polarised, has passed 
 through one or two crystallized plates : and if, in this 
 calculation, we employ for o — e and for o' — e' the 
 values corresponding to the individiial double refrac- 
 tions to which the different species of rays are sub- 
 ject, we shall find the most perfect agreement between 
 the formulas and the experiments, even in those crys- 
 tals which afford tints that appear to bear no resem- 
 blance to those of the coloured rings of Newton. 
 
 The phenomena of these thin plates therefore, 
 which seemed to some persons to afford an unex- 
 ceptionable demonstration of the system of emission ; 
 which seemed to require the assistance of the most 
 singular oscillations of the molecules of light; which 
 seemed to enable them to discover, in those particles, 
 an axis of rotation, a pair of poles, and an equator ; 
 and even a kind of precession of the equinoctial 
 points : these phenomena are in fact only, as we have 
 just seen, the immediate and unavoidable conse- 
 quences of the simple but inexhaustible laws of in- 
 terference. 
 
 Sect. X. — 'On Circular Polarisation. 
 
 The kind of polarisation 
 which is now to be consider- 
 ed differs essentially from 
 those which have been hi- 
 therto examined. 
 
 Suppose that, having pola- 
 rised a pencil of light, we 
 cause it to undergo twice 
 over, at the angle of 54°, a 
 total reflection within a pa- 
 rallelepiped of glass, as seen 
 in the figure: the new planes 
 of reflection being also sup- 
 posed to be inclined at an 
 angle of 45° to the plane of 
 primitive polarisation : the 
 emergent pencil will then 
 have acquired some particu- 
 lar properties, which are ve- 
 ry remarkable. 
 
 When this emergent pen- 
 cil is analysed with a rhom- 
 boidal crystal, it is constantly 
 decomposed into two rays of 
 the same intensity, whatever 
 
 may be the direction of the principal section. From Polarisatioi 
 this circunastance it might be supposed that it had re- °^ Liglit- 
 sumed the character of ordinary light : but if it be 
 transmitted through a crystallized plate before it is 
 subjected to the action of the rhomboid, we shall soon 
 perceive a distinction : for in this case, common white 
 light would afford two white images, of the same in- 
 tensity ; while the light of the parallelepiped is divid- 
 ed into two pencils, both strongly coloured. 
 
 This new kind of rays has also some other peculi- 
 arities. It has already been remarked (Sect. V.) 
 that one or more total reflections make no difference 
 in the properties of ordinary light; but they modify, 
 on the contrary, in a remarkable manner, the pencil 
 which has passed through the parallelepiped: for this 
 pencil resumes all the qualities of polarised light 
 when it has been subjected to two total reflections si- 
 milar to the first, whatever may be the azimuth of 
 the latter planes of reflection with regard to the for- 
 mer. 
 
 The pencil of light in question is decomposed, 
 then, into two coloured images, when it is only an- 
 alysed by a rhomboid after having been transmitted 
 through a crystallized plate : but it must be remark- 
 ed that the colour of each of these images, on the 
 chromatic circle of Newton, is about one fourth of 
 the circumference distant from the place which the 
 colour of the same image would have occupied, if we 
 had employed only common polarised light. 
 
 It may also be added, as another distinguishing 
 character, that this last kind of light gives rise to no 
 phenomena of colour after being transmitted through 
 plates of rock crystal perpendicular to the axis, or 
 through columns of oil of turpentine or of other es- 
 sential oils. 
 
 A polarised ray, modified by two total reflections, 
 has therefore some very particular characters, which 
 distinguish it equally from a direct ray, and from an 
 ordinary polarised ray : and as these characters have 
 no relation to the different sides of the ray, the mo- 
 dification, thus obtained, has received the name of 
 circular polarisation. If any person should think the 
 denomination too little supported b) the facts de- 
 scribed, he may be informed that it has been partly 
 derived from some theoretical considerations, which 
 appear to justify it. 
 
 The mode of obtaining the circular from the ordi- 
 nary polarisation by means of two total reflections 
 having been described, there remains to be mention- 
 ed a very remarkable method of procuring the circu- 
 lar polarisation more immediately from common 
 light. 
 
 We cut out of a column of rock crystal a very ob- 
 tuse prism with its two faces forming an angle of 
 about 150'', and equally inclined to the axis of the 
 column, and we make it achromatic as well as we can 
 with two prisms of glass cemented to its opposite 
 faces : or since this method must always be imperfect, 
 we employ, instead of the glass, two other prisms of 
 rock crystal, taken from pieces which possess the 
 opposite qualities which have been described in 
 speaking of plagiedral crystals; and this arrangement 
 has also the advantage of a separation of the images 
 to a double distance. We obtain by means of this little 
 combination the effects of double refraction ; but the 
 
POLARISATION OF LIGHT. 
 
 )Jari9ation two pencils to wbich it gives birth, when they have 
 )f Light. 5ggn transmitted in a direction parallel to the axis of 
 v**^ the column, have not acquired the same modification 
 which Iceland spar, for example, would produce in 
 them, but they are circularly polarised. Thus, if 
 we analyse them with a rhomboid, they are always 
 divided into two pencils of equal intensity, and when 
 they have undergone two total reflections within a 
 parallelepiped of glass at an angle of incidence of 
 54", they are found completely polarised in two 
 planes inclined 45'' to the plane of reflection, the 
 plane of polarisation of the one being to the right, 
 and that of the other to the left. 
 
 There exists, therefore, a particular kind of double 
 refraction which communicates to the rays of light a 
 circular polarisation, as the double refraction of the 
 Iceland crystal produces in them the ordinary polar- 
 isation. 
 
 It follows, besides, from all the phenomena of this 
 class, and from the general laws of interference, that 
 a pencil circularly polarised may be considered as 
 composed of two ordinary pencils polarised at right 
 angles, one of them, however, being supposed to be 
 retarded in its path, in comparison with the other, by 
 a quarter of the interval which has been already de- 
 noted by d. 
 
 The properties of rays circularly polarised afford 
 us a very curious mode of reproducing exactly all 
 the phenomena of colours, that we have observed in 
 the plates of rock crystal, cut perpendicularly to the 
 axis, and in certain liquids. 
 
 For this purpose we must place a thin crystallized 
 plate between two parallelepipeds of ordinary glass 
 crossed at right angles, and similar to that which has 
 been already represented by a figure. A pencil, passing 
 perpendicularly through the first parallelepiped, un- 
 dergoes within it two total reflections at the angle of 
 SI"; after its emersion, it is transmitted by the crys- 
 tallized plate, and further on it enters the second pa- 
 rallelepiped, and is again twice reflected within it ; 
 but in a plane perpendicular to that of the former re- 
 flections: at last it emerges into the air, perpendicular- 
 ly to the last surface of the parallelepiped. Now we 
 may always obtain, in the emergent ray, the appear- 
 ances of a polarised ray which has passed through a 
 plate of rock crystal cut perpendicularly to the axis, 
 or a certain depth of the essential oil of turpentine : 
 and it will be sufficient for this purpose, that the 
 pencil incident upon the first parallelepiped should 
 be previously polarised, and that the axis of the in- 
 terposed crystalline plate should make an angle of 45° 
 with the two planes of the total reflections. 
 
 [Sect. XI — Enumeration of the Principal Mine- 
 rals rvhicJi are possessed of particular Properties 
 with respect to Polarisation. Added by the Trans- 
 lator. 
 
 i. All such regular crystals as belong to the rhom- 
 boidal or pyramidal systems of crystallization, de- 
 scribed by Mohs, are found to have one axis of 
 double refraction, coincident with the crystallogra- 
 phic axis of these solids.w-(Brewster's Edinburgh 
 Encyclop(^dia, Article Optics, p. 572.) The axis of 
 a refraction governed by the law of the oblate sphe- 
 roid is called by Dr Brewster a negative axis; by M. 
 
 857 
 
 Biot a repulsive axis j and the axis of the oblong Polarisation 
 spheroid a positive or an attractive axis ; the crys- Light, 
 lively''^ ^'^""guished by the signs — and + respec- 
 
 1. Rhomboid with obtuse summit. 
 —Carbonate of lime. — Carbonate of lime and 
 
 — Carbonate of lime and iron. 
 
 magnesia. _ Tourmaline. 
 
 — Rubelhte. Ruby silver. 
 + Dioptase. 
 
 2. Rhomboid with acute summit. 
 
 — Corundum. Ruby. 
 
 — Sapphire. Cinnabar. 
 
 3. Regular hexaedral prism. 
 
 — Emerald. _ Nepheline, or Sommite. 
 v>u^^^' — Arseniate of copper. 
 
 — Phosphate of lime. — Arseniate of lead. 
 
 4. Octaedron with a square base. 
 + Zircon. _ Mellite. 
 
 + Oxyd of tin. _ Molybdate of lead. 
 
 + Tungstate of lime. — Octohedrite. 
 
 5. Right prism with a square base. 
 + Titanite. — Meionite. 
 
 — : Idocrase. Uranite. 
 
 — Wernerite. 
 
 6. Bipyramidal dodecaedron. 
 + Quartz. — Phosphato-arseniate of 
 
 ♦- Phosphate of lead. lead. 
 
 11. Besides the crystals belonging to these classes, 
 there are others of which the primitive form has not 
 been determined, but in which the position of the 
 single axis of double refraction has been ascertained. 
 
 Crystals. Axis of Double Refraction. 
 
 — Mica from Kariat. Perpendicular to the lami- 
 
 nae. 
 
 — Mica with amianthus. Perpendicular to the lami- 
 
 nae. 
 
 Hydret of strontia. Perpendicular to the quad- 
 rangular plate. 
 
 — Arseniate of potass. Axis of quadrangular 
 
 prism. 
 
 — Muriate of lime. Axis of hexaedral prism. 
 
 — Muriate of strontia. Axis of hexaedral prism. 
 
 — Nitrate of soda. Axis of obtuse rhomb. 
 
 — Subphosphate of pot- Axis of quadrangular 
 
 ^ss. prism. 
 
 — Sulfate of nickel and Axis of quadrangular 
 
 copper. prism. 
 
 — Hyposulfate of lime Axis of hexagonal tables. 
 
 C Herschel.J 
 
 + Boracite. Axis of cubical rhomb. 
 
 + ApophyllitefromUton. Axis of prism. 
 + Apophyllite surcom- Perpendicular to the plate, 
 posee.- 
 
 -f Sulfate of potass and Axis of hexaedral prism, 
 iron. 
 
 + Superacetate of cop- Axis of prism. 
 
 per and lime. 
 + Hydret of magnesia. Perpendicular to the lami- 
 nae. 
 
 + -^ce. Axis of hexaedral prism or 
 
 rhomb. 
 
858 P O L A R I S A T I O 
 
 Polarisation iii. The Crystals which have been enumerated appear 
 ofl-ight. symmetrical with respect to a single axis, so as to 
 
 have similar properties in every plane passing through 
 that axis : but Dr Brewster discovered in 1816 that 
 in a great multitude of crystals the refractive powers 
 are different in different planes passing through the 
 principal axis ; the phenomena and the laws of re- 
 fraction being such as may be explained from the 
 combined effects of two axes perpendicular to each 
 other, and unequal in the ellipticity of the spheroids 
 to which they belong. 
 
 " All regular crystals which belong to the primi- 
 tive system of Mohs, or whose primitive fonns are the 
 right prism, with its base a rectangle, a rhomb, or an 
 oblique parallelogram ; the oblique prism, with its base 
 a rectangle, a rhomb, or an oblique parallelogram ; 
 OT the rectangular and rJiomboidal octuedron, have 
 two axes of double refraction, coincident with some 
 permanent line in the primitive form." 
 
 1. Thus, all the combinations of the sulfuric, tar- 
 taric, and acetic acids, with single earthy, metallic, 
 mid alkaline bases, have two axes of double refrac- 
 tion. 
 
 2. The two apparent axes of crystals with two axes 
 \_ox the lines in which the double refraction seems to 
 be neutralised] have no symmetrical relation either 
 with the faces or prominent lines of the primitive or 
 secondary forms of minerals. 
 
 3. The two rectangular axes, the principal one of 
 which is in the same plane with the two apparent 
 axes, and equidistant from them, have a constant 
 symmetrical relation to the faces and axes of the pri- 
 mitive forms in which they crystallize. 
 
 4. The line exhibited at any point of the sphere, 
 by the joint properties of two axes, is represented by 
 the diagonal of a parallelogram, of which the sides 
 correspond to the tints belonging to the separate 
 axes, and make with each other an angle twice as 
 great as the angle formed by the planes passing 
 through the given point and the two axes: and the 
 increment or decrement of the square of the veloci- 
 ty of the light may be computed in the same manner 
 as this line representing the tint. 
 
 iv. The necessity of any very minute investigation 
 of the properties of particular substances, with regard 
 to double refraction, is in great measure superseded by 
 the very important facts first observed by Dr Brewster 
 in 1814 and 1815, relating to the effects of heat and 
 of compression in producing double refraction and po- 
 larisation. He found that compression was capable 
 of producing colour when a soft animal jelly was only 
 touched by the finger : and that when a " negative" 
 crystal, like that of the carbonate of lime, is coni- 
 pressed in the direction of the axis, the tints that it 
 affords " descend," and that they " rise'' when it is 
 dilated : whence it seems to follow, that simple dila- 
 tation of a homogeneous substance in a given line 
 will constitute that line the axis of an oblate sphe- 
 roid : but the results require to be distinguished by 
 - a greater variety of experiments. M. Fresnel has 
 succeeded in exhibiting not only colours by a strong 
 pressure, but a very manifest reduplication of the 
 image of a line, seen through a piece of glass strong- 
 ly compressed by screws : and he performed this ex- 
 
 N OF LIGHT. 
 
 periment very successfully at a meeting of the Pa- PPolarfsatii 
 risian Academy of Sciences in 1822.] ^ofL^ight. 
 
 Sect. XII. — Historical Details respecting the 
 Discovery of the Different Properties of Light con- 
 cerned in Polarisation. 
 
 It will now be necessary to enumerate the natu- 
 tural philosophers to whom we are indebted for the: 
 discoveries, of which the importance has been ex- 
 plained in this article: and it will be convenient to 
 do this in the order of the sections. 
 
 i. HuYGENS appears to be the first person that ob- 
 served, in^the two pencils derived from a single one,, 
 by means of double refraction, the existence of par- 
 ticular properties after their passage through the 
 crystal, which they did not possess when they enter- 
 ed it. " It seems," he says, «* that we are obliged to 
 conclude, that the undulations of light, by passing 
 through the first crystal of Iceland spar, acquire ea 
 certain form, or a certain disposition, by which, whem 
 they fall on the substance of a second crystal, in a 
 certain position, they are enabled to affect both the 
 kinds of matter which serve for the two species olf 
 refraction, and vt^hen they fall on it in another posi- 
 tion, they only act on'one of these substances." 
 
 Thus, according to this great philosopher, in the 
 act of double refraction, the undulation, or the ray,, 
 changes its form, and loses its symmetry, so as to 
 give room for the distinction of its different sides., 
 or, changing the expression only, its different poles. 
 
 Huygens is therefore the first that observed a phe- 
 nomenon of polarisation, and this discovery was made 
 in 1678, though it was only published in l690. Frona 
 the time of Huygens to the year 1809, no observer^ 
 with the exception of the immortal author of the Op- 
 ticks, had studied the subject of double refraction in 
 this point of view : and it must even be acknowledg - 
 ed that, with respect to the facts in question, nothing 
 was added by Newton to what the Dutch mathema- 
 tician had discovered. He only insisted much more 
 strongly on the necessity of admitting poles in each 
 of the rays, derived from the subdivision, which lighit 
 undergoes, in passing through an Iceland crystal. To 
 Malus belongs the honour of having brought back 
 the attention of natural philosophers to the properties 
 of light which form the subject of this article, U 
 was he that first pointed out the singular phenomena 
 exhibited by the ordinary and extraordinary rays 
 when they meet with transparent reflecting surfaces, 
 at certain inclinations : and it is to him that we are 
 indebted for the mathematical law, which appears to 
 connect intensities of the different pencils, into which 
 the light is divided, when it passes through two rhom- 
 boids of the spar in succession. (Memoires d'Ar- 
 cueil, 11. 8vo. Par. 1809-) 
 
 ii. The anecdote, which has been often told, of th(e 
 fortunate circumstance that led Malus to the diSf- 
 covery of the polarisation of light by reflection from 
 transparent substances, is perfectly correct. Thi;S 
 philosopher, so early arrested in his pursuit of sciencie 
 by a premature death, and so universally lamented 
 by his friends, has often related to the author of this 
 article, that as he happened to be decomposing, by 
 means of a rhomboid of carbonate of lime, towards 
 
 10 
 
POLARIS AT 
 
 olarisatioi the end of the year 1808, the light of the setting sun, 
 '^i^^^^, reflected from the glass of the windows of the Lux- 
 ""^'^''^'^embourg, he first observed the difference of the in- 
 tensity of the two images in different positions of the 
 rhomboid : but it is not true, as has sometimes been 
 stated, that one of the images actually disappeared in 
 this observation ; for the polarisation of the liglit, at 
 the moment of the experiment, was only partial- A 
 similar difference of intensity must have been before 
 the eyes of mineralogists whenever they had been 
 trying to examine the double refraction of crystals, 
 and had projected the needle, which they used for 
 an object of view, on a clear and serene sky, which 
 affords a curtain of polarised ligfit. But the fact had 
 not excited their attention. Malus observed it, was 
 struck with all its importance, completely analysed it 
 in all its forms, with the most singular sagacity, and 
 thus became the creator of a new branch of optics. 
 It is to this celebrated observer that we are indebted 
 for all the experiments related in the second section. 
 (Memoires d'Arcueil, II.) 
 
 iii. The measurements related in the third sec- 
 tion, which appear to show that at equal angular dis- 
 tances above and below the angle of complete po- 
 larisation, the reflected rays contain nearly equal 
 quantities of polarised light, were obtained by Mr 
 Arago. 
 
 iv. It was Dr Brewster that discovered the re- 
 markable law, which connects the angle of complete 
 polarisation with the refractive density of the sub- 
 stance. It was communicated to the Koyal Society 
 on the 16th March 1815. {Philosophical Transact 
 Uons, 1815.) 
 
 The relation of the angle of complete polarisa- 
 tion at the second surface of a transparent medium 
 to the angle belonging to the first surface, had be- 
 fore been shown by Malus. {Mem. d' Arc. II.) The 
 same relation may be extended to the angles, at the 
 same surfaces, which afford polarisation equal pro- 
 portions of the light falling on them. So that the 
 rule given by Malus is only a particular case of a 
 general theorem, which Mr Arago has deduced from 
 a long series of experiments that have not been pub- 
 lished. 
 
 V. It was discovered also by Malus that the pencil 
 transmitted by a transparent plate is partially polar- 
 ised in a plane at right angles to the plane of polar- 
 isation of the reflected pencil. This fact was com- 
 municated to the Institute on the 11th March 1811, 
 and published the next day in the Moniteur. See 
 also the Memoirs of the Mathematical Class for 1810. 
 The photometricai experiments of Mr Arago have 
 established a relation between these two kinds of 
 polarisation which had been unobserved by Malus : 
 it is contained in this simple enunciation. ** The 
 quantity of polarised light contained in the pencil, 
 which any transparent plate transmits, is exactly 
 equal to the quantity polarised in the contrary direc- 
 tion, which is found in the light reflected by the 
 k same plate." These experiments were made in 1812, 
 I but they were first published in 1814 by M. Biot, to 
 r whom M. Arago had communicated them. (See 
 I Rechcrches Experimentales et Mathematiques sur les 
 
 Mouvemens des Molecules de Lumiere. 1814.) 
 
 It follows from this law, as Mr Arago had also ob- 
 
 ON OF LIGHT. 859 
 
 served, that at the angle of total reflection, and at Polarisation 
 all greater obliquities, the light wholly escapes po- °^ Light, 
 larisation. ^-^--"^ 
 
 The phenomena exhibited by piles of plates weee 
 analysed by Malus, immediately after his discovery 
 of polarisation by refraction. 
 
 The observation, that some natural bodies, agates 
 for example, act on light precisely like these piles of 
 plates, is due to Dr Brewster. {Treatise on New 
 Philosophical Instruments. 8. Edin. 1813.) 
 
 vi. The laws and experiments related in the sixth 
 section belong to Mr Fresnel. Malus had before 
 attempted to discover in what manner the planes of 
 polarisation changed their directions : but there are 
 several inaccuracies in the results which he has pub- 
 lished. {Mem. List. 1810.) The formulae of Mr 
 Fresnel are some of the most valuable additions that 
 have been made of late to the science of optics. A 
 general account of the deviations undergone, in re- 
 flection, by the plane of polarisation of a ray, previ- 
 ously polarised, is found in two Memoirs presented 
 to the Academy by Mr Fresnel, on the 24th November 
 1817 and the beginning of January 1818 : but the 
 mathematical laws of the phenomena were not dis- 
 covered and published till 1821. (See Amiales de 
 Chimie et de Physique. XVII.) 
 
 vii. Mr Arago and Mr Fresnel are hitherto the 
 only philosophers who have examined the effect of 
 polarisation in modifying the phenomena of interfer- 
 ence. The Memoir, in which they first recorded the 
 results which are inserted in the seventh section, ap- 
 peared in the Annales de Chimie for 1819, Vol. X. 
 
 viii. It was Mr Arago that first observed the 
 changes in the properties of polarised rays when they 
 pass through crystalline plates ; he showed that they 
 acquire the property of being divided by calcarious 
 spar into two coloured pencils, and of being reflect- 
 ed by transparent substances with tints which vary 
 according to the angular position of their surfaces. 
 His Memoir was read to the Institute on the 11th of 
 August 1811, and printed in the volume of the Me- 
 moirs of that year. 
 
 Dr Brewster published some similar experiments 
 in his Treatise on Philosophical Instruments, which 
 appeared in 1813. He says that they were made 
 before he had seen Mr Arago's paper, and even 
 " before any of his countrymen had any knowledge 
 of what had been done in France." {Edinbuj-gh 
 Encyclopoedia, Art. Optics, p. 587.) We must take 
 Dr i3rewster's word for the first part of this assertion ; 
 but since an extract of Mr Arago's Memoir was in- 
 serted in the Moniteur, on the 30th August 1811, 
 there would be some diflSculty in proving the ixvLth 
 of the second part. 
 
 The phenomena exhibited by plates, cut perpen- 
 dicularly to the axis, were also described by Mr 
 Arago in the same Memoir. 
 
 We are indebted to Mr Biot for the rule, accord- 
 ing to which the deviation of the poles is effected, 
 whether on account of the particular kind of " each 
 luminar molecule," or on account of the more or less 
 considerable thicknesses of the plates by which these 
 " molecules" have been transmitted. His Memoir 
 was read to the Institute in Septe.aiber 1818, and i 
 printed shortly after. 
 
860 POLARIS ATI 
 
 Polarisation ^jr Herschel is the author of the curious observa- 
 tion relating to the facets of plagiedral crystals. 
 
 (Transactions of the Philosophical Society of Cam- 
 bridge^ I.) 
 
 The extension of the properties of plates perpen- 
 dicular to the axis, by which they are assigned to the 
 strata of certain liquids, was made by Mr Biot in 
 1815. {Bulletin des Sciences, Dec. 1815.) 
 
 ix. The laws of the depolarisation produced by 
 crystallized plates, parallel to the axis, are reduced to 
 the three following. 
 
 1. The motion of the plate in its plane does not 
 alter the tints of the images furnished by a rhom- 
 boid. This result is implicitly comprehended in the 
 first Memoir of Mr Arago ; since in the description of 
 all the motions which cause a change of the tints, 
 the motion of the plate in its own plane is not in- 
 cluded. 
 
 2. The tints of the two images are those of the co- 
 loured^ rings of Newton, seen by reflection or by 
 transmission. This law had been laid down by Mr 
 Biot ; but Mr Herschel has shown in the Cambridge 
 Transactions that it is not universally true : so that 
 its theoretical importance is lost. 
 
 3. In a crystal of variable thickness, the same phe- 
 nomena of polarisation are reproduced at thicknesses 
 which form a series like that of the coloured rings 
 of Newton. When we examine with a rhomboid a 
 crystal cut in a proper manner, so that two of its 
 faces form an angle, and which is projected on a 
 back ground affiirding polarised light, each image 
 appears bordered by regular streaks, parallel to the 
 angular edge of the prism, and separated by equal 
 spaces. Mr Arago, when he described this pheno- 
 mena in August 1811, advanced it as a sufficient 
 proof of this third law. The Academy of Sciences, 
 and Mr Laplace in particular, did not admit the con- 
 clusion as demonstrated, and a direct admeasurement 
 of the thicknesses was required. Count Rumford, 
 'who was present, offered the use of an instrument 
 which he had employed for some other purposes, and 
 which seemed to promise a sufficient degree of pre- 
 cision : the common comparer was also mentioned as 
 proper for the purpose. Mr Arago, upon these sug- 
 gestions, undertook to make these further experi- 
 ments. But Mr Biot anticipated him : and he has 
 therefore a claim to the frst direct demonstration of 
 the law of the thicknesses. 
 
 4. The brilliant tints of each of these images may 
 be calculated from the laws of interference, accord- 
 ing to the difference of the paths and of the veloci- 
 ties of the ordinary and extraordinary rays. This 
 important remark is due to Dr Thomas Young, 
 who is believed to have published it in the Quarter- 
 ly Review, XT. 1814, p. 42, 49, 
 
 It affords the true key of all these phenomena. It 
 must however be added that Dr Young had not ex- 
 plained either in what circumstances the interference 
 of the rays can take place, nor why we see no co- 
 lours unless the crystallized plates are exposed to 
 light previously polarised. The new properties, which 
 required to be combined with the ordinary laws of 
 interference, in order to obtain a complete explana- 
 tion of the facts, were discovered by Mr Arago and 
 
 ON OF LIGHT. 
 
 Mr Fresnel, as they have been described in the Polarisation 
 seventh section. The dates of the Memoirs, in of Light- 
 which Mr Fresnel published this explanation, are -^-''^ 
 1816 and 1818. 
 
 The ingenious and delicate experiments, >yhich 
 have been employed as tests of the inaccuracy ofithe 
 theory of moveable polarisation, are also due to Mr 
 Fresnel, one of the most inventive theorists as well 
 as one of the most skilful experimenters that have 
 devoted themselves to science in this or in any age : 
 the formulae found at the end of the section are also 
 Mr Fresnel's. 
 
 ^ x. The phenomena of circular polarisation were 
 discovered by Mr Fresnel, who described and ana- 
 lysed them in a Memoir read to the Academy of 
 Sciences in November 1817, and in January 1818. 
 His later researches on this subject are inserted in 
 the Bulletin of the Philoraathic Society, December 
 1822 and February 1823. 
 
 There are a few other particulars, relating to the 
 developement of tints by repeated reflections at the 
 surfaces of metallic mirrors ; to the rin^s seen in 
 crystallized plates cut perpendicularly to the axis 
 when examined with a rhomboid held very near them; 
 and to the phenomena of the absorption of polarised 
 light by certain crystals. The first have hitherto 
 been reduced to no direct analogy with other affec- 
 tions of polarised light : the second seem to be de- 
 rived from a modification of the laws already explain- 
 ed in the ninth section ; the discovery of the scatter- 
 ed phenomena belonging to the third head has been 
 disputed by Mr Biot and Dr Brewster, but they ap- 
 pear to have been first observed by Mr Arago in 
 1814. (See Biot's Recherckes sur les Moiivemens des 
 Molecules de Lumiere. 4to. Paris, 1814. P. Ixxxvi.) 
 
 [^Sect. XIII. — Thkouktical, Investigations intended 
 to Illustrate the Phenomena of Polarisation. 
 Added by the Translator. 
 
 We are led, from the facts which have been enu- 
 merated in the 11th Section, to the remarkable 
 coincidence between the discoveries of Dr Brews- 
 ter respecting crystals with two axes, and a theory 
 which had been published a few years earlier in 
 order to illustrate the propagation of an undula- 
 tion in a medium compressed or dilated in a given 
 direction only, and to prove that such an undu- 
 lation must necessarily assume a spheroidal form 
 upon the mechanical principles of the Huygenian 
 theory. As every contribution to the investigation 
 of so difficult a subject may chance to be of some 
 value, it will be worth while to copy this demonstra- 
 tion here, from the Quarterly Review for November 
 1809, Vol. II. p. 345. 
 
 " The proposition to be demonstrated was this : 
 An impidse is propagated through every perpendicidai- 
 section of a lamellar elastic substance in the form of 
 an elliptic undulation. 
 
 " When a particle of the elastic medium is dis- 
 placed in an oblique direction, the resistance, pro- 
 duced by the compression, is the joint result of the 
 forces arising from the elasticity in the direction of 
 the laminae, and in a transverse direction : and if the 
 
POLARISATION OF LIGHT. 
 
 arisation elasticities in these two directions were equal, the join^ 
 Light, result would remain proportional to the displacement 
 "■v— ^ of the particle, being expressed, as well in magnitude 
 as in direction, by the diagonal of the parallelogram, 
 of which the sides measure the relative displacements, 
 reduced to their proper directions, and express the 
 forces which are proportional to them. But when 
 the elasticity is less in one direction than in the 
 other, the corresponding side of the parallelogram 
 expressing the forces must be diminished, in the ra- 
 tio which' we may call that of 1 to m ; and the diago- 
 nal of the parallelogram will no longer coincide in 
 direction with the line of actual displacement, so that 
 the particle displaced will also produce a lateral 
 pressure on the neighbouring particle of the medium, 
 and will itself be urged by a lateral force. This 
 force will however have no effect in promoting the 
 direct propagation of the undulation, being proba- 
 bly employed in gradually changing the direction of 
 the actual motions of the successive particles ; and 
 the only efficient force of elasticity will be that, 
 which acts in the direction in which the undulation 
 is advancing, and which is expressed by the portion 
 of the line of displacement, cut off by a perpendicu- 
 lar falling on it from the end of the diagonal of the 
 parallelogram of forces ; and the comparative elasti- 
 city will be measured by this portion, divided by the 
 whole line of displacement. Calling the tangent of 
 the angle formed by the line of displacement with 
 the line of greatest elasticity t, the radius being 1, 
 the force in this line being also 1, the transverse 
 force will be expressed by mt, the line of displace- 
 ment by V(l + ^0' diminution by ^^~^]ly the 
 diminished portion, which measures the force, by 
 VC 1 + ^0 — (^"~'")^^ ^ and the elasticity, in the given 
 
 direction, by ^" b *"-. Hence it follows, that the ve- 
 
 J. "J" tt 
 
 locity of an impulse, moving in that direction, will 
 be expressed by v "Yip^' 
 
 ** It is next to be proved, that the velocity of an 
 elliptical undulation, increasing so as to remain al- 
 ways similar, by means of an impulse propagated al- 
 ways in a direction perpendicular to the circumfer- 
 ence, is such as would take place in a medium thus 
 constituted. It is obvious that the increment of each 
 of the diameters of the increasing figure must be pro- 
 portional to the whole diameter ; and this increment, 
 reduced to a direction perpendicular to the curve, 
 will be proportional to the .perpendicular falling on 
 the conjugate diameter, which will measure the ve- 
 locity. We are therefore to find an expression for 
 this perpendicular, when it forms an angle with the 
 greater axis, of which the tangent is /. Let the 
 greater semiaxis be 1, and the smaller n : then the 
 tangent of the angle formed with the greater axis by 
 
 die conjugate diameter, being i ; the tangent of the 
 
 angle subtended by the corresponding ordinate of 
 
 VOL. VI. PART II. 
 
 the circumscribing circle is found — ; and the semi 
 
 Tit 
 
 61 
 
 Polarisation 
 of Light. 
 
 diameter itself, equal to unity, reduced in the rstio 
 
 of the secants of these angles ; that is, to n J— — ~ : 
 
 but, by the known property of the ellipsis, the per- 
 pendicular required is equal to the product of th« 
 semiaxis, divided by this semidiameter, that is, to 
 
 1 -\-n7iU ^ iisive therefore only to make nn=m, 
 
 l-\-tt ^ 
 and the velocity in the given medium will always be 
 such as is required forlme propagation of an undu- 
 lation, preserving the form of similar and concentric 
 spheroids, of which the given ellipsis represents any 
 principal section. 
 
 " If the whole of the undulation were of equal 
 force, this reasoning would be sufficient for deter- 
 mining its motion : but when one part of it is strong- 
 er than another, this superiority of pressure and mo- 
 tion will obviously be propagated in the direction of 
 the actual resistance produced by the displacement 
 of the particles, since it is this resistance which car- 
 ries on the pressure, and consequently propagates 
 the motion. It is very remarkable that the direction 
 of the resistance will be found, on the supposition 
 which has been advanced respecting the constitution 
 of the medium, to coincide every where with the dia- 
 meters of the ellipsis, when the displacement is per- 
 pendicular to the surface. For it is proved by au- 
 thors on conic sections, that the subnormal of the 
 ellipsis is to the absciss, as the square of the lesser 
 axis is to the square of the greater, that is, in this 
 case, as to 1, or as m to 1 ; but if we divide the 
 ordinate in the same ratio of »j to 1, and join the 
 point of division with the extremity of the subnor- 
 mal, this line, which will evidently be parallel to the 
 diameter, will express, as we have already seen, the 
 direction of the force, when the normal represent? 
 that of the displacement. An immediate displace- 
 ment in the direction of any diameter, making an 
 angle with the axis of which the tangent is ^, would 
 
 give a velocity of J l^tJ^^ while the increment of 
 
 ^ ' r . 'm-\-mtt 
 the diameter would require a velocity or , 
 
 771 tt 
 
 which does not vary in the same proportion. It 
 must, however, be remembered, that the rectilinear 
 direction of the beam is not su^osed to depend on 
 this circumstance alone : HiSy^ens considers each 
 point of the surface of the Crystal, or^which a 
 beam of light impinges, as the centre of a new un- 
 dulation, which spreads in some measure, ih every 
 direction, but produces no per(^ptible effect except 
 where it is supported by, and cooperates with, the 
 neighbouring undulations ; that is, in the surface 
 which is a common tangent of the collateral undula- 
 tions ; but if this principle were applied to extraor- 
 dinary refraction without the assistance of the obli- 
 quity of force, which may be deduced from the sup- 
 position of a stratified medium, it would lead us to 
 expect that the elementary impulses, being propa- 
 gated in a curvilinear trajectory, might be intercept- 
 5 a • 
 
862 P 0 L A R I S A T I 
 
 Toiarisation ed by an object not situated in the rectihnear path 
 of Light. Qf tjjg beam ; a conclusion which is not warranted by 
 
 ^"^^Y"^' experiment." 
 
 However satisfactorily this mode of viewing the 
 extraordinary refraction may be applied to the sub- 
 sequent discoveries relating to the effects of heat and 
 compression, there is another train of ideas, which 
 arises more immediately from the phenomena of po- 
 larisation, and which might lead us to a more dis- 
 tinct notion of the separation of the pencil into two 
 or more portions, though it does not seem to compre- 
 hend so entirely the phenomena depending on sphe- 
 roical undulations. 
 
 We may begin this mode of considering the sub- 
 ject in the words which have already been employed 
 in the Article Chromatics, p. 161. " If we as- 
 sume as a mathematical postulate, in the undulatory 
 theory, without attempting to demonstrate its physi- 
 cal foundation, that a transverse motion may be pro- 
 pagated in a direct line, we may derive from this as- 
 sumption a tolerable illustration of the subdivision of 
 polarised light by reflection in an oblique plane. Sup- 
 posing polarisation to depend on a transverse motion 
 in the given plane; when a ray completely polarised 
 is subjected to simple reflection in a different plane, 
 at a surface which is destitute of any polarising ac- 
 tion, and which may be said to afford a neutral re- 
 flection, the polar motion may be conceived to be 
 reflected, as any other motion would be reflected at 
 a perfectly smooth surface, the new plane of the mo- 
 tion being always the image of the former plane ; 
 and the effect of refraction will be nearly of a similar 
 nature. But when the surface exhibits a new polar- 
 ising influence, and the beams of light are divided 
 by it into two portions, the intensity of each may be 
 calculated, by supposing the polar motion to be re- 
 solved instead of being reflected, the simple veloci- 
 ties of the two portions being as the cosines of the 
 angle, formed by the new planes of motion with the 
 old, and the energies, which are the true measure of 
 the intensity, as the squares of the sines. We are 
 thus insensibly led to confound the intensity of the 
 supposed polar motion with that of the light itself; 
 since it was observed by Malus, that the relative in- 
 tensity of the two portions, into which light is divid- 
 ed under such circumstances, is indicated by the 
 proportion of the squares of the cosine and sine of 
 the inclination of the planes of polarisation. The 
 imaginary transverse motion must also necessarily be 
 alternate ; partly from the nature of a continuous 
 medium, and partly from the observed fact, that 
 there is no distinction between the polarisations pro- 
 duced by causes precisely opposed to each other, in 
 the same plane." Another analogous hint is found 
 in the Philosophical Transactions for 1818, p. 273. 
 " Supposing the ejtperiments to be perfectly repre- 
 sented by {Dv Brewster's] general law, it will follow 
 that the tint exhibited depends not on the difference 
 of refractive densities in the direction of the ray 
 transmitted, but on the greatest difference of refrac- 
 tive densities in directions perpendicular to that of 
 the ray. These two conditions lead to the same re- 
 sult, where the effect of one axis only is considered, 
 but they vary materially where two axes are sup- 
 . posed to be combined . . . There can be little doubt 
 
 ON OF LIGHT. 
 
 that the direction of the polarisation, in such cases, Polarisati 
 must be determined by that of the greatest and least ^^^"^ 
 of the refractive densities in question :" a <* supposi- "^^^ 
 tion," which Dr Brewster finds " quite correct." 
 
 We may add again to these hints the considera- 
 tion, that when simple pressure or extension in the 
 direction of any given axis produces a spheroijjjal 
 undulation in a medium before homogeneous, this 
 state is always accompanied by the condition, that 
 a- ray describing the axis, while the densities in 
 all transverse directions remain equal, iindergoes 
 no subdivision, but that a ray moving in the plane 
 of the equator, to which the perpendiculars are the 
 axis and another equatorial diameter, undergoes the 
 greatest possible separation into parts that are re- 
 spectively polarised in the planes passing through 
 these directions. 
 
 From these phenomena we are led to be strongly 
 impressed with the analogy of the properties of 
 sound, as investigated cursorily by Mr Wheatstone, 
 and in a more elaborate manner by the multiplied 
 experiments of Mr Savart, which have shown that, 
 in many cases, the elementary motions of the sub- 
 stances transmitting sound are transverse to the di- 
 rection in which the sound is propagated, and that 
 they remain in general parallel to the original im- 
 pulse. 
 
 The next transition carries us from the mathema- 
 tical postulate here mentioned to the physical condi- 
 tion assumed by Mr Fresnel, that the relative situa- 
 tion of the particles of the elherial medium with re- 
 spect to each other, is such as to produce an elastic 
 force tending to bring back a line of particles, which 
 has been displaced, towards its original situation by 
 the resistance of the particles surrounding the line, 
 and at the same time to impel these particles in its 
 own direction, and in that direction only, or princi- 
 pally, while the aggregate effect is propagated in 
 concentric surfaces. 
 
 This hypothesis of Mr Fresnel is at least very in- 
 genious, and may lead us to some satisfactory com- 
 putations : but it is attended by one circumstance 
 which is perfectly appalling in its consequences. The 
 substances on which Mr Savart made his experi- 
 ments were solids only ; and it is only to solids that 
 such a lateral resistance has ever been attributed : so 
 that if we adopted the distinctions laid down by the 
 reviver of the undulatory system himself, in his Lec- 
 tures^ it might be inferred that the luminiferous ether, 
 pervading all space, and penetrating almost all sub- 
 stances, is not only highly elastic, but absolutely 
 solid ! ! ! The passage in question is this : (Vol. I. 
 p. 627.) 
 
 The immediate cause of solidity, as distinguish- 
 ed from liquidity, is the lateral adhesion of the par- 
 ticles to each other, to which the degree of hardness 
 or solidity is always proportional. This adhesion 
 prevents any change of the relative situation of the 
 particles, so that they cannot be withdrawn from 
 their places, without experiencing a considerable re- 
 sistance from the force of cohesion, while those of li- 
 quids may remain equally in contact with the neigh- 
 bouring particles, notwithstanding their change of 
 form. When a perfect solid is extended or com- 
 pressed, the particles, being retained in their situa- 
 
POLAR IS ATI 
 
 larisation tions by the force of lateral adhesion, can only ap- 
 • Light proach directly to each other, or be withdrawn fur- 
 ther from each other ; and the resistance is nearly 
 the same, as if the same substance, in a fluid state, 
 were inclosed in an unalterable vessel, and forcibly 
 compressed or dilated. Thus the resistance of ice to 
 extension or compression is found by experiment to 
 differ very little from that of water contained in a 
 vessel ; and the same effect may be produced even 
 when the solidity is not the most perfect that the sub- 
 stance admits ; for the immediate resistance of iron or 
 steel to flexure is the same, whether it may be harder 
 or softer. It often happens, however, that the mag- 
 nitude of the lateral adhesion is so much limited, as 
 to allow a capability of extension or compression, 
 and it may yet retain a power of restoring the bodies 
 to their original form by its reaction. This force 
 may even be the principal or the only source of the 
 body's elasticity : thus when a piece of elastic gum 
 is extended, the mean distance of the particles is not 
 materially increased . . and the change of form is ra- 
 ther to be attributed to a displacement of the par- 
 ticles than to their separation to a greater distance 
 from each other, and the resistance must be derived 
 from the lateral adhesion only : some other substances 
 also, approaching more nearly to the nature of li- 
 quids, may be extended to many times their original 
 length, with a resistance continually increasing ; and 
 in such cases there can scarcely be any material 
 changes of the specific gravity of these substances. 
 Professor Robison has mentioned the juice of bryony 
 as affording a remarkable instance of such viscidity. 
 
 " It is probable that the immediate cause of the 
 lateral adhesion of solids is a symmetrical arrange- 
 ment of their constituent parts : it is certain that al- 
 most all bodies are disposed, in becoming solid, to 
 assume the form of crystals, which evidently indi- 
 cates the existence of such an arrangement ; and all 
 the hardest bodies in nature are of a crystalline form. 
 It appears, therefore, consistent both with reason and 
 with experience to suppose, that a crystallization 
 more or less perfect is the universal cause of solidity. 
 We may imagine, that when the particles of matter 
 are disposed without any order, they can afford no 
 strong resistance to a motion in any direction ; but 
 when they are regularly placed in certain situations 
 with respect to each other, any change of form must 
 displace them in such a manner, as to increase the 
 distance of a whole rank at once ; and hence they 
 may be enabled to cooperate in resisting such a 
 change. Any inequality of tension in a particular 
 
 O N O F L I G H T. 863 
 
 part of a solid is also probably so far the cause of Polarisation 
 hardness, as it tends to increase the strength of union ^ "^^ ' g^^- ^ 
 of any part of a series of particles which must be 
 displaced by a change of form." 
 
 It must however be admitted, that this passage by 
 no means contains a demonstration of the total inca- 
 pability of fluids to transmit any impressions by la- 
 teral adhesion, and the hypothesis remains complete- 
 ly open for discussion, notwithstanding the apparent 
 difficulties attending it : which have appeared to bring 
 us very near to the case stated in the same Lectures 
 as a possible one, that there may be independent 
 worlds, some existing in different parts of space, 
 others pervading each other unseen and unknown in 
 the same $pace. We may perhaps accommodate the 
 hypothesis of Mr Fresnel to the phenomena of the 
 ordinary and extraordinary refraction, by considering 
 the undulations as propagated through the given me- 
 dium in two different ways ; some by the divergence 
 of the elementary motions in the direction of the ray, 
 and others by their remaining parallel to the direc- 
 tion of the impulse or of the polarisation : the former 
 must be supposed to furnish the spheroidal, the lat- 
 ter the spherical refraction. It would indeed follow 
 that the velocity of the spherical undulation ought to 
 vary by innumerable degrees, within certain limits, 
 according to the direction of the supposed element- 
 ary motion : while in fact the actual velocity of the 
 spherical undulations seems to be uniformly equal to 
 the velocity in the direction of the axis ; but this ob- 
 jection may be obviated by supposing the surface so 
 constituted, that for some unknown reason the pa- 
 rallel elementary motion can only be propagated in 
 the regular manner when it takes place in the direc- 
 tion of the axis, or when it is made to assume that 
 direction : a condition not very simple or natural, 
 but by no means inconceivable : unless we saw any 
 reason to consider the adhesion as a constant force, 
 independent of the direction, and equal to the least 
 or greatest elasticity, or unless it were possible to de- 
 rive the phenomena of two supposed axes of polari" 
 sation, which Mr Fresnel has explained on the hy- 
 pothesis of two spheroids, from the supposition of 
 two spherical undulations propagating oblique ele- 
 mentary motions in the direction of the actual-po- 
 larisation as already determined for these crystals. 
 
 If these conjectures should be found to afford a sin- 
 gle step, in an investigation so transcendently deli- 
 cate, it will be best to pause on them for a time, and 
 to wait for further aid from a new supply of experi- 
 ments and observations.] (x.x.x.) 
 
 THE END. 
 
EREATA. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 Preface, in some copies, p. 6, line 19, for in point of structure, read in point of niethod. 
 
 ■ line 26, for Works, read Dictionaries. 
 
 p. 7, line l6,for a plan, read a scheme. 
 
 . p. 8, line 12, for of plan, read of method. 
 
 p. 9, line 2 from bottom, dele word, plan ; and in line 9 from bottom, dele words, 
 
 several and separate. 
 
 . p. 10, line 16, for plan, read arrangement. 
 
 p. 11, line 2 from bottom, ^or its plan, read its range. 
 
 — , p. 13, line 11, dele the words, of literary enterprise. 
 
 line 1 5, for task, read charge. 
 
 VOL. VL 
 
 Addenda, in some copies, p. 833, after line 4, dele the words, during the last half century. 
 
TABLE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ARTICLES AND TREATISES 
 
 CONTAINED IN THIS WORK. * 
 
 VOL. I. 
 Abdallatif, or Abdollatiph. 
 Aberdeenshire. 
 Abortion. 
 
 Aboulfeda^ or Abulfeda. 
 
 Absentee. 
 
 Abulfazel. 
 
 Abu-Teman. 
 
 Abyssinia. 
 
 Academies. 
 
 Military and Naval. 
 
 Acephala. See Mollusca. 
 Achromatic Glasses, 
 
 Ackermann (John Christopher Gottlier). 
 
 Acosta (Joseph D'). 
 
 Acoustics. 
 
 Adam (Alexander). 
 
 Adanson (Michael). 
 
 Adelung (John Christopher). 
 
 Aden. 
 
 Adhesion. 
 
 Admiral. 
 
 ■ Lord High. 
 
 Admiralty, High Court of. 
 
 ^pinus (Francis Ulrlch Theodore), 
 
 Aeronautics. 
 
 Africa. 
 
 African Company. 
 
 Institution. 
 
 Agnesi (Maria Gaetana). 
 Agriculture. 
 
 Aguesseau (Henry Francis D'). 
 
 * As It may be of use, both to the Readers and Authors of these Articles, to be able to ascertain the pe- 
 nod of the publication of each of the Parts or Half Volumes in which this work was issued, it has been ac- 
 cordingly judged proper to record the following Memorandum in this place: Vol. I. Part I. December 1815 ■ 
 Part II. June 1816— Vol. II. Part I. December 1816; Part II. J.ine 1817— Vol. III. Part I. February 
 1818; Part II. January I8I9.— Vol. IV. Part I. December 1819; Part II. September 1820— Vol V P->rt 
 I. July 1821 ; Part II. May lS22._Vo}. VI Part I. April 1823; Part II, April 1824, 
 
 VOL. VI. PART II. X 
 
TABLE OF ARTICLES AND TREATISES, 
 
 Air. See Climate and Meteorology^ 
 Albania. 
 
 Alcarrazas. See Cold. 
 Alcoometer. 
 Aleutian Islands. 
 Alfarabius. 
 
 Alfergan, or Alfragan, 
 Alfleri (Victor). 
 Alhazen. 
 
 Aliments. See Dietetics. 
 Alkalimeter. 
 Allan (David). 
 Alum. 
 Amboyna. 
 
 America, Continent of. 
 
 United States of. See United States. 
 
 Ames (Fisher). 
 Amman (John Conrad). 
 
 (Paul). 
 
 Ammoniac, Sal. 
 
 Ana (History of these Collections). 
 Analysis, Chemical. See Decomposition, Che- 
 mical. 
 Anatomy, Animal. 
 ————— Vegetable. 
 Anchor and Anchor-Making. 
 Anderson (Alexander). 
 
 (James). 
 
 Andes. 
 
 Andrews (James Pettit). 
 Angle. 
 
 — — Trisection of. 
 
 Anglesey. 
 
 Annuities. 
 
 ~ {Addendum tOy Vol. I. p. 647.) 
 
 Annulosa. 
 Anquetil (Lewis). 
 . (Du Perron)- 
 
 Ant. 
 
 Antrim, County. 
 Anvil. 
 
 Anville (Jean Baptiste Bourguignon D'). 
 
 Apiary. 
 Apprentice. 
 Apprenticeship, 
 Aqua Tofana. 
 
 Arachnides. See Annulosa. 
 
 Araeometer. 
 
 Araucanians. 
 
 Areon (J. C. S. Le Michaud D'). 
 
 Arcy (Patrick 'D). 
 
 Argyleshire. 
 
 Arithmetic. 
 
 Armagh, County. 
 
 Arnaud De Ronsil (George). 
 
 Arran. See Buteshire. 
 
 Arreoys. 
 
 Arts, Fine. 
 
 Asia. 
 
 Asphaltites, or Dead Sea. 
 
 Assam. 
 
 Assaying. 
 
 Assurance on Lives. 
 Astronomy, Physical. 
 Atmometer. 
 
 Atmosphere. See Climate and Meteorology 
 
 Atomic Theory. 
 
 Attraction. 
 
 At wood (George). 
 
 VOL. n. 
 
 Australasia. 
 
 Austria. 
 
 Ayrshire. 
 
 Azores, or Western Islands 
 
 Babylon. 
 
 Bacon (John). 
 
 Baking. 
 
 Balance of Power. 
 
 Baldinger (Ernest Godfrey) 
 
 Balm of Gilead. 
 
 Baltic Sea. 
 
 Bamboo. 
 
 Banda Islands. 
 
TABLE OF ARTICLES AND TREATISES. 
 
 Bandello. 
 
 Bandini (Angelo Maria). 
 
 Banffshire. 
 
 Banking. 
 
 Banks for Savings. 
 Bannockburn. 
 Barbary States- 
 Barlow (Joel). 
 Barometer. 
 
 Barometrical Measurements. 
 
 Barracks. 
 
 Barry (James). 
 
 Barthez (Paul Joseph). 
 
 Basedow (John Bernard). 
 
 Basket-Making. 
 
 Bathing. 
 
 Batnears, or Batties. 
 Baume (Anthony). 
 Bavaria. 
 Bayen (Peter). 
 Bazeegurs. 
 Beattie (James). 
 
 Beaumarchais (Pierre Augustin Caron de). 
 Beauty. 
 
 Beccaria (Cesar Bonesana) 
 
 Beccaria (Giambattista). 
 
 Beckmann (John). 
 
 Beddoes (Thomas). 
 
 Bedfordshire. 
 
 Bee. 
 
 Beggar. 
 
 Bejapour. 
 
 Bell Rock Light-House 
 Beloochistan. 
 Benefit Societies. 
 
 Bentinck (WilUam Henry Cavendish)' 
 
 Berbice. 
 
 Berkshire. 
 
 Berthoud (Ferdinand). 
 
 Berwickshire. 
 
 Betel. 
 
 Bettinelli (Xavier). 
 
 Beykaneer, or Bicanere. 
 Bibliography. 
 
 Bichat (Marie Francois Xavier). 
 
 Bilfinger (George Bernard). 
 
 Bills of Mortality. 
 
 Black Sea. 
 
 Blasting. 
 
 Bleaching. 
 
 Blockade. 
 
 Block (Mark Eleazar). 
 Block. 
 
 Machinery. 
 
 Blow-Pipe. 
 
 ' in Anatomy. 
 
 Blowing-Machines. 
 
 Bogalcund. 
 
 Bohaddin, or Boh-a-eddyn. 
 Bombay. 
 
 Borda (John Charles). 
 Boring of Cannon. 
 — — — — - Cylinders. 
 
 Muskets. 
 
 Portland Stone. 
 
 ■ ' ■ Rocks. 
 
 Wooden Pipes. 
 
 Born (Ignatius). 
 Borneo. 
 
 Borromean Islands. 
 Boswell (James), 
 Botany. 
 
 Botany Bay. See Australasia and Wales (New 
 South). 
 
 Bougainville (Louis Antoine de).. 
 
 Bouguer (Peter) 
 
 Bolton (Matthew) 
 
 Bourbon, Isle of. 
 
 Bourgoing (Johm Francis de). 
 
 Braniah (Joseph). 
 
 Brasil. 
 
 Brass-Making. 
 
 Bread-Fruit 
 
 Breakwater. 
 
TABLE OF ARTICLES AND TREATISES. 
 
 Breconshire, or Brecknockshire. 
 
 Brewing. 
 
 Brick-Making. 
 
 Bridge. 
 
 Brisson (Mathurin James). 
 Brissot (John Peter). 
 Britain. See Great Britain. 
 
 New. See Australasia. 
 
 Brocklesby. (Richard). 
 
 Broker. 
 
 Bronzing. 
 
 Brosses (Cliarles de). 
 
 Broussonet (Pierre Marie Auguste). 
 
 Briicker (James). 
 
 Bryant (Jacob). 
 
 Buat-Nancay (Louis Gabriel). 
 
 B uckinghamshirc . 
 
 Budukshaun 
 
 Buenos Ay res. 
 
 Bukhara, or Bokhara 
 
 Bulkh, or Balk. 
 
 Bundelcund, or Bandelkhand. 
 
 Burger (Godfrey Augustus.). 
 
 Busching (Antony Frederick). 
 
 Buteshire. 
 
 Cabanis (Peter John George). 
 
 Cabinet-Making. See Joinery^ 
 
 Caerraarthenshire. 
 
 Caernarvonshire. 
 
 Cassalpinus (Andrew). 
 
 Caithness-shire. 
 
 Calcutta. 
 
 Caledonia, New. See Australasia. 
 
 Caledonian Canal. 
 
 Calendering. 
 
 Cambridgeshire. 
 
 Camera Lucida. 
 
 Camper (Peter). 
 
 Campomanes (D. Pedro Rodrigues). 
 Camus (Charles Stephen Louis). 
 Canada. 
 Canary Islands. 
 
 Cannon, Art of Castina;. 
 
 Capillary Attraction. See Fluids, Elevation of. 
 
 Capmany (Antonio de). 
 
 Caraccas. 
 
 Cardiganshire. 
 
 Carlow, County. 
 
 Carlyle (Joseph Dacre). 
 
 Carnatic. 
 
 Caroline Islands. See Polynesia. 
 
 Carpentry 
 
 Casiri (Michael). 
 
 Caste, or Castes. 
 
 Casti (Giambatista). 
 
 Caubul. 
 
 Caufiristaun. 
 
 Cavallo (Tiberius). 
 
 Cavan, County. 
 
 Cavanilles (Antonio Joseph). 
 
 Cavendish (Henry). 
 
 Celebes. 
 
 Cesarotti (Melchior). 
 Ceylon. 
 
 Chemical Analysis. See Decomposition, Chemi- 
 cal. 
 
 VOL. III. 
 
 Chemistry. 
 
 Chenier (Marie Joseph de). 
 
 Cheshire. 
 
 Chih. 
 
 China. 
 
 Chivalry. 
 
 Chromatics. 
 
 Cinnamon. 
 
 Circars (Northern) 
 
 Cirripedes. 
 
 Clackmannanshire. 
 
 Clare, County 
 
 Climate. 
 
 Cloud. 
 
 Coach. 
 
 Coalery. 
 
TABLE OF ARTICLES AND TREATISES. 
 
 Cohesion. 
 
 Denmark 
 
 Coinage. 
 
 Derbyshire. 
 
 Cold. 
 
 Devonshire. 
 
 Colony. 
 
 Dew. 
 
 Commerce. 
 
 Dietetics. 
 
 Conchology. 
 
 Differential Calculus. 
 
 Condamine (Charles Maria de la). 
 
 Dillenius (John James). 
 
 Condillac (Etienne Bonnet de). 
 
 Distillation. 
 
 Confederation of the Rhine. 
 
 DlVldmO" ni' IrTflnnntinfr Tncfi'tirY-iorif 
 
 » yji vnauuctLnig xiibLruinenis. 
 
 Congelation. See Cold. 
 
 Divine. 
 
 Congo. See Zaire. 
 
 Dock. 
 
 Cooling. See Cold. 
 
 Tjop K-V^n rrl e 
 
 Copper. 
 
 Dollond (John). 
 
 Copying-Machines. 
 
 Dolomieu TDeodatus Guv Silvanns Tnnprprl*rli3 
 
 Copyright. 
 
 
 Coralliniada?. 
 
 Doming-o (St). 
 
 Cork, County. 
 
 Donegal, Countv. 
 
 Corn Laws and Trade. 
 
 Dorsetshire. 
 
 Cornwall. 
 
 Down, County. 
 
 Cornwallis (Charles, Marquis). 
 
 Draining. 
 
 Cottage System. 
 
 Drama. 
 
 Cotton Manufacture. 
 
 Dredging. 
 
 Couloumb (Charles Augustin). 
 
 Dryander (Jonas). 
 
 Cranioscopy. 
 
 Dry-Rot. 
 
 Crawford (Adair). 
 
 Dublin, City. 
 
 Credit. 
 
 Dublin, County. 
 
 Crimes. 
 
 Duclos (Charles Pineau). 
 
 Cromartyshire. 
 
 Duhamel, de Vrisnv le Monceau ('Hpnrv r pwiaA 
 
 Cryophorus. 
 
 Dumarsais (Cesar Chesnau). 
 
 Cumberland. 
 
 Dumfries-shire. 
 
 Currency. See Money. 
 
 Dunbartonshire. 
 
 Currie (James, M. D.). 
 
 Dundas TTpnrv /'Vismunf TVf t>l^r;ll/^^ 
 
 Cutlery. 
 
 Dunning, John (Lord Ashburton). 
 
 Cyanometer. 
 
 DuDuis ( Charles T^ranr'is^ 
 
 Dairy. 
 
 Easter Island. See Polynesia. 
 
 Dalgarno (George). 
 
 Eberhard (John Augustus). 
 
 Deaf and Dumb. 
 
 ' Economists. 
 
 Decomposition, Chemical. 
 
 
 Delille (Jacques). 
 
 VOL. IV. 
 
 Demarary. 
 
 Edinburgh. 
 
 Denbighshire. 
 
 Edinburghshire. 
 
 Denina (Charles John Maria). 
 
 Edrisi, or Aldrisi. 
 
TABLE OF ARTICLES AND TREATISES. 
 
 Education. 
 Edwards (Bryan). 
 Edwards (Jonathan). 
 Egypt. ^ 
 
 Eidograph. See Pantograph, 
 Elba. 
 
 Electricity. 
 
 Elliptic Turning. 
 
 Elliptograph^ 
 
 Embankment. 
 
 Emigration. 
 
 England. 
 
 Entomology. 
 
 Entre-Duero-E-Minho. 
 
 Equations {Addendum, p. 669> 
 
 Ernesti (John Augustus). 
 
 Essexshire. 
 
 Europe. 
 
 Exchange 
 
 Farce Islands. 
 
 Ferguson (Adam). 
 
 Fermanagh, County. 
 
 Fermat (Peter de). 
 
 Fichte (John Theophilus). 
 
 Fifeshire. 
 
 Filangieri (Gaetan). 
 
 Fire Escapes. See Preservers (Life)^ 
 
 Fisheries. ' 
 
 Flintshire. 
 
 Florida. 
 
 Fluents, or Integrals. 
 Fluids, Elevation of. 
 Fontana (Felix). 
 Fontana (Gregory), 
 Food. 
 
 Forfarshire. 
 
 Forster (John Reinhold). 
 
 Forster ({John George Adam). 
 
 Fossil Organic Remains. See Organic Remains. 
 
 Fourcroy (Antony Francis de). 
 
 Fox (the Right Honourable Charles James). 
 
 France. 
 
 Friendly Islands. See Polynesia. 
 
 Frisi (Paul). 
 
 Funding System. 
 
 Galiani (Ferdinand). 
 
 Galvanism. 
 
 Gal way, County. 
 
 Garve (Christian). 
 
 Gas-Lights. 
 
 Georgian Islands. See Polynesia. 
 
 Genovesi (Anthony). 
 
 Germany. 
 
 Glamorganshire. 
 
 Glasgow. 
 
 Gloucestershire. 
 
 Government. 
 
 Granada, New. 
 
 Great Britain. 
 
 Greece. 
 
 Guatimala, Goetimala, or Gualtimala. 
 
 Guiana, or Guyana. 
 
 Gun-Powder. See Powder (Gun). 
 
 Guyton de Morveau (Baron Louis Bernard) 
 
 Haddingtonshire. 
 
 Hampshire. 
 
 Hebrides, New, See Australasia. 
 
 Heligoland. 
 
 Herculaneum. 
 
 Herefordshire. 
 
 Hertford College. 
 
 Hertfordshire. 
 
 Heyne (Christian Gottlob).. 
 
 Himalaya Mountains. 
 
 Holland. (See Netherlands, Kingdom of), 
 Holland, New. (See Wales, New So^th). 
 Home (John). 
 Horticulture 
 
 VOL. V. 
 
 Hungary.^ 
 Huntingdonshire 
 Hydraulics.^ 
 Jains. 
 
TABLE OF ARTICLES AND TREATISES. 
 
 Jauts. 
 
 Java. 
 
 India, 
 
 Ingenhousz (John). 
 
 Insecta. 
 
 Interest. 
 
 Interpolation. See Addenda (Vol. VI.). 
 
 Inverness-shire. 
 
 J oinery. 
 
 Ionian Islands. 
 
 Ireland. 
 
 New. See Australasia. 
 
 Iron-Making. 
 Italy. 
 
 Jurisprudence. 
 Jussieu (Antoine de). 
 
 (Bernard de). 
 Kaleidoscope. 
 Kant (Immanuel). 
 Kentshire. 
 Kerguelen's Land. 
 Kerry, County. 
 Kildare, County. 
 Kilkenny, County. 
 Kincardineshire. 
 King's County. 
 Kinross-shire. 
 Kirkcudbrightshire. 
 Klinometer. 
 Kookies, or Lunctas. 
 Laccadives. 
 
 Lagrange (Joseph Lewis). 
 Lalande (J. J. de). 
 Lambert (John Henry). 
 Lamps. 
 
 , Safety. 
 
 Lanarkshire. 
 
 Lancashire. 
 
 Languages. 
 
 Law of Nations. See Nations, Law of. 
 
 Leicestershire. 
 
 Leitrim, County. 
 
 Lemonnier (Peter C. C). 
 Lewis. 
 
 Leyden (John) 
 
 Liberty of the Press. 
 
 Life Preservers. See Preservers. 
 
 Limerick, County 
 
 Lincolnshire. 
 
 Linlithgowshire. 
 
 Lithography. 
 
 London. 
 
 Londonderry, County. 
 
 Longford, County. 
 
 Louisiana. 
 
 Louth, County. 
 
 Luc (John A. de). 
 
 Lucimeter. 
 
 Lus. 
 
 Malus (Stephen Lewis). 
 Malwah. 
 
 Marian, or Ladrone Islands. See Polynesia. 
 Marmontel (John F.). 
 Marquesas. See Polynesia. 
 Maskelyne (Nevil). 
 Mason (Charles). 
 Mauritius. 
 Mayo, County. 
 Meath, County. 
 Mechain (Peter F. A.)- 
 Merionethshire. 
 Messier (Charles). 
 Meteorology. 
 Mexico, or New Spain. 
 Middlesexshire. 
 Mineralogy. 
 Mollusca. 
 
 Monaghan, County. 
 Money. 
 
 Monmouthshire. 
 Montgomeryshire. 
 Moore (John). 
 Morayshire. 
 
 Mortahty, Human, Law of. 
 
TABLE OF ARTICLES AND TREATISES. 
 
 Mueller (Joh. Von). 
 Mutis (Joseph Celestino). 
 Mysore. 
 
 VOL. VI. 
 
 Nairnshire. 
 Naples. 
 
 Nations (Law of). 
 
 Navigators' Islands. See Polynesia. 
 Navy, 
 
 Necker (James). 
 Nepauh 
 Netherlands. 
 Norfolkshire. 
 Northamptonshire. 
 Northumberland. 
 Norway. See Sweden. 
 Nottinghamshire. 
 Organic Remains, Fossil. 
 Orkney and Shetland, or Zetland. 
 Orme (Robert). 
 Otaheite. See Polynesia^ 
 Oxfordshire. 
 Paley (Wilham). 
 Pallas (Simon Peter). 
 Panorama. 
 Pantograph. 
 
 Papua, or New Guinea. See Au.stralasia, 
 Park (Mungo). 
 Pauw (Cornelius de). 
 Peebles-shire, or Tweeddale. 
 Pembrokeshire. 
 Pendulum. 
 
 Penitentiaries. See Prison Discipline* 
 Perthshire. 
 Peru. 
 
 Phrenology. See Cranioscopy. 
 Physical Geography. 
 Physiology. 
 
 Physiology of Vegetables. See Vegetable Physi- 
 ology. 
 Playfair (John). 
 
 Poland. Sec Russian Empire. 
 
 Polarisation of Light. See Addenda- (Yol, VL) 
 
 Polar Seas. 
 
 Political Economy: 
 
 Polynesia. 
 
 Poor-Laws. 
 
 Population. 
 
 (Addendum to. Vol. VI.) . 
 
 Porson (Richard). 
 Portugal. 
 Powder (Gun). 
 Preservers (Life). 
 Prince of Wales's Island. 
 Printing. 
 
 Prisons and Prison Discipline. 
 
 Profits. See Political Economy, p. ^68- 
 
 Prussia. 
 
 Quakers. 
 
 Queen''s County. 
 
 Quesnay (Francois). 
 
 Radnorshire. 
 
 Railway. 
 
 Refraction, Double. See Addenda. 
 
 Renfrewshire. 
 
 Rennie (John). 
 
 Rent. See Political Economy, p. 258. 
 
 Rpadmaking. 
 
 Robison (John). 
 
 Romance. 
 
 Roscommon, County. 
 
 Ross-shire. 
 
 Roxburghshire. 
 
 Rumford (Count). See Thompsoa (Sir Benja- 
 min). 
 Rush (Benjamin). 
 Russian Empire. 
 Rutlandshire. 
 
 Safety I^amp. See Lamps. 
 
 Salop, or Shropshire. 
 
 Sandwich Islands. See Polynesia 
 
 Saxony. 
 
 Scotland, 
 
 10 
 
TABLE OF ARTICLES AND TREATISES. 
 
 Selkirkshire. 
 
 Shetland (New South). 
 
 Sicily. 
 
 Sincapore, or Singapore. 
 Sligo, County. 
 
 Society Islands. See Polynesia. 
 Solomon's Island. See Australasia. 
 Somersetshire. ' 
 Spain. 
 
 Staffordshire^ 
 
 Steam-Engine, Perkins's. 
 
 Steam-Navigation. 
 
 Steel, Engraving upon. 
 
 Stereotype Printing. See Printing. 
 
 Stirlingshire. 
 
 Stone-Masonry and Stone-Cutting. 
 
 Suffolkshire. 
 
 Surgery- 
 
 Surryshire. 
 
 Sussexshire. 
 
 Sutherlandshire. 
 
 Sweden. 
 
 gwisserland, or Switzerland. 
 
 Taxation. 
 
 Telegraph. 
 
 Tennant (Smithson). 
 
 Thompson (Sir Benjamin, Count Rumford). 
 Tides. , 
 
 Tipperary, County. 
 
 Tithes. See Taxation, p. 629- 
 
 Tooke (John Home). 
 
 Turkish Empire. 
 
 Tyrone, County. 
 
 United States of North America. 
 
 Vaccination. 
 
 Value. See Political Economy, p. 263. 
 
 Van Dieman's Land. See Australasia. 
 
 Vegetable Physiology. 
 
 Wages. See Taxation, p. 620. 
 
 V^akefield (Gilbert). 
 
 Wales (New South). 
 
 War. 
 
 Warwickshire. 
 
 Waterford, County. 
 
 Watson (Richard, Bishop of Landaff). 
 
 Watt (James). 
 
 Weaving by Power. See Cotton-Manufacture, 
 
 Vol. III. p. 400. 
 Weights and Measures. 
 Westmeath, County. 
 Westmoreland. 
 Wexford, County. 
 Whitaker (John). 
 Wicklow, County. 
 Wigtownshire. 
 Wiltshire. 
 Wine-Making. 
 Worcestershire. 
 Wurtemburg. 
 Yorkshire, 
 Zaire. 
 
 Zealand, New. See Australasia. 
 
 2 
 
DIRECTIONS FOR PLACING THE PLATES. 
 
 Plate CI. - - - - to face page 58 
 
 cir. cm. CIV. cv. cvi. cvii. cviii. - - 94 
 
 CIX. . . . . - 136 
 
 ex. .... 366 
 
 CXI. CXII. CXIII. CXIV. - . . 284 
 
 CXV. . . . 41(5 
 
 CXVI. CXVII. - . . : 546 
 
 — CXVIII. CXIX. CXX. - . - . 570 
 
 — CXXI. CXXII. . . . 772 
 
 Chart of Polar Regions, _ _ . _ 22 4, 
 
 ■ ' ■■ of Polynesia, - - - . 292 
 
 TO THE BINDER. 
 
 Place the Preface and Signatures, the General Advertisement, and First Part of the First 
 Dissertation, in the order in which they are here named, at the commencement of the first vo- 
 lume ; the First Part of the Second Dissertation at the commencement of the second volume ; 
 the Advertisement to the third volume, and the Third Dissertation, at the commencement of that 
 volume ; the Advertisement to the fourth volume, and the Second Part of the Second Disserta- 
 tion, at the commencement of that volume ; and the Second Part of the First Dissertation, with 
 its Advertisement, at the commencement of the fifth volume. Place the General Table of Arti- 
 cles and Treatises at the end of the sixth volume, after the Addenda. Cancel the separate Ta- 
 bles of Signatures and Articles for the different volumes.